A/N: Sorry for the long delay in postings. Exams and writer's block do not a chapter write. This chap is pretty angsty but the next few are going to be a bit more humorous I swear. And don't ask me what an anion or a cation is. I'm currently failing chem….

The wake. Her wake. She wasn't exactly sure why she was here, but Rube – the "reaper" she'd met after she'd died – had forced her to make an appearance. Well, not exactly "forced" her – that wasn't his way. Rube had explained to her that since she was still undead, and technically not a reaper, she didn't have a physical form and therefore no-one could see her. She couldn't interact with the real world. Of course, she'd shot back that it was pointless for her to attend, since no-one would know whether she was there or not. Then he'd told her that sometimes it helped to give a person closure or whatever (she kinda tuned out at that point; the kinda cute waiter had arrived with her chocolate pancakes) and then he'd given her this glance and she'd suddenly found herself walking towards the General's house, wondering when she'd decided that attending her own wake was a good idea.

Everyone from the SGC, and even some outsiders, was here – hell, even Thor was here! She felt touched. Sure, she knew she was pretty well-liked at the SGC, but the fact that everyone was here… Rube excused himself on a quest to the buffet table (he, unlike her, was a reaper and had a physical form, albeit different-looking to what he had been when he was alive. Therefore, he was able to eat) and Sam decided to go check up on her team.

Teal'c was the easiest to find; he stood out like an anion amongst a group of cations. He was standing by a table of food (surprise, surprise), trying to explain to Ry'ac and Ish'ta the purpose of a wake. She was impressed – it seemed most of the leaders of the Free Jaffa Nation had turned up to honour her memory. Bra'tac joined the group, bringing with him a neatly dressed and alive (for once; the two factors seemed to be mutually exclusive) Daniel. Daniel immediately launched into a spiel on the significance of a wake in Western culture. Teal'c rolled his eyes and smiled faintly at Bra'tac, who smiled back. Sam smirked. Those two had spent way too much time on Earth.

Sam felt slightly better seeing the two together. Teal'c was coping – he always did. It was the Jaffa way. Daniel would be too. The dark shadows under his red-tinged eyes, highlighting slightly prominent cheekbones, were proof that her death had been hard on him. But going by the way he was laughing at himself right now, he'd survive. After all, he was the expert on death.

And so that left one other person – Jack O'Neill. The person she'd been looking forward to seeing the least. Sam quickly scanned the room again. No General. Sam frowned. Where the hell was he!

Jack looked around his lounge room, currently occupied by pretty much the entire staff of the SGC, as well as some others – hell, even Thor was here! – who were celebrating Sam's life. And by celebrating, he meant reminiscing sadly. Aargh. In the words of Comic Book Store Guy, this was a contender for worst day EVER. Worse than the Doc's. Her's had been pretty bad but this...this was Sam's. Not that Sam's death was any more important that Janet's, except it was and it...he just… He couldn't do this. He downed his Guinness, dodged a cluster of scientists arguing something or other and proceeded down the hallway to his room.

Jack threw himself onto his bed, not caring about the clothes and other items strewn across it. Neatness was for Swedish cleaning ladies. He flinched as he heard a crunch. Slowly, he rolled over and picked up his beloved sunglasses, which had been lying under a pair of jeans that were at risk of getting up and going on some weird kind of rampage.

"D'oh…!"

They were the ones his team had rescued for him last year, after he'd lost them (as well as all his clothing besides his boxers) in a game of poker to Major Sheppard. Hey, who knew the kid was the poker champ of college? Sam did, a little voice in the back of his head which he chose to ignore kindly reminded him. Anyways, after laughing at him for about 10 minutes straight - well Teal'c didn't laugh. He raised his eyebrow and sort of smiled. Daniel sniggered (he didn't laugh as much since descending. And he'd gotten a lot more sarcastic. Cheeky little bugger), more at his boxers than anything (hey, how was he s'posed to know that he'd be losing his pants when he'd put on his "I'm with stupid" boxers – complete with the arrow pointing at his groin?) and Sam…well Sam laughed so hard she ended up choking and spent the next 20 mins in the infirmary getting acquainted with Antarctica's newest oxygen mask. Anyhoo, sometime that night, his team had devised a dastardly devious plan to rescue said shades, involving torches, duct tape and a certain Rodney McKay (or something like that, he'd gotten lost somewhere between Sam's, "Well, sir, we came up with this plan…actually it was mostly Teal'c's idea.." and Daniel's, "something something blah here's your sunglasses." And now he'd snapped them….

