Jack didn't try to hide the smirk on his face as he glanced at Carter. She had ripped her shoes off as soon as she was seated in the truck and now sat slowly massaging her feet in silence.
"Nice shoes, Carter."
Sam snapped her head up and glared at the sarcasm in his voice. "You're just full of compliments tonight aren't you...Sir?" She held the glare until he turned back towards her allowing him to feel the full effect.
"I do what I can." He remarked innocently. "Not intended for long walks, eh?"
"I wasn't expecting to go on a mission, Sir, just a party!"
He chuckled softly and then continued. "Look, Carter, I'll head straight to the control room. You can meet me there after you've changed."
"Yes, Sir. What's going on?"
"SG-5 is stranded off-world. Something about the DHD and they can't dial home. Randall's injured; we need to get it fixed and retrieve them as soon as possible."
"How badly?"
"That's all I know until we get there, but they wouldn't have called me if it wasn't serious."
"You're right, Sir."
"Sorry to have to pull you away from the party, Carter."
"No, it's fine, Sir." She went silent for a moment then continued timidly. "Carol's very nice."
Jack's eyes moved in a quick darting motion at her unexpected comment as he debated whether to respond or not. "Yes. She is."
Sam was shored up by his answer and decided to continue. "How long have you been dating?"
He shot an almost angry glance her way and quickly returned his attention to driving. "That's not really important, is it?"
She flinched at the tone in his voice, almost as if he'd touched her with a hot poker. "Sorry, Sir. I didn't mean to…" Her voice trailed away before she finished her sentence and she fell silent as she turned her gaze to the world outside her window, wondering how they had let this happen. "I was just making conversation. Aren't we friends anymore?"
He clenched his jaw and puckered his lips for a moment before he spoke. There was something…an undercurrent to this conversation that he couldn't identify. She was looking away again, staring blankly out the window. "Changed your mind yet, Carter?"
"Changed my mind?" She turned to face him and their eyes locked. His gaze was intense, angry, almost challenging her to answer her own question. She felt a hint of regret and hoped it didn't reflect in her face as she answered confidently. "No, Sir."
"There you go." He pursed his lips as if he was holding back something he wanted to say and she watched him struggle with it for a moment. An icy silence surrounded them for the next five minutes. Finally O'Neill spoke again. "Nothing I can do to change your mind?"
She turned her head towards him sharply, knowing what that question had cost him and she felt her stomach twist into knots inside her. She continued to stare until he finally turned to look at her again. She smiled at him, somewhat sadly and shook her head. "No, Sir."
He turned away in hurt and frustration and she saw his knuckles go white as he gripped the wheel. "Dammit, Sam." He spoke quietly, but she heard a lot more than those two words as she stared into the darkness.
Several hours later Daniel and Teal'c returned to the SGC and headed straight for the control room. The sergeant told them that Colonel Carter and the General were in his office, but it was unnecessary as Daniel could hear their voices from where he was standing.
"Carter, I've already got one team stranded and now you want me to send another one to the same place?" Jack yelled at her in total disbelief at what she was suggesting.
"Sir, I can't fix it from here!"
"For crying out loud! What do you…? NO, Carter! Clear enough? Find another way!"
"Hey, guys! Did we miss something?" Daniel interrupted in a very calm voice. He looked at Sam and Jack, standing on either side of Jack's desk, in a stand-off. They had obviously been arguing for the past few minutes and both were extremely agitated.
"Daniel! What are you doing here?"
"Party's over, Jack. We just thought we'd see if we could help. What's going on?"
"Sorry, Daniel. I don't have time to fill you in right now." He angrily flipped a stray document into the air and placed both fisted hands on his hips as he turned his attention back to Sam.
"Sir, if you'll just let me take a team through, I'm sure I can fix the DHD from the other side!"
"So you've said, Carter, but you don't even know what's wrong with it – And I've already said NO! Do I need to have Daniel translate that for you?"
Daniel flinched at the tone in his voice. "Um, Jack..."
"I know what I need to do, Sir! I've done it a hundred times before!"
"Excuse me!" Both of them turned to look at Daniel. "Can't you just dial up and tell them how to fix it from their end?"
Jack and Sam looked at each other for a moment and then both turned and left the office without a word. Daniel turned to look at Teal'c with his eyebrows raised above his glasses. "What was that?" The Jaffa just shook his head and followed Daniel to the control room.
The next morning Daniel knocked lightly on Jack's door. "Come!" And Daniel entered the room to find Jack working on a pile of paperwork as usual.
"Morning, Jack."
"Morning, Daniel. Something I can do for you?"
"Ah, just dropped by to see how you're doing."
"How I'm doing?"
"Yeah."
"I'm busy Daniel. What's on your mind?"
"Um…. Carol seems very nice."
"Yes, so I've heard."
"How long have you known her?"
"For a while. Was there something you needed, Daniel?" Jack's tone warned Daniel to change the subject and indicated his quickly disappearing patience.
"Well, it's just…she seems very taken with you, Jack. And I was just concerned that you might be leading her on…so to speak."
