AN: So this basically wrote itself. Repeatedly, Jack and Sam resisted my attempts to get them into bed together or have certain talks. People showed up in the story that I had no intention of involving. People did things I wasn't expecting and said stuff that I did not plan but was very 'them' regardless. Look, I don't know where it came from but I ran with it so yah.

Halim - Dreamer

Chapter 1 – Never Let Go

Jack looked at his 2IC in concern. She was unusually lacking in alacrity today. Arguably, she worked long hours and might have slept in her lab last night again. He was trying to break her of this but short of carrying her to his berth and tucking her in himself he wasn't sure what to do about her grinding herself to a nub, so he made sure at least she was fed periodically, and staying later so he could make sure she slept in an actual bed as frequently as possible by ordering her to go home.

Sometimes Jack just didn't care how that looked at all but he knew she did so he had to remind himself almost daily that it didn't matter what he wanted. She'd put it in a room and locked it inside and it was up to her to decide when it was time to open that door again not him. Not his call. Perhaps if she'd been willing to talk about it, he'd have told her he'd wait for her. He would anyway. As things stood though…

"Carter," he said in concern, "You all right? You look a little…" He held his hand up level and wiggled it.

"I'm fine." She snapped. "Sir."

"Ok…" He said, putting his hands up in supplication and continued walking. "I want you to take last watch tonight."

"Coddling me sir?" she snapped at him again. The words were respectful but the tone was not.

"Throttle back Major. You've been working long hours and it's my job to make sure my team is operational ready." He told her blandly. Whatever was eating at her the last thing he wanted to do was bicker in front of Teal'c and Daniel. Not that they hadn't bickered in the past but a scouting mission to some ruins for Danny to examine wasn't the place for it since neither could grab their car keys and just leave. Come to think of it, he hadn't bickered with her in a really long time until this week. He was going to recommend some down time and a team night when they got back. Sam was clearly working way too hard. They had reached their destination and Sam started unloading her pack.

"Yes Sir." She said in a snippy tone and went back to her work.

Jack scratched absently at the edge of his jaw trying to figure out what was eating at her. They hadn't had any particularly awful missions lately and he'd gone out of his way to not openly flirt with her on base so it probably wasn't anything he'd specifically done lately. Still, something was bugging her and she felt she could take it out on him at least subconsciously so clearly it was something she couldn't address directly. He wondered if Hammond had canned one of her doohickey projects or shipped it out but she would have said something, wouldn't she? So if she wasn't mad at himself or George who else might she be mad at? Jake? Had dad sent her a message that she was angry about?

Jack drew his tongue along his teeth thoughtfully. He'd ask Daniel.

Jack wandered over to Danny's pile of rocks. "Daniel." He said, by way of greeting.

"Jack." Daniel replied absently while he took some notes.

Jack glanced around to make sure Sam was out of ear shot. "Has ah, has Carter been short with you lately?"

"Not that I noticed why?" Daniel said, after considering for a moment and going back to his work.

"Great. Just me then." Jack said under his breath. "Ok. Thanks. Just wondering."

"Is she ok?" Daniel asked him concerned.

"Probably just tired. I'm going to put in for some down time and we'll have a team night when we get back." Jack said thoughtfully. "Might make a weekend of it."

"Good idea Jack." Daniel agreed absently nodding.

He supposed he could ask Teal'c but the most likely response he'd get would vary from too cryptic to decipher without a few beers in him or an admonishment to go ask Sam himself why she was mad. He wasn't even sure if he'd describe her mood as angry anyway. She just seemed tired and moody and unfocused. It wasn't specifically affecting her work yet and probably no one but him would have even noticed.

And that was the real problem, wasn't it? Because if she was just his subordinate officer, he probably wouldn't have noticed either but because his heart had other plans for their relationship than his head ought to, he'd learned to force himself to only think of her as his teammate and close friend, but it didn't stop him from noticing subtle changes in her behavior others would miss.

Jack scanned his half of the perimeter, Teal'c had the west side of the camp. Sam was taking soil samples around the ruins Daniel was taking pictures of and examining.

No, if Sam was only his teammate, he'd ignore that something was eating at her and she looked over tired and have called her on her insubordination a few moments ago. Unfortunately what he'd wanted to do was draw her into a hug, hold her close and get her to talk to him about it. Possibly at home he could even have pulled that one off, as her friend. They were at work thought and his instincts were bordering on fraternization violations. And he didn't care about those regs even a little but Sam did and he cared how she felt about these things even if they made it extremely difficult for him to cope some days.

The day wore on and Teal'c started warming up MREs into something that vaguely resembled a meal.

Jack did one last visual sweep and sat down with the others. Sam had turned her nose up at Teal'c's meal and was eating a protein bar. Jack gave her an enquiring look and she just shook her head mutely. Jack shrugged. He'd let Janet know in case she was coming down with something. An even better reason to have the team take some down time.

"Is the food not to your satisfaction Major Carter?" Teal'c asked Sam in concern.

"No, it's fine Teal'c. I'm just not very hungry." But Jack and Teal'c could both see she was lying. She'd gotten one whiff of the meal, had frowned and dug around for a bar and a bottled water. Sam usually ate what was put in front of her even if it was fairly repellent. Product of eating one too many meals in a mess hall as a kid he supposed.

Jack frowned but said nothing though Daniel caught his eye and shifted them to Sam, silently asking him if he'd noticed this. Jack gave an imperceptible nod that he was on it.

Sam was noticeably flagging so much that she didn't even notice their silent conversation right in front of her.

That's not normal. Jack decided. Nothing about this was normal. He had to mentally restrain himself from getting up and pressing his lips to her forehead to check her temperature. He was putting serious consideration into closing up camp and going right back through the gate to have Janet do a full physical on Sam to find out what exactly was wrong.

Jack started chewing the inside of his cheek and narrowed his eyes behind his sunglasses. He covered his expression by shoveling a large mouthful of Teal'c's MRE concoction in and chewing. Honestly, he wasn't sure why he was bothering. Sam didn't seem to even notice he and Daniel were taking turns watching her out of the corner of their eyes.