Jack knew he should be thinking on other things, he'd just allowed his head to be sucked by one of those ancient devices the day before. He had tossed and turned in bed and ended up going on the roof, his thoughts crossing over everything. Last time he'd done this he'd barely gotten out alive. He was unsure how it would all turn out this time.
A knock at his door shook him from his thoughts and he glanced at the clock on the wall. He had been wondering who the first would be to arrive, but was still surprised when he opened the door and saw the person who had currently been in his thoughts standing there.
"Hi Sir"
"Carter?"
"Did I wake you?"
"Sorta"
"I couldn't sleep at all last night"
"You should have called"
'Really you should have called' thought Jack, 'better still you should have come over'
"I didn't wanna bother you"
Jack opened the door wider, allowing her access into the hall.
"I was just looking at the sky. Trying to figure out how many stars we'd actually been to"
"Actually, only a few of the stars visible from Earth have Stargates on them, so....."
"I knew that"
"Yeah"
"Hammond send you by to check up on me?"
"It's funny really, I was out driving, you know....in my car, and I um,I drove here.Yeah ..."
'Yeah we're two grown adults acting like we don't really havent known each other for seven years thought Jack deciding to add to the already growing tension he refused to admit was starting up sparks.
"Funny."
"There's coffee around here," said Jack turning to the kitchen as Sam made herself at home.
He frowned and decided on a better way of perhaps keeping her around, that something that would relax them a little and perhaps make them face some facts
" Maybe not. How about a beer?"
"Sure, why not." Came the reply from the confines of the living area.
"Want a glass? I can wash one"
"No, I'm fine, thank you sir" replied Sam, suddenly looking at a loss as she took her beer, she turned to the pictures on the shelf pointing to one of himself and Sara "do you ever talk to her?"
"Can we not talk about that?"
'If we can't talk about our relationship, I sure as hell don't want to talk about that one' thought Jack, looking at the woman standing in front of him.
"Sorry. How are you feeling?" "Can we not talk about that either?"
Jack knew he was giving out not the best vibes, to approach any subject of 'us' but decided he was entitled to be a little awkward given his situation concerning his health. Stepping around Carter he settled himself on the sofa and turned his eyes to her.
"Ok, what do you want to talk about?"
Jack thought for a moment, thousands of scenarios of conversations crossing his mind. All of them forbidden yet, he was starting the think to hell with it, if anything bad came of it he could always put it down to having his head sucked. Carter however didn't feel as comfortable as he was getting about the situation.
"You wanna be alone." Said Sam, setting down her beer and preparing to leave "This was a bad I ... I ... should go."
"Finish your beer, and then you have to wait at least an hour before you drive."
Jack wondered if he sounded as at ease as he intended, flicking his bottle cap across the room as he spoke and hoping she'd take him up on the offer. He was happy enough when she settled down close beside him.
"Sir?"
"What?"
"I should have done it"
Too hell with that idea, he wasn't prepared to let anyone get their head sucked, especially not Carter. It was bad enough going through what it did to you, he wasn't sure he could take on everybody else's role of sitting and watching it happen unable to do anything about it.
"What? Stuck your head in that thing? Are you nuts? Carter. You're one of this countries natural resources. If not National treasures. It couldn't have gone down any other way. I just hope it's worth it."
"Even if we do find the Lost City. Even if we get there and find exactly what we're looking for to defend the planet...."
"THAT ... would be worth it."
It had to be worth it, he had felt the instinct to do this, he would make sure he had done it for something. He wasn't going to go through this, put everyone through this for nothing. Things were settling, things were starting to ease, he watched her, another moment. Seems too many moments seemed to be cropping up on him, those moments where he forgot she was off limits, not just because of rules and regulations but because she'd finally made the decision to move on with her life. Still there was something between them, something neither wanted to admit too. And now she had more to lose. They were interrupted by a knock of 'shave and haircut' at the door. Sam looked at him a little startled at the interruption; Jack could only look at her with a soft look as he heard the front door open softly.
" Hello!?" came Daniel's voice from down the hall
Jack raised a brow giving Sam a look, only for it to be returned with a wide smile.
"In here." Jack shouted through to Daniel, keeping eye contact with Sam all the while, knowing the opportunity had passed.
"Oh sorry, are we interrupting anything?"
"No" exclaimed both Jack and Sam turning their attention to Daniel and seeing Tealc at the hallway, box in hand.