When the 73-hour mark hits, Sam's stomach is turning. Daniel is ensuring her they are okay, that SG-1 gets into trouble all the time. They knew the gate would be guarded, and maybe the negotiations were going way over. Sam nods at all of Daniel's words, praying to God he is right.

At hour 96, general Hammond sends a MALP through only to find that it never makes it to the other side.

With that, Sam bites her lip and turns away. Daniel runs after her, but she is too quick and slams the door. Her tears are falling faster than she can control. She feels odd; she is upset, but the sense of dread she had been expecting never came, and Daniel's knocking becomes too much for her to handle.

"I'm fine, Daniel," Sam exclaimed.

"You know it's okay if your not," Daniel stated.

"I just want to give them more time," Sam claimed.

Daniel nodded.

Daniel knew that it was slim to none that SG 1, 7, and 9 made it out, but how many times had they been declared MIA, assumed dead, assumed kidnapped, or not having any hope. So he held on to the glimmer just like Sam.

Daniel and Sam find comfort in being close to one another, General Hammond had ordered Sam to go home, but she insisted she stay. Now she and Daniel were in her room watching old TV shows that various people brought in for Teal'c; they find an unlabeled cassette tape and pop it in, Alf begins playing, and for the first time in over 24 hours, Sam laughs.

Jack is at his wit's end, the planet that was three days away is suddenly four, and he's unsure if he can stand another 24 hours with everyone who seems to be thinking this trip in hyperspace is a vacation on a luxury cruise liner.

He has learned more about SG-7 and nine than he ever wanted to know. He's up to owing Teal'c $56 in poker winnings. Jacob is a constant reminder of Sam, and it's eating away at him that Sam probably thinks they're all dead, and here they are laughing and playing games. This saving the world is getting old.

Teal'c and Jacob had taken turns making sure the ship was functioning correctly, and right now, Jacob was in front, and though Jacob was far from being ignored, it seemed that whoever was at the ship's helm was left alone while they were up there.

Jack wandered up, taking up the other space.

"So, Jack, you want to take over for a while?" Jacob asks.

"Nah, you know I can't read this stuff," Jack claims.

"Very well then, what do you wish to discuss?" Jacob asked.

Jack stays quiet for a long time.

"Why is it so different?" Jack asks.

Jacob just looks wearily over at Jack.

"You know I was with Sara for 15 years, married for 13 of them, in the military the whole time, and it hurt like hell every time I left her and Charlie. It never made me want to give it up until the last mission in Iraq. Now I am on one dangerous mission without Sam, and I am ready to give it up. I can't see her go through that. I put Charlie through it his whole life," Jack explained.

"What can I say, you're an old man now, Jack, not in a bad way. You know you have a chance now. I mean, you can't get much more than this, if you're anything like me, you were always chasing something. God, I loved Sam and Mark and their mother, but something else was calling to me. I realized too late that it wasn't worth it. If I had a second chance, Jack, there are so many things I would do-over. It's not an option. You need to figure out what's worth your time, Jack. Not everyone gets to save the world, but is it worth saving if you don't have anything to come home too?" Jacob asked.

"You think Sam's going to leave me?" Jack asks.

"God, no, I hate to say it, but you two were made for each other. I knew it when I first met you," Jacob claimed.

"That was in DC. Hell, I didn't even know her at that point," Jack stated.

"Maybe not, but I could see it in your eyes, you cared for her even back then, that look made me nervous as hell," Jacob claimed.

Jack smiled.

"And we thought we hid it so well." Jack smiled.

"She did, you both did, especially when it mattered, but when you two let your guard down, it's like two kids at prom," Jacob stated.

Jack smiled.

"So did Sam go to prom?" Jack asked.

For the next 3 hours, Jacob admitted he had missed out a lot about Sam and Mark's life, and that was his biggest regret. When Teal'c came to take over, Jacob insisted he needed some rest. Jack decided it was an excellent time to take a nap, as well.

General Hammond insisted that Sam go home, but instead, she went to Jack's. She had his key in her hand and looked around the home. She was exhausted, wondering if he was alive or dead was familiar thought now. The blood didn't rush through her head as much anymore. Her heart rate didn't spike. The ache had dulled the sharp pains decapitated. She held on to hope. She truly believed if he was dead, somehow she'd know. She hoped they got off the planet stole a ship, the Tok'ra rescued them, something anything.

Sam meandered through his home, taking it in really getting to know the place inside and out. She felt closer to Jack this way, going through drawers, not to be nosy but just to be acquainted with the home. She looked at the back door, and once again, her daydream from the other day came back to life.

There was a birthday party in the back yard. It was filled with kids. Jack had a massive grin on his face, and the kids were playing altogether. The cake was huge, way bigger than a wedding cake. There is a pinata in the tree, and everyone is happy.

Sam turns away from the outside and looks around the home. She realizes how tired and drained she feels. She walks back to his bedroom and looks around. She has never used his actual bathroom, only the main one, and suddenly feels she is invading his privacy. She decides instead to go to the main bathroom and shower. She does use his clothes, a t-shirt, and a pair of his boxers and breathes in his scent on his pillow.

