Between the time Pete left her house and the time she entered Cheyenne Mountain Sam had changed her mind again.
The night with Pete had been tepid; no matter how hard she'd tried to lose herself in him her thoughts kept drifting back to Jack. When she found herself imagining that it was Jack making love to her and not Pete she knew it was time to throw in the towel.
A few sleepless hours later she'd come to the conclusion that when it came right down to it she would rather be alone; she could learn to live with the fact that Jack O'Neill had another woman in his life, but she couldn't live comfortably with her own dishonesty. Pete was history by the crack of dawn.
By the time Jack arrived at the mountain he had resolved to move on from Sam. He reckoned she knew nothing of his feelings – he had always been very guarded; she wouldn't be able to tell that anything had changed.
They met in the elevator.
In spite of their determination to put the other behind them they eyed one other surreptitiously – each of them saying their own brand of silent goodbye.
Sam thought there was a slightly charged atmosphere in the car but put it down to over-analysis of the situation.
Jack looked at her in her sleeveless tank top and blue BDU trousers and felt his temperature rise. He felt something else rise too, and couldn't believe that his body was betraying him when his mind was made up to distance himself emotionally from this woman.
He got out of the car a few stops early and walked the rest of the way to his office, annoyed with himself.
He barrelled into his office and found … Daniel.
He huffed, did a 180, and made to leave the office, not in the mood for an interrogation.
"Jack?"
He stopped dead in his tracks, his hands resting on the door jamb.
"Daniel?"
"Are you being intentionally rude? Because all you have to say is 'Daniel I'm busy' and I'll come back later." Something was up, he decided.
Jack turned round and Daniel took in his appearance. Oh yeah … something was definitely up; and by the steely look on Jack's face he wasn't going to want to talk about it either.
"Daniel … I'm busy" Jack moved to his desk.
"O… kay. I guess I'll just go have coffee with Sam then" Daniel ventured.
He watched Jack wrap his fingers tightly around a paperweight on his desk and he had his answer.
He wondered if there'd been an argument as he left the room without another word.
Jack sank into his chair, pissed beyond belief that his hard-on wouldn't go away ... that he could still smell Sam's perfume ... that it made him ache for her ... and that Daniel had just seen right through him.
"Walter …" he picked up the phone "a coffee would be good right about now .. and none of that usual tar .."
"I was waiting for you by the elevator Sir. I'll be right in with it."
Jack put down the phone and peered at the pile of paperwork in disgust.
He sighed.
Barring unforeseen crises and the two scheduled briefings and send-offs he wouldn't be showing his face outside the office today.
Daniel sauntered into Sam's lab and hovered while she discussed something with Dr Lee.
He took the opportunity to observe her. She was less animated than usual, clinically focused on what was being discussed – almost sterile in her approach. Definitely something going on, Daniel thought.
"Hey ….." she turned to him when Dr Lee had moved to another part of the lab.
"How's it going?"
"Fine … you?"
"Try that again …"
"Daniel?"
"You are not fine Sam" he pulled up a stool. "Wanna talk about it?"
"I split up with Pete" she shrugged as she looked into her microscope.
Daniel did a double take.
"Er …why?"
This was unexpected.
"I can't give him what he deserves Daniel …"
"It wouldn't have anything to do with …" he fluttered his hands towards the ceiling and watched for her reaction.
"Of course not …" she flushed from head to toe, and Daniel - again - had his answer. He stood to leave, knowing better than to press.
"Oooooof course not ……….."
He stuck his hands in his pockets and headed for the door.
"Look … why don't we get out of here early today and go have dinner somewhere and talk? I'll clear it with Jack."
Sam looked at him uncertainly for a moment and then shrugged.
"Sure …."
Daniel headed back up to Jack's office.
"Erm … Jack .." he popped his head round the door. Jack gave him a dark look. "Sam and I are taking off early today – that okay with you?"
"Why?" Jack didn't his raise his head but Daniel knew he had his undivided attention.
"She needs to talk about …erm .. some private stuff .. and this is not the place. I'm sure she has loads of personal time she can use. Okay with you right?"
Daniel had no intention of letting the cat out of the bag, but every intention of planting a seed of disquiet.
"Why are YOU making this request?"
"Oh … I just happened to be passing this way. You know .. she's busy with Dr Lee in the lab."
"Mmmhmmm …" - she was avoiding him. "Sure Daniel – give me more paperwork to sign off on why don't ya …"
Daniel tapped his fingers on the door frame, smiled and left, knowing that in spite of his sarkiness Jack would brood.
"Carter …" Sam picked up the phone in her lab.
"All set … we're out of here at six … and then we'll talk."
She put down the phone and went back to her workbench, trying to decide how honest she should be with Daniel.