Sam waited for an answer. Jack shuffled uncomfortably and spun his mug around in his hands.

"Colonel, Jack please I need to know." Sam pleaded. He shuffled again.

"I take it you wouldn't take impulse as an answer?" He said before looking up at her. She shook her head. "I'm not good at this sort of thing." He shifted again.

"I know, but please I need to know. Then maybe we can figure out where this leaves us."

"Where do you want it to leave us?" He asked.

"I'm not sure at the moment. But you're avoiding the question."

"I hoped you wouldn't notice." He said with a half smile.

"Maybe we could do with something strong. Do you want a beer?" Jack nodded and put his cup on a coaster on the table. Sam came back and handed him a bottle of beer.

"I could leave." Jack stated. Sam looked at him. "Last night I couldn't just leave like that."

"Why not?" Sam prompted.

"Because there was something in your eyes when I kissed you in front of Ferretti and I wasn't sure what it meant."

"And you kissed me because?"

"I needed to know."

"Me too." She mumbled before taking a sip of beer.

"What was that?"

"I said me too. I'm sorry for how I reacted last night. I shouldn't have thrown you out, but I couldn't deal with everything that was going through my head. Then I kept getting flashes of Jolinar's memories of her feelings for Martouf. I just couldn't cope with it."

"You still get those?" He asked.

"On occasion when I let my guard down. However much I try to shut it out it's always going to be there, she's always going to be a part of me so I'm always going to have her memories and those of all her hosts. I deal with it. But that really isn't what we should be talking about I need to know what's going through your head at the moment."

"I thought you always knew what I was thinking." He commented.

"Sometimes you're difficult to read. In combat sure, otherwise there are some things I have figure out so I need you to tell me."

"You probably don't want to know."

"I need you to tell me. But not because I asked because you want to. I'm not going to force you to confess to anything, I may push but if you don't want to tell me you don't have to."

"Right now the only thing going through my head is how much I want to kiss you." He paused. "Sorry that probably wasn't what you wanted to hear right now."

"Let's just stick a pin in that thought for a minute." She suggested. "How do you think we should deal with this?"

"It depends where we want to take it I guess. If we want to forget it, we need to figure out what we're going to do about work."

"And if we don't?" She asked.

"Then we decide where we're going from here."

"I think right now I'd like to go back to the kissing thing." She said.

"I think I can help out there." He lent forward and pressed her lips to hers.

"Wow." Sam managed a few minutes.

"See I knew I'd finally be able to stop you talking with long words. So do you want to try this?" He asked. Sam nodded.

"Slow. Very slowly." She managed.

"I think I'm going to need you to expand on that a little."

"I'll buy you dinner, somewhere nice." She offered.

"You don't have to I can afford dinner."

"I'll pay for dinner Jack, I can afford it. Its Dad's house, he used his savings to finish paying off the mortgage. I've got eighteen months of pay in my bank account. I have almost a year's pay invested which is making a nice little profit. I can pay for dinner, Jack."

"Okay, you can pay for dinner."

"Good. Now scoot, go home and change."

"You're kicking me out?" He asked.

"You need to change; I don't think the place I'm thinking of will let you in those jeans. Besides I need to change. Come and pick me up in about seven. I'll make reservations."

"Okay." He kissed her again. "I'll be back Miss Carter."

"One more thing, if I'm going to call you Jack off duty you have to call me Sam."

"That's a deal. I'll see you soon Sam."

"Goodbye Jack."

~ ~ ~

RING RING

"Carter." Sam said as she snatched up the phone.

"Sam, its Janet."

"Hey Janet."

"I thought I'd better warn you that Jack's probably coming to visit you, Ferretti told him everything. He left the base a while ago."

"I know he's been and gone." Sam said, sitting on the edge of the bed. She'd been deciding what to wear when Janet had called.

"And?" Janet asked.

"We're going to take things very, very slowly. He's coming back in a few hours and we're going out to dinner."

"Good for you. Do you forgive us?"

"Yeah. You only had my best interests at heart. Just don't do it again." She paused. "Unless this time you want to set up Ferretti and Hannah."

"I think we can arrange that, just talk to Daniel." Janet said with a smile. "Enjoy your dinner and I want all the details."

"We'll see. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye."

"Bye Sam."

Janet smiled as she hung up the phone. Mission accomplished. She picked up the phone and dialled Daniel's lab.

"Jackson." Daniel answered.

"Daniel, its Janet. We did it. They're going to dinner later."

"That's good." He said.

"Daniel, stop what you're doing and pay attention." Janet snapped.

"Sorry Janet. I was just doing some research to see if I could figure out where this planet is. What were you saving?"

"They're going to give it a try. They're going to go to dinner tonight."

"That's great. See I said they just needed a little push. Do you want to get dinner celebrate?"

"Just you and me?" She asked.

"Sure why not?" Daniel replied.

"I'd like that. I'll give you a call when I finish here."

"I'll see you then. Bye." They both hung up.

A/N: There will only be one more chapter I think a final epilogue if you will.