Sam sat on the couch, curled into Jack's side as he flipped through a sports magazine. He wasn't likely to read a book, but she enjoyed that he was sitting still for the time. She flipped through the pages of her book on physics that she found discarded in the living room. Apparently it was not a topic that Will enjoyed to read about. She stopped momentarily and nudged Jack with her elbow.

"Maybe the storm will break tonight."

"It's not breaking tonight," he mumbled back, flipping the page. Sighing, he moved to wrap an arm around her, tugging her closer. His left hand changed the page on the magazine balanced in his lap.

"What if it does?"

"It's not going to, Sam. Trust me. We're looking at tomorrow evening at the earliest for the storm to break." He pressed a quick kiss to her temple. The fire was blazing under the mantel and candles were set around the cabin, although not lit. Sam would start that when dusk hit.

She nodded against him and stared at her book blankly. "Some vacation, huh?"

"It's not a vacation if you say it in that tone."

Furrowing her brow, Sam stretched forward to set her book on the coffee table. Turning fully to face him, she pressed a fist into her hip. "And exactly what do you mean by that?"

Jack had a deer in the headlights look gracing his face as he stared back. "Just… uh… that if you keep complaining about it then it's not a vacation. And you knew that it gets snowy sometimes this… uh… time of year… up here."

She glanced out the window, where the sun was still shining through. "We could make this more interesting."

"Interesting?" He looked down at the magazine in his hand and tossed it onto the table.

"Yes, I could be working." She started to pout, and Jack did the only thing he could think of.

"You and she look alike."

"What?"

"You and Helen look alike."

"We do not." Sam leaned against the couch and crossed her arms over her chest. "We look nothing alike."

"You look exactly alike. It's creepy."

She clenched her teeth. Jack caught the movement and gripped her hand lightly. "We do not."

"Sam?" When she didn't answer him, he tried again. "Samatha?"

"She's prettier than I am."

"Oh, jeeze!" He raised his voice and stood up, running his fingers through his hair. "That is ridiculous."

Stalking toward the front door, he slipped outside quickly. Sam brushed her fingers across her cheeks, wiping away the tears that started to form. She didn't want to cry, and she certainly didn't want Jack to see her crying. He shut the door quickly and shook himself, flakes of snow scattering from his salt and peppered hair to the hard wood under his feet. Twisting the cap off his bottle, he tossed it onto the kitchen counter before heading back to Sam.

He took a long swig from his bottle and stared at her. His dark eyes were taking in. She glared at him before standing.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking." She attempted to bristle by him.

Jack grabbed her arm and spun her into his body. "Hold on, just a damn minute."

He bent down, keeping her arm firmly in his hand, and set his beer on the table. Standing straight again, he stared down at her.

"You are being silly over nothing."

"It's not nothing, Jack."

He took his thumbs and wiped them under her eyes as tears started to brim over. His jaw relaxed, and his eyes widened. "She's looks like you, a bit. She isn't you."

Sam nodded.

Bending his head, he pressed his lips lightly to hers. "You're a lot sexier than she is," he whispered into her ear.

Her cheeks burned with fire, but she had little time to think about it because Jack pulled her tightly against him. Her mouth was on his, her arms wrapped around his body, her toes holding her entire weight. Her tongue slid against his, and she whimpered.

She dug her nails into his side and started to move her hand over his chest when the throat clearing in the corner of the room startled her. Sam pulled back, her face hot. Her eyes locked on Will's, and she turned into Jack's body, hiding her embarrassment.

"I'm sorry," Will started. "I didn't mean to interrupt anything."

"You didn't," Jack said, rubbing his hand along Sam's back with a wide grin on his face. "We were just discussing how Helen and Sam here happen to have some similiarities in the looks department."

"Oh…" Will nodded and shoved his hands into his pockets. Then he realized he didn't have pockets because he was still wearing the sweats from the night before. Fisting his hands, he ran them through his hair. "Yeah, they look a bit alike."

Sam twisted away from Jack and slid toward the kitchen. "I'm going to get some lunch started."

Jack shook his head and picked up his beer. Taking a swig, he stared down Will, who was watching Sam curiously.

"Want a beer?"

"What?"

Holding his beer out so that Will could see the label, he asked again, "Want a beer?"

"Yeah, sure. Guinness! My favorite." He took a seat on the chair, leaving the couch for Sam and Jack whenever they came back. He glanced back to Sam and shouted over his shoulder. "I don't think Magnus is coming. She's still sleeping, and I'd rather her sleep than eat."

