Title: Looking Glass Pt 15

Spoliers: Abyss

Archive: Just ask! SJD, SJ17, anything else ask! No problem.

Rating: PG

Summary: The last chapter! How it ends.

Disclaimer: Not mine don't sue m!

AN: Ok, so it took me over a year I think to come back to this lol. School has been crazzzzzzzzy. Thank you to EVERYONE who reviews. They are soo appreciated! I hope you all enjoy!

Sam was in her lab after her father's memorial service. Surprisingly, it wasn't as difficult as she thought it would be. There were speeches, plenty of speeches, and plenty of people watching her. Waiting for her non-existent tears to fall, waiting for her to faint with her overwhelming loss. But those people were let down because Sam kept her walls up. Something she's perfected after years of sadness and anger.

The speeches were one in the same, and thankfully passed quickly. When Taps started to play, all she could think about was the façade in the casket. Her father's body was still back on the wretched planet, and carefully weighted sand bags were in the wooden box to fake her father's weight.

Mark came and held her hand throughout the entire service. They held on to each other with the sinking realization that they were orphans. He joked out loud that she should cut and curl her hair and dye it red. After the service and pumping dozens of people's hands that were somehow 'important' to her father, while she knew all along that they were there for the status, she finally escaped back to the mountain to hide in her lab.

"Having fun?" The voice startled her.

She was sitting on her stool at her desk as she pretended to work on the latest MALP reading from the planet SG-3 just returned from. She never even heard him come to the door. Which, she realized, was probably his intention. After working with him for what seemed like thirty years, she knew the way he liked to maneuver.

"Oh, you know me. Working all the time," she tried. They both winced at the lame joke. She continued to look at her blank laptop.

"You got out of that memorial service pretty fast, Speed Racer."

"Would you want to be there longer?" He could see her body tense up with his joke. He waved his hands in front of him as it to call her attack off.

"Not insinuating anything. I'm trying to make small talk here," he told her.

"You? Making small talk?" He finally heard a bit of a smile.

"I'm trying to turn over a new leaf. Start a new hobby. Or whatever."

She still wasn't looking at him. Her body was so tight that he thought a corkscrew might pop out from her head. The dark circles under her eyes that he saw at the service were probably worse now that the make up was wearing off.

"I would ask you if there's anything I can do, but I think you would only threaten my life at this point."

She finally turned to him. For a second he thought she would cry, but she cracked a smile instead.

"Thanks."

"What for? If it wasn't for me," he started.

"If it wasn't for you, we would all probably be dead by now."

'Oh crap, here we go' he thought as the saw the familiar determination in her eyes. Usually he liked, dare he say loved, that determination. But only when it wasn't against him!

"I know you feel guilty for what happened. And I'm not going to lie. I was mad at you. I probably even hated you. Why did my dad have to be the one to sacrifice himself when there were plenty of other people on the ship?"

Jack's confidant lean against the doorframe turned into a guilty hunched back and crossed arms. He couldn't even look at her eyes anymore. He always thought the blueness of her eyes was like Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth, they caught and kidnapped whoever she settled her attention on until she knew what she wanted, or they knew what she meant.

"I was grieving. He was my dad! I loved him! But I love him more for what he did. He was already fatally wounded. If you or Teal'c would've taken his place, I would have been mad at you."

"Impossible to please," he muttered under his breath.

And he noticed a small laugh come from the grieving woman. In that single moment, they ignored every rule, every regulation they tried to live their life by. They weren't Colonel or Major, they were only Sam and Jack. Jack carefully walked around piles of her million dollar tools and stood in front of her, their toes greeting each other. Looking up, her blue lasso's of truth met his yummy chocolate brown candies. He reached for her hand and, for once in her life, she didn't think. Didn't think of the consequences, think of what she was taught or told, she finally went on emotion. Accepting the offered hand, he pulled her up and engulfed her in a hug that stole her breath.

"So, I have an idea" he stated after a minute.

"You? You have an idea?" she joked incredulously.

"Hey! It happens from time to time. Just listen won't ya?" Instead of arguing, she just held on tighter. Her head was resting on her shoulder and his chin was resting on her head. She decided that his shoulder was made for her to rest on.

"So, I still have this cabin in Minnesota. It's great. The fish are thiiiis big."

He was still too busy holding on to her to make his usual claim with his hands, but she got his point. Every time he asked her, she had to turn him down. If she didn't, she would be more than a little tempted to break more than one regulation. And Sam really didn't care to spend anytime in prison.

"Ok," she breathed out before she had a chance to change her mind or allow the adrenaline to slow down from her decision..

"Ok?" he asked again, almost as if he needed to hear her say it again.

"Yeah, ok."

He heard the surprise in her voice at her own answer. She always turned him down. Pulling away slowly, Sam started to feel the comfortable force field of awkwardness grow between them.

"What?" she finally demanded.

"Nothing… I just don't think I'm the only one turning over a new leaf."

"Oh whatever," she joked.

"So! When can I pick you up?" Jack clapped his hands and rubbed them together like the mischievous little boy he was at times.

"You're picking me up?"

"Yeahsureyoubetcha."

"Um, all I really have to do is pack. I have leave for a while."

"Oh! And before I forget. Bring an extra blanket."

"Blanket? What for?"

"You are such a blanket hog. I was cold all night."

With a wink he was off, and she was blushing.

"Alright Sam, what in the heck are you getting yourself into?"

The End

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