John Doe

Chapter Twenty Six

Disclaimer: Nah, the show and the character's don't belong to me. Chloe does, so does her dog Sierra, and all the puppies. Also, Sam's new dog- whatever her name is- is my property, as well.

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She had spent a bit more time at the store than she had initially planned on. But, it had been years since she had a pet, and even then it had been a cat. A puppy was something that she hadn't owned since her teenage years, and as she recalled it wasn't a walk in the park then. She was so cute though, there was no way Sam could have said no, and thankfully she was small enough that Sam could carry her around in one arm while she pushed the shopping cart with the other.

One thing she learned while shopping was that her new puppy was very, very curious by nature. Whenever Sam got close enough to an isle she would try and wiggle out of her arms so that she could investigate. Barking too, she was a barker. Granted, she wasn't very loud yet, but she tried with all her might, Sam had to give her that.

As she did her shopping she continued to think over what she would name her new pup. Misty just didn't fit the husky right, that sort of name went with a puppy that would stay small, not grow to be a medium-sized dog. Something to do with the color of her coat, maybe... but not much went well with white an d gray. So, she set naming the pup aside for the time-being and focused on the treats she would get her.

"What about this?" she asked, holding a ball in front of the small puppy. She sniffed it, barked twice, then paid it no-mind. "So, that's a no?" Sam asked, only half-expecting for the dog to not answer. Barking once more, this time at the sound of Sam's voice, the puppy began to lick her arm. Sam laughed and scratched the pup's head, distracting her enough so she wouldn't continue to slobber on her arm. "I should guess not," she told the puppy with a sigh, "you're still far too young for such toys."

They searched around a little bit more, but in the end Sam left with puppy food, a leash and collar for when she was a bit larger, a food dish, a place to sleep that Sam was sure she wouldn't be using for at least a week, maybe longer, and a small squishy chew toy for when her teeth began to come in more fully. The puppy didn't seem to mind that she wasn't getting much, it was new to her so she was perfectly fine. The whole way back home she sat in the passenger's seat floor board and attempted to chew on the toy, but could only gum it.

Even though they had only bought a little it had taken well over an hour and a half, and by the time Sam returned home the cake was sitting on the counter, cooling off before it could be iced. She set the puppy down, along with the bed and toy she had bought her, and watched as she ran around the house, sniffing anything lying low enough to the ground, and barking at anything that dare stand in her way.

"Sam?" Jack called, coming out of the bathroom, "what took so long?"

"Have you ever been to a Petsmart?" She questioned.

He shook his head, "Can't say I've had the pleasure."

"If you had you'd understand," she informed him. "Did you call Daniel and Teal'c?"

"Yep," he looked down at the puppy who was sniffing his pants leg. "Did you ever figure out a name for her?"

She sighed, "I'm not sure... I've been thinking maybe Pandora, because she's so curious."

"Just as long as you don't name her Pavlov I don't care," he told her with a grin.

"Why would I name her Pavlov?" she questioned. Her dog was a female, after all.

Jack picked the small puppy up, "You named your cat after that guy who theorized about putting cats into a box with cyanide or whatnot, why not name your dog after that guy Pavlov?"

She looked at him incredulously, "What do you know about Ivan Pavlov?"

He shrugged, "I took Psychology in High School... everybody knows about him, Sam."

"Sure they do," she took the puppy from his arms, "I am not naming my female puppy after a male scientist. Schrodinger was a male cat, and the actual Schrodinger's theory was something that I studied at the Academy, granted I did take psychology, but Pavlov's experiment didn't interest me in the slightest, however I found Schrodinger's fascinating." With a look she set the pup back onto the floor, "I think I'll stick with Pandora..."

"Fine with me... but you do realize that when Daniel learns her name we'll get a lecture on Pandora and the mythology behind her, right?"

