Day 51
I-76W
Pennsylvania

Jack cast a furtive glance at the quiet woman in the passenger seat next to him before looking at the time and letting out a soft sigh. He was bored. They had been on the road for almost six hours since leaving their hotel in Atlantic City around noon and Sam had hardly said a word. Not that he'd been very talkative either but he blamed that on her surprising him with her presence earlier this morning at breakfast. After the way they had parted last night he hadn't expected to see much of her up until they were supposed to leave, if not because of what had almost happened between them then because of a mild hangover considering how much she'd had to drink the night before.

The meal had been awkward and uncomfortable though because of the tension and except for greetings and orders neither had said much because of it. The moment Sam had finished her coffee she'd excused herself, mumbling about having to pack, claiming she wasn't really hungry anyway. Her escape had given him the time to get his clothes cleaned and come up with a plan for the rest of the day to find out how they should handle that almost-kiss. It hadn't worked though because he had been unable to broach the subject with her and despite looking rather refreshed, she'd still appeared tired and her eyes had been a bit red – either from the alcohol or a lack of sleep – so he wasn't sure just how far gone she had been last night and if she actually remembered.

He didn't think he'd ever be able to forget and could still recall the taste of her breath and how well her body fitted to his. Jack figured it was burned into his memory because of the pivotal moment and what it would mean for his marriage if he had kissed her, perhaps it was different for her but he still found it hard to believe she had conveniently forgotten something so poignant. Yet he still hadn't brought it up. Maybe just forgetting it had almost happened would be best. He should just pretend and move on, it certainly seemed like Sam had. To him she was too tense and evading to not remember, though. Of course, it was possible her behavior had nothing to do with the moment in the elevator and it was just embarrassment that she had gotten tipsy in front of him when she always seemed to have such self-control. Well, more than tipsy if she had experienced an oh so convenient blackout and couldn't recall the last twenty minutes before she'd gone to bed…

Sneaking another peek at her still form, he reached out a hand and snagged one of the candy bars he'd bought at the gas station earlier in the afternoon. They had been driving a little over an hour and had just left New Jersey behind them when he realized they were getting low on fuel. Neither of them had been in the mood for lunch before leaving the hotel so they'd just had a sandwich and some coffee, which meant he needed to pee and get some snacks for the rest of the day by that time anyway. Sam had given him some monosyllabic answers, which in itself had surprised him because she usually seemed to use much longer words and had simply followed him into the gas station. When he'd gotten back from the bathroom she had already been waiting in the car with the snacks, some bottled water and two coffees. She had turned on the radio when they hit the road again but about half an hour later she had kicked off her sandals, gotten comfortable and closed her eyes.

By now Jack had already tried all the available radio stations and he'd already considered popping in one of his CDs, but he was afraid the change in volume or just his movements alone would wake up Sam. Her sunglasses had been perched on her nose for most of the afternoon so he couldn't see her eyes but even if he could he'd probably be unable to determine if she was exhausted. Her eyes hadn't been extremely red this morning and he couldn't really tell if they were puffy because of the makeup she was wearing, something that he up until Atlantic City hadn't seen much on her. Considering she had been this quiet for the last four and a half hours with only the occasional movement every now and then to get more comfortable he figured she needed the rest. At least he could take comfort in the fact her eyes hadn't been bloodshot, unlike his.

After returning to his room the enormity of what he had almost done sunk in and even today Jack still found it hard to believe he'd gotten so carried away with the moment. If the elevator hadn't stopped at their floor he would have kissed her, there was no doubt about it in his mind. It was almost as if he was under her spell and he'd just been drawn in, his body responding to the sudden overload of sensory information and completely short-circuiting his brain. Yeah, that was probably it, he told himself.

It had taken a while for the adrenaline to wear off and for his body to realize nothing was going to happen and calm down but even then, in bed, he hadn't been able to sleep. Normally he would count himself lucky for not having any nightmares after such an intense day but with the way he'd been twisting and turning in bed all night he probably hadn't fallen asleep long enough to actually enter the dream state. Hence his frustration, irritability and bloodshot eyes. Not to mention ignoring his cell phone after seeing it was a call from home – meaning Sara or Tyler – and he just hadn't been able to talk to either of them, so he'd let it go to voicemail. Logically he knew that technically he hadn't done anything wrong but the intent had been there and knowing that made him feel like a bastard. He would just have to listen to the message tonight, when Sam and he would have a place to sleep and he could retreat to his room.

