A/N. Firstly the disclaimer: not my characters, I'm just borrowing them.
Secondly, Jacks still a Colonel, Sam's still a major but Sam and Pete are engaged, (call it poetic license) and Janet's still alive. Set around mid season 8 but it could be anywhere after Sam agrees to marry Pete.
Thirdly, this is actually three different stories originally that I made up and thought that they actually ran quite well together as a complete story hence me posting it all as one.
Last but not least, this first part was inspired by a song called 'I think I love ya' but its not a song fic just kinda came to me whilst I was listening to (of all things) the Ella Enchanted soundtrack whilst baby sitting my niece.
I Think I Love Ya – Chapter One
The soft moonlight was being filtered through the curtains onto the bed in the middle of the room. The woman was facing the window, on her side facing away from the man. She had short blond hair and appeared to be quite tall (as far as one could gather from the position she was lay in anyway) and had an athletic look. The man had very short brown hair and was of a stocky build but appeared to be quite short in comparison to the woman's height. They were both fast asleep but the woman appeared to be in the middle of quite a disturbing nightmare as she was tossing and turning and mumbling in her sleep.
"No … no … please!" she called out suddenly, waking the man beside her who turned to look at her. He looked concerned and raised his hand as if to place it on her shoulder to wake her but froze in the middle of the action at the next words that tumbled from her mouth.
"Jack! No please not him … JACK no … no … JACK!" she yelled and suddenly shot up in bed finishing the yelled statement, "I love you!" she looked around the room wildly and sighed in relief as she realised where she was and swung her legs over the side of the bed and ran her hands through her hair. She jumped a mile in the air at the sound of the mans voice beside her even though he spoke so quietly she could barely hear it.
"You love him don't you Sam?" he asked. She turned to look him in eye whilst trying to keep the guilty expression out of her eyes.
"Who Pete?" Sam asked calmly even if she felt anything but calm however at her words Pete's face turned angry but he obviously refused to shout at her.
"I refuse to stay here when you are in love with someone else Sam" he sighed and got out of bed, he pulled on his shirt, "I really need the truth from you, I just heard you yell for Jack not me, when you're in need you yell for him, you always have done, at first I thought you know, that its just because you work together in such extreme circumstances and have to be able to rely on each other but I guess I always knew the truth, you love him and always will and I don't factor into your job … your life even"
Sam didn't say anything, what could she say? She knew he was right but she had involved herself in this relationship even though it was becoming apparent to her that no on would eve be able to mean as much to her as Jack. He sighed as he looked at her.
"Your silence just confirms it, I'm gonna go and stay at a hotel and then go back to Denver tomorrow, I'm sorry this couldn't work Sam, I really am" at his words Sam suddenly moved and took his hand.
"You stay Pete, I'll go to the base, I can sleep there and then you won't have to go to a hotel" she offered.
"Sam can I just ask one thing"
"Sure Pete"
"Why are you so scared to tell him how you feel?" he asked catching her off guard with the question.
"Well, its … it's against … the regs, you know it's against frat regs" she stuttered out as Pete gently shook his head.
"No Sam, there's something else that's holding you back, that you're afraid of"
"I don't know Pete" she couldn't tell him the real reason, he was after all the man she had been engaged to up until about 2 minutes ago, she got up and dressed and then pulled the ring off and handed it back to him, "Bye Pete, I really am sorry" he gave her a sad smile.
"I know, have a good life Sam" she pulled out her keys and drove to base with her mind full of the question that Pete had asked her, 'what was she so afraid of?'. As she made her way out of the elevator she bumped into Daniel.
"Hey Daniel" she smiled weakly. He frowned and peered at his watch.
"Sam, its 01:30, I thought Pete was in town?" he questioned as he followed her to her office. She swiped her key card and entered the lab as she replied.
"We broke up" she put it simply.
"Why?" he asked puzzled in typical Daniel Jackson style.
"Because …" she faltered and looked up at the man she considered to be her brother, she knew that he knew of her feelings for Jack, she had told him as much one night that they had all gotten really drunk, she opted for honesty, "Because of how I feel about Jack"
"Oh?" he questioned again.
"I had a nightmare and called out for Jack, I … I … I said that I loved him as I woke up, Pete said it wasn't the first time and then he broke up with me when I couldn't say that I didn't love him"
"Wow"
"Yeah, do you wanna know what was weird though, he asked me what I was so afraid of" Sam mused almost to herself and she almost missed Daniels quiet question.
