Disclaimer: Not mine; never will be. I just like to play with them once in a while.

Rating: Older kids

Category: Alternate Reality Romance

Pairing: Sam/Jack

Spoilers: None really as it's completely AU

Authors Note: This story came to me the first time I heard the Terri Clark song - She Didn't Have Time and I just had to write it down. It fitted in with a little idea I had of writing fics (with the use of songs) about different periods of time in the lives of alternate Sam's and Jack's. I think I will be adding chapters to this story sporadically as they come to me.

This is one of my versions of how Sam and Jack could have met, even without being involved in the Stargate project. It keeps the shipper in me happy.

Hope you like it. Please review.

She Didn't Have Time

Sam stood on the porch watching the 'love of her life' packing up his car. Jonas closed the trunk and walked up to her. "I'm sorry Sam, but…you're better off without me. I'm not what you need."

Sam thought it ironic that he had used almost exactly the same words other people used when describing their relationship.

He walked to the car, opened the door and drove out of her life. He didn't even look back. She'd seen door-to-door salesmen show more compassion than that.

As she stood out there on the porch, waiting until his taillights disappeared, she felt like she could cry. But before the tears had a chance to fall she heard a soft cry. She sighed and walked back into the house and went into the nursery. Their little girl was hungry. As Sam breastfed her she looked around for the pink blanket she would need if she ever wanted to get her daughter off to sleep. She just didn't have time to cry.

That night, instead of lying awake for hours, miserable, she made a promise to herself and her daughter. She wouldn't let Jonas leaving their lives be the reason she would fall apart. She'd go out and get a job, something that Jonas had always forbidden, and would bring up her daughter alone.

She did as she promised, she got a sitter and she got a job. She worked hard all day and at night came home to feed her daughter and fall into an exhausted sleep.

The years rolled by and when she had a spare minute she would look at her life and feel like it was passing her by while she stood on the sidelines and watched. Her friends tried to get her out more, they said "You gotta get out of the house and maybe you'll meet someone new."

She could have done that but she had her five-year old to think about, feed, take to ballet class, piano lessons and T-ball little league. Her daughter was her world. She wouldn't let her loneliness keep her awake at night, she didn't have time. Besides, where would she find the time to meet someone, never mind find the time to trust a man again?

As she walked to her car from the mall on a busy Friday night she noticed the flat tire. Damn! She didn't have time for this; she was already running late for her date with a hot bath and a glass of wine. Her daughter was at a friend's for the night so she had an evening of pampering herself planned. She looked around the crowded parking lot looking for someone to help her, no-one was there. She resigned herself to the fact that she would have to try and change the tire. She put her groceries on the backseat and pulled the spare tire from the trunk. She grabbed the tire-iron and set about trying to remove the nuts.

After about 5 minutes she was just about to give up and throw the tire-iron across the lot, she just couldn't get the nuts off. She growled in frustration. Suddenly, there was a voice behind her, "Do you need help there Miss?"

She turned around and found herself looking up at a man of about 45 who was giving her a sympathetic smile.

She stood, brushed her hands on her jeans and said "Please. I just can't seem to get the nuts to budge."

"Here, let me have a go", he took the tire-iron from her, his fingers brushing hers gently.

Within 5 minutes the spare was on the car and the now useless tire was in the trunk. Sam stood thanking her night in shining armour, "Thank you so much. I don't know how I would have done that without your help. How can I thank you?"

He gave her a cheeky grin and said, "Have coffee with me?"

She looked at him, she didn't really have time but she nodded. She didn't know why but she just couldn't seem to be able to resist that smile. They walked back into the mall and got coffees at a little café. As they sat down he held out his hand to her and said, "I'm Jack."

She shook the offered hand and responded, "My name's Sam." They smiled at one another and began talking. Just as Sam was beginning to feel comfortable and was allowing herself to think about how handsome he was, he asked "Do you have kids?"

Sam looked at him and wondered what to say. Should she lie? Deciding that she didn't have time she simply said "She's five."

The small smile that had been on his face turned into a full blown grin at her comment, "I saw the car-seat, I love kids. Does she have your eyes?"

Sam laughed at the corny line and told him that her daughter was the spitting image of her at the same age. She pulled a picture out of her wallet and handed it to him. He looked at it and smiled, not a grin but a small, sad smile. "She's beautiful" he said as he handed the photo back.

Sam stroked that picture and placed it back in the wallet, "Yes, she is". As she looked back up at him she saw his misty eyes and asked "Are you ok?"

He then told her the sad story of his son's death. She held his hand while he talked of his pain and didn't let go. They talked for hours, their coffees sitting neglected. They just let destiny run its course.

She could have been afraid to let herself fall in love that night, but she didn't have time.

I know I said it at the top but I'll say it again, please review. I want to know if you would like to see more of my ideas about how other Sam and Jacks' could be living their lives. Thanks.