A/N: Here we go again! Major spoilers for Window of Opportunity
OoO
Chapter Four
"And then there was the time loop," Jack grinned.
Daniel looked up from his turkey sandwich and stared at him. "You know, you never did tell us what you got up to while you were in that loop."
"Must've slipped my mind," Jack muttered.
"You could tell us now, sir," Sam said.
Jack seemed to debate this for a moment before opening his mouth. "Well, we played golf through the Stargate…"
Sam and Daniel looked at him incredulously. The three of them had been sitting in the food storage area for the past half hour, reminiscing about old times. Jonas had fallen asleep in another part of the ship, and Teal'c was still flying the thing.
"You played golf through the Stargate…" Sam repeated, smiling slightly.
"Did you get caught?" Daniel asked.
"Oh yeah," Jack said. "Let me tell you, General Hammond was not a happy camper."
"I see," Daniel said. "What else?"
"Well I taught myself how to use a pottery wheel…did you know the SGC has them?" Jack said.
"No, no I didn't," Daniel replied.
"So that's why you made me that pot," Sam said.
Jack smiled slightly. "Yeah, I couldn't think of anything else to give you for your birthday…so I put to practice the skills I learnt in my extra 3 months of that year."
"What are you discussing?"
They all looked up to see Teal'c entering the room and sitting down next to Daniel.
"The time loop thing," Daniel said.
Teal'c smiled slightly and looked at Jack. "And what have you revealed to them?"
"Oh you know…just the playing golf through the Stargate and me learning pottery," Jack said.
"What else?" Daniel asked.
"Ah…well that's about it really," Jack said, looking down at his hands, which he was fiddling with.
He felt the presence of Sam so close to him and tried to shut out the memory of the kiss. He had never told anyone, not even Teal'c knew what had happened. It was his own little secret. Suddenly the last few years flooded back into his mind, the hurt, the pain, the sadness. What had happened? Where had everything gone so wrong? He sighed.
"Why don't I believe that?" Daniel said. "That smile that on your face after I first asked you about the time loop was about much more than just that…"
"Well maybe not everything is to be shared, Daniel," Jack replied.
His good mood was gone. For a moment it had felt like old times. Sitting around in a cargo ship, eating food and chatting pointlessly, trying to pass the hours to the alien planet.
"Sir, are you OK?" Sam asked.
He clenched his fist. "I'm fine," he lied, avoiding looking in her direction.
He knew Daniel and Sam exchanged a look, one of those 'he's lying' looks. He didn't even have to see it to know they'd exchanged it. Even after all these years he still knew them just as well as he always had. They would always be closer than anyone could possibly imagine.
"I'm gonna get some rest," Jack said, standing up and walking out of the room.
He felt eyes on him, but he didn't care.
"Jack…"
He stopped and turned around to face Daniel. "What?"
"Something happened between you and Sam in the time loop…didn't it?" Daniel stated.
"Now what makes you jump to that conclusion?" Jack asked, sarcastically.
"I saw the look that came over your face. First you smiled, and then slowly you got upset…" Daniel left it hanging.
Jack glanced quickly at the door to the room where Teal'c and Sam were still sitting.
"I kissed her," Jack said. "Happy?"
Daniel didn't reply, he just stood there, looking like Daniel always did.
Jack turned and stormed towards where he'd always liked sleeping.
OoO
"I kissed her. Happy?"
Sam stopped at the doorway.
What!?
She turned back around and bumped straight into Teal'c. "Sorry," she muttered, ducking around him and sitting back down on the box she'd been seated on before.
"ColonelCarter?" Teal'c stood opposite her
She didn't hear him, her mind was completely elsewhere. He'd kissed her? By her did he mean….Sam? When had she kissed him? She'd never kissed him…unless…
"Teal'c, in the time loop…were you and General O'Neill together all the time?" Sam asked.
Teal'c shook his head slightly. "We were separated a great deal of the time."
"I see…" Sam said.
It was possible. But then why hadn't he ever told her?
