Sam's heart was about to beat out of her chest as Jack enveloped her in his arms. Her conscious screamed for her to leave, to get as far away as possible—STOP THIS! Holding on to his arms, as though she'd fall to the floor if it weren't for his hand at the small of her back.
"Samantha…" Jack whispered as he pulled up from her shoulder, leaning in just close enough to brush her lips with his. "Can I kiss you?"
Beneath the eyes that were locked with his; a battle was being waged within Sam Carter. Everything in her was being contradicted and challenged. Everything she held dear in this world faded as Jack became clearer…
"Oh man…do you have bad timing." Sam said, letting her forehead crash against his chest.
"How's that?" Jack asked, pulling her back as he smiled.'
"Sir—"
Covering her mouth with his fingers, Jack pulled her back into his arms. "I remember something else—"
"What?"
"How much I hate it when you call me, Sir."
The two broke into laughter as Sam, moved out of his arms and ran her hand through her hair. "I really can't do this—I have to go." Walking around him, Jack took her hand and she turned back to him.
"Stay?" The look in his eyes brought her heart rate up again.
"I can't."
"Please? I'll sit in the other side of the room—we can watch those tapes you brought me, they're pretty funny." He said, pulling her back.
"I really—really have to get out of here." Her hand on his shoulder, Sam smiled gently and he let go of her.
She had refused to stay, but Jack insisted and when she reached for the door he threatened to call for the guard.
"You wouldn't." She said, facing him as she closed the door back.
"To get you to stay, I'd do just about anything." The smile on his face made her blush and he realized just how uncomfortable he had made her. "Come on," he said pushing up a chair. "I'll sit over here, you can have the bed—"
His comment made her laugh nervously—what in god's name was she thinking? And she stayed.
Jack put in tape after tape of Simpson's episodes until Sam had fallen asleep on his bed. But it wasn't until the credits were rolling that he noticed she was fast asleep.
Picking up the edge of the blanket he pulled it over her softly and covered her shoulders. She stirred slightly and he brushed the hair away from her face.
That's when it happened—-so fast he didn't really know how it started.
Her hand moved out from under the blanket and touched his hand. Then in one smooth movement she rolled with is hand in hers and soon he was lying on the bed with Sam Carter cuddled in his arms.
He didn't want to move. The heat from her body set his own on fire and all he wanted to do was…take a cold shower.
She stirred in his arms again as he held her. Now she had turned as was using the right side of his chest as a pillow.
He couldn't help but touch her. Let his fingers entwine in her hair, touch her lips and hold her.
Something in him was conflicted. It wasn't tangible, just a feeling in his gut that this was wrong, that she shouldn't be here and he shouldn't be holding her. But how could it be wrong? How could feeling like this be wrong? How could being with a beautiful woman be wrong?
He tried to move out from under her, but his movement only caused her to stir again and as she moved up on his chest he looked down to see if she had waken—and was met with her lips.
Her lips parted his own and created a fire that spread to the very fiber of his being. He trembled only a moment; paused only a moment before dismissing every uncertainty he had a moment before.
Pulling her into his arms, Jack felt her weight on him as their kiss deepened—and her eyes opened.
In an instant, Sam pulled back from him but still lay in his arms.
Looking down she realized what had happened—what was happening.
The look of shock was clear on her face, but Jack pulled her back down and rolled her to his side as he pulled her back against his chest. She didn't resist him, but still felt awkward in his arms and he entangled their legs as he pulled her chin up so their eyes locked.
"I knew I was right." He kissed her again and in the moment Sam didn't know to pull back.
The world was upside down and she couldn't find a way to make it right.
The sweetness of his lips meet her own and her arms tightened around him.
The blanket was thrown off and his hands were pulling at her shirt. The world was quickly fading and as Jack hands moved to her bare back the only thing Sam could think of was what could be more right than this?
Her shirt was hanging off the chair across the room.
His shirt was in the far corner.
Two pairs of shoes lay at the end of the bed with two pairs of socks and two pairs of trousers.
The TV had long since turned to static and was lighting a small area of the dark room where Jack and Sam's feet were entangled at the bottom of the bed.
Reality had yet to return to the sleeping couple beneath the blue comforter that held them together like a burrito.
