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Again, I am sorry that the last chapter had very little dialog, but this one has lots of it to make up for the last one!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of this!
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Sam watched the door as the door handle turned and the door swung open.
"Hey," the figure in the door said as he moved closer into the light of the computer screen, as there were no main lights on, only the lamp in the corner of the room.
"Hello, Sir," Sam said as she gave a small smile to her commanding officer.
"Why is it so dark in here, Carter?"
"Oh, sorry, Sir" Sam said, getting up and turning on the lights as she did. When the lights came on she had to blink a few times to adjust her eyes to the light.
She sat back down her chair as Jack spoke.
"Don't be sorry." Jack began tapping his fingers on the corner of her desk.
"So…"
"So." Jack said. Sam kind of looked at him questioningly.
Looking at the clock on the computer screen she saw that it was 12:30 a.m. She couldn't help but wonder what Jack could possibly want at that hour of the night. Normally he would have gone home a few hours ago.
"Don't you ever go home, Carter?"
"Yes," she said, a full smile now crossed her face. Her eyes twinkled a little. He always asked her about that. She was always working on some project or another, and she normally had nothing better to do than to finish it. So, sometimes she would stay on base all night long if she could, just to make sure the project or whatever it was she had been working on, was done. "But, you can't accuse me of staying late, Sir."
"Oh yeah? Why not?"
"Well, you're here aren't you?" She was still smiling as she said this.
Jack hadn't really thought of this. His eyebrows raised and he pointed a finger slightly at her saying, "You're good."
Sam laughed, sitting back in her chair a little.
"Sir, if you don't mind my asking, what are you doing here? Because I'm guessing that it's not just to tell me that I stay on base too late and I need to turn my light on."
Sam was just now noticing the civilian clothing Jack had on, and he looked down to see what she was looking at.
"I came from home,' he said, raising his eyebrows again as he did.
"Oh. Then I guess I should be asking why you came back?"
Jack put his hand in his pocket as a natural habit, and felt the note touch his fingers.
"Oh, I, um…I left something in my office."
"Oh, OK. Although, I do have to admit, that I thought the only thing you had in there was a pen full of ink and a pile of untouched paper work." He laughed at this.
"Well, I left something in the draw, and I was on my way to my office when I saw the light coming from your office and I wanted to stop by to say 'hi'." Jack said, almost proudly.
"What, did you leave your doodle book in there?"
"No! Of course not! As a matter of fact, I remembered to take that home with me today. I left my mini etcher sketcher in there."
"Oh," Sam said, a smile on her face.
There were a few moments of silence before Jacks hand went back into his pocket. Fiddling with the note he began to speak, "How are you doing with all of this?"
Sam looked at him, her eyebrows lowered. "What do you mean, 'all of this'?"
"Well, for one, your father. Then of course there's Daniel, and-"
"Pete" she interrupted.
Jack didn't say anything. He wasn't sure that if he had kept speaking he would have said 'Pete'. He had no idea what would have come out of his mouth.
He wanted to wait for her to say something. Anything.
Sam lost eye contact with Jack at this point.
She wanted to wait for him to say something. Anything.
She eventually decided, however, that since she had interrupted Jack by saying 'Pete', she should probably say something.
"I'm sorry."
"Stop apologizing, Carter." Jack said in a hushed voice. He looked around the room a little, before returning his gaze to Sam. "There's no need to be sorry," Jack continued.
"Its just, I thought I was happy. I thought that Pate was…" she was searching for words. "I mean…I'm just glad I didn't make the mistake I almost did."
"Yeah, well." There was an awkward moment in the room. "Thanks, by the way."
"For what?" Sam said, right now not willing to make eye contact.
"For coming to my house, and for being honest with me."
"Oh. That."
"I wasn't going to bring it up, but there's something that I think you should know."
"Yeah? What?" she said, curiously.
"Um…well," he cleared his throat, "You know how I feel about you, but the thing is, is that Kerry, that day in my yard, she was in my house." He paused for a second. He wasn't sure what kind of reaction he would get out of all this in the end. That's why he didn't want to tell her. "She was there because we were dating."
"Were?"
"Well, you see, she saw you through the window and left." He was rushing through his words a little. "She knew that I have feelings for you," he sort of whispered at this point, but then got louder, "just like Pete knew about yours, I guess."
Sam just looked at Jack, a little confused, not having any idea what to say. She blinked, realizing she was staring at him, and then looked away.
She looked back up at him. Up into his eyes.
Her features were different. The twinkle in her eyes was gone. The pink in her cheeks was now gone. Her once electric blue eyes had suddenly turned a grayish blue color, almost as if showing her emotions.
Jack also had no idea what to say.
The color was slowly returning to her face as she spoke. "OK, so…" She was still at a loss for words.
"Here" Jack said. He pulled the note out of his pocket and handed it to her.
She read it slowly, her eyes moved back and fourth as she read each line more than once, taking it all in. Sometimes while reading it, her eyes grew wide, and she smiled, taking in one line at a time.
It was a poem, written to Jack, from Kerry.
"Wow." Sam said, after taking in a deep breath. Her eyebrows went up as she re-read the note again. "Wow." She said again, as she looked back into Jacks eyes.
"I just thought that you should know."
"Why?"
"I started dating Kerry a little after I found out you were engaged. I thought that you were going to go through with it, and even though I knew I couldn't, I would have to accept the fact that we could never be together, and that I would have to move on. But now that your not engaged anymore, I thought that you should know that I can't care about anyone the way I care for you. I can't now, and I won't ever be able to. I know that for sure now. I never doubted it for a minute."
Sam's eyes were glazed over as she listened to what Jack was saying. A tear drop rolled down her cheek.
"Me too." She spoke softly, her voice weakening into a whisper.
Jack moved closer to her and wiped the tear away with his thumb.
"C'mere" he said, pulling her into a hug.
He pulled away after a minute. "It will all work out in the end, Sam. Someday. I promise."
He looked into her eyes, and she looked into his.
There was an echo of silence in the room.
Sometimes silence does more than words, and this was one of those times.
The comforting side of Jack had come forth. His military background was completely shed at this point, and he only left the part that cared for Sam. The part that wanted her to know that everything was going to be ok.
"You gonna be ok?" He spoke softly still.
"Yeah" she mouthed.
"OK. And Carter?" he said, leaving the room as he did, "Go home!"
She smiled and let out a small laugh.
A few minutes later she turned off the computer, and taking Jacks advice, left the SGC.
"Always. Someday. I promise."
Please review, I really appreciate the time you take to read my story and the reviews you send me. Thank you!
There is still another chapter or two left to this, so let me know if you think that I should continue this!