A/N: I'm not even gonna make excuses….just…gonna write…lol….sorry its been a while
Chapter Five
"So…"
Sam ignored Daniel as she pulled his hat out of her bag. As if it wasn't difficult enough having to see him again, knowing her husband was lying in a coma in a hospital bed, her son at home with Cassie, this had to come up.
"Sam?"
"I don't wanna talk Daniel," she said, snapping at him.
She instantly regretted it, feeling Daniel's confusion. She sighed, letting her shoulders slump. She sat down, leaning against the wall of the ship and handing Daniel his hat.
He hesitantly sat down next to her. "You sure?"
"No," Sam replied.
There was a long pause, not awkward, just two friends thinking. Thinking of their past, what had happened…
What had gone wrong…
Sam sighed. "It's just hard…"
"I know," Daniel replied. "Sometimes we make decisions….and we have to live with them, as hard as that may be."
"Yeah," Sam replied, the repeated it more quietly. "Yeah…."
OoO
The jacket hit the wall and slid down it. Teal'c raises an eyebrow, noting Jack's obvious anger as he slid down the wall next to the jacket he had just thrown and sat on the floor.
"O'Neill…" Teal'c said, entering the room slowly.
He had spent so many years with humans that he had eventually gotten used to it, yet having been away from humans for the past few years he'd forgotten how emotionally unstable they could be.
"Yes Teal'c?" Jack said, the sarcastic tone in his voice implying that he didn't particularly want to have a conversation with anyone at that moment.
"Are you angry at ColonelCarter?" he asked, entering the room carefully.
"No," he replied.
Teal'c sensed sarcasm in his voice, but also detected a sense of truth. He knew it was almost impossible for Jack to be angry at Sam, as hard as he tried, he never truly was.
He didn't know what to do, so he stood there for a long moment.
"I lost her," Jack muttered. "It was supposed to stay that way….I didn't want this, I don't want all the memories brought back. Being here, with you guys, with her…"
He stopped himself and continued staring blankly at the floor in front of him.
"I'm gonna sleep."
Teal'c nodded and left the room, allowing Jack to find a comfortable place to set up camp for the night. Things were not working out so well, they weren't the SG-1 they had once been…
But maybe they could be.
OoO
Jack lay on the floor of the cargo ship watching the roof. Teal'c was flying, he wasn't sure where Sam and Daniel were. At the thought of Sam he gritted his teeth, he had been such an idiot, he'd let her go, knowing he didn't want to, but thinking it was best for her.
Well that had worked out great. She was husbandless while still having a husband, and it was all his fault. If he had just said something.
He rolled onto his side and stared at the wall. He couldn't sleep, he was out of training, he hadn't had the need to sleep in strange uncomfortable places for years, and now he couldn't do it.
Especially when he had thoughts on his mind. Why hadn't he said anything? She'd been there, offering him the opportunity to say 'don't marry him' to tell her that he cared, so many times she'd given him that opportunity.
Instead he'd let it pass, until it was too late.
He felt his hand curl into a fist and tighten. He let it relax, he didn't want to be angry. He had resigned to be an old man, someone who had once had a life and no longer needed one, he didn't need this emotional war which was fighting itself inside of him.
He continued to stare blankly ahead, refusing to let himself cry. As hard as the emotional battle was he wasn't allowed to cry. General O'Neill didn't cry. Jack O'Neill also didn't cry. Somewhere along the line they had melded into one person. He stayed silent, he dealt with his troubles the only way he knew how, to hide them.
To hope that if he hid from them they would go away.
He should have learnt by now, but he hadn't.
It never worked.
He watched from his car, debating whether or not to even get out and talk to her. He'd seen the car pull up only moments before, dispelling the bride. She smiled as she stood there, her father and Cassie on either side of her, both grinning. Sam was smiling, but it wasn't the smile of someone who was uncontrollably happy.
Oh what the hell.
He pushed open the door, but remained in his car for a few more moments. Jacob and Cassie walked off, Sam paused for a moment, trying to make her foot comfortable in the uncomfortable shoes. He took his chance.
Leaving his car he walked over to her, standing next to her. As she looked up a look of shock came over her. He could read her face.
She was shocked that he had come.
Not angry, but surprised.
"Sir," she said, calmly.
"Carter…" he said.
"Why are you here?"
