Hey all, I'm still on my way to getting the end written. No worries, I'm close! But, I got you all covered with some weekly updates. Yay!

Anyhow,

Enjoy!

M.

PS: It's so good to read you all again! Sunstar04 (I hope I got the name right) I believe I mentioned before, but here it is also more explicitly explained (give my own faulted logic and invented biology obviously.)

Chapter XXXV

March 28th, 2004

Underground Sanctuary

The first rays of the fake sun shone brightly through the curtains, and straight into William's eyes. Feeling heavenly sore from their nighttime activities, he stirred softly opening the eye that was disturbed by the light, and then he saw her.

He smiled at the peaceful way she was sleeping, her face devoid of all makeup looking incredibly young as her brown locks laid around her in a halo, the white skin of her back continued until it reached to the soft curve of her buttocks. Somehow only her legs remained covered by the sheets they had placed on the bed before falling to sleep.

He sighed happily. After Helen's confession at the balcony, they had made love until his body didn't respond anymore. Frustratingly he had tried to work once more, but her hand stopped him.

"William, this isn't a marathon. We don't need one," she had whispered looking at him straight into his soul. "I'm certain we will have plenty of days as I am sure you will come to terms with what you've uncovered earlier."

"But," he tried thinking how he wasn't Nikola, how he didn't have half the energy of the half-vampire.

"No, don't go that way. It's not like that," she kissed him slowly. He frowned. "Do you truly want to do it once more, or are you comparing yourself to Nikola?" Helen asked him bluntly. He nodded, she knew he agreed with the second one, but she kissed him.

"Come," she tugged his hand and walked them to the bathtub.

Filling it with hot water and throwing some scents on it, she pushed him towards it. Then as she sat behind him keeping him in place by squeezing her tights, she started to massage his shoulders. Helen worked on his back until he began to relax against her. Slowly, she turned his head around to kiss him, and he responded hungrily. When they broke the kiss, Magnus moved back a bit. Their eyes made contact, and she smiled.

"Never forget that not only I love you, but I've chosen you, William." The Doctor had said before she brought his face close to hers and they melted together in a kiss. He didn't understand it right then. But it did dawn on him, as they worked butt naked to change their sheets and cuddled together both still feeling a bit too hot from their time in the tub.

Yes, she loved Nikola, and they were mates. However, she didn't have a choice on the matter. Whereas she had admitted loving both, she had chosen him to share her time.

"You chose me," he whispered to the sleeping figure next to him.

It was a rarity to have her sleeping while he was awake, to have the chance to see her so calm and unpreoccupied; so beautiful. Out of his own volition, his hand stretched to caress her back.

And he panicked, she was cold - Death cold.

He moved back slightly before he tried touching her again, still cold.

He searched for a pulse, but there was none.

"Death sleep, it must be. It has to be," he said to no one in particular, trying desperately to convince himself that was all it was.

He had seen Nikola entering that state, but he had never seen her. She always was up before him, and she had explained to him that she made sure her healing happened during his time of deep sleep. But how could he know if that was it? That she was going to wake up at some point? How could he know if someone who felt cold and had no pulse was still alive or gone for real? He was scared of losing her; he couldn't imagine a Sanctuary without her. He couldn't start to explain to himself how empty his life would be without her to fill the void.

And then she gasped for air.

Feeling observed she turned her face towards a scared William, with tears streaming down his eyes. Without doubting she threw herself at him, embracing him tightly.

"It's okay, William. I'm here. I'm okay." It took a while, but the situation passed. "I'm sorry, William. I didn't have a real chance of fully recuperating myself after Ashley and the drug situation."

"But you are okay?"

"Yes, back to perfect," she grinned caressing him lovingly. Helen blushed, "I thought that after yesterday's marathon you would be spent for long enough to give me time to fix myself before you woke up. I'm truly sorry I've frightened you so much, William. Is there anything I can do for you now?" He grinned.

"Keep choosing me," he half affirmed half doubted.

"Until your last breath, if that's what you want from me," unable to speak out of the sheer weight of the emotions, he nodded kissing her.

