Title: Fairy Tale
Author: pick1frcryingoutloud
Rating: Teen
Characters: Jack/Sam; Team

Summary: It's what fairy tales are made of…
Spoilers: S7 Chimera

Setting: Somewhere in S7. Janet is still alive but Sam is already engaged to Pete.
Disclaimer: You probably know the drill, I don't own stargate, yadda yadda yadda…

Author note: Review please! I appreciate it greatly. Tell me what I can improve or what you liked best so I can take it into account. English is not my native language so I hereby apologize for any grammatical mistakes (please let me know if you find one…or two…or three, you never know).

Fairy Tale

"Unscheduled off-world activation!"

Hammond made his way down to the control room. SF's were running into the gate room, taking up positions. The general looked at sergeant Harriman, who was monitoring Gate activities.

"Do we have an iris code?" He asked the sergeant.

"Yes sir." The man replied quickly. "It's SG-1."

Hammond sighed. He should have known. SG-1 seemed to always manage to find some sort of trouble that either made them late for check-ins or return under heavy enemy fire.

"Open the iris." His command was immediately obeyed and the titanium spiral moved to allow the incoming team access.

Daniel came through first, stumbling until he came to a halt, as if he had run a mile.

"Medic! We need a medic!" Another sergeant in the control room didn't hesitate to respond to the archeologist's cry for help and called for a doctor. Hammond quickly made his way to the Gate room.

When he arrived there, Teal'c and the colonel had already come through and the event horizon had disappeared. Sam was lying deadly still in colonel O'Neill's arms and he feared the worst.

"What happened to major Carter?" Just then the medics arrived with a gurney and the colonel gently placed his 2IC on it before once again turning to Hammond to answer his question. The medics were already back on route to the infirmary.

"We don't know sir. She was checking out some sort of device and then she just collapsed." Hammond nodded to indicate that was enough for now. The team was clearly shaking up by these recent events.

"Get yourselves cleaned up and checked out in the infirmary. Debriefing in half an hour." The general knew that they'd much rather stay with their teammate but he needed to know what exactly had happened and the sooner they got that out of the way, the sooner they could start their watch over major Carter.

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"What happened?" Hammond asked as soon as the three distressed team members sat down for the briefing.

"In short, we found a cave with some writing and a device. Carter wanted to check it out. Next thing we knew she was unconscious." The colonel reported.

"Any idea what the writing was about?" Hammond directed at dr. Jackson.

"Not yet. I catalogued everything and I'll translate it as fast as I can." Hammond knew what that meant: Daniel would spent day and night translating that text until he found the answer.

"Doctor Fraiser was able to tell me that major Carter is in no immediate danger. She is in a coma. Medically there's nothing we can do to help her. Doctor Fraiser has moved her into one of the isolation rooms to give major Carter and yourselves some privacy." The three members of SG-1 all looked gravely and as commander of the base Hammond just knew they all felt guilty.

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The next few hours Daniel spent translating. He didn't think he'd ever translated anything so fast but Sam was like a sister to him. He was sure she would do the same if she was in his shoes.

Jack spent the time at Sam's bedside, never leaving except to use the bathroom. Teal'c was there with him. They didn't have anything to do until Daniel came up with the answers. They'd tried talking to her, on Fraiser's suggestion, but Sam didn't respond and just slept on peacefully.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity Hammond called a meeting to discuss Daniel's findings. It was the middle of the night and everyone sat at the conference table with a big mug of coffee in front of them.

"As far as I can tell, Sam's true love must kiss her awake." Silence reigned the room as four flabbergasted faces stared at the archeologist.

"What do you mean 'true love'?" Jack managed to bring out.

"True love, soul mates, destined to be together, you know… true love." He summed up. When he still got no response Daniel became frustrated. "These people were interested in knowing if their love was true or not. Somehow they got this device. It's intended to bring the person in a sleep-like state or a coma. His or her true love must then kiss his or her lover awake." He concluded. The others contemplated this new information for a second.

"As much as I hate to say this, we need to get that fiancée of hers in here. That Shenanigan guy." Jack spoke up. He didn't like that guy. Not only was he with Sam but he also barged in on their operations, endangering their lives when he barged in on the Osiris case.

