Alternate Reality Seven
It happened right after Edora. After those excruciating three months he was trapped on that planet with...Lara.
For Sam, time had rapidly flown by. She worked endlessly on bringing him home. She didn't even remember getting any sleep, although Janet had said she was constantly dozing off in her lab after staying up for four days straight.
Janet shook her head and sighed to herself as she finished up in the infirmary for the night. She remembered talking to Sam about Jack and barely broaching the topic of their shared feelings for one another, knowing herself that regulations prohibited such conversation.
Even an admission of unprofessional emotions would warrant a court martial, but with a few cleverly placed words the two women had managed to sidestep that incident throughout the weeks while still discussing the main issue.
Sam did not even rest after managing to draw up all the scenarios and schematics they would need for the particle beam. She was right there beside the engineers helping them build and test it, working out each superficial flaw and sending up quick prayers to whichever god cared, just for a little extra assurance.
Janet had considered once in a while if maybe it would be wise to order her to get some sleep, but if anything that would most likely just torture her friend more. And if anyone was going to be the cause of Samantha Carter's recent distress, it was not going to be her. She cared too much, although she knew that type of mentality was a bit unfair to Jack, he was not aware of Sam's current state and to blame him for it was unjust although not entirely untrue.
But she did begin blaming him for what happened after he got home. Sam entered the infirmary late that evening with a frown on her face and a ruthless expression crowded her lake-blue eyes.
Janet almost knew right then what was bothering the Air force scientist, but she let Sam tell her everything and listened intently to each tone and pitch of her voice to determine further at what point exactly her mood had changed drastically from the ecstatic attitude she had harbored that morning.
"He didn't even...I don't know what I was expecting" Sam's words of that conversation that took place nearly five years ago rang clearly in the doctor's head.
"I just thought he'd be happy to go home, that he'd be glad to get back to that stupid cabin and be able to watch the Simpson's" that made both of them smile slightly.
"I don't really care that he didn't miss me. I just thought...He hadn't given up, that he had enough faith in us, in me, to know that we would never let him stay stranded. That we would get him back...even if he did give up, shouldn't he at least be grateful? Was it truly so much better there for him? Was she so much better?"
Sam's questions permeated the atmosphere in the otherwise empty infirmary, and the confusion was obvious in her voice and body language as she shifted herself into a comfortable position on the one of the examination tables, pulling her knees up to her chest.
Janet sat across from her in much the same pose and did her best to answer the inquiries Sam had but could not direct at the right person in good conscious.
"You should be asking him this" Janet clarified, "But I guess you two have been through enough, that conversation can wait. Honestly, I think he's being a jerk and that's putting it lightly, but I suppose he's just seen too much in one life to permit himself to feel hopeful in what may have been a hopeless situation. Jack doesn't think like you or anyone else in the SGC, Sam, he has a more basic thought process: he comes, he sees, he conquers, or in this case tries to forget. He doesn't think in terms of "maybes" and "perhaps", he does not theorize or analyze unless you or Daniel are brave enough to ask him to," Janet paused as her word elicited a light grin from her companion, "and he takes things on a day-to-day basis."
"It's that personality and that thinking that makes him let go," Janet leaned forward and lowered her voice, "and you know men" she said, "they can never understand what the problem is with their way of doing things, even if we spell it out for them"
Sam nodded in experienced confirmation to that statement and they both felt a little better for the talk.
Janet had truly believed that her small speech had helped her friend feel better about the situation, but the very next day something happened that neither of them was prepared to handle so suddenly.
Lara showed up unannounced as soon as shift started, and Sam witnessed the Edoran practically throw herself at Jack and the two seemed to pick up right where they left off.
O'Neill's entire week consisted of giving his girlfriend the grand tour of his little part of earth, and with each missed opportunity and passing chance, Sam and him grew apart from their intricately established friendship that had taken two years to create.
The transition was slow at first but eventually Sam showed ultimate signs of seclusion. She talked and interacted with people, but there was something wrong with her new found take on life and the SGC.
It was as if she had lost something, an excuse, an outlet, something that used to keep her from completely burying herself in work.
After a year of seeing her exhibit this behavior, Janet finally realized what it was. Jack and Sam had been a balance for each other, a level for each other's behavior and work etiquette. Janet remembered looking up information on Sam's previous positions and found that while being an exceptional officer, she tended to isolate and overdrive herself if she was not ordered to go home after shift.
Apparently, this had not been a problem for any of her previous CO's since she had been able to maintain this habit and still do her job to her fullest potential, but after Sam had gotten transferred here, Janet noticed a dramatic change in reports.
She had not been working overtime as much as she had previously because Colonel O'Neill would practically drive her out with his insane comments and dangerous handling of her doohikeys. And she was not so isolated and a bit more relaxed because he practically forced her to socialize with threats of taking her laptop hostage.
Janet even noticed a change in reports about the Colonel after he came out of retirement to work at SGC. His old records showed that he was sometimes a bit too relaxed and simple, and in contrast his temper always got the better of him. Now that had not changed much, but enough to be noticeable to any of his previous subordinates, after he had come to the SGC.
Sam did not outright defy him, but her underlying signals and subtle responses to his behavior often times saved Daniel from verbal abuse in their earlier months. Her hints of rebellion and insubordination would've probably thrown him overboard if she were anybody else. But in his eyes she had earned a certain amount of respect and coming from him that was a lot, so he allowed her to keep his sometimes unruly temper in check for the most part, and that made everyone feel a bit more at ease.
Now that was all receding. And it about completely disappeared when in the fifth year of SG-1 being together as a team, Jack married Lara. Neither Daniel or Janet or Teal'c or Cassandra could help the two after that.
Jack became mostly bitter at work and seemingly could not get home fast enough. Sam only came out of her lab to eat, and even then she had a laptop with her so she could work in the commissary.
Janet did not know personally what their behavior on missions was like, but accounts from Daniel told her enough that she was concerned that if this continued, two of her favorite people would be lost completely to themselves.
But General Hammond was not so sure that any action the team could take would help. He requested that everyone simply let it die down.
Eventually it did. But it was like sitting in the eye of a tropical storm. The connection between the two officers was completely severed, and no one could decide which was worse, having them completely withdrawn or so openly cold to each other in true military fashion.
Janet was still shaking her head about it five years after the fact.
Although she had to admit one good thing came of the incident. Her and Daniel realized that there was more at risk with their job than just sacrifice of the physical and social world that existed only outside of what they had come to know. The very morning following Jack's engagement to Lara, Daniel planted a surprising yet welcome kiss on Janet's stunned mouth as she was giving him his pre-mission physical.
And now, now she could not help but smile. Maybe it was a bit too late to save what is dead and buried between some people. But at least you can spawn a new relationship in the face of a destroyed one.