"Now, if we are quite done with being all corny," she grinned making him snort. "We should start our day; I'm pretty sure we are late now. And we still have to organize a tour around the city for them."

Same time

Sam stirred under the warmth of the fake sun; and couldn't help but grin. She was in her mother's home, her friends hadn't disowned her and the Colonel, she sighed happily. Well, Jack, he was sleeping in the room next to hers.

For the first time in weeks, she felt relaxed and ready to face the day and knew that she didn't need to hide from anyone. So, after a shower to kickstart her day, she finally had walked out of the room.

"Carter!" Jack greeted her as he stopped a couple of meters away and turned around when her door loudly closed. "How was your sleep?"

"Great! Yours?" She reached him, and they began to stroll towards the elevator and the dining room.

"Not bad." They entered the enclosed space, and Jack clapped his hand and stood on the ball of his feet before standing straight again, and Sam snorted.

"What?"

"Dunno, I'm somewhat at lost here," he grimaced.

"It is just me, you know?" Sam tried to reassure him.

"Yeah, that's the thing that makes everything so complex," he muttered as she walked out of the elevator. "Do you know anything about those tests they want to do with you?"

"I suppose a couple of fights and then they will stick me into the medical bay until I heal, or something." They saw a blue energy ball turn into Ashley before the younger Magnus entered the dining room. Jack shook his head.

"I'm starting to think one never gets used to it." He shook his head as they continued their way.

They scanned the room as they entered, Will and Helen were sitting on one end of the table looking rather cozy as they almost whispered to each other. On the other end of the table, Ashley was digging out food out of her plate at fast speed. But safe for them, the room was quite empty.

"Good morning," they announced themselves. Helen raised her eyes to them and smiled.

"Good morning, I hope you had a good rest," she said looking at them.

"Yeah, thanks."

"How did you enjoy the view?" The old Magnus asked after taking a sip of her tea.

"Oh, it looks amazing! I stood looking at it for a long while before I managed to sleep."

"I know the feeling," Will said. "It didn't help my insomnia at all when I first arrived. So, you both ready for the trip to the city?"

"Oh, you are going to the city! Cool!" Ashley grinned.

"I thought you would want to start the tests right away," Sam frowned lowering her plate and mug on the table before she sat.

"We can if you want," Helen shrugged. "However, it is scheduled to be a nice day; rain won't come until a few days from today. I thought you would want to see it, and maybe spent some hours in the lake since you are on vacations." The major frowned.

"Judging by the look of your home, Colonel, you might like the cottage Helen has on the most secluded part of the lake."

"But what about Carter's tests?"

"Well, there aren't any tests per se. Just a lot of learning to do."

"Learning?" Sam frowned.

"Yes, you need to learn to control healing." On the other side of the table, Ashley grimaced.

"Take it from me, that I'm still learning. Go to the town, get a nice day out of it and then come and get kicked."

"I guess it is all settled then," Sam nodded. "What should we bring?" Will grinned.

"Sunglasses?" he offered. "Consider it more like tourism."

"Henry informed me that you IDs are confirmed in the systems, and you will be free to roam around most of the Sanctuary. For our sakes, the only place you won't be able to go will be the dangerous area. Unless you want to revisit it, in that case, we can schedule it." Sam frowned.

"The place you took us the first time?" Sam asked, and Helen nodded. "Why the mermaid is on the dangerous area?"

"Sally?" Will frowned, Sam nodded.

"Ah, she was there when you visited," Helen grinned. "She's not in the dangerous area unless she wants to be there. Her tank goes around several levels and connects to the river here at the top, and the lake down below," Helen explained. "She is not the only abnormal using it. As you might imagine most of the water abnormals are completely benign."

"Oh, okay." Helen lowered her teacup and checked her watch.

"William," she started, and he did the same. Both stood up at once. "We are needed on a meeting; it shouldn't last long. Shall we meet in an hour at the back door?"

"Sure."

"Shouldn't you be going too?" Jack asked at Ashley; she swallowed what she was chewing as she shook her head no.

