Title: Remember When It Rained

Rating: PG

Spoilers: "Chimera" (Season Seven)

Season: Seven

Summary: Jack comes to the realization that Sam is now dating.

Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate SG-1 or any of its characters, I'm just barrowing for entertainment purposes so no suing please. I also own no rights to Josh Groban's "Remember When It Rained", again just barrowing for entertainment purposes.

Author's Note: A warning ahead of time, this is sort of dark but the song is so beautiful that when I heard it I instantly thought of someone loosing their love and after "Chimera" it fit perfectly. Enjoy.

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Jack opened his front door and walked into the deep darkness of his home. Dropping his keys on the end table by the door, he headed right for his kitchen, pulling open his refrigerator and flooding the room with light. He fished out a beer before slamming the door shut causing the darkness to collapse in on him again.

Walking knowingly into his living room Jack managed to find the couch and throw himself down on it, his aging eyes fully alert in the darkness around him. He groped the coffee table until he found his remote control, which he pulled into his hand and hit a button before dropping it into the darkness. He sat in darkness, waiting for his television to flick on but instead he heard his stereo begin changing CDs.

"Just my luck." He grumbled as he attempted to find the remote he dropped to shut off his stereo and find his television remote.

Suddenly the dark home reverberated with powerful piano notes and Jack stopped to listen. A deep, beautiful voice followed and Jack found himself entranced.

"Wash away the thoughts inside

That keep my mind away from you

No more love and no more pride

The thoughts are all I have to do

Oooo...remember when it rained

Felt the ground and looked up high and called your name

Oooo...remember when it rained

In the darkness I remain

Tears of hope run down my skin

Tears for you that will not dry

They magnify the one within

Let the outside slowly die...

Oooo...remember when it rained

Felt the ground and looked up high and called your name

Oooo...remember when it rained

In the water I remain...running down"

Jack listened as the singer began repeating "running down" which was followed by a piano interlude. He wasn't sure if it was the lyrics, the music, the singer or all of that in combination with what he was feeling but suddenly a single tear ran down his tanned cheek.

He stood and walked over to the top of his television, which was decorated sparingly with picture frames. He, Jonas and Teal'c fishing off a dock in one, Daniel and him laughing over some dumb joke in another but his hands fell over one picture in particular. He pulled it closer to him for a better view, he was grinning, his arm draped around Sam's shoulders and she had her arm wrapped around his waist with one of her goofy grins on her face. Cassie had taken the picture a few years earlier and had given Jack a copy to commemorate that afternoon, the barbeque in the park with SG-1.

Jack jumped slightly when another tear landed on the glass of the frame; he hadn't expected it anymore than he had the first. He wiped the glass off before gingerly touching his face. He was crying. Jonathan O'Neill, colonel for the United States Air Force, was crying. The truly scary part was why. He looked at the picture once more before placing it back in its place.

He turned to his dark and empty house, the song flowing though him and tears running down his cheeks. His mind filled with images of her, they lead up to the conversation in the elevator, her humming, watching her with him outside of Daniel's home and the tears came faster, leaving little warm rivers down his face.

Why was he reacting like this? She had had boyfriends before in the past, what was so different this time? He thought of all of the circumstances around her previous relationships and realized that from the beginning of them all he knew that none of them would last, that in the end she could be his again. But this time it was different. The whole situation was different and for the first time in seven years their "relationship" was in real jeopardy. He saw the way she looked at him, it was the look that she had always given him in his dreams.

It was in that moment that Jack realized that he might have forever lost the little part of her heart that held onto him. His tears came faster and his knees buckled. Landing hard on his old knees, Jack caught himself and kept from going to all fours. A nauseous feeling swept within him and tears swept down his face as he rested his elbows on his couch, his hands sweeping though his hair. As the song neared its end he put his head down on the couch.

"I can't stop loving you Sam. I won't."

Jack waited in the darkness for someone to answer but no one did. He was alone. A sudden wave of exhaustion washed over him and he fell asleep right there, in that position, to be haunted by dreams of her love that was no longer his.

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After Thought: A little sad, I know but I felt like I had to do it. Maybe as a good luck charm for real Sam and Jack romance on the show :) And for "Single White Female" fans, I'm done with the finale and it should go up very, very soon.