Title: She Said Yes
Summary: Normally it would have been a good thing, but it wasn't him she had said yes to.
Disclaimer: They're not mine, none of the people I'm using belong to me. The show doesn't belong to me. The idea of the story does, however.
She said yes.
Normally it would have been a good thing, but it wasn't him she had said yes to. She had said yes to Pete. Peter Shanahan, the cop from Denver, not him. He should've been happy that she was finally happy, but was she really? He didn't know. He really didn't know much about the man, she hadn't talked with him about him and what he knew he didn't like. He had ordered a background check on her, not long after Jack found out that she was dating somebody, he knew this because as soon as he found out whom she was dating he ordered a background check on him. It bothered him that he hadn't trusted her enough to listen when she told him not to pry into her work life.
She hadn't even told him that she had said yes. Nobody had. When she didn't come back after they found Daniel he was suspicious enough, but nobody had an excuse for her. They just said she and Pete had gone off together. Celebrating, he thought looking back on it. He cringed at the thought of how they had celebrated. Anyway, he had seen it, how could he (or anyone) miss it. He didn't say anything when he saw it, but he could tell that she knew he knew. She was quiet for the rest of that day.
That had been two days ago. He still hadn't acknowledged to her that he knew. She still hadn't told him the good news. They hadn't met up for lunch in the commissary, he hadn't gone to her office to she what new doohickey she was experimenting with, and she hadn't come to talk with him about some new discovery in his still new office.
He didn't even realize that he was there until he was knocking on the door. He looked behind him to see if his SUV was in the driveway and thankfully he only saw her car. He turned back around just as she opened the door.
"Sir?" She questioned, "what are you doing here?"
He would've answered her, except he wasn't quite sure of why he was there. So he just ignored the question all together. "I see you made up your mind," he said mentioning towards the sparkling diamond on her hand.
She looked at it, then back at him, and fidgeted in her spot, almost uncomfortably. She drew her hand back and the diamond out of view, as if she was embarrassed that he had found out. "Oh, yeah. I was planning on telling—"
"No, you weren't."That surprised her, "excuse me?"
"Come on, Carter, we both know that that's a lie. You weren't going to tell me, at least not anytime soon."
She looked down at her feet, "is there something you wanted, General?"
He shrugged his shoulders, although she was still not looking at him. "To talk."
She looked up at him confused, "really? Ok, come in." She stepped out of the doorway slightly to let him walk past her and into the house. Shutting the door behind him she followed him into the living room where he sat down on the sofa.
He looked around the room, "where's Pete?"
"He had to go back to Denver for a few days, left this morning."
"Oh."She sat down on the couch across from him, "what is it you wanted to talk about, sir?"
He sighed and looked down at him hands, "why didn't you tell me? I mean, we're friends aren't we? Don't friends usually tell each other when something big happens in their lives?"
"I...guess so."
He looked up at her, "this is something big, right?"
Her eyes pleaded with him to drop the subject, "yes."
"Did you tell Daniel?"
She nodded.
"Teal'c?"
She nodded again.
"Did you call Hammond, Cassie, your brother?"She shut her eyes and sighed, "yes."
"But, you didn't tell me?"
"No, General, I didn't."
"No. No General, no Sir, no Carter, and no Colonel. My name is Jack, your name is Sam. Got it?"
She nodded.
"You didn't tell me...you told everybody else, but for some reason you didn't tell me. Why?"
"Sir...Jack, please...don't do this."
"Do what, Sam? It's just a simple question, all I need is a simple answer."
"It's not that simple."
"Why not?"
She stood up, "you know why."
"No, Sam, I don't know 'why'. I don't know why we've been friends for 8 years and you didn't think it important to tell me that you've gotten engaged. Even with...even with everything that's happened, I still deserved to know."
"You're right. You did, you do. I'm sorry."An eerie silence washed over the room, neither looked at the other, Jack was busy staring at his hands again and Sam was twisting the ring on her finger nervously.
"Do you love him?"
She looked up at him surprised, "of course I do...I wouldn't have said yes otherwise."
He nodded, "are you happy?"
She blinked, her eyebrows furrowed. She opened her mouth to answer him, but couldn't find the words and closed it again, confused she sat back down on the couch.
"Are you happy?" He repeated.
She ignored the question, and sat staring at the ring on her hand. Was she happy? She thought she was, but, was she really happy are did she just want to be happy? She finally spoke, her voice hoarse and breaking, "I'm...I'm as happy as...I'll ever be. Pete loves me and I love him. You don't get many chances...this could be my last one. I don't...I don't want to be alone."
"You've never been alone."
Her head shot up and she looked him in the eyes, "yes I have," she spat bitterly.
He stared at her taken aback, "no, Sam, you haven't. I've always been there for you, Daniel's always been there for you, Teal'c has too."
"Maybe at work, but not when I come home. I need to have somebody waiting for me, somebody who loves me."
He shook his head, "you're being selfish, Sam. You've been too busy feeling alone that you haven't noticed we are too. Teal'c lost his wife, Daniel lost his wife, I lost my wife and my son, we're all alone, or did you forget?"
She closed her eyes and sighed, he was right. She was being selfish, with good reason, but while she was busy worry about having a life outside of the SGC she forgot that none of them had anybody to go home to either. She'd been to busy complaining to herself about being alone that she forgot she wasn't the only one who was. She felt like a jerk.
"I'm sorry, I didn't...I wasn't thinking about that. But, because you're alone doesn't mean I should be too."
"I'm not saying that, Sam. I'd never even suggest it. I'm just saying we understand how you feel...we feel the same way. And I'm not saying it's the same, because it isn't...I'm sure it's a lot harder on you than it is on us. But, Sam, just because you don't have someone waiting for you when you walk through the door it doesn't mean you're alone. Daniel loves you, Teal'c loves you, I love you...you've got us."
Her heart leapt momentarily, he had said 'I love you', but it was out of context. He didn't mean the kind of love she wanted, he was her friend, he cared about her, but he didn't love her. "I need somebody who really loves me, Sir. Not somebody who sees me as their little sister who's all alone."
"I know you do." He said nothing more, he stood up and walked to where she sat in the couch and pulled her out of her seat. For a second she thought he was going to kiss her, but instead he pulled her into a hug. "I want you to be happy, Sam, even if it means marrying Pete. As long as you're happy." He let her out of the embrace and turned to leave. He paused for a moment but began walking towards the door.
She called out to him, "wait."He turned around and waited for her to speak again.
"Did you mean it?"
"That I want you to be happy? Of course I meant it."
"Not that...when you said you loved me. Did you mean it?""Oh...that," he broke eye contact, "I'd never lie to you, Sam."
She walked over to him and turned his face towards her. "I'm not happy, Jack. Not really...I thought I was. I thought that if I had somebody that loved me I'd be happy. But the truth is, I only want one person to love me...even if he is 'safe'."
He furrowed his brow and opened his mouth to say something but didn't get the chance to say it, Sam had kissed him. It wasn't an earth-shaking kiss, or a time-stopping one. It wasn't even passionate. It didn't last long, she pulled away from him to look him in the eyes again.
"You, Jack. I want you.""Are you sure? I mean... Hey, what do you mean 'safe'?"
She laughed and kissed him again, that kiss was everything the last one wasn't and more. Jack was oblivious to everything else in the room except for her and the sound of a ring hitting the hardwood floor.
FINI
A/n: be nice, this is my first Stargate fic. I was just watching last night and really upset by her saying yes! I had to do something about it. Anyway, let me know what you think. Please.