Title: Safe Bet

Chapter: Secrets Told

Summary: Sam had left Pete. And she had done it because of him...

Disclaimer: Nuh-uh, not mine.

XXXX

When she returned home at around 1600 hours she attempted to call Daniel, but there was no answer on his cell phone. Understandable, she guessed, since he was probably roaming, and to top it off it being daytime minutes, so even if he was available he might not answer. But then again, considering the fact that it was her, and knowing that she normally didn't call during those hours anyway, he probably would have, just in case it was an emergency. She sighed when he didn't pick up the second time she called, and then hunted around her house for Davis' number. The man had supplied it to the Hammond years back, and Sam had needed to get in touch with him once, so she knew she had it on a piece of paper somewhere. She rarely ever got rid of important numbers.

After fifteen minutes of searching, she found it in her desk, and called. A woman answered, and informed Sam that no, Daniel was not there, and neither was Paul, but he should be returning sometime soon. Sam gave her directions to have Daniel call her back, as soon as he could, and hung up. It was after 1800 hours there, why weren't them home yet? And, she was still confused as to what Davis needed Daniel's help for. Not much an archeologist could do at the pentagon.

What on earth, or any other planet, could those two have up their sleeves?

XXXX

It was nearing 6:30 in D.C. and Daniel was getting tired of ignoring his friends phone calls. "Why don't you just answer the phone?" Davis asked, after she called for the second time.

"Because," the man explained, "I'm a fairly good liar when I have to be... if it's the fate of the world hanging in the balances, or even if I'm just lying to Jack." He sighed, "But when it comes to Sam, I'm horrible at lying. Not only can she see right through me, but I feel awful not telling her the truth. It's sad, I know... but not many people can sneak a lie past her."

Davis smiled a bit, but held back his laughter. He knew how Daniel felt, of course. He could get nothing past Meghan, and that had only a little to do with the fact that he loved her. She was a lawyer, and incredibly smart, and could spot a lie from a mile away. It was quite frustrating. "I think it has something to do with the fact that they're women," he said finally. "They've got some kind of internal radar, or something, that tells them when men aren't being exactly truthful."

"Makes sense," Daniel sighed.

"Why not just turn your phone off?" he questioned. It seemed like a smart thing to do.

"Because, if it's something serious, like I don't know, another Goa'uld trying to take over the world, or an asteroid headed for earth, then she'll call at least one more time... and Jack would as well. So, I'm waiting on that call, just in case." He shrugged and looked down at the phone, "But if she was going to call back, she would probably have called back by now."

"Well, we have another hour to kill, we've already eaten lunch and gone to most of the monuments... What would you like to do now? We could go and see the Declaration..."

"Yeah," Daniel agreed. "Ok, that should take up some time."

XXXX

"So, you still haven't told anyone?" Cassie questioned, later that night when Sam caved in to loneliness.

Sam shook her head, though she knew the girl at the other end would not see her do so, "I want them all to be there when I do, or maybe I'm just putting it off until Daniel gets here because I'm a... Never mind, I don't know."

"No, go ahead and say it... You're afraid?" Cassie paused, waiting for an answer. When she got none after nearly a minute, she continued on with the questioning. "Afraid of what, Sam? Or, maybe I should say, afraid of whom?"

Nearly scowling at the college student through the phone, Sam got up from her chair and unconsciously began to pace. "I'm not afraid," she denied, although that was what she had been about to say. "Really. I'm not. I'm just confused by this whole situation and I don't know, I guess I'm not sure how they're going to react..."

"Sam, they're not going to care what you decide," Cassie informed her, "as long as you're happy."

Sighing, Sam nodded into the phone. Yeah. She knew that. "I'm not sure," she joked, "I think Teal'c was looking forward to finally marrying me off..."

"Haha," Cassie replied sarcastically. "I think that Teal's not the one you're worried about."

"Cassandra," she warned. "Don't–"

"You're wondering what Jack's reaction is going to be," the younger woman told her. "After all the things that you've been through while you were with Pete, and the strange openness that you two had because you were engaged, you're starting to think about what he's going to do when he finds out that you really didn't want Pete that entire time and finally got rid of him." Sam could almost hear the girl smile through the phone, "I know you. You're worried about it." There was a pause, "Or maybe... about what you're going to say when they ask why you broke up with him..."

Sam was sure her face lost all it's color. Crap. She hadn't even thought about that. What would she say to them, should they ask about why she left Pete? "I... Thanks a lot, Cass, now I'm getting paranoid."

"Ok," the girl admitted, "maybe I was right the first time. You don't know what you're going to say to them?"

There was a pause from Sam's end of the phone, and then a deep sigh, "No... I have no idea."

XXXX

He was sitting at his desk, miles underneath the surface, doodling the different cast members of The Simpsons, at the moment Maggie, when his cell phone rang. Not the red phone, and not his regular base phone, his cell phone. Slightly confused, which wasn't all that new for him, he pulled the device out of his pocket and looked at the Caller ID. Shanahan, Pete.

...Why the hell was he calling his phone?

Now even more confused than before, he answered the phone, putting it up to his hear. "O'Neill," he greeted, going over the reasons the man would be calling in his mind. Finding none.

"She broke up with me," the man on the other end said. "She hasn't told you yet, I'm sure. But, she broke up with me."

Jack was a bit stunned, not only by what the man was telling him, but the fact that he had called to let him know. Why would he do that? "And... you're telling me this, because?"

"She broke up with me, because of you," Pete replied. "I just thought you should know– since she's probably not going to tell you that." There was a pause, "Goodbye, Jack."

