The Heart's Refusal to Believe – Ch. 14

A/N: Thanks to TZMaverick for Beta reading this chapter!

A/N: Sorry it has been a while between posts. Several people have asked when this story will end. Well, we are coming to the end quickly. There are at least two or three long chapters left. Thank you all for taking the time to review! :)

An Aschen member watched from the Control Room as the three humans from Earth transported to the planet below. He pressed a button on the console to contact Molum. "Sir, the remaining three have transported to the coordinates that I am sending to you now."

"Good. Now we must wait. Ambassador Kinsey and the others have left to retrieve the rest of his men. I do not suspect we will see them again. As for the remaining three humans, we have their friends and I do not believe they will return home without them this time. I will monitor their movement from here. You may return to the Algeun Planet."

Molum turned to look at the three unconscious visitors on the tables.

Another member of the Aschen entered the medical chamber where they were holding the three humans. "Sir, are you ready to probe their minds?"

"No, I believe they will be of no use to us. By their own words Colonel Carter is their expert on the Stargate. I believe she alone carries the knowledge I seek." Molum said not revealing the real reason why he wanted to capture the leader of SG-1.

Colonel Carter had escaped from his grasp three years ago. She had betrayed him and made him look like a fool in front of the Council. He had assured them that he had obtained knowledge regarding the Stargate. He was adamant that the gate addresses would allow them immeasurable amount of land and advancements. Instead of empowering the Aschen people, it almost destroyed one of their prominent agriculture planets because of a black hole. A gate address she had given them. "You will not escape so easily this time Colonel Carter." Molum whispered to himself as he walked by the unconscious men before he left the room.

One of the 'patients' slowly stirred as he heard the swish of the door and his captures footsteps leaving the room. He had been conscious for several minutes, but had the fortitude to feign sleep. He had heard Molum's declaration of revenge against Colonel Carter. He listened intently and once he was sure they were gone he opened his eyes and slowly lifted his head fighting the fog that clouded his mind. He looked at the Daniel and Joe lying unconscious on tables nearby. They each had IV's of unknown liquids draining into their system. Teal'c slowly took his IV out hoping it would ease the dizziness that was plaguing him. He wasn't sure where the others were, but according to Molum they had escaped. He knew the rest of them could not remain in this facility. If they stayed there then they would be used in capturing the remaining members of their team and that was not acceptable.

Jack, Sam, and Jacob had just transported down from the ship to a busy market place. Their clothing made them stand out in the group of shoppers. A few turned to look their way, but for the most part they were ignored.

"How long do you think it will be before they discover we are not on the ship anymore?"

Just then the Aschen ship turns and leaves the area. "Well I guess that answers that. Where do we go from here, Carter?"

"According to the read out on the ships transporter, they were taken to the Council Building."

Jack stepped off the transporter pad and turned slowly looking at the surrounding area. "Are we supposed to guess which direction that would be?"

Jacob looked over Sam's shoulder to read the map displayed on the Transporter keypad. He couldn't read the language, but there was one centrally located building he was guessing was the Council Building. He looked in the same direction Sam was looking. "I think that desk job is getting to you Jack. You're losing your edge. I believe the building is in that direction. What do you think Sam?"

Sam grinned and rolled her eyes. "Yes, it's on the other side of the bridge."

"Now why do you say that?" Jack protested as they started walking towards the open atrium housing the large concrete structure. The building they were walking towards had very few windows. As they got closer to the bridge and could see the entire building they noticed that every single building in the area had a passageway leading to it. He looked up to see an inscription above the bridge and looked over at Sam for confirmation.

Jacob walked midway across the bridge to assess the situation and to confirm for himself that it was the building on the map.

She nodded her head at Jack. "It's the Council Building."

'Damn, Jacob was right. Now how in the world could he have known that?' Jack thought to himself.

Sam could read his train of thought and leaned towards him and whispered. "He read the map on the transporter and guessed correctly." She said smiling.

Jack shook his head, 'I should have known.'

Jacob returned to stand beside Sam.

"Did the map also tell you which floor they were on?" Jack asked Jacob with a smile.

"Nope." Jacob said not batting an eye. "I've got to leave something for you to do on this mission." Jacob answered with a grin.

Jack just shook his head and laughed. "So we know Daniel, Teal'c, and Joe are in that building, but we don't know where." He looked at Sam for an answer.

"We can probably transport to the same floor, but we risk being detected." Sam responded.

"Three guesses as to who will be waiting for us there if we do use the transporter?" Jacob knew he was stating the obvious, but he didn't see another alternative, if they were going to rescue the rest of their team they had to go through Molum.

"We need a diversion." Jack said looking at the large smoke stack in the distance.

"Jack! If that does give off any amount of oxygen, any explosives will take out this entire block, including the Council Building." Sam informed him. She had become accustomed to calling him Jack in her thoughts, that she didn't realize that she was saying it aloud now.

"I know that, Carter." Jack said still looking at the smoke stack and then her words hit him. She called him Jack. He turned to look at her and smiled when he realized she didn't even know she had said it. He decided not to call her on it with her dad standing there, so he returned his focus on the problem at hand. "And so does the Aschen that has been following us since we transported here." Jack noticed the man standing behind Sam well out of hearing range.

Sam questioned him with her eyes. She scanned the area behind Jack and didn't see anyone looking at them.

"He's standing a good distance behind you. He is trying to be discrete about it, but he is failing miserably."

"So what is your plan, Jack?" Jacob asked.

