STARGATE SG-1: Bed of Roses

Summary: Jack finally does something about the Aschen, but Sam is there to stop him.

Pairing: Jack/Sam/Joe

Season: Future (about 2006)

Spoilers: 2010, 2001

Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Stargate SG-1. Yadda, yadda, yadda...

Author's Note: I have no idea why I left this one hanging for so long, especially since there's only two chapters left to finish it! Anyway, I'm here with it now, so I hope people haven't gotten completely lost off from the plot. Please R&R as always. Thanx. Enjoy!

Bed of Roses: Chapter 7 – Crossed Purposes

Sam sat in her lab listening to Mollum prattle on about the latest project they were in the middle of. For once, she was completely lost as to what he was talking about. This was partly because she had missed a lot of the work due to her honeymoon. But other than that, she was finding it hard to keep up with the super advanced Science he was talking about.

She blinked, trying to stay focused, but her mind kept wandering – namely to her wedding day (and not for reasons people usually reminisce on such things).

She was thinking mainly about seeing Jack there and then seeing him disappear before she said her vows. Half of her had wanted him to stop the whole thing. God only knows why, considering what he had done to her. But it was Jack! The man she had loved for nearly a decade. And no matter what she felt for Joe, it was nothing compared to the destructive passion that she harboured for Jack.

"Security breach! All personnel to evacuate the building!" said a female voice over the tannoy, breaking Sam from her thoughts.

Sam blinked back to reality and to what was going on, before following the rest of the lab assistants out and down the corridor. As she made her way out, she was passed by several security officers heading towards the fabrication plants at the centre of the facility.

Without thinking, Sam broke away from her colleagues and followed the security team. She took short cuts that she knew so she could head them off. Something in her base instinct was telling her that she needed to beat them to the plant.

On her way, she passed the armoury – a room that few people knew the Aschen had installed in the building. She pulled out one of the hand guns and then carried on to the plant.

She cautiously entered the first room in the plant. On the other side of the room, he was stood with his back to her. He was fiddling on with one of the Anti-Aging Vaccine containers, completely oblivious to her presence.

She quickly hid her weapon before she approached him.

"What are you doing here?" she said suddenly.

Jack spun round in surprise at hearing her voice. He paused for a moment to take in the sight of her. "I'm trying to fix what everyone else is screwing up!" he said, turning back to the container.

Sam couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You pathetic sonofabitch! After everything that's happened, you still can't let it go, can you?!"

"Sam," he said calmly, not looking round at her. "This is not the time to start on me, OK?"

"It never is with you, is it?!" she hissed. All of their past was flooding back to her – and it was mostly the bad parts that stuck in her mind.

Jack paused again. He sighed and turned to face her.

"Look," he said heavily. "I'm sorry about what happened with us, but..." he trailed off, unable to finish his own sentence. There was nothing he could say that would make up for what had happened.

Sam felt herself begin to soften in her attitude to him. "I'm not," she said quietly. "I mean, we could have handled the morning a bit better, but it's in the past now."

Jack smiled, appreciating her kind words. For a moment, they both forgot about the klaxons and flashing red lights around them, and the security team bearing down on their position.

"Why did you ever marry him?" Jack asked out of the blue.

Sam smiled. "Because he wasn't you... Why did you hit me?"

Jack closed his eyes, hit by a fresh bout of guilt for his actions. He understood why she had found solace in Joe. There was no way he would have hurt her like that. "I'm sorry," he said pitifully. He didn't expect her to forgive him. And part of him didn't even want her to.

"I know," she said reassuringly. Before she could elaborate, she heard footsteps from down the corridor. The security team.

"Look, you'd better get out of here," she said, fearing what they would do if they found him here.

Jack shook his head. "Not without finishing what I came for!" He turned back to what he had been doing when Sam arrived.

"Jack, they will kill you!"

"I don't care."

"Well I do!"

Jack turned back to her, his eye brows raised in irony.

"Why?" he said plainly. "You've got your dearly beloved ambassador. Your work. All those responsibilities you were so keen to cling to. Why should you care what happens to me?"

Sam was trying hard to bite back the tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes as she heard him speak of her so coldly.

"Because I love you," she said, her voice straining slightly.

Jack took an involuntary step back at what she said. Of everything, he hadn't expected her to say that. Not with all that he had put her through.

"You could still leave, you know," he said hopefully. "Just chuck it all in and get away with me, right now."

"You know I can't," Sam said regretfully. She had been in this position with him before and wasn't going to change her answer. "Look, just go, OK," she added when he didn't move.

The footsteps were getting dangerously close.

"Sam please!"

She wasn't getting through to him at all. Automatically, she clung to the one thing that had always worked in the past.

"Colonel, I am giving you a chance to get out of here in one piece! Now go before I change my mind!"

He recoiled slightly hearing his former rank. But he didn't back down, no matter how close the security team was getting to them.

"On what?" he asked her. "Letting me go? Or coming with me?"

Sam reached for the hand gun; there was no other way to save his sorry ass.

"Go, or I swear to God, Jack. I'll kill you myself!" She had given up holding back the tears. It took too much effort. Effort that had long since drained out of her.

Jack didn't move a muscle.

"GO!"

He shook his head. "You're gonna have to shoot me, Sam," he said calmly.

Sam wavered for a moment, undecided on what action to take.

But she didn't have much time to think, either way. The security team had found them. About a dozen officers flooded into the room and surrounded them.

In a split second, though, Jack and Sam had understood how the rest of their encounter was to play out. In one swift movement, Jack had lunged forward and seized Sam's weapon – with little resistance on her part – and was now holding it to her head, using her as a human shield. The security team stopped in their tracks, not wanting to provoke him.

"Don't move or I'll shoot her!" Jack threatened, taking a step backwards towards the only exit that was left open to him.

"You should have gone when you had the chance!" Sam said quietly, so only he heard.

"And miss all this fun? You gotta be kidding me!" he replied.

"Drop your weapon, now!" one of the officers ordered.

Jack carried on backing up towards his retreat. He knew it would be a close call to make a run for it. He was going to have to rely on Sam to slow everyone else down. But she could only hold them for so long.

"There's a fire door about half way down the corridor that leads right out into the street. It should be busy enough out there for you to blend in," Sam whispered to him.

"Thank you," he said. "You know, Joe's lucky to have you."

Sam fought hard not to smile. It would have looked a little suspect if his hostage seemed to be on his side.

"This is your final warning!" the officer said, all the time closing in on them.

Jack was quickly running out of time and space for his get away. It was now or never.

"I love you," he finally whispered to Sam, kissing her briefly on the side of her neck.

He quickly shoved her forward, into the surrounding officers causing a good number of them to stumble over her. He fired three shots at those who were left standing and then used the chaos to disappear down the corridor and out onto the street.

He was about five blocks away when he realised no-one was chasing him anymore.

Back at the plant, Sam stood to her feet and looked around at the mess in the room. Two of the officers had been hit by the stray bullets, but neither injuries were fatal.

"Are you alright, ma'am?" the head officer asked, seeing her hands shaking from shock. She hadn't even noticed it herself. She was too busy worrying about whether he had got away or not.

"I'm fine," she lied. She didn't wait long before she got out of there, not wanting to be heavily involved in the clear up, just in case she let slip that she was helping him all along.

But she knew she wouldn't be hearing from Jack again. Not for a long while, at least.

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Author's Note: Again apologies for leaving that for so long. Only one chapter to go, though. Don't forget to review!