"Shanahan." Daniel corrected. Jack rolled his eyes.

"Whatever." Hammond nodded his approval.

"I'll get right on it." He said and immediately left to go to his office to get the necessary clearance. Not that it would be any trouble, Sam was too great a valuable asset to the program to say no.

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They had no trouble finding the cop and convincing him to come to the Springs the next day once he had been told Sam was involved. Hammond debriefed him on the situation before leading him to Sam. Jack made sure to stay away, there was just something about the guy that always managed to rile him up.

No, Jack chose to observe the 'kissing awake' from the observatory, where they couldn't see him. Deep down he kind of wished nothing would happen. It was a terrible thing to think he knew but he couldn't help himself.

He just had to keep telling himself that this was for Sam's own good. If Pete was Sam's true love then he'd let it be. It would be the ultimate proof that she was happy and then he could finally start to let go of her, to forget her.

The cop moved closer and Jack couldn't help but look away when his lips touched hers. He was extremely grateful he was in another room. If he hadn't been, it would've been too obvious to the others just what he thought of the ordeal.

Daniel's voice provided him with the knowledge that the coast was clear and he looked down to the infirmary bed in isolation, expecting Sam to be awake. Only she was lying as still as she had five minutes ago except maybe that her hair lay different – he must have stroked it.

"Well this isn't right." Daniel spoke.

"What's wrong?" The cop asked. Please! Was the guy as stupid as he looked? Let me guess, she's not awake idiot!

"According to the text she should be awake now, the effects should've been immediate as soon as he kissed her." He indicated Pete. No one dared to say anything for a moment, everyone all too aware of what the implications of that were.

"Maybe you translated it wrong." Janet offered to alleviate some of the awkwardness in the room.

"Either that or…" Daniel turned to Pete again, "You're not her true love." The archeologist genuinely felt sorry for the man. This was not how you wanted to find out your fiancée didn't love you as much as you loved her.

Jack, on the other hand, was feeling constricted. The cop was done for but that didn't bring Carter back or help him get over her. It only served to feed his hope and that he could do without at the moment.

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Pete Shanahan was offered quarters on base and retreated there. Not that he had much choice. Pete wanted to stay but Hammond couldn't afford to let him wander around the base like that. The man didn't have authorization to see the actual stargate itself.

So he had placed mr. Shanahan under the supervision of one of the SF's and had then returned to his own office to continue working. A general's job was never done. The paperwork didn't fill itself in and no matter how he felt, it kept coming. But for the moment he found himself in yet another meeting with SG-1 and doctor Fraiser.

"What do we do now gentlemen? If that guy Pete Shanahan isn't major Carter's true love and he was her fiancée, I'm afraid we're searching for a needle in a haystack and a very big haystack I might add." He added discouraged.

"General we mustn't give up." Daniel pleaded.

"I'm not saying we should dr. Jackson, I just don't know what to do next." Usually someone would come up with a bright idea right about now but it seemed like they were all out. Also, Sam was usually the one with off the wall, crazy ideas.

"She loves those doohickeys of her, maybe we should let her kiss those." Jack tried to lift their spirits but it only served to fuel Daniel's frustration.

"No Jack. The text specifically said a person." He snapped. The others were taken aback a little at Daniel's response but they understood. They all felt the same.

"It was just a suggestion." Jack said. Daniel stared at his friend, not believing that he could be so… so not caring, so cold. As Hammond dismissed them and they all went their separate ways, Daniel went to call Jack on it.

"Why don't you care about Sam?" He immediately cut to the chase. His friend just walked on, a little surprised at the younger man's question.

"I do care Daniel." He replied calmly.

"Then stop trying to be funny for once in your life and think. Think what'll happen if we can't figure this out!" Daniel's panicked voice raised another notch. This time Jack did stop walking and turned to his distressed friend.

"You think I haven't already thought about that Daniel, over and over again? I don't want to think about it because I have to keep believing that we WILL figure this out." He stressed. Daniel was temporarily stunned so Jack left him to contemplate on that and walked on. It wasn't long before the younger man had once again caught up with him.

"Jack, I think I have an idea." He said, more calmly than before.

