The seven mile hike into the mountains was exactly what Sam needed to clear her head. The fresh air and physical activity pushed the adrenaline out of her veins quickly. After what happened with Pete, she'd forgot to grab her hiking pack and supplies, but the guys just shrugged and offered to share their food and water. They were a team and would always be a team, no matter how far apart life pulled them.

"I'd known for some time I didn't really love him," Sam said aloud as the four of them stood looking up at a waterfall brilliantly lit by the afternoon sun. When no one said anything, she continued. "I told him I wanted to postpone the wedding, but I knew it was a lie. I wanted to cancel it all together."

"Is that why he struck you?" Daniel asked.

"Dammit Daniel, that doesn't make it okay," Jack admonished.

"I know," Daniel protested, "I didn't mean it like that! Jeez Jack. I just wanted to know if that's what supposedly set him off."

"I understand," Sam said, and she did. Jack was clearly still on edge or he would never jump down Daniel's throat. It was obvious what their friend had meant. "That's what set him off," she confirmed.

"He was losing control of you," Teal'c said, turning to look at her. "The weak-minded attack what they cannot control."

"Perceptive," Sam bowed her head, "and probably correct."

"I have noticed a change in you Samantha Carter," Teal'c said, surprising her.

"You have?"

"We all have," Jack growled, launching a rock into the body of water. "And I wouldn't let them say anything."

"It is not your fault, O'Neill," Teal'c said firmly as Sam suddenly realized why Jack was still so upset. He blamed himself.

"Isn't it?" Jack turned toward them. "We all noticed the subtle changes, but I ordered you to leave her alone."

"It was an order I chose to follow," Teal'c argued. "I, too, believed I was allowing my protectiveness of Samantha Carter cloud my judgement."

"Teal'c's right," Daniel added.

"Guys," Sam interrupted their moment, "what changes?" What the hell were they talking about. She hadn't changed, had she?

"It's just little things, Sam," Daniel answered for the group. "You started wearing makeup more."

"So?" She'd wanted you look more feminine, what was wrong with that?

"You stopped advocating for yourself off-world," Teal'c told her.

"I did?" Sam thought back to their last few missions. She'd performed admirably. In fact, if it wasn't for her they wouldn't have gotten home on several occasions. But come to think of it, maybe she had questioned her own judgement a bit more. Chosen to follow instead of lead.

"You stopped coming to team nights," Daniel said softly, and she realized he was right. She'd chosen Pete over them, but worse, she'd chosen Pete over herself.

"You stopped smiling," Jack finally said. "You stopped being you, and I ignored it."

OoooOoooOoooO

Jack stood apart from his team, tossing rocks into the lake and focusing on the ripples each one formed. The ripples expanded outward until they became a tangled mess of disturbances across the entire surface. Funny how one little thing could have such an overwhelming effect.

"Carter," Jack said as he sensed her presence behind him.

"Sir," she said hesitantly. "I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for, Carter," he shifted uneasily. "None of this is your fault."

"That's not entirely true, sir, and you know it," she walked to stand next to him, their arms almost touching. "I should have seen what he was doing; how he was working to isolate me from my friends and family. I've been trained to withstand Goa'uld mind control!"

"Guys like Pete are so much worse than the Goa'uld," Jack told her. "You know not to trust a snake, but Pete made you believe he loved you. He used the very thing that makes you good and strong against you." He crossed his arms over his chest as memories of a younger woman surged through his brain; someone else he'd failed.

"It sounds like you've had experience with guys like Pete," Sam said perceptively, but then she'd always been able to read him like a book.

"One of my sisters married a man like him," Jack blinked back tears that threatened to fill his eyes. "I was too stupid to realize what it meant when she started to withdraw from the family. I thought she was choosing him over us, so I dressed her down and walked away. I was overseas when word finally reached me that he'd put her in the ICU."

"Oh, Jack," Sam said softly, twining her fingers with his to offer what little support she could.

"It was a long time ago," Jack sighed. "She's remarried to a good man with a couple of kids now."

"And her first husband?"

"He'll never hurt anyone again," he answered. "I made sure of it." That was one missing person case Jack was positive would never be solved. "I just wish I would have learned from the past and helped you instead of turning a blind eye to what was really happening."

"Sir, there was nothing you could have done," Sam said honestly. "I probably wouldn't have listened. Up until today, I refused to see the pattern of escalating emotional abuse."

"Maybe I could have made you see—"

"Sir, stop. It doesn't matter." Jack looked at her when she squeezed his hand tightly. "You were there for me today. You're here for me now. That's what counts."

Jack wasn't ready to accept absolution so easily, but he kept that to himself. Instead, he squeezed her fingers back and forced a sad smile. For now, it was enough.

"I don't want to leave yet," Sam sighed softly, turning her attention to the waterfall.

"Then let's stay," Daniel said joining them. It was obvious to Jack they had been giving him and Sam privacy, but had probably overheard everything.

"We don't have any overnight gear," Sam protested half-heartedly.

"We have been stranded off-world with far less," Teal'c replied, arching an eyebrow. He was right.

"Plus there's no need for anyone to stand watch tonight," Daniel rocked forward on his heels.

"Indeed," Teal'c smiled.

Jack grinned at the guys' idea. "Whatcha say, Carter? Wanna rough it for the night?"

For the first time in a long while, his second-in-command smiled a true grin as she stepped forward and wrapped both Daniel and Teal'c into a big hug.