"Sure- but I don't mind." there was a small crash from the other side off the room and Sam looked over to see her puppy sitting beside of a stack of books that had obviously fallen off of the bookshelf. "Pandora..." she scolded, "bad girl."

"When you said she was curious you weren't kidding," Jack supplied with a grin.

"No," she replied with a sigh. "I wasn't."

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Daniel and Teal'c arrived not long after that, both surprised when Pandora ran to greet them with a bark and a wag of her tail at the door. Once again, there was something new for her to investigate! She sniffed them both and decided that Daniel was much like Sam and Jack, but Teal'c was something to spend more time studying. Barking happily a few times she stood on her back legs, placing her front legs on one of his own, then barked again, her tail going a mile a minute.

"She wants you to pick her up, T." Jack informed him with a smile. He had to admit, Pandora was really cute. It had been awhile since he had a dog.

"Who's dog is that?" Daniel asked, walking over to where Jack was sitting on the couch, Sam right behind him.

"She's mine," she explained. "Jack's neighbor's husky had puppies and she was selling them."

"What's her name?"

Jack groaned and Daniel sent him a strange look, but ignored him for the most part and gave his attention to Sam. It was her dog anyway.

"Her name is Pandora," Sam told him, shoving Jack gently. "As you can see she's very curious," they looked over to Teal'c, who was now holding the dog with both hands, quite awkwardly. Pandora didn't seem to care and tried with all her might to get close enough to his face to lick him, but Teal'c kept her far enough away to where that was impossible. Her tail wagged back and forth and she barked, she wanted closer!

"I no longer wish to hold this animal," he informed them, setting her down on the floor. Pandora didn't seem to mind and ran towards the couch where Sam was sitting with Jack, barking happily. Sam smiled and picked her up, the dog immediately went over to a pillow and began to sniff it. She must have decided that she did not like the object and it was a threat because a low growl came from her throat, although it was not all that menacing, she was still a puppy after all. After awhile she began barking again.

"Good job Pandora," Jack said sarcastically. "Show that inanimate object who's the boss around here."

Sam sent him a dirty look, "You be nice to her, she's only a puppy. She doesn't know any better."

"Yeah," he said with a sigh. "You're not going to be saying that when you come home and find that she chewed on your favorite pair of shoes are used the kitchen floor as a bathroom."

"I can have her trained," Sam said pointedly. "Then we won't have that problem."

"Who will take care of the animal when we are on a mission?" Teal'c asked as he sat down in the armchair.

"They've got kennels up in NORAD's level, I can just drop her off there when I come in for work."

They talked about Pandora for a while until the pizza came, then they all sat around in the living room and Sam put a movie in.

"What movie did you pick?" Daniel asked taking a bite of his pepperoni-pizza.

"John Q, I haven't seen it in awhile."

"I never have," Jack informed Daniel. "She thought that was outlandish."

"Indeed, I too have never seen this movie, Colonel Carter." Teal'c added. "What is the storyline?"

"Watch it and you'll find out," she told him. "It's good, you'll like it."

Teal'c bowed his head slightly and turned his attention to the movie.

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Three months later:

"Pandora!" Sam called as she opened the front door, the now larger puppy came bounding across the living room to greet her mother with a bark. Sam kneeled down and pet her affectionately. "Hey sweetheart, did you miss me?"

Pandora licked her cheek, she certainly did! Not that she didn't love spending time with Jack, but Sam paid her more attention.

"Where's Jack?" she asked, wiping the slobber off of her cheek. Pandora woofed and headed for the kitchen, so Sam followed her, setting her keys down on the coffee table as she passed it. "Jack?" she called out, entering the kitchen behind the dog. He was looking through the fridge when she came through, Pandora went over close by him and barked loudly, she had found him. The loud noise startled him and he banged his head against the top of the fridge before pulling it out, rubbing it.

"Stupid dog," he grumbled half-serious.