He was awake. He had been for the last hour. But he couldn't bring himself to move. Their bodies felt like they had been fused together by their own heat.
He lay on his side with her neatly tucked into his arms. Her body fit into his as though sculpted by Davinci himself.
He had spent the last hour memorizing the curve of her back and was about to move but her sudden deep breath kept him still…
Sam's eyes fluttered open slowly and the first thing to come into view was the case for the Simpson's tapes that sat on the nightstand. It took her three seconds to realize—remember where she was and whose hand was resting on her hip.
The heat from Jack's body was burning into her as she tried to gain her composure.
Jack lay with is eyes closed when he heard the one word that brought his perfect morning to a close.
SHIT!
She slipped out of his arms and stood from the bed.
He kept his eyes closed as she moved around the room, cursing under her breath as she gathered her clothes. He thought it best to keep up the rouse until she left—he didn't want her to feel embarrassed about what had happened.
The door closed behind her and he slowly sat up in the bed. The room spun around him and his first thought was breakfast.
It was only 0300 when Sam had made her walk of shame down the halls of the SGC.
Thank god the morning shift isn't in yet…Walking into her room, Sam stopped in the middle of the room and stared in the mirror.
What the hell were you thinking? Do you know what you've done? He's innocent; you knew exactly what you were doing!
Un able to bear her own image and longer, she grabbed her shower bad and headed for the women's locker room for a much needed shower.
Last night had been…indescribable—she still felt his hands on her skin, his scent was everywhere. It had been beautiful, and magical—but now that the real world settled around her, Sam Carter knew that she had betrayed Jack—betrayed her commanding officer and the United States Air Force.
Carter slumped into her lab chair and let her forehead rest in her hands.
Looking down a brief moment, she saw a post-it-note stuck to her desk and lifted it into the light.
Couldn't find you—meeting
at 0800—sounds important.
DanielJust great. This is just what she needed.
Milling around her lab until the last moment, Carter had to run down the hall just to make sure she wasn't late for the meeting.
Slowing to a walk just outside the briefing room, Carter shook off the panged of regret in her chest and walked in to see everyone already there.
"Major, glad you made it." Weir said, already comfortable in her seat at the head of the table with Teal'c and Daniel at her side.
Sitting across from Daniel, she nodded to her teammates and opened the folder on the table in front of her. "So—what did I miss?"
"Thor sent a transmission." Weir announced.
Weir's announcement set Carter into professional mode and she soon forgot about the fear and guilt that had by throat a moment ago.
The news was serious. The Asguard were under attack and the message from Thor was sketchy at best but one thing stuck in the front of Carter's mind and everything else that followed was muted.
NEUROLOGICAL TRAUMA, Jack would only regain his memory through an event that over loaded his synaptic pattern—then his memory would be "re-set" and he would remember nothing after being frozen in the outpost at Antarctica.
After the meeting broke, Carter tried to appear calm as she walked back to her lab. It was all she could do to try and think of what might happen in the next few days.
A severe neurological trauma. He would not remember anything that has happened in the last few days.
Guilt swept over her for the second time that day. She couldn't help but find hope in the fact that Jack wouldn't remember what had happened.
"Hey."
Carter walked into her lab to find Jack sitting comfortably in her chair.
She stopped dead and gaped over at him.
"Hi." She managed to get one word out.
"You weren't there when I woke up."
"I had to go to work."
Jack nodded. "I have a feeling that you use that excuse a lot."
"We need to talk about something." Carter sighed. This was not going to be easy.
"Okay, what's on you mind?"
Motioning between them, "This."
"Oh—that."
"I can't do it."
"I think we already did—"
"What I said, in your room—it was the truth. We aren't together."
"I don't believe you."
"I'm with someone else, his name is Pete."
"Not buying it."
Pulling out her wallet from her desk, she showed him a picture. "That's Pete."
"What's this supposed to mean to me?"
"The truth. I can't lie to you anymore."
"I love you—that's all that matters."
"Jack—"
Taking her by the shoulders, Jack made her look at him. "Don't see him anymore—I know you love me."
"NO—" she said, clearly staring into his eyes. "I don't."
