Jack thanked the driver and slammed the car door. He was relieved to be home as it had been quite the day. His meeting with the President and Joint Chiefs had not gone as smoothly as it could've, and running into Carter had thrown him off balance. After she had left, all those years ago, he had forced himself to forget her. It hadn't been easy, as the SGC was full of little reminders. When he had been offered Hammond's position at Homeworld Security it hadn't taken much thinking. He had said yes, once Daniel's request to travel to Atlantis had been approved. Jack remembered those last days at the SGC fondly. The last of the original SG-1 were leaving, and for good. Teal'c was going to Ishta and to Dakara, Daniel was on cloud nine every second of the day, without the assistance of caffeine. There had been a small going away get together at O'Malley's with only the SGC personnel. Jack cringed as he remembered how much they had all drunk. Daniel had been staggering not too long after their arrival and even Teal'c had indulged. Jack had gone past indulged and kept on drinking. He hadn't remembered most of the night, or the drive home. He did however, remember the misery of the following day.
He had packed up his house, and hired a moving company. He left was the last one of the team to leave Colorado Springs. The moving truck had departed that morning, and now it was his turn. He started his truck and left, without a backwards glance.
At first he had hated his new job. Exactly what he had been trying to avoid all his life. A desk job. Even when he had been in charge at the SGC he didn't stay at his desk for long. There had always been something going on to distract him. Now he was stuck at his desk, in his own office, with a secretary outside, redirecting any calls that he could possibly find distracting.
He poured over the reports from the SGC, able to imagine the situations they were placed in. Everytime Daniel sent a report he dropped everything he was doing and read it with attention to every detail. Daniel was enjoying himself thoroughly and seemed to be in no hurry to return home. They had received no word from Teal'c in several months, but the last he had heard, everything was going great in Jaffa land.
Eventually he had settled into his new position. He enjoyed the fact that he was usually home at a decent hour, and could take time off to go fishing. The Major General title hadn't hurt either. He thought that Colonel was as high as he could or would go. Not that he was complaining, but some days he wished life had turned out differently.
He turned on the TV looking for hockey games to watch, and grabbed a pizza from the freezer. Shoving it into the oven, opening a beer, he collapsed onto his couch, content. He had a few days off before he was to travel to the SGC for a week or so.
After eating most of the pizza and downing more than a few beers, his mind wandered back to the unexpected meeting. Just seeing her had opened old wounds he thought were long forgotten about. She was just as beautiful as he remembered, and he had never thought of her with long hair. Where was she working now? Was she still living in New Jersey with Pete or had they moved again? Thinking about Pete was like a cold shower as it had the same effect. He shook himself, and started to clear up the remains of his dinner. He repeated the same sentiment he had done years ago. Sam was married, and would never be his.
Sam ran straight into her hotel room and jumped in the shower. She was still shocked at the encounter. He was alive! Tears of relief mixed with the hot water pouring from the shower head. She replayed the conversation over in her head. He had ended it abruptly and she realised she never told him about the divorce. It wasn't one of those topics she usually discussed with anyone now, but she felt she had to let him know. It was too late now but she wondered what he had been doing. The bag he had been carrying suggested to her that his dress blues were inside. He had probably been at a meeting with the President and would probably be flying home, where ever that would be, that day. She turned on her laptop and loaded her email. If Daniel was still alive, maybe he had his old email address still. She typed a few lines updating him on her life and apologizing for not trying this earlier. She hit send and tried to clear her mind of the thoughts seeing Jack had sprouted. He had turned cold and distant when she had commented on the use of her last name. She hadn't been surprised, after all he had known her as 'Carter' for years. To hear Shannahan in his voice now would have caused her to start sprinting in the opposite direction.
She wondered what he was doing here and why he had moved. Perhaps he had gotten married. He had been dating a Kerry for a while, and she was sure there had been others. She had been out of the loop for five years, plenty of time for him to remarry and settle down. She sighed as she did her hair. Life had been good recently, and she didn't want this to change anything. If he had wanted to restart their old friendship she was sure he would've left a phone number or way to contact him. The best way she could think of dealing with this was to forget it had happened