DISCLAIMER: Nope still not mine. Damn, I wish.
SUMMARY: Sam is hiding at the SGC after finding out about a side of Pete she hadn't seen before. Jack flew back from Washington the minute Daniel called him and told him about what was happening. Talorn and Shey can see that Jack and Sam love each other and should be together. Sam left the commissary before she could hear Jack say that he doesn't know how to help her.
SPOILERS: Up through this season, Affinity. I don't like Pete and want to get him out of the picture.
Sam was sitting on a cliff overlooking the whole city. She had tears in her eyes. Talorn could see it. So could Shey. How many others? How many people know how I feel about him? Does Jack know?
She felt someone coming up behind her. She turned her head to see Daniel leading Shey up the trail. Daniel looked up at her. "Shey had a headache. Too many emotions."
She nodded. "I just needed to get out of there. I can't be around the general right now."
"You're afraid that he knows how you feel." Daniel sounded so sure of himself. As if he knew what she was thinking. "Sam, he knows. He just doesn't know how to deal with it. He loves you. He may not admit it but he does. I've seen evidence. Seen all kinds of it."
"Daniel, whatever the general may have felt for me in the past is just that. In the past. No matter what I think or how I feel, that's the way it is. I don't have any more options. If I had pushed the issue back then, it might be different now but that chance is gone."
"No. Sam, it's not. He still feels the same. You didn't see the look on his face when we almost lost you with Jolinar. You weren't watching him while Martouf was using the device on you to enhance Jolinar's memories. When he realized that Fifth had taken you and the Asgard had just blown his ship out of space. If I didn't know better, I would have sworn that he was ready to beat the daylights out of Thor."
"Daniel, please." Shey had placed a gentle hand on Daniel's arm. "Samantha, while Daniel speaks the truth of the matter, it is your decision, and the general's, which dictates what you must do. It is not a decision to be made lightly. This decision will affect the rest of your life. Please think carefully. I would not wish to think that you rushed in somewhere."
"Sam, please. Just go talk to him. Talk as two people who care about each other, not as CO and second. For both your sakes." Daniel turned and led Shey back down the trail.
' Maybe Daniel is right. Maybe I should talk to Jack as a friend. Not as someone in his direct chain of command.' Sam stood up and started to walk down the trail back toward the entrance to the base.
Meanwhile, Jack was now sitting in his office, staring at his hands. He didn't know what to do. He knew that he wanted Sam and he hoped that everyone was right and that she still wanted to be with him. He knew that it felt so good when he had held her in her quarters. That when he kissed her forehead it felt right.
Suddenly, he stood up and went to the gate room. "Sargeant, I need to send a message to Jacob Carter with the Tok'ra."
Daniel and Shey sat beside the firelight in companionable silence. Daniel was sitting on a log and Shey sat on the ground beside him with her head on his lap. His arm was draped across her shoulder and lightly stroking her arm.
"Daniel, when you look at me, do you see me? Or do you see a link to your dead wife?"
"I see you, Shey. I haven't felt this way about anyone in a while. And while I will always miss Sha're and the life we could have had together, I want to be with you. I enjoy being with you. Even just sitting here like this. Just being near you gives me a sense of peace that I haven't known in a long time. I would be content if this was all the more you wanted from me."
"But you aspire to more." No question there. She could read him easily.
"I can't lie to you. I would really like to have a deeper relationship with you. But most of all, I want you to be comfortable with me. That's the main thing."
"Daniel, I am comfortable with you. I am happy with you. I have thought about a deeper relationship. I will not lie to you about that. I believe that I could be happy here on Earth for as long as it takes for my father to defeat the false one so long as I have you with me."
"Shey, as long as you want me, I will be here for you. Would it be alright if I kissed you?"
Shey's only response was to sit up and turn her face toward Daniel, who lightly brushed her lips with his own. Then, he returned for more. They kissed for several long minutes before Talorn cleared his throat to let them know that he had returned and their time alone together was ended.
"You wanted to talk to me, Jack?" Jacob had just walked through the Stargate in order to answer Jack's call for help.
"Jacob, about that offer you made me. Does it still stand?"
"Of course. Are you sure this is what you want?"
"I need her, Jacob. I've just been too stubborn to see how much."
"Ok. I'll stay for a few days and help you set everything up."
"Thank you, Jacob." Jack led Jacob out of the gate room and through the complex to the quarters reserved specifically for Jacob when he was planetside.
Sam knocked on the door to Jack's office. "Come in."
Jack was surprised to see Sam open the door and come in. "What's up, Carter?"
"Sir, I'd like --" As a friend, Sam. Not as his second in command. "Jack, I'd like to talk to you. As friends. Not as CO and second. No rank. Just two friends talking freely about things."
Oh God. She's going to tell me to take a hike. That I never should have kissed her. "Of course, Sam."
Sam took a deep breath. God, this is hard. I've only been his second in command for so long that I almost don't know how to be just a friend. "Jack, I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. Some of it's been about Pete and I but the majority of it has been about you and I."
"I've been thinking about the same thing myself, Sam."
The next thing they knew, both of them spoke at the same time. "I'm thinking of retiring." Then, they looked at each other in shock.
A/N: Now what? I hope you're having fun Lady Reaper. This one is just for you.