AN: Big shout out to XFChemist for the awesome cover art!

CHAPTER 3

As promised, Sam arrived at the infirmary first thing the next morning. She checked in with one of the nurses who led her to a bed at the end of the room. Behind the closed curtain, the nurse proceeded to take her medical history, measure her vitals, and draw some blood. A few moments later, Janet entered from behind the curtain with a clipboard.

"Morning Sam," she greeted with smile.

"Morning Janet."

"How are you doing today?"

"No complaints so far, but it's early."

"Good to hear. Your vitals all look good. I'm just going to do a quick physical exam and I'll get you on your way."

"Sounds good."

"So how's the unpacking going?" Janet asked as she proceeded to examine Sam's neck checking for any swollen glands or tender spots.

"It's going a lot better now. My lab is almost fully unpacked and I only have a couple of rooms left at the apartment."

"Well my offer still stands if you want any help or just some company."

"Actually, company sounds nice. Are you free tonight?"

"Let me check if I can get a babysitter. If so, count me in. Deep breath in," Janet instructed as she placed her stethoscope on the back of Sam's chest. "Good and breathe out."

"I didn't know you had kids. How many?" Sam inquired once Janet was done listening to her lungs.

"Just a daughter, Cassie, but trust me one is enough." Janet laughed as she took out her phone and showed Sam her wallpaper photo.

"This was us last Christmas."

"Oh she's precious. How old?"

"She'll be twelve in September."

"Feel free to bring her along. I'd love to meet her."

"Oh she would love that but no, I am due for a child free night. But we will definitely set up a play date soon."

"Does Cassie have a dad?"

"That's a complicated question. She did have a dad and a whole family in fact. She was the sole survivor on her planet when we found her. She was approved to stay here, and I was able to adopt her. As far as on Earth, no official dad, but the guys on SG-1 do a pretty good job filling in. Although a handful, that girl is my world."

"I remember reading that report. I wondered what happened with her. I'm glad she was able to find a family with you."

Janet returned Sam's smile. "Well you are all set. I'll take a look at your labs when they result and I'll call you if there's anything to be concerned about although I don't anticipate there will be anything abnormal. And I will text you once I confirm the babysitter!"

"Can't wait. I'll see you later."

Janet and Sam sat on the couch in her living room with a couple glasses of wine. They had enjoyed some nice Chinese takeout and managed to almost finish unpacking the kitchen.

"So do you have a boyfriend, Sam?"

"Not at the moment. I just got out of a pretty serious relationship about six months ago that didn't end on the best of terms."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Oh don't be. Trust me. It's all for the best. He wasn't the man I thought he was. He lied a lot about himself. I'm just glad I got out when I did."

"Still that couldn't have been easy. You know what you need to do is put yourself back out there." Sam laughed. "What? You're young. Smart. Sexy. Any man would be lucky to even have a shot with you."

"You sound just like my friends back in Nevada."

"Well it seems I would like your friends. We need to have a girls' night out ASAP! We'll go out and try to pick up some guys. Oh! You know what you should try one of those online dating sites."

"Actually..." Sam started as Janet's eyes widened and face lit up with excitement at her words. "Those same friends made me join a couple and there's this one guy I've been kind of talking to for a few months."

"Oh my god, I need details!"

Sam hesitated and studied Janet's face. They had only known each other for a couple of days, and Sam was usually very private about these sorts of things even to the few close friends she did have.

"Please, Sam," pleaded Janet. "Between being a single mom and the CMO of a top secret military base, my dating life is basically non-existent. Let me live vicariously through you a little."

Janet's giddiness was contagious and Sam couldn't help but smile as some butterflies filled her stomach like a teenager about to talk all about the boy she had a crush on.

It was a chilly evening on P8X-459 as SG-1 sat around the fire at their camp site. The day had been uneventful. The planet was uninhabited, and they were mainly there for Daniel to study the inscriptions that were in a language they had not encountered before. The rest of them explored the surrounding area to try and figure out a possible purpose for the lone building standing around the Stargate. As far as they could tell, there were no other signs of civilization, yet obviously, someone had lived here at one point. They didn't find many answers today but they still had a couple more days left. Jack stared up at the stars while finishing his dinner.

"We haven't had a team night in awhile. What do you say we have one when we get back?"

"I'm down," replied Wong. "There's this new bar I've been wanting to try out if you guys are interested."

"What kind of bar?" Daniel asked as he eyed the young man suspiciously. "Last time we went to one of your 'chill' bars, it ended up being a rave."

"Just because the music was a little loud doesn't make it a rave, Daniel."

"Regardless, I don't know if I'm up for one of your twenty-something year old twerkers' bars."

"Twerkers?" Jack mouthed confused as Daniel gave him a quick shrug saying he didn't know if he used the word correctly.

