Disclaimer: Just borrowing them for a bit. I promise to give them back when I'm done (if I have to).

Timing: During and after the season 9 episode "Ethon"

A/N: Thanks so much for all of the wonderful reviews and for subscribing to the story! I'll do my best to post new chapters regularly (I'm hoping for at least once a week, if not every few days), but I also want to make sure I don't rush too much trying to get new chapters out. The idea for this series has been floating around in my head for quite some time and I want to make sure I do it justice. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Gone

Generals Jack O'Neill and Hank Landry were catching up over lunch in the Pentagon's commissary when Landry's phone began to ring. Glancing down at the caller ID, he sighed.

"Sorry, Jack; but I've got to take this one… it's Walter." Jack grinned in response. He'd been the recipient of many frantic calls from Walter during his time as CO of the SGC. His grin faded rapidly, however, as he listened in on Landry's side of the conversation.

"Landry."

"Slow down, Walter, and start over. You're not making any sense." Landry began to pale at the news he was receiving.

"Have you tried to contact them? It's possible they're bluffing."

"I see. I'll get back there as soon as I can. Let me know if you hear anything else." Jack could tell that something was seriously wrong. As Landry lowered his phone he didn't say a word; just stared into nothing as if he was struggling to come to terms with what he had just been told. Jack was thankful that he had spoken to Sam the morning before and learned that she wasn't scheduled for any missions this week. At least he didn't have to worry that something had happened to SG-1.

"What is it, Hank?"

"The Prometheus… it's gone." Landry mumbled; still in a daze.

"What do you mean gone?" Jack was confused. The last he had heard the Prometheus was conducting humanitarian missions on several former goa'uld planets and shouldn't be in any imminent danger. Landry took a deep breath before responding.

"The SGC was contacted by the leader of the Rand Protectorate on Tegalus. He claims that the Prometheus was destroyed. I hoped that they might be bluffing, but Walter has been trying to get in contact with Colonel Pendergast for the past half hour with no response. He wanted to be sure before contacting me. There's a small chance some of the crew managed to beam down to the planet, but based on the information we've received it appears that all hands were lost."

"How is that even possible? If I'm thinking of the right planet, they don't have anywhere near the level of technology needed to take on the Prometheus. And what was it doing there in the first place?" Jack was in denial. Although he didn't know many of the crewmembers personally, the thought of losing so many good men and women was gut wrenching.

"I was planning to brief you on the situation after our meeting with the Joint Chiefs this afternoon. We received some intel early yesterday suggesting that the Ori had provided the Rand Protectorate with plans for a sophisticated satellite weapons platform. The Prometheus was rerouted to investigate and had orders to destroy the satellite if our source proved to be correct. The plans provided to us indicated that the weapon would be an easy target; it seems that they were wrong." Landry explained. As Jack attempted to come to grips with the situation he noticed that his friend not only seemed upset, but anxious as well.

"Hank, there's something else isn't there?" Jack questioned as a feeling of dread began to grow in the pit of his stomach.

"There's no easy way to say this, Jack."

"Hank…" Jack was struggling to breathe; it felt like his chest was in a vice grip. She's safe on earth, she's safe on earth, she's safe on earth he began repeating in his head offering a silent prayer that, that was true. Deep down he was terrified that it wasn't.

"SG-1 was on the Prometheus. I'm sorry, Jack." Jack's eyes closed as he felt his world crumble around him. Sam, the love of his life, was gone.

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Later that evening…

It was nearly 21:00 and Jack was still in his Pentagon office. He dreaded the thought of returning home; his small apartment held too many memories of the many weekends he and Sam had spent together enjoying their new relationship. Somehow he had managed to hold himself together long enough to brief the President and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but upon finally making it back to his office he broke down completely. Initially Jack had wanted to return to the SGC with Landry, but Hank had finally convinced him to stay in D.C.; making him realize that there was nothing either of them could do to help the situation no matter their location. Instead he had his secretary cancel the rest of his meetings and hold all calls unless they were from the SGC, and he had collapsed against the walls of one corner of the office, silent tears streaming down his face. He didn't even bother to turn on the lights.

