He stayed long enough for the memorial ceremony. He'd given a speech, on the ramp, where she had given one barely a year before. He'd put a wreath on the event horizon that she had loved to step through. He'd made a speech, and praised her brilliance, and her tenacity, and her courage and her bravery and her humour and her sense of honour, and although he didn't once mention it, he knew that every man and woman in the room knew that he loved her. Daniel and Teal'c had worn black suits, and stood either side of him. Teal'c had cried silently, unmoving, huge tears running down his face. He made no move to wipe them away. Daniel hadn't cried. Daniel didn't do much of anything any more.

He stayed to see her name inscribed on the names of the fallen plaque. It was a long, wooden plaque, with names inscribed carefully in gold. It had got bigger, over the years, so now it was almost six feet long. The first name on it was Charles Kawalsky. The last name on it was Colonel Samantha Carter, right below Doctor Janet Frasier. Jack thought she would have liked that. He would have mentioned that to Daniel, but Daniel only left his lab to go on increasingly dangerous missions these days, and they barely talked any more. And then he stayed just a little while longer, to see Teal'c go to join Ishta and the rebel Jaffa.

Until, one day, he opened the door of Daniel's lab.

"I've resigned." He announced, without preamble. Daniel barely moved.

"And what will you do now?" Daniel asked. Jack shrugged.

"Go to the cabin, I guess, fish a little."

"It's nearly winter. It'll be freezing."

"I'll burn a fire."

"You'll forget to feed the fire. You'll forget to feed yourself. And one day, when it's really cold, you'll forget to breathe. You're going to die, aren't you, Jack?"

"I've been dead for ages now." Jack sighed, and he looked it. His face was as grey as his hair. He barely ate any more, and he'd lost so much weight, his clothes hung off him.

"You think this is what she have wanted?" Daniel asked, trying one last time to bring his friend back.

"No. But without her, it's all pointless."

"I never put you down for the love is everything type, Jack." Daniel told him, a little bitter, and a little envious.

"Nope, neither would I. But it turns out I am, for her, anyway. Must have learnt a few things off you, Danny." He said, using the affectionate diminutive he hadn't used for years.

"Then you should learn not do this."

"Hey, you had your death. Let me have mine in peace." Jack joked. Daniel started to protest, but Jack hugged him, quickly.

"I just need some time, Daniel. Time to think about her. Please."

Daniel nodded, and tried to speak, but found, to his surprise, he was crying.

"I may come back, you never know. Never give up." Jack said, trying to keep the tone light.

"You have." Daniel said. "Jack, you are still needed...."

"No, not any more." Jack said, stepping back from the hug, but keeping his hands on Daniel's arms. "My work here is done. Truthfully, all that kept here was Sam. And you...you haven't needed me for a long time, Space Monkey." Jack ruffled his hair, father to son, then stepped back. "I never understood, to be honest, why you wanted to be taken by a Gou'ald after Sha're was taken. I thought it was better to go on living, whatever happened. But I get it now. I get how one person can be your whole life."

"Jack, I did go on living." Daniel said, desperately.

"Why? Why did you?"

"Sam talked me into it." Daniel admitted. "She was just so full of life, and hope, and when she was around...it all seemed more worthwhile, somehow."

"There, you do understand." Jack threw his bag over his shoulder. He glanced at the clock. It had been a year. Exactly a year to the moment that he had last seen Sam alive. "See you, Daniel." He said, and left.