Title: Safe Bet

Chapter: Memory Lane

Summary: More or less, it had been an exhausting day, and being able to finally relax was a great feeling.

Spoilers: Chimera and Lost City

Disclaimer: We all know this by now, don't we? The show/ the characters, not mine.

XXXX

The house was dark and cold when she got home, which confused her. Pete was supposed to be there that week, so where was he? Setting her keys down on the coffee table her eyes scanned the room, falling on a piece of folded up paper setting on the kitchen counter. Odd. Had he left it for her? With a sigh she walked across the living room and into the conjoining kitchen, picking up the piece of paper and unfolding it.

Sam,

Called back to Denver on a case. Call me as soon as you get home.

Love,

Pete.

Another sigh escaped her lips and she set the paper back down, glancing at the nearest clock. It was only just nearing 1600 hours, so she wouldn't be expected home for hours, therefore she could wait to call him for awhile. It wasn't that she just didn't want to talk to Pete in particular, but she wasn't really in the mood to talk to anyone, much less the man that she wasn't sure if she loved or not.

Remembering her earlier thoughts of a bubble bath, her eyes darted around the house again. It was clean, so she really didn't have anything she needed to do, and she could always order out for dinner. Deciding that a bubble bath was just what she needed, she searched around the kitchen for a glass of wine and headed into the guest bathroom, the only one that held a bathtub, stopping in the guest room and grabbing a few of the candles that Teal'c used to kel-no-reem when he stayed at her house.

Once in the bathroom she lit the candles and drew up a hot bath, using shampoo for bubbles, then waiting until the tub was filled before turning off the lights and allowing the candles provide a soft, dim glow to light the room. She undressed quickly and slipped into the warm water, sighing with relief. It had been a long time since she had a bubble bath.

As she soaked in the tub her mind drifted to the events of the day. It hadn't been a dull one, that was for sure. She had her father had one of the most serious conversations she could remember ever having in her life, then so did she and Daniel. Not to mention the cute little boy at the park, bless his heart. Her first broken bone was at the age of 15, she couldn't imagine being so small and going through all that pain. More or less, it had been an exhausting day, and being able to finally relax was a great feeling.

She stayed in the tub until her fingers began to shrivel and she was forced to get out. Grabbing a towel and wrapping it around her quickly, she attempted to shield her body from the cold air. As soon as she stepped out of the bathroom, headed for her bedroom and a change of clothes, her phone rang. She let it continue to do so, and pulled out a pair of jeans and a old Academy t-shirt. When she had pulled on her shirt her answering machine picked up.

"Hey, this is Sam. You know what to do."

"Sam..." the person who had called, whom she recognized as Pete, "when you hear this call me, alright? I left you a note..." There was a slight pause before he continued. "I'll talk to you later, then. Bye."

Sam frowned at the sound of his voice, it sounded stressed to her. Probably case related, she decided, pulling on her pants. After towel drying her hair for a minute or so she traveled back into her living room where she grabbed the phone. Instead of calling her fiancé she pressed the number 8 speed-dial and waited for the restaurant to pick up. Realizing how sad it was that she had a Chinese take-out restaurant programmed into her phone she sighed, then rattled off her usual order to the woman at the other end.

After she had hung up she ventured to her bookcase, cringing at the alphabetized books and scientifical journals as she remembered her first night at Pete.

"Just don't look at the bookshelves"

She had been so happy then. So sure that he was the one, or that in time he could make her forget about the man she knew was already the one. She thought that maybe, just maybe, she could be happy, for once in her life. How had things gone from that... to this? Now she was confused and unsure and wondering how on earth she was going to tell Pete that she couldn't marry him. Or when. She had vaguely hoped that he would have been at her place so she could have ended it that night. But, now that wasn't possible. She wasn't going to breakup with him over the phone, that was too impersonal, and she did have strong feelings for Pete. They just weren't strong enough and didn't come close to her feelings for her CO.

Which was another thing. What did she tell him? That she couldn't be with him anymore because she realized that she was only settling? That he was just a safe bet, a net for her to fall back on because she was afraid to take a chance and risk everything for what could be the greatest love of her life? Did she tell him the truth, the complete and total truth, or just a schooled version of it, something easy for him to digest. Then again, what could be easy about telling a man that you couldn't and wouldn't marry him?

Feeling a bubble of resentment rise in her throat she grabbed some of the books from the case, and shoved them into different and far apart spaces. When her task was finished she stared at it for a few minutes, her hands itching to put the scattered books into their correct places. There were few things in her life that she could control, and her house and all the things in it was one of those things. To hell with neatness... to hell with lying memories. This was real, she had the power to change her life. So why was she so afraid?

Grabbing one of her John Grisham books from the shelf she smiled lightly to herself. Not many people knew that she liked the Criminal Law genre, and those who did teased her for it. Mostly the general, but occasionally Daniel or Cassie would join in, even though she knew they didn't totally hate the subject. Especially Jack. She had gone to his house with Daniel and Teal'c after he had been frozed in the Antarctic she had seen a nice row of Grisham books, ranging from A Time to Kill to The Runaway Jury.

