As always, real life sucks. If the dogs at work would stop dominating each other for five minutes, I would be able to update faster.

CHAPTER 10 – Singin' in the Rain

The morning was heralded by a crash of thunder, the echo of which resounded through their chests. Jack enjoyed a good thunderstorm as much as the next guy, but it wasn't exactly what he wanted to wake up to after spending the night sleeping in a thin bag on a stone floor. A nearby groan confirmed that Sam was likewise unenthusiastic about the change in the weather. The storm hit so suddenly that everyone trickled into what Jack had mentally dubbed 'base camp' within minutes of each other, all bleary-eyed and in need of coffee.

"Loran… does it always rain like this?"

The kid nodded as he broke his breakfast bar in half and examined the processed fruity filling inside, still distrustful of Earth food. "The big rain comes through at this time, every year."

Sam surveyed the torrential downpour through the window. "'Big rain'?"

"Yeah. It lasts for three months. I counted." He took the smallest bite possible, unaware of the looks of horror passed between the adults. It tasted…different.

"So basically, we're just in time for monsoon season. Wonderful."

"Guess that means no one's going fishing." He glanced over at Sam, a slight smirk evident. "Unless…"

She didn't even look up from the tin cup cradled in her hands. Caffeine was a heavenly thing. "No."

"But if we – ."

"No."

"Fine. Daniel, have you found anything interesting in the graffiti yet?" Jack popped the rest of his breakfast in his mouth and whipped out his yo-yo. Loran was soon absorbed by his movements, although his lack of skill was evident to the others.

Sam finished repacking the MREs and noticed that Daniel was for once reluctant to share his findings. "Daniel?"

Daniel fidgeted on the ground, his attention focused on Loran. Teal'c, aware of the cause of his friend's unease, straightened and stared at the far wall. Jack and Sam shared a look, knowing this was Teal'c's way of masking his amusement. It was practically his way of laughing like a normal person. "DanielJackson and I found the contents of the records to be most distasteful."

The archeologist nodded, causing his glasses to slide down his nose. "Uh, the only room we looked at was basically a, uh, ledger of sorts. It was very… detailed." Loran was hanging on his every word and he prayed that the kid was oblivious to the purpose of the place he'd called a home for the past decade. Jack cursed under his breath as the yo-yo pinched his finger and Loran's attention was drawn back to the toy.

"Alright, pretend I didn't ask. Are… are all of the walls like that?"

"No. The rest appear to be a little more instructional in nature."

Suddenly Jack was coughing, shocked not by the information but by the way that Sam was smirking back over her shoulder at him and fluttering her eyelashes. She had meant to make herself look ridiculous, but Jack found little humor in indecent way she batted those lashes at him. As soon as she realized what kind of effect she had on him she started laughing. He wanted retribution. "Hey, Carter – did I ever show you this trick? It's called 'Around the World.' No, come closer so you can see…"

"I like 'Walk the Dog,' better. Can you do that one?" she asked as she backed away from his advance.

"Nah, that's boring. I want to show you this one. C'mere!"

While Jack chased Sam around the room, yo-yo at the ready, Loran lost interest in their antics and picked up a deck of cards from a crate in the corner and shuffled through the Simpson's illustrations on the faces of each card. "What are these for?" he asked Daniel.

"Those are playing cards."

"A game?"

"Yes. You can play lots of different games with them, which is why Jack takes them everywhere."

"Can you teach me?"

"You know, that sounds like a good idea. But first I need you to help me teach you the symbols." He flipped his notebook open to a blank page and wrote down the numbers 0-13. "Can you read these? No, alright… These are the numeric indicators that we use to represent counting words. We call them numbers." A squeal tore his attention away from the lesson, but the sight of Sam launching a counter-attack with pillows was too much for him. He pointed to the top and bottom of the listed numbers. "This is one, and this is thirteen, but on the cards these numbers are actually represented by letters…"

Teal'c sat down with the two to assist Daniel, eager to find something to occupy himself with apart from witnessing the new comfort level their teammates had developed with the group. Past experience would indicate that the two were under some form of alien influence. Not that they were doing anything inappropriate – she hadn't allowed Jack to catch her, after all, but to the best of his knowledge grown adults weren't supposed to have pillow fights, much less those two. He was happy for them, but this sudden change in behavior made him uncomfortable.

