Sam has just returned from a mission that was tough on her and her team, and Jack is trying to work up the nerve to tell her how he feels about her... here's Chapter 4 of Family SG1 Style.

"You're wiped. Let me take you home, if that's what you want. Look at you, your hands are shaking. You're too tired to drive home. Let me."

Somehow he had managed to maneuver her back to his truck and Sam found herself obediently climbing into the passenger seat. He shut her door and got in behind the wheel as quickly as he could get around to the other side, not wanting to leave her any room to back out again.

Sam watched him as he drove and he was very conscious of her eyes on him. Jack got the feeling he was being measured up against some invisible ruler and found wanting. The silence became more and more awkward until he was relieved to at last find himself on Sam's street.

Jack pulled up to the curb in front of Sam's house and walked her to the door. It was almost 0100 by now and Sam's eyes were barely staying open. Once she got the door open, he followed her in and shut it behind them, dropped Sam on the couch, and headed to the kitchen. She dimly heard him getting her a glass of ice water, but could no longer resist the fatigue seeping through her brain and body. By the time he got back to her with the water, she was sound asleep, passed out along the length of the cushions.

He had no idea how to fix this, he realized miserably as he watched her for a few minutes, wishing he had the guts to curl up next to her and stay.

Upon his arrival at his own house, Jack tried to sneak in the front door quietly, but Kelly was still up, working on her computer, surrounded by paper and books. She looked up with an electric blue glance and Jack was again struck by how much she looked like Sam.

"Hi, General," she greeted him distractedly, again fastening her attention back on her computer.

"Sorry I'm so late, Kelly. I really am." Jack plopped on the couch and watched her as she continued to work.

"I worked everything out, it's okay," she answered forgivingly. "But this paper's due tomorrow and it's driving me nuts..."

"How's the studies going?" Jack asked, knowing he hadn't helped her with her schedule at all yet.

"I'm managing. I've got Mindy and Nick doing a lot of chores and stuff, and that's helped me keep up with the coursework."

"Glad to hear it. That's probably good for them anyway. Your Aunt Sam is back, and she's okay," Jack offered.

"Yeah, like where has she been? I've been trying to call her for days."

"On assignment."

"Is that where you've been tonight, with Aunt Sam?" Kelly probed hopefully. She hated the coldness that had prevailed between Jack and Sam these past few months.

Jack got up and walked over to take a seat opposite Kelly at the kitchen table she had commandeered for her studies.

"Yeah. Kelly, I know I've asked a lot of you lately, but I really need to spend some time with her tomorrow. I gotta find out what's wrong with her."

"You mean, what's wrong between the two of you. You know, General," Kelly sat back and crossed her arms, looking and acting like a shrink. "it's obvious what's wrong with her."

"Not to me," Jack muttered.

"Okay, let's start with this. You two are so great together. What are you waiting for? And why is she avoiding you? What did you say to her?" Kelly gave him a critical, uncomfortably familiarstare. Why did she have to look so much like Carter? It was unnerving.

" Ehh. It's not what I said, it's what I didn't say. Um. Haven't said."

"Hmmmm." Kelly was giving him the eyebrow and he was trying not to squirm.

"Okay, General sir, I'm going to give you some advice. I may be young, but I am a woman, and if you don't just come out and tell her you love her and can't live without her, she's going to run the other way."

"She knows how I feel about her. Hell, uh, I mean, heck, we've been working together for eight years. We're so close we don't even have to say anything to know what the other is thinking."

"If you haven't told her, then she doesn't know. In fact, the longer you wait, the more she's going to think that the reason you're not telling her is because you don't want to hurt her by telling her you don't feel that way about her." Kelly glared at him.

Jack scratched his head bemusedly. He wasn't totally sure what she'd said, but he knew it was very important that he attempt to understand it.

"So," he hedged, hoping she'd throw him another bone.

"General O'Neill, I kinda heard what you said to her that night a couple months ago. Do you remember? She asked you if you needed her to be around more for all of us, and you assumed she was asking to live with you and then you said..."

"I remember, Kelly," Jack cut her off before he could hear her take on what he had said to Sam that night. Geesh, there was no privacy in this house any more.

"Well, my point is, when I overheard you two, I thought the same thing as Sam- that you didn't want to have a relationship with her, that you see her as a friend, nothing more."

"You did?" Jack was dumbfounded.

"Face it sir, you blew it. She thinks you gave her the brush off."

"Really?" Jack stuttered. "So..."

