Sam looked away. "I don't know… So what happens now?"
Jack looked down at his hands as he let out an audible sigh. He stood up and faced her, "Let me buy you a cup of coffee so you can tell me what you've been up to the past year?"
Sam looked up and gave him a small smile as she stood up as well, "That'd be nice."
Jack's face lit up, "I missed your smile… So tell me about Spain, why'd you go there?"
"I don't know… I actually went to Germany first. I thought about working there but then I decided I just wanted to live. So I went to Barcelona and learned how to speak Spanish."
"What else did you do? Did you work?"
"Yeah, I taught physics at an American school there."
"Whew! I feel bad for those kids… Can you even teach something as simple as high school physics?"
Sam laughed, "Yes, I can. And they understood everything I taught them, unlike a certain Air Force colonel I know."
He smirked, "Yeah, well you probably weren't explaining astrophysics and wormhole physics!" Jack was enjoying himself, they were teasing each other the way they used to.
Sam nodded, "That's true… It was pretty fun, I made some really great friends."
"That's good… Is that how you met Carlos?"
"Yeah, he taught Spanish there… He's the one who taught me Spanish…"
"Cool… So, uh, why'd you come back?"
"Well the school year's over right now and Cassie asked me to come back."
"You planning on staying?" he asked her hopefully.
"I don't know yet. Carlos has thought about going to grad school here. He's in the midst of applying to UC-Denver right now."
"I hope he gets in."
Sam looked over at him shocked, "Really?"
"Well yeah, that means you'll be sticking around. That way we'll get to see you a little more than once a year," he smiled.
"Yeah," she distantly replied. She paused before questioning him, "So, what have you been up to?"
"Ah… not much. A bit of fishing here and there?"
"Is General Hammond giving you a lot of downtime to head to your cabin?" she asked him as she thought of him going to his cabin.
Jack looked down at the ground, "Uh, no."
"Then how have you been able to go fishing?" she asked him.
"I, uh… retired."
Sam was shocked, "What?! When?" She reached her arm out and forced him to look at her.
"Yeah…" He was avoiding explaining any more.
"Come on, when? Why?"
"About a month after you left… To be honest, I was miserable after you left. I couldn't stick around there anymore. It reminded me too much of what I'd lost… Teal'c's still there, and so's Danny."
She slowly nodded her head not knowing what to say.
"Yeah… actually the day I turned in my papers was the day that your dad showed up. He didn't like receiving the letter you left him with General Hammond… Why didn't you tell him why you left?"
Sam shrugged her shoulders. "It wasn't any of his business."
"Are you going to tell him now that you're back? He's been pretty worried about you. He's even come to visit me a few times whenever he's been here… He thought I knew where you were…"
"Look, I'm sorry-"
"Don't be! I understand completely. You had to get away. There's nothing for you to apologize for… Well, maybe to your dad. He's been freaking out! Just promise me you'll talk to him while you're back here!"
Sam nodded her head as she smiled at him, "I will."
TBC
Author's Notes: This is going to be the last chapter for awhile, I don't have any more parts written yet. But I promise there will be more, hell I'm even interested to see where I take this story!