Daniel's voice brought an end to the momentary insanity. "Hey – do you guys have any regular decks of cards?"

Sam stopped abruptly and Jack ran into her, wrapping his arms around her waist to steady himself. "Mmf. I have a deck in the side pocket of my vest. At least I think it's still there." She'd never actually used the cards herself, but Jack had slipped them in after their return from the unplanned week-long stay on P4X-234. Jack had misplaced the deck he normally carried and had complained of boredom the entire week. Daniel and Teal'c had likewise discovered stowaways in their gear and removed them, despite the knowledge that a single deck of cards could very likely be the only thing standing between Happy Jack and Tantrum Jack. Sam always made sure she had room for that specific item. And Twix.

"I've got a few more decks in my – hey, the preliminary scans said no life forms so I came prepared," he explained, indignation rising at Daniel's accusatory glare. "I'll go get 'em."

"Can you get mine, too? My pack's in my room, two floors down," she added hastily. Her eyes darted from Daniel to Jack, who shrugged and headed for the stairs. Urging herself not to blush, she joined the boys on the cushions they'd piled in a circle on the floor. There was no reason to tell them that she and Jack were sharing a room, because that was certainly not a conversation she was ready to have with Daniel. Teal'c would be understanding, but she had to assume the worst where everyone else was concerned. She could just imagine General Hammond checking in and Daniel making some thinly-veiled comment about just how well things were going, probably something along the lines of how surprisingly well Jack was adjusting to their current confinement. By the end of the day the entire base would be under the impression that she and Jack had been sleeping together for years. Her cheeks flushed at the thought of their relationship being public knowledge. They'd been cautious so far, but eventually the truth would get out. Maybe it already was. To her right, Daniel shook with poorly concealed laughter. Her skin prickled in defense. "What?"

"Sam… you don't have to pretend for our sake."

"I'm not – I mean I don't know what –." They were so not having this conversation.

"Pretend what?" Loran was sorting through a pile, attempting to put the cards in numerical order as Daniel instructed.

They ignored him. Sam found herself at the mercy of two similarly quirked eyebrows, a picture that would normally have warranted amusement had she not been on their receiving end. It was downright scary to think that Daniel was capable of mastering Teal'c's facial expressions, especially when the man in question was around to back him up. That eyebrow perked up over the rim of his glasses as he stared her down, a tell-tale smirk quivering on his lips. "That's why Teal'c and I suggested we spread out to different rooms, you know…" He was clearly enjoying seeing Sam squirm, acting as though she hadn't instigated a pillow fight with her CO ten minutes ago. "Three weeks is a loooong time, Sam."

"Indeed."

Oh, God – Teal'c is grinning. Those are his teeth. "Guys, look, it's not like that at all! We aren't –."

" – sharing a room?" Daniel supplied. If he didn't at least try to restrain himself, Sam feared she would be forced to pummel him.

The kid perked up. "You share a room with Jack? Do you have kids?"

Sam felt like her face was on fire. Why hadn't she offered to get the cards from their room? Where was Jack? "What? No! Why would you …"

"When we came here, my parents said I could have my own room. I asked why they couldn't have their own rooms, and my father said that when people have kids they have to share a room."

"Umm, no. Jack and I don't have kids. We aren't married."

"Yet," Daniel muttered under his breath. Teal'c's eyes crinkled as his smile grew, making her wonder when he'd stopped being on her side. Had his face always been capable of stretching like that? "I give it another month."

"Daniel!"