Suppressing a yawn Jack finally acknowledged to himself that exhaustion from his sleepless night was catching up with him and that ignoring the lump on the back of his head didn't mean it would actually stop throbbing. With a tired sigh, he popped the last of the candy bar in his mouth, reached up one hand and slipped his fingers under his sunglasses to rub his burning eyes. Keeping them on the road, he fumbled between the two chairs for his water bottle, flipped its cap and took a sip. If only it were coffee! A glance on the GPS told him they were only a couple of miles away from Pittsburgh and he'd already decided that's where they were going to stop and have dinner, whether Sam agreed or not. He would just have to keep himself entertained for the next twenty minutes or so until he'd find a diner or something equally suitable where to could grab a quick bite.

From the corner of his eye he noticed Sam squirming in her seat and for a moment he thought she was waking up, but she merely shifted her legs a bit and let her head fall back against the headrest. He figured circulation to her right foot was probably in danger of getting cut off since she had folded her right leg toward her body with its foot tucked under her left knee, a position that didn't seem all that comfortable to him but he recalled having seen her sitting in it before on her sofa and if he wasn't mistaken she'd also spent a lot of time sitting cross-legged while she'd been in custody.

At least she was wearing jeans again instead of the dresses she'd donned in the casino, he thought to himself. Not that he hadn't noticed how comfortable yet well fitting they were or how long her legs appeared to be in the dark blue color but it was better than seeing her tempting pale skin or watching her skirt ride up a bit whenever she moved. He'd purposely looked the other way when she'd walked in front of him, not wanting to stare at her lovely six and he'd tried to ignore her – and her jeans and formfitting shirt in particular – for the most part as she sat next to him, with little space between them.

But now, as he changed gears to switch lanes so he could take the next exit, he could feel the heat coming from her leg as she'd moved it closer to the console. Once he was driving down the avenue there weren't any cars ahead of them, so he glanced down to her leg and gulped when he saw the toes from her right foot peeking out from under her knee. Oh crap! It frightened him to realize how tempting he found it to reach out and touch her just because his hand had come this close to her leg or foot while changing gears, even though he knew very well that he was supposed to keep his attention on the road while driving. Perhaps he'd done more damage to his brain with that little bump of his head in the elevator than he initially thought…

Realizing he needed something to distract himself from… well, Sam and her presence, he fumbled in the center console's cubbyhole looking for one of his CDs. Not finding anything, he briefly took his eyes off the road and glanced at the small space. Lots of crap from their trip up here but no CDs. That left the glove department… He took his bottle from the cup holder and took another sip of tepid water before placing it back, all the while making sure to keep his attention on the road and surrounding traffic. Stopping for a stop sign, Jack steeled himself and leaned towards the glove compartment, trying to ignore the fact he was almost invading Sam's space and could smell her shampoo and popped it open. His eyes were still on the road as he rummaged through the compartment and he smirked triumphantly when his fingers closed over a stack of CDs.

Straightening in his seat with one of his favorite albums in hand, he briefly glanced at Sam but still couldn't tell if she was actually awake because of the sunglasses and her still form. Jack's attention was back on the road, signaling and maneuvering through traffic as he drove into the city, opening the case with one hand and popped the CD out. He discarded its case in the cubbyhole between their seats instead of risking both their safety by placing it back in the glove compartment and slipped the CD into the player. From his periphery he noticed Sam's head move to the left, startling him and only his years of training prevented his body from jerking away and thereby swerving the car off the road or head on into traffic.

When he stopped for a traffic light he looked her way again and followed her line of sight. It seemed her eyes were fixed on the player as the music softly sounded through the SUV but she still hadn't said a word or gave any indication that she was awake aside from the minute turn of her head. Double-checking the light was still red Jack reached up to Sam's face and carefully lifted the sunglasses from her nose. He was pleased to learn he didn't leave her completely unaffected at hearing her sharp intake of breath before he was looking at those bright baby blues of hers. He let the glasses dangle from his fingers but held her surprisingly clear gaze. "I didn't mean to wake you," he said in a soft tone, jerking his head towards the CD player. "The radio was driving me bonkers though and I was bored."

"You didn't," Sam replied, her voice slightly hoarse from sleep or disuse.

