"Teal'c says you made it through last night without any nightmares."

"Well, let's hope it's a twofer." Jack said with a grin as he hopped into the passenger side of his truck. He blew on his hands then rubbed them together in the cold Colorado air.

She smiled at him the way he'd remembered her smiling only for him and his heart did a practiced summersault in his chest. Oh yah. He had it really bad still.

"What?" she asked him, her cheeks bright from the cold and, he suspected, a blush. Jack had been staring at her with, he admitted, an adoring smile.

"Nothing. I like your hat." He said with a grin.

"Ah, thanks." She said confused and got buckled in. It was just an average tuque in light blue.

Jack smirked to himself. He'd realized something after his talk with Daniel. He didn't really need to do anything to win Sam back. He still had to figure out what idiot thing he'd said or done to push her away as it was clear that Daniel didn't know, but once he remembered that part he'd know he could tell her he was an absolute idiot. He was fairly certain he could tell her that anyway but this was a special case.

The cop had been back in town and Sam hadn't been too happy to hang out with him if Jack's observation skills were accurate. She'd frowned every time he'd texted her while they were working in her lab the last two days. Unable to sign off on paperwork legally until he was cleared medically, he'd been watching one of her programs search for power fluctuations on the Gate. It took him a couple days because it was so minute but he'd not only found it, he'd found the pattern too and sat back grinning while she wrote code to patch over the problem. Right up until the cop's text had come through and she went from happy and relaxed to mildly annoyed.

When they turned out of the base parking, he glanced at her. "You sure you're ok spending the weekend at my place instead of with your guy?" He asked her solicitously.

She gave him a side-eye. "Honestly? I think I need a break from him."

"Oh." Was all he said.

"That's all you have to say about it – 'Oh'?"

"If you want me to say it again Carter, you can do better."

"Thank you."

Jack smirked.

"I mean, I don't know why my brother thought this guy would be a good fit. I don't like any of the things he likes. He's charming for a while but the longer I date him the more clingy he is which would be fine if I enjoyed his company more but sir, frankly, he's kind of annoying. He puts banana peppers on his garbage can pizza." She huffed.

"Does not like banana peppers. Noted." Jack said, with a snort.

"It's all you can taste after that. Even if you pick them off" She huffed and her eyes crinkled when she saw his amused smile. On a roll now and encouraged to have someone to listen to her list of flaws she saw in Pete, Sam kept going. "He thinks the only good use for alcohol is getting drunk. He doesn't care what it tastes like. I have a whole bottle of Bombay Sapphire he told me tastes like turpentine. He drinks that vile sugar water like it's going out of style." She huffed. And then her face turned thunderous.

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing."

"Carter. Spill it."

"I caught him spitting out my soufflé and throwing it away." Sam glowered. "Then he went and ate fast food burgers."

Jack winced. Nope, I pretty much just need to not be this guy. "Carter, there's nothing wrong with your cooking. You just have more sophisticated taste than he does."

"Which would be fine if he even tried a little to learn to enjoy new things, but instead he expects me to eat and drink garbage he likes even though it's nothing but junk. I've met little kids with more taste."

"So I spoiled you with opera and French wine, huh?"

"Oh, I don't dare tell him that part because he hates literally everything about you at this point."

Jack smiled smugly. "You look fantastic in a cocktail dress Carter."

"Well, Pete is never going to find that out because he doesn't like ballroom dancing or five star restaurants or theater."

"I'm sorry Sam." He sighed.

"You are?"

Jack put his gloved hand on hers. "Sam, all I've ever wanted was for you to be happy."

She glanced at him then looked back to the snowy road. "Jack, you were what made me happy."

Jack had a flash of something pass through his mind. "Sam…"

"Jack?"

"Prometheus."

"What about it sir?"

"What really happened? And stop calling me sir."

"Sorry. Um, the aliens took everyone but me off the ship. I had a concussion that made me hallucinate a few people."

"Was I one of them?"

Sam blushed but didn't answer.

"I was, wasn't I?" He told her.

"Jack, I hallucinated a few people."

"But I'm the only one whose relationship with you changed after." He said with a firm nod.

"You remembered."

"More a hunch really. I remembered you being late and being worried sick about what had happened to you."

She parked his truck in his driveway and shut off the engine but didn't grab the door handle. "Jack…" She said looking down at her lap.

Jack's hand came up and he gently turned her face towards his. "Sam, talk to me." He said, his voice soft, his eyes warm.

"You told me that the problem was me complicating things, that possibly I was just clinging to my feelings for you because you being my CO kept me from having to worry about dealing with any normal relationship problems - like not liking the same movies or wanting just mushrooms on pizza or- "

Jack had leaned forward and claimed her cold lips in a slow kiss that made her eyes flutter closed. He kept it light though for now even though he wanted nothing more than to pull her into a deep searing kiss that made her utterly forget anyone but him.

When he moved away a little she looked at him apprehensively. "Did something happen after you got back? Something between us?" he asked her.

"You, ah, you corrected me when I called you Jack when I woke up in the infirmary." She told him blushing in humiliation.

"Carter." He said stroking his gloved thumb over her cheek. "We were at work."

"Well I know, but…"

Jack's eyelids lowered, he very badly wanted to kiss away the hurt he'd caused her. It had been days before she got out of the infirmary after that. At some point she must have misunderstood him putting her off that was wait for later when we have privacy, not I'm done here. "Carter, we were at work."

She looked into his eyes and understanding suddenly dawned in her eyes. "You didn't…"

"Nope." He told her with a lopsided smile.

"But… oh my god…"

"Hey, hey relax, it's all right." He pulled her into his arms. "Sam, it's all right. Come on, it's cold out. Let's go inside."

Sam nodded against his shoulder and pulled away to open the driver's side door.

Jack followed her to the door and for the first time in months, felt like everything might eventually be ok.