Title: "The Ex Factor"

Author: Jackie W.

Rating: PG-13

Thanks for all of the great reviews! I meant to post more last night, but the site was slow and I finally gave up. Hopefully things will go better tonight!

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At first everything went as planned. Sam, Teal'c and Reynolds made it to the top of the hill to perform reconnaissance, after leaving men at the gate and on the path. The remainder of the teams waited at the bottom of the hill for orders, and to watch the backs of the three up top. They'd spotted several holes in the defenses immediately. Circling around to the west side of the village, Reynolds and one of his men had taken out two guards, allowing Carter and Teal'c to slink through the darkness to where SG2 was being held. Once there, the lone guard had been no problem, and as the latch on the cell door was crude at best, Sam had made short work of opening the door and quietly pointing the men to where Reynolds was waiting in the woods.

Teal'c and Daniel followed the last of SG2 and Sam took the rear. She was almost to the tree line when all hell broke loose. She barely had time to radio ahead that they were going to be coming in hot before the first of the villagers were upon her. She pulled out her zat and took down the first two, hoping that would cause the group behind them to pause. Instead, thinking that she had killed their friends they raced forward filled with rage. She automatically surveyed the types of weapons they were up against. She saw nothing that could be shot from a long range, all of the villagers seemed to carry only knives and clubs. From behind her, Teal'c fired off a warning shot from his staff at the feet of the oncoming men. That did slow them down. By the time the dust had cleared, Teal'c and Sam had disappeared into the trees.

She kept herself in between the angry inhabitants of the planet and the fleeing SG teams, and continuously radioed ahead. Once, the men following attempted to spread out and circle around ahead of the escaping group. Luckily Sam saw what they were doing and communicated it to Reynolds who had a couple of his men swing out and take care of the left and right flanks of the pursuers. The enemy had quickly regrouped in the middle and hadn't tried that maneuver again. Now as they neared the gate she radioed ahead for the men there to dial out.

"Don't slow down whatever you do, when you reach the gate just get your butts on through," she ordered.

Despite her order she wasn't really surprised to see Daniel and Teal'c waiting for her when she burst through some brush out into the clearing around the gate. There were men right at her heals and she was ever so grateful when she saw both of her teammates raise their zats and aim behind her. She felt the energy tingle around her as one of the charges just missed her, and she stumbled and would have fallen if Teal'c's strong arms hadn't grabbed her and pulled her on through with him.

She screamed to close the iris the moment she hit the ramp, and then waited to hear the dreaded thumping sound afterwards. Luckily there was none. The inhabitants of P4R-880 must not have followed them through the wormhole. It was only now, as Sam tried to slow her heart rate that she realized that her shoulder was killing her. She saw Daniel's eyes widen even as the medical staff ran over to her. She looked over her shoulder and could just make out the handle of what she presumed was a knife imbedded in her.

"Ouch, that's gotta hurt," Jack sympathized as he entered and saw her predicament.

"As a matter of fact, it does, Sir," Sam grimaced.

"Teal'c, assist the Colonel down to the infirmary," Jack ordered. "I'll be down as soon as I can. The debriefing will be tomorrow at 08:00," he let them know.

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She'd been lucky. The knife had hit the strap of her pack, and so had not penetrated as deeply as it normally would have. Therefore the muscle damage was minimal and would probably not need physical therapy. The bad news was that the wound was infected (she didn't want to even think about the possibilities of what the blade might have been in contact with before it was thrown at her) and while the doctor was throwing everything in her arsenal at it, it was being stubborn. She would be out of commission for a bit while her body fought it off.

On the bright side, the rescue had been just in time. The men in SG2 had had considerable language difficulties with the inhabitants of P4R-880, but it had been quite clear that they were about to be executed. They didn't have a clue as to why. When Carter had opened the door to the cell they had been sure that it was their captors coming to kill them.

"Never was so glad to see anyone as I was to see Sam looking like an avenging angel, swooping in and getting our butts out of there without ever saying a word," Griff recalled at the debrief, causing Sam to blush and her teammates to suppress smiles.

Sam was actually fairly quiet during the debrief, once she'd given her basic report. She let Reynolds and Griff fill in the blanks from their perspectives, and then hi-tailed it out of the room as soon as they were done, so she didn't see Reynolds enter O'Neill's office.

"She did good out there," Reynolds acknowledged. "Spotted their flanking maneuver instantly and kept a cool head. Reminded me of you," he stated with a grin.

"God I hope not. She's a lot smarter than I am. As for the rest, I would expect nothing less than that from her. She's been ready for command for a while. Being on SG1 held her back," Jack admitted.

"Well, I just thought you should know. You don't need to worry about her out there," Colonel Reynolds stated.

Jack looked at the man to see if there was anything behind those words, but if there was, Stan Reynolds wasn't giving anything away. Jack decided to take it at face value.