"Nah, it's some high-end network meeting. The others most likely will be chewing mom's head off for giving her name away along with whatever you might pick from those lists she promised you. We like to help, but some of the other heads are a lot more skeptical about trying to work with governments that have betrayed us in the past. No offense intended," She grinned.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jack frowned.

"Well, I don't know much. I was in stasis for a good while."

"In stasis?" Jack frowned.

"Yeah, I kinda blew myself and mom had to make me a new body," Ashley grinned. Jack frowned.

"This was before or after you got ... altered? That sounds so strange," he huffed.

"I know, right? It was after."

"Well, this might sound even weirder, but why didn't she create a body that didn't have those changes?" Ashley lowered her eyes for a bit. "Not that I have any issues with you."

"She couldn't. Before you ask, I wasn't the only conscience she had retrieved. It was months between the day I was changed and the day I killed myself. I'm sure mom can explain it far better, think she already did it with Sam."

"Yeah," Carter nodded.

"Well, my last conscious memories do include all the superpowers and attacks. Yes, even almost killing my own mother. But the thing that made her consider to retrieve me as I am was a second conciense she had also downloaded. Don't ask me how she identifies the other girl and me; that's way beyond my tech interest."

"Her father's side," Sam grinned making Ashley beam at her and nod.

"So, she made a body for that girl using DNA they had from the program that had placed her in the Cabal's sight. It was a clean one, no abnormalities whatsoever, and the girl went crazy. She had memories of having fangs and killing people and poofing and all those things I can do, for what I know, they tried several techniques to try and get her over it, but at the end she killed herself."

"Oh."

"Yeah, so seeing the results, she decided not to risk it with me. In one incursion they did to the Cabal's facilities, they were lucky enough to find the vials with my new DNA, and that's where I come from as I am. Since it happened all between the time I was dead and the time the uprising was about to happen, she kept me in stasis until she could come up with a treatment."

"And this betrayal?"

"The books say the uprising was planned, and almost achieved, and governments gave mom the proverbial knife in the back. Most of them founded agencies or branches inside agencies to help to exterminate and control the abnormals."

"She mentioned something about it," Sam said.

"Well, SCIU is the result of it. I know some heads of the network won't be quite happy about us playing with fire again. Your presence here; and the relationship built out of this can be very damaging to us if let's say SCIU get word of it. Anyhow, I should also get going."

"Here you are," Helen said an hour later as she saw them walking towards them. "I thought we should start with showing you how to use these." She pointed to the pad next to the door. "Go ahead; we are going downtown." Sam touched the screen, and to her surprise, it was all in English.

"You should be able to pick any destination," Sam picked downtown. "And then you can pick among the fast or panoramical way. I shall advise you never to make the rail transparent if you pick the fast way. It never ends well."

"Why yours was in a different language?" Sam asked.

"Ah, I get some other options besides the typical traveling selection." She said entering the cube and attaching her safety bell.

All three of them followed her example, and before they could say another word, they started a free fall. Seconds later the fall stopped, and they moved forward until it came to a full stop. The doors opened, and they got out in what looked like a rail station. Sam and Jack couldn't help but stare in awe at the variety of species moving around the space.

"This way, please," Will pointed them, as Helen walked faster ahead of them. They found her out, surrounded by a group of people. She smiled at them managing to escape the group moments later

Downtown was not quite as they expected. They had been in several cities across the galaxy, and this one was more like walking downtown in any city of Earth than outside it. Buildings, although architectonically different had screens instead of signs and they noticed they changed according to who read them. Stores held a variety of clothes colors and formats, to cover the range of variations and tastes.

"So, you have a currency and all?" Sam wondered as Helen joined them again after being stopped by some walkers once more.

"Are you familiar with cryptocurrency?" Helen asked, and Sam nodded.

"We have been using it for a long time; it helped a lot when we finally managed to implement it."

"Everything is attached to the identification of the person. Including the current financial statements," Will added. "If I need something from here, I only need to press my palm against their reader, and the deal is done."

"No implants or anything?"

"There's no need. Why would we need something to make us unique if each of us has somewhere between 3 to 16 fingerprints to be uniquely identified?"

