Title: What She Should Have Said

Rating: T

Spoilers: The story takes place immediately following the events in Season 7's Chimera.

Disclaimer: Oh, yeah. Characters, et al, definitely not mine. Cause, you know, otherwise this little offering would be a script and not a fanfic.

What She Should Have Said

Samantha Carter dropped the manila folder on the bed next to the man she had thought she might be falling for.

"What's that?" Pete asked.

"My service record. I promised I'd tell you everything, right?"

"Yeah." He picked at the bed sheets. "Nice place you got here. I didn't even know Cheyenne Mountain had a hospital."

"One of the best around." She perched on the edge of the bed, a little farther away than he wanted, but there nonetheless. Sam said, "You know the mountain is one of the most secure facilities in the country; it was designed to be totally self-contained in case of nuclear attack. Why wouldn't it have a hospital?"

He nodded. Put that way, of course it made sense. Or maybe it was just the happy painkillers talking. "So tell me about you."

She stared at him a moment, carefully choosing her words. She opened up the folder and read bits from the enclosed pages. "Graduated from the Air Force Academy, degree in Astrophysics; promoted to captain below the zone; received a PhD from MIT; promoted to major below the zone; current assignment Cheyenne Mountain; Deep Space Telemetry."

He raised his eyebrows in question. "I thought we agreed that the Deep Space Telemetry story was lame."

Sam took a deep breath. "No. You decided the telemetry story was lame. I might agree with you, but it's my job, not yours."

"Ok, Sam, you don't do deep space telemetry," he explained as if she was a small child.

"You're right," she said and he nodded in satisfaction. "But then you already knew that, didn't you?" Without waiting for him to answer, she continued. "I work for a top secret facility housed here in the mountain." She cocked her head to the side. "You knew that as well, didn't you?"

Pete paused a moment, not so much thinking of a way out of the situation, but a way not to make it worse. "I guessed. The only thing I knew for certain was that I didn't know anything."

She nodded. "Because we do what we do, we're flagged whenever any searches or checks are run on certain key words, including names, even if it comes from a federal source."

"So, you're mad." He reached for her hand, but she pulled away.

"Not about that. If you'd let it go, I could have dealt with that."

"What's the problem?"

She tilted her head to the side and studied him. "Hypothetical situation. You've been working on a case for a long time, years even. You finally track down one of the suspects and are just waiting on him to make a move. The suspect is armed and dangerous, and you're one of the few people that has put in enough time to understand how he thinks and acts."

"Not so hypothetical. That's my job," he interrupted her.

"My point exactly. At the moment you are about to bust the suspect, someone from the FBI drives up, gets in your way and tells you that it's a dangerous situation and therefore should be handled by professionals. He's never worked on the case, only read about it in a file."

Pete sighed, exasperated. "Sam, I don't get your point. That kind of crap happens all the time."

"Has anyone ever gotten killed because they stepped into an investigation they didn't understand?"

He stared at her for a long moment. "Yeah."

"So what do you do to those people now?"

Another moment pause. "Kick their butts out of the way."

She nodded. "Exactly." She stood up. "Consider this a good kick," Sam said and started to walk away, holding the file.

He held out a hand, trying to catch her. "Sam, wait. I didn't know. The Air Force doesn't normally handle that kind of situation. I was worried about you. What was I supposed to do? "

Sam turned and considered him. "Trust me? Ask me? Wait patiently to see if I was alright?" She shook her head. "What would you have had me do in your place?"

"I can handle myself in dangerous situations."

"And you think I can't?"

The hand he held up turned outwards as if to stop her. "I didn't know. I was curious because I want to know everything about you. I want to share your life, good and bad. And when I thought you might be in danger, I reacted. I'm sorry I pried, but I'm not sorry I was there."

Sam shook her head. "You still don't get it, do you." She held up the file. "This is all the me the outside world gets to know. As long as I want this job, this is it."

"What about all the other things you want? Family, home, trust, love…" he looked intently at her. "I thought we might have a shot at all that."

She smiled. "I have all that. It's not conventional, it's not perfect, but I already have all that right here." She paused, thinking. "It sounds trite, I suppose, but I should thank you for making me realize just how much I like my life the way it is."

Pete sat up a little in the bed. "Sam, one day you're going to want a life outside this mountain. You're going to want more than you can find here."

She nodded. "You're probably right. And when that happens, I'll leave." She smiled again, and he realized it wasn't meant for him. "But it will be on my terms, because it's my decision." She tapped the folder on her hand. "Janet says you'll be cleared to leave soon. A couple of SFs will be down to escort you out of the mountain."

"I don't have to sign anything?"

"You don't know anything, Pete. As for what you might have seen, well, it's nothing we haven't dealt with before." She started to walk out of the infirmary, but turned at the door. "Oh, and don't try to find out anything else. It won't do you any good, and you won't like what follows you home after." She smiled one last time at him. "Have a good life, Pete."

She left him staring after her, trying to think of anything else to say. Daniel was waiting for her in the hall.

"You enjoyed that just a little too much," he said as he fell into step beside her.

"You think?" she asked, looking at him sideways. "I thought I was nice about it."

"Eh," he said, rocking his hand back and forth in a so-so movement. "Have a good life?"

She shrugged. "I wanted to be clear."

"Yeah. And I think if he didn't get it, the nice men with large guns escorting him off the base will reinforce the concept." They reached a crossroads in the corridor, Daniel heading one way to his office, Sam the other to her lab. He gave her a quick hug, asking "You okay?"

She nodded against his shoulder, then pulled back. "I will be." She smiled so he would know she really was okay, and started to walk away.

Daniel started down the hall, then stopped and turned. "Oh, um, dinner tonight? Phantom Canyon. Teal'c wants to shoot pool."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world."