Jack couldn't sleep so he got to the mountain early Monday morning. It didn't take him long to find what he wanted on the computer. Jack arrived for SG-1s mission briefing about five minutes late, on purpose.

"General O'Neill, welcome. Please join us." Hank stretched his hand towards an empty chair.

"Thank you." Sam avoided making eye contact as Jack sat down across from her. He saw her shoulders stiffen slightly but there were no other signs of her discomfort. "Please don't let me interrupt. Continue as you were."

General Landry nodded. "MALP data indicates there are some manmade structures on the planet so we hope there is some civilization nearby. This will be a first contact mission, one of your specialties."

"The writing on the stone markers near the gate appears related to Babylonian script." Daniel held up a picture.

"Well, excellent." General Landry pointed towards the picture. "Do you need more time for a translation or will you be ready to depart tomorrow?"

"I'm not sure I have enough here to do a full translation…" Jack nudged Daniel so much his chair slid slightly sideways. "But more time couldn't hurt."

Sam knew what was going on and it made her angry. She had thought perhaps Jack had been making an empty threat but now she knew he had already talked to Hank. She decided the best thing she could do was try to save face and keep her record clean.

"Sir, I think it would be good to give Daniel some additional time to make more progress. It never hurts to know as much as possible." Although Sam was avoiding looking at Jack or Daniel she felt their collected sigh of relief.

"Agreed, I will put this mission back on the schedule for next week." General Landry looked towards Daniel. "Please keep me up to date on your progress. If you need more time we can discuss it when we get back together on…let's say Friday at 1000. If there are no other concerns or questions this meeting is adjourned. Jack if you have a few minutes there is a project I'd like to discuss before you leave today."

"You got it." Both men headed into General Landry's office. Daniel tried to approach Sam but she put her hand up and left the room. She briefly tried to work but it was useless. She grabbed her stuff and headed home early.

She had been home for almost two hours when he knocked on her door. She was trying to decide whether or not to get up off the sofa and answer when she heard him using his key. She took a deep breath.

"Sam? Are you here?"

"Yes." Her arms and legs were crossed and her back was stiff as he walked into the room. She did not turn to look at him.

"When you weren't in your lab I hoped I'd find you here. I fly out in a couple hours and I wanted to say good bye."

"Good bye."

He walked around in front of her and dropped five reports on the coffee table. "I highlighted some sections I hope you'll read."

Her brow knitted as she glanced in his direction. "Please leave your key on your way out."

Jack swallowed and tensed his lips. "So we aren't even going to talk about this?"

Sam shook her head. "There isn't anything to talk about."

Jack took a deep breath. "Right, call me when you're ready to talk."

Sam gave him a curt nod but never made eye contact. He laid her key on the small table beside her door and left. Her anger turned into sorrow hours after he was in the air. She ignored the reports.

More than a week passed without a word from Sam, no calls or emails. Each day of silence made it seem more likely that their relationship was over. Jack plunged into his work, staying late and arriving early. He even found time to hit the gym each day. None of that stopped him from checking his email and messages regularly.

It was a little after three in the afternoon on Tuesday when Jack got a call from the Cheyenne area code. He picked up before the second ring.

"General Jack O'Neill speaking."

"You can't let her do this!"

"Daniel what are you talking about."

"Sam's leaving."

"Leaving?"

"Yes. You have to stop her."

"She isn't exactly listening to me these days." Jack was busily typing, looking for paperwork about Sam's resignation.

"But Sam can't just leave. Who's going to lead SG-1? What's she going to do in Nevada any way?"

Jack stopped typing. "Nevada?"

"Exactly! What the heck does Nevada offer that she can't get here? It doesn't make any sense Jack!"

"Is she resigning from the Air Force and moving to Nevada?"

"I never said anything about her resigning. She's transferring to Area 51. She's going to work on some kind of project but you can't seriously tell me there is any project she'd want to work on more than go through the gate. There has to be some mistake. I mean I know people request her all the time but you've never let anyone steal her before. Stop it this time."

"Calm down Daniel. Let me see what I can learn on this end. When is she leaving?"

"That's just it Jack, she left today. She went out of town on Thursday and came back Sunday evening. She was busy all day yesterday so I didn't get to see her. Today she stops by my office to let me know she's leaving and boom she's gone. No explanation or anything."

"That's very odd."

"Tell me about it. After all these years Teal'c and I really deserve a bit more notice and an explanation."

"Right." Jack had found the transfer paperwork in the system. Sam was being loaned to Roswell. The paperwork wasn't completely finished but it looked like all the involved parties were in agreement.

"Did you know she was leaving?"

"No. Like I said, we haven't been talking much lately."

"Oh…I'm sorry."

"Me too."

"So is there anything you can do to stop her?"

"Even if there was I wouldn't. I learned a long time ago that once she makes up her mind she's going to do it her way."

"But this is the wrong decision."

"It might feel wrong to you but Sam thinks everything through and if this is right in her opinion you have to let her do it."

"I thought you'd be more help."

"Sorry Danny-boy. You're barking up the wrong tree."

Daniel sighed. "Well I guess thanks anyway." Daniel hung up and left Jack staring at the screen showing Sam's transfer details. Knowing she had made a decision this big without talking to him confirmed his belief that their relationship was over. He made it through two late afternoon meetings but he couldn't really recall much of what was said in either meeting. Good thing there would be minutes he could read later.

It was almost six when his secretary interrupted his distracted thoughts. "I'm heading home sir. I hope you don't stay much longer."

Jack glanced up, "I'll leave soon."

"Promise?"