"That's a good point."

"What's that building?" Sam pointed to a colorful one that every so often changed forms.

"That's the school." Will grinned. "It changes forms depending on the needs of the class. Don't ask me how it works."

"It is limited to the laxity of the structure. It can change, but it has a limited set of forms."

"Can we go in?"

"Absolutely, it will keep me from being stooped once again," Helen grinned.

They reached the entrance as it changed from a double door to a smaller one and the building grew both in width and height. Inside, the building was as colorful as the outside.

"Here they learn everything they need to survive and then more. Kids learn the basic program that in a unique situation would allow them to go topside and look cultured. There's also a program which includes history lessons, and some more classes on how to deal with their unique features," Helen explained as they walked around.

"There are advanced classes too; we pride on having our greatest minds invested into the school," Will said.

"Greatest Minds?"

"Yes, everyone who can teach something valued does have a chance to do it. It helps to fulfill the community needs. They can get physics lessons from the man who built the sun or history lessons from the elders of each species. It helps the kids to know these things aren't just something they would never use, getting them involved with the real situation of the underworld."

"We also have a college, and they can choose from a wide range of careers. But they can all take as many as they like at the same time. Or at different periods. Education is one of the most important tasks in this city," Will explained.

They walked around some more, noticing how the students did seem to be paying attention, awed even in some of the rooms. And then they left.

"That building over there," Will pointed. "Is a museum. It holds the part of the heritage of Praxis." But they walked past it and towards a square that held what looked like a platform.

"This is a transport bay; Henry hates them. He says he doesn't trust a machine to recompose him correctly. That's why he was reluctant to go through the Stargate. These are almost as simple as the rails, only take a maximum of two people." Sam placed her hand over the screen as Helen stood on the platform with her.

"To the beach?" Sam asked, and Helen nodded. "Please keep your arms and legs inside the platform and always keep a distance from the second occupant." Sam read out loud before they disappeared.

"Colonel?" William said as he stood on the platform and Jack shook his head.

"Sure, I've done this hundred of times." He sighed and repeated the steps Sam had done before.

The view on the other end was breathtaking; the lake that seemed big from a distance looked never-ending from close range. The blue water had nothing to envy to the hundreds of pictures of tropical paradises. Helen smiled when she noticed them mouth wide open and not able to utter a word.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" They nodded. "It's natural."

"What?" Jack asked frowning.

"It was here before we reached it. It was part of this ecosystem, along with the river and the clouds. We only added the sun and the rainmakers. This way please," Helen pointed as they walked out of the transport area and towards what looked like woods. There was a trail that seemed used, but they took one that barely looked like a trail. Carefully they walked through it, and when it seemed they would never reach it, they saw it.

On a clear, there was a small wooden cottage.

"I used to live here when I was starting to plan the city. It's perfectly hidden from plain sight and close to the water." Helen smiled. "Your id's can open the door if you want to come here as the week goes. Now, that path leads to the lake and that one over there takes you to a hidden rail. It only goes from here to my home and back."

"Why didn't we use that first?"

"Because you are here to see the city," Will grinned

"Oh, we should get back. It's past our reservation time."

"Reservation?" Jack frowned

"Yes. Lunch. There's one magnificent restaurant downtown. I thought you would enjoy it." Helen frowned. "I hope you'll like French food variances?" They nodded. "And no worries after that you'll be on your own."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked

"Oh, we've been neglecting some of our duties since your arrival. We need to complete them. Thus, you can roam the city or go back home with us. In either case, you will be left alone."

"And the tests?" Jack wondered.

"Tomorrow, we will start after the daily meetings. That should be around 10 am; we probably want Nikola's lab for it."

"We'll be there," Jack said. Helen nodded; she hadn't expected any less from him.

"Very well then," Helen said reaching the transport platform and waiting for Sam to join her before she pressed her selection. They walked down the platform in an area that looked like a business section. "There," Helen pointed to an almost hidden door in the middle of the block as soon as the males had appeared at the platform.