"Ok stop, now you're just saying words. It's just a normal, really boring for over-thirty-year-olds bar. Beer. Darts. Pool. No techno music. No twerking. I promise. They have these huge beer towers; oh and Teal'c, their giant pretzels are supposed to be amazing!"

"I do enjoy giant pretzels very much."

"I was thinking more like a movie night at my place."

"Oh well, you know I'm always up for a movie too. Teal'c what's next on your list?"

"Sergeant Siler has recommended Top Gun on several occasions."

"How about Independence Day?"

The whole planet seemed to go dead quiet except for the crackling of the fire and Daniel coughing as he nearly choked on his food. The other two men stared at him like he had three heads.

"You ok there Daniel? Please don't die. I hate filling out that paperwork."

"Uh...yeah...I just...thought...you said you wanted to watch Independence Day," Daniel replied still coughing in between his words.

"I did. So what?"

"Sooo, I think I remember you explicitly saying that was the one movie you would never watch."

"Did I? No, I don't think I ever said that."

"I believe your exact words were 'over my dead body,'" chimed Wong.

"Doesn't sound like me," replied Jack which elicited an eye roll from Daniel.

"Indeed, they were."

"Ok, well I'm suggesting it now. A guy can change his mind, cant he?"

"Most guys can. You not so much."

"What has changed your mind, O'Neill?"

"Oh, nothing. Just thought I'd try something new. Is that a crime?"

"No, but this isn't simply just trying something new. This is a complete change in philosophy in your choice of movies. It's like that one time Mike went vegan when he was dating that girl...ohhhh, you're doing this for a woman!"

"No I'm not," lied Jack.

"It's the only explanation that makes sense."

"What about me trying new things?! You guys are always telling me I need to broaden my horizons."

"And when's the last time you actually did?"

"I must agree. I have suggested watching Independence Day six times so far before you threatened to forbid movies from team nights."

"So who is she?"

"Nope. Not having this conversation with you guys."

"Where'd you guys meet?"

"Oh for crying out loud! Do you want to watch it or not?"

"Oh c'mon Colonel. At least tell us her name."

"I can't," Jack yielded. He looked around at the three men staring back at him and sighed. "I can't because I don't know it."

"What do you mean you don't know his name?!"

"Well this app, Spark, is supposed to help you find a lasting relationship by finding someone you have a 'spark' with regardless of physical features and attributes. So it allows you to reveal as much, or as little, information as you both agree to. It kind of assures that you're both on the same page in the relationship. So all I know is that his name starts with 'J' and he lives somewhere in Colorado."

Janet just stared blankly back at her with obvious confusion.

"I agree it's a little weird to talk so much to someone with no personal information whatsoever but I can't say much against their methods considering the most meaningful conversations I've had with a man the past several months were on this app."

"And you've never been the slightest bit curious about what he may look like or anything like that?"

"At first, not really. Honestly, I wasn't expecting this to last as long as it has. I figured a red flag would pop up at some point or he'd lose interest and it'd be over."

"But..."

"But then after about a month, it came up once. However, we knew neither one of us was looking for an actual relationship and we liked what we had going so we agreed on no specifics."

"I'll admit this wasn't quite as juicy as I was hoping for but we'll work on it."

"Trust me Janet. There are some weird men out there. Half of them can't even carry a conversation. The other half just want to get in your pants."

"That's not always a bad thing," Janet smirked and drank another gulp of her wine.

"I don't get it," said Wong, clearly perplexed as if Jack was speaking Ancient. "You're falling for a woman you know nothing about?"

"I'm not falling for anyone. And I do know stuff about her."

"Ok, what does she look like? How old is she? How many boyfriends has she killed?"

"Stop being ridiculous, Mikey. Besides it doesn't matter if we don't know any personal information. She just got out of a long term relationship and I don't even know what the hell I'm doing. Daniel's the one who set up this stupid account without my permission," Jack replied as he shot an annoyed glare at Daniel.

"How did all of this even start? I thought you were going to delete the app."

"Well is it my fault if I didn't know how to do that?"

"Kind of," mumbled Daniel.

"Yeah well, I didn't know how to turn off the pop up things either so one day I got one that said I had a new message and I accidentally clicked on it."

"Remind me to update your anti-virus programming on your home laptop when we get back," Wong quipped.

"Anyways," Jack continued. "I opened it and part of her message caught my eye before I could delete it."

"What was so intriguing about this message, O'Neill?"

"It was a quote," Jack paused calculating his words and contemplating how much he wanted to share. When the other three remained silent, he continued, "'Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light; I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.*'"

"That's from a poem. By, uh, Williams. Sarah Williams."

