Jack checked his watch for the umpteenth time. He had tried to relax on a lounge chair on his deck, a cold beer as his companion, but now it had warmed, not appealing anymore, and the slight alcohol he had already drank did nothing to calm his nerves.
He knew Sam had enough conscience to do the right thing, but technically, the fault was not hers, it had been Hammond's in the first place, and he hated to think his old friend might have been compromised in any way.
Finally a car pulled up by his house. He rounded it from outside to go greet his guest.
"Jack." He said, shaking his hand.
"General."
"Jack." He said with a half smile, stepping inside.
"Sorry to steal your time with your family, George, I know now you're in D.C. you don't see them often enough." Jack said appologetically.
George Hammond chuckled.
"What is it, Jack?"
He beckoned the general to come with him around the house to the deck. Resuming his place on the deck chair, he pointed the other one to the older man, and offered him a beer from the cooler.
"George, Carter's in trouble."
"Shanahan?"
"How'd you guessed?"
"I figured you would ask why he was given clearance one day or another." George Hammond Shrugged.
"Then why?"
"There were rumors the Stargate program would become public." He started.
"That was more than one month before you got kicked out, with all due respect, George," Jack cut him.
"I didn't want to alarm you at the time, we had enough on our minds with Anubis, but the current president feared that with the election and the new president, the Stargate would become public. Not to mention Kinsey and the NID's antics. Shanahan was a test. He was clear, and the president and the joint chiefs figured it was okay to give him minimum clearance."
"Did you know he did a background check on Carter?"
Hammond's face went blank.
"That's why he was there at the stake out?" he asked.
Jack simply nodded.
Hammond kept silent, trying to control his emotions.
"Does she know?"
"I went to see her this morning; she said she would sort it out herself."
"Typical Sam."
O'Neill snorted. "Yeah."
"She's not responsible."
"I know, but she's gonna take the blame on herself anyway," Jack sighed.
"You think she'll resign?"
"I know she will, but I won't accept it."
"Look, Jack, I don't want to interfere or anything, but I suggest you talk with her, and maybe President Hayes could help too."
"Oh, sure, President Hayes can do anything, he's the president, right?" he smirked. "But I don't think he's the help she needs."
"I was not talking about her, Jack." Hammond said gently.
Jack looked up sharply.
"George…"
"Jack, about Sam, ultimately I think some of the best help she can get is from her own father." He quickly changed the subject.
"George, you know as well as I do that he's not more available than when you left," Jack shrugged. "I don't even know where their darn headquarters are now. When Jacob came to visit us last, it was right after we put Baal forever in a not-so-restful place, and it was just to give us a message that he and Selmak were working on diplomacy…"
Both men lapsed in silence, quietly drinking their beer. Then Hammond stood up, putting his empty bottle on the table behind him.
"Jack, whatever the crisis is, I know you'll find a way through it."
Jack snorted.
"We always do, right?" he said, looking the older man in the eyes.
George Hammond smiled sympathetically, then patted Jack on the shoulder before leaving.
Jack looked at his now empty bottle, gathered George's, and went inside to dispose of them.
When Sam Carter arrived, he was flopped on his couch, watching the weather channel.
"You miss Jonas?" she asked playfully, entering the house from the deck and startling him.
"Oh! Carter!" he said, fumbling with the remote and switching the TV off. He stood up and headed to the kitchen while she left her handbag and car keys on the coffee table, sitting on one of the big armchairs facing the couch.
"Want something to drink?" he asked from his kitchen.
"Orange juice?"
He popped his head through the opening on his dining room.
"Lemonade?" he suggested.
"That's fine," she replied.
After a minute, he came back with a tall glass of lemonade and a bottle of spring water.
He gave her the drink and sat opposite her.
He noticed she was slightly nervous, a sealed envelope resting in her hands.
"What's that?" he asked, pointing at the envelope.
She took a deep breath.
"Sir, I put the SGC at high risk when I told Pete Shanahan about the Stargate program, not knowing him as I thought I did. I should have been far more careful--"
"Colonel," he started.
"Not anymore, sir," she interrupted giving him the envelope. "This is my letter of resignation. As of now I am not a member of the Air Force anymore." She said in a blow.
Jack sat forward, toying with the envelope with his fingers.
"What makes you think I'll accept?" he asked softly.
"I can send it to higher places, sir, with all due respect," she replied.
"But you won't," he said calmly.
She looked up sharply.
"Why not?"
"Because that's not the Carter I know."
She stood up suddenly, in rage.
"Would the Carter you know ever do such a foolish thing as to ask for her sneaky boyfriend to know about the SGC and what it does?"
"He got clearance. Our own people did not do a very thorough job on purpose," he cut her before she had time to say more.
"They did what?" she asked disbelieving and sitting down.
Jack sighed.
"George was here a few hours ago. Let's say that Pete Shanahan was a test in case the Stargate Program was to become public."
"A test?"
"That does not excuse his behavior, mind you. I'm just saying that George received clearance to tell him because the former president wanted to see what impact that would have on Mr. Everybody. Turns out Mr. Everybody was not 'everybody', and that we should have been more careful, perhaps. So basically what I'm saying is that in the eyes of the USAF, you have done nothing wrong."
