O'Malley was packed. He checked his watch: 1927… If he knew Carter well, she should already be here or would be in the next three minutes.

He scanned briefly the room until he saw her waving at him.

She was seated in a relatively secluded booth that overlooked the entrance.

He smiled and stepped towards her, slipping then in the booth on the bench opposite her.

"You already ordered?" he asked, taking his jacket off and laying it on the bench next to him.

"I was waiting for you." She replied smiling.

"Bud'?"

"You know me well."

He signaled for the waitress and they waited for their order to arrive in comfortable silence.

"So, Carter, what did you want to talk about?" he said once he had taken a few swigs.

She looked thoughtful for an instant, then looked him straight in the eyes.

"Sir, all in all Pete was a nice guy."

Jack winced.

"Ah, Carter, I'm not sure I'm the right person to discuss this with you…"

"Just, hear me out. I'm not going to cry over your shoulder," she chuckled. "But I wanted to have a private conversation with you."

"Carter," he sighed.

"Sir, no masks, no military ranks, no nothing. I just want to know where we stand. Is that against regulations? You know and I know that they exist, and we've abided by them so far, there's no reason we are going to just throw them through the window. Right now, I don't need any reminder of who my professional self is, I just want to talk to my best friend."

"Is that what we are? Best friends?"

A sad look briefly shadowed her eyes.

"I decided it was better than nothing, and since Janet's death…" she let the sentence hanging.

Jack finally relaxed.

"Okay," he simply said.

"Pete entered the picture a short while after my experience on the Prometheus. I guess I needed to know I was still a woman," she chuckled. "I liked Pete, I really did, and frankly, I could have settled in with him."

"I told you it's still possible, Carter. You just need to put your pride aside for once." He said gently.

"I don't want to." She said softly, then she looked at him sharply. "Sir, tell me honestly you don't feel anything for me."

He looked her in the eyes for a minute before replying.

"I can't," he said honestly.

She took a deep breath.

"Then I want to give us a chance--"

"There's no such thing as an us, Carter!" Jack said sharply.

"Not now, that's right," she responded, her eyes ablaze. "But we're not going to be at the SGC all our lives," she said more calmly.

O'Neill chuckled derisively.

"Carter, look at you, you're young, brilliant, and beautiful, don't go wasting your life with a guy twelve years older than you are. We could be there for I don't know how many years unless I go wacko before the end of my assignment, and then there won't be anything left that'd be worth it, right?" he made to stand up, but she put her hand on his forearm.

"Jack O'Neill, you sit down and listen to me!" she said, her rage barely contained. "Five months ago in Antarctica, I thought I had lost you forever, that you wouldn't' fight for me, I won't tolerate another lame escape!"

"Whoa! Calm down, Carter! Don't you forget who you're talking to!" Jack was getting annoyed.

"Don't you remind me of our ranks either, I said I didn't want ranks or any other military bullshit between us tonight, I just want Sam and Jack! For once!"

"Carter, whatever it is you want it IS inappropriate. I don't like it anymore than you do, but that's the way it is. More so now that I'm the leader of the SGC. I was the one to promote you, Carter. Haven't you heard what's being said within the SGC and even in higher places? When he was vice president, Kinsey suggested we had far more than a working relationship going on! When I heard that, I thought we shoulda been jumping each other's bones since that Za'tarc testing, at least we woulda had some compensation!" he said in a frustrated voice.

She was staring at him disbelieving.

"Kinsey thought what?" she asked.

He sighed.

"It's not important what he thought. It's reached places it shouldn't have, and even though we both know we are innocent, faced with some evidences, I don't know how we could possibly explain them and make it look like we're just comrades in arms."

A short silence ensued.

"I understand."

"While you were dating Pete, it was safe being with you, Sam. People knew you had a regular, and our little friendly gestures could not be misinterpreted," he resumed.

"So that's why you pushed me to reconcile with him?"

"No."

"Then dammit, why?" she slapped the table in front on her, making a few customers at the counter looking briefly their direction.

He sighed once more.

"I already told you, back at my house."

"Jack."

Her mention of his name made him look at her.

"If I resign, there will be no more obstacles between us."

"No, Carter. You're one damn fine officer and you have a promising career ahead of you, I won't let you jeopardize that," he said more calmly.

"What gives you the right to decide the important issues of my life?"

He frowned.

"You said it yourself, I'm your best friend."

"Oh so when it suits you you're my friend, and when it doesn't you're not."