"I do not believe that they are sufficiently prepared to consummate their relationship in such a short time, DanielJackson."

Dear Anubis, kill me now.

"What's 'married' mean?"

Sam groaned at the glint in Daniel's eyes. She ducked her head to hide from the sugary sweetness of his voice. "Marrying is what a man and a woman do when they love each other more than anything else in the entire universe, when the man thinks the woman is the most beautiful thing he's ever seen and when the woman thinks the man is just dreamy. Most cultures have different words for it, but your parents were married, Loran."

"Oh. What does it mean that you are not married, but you share a room? Do you need kids before you're married?"

"Yeah, Sam: what does it mean?"

Her eyes narrowed at him before turning on Teal'c, who was no longer attempting to conceal his amusement. She failed to compose herself by the time Jack returned with another four decks. "So, what'd I miss?"

"MajorCarter was explaining to Loran –."

" – why I thought we should teach him 'Go Fish' first. That way he can learn the numbers before we teach him some more difficult games."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Yeah, we'll go with that."

Jack studied each face in the group and knew something else was going on. From the state of Sam's complexion and the number of teeth Teal'c was showing, Jack was pretty sure he didn't want to know what they'd been talking about and refrained from making any comments about the fact that the first game Sam wanted to teach the man-child was 'Go Fish,' and how he wouldn't mind playing a private version with her later. He fought against the urge to blurt it out. He could be a good boy. However, when Sam asked him for a three of clubs, he couldn't repress his mirth at being able to say, aloud, surrounded by their friends, "Go Fish." Rather than allow him to bully her into a deeper blush, Sam responded to his request for a jack of diamonds with a confident, "Go Fish, yourself." The blush was unavoidable, though, and remained until the end of the round, at which point she'd had enough and asked if they could play a new game.

Totally worth it, Jack thought.

Three hours later, Teal'c was creaming them in Old Maid. They kept with each game until Loran requested a new one, cycling through their standard repertoire for most of the afternoon. Uno was enjoyable for about the first three hands, War was a bust because they were bored before they'd declared a winner for the first round, and by the time they had successfully established the rules of Eucher, the kid was tired and begged to be excused. There were plenty of games left – more exciting, challenging games – but Jack estimated that at the rate they were going, they would tire of those within the first week of their stay. He checked the weather and, though he'd hoped that Loran would be wrong about the storm, the rain showed no sign of letting up. Perfect timing, he thought.

"How's everyone holding up? Any headaches, homicidal or suicidal urges? Anybody need a tranq?"

"I feel fine, sir."

"I haven't noticed anything weird."

"Nor I. MajorCarter's calculations seem to have been successful." She smiled at the compliment, though she knew that her team had the utmost confidence in her and still wouldn't have cared if she'd made a slight maladjustment to the machine. At least, they wouldn't have cared after she'd fixed it.

Jack shook his head. "That's what I was afraid of. Does this feel like babysitting to anyone else, or is it just me?" Daniel shared a pointed look with Teal'c, at which Sam found herself laughing. "Oh, ha ha. Very funny. Seriously, though, what's gonna happen to Loran? He's from a technologically advanced planet, but he's still basically a little kid. Do we even know how to contact his people?"

"He'll probably end up living with one of our allies."

"The Tok'ra, perhaps. He would be a desirable host."

"No, I think his hatred of the Goa'uld is too strong for him to consider the idea of blending."

"I don't know, Daniel – he's never been in direct contact with any, and a blending would be the easiest way to make sure he isn't taken advantage of."

Snort. "Right, because convincing him to let the Tok'ra put a snake in his head definitely isn't taking advantage of his him."

"I'm just saying that he has plenty of options, sir."

"I get that, but we need to make sure that the options we give him are in his best interest."

