Thanks for continuing to read my story; I'm so sorry for such a long wait in between updates but things have been a bit hectic and stressful in RL. My youngest daughter was attacked and bitten on the face by a dog just after my last update and has needed a lot of extra care and attention, especially since she's only four; thankfully she now seems to be on the road to recovery. I'm going to upload a chapter everyday for the next four days to hopefully make up for not updating for so long; I hope you enjoy this next chapter and find it worth the wait thank you.

Last time:

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Jack looked at the fading cuts and bruises that were still clear on her pale face. He kissed the tips of his fingers and stroked them over each cut and bruise gently; tracing his fingers down her cheek he sighed,

"Oh Sam, I came so close to loosing you",

He whispered, he leaned down and kissed her forehead gently, he smiled,

"I love you"

He said softly as he stroked her hair. She moved closer in to him wrapping her arms around him and pulling him towards her, holding him tightly, Jack wondered as she was stirring weather he should wake her and send her up to bed when he saw that she was still sound asleep.

(Oh Sam, she looks so fragile,)

He laughed to himself and shook his head,

(Yeah, Sam Carter is anything but fragile, in fact, she was one of the strongest people he knew),

He put his arm around her protectively and pulled her close to him deciding not to disturb her he closed his eyes to settle down for the night,

"Night Sam"

He whispered,

"Night sir"

She whispered back. Sam smiled and snuggled closer in to him.

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Chapter: 8

Jack sat in his office tapping a pen on his desk he looked down at his watch,

(maybe I'll just give her a call see how she's doing, after all she is my second in command and I need to know if she's ready to come back to work, right).

He smiled to himself and picked up the phone,

"Hey, just wanted to see how you're doing",

He heard her laugh,

"What",

She sighed,

"Jack you only left two hours ago",

He chuckled,

"Yeah I know, how's your arm"?

"It feels a lot better, got a lot more movement in it now",

"You still want me to ask the doc for a bit more leave"

"Its ok I'll give her a call now"

She laughed,

"What"?

"Nothing"

She said,

"Come on spill it"

Jack ordered playfully, she sighed,

"It's just really quite; I guess I kinda got used to having some company around here this last week",

He smiled,

"I'll give you call later see how your doing, just give me a call if you need anything ok"

"Ok I will, and Jack?"

"Yeah",

"Thanks",

He chuckled,

"Hey what's a friend for",

He hung up the phone and just sat there for a minute, ok now what, he looked at his watch again, maybe I'll go get an early lunch. He stood and left his office with a huge smile on his face and headed to the commissary.

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Daniel walked into the commissary and collected his lunch,

"Hey Danny boy",

He rolled his eyes and turned around,

"Hey Jack",

He frowned when he saw the huge grin on his face then chuckled,

"So it's true"

Jack frowned slightly,

"What is",

"Well the whole base is talking about the fantastic mood you're in, Walter said that he ran into you this morning and nearly knocked you flying"

Jack's frown deepened,

"And"

Daniel raised his eyebrows and smiled,

"And Jack he's still alive to tell the tale; in fact he said you even helped him up and then practically bounced down the corridor with a huge grin on your face, so what's gives?"

Jack's frown faded he shrugged and smiled,

"I'm just happy Danny boy that's all"

He said walking over to Daniel and slapping him on the back,

"Well I've got paper work to do"

Daniel huffed and frowned,

"You're going to do your paper work?"

"Yeah why?"

"Oh nothing, nothing"

Daniel smirked

"You go do your paper work"

Jack smiled and turned to leave,

"Oh Jack"

Daniel called after him, Jack turned back to his friend,

"Yes Danny"

"How's Sam doing"?

