Chapter 25: The Talk
"Look Daniel, we are sorry to have put you two in a bad situation-" Jack began before being cut off from Daniel.
"Jack, that's not what I am saying." Daniel put his glasses back on. "I think you two should just be together. We only get one life you know. Why not be happy?"
"I concur." Teal'c said. "It appears that you cannot stay apart."
Jack gaped at his team mates. "It's not that easy." He said quietly.
"It really isn't that easy." Sam agreed. She began to pick at her cheeseburger, suddenly not hungry anymore.
"Why not?" Daniel asked. "If you two want to be together, then why waste all this time not being together?"
"We have regulations, rules we have to follow. We can't just go against them." Jack said, for once grateful to not be sitting next to Sam.
"Screw the regs!" Daniel said. "Why worry about rules and regulations when it comes to your happiness, but not when it comes to going off world?"
Sam sighed. "We have built a whole career in the military Daniel. We can't just throw it all away for a-"
"A what? A fling?" Daniel asked. He was getting irritated. His friends were being stupid. Plain and simple. "Do you really think that it would be a fling?"
"No, of course not." Jack answered. He dropped his fork and stood up. "I don't have to answer to you Daniel." He said before walking outside to get some fresh air.
Daniel felt chagrined. "I'm sorry if I upset you, I just don't understand."
Sam looked away from him, blinking back hot tears. "Sometimes, I don't either." She whispered.
Completely uncomfortable now, Daniel looked at Teal'c. The Jaffa was finishing his salmon, seemingly unaware of the conversation that had just taken place.
Sam suddenly stood up and Daniel watched her walk into the ladies room. "I shouldn't have said anything." Daniel said to Teal'c.
"I think you have given them a lot to think about." Teal'c replied.
…
Around midnight, after an awkward and silent ride back to the hotel, where Teal'c drove Jack and Daniel drove Sam, a sleepy yet wide awake Jack heard a knock on his door. He opened the door and found Sam standing in front of him.
"We need to talk." She said quietly.
Jack opened the door more and gestured for her to enter. "Should I go get some beers?" Jack asked, trying to lighten the mood.
Sam smiled slightly. She began to pace back and forth, ringing her hands. "Carter, if you are trying to hypnotize me, just look at me with those eyes of yours."
Sam stopped dead in her tracks. She turned to look at him. "Its comments like that that make me wish I had a different career."
Jack was flabbergasted for a moment. "Uh, didn't mean to make you wish you'd never joined the Air Force Carter. I won't say anything like that again." He sat down on the bed.
Sam sat next to him. "That's not what I meant. I meant that I wish I wasn't at the SGC so that we could be…together."
"Oh." Jack said. So she had been thinking about the conversation with Daniel as much as Jack had. He had been going over options all evening. Retiring again. Sam leaving to go work for NASA. Both quitting. Neither leaving, but rather keeping their relationship a secret forever. But that last one wasn't an option. Not only would it not work, but Sam deserved more than a secret love affair. "I'm willing to retire, again." He said softly.
"I couldn't ask you to do that."
"You aren't. I'm offering."
Sam shook her head. "It wouldn't work. You would regret it, and then begin to hate me for it."
"I could never hate you."
"I have a better idea." Sam stated.
"Do tell." Hopefully it was better than what he'd come up with.
"You could train the new recruits. You'd still get to go off world, and you'd be telling people what to do, but you wouldn't be my CO any more."
"Hot damn Carter, I believe you may be on to something."
She smiled. "I remembered you saying something about them trying to get you to do it last month. You had blown them off." Jack nodded, he had. "But maybe if you asked, they may still want you."
"I'll talk to Hammond as soon as we get back." Jack said.
There was a pregnant silence that followed. Neither one knew exactly what to say. Did they discuss what would happen if Jack left the team and they could be a couple? Did they just let it all flow together? Should they form a back up plan?
Jack stood up and grabbed his coat. It had started to rain on their trip back from the restaurant and it hadn't stopped. "I'm going to the bar. Join me?"
Sam readily agreed. She could use some liquid courage at the moment.