Woo hoo, finally another chapter.  I know it's been a while since I posted, thanks in most part to a lovely case of writers block but I think that's all worked out now with more than a little credit to my wonderful beta Naliza who sent a wonderful idea my way when I hit that pesky metaphorical wall.  So after some  internal debates and discussions with Naliza over what to do with this story and some rewriting, I've finally got a chapter that I'm happy with.

Thanks to those who have been reviewing, it does encourage me to do some writing when I get the time.  I'm so pleased that people seem to be enjoying this story, it's been quite a difficult story to write so your support is most definitely appreciated.

Anyway, I've kept you waiting long enough for this chapter so I'm not going to kept chatting any longer…

*~*~*

"Oh Sam, why didn't you say anything before?" Daniel asked once she had finished speaking.  He reached out and squeezed her hand in support.

"I don't know.  I'm sorry Daniel , I didn't really know what to say," Sam shrugged.

"That's okay, it's not the easiest thing to talk about," Daniel added sympathetically.

"You could say that," Sam replied quickly.  At first she did not understand the knowledgeable tone that Daniel used, until she remembered what had happened between him and Hathor when she had tried to take over the SGC. 

She looked her friend square in the face, their eyes met as they both recalled those events.  Sam remembered the glazed look that had painted Daniel's face, sitting on the bed, staring into space.  Daniel shuddered involuntarily at the memory, what had happened had haunted him for a long time.

"You got over it," Sam said quietly. 

"Yeah, in time and with the help of my friends," he replied, pointedly. 

"I am sorry Daniel.  I just couldn't say anything before."

"It's okay Sam.  I was never overly keen to talk about what happened to me, but I did eventually and believe me it helped."

"That's what Jack keeps saying.  Ironic isn't it, him telling me to open up."

"How is Jack coping with all this?" Daniel asked after ascertaining that Jack was not within earshot. 

"He seems to be dealing with it okay.  I think he's feeling a bit guilty but that's nothing new.  You know Jack, he tends to hide things for as long as he possibly can," Sam said.  It was one of Jack's worst habits, he had opened up considerably more since they started their relationship but there was much that he continued to hide and Sam understood and accepted this.

"I had notice," Daniel agreed, with a slight smile.

"Look Daniel.  I need you to do me a favour and not say anything about this back at the SGC.  I still haven't decided whether to make this official and tell General Stone, I mean it doesn't change the outcome of the mission.  And then there's the fact the whole base would probably end up knowing, you know how prolific the rumour mill at the SGC is."

"Of course I won't say anything," he said as they both stood and briefly hugged.  It was an awkward gesture, with both of their injuries interfering with the action.

"You do know that Jack will probably get you fishing, even with one arm, he's dragged me out practically every day," Sam added with a mischievous smile.

"You said that I wouldn't have to fish," Daniel complained, suddenly worried.

"I just wanted to get you up here." she replied, mischievously.

"That's okay.  I was going a bit crazy at home anyway.  Company's always good, even if it is Jack on a fishing trip and me being nowhere near a proper coffee place."

"I thought you'd been ordered off coffee?"

"I have but when did any of us ever follow doctor's orders?" Daniel asked with a smile.  SG-1 was famous for not following orders.

"True.  Let's go find Jack, I think he wanted to give us some space and I really don't think he wanted to hear the story again, not that I'm overly keen on telling it," Sam stated solemnly.

They both walked outside, Jack was sitting on the dock.  He turned as he heard them approach.

"Hey, you two find anything interesting to talk about?" Jack asked, not sure about whether Sam would have told Daniel yet.

"I've told him, Jack," Sam clarified.

"Right," Jack commented with a small nod.

He studied the expressions of his friends.  Sam stood straight, wearing an expression of confidence; Jack could see that this did not necessarily reflect her internal emotions.  She looked exhausted, her face pale and the dark circles under her eyes were obvious, even from this distance.  An obvious reminder of the problems Sam had been having sleeping. 

