AN: I know everyone is tired of Pete...
A long week at the SGC
Jacob tells Sam Selmak is dying, that he slipped into a coma shortly after they stopped the replicators with the Dakara weapon. He'd roused himself briefly but slipped back again shortly after asking Jacob what he'd do about the current situation.
Sam starts crying.
They let the Tok'ra know about Jacob's fate and it's left to Sam to tell him they want to come pay their respects.
"They can come." He tells her and she expresses her disbelief that they can't remove Selmak without killing him. He explains it's too late to do that now. "I just want to know you're gonna be happy." He tells her.
"I am." She reassures him.
"Don't let rules stand in your way." He admonishes her.
"What are you talking about?" She asks him, confused.
"You joined the Air Force because of me." He points out to her, trying to get her to see.
"I love my job." She says smiling.
Jacob nods and puts his hand on her cheek. "You can still have everything you want." He tells her.
"I do dad." She tells him. It's a little up in the air but… she's pretty sure… she might still have what she really wants. When her dad sighs and looks at her fondly, knowing she's full of crap she tries to reassure him. "Really." She insists.
Kerry stops by Jack's office. "How's Colonel Carter's father?" she asks him.
"It doesn't look good." He admits.
"Sorry to hear that." She says, and she was, as she closes the door behind her. "Closing the door?"
"Yah, deeply symbolic."
"Really?"
"I meant what I said, Retire Jack. You both deserve more than this. This isn't going to be an issue between us, is it? I'd hate to have to be reassigned. We agreed this would never affect the job."
"We did." He agrees.
"Good." She says with a small smile.
She walks out the door and Jack stands pensively for a long moment. He has some questions to ask and some decisions to make.
He finds Sam in the observation room above Jacob's medical care unit. Two Tok'ra are with Jake. She's sitting staring out the window sadly. "You okay?" He finally asks her gently.
Sam swallows her sniffles "Actually, I'm fine. Good even, strange as that sounds. I thought I lost him four years ago. Since then we've been closer than we ever were my whole life. In a way, Selmak gave me the father I never thought I'd know." The father I didn't even realize I had; she thinks sadly.
"C'mere." He says softly and wraps an arm over her shoulders. She holds his hand and sighs heavily.
"Thank you sir." She finally tells him.
"For what?" He wonders why she thinks he'd do any less.
"For being here for me." She turns and kisses his fingers before looking out the window again.
"Always." He assures her. And he meant it. He'd never let her go again if he could help it.
They look at each other for a long time, his expression gentle. Understanding. He's held his share of vigils.
Jacob tells the Tok'ra in the room that he's ready and one of the Tok'ra signals Sam to return to the room.
She goes to her father's side and kisses his forehead.
"I love you." He tells her and passes.
Sam stands crying, Jack watches her through the window above for a second before closing his eyes with his own pain and loss. Jacob had been a good friend. Jack had talked to him before Kerry asked him how Jacob was. Jacob told him to take care of his granddaughter and to not give up on Sam. Jack had held his hand and told Jacob that Sam had left the cop and Jack would do whatever it took to win Sam back. Jake had patted his hand and said he'd always been his first choice after Daniel. Both men had grinned in amusement.
"You're sure Sam?" he asks her. They were sitting outside the house that now has a sold sign on it.
Sam nods sadly. She'd only come to return the ring and make up for being a coward and calling him instead of doing this in person. "You…"
Pete cuts her off. "I knew from the beginning. Guess I just thought that… that you were worth the risk. Don't say I deserve better. Can't get much better than you."
"That's not true." She says shaking her head.
"I wish I could believe this had something to do with your father. You needed some time to sort things out." He looks at her but she doesn't meet his eyes. "I guess all I can say is, I hope you get what you want." He tells her bitterly.
"That's it?"
He turns on her, angry, "What do you want? You want me to get down on my knees and beg?"
"God, no, of course not. It's just, I thought you would react differently." She looked a little appalled. Sam finally sees what Grace has been saying she's seen all along.
"Bye Sam." He tells her bitterly and gets up and heads for the sale sign and rips the 'sold' sign off and then in half.
