The scene dissolved back into the Gate Room. "What happened?" Jack managed.

Oma looked compassionately at Jack. "You saved Samantha's life, who in turn saved Daniel's life, who saved Teal'c's life."

"No, I mean…"

"To Samantha?" She asked.

He nodded, still in a form of shock.

"You helped her to keep a part of herself feminine."

He just stared at her. "And how did I do that?"

"After your encounter in the briefing room when you met, and your following encounter with the goa'uld Hathor, she felt that you began to encourage her femininity as long as it didn't interfere with your missions."

"How?"

"Are you forgetting the playful flirting that occurs when you are together?"

"Flirting?"

"Yes, Colonel. You can try to fool others into thinking that your relationship with Samantha is no different than your friendships with Daniel and Teal'c. However, you cannot deceive yourself."

"Try?"

"As we speak, there are a number of your co-workers who are pleading with the President on your behalf."

"My behalf?" He asked.

"Yours and Samantha's. They are requesting that the regulations that have kept you apart for so long may be suspended."

"Well, that's very nice of them, but Carter's dating someone right now."

"Is she truly happy with him?"

"Huh?"

The Stargate activated once more.

He walked through and found himself in a small café. There was Sam. She had just gotten her coffee from the vendor and went to sit at a table. Then, a man came up to her. They flirted and kissed, and Jack thought he was going to be sick. To watch HIS Samantha…no, to watch his second-in-command all over someone else…

Almost immediately, it dissolved into the corridors of the SGC. "What is this all about?"

"Just watch, and you'll see."

The elevator door opened and he stood inside as Sam walked in. He remembered the occasion very well. She started humming. But as he watched the proceedings carefully, he could see an uncertainty in her eyes. A question of what was the right thing.

It hadn't been there when he hadn't been around.

"Now, you need to see what she was thinking about." Oma quipped as 'he' stepped out of the elevator, and they faded into what seemed to be the Prometheus.

"Why are we here?"

Sam was sitting with her knees up against her chest, on the floor. And he was sitting across from her.

"I don't remember this." Jack said, studying the scene.

"She had a very similar experience as you are having now." Oma replied.

"What if I quit the Air Force? Would that change anything or is it just an excuse?" She asked.

"I would never ask you to give up your career." The other him replied.

"Because you don't feel anything for me?"

"Carter." He said, threateningly.

"I'd let you go right now if I knew." She insisted.

"That easy?" He said, scrupulously.

"I didn't say it would be easy." She admitted.

"Then what's stopping you if you really wanna know?"

"I'm trying."

"Maybe it's not me that's the problem here. Let's face it, I'm not that complex." He said, chuckling.

Jack smiled. How true was that?

"Me?" She barely squeaked.

"Sam. I'm a safe bet." Jack breathed alongside his hallucinated counter-part.

They returned to the Gate Room. "What would happen if…?"

Oma activated the Stargate again.

Again, Jack went through. This time, he found himself in the living room of Samantha's house.

"Sam, I want you to leave."

"You want me to leave?" She asked, incredulously.

"Sam, your work…it's too dangerous. I found that out when I followed you."

"YOU FOLLOWED ME?" Sam yelled.

"What? You weren't telling me anything…and the background check didn't show anything…"

She looked livid. "Dammit, Pete. Don't you think you could at least trust me?"

"Can't you trust me?" He asked.

She slapped him. "I told you. I can't tell anyone unless they've been given clearance. But no…you had to follow me, get injured so that you would be able to prey upon my sympathies, and then, I had to tell you the whole damn truth!"

"Sam! That's not fair." Pete insisted.

"Get out of my house." She said, throwing the engagement ring at him. "You make me sick!"

"Come on, Sam…I won't do it again."

She opened the door and shoved him through it. Then, after she closed the door, she leaned against it. In a moment of despair, she slid down to the floor, leaning her head against her knees with tears running down her cheeks.

Jack looked at the picture on the wall. It was similar to the one that they had taken only a few weeks earlier, but he wasn't in it.

"Is she upset because I…?"

Oma nodded. "You died after saving Earth. And consequently broke her heart."