Daniel looked around the room, desperately trying to catch sight of Jack. This man had been droning on for what seemed like hours, and Daniel really needed to leave. Now. Where was Jack? Come to think of it, I haven't seen him for a while…

"Ah, excuse me, I have to go…and find my friend…" Daniel walked off, leaving the man staring. "Teal'c, have u seen Jack?"

"Indeed I have not, Daniel Jackson."

"Oh, ok then." Daniel's brow furrowed. Where had he gone?

Daniel stared at the door. He checked everywhere else, Jack had to be here. He knew he should go in; it was one of his best friend's, a best friend who was currently grieving over the death of someone he – someone close to him. On the other hand, it was Jack, who was likely to bite his head off. It was an interesting dilemma. One that he wished Sam was hear to help him deal with.

"Traitor," he whispered to the ceiling. She'd gone and left him all alone to deal with an emotional Jack. At least he'd said goodbye.

"Daniel, I know you're outside."

Damn. Daniel sighed and walked in the room.

"I could hear you breathing."

Ok, so his hay fever had been playing up, but his breathing wasn't THAT loud….

"Do you remember what Sam named these?"

What? Daniel looked up to see Jack looking down at a pair of sunglasses; snapped into three pieces.

"Jay," Jack answered his own question.

Daniel smiled. "She said they made you look kinda bug-eyed, like Poochie the dog."

"Who was voiced by Homer JAY Simpson."

"I think there was something in that oxygen..."

"Ya think!"

Both smiled and fell silent again.

"Sam was the master of awkward pauses."

Daniel felt his eyebrow raise (Teal'c would be so proud...) Sam?

Jack continued. "She always had to think through everything she was going to say. Calculate all the different things she could say, weigh all her options, consider all the scenarios, think things through…"

Daniel cocked his head.

"Jack, why are you doing this?"

"I'm reminiscing, Dr Daniel, isn't that what I'm supposed to be doing?"

"Jack, stop the sarcasm and the cynicism and –"

"- Danny –"

"JACK, WILL YOU SHUT UP FOR A SECOND!"

Silence. Wow, I did it. I finally shut up Jack O'Neill…

"You have to stop torturing yourself like this. It's not healthy."

"What do you want me to do, oh wise and wonderful Daniel? Take the all-American approach and drown my sorrows in a bottomless glass that only lasts till I get to the bottom?"

I knew it couldn't last...

"Or something else? You always tell me I should "broaden my cultural horizons". Did you know the Moroccans dance for 4 days straight after someone dies? For four whole days. Just dance."

Daniel rolled his eyes and looked away. Jack continued.

"Or what about the British way?" Jack put on an incredibly bad English accent. "Terribly sorry, chaps, but the love of my life seems to have died…"

Daniel raised an eyebrow (twice in 5 minutes. Teal'c WOULDbe proud!)

"The love of your life?"

"It's an expression."

Daniel sighed and stood up to walk away. He didn't know why he came, what difference he thought he could make to this brick wall. Jack was incorrigible.

"Daniel," Jack said in a way that compelled Daniel to stop and look at him. For the first time today – actually, since they'd found out Sam had died – Jack looked at him. Really looked at him. Daniel felt like a deer trapped in headlights made of pain and sorrow and hopelessness and despair, and the he saw something he'd never seen before, something he thought he'd never see: tears. "I'd howl at the moon if I thought it would help."