A/N: Okay, so I think I scared a few people by saying Kawalsky was going to 'get rid of Sam.' Sam is not going to die, people. Go back and read my disclaimer info on the first chapter. This is a Sam/Jack story which would be kind of hard to do if I killed off Sam. Also, this follows the episode "Threads," which I'm sure you've all seen (I hope so anyway). Please note that in the episode, Sam does not die. Sorry, off that tangent. I actually liked the response I got to that; there were just a few people in particular who I think I really freaked out. Thanks for all the reviews again, it's for you guys that I'm still working on this story. Also, I have it up faster aren't you happy? Chapter 4 is almost done and Chapter 5 is done so this story should be completed by the end of the summer at least. Just be warned that I am away from the computer for a few weeks at a time because of my job, but I will get it up when I can. Then I have some new ideas. We'll see what happens… Anyway, enjoy!

Warning: this has HUGE spoilers for the season 8 episode Threads. If you don't want to know what happens, please stop reading.

Chapter 3: Yo-Yo's, Engagement Rings and Betting Pools

My list of ways to deal with the "Carter Problem" was pretty small considering I had been working on it for almost two days. Actually, it probably wasn't even appropriate to call it a list since I had only two ideas: get her transferred back to the Pentagon (or anywhere so long as it was far away from Cheyenne Mountain) or leave her stranded on some other world with out a GDO. Neither which I could accomplish because of the little problem of being dead. Plus, I'm sure I'd get some heavy resistance from Jack if I tried either one.

No, the only way I was going to get Jack to stop thinking about Carter was to sit him down and tell him all the reasons why he shouldn't be with her. And for that, I had been able to come up with quite a long list. For example:

Carter is a scientist

Carter is way too smart

every time Carter went off world Jack would worry himself sick

Carter is in the military

Carter is under his command

Carter can handle a gun (always scary if you ever break up – don't ask me how I know)

Carter has a PhD

And (most importantly) it would make my job a lot harder

And the list went on from there.

All I had to do was wait for Jack to come back from his weekend with Kerri. Yup, all I had to do was wait… like I had been for two days. First I had wandered the SGC, finding out who was still here and who had either died or left. Lots of people were new. But terrorizing the gate technicians had only been fun until they began whispering about calling the General back in and the base gossip didn't hold my attention like I had hoped so I soon headed back to Jack's office and started work on my solution to the "Carter Problem."

What I really wanted to do was have some fun time with my best friend but he had ordered me to stay in the mountain until he came back. I guess it was fair; I wouldn't want some ghost spying on me and my girlfriend. So I had reconciled myself to playing with Jack's toys.

Being a general really was the life for me I had quickly decided. You got a comfy chair and no one went rifling through your stuff. I had my feet up on Jack's desk and a yo-yo in my hand. I had found a total of five yo-yo's so far hidden in various places in Jack's office, taped under the chair, hidden in the plants, above the door frame; maybe he was afraid of having them confiscated. The one I was currently playing with had come from the very back of the most bottom drawer that held all his Classified files and it lit up with bright colors when I ever sent it into motion.

Growing tired of the yo-yo, I went to put it back into the drawer and find some other hidden toy to play with when a small box tucked way into the corner of the drawer caught my eye. I reached for it but when my fingers touched the soft velvet covering I hesitated. This couldn't be a –

Yup, it was a jewelry box. And it had a ring inside of it.

My feet slid off the desk as I straightened in Jack's chair to look at the simple gold and diamond band. This wasn't the wedding band he had given to Sara; that one had been much gaudier. Which meant that Jack must have bought this one with the intention of asking someone to marry him. It had to be Kerry… right? I mean Jack wasn't that stupid. He couldn't possibly – he couldn't have really meant this for Carter? Right?

But before I could really contemplate just what I was going to do about this new development, the door creaked open. I threw the ring back into the drawer and slammed it shut just as Jack walked in, his face stormy. Something was up. I made to gather up my lists before Jack could spot them, I didn't want to get in his way right now and I had a feeling that seeing a list of how to get rid of a girl he had some sort of weird obsession with wouldn't be very good for my health, dead or not.

"Hey, Jack," I said cheerily, placing my hands over the lists. "How was everything with Kerry?"

When Jack looked at me, it was as if he had forgotten that I was here. "Oh, just dandy," he said, slamming the door shut behind him. I jumped out of the chair as Jack made his way towards me. "We barbecued."

"Oh well, barbecue is good."

"Yeah, good until –" Jack stopped and picked up two pieces of paper off his desk which I had forgotten about in my haste to get out of his way. My face paled. "What is this?" Jack's voice was sharp, his words clipped.

"Those? Well, those are just – I was just thinking about things and –"

"Get. Out. Now."

"Jack, really…"

"You know, on second thought I'll leave. I don't want to see you right now. If I catch you following me, you'd wish you were still a Goa'uld." The two lists I had made fell crumpled to the floor as Jack stormed out.

He didn't have to tell me twice, I followed him out and down the control room stairs. Hey, all he said was that he didn't want to catch me.

