Bregman was still piddling around nearly a month later. They had been relieved that they had pulled SG-13 out when they sent the MALP through to P3X 666 to find that a Jaffa battalion stood guard at the gate. And, while they had averted a major crisis, Bregman was still unsatisfied with the lack of action he had documented. The Pentagon, stressed by the status of the project and its toll on the budget, granted Bregman access to the world on the other side of the Stargate. The team he was designated to shadow was SG-1. On what possibly could be their most important mission of the history of the Program.
"Daniel, you found it yet?" Jack asked, walking into the stone corridor that his team members were in.
"I've found the reference to the Repository of Knowledge that we're looking for, but..."
"This is incredible!" Bregman said, bringing his cameramen around to videotape the scene.
Jack turned an agitated look toward the journalist. "Hey! I told you to stay by the Gate!"
"Nothing's happening, though." He argued.
"That doesn't matter! When I give an order, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, I expect those orders to be obeyed. By ANYONE under my command, for however long. Civilian or military! Now get your butt back to the Stargate, or so help me, the Pentagon won't even be able to help you..."
Bregman tried to stand up to the irate Colonel, but just as he opened his mouth and took a step forward, the Repository burst forth from the wall. Instinctually, Jack raised his hand as a barrier to the journalist. He could SO see the man sticking his head into that thing and getting his head sucked...and the last thing they needed was a reporter...gone Ancient.
"Okay, Daniel, figure out how to get that damn thing out of there. Then, we go home."
"Jack...I don't know..."
Suddenly, there was the sound of death gliders overhead. "Damn!" Jack cursed.
Then he turned to the cameramen, who, following Bregman's orders, still had the camera rolling. "Shut that thing off, will ya?"
"I'm afraid they can't. This is too important...I mean...we're about to see some REAL action."
"Well, it won't matter what footage you have on that thing if you're not alive to put it together." Jack said, seriously. "Put the damn thing away."
The airmen promptly obeyed. This was a war zone, and they were NOT going to disobey orders that could most definitely save their lives.
"So...figured out what you're going to do yet?" Jack asked, turning to Daniel.
Daniel looked from Jack and then to the device, and in that instant, Jack knew what Daniel was going to do. When Daniel lunged at the device, Jack anticipated the move. "Oh no you don't!"
"JACK! Somebody's gonna have to do it!"
"And who does the translating when YOU go Ancient?" He asked, taking off his cap. "In fact, you're the one person who can't do it!"
Before anyone else could reply, Jack was standing in front of the device. It reached out and placed its 'hands' on his head, downloading the Ancient repository into his brain. When it was finished, he sank to the ground, unconscious.
"Oh, I SO wish I had that on tape." Bregman said in awe.
Daniel, who had been checking Jack's pulse, stood up. Without thought to repercussion, he threw a right hook that caught Bregman in the nose. Then, he turned to the two airmen with him. "Get him to the Gate. We'll handle Jack." He said, as if he was the next in line to inherit command.
The airmen, still unsure of what had just occured, gathered up the journalist and ran. Meanwhile, Teal'c and Daniel gathered Jack up and did the same. Somewhere in there, the camera was left behind to be blown up by the Jaffa who were still trying to bomb the team.
--
They arrived into the Gate Room just after Jack and Bregman regained consciousness. "We have to get them to the infirmary." Daniel said, hurrying down the ramp when greeted by both Sam and General Hammond.
It was obvious to both what had happened to Bregman, but finally Sam and General Hammond looked at Jack. Other than what looked to be the effects of a killer headache, he seemed to be in perfect health. "Dr. Jackson, what happened?"
"I did it again." Jack said, walking down the ramp quickly, trying to keep up with the archaeologist.
"You what?" Sam asked, clearly hoping that she had misinterpretted his words.
"He had the Ancient Repository downloaded into his brain again."
"Without talking to me?"
"Sam, there was no time. I had to."
"No! No, you dind't."