"Alright then, how is this any different than when little Charlie went to join them?" Sam wasn't sure why she was being so defensive. Most of the time she agreed with Jack's assessment of the Tok'ra. They were arrogant and at the best of times, working with anyone but her father was immensely irritating. However, Jack's distrust of the entire race bordered on irrationality. It wasn't like SG-1 could claim to have never botched an allied mission for their own benefit, unknowingly or otherwise. The Tok'ra were essentially good people, even if they were distrustful and abrasive.

Jack paled at the insinuation that he had approved of the Charlie's decision to become a host. "He was dying. Loran is strong, healthy, and about half as mature as Charlie. You can't expect him to comprehend the repercussions of becoming a snakehead."

She raised an eyebrow in challenge. "Do you?" Ah, there it was. Her mind recalled a memory from Jolinar, that this had been a fundamental argument since the beginning of the Tok'ra rebellion. There was no way to fully comprehend the immensity of a blending without experiencing it firsthand, making it a very difficult pitch to sell to people who were only familiar with the oppression of the Goa'uld. Granted, Sam hadn't agreed to a full union with Jolinar and would very much have preferred that someone else been chosen as a temporary host, but that had not prevented her from mourning for the Tok'ra. Her experience helped her gain respect for the emotional impact that sharing one's life and body with another being could invoke.

Jack, on the other hand, was still disgusted by the idea. Was he disgusted with her? The hairs on her arms prickled at the thought, and she suddenly felt the urge to defend her appreciation for the Tok'ra, her father, and the amazing technology they refused to share with Earth. She opened her mouth and took a deep breath, but Daniel cut her off and she flushed as she remembered that this wasn't exactly a private disagreement. "Guys… It's ultimately Loran's decision to make. All we can do for him is explain his options clearly so that he can make an informed decision. Us fighting about it isn't going to help at all."

"You're absolutely right, Daniel." With that, Jack stormed out of the room, leaving Sam to stew.

Jack avoided Sam for the remainder of the afternoon. In fact, he seemed to be hiding from everybody. Neither Daniel nor Teal'c felt like flushing him out, and it was more than likely that Loran would get himself ripped to shreds if they sent him in to help diffuse the tension. Whatever Jack was dealing with, he'd have to work it out on his own.

Likewise, Sam claimed that she had discovered an error in her calculations and needed to spend some uninterrupted time with the device. No one had reported feeling strangely, but they knew better than to question her. Both men silently agreed that the couple needed to work things out on their own – no matter how uncomfortable the situation was – and were pleasantly surprised when Jack reappeared around dinner time. He shrugged off their questions and grabbed a crate of MREs before disappearing again.

Sam caught a glimpse of him through the doorway and glared. OK, taking food to hole-up somewhere and pout is taking this a little too far. Looking back on the argument, she knew she'd made a mistake bringing Charlie into the conversation. Jack had a point, of course, but in her mind he'd always been far too invested in the lives of the children they came across in their travels. One minute he could care less about a civilization, but the moment he met a kid he practically granted himself guardian status and no one could reason with him. Hell, he'd kidnapped a girl 'to show her how to be a kid,' risking breaking ties with a new race and his job security at the same time. While it was endearing to see his strong paternal instincts, those were not his children. They were not his responsibility.

If the Tok'ra could help Loran, wouldn't that be better than putting him in a mental institution on Earth?

An image of Cassie popped into her mind. Cassie had been so frightened of Sam when she'd sensed Jolinar. The girl had been inconsolable. She'd only wanted Jack. So did I, come to think of it. Alright, maybe his dislike of the Tok'ra wasn't entirely irrational, but that still didn't explain why he felt the need to take stray children under his wing. It had to be more than the loss of his son. The rational response in such situations would be to avoid kids like the plague. She knew that Jack would never willingly allow harm to come to a child – his or otherwise – but the more she thought about what he'd told her the night before the more certain she became that he was still holding something back.

Although he hadn't said so directly, his past actions and his current preoccupation with Loran convinced her that – on some level – Jack wanted to be a father again. He was so fiercely protective of the kids that came into his life that Sam wasn't sure she'd have the heart to tell him her own feelings on the subject when it inevitably came up. They practically had joint custody of Cassie anyway. Surely he could be content with that.

