Disclaimer: I don't own any recognizable characters, just 85+ Stargate DVDs. (Holy moly, just added them up in my head -- had no idea there were so many!)

AN: This is a fill-in piece for Continuum. So SPOILERS for Continuum within. Anything in the Stargate universe is game as far as spoilers go, though. There is no filter on the plethora of Stargate factoids that live within my brain! I don't want to do too much of a summary, because that would spoil some surprises. I can say that our main character is going to be Sam, that this takes place in the alternate timeline in which she was stranded for over a year, and that she really, really misses her Jack. Also, take a look at the genre: "Adventure." Yay. It starts out angsty but there are many chapters to come…

I want to thank everyone for the stellar reviews on my first two short fics. You guys are inspiring my writing more than you know! Thanks so very much. Since folks are asking, Jackson the Desk Cat is doing great, and has decided to man (cat?) his rightful post just to the left of my keyboard tonight. He survived mission Outrun That Other Cat Who Lives in the Skylight Reflection and is currently deep undercover on his newest mission, Steal as Much Leftover Christmas Candy as Possible (With Bonus Points for Gagging Loudly On Wrappers). Also, I'm beginning to think he must have been winning some high stakes games of Texas Hold'em at the shelter from which he was acquired because he appears to have ownership of way more than the nine lives he started with. And he puts on a stellar bluff. Just ask our dog.

On with the show...

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Sam heard his voice. She stared out the window mutely, the streetlights fuzzy through the wet glass. It was just after midnight.

She strained to make out the words. Glasses clinking, the clatter of noise from the kitchen, it all conspired to keep her from overhearing his voice. She would know that voice anywhere.

She came to this restaurant often, mostly because it had good wine to go with the cheap food. She told herself that drinking alone here with dinner was better than drinking alone at home. It had been four long months for her, living solo in Seattle -- stranded in an alternate timeline full of strangers. The somber gray skies of the Pacific Northwest generally suited Sam's melancholy moods. The curtains of her town house remained closed, she took long jogs beneath dark, wet skies, and she stayed up all hours of the night until finally exhausted enough to fall into a dreamless sleep.

And now he was here. Sam rationalized to herself that choosing the restaurant had just been a mistake, a coincidence. She should have known it was too close to McChord Air Force Base. She told herself it was a simple error in judgment, when really, deep down, she had been hoping for just such an accident to happen. Her hand cradled the chilled glass on the table and trembled slightly. The wine was thick on her tongue, and her blood pounded in her veins. Sam closed her eyes and forgot herself for a while, just listening while he ordered his food.

He was here.

Sam would know Jack O'Neill's voice anywhere, though it had been months since she'd heard his last words.

'Go to the gate.'

He was close, just a few tables over. She didn't dare look, afraid the illusion would disperse if she acknowledged it physically. Little more than four months ago, two of her friends had literally evaporated in front of her very eyes, and her everything, Major General Jack O'Neill, had died on the floor at her feet. He had breathed his last, lying on the dusty stone floor at her feet, and Sam hadn't even said goodbye. She'd only been able to cry out desperately, 'Not without you.'

And now Colonel Jack O'Neill, Special Forces, was here.

Sam knew he wanted nothing to do with her.

She closed her eyes, held her breath and listened. The relative silence behind her told Sam so much. She knew how Jack would be sitting, how he would be sipping at his beer straight from the bottle, and she heard the cavalier clink of the bottle cap being flicked playfully across the table. Sam knew how he would cut his steak, how he would mop up the juices with his steak fries. He would never ever finish the last few bites of the vegetable. He would sip his beer until it was nearly empty, take the last few gulps in one go, and grimace mildly as the bitter brew went down. In her own timeline, now would be the moment Jack would push his plate away, lean over and pull her to him with one arm around her shoulders. He would look her right in the eye and then casually kiss her senseless, the flavor of beer and steak mingling on Sam's tongue in a way that was so very Jack O'Neill. He'd kiss her in a way that said, I've eaten dinner, but I'm still hungry for you.

She heard his chair shift and knew he was getting up from his table. His booted steps receded into the distance, muffled on the dense carpeting. He would gather his coat from the hook on the wall, and he would go. Sam listened, waiting for the sound of bell on the front door to signal his departure.

And then he was there, right beside her.

"Hey…" It was a question, not a statement, and it was addressed to her.