"You sure?" Jack asked, turning his attention back to the light just in time as it changed to green and dropping the glasses in his lap. "Because it seemed to me like you'd dozed off. I figured you were snoozing or napping but five hours probably qualifies as actually sleeping."

He saw her shake her head minutely from the corner of his eye as he joined the rest of the traffic. "I wasn't sleeping."

"Sure looked like it to me," he muttered. Casting a quick glance at her he gave a reassuring grin. "It's okay, I'm sure you could use it after last night… I mean, you probably had to sleep off the effects of the alcohol," he hastened to say, not wanting to imply that almost kiss of theirs had kept both of them up for most of the night. "As a matter of fact, I didn't think you'd be up as early as you were this morning."

"I'm a military brat who joined the Air Force herself, there was no sleeping in at our house when my Dad was around and there certainly wasn't at the Academy. Getting up at the crack of dawn is a habit I can't shake, even when I'm off duty."

Jack chose to ignore her choice of words, unsure if it had been a standard reply or if she simply considered herself to be 'off duty' in this new life of hers. "Ah, well, you couldn't have gotten more than what, five or six hours of sleep? No wonder you dozed off with all that alcohol still in your system."

"I didn't doze off," she said, a bit more forcefully now. "I was merely… thinking."

"Thinking, huh? Well, you certainly took your time…" He shot her an incredulous look before focusing back on the road. The idea of her having been awake all this time didn't just piss him off because it meant he wouldn't have had to suffer in silence about his boredom but it also made him wonder if she'd been aware of his lingering glances… Noticing she was still staring at the display, he let out an exasperated sigh. "Is there something wrong with the music? I told you the radio was crap and since you were, eh, thinking and unresponsive I figured you wouldn't mind me popping in a CD."

She finally tore her gaze away from it and gave him an inscrutable look. "It's fine, I just didn't expect you to… It's fine," she reiterated after letting her voice trail off. "I like opera."

"Really?" He asked sarcastically, not having gotten that impression from her so far. As a matter of fact, he didn't know that many people who actually appreciated Ruggero Leoncavallo's work and was aware that not many associated it with him. Sara didn't mind it if he played it on occasion but it wasn't her favorite and he usually only played it when he was alone in the car because Tyler didn't like it either and he'd rather enjoy the time with his family than argue about music or listen to his kid complain about it.

"Pagliacci is a tragedy." Sam surprised him with her answer and he knew it showed on his face. "Vesti la giubba, right?"

Impressed with her accuracy he merely nodded and tried to enjoy the moving aria, but suddenly the similarities between the lyrics and their situation struck him. Granted, she wasn't his wife and hadn't been unfaithful but he himself had been close to cheating on Sara by almost kissing her last night. Still, the show – or his assignment – must go on, right? Suddenly Jack was wondering if just by thinking about kissing Sam, wanting to kiss her in the elevator, he wasn't already unfaithful to his wife…

"Where are we going?"

"Huh?" Jack muttered, glad she'd pulled him from his pensive mood. Seeing her gesturing at the GPS he cleared his throat. "Oh well, I don't know about you but I'm starving and I figured we could stop by a diner, have a quick meal, here in town. Then you can take over the wheel and drive the next few hours."

"Yeah sure you betcha," Sam replied, her tone sounding a bit forced and he wondered if perhaps she also knew the meaning of the aria they'd both been enjoying up until a few minutes ago.

2313 hours
I-80W
Ohio

It wasn't until Colonel O'Neill had finally closed his eyes and dozed off in his seat, head lolling towards the passenger door window that Sam felt like she could breathe freely. The tension between them had reached new heights a few hours ago, around the time they'd stopped in Pittsburgh for dinner. The classic diner they'd picked out had been crowded and the booths were cramped with too little space under the tables, as they'd soon realized when his outstretched legs bumped into hers. The added height of her wedged sandals had only made matters worse because she kept hitting the underside of the table with her knees unless she stretched her own legs, making her feet to come into contact with his calves which in itself wasn't that bad but with the already present tension and the sensual feel his rough jeans against the soft skin of her bare feet… well, she had lost her appetite and could barely get anything down her throat.

