Saturday-Early Morning(Pre-Dawn)

Jack's eyes breifly left the road to rest on the sleeping form beside him. She'd fallen asleep shortly after he'd gotten onto the highway and away from the lights of the city. She'd shifted several times in half-sleep trying to find a tolerable position and finally curled up sideways facing him, with her knees on the seat and her feet over the edge. Her elbow was resting on one of her knees and her chin was propped in one hand. It really didn't look that comfortable but he supposed after a night like last night she could have slept about anywhere. The car was warm and there were still at least three hours of dark left. As for Jack he was physically tired but had enough adrenaline in his system to keep him alert. The whole night had been insane, the soap opera comparison came back to him again. He'd had bizzarre expieriences before but this had to take the cake.

Jack kept glancing in the rear-view mirror despite the fact that the highway was almost empty at this time of the morning. He wished he at least had some idea who was after them, who he was supposed to be keeping a watch for. Then he'd know what to expect, and whether or not he and Carter could take 'em. He shifted in his seat feeling the comforting pressure of the handgun against his spine. He looked back to woman asleep beside him, a shock of messy blond hair hanging in her eyes. This wasn't exactly how he'd envisioned thier first night together. He'd chosen to head west on instinct, or whim depending on your choice of termonology. It really didn't matter what you called it. He'd chosen west because everything in him told him to go north. North had always been his safe place. The trees, the woods, the cold, home. But he couldn't go home now. Although if someone had asked him then where in hell he was going he wouldn't have had an answer. Safe. It wasn't a place, it wasn't a situation, it was a feeling but even then nothing more than an illusion.

All he had was what he had with him. A broken down car he'd borrowed from a teenager, a gun he'd stolen from a cop, a credit card with afive-hundred dollar limit and fifty bucks in cash. Once it was daylight he'd find a motel and get some sleep. They could probably get pretty far with Sam spelling him on the driving but he wasn't in a real hurry yet for the simple reason he didn't know where he was going. He had three hours of darkness left, maybe in three hours he could come up with a plan.

"Carter" Jack touched her shoulder gently. Yeah, sure, they'd spent the night together. Okay, they's slept together with all the implications, insinuations, inuendo's and cliche's of that statement included. But he still called her 'Carter' in his head. And after that many year it wasn't an easy habit to break. "Sam"

"Hmm" Sam opened her eyes slowly. "Where are we?" She sat up straight and looked around at the lightening landscape.

"Motel" Jack announced. It's not much it's cheap. In fact, I'm thinking about joining the Fleabag of the Month Club."

"What?" Sam asked, amused.

"Figure of speach. I should have a discount for as many times as I've stayed in these dumps."

"Really?" Sam raised her eyebrows. "Anything I should know about?"

"Long story." Jack told her. "Long, top secret, work related, you-don't-want-to-know kind of story."

"Okay" Sam yawned and dragged herself out of the car. "I guess I'll just have to trust you then."

Jack locked the car. "I left you sleep while I checked in" He unlocked room #75 and ushered her inside. "Want to know where we are?"

"Maybe tomorrow" Sam went straight to the bathroom, did her thing, undressed to her T-shirt and went straight to bed. Jack followed suit.

"Are you okay?" He asked as she curled up into a ball with the blankets up to the top of her head, despite the fact that the air-conditioned room wasn't even cold.

"Tired" Sam said wearily. "Really, really tired." It was an unusual admission from Sam, but it had been a day of confessions. So much had happened in such a short time she couldn't grasp it all. She needed to sleep. Prefferably for a very long time.

"Me too" Jack said.

Without opening her eyes Sam moved closer to his body heat and Jack wrapped his arms around her. "Night" Jack kissed her on the forehead.

Sam moaned quietly in response before falling immediately asleep.