AN: Thanks everyone for all your reviews it feeds my muse quite nicely. This is the last chapter peeps, so thanks for your company. A big thanks again to Lori for betaing this and to Beth for coaxing me to write this little fic.

Disclaimer in Part 1

With slight apprehension he walked to within centimetres of her, and grasped hold of his dog tags, before pulling them over his head, wrapping the chain in a tight coil in the palm of his hands before reaching out for her hand.

The silence was deafening as he reached out to her, taking hold of her hand that lay casually by her side.

With a shaky voice she spoke softly in the darkness, "What are you doing?"

Without a word, he placed the dog tags into her open hand.

Staring endlessly at the tags held in her shaking hand, she felt her chest tighten at this unexpected gesture, and smiled lightly. In response to his actions, she proceeded to follow suite, taking off her own ID tags, and placed them ceremoniously in his hand.

"No ranks." Was all she said.

"No ranks." Jack replied in affirmation.

Moving over to the corner of the elevator she gentle placed herself down. Jack following her with uncertainty, sat down beside her. Unsure what to do with his hands; he placed them nervously in his lap. Uncertainty washed through him at what he was actually going to say to her. He knew he'd upset her, that much was obvious, but from the intense look in her eyes, he also knew he'd unintentionally hurt her.

Time to bite the bullet. It seemed only fair, he'd made the first opening gesture and now it was up to her to explain what had been going through her mind since his return. Taking a deep steadying breath, she spoke; her voice was barely above a whisper when she asked him. "Do you resent me bringing you home?"

"No, of course not. Why…why would you think that?" Jack replied with complete astonishment. Was this what she'd been thinking? That he resented her? Nothing could be further from the truth.

"Your attitude towards me. You haven't given me so much as the time of day since you got back to the SGC. What do you expect me to think?" Sam replied looking directly at him, needing him to know that he hurt her.

"I'm sorry."

"So you have been avoiding me?"

"Yes…no…maybe." Jack replied nervously, feeling a desperate need to get up and walk around. Doing so though wouldn't make the situation any less bearable.

"Well that's comprehensive."

"Give me a break, this isn't exactly the easiest of conversations for me."

"What, and you think this is easy for me?"

"No, of course not, that's not what I meant." Jack snapped, a little too harshly. "Yes, I have been avoiding you, and no, it hasn't got anything to do with me resenting you. I can't believe that's what you thought."

"Then why have you been avoiding me? I don't get it. I worked my ass off to bring you back and you behave towards me as…"

Recalling the last few days, he knew she was right. He'd behaved like a total ass. "I know. I was avoiding you, because… well, I just didn't want to hurt you further. I felt guilty, okay? There I've said it. On Edora, I did something that I wasn't happy about and now I feel…guilty."

"Laira?"

"Laira."

"Sir." Sam responded without thinking.

"Ah, no ranks, Major." Jack smiled holding up their dog tags, and hoping that it would elicit a smile from her to. "Everyone told me what you did when I got back, the hours you spent working to bring me home. You never gave up on me." Ruffling his hair with his hands nervously he continued with a hint of uncertainty. Sure he'd said he was going to be honest with her, she deserved that right after the way he'd treated her, but wanting to say something and being able to say it…face to face was something entirely different. Taking a long shaky breath he continued softly, his face evoking pain and sadness at the thought of how he'd hurt her. "When it came time to say goodbye, I saw you turn away…the look on your face said a thousand words. And when I saw the look in your eyes, I felt as if I…betrayed us, our…friendship."

"You slept with her." There was no harshness in her voice as she spoke those words. She had realised as soon as they arrived that something had gone on between the two of them, it was evident for all to see. She wasn't blind, and he was right, she did feel betrayed, but why? It wasn't as if they were together, or that they could ever be.

"Yes."

"What do you expect me to say?"

"I don't know…something, anything."

"It's not my place." Sam replied guarded. Although the tags were off and he'd given her almost carte blanche to talk openly, somehow it didn't sit right. After they got out of this he'd still be her CO and her, his 2IC, nothing will have changed. Ultimately she knew she had no right to judge him for his actions. To him it was probably the most logical thing to do at the time. He'd obviously given up hope of leaving and was starting a new life…just not with her.

"No, I suppose it isn't." Jack answered softly. "I just thought…"

"What?"

"I didn't think that you would find a way to bring me back. I waited a long time for you to work your magic..." Jack smiled sadly, "…but you never came."

