Chapter 20:

Of all the ways Jack had imagined finally seeing Carter again- General Hammond surprising SG-1 at a briefing with a new team member and she walks in behind him, showing up at his door late one night, maybe even running into her at the grocery store- standing in front of him in a garage in a town that looked something out of Mayberry with grease covered face and hands, mussed hair, and wearing coveralls that apparently belong to a Carl was not in the top ten or one hundred. If her name tag had said Goober or Gomer instead of Carl, he would have checked himself into the nearest hospital sure that he had finally lost it.

Yet, here they were, staring at each other as if both were aliens. And then the realization hit, at least for him. It was Carter. God, he had missed her. He wanted to grab her in his arms and hold her just to be sure that it was really her not the namesake of her uniform or Goober or Gomer.

"What the hell are you doing here, Carter?" Again, these were not the words he thought he would say if and when he saw her again. But nothing about this situation was like he imagined.

She looked like she wanted to run, to be anywhere except facing him. If he was not blocking her only exit, she probably would.

"Do you know this young fella, Sam?" He heard the old man question from behind.

"I can't do this," she said as she tried to push past him and a confused Pop.

"Carter, wait." He grabbed her arm and turned her to look at him.

"Let her go, son." He heard the old man warn. Jack looked at Carter and saw fear and hurt and anger all directed toward him. Reluctantly, he let go and watched her disappear.

"This is so not how this was supposed to go," he said quietly to the now empty space.

"You want to explain to me who you are? And what the heck just happened?" Pop had moved and now stood in front of him, arms crossed across his body. He looked liked a father who was facing down his daughter's first boyfriend.

"We're old friends."

"Old friends. Funny, Sam didn't seem happy too see you, Old Friend."

"Yeah, funny."

"Are you the reason she's here?"

"What?"

"I'm old, Friend, not stupid. As much as I'm happy she's here, Sam's runnin' from somethin'. She runnin' from you?"

What could he say? The old man was right, she ran from something. He was just as good an excuse as any. "No." He hoped that was the right answer that she had not left because of him.

"You know, Friend, Sam's the best thing that's happened around here in a long time." Pop stated matter of factly. "She's made quite a name for herself round these parts. Heck of a mechanic. Can fix anything."

Jack smiled. "I'm not surprised."

"So you want try again? Who are you and why did she run out of my garage like she just saw a ghost?"

"I'm Jack O'Neill."

"Okay, Mr. O'Neill."

"Jack. Just Jack."

"Okay, Jack, how do you know Sam?"

"What did she tell you?"

"Nothin'. Like pullin' teeth to get her to talk. Former Air Force. Served in the Gulf. Is that how you know her? You serve together?"

"Yeah. Look, Mr…"

"Pop."

"Pop, this thing with Carter, it's complicated. I don't understand it myself and finding her here…Look, do you have any idea where she might've gone? I'd like…I really need to talk to her."

There was something about him, just like there'd been something about Sam when he first met her. Maybe he was turning soft in his old age. Maybe he saw the concern in the man's face for Sam who he had come to think of as something as close to a daughter as he would ever have. Katherine, his wife and love of his life, died, God rest her soul, after only five years of marriage. Cancer. They never had children.

"Don't know what it is about you strangers lately," he muttered. "Try the beach," he motioned with his hand. "Two blocks down. Can't miss it."

Before Pop had finished his sentence, Jack was already heading out of the garage. He stopped suddenly just before he rounded the building and turned back toward Pop.

"Thank you, sir."

"You better not make me regret this, son."

"Never. Scout's honor." He said holding up his hand in mock salute.

"Is this sand taken?" Jack asked when he found Carter sitting alone, knees pulled up close, on a deserted stretch of beach. A cold wind blew off the water as the waves crashed menacingly on to shore. She stared forlornly out across the ocean oblivious to her surroundings.

"It's a free beach." She replied inching over as if to make room for him.

"Great!" He sat down mimicking her position. They sat in silence. The only sound was the wind and the waves. In a different time, different situation, it would have been nice sitting here with her alone on a deserted beach at sunset.

"I'm not going back," she finally said her gaze still focused on the churning ocean.

"You know, Carter, as much as I want to drag your ass back to Colorado, that's not why I'm here."

"Then why are you here?" She looked pointedly at him, "if not to drag my ass back." He noticed her lack of military decorum. He was not going to call her on it. Now was not the time for dressing down a junior officer's failure to properly address a superior officer. In truth, he kind of liked it.

"Believe or not, I'm on vacation. My truck broke down. This was the only place open."

"Of all the gin joints…" she muttered under her breath.

"Didn't take you for a Bogart fan, Carter," he said smiling at her comment.

"I'm not. It just… seemed appropriate," she quieted again.

Jack had always liked that they did not have to talk to carry on conversations. He was not a talker so it suited him. But now, he had so many questions and Carter was not offering any answers. Pop was right, it was going to be like pulling teeth.

"So how've you been?" He asked trying a different tactic. "Haven't heard from you in ol' lets see, six months. I see you've got a new job. It seems to suit you. Carl's coveralls are a little big though. Jacob says 'hi…"

"You've seen my Dad?"

"About a week ago. The Tok'ra gave him a weekend pass and he came to see you. He's doing okay by the way. Not too happy to learn his daughter's AWOL."

She winced at his last comment but did not offer any further explanation.

"Why'd you run, Carter?" Jack asked turning to look at her. "What's going on in that genius brain of yours?"

"I…I don't know. I…it's…" She sighed and pulled her knees up even closer as if trying to ward off the cold or maybe the assault of memories. He took off his coat and draped it over her shoulders. "I needed to heal. I needed to decide if I could still go through the gate again after everything…I couldn't go back. I left the day before I was supposed to report back to the SGC. I ended up here when my car broke down."

"And the job?"

"Carl, Pop's mechanic had just quit, so I offered to fix my own car and I may have, during the night, fixed a few other broken appliances. Pop offered me a job. I accepted."

"So how are you really doing?" He asked not trying to hide the concern in his voice.

"Better," she replied without hesitation.

"Better?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Good. That's good. You know Teal'c and Daniel really miss you."

She turned and looked questioningly at him. "Not you?"

"Especially me."

She smiled at his reply and dropped her head to her knees to hide the blush she was sure shown on her face.

"Come on, Carl." Jack said pushing himself off the sand and extending his hand to help Carter up. "I'm cold and you have to fix my truck."

They had made their way back to Pop's and taken his tow truck to Jack's cottage to retrieve his truck and two hours later he was back to where it all started-staring at a pair of legs sticking out from under a car.

"So, Carl, what's the damage?" He asked.

"What?" Came her garbled reply.

He walked over to his truck and stuck his head underneath. "I said can you fix it?"

"Oh," she said somewhat surprised to see his head under the truck. "Um. Yeah, sure, no problem." She pushed herself out from under the truck. "But not until tomorrow. I don't have the part."

"Great." The awkward silence returned as they stood facing each other. He shifted nervously from foot to foot like he was a pimpled faced thirteen year boy on his first date. Carter stood in front of him covered in grease working her bottom lip. "So."

"So."

"I guess I should go. It's a long walk back," he said still shifting nervously. "Carter, it's…it's really good to see you again." He turned to leave and was almost out of the garage when he heard her.

"Wait." She walked over to face him. "Stay."