Sam nodded and risked a look at the young man. "Does she not sleep often? It looked like she was up all night."

"She was. She often is up all night."

Jack slammed the door shut and repeated the process of shaking the flakes off his head. "Power's going to be off for the next few hours or so." He handed Will the beer and sat on the couch, spreading out.

"I think Helen's going to be sleeping until dinner."

Nodding, Jack drank from his own beer. Silence lingered over the room until Sam came back with soup in her hands. She set two bowls in front of each man before going back for her own. Sitting, she took a sip of the hot broth and stared at Will. Everything in the room was awkward. Jack glared at him, Will avoided looking anywhere, and Sam was stuck, literally, in between the two of them.

"So, Will, what did you do before you worked for Helen?"

He glanced from Jack to Sam before answering. "I worked in law enforcement as a constant. I'm a trained psychiatrist."

Jack snorted, and Sam turned on him, her eyes narrowing. "That sounds interesting."

"Not as interesting as working with Magnus. And no one liked me there either. This is a much better option." He took another sip of his soup. "This is very good, thank you."

"What is it that you do for her?" Sam was becoming more curious by the second.

"Get hurt a lot." His eyes crinkled as he tried to pass off the joke.

"I can see that," Jack grumbled from his corner and set the empty bowl on the coffee table. Will refused to answer again, and Sam was worried about poking further into his life. The air became stilted and tense.

Will finally broke it after setting his own empty bowl on the table. "You two seem to get along well."

Jack clenched his teeth and every muscle in his body tensed. Sam rubbed her palm along his thigh to calm him. "We've been together, as co-workers at first, for a very long time."

"Oh?"

"We were in the Air Force." Sam took her last bite of soup and cleared the plates. "We worked in the same command for eight years before one of us was transferred."

"Were you together then?"

Sam didn't answer. Jack did; his tone was firm and clipped. "No."

"We decided to wait until we were out of each other's chain of command." Sam slid against Jack again, sitting. "It took a lot longer than expected."

Jack wrapped his arm around her again, in a possessive move. She didn't mind. She felt loved with him so close.

"Do you like fishing?"

Will shook his head as he rethought the question. It seemed so random. His eyes skimmed over Jack's body and the barely contained excitement. "Umm… I'm going to have to say no."

"We'll go ice fishing as soon as the storm breaks a bit. I have a shed out there for protection."

"I think I'm going to pass."

"None sense." Jack moved Sam's shoulder up and down with his hand. "Tell him, Sam. It's loads of fun."

"Yeah, fun is exactly the word I would use." She shook her head when she looked at Will and squealed when Jack pinched her butt. "Ouch!"

"You had fun the last time."

"Yeah, but I don't think you're going to be having that type of fun with Will." She was blushing again.

"Oh… right." A goofy grin came over Jack's face as he remembered. "Probably not going to happen."

"I would hope not."

"I don't fish," Will jutted into the conversation.

"No one just doesn't fish. It's required. Part of staying here."

"I'm not going to fish with you."

"I don't see what the big deal is," Jack shot back to him. "It's just putting a piece of line in the water and waiting for a fish to nibble, pulling it out and bobbing it on the head."

"I'm passing."

"Come on."

"I'm not going." Will stood up and twisted his hands together. He gave a sharp look to both Jack and Sam before storming out of the room.

Sam slid a look to Jack just as Helen emerged from the hall. Her cheeks were flushed from sleep and her hair tousled. She looked at Will's retreating back to the couple sitting on the couch. "What happened?"

"No clue." Jack finished his beer and shoved it onto the table sharply. "He got pissy and left, whining like a little girl."

Helen's hands reached forward as she touched the back of the chair. "What were you talking about?"

"Fishing! It's not like I was talking about politics."

She pursed her lips and looked him over before glancing back down the hall. "It's close enough to politics with him sometimes."

Sam rose and moved to where Helen stood, her expression worried. "Helen?"

"His mother died when he was eight. They were on a fishing trip."

Jack felt like all the air was sucked out of his lungs and out of the room, which was not a pleasant feeling, he should know, it had happened to him before. "I should apologize."

"Not yet." Helen held a hand up. "I'll go talk to him."

Sam ran a hand down Helen's arm. "He didn't mean anything."

"I'm sure he didn't. Will is just… I'll go talk to him." She gnawed on her lower lip, staring down the hallway. The conversation would not be pleasant. Will hadn't reacted that badly in a long time. "We'll be out for dinner." She nodded and took a step toward their room.