EVEN THE STRONG SNAP

When Janet Frasier died, she left a hole. A hole that many felt couldn't be filled, and they were right; a warm, friendly, beautiful and kind person was gone and there was no way to bring her back. But slowing the hole was patched and most were able to move on, and eventually the hole even healed, leaving only an ugly scar where a beautiful woman once was.
Everyone pulled together and moved on. But unknown to many, this was the event that would start a chain reaction that would end in the death of the greatest team ever known; this was the event that marked the beginning of the end.

And then the next disaster hit. Daniel died; he had been hurt off world. SG-1 had managed to bring him back to earth but his injuries were too severe and there was nothing the doctors could do. And with that the SGC had gone into shock. Two dead within three months. The scars that had formed after Janet's death were ripped open allowing despair to slip in and although many held out a secret hope that Daniel would return again, it was not to be. As this fact was accepted, people began to heal and like before everyone moved on, honoring the archeologist's memory. All except SG-1, for them time had stopped and their tightly knit bond had started to fray, and though they never talked about it, it was true none the less. They put up a good front and to most of the outside world they seemed fine. But Hammond saw through the false front and gave them time, hoping they would heal and get back to normal.

Eventually Hammond reassigned Jonas to the team. He had plugged the hole left by Daniel last time; maybe he could do it again. But he was wrong, this time the hole was just too big and disaster struck again much too soon.
SG-1 was on a routine mission that went bad and they got stranded off world for four months. Teal'c ran out of trention and by the time they were rescued it was too late.

Only two original members of the greatest team were left. The scars were once again ripped opened and for the members of the SGC they healed once again with time but everyone could still feel the pain and another death would most likely be too much for Earth's front line of defense. Though for Sam and Jack the hurt couldn't be healed this time and the wounds weren't to be fixed. It was as if both of them just shut down emotionally. They were capable of functioning on a purely physical level but refused to be taken off missions. O'Neill never made snarky comments to the enemies and Carter never got excited over new technology. The spark of SG-1 had gone out.

Communication between the three of them was basically non-existent and while, after nine years together this wasn't a necessity for Carter and O'Neill, it just served to make Jonas feel more and more like an outsider. Jonas was left to stand by and watch as two of the greatest people he knew slipped further and further into the darkness. But they managed to keep their enemies back and Earth safe because that was their job.

Major Cameron Mitchell was assigned to SG-1 in Teal'c place, but despite his enthusiasm Sam and Jack remained despondent. They didn't care who was assigned to SG-1, just that they were able to continue doing their job. There sole focus now was to protect earth at all costs. So Cameron turned to Jonas and while SG-1 was officially a four person team, the reality of it was it was a team divided. Though they would never talk Sam and Jack were barely apart. There were no more group lunches or team nights and Jonas and Cameron only joined them for off world missions.

The fact of the matter was that only their strongly held idea to protect their teammates and their world was what kept Sam and Jack focused on staying alive and continuing the fight. No longer did the bonds of friendship and loyalty play a part in the fate of the world.

So with SG-1 fragmented and no longer really a team, their next disaster almost killed them all.
A trade agreement went wrong; a warring tribe took offense to the Earthlings present on their planet and attacked the village where the meetings were taking place. Sam and Jack managed to get SG-7 back through the gate, but it was just as Sam went to step through the wormhole after Mitchell that Jack realized Jonas was still back at the village. It was on his return trip back to the gate with Jonas in tow that they got captured.

Back on Earth Sam immediately ordered a rescue mission, barely listening to General Hammond as he tried to find out what was happening.
The thought of losing Jack made her sick, the idea of being the last member of her team alive, nearly killed her. So within an hour Sam was back on the planet using all her military training gained over the years, to rescue her CO. Some of the things she was forced to do in order to achieve that goal broke some of her highest held ethics, but in the end she didn't care.

Once home neither spoke of the mission and what almost happened, but that night as Jack stared at the blank TV screen and held an unopened bottle of beer there was a knock at his door. Waiting outside was Sam and as she came in she sat down next to him not a word was spoken. They stayed that way for the better part of an hour until she finally said in a broken voice,
"I can't to this anymore".

And as Jack looked up and into her eyes Sam suddenly realized just how close he was. His brown eyes penetrated the haze and the scent that was pure Jack enveloped her and it didn't take much before the space between them was closed and their lips met. Jack was hesitant at first, but soon was kissing her back. Quickly they were outcome by their feelings and sensations and let they self be carried away.

When it was over neither said a word and slowly Jack moved to lay next to Sam, both of them still breathing deeply. As they laid there staring at the ceiling, sleep eventually took them. When he woke up the next morning she was gone.
It became a regular thing after that. They never spoke and she was always gone by morning. And though it sunk them further into the depression that had became their life, it was these brief moments together that brought them any kind of feeling and for that those moments were cherished.

Everyone could see that the spirit that had made SG-1 such a great team was gone and all that was left was an empty shell, but still they were sent out on missions, why? No one was sure. Maybe it was because of some deep held hope that they would pull through, or maybe a fear that without SG-1 the world would fall to one of Earth's many enemies. And since they continued to return, on one said anything.

Jack and Sam continued their nightly meetings, falling further away from the reality they worked to save. Jonas and Cameron became accustomed to the silence of their teammates, forming a close friendship with each other.
Then it happened. They went off world and the mission turned bad. Cameron and Jonas got home ok. Sam and Jack made sure of that, laying down cover fire to allow them to make it through the gate. But just as they got to the top of the stone steps, mere feet from the event horizon they were struck down.

Two shot were fired hitting each of them in the back, and down they went just out of reach of the gate. And in that brief second before the pain took hold, all their anguish, fears and worries were given freedom. It was there looking into each others eyes they finally found peace within themselves and each other.
And as blackness faded into white they were given what they had wanted. They were once again embraced by their friends. They were finally home.

It was three years, five months, two days and seventeen hours after Janet died that SG1 was reunited again; only this time nothing would separate them.