CHAPTER TWO

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SPOILER ALERT: Major 100 Days spoiler and a minor Point of View one.

Jack looked around the dinner table. There were nine other people seated at the table. On Jack's right was Teal'c (or Murray as they were calling him), next to Teal'c was Daniel and next to Daniel was Sam. Next to Sam was Bruce's niece, Anna, and on her other side was Bruce and then his wife Kerry. Next to Kerry was her twenty-two-year-old son, Jonathan, and then his girlfriend Charlotte. On the other side of Jack (between him and Charlotte) was Ralf, Bruce's friend and fellow farmer.

"Charlotte, can you please pass the potatoes," Anna said, leaning over and grabbing them for herself.

"You idiot," Jonathan groaned. "Why do bother asking for it, when you're just gonna grab it for yourself?"

"Shut up, just cos you're eight years older than me doesn't mean you can boss me around all the time," Anna said.

"I wasn't bossing you around, I was just saying…" Jonathan continued.

Jack turned to Daniel's conversation with Ralf, hoping it would be slightly more interesting. After the first line he decided it was not.

"So when exactly was this area settled?" Daniel asked.

Jack almost groaned. Teal'c was eating his food and enjoying it greatly. Bruce, Kerry and Charlotte were in deep conversation about something. So Jack looked Sam. She was looking at him, but the minute their eyes met, she looked down at her plate. Trying to avoid his eyes.

"Carter," he said.

"Yes, sir," she said, looking up again, but trying to avoid his eyes.

"Sam," he tried again.

"Colonel," she said. "You want to say something?"

"Sam," he repeated.

She looked up into his eyes. "Jack."

Daniel looked away from his conversation with Ralf to stare at Sam. "Jack?" he repeated with a sound of awe in his voice. "Wow."

Everybody at the table fell silent and looked at either Jack or Sam. They were still looking at each other. It wasn't an angry stare, but it wasn't an 'I love you' type of stare either. More of a 'trying to figure things out' kind of stare.

"Ah, Jack? Sam?" Daniel asked.

"Yes?" they both said, looking at him at the same time.

"Dinner's over," Kerry said, standing up and starting to clear plates.

Sam also started to clear plates. "Do you want help?"

"No I'll be fine," Kerry said, smiling at her. "Why don't you all go and get some rest. Sorry we couldn't go out for dinner tonight, but it's a bit late."

Anna yawned. "Well I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

"I'm going to start the fire outside," Ralf said.

"I'll come," Daniel said.

"As will I," Teal'c said, standing up.

"Charlotte, do you wanna come to visit the Brown's with me?" Jonathan asked, standing up. "I have to give them something."

"OK," Charlotte, said standing up and handing her plate to Kerry.

Bruce got up as well. "I'll come I need to talk to the Brown's as well."

Five minutes later Kerry also decided to leave the room, leaving Sam and Jack staring at each other. Jack watched her blue eyes searching his for some sign of what he was thinking. Her blonde hair was starting to grow longer again, hanging loosely above her ears. He couldn't help but think how beautiful she was.

"Sam…" he started, but broke off.

She looked at him expectantly.

"I…" he looked into her eyes again. "…I'm sorry about the other day, I really am. I shouldn't've taken advantage of the situation like that…"

"Sir, you didn't take advantage of the situation," Sam replied. "I let you. It was both of our faults."

"It was mine more than yours," he said.

"How? I asked you what happened in the time loop, you just showed me," Sam said.

"I shouldn't have done that either," Jack said.

"Done what?" Sam asked.

"Kissed you in the time loop," Jack said. "It was wrong, to take advantage of the situation like that. But you see I had to know…"

"Just like I had to know what happened in the time loop, it wasn't your fault," Sam said. "Now if you'd excuse me I'm going to bed. I'm tired and jetlagged."

She got up and walked outside. Jack watched her leave and almost cringed as the door seemed to slam shut behind her. He got up slowly and switched off the light. Letting the light from the fire drift inside, as well as Daniel and Ralf's conversation.

"Well I don't know, not really," Daniel said. "They never talk about it, not to me anyway."

"But you're friends, right?" Ralf asked.

"Yeah, we're all friends, but there are some things in the military that are not discussed openly, like that," Daniel said.

Jack immediately knew they were talking about him and Sam. He decided to sit down and listen longer. Maybe he could pick up something Sam had told Daniel or Janet that he didn't know about.

"Oh, well there have been a couple of things," Daniel said. "Uh, Jack disappeared for a couple of months last year, and Sam spent the whole hundred days he was missing, searching for a way to find him. All day and all night. So many times Janet and I had to wake her up and take her to the nearest bedroom. One night Janet got so mad at her Murray, Janet and I dragged her off to Janet's car and then Janet drove her home and made her stay there for three days and sleep. But she still worked, on her laptop, trying to find a way to get him back."

"Where was he?" Ralf asked.

