Title: Safe Bet
Chapter: The Reasons Why
Summary: She thought that, when she met Pete, things would finally be better for her...
Spoilers: Grace (again), The Lost City ... everything I guess.
Disclaimer: Well ... we've done this already, have we not? Check chapter one for it.
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She woke up in a cold sweat, screaming out his name and gasping for air, still shaking from the extreme realness of the recurring nightmare.
"Sam?" A gentle voice called out to her, "What's wrong? Did you have another dream?"
She nodded, although she knew he couldn't see her in the darkness. "Yeah..." she sighed, scooting over to where he was lying.
He had anticipated her arrival and wrapped his arms around her comfortingly, pulling her closer to him. "That's the third one this week, Sam," he stated. "Are you ok?"
She nodded into his chest, still shaking. "I'm fine."
"Sam," he said with a sigh. "We both know that's not true. Talk to me," he begged. "Please?"
She shook her head, "It's late ... we'll talk tomorrow."
"I can make it an order," he threatened. "Trust me, I will."
She ignored his threat and settled into his arms, "Go back to sleep," she said. "I'm fine, really. It's late, get some rest."
"Sam-"
"Jack ... we'll talk about it in the morning, ok? I'm tired ... I'll be fine."
"I'm gonna hold you to that," he said, kissing her on the forehead. "Sweet dreams," he whispered.
She sighed, "Let's hope."
Sam jolted awake and out of sleep feeling confused, what a strange dream that had been. Sighing to herself she slid from under the covers and off of the bed, her feet hitting the soft carpet with a low "thud". She quickly and quietly began to walk across the room, hoping that she wouldn't wake Pete in the process.
"Sam?" His voice called out to her. She must have waken him when she got out of bed. Closing her eyes she silently cursed herself. She turned around to face him and put on a forced smile, just in case his eyes had already adjusted to the darkness, "Pete? I didn't wake you, did I?"
"Well ... yeah." He said, "You were talking in your sleep.
Oh, shit. Shit, shit, shit. She thought to herself, "Oh?" She asked innocently, "What did I say?"
"I dunno, you were just mumbling something about a bad dream. Did you have a nightmare?"
She shook her head, "I don't remember." She lied.
"Where are you going?"
"Just to get something to drink," she explained. "I need to start getting ready for work anyway. I have a mission at 0700 hours, it's already half after 0400, and I need to be there by 0600 for a briefing with General O'Neill," she found herself cringing at the mention of the general. "You go back to sleep, it's early."
"Alright," he sighed. "Just ... be safe out there."
Safe. She winced, thankful that the darkness of the room could hide her doing so. Truth was, ever since her experience in the Prometheus the word always made her think of that damned conversation. She thought that when she met Pete things would finally be better for her, she had vainly hoped that everything she had ever felt for Jack would fade into the background when she found somebody new.
But, the exact opposite had occurred. Somehow, after she started to date Pete things with Jack had just grown more ... complicated. And, damn Daniel and Teal'c if they hadn't shown up that day at Jack's house...
...What was she thinking? She loved Pete; she was engaged to Pete, end of story. Jack was the CO of the SGC now; there was no way he would ever retire. Wait- why was she doing this to herself? These thoughts only made things even more confusing. That was exactly the last thing she needed in her life, more confusion.
As she turned her car on she thought back to that conversation she had with her "figment" Jack. She had already given it so much thought, but it never managed to go away completely, though she wished with all her might that it would, that the conversation had never happened in the first place. She had been content before then, even if she had been alone.
As she drove the bright diamond on her ring finger caught her eye; she studied it at a red light. It was beautiful, a sign of Pete's love for her, and her love from him. So, why did she think of Jack every time that she looked at it? How come every time she saw the diamond catch light she thought of the day she showed him the ring another man gave her? Why couldn't she get over him?
Pulling into the SGC's parking lot she noticed his new, black truck already in his designated parking spot. Hers was right next to it, CO and 2IC. That's all they would ever be...
She shook her head to rid herself of the thought, pulling in next to the large truck. She glanced over briefly, surprised when she saw him still sitting in it. Further examination showed that he was asleep. Smiling to herself she turned off her car, stepped out, and walked around to the drivers' side of his truck, tapping on the window.
He jolted awake, whipping his head around to look in her direction. "Carter?" He called through the closed door, "What ... where?" His brow furrowed as he realized that he was in his truck ... which was in the parking lot of the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, "Morning." He sighed, a sheepish smile appearing on his face.
She couldn't help but laugh, "Good morning, sir. Sleep well?"
She stepped back, allowing him to exit the truck. "Very well, actually." He told her, "Just catching a few extra minutes."
"Sure..." she said, nodding incredulously. "SG-1 has a briefing at 0700 hours, we have a mission to P9Q-771 at 0830."
"This I know, Carter," he said flashing the SF's his badge, Sam did the same. "I also have a debriefing with SG-2 and SG-4 at 1100 hours, a briefing with SG-12 at 2100 hours, and a mile high pile of paperwork to catch up on. Did I miss anything?"