Curling up on the couch with her current book, The Firm, she shut out her thoughts of the day and lost herself in the story. Fifteen or so minutes later, the doorbell pulled her back into reality, earning a frown from her face as she was forced to put down the book and get off of her sofa. After paying for her dinner she brought it back into the living room where she once again picked up her book and multi tasked, eating and reading at the same time.

She was on Chapter Eight when her phone rang again, causing her to sigh. It was no doubt Pete once more, and she couldn't keep putting him off. Picking up on the third ring she forced a cheerful voice to greet him, "This is Sam."

"Hey, I've been trying to get a hold of you all day."

"Oh," she replied, "I just got home. I'm sorry."

"Where were you?" he questioned. "I called Daniel, he said you had left work early. Is something wrong?"

Damn that man. Sam thought. "No, I'm fine. There was nothing for me to do so I went out for a little while. I had some errands to run. Nothing big."

"Oh, ok. Listen, I'm sorry I had to go like that, but there were some new discoveries that came up on a case I've been working and I had to go back. You're not mad at me, are you?"

Well, I was kind of looking forward to breaking up with you tonight, but no biggie. "No, of course I'm not mad. I understand, you had to work."

"Right. Of course you understand. Uh... I'm going to try to come back in a few days to finish my vacation, alright?"

"Yeah." The sooner I get to break up with you, the sooner I can figure out where I go from here. "Don't take too long."

The phrase could have easily been confused with one of impatience to one of loneliness, and the man did just that. "I am really sorry I had to leave, Sam. There was nothing else I could do."

"No... I understand Pete. That was stupid of me to say. Take all the time you need. I don't want you to rush through things just because I asked you to come back soon."

She could almost hear him smiling at the other end, and she cringed because of it. "I'll call you later, Sam."

"Alright," she replied.

"I love you." he told her, causing her to cringe once more.

"Yeah." she said. "You too."

She hung up the phone and sighed heavily. Maybe this was going to harder than she had thought.

XXXX

Later on that evening, after the sun had gone don and she had grown tired of reading, she traveled down the hall to the closet and pulled down a box, smiling slightly to herself. Her conversation with her father had brought back many old memories and it had been many months since she had looked through the contents of the military issued cardboard box she had carried her things from the Pentagon in before changing it into her little memory holder.

Bringing it back into the living room she set it down on the couch, taking off the lid and pulling out the first thing she could find. It was her mother's copy of her parents marriage licence. She smiled at the piece of paper, remembering the day her father had given it to her, saying she would have wanted her to have it.

Setting that down next to the box she pulled out the next thing, which happened to be a picture of her fifteenth birthday party– her last one while her mother was still alive. Feeling tears stinging behind her eyes she set the photo down and moved on, this time grabbing the baby pictures of her nice, Elizabeth. It had been nearly a year since the last time Sam and her father had gone to see her brother, and his birthday was coming around the corner. Maybe she should have made plans to go see him before her breakup with his best friend. Mark might be a bit sore at her for doing so.

She sighed as she put the photo with the other things she had brought out and then reached into the box once more, this time getting a team-meeting picture that had to be three years old. Teal'c, sans his new hairdo, was smiling slightly, in his scary Jaffa way, and standing next to a broadly grinning Janet. Jonas was missing from the picture, so he had to have been the one taking the photo, and to the right of Janet and Teal'c stood Sam and Jack, a bit closer than she had remembered them ever being at such functions. His grin was wide and hers was flustered and she wondered what he had done to make her cheeks so red. It must have been good, because the next picture was of her smacking him in a very insubordinate manner, albeit playful. The one after that was of Janet holding her friends arms, jokingly, to keep her from doing anything further, the grin on her face magically larger than before. A few more were of the guys and Jonas, attempting to grill out, and burning their food in the process. Sam sighed to herself, missing those days and wondering what the man was up to on his home planet.

The next stack of photos were much older than the first, the tale-tell sign being Daniel's long hair and the general's lack of gray. Cassie was among the group, as was her new dog, which she named Homer (Jack had corrupted the girl from day one). They were at the park Sam had been sitting at hours before, smiling happily and laughing at something that Daniel had done or tripped over.

After a few minutes she set that group of pictures down and pulled out a different kind of keepsake. It was her grand-mothers wedding band, thin gold with an engraving saying "Forever and two days" inside of it. From what her mother had told her when she was younger, her grandfather had said that to her grandmother when asking her to marry him, that he would love her for forever and two days. It was one of the few things that Sam had gotten when her grandmother died, because she was still very young when it had happened, but even then Sam had known how special it was.

Sam sat down on the edge of her coffee table and took off her dog tags, sliding the ring on the chain and then putting it back around her neck. She was surprised she had let it slip away from her like that, and she wasn't going to again. Her mother had entrusted her with the ring and she would make sure it stayed in perfect condition until she gave it to her daughter one day. That was, if she ever had one.

Deciding that it was time to end her trip down memory lane she returned the boxes contents and closed the lid, leaving it on the couch for easy access should she want to look further. It was getting late though, and she was planning on waking very early the next morning and making the most of her day off. Which, was supposed to be just as beautiful as the day had been. Fingering the ring around her neck she traveled back down the hallway, changed into some more comfortable pants, and then slid under the covers of her bed.

Within minutes she fell into a dream-filled sleep.