Disclaimer: They aren't mine. Never will be. Just using them for a bit of fun.
He raised his hand to knock on the door of her lab. It didn't matter than it was late, or that her lab was dark, he knew this was where she was at. He knew this was her place of comfort, the one place where she could shut herself off from the rest of the world. It was the place that where she had tried to work herself to death to save him, not once but twice, if you didn't could the whole snake in the head thing, which he knew he should even if she wouldn't. He knew that she was in there, in her lab, trying to hide from the rest of the world, but most importantly from her feelings, her emotions which right now had to be overwhelming.
So he didn't knock.
He just grabbed the door handle, swiped his security card, heard the door lock click to signal it was unlocked, and he opened the door.
He just sat down beside her, put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her into his arms. He didn't say anything, but then again they never had needed words to communicate. Actions had always spoken louder than words between them. It was often what they didn't say that conveyed what they truly meant. In this instance, it was even more important.
Finally he broke the silence as he worked up the courage to ask the question that he knew would get her attention, when the klaxons sounded and the announcement came through the PA "Unscheduled Off-world activation"
And suddenly, they had to be General O'Neill and Colonel Carter again, off saving the world.
And not for the first time General Jonathan "Jack" O'Neill wished that he was better with using words to express his emotions so that he could express his shared sense of loss and show her that she wasn't alone-that she could always count on him and he would always be there.
But it was her, Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter who expressed what he could not when he offered her a hand to help her off the floor. She held his hand for just a little longer than was really necessary and said one word "thanks".
He responded with the only word he could use, but this time he let his eyes say so much more "Always" he said with the conviction that it was a promise, almost a statement of forever, but he couldn't go that far, so he just repeated that word "Always" and put his hand on her shoulder as he guided her to the door which led out of her lab.
He held the door open for her and waited for her to pass through before he stepped to her side and back into the battle for Earth's safety.