Jack grinned slightly. "Yes."

"Good because you need to relax more. You've been very stressed lately."

Jack nodded slightly. "Have a good night."

"Good night. I'll see you tomorrow."

Jack worked for another half hour but his thoughts kept drifting to Sam so he wasn't making any progress. She wasn't technically leaving the stargate program, since she was on loan but Jack knew this was a major move for Sam and it bothered him that she had done it without telling him anything. Her life had centered on the gate for longer than he had known her and now she was walking away from it while shutting out all her friends. Her anger at him was understandable but turning her back on Daniel did not make sense. Jack was worried about her but he didn't want to push her if she wasn't ready so despite his intense desire to call her he turned off his desk lamp and headed home. It occurred to him on the drive home that he didn't even know where to call if he wanted to find her. Perhaps once she got to her new post he could come up with a plausible reason to call or write her. He tossed and turned all night, finally giving up on more sleep a little after five in the morning. He went for a run, showered, and arrived at work a little before his secretary. She fussed at him for getting so little sleep and then she brought him plenty of coffee.

His day was full of meetings, papers, and emails, like usual. As the day winded down he was having a hard time keeping his eyes open. His secretary kicked him out as she was leaving for the night. As he opened the door to his apartment he was surprised to see his living room light on. He quietly sat his briefcase down and slowly closed the door behind him. He tensed for a fight when he heard movement inside.

"Hi, Jack." He stopped his slow walk when he heard her voice. "I let myself in."

He walked the rest of the way into his living room. She was standing beside his loveseat. "You're always welcome here Sam."

"Still?" She looked miserable. There were bags under her eyes and her face was pale.

He took two more steps towards her. "Absolutely." She gave him a small tense grin. He closed the space between them, wrapped his arms around her waist, and pulled her tight against his body. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders and she slid her left hand into the hair at the base of his neck. He turned his face into the curve where her neck met her shoulders.

"I thought you were done with me."

"I'm so sorry Jack. It took me a couple days to realize you were right."

He lifted his head and looked her in the eyes. "And then?"

She grimaced. "And then I was embarrassed. I needed to figure out how I was going to handle this."

"Alone?" Sam looked away and nodded. He backed up slightly and searched her face. "Have you had dinner?"

She shook her head no. "I didn't want to risk missing you and honestly I was too nervous to eat."

"Nervous?"

"A bit."

"Why?"

"I was worried that you wouldn't want me back."

Jack moved her bangs to the right but they fell right back into place. "I have no interest in ever losing you. I love you Sam." He kissed her but as the kiss deepened he lifted his face away. "Let's get some dinner. I'd like to hear about your transfer."

Her eyes widened and she tensed. "You already know? Have you been keeping tabs on me?"

He shook his head. "Daniel called yesterday. You have him quite worked up."

"Really?"

"Really. You might want to give him a call later. Let him know you aren't abandoning him."

"Abandoning him? Seriously?"

"This is Daniel we're talking about. He has a tendency to blow things out of proportion."

"Right."

Jack loosened his hold on Sam and took another step back. "How about pizza for dinner? There's a nice little place just around the corner. We could walk."

"Pizza sounds good."

They walked hand in hand to the restaurant, which was a hole in wall filled to brim with happy customers. They both ordered a beer to go with their large pizza. She excused herself and went to the bathroom after they ordered. She took her time and the beer had arrived by the time she got back to the table.

"So tell me about your new job."

"I'll be working on the Prometheus and developing some new technology at Area 51. They've been asking me to join them for a while and it seemed like the right time. I needed a break from the SGC."

"But you're just on loan?"

"Yeah. I can go back to the SGC at any point."

"Good."

She twisted her lips and looked across the table at him. "That doesn't mean I plan to go back anytime soon."

"When are you moving?"

"Yesterday." Sam dug into her purse and pulled out a set of keys. She held out the keychain towards him. "I never should have asked for my house key back. I want you to have it and a key to my apartment."

His eyes widened. "You really were determined to do this all alone." He took the keys from her.

Their pizza arrived, giving Sam a chance to get her bearings. Jack served them each up a piece and sat her plate in front of her. "I could have come and helped you move."

She picked at her crust. "I didn't take much with me. I rented a furnished apartment so all I took was some clothes and kitchen gadgets. It wasn't hard."

"That wasn't exactly my point Sam. You shut us all out. None of us even knew you were moving."

She didn't look up. "I'm sorry."

He reached across the table and put his hand over hers. "We've both been single for a long time and we take pride on doing things on our own. To make a relationship work we have to lean on each other, at least sometimes."

"I know you're right. There isn't much else I can say at this point other than I'm sorry."

Jack nodded, let go of her hand, and took a bite of his pizza. Sam continued to pick at her crust. Jack nodded at her plate. "Please eat something."

Sam nodded but she still didn't pick up her slice. "So how did you pick Area 51?"

"I've been making trips there every few weeks for the last couple of years to work on different projects but a few days here and there wasn't really letting me make as much progress as I wanted. I'll technically be in charge of a few departments so that's more paperwork but it's a small price to pay to escape these nightmares."

She looked up at him and there was a glistening of tears in her eyes. "I wasn't going to be able to shake this off as long as the nightmares continue."

"And you know you won't have nightmares there?"

"I didn't when I visited last week or last night."

"Good, now eat." Jack was finishing his first slice and Sam had not yet made any noticeable progress. Sam took a bite of her pizza. It was really good and once she tasted the melted cheese hunger grabbed her attention. Jack was pleased to see her eating. She looked like she had lost a few pounds since he'd last seen her, a displeasing thought.