Daniel and Teal'c walked briskly to the control room. Sergeant Harriman's was sitting there watching the monitors. At the sound of footsteps, he turned around. "How can I help you Dr. Jackson and Teal'c?"
"Did Jack leave yet, and with Sam?" Daniel stood there, arms wrapped around himself, a usual stance when thinking or concerned.
"Yes, why?"
"Crap!" Daniel exclaimed and then continued, "Didn't you find it strange that the general had his 21C unconscious lugged over his shoulders going off to who knows where to do who knows what?"
"Hey, if you haven't noticed, we get bombarded with gate activity that one time or another has threatened our lives, so when I'm told to do something, I do it. This was just the general, no harm done."
"Oh, there will be harm done…Oh Jack…Walter can you dial the previous address; we need to get there now."
"Well, he said you should go get him after a day, but yeah I guess I could." He started to dial the gate, "I just do as I'm told," he muttered.
"Thanks Walter, we owe you one."
"Actually…"
But before he finished his sentence, Daniel and Teal'c were already on the ramp and into the established wormhole. They had packed their vests with a lot of tranquilizers knowing they might need it to subdue Jack. Teal'c had his zat gun ready, and the ancient device in his backpack. When they stepped through, Daniel surveyed the ground and found footsteps lead into the woods. Teal'c proceeded to walk into the forest with Daniel not far behind.
Meanwhile, a few hours before, Jack had stepped through the gate and knew exactly where he had to go. He walked into the woods to a cabin where he had built especially for this occasion. He had it built even before this incident, but had a feeling he would be carrying Sam there in his arm, completely in love. One thing was certainly right, but everything else was wrong. Sam would've given in by then, but he didn't expect full barriers up instead. They had a lot of practice when it came to shielding their hearts and keeping distances; he would have to work at getting her to loosen up, and with the plans he had, he had a lifetime to do so. This was a spontaneous act, like all his previous resignations, he simply had had enough and wanted a life with the woman he loved. His heart jumped with joy at the thought. As he reached the cabin deep in the woods of P3X-561, he placed Sam gently on the ground to open the door. He then picked her up slowly due to his trick knee, and placed her on the sweet little bed he had bought in this cozy home. It reminded him of a mixture of his fishing cabin and the Nox villages. It was serene, and watching her sleep was just surreal, but calming. A rocking chair was right next to the bed, next to the window looking out into the vast trees surrounding them. By the time Sam came to consciousness, it was getting dark, and Jack was preparing dinner. There was a fireplace in the 'living room,' which was not distinguishable to the kitchen. Sam wandered into the 'living room' smelling the spaghetti that Jack was cooking. "Sir, where are we and what are you doing?"
"Carter, you don't have to call me 'sir' anymore; I resigned."
"Sir," she emphasized, "you can't do that, the SGC needs you, I need you there."
"I will be there for you, just at home, cooking and cleaning for you, and loving you for the rest of my life."
"No, Jack, there is no one to run the base that is as experienced and as loyal as you; you can't resign now. Not when we're up against Baal, and we don't know how Fifth's pathogen will affect the personnel with prolonged exposure. You're in no position to retire when people need you most. This is not what the Jack I know would do." Sam exclaimed not realizing how frustrated she was.
"Sam, I can still help from the sidelines as a civilian consultant. I thought you'd be happy for what I gave up for you. No, I'm not the old cautious Jack; I'm the new Jack, finally acting on his impulses. I'm not afraid to love you anymore, and I'm tired of waiting so long just to have you near me like this." Jack replied anxious and annoyed.
"Jack, I'm sorry, but I didn't ask you to do this for me. I would've gladly spend my life with you, but our obligation to the stargate program, to our world, to this universe, keeps me rational. The pathogen may have lowered your guard, rationality, and took away all your brain cells."
Jack chuckled at this, "I never had that many brain cells, but one thing was certain of, was that I loved you and would do anything for you."
Sam gave him another sad look, completely in despair because she had dreamed of this having this man all to herself, loving him, living with him through eternity, but her rationality overpowered her emotions. It should be love that overpowered all, but she couldn't afford to have emotions cloud her judgment. She was the first line of defense against the unknown, she couldn't back down and she couldn't become the woman who longed for Jack's protective arms, she was in the military for that reason.
"I'm sorry Jack, I know I should be thrilled you would resign just for me, but you forget that I'm all facts and statistics. You've been infected by the pathogen, while I'm not, you'll have to forgive my hesitancy." She stopped to shake her head. "This is just too much to take in all at once. Sir…Jack, I love you, just let me process what might have been a major shift in our relationship and future plans."
Jack beamed at this remark and walked over to hug her. She welcomed his warm body and her head swam with the sweet musty smell of his hair. Jack's head cradled around Sam's neck enjoying the closeness and warmth and the love they both shared for the past seven years.
