A/N: Hey everyone! Thanks for reading/reviewing/following! Glad you guys like it so far.

Chapter 2

The door, along with that part of my life, slammed shut. I sit in the nearby chair in my living room and take a swig of my drink, wishing it was something much stronger. Oddly enough it seems like what just happened was done in an automatic way, as though I was on auto-pilot or watching what happened outside of my body. Yet I know that it was the right thing to do, and I don't regret it. Better now rather than to go through with the wedding. That would be even worse. As safe as Pete was, safe wasn't going to make me happy. Simply content and as much as I've seen and been through, I need to be more than content for once. I know what I want and I know what I need to do. But despite me being this tough soldier that I have always aimed at projecting, I'm scared...no I'm terrified to take the next step in the right direction.

What if all my feelings were wrong or unrequited? What if I end up making the biggest mistake of my life? Because in all actuality, that is what it would amount to. The biggest mistake of my life. If I am wrong, then not only will my personal life suffer for it, but so to will my professional life. Talk about a calculated risk, that's what this was for sure. Although I can't help be nervous, I am fairly confident that my feelings are a two way street. If I have to make the first move, then so be it. There has been plenty of signs in the past that I'm not the only one willing to give something new and different a try. Because everything else has been a dead end for the both of us.

Placing my glass on the tap, the light reflects off of the engagement ring that Pete gave me. I can't help but wince as I see that an hour has barely passed since he left. I haven't even removed the ring that was supposed to mean so much to me and yet here I was thinking about someone else. To an outsider I would look like some kind of conniving and selfish woman. And maybe that's true to a certain extent. People will always judge me, they have with every other choice that I've ever made, but they don't know my heart. And in my heart I know I would never do something with malice or cruel intentions to Pete or anyone else.

I close my eyes and lean back into my chair. Looking at the clock, I'm relieved that tomorrow is a down day. One that I will actually stay home for for once. Tomorrow I will take the first step to happiness. Sighing deeply, I start to let my mind drift. The moment I do the phone chooses to make it's shrill and demanding sound. It could only be less than a handful of people, and in my line of work I can't really afford to miss any calls purposefully. It rings a few more times before I grab the phone from it's cradle.

"Hello."

"Hey Carter, want to come back to work early?" Colonel O'Neill speas carefree and somewhat jovial. Biting back a sigh of frustration I readily supply a response.

"Of course, always ready to serve. Home grown incident or outsourced incident?" I ask, attempting to mask me outright asking if the issue involves going off world or not. Never know who could be listening.

"You know how these things go Carter, while mommy is awhile the kids will play and make a mess of things." Colonel seemed to be taking too much pleasure from this.

"Right, I guess that's better than the alternative. Technically. Be there in ten sir." I responded before hanging up.

Oh yeah, I'm definitely glad tomorrow is a down day.

As I go past the security checkpoints on base, I notice that most of the personnel is elsewhere. Glancing at my watch, I didn't realize how much time had passed. It was two hours from midnight, and here I am back where I started my day. I love this place but yet I hate it at the same time.

A passing airman salutes me and says hello. I return it quickly as I enter into the elevator to go down to where the labs are. The elevator doors slide open and what I see is slowly turning into organized chaos. Steam is flowing out from one of the rooms and a guard is standing by with some sort of oversized water hose. Of course one of the technicians blew something up, they never seem to be able to do anything else quite as well as that.

Turning the corner Felger is the first to see me. Rushing up to my side he is quick to try and pacify the situation. "Major Carter, this is not what it looks like."

"So you're telling me one of you didn't blow up something in the lab and that fire over there is not really burning?"

"Ok, so it's exactly what it looks like, but it was an accident." Felger stumbled over his words.

"It always is Felger. Lets hurry up and clean up this mess." I pat Felger and begin to access the damage.

After about two hours of clean up and damage control, the lab is back in order and everything locked away to where it's supposed to be. I ended sending everyone home except for Felger at the end. Too many helping hands ended up slowing things down even further. Felger took in a deep breath and sighed, wiping his hands together.

"Well, that wasn't so bad."

"I guess. Let's just call it a day shall we?" I can't help but mentally add that I already had called it a day about six hours ago.

"Right. Goodnight Major Carter." Felger grabbed his things and left the lab and I followed suit.

Arriving back home, I immediately head up stairs, jump in the shower and crash in bed. Tomorrow is going to be a big day and I need to be fully rested for it.

Waking up, I stretch and glance at the clock on my bed. 10:04a. Slept longer than my usual time, but I still feel restless and am beginning to feel more anxious by the minute. Maybe that's a sign that I shouldn't do anything. Maybe I'm making too big of an assumption in how much my feelings may be reciprocated.

Today is my day off, I don't need to spend it stressing myself out needlessly. I just need to calm down and relax. I'll just stay home and watch a movie or read a book that I haven't been able to get to. There will always be another day to let my feelings be known.

With my mind made up, I scoot off the bed and get dressed to go downstairs to eat. Looking in my fridge, I can almost imagine a dust ball rolling around in it as it's practically empty. Taking a deep sigh, I realize if I want to eat at all today, I will have to go grocery shopping and restock. Grabbing my purse and keys, I jump into my car and make my way to the local grocery store.

Once in the supermarket, I grab a cart and begin to make my way down the aisles. I randomly grab things I think I will want later. I go up and down each aisle and am about to turn onto the ice cream aisle. I quickly come to a halt as I see none other than Colonel O'Neill walking slowly and pausing at one of the freezers.

My mind goes back to earlier this morning when I had talked myself out of confessing my true feelings. Is this another sign? A true sign this time? Look at me, I'm a Major in a highly classified military operation whofights aliens and I can't even bring myself to open myself up. And the pain I know I caused Pete should at least have a reason behind it. And it does. So that reason must be followed up with.

Taking a deep breath, I hurry up past the lane to avoid Colonel O'Neill. I will put an end to all these years of confusion and standstill one way or another.

"Paper or plastic ma'am?" The cashier snaps me back to reality.

"Paper is fine, thanks."

Finishing up with the last of my gorcerires, I pay for everything and push my cart to my car. The earlier feelings of anxiety are slowly creeping up on me. I just want to go and tell him my feelings as soon as possible. It takes everything inside of me to drive in the direction of my house instead.

A/N: So I was going to keep going, but I feel like I am moving too fast. Hope you guys liked it. If not feel free to criticise away! I'm trying to update at least once a week, so hopefully I'll have another chapter up by next sunday but if not, well quality is better than quantity right? :)