Of course he'd never told her, that was the whole point of having done it in a time loop, so no one could remember it. Only he knew, and it was his little secret. She'd had her chance to do the same, when she'd been on the Prometheus alone, hallucinating. She could have just leaned over and kissed hallucination Jack, it wouldn't have meant anything to the world…but it would've been something to her.
Daniel walked back through the door, seemingly in deep thought.
"What was that about?" Sam demanded, standing up.
Daniel looked up at her and blinked, put off by her harsh tone. "What?"
"I kissed her?" Sam repeated Jack's words.
"Oh…" Daniel said.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Teal'c raise an eyebrow.
"Well?" Sam asked.
"It's nothing," Daniel said, still in deep thought.
She stared at him. "Fine."
She stormed past him and out of the room.
She walked into the room SG-1 had always slept in. Jack was setting up an area to sleep in.
"Oh, never mind," she turned around to leave.
"Wait, Carter!" he said.
She stopped and turned slowly. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"
He paused, for a moment extremely confused. But the realisation spread over his face. He looked up at her.
"You heard," he stated.
"Yeah," Sam replied.
"You know why I never told you," he replied.
So many questions ran through her mind. What was it like? What exactly happened? Who was there? Did she kiss back? But she couldn't ask any of them.
"It was in the control room," Jack muttered, making a pillow out of his jacket. "I typed up a letter of resignation and gave it to Hammond, and then…well you know…"
"In front of Hammond?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, why not? It's not like he was going to remember it," Jack smiled slightly and looked at her.
Her heart seemed to leap into her throat. She didn't know what to say. She'd gone all fuzzy inside, become completely frozen. She'd forgotten what it was like, being close to him. She wanted to open her mouth and say something, but nothing came to her to say.
"It was stupid," Jack said, suddenly aware of the fact that she might be mad at him.
"If you'd kept your stupidity in that cave, things would be very different," Sam said.
"Things are different, Sam," he said.
Things are different?
Things are different.
"He's still alive," Sam said, firmly.
"I know," Jack said.
"Hey Sam, have you seen my hat?" Daniel asked, wandering into the room, then he stopped. "Oh…I'm gonna go."
"I have it," Sam replied to his question. "It's in my bag, this way."
She turned around and left the room, half thankful her conversation with Jack had been interrupted.
OoO
"My lord, the Tau'ri have taken the bait, they are on their way," the blonde Jaffa knelt down in front of his master.
The Goa'uld Atum grinned, he came forward from the shadows into the light. His dark Egyptian coloring in his completely black outfit against the shadow made him more formidable to his Jaffa.
"Good, then everything is going as planned," Atum said. "Now, bring me the prisoner, I believe she has information we can use."
The blonde Jaffa nodded to the two other Jaffa who then walked off to get the prisoner.
"Are we ready to move out?" Atum asked.
"We are just waiting for three more ships and then we are ready," the Jaffa replied.
"Well done," Atum smiled, leaning back in his thrown.
The Jaffa knelt on one knee and bowed slightly. "My service to you is my service to the universe."
"Let me go!"
Atum looked over to where the prisoner had just been brought in. The Tau'ri girl was approximately sixteen cycles old, and had brown hair to her shoulders. She wore strange Earth attire, very different to that the Egyptian people had worn when Atum ruled on the planet.
"Bring her here," Atum said.
The Jaffa pulled her over and threw her on the ground in front of Atum. She stood up quickly.
"Let me go," she said defiantly.
"Kneel before your God," Atum said, his eyes glowing.
"Whoa…" the girl said.
One of the Jaffa pushed her forward and she fell on her knees.
"How'd you do that?" she asked.
"You will remain quiet unless I ask you a question," Atum said.
The girl stopped talking and looked at him, fear in her eyes for the first time.
"What is your name?" Atum asked.
"Alex Shaw," the girl said.
"That's better…now Alex, we're going to have a little talk," Atum said, grinning evilly…
OoO
A/N: Dum dum DUM!!! Now you're going to have to review so I get motivation to write the next chapter!! Nudge nudge wink wink….
