Part 3

SAM'S POV

Jonas, you are *so* dead.

You know, considering my circumstances I should have thought about something else beside Jonas's soon-to-be fate, but I couldn't help it. That was the first thing that went through my mind: Jonas is a dead man. Oh, yes he is. Just you wait until I get my hands on you, Jonas. I know you think you were safe a million light years away from me right now, but once I come through the gate, I'll let you see that I am much *much* scarier than the Colonel could ever be. I'll make sure that you were so sorry that you --

"Samantha," Dian's voice stopped me from my mental-threat transmission to the young Kelownan. His right hand was still covering my left hand, his eyes were fixed on mine affectionately, "What do you think about it?"

Oops, I knew that I had better things to do that threaten Jonas, "Uhm," I stalled while attempting to pull my hands from him. He refused to release it at first by tightening his grip, but after I gave an extra hasty tug he finally let go.

He was confused by my course of action; I could see it from his expression. God, I felt like a jerk, I never meant to hurt anyone. Oh for crying out loud, whom am I kidding? I brought this on myself, come to think of it, I practically begged for trouble to come looking for me. Gee Sam, congratulations. You never saw it coming, did you? You were so caught up in your 'mission' to make the Colonel unaware of what was going on but apparently your plan backfired. Big time.

"Ehm," someone cleared his throat.

Aw crap, how could I forget that he was here as well? Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid Sam. Of course the Colonel had to be here, didn't he? Of course he had to witness all this, didn't he? And *of course* he had to hear every single words that Dian had said to me, didn't he?

Didn't I say that Jonas is a dead man?

I bit my lower lip nervously before I finally turned from Dian to face the Colonel. He fidgeted anxiously with his napkin as the three of us were having dinner together in Dian's house. It was our last day on Dunian; we were scheduled to go back to earth the next day. The Colonel and Dian were sitting at opposite ends while I sat between them. I didn't know what to say to him.  I really didn't. I eyed him warily, but he avoided any sort of eye contact, opting to stare at his glass instead. He was as uncomfortable as I was.  Somehow I wished that he would do something, maybe let his alpha-male ego make an appearance and told Dian to get lost, sweep me into his arms and gave me a possessive kiss. Just the thought of him doing that had made my blood flow faster than the normal rate.

Was it me or was it getting hot in here?

No, no, don't you dare daydream in this kind of situation! You'd have plenty of time to do that later on. "Sir," I called him softly, hoping that he would meet my eyes. And he did. There was something in his gaze that made me stop breathing.

He was jealous.

YES! YES! YES!

Ehm, sorry, I got a little carried away. What I really meant was I was grateful that he showed his emotions to me. No matter how brief it was, no matter how faint it was, no matter how insignificant it seemed to the others. I was more than pleased with that.

When the need for air became unbearable, I let my lungs resume its activity, but not before I sent him a sincere smile. The kind of smile that came out naturally when he was around.

He looked baffled at first, but then the edge of his lips lifted up slightly, "Carter, it's not polite to keep a man waiting for an answer like that, you know."

Huh?

That was it? To be honest, I was expecting more than that. Where's his demonstration of a hot-blooded male? I sighed mentally. Never mind, I should've known that he couldn't and wouldn't show much passion anyway, this is the Colonel we were talking about.

"Samantha," Dian called my name once again in an attempt to draw my attention. Slowly I turned around and faced him. I sighed once again, still mentally. I really needed to choose my words carefully here, as I didn't want to hurt him more than I've already had.

Here goes nothing, "Dian," I said carefully, "I'm flattered, but I don't think that it will work."

"Why?"

"Because," I could think of *one* good reason why, but unfortunately I could not say it out loud, "well, for starters, we are from different planets, and I don't do long distance relationships," not a completely reasonable explanation, but it should do for now.

Dian was not to be deterred, "Our planets are going to be friends, and with the aid of the Stargate the distance is insignificant."

Good point.

But there was no way that I am going to say 'yes', "Second, I love my life the way it is," with the Colonel by my side, although I could not have him the way that I really wanted to, "I'm not really looking for a relationship right now."

"Relationships are not something that you look  for, it is something that comes unexpectedly, and all you have to do is take the opportunity that was presented to you," he pressed. His brown eyes gazed at mine intently, making me shift uncomfortably.

I risked a glance in the Colonel's direction. Well, it did have the 'come unexpectedly' part, but I couldn't take the opportunity. I closed my eyes for a moment and when I opened my eyes I knew that I had to tell him the truth, "Dian," I took a deep breath, "I can't. I already have someone special."

His eyes widened in a mixture of astonishment and disappointment.

"I'm sorry," I added shortly after that.

He shook his head in defeat, "No, please, don't be sorry. I was at fault. I foolishly believed that someone as smart and beautiful like you had feelings for me," he smiled sadly and got up from his chair, "please, continue your meal, I need some time to collect myself." He then abruptly left the dining room and vanished to one of his more private rooms.