She smiled, looking down at the ground as she walked. "Sorry, sir."
"Carter..." he said, "I was joking. Don't take everything I say so seriously ... in fact, don't take anything I say seriously." After thinking a moment something struck him and he backtracked, "Unless, of course, it's an order."
She laughed, "I'll keep that in mind, sir."
They rode the elevator down together, neither saying much, just the usual small talk. She found herself thinking about how they didn't talk as much as they used to now that she had met Pete. Neither one of them really had time for the other, she missed their conversations, even if it was normally him telling her to go home and get a life. Well, she had taken his advice, so why had things suddenly got weird?
She had finally built up the courage to ask him why they didn't talk anymore when the elevator reached its destination. He smiled at her and then as soon as the doors open exited the metal device and headed towards his office. Her courage suddenly disappeared, like it had never even existed, and she walked to her office with a sigh of disappointment.
She missed him. The thought came to her suddenly as she sat down in front of her desk. She missed the almost daily stops he made at her office, she missed having to warn him not to break her 'doohickeys', she even missed hearing him tell her to go home and get a life. She wanted that back, now that she actually had one. She wanted him back, even if it's not the same part of him she had wanted before and might still want on occasion, she wanted his friendship.
Feeling her courage build up again she left her office with haste, barely remembering to shut the door behind her. Just as she made it to his office door alarms went off and red lights began to flash. The familiar sound of Davis' voice came over the intercom, "Unauthorized off world activation! Unauthorized off world activation!"
She shut her eyes in frustration and ran off for the control room, hearing his office door open behind her. Telling herself not to look back she turned a corner and found herself bumping into the SGC's resident klutz, Daniel Jackson. The papers in his arms went flying and she went down, falling straight on her bottom. Another sigh of frustration escaped her lips as she pulled herself off the ground, shouting an apology to Daniel and an excuse for needing to get to the control room. The archeologist mumbled to himself and began picking up his papers, telling her to go and see what was happening. She thanked him and ran off.
She made it into the control room just as the iris swooshed open and the shimmering blue of the event horizon peaked through. "Who is it?" She questioned, standing next to General O'Neill, who was standing behind Davis.
"The Tok'ra," he answered. "Might be dad."
The event horizon rippled and a man and a woman stepped through. Jack had been correct, Jacob was the man, Sam was happy about that. But the next visitor left a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, it was Anise.
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"So," Jack greeted as he and Sam walked into the 'gate room. "To what do we owe this ..." he glanced over at Sam and leaned close to her, "honor, right? Them coming is an honor?" he whispered in her ear. She nodded, a smile spreading across her face.
"Yes sir." She whispered back, catching the sent of his cologne- a shiver passed down her spine. Jack nodded and straightened, looking back at the two Tok'ra.
"...Honor." He stated, finishing his previous sentence. Jacob shook his head in silent laughter while Anise didn't seem to understand what had just happened.
"The Tok'ra high council wishes to renegotiate," she informed them. "Where is General Hammond?"
"In Washington D.C. I assume." Jack shrugged, "Allow me to introduce myself. Brigadier General Jack O'Neill, CO of the SGC." He extended a hand to Jacob, "Pleased to meet you, old man."
He took his hand with a laugh, "Haven't looked in the mirror in awhile, have you? I believe that nearly all of your hair is gray now, Jack."
"Ah," he pointed out with a grin, "but at least I still have hair."
"This is true," Jacob said with a smile. "Congratulations on your promotion, General O'Neill."
Anise was silent, her eyes trained on Sam who then realized that she was still standing only inches from General O'Neill. She casually stepped closer to her father, creating a gap between them. The female Tok'ra seemed satisfied and looked at Jack.
"I give you my congratulations, also. But what we have come to speak of is important."
"Of course it is," Jack said. "Follow me," he began to walk to the briefing room, indicating to Sam with a look that she could stay behind for a minute and speak with her father in private. Sam smiled at him in a silent thank you and turned to her father.
"It's been so long," she sighed, stepping forward and hugging him tightly. He returned the favor.
"I know, Sammie. I tried to get them to reconsider breaking off our alliance, it took a little longer that I thought it would."
"Well," she sighed, pulling back. "At least you're back now. I wish we had more time, we have so much to talk about."
Jacob's eyes fell on her left hand, and the large stone that sat on her ring finger. "I'd say so." He looked back at her, "Who?"
"Later," she told him. "Right now, we've got something important to speak of."
"It wasn't my idea to have her tag along, it was the high councils." He shrugged, "Trust me, even Sel'mac tried arguing with them. They were very adamant in their decision."
"Yeah, well, I can only wonder why she would want to tag along." She sighed, "Not that it's any of my business." She smiled and looked down at the ring on her finger, "I'm happy dad ... really." She wasn't sure if she was trying to convince him or herself.
