Jack decided that he didn't want to be seen alone with Sam on base. Too many rumors could start. Even though no one knew he was divorced, he didn't want to make Sam uncomfortable. Unfortunately he came to this decision late Friday morning. Luckily for him, Marty was still "healing the wounded general," so he was on base for the day. He caught up with him in a hallway. As they were walking together he asked about lunch.

"You want to eat lunch with me in the commissary?"

"That's not like you Jack. Usually you hide in the corner and bark at anyone who comes near you."

"I do not!"

"Jaaaack…."

"Ok, fine, maybe I bark, but I don't hide."

"Whatever…. Anyway… Sure, I'll eat with you. It will give me a chance to make fun of you for not asking a certain blonde out tonight."

"Ah… Marty…. Ah… I sorta did ask her out tonight… well, I asked her over…."

"You did not."

"Seriously, I did."

"You actually got up the guts to talk to her?"

"Yeah."

"Jack, when were you going to tell me? I have to make dinner!"

"Well, I was trying to, but I got home late last night and I didn't want to wake you, so I figured lunch."

"Why did you get home late? You were only on duty until 1800 hours. And where was Charlie?"

"I stuck around to talk to her, and Charlie is with my parents until tonight."

"I can't believe she actually spoke to you."

"C'mon Marty, that's a bit harsh don't you think?"

"No."

"So, what time's lunch?" They got to a fork in the hall and turned in opposite directions.

"In about two hours."

----

Jack and Marty sat down near the back wall of the commissary. Jack started panning the area. Marty wondered why.

"Jack, what are you doing?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing."

"Why are we sitting all the way back here? There's practically no one in here. Can't we go sit closer to the food?" Jack was still looking around the room and not paying attention to what Marty was saying. "Jack, are we expecting someone?"

"Ummm, no… no… why do you ask?" He still had his attention on the room and not on the conversation. Marty finally figured it out.

"You're waiting for her."

"What?" Jack snapped out of his observation mode and looked at Marty.

"Jack, you don't need a chaperone. You are a grown man. You don't need me around."

"I know that Marty, but I don't want anyone to start talking."

"About what? People have lunch together all the time. --We-- have lunch together all the time, does that mean people are talking about us?"

"That's different-"

"Yes Jack, I know it is, but only to you! You're not in love with me!"

"Could you LOWER your VOICE!"

"Jack," he was whispering now, "I understand that you're a little nervous with her, it's natural, but you can do this." At that moment, Sam walked up behind Jack. Marty saw her first. "Oh, hello Captain, didn't expect to see you here today."

"Am I interrupting Sir?"

"No, I was just leaving." Marty looked pointedly at Jack. Jack looked back pleading for him to stay. "I'll see you later Jack, and I guess you too Captain."

"How long were you standing there?" He asked sheepishly. --I swear I'll kill Marty for letting that slip!--

"Not long Sir, I walked in through the back."

Jack wasn't sure if Sam heard anything or not, but she seemed confused by his question, so he guessed that she didn't overhear what Marty had said. He stood up. "Well Captain, shall we eat?"

Sam nodded and they walked toward the trays.

----

As it turned out, lunch wasn't as bad as Jack thought it would be. There was pretty much no one in the commissary at the time and eventually Jack relaxed enough to both eat and have a relatively intelligent conversation with Sam. He started to feel more confident in himself and more comfortable around her. He also realized that he really enjoyed being with her and as his lunch hour ended and they parted company, he found himself really looking forward to that evening and dinner.

He got back to his quarters later than he expected. He got bogged down with paperwork, as usual, and ended up having his parents drop Charlie off at Marty's place. He quickly jumped into the shower, not wanting to waste any more time than he already had.
Once out of the shower and dry, he walked over to his closet. Suddenly he was struck with a dilemma. --What do I wear?-- Jack never had this problem before. He never gave much thought to his attire. Thankfully he wasn't color blind so he usually matched, at least for the most part, but this choice was bothering him. He wanted to look good, but at the same time he didn't want Marty and his son to know that he wanted to look good.

Finally, he closed his eyes and reached into his closet in the general direction of his shirts and pulled. --I guess tonight isn't my night.-- He had pulled out a light blue collared shirt with gigantic red Hawaiian flowers on it. Just as he was putting it back in his closet it fell off the hanger. Underneath the shirt was another. A dark grey sweater. Taking this as a sign, he grabbed a pair of black pants and got dressed.

He stood in front of the mirror in his bedroom and looked himself over. --Not too bad… I think… God! I wish I knew what she was expecting!-- Before he could change his mind about his attire, he a hand through his hair, grabbed his coat and left for Marty's house.

----

Sam was late. She knew it. She took too much time getting ready. To be totally honest, she took too much time deciding whether or not to get ready. At first she wasn't sure if she wanted to go. Then she wanted to go but had nothing to wear. Then she wanted to go but didn't want to get dressed up. Finally she admitted that she was nervous, that she really really really wanted to go, and she wanted to look damn good!

