Okay shippers, if you'll bear with me a little longer and be patient through these boring chapters, I'm going to try very hard to write a nice, mushy Jack/Sam scene tomorrow. Deal?

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

The transport rings whirred and stacked themselves up around Sam and her companions, dropping down to reveal a large, dusty room. Sunlight streamed in from all sides, the decayed walls having fallen in and crumbled long ago. The ceiling was completely open, revealing a cloudy late afternoon sky.

Sam, Daniel, and General O'Neill stepped off of the ring platform, their weapons held at eye level. Sam took the left side of the room, stepping carefully across the dirt floor and peeking around the corner of the walls, cautiously scanning what she could see of the woods beyond. When she found nothing, she joined the rest of her team in waiting for the others.

The rings brought Teal'c, Ishta, and Bra'tac to the surface, and they all followed O'Neill to the next room, where there was much more cover. The walls were broken down in places, but were tall enough to keep them out of sight from anyone outside.

"Alright, guys." Jack kept his voice low as he motioned for the group to stand together. "Daniel, give me an idea of where we're at."

Daniel squatted down and drew a crude map with his finger in the sand, drawing a circle for the stargate, a triangle for the ruins, and a question mark for the place where the sensors had detected the large group of life signs. He checked his compass and squinted at the sun, then scratched a large N above the drawing and pointed outside the ruins.

"Looks like that's north," he said, wiping the dust from his hands and standing. The General nodded and pointed down at Daniel's map.

"Okay, here's what we're going to do. Teal'c, you and Bra'tac go check out the stargate. I want to know we can use it to get home if things go south. Carter and I will head to Daniel's question mark there, see what we're dealing with. Daniel? You and Ishta find out how many patrols there are running around, and where we can set up camp if we need to. How much daylight do we have left, Carter?"

She checked her watch and did a few calculations in her head, trying to remember what she'd read in SG2's mission report. "I'd say no more than a couple of hours, sir."

Talk about jetlag.

"Okay, then," O'Neill said sharply. "Let's get going." He adjusted the strap on his firearm and added, "We'll meet back here in two hours. Good luck, guys."

They all filed out of the ruins in different directions, and Sam fell in step behind O'Neill. Their boots crunched loudly across the ground as they walked in silence, Jack's eyes fixed intently ahead. She thought of how different he seemed from the warm and gentle man she had spent the night beside. He certainly could be serious when he needed to be. Sam found herself thankful that he was able to push aside this part of himself when off duty. It was something her father never really mastered.

The breeze was sweet and warm, and time passed quickly as they hiked through the woods. Sam was grateful for the time to think. She felt that she hadn't done enough of that the past several hours, which wasn't something she was used to.

Obviously things had changed. A line had been crossed, and Sam knew that she and Jack O'Neill would never be able to return to the way they had been. Still, she wasn't sure she was prepared what would happen if their superiors found out. It wasn't as if the world didn't owe them a favor, but that line of reasoning had never seemed to do SG1 too much good in the past. Following this line of thought, Sam grew angry with herself. She hated to think that she had become someone who thought herself above the rules. What would other people say? Besides that, how would it affect the command structure of the SGC? Surely, even if they were allowed to pursue a relationship, the Air Force would never allow her to stay under Jack's command. Someone would have to leave, and that thought terrified her.

Still, a life without Jack O'Neill had suddenly become impossible to imagine. She thought of how close she had come to separating them forever, to pledging to spend the rest of her life with another man, and it made her almost ill. Surely there was some way they could make it work. She knew that Jack was determined enough, and she reminded herself that it was very hard to say no to Jack O'Neill.

Despite this, Sam was determined not to let her feelings interfere with her judgment again. She knew the regulations, and until they found a way around them, she just had to be strong. She could no longer rely on General O'Neill to keep a professional distance between them, so Sam decided it was her responsibility to keep them from acting on their feelings a second time. She tried to feel confident that she could do this, but remembering her earlier reaction to Jack's lips against hers reminded Sam that she couldn't be too careful.

