6After Affinity:

C2 'Too Late'

A/N: As the Stargate Turns, Jack and Sam stopped playing Halo-2 for X-Box to speak about their feelings.

Jack's House

His eyes fell on the delicate yet toned line of her shoulder down to the tip of her fingers. He thought to himself, she is perfect.

"Sir, are you ok?" Sam looked a little taken back when she seen the tears forming in General Jack O'Neal's eyes. What is he thinking about and why won't he tell me?

"What was the other reason you were talking about?" Jack questioned her.

"Oh, there was something I wanted to talk to you about. I know we have avoided it in the past because of our work at the SGC and the military. Do you know what I am talking about?" Sam pulled her legs up onto the couch and turned sideways to face him.

"That the fragmentation grenades need to be altered for adherence abilities?" He paused then set the controller down as his smirk changed to a serious expression. "Carter, do I ever know what you're talking about?"

"I mean us, you and me and how we feel." Sam looked down at her hands then back up into his eyes that held a deeper tone of feeling then his words.

"Well, I thought the 'us' turned into the you and your cop." Jack took a drink of his beer.

"Sir," Sam leaned forward, "Jack, do you remember when I asked you if things were different? You said something about you would not be here, talking about the SGC. What did you mean?"

"Carter, this may not be a good time or topic for that matter." Jack stood up and walked back and forth a few steps.

Sam came off the couch and stood in front of him with a longing in her eyes that melted his anxiety. He wanted to hold her; he wanted to protect her as his own knowing that she could take care of herself. She knew all of his faults and shortcomings, but still admired and trusted in him. How easy it would be to spout out how wrong for her the evil Pete was, but the truth was that Pete was not a bad guy. He was just the guy who would take her away for him once and for all.

Sam grabbed his forearms and fixed her sapphire eyes to his. "Talk to me, or if you can't think of what to say just start saying what you are thinking right now before it's too late."

"It already is." Jack spoke in a low deep voice as he allowed himself to release the tension he was holding in and the expression in his eyes told there was a lot he was not saying. Jack thought, This feels like an episode of Sex and the City with Carrie and Big talking…or Ayden for that matter.

Jack took a step away, but Sam held on to him. "No, it's not. I know Anise is staying here with you sometimes, and I am engaged to Pete. Forget all of that and just talk to me, no one is here except us. Tell me what your thinking or how you feel about 'us'."

Jack looked up at he ceiling then back around the room, "Don't tell me you're running off with the Russian to Paris, but you wish it was Big?"

Sam had no idea what he was talking about. "I'm going to Paris with a Russian? I wish that Paris was big or did you mean the Russian? I just don't follow this correlation."

Jack reached one hand over and tapped a tape he had recorded for Anise that was labeled, Sex and the City. "You know Paris with the Russian who is taking her away from her home?"

Sam continued to look amused and shook her head with a smirk of her own, "Jack, this is no time to be talking about Debbie does Dallas or Sex and the City or what ever it is."

"What?" Jack looked confused.

"Porn." Sam concluded.

"No porn."

"That's what I was saying enough with pornography. This is no time for talk about porn." Sam smiled, "Not know anyway."

"No, you don't understand. This is not porn. This is a HBO show about women living in New York and oh never mind."

"Oh, I think I heard about this. Janet said it was funny to watch, but she said she cared about their lives as if they were friends. To think about it, I remember Dottie talking about it too. Wait, you record a show about women living in New York?"

"Let's just not talk. It always gets in the way then there's always misunderstandings."

Sam started thinking over why she had told Pete yes. "Ok, I'll start. I had a hard time making the decision to give Pete an answer one way or the other. There are not many guys that could handle what my job is. And how easily it would be for me to never go home and just stay at the SGC. That makes me think about children again. Remember what I told you before about dropping a kid at daycare, then go off to another world, and fight evil aliens? I don't want to cause my child or children to go through what I did growing up. My dad was always gone. I just can't see myself doing that." She paused then continued.

"Now that makes me think about you. You have taken a position as General and don't go off world that much. If I had a family, I would then have to consider just staying mainly on base and not going on any missions. I see the look in your eyes when you send us off. You look like you're barely able to control yourself from grabbing gear and following us. I would probably feel the same way. Before I found out about the Stargate, my main ambition was to explore outer space. It's a weekly or daily thing for me now. I have already accomplished the goal I set for my life. I was so set on that I never came up with anything else that was as enormous for myself to accomplish…Now what?" She let go of his other arm and wiped a tear off of her cheek. "All this makes me think of Janet too. Tell me I am not alone in this. Tell me that you have feelings for me too or have at least thought about us being something more permanent and how that would change our lives. My life is already going to change if I keep on the way things are going. I just thought if things are going to change, why not change them with you. This could be my next goal to have a life not just work."

Jack was hit with the enormity of thought she had put into the subject, but he was not surprised. He had so much he wanted her to know, but no words would form in his mouth. He felt as if he was falling into her eyes; a liquid pool of expanding waters where the depths exceed on forever in a wealth of accepting. He found himself face to face for the first time in his life with a woman he found to be perfect in many ways, but lacked the words he was never good at using. Frustration bit at his mind as he struggled for a way to tell her that he had wanted for years to hear the things she was saying now. What he needed though was not words, but actions…he was very good at actions.

He took in a breath and allowed himself to be real in the moment without any subterfuge, without any witty phrases or misdirection calculated to appear he held no serious thoughts in what was being discussed. He was himself, Jack with all the build up of the past years he had known Samantha Carter. He was determined to speak to her openly from the heart as best he could. He took another breath and thought, Here goes noting…

He opened his mouth to speak as his eyes already reveled what he was feeling.

Sam's cell phone rang again. It kept ringing, and she looked at it as did Jack.

Sam listened to a little song play as her cell phone's new ring tone. "Ignore it."

Jack let out a sigh and continued to stair at the phone that had stopped ringing at that point. "Sam…" The cell phone cut him off again as he took a deep breath of defeat.

Sam picked up her cell and answered it, "Just hold that thought, hello? Hi, yea, ok." She paused and listened to the person talk.

Jack stood up and went to the restroom. He shut the door and stood peering into the mirror at himself. While staring at himself in the mirror, he thought all the things he wanted and wished he could say to Sam. All of his emotions flooded as a single tear fell down his face. He took a deep breath and splashed water on his face. He had tried to distance himself only to fall into this trap about talking about feelings. This was tearing him up inside.

Jack entered the living room as Sam walked in. She walked up to him, and took his hands in hers. "Now where were we?"

Jack stiffened his shoulders as he spoke in a deep tone, "We were too late."

Sam blinked her eyes several times. "Just ignore the rest of the world and just think of what could be between us."

Jack tried to remain in control of his actions as a defeated persona swept over him. "To ignore reality, by definition is insanity."

AN: Not the end, but the start of the show Covenant. The story will come back after Covenant to see what happens next. We will be back next time As the Stargate Turns.

So how did that go? I know the next show is Covenant (which makes me think of the Halo game cause of the name Covenant du? yeaaaa!) where the guy makes a Thor clone in a way…I wonder if the ship they fly when they take him off world is similar to a Banshee from Halo in the way you control and do stunts. I will have to go back and watch the portal to the Stargate Realm to see what happens next 'As the Stargate Turns'. I will have After Covenant soon.

What ya think?

Smile at the Stargate and walk in without fear…U ever username Stargatebyleia for wallpapers)

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