It seemed the Colonel had felt the same with the way he just poked at his dinner instead of wolfing it down like he'd done the past few days. The red jello he'd ordered for dessert had been shoved aside as he muttered something about not being hungry anymore and even though she hadn't finished her own plate, Sam had taken the dessert from him; it was a shame to waste perfectly good jello, even if it was red. At least it glided down her throat easily, didn't require much chewing and it was better than not eating anything at all, she figured. O'Neill had simply been watching her in silence as she ate it, drinking his coffee and soon thereafter they got up, paid and left in unspoken agreement.

She had gladly taken the wheel, happy to have an excuse not to pay too much attention to him in the car. The sun had set by the time they entered Ohio and made her sunglasses redundant, so she'd hung them on her shirt's neckline but had felt oddly naked without them whenever she felt the Colonel's eyes on her. At least when she had been the passenger she could hide behind them and her closed eyes, enjoying the deep state of meditation only achievable by kelno'reem to think through yesterday's events and the added silence from him presuming she was resting or asleep had been a bonus.

For some reason he'd felt the need to talk now that they were both awake and in the car but the conversation had been awkward and eventually petered out to make room for the all too familiar oppressive silence that seemed to have reigned all day. The only audible sounds in the SUV for the following two hours had been their breathing and the soft noise of the classical music she always associated with her Jack, when this O'Neill had finally succumbed to the exhaustion clear in the way he held himself and his tired features. She was getting tired as well and his presence and the darn opera CDs were getting on her nerves. Normally she wouldn't mind continue driving – it had only been a few hours for her after all – but she didn't like being on the road after midnight in an unfamiliar area when her mind wasn't entirely clear. It was less than half an hour to Toledo and Sam figured that would be a good place to stop, get some shuteye and refresh in the morning so they could get back on the road as fast as they could. The sooner they left the sooner she would be back 'home' and he could go back to the base, meaning she'd have the time and space to breathe and let her guard down a bit for the first time in two weeks.

She didn't want to think about how strange it would be to not have him around her all the time anymore because obviously being in his presence did strange things to her, as she'd proven last night. Not even kelno'reem had been able to clear her head about the events from the evening before. Obviously her first mistake had been drinking too much wine. Although, considering the wine had only affected her as much as it had because she hadn't eaten properly all day – which wasn't smart to begin with since she was still trying to regain her old weight from those weeks in custody – maybe it wasn't her first bad choice per se, but it had still been a bad move. In hindsight Sam recognized the foolishness of using alcohol to relax and loosen up a bit in any Jack O'Neill's presence but at the time it had seemed like a good idea to get the courage to flirt with him a bit and to test him. See how he would react and if he'd try to use her seemingly drunken state to his advantage.

Of course, that was on the premise she didn't actually get drunk but only pretended to be intoxicated. It wasn't after she'd had her fourth glass and had finished talking about Janet and Cassie that she felt the effects and, feeling morose and thankful for O'Neill's offer she'd finished his wine too. It probably hadn't helped that dark rum was one of the ingredients of her delicious tiramisu. In retrospect four and a half glasses of wine in a few hours with her current weight was a bad idea and normally she would have never had that much to drink in her Jack's presence, especially if she wasn't at her own house. Well, with the exception of that stuff she'd drunk on P3X-595 which had led to an embarrassing situation for her in the beginning of the Program and had been reason enough for her to swear off alcohol for the next few years…

She reckoned her blood alcohol percentage last night would have been enough to get a ticket had she been driving – not that she'd ever drink and drive – and even though she had exaggerated her tipsiness in front of Colonel O'Neill, she had definitely been slightly impaired and her fairly new and relatively unused high heels hadn't helped her imbalance any. Somewhere in her subconscious the fact that it was their last evening in Atlantic City, the last time they'd have a decent meal and could drink anything alcoholic for the next few days or so and wouldn't have to drive back to the hotel probably played a part in her behavior as well.

To her surprise he hadn't really taken advantage of her inebriation by asking questions she normally wouldn't have answered and had mostly let her set the pace and topic of the conversation. Still, she hadn't been that far gone and she had been relaxed and loosened up despite the sexual tension that seemed to exist between her and Colonel O'Neill. The cool breeze outside of the restaurant had done wonders for her as had the cab ride, even though the tension between them had almost sizzled when their bodies had been pressed together because of a sharp turn. Sitting so closely together with nowhere to go had only served to make her more aware of him, how attractive he was in those jeans and his black leather jacket, how much he smelled like her Jack and how intense and heated his gaze was when it rested on her, even without looking she'd felt his eyes on her.