The first Jaffa patrol that they ran across was made up of six, and O'Neill held up his arm, signaling for Sam to take cover. She pressed her back against the closest tree and stayed motionless, holding tight to her weapon and listening as the sounds of marching faded off into the distance. Relaxing her stance, Sam waited for the General's signal, and then followed him as they continued through the woods.

They treaded more carefully now, watching for movement beyond the trees and stepping cautiously between twigs and leaves, careful not to let them crunch too loudly beneath their boots. They hiked for several more minutes before O'Neill stopped and checked his watch.

"We should be almost there, right?" he asked her quietly.

"Yes, sir," she agreed. "The sensors showed-"

There was a loud snap from somewhere to their right, and Jack instinctively grabbed Sam by her arms and tugged her in front of him, pressing his back against a tree and pulling her tight against his chest. She held her breath when she heard voices from behind her, and they both stayed perfectly still. The voices were too indistinct to make out, but they were unmistakably low and harsh. Sam turned her head slightly to try to hear better, and suddenly became extremely aware of the General's body behind hers. His heart was pounding furiously against her back, and Sam found herself hoping it was less for the eminent danger they were in, and more because of her warm body pressing onto his. She felt a slow warmth building up inside of her as he shifted slightly against her back, and a warning bell sounded in her head, forcing her to remember her earlier resolve. For some reason that she couldn't quite explain to herself, she was less worried about the Jaffa behind them, and more worried about what might happen if she didn't quickly clear her head. She started to gently pull away from his grasp.

"Sir-"

"Shh!" he hissed, tightening his grip and holding her in place. She tried to concentrate on the sounds on the other side of the tree, but all she could think about was how she had never enjoyed being roughly handled by a man quite so much. It was not something she usually tolerated, but for some reason she was content to wait helplessly until the voices faded and the woods grew silent again. By then, she had given up trying to keep her thoughts in check. Jack suddenly released her, his eyes on the retreating sun.

"We're not going to make it back by dark if we don't get there soon," he complained.

Sam reluctantly stepped away from him, oddly disappointed. She tried to shake off the conflicting emotions running wild inside of her, and gestured beyond the treeline. There was a faint outline of a small structure.

"I don't think we'll have to go much farther, sir," she reassured him, unconsciously running her fingers over her upper arms, where Jack's hands had gripped her. He raised his eyebrows at her curiously, as if he was reading her thoughts. Sam dropped her hands and cleared her throat to hide her embarrassment. Jack grinned mischievously.

"Enjoyed that, did you, Carter?"

She looked down at her watch and tried to hide her burning cheeks. Jack laughed quietly to himself and started off in the direction of the structure.

It turned out to be a fairly large building, obviously Goa'uld in construction. They made their way slowly around the walls, keeping their eyes out for any of the Jaffa patrols that clearly made their rounds around the structure often. Large footprints were visible in every direction. The least heavily guarded entrance seemed to be the door farthest from the way they'd come. Jack used his zat on the single guard at the entryway and signaled Sam to get ready as he tapped the control panel on the wall. The door rushed up, and they held up their weapons, rushing into the room.

Sam was relieved to find the hallway empty, and the door slid closed behind them. The inside of the building was typically Goa'uld, which they were thankfully very familiar with, and they snuck their way down and into the first room they came across.

"This looks like some kind of laboratory, sir," she observed, walking the length of the room to examine the crystal devices and controls placed on the shelves and tables. The room was dark, and Sam had to hold some of the objects up to the soft, gold lights to get a clear look at them.

"Hey," O'Neill called to her. She turned to find him holding a small vial of clear liquid. "This looks familiar, huh?"

Sam was confused when she realized what he was referring to.

"Surely not," she said, unable to think of a reason why a Goa'uld would have Tretonin in his possession. There was a loud clanging noise that echoed from somewhere else within the structure, and O'Neill tucked the vial into his pocket and nodded towards the door. She scanned the room one last time, and then followed him out into the hallway. They slipped back out of the structure without incident, dragging the unconscious Jaffa back into the woods quietly. Sam then followed Jack around to the front of the building, squatting down to watch the group of Jaffa standing guard in front of the door. Jack pulled the container of liquid back out of his pocket and stared at it uneasily.

"I have a bad feeling about this."