AN: Greetings. Thanks for all the support after my last message. I am still torn what I am going to do. So, decided I'd post this section and keep my fingers crossed that the next several weeks will tell me life is going to smooth out a bit. This one is a little bit of a roller coster, so hang on. There is a reference to "Entity" in here. No copyright violation intended.

***SG1***SG1***

Silence descended after Jack closed the door behind the General. Not moving from where he was standing, Jack watched Carter warily. She was pale, trembling, her gaze pinned to a spot on the floor. "You okay?" he called softly.

When a sound erupted from her throat that could be interpreted either way, Jack took a step forward. "Carter?"

A sharp shake of her head finally answered him. "I don't," she began, her voice husky, thick. "I'm not worth it." Swallowing, she darted a quick glance at him before her eyes returned to the floor. "You, him," her head jerking to the front door. "It's too much," she breathed, turning to escape the room.

She was halted by Jack's hand on her arm. "Sam," he said softly.

Catching her bottom lip in her teeth, she closed her eyes trying to fight off the tears that threatened. "What do I do with this? Knowing that," she whispered, pulling her arm out of his light grip, "you'd do that? Give up that much? Sacrifice that much for me?"

Conflicted eyes made bright with tears connected with his. Reaching up he caught a tear on his finger that escaped with the words. "It wouldn't matter to me if the world went on if you weren't in it. And if that meant it was destroyed so you could be safe someplace else," he trailed off and shrugged slightly to tell her the rest was inconsequential to him. "I won't make it without you anyway."

"You have to," she gasped, her breath ragged, thick.

"I didn't before," he confessed lowly. "Years ago, with the machine." A shudder passed through him. "Doc was going to disconnect you from life support. I wouldn't have made it out of the room," he said, his tone telling her of the finality he would have set in motion far more than the words.

A sob escaped as she moved suddenly, her body colliding with his. "Don't," she choked out, the thought of him dying because of her causing an old ache to flare. One that went deep, sharp. Unending.

Pulling back, Sam let out a sharp sound. "It's all changed." The words rushed out, her voice raw, desperate.

When another sound close to a sob escaped from her, Jack pulled her back against him and wrapped one arm around her. Pushing her head against his shoulder, he lowered his head to press against hers. "Been like this for a long time Carter. Only thing that's changed is that now you know." The words rumbled through his chest into her body.

Neither were quite sure how long they had been standing there when the muffled sound of a phone ringing caused both of them to start. Brushing his lips on her temple, he pulled back far enough to work the phone from his chest pocket and flip it open. "O'Neill." The tension of his jaw spoke of his struggle to get his emotions under control enough to not reveal them to the caller. "Yeah, I'll be there soon. Get 'em started on preflight." Snapping it closed, he dropped his eyes to meet her's. "Gotta go," he said softly. "You gonna be okay?"

Forcing a small tight smile, Sam nodded, sniffling back the remains of the tears. Standing on her tip toes, she pressed her lips to his. "Be safe," she murmured huskily, starting to pull back. She was stopped by Jack's hand pulling her face up and catching her bottom lip between his. Letting it go, he did the same to her upper lip before capturing both in a long tender caress.

"Always," he murmured, pulling away from her, his fingers trailing slowly away from her skin as he went.

Watching him go, Sam knew his word was an answer to more than just her request.

***SG1***SG1***

Letting out a tired sigh, Jack switched off the ignition. While he had told Sam he'd be back hours earlier, as usual the fates seemed to want to mess with his plans. His hand was on the door latch when a frown crossed his face at the amount of light coming from his house in the middle of the night. Letting himself in, a twitch etched across his neck as the sound of a safety being slid crossed his ears.

Turning from locking the door, his gaze brushed across the pistol on the coffee table to the flat, tense face staring back at him. The look made his chest constrict. Shifting, he forced his body to ignore the yells in his head to do something to get the gun away from her. "We expecting company?" he threw out, is tone deliberately light, curious.

A shrug met his question "You're late."