One of the things she'd been curious about from the beginning was how he would react to her and if it was similar to her Jack – at any given point during their working or personal relationship – because there were so many similarities between them and that made it easy to assume she would know what to expect from him. But there were also many differences, one being that this O'Neill had never really worked with her, at least not in the same capacity, but perhaps more importantly was that he was married to Sara.

Despite the many theories Sam had envisioned the moment in the elevator between her and this O'Neill had been unexpected, but it certainly drove home the point that it was so easy for the line between her Jack and Colonel O'Neill to blur. As they'd been standing there, pressed together and his intense gaze darkened by lust all she could do was react and lean in, touch him and let her nails rake over that oh so familiar chest. Looking back, she knew that in that moment she hadn't cared he wasn't her Jack because he and the feelings he brought out in her had been so achingly familiar. On one hand she wished he had just kissed her and then they would've gotten it over with, she would know the difference and on the other hand she was grateful for the elevator's impeccable timing. Back in her room she'd guzzled down a glass of water for every glass of wine she'd had, which had definitely helped in not being hung-over today before crawling into bed, but sleep hadn't come. Instead she'd lain awake for most of the night agonizing over that almost kiss and the desire she'd felt for someone who wasn't her Jack.

Even now, after thinking all night and entering a surprisingly comfortable kelno'reem in the car earlier this afternoon she still didn't know how sheshould feel about it. That aria from the Colonel's CD, one of Jack's favorites of course, had only made it worse. Not just the part about infidelity and wondering if she had suddenly become 'the other woman' or, worse, if she was the cheater and O'Neill 'the other man', but also the part about the show having to go on. Wasn't that exactly what was happening here? She could pretend all she wanted but in the end she was in the wrong timeline and her Jack was dead. If her plan would fail she'd be stuck here with no hope of going back unless Ba'al would show up and she and the guys would miraculously find his temporal device and use it to fix the timeline…

Another thing that weighed heavily on Sam's mind was if she was doing the right thing with Colonel O'Neill. She couldn't afford to care about him or his feelings but what about Jack? Playing O'Neill ensured he was distracted and she could carry out her plans but how far could she take it without feeling like she was betraying Jack? At the moment she could only hypothesize how her plan would fix everything and she was unsure whether they would retain their memories. Could she face Jack after her behavior with O'Neill? Would he understand if she told him and would it be better or worse if she'd cheated on him with his counterpart instead of some random stranger?

Sam was pulled from her thoughts when the GPS beeped and she realized their next exit was coming up. Casting a glance at her passenger she was surprised he'd slept through it but would let him have these last few minutes of sleep before waking him. Ten minutes later she was pulling into the parking lot of the motel they'd been staying in on their way up to Atlantic City and gently shook him. "Colonel, we're in Toledo. It's time to wake up unless you want to sleep in the car."

"Huh?" He muttered, blinking rapidly at her.

"Motel," she replied as she parked the SUV. "It's close to midnight so I figured we might as well get some shuteye. We can go up to Minneapolis or maybe even St Cloud tomorrow."

O'Neill nodded and opened the door, slipping out of the car. "Yeah sure you betcha."

Sam kept an eye on him as he groggily leaned against the closed door on the other side while she bundled the trash in a bag and got out. "Colonel?"

"I'll get us checked in," he threw over his shoulder as he walked off.

Sighing, she got out of the car, threw the trash in a garbage can and pulled their bags out of the SUV. By the time O'Neill had returned she was leaning against the hood, car all locked up, their bags at her feet and she was enjoying the surprisingly clear night sky. "Two rooms?"

The Colonel chuckled at that and held up both keys before throwing one at her. "A great night for stargazing," he commented as he too looked up. "Almost makes you wonder if there's anything prettier than the moon in a clear sky decorated with thousands of stars."

Surprised by the comment she looked back up. It was indeed a great sight and Sam quickly identified several constellations all the while wondering when she'd paid this much attention to Earth's sky. It had to have been with Jack and his telescope, prior to her assignment to Atlantis or maybe during one of the few leaves she'd taken in that time. "Well," she said, smirking slightly, "I have to admit the sight of two moons is pretty spectacular."

"Two?" He questioned with narrowed eyes, as if he didn't believe her.

