Jack didn't get a chance to talk to Sam again until the team was in their private locker room. He knew they needed to talk before they walked through the Gate. Sam hadn't so much as made eye contact with him and all he could think was that she'd never been this angry with him.

Jack wasn't going out into the field with that kind of energy still affecting their working relationship.

"Teal'c, Daniel?" he said, quietly, when they were all nearly finished getting ready.

They turned to him with questioning looks.

"Give us a minute, would you?" He didn't phrase it as an order. He didn't need to. Teal'c would do it just because Jack asked. Daniel was more likely to sit there stubbornly and ask why if Jack tried to order him. So he asked and he tilted his head slightly in the direction of Sam when he said 'us'.

They nodded and went out together without another word.

The silence hung heavily between Jack and Sam for a moment and then he did something odd. He took his Beretta, engaged the safety and removed the clip, making sure the chamber was completely clear. Walking over to Sam he held both the gun and the clip out to her.

Sam looked up at him as if he had lost his mind.

"What?" she asked, as he forced both into her hands.

"My unconditional surrender," he answered. "I've never given anyone that before. I've been an ass and I'm sorry."

"No, Jack, I-"

"You haven't even looked at me since we left the briefing room. I know you're angry-"

"But I'm not!"

It startled Jack into silence and they stared at each other, Sam finally meeting his eyes.

"I'm feeling…guilty, I guess," she said.

Jack frowned and shook his head.

"No, listen," she said. "I haven't taken your feelings into account at all. I've been selfish and I'm not proud of it. I could offer you a million excuses, but I don't want to do that. The Goa'uld are the enemy and in your mind one attacked me and I've been stupid to not take that into consideration-"

She didn't get any further. Jack put an arm around her waist and pulled her up tight against him. He bent so that his face was barely an inch from hers, lips on hers in a way that was more breath than touch.

"Stop," he said softly. "I'm the one who's been wrong here. So let me apologize and you can stop talking."

Sam couldn't do anything but put her arms around him. His beretta and its clip were still in her hand, making the hug awkward.

The kiss, however, was not awkward. It was passionate and electric. It was apology and acceptance. When they finally stopped kissing, they stood with foreheads pressed together and eyes closed.

"Do we have anything else we need to talk about or are we good?" Jack asked.

"We're good," Sam answered.

"Then let's go do this," Jack said, right before he kissed her again.

(0)

Perhaps it hadn't helped that Jack had been predisposed to find the Tok'ra distasteful. They weren't at all what he had expected, but he found them no less distasteful than he had expected. While he was concentrating on the leaders and trying to keep an open mind, the one named Martouf wasn't exactly flying under Jack's radar. Martouf was smooth and suave and he was way too interested in Sam. This gave Jack stupid caveman thoughts about how Sam was his, thoughts that would surely have him sleeping on the couch if he voiced them.

Jack was used to men looking at Sam. Sometimes even women looked at Sam in an interested way. Jack never cared because Sam never looked back. He wasn't even sure she saw the way people looked at her anymore. This time, however, she was looking back. In fact, it had been Sam who had started the looking, when she had recognized Martouf from the memories left in her head by Jolinar.

Fortunately, Jack knew her well enough to understand the way she was looking. Living with Sam was sometimes like living with 3 different women. There was the sassy, beautiful, brilliant Samantha Carter-O'Neill, who liked romance novels and working on classic motorcycles and who couldn't cook worth a damn but was willing to learn. There was the tough as nails Air Force captain with the dead-eye aim and mad piloting skills. Those were the two Jack knew and understood the best.

But there was one more Sam. This one was the scientist, the one driven by an insatiable curiosity. This one loved the words 'I don't know' because they always marked the beginning of a journey to discovery for her. This one worried about every little thing that she didn't understand until she did understand it. That was the Samantha Carter who was looking at Martouf because that man had the answers to her questions.

Sam confirmed this the moment she said,

"Colonel, I…I think I should go with him. I think I need to go with him. There's a lot of questions he could answer about Jolinar."

Jack barely acknowledged the fact that Martouf had spoken at all. He was still looking straight into his wife's eyes when Martouf said,

"I assure you, sir, she will be very safe with me."

Jack was actually concerned for Sam's safety. If all of these people were truly carrying around symbiotes then they were all preternaturally strong.

But it was the scientist in Sam who was looking at Jack and begging for his permission.

"Colonel," she said, "I need to do this. Please."

Her lips said colonel, but her eyes said Jack. He thought about it for a moment longer, fighting those very same caveman thoughts, wondering if a few nights on the couch weren't worth keeping her safe.

"Okay," he said, "but don't take long. Understand?"

Sam nodded and flashed him a smile that made his heart throb. Stunningly, because they had a strict if unspoken agreement about such things while on missions, Sam stood up on tiptoe and placed a very chaste kiss on his jaw.

"Thank you," she said, and then quietly added, "sir."

(0)