Say Goodbye to Yesterday

Disclaimer: Belongs to whoever owns it; definitely not me

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: Sam/Jack

Summary: 'His eyes now red with strained unshed tears, Daniel softened his voice, "She's dead Jack. Sam's dead."' After a tragic accident; the entire SGC is left reeling . . . including Sam . . .

Author's Note: This is set somewhere in season 7, pre-Pete.

Chapter Ten

Midnight Musings

Jack stared down at the shapeless piece of metal and plastic; a frown fixed firmly on his face,

"So?" he asked.

"I believe it's the SGC's. The wires and most of the casing's fried but in all probabilities, it was Major Carter's sir."

"Right," Jack muttered.

"It appears to have been deliberately sabotaged," Teal'c offered on closer inspection.

"What possible good could that do?" Daniel asked no one in particular. Jack wasn't listening; the possibilities running through his head. This confirmed that Sam had at least made it out of the river. What worried him now was what happened next? There were only two possibilities and Jack was pinning his hopes on the lesser of the two evils,

"I reckon we need to go pay the village folk a little visit, nice and early tomorrow morning." Nightfall was still a good few hours away, the days in this world being shorter than most, but Jack figured it would be best to carry on tomorrow since they had been searching for a good six hours. His men were tired; trudging on now would only prove fruitless. Besides they probably needed to be at their most alert if they were going to be dealing with hostiles, if Sam's radio was anything to go by.

"Johnson," Jack turned towards the fair headed Lieutenant, "Radio Matthews, and tell him I need him to set up camp within the perimeters of the Stargate, and to maintain contact every hour."

"Yes sir."

"Right, everybody else, the forest will be our home for the night," Jack smiled wryly. He wasn't particularly fond of the great outdoors anymore, recent events having disillusioned his love.

"Davies, take the rest of your team and set up a perimeter and I guess I'll take first watch," he added almost reluctantly. He knew he'd rather still be looking for her, but he needed to be in command. It would do little for Sam if he instructed with his heart and not his head.

Sam was alone. Not just literally by the fact that she was sat up in bed in the little guest room with just her mindless wanderings for company, but figuratively as well. Whatever, she had believed to be true before, had been complete lies. She couldn't trust Amara, Tarla, Hans or anybody – she was alone. And it was a terrifying thought, but it was best not to dwell on it. She was a smart, intelligent, resourceful woman; she would get herself out of this somehow, she resolved. The question of how, she hadn't quite had the chance to answer just yet, but she'd figure it out.

The day had passed quietly without event. Days here seemed abnormally short; gut feeling and what little she could remember told her they were usually of a longer duration. It just went to confirm her long held suspicion that she was not from around here. It was only now with the current barrage of flashbacks that had assaulted her memory, she realised just how true that was. She was from another planet entirely. But the fact she was from Earth actually settled her rather than the expected opposite.

What she could gather from the flashbacks was that she had come to Frosya on a mission of some sort; to trade weaponry. The mission had somehow gone sideways; she had been left stranded on this foreign planet whilst the rest of her team had returned through the Stargate. It was nice to finally put a name to that huge puddle of blue shimmering light that had often invaded her dreamless sleep. Of what she could now be certain was that Amara and her family had played a part in her fate; everything from being stranded to the memory loss. She just couldn't tell what they wanted from her. Any possibility chilled her to her core.

Instinctively, Sam huddled her blanket more closely around her, sapping what warmth she could from her surroundings. It was a particularly cold night, and once again she found her mind wandering back to the three men that had plagued her visions.

Where were they now? The who were they? She had partly answered herself. They had obviously all been part of a team. The big bald guy with the gold tattoo on his forehead was a Jaffa called Teal'c. Words such as noble, fearless and warrior sprung to mind when she thought of him. Daniel, like her, was something of a scientist, well more precisely an archaeologist, but he wasn't military. She shared that with one Colonel O'Neill.

The warmth that spiralled within her when she thought of any three of them had now become a conditioned response, but there was still something that confused her about one of them.

The mysterious and illustrious Colonel Jack O'Neill . . . Sam scoffed out loud into the soundless night. Surprised at her outburst in the midst of her silent pondering, Sam realised her subconscious knew more about the Colonel than she had initially thought. The Colonel was hardly that hard to work out, or was he? In every flashback where she encountered Jack O'Neill, she had felt an almost tangible bond between them. It was a bond unlike the one she felt with Daniel and Teal'c; it was stronger somehow. Oddly, however, there seemed to be an unrepentant barrier between them that neither one could break or dared to break, and with that conclusion, Sam felt a miserable pang of longing and loss.

Wriggling further down under the blanket, Sam finally laid her head on to the pillow. She didn't yet have a plan for tomorrow in how to deal with the Frosyans; for the moment she was too tired to think. Closing her heavy eyelids, Sam determined that tomorrow was going to require a lot of improvisation and a lot of bad acting on her part. "Great," Sam muttered, before rolling over on to her side and finally falling asleep within a matter of minutes.

Jack was wide awake. How could he not be? They were so close; he knew it, so how the hell could he be fast asleep dreaming of wonderful things? Teal'c and Daniel sure could; their loud snoring being testament to that, but then they weren't in love with a certain blonde haired Major, now were they? Well, at least he hoped not.