"There are actually five orbiting M35-117 but you can only see two with the naked eye," she replied, thinking of New Lantea where Atlantis would have been as she'd left it if it hadn't been for Ba'al's failsafe device. There had been many nights she'd sat on the balcony just looking at the Pegasus sky and trying to familiarize herself with it. "If you don't mind, I'm going to head to my room now," Sam said after a beat, picking up her bag and leaving him standing there staring at her.

Day 52
I-90W
Indiana

Jack adjusted his sunglasses and blindly reached for his coffee cup between the two seats of the SUV. It was still early, the sun had only just come up about half an hour ago and they had just entered Indiana. After another restless night he'd gotten up a little after 0500 hours and after a quick shower he'd eventually gone out to get them some breakfast hoping the coffee wouldn't be cold by the time Sam woke up. To his surprise she'd been sitting on a bench near the parking lot, watching the twilight all ready to hit the road. From the looks of it she hadn't gotten much rest either but at least the tension between them had been absent and he was grateful for it because he wasn't sure if he could survive another day in the car without suffocating. He'd been mightily pleased to see Sam looked like crap too when she took off her sunglasses for a moment because that made it easier for him to fight this attraction.

Of course, with the stretch of road before them more or less empty it had been tempting to sneak furtive glances at her. With the sunglasses back on her nose and a small smile on her face as she watched the sunrise he had felt the tension go up a notch again. To think they still had about twelve hours to go before they could call it a day!

"So," he started, watching her from the corner of his eye as she nibbled on a donut. If he wasn't mistaken that was the still her first donut, while he'd already wolfed down three. "That planet with those two moons, did it have two suns too?" Jack questioned, barely getting the ridiculous question out of his mouth but he was desperate for a topic of conversation.

"Nope," she said softly.

"I guess that makes sense," he replied. "It would probably be too hot with two suns and they would have to be pretty close together for the planet to orbit them both. Or on exact opposites."

Sam turned to him then, donut in hand and a patient smile on her face. "Have you ever seen Star Wars?"

"Huh?"

"The space opera film series created by George Lucas?"

He pulled a face. "Sounds like science fiction to me, I'm not a fan of the genre," he added. Canting his head he looked at her. "Your whole life sounds like science fiction and you still watch that crap?"

"It's a classic," she said defensively. "Come on, you've never seen it? Not even with your son? It has two sequels and a prequel trilogy. You know, Luke, Darth Vader, the Force …"

"Oh! You mean the The Adventures of Luke Starkiller," Jack replied, digging in his memories. "What, Tyler has them on DVD," he added when she frowned at him, trying to ignore the flush creeping up his cheekbones. It wasn't that he liked science fiction but he figured there really wasn't any escaping it with a kid who liked explosions and gunfire in his movies. Even he had to admit there were some pretty cool special effects in them.

Sam shook her head briefly. "No, it's just the title… I guess breakfast cereals aren't the only thing that's not the same in this timeline."

"Now see, if it had been called something cool like Star Wars…"He grinned, letting his voice trail off. "What does that have to do with anything anyway?"

"Remember Tatooine, Luke's homeplanet? It's in a binary star system and has two suns," Sam explained.

Jack nodded in understanding, a small smile on his face when he looked at her. "Yeah, that was pretty cool. Don't tell me you've found the planet?"

She chuckled under her breath, her shoulders gently shaking with laugher. "Not Tatooine, but I've been to one that comes pretty close. Only it wasn't all deserts and the plant life isn't exactly what you'd call lush green."

"No?"

"No, more like shades of grey, some even appear to be black."

He grinned at that, a twinkle in his dark eyes as he turned his attention back on the road. "Sweet! How does that happen?"

"Do you know what a red dwarf is?"

Jack bobbed his head in confirmation and she didn't seem surprised by it. He tried to recall if he'd mentioned a love for astronomy before; he'd already admitted once he enjoyed stargazing and had wanted to go into space as a young boy. Or maybe his counterpart had the same hobby? Perhaps that's how the guy ended up with that Stargate Program of theirs in the first place. "They are at least half the mass of the sun and basically just cool, faint stars that can live up to several trillion years. They're a pretty common star type in our galaxy," he replied.

Sam nodded, apparently pleased with his answer. "Yes, many multi-star systems contain red dwarfs. The planet we gated to was orbiting two of these dim red dwarf suns close together. As you probably already know," she smiled at him, "the temperature of a star determines its color and hence, the color of light used for photosynthesis. The process by which plants produce energy from sunlight," she explained. "So depending on the colors the plants would evolve very differently. Plants with dim red dwarf suns for example could appear black to our eyes, absorbing across the entire visible wavelength in order to use as much of the available light as possible."