Sam closes her eyes.

"Come back, please, Jack." She says out loud before falling asleep in his bed

Sam's eyelids open, and she does feel refreshed. She looks around, and the last few days all come back to her. She gets dressed and heads back into work. She hadn't gotten any calls, so no signs of them yet.

She forgoes breakfast and gets into her car, staring a the truck parked in front of her. She slowly makes her way through the neighborhood and to the SGC.

When she walks in, she sees Daniel pale with exhaustion and knows it's the same reason she hadn't slept.

"Go home, Daniel, get some sleep. If we hear anything, I'll call you," Sam stated.

Daniel knew he must look bad if Sam was saying something to him.

Daniel nodded his head.

"Be careful going home," Sam stated.

Daniel nodded and walked his way to the elevator, knowing that sleep in his own bed would help.

Sam walked back to her lab and looked over some notes that she had been writing about a few things she was testing.

She heard a knock on her door a few hours later.

Michelle had asked her if she wanted to grab lunch, and Sam agrees.

Although they have been working together for a long time, Michelle is still new to her command, and they still are feeling each other out. Neither delves into the fact that SG 1, 7, and 9 are missing. Instead, Michelle brings up an interesting find in one of her experiments. She believes that SG-13 brought back a fern that went extinct 100 million years ago on EarthEarth. Although Botany wasn't her prime field, she found that working at the SGC meant that plants seemed like the most harmless things to bring back. She has gotten pictures of animal and plants life that seemed so very different than life on Earth, it goes to show that experience makes a way no matter where it at in the galaxy.

Sam enjoyed the conversation and was thankful that Michelle kept the conversation scientific. She hadn't realized how much time they had gone back and forth about their findings. Sam was glad Michelle could keep up and not ask 10000 questions. Sam actually felt more out of her element when Michelle spoke of her conclusions. Sam loved animals and plants alike, but she had never done anything scientific with either one. She was intrigued by Michelle's findings and made her think about researching more into biology.

When Sam got back to her lab, she sat working on something not new at all. In fact, it was one of the very first items brought back from the gate. It was found on Abydos. The people let SG-1 get it home with them. It used crystals to work, but Teal'c claimed it was a relic he had only heard of and wasn't sure how it worked. The crystals it used were rare, and every so often, Sam would go through the backlog of Crystals recovered and see if they are different and try to get it to work. This time like all the others, none of the crystals fit, and no one seemed to know what the device did.

Sam went on back to the item Daniel had been working on with her. She had run numerous tests and still couldn't figure it out. Sam looked around her room. She had given herself 6 months with a piece and then would log tag it and let it move on to where ever it was deemed to be stored. A lot of the smaller objects stayed with them, like the item from Abydos, but anything larger than a crate was sent off to Area-51. She would, on occasion, go up to have a look around look at the progress. General Hammond had trusted her judgment. If something was needed, it returned to the SGC or if she had information that would be helpful for some of the large items in the facility.

Sam hadn't gone up in a long time, but it seemed in a way her life had been on pause, but going at the speed of light at the same time. She hadn't told anyone at the SGC the rough start to the year she had. Although she thought of Daniel and Teal'c as brothers, there was a lot of her life she didn't share. Her Aunt Linda died in early January. The team knew that but didn't realize after Sam's mother died, Linda was the closest thing she had to a mother. She took her 4 days' leave and came back as though nothing had happened. Although her Aunt Linda was in the dark about her job, she always seemed to know the words Sam needed to hear. Sam had honestly wondered if Linda could listen to her thoughts, or she could just read Sam's face so well. Although Sam had never said a word about Jack to Linda, she had told Sam it was apparent she was "pining over a man she couldn't have." Sam had sworn that Linda had read her wrong, but she was always right. Linda laughed in her face but moved on and didn't bring it up again. Sam wished she was here now to give her some advice.

In February, Sam was feeling low. She hadn't seen her dad in 6 months, she and Mark were fighting, and at the time, Jack and Daniel were at each other every time they stepped through the gate. Sam had said she was going home, but she went to the bar and met a man named Donald. Donald was a nice enough man. He was a banker in Denver. He was someone she could never see herself with, but he was there. They had agreed that it was a one time deal, as they headed to a hotel room to scratch an itch, and for a while, it sufficed.

March through May was filled with constant gate travel, no downtime, a lot of action, and kept her satisfied until one night it didn't. She had taken one of her bikes for a ride, and her mind was racing. They had just come back from a planet where there was no such thing as the elderly. At 75, if you were still alive, you sacrificed your self, "For the greater good." The experience on the planet was odd. They were very well developed, but the culture itself made her contemplate mortality. She found the older she got, the more she realized that death was pounding at the door.

She had hit 125 on her bike, speeding down the empty highway. A cops lights flashed in the distance. She didn't feel like the confrontation, so she sped up to the next exit ramp, made her way through the town, and got back on the interstate at the proper speed. Also, in March, Cassie had expressed she was going out with Elliott and made Sam realize how grown up the little girl was and how fast time was ticking by.

