Title: The Confrontation
A.N. when Jack thinks it's like this JACK. When Sam thinks it's like this, Sam. understand? Ok, sorry, it took so long to update this. This is unbetaed so I apologize now for any mistakes. Please tell me about them. And enjoy.
Samantha Carter drove to O'Malley's feeling confused. As a military trained officer early on in her learning, she was taught to be able to mask her emotions. This way, when interrogated by an enemy, she would not show her weaknesses and therefore, could not be taken advantage of. But right at this moment, sitting in her car, driving to a bar that very well may change her entire life, love or otherwise, it was understandable that her face totally and completely read her emotions. It was almost as if someone could read her thoughts just by looking at her.
What am I doing? going out to find Jack just because of some stupid letter? And I don't even know who it's from. Daniel? No, he wouldn't talk about himself in third person and he certainly doesn't write in cursive. The General? Ha, no way is that possible. Teal'c? No, the writing was too lax. A thought struck her mind; Dad? wait no, that's idiotic. He hasn't been on Earth in months. So who wrote it? Cassie? Janet? It could be either. They were both at my house last night, they both know cursive and tend to write with it from time to time. Was it one of them? Am I that obvious about my feelings for the Colonel? Wait, that's just off topic. It doesn't matter who wrote it. I'm almost at O'Malley's. Should I really go through with it? I mean, the Za'tarc testing, the memory stamps, when we had those armband's on us and we went to go destroy that ship, all those incidents occurred four years ago. That's a long time. His feelings for me could have changed. I could go up to him, tell him how I feel about him and he could say, 'thanks Carter but I'm more interested in that girl next to you.' Then what'll happen? I'll feel like an idiot, he'll feel like an idiot for his 2IC to confess her undying love for him, and then we'll really be in a mess. As these thoughts and more raged in her head, she knew that she had to find out once and for all how he felt about her. And if he didn't, well, they'd really be uncomfortable for awhile, but at least then she'd know. And if he didn't feel the same, well, then she'd be with Pete. She may not truly love him the way she does for the Colonel but with Pete, she knew that at least she'd be happy. Well, happy enough.
She walked inside O'Malley's in an almost calm, peace-like state. She tranquilly searched the room for her Colonel, excuse me, the Colonel. When she saw him, that calm, serene feeling she had felt left her and she wanted to turn back. In fact, she did turn around when fate stepped in.
"Hey, Carter." Startled, she twisted around to meet the eyes of one Colonel Jack O'Neill. Nervously, she walked over to him, to a booth, filled with people. Daniel and Janet were sitting next to each other, a bit too closely, while on the opposite side Teal'c and Jack rested.
"We didn't think you'd make it." Daniel commented. Ever since Sam had arrived, her eyes hadn't left Jack's. But they did when Daniel spoke. She tore her eyes away from his and they rested on Daniel's.
"Me neither." Her voice seemed odd, even to her.
"Well, have a seat. We were just about to get another round." Janet spoke in a friendly manner, trying to take away some of the eeriness from something that shouldn't be so... eerie. Not knowing what else to do, Sam sat. Janet moved closer to Daniel, wanting to give Samantha and herself more room. Or at least, that was what she told herself. It was quiet for a second before Jack piped up.
"Alright, so I'll go get us another round." No one made any comment, seemingly becoming all depressed by the way Carter was acting. Somehow, from getting outside of the car to reaching the door, Sam had managed to pull on her military mask, but everyone had a feeling that something was wrong. When O'Neill returned with the drinks, idle chitchat was made but somewhat strained. It seemed that Samantha had something big on her mind. She drank her beer, going from wondering if it was better to talk to the Colonel when she was drunk, to thinking that sober was best. Finally, after Daniel and Janet looked at him in that, 'talk to her!' way, Jack spoke up about Sam's behavior.
"Hey Carter," Sam looked up from the bottle that, by her concentration in looking at it, must have been fascinating. "Do you have something you need to share with the class?" she looked around the table. Everyone was staring at her in a caring, 'I'm worried about you' way. Except, of course, Teal'c who almost never showed any emotion, but right at this moment, she could have sworn that he looked upset. Summoning her courage, she looked him directly in the eye.
"Actually sir, I was wondering if I could speak with you," seeing the way everyone was staring at her she added, "in private." He gave her an odd look but said,
"Yeah, sure." They walked outside with their group of friends staring at them as if they had just announced that there was a bomb in the building. Once outside with the door firmly closed Jack turned to Sam. "so what is it you wanted to talk about?" Receiving no answer from the person standing next to him, he tried again, this time softer. "Carter, is something wrong?" She finally looked up to meet his gaze and when she saw the concern in his eyes, she knew that this was the time to talk.
"Sir..." sir. She thought, He's my commanding officer, I shouldn't be doing this.
"Yes?" he asked sensing that whatever she had to say was going to be big.
"For what I'm about to say, I'd like it if you didn't interrupt me until I'm done." he nodded, having no idea what she was going to announce. Her eyes left his and went to look at her shoes. "I... I need to tell you something. I'm not sure how you're going to react, or what'll happen because of this but I have to tell you about this... thing." She got engaged to Pete, just great. Why didn't I make the move when I had the chance? "I realized something today. Something important... " Ok, good, just say it. just say, I love you Jack. What is she talking about? "See, I came home from work and I found this letter. I don't know who it's from, probably Cassie or Janet..." Stop babbling, just say it! "But that's not important. What is important is what it said. And I think it's true. For how I feel at least." SAY IT! Throughout this entire speech, or whatever you want to call it (babbling incoherently), Samantha hadn't looked away from her blue shoes. They were nice looking, even though they weren't supposed to be. Has anyone ever heard of running shoes that are pretty? No, and there's a reason for that. Of which, she wasn't sure. But throughout this entire ordeal, her gaze had been held at her shoes. She now had to look up and meet his eyes. She had to see his facial expressions for what she'd say next. "And the thing is, in that letter, it said that I loved you, and it's right. I do... love you." Her breath held in her chest, an involuntary movement that probably started when she was a kid and was waited for something big, a surprise of some sort. And she wasn't sure of what was going to happen next. That was a surprise if ever one was unsure of the meaning. Carter, theastro-physics genius, holding a Ph.D. in Quantum Mechanics and a plasma/particle physics expert, unsure of something. He didn't move, he didn't speak, and she realized with a twist of her gut that she should have been drunk when she gave him this confession. She forced herself to start breathing again and realizing that she would soon cry, she should make a quick exit. "I just wanted you to know." For a moment she thought that she caught a flicker of emotion in his eyes but berated herself for thinking that. It was over, she had missed her chance, now she just wanted to go to bed and cry in peace. Giving a quick nod, she turned away and was caught in place by his arms around her. Before she had time to place what had just happened his lips met hers and she truthfully, didn't give a damn. Before she realized it she was kissing him back. Her hands combed through his hair. This was true bliss. His arms tightened around hers and she realized that she'd give another eight years just to kiss him like this. There first real, true, kiss was cut short by the scream of her name. They jumped apart and Sam immediately felt the effects of not being that close to Jack, and it hurt.
"Sam!" Pete screeched again, not wanting to believe that his girlfriend was kissing her CO. but by the guilty looks on their faces, the mussed up hair and clothes, and they way they were standing next to each other, it looked as if they had indeed done that.