Winter Of A Heart

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, but I want to!

Ramble: All I can say is that I'm really sorry you all had to wait. hugs reviewers Thanks for sticking around. Okay… I'll stop talking so you can all read

Months past, and Jack was well past recovery.Sam and Jack now spent almost all of theirdowntime together, and they were happier than they had been in a while.But, until recently, work had piled up, and the whole team was held up at the SGC. More often than not, nights were spent in offices or off-world. Jack and Sam barely got any time alone, resulting in two dangerous tempers. Sam, usually talkative and pretty optimistic was now snappy, and had scared more than a few people off. And if you thought she was bad, then you really didn't want to run into Jack, who could be described as "death in human form". But, everyone around them had an understanding, were sympathetic. Here, Jack and Sam finally had each other after years of waiting, yet they were separated for weeks because of the work they loved.

Jack was sitting at his desk, scribbling away at yet another report, when the announcement came in over the intercom.

"Colonel Jack O'Neill, please report to the briefing room immediately."

Jack glanced at his watch.

"Shit!" he thought, and ran out of his office.

"Crap, crap, crap, crap!" he hissed to himself. He had lost track of time, and was now late. Hammond would kill him. He sprinted down the hallway and pushed open the briefing room doors. His CO and three other team members looked up at him, smiling in relief that they could finally get started.

"Sorry I'm late." Jack grumbled as he took his seat next to Sam.

"Alright," Hammond said, "I know there's been a lot of work for you and I've arranged it so that after this assignment, you all have a break from missions for a while."

SG-1 sighed with happy relief. Sam's eyes connected with Jack's and she swore she knew what thought had just passed his mind. He had that glint in his eye.

"Okay, so you are going to P3X-569. From what we know, it's virtually uninhabited…"

Jack leaned against the railing of the walkway leading up to the gate, sighing impatiently. Daniel was, once again, late. Five minutes went by before the door to the gate room opened and Daniel staggered, breathless, through. He was carrying an extra backpack, probably filled with stuff that he'd never need. Jack rolled his eyes and stalked up the ramp to face the Stargate. He glanced over his shoulder and was surprised to see Sam standing right behind him. She smiled, but her eyes told him that her heart was aching. He could feel it too; the need to hold each other was unbearable.

"SG-1, you're good to go."

Jack put a hand on Sam's closest shoulder.

"Not much longer." He whispered as they stepped through.

They walked out onto an empty field, blinking in the bright sun. Sam slipped her sunglasses on her face and turned to Daniel.

"You picking anything up?" she asked as she waved her radiation detector about.

"Nope, nothing yet." Daniel said, intently fixed on his device.

Jack took a deep breath in, clutching his gun close to his chest. Hopefully, this could be a short, meaningless mission and he could get back home and have Sam all to himself. But he couldn't get there until they were finished with this.

He turned, "Come on kids, let's get this over with."

They walked for three hours, and still couldn't find anything worth reporting or taking back.

"Uh… Jack…" panted Daniel, "Could we… please… take just a short break?"

"Actually, that doesn't sound too bad. Let's park somewhere… there." Jack said, gesturing over to a bunch of small trees. It wasn't much, but there was some protection from the glaring sun. Jack leaned against the tree, closing his eyes. He heard the others sit down opposite and next to him. He opened his eyes and saw the three of them copying Jack, each leaning against his (or her) own tree, eyes closed. He smiled, and closed his eyes again.

Sam woke up to rustling, twigs breaking, whispers. She sat up, looking around, but only saw Jack, Daniel and Teal'c, still sleeping. She smiled at Jack. He looked so harmless when he was asleep. Leaning over, she placed a light kiss on his lips. He smiled in his sleep. Sam sat back against her tree and listened for the noises. What made her nervous was there was now no sound. She got up quietly, and looked around, but again, saw nothing. She knew something was out there, and unfortunately, she was right.

The moment Sam turned around, she was faced with a knife in her face, and vicious, mad eyes. The man made a grab for her, and she jumped out the way.

"Colonel! Daniel! Teal'c! Wake-"

But her screaming was muffled with a giant hand suffocating her words. She saw more of these wild people come out of the bushes, and three more men came and gruffly took hold of the rest of SG-1. They were torn out of drowsiness and immediately tried fighting back. It was no use.

They were carried to a small cluster of savage-made tents far from the grove of trees where they had been. Sam couldn't understand why these people hadn't been picked up on their radar. Bit late to worry about that now. They were placed in a small tent, bound around the wrists and ankles, and then left.

"Okay… now, why did that happen?" Jack growled.

"General Hammond and our tracking devices said that there was no sign of human… er, creature existence. I don't understand. How could we have missed things this big?" Daniel said, looking at Sam.

"Teal'c, have you ever seen something like these?" Sam asked.

"No, I have not. They are not of my world." He said, blankly.

"Well, this is just great. And I was hoping that this could actually be a normal, boring mission." Jack said, angrily.

"This is just great. Another thing to keep us apart." Jack thought. He kicked the ground in anger. He just wanted to be with her, was it so much to ask? He shook his head, and glanced at Sam. She was watching him with sad, understanding eyes.

"We will find a way to escape." Said Teal'c, sensing what was going on.

At that moment, the tent door opened, their gaze now on a huge being. He was dirty, and menacing, with arrows and daggers glinting meanly on his belt.

"Well, hello there." Said Jack, with mock friendliness.

"Um…. Hello. I'm Daniel Jackson. That's Jack, this is Teal'c and that's Sam." Daniel motioned to each respective person. Jack rolled his eyes. He hated Daniel's "We come here in peace" speech.

The creature just stared at them.

"For cryin' out loud." Jack exploded, "What do ya want!"

It glared at him, pulling him up by the arm.

"You are no use. You go." It said, in a deep, croaky voice.

"Um… thanks?" Jack said, looking around.

He helped Daniel and Teal'c up, and made his way over to Sam.

"No." growled the creature, "Female stay."

Jack whipped around, "We're not leaving without her."

The creature bore down on him, brandishing a threateningly long blade. Jack stood his ground.

"She comes." He whispered, a dangerous tone in his voice. "I'm not leaving her."

The thing pressed the knife into his neck, making a small red slit.

"She stay." It snarled, "She mine now. Go or you die."

"Colonel, please," Sam whimpered, close to tears. If there was one thing that would get to her, it was Jack. "Please go. I'll be okay."

"No! I'm not losing you!" Jack shouted at her, tears burning his eyes.

"I'll be okay. I'll find a way out." She murmured to the ground.

Daniel came up behind Jack. "We go now." He said to the being.

It lowed it's knife and Daniel took Jack by the arm, pulling him outside. Jack looked over his shoulder, defeated. He mouthed "I love you" before turning away. He knew it would be pointless to fight back.

Teal'c turned to follow.

"We shall return for you, Major Carter." He said softly. "Colonel O'Neill will make sure of it."

A/N: Yeah... I know... drastic turn... sorry