Jack didn't want to accept that Sam was gone. Throughout the years SG-1 had become invincible in his eyes. Sure they frequently got in trouble, were captured, and sometimes even killed; yet they had always managed to come home alive. He wanted with all of his heart to believe that this would be another one of those times, but it didn't seem possible. Landry had called him with an update in the mid-afternoon and the news hadn't been good. The SGC had contacted the Rand Protectorate to ask about survivors and was informed that there were none. Jack knew that didn't necessarily mean they were telling the truth, but they couldn't send another ship to investigate with the threat of the weapons satellite. And he knew that the President would never authorize the use of the stargate for an all out attack on a heavily fortified military base when there was no proof that there was anyone left to rescue. So even if Sam had by some miracle survived the destruction of Prometheus she was still just as lost to him. He had no doubt what the fate of any survivors found by the Rand Protectorate would be.

This was exactly what Jack had been terrified of when he first realized that Sam would be needed back on SG-1 and he deeply regretted giving in so easily. Surely after eight years of putting herself into danger Sam deserved a break. It should have been someone else's turn to risk their life on the front lines, but as Jack had painfully learned many times throughout his life; the universe isn't fair. Although he knew Sam would have been furious if she ever found out, he should have fought harder to keep her at Area 51 and let someone else take a turn saving the world. Instead she had returned to the front lines and now it seemed that SG-1's luck had finally run out. Jack honestly wasn't sure how he was going to manage to survive the loss of not only Sam, but of Daniel and Teal'c as well.

Jack was startled out of his grief induced stupor when he heard the shrill ring of his cell phone coming from somewhere in the dark beside him. It was the SGC. He briefly considered ignoring the call. He didn't think he could handle talking about the situation anymore, it was simply too painful; but the small part of him that continued to hope for another SG-1 miracle convinced him to answer.

"O'Neill."

"How you holding up, Jack?" Landry asked.

"What do you want, Hank? I'm not really in the mood to chat." Jack snapped. He didn't want sympathy; he just wanted to be left alone.

"We just received some news on the Prometheus situation and I thought you'd want to hear it straight from the source."

After a slight pause Jack heard a new voice over the phone that made his breath catch in his throat.

"Hi, sir." Sam greeted; sticking to proper protocol since they were on an official line.

"Carter? Please tell me I'm not dreaming." Jack responded in a shaky voice. Please let it not be a dream, he repeated to himself silently; squeezing his eyes shut tightly while he waited for a response.

"You're not, sir. I'm really here." Jack released a breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding.

"God, Carter, I thought I'd lost you for good this time. What happened?"

"We managed to beam most of the crew off of the ship before it was destroyed. We still lost a lot of good people though, including Colonel Pendergast. As for how we made it back to Earth; that's a long story. General Landry thought that you might like to be briefed in person so I'm headed to Washington, D.C. in the morning." Way to go, Hank; Jack cheered inwardly. He'd been dreading the idea of waiting another three days before he would be able to get away from D.C. and hold Sam in his arms again. He needed to see her, to feel her, before he would fully believe that this conversation hadn't been a fantasy borne of wishful thinking.

"Sounds good, Carter. Let me know when you get your travel plans finalized and I will make sure someone is there to greet you at the airport." Jack grinned for the first time in hours as he said this. He fully intended to be the one to greet her. Sure it might look odd for a Major General to pick up a Lt. Colonel from the airport, but after the events of the day Jack really didn't care.

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The next day…

Jack was nearly bouncing on his toes in anticipation as he waited for Sam's plane to touch down at Dulles. She had opted to take a civilian red eye flight since there were no military flights scheduled until late in the afternoon. At least that was the excuse. Jack secretly suspected that her real reason had something to do with the fact that at Dulles he could greet her as Jack, not as General O'Neill. It was a good thing too, because after thinking that he had lost her forever the day before, Jack didn't think he would have been able to keep his military bearing whether they were in the middle of an Air Force base or not.

As the first passengers began to enter the baggage claim area Jack unconsciously began to hold his breath. Even though he and Sam had talked for hours on the phone the night before, there was a small part of him that still feared this was all a dream and that he would suddenly awaken to find himself once again alone in the darkness of his office. After what seemed like an eternity he finally saw a familiar blonde figure approaching. As their eyes met it took all of Jack's self control to not rush straight to her and cause a scene in the middle of the terminal. As Sam neared him Jack reached out and gently cupped her cheek in one hand, relishing the feel of her soft, warm skin beneath his fingers. His mouth opened and closed as he tried in vain to figure out what to say.

"Come 'ere." Sam whispered softly, stealing his usual line, as she reached up to caress the hand on her cheek before pulling him into an embrace.

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A/N: I thought about continuing the story to include more of their reunion, but I decided to save a similar scene for another upcoming chapter. SG-1 manages to get in so much trouble that I'm afraid that if I cover every emotional aspect of each event the chapters may start to become repetitive, and that's something I hope to avoid.