"Carter." Jack said as he caught up with her and placed a hand on her arm, she batted it away.

"If you want to court martial me for insubordination go ahead, I could use the downtime being in jail would bring." She said in a sharp but whispered voice trying not to cause a disturbance in the motel parking lot.

"I'm not going to court martial you. But we need to talk." He spun her round so she was facing him.

"With very little respect SIR, no." She hit his arm away.

"Sam, I'm not here as your CO I'm here as your friend. Say whatever it is you want to say. No ramifications."

"Honestly?" She asked he nodded. "How dare you? Do you think I'm some feeble little girl who needs protecting? I'm a Captain in the United States Air Force for god's sake. I can take care of myself. I thought I'd proved that to you after my fight with Turgin or with Hathor, scared little girls don't knock out Generals."

"Sam." Jack started.

"No, you said I could have my say and I'm going to have it. The whole of my life there has been someone watching over my shoulder because they thought I couldn't take care of myself. It was keep an eye on her she's the Captain's daughter, she's the Major's daughter, Mark keep an eye on your sister, she's the Colonel's daughter. When I joined the Air Force I thought it would be different, but no my father had people keeping an eye on me and reporting back to him. General's privilege. No and when I finally get Mark to back off and Dad to not be so over protective there was Jonas, who tried to suffocate me and know where I was every minute of everyday."

"Sam." Jack tried again.

"No I'm still not finished." She said as tears ran down her face. "I thought when I joined the SGC I'd get the chance to prove it to everyone else and myself that I could take care of myself but no you have to go and under mind that by punching out some drunk who thought he had a chance of getting anywhere with me. I have level 3-advanced hand-to-hand training, I can fire a gun, I did kick boxing for three years, I can build and dismantle a bomb and I can take on any of our 'enemies from out town'. I don't need you playing big brother and protecting me I'm fine by myself."

"Sam, it's my job to watch your six, just like it's yours to watch mine. It's what we do; it's what we were trained to do. What happened back there wasn't about my thinking you can take care of yourself, I know you can I wouldn't have you on my team if I even thought for one minute you couldn't take care of yourself. Daniel is more of a liability than you are, he's only had the training we've given him, he's an archaeologist for cryin' out loud, he looks at rocks he's not military. No one would let us go out if they thought we couldn't take care of ourselves or each other."

"So why.?" Sam started.

"Because I don't like the idea of one of my friends being put in a situation like that even if they can take care of themselves, we watch each others sixes and I wasn't going to let you handle it by yourself when you didn't need to. Daniel, Teal'c and I are here and we help each other and I wasn't going to stand by and watch you get pawed at by some jerk."

"Thank you for caring." Sam mumbled.

"Come 'ere." He pulled her into a hug. "We watch out for each other that's what makes us a good team."

"You should put ice on your hand to stop it swelling." She mumbled into his chest.

"Okay. So are we friends again?" He whispered into her hair. She pulled back slightly.

"Yes sir." Jack scowled at her. "Yes Jack, we still friends." She said wiping the tears from her face.

"Good, come on its time for you to go to bed. We have to get up early we have to go to a Science Museum." He let her go. "Guys you can come out of the shadows too. We're done." He called to Daniel and Teal'c.

"How did you know we were there?" Daniel asked.

"We're going to have to work on your stealth skills." Jack teased.

"Sam you okay now?" Daniel asked ignoring Jack's comment.

"I'm fine. As long as you all promise not to go beating guys for me, well at least on this planet."

"I think you have a deal there Carter." Jack said with a smile.

A/N : I know this chapter is short but it took a lot of energy to write a screaming match between Jack and Sam. Hopefully the next chapter will be lighter.