Disclaimer: If you know it, I don't own it. As this touches on Sam and Jack's relationship over the years, there will be a lot you know with a new twist on it.

...

He grabbed another Guinness from his fridge before heading outside to watch the stars. He couldn't keep his mind from wondering to the events of the last couple of days. Was it horrible that he actually was grateful for the SGC being taken over by a virus that made them regress to Neanderthals? It released their inhibitions. Carter had kissed him. Although she wasn't quite herself, he had felt the hidden passion that they had once had. For a split second, he always let her take over and surrender to the feelings that they had both been hiding, but he had to be the responsible commanding officer. Dr. Frasier said that Carter acted the way she did because she saw him as the leader of the pack, the dominant male, but he knew otherwise. It was just the freedom of her inhibitions that let her act on suppressed feelings.

It had only been a couple of missions prior where he thought that he had lost her forever. She had been kidnapped out of her tent while the boys had been invited to a little shin-dig. Some creep thought that he could use her exceptional beauty to buy another girl. That thought just sickened him. Carter's beauty was a thing to be respected and cherished, not taken for granted. Oh look, now his fantasies were making him see things. He was picturing Carter climbing the ladder up to his platform on the roof like she had done so many times in the past. Wait, no, it really was Carter.

"Hi, sir. Am I interrupting?"

"You? Never? But to what do I owe this visit?"

"I wanted to apologize once again for my actions this week."

"Think nothing of it."

"I can't do that, sir. The truth is, I enjoyed it a little too much. I still miss you sometimes, you know. There are still nights that I dream that we never got stationed at the SGC. I guess a part of me hoped that this would be easier, you know, even though the logical part of me knew that it never would."

"Are you having second thoughts about this?"

"Not really. I love having this opportunity to work side by side with you, knowing the contributions we are making. With that being said, there will always be a part of me that will still wonder. You?"

"The same."

"Well, I should probably get going. It is too beautiful of a night to be out here star-gazing with you."

As she climbed back down the ladder, he couldn't help but sigh. To some, her last statement might have sounded like an excuse to blow him off, but again, he knew her better than that and completely agreed. In the past, nights like this had been the most romantic. He would hold her close and kiss her gently as they sat beneath the glittering stars. Astronomy was a love that they shared, and that made the moments that much more special. For her to have stayed, it would have just reminded them both of the things they could not have at the moment. It would have been too heartbreaking, so he just let her go.

Her heart was pounding as she walked away from his house. There was nothing that she wanted more than to have stayed, to have it be like it once was, but she knew that was an unobtainable goal at this moment in time. At least they could still be good friends. They could still joke around like they used to do. They could still make each other smile. There was still that unspoken connection between them that cannot be easily broken. That was the best part of being in a relationship anyways. Sure, she wanted nothing more than to take him in her arms when one of his best friends, Kawalksy, died. She wanted nothing more than to kiss away his grief and fears. Even still, she knew that he knew she felt that way, and that made all the difference.

...

A couple of months later, the two of them found themselves stranded in Antarctica. Of course, neither of them knew that they were in Antarctica at the time. They were isolated, alone. Even though he was injured, he wanted nothing more than to give in and show her the feelings he still held deep in his heart for her. He also knew, though, that if they gave in even once, even in a place where they would never get caught, it would be the end of all they worked to achieve. Even though it killed him inside, he kept the role of supportive C.O. He knew that she was too preoccupied with his injuries anyways. The best thing that he could do at the moment was keep on joking, try to keep her spirits up.

To say that he thought he was going to die would be an understatement. He knew that his life was drawing to an end. His only wish was that she would survive to live another day. He would have ordered anyone under his command to leave him, find help, survive, but the fact that it was Carter made him that much more determined. When given the choice, he would gladly die so that Carter may live. There would be no question about it.

She knew what he was doing. There wasn't an ounce of her that wanted to leave him there alone, but it wasn't hard to see that their only chance of survival in the long run would be for her to try to find help and bring it back to him. She knew that if she waited much longer, her strength and energy would diminish to the point that finding help would be impossible.

When she reached the surface and realized that finding help was going to be impossible, she slid back down to the cavern. Now injured herself, she made her way back to Jack's side and held him tight. Sure, he called her Sara. He did that sometimes when an event triggered a flashback to his black-op days. That didn't diminish the love that she had for him or the love that she knew he had for her. She couldn't help but thinking that although they surely were going to die, at least she got to die side by side with the man she loved the most. Slowly, she closed her eyes and let the darkness creep in.

Rescue came shortly after, and both of them were going to make a full recovery. This mission would never be forgotten, though, and it served to just strength the already solid bond the two shared together.