Author's Note:

Thank you to those who reviewed the first chapter - glad you enjoyed the beginning. Hope you like this new chapter - unbeta'd as usual so please forgive any errors.

Chapter 2: Two Turtle Doves

"Love, like a river, will cut a new path whenever it meets an obstacle."

Crystal Middlemas

"What the hell?" Jack O'Neill squinted into the darkness, finding nothing familiar aside from the silhouette of Samantha Carter standing in front of him. "Carter?" he queried, that one word demanding an explanation.

"I don't know Sir," Sam replied, her tone a combination of puzzled and annoyed over not having an immediate answer.

"Can you at least hazard a guess?"

"We're not at the SGC anymore," the Captain stated the obvious.

"Well even I can see that," Jack retorted impatiently. "Why are we not at the SGC anymore?"

"That device must act as a kind of transporter," Sam suggested. "You activated it somehow."

"Me?" Jack frowned.

"When you touched it," Sam expanded.

"It wasn't me," he sounded like a petulant child refusing to take the blame for breaking something, but it was all he had. Since he'd barely even looked at Carter's "toy" it seemed more than a little unfair she was blaming him for their current situation.

"Ah, sorry Sir, but it must have been," Sam replied.

"No it mustn't," Jack retorted. "All I did was touch the damn thing for a second."

"I'm not sure how but it's the only explanation that makes any sense," Carter insisted. "Prior to your arrival I'd made repeated contact with the device over a span of hours and attempted to power it up using every available option. The device was completely dormant until you touched it."

"So you're saying I'm some kind of … battery for alien devices?" Jack asked, sceptical.

"I wouldn't say that, although clearly something about you did have an effect," Sam's tone shifted into scientific revelation, her manner one Jack had become too familiar with. She'd sprout some probably brilliant and illuminating explanations that he wouldn't understand a word of - mostly because he found it hard to concentrate on what she was saying when she got all flushed and glowy with 'geek' excitement. "The only power source big enough to effect a full matter transportation is the Stargate itself. Without being able to run tests I can't say for sure, but I believe that the device interacted with the gate system. It would have taken at least a few minutes to resupply SG-0 so it's possible their wormhole was still open."

"That device created a wormhole and sucked us … here?" That didn't sound good. His vision had adjusted to the darkness enough that he'd begun to make out a few details. They were in what looked like a storage facility – lots of boxes surrounding them and fading off into the distance. "And where exactly is here?"

"At this point I don't know Sir," Sam replied grimly.

"Just great," Jack muttered, turning away, his thoughts circling. It was too soon since the last time he'd been stuck in a remote location with Samantha Carter. He hadn't completely rebuilt his defences and the last thing he needed was more of the same. She distracted the hell out of him and he was more than a little surprised she hadn't worked that out.

"I don't suppose you have a torch on you, do you Sir?" Sam asked hopefully.

"This was an unexpected trip Carter," Jack returned. "I packed light."

"I'm sorry Sir."

"Since you just finished telling me this is my fault I don't think apologies are necessary," Jack said sarcastically. "Just tell me you have an idea for getting us home."

"There's no sign of the device and we don't have any idea where we are," Sam summarised their predicament succinctly.

"So that's a no then," Jack quipped. He thought for a moment. "So if you did know where we were, would you be able to get us home?"

"If we can find a Stargate, yes," Sam hesitated before continuing. "I hate to say it Sir –"

"Then don't," Jack interrupted.

Sam smiled and then shook her head. "I don't think it's an accident we're here – wherever here is. There wasn't an option to choose a destination. Clearly we're not where Teal'c and the others went, and I think it's unlikely we're on P5E-343 either. If that device was programmed to come here, specifically I mean, then it's probably because this planet doesn't have a Stargate. Maybe there's a connection to 343, but I can't guess what it might be."

"We're stuck here?" Jack cut to the chase.

"There's always hope Sir," Sam replied diplomatically. "We could be somewhere on Earth …"

Like last time. Neither of them spoke the words although their unplanned trip to Antarctica was at the forefront of both their minds.

"The device is still in my lab – as soon as they realise we're missing General Hammond will assign someone to investigate," Carter reminded him. "Doctor Lee will at the very least look at what I was working on last. With any luck there will be some evidence of our location for him to find."

"Yes … with any luck," Jack repeated carefully. Turning away he thrust his hands into his pockets, frustration stiffening his posture. Great as he thought Carter was – and let's face it, his regard for her was way up there – he didn't want to be stranded with her. That close, spending the kind of hours together you did when you were in a difficult situation and only had each other to rely on, was too big a risk. He'd let something slip and then she'd know his distraction around her had little to do with being 'too dumb' to understand her and way too much to do with being very attracted to her. He was her commanding officer – he didn't get to be attracted to her. Even if that wasn't the case, she deserved someone way better than a man with a core of darkness fuelled by tragic mistakes and past actions.

It must have been very early morning when they'd arrived. Now, sunlight hit the windows high in the nearest wall, sending welcome light inside to illuminate their surroundings. Jack had been right – they were in a storage facility full of crates stacked in rows around them. His eyes went straight to the printing on the outside and his shoulders slumped a little as he registered the details. He didn't need Daniel to tell him the language, whatever the hell it said, wasn't from anywhere on Earth.

He and Carter really were stranded, alone, off world, together.

"Let's find a way out of here," Jack ordered, moving forward. Carter hesitated and then fell into step beside him.

TBC