"This is a privilege my star grants me?" he smirked, then resumed more seriously. "After the Asgard took all the crap out of my head, I wanted to retire, really. I wanted to go to my cabin, buy a dog, and settle for my old days, but Hammond wouldn't hear any of it. He and President Hayes asked me to lead the SGC. After thinking about it, I realized it was a good compromise. I knew my time as a field officer was coming to an end and the kind of challenge leading the SGC presented was a good opportunity for me to go in a blaze. Plus… It would allow me to still watch your six from a distance," he concluded with a wink.

"I hope you enjoy the view," she said as seriously as she could muster.

He smiled briefly.

"Believe me I do!" he winked again, eliciting a small shy smile from her.

He looked at her, his eyes burning, then sighed and resumed, "Carter. Sam," he reached for her fingers on the table. "You wanted honesty, here comes honesty," he took a deep breath. "Know that I have two interests in my life at the moment. The first one is the SGC, and the second is sitting right in front of me. Right now, the first has precedence over the second, but it won't last forever. I don't see myself hanging in the ranks of the military for another ten years, but it might be some time. So if in the meantime you meet someone--"

"Not going to happen." She interrupted.

He raised his pointer finger. "Ah!" he said warningly. "If you meet someone," he resumed. "I really want you to move on, go ahead and be happy, for however long it lasts, and I mean however long."

"I don't--"

"Promise," he insisted.

She sighed.

"Okay, I promise, but it's unlikely to happen."

"You never know."

A short silence ensued.

He resumed, "Sam, I'm the safest bet you could ever have, so when I eventually retire, if you're still in the same mood as you are now, know that I'll be more than ready to try that path on with you, but right now, anything more than a working relationship, albeit a close one, is impossible."

She looked him in the eyes intensely, her azure gaze bearing into his brown.

"Is that your final word on this?" she asked.

"It is."

"Then I hold you onto this promise."

With that, she raised her hand, trapping his fingertips within hers, and laid a soft kiss on them, earning an intense look from him.

He retrieved his hand, bowed his head, then resumed.

"Sam, I'm flattered that you want to wait for us to be given an opportunity, but you had something nice with that cop, why don't you try and mend fences?" he said in a gentle voice.

"You can be stubborn sometimes, you know that! I won't use him."

"You won't be using him, unless you think you do."

"It's over, Jack. He understood, we're friends and that's that, end of story."

"You wanna bet all your savings on one old horse?"

She chuckled. "An old horse with the mind of a kid, yes."

He winced, then resumed playfully, toying with his keys.

"You don't know what I'm like in private."

"I know enough."

"I can be a real ass," he raised his eyebrows.

"I know, so can I."

He rolled his eyes. "I have bad habits in bed."

"Most men that I've known have too, no big deal."

"I snore."

She laughed wholeheartedly. "After almost height years with you as a tent mate, I know, that's why ear plugs exist, thank God!"

"Ackh!" he said, putting his hands against his temples "Carter?"

"Sir?"

"You are impossible."

"So are you, sir." She said innocently, raising her beer before taking a swig.

Jack smiled amused, and finished his long neck, both staring in each other's eyes.

"So now, what?" he asked.

"Can we go out like this? I mean, friends?"

"Without Teal'c and Daniel to chaperone, I doubt it will appear innocent," he stated.

"I don't mind Teal'c and Daniel, so long as we can talk and be ourselves, without all those barriers we had so carefully erected," she concluded firmly.

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The ringing of her telephone roused her from a deep sleep. She picked up the receiver and called with a sleepy voice.

"Carter?"

"Miss Samantha Carter?" asked the male voice at the other end of the line.

"Yeah."

"Would you happen to know mister Peter Shanahan?"

"Yeah, what's up?" she asked, sitting up straight and switching her bedside lamp on.

"I'm Captain Mike Foster, Pete Shanahan's superior, he-ah. He was in a stake out and well-- it didn't turn out good he-ah. He was injured and he's in a coma. His partner mentioned you as next of kin, I--"

"He what!" she asked, panicked, as she started taking her pajamas off in order to get dressed.

"The doctors prefer not to say anything at the moment, he has a fractured skull, but an encouraging sign is that some important brain waves are normal - you'll have to forgive me, I'm not much into medical stuff."

"All right, I'm coming to see him. I need to notify my CO and I'll be flying with the next available plane," she said in a shaking voice.

"All right, Miss. Sorry for the bad news. But you know, he's in Craig Hospital, it's the best hospital for those kinds of injuries. He'll make it through, I'm sure of that" the man on the other end said.

"Craig Hospital you say? Thanks for the information, Captain, I'll meet you there," she hung up, threw the covers back and hurriedly went to her bathroom. Ten minutes later, she was showered and dressed. She opened her dresser, picked a travel bag under her bed, and started throwing things inside, then she checked her watch: 04:30. A bit early maybe, but then again, it was an emergency. She picked her telephone and punched a number on speed dial.