"Be nice to her, Jack. She's still only a puppy," Sam held back a grin, she had been using that line since she had gotten Pandora for one reason, Jack hated it.

"Yeah, yeah," he groaned. "I know..." he closed the fridge and walked over to her, greeting her with a deep kiss. "When did you get back?"

She melted into his embrace, "A couple of hours ago... where we you?"

"I was here," he explained. "It's Sunday and you were only with dad so I figured it would be ok for me to go home early, I was about to make something for dinner."

"Oh," she said, "In that case, don't let me stop you." She kissed him briefly, pulled out of his embrace, and called out to Pandora. "You wanna go for a walk, girl?"

Pandora barked in response, she knew what walk meant- she loved walks.

"Let's got get your leash then," she told her as she left the room, Pandora following close behind. After she got Pandora's leash on they left the house and began walking down the driveway. Sam stopped in her tracks when she noticed the dark SUV sitting across the street from her and Jack's house. She couldn't see if there was anybody inside it, but she had the sinking suspicion that somebody was. God, what now? It had been months since he had showed up.

Hoping... praying that it wasn't him she continued down the street, past the SUV, pretending as if the large car wasn't even there. When the door opened she acted as if she hadn't heard it, but Pandora was named Pandora for a reason. Whenever there was somebody new around her interest were perked, Sam scolded her as she stopped in the road and tried to go off in the direction of the stranger. Damn it, she should have gotten a guard dog instead of a family dog.

"Pandora, stop it." she called out, pulling back on her leash. She still hadn't looked up at the source of her interest, as long as she didn't there was still the possibility that it wasn't him. When Pandora lunged forward with all her strength, catching Sam off-guard, she was forced to look up in order to hold her balance. There went her hopes that it wasn't him.

"What are you doing here?" she asked bitterly, pulling back on Pandora's leash once more, but harder. The dog finally got the picture and sat down, looking up at her master with curiosity. Sam normally let her investigate new people, what was so different about this one? He smelled all right to her, but then again she couldn't get as close as she would have liked. A questioning bark escaped her throat, she was confused.

"Pandora, stay."

Darn. That stupid word. Pandora huffed, but made no more movements.

"I tried calling your home phone, the line was disconnected. When I tried your cell nobody answered."

"Well, that's because I moved and as for the cell phone, I was out of town." She looked over at her house, "Again... what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see you," he explained. "I'm sorry. Come back to me."

She shook her head, "No Pete. I'm with Jack now... you knew that."

He snorted at the mention of O'Neill. "Yeah, I know."

"Don't even start that, Pete. We've already talked about this. I'm sorry that I wasted your time, but I never really loved you in the first place. I was just using you to take my mind off of Jack, who at the time I couldn't have feelings for. And, what you said that day at the SGC was true. If we had gotten married then every time there was an emergency I would run off to the SGC. Not because it's my job, because most of the time other people can handle it, but because it's my life. He's my life- he was even then. I'd do anything he asked, even if meant leaving you on the spur of the moment." She pulled on Pandora's leash, telling the dog they would be walking again soon. "If you can't get that through your head then you have a problem Pete. I want to be with him, not you." She turned and they began to walk again.

"You were cheating on me, then?" he called out to her angrily.

Another tug on Pandora's leash told her to stop walking. She was getting a bit perturbed, Sam had said they were going on a walk and this wasn't walking!

Sam turned around, "No, Pete. I wasn't cheating on you with him. The truth is, I was cheating on him with you. I knew from the start of our relationship that I loved him, but I went out with you anyway. I couldn't be with him, but I wanted somebody... anybody. I thought that you would help, take my mind off of my feelings for him. I was wrong, it only made things worse. And I am truly sorry for that."

He nodded solemnly, "I had to try."

She returned the gesture, "I know."

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A/N: I'm just going to stop saying when the last chapter is, because I'm never right! Anyway, let me know what you think about this one. I don't know when this story will be over exactly, but it's going to be soon.