*Stands before reviewers with teary eyes* Thank you so much guys! I've
never had such overwhelming support before, and most definitely not on the
first day. *sniff* I've never been so touched and inspired in my entire
life. While I was typing up the first chapter I changed some stuff, and I
decided that I didn't like how quickly I made the second chapter move, so
I'm fixing it, it won't take that long.
And now, before this chapter begins, I'd like to dedicate it to Joss, for beta-ing it for me. ^_^ Thanks a million! You don't know how much it means to me!
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ Chapter One: Knowing ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
ONE WEEK
Carter's eyes opened slowly to find her face smushed into her keyboard. Blinking at the painful glare of her computer screen in her eyes, she looked blearily at the clock, 0935. She blinked again, then shot to her feet; she had a briefing in 5 minutes! Carter hastily tucked her shirt into her pants, ran her hand through her hair and hoped to God she didn't have the imprint of her keyboard on her face.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Not once could she get a lucky break, could she? This day is just getting better and better, she thought sarcastically, hitting the keys of her keyboard unnecessarily hard. She'd had keyboard imprints on her face, a stain on her shirt that she hadn't noticed that everyone else had, there hadn't been any coffee left, there had been some problem with some computer somewhere that she had to fix, it had taken her three hours to get from her briefing to her lab for goodness sakes!
Carter sighed, "Why are you people so against me working?" she asked her empty lab. She rubbed her fists into her eyes; she had no ideas on what she could do to get Jack back. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Carter looked around her lab, her eyes landing on the gadget that SG-3 had brought back from their last mission. Standing, Carter walked over to the table, looking down on the gadget. I have to keep up with my work. she thought to herself as she began work on the gizmo.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Carter looked up from the gizmo several hours later, to see the clock on her desk telling the time of 1530. Rolling her neck, Carter looked at the pitiful amount of work she'd gotten done. Carter ran her hand through her hair; she wasn't getting anything done here. Maybe it's time I go apologize to Janet, she thought, realizing that there was something other than Jack's disappearance that was bothering her. Carter flipped off her machines and headed down to the infirmary where it was more than likely that Janet was.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Carter knocked on the door to Janet's office, then stuck her head in, "Janet?" she asked tentatively.
Janet glanced up from a pile of paperwork, "Hi Sam," she said softly, looking down again.
There was an awkward silence for a few moments before both women blurted out, "I'm sorry." They both looked at each other and smiled slightly.
"I'm really sorry Sam," Janet said quickly, "I know I shouldn't have lied to you, and I don't blame you if you hate me, but you should know that I was just doing what I thought was best."
Sam smiled softly, "I know. And I'm sorry for blowing up at you. It was just." Sam sighed painfully.
"I understand," Janet said, not wanting to see her friend dredge up the pain of a week ago. It was something everyone just wanted to shove to the back of their minds and never think of again. It was too painful.
Sam left that thought unvoiced and went on to her next one, "I know you did the right thing, if you had told me he was-" Sam swallowed heavily, unable to complete her sentence, yet again, "Well, I would have been trying to get up and go back for him." Sam looked up from her examination of the floor; "Can we be friends again?" Please don't say I've screwed everything up, she thought desperately to herself.
"Of course!" Janet said, with obvious relief, "I thought you wouldn't want to be friends with me." The two women shared a laugh, realizing they'd both been fearing the other would reject them. "Cassie and I are renting a bunch of movies to watch tonight, wanna join us?"
"I'd love to," Sam said, happy for the first time in what felt like forever. But it was a happiness that didn't touch every part of her heart.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
ONE MONTH
One month. One month he'd been gone. Carter stared at an empty casket as it was lowered into the ground. Hammond had declared Jack MIA, presumed dead, so here they were, holding a funeral for him. It seemed so. false. Jack's body wasn't in this casket being lowered into the ground. This hole in the graveyard beside the grave of his son. She raised her eyes from the casket and the hole to look around at the other 'guests'. All of them were crying. Janet had her head buried on Daniel's shoulder, who let his tears run unchecked down his cheeks. Jack's ex-wife Sarah was crying. Jacob was crying. Even General Hammond and Teal'c were crying. Only Carter didn't cry.