For a brief moment she allowed herself to envision them with a child. If he had his own kid to focus on, would he still jump to prove his worth where alien children were concerned? It almost seemed instinctual at this point. She saw herself standing angry, barefoot and pregnant in her kitchen, a screaming toddler in a playpen on the floor as Jack waltzed through the door with an orphaned boy that looked like a younger, male equivalent to Cassie. 'Fraser says that he's healthy, although his race carries nanites in their bloodstream that allow them to turn invisible when they're hungry. It's to help them hunt without using weapons. He doesn't have all of his teeth yet, but as long as we keep him full he shouldn't feel the need to kill. We may need to keep him away from the dog for a while – see? He was nibbling on my fingers on the drive home. Oh, and Teal'c says we should put a bell on him, because the kids this young have no control over when they turn invisible. We won't be able to take him out in public for a few years, but that shouldn't be a problem.' A chill ran up her spine and she shook her head, willing the mental images to disappear. The thought of Jack bringing home a kid like a stray puppy was just as disturbing as the thought of her enduring pregnancy. Twice.

She surveyed the mess of papers scattered around her on the ground before burying her face in her hands. How much longer would she be able to use this as an excuse before someone informed General Hammond there was a problem with the device? In reality, the only problem they had was with –

"Hey, Carter. I need to borrow you for a sec." She jumped at his unexpected reappearance in the doorway. For once, he actually looked… contrite. Those puppy dog eyes were genuine, and Sam found herself abandoning her fake project without a second thought. She'd never been able to resist him, official orders or not. Sometimes she hated him for it, but at the moment she was resigned to at least hearing him out.

She didn't pay any attention to the looks the guys shot their way as Jack took hold of her hand and drug her along behind him. "Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise." Rather than descend the staircase to their room, Jack towed her up a floor and clapped his hands over her eyes halfway down a narrow hallway that she hadn't explored yet. "Almost there."

"Jack." He rolled his eyes, annoyed despite knowing that she had every right to be upset with him. "Jack, please. You don't have to – ."

He lowered his hands from her eyes, settling them on her waist and pulling her backwards to lean into his chest as she surveyed the room. The far wall opened out into a tiled balcony. The rainfall on the tiles reminded her of a particularly stormy month spent at her great aunt Rita's home in rural Michigan. She relaxed into Jack's embrace and wondered if he clung to fond memories of rainy days as well. In the center of the room was a padded dais, upon which Jack had spread out a picnic.

"I saw you grab a supply crate and figured you were planning on splitting camp."

"Nah. I just… I needed some time to cool off."

"I'm sorry for saying what I did." She couldn't bring herself to say the name 'Charlie,' but she figured he knew what she meant.

He placed a kiss on the back of her neck before stooping to rest his chin on her shoulder. "You don't have anything to apologize for. I just… Well, you know me: I go a little berserk sometimes."

Yeah, that was a pretty gross understatement. She grimaced as her thoughts turned back to him bringing home stray kids, glad that he couldn't see her face. "A little." She was relieved that he didn't specifically point out that his crazy episodes typically centered around kids, because this was another conversation she wasn't ready to engage in. It amazed her that things had seemed so settled last night, only to realize less than twenty-four hours later that there were a few dozen subjects that she didn't feel ready to air out.

"I really didn't mean to snap like that." She turned in his arms and gave his nose a quick peck. "You forgive me?"

"Thought you'd have to grovel?" He met her gaze head on and Sam felt it in her chest. That particular smirk was reserved for times when he felt things were going well enough (before their feelings were USAF sanctioned) that he could get away with a little flirting, and she couldn't help but feel that the muscles he used were directly tied to her heartstrings. When he gave her that little half-smile, her pulse suffered. I'm never going to be able to stay mad at him, am I? She still wasn't certain about how to approach the elephant in the room, but decided that as long as he was OK ignoring it, she could be, too. For now.