Jack raised an eyebrow at the explanation. "Little problem with one of the ships," he offered, easing into a chair across from her. A widening of her eyes had him continuing. "Short in a system. One of the kids had trouble keeping on course." The words minimized the frantic scramble to find a lost fighter with no active transponder. "Everyone's fine," he added, shrugging off anything else.

A grunt told him she knew there was more to the story.

Changing topic, his chin gestured to the unopened containers of food in a delivery bag. "Should have eaten," he remarked, picking up a box and looking at the cold shrimp lo mein in it. Mentally calculating the number of hours it had probably been sitting there, he sighed sliding it back on the table. He might be dumb enough to barrel into the dead of space to find a needle in a haystack, but he wasn't stupid.

Heaving himself up, he snagged the bag and headed to the kitchen. Pitching it in the trash, he shut off the overhead light and the laundry room light on his way out after scanning the room to make sure nothing was out of place. Detouring to the office, he shut down that light before making his way back to the living room. Killing two lamps, he eased back down, forcing himself to remain calm. "You ready to get some sleep?" he asked her, stifling a half faked yawn. "Gotta be back on base in under ten hours," he added.

A shrug met his question. "You can go," she said.

Jack froze contemplating the response. The unbidden memory of the last time he saw her with a gun appeared in his head, causing his stomach to roll in protest. The certainty that she wanted to die at that time screamed in his head.

Swallowing hard, he focused his attention to her, trying to ignore his own fear that she was the same now. Reading the tension still in her body, his eyes flickered to the gun laying on the table top. Deciding that he needed to continue to go lightly for right now, he settled his gaze on her in a speculative mode. "When did you begin to sound like me?"

A snort mixed with mild amusement answered him.

"No, I'm serious," he continued his voice light, but his gaze boring into her's trying to figure out what had her so wired. When her head dropped to avoid his probing eyes, he mentally cursed. "What's going on Sam?"

"Nothing," she huffed out with a breath. Running a hand through her hair, she added, "Everything." Dropping a hand, she tried to plaster a half hearted smile on her face. "Unknown sounds, place," she offered, trying to minimize it all. "Delivery guy," she added, wincing. "This afternoon," she trailed off, her teeth worrying her lips. "All just a little too much."

"Delivery guy?" Jack plucked out of the mix, his eyebrows raising in question.

Reading the silent question if he needed to go look for a body somewhere, she shook her head. "He just surprised me," she explained softly, remembering his sudden appearance beside her. "I was in the backyard," she offered, her eyes drifting toward the window, "and he was just there. Guess I didn't hear the doorbell so he came around. Sorta lost it at him." A self incriminating look passed over her face. "He didn't mean anything," she added, her voice low.

Jack nodding slowly, making a mental note to call tomorrow to make sure he wasn't going to cause trouble for her later or that she wasn't leaving anything out. That could at least explain the gun, lights and hesitancy to go to sleep.

"And I guess," Sam continued after a few minutes, "it made me realize I don't want to go back."

"Don't have to decide right now," Jack said, shrugging and ignoring the possible implications in her words. When the look on her face told him that she wasn't happy with his response, he sighed. "Look," he added, deciding to take the most obvious meaning and run with it. "You're still on medical leave. Hammond said you would have time yet. It's," he paused squinting to read his watch, "0314 and it's already been a helluva day."

She deflated at his words. "You're right."

Shoving himself upright, he held out a hand. "Bed?" he asked, tipping his head toward the back of the house. Watching as she unfolded herself and stretched from sitting there for too long, a wave of relief passed through him as she slipped her hand into his. Pausing a moment, he caught her eye and tipped it toward the coffee table. "You ready to put that back in the gun safe?"

The low haunted tone underlying his voice struck her. Looking from him to the gun and back, her eyes widened realizing what he must have thought when he saw her with it. Tightening her grip, she whispered, "I wouldn't," she stopped, her eyes dropping to his backup weapon and shaking her head. Picking it up, she held the grip out to him.

Jack fought off the shudder of relief that wanted to run through his body as he took the weapon. Automatically checking to ensure the chamber was clear and the safety on, a breath slipped out as he took her hand back. "Come on," he said, starting them down the hallway, turning off lights as they went.

***SG1***SG1***