She couldn't cry for a man who wasn't dead. Ever since she'd come back from that mission to P3M 128 or whatever the hell it had been called, she'd known, without a shadow of a doubt, that Jack was not dead. There were times when her faith wavered, where she thought that maybe she was deluding herself, Jack was dead and she was just in denial. But then, there were moments like this, where we watched them lower this empty casket into the earth, that she knew, Jack was alive, and he was just waiting for them to come back and get him.
They couldn't go back through the Stargate; the Eitanicans had buried it, or destroyed it, or something. They couldn't go by ship; it would take a long, long time to get there from any of the planets that their allies, the ones that Carter had been able to contact anyway, lived on. The Asguard, the one race that Carter thought might be able to reach Jack, remained un- reachable. Carter had no idea what to do, except pray that Jack got himself off Eitanic, to a planet with a Stargate, and home. That and continue with trying to build a small spaceship, which was rather difficult, considering she only had what she'd seen to go on, no one would just give her a ship. Not even the Tok'ra. Said they wouldn't provide Carter with a ship for a suicide mission. Funny how they'd give them a ship to go to Hell, but not one for her to go to the semi-primitive planet of Eitanic and get Jack. So all she could do was believe in Jack. Believe that he could get home.
She couldn't not believe.
A/N: And now. replies to reviewers!
Thanks to mugseymalone, zippy-rainbow (thanks for the comment on Teal'c's smile, he's amazingly hard to write! Who knew emotionlessness was so hard.), EridaniMoon, max, lighteninglady, joss, JavaJunkieGurl, Ilovsg1, charlie-sjer, sandjgirl and Lynn.
I hope this was updated fast enough for you ^_^. And as for Jack. I have a proposition for you all. I wasn't considering writing any more on Jack until Carter learns more (the story was going to be centered on her) but what do you guys think? I also want to know whether you guys think he should be dead or alive (though judging by your reviews you really don't want him dead!)
And before I leave you to review, I have to say again, that you guys have overwhelmed me with your support, I never in my wildest dreams imagined I'd have such a great response to a story that was inspired by a drawing. (which I'll scan if you guys wanna see)
And now, before this chapter begins, I'd like to dedicate it to Joss, for beta-ing it for me. ^_^ Thanks a million! You don't know how much it means to me!
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ Chapter One: Knowing ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
ONE WEEK
Carter's eyes opened slowly to find her face smushed into her keyboard. Blinking at the painful glare of her computer screen in her eyes, she looked blearily at the clock, 0935. She blinked again, then shot to her feet; she had a briefing in 5 minutes! Carter hastily tucked her shirt into her pants, ran her hand through her hair and hoped to God she didn't have the imprint of her keyboard on her face.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Not once could she get a lucky break, could she? This day is just getting better and better, she thought sarcastically, hitting the keys of her keyboard unnecessarily hard. She'd had keyboard imprints on her face, a stain on her shirt that she hadn't noticed that everyone else had, there hadn't been any coffee left, there had been some problem with some computer somewhere that she had to fix, it had taken her three hours to get from her briefing to her lab for goodness sakes!
Carter sighed, "Why are you people so against me working?" she asked her empty lab. She rubbed her fists into her eyes; she had no ideas on what she could do to get Jack back. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Carter looked around her lab, her eyes landing on the gadget that SG-3 had brought back from their last mission. Standing, Carter walked over to the table, looking down on the gadget. I have to keep up with my work. she thought to herself as she began work on the gizmo.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Carter looked up from the gizmo several hours later, to see the clock on her desk telling the time of 1530. Rolling her neck, Carter looked at the pitiful amount of work she'd gotten done. Carter ran her hand through her hair; she wasn't getting anything done here. Maybe it's time I go apologize to Janet, she thought, realizing that there was something other than Jack's disappearance that was bothering her. Carter flipped off her machines and headed down to the infirmary where it was more than likely that Janet was.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Carter knocked on the door to Janet's office, then stuck her head in, "Janet?" she asked tentatively.
