Come Clean by ShipperWriter

Missing scene from "Smoke and Mirrors" (ya know, the one where we hoped he really had killed Kinsey?)

Summary: Sam talks to Jack before he's moved to Petersen AFB. Established S/J.

Disclaimer: Don't own anything. Of value, anyway.

Major Carter walked down the corridors, her mind still reeling from the recent revelations. The new that Senator Kinsey had been murdered wasn't surprising; the accusation that Jack O'Neill had pulled the trigger was impossible for her to believe.

But how was she to convince anyone?

On her way to her lab, her mind sparked with an idea. The ramifications wouldn't be good for either of them, but if it got the murder charge off of Jack, then it was worth it.

So she stopped walking, turned around, and headed in the direction of the holding cells.

Jack paced in his cell, glancing between the guards standing outside and the security camera inside. He knew he wasn't going to escape. It wouldn't do him any good anyway; probably it would make him look more guilty than anything.

He saw the guard's head outside suddenly straighten up as he heard a key card being swiped on the other side. With a chirp, the door opened and admitted a blonde major into the room.

She took a glance back at the airmen. "I'll knock when I'm done."

The young man nodded and closed the door, securing it from the other side.

Jack pulled his hands out of his pockets as she turned to look him over. "Carter? What's going on?"

"I know you weren't there this weekend. In Washington, I mean."

"Hey, so do I! Something else we have in common," Jack replied crankily. "C'mon Carter, there's gotta be something we can do."

Her head dropped down to look at her boots. "Well. There is one thing."

Jack stared at Sam intently, trying to will her to raise her head. "What is it?"

"I came back … just after it happened. I have the plane ticket to prove it."

He sighed. "No, Sam. I'm not letting you do that."

"Jack …" she pleaded. "As far as they're concerned, they have irrefutable proof that it was you. And you have absolutely no alibi."

"Carter, it's only gonna dig a deeper hole," he told her, sitting down on the bench next to the bars inside. She took a parallel seat as he explained, sighing, "How's it gonna look when, at the last minute, you offer up a defense like that? They're only gonna think you're trying to protect me."

She hung her head.

"And I'm not letting you take a hit, Sam. You can cross that out right now."

She looked back up at him, a resigned gaze of confusion on her face. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Even if you prove that you were up there with me, it probably won't change anything. On the other hand, they'll go after you while they're at it for fraternization. It's not gonna do you any good, Sam."

"Jack, isn't it worth a try? We're trying to figure out what's going on, and even though it's only been a little while, so far we haven't found anything."

"Sam. Do not offer yourself up for a court martial. That's all that it would do."

She scoffed, starting to stand up. "All right."

Jack copied her motions. "Sam," he called softly, sticking a hand through the cage.

Sam turned back to him, her eyes widened when she saw his hand as well as him licking his lips slightly.

"Teal'c was here before. He turned off the security camera while you were here," Jack explained.

"Well, that was nice of him," she half-snorted.

"Carter … c'mere."

She walked to the gate, getting as close as she could, until she felt Jack's hand resting on her waist as his other hand came up to touch her cheek. "I love that you were willing to do that for me. I really do. But you're goin' to be in a better position if you can stay on the other side, figuring this out, instead of joining me over here. 'Cause as much as I would love constant company," he told her, slightly smiling, "your brain's worth more to me over there."

"All right," she said, nodding in acceptance. He pressed his lips to her forehead gently, slowly releasing his grip on her.

"I have faith in you."

"So do I. I know you didn't do this. I'll find another way to prove it."

He smiled, softly stroking her cheek. "I know you will. So get back to work, Carter."

Work that week took her to Washington, hoping to find an ally in Malcolm Barrett. Of all the people outside of the SGC that could be the most help, he was pretty high on the list.

As they walked through the park, he was explaining about what he was working on. She took in everything, especially what was pertinent to Jack's current situation, but was startled when Barrett's voice turned slightly interrogating.

"Besides, I think there's more that you're not telling me. I mean, you've seen the evidence against Colonel O'Neill. What makes you so sure that he's innocent?"

Because we were laying in bed having breakfast when Kinsey was shot, she wanted to scream in explanation to him. Instead, she forced herself to swallow that thought and spoke the mantra she had been repeating all day, without missing a beat.

"When you work with someone that long, you just know."

Barrett shook his head in rejection of her answer. "No, there's something more than that. There's something you're not telling me."

"Your job requires you to be suspicious of everybody, even your coworkers. Where I come from, we trust each other with our lives every day. Maybe that's something you can't understand."

He nodded and murmured something about, "I guess it's never too late to learn."

Sam looked sharply at him as the thought hit her. Jack was trusting her with his life right now. Even if she couldn't come clean, she was going to make sure that his name did.

FIN