AN: Thigs are starting to get a bit weird for Jack and Sam

This is Heavy

The prospectors were still snoring peacefully as SG-1 began their day in the early morning mist. Teal'c quietly took down the tents while Jack and Sam prepared breakfast together with a nod and touch of acknowledgement, directing each other with silent touches and glances. Daniel sat smiling to himself while he watched them unnoticed. He wondered if people who were already in the old married couple behavior stage would still go through the giddy new love stage once they realized they could be together. He supposed he'd find out soon enough.

The sun slowly rose over the mist shrouded ponderosa pines surrounding the camp. Jack and Sam had gotten up at nearly the same time as Daniel expected them to be. How they had trained their bodies to recognize daybreak no matter where or apparently when they were fascinated Daniel. As breakfast was being made, Daniel was warming water for cups of coffee for the three of them. Teal'c preferred his coffee with lunch.

"Morning, Daniel." Jack said absently as he took his coffee. On base, he added creamer and a little sugar but he didn't like powdered creamer so for missions he drank it black like Sam did all the time unless she poured a pack of cocoa mix into it. There wouldn't be much more of that. All of them would have to change how they looked at life soon.

They were used to roughing it. That would never be a problem. Daniel wondered how long his best friends would try to avoid acting on their feelings for each other. It wasn't like they could get home for the next fifty years or so. By then, Jack would likely be long dead and he and Sam would be elderly. He didn't suppose anyone would send a puddle jumper after them either. There was no easy way to notify the SGC about them this time.

They would need jobs, he mused. He could find the local historical society and become a curator or teach grade school. Teal'c was good at any number of things but might be limited to jobs like ranch hand, hospital orderly, stable hand or farmer due to social conventions of the time. Jack could probably get himself a job with the local law enforcement. Sam was their only real problem. She was far too educated to teach children in this era and she wouldn't do as a governess or lady's companion. He wondered if she actually knew how to play the upright piano that sat in her living room. He doubted she'd enjoy spending her nights in a smoky saloon but it would look awfully strange for a single lady of her age to not have some sort of gainful employment.

Of course, Jack could just hurry up and get hitched to Sam and that would solve the problem entirely. Married ladies didn't need jobs. In fact, married women who had jobs were generally frowned upon unless they worked for a family member or ran a shop.

One of the prospectors was finally up and watched SG-1 break down their equipment. "You folks headed on back to town then?" He asked Daniel, having decided the 'professor' was the group leader.

"Yah. The expedition was a bust so we need to earn some money to get home." Daniel told the other man.

"Hard workin fellers will find work easy in Colorado Springs. 'Sbout twelve miles from herebouts. Just follow the road posts. Might not be yer feller's kind of thing." He said, pointing at Jack. "Town's dry, yah know."

"Dry?" Sam asked, confused.

"Smokey and the Bandit." Jack told her helpfully.

"Ah." She said understanding the reference.

Their companion looked confused.

"Legend about a booze runner from Texas." Daniel said noncommittally.

"Played by a guy who lives in Jupiter, Florida." Jack quipped quietly in Sam's ear, making her twitter with laughter.

"It's kind of specific that you know exactly where he lives, S… Jack."

"Guy I knew in black ops, a squid, lives around the corner from him. Every once in a while I get stories about his kid stumbling onto the guy's property when he's camping or whatever it is teenage boys do with their time these days."

"Probably the same thing they did when you were a teenage boy, Jack."

Jack gave her an insulted look. "I was never a teenage boy, Carter." He said with mock indignation.

"Of course not." She said, shaking her head in amusement.

"So what do you guys think? Pass through the Springs and head for Colorado City?" Daniel asked him.

Sam shrugged. "It doesn't matter much to me, Daniel." She admitted.

"I don't have to drink, you know." Jack told him.

"I will be pleased with wherever we may gain employment, Daniel Jackson." Teal'c told him.

"You two going to be able to handle not tearing up a bar for a while?"

"Daniel!" Sam admonished him which earned her a choked laugh from Jack.

"Why do I put up with you two?" She demanded of the men teasing her.

"Because you love us, Sam."

Sam huffed. "You better hope I do. I know how to make poison you know." she warned them, a twinkle of mirth in her eyes though her facial expression was still scolding.

"And that's just your cooking on a regular day." Jack quipped. Sam rounded on him. "Too far?" He asked, putting his hands up in surrender.

"Jonathan James O'Neill, you won't need to worry about courting me." She snarled at him, before stalking off to repack her kit.

"Way to go, Jack." Daniel told him.

"It was just a joke."

"I do not believe Samantha found your joke to be amusing, O'Neill." Teal'c told him.

Jack swore under his breath and went over to Sam to hash things out with her or the rest of their lives were going to seem very very long for entirely unpleasant reasons.

"Their courtship appears to have hit a… snag." Teal'c told Daniel.

"Well, Jack is king of being an ass so…"

"Indeed."

"Carter!"

"Don't you have equipment to pack, Sir?" She asked him pointedly.

"Dammit, Carter, why are you so mad at me lately? You are literally never like this." He confronted her.

She turned and opened her mouth to tell him what an ass he was being but the words never came out. Slowly her mouth closed and she just looked at him, a blush coloring her cheeks and neck.

"Is it possible, Samantha Carter, the smartest person I know… doesn't know what to do with her emotions when there aren't any rules stopping her from acting on her feelings?" He asked her, stepping forward and gently taking one of her hands into his and stroking it thoughtfully.

