A/N: Thanks again for the reviews. GateSeeker2: I originally had a MacGyver statement last chapter, but wound up changing it because I wasn't sure about it.
Chapter 19 – Moving Right Along
Sam spent that day working on digging the rest of the stargate out. She wanted to be able to see the whole gate and see if there was any damage other than the crack they had already found. They had decided that since they were no longer in a hurry to find the gate, Jack would spend his afternoons exploring the surrounding area to see if there were any signs of human inhabitants. Because of this, she had most of the day to herself. She grinned to herself as she thought about Jack suggesting they look through the debris for something she could build a playstation out of. The mention of the game device triggered her memory of placing a gameboy in her pack before she left Earth. It had stayed in the bottom of her pack the whole time, forgotten in the face of their current problems.
That night, while sitting next to each other at the fire after eating dinner, Sam turned to Jack during a lull in their conversation. "Oh, by the way, you were right."
"I was? What was I right about?"
"You said I might be able to find something in the debris field to make a communicator or playstation or something out of."
"You found something? Already? I thought you were studying the gate."
"Yeah, well, I took a break from that for a while, while you were fishing. Here. It's not perfect – not exactly a playstation, but you might appreciate it." She turned and reached into her pack for the gameboy and handed it to a very surprised Jack.
"Sweet! You found this? Where? Was it in what was left from the MALP?"
She gave him one of her megawatt smiles and admitted the truth. "Actually, no, I was just kidding on that. I had it in my pack the whole time and had forgotten about it. I'm sorry I didn't give it to you sooner."
"Wait a minute, I give you command of SG-1 and you start bringing a gameboy with you on missions?" He was chuckling at her as he said it.
Instantly feeling a touch of panic at the implication that she might not take her command that seriously, she answered quickly. "Actually, no, I brought that on this mission, especially for you. I didn't want you getting too bored while Daniel and I played with our rocks and doohickeys."
"Really?" Jack was stunned, he used to like it when she would bring a yo-yo along with her on some missions when he was still leading SG-1. With the passage of time and her own command, not to mention Pete, he hadn't expected her to do something like that for him again, let alone bring a gameboy. He thought about her kiss from that morning when she thought he'd been asleep and decided to take a chance. He leaned over and put his hand on her closest shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze and said, "Thank you," right before giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. "That means a lot to me."
Make that two stunned people now. Sam stared at the fire, face instantly turning crimson, hoping he was too preoccupied with his toy to notice. That was a very unusual show of affection from her CO. Yeah, they'd gotten closer over the past several days, but still. She didn't think he'd be the type to do something like that. "Uh, don't mention it. I'm, uh... I'm going to get some sleep. Have fun."
Jack couldn't help but notice that Sam hadn't moved her sleeping bag away from where she had put it the night before, right next to his.
The next day went pretty much the same, quiet breakfast and lunch together. Sam spent the day working on the gate while Jack fished and explored. That night, Jack noticed that Sam seemed to be distracted, spending most of the time staring into the fire as she ate. "Penny for them?"
"Sorry?" Sam was startled out of her thoughts by his request.
"Your thoughts? Penny? For them? Well, I guess, since the caliber of your thoughts are usually so much higher than most people's, I'll offer you a dime." He waggled his eyebrows at her.
That got a small chuckle from her. "I don't know that they're worth a penny, let alone a dime."
"Well, ok, we'll discuss giving change back later. What's on your mind? You seem distracted."
"I'm sorry, I've just been thinking." She looked into the fire some more, considering what to say. She'd been thinking about Pete and Jack all day. Well, to be honest, she'd been thinking about them since that unbelievable kiss in the moonlight. Ok, ok, she'd been thinking about Jack for much, much longer than that, but the thoughts had been kicked into overdrive with his uncharacteristic kiss last night.
"Yes... I... noticed. Hence, my offering you money for your thoughts." He grinned at her.
"Yes, of course, I'm sorry." She smiled self-consciously and shook her head a little. She drew in a deep breath, bit her lower lip slightly and let the breath out slowly. It was now or never. "I've been thinking about Pete."
"Oh." was all he could manage at the moment. It felt like a hand was constricting his heart, while he was having an internal conversation. 'Peachy, stepped right into that one Jack. Now what do I say?' He thought back to some of the times he'd been stranded during a mission gone bad and how he'd relied on thoughts of loved ones during those times. He paused just a moment and continued. "I'm sorry, I know it must be pretty rough on you, you're probably missing him pretty badly by now."
"That's just it. I don't, well, I do, but not as much as I probably should. I mean, Pete's great and a lot of fun and I miss him, but I'm not missing him the way... the way I..." She squared her shoulders and took a deep breath, continuing to stare intently into the fire. "ThewayImissedyouwhenyouwerefrozeninAntarctica." She spit it out quickly before her brain could stop her mouth.
"Oh." Jack raised his eyebrows, unable to formulate a response to her admission. 'Come on Jack, say something. Nope. Got nothing.' So instead he opted for babbling incoherently "Uh. Wuh. Umm."
She finally turned toward him and looked at him with an intensity he'd rarely seen even Sam use. She reached out and caressed his cheek. "Jack. I'm not in love with Pete. I'm in love with you."
She leaned over and brushed her lips over his, then pressed further and gave him a slow, tender kiss. After a moment, she pulled away and smiled shyly at him. Then she became amused at the fact that she seemed to have left Jack catatonic. "Well, I've got a lot of work to do tomorrow, so I think I'll get some sleep." She crawled into her sleeping bag while Jack just continued to sit there shocked, wondering how he had become so lucky.