"So go tell her you love her and you can't live another day without her and you want to be with her for the rest of your life and all that stuff. Don't assume she already knows anything. Spell... it... out." Kelly sighed with relief, having said her piece, and turned back to her paper.

"Now, sir, I really need to finish this paper."

Having been summarily dismissed by Carter number two, Jack wandered back to his room in a daze. If Kelly was right, he was in more trouble than he'd ever guessed.

The sunlight woke her up and Sam found herself alone, the glass of melted ice water on the coffee table beside her. There was no sign of Jack. The light of day revealed how very dirty she and her clothes were. Wrinkling her nose, she stood, downed the water in one long drink, and headed for the shower.

Dressed in clean sweats with a towel on her head, Sam was soon puttering slowly about her kitchen, feeling somewhat better now that she was clean. The phone began to ring just as she finished filling the coffeepot and set it to perk.

"Hello," she mumbled almost incoherently into the receiver.

"Good morning," Jack's voice greeted her. "Can I come in?"

"Huh?"

"You decent? Got coffee? I'm sitting out front." Sam's head jerked up and she peered out the window. There sat Jack's truck at the curb.

"What are you doing here?"

"I want to ask you something. Please can I come in? I can smell the coffee from out here."

Sam smiled in spite of herself at his puppy dog act.

"I guess." She turned and went back into the kitchen to locate a clean mug and poured him some coffee just as he came through the open kitchen door.

"Here." Jack received the hot mug gratefully and sat down at her table, univited but hoping she would followhis leadand sit down. She did.

"Sam, can we just spend some time together today? Go hiking, shopping, whatever you want. Just be together."

"Why?" Sam looked sad, angry, and fearful all at the same time. Kelly was right, Jack realized with a jolt. Sam thought he wasn't interested in her.

"This isn't us, these past two months. Can we just spend some time talking about whatever is bugging you? Whatever it is, whatever I did, I'm sorry. Tell me what I did so we can work it through. Please, Sam."

"You didn't do anything, sir. It was me. I see our relationship differently than you, that's all."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want to have this conversation, sir."

Sam tried hard to maintain her composure, but this was scaring her to death. She was sure that if she went ahead with this conversation, she'd have to hear in living color how Jack considered her a friend- a great friend, very close, even a best friend- but nothing more. And she didn't want to have to admit that sad truth to herself yet. If they talked, if she heard it from his mouth, her hopes would be crushed once and for all.

"Not acceptable," Jack answered in military mode. "We're going to have this talk. We have to, Sam."

"No, we don't. And I don't want to spend the day with you, hiking, or shopping, or doing anything else. Please go. I'm sure your family could use some more time with you as busy as you've been lately. Please, sir."

Sam stood up and motioned towards the door. When Jack made no move towards it, she waved her hands at him as if to shoo him out.

"Okay," he conceded, "but I'm not leaving. When you're ready, I'll be waiting. I'm not going anywhere until we've talked this out." Jack stepped outside and was almost knocked over by Sam's haste to close the door behind him. As soon as the door closed, he sank to the step and sat down.

To wait.

Sam began to tremble as soon as she had latched the door, sinking to the floor and leaning against its hard wood while trying unsuccessfully to control the tears rolling down her face. After their last serious talk, that night at Jack's house, Sam dreaded bringing the subject up again. She'd practically thrown herself at him, for she had thought he'd been sending signals that he felt the same as she. She'd tentatively opened a door and it felt to Sam like he'd unfeelingly slammed it in her face. There was no way she was opening up to him again.

After a shower and some breakfast, Sam was feeling much better and the whole scene from earlier that morning was quickly fading from her mind. After cleaning up in the kitchen, she grabbed her sunglasses and flipflops and ran outside to grab the paper.

And ran right into Jack.

"Woah!" He caught her just before she pitched over him and down the steps.

"You're-you're-"

"Still here, yes. I told you I'd wait."

"I should have known you would," Sam said dryly, finally smiling at his hard headed persistence.

"So, how 'bout a walk up in the mountains? There's a picnic lunch in the cooler in the truck," he wheedled enticingly.

"I can't. Now I'm going back inside to read the paper, and you are leaving." Sam huffed down to where the paper lay on the drive, circled back and stepped over him as she re-entered the house. She stood in the doorway, glaring at him.

"General," she said in a warning tone.

"I'll be here when you're ready to go."

"Which will be... never!"

"Guess I'll be here a long time, then."

Author's notes-- Sorry, I couldn't resist dragging the talk out a little longer. It's coming soon I promise! Really! I know Jack really needs to fix things with Sam- but being Jack, it's hard for him...

Thanks for reading and reviewing!