As Jack drove away from Carter's house he had the strongest urge to turn around and go back. Something wasn't right.

He kept trying to convince himself that he just wanted to stay with her and that nothing was actually wrong, but he felt worse the further he drove away from her house.

Sighing at his overprotectivness, he decided to turn around and at least check to make sure she was ok. He'd only been gone for fifteen minutes, but it would put his mind at ease.

He turned around and gunned his truck, in a hurry to check on her, praying that there weren't any cops patrolling that particular road.

Jack made it back in seven minutes and quickly killed the engine, and stepped out. The evening was silent and completely still, which made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Something was definitely wrong.

There should be noises, like dogs barking and raccoons digging in the trash cans, but there wasn't any noise at all.

He quickly opened his truck door and pulled his Beretta out from under the front seat. He chambered a round and crept up behind Sam's car that was parked in the driveway. He still couldn't see or hear anything, so he made his way quietly into her backyard and proceeded to check all the areas.

There was nothing amiss.

He walked around to where her bedroom window was and his blood ran cold. The bushes and flowers under her windowsill were trampled with multiple footprints in the soil visible in the moonlight.

Jack took his keys out and ran to her front door and quietly unlocked it. He was going to sneak up on whomever was in her house and beat the shit out of them. The lock snicked open and he opened the door slowly. It didn't make a noise until the end, where it squeaked slightly. "Dammit", he cursed inwardly.

He paused, but didn't hear any movement, so he walked inside silently and closed the door most of the way, stopping short of actually latching it.

He knew how to be quiet; he used to be black-ops and this was his thing.

He crept down the hallway, keeping his body flat against the wall, his gun hanging from his right hand.

Suddenly he heard small sounds coming from Sam's room. He was right, there was someone or something here. He reached the end of the hallway and snuck a look in her room. There were three shadowy figures standing over Sam; who seemed to be either still asleep or incapacitated. He guessed the latter.

They hadn't heard him because they were conversing quietly. He heard words like "transport" and "hurry" but couldn't make out what they were talking about.

He needed to act quickly.

Stepping out of the shadows, he flicked the light on and pointed his gun at them. In a calm, deadly voice he said, "Who the hell are you and what do you think you're doing?"

They turned around with surprised faces and started reaching for their guns, but Jack waved his gun at them. "Ah, ah, ah..don't even think about it, or I'll kill you. Don't think I won't. Now answer my questions. I'll give you five seconds before I start knee-capping each of you."

The one that was obviously in charge stepped forward, "I'm not giving you any information, O'Neill. You're going to have to kill me."

Jack shrugged, pursing his lips, "That can be arranged. Or...I can just let you rot in prison. I like that idea better actually."

He pulled his phone out, still pointing the gun at the three intruders and dialed the SGC. He quickly apprised Reynolds of the situation and ordered them to get there as fast as possible, then hung up.

"The Calvary is going to be here quickly. Are you sure you don't want to tell me anything?"

The leader shook his head, his face grim, but one of the others blurted out, "We don't know anything, we were just ordered to retrieve Carter and-"

The leader turned and punched his comrade in the face, "Shut the hell up!" The one that was hit quickly covered his face and didn't say anything more, trying to staunch the blood coming out of his nose.

Jack was furious, "Who ordered you to take Carter?"

He smirked, "You might as well give up, O'Neill, I'm not saying anything else."

He wasn't going to talk, that much was clear, but Jack was confident that once they got them back to the SGC, they would be able to at least break the other two.

He clenched his jaw, "Will you bastards at least tell me what you did to her?" He gestured with his gun at Carter, who was still. It scared him.

"She's not in danger. We just gave her a sedative so we could move her easily. We should have just killed her, it would-"

That comment put Jack's rage over the top. He quickly moved over to the leader and pistol-whipped him, knocking him out cold, his body falling limply to the ground. Jack wanted to kill him, but he was more valuable alive at the moment.

The only other one that was still standing quickly put his hands up, "I'm not going to try anything, I don't feel like getting hit in the head." He sat down and didn't say anything more.

Jack felt like he was losing his mind with anger and needed to cool down before the back-up arrived. He took a deep breath and moved to the other side of the bed and quickly reached over and placed his fingers on her neck, checking for a pulse. He kept his eyes on the intruders, making sure they weren't going to try anything. He sighed in relief when he felt her heartbeat. It was steady and strong. It would have been so easy for them to kill her and was so glad that that hadn't happened.

He suddenly felt like a coward for not telling her that he loved her all these months, and vowed to do just that when she woke up. Life was too short to be wasting any more time being an idiot.

Just as he thought that he heard trucks pull up outside the house and saw multiple lights through the window. They had gotten here fast.

The front door burst open and multiple Marines charged into the bedroom with their guns up and shouted at the two that were conscious to put their hands on their heads and lay on their stomachs. They quickly complied and the Marines cuffed them and dragged them out of the room. The remaining Marines cuffed the unconscious leader and turned to Jack, "Sir, what do you want us to do with them?"