"I would recommend you not to partake on the tests, Colonel. They aren't nice, and you might end up slowing the process due to your protective streak," The Doctor said entering the place and saluting the owner in a language not even Daniel could have identified

"Hello, over here, please." The man said, the thick accent making it difficult to understand him. Helen said something to him as they sat, and he nodded.

"What language is that?"

"None, really," Helen smiled. "It has Latin roots, but it isn't one you'll hear topside. It developed down here at some point."

"You seem so fluid on it," Sam frowned. William grinned.

"It's because she knows Latin and all its topside derivates to perfection, I want this one." He pointed to the menu, and Helen nodded. "You can either point the ones you want to the waiter or Helen; she can make sure you get what you asked." They checked the menu, when the waiter came Helen placed the order and smiled gratefully to the man.

"How do you manage?" Sam frowned. "I mean, I can hear several different languages I haven't heard before, and of course all the people came from topside speaks languages from there. How you understand each other?"

"There are several ways," Helen said as the waiter lowered a jug in front of them. "Pomegranate juice," she explained. "As I've said one of the most common abnormalities affects the brain capacity, that itself allows to several thousands of people to learn more than one language making communications easier."

"There's a translating device, it will allow you to understand what they are saying, and they have their own, so it will allow them to understand you."

"Yes," Helen searched for something in the pocket of the jacket she was wearing and brought out two small boxes, pushing them towards Sam and Jack. "Here, those are new. You can keep them; maybe they work for you on your daily jobs."

"How do they work?" Sam inquired as Jack took the device that looked smaller than a Bluetooth speaker.

"Batteries," Will grinned. "You might want to charge them at nights." Both Magnus women rolled their eyes at him.

"The software is able to identify the incoming language and translate it to the predefined language. Yours are set for English. And as you might've noticed, the city software does use the language of preference attached to the ID. Unless, as in my case and Nikola's, the IDs hold access to settings. Settings must be done in the original Praxian language."

"The one that looks like ancient, right?" Sam frowned.

"Yes, in simple words, it is. Nikola and I gained access to the vampiric language once we mutated. Whereas, we had to learn Praxian to be able to work with their technology. I had access to it and a teacher for a good while before I accidentally traveled through time and it became not only a powerful tool but a necessity for my plan."

"How do you gain access to a language?" Sam frowned.

"I'm not sure. We never found the real explanation for it. One day we knew bits and words and then we knew it as if we always had. The time with the Goa'uld did provide us more information that we didn't have along with my time talking to Selmak."

"Interesting. Can I speak it or read it?"

"I'm not certain of it. You've encountered it before, had you ever got difficulties knowing what the Goa'uld language said?" Sam frowned.

"I suppose I never tried. Now that I think about it; I believe I can understand it, I thought it had to do with listening to it several times and context, but I'm sure I had it right even if I wasn't supposed to understand it."

"But Daniel is always translating it for us," Jack pointed.

"Yes, that's why I doubted it too. I have all these memories of someone speaking it and then Daniel translating it, but also that somehow I knew what they were saying before Daniel translated them." Helen frowned.

"Thanks," Helen smiled at the waiter as he lowered their plates. "So, Samantha, you understand it, you know what they say and can read it, but you can't properly place it in English?" Sam nodded eagerly. "Then, yes. I believe you do have the ability to speak it. Or should be able to develop it in a short time. We can test it with some books we have."

"How if she knows this, she can't speak it? Or translate it?" Jack wondered.

"Ah, language skills are not simple, Colonel;" Will said. "There are people out there that have learned other languages, and besides knowing the grammar can only say one or a few words or maybe even phrases. But when it comes to talking, they can't do it due to the lack of vocabulary. There are others that even having a vocabulary that allows them to understand the context, can't talk back at you. They lack the skills to form a phrase. And some people have learned both languages to perfection, can't find the connection between them to be able to translate it."

"Ack, okay. She can read it and knows it, but she can't speak it."

"Actually, her case is different, Colonel."

"When isn't it?" Jack huffed, making Helen smile.

"A byproduct of her origins, it's not her fault. As I've said, she should be able to develop it fully; it is simply that she had never tried. Or have you?"