"Like you said, later." He started to walk out of the room and she followed, they had a long and interesting briefing ahead of them.
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"So," Jack said when Sam and Jacob sat at the briefing room table, Teal'c and Daniel were already sitting in their usual spots. Sam took her place as 2IC and sat on the right side of Jack, while Jacob sat directly across from her on the left. Jack smiled at the strange look that Jacob gave his daughter when she took her seat. "Colonel," he addressed Sam. Jacob's eyes moved from Jack and he stared at his daughter.
"Colonel?" He asked, a smile spreading across his face. "Since when?"
"It's been a couple of months," she said with a smile. "When the general got his promotion I got one ... they kind of caught me off guard." She smiled at Jack; "It was a shock, to say the least."
"Well," he said with a shrug. "Major isn't a good rank if you're going to be second in command of an entire facility, now is it? And we weren't about to bring somebody else in- which is a good thing about being a general." He smiled at Sam; "You can do anything you want ... you know, as long as it's not breaking any rules."
"As much as we're enjoying this conversation," Daniel pointed out. "There is something that we need to talk about, is there not?"
Anise smiled at Daniel, "Indeed there is. The Tok'ra high council has reconsidered the break in the Tok'ra/Tauri alliance. We wish to once again join earth in the fight against the Goa'uld, in the hopes that more can be accomplished in that way."
"Not as strong as you thought, eh?" Jack mumbled, Sam and Jacob were the only two that heard him.
Jacob's eyes flashed and Sel'mac took over, "I, too, give you both congratulations. However, as Anise has said the Tok'ra wish to once again be allied with you ... the high council would like an answer on the matter as soon as possible."
"If I may inquire as to what gave you such a change of heart," Jack said, earning strange looks from the members of SG-1. "What?" He asked. They all just shook their heads.
"That is a good question, General O'Neill." Sel'mac said. "Jacob and I have been suggesting to the high council for quiet some time now that they rethink their decision to break our alliance. Last month we went on a mission, a spy among Ba'al's ranks. While we were aboard one of his mother ships we overheard two of his Jaffa speaking of an attack on the Tok'ra home world. It was very fortunate that we learned of this when we did, it allowed us to move a little at a time. But, the high council realized after that that we would have known of Ba'al's intended attack long before a month had we still be allied with you, perhaps even the Jaffa-"
Teal'c raised his head and looked over at Sel'mac, "Has the council reconsidered an alliance with the rebel Jaffa?"
"Not at this time," Anise informed him. "But we are currently working on it. However, once the high council sees that we need the Tauri they will realize that, as you need the rebel Jaffa, so do the Tok'ra."
"So, it's like a ripple effect?" Daniel speculated, "By being your allies once again we'd pave the way for the Tok'ra and the Jaffa to reconsider?"
Sel'mac nodded, "Indeed."
"Alright," Jack said with a sigh. "We'll need to discuss this ... alone, without you two here."
"We figured as much," Sel'mac assured him. "We are prepared to return to the Tok'ra's new home world."
"How will we be in contact with you?" Sam asked, looking at Sel'mac.
"We will return to earth in twenty four hours," Anise told her.
"Not much time," Daniel mused out loud.
Sel'mac's eyes flashed, Jacob was in control again. "No, Daniel. It's not. But, that is the amount of time that the high council has allowed us. There's nothing more we can do about it."
Jack sighed, rubbing the nape of his neck. "I should get in touch with the President then."
"What are you going to suggest he do?" Jacob asked, standing up.
"I honestly don't know," Jack confessed, standing up as well. "It is ultimately his decision, though."
"You do that then," Jacob said. "We'll show ourselves out. We know the way."
"I'll go with you," Sam offered, taking them out of the briefing room. Jack glanced from Daniel to Teal'c.
"Well, what do you guys think?"
"I believe that rejoining forces with the Tok'ra would be the wisest choice, O'Neill," Teal'c offered. "We have an advantage when working with them that we do not have alone." He tilted his head, "And I agree with Anise, by becoming allies with the Tok'ra once a-gain it will allow the rebel Jaffa to join forces with them as well."
"Daniel?" Jack asked, looking over at him.
"I agree with Teal'c."
He sighed, "I figured as much. I should go call the POTUS then."
"What is a Potus?" Teal'c asked, an eyebrow climbing up his forehead.
"It's an abbreviation, Teal'c." Daniel explained, "POTUS, President of the United States. Kind of like SGC stands for Stargate Command or USA stands for the United States of America."
Teal'c nodded and stood from the table, "I require nourishment, DanielJackson."
"Yeah ... I could use some coffee myself, let's go to the commissary." The two walked off and Jack was alone, left with the task of making one of the most important phone calls ever.
"Well," he said to himself as he walked into his office. "This is going to be a walk in the park, a piece of cake, and day at the beach all rolled into one."
Why did he take this position again?
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A/N: Alright, now that I've done my job you do your job. Which is reviewing, of course.