If Jack knew what his smile did to her, he didn't let on. "Honestly? Yeah, I expected a little more of a fight getting you up here."

"Hmm, so did I. Must be my soft spot for cranky colonels."

"And generals," he muttered, drawing out a laugh as he pushed her towards the dinner spread. A short while after they finished eating the rain let up enough for them to see what little sun shone through the cloud cover droop behind the mountains in the distance. The view from the balcony really was spectacular. They reclined in the doorway, Sam nestled between Jack's legs, looking away from the sea and into the sunset.

"You know, if it wasn't for the whole Goa'uld pleasure palace thing, I wouldn't mind coming back here during the dry season." He winked down at her, but she wasn't entirely convinced he was joking.

"All by yourself?"

"Hmm? No, you can come, too. We'll have the run of the place."

She laughed at the way he waggled his eyebrows. "Sorry, I think I'll have to pass on that one. This place gives me the creeps. Besides, I was hoping that we could spend our first REAL vacation in Minnesota…"

"Ah, of course. When I invite you it's problematic, but you invite yourself and everything's all hunky-dory. You, Samantha, are a tease." He tickled her sides for good effect, until he realized that making her writhe between his legs was maybe something he should save for later.

When she caught her breath she gripped his thigh and settled back against his chest, enjoying the feel of his arms circling her just beneath her breasts. "I like it when you call me Samantha, when it's just the two of us." He blanched at that and though she couldn't see him, the tension radiated throughout his body. "Jack?"

"Hmm?" Her soft grip on his forearm jolted him back to reality. "I… Sorry. Just thought back to, umm, you know. The ice planet."

"Where my name was 'Thera.'" Something brushed against her scalp – his nose, buried in her hair. He nodded against the top of her head. As she waited for him to elaborate on that thought she failed to see why the mention of her name should evoke such a negative reaction from him. All things considered, most of her memories from that mission were good ones. Especially the ones concerning Jack. Now that she was allowed to, she took even more comfort knowing that one of the first memories he'd regained were his feelings for her. A quick glance over her shoulder showed her that he was truly upset about something. "Jack?"

Torn, he met her eyes. She didn't ask. She didn't have to. Besides, this wasn't a big deal. He could tell her, right? He'd been too nervous to actually tell her before, but after their talk last night, this was nothing. "Do you ever wonder what would've happened if we, well, if something had really happened on that mission. I didn't give it much thought until we got back and everyone started accusing me of taking advantage of you."

"You know that wouldn't have been the case. It's not taking advantage when it's consensual," she teased.

"Try explaining that to Dad at zatpoint. Seriously, though, have you thought about it?"

Sam had no idea what he was getting at – she was still preoccupied with the kid thing – but decided to humor him. She was learning that the reason Jack rarely opened up was because he was rarely given the opportunity. Point and case, their friends had happily jumped at the chance to accuse them of an illicit affair – nothing but wishful thinking on their part – rather than ask Jack to explain what had happened, because the regs had made him hold his tongue on the matter. "I don't know. Looking back, I think we're lucky we didn't move beyond that hug."

"How is it that hugs are only bad things where we are concerned. If I hug Fraser, no one gives a hoot."

"I do. I'm a very jealous person, you know. Anyway, I was a total mess as it was. I'm shocked that Hammond only threatened to call in MacKenzie."

"Yeah, you were a mess!" She slapped his knee and he tightened his hold on her, once again burying his face in her hair and letting the smell of her shampoo wash over him. The tightness building in his chest ever since their earlier argument was gradually diminishing as he slowly came to terms with the fact that she really had gotten over his tantrum. Sara would have ignored him for a few days before guilting him into buttering her up with flowers or some other silly gesture. It hadn't occurred to him that other women didn't make men genuflect before opening a line of communication. He took another deep breath and rested his head atop Sam's. "God, we were stupid to wait so long."

