NOTES:  FINALLY!!! Chapter 9… I stopped procrastinating!!  Go me!!!  I'm very, very, very, very sorry to keep you waiting… I should've posted more sooner.  I'm gonna get the ball rolling on this story.  I'm gonna start writing… my muse is gonna suffer for this… wait… I ditched the muse around the time the "Kodak Moment" series was finished… maybe that's what went wrong… anyways… my muse will be back with me for the rest of the story.

** On with the story!! **

Chapter 9

They sat at the debriefing.  Once again, Jack sat on one side of the table and Sam sat on the other.  She was lost in thought.  Sam acted like she paying attention to Daniel.  He was the only one who benefited from the mission.  Jack was looking at Sam for a long time.  It was the first time in a long time he took at really good look at her.  He realized how beautiful her face was, even from a side shot.

Sam could feel a pair of eyes gazing at her from across the table.  She used her peripheral vision to see that Jack was finally looking at her.  Janet got to him.  She took comfort in knowing he would look at her again.

She attempted to make eye contact.  Maybe through the look, they would have an understanding between each other.  He was still looking at her.  She turned to look at him.  They felt comfort in their eyes.  Then, Jack glanced down and really thought deeply about it.  He sighed with the thought of loneliness in his heart, and turned to face the front of the room.  Her heart sank and she did the same.  After they were dismissed, she knew Jack would go home.  She would talk to him there.

~*~

Jack stepped in his house.  He put everything he had in his hands on the kitchen table.  He hung his leather jacket on the back of the kitchen chair.  He went to the refrigerator.  Beer bottles clanked together as he opened up the door.  He grabbed a bottle from the door and shut it.  The bottles could still be heard as he closed the door.

He thought he heard another door slam shut.  It sounded like a car door.  He set his beer down and went to the front window.  He peeked through the vertical blinds.  The rain poured outside in the darkness of night.  The figure walked took it's time to reach the porch.  It had no hood on but the face was concealed.  As the figure stepped on the porch, it's face became visible.  It was Sam.  He cautiously backed away from the window.  The doorbell rang.  He decided to wait a couple of seconds before opening the door.

"Hello Sam."  Jack gazed upon the drenched figure.

"Hi, Jack."

"I assume you've come to talk."

"Yeah, I'm gonna make this short and to the point."

"Be right back."

"Jack walked down the hall and to the linen closet.  He pulled out a small towel and walked to the kitchen.  He grabbed his beer and took the towel to Sam, who was still standing inside the front door.

"Here."  He tossed the towel to her.

"Thanks."

"Please, go sit down in the living area.  Would you like a beer?"

She sat down on the couch with her elbows on her knees.

"No, thank you.  Like I said, I won't be here that long."

He sat down on a chair across the room.

"That's too bad."

"I have to say, first off, that I thought we did have something.  We did actually."  She stared down at her hands as if she were talking to them.  "It could've been something great.  We would both retire and live our lives together."  She looked back up.  "That's what I thought would happen."

"It can still happen, though."

"No, Jack, I don't think it can.  This has gone on too long.  We made a vow that we would be together once we were done with our jobs.  I don't think I can keep it anymore."  She once again glanced down at her hands.

"Why, Sam?"

She looked up with confidence.  "I can't be waiting like this.  I have an opportunity to move on with my life.  I have to take it.  I can't keep hoping that someday, out of the blue, the Goa'uld will be defeated and I will be in your arms forever.  It just doesn't happen that way.  I have a boyfriend, a boyfriend I can keep now.  I love him.  I don't have to worry about him dying or being trapped on some alien planet.  He might be the one."

"Why didn't you tell me you wanted to break the vows before?  Why did you wait until you were committed to someone else?"

"I didn't expect or know I was gonna fall in love with him.  Just like I didn't know I was gonna fall in love with you and take it this far.  Chris is kind, funny, and charming.  He's got many of the same personality traits as you.  I don't have to wait for him.  I won't have to show my love in secret anymore."

"That's is?  You can say it just like that?"

"I knew this day was coming, but didn't know when.  It was fun while it lasted, but I don't think I can go on living like this."  She looked straight into his eyes.  "I have to let you go."

"I'm sorry that's how you feel.  I have to say that I hope you are happy with Chris.  I hope you enjoy every moment with him.  I will always love you, Sam.  But I also want to see you enjoying your life.  I want you to be happy.  If you are happy with someone else, then I can't tell you to break up with him, I'll retire, and we'll ride off into the sunset together.  It's just not right.  I can't keep hoping for a better tomorrow.  I know it won't happen between us.  I think I can finally be put at ease, if only just a little, for the fact that you talked to me about this.  It's better now, than never."

By then, Sam's eyes were filled with tears, her confidence now disappeared, and one tear tolled down her cheek.  She didn't know it would be this easy, yet this difficult at the same time.

Her voice was slightly shaking.  "I'm sorry that I've hurt you.  I would've told you in time."

"Come here."  Jack stood up and Sam walked to his open arms.  He embraced her.

"It's okay.  It's time for you to move on.  I'll have to put the past behind me.  The relationship between us will be over after you walk out of here.  We will go back to being friends again, like we were in the beginning."

Jack held onto her.  This was the end of the road for them.  The vows would be over and done with.

They reluctantly stepped back from each other.  She knew it was time.

"I have to let you go now."

"Alright."

They walked to the front door.

"Bye, Jack."

Sam gave him another hug.

"Bye, Sam," he whispered softly as he hugged her one last time.

They finally released each other.  Jack opened the door to let her out.  She never took her eyes off him as she walked out.  As she stepped out, she looked down.  She got to the edge of the porch and glanced over her shoulder at Jack.  Sam forced herself to take her first step down the stairs.  It came easier to walked down after that.

"You will always be in my heart," Jack whispered as he closed the door.

The rain fell as Sam opened the car door.  "I am doing the right thing.  I am doing the right thing," she kept telling herself as she started the car and pulled out of the driveway.  The tears started falling again as she assured herself she was doing the right thing.

~~~~~

We said we'd take little time for both of us to see, and wonder what it'd be like to carry on. Ya, I know I got crazy. Well I guess that's just me. If I could turn back time before the wrong...

~~~~~

By the time she fell on her bed, she calmed down considerably.  She finally believed herself when she said, "it is going to be alright."  Janet was right too.  Sam pulled her bed sheets over her shoulder and laid on her side.  She stared off into the rain-covered window.  The pitter-patter of rain on the roof made it easier to calm down.  She dreamed of what would happen between her and Chris as she drifted off to sleep.

~~~~~

And I, I think I'll change my ways, so all your words get noticed. Tomorrow's a brand new day.

...Tomorrow's a new day

~~~~~

TBC...

Will write more… very soon… during the next week or so…

Gimme reviews!!  Seriously, I need them.