"We split up. I go to the storage facility and create a diversion. I can set small explosives around key structural elements causing them to collapse and in turn create a domino effect making the entire building including the smoke stack to cave in on itself creating wide spread panic. That would keep the Aschen busy. You can use the Stargate in the Council Building to gate back to the planet where we left the Tel'tak."

"How do you plan to get back to the Tel'tak?" Sam asked concerned.

"It's important that the Aschen stay busy to give you enough time to find everyone."

"So you're going to keep them busy. How do you plan to do that?" Jacob asked not surprised that Jack was willing to sacrifice himself to assure his team made it back home alive. Despite the teasing, this was one of the reason he respected Jack.

"Carter will show me how to use the transporter. I'll keep transporting to other storage facilities until you radio saying that you found them and are heading home."

"It's too dangerous! You'll never be able to evade them for that long, you don't even know the Aschen language to be able to transport to the correct locations." Sam paused, thinking for more reasons why Jack couldn't go through with his plan. "Do you even have enough C4?"

"It'll work Carter."

"Jack, the one thing you taught me was, you don't leave people behind. I have already left one man behind on this planet; please don't ask me to leave another! I can't. There has to be better way." Sam was adamant about not leaving him.

Jacob watched the exchange surprised that his daughter stood up to her CO. The look in her eye told him she wasn't backing down either. Jacob smiled inwardly knowing Jack wasn't going to win this round. He had seen this look in her mother's eyes many times and he rarely won those battles

"Carter!"

"Jack! You said yourself that no one should be alone because we are probably walking into a trap. That hasn't changed. We can all go together and set explosives around three of the storage facilities. We set them on a timers or remote detonators giving us adequate time to locate and rescue everyone. Then we all gate to the planet where the Tel'tak is waiting for us."

"I think she has a point Jack. Besides Daniel, Teal'c, and Joe were all unconscious when they transported down to the planet, so it may take all three of us to get them to the gate."

Jack conceded. "Alright, but I think we need to lose our shadow before we put this plan into motion. You two stay here and I'll see if I can take care of him." Jack said walking towards the Aschen.

Jacob and Sam watched as Jack made his way toward the man that had been following them.

'Now Jacob.' Selmak prompted his host into action, but Jacob refused to move.

'You have seen they way they look at one another. You cannot deny it any longer, Jacob. He is the best one to help her through this. She will find out soon enough that her betrothed's jealousy put her in this situation.' Selmak continued to state his case.

Sam let out a breath thankful she had talked Jack out of his plan. She couldn't imagine leaving here without him.

Jacob noticed Sam's sigh and decided now was probably the best time to bring the subject to the forefront. "Jack huh?"

"What?" Sam turned to look at her dad, confused.

"So he is Jack now? You called him Jack a couple of times." Jacob said casually. He could tell his daughter was about to deny it. "I'm not accusing you of anything. I'm just making an observation."

Sam opened her mouth to respond, but she didn't know what to say.

"He was pretty upset when we thought we had lost you." Jacob continued watching his daughter closely for any signs that he may be wrong.

Sam remained quiet taking in her father's words.

"I've seen the way the two of you look at each other. Heck, you two are able to communicate most of the time without using words. It's as if you know him as well as you know yourself. Except for one area of your life, and unfortunately that is the one area that you are going to have to use actual words. Stop second guessing each other."

Sam couldn't believe what she was hearing. 'Is dad really telling me what I think he is?' Sam thought to herself.

"Tell him how you feel Sam."

Sam struggled with her response she knew she couldn't lie to her father. After several long moments she carefully responded, her voice just above a whisper, "What if he doesn't feel the same way?"

"Then at least you would know. You could move on from there and stop living in limbo, but everything that I have seen and everything Teal'c and Daniel have seen indicates that he does feel the same way. Trust us."

Sam's voice became stronger when she realized her father wasn't objecting. "Okay, say that he does feel the same way, what then? He is still the BASE CO! The regulations prohibit any fraternization. Do I retire; ask for a transfer, what?" The frustration was evident in her voice.

"Are you happy with the direction your life is heading now? Could you be happy if Jack O'Neill wasn't a part of your life, because that is the road you are heading down if your marry Pete." Jacob said honestly.

Sam watched Jack as he began to walk back towards them, her father's words playing through her mind. His eyes were shaded by his sunglasses. She still couldn't get over how he continued to get better looking with each passing year. His hair more gray than brown now making him look more distinguished. Her dad was right she did know how to read him. The easy stride indicated that he had been successful in his plan. That sexy grin he wore meant he knew she was watching him. 'As infuriating as he could be sometimes, could I live without him?' Sam thought to herself and finally answered when Jack was a few feet away. "No." Sam said finally letting out the breath she didn't realize she was holding.

Jacob smiled triumphantly. Jack looked confused. "Did I miss much while I was gone?"

"Just the meaning of life." Jacob said patting him on the back confusing Jack even more. "Now let's get to work shall we." Jacob led the group back to the transporter.

Sam gave Jack a genuine smile knowing they would need to talk soon. She needed to talk to Pete as well. She had made up her mind about her future and it didn't include Pete. Even if Jack didn't feel the same way he did four years ago, she couldn't continue to see Pete when she wasn't in love with him. Her dad was right she would know where she stood in Jack's life once and for all. She felt a weight lift from her heart as she followed her dad.

Jack had a feeling he had missed something big. Sam seemed more at peace now and he wondered what her dad told her. He wished he was the one that could have provided her with that peace, the reason for putting the smile and the life back into her eyes. He shrugged his shoulder grateful that she seemed to be happy even if he wasn't the reason. The only thing that he really wanted was for her to be happy.

TBC