Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate or any of the characters you recognize. I'm just borrowing them for entertainment. There is no monetary gain and no copyright infringement intended.

AN: Thank you again to everyone for all the reviews! As always thank you Gategirl7 for your amazing beta skills. Any remaining mistakes are mine alone.

Previously:

Jack pushed his hands irritably through his hair. He had to stop thinking like that. If he was going to remain effective he had to get to her, not allow thoughts of her to get to him. Damn that was hard to do. She was such a beautiful woman, sexy, intelligent, she challenged him and had no trouble standing toe to toe with him as an equal. None of those things were traits that he was used to having wrapped up all in one woman. Add into that how she talked about her Jack and the love and respect he saw in her eyes. That was all very hard to ignore, especially since while he believed the reports of the changed timeline because he had little choice when faced with another Sam Carter and that annoying scientist McKay explaining how it was all possible over and over, he still felt simultaneously weirded out and intrigued by her reactions to him. The same reactions he was probably going to have to exploit to complete his mission.

Yep, the whole alternate universe thing had his head pounding. Intentionally turning his thoughts to the flight ahead and away from the woman beside him, Jack settled back in the seat and relaxed himself into sleep.

Chapter 4

Sam listened to Jack's breathing even out. She envied him his ability to be instantly asleep no matter the circumstances. Being careful not to shift too much and wake the sleeping man beside her, Sam turned so that she could get a better look at her companion. She studied O'Neill's face. She knew that he was the same age as her Jack, but his face appeared younger. He was missing the scar over his eye but had a new one on his temple. His body was a little leaner, but that made sense. Her Jack was behind a desk most of the time these days and O'Neill was still in the field. She wondered if O'Neill's knees were bad or if he had nightmares. Was he still married to Sara? She closed her eyes in pain, trying to control the tears that threatened to reach the surface.

Breathing deeply, Sam got herself under control. She had inadvertently leaned forward toward O'Neill. She'd barely moved, but in the close confines of the plane her head was near his shoulder. Breathing in his scent calmed her. He smelled like Jack. There lies the way of folly she reminded herself. Thinking of this man as Jack even for an instant was going to undo her. She'd spent too many years trusting him, loving him, working side by side with him. Jack O'Neill overwhelmed her senses. Clamping down on her emotions, Sam forced herself to lean away from O'Neill, when his hand on her arm made her startle. Snapping her eyes to his, she was surprised to see compassion there.

"It's ok Sam." He turned and opened slightly, offering her the comfort of his arms. For a moment she considered it. Just to be held for a few moments, to breath in his scent and close her eyes against the image of him lying dead on the floor was pulling at her, making her hesitate to put space between them. "I can't pretend to know the loss that you're dealing with, but I do understand loss." he told her. She didn't see any calculation in his face. He looked like he was being sincere. "I know you see me as the enemy and you know I'm not him. I got that. But you're in pain and in a weird sort of way we are connected. I feel responsible. Sort of like taking care of my brother's wife if he died." He finished his expression open and relaxed for the moment.

"You can't stand your brother or his wife. Battle Ax is how I think I remember you referring to her..." she trailed off as she realized what she was saying. "Sorry O'Neill."

"Ok bad example." He was smiling now. Actually looking warm, he allowed his hand to slide down her arm and give her a reassuring squeeze before moving back. "You're right. Can't stand either of them," he confirmed with the crinkles around his eyes making his voice that much warmer. "I see some things don't change no matter what universe you get sent to."

"Reality," she corrected, "alternate reality, well different timeline actually." She stopped at the familiar glazing over of Jack's eyes. "Never mind, point is I'm still in the same universe." She finished.

"Ah." He accepted the correction. "You OK?" Sam could sense the sincerity behind his question, but she wasn't sure what his motives might be for offering her compassion.

"I'm fine." She tried to make herself relax back into her seat. "So you are settling me in Florida?" The subject change seemed safer then allowing him to comfort her. She'd already slipped about his brother. O'Neill wasn't that much removed from Jack in her mind. She needed more distance. "Then I guess you take off for home?"

Jack watched her for a moment. She wasn't sure he was going to allow the subject change. Maybe 'fine' didn't work on this man either. She was relieved when he settled back into his seat. "Nope" he informed her. "They have you all set up in a two bedroom condo. I will be staying with you for the next three months while I teach a class at Hurlburt Field. I am assuming you will be settled in to your new life by then. I'll finish teaching, be reassigned and you will be free to live your life."

"Holy Hannah" she was supposed to share a condo with him. No way. "They really are convinced that I'm dangerous aren't they." Sam sat up in her seat and turned to face him. "There is no way they'd assign me a personal guard, let alone someone of your caliber and value to watch me unless they believe I could be a threat to national security." She couldn't believe that they considered her that much of a risk.

"I hate to burst your bubble Sam, but I do a lot of teaching and guest lecturing these days. The knees you know." The look on O'Neill's face was unreadable. "Hurlburt Field, Eglin AF Base, Special Operations...am I ringing any bells for you here Colonel? You probably wouldn't have gotten me, but I was assigned already to do some teaching and yes they think you might be a threat so I'm assessing you. You already know that. You are not a stupid woman and I'm betting that this is not your first go around with the red tape, paper pushers and their creative solutions to people and things that don't fit into a nice little box."

"That's a conveniently simple explanation O'Neill. You're right. This isn't my first dealings with this government and their manipulations. Assigned to this base or not, you would not be assigned such close quarters with me nor would you accept them unless you saw the need or they at least convinced you there might be one. And don't give me the 'I follow orders' line either. Just level with me, please" Sam didn't know what to think. "If they think I'm this much of a risk then why not leave me locked up or let the NID kill me outright. I'm sure they're no better here then they were in my time. Why go to the trouble of assigning a duplicate of my CO to watch me and putting us in such close quarters?"

"Hey now, I'm no one's cheep imitation." O'Neill took offense at that one. He took a deep breath. She knew he was trying to decide how to handle her request. "All right," his inflection, the considering look on his face, she would bet he was thinking about telling her the truth. O'Neill leaned into her space pulling her focus solely on him. "I've thought this assignment ill conceived from the start" he confided. "They were banking on you being naive or stupid or easily manipulated and I can't see how anyone who has read your file or spent five minutes with you would think this conversation wouldn't come up." She blushed a little at the backward compliment.

"They've kept me isolated and unbalanced." Sam pointed out. "Even though they didn't know how close Jack and I were they assumed that after nearly a decade as his 2IC in a front line unit we'd be close and I'd naturally be looking for someone to turn to especially after these last few weeks."

He nodded before continuing where she'd left off. "They figured if they put me in your path, I might be able to build enough trust with you that you'd let something slip." Sam considered his words for a moment. She wasn't that surprised that he had confessed the assignment to her. Jack had always gone his own way and done what he thought best to get the job done, but she wasn't sure why he was telling her or what he really saw his job as. Sam couldn't do anything to the timeline until the government trusted her enough to let her near the Stargate or until Ba'al attacked and she was needed. Would it hurt to let her guard down just a bit? Could she trust the man beside her in any way? As she was trying to figure out what her options were a thought occurred to her, making the blood drain from her face. "Just how far would you go to get me to let my guard down with you O'Neill?"