"You think?" Jack questioned. He hated it when people said something like that. It usually meant they were about to do something crazy and/or stupid and dangerous.

"Well I have an idea you're just not going to like it." He didn't like where this was going alright.

"What is it?" He was almost afraid to ask. Daniel could have some pretty wacky ideas, though he couldn't beat Carter.

"I was thinking maybe you should give it a try." He looked at him hopefully but Jack was just confused.

"Give what a try Daniel?" He asked.

"Kissing Sam." Daniel explained as if it was clear as glass. Jack whipped his head around.

"What are you nuts?!" He exclaimed and the SF's they'd passed looked up.

"Think about it. You've cared for each other for a long time and in every alternate reality we've come across, you're either married or together." Daniel continued. Jack got the impression this wasn't the first time his friend had thought about this.

"No way Daniel." He said adamantly.

"But Jack…" Daniel started.

"No!" The colonel yelled. He lowered his voice so others couldn't hear what he was about to say. "You're asking me to kiss my 2IC, another man's fiancée. If we were supposed to be together, we would be together. But it's not going to happen, so forget about it. Find another way." He said with finality and Daniel backed off.

It wasn't as if he was against the idea, quite the contrary actually, but he was afraid that letting himself believe - even for only a second - it would work only to have her stay unconscious like she did after the cop kissed her… He didn't think he could handle something like that.

It was a stupid excuse and he knew it. He didn't even believe in things like true love and soul mates, at least not before this whole ordeal happened. Saying you don't believe in something your whole adult life and then to have the contradictory proof in front of you… It troubled him and he didn't know what to think anymore.

Was he scared Sam wouldn't wake up when he kissed her? Or just the opposite: that she would? He couldn't even find the right answer himself. All he knew at the moment was that he wanted her to be happy and he didn't think knowing your CO has a thing for you was going to help making that easier for her. Because no matter what anyone could say, Carter was going to find out if he tried to kiss her.

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"Jack I think you're being completely selfish here." There they went again. This was just one of many heated discussions they'd had since Daniel had first mentioned his idea, which had been yesterday. Jack was getting really tired of it.

"No I'm not Daniel! Did you ever stop to think about the consequences of your little plan? How would this would look on her record? I don't think 'alien influence' is going to get us out of this one. Plus, there's a chance that your little plan doesn't work, what then?" Jack was breathing heavily from rattling that all off.

"And what if it does work?" The archeologist oh so helpfully pointed out.

"You can't know that for sure Daniel!" Jack practically shouted. He was nearing the end of his sanity between worrying about Carter and arguing with Daniel.

His friend was eying him, taking in his appearance and Jack could just see the exact moment he came to a conclusion. Daniel finally understood what was troubling his friend so much and Jack wasn't sure if he liked that or not.

"You're scared aren't you?" He stated more than asked. "You're scared the same will happen to you as what happened to Pete." Jack looked up and for the first time in a long while he admitted that he felt insecure.

"In a way yes." Daniel fell silent and Jack took that as a sign that he had his answer so he walked away, heading to the commissary to get something to eat.

Daniel watched him go. He pitied his friend, he was obviously conflicted and disoriented. It made what he was about to do a little harder on him but Daniel was sure he was doing the right thing, even if Jack didn't see it that way at first. He would thank him later.

Ten minutes later, Daniel was in Hammond's office with Janet.

"Dr. Jackson, dr. Fraiser what was it you two wanted to talk to me about?"

"Sam." Daniel immediately blurted out.

"Major Carter." Janet answered at the same time.

"Has her condition changed?" The general asked concerned.

"No." Janet was quick to reassure him.

"Actually sir, we think we found the solution and it may be a lot closer than we thought." Daniel admitted. The general raised an eyebrow in question.

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"Colonel O'Neill to isolation room 1." A voice called over the intercom. Jack was in the commissary, one of his favorite pies in front of him but he'd barley touched it. He had been trying to make some sense out of what he was feeling but so far he was just as dumb folded as he had been when he started.

He got up, not even bothering to set the pie away and almost ran to the infirmary. Was it Sam? Had she woken up after all? Was she crashing? Out of breath, he came to a halt in the door opening.