Janet glanced up from a pile of paperwork, "Hi Sam," she said softly, looking down again.
There was an awkward silence for a few moments before both women blurted out, "I'm sorry." They both looked at each other and smiled slightly.
"I'm really sorry Sam," Janet said quickly, "I know I shouldn't have lied to you, and I don't blame you if you hate me, but you should know that I was just doing what I thought was best."
Sam smiled softly, "I know. And I'm sorry for blowing up at you. It was just." Sam sighed painfully.
"I understand," Janet said, not wanting to see her friend dredge up the pain of a week ago. It was something everyone just wanted to shove to the back of their minds and never think of again. It was too painful.
Sam left that thought unvoiced and went on to her next one, "I know you did the right thing, if you had told me he was-" Sam swallowed heavily, unable to complete her sentence, yet again, "Well, I would have been trying to get up and go back for him." Sam looked up from her examination of the floor; "Can we be friends again?" Please don't say I've screwed everything up, she thought desperately to herself.
"Of course!" Janet said, with obvious relief, "I thought you wouldn't want to be friends with me." The two women shared a laugh, realizing they'd both been fearing the other would reject them. "Cassie and I are renting a bunch of movies to watch tonight, wanna join us?"
"I'd love to," Sam said, happy for the first time in what felt like forever. But it was a happiness that didn't touch every part of her heart.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
ONE MONTH
One month. One month he'd been gone. Carter stared at an empty casket as it was lowered into the ground. Hammond had declared Jack MIA, presumed dead, so here they were, holding a funeral for him. It seemed so. false. Jack's body wasn't in this casket being lowered into the ground. This hole in the graveyard beside the grave of his son. She raised her eyes from the casket and the hole to look around at the other 'guests'. All of them were crying. Janet had her head buried on Daniel's shoulder, who let his tears run unchecked down his cheeks. Jack's ex-wife Sarah was crying. Jacob was crying. Even General Hammond and Teal'c were crying. Only Carter didn't cry.
She couldn't cry for a man who wasn't dead. Ever since she'd come back from that mission to P3M 128 or whatever the hell it had been called, she'd known, without a shadow of a doubt, that Jack was not dead. There were times when her faith wavered, where she thought that maybe she was deluding herself, Jack was dead and she was just in denial. But then, there were moments like this, where we watched them lower this empty casket into the earth, that she knew, Jack was alive, and he was just waiting for them to come back and get him.
They couldn't go back through the Stargate; the Eitanicans had buried it, or destroyed it, or something. They couldn't go by ship; it would take a long, long time to get there from any of the planets that their allies, the ones that Carter had been able to contact anyway, lived on. The Asguard, the one race that Carter thought might be able to reach Jack, remained un- reachable. Carter had no idea what to do, except pray that Jack got himself off Eitanic, to a planet with a Stargate, and home. That and continue with trying to build a small spaceship, which was rather difficult, considering she only had what she'd seen to go on, no one would just give her a ship. Not even the Tok'ra. Said they wouldn't provide Carter with a ship for a suicide mission. Funny how they'd give them a ship to go to Hell, but not one for her to go to the semi-primitive planet of Eitanic and get Jack. So all she could do was believe in Jack. Believe that he could get home.
She couldn't not believe.
A/N: And now. replies to reviewers!
Thanks to mugseymalone, zippy-rainbow (thanks for the comment on Teal'c's smile, he's amazingly hard to write! Who knew emotionlessness was so hard.), EridaniMoon, max, lighteninglady, joss, JavaJunkieGurl, Ilovsg1, charlie-sjer, sandjgirl and Lynn.
I hope this was updated fast enough for you ^_^. And as for Jack. I have a proposition for you all. I wasn't considering writing any more on Jack until Carter learns more (the story was going to be centered on her) but what do you guys think? I also want to know whether you guys think he should be dead or alive (though judging by your reviews you really don't want him dead!)
And before I leave you to review, I have to say again, that you guys have overwhelmed me with your support, I never in my wildest dreams imagined I'd have such a great response to a story that was inspired by a drawing. (which I'll scan if you guys wanna see)