Interruptions

Chapter Ten

A/N: This is a very emotionally based chapter, lots of talking, not much action, but I think a chapter like this is necessary, and I quite enjoyed writing it.

For the second morning in a row, Sam woke up wrapped in Jack's arms. She relaxed into him and smiled to herself. While she had loved this man for years, this still seemed surreal, as though it could end at any moment.

"You're thinking again." Jack murmured.

"Don't I always?" Sam replied.

"Hmm."

Sam pressed her face into Jack's chest. "I still can't really believe that you're here. With me."

"Just like I can't really believe you chose me out of any man in the world. In the universe even. There have got to be heaps of guys younger, smarter, and better looking than me." Jack replied.

Sam shook her head, her hair brushing Jack's bare chest. "No. I could never find someone better than you, someone who I love more than I love you." She pulled away and sat up, gazing down at Jack. "You are the most complicated man I've ever met, and you've got issues and problems, but that doesn't bother me. Because I know that you're a good man, a man who puts others before himself, a man who would sacrifice himself to save his team. A man who would unwillingly become a Tok'ra, because I asked, because I couldn't bear to see him die. A man who considers the lives of everyone on this planet and who saves them all. A man who, although he knew it would kill him eventually, let the knowledge of the Ancients be downloaded into his brain to find a way to save the Earth once again." Sam had tears in her eyes at this point as she recalled the sight of Jack, frozen in a stasis pod in Antarctica.

Jack sat up and wrapped his arms around her. "It's okay." He murmured. "That's all in the past."

"You have no idea what it was like for me, seeing you, frozen, unable to move, just staring down at me, not knowing if I'd ever see you alive again."

"I do actually." Jack replied.

"You… you do?"

"It was a couple of years after the programme started. When the SGC was infected with that alien entity, that took you over. God, Sam, I shot you, I… I killed you. Your body was just lying there, you were brain dead, I didn't know what I was going to do. You were gone, you were just gone, and I knew I'd missed an opportunity to rebuild my life. I went to destroy the nest, and it started talking…"

"I'm here." Sam whispered, echoing the words from years earlier.

"I felt hope like I'd never felt before, and seeing you open your eyes again… I had a reason to keep going."

They sat in silence after that, holding each other, occasional tears falling from both their eyes.

"After I was kidnapped by Fifth, while you were still in stasis, he put me into a virtual reality where I was living on a farm with Pete. He tried to convince me that it was real. That I would be happy. It was really then I realised that I wasn't going to be happy with Pete. And that, seeing as you were frozen, with no way for anyone to help you, I was going to be alone for the rest of my life. But I knew I didn't want to stay with Fifth. I convinced him to let me go. And do you know who I saw when I woke up?"

Jack didn't reply, letting Sam continue her story.

"You, I almost thought it was another mind game, but no, it was you, alive and well. I was so happy, maybe, just maybe I wasn't going to be alone after all. Then when my father died… he told me something before he died, he said 'don't let rules stand in your way, you can still have everything you want.' He was a very intelligent man, and not soon after, I broke it off with Pete. I knew we wouldn't be happy. I didn't love him enough." She paused, thinking. "All those years, I thought you were a lost cause, and when you said I should marry Pete, I… I thought you might not love me anymore, if, of course, you ever did. My life changed that day." Sam felt a tear run down her cheek, the she felt one land on her arm. She looked up and saw that Jack too was shedding tears.

"I'm sorry." She said. "I didn't mean to dump this all on you."

Jack smiled down at her. "I'm glad you did. It means I can start to better understand how you feel about everything."

Sam smiled sadly back. "I think being in Kelowna, and seeing all that death reminded me of my mortality. And I don't want to waste more time keeping things from you."

"Thank you." Jack whispered, bending down to kiss her gently.

"For what?"

"Letting me into that complex brain of yours." Jack replied.

Sam kissed him back. "Anytime.

A/N: A bit of a short chapter, but I think it's a bit heavy, so, the shorter the sweeter. Also, thank you to everyone who takes time out to review, I love getting feedback.