Jack's smile grew even bigger at the mention of Sam,

"She's doing good Danny, she's doin' really good",

With that said Jack turned on his heal and left the commissary smiling. Daniel laughed and shook his head,

"I knew it had something to do with Sam"

He muttered under his breath

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The next day Jack bounced down the corridor of the SGC towards the lift; he stopped and turned as he got to the lift when he heard someone call his name,

"Teal'c buddy what can I do for you on this fine day"

He said as he beamed a huge smile at him. Teal'c raised his eyebrows at him,

"I am guessing that all is well with Major Carter"

Jack frowned slightly but then smiled again,

"What makes you say that T?"

"Your mood has been somewhat improved since your return",

Jack laughed,

"I'm just glad that she's home and on the mend"

"As am I and Daniel Jackson, please give Major Carter our best when you see her",

Jack frowned and pressed the button for the lift,

"What makes you think I'm going to see her",

Teal'c looked down at him and raised his eyebrow,

"You are leaving early are you not",

Jack looked at him puzzled,

"Yeah so?"

"Were Major Carter here on base you would not be so eager to leave"

Teal'c said matter of fact, Jack smiled and nodded,

"Is that so?"

As he spoke the doors of the lift opened, Jack turned and walked in to the lift pressing the button for the surface, he shoved his hands in to his jeans and chuckled slightly,

"I'll tell her that you and Danny said hi",

The doors to the lift closed and Teal'c turned to resume his journey to Daniel's office with a slight smile on his face.

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Jack called in to the grocery shop on the way to Sam's house, knowing that she wouldn't have left the house as you could still see the bruises and cuts on her face. Although they had faded significantly in the week that he had stayed at her house she was still conscious that they were there. Jack hadn't been to Sam's house in the two days since his return to the SGC but he knew that she would be getting low now. As he pulled up in front of Sam's house, he saw a car sat outside with someone sat inside it,

(Strange),

Thinking nothing more of it, he jumped out of his truck and walked around to the other side to get the bag of groceries. He closed the door to his truck and turned around, when he did he found himself face to face with Pete, he frowned,

"Hey Pete",

Pete scowled back at him,

"I'm guessing you're Colonel O'Neill, right"

Jack nodded,

"Yeah, nice to meet you"

Jack held out his hand, Pete looked down at Jacks outstretched hand he looked back up at him and scowled again. Jack raised his eyebrows and huffed slightly,

"Ok",

He started to walk towards Sam's house but Pete stepped in front of him blocking his path, Jack frowned,

"Is there a problem Pete",

Pete glared at him,

"Yeah there is, *you*",

Jack huffed,

"What",

"Stay away from Sam",

Jack laughed

"Right, ok",

He carried on walking towards Sam's house and Pete blocked his path again,

"I mean it O'Neill, stay away from her",

"And I'm supposed to do that why, coz you asked soooo nicely",

"You'll do it coz I'm telling you to",

Jack laughed again.

"Just how do you expect me to stay away from her exactly, she's my 2IC, we work together",

"Not for much longer you don't"

Jack frowned,

"And what's that supposed to mean",

"I plan on marrying Sam and the first thing I'm gonna do when we're married is make her leave the air force; and especially the SGC",

Jack smirked,

"Good luck with that, there's nothing more important in Sam's life than the air force and the SGC, she loves her work more then anything, and if you don't know that then you don't know her at all".

Pete laughed,

"Stay away from Sam or I'll make sure your life at the SGC becomes very difficult",

Jack glared at him,

"What",

"It's quite clear how you feel about Sam, stay away from her, or I promise you'll wish you had",

Pete smiled smugly and pointed to the bag,

"I'll take that into Sam shall I?"

He took the bag from Jack and started to walk off, stopping he turned and looked at Jack and laughed,

"It must be hard to be in love with a woman like Sam and not have her love you back, but then I wouldn't know about that would I".

He smiled smugly

"You're her Colonel, and that's all you'll ever be to her"

Pete stepped closer to Jack, leaning over to speak into his ear,

"I'm the one who gets to fuck her till she can't walk straight"

Jack clenched his jaw and took a deep breath trying to control his rising temper and the sudden wave of jealousy.

Pete laughed before he turned and walked away, leaving Jack to think about what had just happened.

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