Holding her neck, Jack kissed her and wouldn't let her pull out of his arms no matter how hard she fought.
"STOP!" Carter screamed. "You aren't even Jack." She said, pulling back and moving behind her desk.
"Why are you lying to me?"
"I'm not lying." Looking around the room, she saw the two photographs on the filing cabinet. "Look at this." Pulling down the photo she handed it to him. Within the frame, one of her most proud moments had been captured. Her promotion to Major. She stood on the left hand side of the picture with Colonel O'Neill standing before her with General Hammond as they pinned her rank on her shoulder. A small message was scribbled in the corner.
For the Egg Head, congrats!
You deserve it.
Col. O'Neill
Jack looked at the picture and frowned for a moment. It was him, clearly he was the man in the picture. But it looked wrong. The faces were familiar but the picture was a lie. Trying to fight against the reality that he may be wrong, Jack tried to shake the tightening in his temples. Squinting his eyes, he tried to look up at Sam.
Jack looked back down to the picture. "Hammond…"
"Yeah, that's General Hammond."
Squinting through the growing pain, Jack reached out for the wall but grasped air. "I uh—I feel dizzy."
Watching him slow collapse, Carter moved behind him and let him fall into her arms. "It's okay Jack—you'll be alright." Now sitting in the floor with him in her arms, Carter took the picture from him and held his arms.
Barely conscious, Jack couldn't focus on the images passing through his memory. Then he looked up to Sam and reached out for her face. "I never told you…"
"It's okay…don't fight it."
"My head hurts like hell…"
She held him until he had passed out in her arms. But even in his unconscious state, Jack wrestled through his dreams as he fought for a new grasp on his reality.
It wasn't until Daniel came in and saw her holding him that she finally let go.
"Do you know what triggered it?" Daniel asked, as he sat across from Carter in the commissary and held out another cup of coffee to her.
"He saw the picture in my office…I guess that did something."
Daniel nodded. "I guess that would be enough."
Siring in some sugar, Carter avoided his gaze. "I can't think of anything else."
Daniel sipped his coffee. "Doctor Nimpsey said he didn't know how long it was going to be…"
"It could be days…"
"Yeah…days…"
It wasn't until three days later, when Carter was making her daily check on Colonel O'Neill—that he woke up.
She had barely walked into the infirmary when he called out her name.
"Carter—what the hell is going on?" The curtain moved back and Jack O'Neill sat up in his bed and looked up at a very shocked Sam Carter.
"Sir?"
"Why are you looking at me like that? What happened?" Rubbing his head, Jack tried to sit on the edge of the bed when he felt a wave of dizziness hit him "Woah—bad idea."
Helping him lie back down, Carter smiled down to him.
"What do you remember?"
"Uh—weird question."
"Sir, please…"
"Okay, uh—that damn head sucker thing…Hammond was at my house—so was everyone else…Carter what is going on?"
"Nothing Sir—everything is fine. I'll get the doctor." Walking into the next room, Carter disappeared from Jack's view.
He had to lay back into the pillow and shut his eyes until the dizziness left him.
As the room filled with silence, a voice echoed in his memory… "Don't forget her…"
Carter left Colonel O'Neill to sleep and returned to her lab to actually do some work.
She was hovering over her microscope when it happened. It started with a queasy feeling that made her sit back in her seat and take a deep breath.
But before she knew it—she was running down the hall to the ladies room, hoping she would make it to the toilet before she made a mess all over the hall…
It was a week before O'Neill was back on his feet. But he had even more news coming his way when he walked into Doctor Weir's office—to find her packing.
"Leaving so soon?" He asked.
"Well, the President wants me to head up the team in Antarctica…"
"Hmm, any chance of Hammond coming back?"
"Well, I have an idea."
"Really? And would you mind sharing?"
"Yeah…uh—I think you know him actually…Brigadier General O'Neill."
Weir smiled over the box in front of her as O'Neill wrinkled his forehead at her…
"Brigadeir..." Jack said, as the full meaning of that one word hit him like a truck.
(Ladies and Gents, ATTENTION! This is NOT, and I say again, NOT the end of the story. This story is continued in a sequal named "Saving Grace" that has yet to be posted on this board. Just bear with me and I'll post it up...)