Jack pointed to the man they were holding upright, "I want them all thrown in isolation rooms. He's the leader, but I think the other two will be more willing to talk. Have Teal'c and Daniel question them, and save this bastard for me." They nodded, "Yes, Sir. Do you want us to stick around and check for any other intruders?"

Jack shook his head, "I already checked. I'm going to wait for Colonel Carter to wake up, then escort her up to the SGC so we can get her checked out by Doctor Lam. Thanks for the quick response, guys." He tried to smile, but couldn't quite muster it.

"You're welcome, Sir. Nobody messes with one of us and gets away with it." With that they both saluted Jack and drug the intruder out the door. Jack was happy to see him being manhandled. He was going to be sore when he woke up. That made Jack feel a little better.

OOOOOOOOO

Sam woke up with a groan. She felt like she'd been run over by a truck, repeatedly. Her head was pounding and her limbs felt like lead.

She felt a hand on her forehead and cracked her eyes open, seeing Jack looking at her with concern.

"Sir, what's going on?"

Jack grimaced, "Some men tried to take you for reasons that are unknown as of yet. I got to you before they could carry out their plan, but not before they injected you with a sedative."

She was confused, "Why did you come back?"

He moved his hand from her head and shrugged, "Call it a gut-feeling that something wasn't right. I'm just glad I did come back..I had almost convinced myself not to."

She smiled faintly, "I'm glad you did too." There was anger in his eyes that was brewing just below the surface. She could tell he was barely controlling it.

"Sir, can you help me sit up?"

He nodded and put his hand under her back then pushed. She sat up but felt like she was going to throw up. In fact, she was sure she was. "Sir, I'm going to be sick."

He understood immediately and picked her up and hurried into the bathroom, making it just in time as she threw up the meager contents of her stomach.

He turned his back and let her clean herself up. He knew she hated it when people hovered over her when she was like this.

She stood up on shaky feet and walked to the sink and quickly brushed her teeth and washed her hands.

He had his back to her, standing in the doorway. She walked over to him slowly, finally feeling a little better, and put her hand on his waist, "Sir, I'm ok now."

He turned around and pulled her into an embrace. Her pregnant belly was in the way of truly hugging him, but she did her best and pulled him as close as possible.

He walked them out of the bathroom then pulled back slightly, looking at her, their faces inches away.

He shook his head, looking nervous. Sam wondered why.

"Sam, this little incident has convinced me to quit being a damn coward, and to tell you what I've wanted to tell you for months."

He paused and she raised an eyebrow. Jack looked away for a second then looked back at her, "I love you." He didn't give her a chance to respond before continuing, "I want you to live with me so I can keep you safe and so we don't have to take the baby to different houses every night. I want to be with you in every way possible. If you'll have me."

She was shocked that that many emotional things had come out of his mouth all at once. She was actually speechless, and didn't know what to say without sounding like an idiot.

Her silence worried him and she just kept staring at him with wide, blue eyes.

"Sir, I-"

He cut her off before she could say anything else, "At least come stay with me at my house. You obviously aren't safe here. I don't want to worry about you every night."

Sam sighed internally. She wasn't ready to tell him that she loved him. She did, but she was having a hard time voicing it and was glad he gave her an out. "I'll come stay with you. I don't want to be alone anymore. I have..strong..feelings for you too, Sir, but you're still my commanding officer."

He sighed audibly, "I'm going to figure out something, but in the meantime you can still come live with me."

He felt a little like he had been punched in the gut when she didn't say that she loved him back, but he suspected it was more fear of saying the words than her not actually loving him. He knew she did. They were just going to have to take it slow, but he was going to have to retire before anything happened.

She nodded and he pulled her close once again, burying his face in her neck and placed a few soft kisses there. He felt her react and pulled back slightly to look her in the eyes. He didn't see any resistance, so he leaned forward and kissed her tentatively. Her lips were soft and warm, and he deepened the kiss slightly before pulling back. He wanted more, but they needed to get the regs out of the way before they took anything further.

With his arms still around her loosely, he spoke before she could, "I want to go to the SGC and have Lam check you out to make sure nothing is wrong, and I'm going to go talk to the bastards that did this and try to get more information from them. I have a feeling this isn't over."

She nodded, "I don't think so either." She heaved a deep sigh, "Let me get dressed and we can go."

He nodded and walked out of the room to give her privacy. One day he wouldn't have to do that and he hoped it was sooner rather than later.

Author's Note: I feel like their relationship is progressing, but not too quickly. Seems to me that this would be what a real life relationship would be like with them. One step forward, two steps back..haha. Also, there are definitely still threats out there for them, and not just from one source. Thanks for reading and for the reviews from the last chapter. Please let me know what you think! :)