Disclaimer: Stargate belongs to MGM, Gekko, Double Secret Productions etc...
Jack wished that he could move on. He had been carrying his resignation around in his pocket for two weeks now, along with the ring... Every day he contemplated handing it in, but then she would smile at him or crack a joke and he knew that he could never bear to be away from her. But when Pete's ring had appeared on her finger that morning, Jack was sure that a whole part of him died inside. He wanted more than anything else for Sam to be happy, but he wasn't gonna kid himself that it would be easy knowing that she was going to spend the rest of her life with someone else. What on earth had he bought the damn ring for in the first place? She had been seeing Pete for quite some time... Had he honestly thought that she would say yes to him, Jack? Yup... a quiet part of his mind told him...
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Sam slid to the floor of Jack's office, her back leaning against the cold wall and his leather jacket still clutched in her hand. She gazed through misty eyes at the paper in front of her, then at the ring, and back at the paper again. He had been willing to give all this up, the SGC and everything he loved, just for her? How must he have felt when she just bluntly announced that Pete had proposed? Sam cringed at the thought of how much she must have hurt him. She felt several hot tears make their way down her cheek and fall onto her arm. She hugged the jacket to her, seeking comfort. As she drew a shuddering breath, she could smell the leather and aftershave that to her defined Jack. She couldn't help but wonder what she would have said if Jack had asked before Pete... Sam loved Pete, she knew that. But it was a different kind of love to the kind that she felt for Jack. With Pete, she felt safe and cared for and happy. With Jack, she felt like there was no one else in the world when he looked into her eyes. She felt complete. He could make her laugh or cry in an instant. The last few years that they had been working together had brought Sam to the knowledge of one thing; she loved Jack O'Neill, heart and soul. She didn't know what she had come here tonight to say to him, she only knew that she had wanted to know if it was at all possible that he cared for her too, before another ring went on her finger and she never got the chance to find out. I would have said yes she realised, and it wouldn't have taken me two weeks either...
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"Oh, damn it." Jack made up his mind in an instant. He wrenched open the car door and stormed across the car park to go back to his office. He wasn't going to sit in this rut forever... the resignation was going in the bin and the ring was going back to... well, it was going into a drawer somewhere and he was going to get on with his life. Sam seemed happy. She was engaged to a man with the mental capacity of a peanut, who didn't deserve her at all, but she was happy. Jack knew that Pete would never hurt Sam... but something about that guy just gave him the creeps. Jack comforted himself with thoughts of torturing Pete to death if he ever made Sam shed so much as a tear... The guard at the door jumped slightly as Jack stormed past him.
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Sam's curiosity got the better of her and she gently slipped the ring from its velvet box. Taking Pete's ring off, she put it in the box and gently slipped the white gold ring onto her finger. It fitted perfectly. The sapphires glinted in the light as Sam held her hand up to look at it. What am I doing? Fresh tears made their way down Sam's face as she realised that it was too late... she had already broken the heart of the man that she truly loved...
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As Jack strode down the corridor, he realised that the light was on in his office. He got, if possible, even angrier. Who in the hell was nosing around his office in the middle of the night? Well he would give them what for... They'd think twice before they... Jack's thoughts stopped dead when he threw open the door and saw who was in his office. Sam was sitting on the floor with tears streaming down her face, hugging his leather jacket in one hand and staring at –was that his ring?- on her other hand. Not exactly the picture of a happy bride to be... Jack couldn't help but stand there with his mouth open...
A/N: Dedicated to all those who demanded a sequel! It's still a work in progress, and I have abandoned all attempts to draw a parallel to the series cause I haven't seen it! Please, please review!