"Yup. I had started to do a little more stargazing right before the first trip to Abydos. I had, uh, just built this deck on the roof to put a telescope because Charlie was starting to get interested in a bunch of space and astronaut stuff. During that time, I dreaded the nights. I felt like it was trapping me in its darkness and forcing me to be with just myself. Needless to say, I wasn't sleeping much so I often found myself up there just staring at the sky. When I got back, one of the priests who was trying to help Sara and I through everything shared that quote with me and it left this somewhat comforting impression."

A somber silence rose around the group of men close enough now to consider each other brothers. The sound of the fire crackling was all that could be heard as they sat pondering the same words. The had each suffered great loss individually, but the universe and the stars brought them together calling them to a higher purpose. His life before the Stargate would always be a part of him; but the SGC and these three men in particular were his family now.

"Anyways," Jack said clearing his throat and bringing them all back from their personal thoughts. "I think she thought that would leave a weird first impression so she then went on this rambling tangent that was...enchanting."

"She sounds delightful and I can see how you would fall for her. Which begs the question, how on Earth did you get her to keep talking to you?"

"Hey now, some people actually like my wise ass remarks."

"You know you're probably getting catfished," Wong thought out loud.

"Am not."

"Do you even know what that means?"

"Doesn't matter. I'm not being trouted and I'm not falling for anyone!"

"You keep saying that; yet by the sound of it, you spend most of your nights messaging this woman on your cell phone, a device you absolutely hate. I can't even get you to respond to my texts!"

"Daniel, that has nothing to do with me hating my cell phone."

"I've changed my mind," declared Janet. "There is something kind of exciting about the mysteriousness surrounding this—don't get me wrong, still bizarre—relationship."

Janet was now a couple more glasses of wine in as Sam had proceeded to show her the conversations on Spark and recount the several train wreck stories. She hadn't really been overexaggerating. Most of the men were blocked after the first "hey girl" and the ones that seemed normal enough to reply to inevitably asked for nudes or to hook up. Damn, I do attract the worst type of men. As much as that thought bummed her out, Sam's spirit did a complete 180 when she got to the conversation with J, which is how Janet decided they were going to refer to him from now on.

She remembers how his hobby of stargazing had caught her attention. It was different and at the very least, they'd have something interesting to talk about. Her first message had been some dorky comment and a quote about the stars and then she started rambling. She was immediately mortified and cringed after she sent it but surprisingly, she got a response back later that night.

He had a witty reply to which she had a perfect retort to. They were playing off of each other from the get go with a rhythm that felt so natural and unforced. She hadn't been entirely truthful to Janet earlier about them agreeing not to share specifics. They actually never said it in words. He had let it "slip" one night that he lived in Colorado, although Sam was convinced it was intentional. In turn, she casually slipped in the fact that she was in Nevada. Neither one acknowledged it directly; so she took that to mean they had an understanding that long distance wasn't going to work out even if they were interested. Therefore, it didn't make sense to get too personal. Although he knew she was moving for a new job, she hadn't told him that she moved to Colorado and she wasn't quite sure why not.

"Plus, it's actually a pretty cute love story," Janet said interrupting Sam's thoughts.

"What are you talking about?"

"You guys start off as just friends. Both in denial of your feelings as you fall in love before you even meet or know each other's names. Then finally, one day, you meet and have crazy hot sex."

"Ok, I think you've had one glass too many," Sam said with a chuckle.

"Nope, I've had just the right amount."

"No one is falling in love with anyone."

"See! First stage is denial!"

"Janet, you can't fall in love with someone you don't actually know."

"Sam. These conversations are more than just casual flirting. There's something, I don't know the word..." Janet paused to think. "Intimate. There's something very intimate with how you two talk to each other."

Sam knew what Janet meant. Just because they didn't share any specifics did not mean they didn't talk about personal stuff. In fact, forgoing the basics allowed—more like forced—them to fill their conversations with deeper and more meaningful topics that revealed more of their true selves. At the end of the day, your name, occupation, etc. were just details and not necessarily who you were. So although she didn't know those details about J, she did feel like on some level she knew a lot about who he was and vice versa.

"I think you should ask him to meet up."

"What?! Are you crazy?"

"No, but you are if you don't stop being so scared and put yourself out there. Give it a chance with this guy. You'll regret it if you don't."

"I'm not scared."

"Yes you are!" Janet was now pacing back and forth in front of Sam as she worked through her stream of thoughts. "You've built this guy up so much in your head that you're afraid there's no way he could ever live up to it so you settle and convince yourself that you're content with being in love with just the thought of him."

"That's ridic—" Sam tried to protest but Janet wasn't paying any attention to her.

"No, actually, that's only part of it. The main reason is that you're afraid you might not live up to his expectations!" Janet exclaimed as she raised her hands in triumph like she had just solved some medical mystery.

She stopped pacing and turned to look at Sam still sitting on the couch. Janet reprocessed the words that she had just said and worried that she went way over the line with her new friend. At least she hoped they were still new friends. She hurriedly plopped herself next to Sam and reached out to touch her arm.