"Ah, that's classified material," Daniel said awkwardly. "Anyway, so when we finally found Jack, he'd come to the conclusion that he was never going to come home. So he'd settled down with another woman. Sam got really jealous. Tried to avoid him for weeks after the incident. I don't think they've ever talked about it. I don't even know if Jack realised what Sam went through. She was tired, depressed and she lost a lot of weight. And trust me, she didn't need to loose any weight. But I don't think Jack knew, it never occurred to him what she went through."

Jack leaned back in his chair. What had he done to her? He'd sent her through what would've been the second closest to hell she'd ever been (the closest was the time that they actually went to hell). How had he been so stupid? Of course Sam would've had help working on it, but no one else on base was nearly as smart as she was. He hadn't understood at the time, but the machine she had made had previously been thought impossible to be made, even by the Tok'ra.

"Well there was this other time they were forced to admit that they had feelings from each other, Janet told me about that, but I can't tell you any details because it's all classified," Daniel said.

"That would be bloody annoying, not being able to discuss your work," Ralf said. "I mean, I'm just a farmer, mate, have been my whole life. So all this classified stuff is getting to my head."

"I think I'm going to go to bed," Daniel said, yawning. "I haven't slept for twenty-four hours."

Jack got up and pushed open the door, walking outside and down the steps towards Daniel and Ralf. Daniel stood up and started walking back towards the house.

"Hi Jack," he said. "Where're you going?"

"To visit Carter," he said.

"Why?" Daniel asked, starting to sound worried.

"I never realised what she went through when I was on Edora," Jack said.

"Oh…" Daniel said, as Jack started down the path towards the caravan. "I didn't…"

"It's OK," Jack said over his shoulder.

He could feel Daniel watching him walk towards the caravan. Jack didn't really want to go to visit Sam, but with Daniel watching him like a hawk, he had to.

Inside the caravan Sam was sitting on the bed. The TV was on in the background, but she wasn't watching or even listening to it. She was staring at the photo in her hands. Suddenly the door opened and she jumped, placing the photo upside-down on her bedside table.

"Sir, what are you doing here?" she asked.

"Ah, I came to say hi," he replied. "Actually, the truth is I like your caravan and I was going to ask if we could share."

Sam laughed, looking down at her hands and fiddling with her socks. "Why'd you really come here?"

"To get away from Daniel," he sighed. "So what are you doing?"

"Sitting," she replied.

"Before I came in?" Jack asked.

"Looking at a photo," Sam replied, looking at the TV. "Oh, the red and black team's winning."

Jack knew she was trying to change the subject. He spotted the photo she must've been talking about sitting on the bedside table. He walked towards the bed and Sam shuffled uncomfortably.

"What's the photo of?" he asked, leaning over the bed to the table.

"None of your business," she said, putting her hand firmly on top of it. "Go away."

"Go away…sir?" he said.

"Don't start that again," she said.

"Don't worry, I'm not in withdrawal," he smiled. "Can I just see the photo?"

"No," Sam said.

He sighed, leaning away from the table. "Fine, have it your way."

Sam took her hand off the photo. Jack, grabbing the chance, jumped on the bed and grabbed the photo.

"Aaah! Sir, give it back," she said, trying to grab it off him. "Don't rip it!"

Jack started laughing, so did Sam. Actually Sam started laughing so hard she couldn't keep hold of the photo. Jack grabbed it away from her and turned it over so he could see it. Straight away he recognised the wedding photo that the alternate reality Carter had had.

"How'd you get this?" Jack asked, looking up.

Sam stopped laughing. "She left it behind, by 'accident'."

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked.

"Sir I…" she broke off, meeting his eyes.

For what seemed like hours they sat there in silence, gazing into each other's eyes. Finally Jack decided to break the silence.

"I'm sorry I acted like such a jerk when I came back from Edora," he said, handing her the photo back.

"You weren't a jerk," Sam said.

"Carter, admit it, I was a jerk to you," Jack said.

"OK you were a jerk to me," Sam said, they both smiled. "But that's in the past."

"I never realised what you went through to get me back," Jack said. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, sir," Sam said.

Jack got up and walked to the door. He took one last look back at her, but she was back to staring at the photo. He stepped outside and closed the door behind him. He looked up at the sky and sighed. Why did everything have to be so difficult? Why couldn't it be just like in the other realities. Why couldn't he be married to her, why couldn't that photo belong to them?

Because the good stuff never happens to you, he thought to himself. Always to everyone else, but never to the person who wants it most.

And with that he sighed. He wasn't tired yet, he was used to long, awkward hours and wandering around strange places. So he decided to take a walk. He walked to the end of the garden and unlocked the gate that lead into the closest paddock. He closed the gate behind him and saw Sam standing in the doorway of the caravan, watching him. He decided to ignore her and continue his walk. Looking at the stars.

Maybe one day he would be able to watch the stars without having to worry what was up there.

Maybe one day he would be able to watch the stars, with Sam at his side, and neither of them having to worry about what was out there.

Hang around, I never write such short stories, never fear Stickna!