"That makes sense," Jack murmured.

"Yes, some of them were even able to use infrared or ultraviolet radiation to drive photosynthesis," she added.

"Cool," he smirked. "Is that the only time?"

She bit her lip before coming up with an answer, no doubt trying to sift through all the missions she'd been on. "Well, there was that time on P9Q-281," Sam mused. His confusion must have been obvious because she quickly elaborated. "We had sent a probe to that planet and it recorded some interesting writing so I was sent through with a team. By the time we got there it turned out another sun had risen and the temperature was increasing rapidly. We couldn't dial back because the heat caused a malfunction and unsurprisingly there was no indigenous life or anywhere to hide."

"How hot was it?"

"Extreme temperatures, we would have reached two-hundred degrees Fahrenheit in less than two hours before we got help. In the end we overcame the problem," she shrugged, not going into detail, "and got home safely. But you can understand I was too busy trying to survive to admire the suns."

Jack smiled wryly, his eyes on the colored streaks in the sky ahead. "So, what kind of name is pee nine… something something, anyway?"

She snorted at his attempt at levity. "Ah, it was based on a binary code the computer used for extrapolation," she explained, before taking sip of her mochaccino.

"Which must make it very easy to remember," he replied sarcastically as he followed her example and brought his coffee cup up to his mouth.

Sam remained quiet, appearing lost in thought for a moment. He wondered how many times she'd had this conversation with other people already and if the codes were used on purpose, to prevent people from storing the actual address to a certain planet in their heads or some other database. That Jackson guy had mentioned how Sam had made a dialing computer to get the Stargate to work and Sam had gone into some details about the process during one of her 'interviews' but as far as he could recall she'd never explained those designations. It made sense though if their computer did all the work because then there would be no need for others to learn the address and they would be unable to give it up during interrogations, even if they wanted to. The only people who'd know anything other than the designation from her program would probably be the ones doing the dialing and maybe the base commander and team leader if that was the one who prepped the missions.

After everything he'd learned about Sam in these past few days he wondered if the Navy's scientists would be able to come up with a similar program and create a database with addresses without her help. Even if she was to be consulted about it would she actually want to help? Would she be able to reverse the process and give them the addresses from the designations she no doubt held in that big brain of hers. Mitchell had been asked for a list of planets he'd visited during his time on SG-1 but now Jack realized why the guy had been stumped; not only would it be a high number but the names and designations he'd given them wouldn't actually help the Navy's exploration teams. If they would even manage to get the Stargate from the bottom of the Arctic Ocean because last he heard they were still looking.

"Oh," Sam murmured, suddenly recalling the first double sunrise she had seen. "Chulak."

"Excuse me?" Jack said around the donut he'd just stuffed into his mouth during his musings.

"The planet, it has two suns and they rise almost simultaneously," she explained. "I've been there a couple of times, it's Teal'c's home planet. Well, not really, he wasn't born there but he lived there with his family so we've visited it a few times. Unfortunately there weren't many times we could enjoy the sunrises what with enemies chasing us," she grinned, "but I've seen it a handful of times."

Jack nodded pensively, trying to recall the few things she and her friends had told them about the alien. "He was on your team, right?"

"Yes, he disappeared when Ba'al's failsafe device was activated and I have no idea where he is now. If he's even still alive."

"Wouldn't he be exactly where he was before you met?"

He saw her shake her head in his periphery and heard her deep sigh. "When we met Teal'c was the First Prime of Apophis-"

"That's like the leader of his army, right?"

"Yes but his father was in service of another Goa'uld System Lord, Cronus. He was killed for failing some impossible task and Teal'c and his mother were exiled. The Jaffa have this pretty big revenge thing going on so as soon as he was old enough he started training to become a warrior for Apophis, an enemy of Cronus."

Jack took the last sip of his coffee and set it back in a cup holder. "So what you're saying is that because this Ba'al guy changed the timeline it's possible Teal'c's father was never killed or that he's joined Cronus' army?"

Sam seemed to ponder that as she finally popped the last of her donut in her mouth. "Well, Teal'c was born in 1899 and he was still a kid when they were exiled so that wouldn't have changed."

"Wow, that's… old."

