A/N: Sorry it took me so long to post this chapter but I had been locked out because I posted a dialoge based story which isn´t allowed.

Thanks and huggs to all of you who reviewed it keeps me writing more.

Chapter 2 - Finding Sam

When Jack had turned his back on her, she had decided to leave. She didn´t know what to do... she had to think about the recent events. She quickly searched the room for Cassie and spotted her in the kitchen.

"Hey birthday girl, I have to go now," she said softly, trying to sound as casual as possible considering the circumstances. She'd just left the man she was in love with ... the man she kissed a few minutes ago. Alone, on the top of his roof, without even saying a single word. But it couldnt be helped. She had some major thinking to do about the recent events and she couldn´t start something with him, that both of them might later regret...

"Why? It´s only nine o'clock, I thought you would stay till the party was over." Cassie said disappointed.

"Ahem.... What... Ah... Sorry honey, but I have to go. Let Ja... the Colonel know he is now responsible for all of you." Hugging her tightly she turned and headed for the door, leaving a stunned Cassie behind.

Cassie had instantly noticed Sam´s slip and wondered if something happend between the two people she loved like parents. She loved the idea of them being together... they deserved to be happy. But she knew there were rules that kept them from being more than friends. Wanting to know what happened she started looking for Jack. It didn´t take her long to find him on the roof.

Clump, clump, clump, clump...

"Hi Cassie, how is your party going?" Jack had heard her climbing up the ladder, her approach unmistakeable in her shoes.

"Great. Jack ... What´s happened between you two?" she asked him straight away.

He honestly wasn´t in the mood to talk to someone about his mood, but it was her birthday party, so at least he could try to sound friendly. He still couldn´t believe Sam had left. If she didn´t want to be with him, why had she kissed him like she did...

"Ahem. Whom ?" He knew she was talking about himself and Sam, but he wouldn´t confess anything before he'd got a chance to talk to Sam.

Something had happened... she could tell by the way Jack was looking at her. His eyes were sad and his whole expression was that of a man whose heart had been broken. She had seen something like that various times on Talk Shows.

"Uncle Jack... don´t play dumb with me. You knew exactly that I mean Sam. So tell me what´s happened?" She was so angry at him for brushing her off. Even she was a teenager, she understood a lot of things and maybe she would be able to help.

"Oh ...," As if he hadn´t known to whom she was refering to. "Have you seen her?" He had to talk to her, but he couldn´t do that if he didnt know where she went. OH GOD Jack. You spent so many years in Special Ops and can´t come up with something to locate her? Maybe you should try to use your brain and think of something to find her an angry voice yelled in his head causing Jack to twich.

Cassey was deep in thoughts about why Sam left and why Jack was still here and didn´t recognise Jacks sudden movement.

"She left a view minutes ago. I should tell you, that you are now responsible for the party" she told him.

"Oh.... Do you know if she headed home?"

"No, she didn´t tell me where she was going... What have you done to her? She seemed pretty distracted?" She really wanted to know now.

"Yeah see... I .... She .... We ..." he stuttered.

"Oh that pretty much explains everything!" she exclaimed, rudely interrupting him in the same sarcastic way. Jack O´Neill couldn´t have done better himself.

"I would suggest you go after her and talk to her." Talking is allways good in such situations.

"I can´t," he said in a low sad voice. He wanted to go, but there were the kids he was responsible for still in his house. Smiling at her, he added, "I can´t leave all of you alone in my house"

"Call Daniel," Cassey suggested.

"He called me half an hour ago, his car refuses to start. I'm supposed to tell you he´ll make it up to you if he doesn´t make it in time." Offering another smile, repeated what Daniel had told him.

"Oh..." She loved Daniel. He was always there for her and she would be really sad if he had to miss her party, but at the moment she had more important things to take care of.

"What about Teal´c? Is he back from Chulak yet?" Teal´c would be a fun addition to her party.

She'd already started to figure out which games they could play with him. Yes, she´ll show him a few games played on earth on teenage birthday parties. I wonder if he has ever heard of Spin the bottle? I´ll ask him later,she thought, with a gleam in her eyes.

Meanwhile Jack held a mental discussion, trying to decide if it would be alright to let Teal´c watch over them and decided he couldn´t leave his Jaffa friend alone with these teenagers .

"Yeah, that would suit you," he told her, with the hint of a grin on his lips. He was remembering his own teenage years and the way he tried to convience his parents to let him go to this Rock Festival with his friends without adults. The smile on his face faded as he stated, "Poor innocent Teal´c with these friends of yours.... No way" .

"Please Uncle Jack we'll behave, I promise," she pleaded. "Go to her. I´m sure she needs you as much right now as you need her"

Cassie is right,he thought. 'Maybe she needed him and wanted to talk to him but feared the consequences if she told him about her feelings... Maybe it was a really, really bad idea to keep the news about the order from the President from her. Although he was curious to see if she would break the Regs for him. He wouldn´t want her to deliberately ignore the regulations or end up getting Court Martialed, but it would have made him feel special. Not every man can say that his girlfriend loved him so much that she would accept a Court Martial to be with him...' So he decided to let Teal´c have the chance to get his first experience with a teenagers birthday party. Maybe he´ll appreciate it and learn how birthdays were celebrated on earth... Maybe.

"Ok, I will see what I can do. Now go downstairs to those little friends of yours and celebrate. I will phone Teal´c and ask him."

Yeah, party without adults, only Teal´c! This is gonna be the best party I´ve ever hadshe thought, while heading back to the party.

"Hey T, it´s me, Jack."

"Nice to hear from you O´Neill. What can I do for you?"

"Ahem ..." Deciding on how he should start, he cleared his throat, saying, "I had a little confrontation with Carter and she left. I would go after her, but I can´t leave because the house is full of kids. I wanted to ask you if you would look after them for a few hours until I´m back."