Daniel was also pale though this was more likely due to his injury than anything else.  He was uncomfortable, fidgeting nervously and he was avoiding eye contact with both Sam and Jack, choosing to look at the surrounding landscape instead.

"You know it is actually quite beautiful up here," Daniel stated suddenly, breaking the slightly uncomfortable silence that had developed.

Jack laughed and Sam broke out into a wide smile.

"I owe you ten bucks," Jack said resignedly.

"What?" Daniel asked, confused.

"Nothing," Jack and Sam replied in unison.

"Seriously, what did I say?"

"Jack sorta mentioned that you'd be too engrossed in a book to notice the scenery," Sam replied innocently.

"Honestly, I can't believe you think I'm that bad."

"Are you seriously telling me that you didn't bring a load of books and some translations with you?" Jack asked, with friendly sarcasm.

"Well, no.  I can't believe you made on bet on it anyway."

"Do I have to remind you when you two made a bet about whether I'd go to the planet with the opium den?" Sam asked in a slightly accusing tone but there was a definite trace of humour in her voice.

"We did say sorry about that, once we'd done with the withdrawal thing," Jack said, chastised.

Sam laughed slightly; she could wind Jack up so easily if she wanted.

"Look guys, I'm going to go crash for a bit, that flight really took it out of me."

"Sure, I've already put you bag in your room.  It's just past the kitchen and on your right," Jack explained.

"Thanks," Daniel said as he turned and headed back inside the cabin.

Jack stood and went to stand with Sam; she wrapped an arm around his waist and leant into his shoulder.  He carefully put an arm around her shoulders.

"How'd he take it?"

"Like I expected.  I don't think he really understands why I didn't say anything before.  He accepted it but he didn't understand why I didn't tell him and Teal'c at least."

Sam sighed deeply and closed her eyes, deeply breathing in Jack's unique scent.  Wrapping his other arm around her, he gently stroked her hair as she rested her head against his shoulder.

*~*

Sam reached out and grabbed the glass with left arm, acknowledging the novelty of having her other arm back in commission.  Looking around the table she smiled, it was like old times, just her, Jack, Teal'c and Daniel who was also relieved to have the use of both his arms again.

SG-1 were almost ready to head out into the field again, Sam was looking forward to it, as much as she enjoyed the time she spent in her lab working on all the experiments  she never normally got time to do, she had spent a month in the same room and was happy to going through the gate again.  She missed the variety of experiences she got off-world, which is why she enjoyed her missions, most of her missions anyway as long as she was being captured or shot at.

She knew that Jack missed it to, with his promotion to General, had come a desk job, even if it was in command of the SGC but he was a military man and a warrior, he was not made to fly a desk.  She had anticipated his resignation once the Goa'uld had gone but she had almost expected him to move to Minnesota and fish all day.

Sam had been called to see General Stone earlier that day, he had wanted to discuss who would be the fourth member of the team but thankfully he had listened to her and agreed to let SG-1 go back to being a three person team, just as it had been under O'Neill's command.  Daniel and Teal'c had been relieved to hear that, Daniel had been pretty strongly against getting a new member.  Teal'c, being Teal'c had not particularly objected but Sam was pretty sure that he was happy with the dynamic they had as a three person team.

Teal'c had taken Sam's news well, or as well as she had expected.  He did promise to exact Jaffa revenge on any man who even looked at her in the wrong way in the future but he accepted why she did not tell him before.

He did not treat her any differently than he had before, Jack and Daniel both had a habit of treating her like glass, like she would break if anything even remotely bad happened to her.  Thankfully as her bruises faded and the last physical reminder of what had happened disappeared they began to treat her like normal but she still caught them looking at her with concern if she was quiet for too long.  The nightmares she was still having did not help.  Jack's concern every time she woke with a start was touching but it reminded her of what had happened and that was not something she needed.