They were partially hidden by the scrubby long needled trees surrounding the semi permanent camp made by the prospectors. An occasional blue spruce had worked its way down the slope as well, dotting the bright yellow green with silvery blue.

Jack raised his hand to fondle the short golden strands behind her ear. "Sam." He said to her softly as he moved closer. "We aren't going home. There's no way for us to get there." His eyes held hers "We can take this slowly if you need to after hiding how we feel for as long as we have." He offered her.

She looked up into his warm brown eyes, the sun was reflecting in them, making them glow with a warm amber light she wanted desperately to drown in. Unguarded his eyes held everything he felt for her... And a tender promise she'd seen there so many times she could bank on it. "Jack, we should at least try to find a way."

"All right. We'll try to find a way home. Or, well, you can try to find a way home. A few more months being hopelessly in love with you won't matter one way or the other." He agreed, his voice gentle. "I'll still be here when you decide you're done trying to perform a miracle."

She looked at him, searching his eyes. "You aren't mad?"

"Should I be, Carter? It's what you do. I know you need to at least try." he admitted to her. "I know this is something you need to do." She gave him a grateful look. "In the meantime, we need to find jobs. Are you good at anything besides being a total badass?"

Sam blushed. "Honestly… not really." She admitted to him.

"All right, we'll work on figuring something out. There might be a science lab you can find a job with."

"Well, there's a guy out in New Jersey or his rival in New York." She said with an amused smirk.

"You'd mop the floor with both of them, Carter." He told her laughing. "Menlo Park would never be the same." He squeezed her hand. "Are we ok again?" he asked, concerned she was still on edge.

Sam nodded though. "I'm sorry I jumped on you. I just…"

"Yah, it's a lot to unpack." He agreed. "Let's go help Danny and Teal'c get the camp site cleaned up. We should probably get rid of our weapons and clothing like last time."

Sam nodded. "Good idea. Eventually we might have dispose of the Zats but they should be alright for now."

They walked back together; their body language considerably more relaxed. "Danny, we should get going. It's half a day from the mountain just to the edge of Colorado Springs."

"And another seventy miles to Colorado City if we decide to move on from there."

"Too dry, huh?" Daniel asked.

"Like Janet's meatloaf." Jack told him.

Sam bit her lip and snorted a laugh. "You know there's got to be at least one Blind Pig."

"Who taught you that?" Daniel asked, curious.

"She watches old movies Danny. What do you think?" Jack told the younger man sarcastically.

"Oh, well, that makes sense."

After trading a couple of things for some older firearms the prospectors decided weren't valuable enough to turn down trading for, they got on their way.

Their walk to town after covertly zatting their military uniforms and weapons was long and dusty. Some time around high noon Jack called a halt to warm up some MREs.

"Well, I won't miss these." Daniel told Teal'c.

"I will miss electricity, Daniel Jackson."

"I'm going to miss running water." Sam said with a sigh.

Jack ate his meal absently as he watched an eagle ride an updraft.

"So which one is it?" Sam asked him.

"Which what, Carter?"

"Hockey or the Simpsons?" She asked him.

Jack sighed and stabbed at the bland packet of food. "Aliens." He admitted.

"Yah." Daniel agreed.

There was a round of resigned sighs from the group as they despondently finished their meals.

"All right, campers, everyone take a quick nap under the trees and we'll get back to hiking to town when we wake up."

"I will kelno'reem, O'Neill." Teal'c told him, knowing he could do so rather lightly and not be caught unaware.

"Thanks, Teal'c." It was a hot afternoon in the boiling sun and taking a break after eating would give them all a chance to recharge.

Sam unrolled one of the sleeping bags and laid on top of it, too warm to crawl in but not wanting to clear rocks either.

"Mind if I borrow a corner, Carter?"

Sam shrugged sleepily and scooted to one side but rolled over on her stomach and closed her eyes, clearly not intending to have a conversation with him.

Jack lay down facing away from her. He had a lot to think about anyway but the slow buzz of cicadas and other insects lulled him into a doze almost immediately.

A little over an hour later, Teal'c woke them all as the sun was no longer burning directly overhead, frying everything and everyone in its path to a crisp. He said nothing to O'Neill and Samantha about their hands lightly entwining in their sleep. He would be sure to speak to Daniel Jackson about not getting involved in the situation unless they started having genuine issues.

As the trees cleared, long scrubby grass lined the rutted dirt pass. The red clay earth was dry and clung to them as it settled from their passing. When they finally reached the outskirts of town, they all felt gritty and slimy with clay crusted sweat.

Jack pulled his hat off and wiped his forehead with the back of his sleeve. There was a scattering of houses, most of them looked Victorian. The kids outside were dressed like average Victorian English as well. It was a little disconcerting. Jack had been expecting something more old-westy. More John Wayne… less… unsinkable Molly Brown.

"The stockades should be on the other side of town from the pass, Jack." Daniel told him, guessing the other man's thoughts on dandies in derby hats.

"I am not dressing in that." Sam said with finality.

"There's no veil this time." Jack told her helpfully.

"Have any of you ever actually worn a corset? I'd rather French kiss an Unas."

"Daniel can arrange that." Jack said, holding up a finger and earned himself a swat with her battered dusty hat. Teal'c laughed.