"Besides from Jaffa Kree?" Sam frowned, beside her Jack chuckled. "Nope. Never tried."

"Very well then, I'm going to add that to our tests and training."

After that, Helen diverted the conversation towards the city and what they could or shouldn't expect. And not so much later, she pressed her palm against the screen with their bill, and they left. They strolled in a general direction until they stopped near a square.

"It is time for us to return to our activities, please do enjoy the time here. If we don't see you at dinner, then we'll wait for you tomorrow at ten at Nikola's lab. I trust you remember how to get there," Helen smiled

"Yes. Thanks."

They observed them go downstairs to what a street sign told them it was a rail station until they were utterly alone. Sam grinned.

"A walk around this park, sir?" She offered, and Jack nodded. They walked in silence for a while, but Sam noticed Jack was struggling to find words to say something to her. "It is lovely here, don't you think?" she tried, and he nodded.

"Listen, Carter," the Colonel started. Once again he opened his mouth but couldn't find any words. "Want to check that cottage?"

"Sure, Colonel," the Major nodded, and they found a transport bay to get to the beach. Sam thought that maybe being just them in the middle of nowhere, he might find the way to open up to her and perhaps even get some words out of his chest.

"Huh," she said once she pressed her hand on the outside lock and the door slid open, and lights were turned on. "Cool."

"Cool, indeed."

They looked around quickly, and Jack smiled, Helen's secluded cabin reminded him of the one he had in Minnesota. Well, if you ignored the technology level they found inside.

"I guess Ashley didn't joke when she mentioned she couldn't take holidays," Sam grinned as she approached what looked like a working bench containing a wide variety of instruments.

"What's that?" Jack asked as he looked at the library. After Charlie and Sarah, he became a solitary man, but even before them, he loved reading and having the peace to do it was one of the things that made him keep his cabin on the first place.

"Ashley," Sam grinned standing at his side. "She said Helen has a big issue with taking holidays, and she can't ever go past a week without going crazy with boredom."

"Well, at least you got that one explained clearly for you, huh?" Jack smiled. She punched him on the shoulder.

"She also loves reading; I suppose it has to do with her upbringing more than anything. Having grown on a time where books were the best distraction and all."

"I can agree with it," he smiled. "You think the Doctor has coffee here?" Sam squinted at him.

"Absolutely if she expected us to get back here," she tossed over her shoulder making her way towards the kitchen.

"What do you mean?" He shouted back following her a little behind.

"She hates coffee; she only drinks tea. However, they both have splendid attention to detail, they picked up quickly the three of us would take coffee, Teal'c tea and Janet would change depending on her state of mind. So, yes, since she did make a point on showing us this, I'll say she expected us to be here at some point and thus," she opened a cabinet. "Coffee and coffee machine." She grinned.

Sam took her time to make it trying not to pressure him to talk but when she had nothing left to do with her hands she turned towards him and sighed.

"Do you think we will manage to get past this awkwardness that now seems to hang between us, sir?"

"I sure hope so, Carter."

"Sam," she smiled. "It's the two of us in a world we didn't know existed. We are both on holidays, so we are not under the same chain of command at the moment, and even if we were, no one would be the wiser on you calling me by my name, sir." He nodded

"It's hard, Carter. You know it."

"I do, I'll have to fight the sir too. But if we are going to surpass this one, sir," she grimaced. "We will need to accept things as they are. Don't you agree?"

"Yes," he sighed.

They watched the machine as the last drops of coffee fell out and Jack moved to pick the mugs she had taken out and washed before, pouring the black liquid onto them. He passed one cup to her along with sugar and a spoon, before he grabbed his.

"Thanks."

He looked everywhere but her, so she stood up and walked around avoiding at all cost what her mind told her were the rooms. The last thing she needed was ideas of ending up tangled and sated on Jack's strong arms as she lay cocooned next to him. She shook her head and gulped her coffee trying to hide the fact she was blushing at her ideas of what she shouldn't be thinking about. After that, she decided that the porch was the safest solution and walked to the rocking chairs she had seen before on the outside. Lost in his mind, Jack followed close.