Slowly she began to tune into the conversation again.  Daniel was talking about a translation that one of the new linguists had asked him to approve.  Apparently the poor man had mistranslated a number of words which had lead to some very unfortunate phrasing.  It had given Daniel quite a laugh and therefore, in a hushed voice, he relayed what it had said, his friends burst out laughing.

Jack looked over at Sam as they laughed.  She looked no different than she had before, she had lost some weight, her already slender frame markedly slighter but her appetite was returning.  He was glad that she had agreed to come out to O'Malley's tonight since with everything that had happened she had been a bit hesitant at first.  She had readily agreed to the quiet and intimate dinner the two of them had shared before meeting Daniel and Teal'c but he had seen the hesitation in her face at the suggestion of going to the packed bar.

Jack was pretty sure that she had been purposefully avoiding crowd or unfamiliar situations since she had retuned from P4Y-543.  She looked slightly nervous though.  She had chosen the seat against the wall, which looked out over the bar, meaning that no one could sneak up behind her.  It was a position that Jack normally took but did not impede her choice of seat.

He leaned over in Sam's direction when he noticed that she was running her fingers through her hair, a sure sign that she was tired.

"You ready to go?" he whispered.

"Yeah, I think so," she replied softly.

"Guys, we're gonna head off now," Jack said, draining the glass in front of him.

"You ready to head back too Teal'c?  I can drop you off on my way home," Daniel said looking across at the Jaffa.

"Indeed," Teal'c replied.  Jack marvelled at just how much could be said by that one word.

The four of them pulled on their coats and headed to the exit, Sam braced herself as she stepped from the comfortable heat of the bar into the crisp but clean mountain air. 

After seeing Daniel and Teal'c back to the Archaeologist's car Jack and Sam walked slowly back to where they had parked, outside the small Italian restaurant they visited earlier on the evening.

The streets became deserted once they got far enough away from the people pouring in and out of the local bars.  Sam enjoyed the quietness of the streets; it made such a change from the noisy bar they had been in for the past few hours.  The night was clear, meaning that the stars could clearly be seen; looking upwards she spotted familiar constellations, stars which were orbited by planets she had visited.  Jack knew much more about the night sky than she did and probably ever would.

She span around quickly as she heard feet rapidly approaching them from behind, her thoughts about the universe quickly forgotten and a small knot of fear clenched her heart.  It relaxed as a young man ran past them and continued on into the distance.

"Sam?"  Jack asked, from the tone of his voice she figured that it was not the first time that he had spoken.

"Sorry, just a bit jumpy I guess," she replied, trying to sound flippant.

"Right," he replied quietly and then added, "You sure you're okay to drive?"  He realized that the chances were good that he was over the limit and as Sam had been on soft drinks all night it would definitely be better if she drove.

"Yeah, of course."

They rounded a corner and approached the car, which was alone in the small parking lot behind the now closed restaurant.  Sam reached into her purse and started looking for her keys.  Jack, who was gently stroking her arm and cracking jokes, appeared more relaxed around her.  That was partially due to the beer he had drunk earlier on.  She was still searching as she heard footsteps behind her, forcing herself to not react to them she continued to scrabble around the interior of the bag for the missing keys. 

Just as Sam felt the rough edge of her car keys with her fingers, she heard feet shuffle on the rough surface of the asphalt and the unmistakable sound of a pistol being cocked.  Before either of them had a chance to react, they heard the same sound being repeated again.  The knot of fear once again formed around Sam's heart as the cold metal of a 9mm pistol pressed against her temple.  Sam felt the grip on her arm changed from a gentle, playful touch to a much firmer but reassuring one.  Out of the corner of her eye she could see that Jack had an identical weapon next to his head.

*~*~*

So that was chapter 10.  I know, just when you think that it's wrapping up I put in a curve ball like that...look at me with the baseball reference…like I know anything about baseball!!

Please let me know what you think about this, I will be ever so grateful!

I promise that the next chapter will be posted soon, hopefully in the next few days.