Remarital Bliss - Chapter 3

Jack straightened up some of the papers on his desk. He and Koshan had been staying here so much, he was just about caught up on all his paper work. There really wasn't much else to do around the base, and he didn't want Koshan sharing every little detail from their visit to Lenowa. Last night's episode had been quite enough, thank you very much.

"Look," Jack said, setting down his pen. "I need to speak with the General before SG1's briefing. Why don't you just make yourself at home here? Don't worry about the phone. The machine can get any messages."

Koshan looked up from the tangled up yo-yo.

"Oh, of course, Colonel O'Neill. Please give my regards to General Hammond."

"Will do."

Jack gave a mock salute, then headed out the door for the walk to Hammond's office.

*Man,* he rubbed the back of his neck. *Married life sure puts a lot of strain on a guy!*

* * *

Koshan fiddled with Jack's rubix cube for a time. Losing interest in the impossible toy, he walked over to Jack's bookshelf, sparse as it was, and looked over the volumes. Suddenly a voice sounded from Jack's desk.

*You've reached Jack O'Neill. Unless your name is Hathor, please leave your name and number, and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.*

Beep

*Jack, this is Kate. Look, I know it's been a few months, but, oh, well, what the hey, I was wondering what you thought of us getting back together. I haven't stopped thinking of you. I can't believe how stupid I was to let you go. Please? Will you meet me for coffee sometime? I'd really like to see if we could make it work this time. Call me.*

Koshan rushed out of the room.

"Oh, this is most terrible. Most terrible indeed!"

* * *

Koshan stood in the doorway of Sam's lab unsure how to proceed. It seemed she and Kalara were sharing a cup of coffee.

"So by the time I finally got home, Jack had spaghetti all over the walls, and Little Georgie's face was covered in tomato sauce. It was the most adorable sight in the world."

Sam looked up when she felt someone watching her.

"Koshan! Please come in. Kalara and I were just having a little girl talk, but you're welcome to join us."

"Oh, Major O'Neill. I do not know what to do. I have most painful news. I-I do not know where to begin!"

"Look, I'm sure it's really not that bad. Just slow down, and tell us what's going on."

Koshan walked farther into the room.

"I was in Colonel O'Neill's office. He had gone to talk to General Hammond. I-I was just standing there when . . . when . . ."

Sam and Kalara leaned forward.

"When what?" they finally exclaimed together.

"Major O'Neill . . . I believe Colonel O'Neill is being unfaithful!"

* * *

"Colonel, perhaps we should have someone call Major Carter's lab. She may have forgotten about our briefing."

"Oh, let's just give her a couple more minutes. You know how engrossed she gets in her doohickeys."

"Colonel, I'm not blind. I know you just want to finish your game of paper football with Teal'c."

Teal'c looked up innocently. Jack cleared his throat. Jonas snickered at them, then returned to eating his banana.

Everyone stopped what they were doing as voices could be heard coming toward them.

"Major O'Neill, Major O'Neill, please, you must calm down. Perhaps we can all sit down and talk this through. I'm sure Colonel O'Neill is very, very sorry. Oh dear, oh dear! Please wait up!"

Jack and the others froze in horror as the voices got closer and closer.

The door flew open slamming against the wall.

Sam looked amazingly calm considering the shouts from Koshan. Jack got up from his seat and went to her.

"Sam, sweet lamb of my youth, what's going on? Koshan, Kalara, you're all out of breath."

SLAP!

"Jack O'Neill, I don't ever want to hear you call me 'sweet lamb' again! Did you think you could hide something like that from me? Did you think I'd never find out?! Ohhh! I don't believe you!

She slapped him again.

"Ow! Would you just stop that? What are you talking about?"

Sam crossed her arms.

"Don't try to play innocent with me. Koshan told me everything. I know about Kate."

"Kate? I don't, well, wait, but that was mon . . . oh, oh dear. Um look, can we just talk about this? I-I don't . . ."

"Jack," Jonas jumped in. "I can't believe you would cheat on Sam like that. I mean after all she does to make your family work. What about Little Georgie?" he shook his head.

"I, too, would like to express my deepest disappointment in you, O'Neill. Major O'Neill has been nothing but a loving, devoted wife. Did your Muhana Kuwala mean nothing to you?"

Even Hammond was looking at him in disgust. Jack threw his *friends* a withering gaze.

"Look, Sam, dearest apple of my heart," he reached out to hold her hands.

"No," she backed away. "No, I don't want to hear it. If Little Georgie and I mean so little to you, then you can just go be with Kate!"

*My goodness,* Jack thought. *Are those actual tears?*

Sam stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

* * *

"Sam? Sam, are you out here?" Jack shivered at the low temperature as he left the base. Spotting a blonde-headed figure in the distance, he started jogging forward.

"Man, Sam, that was great," he began as he neared her. "Even the General looked convinced. Poor Koshan is still ringing his hands. Sam?"

She still had her back turned toward him. That wasn't good.

"Hey, what's wrong? Everything's okay. They completely bought it. Now we just have to wait out here a few minutes, and then go in and tell them we made up. Easy."

A sniffle reached his ear. She was swiping a mittened hand over her cheeks.

Jack frowned, then walked farther ahead to stand in front of her. Leaning down, he tried to catch her eyes.

"Sam? I'm not mad, if that's what you're worried about. I know you were just play . . ."

"Who's Kate?"

"What?"

"Who's Kate?" she asked again, her voice very tight.

"Well, she's just some girl I was seeing a few months ago. It was never anything serious. She dumped me because of my work hours. Can't say I blamed her."

"You want to get back together with her?"

"What? No, of course not. I mean, my work hours haven't changed. She'd go for a couple weeks trying not to let it bother her, but I don't think it would last much beyond that."

"Oh," Sam nodded her head, then turned to head back to the SGC.

"Hey, Sam, wait up. Why are you so upset? Do you want to talk about this some more?"

"Colonel, I'm fine. It's just been a rough day I guess. Let's just go back inside now. It's freezing out here."

"Are you're sure . . . ?"

"I'm sure."

The walk back to the base was very silent.

* * *

Okay, so I really wanted this chapter to be funnier, but it was hard. I hope you all enjoyed it though. Thanks so much for all the reviews so far. I really appreciate them. Keep them coming! The next chapter should be pretty cute with much more humour. Thanks for reading!