Oh God, I really feel like an idiot. I was so consumed by my misconception that it had clouded my perspective. It was no different than walking down a minefield blindfolded. I hung my head in shame and stared at my half-eaten plate.

"Hey," a hand was resting on my shoulder.

Oh.

Yeah.

The Colonel was here all the time. Have your parents ever caught you with a contraceptive item in your drawers? Well, it felt like that, only it was worse. I couldn't meet his eyes, I couldn't face him. Not now. Oh, how I wished that I was somewhere far far away from here, alone.

"You're shaking," his soft voice was adding more assault to my self-disgrace. I didn't even realize that I was shaking. Damn it, I'm stronger than this, what was wrong with me?

"I'm alright," I told him quietly, still not moving from my position.

o

JACK'S POV

"I'm alright," she said almost inaudibly.

Like hell she was.   She refused to meet my eyes and was still trembling uncontrollably.  I knew that she wasn't all right, and didn't she trust me enough to tell me the truth? But then again, she was always Major Carter, wasn't she? She had to be strong all the time and pretend that everything was OK, didn't she? We both knew that she didn't have to be like that in front of me, but she was a Carter. And strangely enough, that made me adore her more. That made me crave her more. And that was also my constant reminder that she was 'untouchable', at least for me.

I looked at my hand that was still resting on her shoulder. I had three options for that particular hand. One, remove it. Not acceptable, I still wanted and in some way needed the contact. Two, let it stay there. But it wouldn't ease her from her misery. So ... that only left option three.

Before I knew it, the hand had traveled to her back and pulled her into my embrace. I didn't even remember leaving my chair and standing at her side. All I knew is that I had her in my arms. I had one hand on her back and the other on the back of her head, pulling her close to me. Still with her sitting position, her head was resting on my stomach. She stiffened at first and tried to push herself away, but I wasn't having any of that, my arms held her in her current position. And then she started to relax, her hands were gripping the edge of my shirt now; I could feel her breath through the layers of my clothing.

I held her.

And it was the best feeling that I had ever had for a long time. I had to resist running my hand through her hair and caressing her back.  No, I would not do that. I was offering her comfort as a friend.  I would not betray her trust. She was worth much more than that. I didn't know how much time had passed, and I didn't care. I could feel her self-control reassert itself.

"Thank you," she said after her shivering had stopped, still in my arms. She didn't show any indication of discomfort with our current position, so I let it be.

"Anytime," I drew her closer slightly, letting her know that I was here.

She released her grip on my shirt and put her arms around my waist loosely, "I've been acting like a fool," she chuckled wryly. I had no answer for that. She *was* acting 'out of characters' since we arrived here in Dunian. She seemed to be interested in everything that Dian said and always asked him questions about everything. If he had an impression that she liked him, than I couldn't blame him because I pretty much had the same idea too.

It was hard watching her like that. It was hard to acknowledge that someone could have her attention so much. But then when I watched her closely, there was no sparkle in her eyes when she looked at him, there was no genuine smile that she presented to him. It looked like she was forced to make conversation with him.

And that puzzled me. But then again, since when did anything to do with her didn't confused me?

"Hey," I had learn long time ago that the best way to cheer her up was just simple being 'me', the sarcastic Colonel with strange sense of humor, "Your special someone wouldn't happened to be Jonas, would it?"

She giggled, wow, that tickled my stomach a bit, it was quite a pleasant sensation actually. I knew who her 'special someone' was, or I hope I had the right guess. But I also knew that she would not speak it outloud.

"No giggling, Major," I warned her, I knew that she was feeling better already.

"Sorry, Sir. It's just that," she paused for a moment to collect her breath, "out of anyone back on Earth, you picked Jonas," I could almost see her smile though her voice.

"Well, you two are quite close, aren't you?"

"Not after this," there was a hint of annoyance in her reply.

Huh? What did she mean by that? I waited for a further explanation to her remark, but it never came. I guess I had to let this one go.

"So, who is it then?" I asked her again as we had fallen into our common ground of safe flirting (we invented such a thing due to our circumstances) and friendly banter.

"Why do you want to know?" she was baiting for my reaction, I could tell.

"Well, you are in my team, and I let you know *Major*, that no one messed with my kids. I need to have a man-to-man talk with him."

"I'm your kid, am I?" she was amused.

I smiled, "Yes, you are."

"Well, good luck then."

I didn't like the way she said that so casually, "Good luck with what?"

"With having a man-to-man talk with my special someone."

I looked down to the mass of the short blond hair that belongs to my Major, "And who would that be?"

She titled up her head to meet my eyes, her chin rested just below my chest. There was a definite wicked grin and mischief written all over her face, "Teal'c."

To be Continue

AN: Mmm, someone asked how long this fic will be, and to tell you the truth, I have no idea. It could end on the next chapter if I could tie all the loose end together later on g.