"This would be a great pleasure, O´Neill. I´ll be at your place in half an hour."

"Thanks T, you saved my life." Thinking this was much easier then he had hoped it would be, he left his hidding place. 'Now, I will always remember that as the place I kissed Sam for the first time.' He climbed down the ladder to tell Cassie the news that Uncle Murray would be there soon. He found her in the left corner of his living room, giggling with two girls he recognised as Eri and Fran. He walked over and greated them, feeling a bit better ... Now he had a plan to find Sam.

"Ladies, would you mind if I talk to Cassie for a moment?" he asked, with a lot of charm in it. Which Cassie interpreted as a good sign and smiled at him happily.

The two girls giggled and left Jack and Cassie alone.

"Ok, Murray will be here in 30 minutes ..." he was interrupted by Cassie who upon hearing the good news, began jumping up and down.

Already beginning to curse his decision to leave them alone with Teal´c, he continued, "You will behave like you promised. The party is over at 1200, understood? If I´m back or not you will send all of them home."

"Yes, like I promised. ... Now go and talk to her." She had to try but he wouldn´t do her that favour. He knew exactly what she was trying to do... Get rid of him as soon as possible! But that was not going to work with him, he could wait til Teal´c appeared. He could use the extra time to think and there were a lot of things he for him to think about. He was already deep in thoughts, when Cassie reminded him that she was still standing in front of him by waving a hand in front of his face. It took a few secondes til he finally recognised the waving hand.

"Ah, Jack everything ok? You... look a little strange," she asked him, worry clouding her voice.

Startled by the waving hand and her voice, he shook his head and pretended everything was ok and that he just needed time to think of one or two things. So she left him standing in the corner of his living room, totally lost in his thoughts about a certain blonde and walked over to two boys. Dominik and Jason were sitting on the couch, obviously having a heated discussion about a football game.

After standing in the corner for god only knows how long, he walked over to his arm chair and sat down. He saw an image of Sam standing before him and resting her hands on his shoulders her whole body shuddered from laughing. Everything was perfect in this short moment. Why was she gone? No matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn´t figure out. They could have discussed everything and could have found a solution, but now it was complicated by her absence. First he had to check the base, thinking that maybe she was trying to get distracted by one of her experiments. Second, her house... maybe it was that easy and she just went home. Third... Frowning, Jack decided that he would think about point 3 later.

Waiting for Teal´c to show up, he reached in his pocket and pulled out a small sparkling ring. He'd bought it 3 years ago after the Zartac debacle. He'd gone shopping with Cassie and there he had spotted the most brilliant engagement ring he had ever seen and bought it... Without Cassie's knowledge, of course. It was a simple ring with one beautiful Diamond in the middle. The sparkling reminded him of her blue eyes. He'd been carrying the ring since then, pulling it out occasionally, usually when he felt lonely. Sometimes he thought about their relationship, or better yet, the lack of it, and sometimes he just thought of Sam. Pictures of a smiling Sam popped up in his head.

The doorbell rang and Cassie opened the door. A well mooded, if you could say something like that about a Jaffa, was standing before her.

"Hi T ... ahem Murray, how are you doing"

"Thank you Cassandra everything is fine. I´m supposed to look after you and your friends. Is O´Neill in there?" he asked, pointing in the hall towards the living room.

"Yeah. Living room." She let him step in and lead him down the hall.

"Greetings O´Neill." He didn´t get a response. "O´Neill!" He tried it louder this time and it seemed to work.

Quickly hidding the ring, Jack turned and looked at the Jaffa.

"Forcryinoutloud ... Why are you yelling at me?" he yelled back, a little surprised by Teal'c's sudden appearence. Hadn´t he just phoned him... he looked at his clock, 40 minutes ago. Lost in timehe thought.

Murray and Cassie exchanged a short gaze of worry at Jack's sudden outburst. Of course Murray only raised his eyebrow.

Mind focused from the yelling, Jack started to brief Murray, regardless if he was ready or not, "Ok. They are supposed to leave at 1200 and they know it, so don´t let yourself get pulled into a discussion about it. Cassie promised she would behave, as well as her friends. Don´t let the music get any louder and watch the boys. I'm going to look for Sam now."

He was so focused on telling Murray every important fact, that he didn´t even recognised he called her Sam. But Murray and Cassie instantly recognised it and shared an slightly amused glance.

Meanwhile Jack continued "I don´t know when I'll be back, so you can sleep in the guest room if it´s too late to get back to base." With that, he stood up, already heading for the front door. On the way, he grabbed his keys and jacket and left the house.

He started his car and drove off to Sams house. While driving he searched for his cell phone. Crap. He just crossed a red light. He had to be more careful if he wanted to talk to Sam in this life. He tossed the phone on the passenger seat and focused on the task at hand. To drive. Safely.

It took him 15 minutes to get to her house, and parking in an empty space, he grabbed his cell phone, quickly dialing the base. He talked to one of the SFs at the entrance and smiled as the Airman informed him that she hadn´t signed in.

Sitting in the car in front of her house, he suddenly felt like he was a 16 year old boy who wanted to ask his girl for a date but wasn't sure if she would say yes. His hands became sweaty and his pulse started to race. She could do all these things to him without even be present. Forcing his body to do what he demanded, he left the car and walked up the pathway leading to her pretty house. The house was completly dark, with no lights or other signs of someone being at home. He hoped she hadn´t already gone to bed. He knocked twice and waited. ... Nothing. He knocked one more time, pausing as he heard a low sound inside. Straightening his back, he held his breath as the lights went on and the door opened...

TBC

I have to apologize for my muse... She seems to love to torture you with cliffhangers!!