"I worry about all of you out there, Stan. Can't help it," Jack shrugged.

Reynolds nodded. He knew that and so did all of the other men and women that put their lives on the lines every time they walked through the gate. It was why they had respected Hammond so much, and why that respect had now transferred easily to O'Neill. He also knew the man was only human and it was natural for him to worry about SG1 just a little bit more. They were his team. Always would be. Not to mention they were the team that managed to get into the most trouble. And he certainly would never suggest that the General would worry about one Lt. Colonel Carter more than anyone else.

Even if it was true.

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After another shot in the rear end, and checking her wound, Sam was finally released from Dr. Brightman's immediate care just before lunch. She had strict instructions. NO alcohol, plenty of rest, and she had to return the next day for a checkup. It was Friday night, and the thought of spending the evening alone in her house was not appealing. Cassie had left the day before to get settled in before classes started, so for the first time in months it would be just Sam.

It was days like this that she missed Janet the most. Janet would have offered to come over that night with ice cream and would have assisted Sam in pigging out as a substitute for getting royally drunk. She then would have joined Sam in cursing Pete, General O'Neill and all men just out of principal.

Of course if Janet was still alive she would have wrung out of Daniel the fact that Jack was not back together with Sara, and she would have told Sam.

Sam had the airman who drove her home go through the drive–thru and get her a burger she could easily eat left-handed. Now however she was staring blankly at the take-out menus trying to figure out what to try to tackle for dinner. Pizza would probably be the easiest she'd just decided when her doorbell rang.

She smiled when she saw Daniel and Teal'c standing there with bags of food. Then her eyes widened in surprise as she realized that the General was standing behind them with his own offering of a six-pack of diet cola.

"We figured you need easy-to-eat food, so we stopped at that Italian deli and got several of those sub sandwiches you like so much," Daniel explained.

"The ones on the soft Italian bread?" Sam asked, as her stomach grumbled in hunger at the thought.

"Yeah and there is lemon sorbeto for dessert," Daniel added.

"You guys are mind readers. Thanks," she smiled.

"Hey, we all know what it's like to try to eat one-handed. And lefty at that," Jack shrugged returning the grin.

For a split second Sam let herself respond to the twinkle in those brown eyes. Then she abruptly put the walls back up. Jack saw it happen, and remembered Daniel's comment from two days ago. Suddenly he realized that the distance that he'd thought was because of her relationship with Shanahan was actually due to her misconception that he was back with his ex-wife. Daniel was right, he really needed to talk to her. As they ate, he racked his brain to find a way to bring up the subject without it seeming odd. Not an easy task for someone who never talked about his personal life.

Finally he had a brainstorm. "Hey Carter, since you're going to be on light duty for a bit, I could use your help on something," he commented.

"Certainly, Sir," Sam replied.

Jack held back a grimace. That had been a polite response at best.

"Well, I have to go to a wedding in a few weeks, and I need something nice. Normally I just give cash, but in this case I really need to buy something more personal. I thought you might help give me some ideas, or even go shopping with me. You have good taste," he explained, looking around her living room.

"Thank you, Sir," she said blushing. "I'd be happy to help."

Jack was relieved to see Sam unbend just a bit. He was on the right track. If he could just re-establish their friendship, he'd be happy.

"How much do you know about the couple?" Sam asked. "If they are close friends it will be easier to figure out what they would like."

"Well, I've met the groom but I don't really know him. The bride I know well," he told with a quirky grin. "You've met her. My ex-wife Sara is getting married. Some guy named Geoff she met through a friend," Jack informed her.

The confusion and shock was quickly masked, but all three of the men had noticed. Daniel almost sighed in relief. Thank goodness that was all out in the open now. Maybe they could all get back to normal. Although he couldn't help but hope that maybe Sam and Jack would move forward from here and not go back to the same old song and dance.

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Once she had her house to herself later that night, Sam sank down onto her couch and let the immense relief wash over her. There was no way to deny her feeling at that point. She still was in love with her commanding officer and it was only as the pain of thinking he was lost to her began to ebb that she was able to fully realize the depth of those feelings. Ever since she had seen him out with Sara that night it had been like she was walking around half dead.

Now however, she was coming back to life rapidly, and the sensation was akin to the pins and needles you get when a limb is regaining lost circulation. It hurt. Enough that she really didn't want to feel like this ever again. She didn't want to put Jack through it again either. She knew now that she had probably hurt him a lot more by starting a relationship with Pete.

The two of them were totally pathetic. He locked down his feelings so tight that you sometimes forgot that he had any. She was so afraid of the intensity of what she felt for him that she'd gone scurrying off to find a safer relationship. One of them needed to be brave enough to take the first step towards the other or they would end up tearing each other apart.

Somehow she knew it was going to have to be her.