"Pete…" she says softly with regret. He might not be right for her but she hoped he found someone who suited him more.
Sam goes to Jack's house after talking to Pete. He'd called and asked to see her in person so she had. It had been the right thing to do. Even Jack thought so, but then told her when she was done to come over and they would talk.
That night Sam spilled her heart out while Jack listened patiently. About the hallucinations on the Prometheus and her stupid assumption when she got home and he'd be less than receptive to her calling him by his name at work then how often Grace had gotten on her ass that Pete wasn't a good fit but for crying out loud she's nine not thirty how would she know. Jack reminds Sam their daughter is a very observant kid.
She tells him she understands if she's totally screwed things up but could they at least be friends for Grace's sake. It's then that Jack finally kisses her. It's tender at first, a slow gentle promise and offer of unconditional forgiveness but it quickly evolves into tugging at each other's clothes and urgent lovemaking on his worn comfortable couch. She sleeps cradled on his chest on the couch that night and she's never felt safer or more loved.
The next day Teal'c tells Jack Anubis has gained control of the weapon on Dakara. Jack suggests nuking the damned thing and Teal'c reminds him that Anubis isn't a fool, that he'd shield the gate. Sam suggests dialing the Alpha Site to prevent Anubis from dialing in. Jack tells her to just go. He trusts her to do her job regardless of their relationship.
She runs for the stairs but she's too late. The gate starts dialing before Walter can get the program to start running the address. They shut the iris but Sam reminds them that the iris won't stop an energy blast.
Jack orders the self-destruct.
"That's not going to destroy the gate, and theoretically there's only a remote chance it would disengage an active incoming…" She starts to argue but Jack cuts her off.
"Carter!" He barks and shakes his head. It's all they've got. "Carter…" He says softly to her.
They set the self-destruct and order everyone else out. A few remain out of duty but the base is cleared of everyone else. Strangely the timer just stops at 1.26 seconds and the gate closes.
Sam, Walter, and Jack look at each other.
"Wormhole disengaged." Walter tells them.
"What's going on?" Sam asks, mystified.
"I don't know, it must be some kind of… system malfunction." Walter says, unable to make heads or tails of it.
"That's impossible." Sam argues.
"Shut it off." Jack tells her and Sam leans over and aborts the self-destruct.
"Aborting self-destruct." Sam says, still clearly flummoxed.
Bra'tac, Teal'c, Sam, and Jack sit in the briefing room discussing the odd turn of events.
"I still don't quite understand what happened. One minute Anubis is about to push the button that ends all life in the galaxy and the next minute he's just… gone." Sam says.
"Indeed, it is a great mystery" Teal'c agrees.
"One can only assume he was vanquished by some beings. If not, why would he forfeit the weapon and his army?" Bra'tac tells them.
Sam and Jack exchange a significant look. They had just discussed this a couple days ago.
"You think?" She asks Jack, all but reading his mind.
"I do." He tells her.
"It's the only thing that would explain the self-destruct not going off." Sam muses.
Bra'tac looks from Sam to Jack. "Of what do you speak?"
"O'Neill believes that Daniel Jackson was somehow responsible." Teal'c tells Bra'tac, somewhat disapprovingly as the likelihood that Daniel Jackson has once again defied the odds is very low.
"Nope. Wasn't me." Came a muffled reply.
Sam about jumps out of her skin looking up.
"Anybody else hear that?" Jack asks cautiously and is reassured by Sam's slow walleyed nod.
"I'm in here." Daniel's voice comes from Jack's office.
"That's Daniel." Jack says with mixed emotions, the chief of which is wild hope, and heads for his office where Daniel's voice is coming from. Jack was literally just in there and there was no way into his office from the door at the end of the hall without a pass key with the correct clearance.
"Don't… don't come in!" Daniel squeaks.
Jack realizes why when he walks in on a stark nude Danny trying to cover himself. He looks at the flags near the door and grabs the SGC one and holds it out so Danny can take it.
"It's a long story," Danny tells them. No one will meet his eye but they can't help it. He's standing in nothing but a base flag.