She got to the door and rang the bell. A few seconds passed and then she heard a small sort of rumbling coming from inside the house. The door swung open. Charlie was standing in the doorway with a bright smile on his face. "Hiya Sam!"

"Hi Charlie. How are you?"

"Hungry."

"Then let her come inside so we can eat." Marty said as he appeared from the kitchen. Charlie bounded away from the door and upstairs as Sam entered, closing the door behind her. She looked around the room as she walked through to the kitchen. Jack was suspiciously absent. She must have been obvious in her casual search for him because Marty offered "He'll be here in a minute. He said he forgot something." She looked confused but nodded and stood in the kitchen feeling very awkward. "Sit down." He issued the invitation as if it were an order. Sam had to stop herself before saying "Yes Sir!" But she sat at on a chair in the kitchen nervously.

"Do you think this is a good idea?" She asked.

"You don't?"

"Well, I'm not really sure about this, I feel really awkward." What she really wanted to say was that she wasn't used to being able to be casual around Jack. Sure it was part of a fantasy, but now that the potential for reality was hitting, she didn't really know how to act. --I really wish I had someone to talk to about this-- Suddenly she felt terribly homesick, or timesick. She wasn't sure which. She missed her friends, especially Daniel. It's not that he would have any advice for her, or in any way be able to tell her what to do, but he'd talk to her and that was always comforting. But Daniel was a few years away at least, assuming she didn't make a change to the timeline by coming back in the first place.

"Ah, finally! What did you forget?" Marty was looking at the door as it opened and Jack walked in.

"Nothing, thought I forgot my keys, but they were in my pocket the whole time." Jack walked further into the house and noticed Marty's apron. It was black and white with a big cow's head on it. "You look ridiculous."

"So do you." He countered and Jack stopped in his tracks.

"You really think so?"

"I don't know, what do you think Sam?"

Sam was off in her own world and from where she sat in the kitchen she couldn't really see out into the room Jack was in, she didn't realize that he had walked in, and Jack didn't know that Sam was there. "Huh?" She snapped out of her trance and managed to focus just as Jack got into the kitchen. --Wow-- That was about all Sam could come up with at the sight of him and she really hoped she didn't say that out loud. His clothes suited him perfectly and his hair was flying off in every direction. Just the way she liked it, uncontrolled, just like Jack.

--Oh God, say something please!-- Jack thought as he walked into the room. He had his eyes down because he was sure that if he looked at her he'd trip over himself and end up on his nose looking about as ridiculous as Marty's apron. Finally he made his way over to her and looked at her for the first time.

That's about where the staring contest seemed, at least to Marty, to begin. --This should be a fun evening. I wonder how long they'll stay like that?-- "All right all right, enough already, dinner's ready. CHARLIE!! Get down here!"

"I'M COMING!" Charlie shouted from upstairs. Soon there was a terrible banging which Sam assumed was Charlie stampeding his way down the staircase. "Hi, I'm hungry, can we eat now?"

----

Dinner went well, although quietly. Jack was so nervous that he barely touched his food. He thought the hard part was over. He already apologized and she was talking to him again, and there was that little kiss they shared the night before. Well really he kissed her; he was gone before she could even truly figure out what was going on.

Charlie had already taken up his usually spot in front of the television, Marty was on the couch. Jack and Sam were still at the dinner table drinking coffee and talking softly.

"So, am I forgiven?" Jack looked right into her eyes when he asked. He'd been avoiding them the whole evening, knowing for sure that he'd willingly drown in those pools of blue, but right now he really wanted her forgiveness and was just about ready to beg for it.

She giggled a little under her breath, then smiled. "Yeah, I'd say so."

Jack let out a breath he didn't realize he's been holding and felt himself being pulled closer to her by some unknown and unseen force. It felt a lot like gravity, but he was fairly certain that gravity only pulled in one direction, down. There wasn't a lot he was totally clear on at the moment except for the fact that --down-- wasn't where his body was headed.

Just as Sam felt Jack's breath on her face, she turned away from him. --I have to tell him about the future, about where I came from. I can't hide it from him. I can't base this whole thing on a lie.-- "Jack, there's something I need to tell you."

Jack looked disappointed and just a bit nervous, but asked "Is something wrong?"

"Uhmm.. I'm not sure…" --He's gonna think I'm crazy. Even --I-- think I'm crazy. How am I ever going to explain this?--

"What is it Sam?" Jack looked at her with anxiety in his eyes. --She's going to tell me she's leaving… No… She's just not interested… She's…--

"Jack, I'm from the future."

----

Author's note: Ok, I realize that was probably a cruel thing to do but I really wanted to post something quickly because I got such a great and positive response to the first part of the story. I really didn't think it was going to be liked as much as it was. The first half of this part was just what was left over from the previous post. I'm working on finishing it but I wanted to let everyone who took the time to e-mail me to know that because of all of you I've been convinced to finish the story. I can't promise it will be very good, but I promise I'll try, just bear with me. I'm not a great writer and it takes me a while to get anything even remotely readable together. Of course, feedback is welcomed and greatly appreciated, it kept this story alive!