May came with the promise of spring, and only good things seemed to be happening. They had found a world that genuinely seemed like paradise with no inhabitants in the area. There were palm trees and green sand beaches, the water was a purple hue due to the atmosphere. The oxygen levels were higher, Carbon Dioxide was low. Shells were bountiful. It was like a vacation, and Jack had told General Hammond twice they needed more time to explore the area in depth. They had stayed there over a week before Jack felt they couldn't drag it out any longer. They found nothing of use on the island except a getaway and suggested that it be a regular planet to send them too just in case of new development. The next mission they went on was Edora.

June through August was a blur to Sam, but then when Jack came back, it was if her world had gotten back to normal, now he was gone again, and she had lost her balance once again. She felt helpless, she never realized how much she realized on him, and it angered her to an extent. She was supposed to handle herself, take care of herself. She shouldn't have to need him. She wasn't sure when or how he had made her melt into a puddle of goo, but that was precisely what she felt like, and she wasn't sure if she could become solid again without him.

Sam had been lost in thought, and when she looked at the time, it was well past dinner. None of her team was there. She questioned if she should go check on Daniel, but if he was still sleeping or relaxing, she wasn't going to ruin it. Sam had thought about going home but quickly thought against it. Jack's house was too quiet last night, and going back to her homemade her feel as if Jack missing wasn't a big deal, so she went and got some food and took her tray back to her quarters and alone before falling asleep.

Jack was beyond grumpy now. He officially owed Teal'c $145 in poker and Robert $35. Jacob seemed to have a constant smile on his face, although they were more than 12 hours away from their destination. Robert and Jacob had become fast friends, the young man had expressed his large family and older parents who would be older than Jacob by now, they seemed to remissness together despite Robert was about a generation and a half younger than Jacob. Jack was closer to Jacob's age than Robert's, and he didn't have a clue about ½ the things they were talking about. SG-7 and 9 had resorted to playing President and making up new card games. Major Lorne had passed around a paperback novel that everyone on the ship, including Jacob, had read through and even had conversations about it, not that anyone would admit it once they got off the ship.

There were plenty of rations to go around, so there was a silver lining in all of this. Jack was still sore and found that sitting was not a real option. He either stood or laid on his stomach. There were no other positions to get comfortable. Jacob had asked that Jack have someone look at the injury. He intrusted Teal'c to look at his ass and his leg to make sure he wasn't going to lose it. Teal'c insisted it was a deep bruise that was sure to be painful but should clear in a few weeks.

Jacob had felt like Jack was more of a toddler than Sam ever dreamed of even at age 2. He had told Jack to go to sleep and that when he woke up, they would almost be there. Jack had attempted to sleep several times, and the only time he got to rest was when he was so exhausted he couldn't go on.

Jack went to the makeshift sleeping area and closed his eyes, drifting in and out of sleep.

Teal'c had woken Jack up several hours later.

"Sel' mak and Jacob claim we are close to the planet with the Stargate.

Jack nodded and opened his eyes wider, walking back to Jacob, who was flying the ship.

"We've got about 3 more hours Jack," Jacob claimed.

Jack smiled. The end was finally in sight.

"So, you thought any more of what you're going to do?" Jacob asked.

"I am taking a long vacation and begging your daughter to join me," Jack claimed.

"You just got back from a vacation." Jacob joked.

"I think the military owes me a few years," Jack claimed.

"That they do." Jacob agreed.

"Be careful," Jacob claimed.

"Not a good time to be cryptic," Jack said.

"Listen, I don't know you as well as I do Sam, but the two of you seem to run from your problems instead of facing them. You two can pick a hell of a fight, Sam is the smartest person I've ever known, but when it comes to feelings and emotions, she runs. You got to use kid gloves with her, Jack. You two aren't very good at articulating your feelings. You better learn and fast." Jacob pointed out.

Jack swallowed hard.

"I know."

"I know that you've been through more than any man should have to bear. I know that the government asks too much, but you ask too much of yourself, Jack. Let yourself, and let Sam be happy. Let her know she deserves to be happy." Jacob claimed.

Jack looked out at the stars whizzing by and nodded.

"Yeah, I'll work on that," Jack stated.

The rest of the time ticked down, and soon the planet was in sight, a world that was twice the size of EarthEarth, with a similar land to sea ratio.

"I've actually been here before," Jacob claims.

"We trade with them. They are simple but friendly people. They will have no issue with you using the gate. I have to get this ship back. It's only a day flight from the planet I am to be at next." Jacob explained.

Jack quickly nodded.

"I will ring you down just outside of town. There is a path to the village tell them that Sel' mak and Jacob give prayers to their gods and take that crate to the left with you. It has some necessary supplies I'm sure they can use. A peace offering never hurts," Jacob claimed.

Jack nodded.

"Alright, campers, time to pack up ETA 45 minutes to the gate." Jack smiled.

He had a hop in his step despite the pain and made sure that the proper crate was in the area of the ring.

"Tell Sam, I love her, and I'll see her soon," Jacob stated.

"Will do. See you soon, dad." Jack smiles.

Jacob slowly shakes his head and smiles, watching the group of 9 use the rings to get down to the planet.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys!