Chapter 2: Decisions

Author's Notes: Sam's been missing for four months. Jack blames himself and after countless unsuccessful leads, he is beginning to loose all hope of ever finding her.

That I love you
I have loved you all along
And I miss you
Been far away for far too long

As Jack walked into Daniel's lab, the scientist looked up at his arrival. He didn't need to say anything, he could see the look in Jack's eyes begging him for good news.

"I honestly think we may have found her Jack."

Jack raised his eyes in a 'cut to the chase' kind of way.

"I have an associate in England who I met thought the Stargate programme and I keep in contact with her a lot and she um… she phoned earlier today to ask me whether I was in England."

Jack gave him another look that told him to get the part about finding Sam.

"Yeah, anyway, um, I told her I wasn't and asked her why she thought that and she told me she'd seen a member of my team in the hotel she was staying at for a conference. I asked her who it was…"

He took a breath, "she saw Sam Jack. I asked her whether she was sure and she said there was no doubt about it. It was Sam. She works as a liaison between our government and that of Britain and she'd seen pictures of all of us and she knew what Sam looked like and she said it was definitely her."

Out of all the leads they had followed, nearly all of which had been on other planets, none had ever actually said it was definitely Sam. When they had shown the photo to the people who had given them the lead they always said something along the lines of… 'Well, I think that was her', or 'yeah she looked a bit like that', and none had ever been as sure as the lead that had been placed in front of them now.

Jack looked at Daniel, "You trust this woman?"

"Yes" he replied simply.

Jack took a deep breath, could this be the lead that would bring him to her? Prove to him that she wasn't dead?

"I'll be back in a minute, get me all the information you have on this lead." Jack yelled behind him as he sped towards the door.

"Jack! Where're you going Jack!"

"To get a flight to England"

So many questions were swirling around his mind as he sat on the plane from Washington DC to London, Heathrow. Every second he was getting closer to her… or was he. Was this going to be yet another bust? OF all the places this had been the most strange to him. Why England? Why a hotel? Why Earth?! She was part of the Planet's most elite top secret team who travelled to other planets on a weekly basis… why had whoever had taken her kept her on earth when there were countless planets out there, most of which had never been explored by the SGC.

These thoughts lead him to ponder the idea that whoever had taken her knew what they were doing. With so many planets out there, another country on Earth would surely have been the last place they would have thought of looking for her.

Jack was broken out of his musings by the announcement that they were only about 5 minutes from landing. The flight had gone by much quicker than he had anticipated, mostly due to the fact that he had been lost in thoughts and memories of Sam, forbidden thoughts and memories that could possibly be the only thing that he would have if he couldn't find her.

Anyone walking past him would have barely given a second glance to the man sitting in the black jeep parked outside the large rural hotel. They had no idea of the internal struggle that was going on inside of him.

Jack had been sat outside the hotel in his rented jeep for fifteen minutes and hadn't moved since he had arrived. Part of him was aching to go inside, to find Sam and wrap his arms around her… promise her that he would never let her go. But the other part of him couldn't bear to go though the agony and emotional pain of finding out the lead was another dead end.

He looked up from the steering wheel and surveyed the exterior of the hotel. Its white painted bricks and deep brown wooden framework. The hotel was a picture of quiet tranquillity with its colourful flower baskets hanging either side of the entrance and the window boxes full of more flowers.

He made up his mind and opened the door, stepping out of the car. It was now or never.

He walked up to the entrance and through the large oak doors. He lifted his sunglasses onto the top of his head and looked around as he entered. A large wooden staircase lead up to the first floor, the walls were covered with wooden panels along the bottom half and a royal, fir tree kind of green was the colour that adorned the top half of the wall. The place had an air of old-fashioned serenity about it and as he looked to his left he saw a large reception desk.

As he walked up to the counter he was greeted with a pleasant smile from the woman behind the counter.

"Good morning sir, how can I help you?"

"Yeah… um…" Jack took a breath as he pulled the picture of Sam out of the pocket on this inside of his jacket.

"I know you probably get a lot of customers here but… I was wondering if you'd seen this woman…" Jack unwittingly held his breath as he showed the woman the picture.

The woman looked at the picture and then up at Jack.

"She's not a customer…"

Jack almost felt his heart crack and the world around him seem to disappear. He wanted to break down and scream at the heavens begging them to tell him why he was being punished.

"…she works here."

Jack barely registered what the receptionist had said.

"I'm sorry?" Jack spoke, barely above a whisper.

"Yeah, she's a waitress here."

Jack looked at her and spoke, "are you sure… this woman…"

"Yeah, Kate Carter, she's been working here about two months."

Jack wondered whether this was what it felt like to step into the Twighlight Zone… this was NOT what he was expecting.

"She's working in the restaurant today if you wanted to talk to her."

"No…" Jack spoke suddenly. Something wasn't right here… it couldn't be the same woman…

He thought for a moment and decided he couldn't walk away, and yet, he couldn't just walk up to this woman who looked like Sam, well according to the receptionist AND Daniel's associate, when things were becoming more and more strange by the second.

Instead he asked if there were any tables free in the restaurant and decided that, rather than walking up to her he should see what was going on first hand.

The receptionist booked him a table and took him through to the restaurant. If was fairly busy, but not overly so and he was seated next to a window with a clear view of the room. She was nowhere to be seen and the woman left him with a menu and told him a waitress would be along to take his order shortly.

He looked at the menu, but did not see the list of foods upon it… he was too lost in trying to comprehend what was going on.

"Good morning", a female voice spoke to him. A female voice that made his heart skip a beat. He looked up and saw her standing over him smiling...

Sam Carter…

… and yet… the smile held no sign of recognition… no sign that she had even a slight clue as to who he was.

I keep dreaming you'll be with me
and you'll never go
Stop breathing if
I don't see you anymore

So… what do you think of that twist!