"Spit it out, Jack!" She sighed, tired of feeling his eyes on her and seeing him unable to get the words out. "I swear this is worse than pulling a tooth and I'm not even sure what is you doubt. It's me, you know me. Talk to me, please?" She finished almost whispering as he sat on the rocking chair beside her.

"I know it is you, that's what makes this so hard," he grimaced. "It is you, and if I manage to stick my foot on my mouth I can hurt you, I can lose you. And I don't want either." Sam looked to the ceiling considering his words for a while.

"I tell you what, nothing can be worse than this status quo of sorts we pretend to be, we both know we are pretending now, and it is hurting us both. So, tell me whatever it is you want to say, and if it hurts me, I promise I will tell you and I will give you a chance to fix it. And when we leave this place, we will be in a better place than we were before this happened to our lives."

"Why?" he frowned. The Major looked at him in disbelief, until she noticed he was lost at the reason why she would give him that chance.

"I honestly thought you knew why. But for some reason, you don't. So, I'm going to put it plain and simple and hopefully, this time does stick with you. What you've seen, what you've read in my eyes behind that stupid force field, those feelings remain. And if you need that spoken out, I'm willingly ready to admit that I don't know if I can think of a life where you are not there. Even if it sounds self-centered, that's part of my truth." She observed him, seeing his walls crumble a bit before he nodded.

"Then allow me to start with what I need out the most," Sam nodded. "I'm sorry, Sam. I judged too quickly, I raised my wall in ways I never did before, and I know it led me to doubt a little about your allegiances and that hurt me more than you'll know. I'm sorry that Hammond forced you to confess your relationship with this place, with them. And I'm sorry I was so scared about the chance of you leaving us; me. So much that I couldn't think straight."

"Is that it?" Sam crooked her head. Jack nodded.

"All I can do for now at least."

"Then thank you, Jack," she searched his hand and ignoring the warmth the whole situation had produced in her, she entangled their fingers. "I've heard the lights change is a sight to behold."

"So, we are good?" She nodded placing her head on the crook of his neck.

"We are always good," she smiled.

After a while, once the bright orange and warm light started to dwindle towards a lighter and warmer yellow. And the vegetation surrounding them began to respond to the change, Sam frowned.

"Si...Jack? Can you tell me, why exactly you thought I would leave?" Sam asked

"I saw you. You felt at home with them; you had finally found a place where your technobabble was not only praised but fully understood." Sam smiled as she understood that he wasn't worried; he was jealous. She giggled. "It's not jealousy," she raised her head and looked at him, and Jack sighed. "Okay, it is. But come on, you got me: the old ass hard headed me, and then Henry vibrant tech joy. Or Zimmerman's weird smartness, and then the annoying Tesla and all his genius."

"And what? You thought I was smitten?" she chuckled. "To tell you the truth, I've dated guys like them before, and I've decided they are not my type."

"Oh, really? So, all those aliens flattering you along with this abnormals aren't your type? Huh?"

"Nope. I only have one type." He frowned.

"I'm afraid to ask," Jack confessed still unsure because he knew she was dating some guy. But Sam found herself surprised at how low Jack thought about himself despite all the bravado he presented to the exterior.

"Yes, Jack. I only have one type," she said, crooking her head and finding his eyes. "You," she said honestly. "You are the only type I have in mind, the one I keep comparing everyone to, probably the only man I really need."

"Sam?" he whispered too close to her, fighting with all his might his own needs to kiss her.

"Hmm," she said feeling the pull of his eyes and wetting her lips in anticipation.

"We should leave before we do something we might regret," he whispered bringing her close to him and embracing her tightly, wanting nothing more than to steal several hundreds of kisses and mold his body to hers. She only managed to nod against his chest before she bitterly broke the embrace and stood up taking the mugs with her to the kitchen and closing the house behind her.

"Let's go."

Taking one last look at the cottage in the middle of the now almost glowing forest, Jack decided that if he was going to like a place in the whole underworld, that might as well be it.