Hammond, Daniel, Teal'c and Janet were calmly waiting for him and to his relief the heart monitor by Sam's bed was still beeping at a normal rhythm.

"What's going on?" He asked. He didn't like where this was going.

"Drs Jackson and Fraiser think we might have found a solution." Hammond informed him. Oh he was going to kill Daniel or maybe kiss him, he wasn't sure yet so he settled for.

"Daniel."

"Jack." The younger man mimicked.

"I believe I specifically told you to drop that idea Daniel. It's a bad one."

"Actually," Hammond interrupted, "I thought it was rather good and I believe that it might work." Okay, now he was confused. Hammond okayed it? What was this? A parallel universe?

"Are we talking about the same idea here?" He asked for confirmation. He'd have made a fool of himself if they weren't and he'd gone ahead with it.

"Colonel, I am hereby giving you the order to kiss major Carter." The man looked far too pleased giving that order than any commander should be.

"But sir…" Jack tried.

"Are you going to defy a direct order colonel?" There was that smile again. Hammond was loving this!

"No sir." Jack resigned himself to his fate. But hey, there were worse things than kissing your second right? Even if she was totally going to kick his ass for this. He didn't even want to think what it would be like if this were Daniel or Teal'c. He shuddered at the thought.

Daniel must have thought his hesitation was for a whole other reason because somehow he felt the need to encourage him.

"Jack I wouldn't have done this if I didn't honestly believe it would work." He had the decency to smile sympathetic.

"Thanks I guess." He was still weighing the pros and cons of hitting the archeologist.

"And remember it has to be a true love's kiss, not a peck on the cheek." The infuriating man added. Jack chose not to answer and instead just rolled his eyes.

Janet leaned a little closer to Daniel to whisper in his ear.

"Really?" Daniel turned to her and smiled, way too pleased with himself.

"No but Jack doesn't know that."

They all watched as Jack lowered his lips and kissed Sam full on the lips. Then everything happened at once: The beeping of the heart monitor went up, Jack's legs gave away as he fell to the ground and Sam opened her eyes.

"What happened?" She asked, breathing heavily as she looked to her friends for an answer.

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Sam was resting in her bed, under strict orders from Janet not to move which was ridiculous because she felt fine. The orderlies had moved in another bed in the isolation room where Jack was sleeping in. Janet had told her he'd be fine, he was just unconscious. They suspected it was a side-affect of the device.

Every time she thought about it she could feel her face turning red. The thought that she had to be kissed by her true love and that it had been Jack was embarrassing. She couldn't imagine what he had been going trough.

A knock on the door woke her from her reveries. She looked to see who it was and was somehow shocked it was Pete. Daniel had mentioned he was here but she'd totally forgotten about him, too preoccupied with Jack.

"Pete! What are you doing here?" She hoped she didn't sound as surprised as she thought she did.

"Your friends brought me here but apparently I'm not your true love." He said with a glance at O'Neill's sleeping form.

"Oh god! I'm so sorry Pete." She really was. He was a nice guy, a great boyfriend, just not the right one for her.

"Don't be, you can't help who you fall in love with." He said. She winced at the bitterness in his voice. "Anyway, I just came to say goodbye."

"You're leaving?" Sam asked and this time she did sound surprised.

"You can't beat true love Sam. I'll be alright. I hope you're happy with him." She thought he seemed to be taking it well. Then again, he'd had time to think about it. He must have known something was wrong when his kiss didn't work. She wondered if he knew all along.

A small part of her didn't want him to go. She still loved him but she was not in love with him. God what a cliché! But it was true and she was finally able to admit that to herself.

"Thanks Pete." Was the only thing she could think of to say.

"Goodbye Sam." And he left without looking back.

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It was a couple of hours after Pete had left and Sam was enjoying a chance to relax with Janet and Daniel. They were still in the isolation room and Jack still hadn't woken up. Many people had come by though, wishing her well and informing her they were happy to have her back, though technically she'd never left.

Her eyes were again drawn to the sleeping form on the bed next to her. He always looked so peaceful when he was sleeping. Suddenly his eye twitched and Sam sat a little straighter so she could watch him more intensely. Janet and Daniel caught her movement and followed her gaze.