Jack carefully laid down his pen, looked up from his paperwork, squinted his eyes and stared making Daniel squirm in his chair. "Daniel. You're crossing the line here."
"What line?" Daniel made a show of looking innocently around the room and then returned to meet Jack's irritated gaze.
"You know what line, Daniel! This is none of your business!"
"Jack, I saw the way you looked at Sam last night. I know as well as you do…."
"That's enough, Daniel!"
"But, Jack…"
"I mean it, Daniel."
"I'm sorry, Jack, but you need to resolve this for both your sakes."
"It is resolved, Daniel. Sam is getting married and I'm seeing Carol - end of discussion." Jack picked up his pen and returned to his paperwork – anyone else would have gotten the message but…
Daniel sat in silence for a while just staring at Jack and watching him pretend to work on the papers on his desk. After a few minutes Daniel spoke quietly."You love her, Jack."
"Daniel. Enough." The tone of his voice was very familiar to Daniel, the warning very real.
"Ok, ok." Daniel held up his hands in surrender. "So what were you arguing about when we got back here last night?"
"You were there."
"Ah…yes, I was. It seemed to a bit out of proportion for the circumstances."
"What does that mean?"
"You were both way too angry just to be discussing the DHD. That's not normally the way the two of you solve problems." Daniel could see Jack's eyes darkening and he could feel the impending eruption rising as he sat across the desk from Jack. He was pushing Jack's buttons and he knew it, problem was he never could tell when to stop until it was too late.
Jack held his pen in both hands, thumbs pressing inward until the pen snapped in half with a loud cracking sound that caused Daniel to jump in his chair. He calmly laid the pieces down on his desk and turned dark eyes upward to meet Daniel's. "Get out, Daniel."
"Jack!"
"Right now, Daniel. GET OUT!"
Daniel stared into his friend's eyes for another long moment then stood dejectedly from his chair and opened the door. "She's not married yet and…you love her, Jack." Then he stepped through and closed the door behind him without waiting for Jack to respond.. He stood in the hall lost in thought, shaking his head at the situation, wishing his two friends would do something before it was too late. Suddenly there was a loud crash on the other side of the door and Daniel ducked automatically. 'Well at least he waited until I was out of the room,' he thought and walked away heading straight for Sam's lab.
Daniel sat across the lab table from Sam having basically the same conversation he had just finished with Jack and getting basically the same denial. He was fairly frustrated as she pretended to work and ignore him just as Jack had done. He had been gently skirting the issue with no results and as he watched her ignore him he decided he'd change tactics.
She was still working, looking into her microscope as they talked and had been answering him almost absent-mindedly since he'd come in; he was counting on her to do that now. "Sam, do you love Jack?" He questioned in a calm, casual tone of voice.
"Yes, of course." She stopped short but didn't look up, realizing what she'd said but deciding she would pretend she hadn't said it.
"Well then?"
"What?" Now she looked up and pretended to be totally confused.
"You're not fooling me, Sam., you just admitted you love Jack."
"What? I did not!"
"Did." He waited for her to respond and she did open her mouth to speak, but the words never came. After a few moments of silence, Daniel continued. "Don't you see what you're doing, Sam? He loves you so much he'd never stand in your way. He thinks you love Pete and that you don't love him. Is that true?" His question was answered only by complete silence. He softened his voice as he spoke to her again. "All you have to do is tell him, Sam."
"Tell him what, Daniel? That I love him? That a day doesn't go by that I don't wish we were together? That I'm happier when I'm with him? Is that what you think I should do? You're immersed in a dream, Daniel, a fantasy! Nothing would change. Nothing can change and we both know that, even if you don't. It's not even true Daniel! We've made our decisions. I'm marrying Pete and he's with…Carol."
"You already talked to him, didn't you?" She lowered her eyes and refused to look at him. "When? Last night? Is that why you two were at each other's throats when we got here?"
"We were arguing over taking a team through the Stargate, that's all."
"That was more than an argument over the DHD, Sam, and you know it!"
"I'm sorry that you're not happy with my decision, Daniel, but it is my decision."
"I just want you to be happy, Sam, both of you. You at least deserve a chance to see if you belong together before you do something as permanent as getting married. And if last night is any indication of what things are going to be like around here in the near future…you need to find out soon…before it really is too late!"
Sam looked at him with tears threatening to spill from her eyes and frustration manifesting itself prominently from her head to her toes. She glanced down at the sparkling diamond on her hand as her thumb moved to rub against the backside of the ring – the ring that indicated her promise to Pete. "It's already too late, Daniel."
Daniel released an exaggerated sigh and studied Sam. "Then why don't I believe you?"
Her posture told him that she wasn't going to say anymore and he would just be wasting his time. He stood up and left her lab closing the door behind him. He started down the hall to his office when a thought occurred to him and he quickly retraced his steps to stand outside her door. He could hear her mumbling, cursing softly and then a massive crash as something came to an abrupt stop against the wall. Daniel ducked involuntarily, frowned, shook his head and walked away.