It took a lot for him to even admit that tiny fact to himself, although he had already somehow admitted it three years earlier in his own Jack O'Neill way. I mean, he honestly wasn't going to completely throw his heart on the line by screaming, 'I love you!' at his second-in-command when he wasn't entirely sure she held him in the same regard. It would have been a complete career ender if he'd used the L-word back then. But now? Everything had changed. Her being presumed dead had surfaced the feelings he had so long forced down to the recesses of his mind, and not to mention her letter. Her beautiful declaration of love. For him. 'Was she mad?' he thought sardonically. What could he possibly possess that would make a woman of that calibre love an older (significantly older, might he add) man, shielding his years of personal detachment and miserable existence with nothing but sarcasm and a ceremoniously paraded lack of IQ? He, like numerous times, was completely and utterly stumped.

It was hard enough being her commanding officer but now it was going to be a whole lot harder; if they found her that was. 'No,' Jack argued internally, 'Of course we're going to find her.' He turned on to his back staring up at the night sky through the few branches that had seeped into his vision. Frustrated, he let out a groan.

"What?" came a hoarse whisper somewhere from O'Neill's right. The unmistakeable half asleep voice belonged to Daniel.

"What?" Jack returned, having already heard the question, he was merely keeping up with the customary stalemate of what's?

"Did you say something?" Daniel whispered.

"No, Daniel. Go back to sleep."

"What are you doing awake?" Daniel tried again.

Jack debated answering truthfully, "Can't sleep, what d'you think?" he snapped.

"Thinking about Sam?"

'Oh he was good,' Jack mused but found himself stuck for an appropriate retort. His silence did the speaking for him.

"Jack . . ." Daniel started.

This wasn't good. Jack could feel it; Daniel was now wide awake and utterly serious,

"It's okay you know, we understand."

"Understand what exactly Daniel? Please get on with it and stop prolonging the torture," Jack replied impatiently.

"How difficult this is for you."

"Isn't it difficult for all of us?" Jack was still refusing to open up.

"Well we're all not in love with her."

Silence met Daniel's reply. Jack heard nothing but the night time chirping of the forest insects, the occasional rustle of leaves in the light breeze and his own mind screaming, 'crap.' How the hell was he supposed to respond to that?

Another minute of silence passed before Daniel opened his mouth again, "Like I said, we understand. Night Jack." He added before rolling back on to his side to get some much needed shut-eye.

Needless to say, Jack didn't get a wink of sleep that night.

The sun had risen a mere ten minutes ago and the sky was brightening fast. The air was dry yet biting cold but no one paid attention to it. They had a mission, a goal and today was the day that they would succeed. Jack would accept no excuses.

Whilst the other teams continued the search of the forest, SG-1 were headed for the farm owned by the natives they had met when they had first arrived. The only problem was that Daniel had been so sure of the direction they were going in, so sure he was right, that naturally they were now lost.

"Daniel," Jack's tone was deadly.

Daniel furrowed his brows, "I'm sure it was this way."

"I disagree Dr. Jackson," Teal'c interjected. "I believe we must return the way we have come and move in the direction of the river."

Jack looked from Daniel to Teal'c. "Oy," he muttered under his breath, "Fine," he snapped, "Daniel you've had your turn, Teal'c can be the tour guide now. Its only fair kids."

Teal'c inclined his head in acceptance. Satisfied, Jack turned to Daniel, except he wasn't paying attention.

"Daniel?"

"I thought I saw someone," Daniel spoke softly moving over to the dense undergrowth behind him.

Both Jack and Teal'c hands instinctively reached for their weapons as they crept up beside Daniel.

Reaching into the layer of shrubs and bushes, Jack gave them the all clear signal,

"Nothing there Daniel, just a figment of your imagination."

"Right," said Daniel not convinced. Looking back at the bush again, he shrugged his shoulders and followed after the Colonel.

Amara's eyes were diverted to the direction of the front room. The abrupt slam of the front door increased her heart rate a little above normal.

"Hans," she called turning off the stove and walking out of her little kitchen. "Hans, is that you?"

"Mother," came the out of breath response. It was Hans, albeit a slightly dishevelled and flushed Hans from apparent exertion,

"What is wrong?" Amara asked panic rising.

"They are here!"

"Who are here?"

"Her friends. They are here. In the forest. On their way here!"

All colour drained from Amara's face, "We cannot allow them to see her."

Hans nodded emphatically, "Where is she?"

"She is feeding the chickens."

"She cannot be here when they arrive."

"Yes but what can we do with her."

Hans had apparently already given this some thought,

"We should take her to our Lord."

Amara sat shocked into a dining table chair, "It is too soon. She has not remembered. She cannot be of use to our Lord until she has remembered."

"Taking her into the city will aid her memory, I am certain of it."

"Very well," she agreed after some time, "Go with her and I will stay here and deal with her friends."

A/N 2: Hey! Hope you enjoyed the long chapter! I have exams this month, so I won't be able to update again until those are over, but please leave me a review, your reviews mean that I feel obligated to keep going with my story, which means it's more likely I'll finish then! I know what it's like reading unfinished stories, so I will be back! Anyway, hope you all had good holidays, I'll try and update when I can,

Love SmilinStar xxx