Mysterious Distance
Part 7
Jack O'Neill was drunk. It didn't feel as good and numbing as he had hoped.
It had been two weeks since Daniel and Carter had nervously come into his office to report the news of their marriage and this had been the first night he allowed himself to get drunk.
He knew everyone had expected him to turn up hung over the day after the announcement or possibly not to turn up at all. Walter had thoughtfully prepared an extra strong batch of coffee that morning, but Jack hadn't needed it. The night before he had dinner with Cassie, the Doctors Jackson, and Teal'c. Cassie had been shocked to say the least, not only by the marriage but also by the fact that he seemed so unaffected by it. She put on a good front and tried to be happy for them, but she couldn't. After the guests had left it had been Cassie who had gotten drunk, not Jack. She was angry at first, railing against all of them for letting this twisted mess happen. Later she had cried in his arms and begged him to let his pain out. He didn't.
He didn't for two weeks. Long enough for Cassie to quit clinging and go back up to school in Denver. Long enough for Teal'c to stop shadowing him. Long enough for Hammond to quit calling him every day. Long enough for the newlyweds to think that he was truly okay with it and stop avoiding him. Long enough to get the reception over with. And long enough for the members of the SGC to stop looking at him with such pity and waiting for him to break down.
After two weeks he allowed himself to break down.
So here he was standing on the balcony of a hotel over looking the night lights of Colorado Springs, a glass of fine Irish whiskey in his hand, and asleep in the bed was a woman who looked and acted absolutely nothing like Lt. Colonel Doctor Samantha Carter-Jackson. He swallowed the last of his drink and walked back into the room to fuck the nameless woman a second time.
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TBC