"Yeah," she replied slowly. "Ba'al said something about regretting not making Teal'c his First Prime before the execution so I wouldn't put it past him to use this opportunity to snatch Teal'c out from under Apophis. It would be the perfect revenge for him, using Teal'c to destroy Earth…"

"I see," Jack murmured after she had fallen silent. A quick glance in her direction told him she was deep in thought, half turned towards the window and he let out a sigh. Obviously he wasn't going to get anything else out of her now. Not that he really wanted to hear more about this galactic bad guy and her very old friend destroying Earth. He still found it hard to believe that the guy would go out of his way to get rid of Earth now and that it was taking him this long to do so. It had been almost seventy years, you would think he'd be ready by now or he'd never be!

1932 hours
I-94W
Minnesota

"Well, we're about an hour ahead of schedule," O'Neill muttered, glancing at the GPS.

Sam smiled, pleased with the progress. "I told you I'd get us there soon," she replied smugly.

"Speeding wasn't what I had in mind."

"Well, I would have made us a transporter if I had the time and equipment, Colonel," she teased, rolling her eyes. Their trip had been surprisingly uneventful and it seemed the tension between them had diminished as well, but it was possible that was due to the fact she'd slept through most of Illinois after lunching in Chicago and had only woken up in Madison, Wisconsin when O'Neill had stopped for gas and they'd switched places. Originally she'd offered to take the wheel from Chicago, but he'd insisted on splitting the time equally since he'd only driven about four hours and it was still eight and a half to go.

He threw her an amused look. "Really, you can do that?"

"No, unfortunately not," she admitted. Another unfortunate thing was that unlike her the Colonel hadn't given in to the lure of sleep and had kept talking about inane things, almost as if he was afraid the silence would bring that awkward, charged tension again.

"How about a 'beam me up, Scotty'?"

She glanced at him with a raised eyebrow. "I thought you didn't like science fiction?" When he just awkwardly cleared his throat, she smirked and turned back to the road. "Besides, I'd need an actual spaceship for that," she added, thinking about how her Dad and Daniel had joked about it once when Teal'c and Jack had been trapped in the X-301. God, she missed them.

"So…"

Letting out a sigh of exasperated she glared at him. "Colonel, I'm not playing I Spy with you again."

"I wasn't…" He said, huffing indignantly but quickly looked the other way.

"Right."

He grabbed a candy bar from between their seats and threw one in her lap too. "You've hardly eaten anything all day," he scolded her gently.

She picked it up and using her teeth, easily pulled the wrapper apart and took a bite. "Thanks."

"So Sam, have you ever been in Minnesota before? I mean, before we took this little road trip," he corrected himself.

"Once or twice," she muttered, immediately thinking about Jack's cabin. Well, their cabin now according to him but she would always associate it with him. She briefly wondered if this O'Neill also had a cabin and if he took his family up there often. Her Jack had told her Charlie used to love it out there, she imagined it would be pretty much the same to Tyler.

The Colonel nodded as he munched on his candy before swallowing it and washing it down with some water. "Ever go fishing?"

Sam's heart skipped a beat at the seemingly innocent question but when she turned to look at him there was something in his eyes that she couldn't quite identify. Suspicion, perhaps? She cleared her throat awkwardly under his inquiring stare and tried to ignore her burning cheeks as she came to the conclusion that he was probably aware of her earlier lie and that he'd already deduced from her behavior towards him that she and his counterpart were somehow involved. "Eh, I'm not really the person to sit still for hours waiting for the fish to bite," she finally replied, silently congratulating herself at her skilful answer.

"Too bad, there's this lake in northern Minnesota where the bass grow," he said in a casual tone as he opened his arms wide, "that big, well…"

"I believe you, Colonel," she said, pulling her head to the left to prevent him from knocking it with his outstretched arms. "Oh, look, we're almost there," she said quickly, eager to abandon this topic.

O'Neill glanced around as she took the exit to St Cloud. "Same motel as last time?"

"As long as it has two separate rooms and a lock on the bathroom door," Sam replied with an icy glare, reminded of what had happened the last time they were in this town. It certainly wasn't something they needed to happen this time around considering the brewing tension between them.

"Oh, I'll make sure of it personally," he said, nodding his emphatically. "Or we'll stop by every motel until we find one with two vacancies," he muttered under his breath, just loud enough for her to hear.