A/N: Thank for all the reviews guys! They make me so happy! *cries happily*. Sam whumpage in this chapter - just a warning. Please review - make my day… night…. Its 00:40 here…

No beta - all mistakes are my own.

2

Sam raised her head and looked towards the door. Even though the person had said her name softly, they had startled her. She looked at him with wide eyes.

"Jack?" she asked, just as softly, as she stood up and straightened her clothes, smoothing out the creases. She had taken the clothes out of one of the boxes she hadn't yet unpacked at her new house. She knew that they needed ironed, and possibly washed for that matter, but they were the best she had to work with.

"You're Dr. Carter?" he asked, pointing towards her. He noticed that she looked tired and there were dark circles under her eyes. He wondered how much sleep, if any, she had gotten the previous night. He couldn't imagine what she was going through.

"Yes, I am," she said while looking at the floor and crossing her arms over her chest. Suddenly she was self conscious. Why did he have to work at the mountain too? Wasn't it bad enough that she had met him while upset? Did she really have to imprint a bad picture of herself into his memory? She kicked herself mentally for being a mess again.

"Did you get a place to stay?" he asked her quietly as he walked over to her, and watched as she took a step away from him. Not for the first time he wondered if her relationship with her now ex-fiancé was abusive. A quick glance at her told him that she wasn't physically injured, but he knew that mental and emotional abuse was just as bad.

"I did. Thank you. I'll get your jacket back to you soon. I promise," she said, still refusing to meet his gaze. She willed him to leave and let her wallow in self pity alone. She really didn't want an audience. She had noticed his friend in the doorway and silently pleaded he would leave too.

"Are you okay?" he asked, signalling Kawalsky to leave. Jack heard his friend leave the room and walk down the corridor. He saw Sam visibly relax at having one less person witness her awkwardness.

"Fine," she said, taking another step away. She had to put distance between them, at least half the room.

"SAMANTHA CARTER!" a voice boomed down the corridor and into the lab. Jack couldn't help but notice Sam flinch and shrink into herself even more.

Jack turned to face the door as an angry, red faced man stormed in. Jack raised his eyebrows at him.

"Something we can help you with?" Jack asked him, annoyed at being interrupted, especially by someone of lower rank than he was.

"You," the angry, red faced man pointed at Sam, "Never came home last night. Where the hell were you?!"

Jack cleared his throat loudly, grabbing the other man's attention. He glared at Jack, a vein thumping in his neck.

"What?" he snapped.

"It's rude to interrupt people when they're having a conversation," Jack said, trying to keep his tone light.

"Who the hell are you?" Jonas threw back.

"Colonel Jack O'Neill, Hammond's Second. And you are?"

"Captain Jonas Hansen, Sir!" Jonas saluted him. Jack lazily saluted him back, his anger shining in his eyes, he didn't know much about the woman in the room, but from what Jonas had said, he was her fiancé. Ex fiancé.

"Do you mind, Captain?" Jack asked, pointing towards the door, indicating that he really wanted the other man to leave.

"Just wanted to see if she was alright Sir, she didn't come home last night," Jonas replied, staying rooted to the floor.

"This is the douche who cheated on you?" he asked Sam, while pointing to the other man in the room. Sam flinched again.

"You whore! You went home with him, didn't you?"

Sam's arms fell limp at her sides and her mouth fell open. She couldn't believe he would talk to her like that in front of another person. It was one thing for him to talk to her like that when they were alone. Anger flared in her eyes as she glared at him. How dare he embarrass her like that!

"HEY!" Jack shouted at him. "You do NOT speak to her like that! And no, she did not come home with me last night. Not that it would be any of your business. Get out! NOW!" he pointed towards the door and watched as Jonas reluctantly left, glaring at Sam before he did.

"Please don't get involved in this," Sam begged him quietly. "Please leave."

"Sam…"

"Colonel. Please leave. I'll bring your jacket in tomorrow. I can fight my own battles."

"What did you see in him?" he asked her, genuinely curious.

"Not that its any of you business Colonel, but he never used to be like this," she sighed.

"Do you want me to ban him from this area?"

"I can do that myself, I don't need you to protect me," she told him as she crossed her arms over her chest again.

"Just trying to help," Jack said, holding his hands up in defeat.

"I appreciate that, but I can handle him myself. Now that I know you work here, I'll bring your jacket in tomorrow and I wont bother you again."