He pushed the envelope back towards her.
"You're still on active duty, Lieutenant Colonel." He said softly.
Sam kept silent, trying to understand.
"I threw him out." She eventually said in a soft voice.
"Call him?"
"No, you don't understand."
"Obviously not," he said frowning.
"He talked about trust and all, and he couldn't wait for our relationship to settle in on its own course. Maybe I would have told him, at least what I could, but he had to check by himself--" she left the last words hanging.
He looked at her, his elbows propped on his knees, his glass of water in one hand.
"Ending a relationship is always difficult, Carter." He said gently.
"That's not it, sir. Why can't I get a normal relationship?" she asked, looking straight in his eyes. "Why do men need to control my life?"
"It's not control--"
"Yes, it is!" she shouted. "What did he want to achieve by that? That's what I'm trying to figure! He knew my brother, he knew what kind of person I am, and he knew I am military! He's a cop, for crying out loud! I never asked him details about the cases he was investigating! I accepted him for who he was! He didn't! He couldn't bear the fact that I had to hold things about my life from him!"
"So okay, that was immature, but that doesn't make him a control freak!" Jack said, raising his voice.
"You're defending him?" she asked disbelieving.
"I sure as hell don't!" he said defensively. Then he calmed down. "Look, Sam. I'm just trying to insert some male logic in there. And experience. Believe me, I've had time to think about my own failures." He chuckled derisively. "What Pete did is condemnable. But he was more being childish in acting that way, than trying to control your life. It is my opinion and probably not yours, but trust a male point of you there. The guy cares about you despite what you think, maybe you should call him."
As Sam remained silent, he stood up and beckoned her to the entrance door.
"Try to not over think things, Colonel, and I hope to be seeing you on Monday."
"Actually, we do have a 7 day leave, sir." She replied automatically.
"Yeah, I know, I'll drop by your lab on Monday." He said, a gentle smile tugging at his lips.
She looked at him as she exited the house, shook her head slightly, then went to her car.
Jack closed the door behind her and leant his back to it.
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Jack strolled down the corridors of the SGC, Sam's lab being his destination.
He had guessed right, she was dismantling some alien device underneath a magnifier and seemed rather concentrated on the task.
He coughed discreetly to announce his presence.
Not taking her eyes off her work, Sam acknowledged his presence.
"Good morning, sir."
"Morning, Carter." He said casually.
He leaned against the door frame and observed her silently.
After a minute or two, Sam finally put her pliers down and looked at him questioningly.
"Something I can do for you, sir?" she asked.
"Actually I was wondering if you would have a coffee?" he said innocently.
"Sounds good, let me finish taking this apart, and we'll go," she smiled.
About ten minutes later they were sitting opposite each other in the rather deserted commissary.
"How're you doing?" Jack asked.
She smiled to herself.
"Going straight to the point, sir?" she looked at him, her eyes twinkling.
He smiled briefly, casting his eyes down.
"I just want to know how my friend's doing, what's wrong with that?" he asked defensively.
She put her hand on top of his reassuringly. She didn't think much of her gesture until she noticed he jumped slightly at her contact. She retrieved her hand slowly.
"Nothing, sir. I appreciate." She said gently. "I am fine, I followed your advice, I talked to Pete."
At that, he looked her straight in the eyes.
"And?" he asked.
"He was concerned I was going to resign, so he was kind of relieved when I told him I wasn't going to."
Jack smiled briefly, but it didn't reach his eyes.
"So you're okay, then?"
"Yes, I'm okay," she replied. "Thanks to you."
"No sweat, Carter," he dismissed her, drinking another sip of his coffee.
"Sir?"
"Yes, Carter?"
"I was wondering…"
He looked at her questioningly.
"Would it be too forward or inappropriate for me to ask if you would want to have a beer or something this evening?"
If he was surprised, he didn't let it show.
"You know the Commissary doesn't have beers--"
"I didn't mean here, sir," she said shyly.
"Oh." He said, raising his eyebrows. "I thought Pete was supposed to be visiting while you were on leave--"
"We talked, sir, but it didn't mend things between us," she interrupted. "And tonight, I need to talk to a friend who understands me, who doesn't need to run a background check on me to trust me, and who can make me laugh." She said gently.
This time his surprise could be read on his face; never in all the time he had known her, had she been so opened with him.
He shook his head slightly, raising his eyebrows.
"Then I'm your man," he shrugged. "Just say when and where?"
"O'Malley's, 1930?"
"Sounds good to me. Unless there's an emergency at the SGC," he joked.
She smiled brightly.
"Back to my lab, sir," she said, standing up.
Jack remained alone frowning. He didn't really know what happened, and he was not entirely sure on how to take it, but he decided he would live by the moment.
Of course, the latest months had somehow increased the level of intimacy they shared. His new position at the head of the SGC allowed him to have more private conversations with her than he had ever had, also the fact that everybody knew she had a boyfriend made that his frequent little friendly gestures could not be misinterpreted either, and they had quietly settled in a routine of smiles, private jokes, and looks that said more than words. He hoped to God the fact that she had broken up with Pete was not going to shatter all that.
He raised his mug to sip the last drops of coffee it contained, grimaced as the cold tasteless liquid slid down his throat, and stood up to go to his office.