"O'Neill?" she heard in a slurred voice.

"Sir, I need permission to take at least a two day leave beginning right now!" she said.

"Carter? Is there a problem?"

"Pete got severely injured, his superior officer just called me, apparently I'm still first on the list of who might you call in case of emergency. He's in a coma, I cannot--"

"Go, Carter, you can take however long you need, just-- keep me informed okay?"

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir," she hung up and called a cab next.

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When Sam arrived at the hospital, Captain Foster was there to fill her in on the latest details about Pete. He was in a light coma resulting from pressure due to the rupture of a small blood vessel in between the meninxes. The prognosis was very good, but Pete Shanahan would be in need of a familiar face when he came out of it, and that could be a while…

Sam had given her keys to Pete's apartment back to him, so she settled at a Motel 6 on the outskirts of Denver, and would go see him everyday.

After a week, Pete's state had not improved nor decreased. Sam was wondering whether or not going back to Colorado Springs. No crisis had erupted at the SGC, but inaction was getting on her nerves, and she felt a bit lonely. Captain Foster called her every once in a while to get an update on Pete's Status, but he was not helpful and when she exited the hospital in the evening, after reading the news and talking to Pete as long as the medical staff allowed her to, she came back to an empty and impersonal Motel room.

She grabbed her cell phone.

"O'Neill?"

"Am I interrupting, sir?" she asked, picking up on the little annoyance his voice carried.

"Oh, Carter! Interrupting? No… I was just playing housekeeper."

"Housekeeper?"

"Yeah, the cleaning lady has told me she refused to do the cleaning of my kitchen and living room, no matter how high I paid her, until I retrieved all the beer caps and the rotten food. I guess I have been a bit on the lazy side lately." He smirked.

Sam chuckled. "It was time someone told you that."

"Carter, I am offended, no one understands my creative mind! I'll have you know that the caps lie scattered in my living room following a very elaborate pattern, and that I wanted to have my own stack of penicillin in case the bad guys came and we were in need of antibiotics!" he joked.

Sam rolled her eyes smiling.

"Sure, sir, you're an artist, and Flemming's a novice!" she smirked.

"What's up?" he asked, returning to the matter of her call.

"I think I'll head home."

"Pete's awake?"

"Not yet, the doctors don't know when he will be. He's in a light coma though, so 'could be anytime soon."

"You can stay I told you it's no problem. Daniel's taken a vacation too. He's trying to mend the fences with Sara Gardner. Teal'c, well he's keeping an eye on Cassie. Said, he would help her with her exams, although how, I have absolutely no idea. I have a feeling that he's more interested in the swimming pool in Janet's garden than in actually helping her with her arithmetic, and me? Well the usual, tons of paperwork to catch up with, but that gives me the opportunity to torment my secretary," he added with a smirk. "So to summarize a little, life's boring here at the moment," he concluded.

"I could keep you company?"

"Nah… I really do think you'd better stay until he wakes up. I know what it's like coming out of a coma and seeing a well known face," he said gently.

"Then why don't you come?" she asked.

"Carter," he sighed.

"Sorry, sir. Obviously I was not thinking," she said, her ears burning.

"Look, if you want to call me, then by all means, do. I know it might be a bit awkward, but for friendship sake, stay over there until he wakes up."

"Then what? Hold his hand while he recovers? I'm sorry sir, but despite the fact we're on better terms now than when we broke up, it's not how I envision the evolution of our relationship," she paused and sighed. "I guess I'll have to make a decision when we come to that," she paused, then added: "Thanks for the pep talk, sir."

"Anytime, Carter, you know that."

"Yes."

"Keep me posted?"

"Of course, but I hope it won't last another week because it's nerve wracking."

"I know, Carter. Been there, done that, got the tee-shirt," he said gently.

"Mind to tell me?"

"One day, Carter, maybe."

"Good bye then," she said.

"Good bye, Carter."

Sam clicked her phone off and lay on her back on the bed. 'Awkward'? Yes, the situation WAS awkward. Deep inside of her she knew she couldn't leave him like that, because that's not what Sam Carter was, but part of her wanted to just leave it to his captain. Pete seemed to have no friends in the immediate vicinity of Denver. She had called Mark, but work and family kept him in San Diego.

She suddenly had an idea.

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It was beginning to be a bad habit: her cell rang in the middle of the night.

"Carter?" she asked drowsily.

"He's awake," was all the nurse told her.

'I'll be right in," she replied in the same tone and ended the call.