Sam made her way down the hall to her lab, her arms full of papers. She had some work to finish up before she could go home, and frankly she had some thinking to do. Daniel stopped her just as she was going to walk in the door, "Hey, Sam, have you seen Jack?" he asked.

Sam turned and shook her head, "Nope, not in the past hour or so. Maybe he went home early," she said, setting the papers down on her desk without looking at it, not noticing that she covered a small white envelope as she did.

Daniel sighed, "Damn, I needed to ask him something. Oh well, you want to go and get some dinner with me and Teal'c?"

Sam shook her head, "Can't tonight. I've still got all this work to do, and I would like to go home sometime tonight."

"Ok, then, see you later," Daniel said and walked out of the door.

"See ya," Sam said as she sat down at her desk. Instead of beginning on her work, however, she placed her head in her hands. Too many thoughts were running around in her head. Her father's death was still fresh in her mind, as were the words that he said before he died, "Don't let regulations stand in your way."

"Easy for you to say, Dad," she muttered to herself. She had broke it off with Pete because se knew that she really didn't love him as much as he loved her, and that wasn't fair to him. She didn't know what to do now, though. She had gone to Jack's house to tell him how she felt, only to be interrupted by his new girlfriend. How could she have made such a fool of herself? 'Stop thinking about it,' she told herself, and turned her attention to the paperwork that was piled up on her desk.

Sam became lost in her work, so much that she didn't notice how much time had passed until Daniel came into her lab again, "Hey, Sam," he said, "it's almost 10:00. Time to head home."

Sam smiled at him, "I'm almost done. Not much longer. I really want to finish this tonight."

"Suit yourself," he said, "I'm headed home. See you tomorrow. How are the wedding plans coming?"

"Um, actually, I called off the wedding," she said, "It just wasn't right."

"Are you sure?" he asked, not really shocked, but not wanting to let her know that.

Sam smiled, "Yeah, Daniel, I am. This is what's right for me. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye," he said and left, grinning.

"It was almost 2300 hours when Sam finally finished with the last piece of paper that she had stacked on her desk. She was surprised to see that there was an envelope with her name on it left on her desk. Wondering who could it could be from, she leaned back in her chair and opened it.

Sam read the letter once, stopped, gaped at the page, and then read it again. This couldn't be real, could it? Tears streamed down her cheeks. Who would have known that he could write something so, so beautiful. Sam didn't know he had it in him. This was a big shock. Looking at her watch, she was surprised by the time, but knew that she had to talk to him tonight. She leapt out of her chair and ran all the way to her car, still crying. He was so sincere, and he still thought that she was going to marry Pete. She had to fix this. She had to tell him the truth.

She drove to his house on autopilot. She was so lost in her thoughts that she would never be able to recall how she got there in one piece. She could barely see through her tears. She pulled up in front of his house noticing that the lights were all out. Knowing that if she didn't do it now, she never would, she turned off the ignition and walked to his front door.

She rang the doorbell and then wiped her cheeks, noticing only then that his letter was still clutched in her hand. She didn't know what she was going to say to him. She didn't hear the footsteps coming to the door and jumped when the door opened.

"Carter?" a very tired, disheveled Jack O'Neill was not surprised to see her there, but was surprised to see her crying, "What's wrong?" He had never meant to make her cry. It took all of his restraint not to take her in his arms and make the tears stop. He didn't know how she would react if he did.

The tears came afresh as she looked at him. She held up the letter that he had written her, noticing the apprehension on his face. "I don't want you to wish me these things," she said through her tears.

Jack unconsciously took a step back, "You don't?" he asked softly.

Sam took a step toward him; it was now or never, "No, Jack, I don't."

The use of his first name not lost on him, he still wondered what in the world she was getting at, "Then what do you want?" he whispered. He had never been as scared as he was right now.

Sam closed the distance between them, "I want you to give them to me," she whispered before bringing her lips to his.

Jack's hesitation flew out the window as he took her in him arms and kissed her back with all the feeling he could muster. Something was still nagging at him, though, and he forced himself to break the kiss, "What about Pete, Sam?" he asked, not letting her go.

Sam smiled, "I broke it off with Pete just after my dad died. With all the commotion, I never got a chance to tell anyone. What about Kerry?"

"She broke up with me when she realized that she could never replace you," he said, noticing for the first time that they were still standing half in his house and half out of it. He pulled her inside and shut the door before taking her again into his arms and kissing her deeply.

"I love you, Sam," he whispered, when they pulled apart a few moments later.

"I love you, too, Jack," she whispered back. She knew there would be repercussions, but they could discuss those tomorrow. Tonight, she was merely going to enjoy this.

The End. Please Review!