"Why did we? I mean, obviously I'm glad that nothing happened because I'm not sure I would've been able to handle any more complications, but there was absolutely nothing keeping us apart before we started questioning our environment." She felt him tense up again, felt his heart rate speed up. "Or was there?"

Jack's instinct told him to stand up and pace, to work out the nervous energy and change the topic. Then he remembered that he'd already decided he needed to tell her about this. He'd been the one to bring it up, after all. Instead of moving away he toyed with the neckline of her shirt, pleased by the way she shivered at the slightest touch of his fingers. "No, not really." Sam tried to turn around and face him but he didn't let her. This wasn't something he felt comfortable saying to her face. "I just didn't like our names. The fake ones."

"… You didn't like them then, or you don't like them now?"

"Both. It just took me a while to figure out why they bothered me so much."

"They really bothered you? I didn't notice anything…"

"Hey, you know me. I'm like an emotional gravedigger."

"Umm, that's a very disturbing mental image and I have no idea what that's supposed to mean."

"Sorry. There was no rational explanation at the time, but every time I called you 'Thera' I felt sick to my stomach." She glanced over her shoulder to see if he was being serious. "Yeah, and when you called me 'Jonah' I wanted to punch someone. No, not you, just… someone. That name just pissed me off for some reason."

"Oh. Did you also find yourself dreaming about being swallowed alive by giant fish?"

"Sam."

"I'm sorry, but those names don't mean anything to me. I thought calling Teal'c 'Tor' was funny, but other than that I didn't give them much thought. 'Thera' just sounds like someone with a lisp trying to say Sara." She had a cousin Sara that she hadn't had much contact with, but other than that she couldn't think of – "Oh, God, Jack. You don't think…"

He sighed as she pulled away, resigned to the fact that they would be having this conversation face to face after all. Could it be a coincidence that they'd both been given names that eerily resembled those of their exes? "Maybe, but I'm really hoping I'm wrong."

Sam was adamant. Despite the topic at hand, Jack couldn't help but smile at the familiar tingle he got when her face scrunched up as her brain went into overdrive, almost like she could will her brain to think faster that way. "Nothing else about our fake identities correlated to our real ones. Besides, they wanted to split us up. They wouldn't dig through our memories like that on the off-chance that we would start questioning our circumstances. Right?" She didn't give him time to answer. "You clearly had an emotional response to those names, so that's proof enough that it's possible other people would have the same response, and everyone knows that the best way to run an operation like that is to encourage people to suppress their emotions. And even if they did go through our memories, the only reason they would benefit from meshing our realities with the implanted memories would be to enforce the idea that we were safer and happier working as slaves, which they wouldn't achieve by drudging up memories of – of –."

"Of homicidal maniacs?" Sam gave him a worried glance. "I only meant Jonas. But yeah, unless they really wanted to make sure that we avoided each other. And clearly that didn't work, did it?"

Relaxing at the familiar smirk, Sam crawled onto his lap. They wrapped their arms around each other but maintained eye contact. "And 'Tor' makes sense, but where the hell did 'Carlin' come from?"

"No idea."

"So that's it then. Just a coincidence."

"Mhmm. And for the record, because I don't want you to think that I could ever be unaffected by you or your person," Sam giggled and bumped her nose against his, relishing the closeness. "If we hadn't started getting our memories back as quickly as we did, something would definitely have happened."

"Good. Although, for the record, I'm glad we're waiting."

"You are?" His eyebrow was quirked in a Teal'c-ish manner.

"Yes." She shifted on his lap. "Most of the time." His eyes darkened at her words and she leaned forward to claim his lips with hers for a brief kiss. Jack reclined with her against the wall and listened to the return of the heavy rainfall. As hard as she tried, however, Sam couldn't will herself to relax as an old guilt resurfaced. Maybe this wasn't the best time, but she could broach the subject slowly without instigating a second fight. Besides, if she brought this up now, then maybe she could slowly ease him into the idea that them having kids would be a terrible idea. "Jack?" she asked nervously.