Suddenly she felt embarrassed that she'd pushed him into a corner that he couldn't get out of. The Colonel was an intensely private man, she knew that, and watching him struggle with his words, made her realise that this had been just as hard on him as it had on her. With pity in her expressive blue eyes, tinged with regret she told him softly. "You don't have to explain."

"Yes, I do." He was emphatic on that point, she needed to hear this, more importantly he wanted her to hear what he had to say. Whether it would change the nature of their…relationship? Friendship? Hell even he didn't know how to define it, but either way it was important. "We've been through a lot these last few years, and I didn't want you to think that… everything we've built up together was for nothing."

"I know that, but when you started avoiding me I honestly believed that you felt I wronged you in some way by bringing you back to the SGC. I mean what was I supposed to think? I worked my ass off and you ignored me. Every time you looked at me, I saw something in your eyes, it was like you hated me."

"I don't hate you, Carter. I just couldn't stand to be near you because I felt… guilty." Jack answered honestly looking down at his tightly clasped hands.

Sam looked at him intensely, his pained expression tore through her, his words meant so much to her ears. She never expected this kind of revelation from him. Sure, they'd danced around their feelings for each other, but she knew that nothing could come of it. That was the way it was, and that was the way it had to be…like it or not. There was no denying to herself or to him that the chemistry between them was always there, sometimes above the surface, sometimes not. It had to be that way, though. Not just for their sakes, but for the team's. They couldn't act on their feelings because they knew ultimately it could compromise the team, and more importantly their careers. Neither one of them was willing to sacrifice that, just yet. So, this was how it had to be.

He'd been honest with her, and it was about time she shared something with him. It wasn't easy what she had to say, but he had a right to know how she felt, he'd shared a piece of his feelings with her, and now it was time she reciprocated, no matter how difficult it was to tell him.

"I wish things could be different, but they can't. You know that as well as I do. I can't stop you from being with someone else any more than you could with me. I mean its not as if this could go anywhere, not with the way we are at the moment. Do I wish things could be different? Of course I do, but what choice do we have? You retire, I retire…what can we do, but wait. As much as I hate saying it, it's not our time. When I saw you with Laira, it hurt, I felt as if you'd given up on there ever being a chance of us being together. But deep down, I know that it's unfair of me to think that. You have a right to live out your life with whomever you choose… I may not like it, but I have to accept it. We've chosen to put our careers first and out feelings second, now whether that will change in the future, I don't know, do you?"

"No." Jack answered softly, keeping his eyes on his lap. "You and I have been through so much together. When you're not with me, I feel as if there's an empty void waiting to be filled, but when I see you… I feel complete. Does that make sense?" he asked looking into her sapphire blue eyes. He waited for some kind of acknowledgement from her before he continued.

Sam didn't know what to say, her head swam with feelings that she'd had to put to one side, because she knew she'd never be able to act on them. Part of her wasn't even sure that he felt the same. He always seemed to keep his feelings so close to his chest that she never knew how he felt about her. There was no denying the attraction between them, but in reality she never expected him to verbalise his feelings for her, and now that he had, it had taken her completely by surprise.

"I thought you'd given up on me, and I was…lonely, I missed my life here…I missed you. Laira was so much like you in certain ways that being with her felt in some weird way like I was with you. Then after you came back for me, I didn't know what to do."

"I hear what you're saying, really I do." Sam answered slightly hesitantly, wondering if she should tell him what she'd overheard on Edora. "I can understand you being lonely, and feeling like you had no way out. Laira was undoubtedly kind to you, but the thing is, you asked her to come back with you." Sam asked her voice tinged with sadness.

"What was I supposed to do, Sam? Spend three months with this woman, and then walk away? That's not my style."

"So you did it out of courtesy?"

"Sort of. I knew Laira would never leave her world, but I had to ask her."

"And what would you have done if she said 'yes'" Sam broached careful, unsure if she really wanted to hear the answer.

"Honestly? I have no idea. Laira understood that my place was here at the SGC; she knew that from the very beginning. For the first month, I tried everything to find my own way back, and it came to a point when I had to force myself to accept that I might never come home. So I had a choice, remain miserable forever or try and build a new life. I could have stayed on Edora, Sam, but I didn't. And do you know why?"

Sam shook her head allowing him to finish. "Because it never was home to me, and deep down, Laira knew that."

"And now?" Sam asked barely able to breathe as his hand reaches out and slips into hers.

"Now, I'm home."

FINIS