Jack looked at her with pleading eyes, but she refused to meet his gaze, instead keeping her eyes on the floor.

Sighing heavily, he looked around the room. He grabbed her notepad from the bench and took a pen from his pocket. Taking his time, he wrote down his address and phone number.

"Anytime you wanna talk," he said softly, making her raise her eyes to meet his. "This is how you can reach me," he told her while holding out the notepad before putting it back on the bench.

Silently he left the room. Once she was sure he was gone, Sam grabbed the notepad and tore off the page he had written on. Folding it in half, then half again she put the page in her front pocket. She knew that, one day, she might need it. She just hoped she didn't.

She shoved it deeper into her pocket and willed it to stay there for the rest of the day.

Jonas could not find out about it.

She feared what he would do if he did.

SJ

At the end of the day Sam walked to her car and unlocked the door. She was pushed up against it before she could reach the handle. An arm over the back of her neck held her in place.

"What the hell are you playing at?" Jonas seethed, spraying spittle over the exposed skin of her back, her long hair now in a ponytail.

"Get off!" she managed to breathe out.

"You're sleeping with him, aren't you?" he accused, pushing harder on her neck.

"You're sleeping with her, aren't you?" she shot back, before he banged her head against the roof of the car, making her dizzy and her vision blur.

"You're a good for nothing dirty whore Sam, I'm glad I left you," he growled in her ear before pushing her roughly against the car, the mirror catching her side and breaking off. Tears fell from her eyes as he left. She picked up her broken mirror from the ground and cradled it to her chest.

What had she seen in him? Had he always been an abusive partner like her father had told her?

Gingerly she got in to her car and pulled the piece of paper from her pocket with shaking hands. She looked at the address and held the paper tightly in her hand as she tried and failed to start the car. Finally she got the engine to turn over.

One thing Samantha Carter hated doing was admitting defeat. But she knew, that this time, she would have to if she wanted to be safe and alive. She knew what Jonas was capable of, he had hit her before, and she had been stupid enough to forgive him. But this time she was scared for her life. He had well and truly snapped. And she would never forgive him, or give him another chance. He'd had too many.

Almost blindly, she navigated the streets until, finally - after getting lost several times - she found the house she was looking for. She knew, somehow, that Colonel Jack O'Neill was her only friend in the Springs, and the only person she could turn to. And she was glad he was male.

For once in her life, she saw herself as the damsel in distress. She needed to be protected. And she hated it. Could she really depend on this stranger to take care of her?

She sat in her car for a long time once finding his house, examining her face in the rear view mirror. Already it had started to swell and bruise. A small river of blood streaked its way down her face from her hairline. God she was a mess. Could she really turn up on his door step looking the way she did?

She knew she couldn't go back to the hotel looking the way that she did. What would everyone think of her? Walking in, with bruises and blood on her face, into the expensive and upmarket hotel? They would probably want to kick her out. Then she would have to find somewhere else to stay and she would be lucky to get her money back.

Taking a deep breath she climbed out of the car and closed her door as quietly as she could. There was no point in making a lot of noise and alerting him to her presence if she was going to change her mind at the last minute.

Looking at the slip of paper again, she double checked she had the right place. What would he think of her turning up on his door step all battered and bruised? Would he think her weak? Useless? Deserving of a good beating? Would he pity her?

With tears in her eyes, she knew her options were limited. He had given her his address. That meant he wanted to help. Right?

Slowly she walked up to the door and timidly knocked. She waited for a few moments, knowing he was home, there was a truck in the drive that she somehow knew was his.

Fear suddenly washed over her in a tidal wave. What would his wife think when she saw her standing there asking for her husbands help? Did he have kids? She would scare them turning up looking the way she did.

Scared at what potentially waited on the other side of the door, Sam gulped and turned away from the house. She had ran halfway back to her car when she heard the door open behind her.

Not for the first time in her life, she wished she could turn herself invisible. She knew that, unless he had suddenly gone blind, that he would see her trying to run away.

"Sam?" he called, making her stop in her tracks.

Sam hung her head and refused to turn around. She hoped that if she stayed still long enough she would blend in to her surroundings and that he wouldn't see her and go back inside.

A hand on her shoulder told her that she still wasn't magic, like she had wished she was.

"Sam? Are you okay?" he asked, turning her around to face him. She heard him take a sharp intake of breath when he saw her face and the damage that had been done since he had last seen her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know where else to go," she whispered as he gently pulled her up the path leading to his house.