Before he could say anything back, the phone line went dead. Shutting off his phone, Jack dazed off, thinking about what the man had said. Sam had left Pete. And she had done it because of him...

XXXX

There were fifteen more minutes until 2000, and Daniel Jackson and Paul Davis were finally being let through security in the White House, sitting in the same two seats they had that morning, waiting on their appointment. The red haired secretary from before was once again watching Davis and Daniel with interest, and both men were doing their best to ignore her. It didn't seem to do them any good, however, because she kept right at it. Daniel briefly wondered if she ever got out of the office at all, or if they were just such a drastic change from the old politicians who came through that she was having her fun for the year.

They talked silently for a few minutes, about nothing in particular. The things they had done that day. Daniel had been to D.C. before, on business every time, and hadn't gotten the chance to see much of anything in the city. Once he had made time to go to a few museums, but never the big things. While they killed time that day they had gone to The Lincoln Memorial, to see the Deceleration of Independence, and many others. It had passed the time, but it hadn't done much to keep the two from being extremely nervous about what was to take place in fifteen minutes.

After waiting for what seemed like forever, the speaker on the secretary's desk came to life, and the muffled voice of the President told her to "send them on in". So, she did so. Daniel and Davis got up from their seats and went to the door, where the Secretary opened it for them, once again checking out Daniel's backside, although, this time, she caught a peak of Davis' as well.

Slightly unnerved at the woman's openness Daniel hurried into the room, making sure not to look behind him. He heard the door shut and felt a little relieved. The president told them to have a seat, and so they did, in silence. Looking at him in anticipation, they waited for him to speak first. He sighed when neither one said anything, leaned back in his chair, and crossed his hands over his chair.

"Well, I've done a lot of thinking..."

XXXX

There was a knock at Sam's door, around 2000 hours, and it confused her slightly. Cassie was still in school, and wouldn't be done with her classes before break until the next day, and Daniel, as far as she knew, was still in D.C. Plus, Teal'c was off world, and she had left Pete. So... who could it be?

She answered the door, to be surprised two nights in a row. Once again General O'Neill was standing on her front-steps and this time, he looked slightly nervous. "Sir?" she questioned. "What are you doing here?"

He pushed past her into the house, even though she hadn't invited him in, and she was starting to get a bit worried. "I got a phone call today," he said cryptically, sitting down on her sofa. Looking up at her, he saw the confused look in her eyes, and sighed. "Pete called me while I was at work this afternoon."

All of the color must have drained from her face, because there was suddenly a knowing look in his eyes. She shut the front door and made her way into the living room, opting to stand instead of sit down. Crossing her arms over her chest, she looked anywhere but at him, and asked, "What did he want to talk to you about?"

"Oh," O'Neill sighed, "you know. Same old same old. Sports, aliens, the fact that you broke up with him, those kinds of things."

Maybe she should have sat down. She looked over at him, a stern look on her face, and moved across the room onto her love-seat. Sitting down, her arms still crossed over her chest, she sighed. "And is there a reason that you had to come to my house to tell me this?" she questioned, "sir?"

"You didn't tell me," he confronted her. "I was here yesterday, I saw you this morning... You never said a word about him, or breaking up with him, at all. Why is that?"

"Not that it's any of your business, sir," she stated, suddenly feeling anger rising in her throat, "but I was waiting until Daniel and Teal'c got back so I could tell all three of you at the same time." Her eyes were probably dark and cold, but she didn't care at the moment. She really wasn't ready to have this conversation, and here he was, pushing her into it, cornering her in her own home. It just wasn't fair.

O'Neill was silent for a moment, and then, surprisingly, asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Sam felt like screaming, yelling at the top of her lungs, that no, she didn't want to talk about it. She couldn't talk about it, even if she wanted to. It wasn't allowed. He should know that by now. And he should stop putting her in these kinds of situations. "No offence, sir," she finally said, calming herself and gritting her teeth to keep herself from saying what she wanted to say, "but if I had wanted to talk about it, I probably wouldn't come to you."

As soon as she said it, she regretted it. He actually looked hurt. "Oh... right," he mumbled, standing up from the chair he had been sitting in, "then I should probably go."

"Yeah, that would probably be the best thing..." she said just as quietly. "I'll see you tomorrow, sir."

"Right..." he said with a sigh, "at work."

"Yes, sir."

He nodded, "Have a good night, Carter."

Cursing herself for letting her feelings get the best of her, she stood up and followed him to the door, holding it open as he walked out. "I'm sorry, sir," she told him, as he stood on her front porch, it was dark outside, and the dim light made his grey hair jump out, and she had the sudden urge to run her fingers through it. But, she didn't, she kept her hold on the door and smiled at him sadly, "I'm just not ready to talk to anybody at the moment."

"I understand," he told her, although she could see in his eyes that he was still hurt. It was strange, most people could never tell what he was thinking, from the look in his eyes. But she always could. It was something that Daniel had brought up often, seeing as he never could tell. "See ya later, Carter."

"Goodbye, sir," she said, shutting the door as he turned around and headed for his truck. Sighing when he was gone, she turned around and leaned against the door, much like an actress would in a movie. Funny, she had always thought to herself that people never did that in real life. She guessed she was wrong.

After a second or two of standing there, she went back into the living room and flung herself at the couch, picking up the channel changer and flipping through the stations. She barely got the chance to watch anything, because as soon as she laid down she started thinking. And as soon as she started thinking something dawned on her.

Pete had called the general. Pete had told the general that she had left him. Why had he done that? What all had he said? Paranoia set in and she started to go through all the possibilities of the secrets he could have spilled.

Could her life get any worse?

XXXX

A/N: As always, let me know what'cha think!