Chapter 2: Better Late Than Never

Colonel Samantha Carter and General Jack O'Neill were sat in the commissary deep in conversation; it was almost as if they were the only people in the room. Sure they were a few SFs but that was to be expected at 0300 hours. SG1 had gated in about an hour ago under enemy fire and were ferried off to Janet. 'Go get something to eat, doctor's orders.' Sam really loved Janet but when she tried to set them up, urgh! What was Sam going to say? 'No, I need to figure out the device SG5 found.' She knew what Janet would say, so she sucked it up and went to the commissary with the rest of SG1. Daniel and Teal'c had left about a half hour ago, just before the General arrived, so it was just them.

"Stop blaming yourself sir, you couldn't have known that my dad was going to die. It was two months ago. He won't walk in and curse you for not doing anything to help. He chose his fate, not me or you." Sam was looking directly at him but Jack was looking down at his red jello. "I know that you're beating yourself up. He told me that when he was implanted with Selmak that he had made you promise to look after me. Just because I nearly died today and you weren't there to help doesn't mean that you broke that promise."

"Yes it does, Sam! I promised that I would look after you out there and I broke it when I took command. I have let the team down and I have let him down. It's my fault that your near death experience happened today. You were supposed to be finishing wedding plans but I kept you here." He looked up to her trying to translate the pain that he was n through his damp, dark brown eyes. "It's my fault and you know it. It tears me apart to watch the three of you go out and to know that you might not be coming back. That's the worst part is that I can't be there with you when it all comes crashing down on top of you, I'll be sat there in my office and all you will be left as is paperwork. And it tears me apart to know that I can't even help you here on Earth because of that Shanahan guy!" A small tear rolled down his cheek and splashed onto the table. "It breaks my heart Sam, it really does."

Sam looked directly into Jack's eyes with a most Teal'c like expression on her face. "Jack, I called off the wedding." With that, Jack's jaw dropped as he gaped at Sam. He was shocked firstly by the use of his first name and secondly by the fact that she had called off the wedding. "I can't tell you why for the same reason we lied during the Za'tarc testing. A plain, simple four letter word that I never really shared with Pete." Was Sam flirting with Jack? From his point of view she was leaning over the table seductively. "My dad once told me that regulations shouldn't be the only thing that is stopping me from being happy and so by being with Pete I thought I could make myself happy with him. But it never worked because there was one person that I had a deeper, more meaningful connection with."

Jack leaned over the table also, a fraction of an inch away from her lips, he felt her breath on his lips as he spoke. "And who would that be with?" he breathed alluringly.

"I don't think you need to ask that question." She stood up and walked away while Jack savoured the view of his stunning second in command's equally as stunning six. "I'll see you in the briefing General." She called back to him. She turned around and flashed a rare smile at him that lit up the room. Jack smiled to himself and left for his quarters. If he was going to get any sleep before the briefing after the moment he just had with Sam then he needed to grab as much as he could get.

Jack heard all about their near death experience and how they narrowly escaped Ba'al's jaffa as they made their way to the stargate. They had successfully found out what Ba'al was making a new ship for but they weren't able to destroy it. "How long until it gets here?" Jack threw a bombshell into their debriefing, there was no point pretending, they were either going to stop it or be enslaved, and he wasn't going to spend most of the time he had left for a briefing.

"It's going to take three weeks to get here. It's going to travel cloaked but we don't know where it's going to emerge. But I might know someone who can help. A few months ago I met a young English teenager who had written a paper on wormhole physics and I didn't find anything wrong with it. She wrote theories on one way and two way travel through a wormhole. It was almost as if she knew about the stargate." Colonel Carter threw at the general. It was an idea but he was bound to dig a little deeper.

Before he could ask any, Walter walked up the stairs from the control room. "Sir, there's a phone call waiting for Colonel Carter. She says that she's the girl with the wormhole theory paper." Without waiting for someone to talk, Sam ran over to the phone and picked it up. As she spoke, she signalled that this was the girl that she was talking about.

"How do you know about that?" Sam exclaimed, she had an awed look on her face. 'You left your hat and memory stick in the classroom so when I got back I was sent to give them to you but you weren't there and you hadn't left. That's when I remembered the light in the room.' Sam still looked shocked when she replied. "Maybe you should try to get over here. I'll send you an address via your school, and a plane ticket."

"Colonel, you have three weeks until the girl is dropped and all hell breaks loose." Jack informed her. "What did she know?"

"She figured that I must have been beamed up. The light, the sudden disappearance and an episode of Star Trek, she just had to join the dots." Sam informed him. If that girl could figure that out then how long until she figured everything else out? "Sir, she could be the answer we're looking for." She looked at the three men with a sparkle in her huge blue eyes, all too glad that they were giving the young woman a chance.

Daniel finally spoke but he was less than optimistic. "Sam, Jack, she could be a huge security risk! Is it really worth it? Yeah she could save the world but if she let one word slip about what goes on here then the world would be better off being destroyed." Daniel received too many dirty looks. "What did I say?"

"Daniel, if Colonel Carter can trust her then we all probably can, I mean come on! How many times has Carter messed up?" Jack butted in, protecting Sam. In his eyes you could read the simple words not enough.

"Indeed, Colonel Carter can be trusted, and in turn, so can this young warrior." Teal'c agreed. It was obvious that Daniel had been outvoted. He knew when to back down and so left the room.

"Colonel, shouldn't you be arranging a flight?" Jack asked in a low whisper. "And I have a call to place. If your plan is even going to lift off then we're going to need to get that girl security clearance. What was her name?"

Sam gulped before she spoke. "Isabel, Isabel Hastings."