Sam finally loosened her grip; it was unlike her to have given in so easily, perhaps the disorientation from the tranqs or the comforting crackling of the fireplace or just being near Jack after she'd discovered he did this all for her. Suddenly, Daniel and Teal'c knocked down the front door with weapons ready to fire.
"You know in some planets, this would be considered breaking and entering." Jack greeted them.
"General O'Neill, please step away from Colonel Carter."
"It's alright Teal'c, he's fine right where he is, besides, he resigned." Sam said.
Daniel exclaimed, "What! You can't do that; the base needs you!"
"I said the same thing Daniel," Sam sighed, "he won't listen to me. It's like he has no rationality."
"Well, he's never had much, but Sam, we actually came upon something concerning the pathogen." Sam gave him an interested look so he continued. "It's not a pathogen at all; it's our own active imaginations. Fifth never sent any contagion. He expected us to think that so that we would execute your assumptions that Jack would kidnap you and well you know the rest. Plus there'd be an excuse to act without inhibitions."
"So, it made us think we were under the influence of a disease to lower our inhibitions, clouding our judgment. It's like the dark. You see a shadow and assume it's the boogey monster so then it comes to life…but then how did Jack know to start executing the 'plans,' when I hadn't told him all of my 'dream'?"
"Well, based on the fact that you asked me to remove all tranquilizers from the infirmary, I thought I'd start there" Jack explained. "I do have basic deductive reasoning skills. That's what got me my job."
"Then, how did Daniel and Teal'c understand what to do? They didn't even know the pathogen had come. Why did you guys agree with what Jack ordered you to do?" Sam was slightly confused, but the truth was sorting its way out.
Jack continued with explanations, "based on deductive reasoning and from what I understand you're trying to say about the whole pathogen not being real thing, Daniel and Teal'c must've just thought I was under the influence and should follow my orders because I'm the boss, and they have hyperactive imaginations."
"Yeah, it wasn't until after Jack had left that we started thinking it through with meditation; we didn't feel any different, but having experienced multiple cases when not showing symptoms was a bad sign, we just went along with it." Then in a lower tone of voice, Daniel said one more thing, "plus we kinda wanted you guys to end up together, at least for a little while, before getting back to business. Fifth's experiment was the perfect excuse for you two to clear the sexual tension and get on with it." Jack and Sam gave him embarrassed looks at that, but he continued. "We know the NID is nosy and could create massive problems from this, but no one knows, and no one would even think of saying anything cause they respect Jack so much."
Sam having absorbed in as much information at the moment as she could, asked "Has it always been obvious, I mean, me and Jack?"
"Oh yeah," Daniel replied simultaneously with Teal'c's "indeed."
"Oh," was all Sam could say. "Well, then why didn't anyone warn us to not act like fools in love?"
"Because, the whole base routed for the two of you. You were the talk around the water coolers." Daniel smiled broadly. Telling them while seeing their reactions was funny.
"You've been gossiping about random interactions between a CO and his 21C?"
"Sam, it was so much more than that, and we could all see it, I'm surprised you were so blind for this long."
"Well, excuse me for not wasting my time to eavesdrop about the matchmaking around the base and actually being immersed in my job. Besides, I knew Jack and I had feelings for each other, we just knew we couldn't do anything about it. And even if some things happened off world, it was due to the fact that we might die…we were so used to hiding and burying our emotions."
"Well, you guys are more transparent than you seem to know."
"Thanks Daniel, we just found out." Sam and Jack said at the same time, and both gave him a look. Daniel merely smirked while Teal'c raised an eyebrow and smiled in amusement.
"So, how are we gonna unresign you?"
"Oh, that little thing. Funny story really, I didn't resign. I was just pulling your chain, I…"
"What!" Sam interrupted.
"Don't get angry, this was before I knew any of 'the pathogen isn't real' thing, I kinda said it so you would stop worrying about the regs and concentrate on us."
"Oooo, you're very sneaky. You just wanted to get into my pants." Sam gave him a mocking shocked incredulous look.
Jack returned this look with his infamous half-crooked smiles, "yeah, that and much more." Sam suppressed a smile as she always does when he said something incredibly perverse, but still funny in his own way.
But with that remark said, Daniel jumped to action, "ok, whoa guys, too much info, maybe we should leave you guys alone…." He slowly backed out while Teal'c walked out the door.
Sam liked the idea very much, but with one glance over at Jack, he had read her mind. "No, we should head back home."
Both knew nothing could happen, not yet. They waited for seven years; they could wait a little while longer. Jack knew as well as Sam that he would never risk their careers for selfish, if not unfulfilled, desires even if they both wanted a relationship. Friendship was all they needed at the moment. After all, love is friendship set on fire.