"What the hell was I supposed to do?" He barked. "Let Anubis get his hands on this stuff? Let Daniel go Ancient? Were YOU planning on translating?"
He had rarely raised his voice with her, let alone this intensely. Tears threatened to fall down her cheeks, and she bit her lip, hoping to keep from crying in the middle of the hallway, her husband on the way to the infirmary with his entourage. Suddenly, she realized that she needed to be alone to allow the tears to fall. She stormed off down the hallway on her way to her lab, leaving Jack and the rest of SG-1, Bregman and the camera crew, and a handful of confused Gate technicians in her wake.
"I screwed up big time, didn't I?" Jack asked, looking around at all of the other men.
None of them needed to nod. Jack knew full-well that he was dead. As in...dead.
--
"Hey, Sam." Jack said, walking into her lab.
She sniffled in response.
"General Hammond gave me the weekend off to, uh..."
"Get your personal effects in order before you..."
"Before I start...you know..."
"Pushing up daisies..."
"Yeah."
She held a box of Kleenex in her hands as she was sitting on her stool in front of the lab table.
"You going to be okay?"
She nodded. "I always knew there was a chance, but..." She dabbed at her nose with a Kleenex. "I didn't think it would happen so...so quickly..."
"Look, let's go home, okay?"
She nodded. "Okay."
--
They arrived home a short time later, and Jack got out of the car first, running over to the other side and opening the door for Sam to help her out. "Thanks."
They walked into the house, Sam almost clinging to Jack. "So...what do you want to do?" He asked, trying to be cheerful and upbeat.
"I want you to hold me." She whispered.
He nodded. "I can do that."
They sat in silence for the next few hours, just holding one another before Sam decided to speak. "You know, before we got married, I told you that I thought that the Fates were conspiring against us. Well, I guess I didn't know how true that was."
"Sam..."
She placed one finger on his lips, stopping him from contradicting her. "I don't want to spend our last weekend together fighting." She said, simply. "I know you didn't really have a choice. It was either that or let the most important intelligence we've ever run across fall into the hands of Anubis." She gave a tiny smile. "And...you just had to save the world again."
He nodded, knowing that her statement wasn't meant disrespectfully, but instead was intended to show him just how much she understood his most basic instinct to protect. Protect his family, protect his team, protect the world.
"I guess my only regret is that we didn't have the courage to do this years ago."
He stroked her hair. She had let it grow out a little bit, pinning it back for when she was on the base, but letting it cascade onto her shoulders at home. Jack had really come to appreciate its length. There was now more hair to run his fingers through. "You know, whatever happens, I've been happier these last few months than I have been in years."
She smiled through the tears that began falling again. "Me too."
"Besides, it's not like there aren't any options, right? I mean, just because Thor isn't responding to our communications, doesn't mean..."
Sam couldn't bear it anymore, and started sobbing. Jack stopped speaking and gathered her back into his arms. "I'm sorry." He whispered.
The doorbell rang, and Jack looked at Sam as if to ask whether or not he should get it. She nodded. "It might be important."
"I thought that was what got us into this mess."
Yes, they had held off their relationship claiming that everything happening around them 'might be important.' They were now going to be ripped apart because something had been 'important.'
"It might be Daniel or Teal'c." She said, clarifying her statement.
He nodded and got up. As he did so, he tried to help her up, and she followed him into the entry way where the door opened. "Hellooo..." Daniel called.
"In here." Jack said, behind the door.
"Oh! Are we interrupting something?" Daniel asked, poking his head around the door.
They shook their heads, soberly. "No." They answered in unison.
"Hammond send you guys to check up on me?" Jack asked, motioning Daniel and Teal'c into the living room.
"No...it's a funny story, actually...you see...we..."
"We wished to walk through the lane of memories."
"It's stroll through memory lane, Teal'c...and..." He looked at Sam, whose eyes were still somewhat red. She gave him a small but firm smile, and he nodded. "That sounds like a great idea."