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Jack finally stopped in a small isolation room near the infirmary. I watched him go into the empty room and took up watch right outside where I could hear everything. There was a loud bang and the sound of metal hitting the cement. I resigned myself to staying outside the room; there was something to be said about Jack's temper.

The banging lasted for a few minutes and then Jack fell silent. "Well, Danny-boy. Here I am," he said rather loudly. "You said if I ever wanted to talk about 'stuff' all I had to do was say the word. You hear that? I want to talk."

When no one answered he tried again. "Daniel!" There was the sound of something glass shattering. "Why?" I peaked around the corner and found Jack sloped against the wall, head buried in his hands. Tipped on its side, instruments spread everywhere, was a metal cart and a hole through a computer monitor that was just the size of a fist. Sure enough, when I looked closer, Jack's right hand was covered in blood. There was no Daniel; I didn't know how Jack expected him to show up out of the blue anyway.

"Why?" he repeated more slowly. "Why are things so messed up? It wasn't supposed to be this way. I was retired, you know. I was done. I was enjoying my recently divorced, retired life. The Stargate wasn't supposed to be part of it. I was never supposed to see you again and I was not supposed to meet her.

"Carter walked into that briefing room and it was like my world stopped. Maybe it wasn't love right away, but I was attracted to her. I definitely didn't want to arm wrestle, I wanted to kiss her. Which is so wrong because I only knew her name and she was under my command, she still is. Maybe that's why I didn't want her on the mission. Because something inside of me knew that we were supposed to be together. Is that how it was when you met Sharea?

"You don't know this, but this room is where we locked everything up – after the Zarc testing or whatever that thing was. It's the closest we ever came to full out admitting that we liked each other and she said we could leave it in the room. This room. I asked her if she was okay with that when really I wanted to tell the world, heck the Galaxy, that I cared about her."

I turned away from the infirmary doors and began walking. My mind was spinning, memories of the few hours I had spent with Captain Carter before I died, memories of the few times I had seen Lt. Colonel Carter since I had returned all jumbling together. I was getting a migraine.

Outside of the commissary I came across the same airman who had introduced Agent Kerry Johnson a few days ago. Did he know that Jack was in love with his 2IC?

"Walter, you still taking bets?" asked a man walking right towards us. Walter looked up from his paper and I stepped back so as not to be trampled on.

"Depends on the nature," the sergeant answered.

The other man, the name on his uniform said Reynolds, held up a wad of money. "Fifty dollars says that when O'Neill finally goes and sees old Jacob that he'll tell him to take care of his daughter, and he agrees to."

"Nothing on how much O'Neill will argue that she deserves better?" Walter asked, pulling out a small notepad and jotting the bet down.

"Are you kidding me? General Carter is actually going to give his permission and you think O'Neill will still say no?" Reynolds laughed and the two began walking down the hall. I followed.

"There are some who say he will. There are some who are saying that Jacob is going to tell O'Neill to leave his daughter alone."

"Personally, if it were me, I would." Walter turned and gave Reynolds a questioning look. "Just think about it, if I had a daughter as hot as Carter and then found out that she had Jack as her CO – well I'd be using all my powers as a General to get her transferred."

"I wonder what happened when they first met? You know, I have some bets in here that Jacob will actually ask O'Neill to get rid of Shannahan –" Walter continued as they rounded a corner but I had stopped and didn't hear the rest of the conversation.

They knew.

They knew and they were taking bets on it.

What's more Carter's father apparently knew that she and her CO were sort of a "thing." So what did this say about the whole Jack and Kerry thing? And what about this Pete guy I had heard about a few times? Was I wrong? I guess I had to consider the possibility that maybe I had it back words, that maybe Kerry was the one who was keeping Jack from happiness.

I sank down against the wall and rested my head on my knees. Maybe if I just sat here and waited it would all go away and return to normal. Carter would go back to being a normal keyed up scientist with a new toy, speaking babble and be demoted back down to Captain. Dr. Jackson would come around the corner with his usual allergy problem. Jack would go back to being a sarcastic and sometimes cranky old Colonel and I would be alive once more with my very own command.

But when I opened my eyes and looked back around nothing had changed. My task was still the same only now I had to decide who Jack's soul mate is.

Maybe ascension is overrated.

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It's Carter. Jack's soul mate is Carter.

How did I know?

Well the plain truth is that it's kind of obvious. I can see how much he loves her in the way that he holds her and the softness of his voice. It's clear that she loves him too. They fit together, I just didn't want to see it.

Of course, it helped that Kerry broke up with Jack. Once that happened, it didn't take long for Jack to find her at her father's beside. He didn't seem to be angry with me anymore or maybe he was just choosing to ignore me but I was watching him closely and for the first time since I showed up, Jack finally seemed at peace.

So maybe Carter wouldn't have been my first choice for my friend. So maybe there were going to be problems with the whole air force regulations things. But so what.

Jack would be happy. Sam would be happy. And I was going to get my second chance at life.

All in all, I think I did a pretty good job at being a higher power. I've got this whole fairy tail nonsense down. Happy endings, soul mates… maybe I should do this for a living.