Sam woke to the sound of someone mumbling, she turned to see Jack twisting and turning. Afraid he would hurt himself, she attempted to wake him.
"Jack, Jack wake up." He didn't and she could faintly make out what he was saying, "No… Sam…please, don't. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. Please…"
He woke with a gasp, eyes darting around the room quickly. Sam placed a comforting hand on his arm and he looked straight into her eyes.
"It's ok, it was just a dream," she soothed. The two fell asleep again soon after that.
When Sam woke again Jack was gone. She quickly changed and went in search of him.
Jack had woken an hour before; he could not sleep, the nightmare still fresh in his mind.
Sam had been sitting with her child in a graveyard looking at a headstone, looking at it, she was talking to it; "I'm sorry I haven't visited in a long time but its been hard, Grace and I have had a little trouble we have had to deal with, you were right…everything you said in that letter was right. I wish you were here for us Jack, Grace needs her real Father."
Jack was sitting on the dock with the letter he had written in his hand. He heard Sam approach him but he did not turn to her or acknowledge her.
He knew exactly what she was going to say;
"Why did you do it?" She asked, her quiet voice echoing across the little bay.
"You never read the letter I wrote you?" he asked.
"What letter?"
Sighing, he handed her the envelope marked by spots of his blood, she took it and read the letter;
Dear Sam,
I'm sorry. I know telling you this in a letter is not the same as telling you face to face, it is something I should have told you when I first had the chance. Please don't blame yourself for my death, I should have done this long ago; When I had lost Charlie I thought there was nothing left for me. That was until one bright spark, Caption Samantha Carter, walked into my life and gave it meaning again. You were the thing that kept me alive all these years, you've saved my sorry ass more times then I can count!
Do you know I can tell you exactly when I fell in love with you - and no it wasn't when you wore that Shavadai dress or when you jumped me in the locker room. It was the first time you tried to tell me something I didn't understand, the look you get when you explain something about the Stargate always made me smile inside.
Shanahan does not deserve you Sam, you are too special to be with a slob like him. But you deserve to be happy and he makes you happy. In my eyes you are more important then life it's self, and that is why I can't tell you this myself, but have to tell you now in this letter.
My Love always,
Jack J. O'Neill
As she finished reading she had tears streaming down her cheeks. When she was finally able to speak she whispered mutinously; "You selfish git." She threw the letter in his face and stormed off to the safety of the cabin. Jack looked back out into the lake, he knew it was best to leave her alone for the moment.
SJSJSJSJSJSJSJSJSJSJSJSJSJSJ
Neither spoke to the other all day. Jack spent most of the day on the dock, only going in for a sandwich for lunch – as Janet had told him if he lost any more weight whilst away she'd admit him back into the hospital.
When dinner time came around Jack packed up his fishing gear and began to take it back into the cabin, when he heard a scream. He dropped everything and went as quickly as he could, once he was inside his black ops training kicked in, he could hear someone sobbing from the master bedroom. He quickly slipped into the living room and retrieved his gun from the safe at the top of the book shelf.
Sam was standing in the bedroom face to face with Pete, he wore a cocky smile on his face.
"Hello baby, how you been?" He asked coolly.
"What the hell are you doing here Pete?" She snarled.
"I came to get my wife," he was getting angry now, "and I'm not leaving without you." He stepped forward and Sam moved back up to the wall. Stepping right up to her, he pinned her against the wall. She tried to fight back but couldn't get her arms out of his strong grip and before Sam was aware of what was going on he had undone her jeans as well as his.
He went to enter her, she wasn't prepared and it hurt so much she couldn't help but scream.
Jack ran quietly to his room, to see Sam pinned to the wall by Pete; Sam looked him in the eye for a split second before Jack grabbed Shanahan and dragged him away from her. Pete didn't have time to regain his whereabouts before Jack punched him in the face, not stopping until he was unconscious.
Jack moved over to Sam and before he could speak she wrapped her arms around him and refused to let him go, he soothed her until she finally succumbed to sleep. He gently laid her down on the bed and put a blanket over her while he tied Pete up and called Hammond to have him contact the air-force base in the area to have some SFs pick Shanahan up.
Once done, he went back into his bedroom to see Sam awake and curled up in the corner of the room. She looked up at him when he sat down next to her.
"Where is he?" She asked.
"Unconscious in the living room, Hammond's sending some SFs to pick him up." She nodded and moved closer to him, he wrapped his arms around her again. "Sam, we're flying back as soon as the SFs have Shanahan, Hammond ordered it." She just nodded and snuggled closer to him.
Four SFs showed up in two SUVs, two of them to take Shanahan and two to escort Jack and Sam to the air field.
Sam and Jack arrived in Peterson air force base to be greeted by Janet and Jacob. Sam went straight to her father's arms when she saw him.
TBC