That didn't sound good. "Yeah?"

"What you said about getting pissed off whenever someone called you 'Jonah'… Do we, I mean, you know that I was the one that broke off that engagement. And what happened with Jonas, you need to know that I was completely over him before – well, I've gotten over all of that mess. It took me a little while to trust people again, but Jack, you are not him."

"Sam, I'm not worried about any of that. I just didn't like thinking that anyone would get the two of us confused, because he was an asshole to you and to the rest of the world. Sorry," he added, though he only did so out of courtesy to Sam.

"No, you're right. I just wondered if, well, there was anything else you were curious – ?" He silenced her with a kiss, making her sigh in relief.

Jack knew what she was getting at, and that she had every right to do so, but years of denial and self-loathing made him reluctant to bring up, well, anything concerning his life prior to joining the SGC. "I'm just glad you got out before he went completely off his rocker. As for Sara and Charlie," he choked on his son's name, "I'd rather not talk about that right now. I know we need to, but –."

This time Sam silenced him. It had taken a lot out of him to talk about the ice planet with such openness, and they were both still emotionally taxed after their earlier disagreement. Now was not the time for Sam to try and clear her conscience regarding his ex-wife, and she could take advantage of the time between to figure out how to break the news to Jack. "Another time."

"Thank you."

"I love you."

"And that makes me very happy," he said impishly. They were both in high spirits again, and it amazed her at how short a time it had taken to clear the air. Since day one, Sam had known that Jack held grudges far longer than necessary. Would she be immune to that side of him?

"Although, now that I think about it, I'm not quite sure why."

Leaning in close so that he could whisper directly into her ear, Jack allowed his hands to roam across her waistline. "I thought it was because 'I'm not above making up for the love you've been denying you could ever feel. I'm not above doing an-y-thing to restore your faith if I ca-an.'" Her eyes drifted shut as he spoke the lyrics and swayed from side to side. "'I'm not above being cool for awhile – if you're cruel to me I'll understand. Some people run from a possible fight, some people figure they can never win, and although this is a fight I can lose the accused is an innocent man!'"

Oh, sweet merciful holy Hannah – how does he know this song always reminds me of him? She made a purpose of never listening to that CD when he was around. "I think you skipped a few verses, there, Billy Joel."

"Nah, 'I write the songs.'"

"That's Barry Manilow."

"Hey, I know that guy! Didn't he sing about the Tok'racabana?"

"You're insane."

"Well, 'you may be right. I may be crazy.'" She rolled her eyes, smiling all the while. "'But it just may be a lunatic you're lookin' for.'"

"As long as you aren't in denial about your condition."

"'If I'm crazy then it's true that it's all because of you, and you wouldn't want me any other way.'"

"That's it; I'm calling it a night." She stood and stretched, but she wasn't quick enough to dodge away from Jack before he grabbed her arm and drug her out onto the balcony. Squealing as he spun her in the rain, she was soon too drenched to focus on anything but escape. "Let me go, Jack!"

"But Sam – it's raining! 'I'm laughing at clouds, so dark up above! The sun's in my heart!'" His grip slipped and she broke away, laughing hysterically despite the shivers. Throwing his hands in the air, he spun twice before following her inside.

SOoo, if you're interested, check out the full lyrics to 'Tok'racabana' in Ch. 3 of "The Blackhole of Stargate Parody" by Lupin's Magelet. I pawned that story off because I couldn't think of any more songs to spoof, but 'Tok'racabana' and 'Promethean Rhapsody' are mine.

I really thought that Jack would be bothered more than Sam by the Jonah/Thera thing. It was too creepy. And Sam has a secret, but it probably won't show up for another few chapters. This next chapter will conclude the stay in the pleasure palace, and will be full of even MORE games!