Transition states: A high-energy state through which chemicals pass irreversibly to form stable final products.
The sound of the laptop and the anger in Sam's voice shocked them both. Jack could not recall Sam ever losing her temper, least of all at him. Quite simply, love, like anger, was not allowed from a subordinate. The reverberations from the laptop and the tone of her voice seemed to resonate until it shook them both to their very cores. Like an earthquake, the wave bounced against the concrete laboratory walls until it brought down their façades, every bit shattered until all that was left was real life.
"What kind of answer is that?" Sam didn't care that he was her CO. He was her life, and for once, that was more important. She had to have a straight answer, to know. Now. Time had simply run out.
"What kind of question is that? What could have been different, Carter?" Their lives had been so irredeemably screwed up it was hard to imagine any single thing making a difference, as long as it didn't involve dying. For real.
"You could have let me call you 'Jack.'"
"What?"
"I left something out of my report about the Prometheus, because it was too personal."
"That was obvious. Everyone was there but me." And I never had the nerve to ask you why- I didn't want to know why. But I knew why.
"And when I woke up, you made me call you 'sir'."
"That means that much to you? Doesn't it mean anything that I ripped the galaxy apart looking for you?"
"I didn't know that." Sam answered quietly.
"Oh, Sam," Jack sighed, his deep voice cracking like split timber. "There's a lot you don't know."
"Then tell me." For once. Just one time. Please.
"No."
Sam closed her eyes.
Jack picked up the box. "Not before you tell me something." He rolled it around in his fingers.
"What?" She opened her eyes wearily.
"What the hell are you thinking?" Jack threw the box with muscles forged by decades of fighting and a rage generated by years of denial. He drew jagged breaths as they stared at each other, surrounded by memories and the beautiful sound of tinkling glass.
"I'm not thinking." Sam's eyes were wide but unflinching.
"I guess there really is a first time for everything," he said softly.
Jack watched as Sam carefully rose and went to the shattered equipment. The box had detonated and the ring lay in a pool of molten silver. "This gauge had mercury in it. It'll chemically bind to the gold and by morning the band will be cracked." Sam turned to Jack, shaking with emotion. "We just ruined it."
Jack strode over to Sam, moving faster than she though possible in the confines of her lab. He put his arms around her and bound him to her.
"No, Sam. We didn't ruin anything." he whispered into her golden hair. "We finally fixed everything."