"What are you afraid of Sam?"
Sam felt emotionally drained and unable to deny what it was.
"God Daniel I'm scared because I have never felt this strongly about any man before, I'm afraid that there's no cure for how I feel, I'm afraid that he doesn't love me, I'm afraid he'll find someone he loves more, I'm afraid I'm not enough" she admitted softly.
"Go tell Jack, Sam. Go tell him tonight" he urged.
"I can't" she whispered dejectedly. Daniel suddenly got angry.
"Sam, you have no idea how much watching you with Pete has hurt Jack do you?" he asked quickly.
"What, he didn't care, I asked him when I got the engagement ring, before I agreed to marry him, he didn't even blink, all he had to do was tell me that he didn't want me to and I would have turned Pete down, just like that …" she was cut off by Daniel laughing softly, all anger forgotten.
"And would you have told him not to marry someone if it had been Jack considering marrying someone else?" he smirked and Sam started to panic. She wouldn't have, she would have just screamed for him not to in her head and then make herself distant as they got closer … just as Jack had done with her. That's why he had been behaving so weird around her recently and oh god … was it too late? Daniel smiled at her and led her from the room grabbing her key card and keys for her car on the way. "Come on, I'll walk you to your car" The walk from her lab to the car park was short, so short that she barely noticed. When they got to her car she hugged Daniel impulsively and jumped into her car and sped away.
Jacks house looked quiet and dark as she sat in her car on his drive. She gripped her steering wheel and her resolve strengthened. She got out of the car and walked to the door where she knocked. After a few minutes there was still no response so she knocked again, this time a little louder. A second later a light turned on in the hall and then the door opened to reveal a sleepy Jack in only his boxers. All coherent thought shot straight out of her mind at the sight of his bare chest.
"Carter? What's going on?" he asked yawning and gesturing towards his living front.
"We broke up Jack" she replied as they walked toward the sofa and sat down. Two things registered in Jacks sleepy mind. The first was that Sam was implying that she and Shannahan were history and that she had just called him Jack not sir or Colonel.
"Why?" he whispered.
"Because I can't give up on you, I just went to the base where I ran into Daniel, he asked me what was going on, so I told him and then he asked me the same question that Pete did about why I was scared to tell you how I felt" Sam was rambling now and was waving her hands as she spoke but Jack was attentively listening to every word, "So I told him I'm scared because I have never felt this strongly about any man before, I'm afraid that there's no cure for how I feel, I'm afraid that you don't love me, I'm afraid you'll find someone you love more, I'm afraid I'm not enough for you and …" Jack silenced her at this point.
"You're crazy" he whispered.
"What?" she asked confused.
"There's no one better than you" he admitted quietly.
"Jack I need the words, just this once" she begged him and he knew exactly what she meant.
"I love you Sam"
"I love you too Jack" she sighed and then he reached for her. He pulled her into a tender embrace and then pulled back slightly to look in her eyes, which were brimming with tears.
"I'm not ready to give up SG1 yet Sam and I know that you're not either, I can't ask you to wait for me and I certainly can't ask you break regs, I know how much your career means to you, I …"
Sam interrupted him by putting one of her fingers over his lips.
"You're not asking me to do anything, I want to be with you and Jack that's just what I'm gonna do even if it means sneaking around for a while until one of us is ready, don't over think this" she smiled at him, "That's my job"
Jack laughed softly as he put his hand up to caress her cheek and finally after one last second looking into her eyes, he bought theirs lips together. Their first kiss was tender and soft, not the explosion of passion that Sam had always been expecting but it knocked her socks off anyway. When they pulled apart this time, Sam was literally speechless.
"I … I … I" she stuttered.
"Wow, I rendered Major Doctor Samantha Carter speechless" he smirked but before he could say anything else, Sam had bought her lips back to his in a crushing kiss. This time the kiss was passionate and urgent. The eight years of frustrations were bought to the surface as Sam gently sought access to Jacks mouth which he readily allowed. After a thorough exploration Jack slid his tongue along Sam's lower lip causing her to shiver.
"Do you think we should take this into the bedroom?" she asked breathlessly, Jack just smiled and stood up and reached out for her hand. He pulled her along to the bedroom and closed the door to Sam's giggle.
A/N. Ok that's the first part, the second part is ready to post, I have literally finished writing it assuming people like this part but don't worry guys this hasn't affect 'I can't believe this' chap 10 was posted today and I'm in the middle of the next chap so come on and review people! He he he thanx luv Nicki.