"Leaving?" He echoed. "What do you mean?"

She sniffed, trying to regain enough of her equilibrium to not sound quite so pathetic, then answered him.

"I'm going to go finish off the Goa'uld. There are a few minor system lords that Talon and I haven't concluded peace with, and I'm going to go do that..."

"You're running away..."

He knew her better than anyone. Of course he did, she thought bleakly. He was the only one she had left, now that Michael and Brad were both gone. This realization brought a fresh round of tears, and Jack held her tightly for a long time before she was able to respond to his accusation.

"I have to go, Jack... I... I can't be here. It hurts too much..."

It was his turn to cling tightly to her, to hold her close as he ran his fingers through her short hair.

"Melony..."

"I know it's running... I'm sorry... but I need to do it. Before I can... well... before anything else happens, I need to get the Goa'uld situation completely settled, and I can't do that from Earth."

"What do you mean before anything else happens?" He asked her, catching that fairly quickly. "What's going to happen?"

She shrugged, not looking at him.

"I don't know, Jack... I... just don't know..." He didn't understand there was no purpose in her life, anymore. No reason for her to be. She'd been so sure that once she'd settled the Goa'uld thing completely that she'd be able to stay on earth and settle down with Brad – maybe even figure out how to have a kid or two with Talon's help – that she'd never thought of what it might mean to lose him and have nothing to come home to. "I have to go..."

"You can't." He was truly concerned, now. She was making it sound like there was nothing left for her. How could he make her see that she was wrong? Of course, at that moment, he couldn't, because he couldn't think of anything to make her latch on to.

"Yes, I can."

"You're SGC personnel, Melony. That means you're my personnel. You have to have my permission..."

She shook her head. It was just a technicality. She'd been her own personnel for almost three years, now. Once she and Talon had blended. She didn't need Jack's permission to go, and she knew it, and he did, too. She knew he was just worried about her, and was casting for a way to get her to stay.

"I'll be back, Jack." She promised him, still speaking into his chest.

"When?"

"I don't know. A month... maybe two..."

"Talon?"

The symbiote silently asked for and received permission to answer him.

"She'll be back, Jack," he confirmed. "Hopefully with new purpose in life..."

"Can't you do something about-"

"It's her life," he interrupted. "It was the promise I made to her when the two of us blended. She would help me with the Goa'uld, and I'd never force her to do anything she didn't want to do. I can't stop her. But I will protect her from herself as long as she needs me to."

Which was his way of telling O'Neill that he wouldn't let her do anything self-destructive. Or foolish. And that he would bring her home safely.

"How long?"

"No more than a month, unless something comes up – but I don't expect it to."

Jack sighed, and rested his chin on the top of Melony's head – a favorite position of the two from way back when. It'd been Mike's favorite way to hug his sister, too, Jack recalled.

"Melony?"

She was back in control, now.

"Hmm?"

"Wait another day, okay?" He asked. "At least long enough to get Fuglier properly re-supplied and so I can make sure you're not going off half-cocked."

She was going off half-cocked, and they knew it, but a day wasn't too much for him to ask for, and Melony knew it. She nodded.

"Okay."

Jack hugged her tight, moving his head so he could press a gentle kiss against her cheek. He tasted the salt from her tears, and moved his hand up to dry her face.

"I love you, hot-shot."

She sniffed, again, and her arms tightened around him.

"I love you, too, Jack."

How long they stood there was anybody's guess, and neither of them cared. Had someone who didn't know them chanced upon the scene, they might have thought it was a lover's embrace – especially considering the way they were dressed – and in a way it was. It was also completely necessary. For both of them.

Finally, he kissed her cheek again, and looked into her sad gray eyes.

"Are you hungry?"

She shook her head, but her stomach rumbled loudly at the same time, and Jack smiled, gently.

"Why don't I round up some breakfast?"

She nodded, looking over at the clock on his microwave. It was four AM. A bit earlier than she usually ate, but she was hungry, and he probably was, too, or he wouldn't have mentioned it.

Jack released her.

"You make the coffee."

"Okay."

Coffee was pretty much all she was going to be able to help him with, anyways. She'd never been much of a cook and in the last few years what little skill she'd developed out of necessity in her early years had completely faded once Brad had taken over the cooking chores in the household. When she was on the ship, it was always MREs, which of course, she didn't need skill to cook. Which was a good thing, or she'd have starved.

"Scrambled eggs?"

"Okay."

"Toast?"

"Fine."

He debated testing her by mentioning something she hated – liver, perhaps – just to see of she was really paying attention to what she was agreeing to, but his own mind was in turmoil just then, too, and he was only able to focus just what he had to to get the items together for their meal.

He didn't want her to leave. But, like Talon, he recognized that it was her life to live, and if she wanted to, he couldn't stop her.