No time for idle conversation. He breathed in deeply, looking away, looking towards Jacob and Cassie who were now standing behind the glass doors, waiting.
"You sent an invitation," he stated.
"I didn't think you'd come," she replied.
He looked back at her. "I didn't…"
She looked confused for a moment, before the realisation came over her. He wasn't there to see her wedding.
"Come to say goodbye?" she asked, a hint of anger in her voice.
"No," he had to say it now, before his courage shrank away. "Please don't marry him…"
She stared into his eyes. He could see the emotion building up within her, her fighting off tears. She looked away, blinking a few times.
"Not now, Jack," she said quietly. "Not now…."
She turned and left, leaving him alone in the car park of the venue. He felt his shoulders slump as he watched her enter the church and join her father and bridesmaid.
He turned to return to his car before reconsidering. He waited till she had entered the church and then slipped in after her. He stood at the back, hoping no one would notice him. He felt out of place in his baggy clothes while others all wore suits.
He saw Daniel, Teal'c and Hammond seated together, pain hit him. Teal'c was there, all the way from Chulak, and he wasn't. The whole time he hadn't been there for her, probably when she'd needed him.
She hated him.
That hurt. More than her marrying someone else, more than anything…she hated him. With good reason. He watched as she reached the front of the aisle, turning to face Pete.
He watched as they exchanged vows.
As they shared their first kiss as a married couple.
And then he slipped away.
Forever.
He felt a jolt and the ship dropped out of hyperspace. Jack sprang up, throwing off his sleeping bag and jogging to the peltak. Sam and Daniel were just entering from the other direction, Teal'c sitting, looking confusedly out the window.
"What's up?" Jack asked.
Sam took the seat next to Teal'c and looked at the controls.
"We have been pulled out of hyperspace by some kind of tractor beam," Teal'c observed. "It is like nothing I have ever seen…."
Jack leaned on the back of Sam's chair, looking out the window. There was a large space ship of some kind hovering in front of them, it was slowly getting closer as they drifted towards it.
"What's happening?"
They all turned around to see a half-asleep Jonas wander into the room. His eyes widened as he saw the space ship.
"What is that?"
"We don't know," Daniel replied.
At that moment the screen lit up.
"Dad!"
The surprise imminent in Sam's voice was reflected on all their faces. Jacob Carter, and Selmak, appeared on the monitor in front of them, looking confused.
"What are you doing?" Jacob commanded.
Jack saw Sam flinch, she hadn't talked to her father since the wedding and here he was, completely ignoring her and demanding to know what they were doing.
"We were flying," Jack replied. "What are you doing?"
"Stopping you, we know exactly where you're going and we can't let you do that," Jacob said.
"Why not?" Jack asked.
"Because we have our own plan in place," Jacob replied. "We're towing you aboard, will talk to you when you get here."
The screen went blank and Jack felt the old irritation at the Tok'ra habit of not sharing information with them rising again.
"Those Tok'ra…" he muttered.
Sam was still staring blankly at the screen, Jack could only guess that she was unable to fathom why her father didn't seem happy to see her at all.
"Jonas, Daniel, get the naquadriah," Jack ordered.
They both ran off to get the naquadriah. There was silence on the peltak, none of the three remaining spoke, they just watched intently as they were pulled into the hold of the massive ship. There was a jerk as they stopped completely. Jack turned and headed towards the exit, grabbing his gear on the way. Jacob was waiting outside, two other Tok'ra behind him.
"Jack," he greeted.
"What they hell do you think you're doing? Pulling us out of hyperspace?" Jack asked. "Did you even know it was us?"
"We suspected," Jacob said.
"Well that was rude," Jack said.
"I'm sorry, but it was necessary," Jacob said. "We read the coordinates you were flying to and felt the need to stop you."
"How did you do that?" Sam asked from behind him.
"Technology can develop a lot in five years Sam," he said.
Jack felt a coldness between them. Had something happened that he didn't know about? He only considered this for a moment before brushing the thought aside. The two of them had a strange relationship, due to things that had happened before the SGC.
Jack turned to find the others all standing behind him. "Lets go Jacob, explain your plan away…"
"Follow me," Jacob said, turning and leaving the docking bay.
Jack followed after him, hearing the others following him…
OoO
A/N: Please review!! Hopefully the next chapter isn't too far off!