"I'm sorry, Sam. I didn't mean anything bad by that. I think you're right; I've probably had too much to drink tonight."

"It's alright, Janet," Sam replied with a reassuring smile. "You're welcome to crash here if you want or I can call you a cab."

"I think I've intruded enough for one night. I should probably head home anyways to relieve the sitter. Thanks for having me over. This was fun! Sorry again about the stuff I said at the end."

"Don't worry about it. Really. I had fun too. We'll do it again soon?"

"Absolutely!" Janet exclaimed relieved that she hadn't ruined their friendship already.

Jack sat staring at the fire slowly dying as he kept first watch. The conversation earlier had brought up a lot of emotions he hadn't been prepared for and frankly, it was draining. However, he couldn't stop thinking about what the guys said.

How did I get her to keep talking to me? God knows I'm not that interesting and definitely not charming. Maybe she is too good to be true.

Was it possible? Why did it matter if he wasn't falling for her?

Ok, space. All I need to do is take a couple of steps back and distance myself even when I'm back home and not just when we're physically millions of miles apart.

Jack sighed and ran his hand through his hair. That was going to be easier said than done, but it was probably going to be necessary if he didn't want to screw this up.

Sam laid in her bed staring at the ceiling watching the fan spin round and round. She was thinking about Janet's last rant. Even in her inebriated state, she was right. Well mostly right. She was afraid. She truly cherished the friendship they had built and didn't want to mess things up if he didn't feel the same way. The bottom line was that she wouldn't risk losing the little part of him that she does have even if that means giving up the chance that they could be more.

She continued to toss and turn for another hour or so wrestling with both her sense of fear and the nagging feeling that she would regret it if she didn't fully explore this opportunity. Could she really move on always asking herself "what if?" She didn't do this with any other aspect of her life. She always seized every opportunity and made the most of each moment which so far had led her to great success professionally. Maybe it was time to do the same in her personal life.

She let out a big sigh and she dropped her arms next to her in exasperation. Turning to her side, she grabbed her phone and opened up the app. She quickly typed her message. It wasn't completely straightforward but it was direct enough to let him know that the opportunity for more was there if he wanted. She hesitated a minute rereading the message three or four times. Then she shut her eyes and hit sent. No turning back now she thought as she buried her head in the pillow.

Two days later, SG-1 returned form P8X-459 as scheduled. As far as they were able to discern, the building had been some sort of science laboratory. Unfortunately, there seemed to be no trace of any cool alien toys laying around or hidden.

However, Daniel was able to translate part of the text that seemed to describe that whoever had been there had arrived by ship not Stargate. It chronicled only a two day journey so Daniel hypothesized that either their home planet was relatively close by or they were exploring planets in that area of the galaxy. Either way, their recommendation was to send SG teams to search nearby planets for any more signs of this alien race.

Jack finished showering and changed into fresh BDUs. He grabbed his phone out of his locker to take a quick look before heading to SG-1's debriefing with Hammond and Catherine. No missed calls or texts which wasn't surprising considering pretty much anyone who was going to call or text knew he was off world. But he did have seven new messages on Spark. His smirk quickly grew into a grin. Reading the messages she leaves him while he's away was starting to become one of the best parts of coming home. He only had a few minutes so he'd respond to them later but he wanted to skim through them real quick before heading to the briefing room.

Wednesday 15:27
"I know you leave today, but just wanted to say thanks again for last night. I enjoyed it. Also got quite a lot of unpacking done! Have a good trip!"

Thursday 18:50
"I never knew there were so many different flavors of Jell-o. I'm slowly becoming addicted to the blue."
"By the way, finally unpacked my chess set so I can get back to kicking your ass. Knight to C6."

Friday 00:38
"So I don't think I told you this, but my new job is in Colorado. I'm open to suggestions for the best places to go exploring and maybe even stargazing. Hope the trip is going well!"

Friday 20:35
"Long day at work but about to watch me some John McClane. I figured you'd tell me I should watch it with a beer in hand so that's what I'm doing."
"Also, I'm not going to tell you what I thought of it until you've held up your end of the deal."
"Ok, how the hell did he not die like five times?!"
"Hope you have a safe trip back. Can't wait to hear from you."

He had skimmed so fast that he almost missed it; he quickly scrolled back to one of the messages in the middle.

"So I don't think I told you this, but my new job is in Colorado."

He stared at the message rereading it over and over again trying to decipher if there was a hidden underlying meaning. So much for creating distance.

"Hey Jack, you coming?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, go on ahead. I'll catch up."

He threw his phone in his locker and shut the door. He quickly finished buttoning up his green BDU shirt before heading out of the locker room door. Welp, I know what I'm going to be thinking about during this debriefing.

*The Old Astronomer to His Pupil by Sarah Williams