The two most unbearable sounds he'd ever heard fired in rapid succession, waking him from his latest waking nightmare.
CRACK
(Charlie)
SNAP
(Sam)
Two sounds, both signifying key moments in his life. Moments when hope and happiness made way for doubts and despair.
Jack was lost in a dark world of contemplation and regrets. A place into which he had once slipped out of reach from those he loved - to protect himself from the inevitable heart wrenching agony of loss - only to be pulled back by the earnest expression of a young man determined to fight aliens, academia and allergies for his love of life past and present. O'Neill had battled a lifetime of demons to escape from the darkness and it had served him well, keeping him busy as he became a new man who saved the world and went fishing on weekends if the Simpson's wasn't on. He buried the past deeply at the back of his mind and put on the façade of having moved on.
The tactic worked well.
Until bright blue eyes reminded him how it felt to be complete once more, how to live and laugh and love…in his own oh so slightly repressed way.
His warped sense of humor mocked him, laughing at his weakness which threatened to ruin him when she started to hum one day. Her happiness hurt him…how screwed up was that?
He had thought that he had the affinity he felt for her under his control, until one day she showed him that the subordinate had the control in this command structure.
She hadn't said no...
And just like that, his every little hope for the future…snapped shut in a cold black box…again.