There it was again. His eye had done the twitching thing again! Sam started to suspect that Jack was trying to fool them into thinking he was still asleep so he could eavesdrop. It wasn't beyond him.

She looked back to Janet and Daniel, they'd noticed it too. Two identical grins appeared on their faces. It meant they were up to something and it probably involved the colonel.

"You know, Jack's been sleeping an awful long time now hasn't he?" Daniel asked innocently though his facial expression told a whole different story.

"Do you think he needs a kiss too?" Janet played along as she joined him on the far side of the colonel's bed. Sam had to stop herself from giggling and she thought she saw the tiniest of twitches around the colonel's mouth.

"I don't know," Daniel replied. "Let me try…" He made a big show of leaning forwards and Jack's hand flew to her friend's chest to stop him.

"Not from you." A completely awake colonel said in a somewhat warning tone.

"Relax Jack, I was only joking." Daniel looked pleased with himself for succeeding in leading Jack around the bush.

"Good afternoon colonel. Glad to see you're awake again." Janet said in a voice that could clearly be described as smug.

"How long was I out for?" The colonel asked, not even noticing Sam. That wasn't really surprising since he had his back partially turned to her.

"A couple of hours. A lot has happened during that time though." The doc replied.

"Really like what?" He asked curiously as well as surprised.

"I'll let Sam tell you all about it." She said with a nod towards the woman in question and she subtly left the room, Daniel hot on her heels to give them some much needed privacy.

"Hi." Sam greeted with a small smile. He looked surprised to find her there.

"Hey." He answered back. It seemed like neither one of them knew how to start.

"So I suppose I should say thank you for saving my life." It actually sounded more dramatic than she intended it to.

"It was nothing." He was quick to reply.

"It wasn't nothing. This wasn't something anyone could have done. It had to be you." There was the blush again. She wished she could stop doing that. She could see he was getting uncomfortable with where this conversation was going, he was fidgeting. Luckily she'd foreseen that.

"Well, I didn't have much choice in the matter, Daniel and the doc were ready to hunt me down and…"

"Jack. Don't do that." The use of his given name stunned him into silence but bells were ringing loudly in alarm in his head. This was dangerous territory.

"Do what?" He asked innocently.

"Pretend like you don't care, that you don't have feelings too." She looked fragile, putting her feelings in the open like that and he hated himself for what he was about to do, what he HAD to do in order to save their careers.

"I don't…" But that was as far as he got, as far as Sam let him get because the next moment she had crossed the space between their beds and had her lips firmly on his. Her hand was gripping his infirmary shirt and she wasn't letting go.

It took great restraint on his part not to wrap his arms around her and pull her to him to show her just how much he cared. But he couldn't do that. Even this kiss was taking it too far.

"Sam, as much as I love you…THIS!" He could hit himself for saying that! He had to focus! "What about Pete? What about the regs?" To his surprise she didn't back off. She calmly went to sit on his bedside and the smile on her face only grew.

"One, Pete and I broke up." She carefully watched his face as he digested the information. He didn't let anything show but his eyes were dancing in joy. She was dying to kiss him again but she had to say this first. "Two, Hammond called the president, turns out the man's a sucker for romance. He gave us permission to start a relationship." The look of wonder and amazement he gave her was one she had never seen before and couldn't describe even if she had wanted to. His smile was infectious and she continued talking on sheer will power. "and three… I love you too."

"In that case…" His hand flew to the back of her head and drew her nearer. Their lips met once again and this time it was even better because he was kissing her back and it was no longer illegal. They were free!

She was lying on top of him and he had his tongue in her mouth. His hand was cupping her ass while the other was still in her hair, angling her head to get better access. She was moaning, hands raking over his chest and stomach. He growled in pleasure.

When the need to breathe grew too much they broke apart and Sam was surprised to see worry etched on Jack's face. She'd expected him to be happy, not worried!

"What's wrong?" She asked, getting worried herself.

"How can you be sure this'll work out okay?" She could've smacked him right then. For all the wonderful things he was he could say or think the most outrageous things.

"Jack, this is true love. You think it happens every day?"

THE END

Okay so I couldn't resist putting in that line from 'The Princess Bride'. I hope you guys don't hold it against me :p.