Sam opened her eyes to see Colonel O'Neill standing at her table, one elbow leaning carelessly on the back of an empty chair. She met his gaze with hers, and just nodded minutely. Jack's head cocked to the side, and Sam's facade nearly crumbled while she endured the scrutiny of the inquiring look Jack reserved for strangers. The aloof posture, the guarded gaze. A hundred questions gathered behind his eyes. She watched as he carefully dismissed them, one after another, before he finally settled for just one.

"How are you?" Jack's gaze was even and discerning.

Sam didn't have an answer for him. How was she? She was adrift. Friendless and empty. Helpless to do anything with her new life, left waiting for a galactic attack that might not even happen in her own lifetime. Sam was missing everything that had made her life hers.

She was alone.

Staring into Jack's wary eyes, memories assailed Samantha. She knew how he would smell when she buried her face in his neck. How she would feel rather than hear the rumble of his low voice as he murmured sweet words while gathering her in his strong arms. The feel of his hair between her fingers and beneath her palms as she caressed it while kissing Jack passionately. The way his naked skin felt against hers. How their bodies fit together so very perfectly, intertwined, his breath heavy and hot in her ear.

Sam felt unequivocally lost and raised one hand in a gesture of defeat. She answered Jack's question honestly. "I don't know." Her voice was quiet but collected.

Sam watched as Jack absorbed her non-answer, his eyes intensely studying her own. She didn't move, silently begging him to just walk away. He must have seen something he understood in her gaze because Jack complied with the unspoken request.

He swallowed once and spoke just one word before taking his leave of Samantha. "Sorry." He reached out one hand as if to set it on top of hers, but stopped halfway as his eyes halted somewhere beyond Sam's shoulder. His hand paused in mid-air, and Jack tapped the tabletop twice distractedly, pulling his hand back and confining it within his pocket to match its twin before resuming the walk back to his own table.

Sam's eyes were open, but she could no longer see with clarity through the haze of tears rushing to her eyes. Sorry? He was sorry? Sorry for what, for dying? For not knowing her? For existing?

"...your coat..." he was saying to someone at his table. "Paid the check ... let's go." The sound of a second chair scooting back from the table assaulted Sam.

The tears in her eyes traitorously cleared just in time for Sam to watch Jack walk by the table once more, accompanied this time by a lovely and delicate special someone. Jealousy tore through Sam, unbidden and unwelcome, as she was reminded of the existence of Jack's wife, Sara.

Time slowed down as Sam watched him lead the woman from the restaurant, his hand guiding protectively at the small of the leggy blonde's back. He held the door open for his companion as they left -- of course he did -- and he turned toward Samantha once more. Sam's stricken eyes met his for one final surprising moment.

There was a question in his eyes.

A million words swept through Sam's mind, but she settled for expressing the only three that would do.

Please, just go.

Jack tore his eyes away, took three more steps, and was lost to the darkness. The door chimed closed behind him and Sam's world crumbled.

He was really gone. Major General Jack O'Neill had died in the dirt at her feet, and Colonel Jack O'Neill had just walked out the door. And all she could do to fix it was wait. Wait for an attack that may never come, a repair to a timeline that would never be, a life that could never return.

A touch at Sam's elbow startled her from her reverie.

The waitress gave Samantha a hesitant smile, and handed over the check. "Whenever you're ready," she quietly informed Sam and gestured to the cashier's counter near the front. "I'll be waiting."

Waiting.

Sam was done waiting. She might not have access to the Stargate, she might not have any friends, she may have lost her better half, but Sam was done waiting. There were things she needed to do to prepare for Ba'al's attack, but first, she had to see Jack one more time. She just had to see him.

Sam pressed a twenty dollar bill into the hand of the startled waitress, gathered her things, and darted out the door.

She just had to see him.

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TBC.

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Reviews please! They are like candy. I love them. They make my day more lovely. They also give me something to savor while agonizing over how to write particularly difficult passages. They remind me to keep writing.

What would you do if you were Sam, and you were stranded in an alternate timeline with little hope of returning things to normal? I'm going against my best instincts here by posting this before it is entirely finished, and while I do have the first three chapters done along with a basic outline for an adventurous plot (and a dramatic conclusion!), I'd love to hear your ideas of what should happen along the way.

I can tell you that characters we haven't seen since season ... three will eventually make an appearance. :)