Chapter 16: Janet's

Sam pulled into Janet's driveway and turned off her car. She suddenly had a sneaking suspicion that she was being watched. She glanced around but didn't see anyone. Hmmm...maybe I'm just being paranoid. She shook off the feeling and knocked on the door. Within seconds Janet opened the door and let her in. Sam held out the Chocolate Fudge Ripple that she knew was Janet's favorite.

"Ooh, Sam. That's evil. What are you trying to do to me?"

"Yeah, yeah, you complain now. Just wait until you have your first bite, then we'll see."

They both laughed and made their way to the kitchen. They sat there with the tub of ice cream between them while Sam told Janet what was happening.

"So, what's with Pete?"

Sam hesitated, took a deep breath, but plunged in. "I broke off our engagement."

"You what!"

"I broke it off, Janet. I could never marry him. I see that now."

Janet sat there in a state of shock. Sam waited for it all to sink in. When Janet got her voice back she spoke. "He sounded upset over the phone but I had no idea."

"Yeah, well, I only told him this afternoon."

"Oh, Sam, honey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Janet. I'm actually better than I've been in a long time."

"Where were you tonight?" Uh-oh, the moment of truth. Sam had to decided whether she would tell her best friend what went on earlier or not. Maybe she would just talk and see what came out.

"Well, I went for a walk."

"Where?"

"Garden of the Gods."

"Ooh, that place is beautiful. I love it there. I don't get to go enough. Cassie loves it. Were you by yourself?"

Oh, bad idea! No more talking without thinking first. "Um, no."

Janet narrowed her eyes. "Who was with you?"

"J-The Colonel."

Janet raised her eyebrows. Hmmm...the Colonel, huh? I wonder what she's not telling me. "The Colonel? As in O'Neill?"

"No, Janet, the chicken guy...of course it was Colonel O'Neill." Sam rolled her eyes. She knew Janet was baiting her.

"What did you two do?"

"We talked. Hammond ordered us to after today."

"I heard about that, but I didn't believe it."

"Does the whole freaking base know our business!" Sam went off. "I can't believe this! It's like nobody has anything better to do than speculate about what's going on in our private lives!"

Janet felt sympathetic toward her friend. The base seemed to always be abuzz with the latest Jack and Sam speculation. Anything that was heard spread through the base grapevine faster than you could say pain in the mikta.

Janet tried to backtrack a little. "So, Hammond ordered you to talk?"

"Yeah, then he called to check up on us."

Janet's eyes widened again. "The General!" She almost choked on the bite of ice cream she had just taken.

"Yep. Jack said he sounded drunk." Sam smiled.

Janet snorted. Whether it was from picturing a drunk General or the fact that Sam had called the Colonel "Jack", she didn't know. Both were quite amusing in their own right though.

"Oh Sam, that's hilarious. I wonder if he'll remember in the morning."

Both women sat for a moment and then burst out laughing as the image of a drunk General Hammond hit them again. When they finally calmed down, they decided to put the ice cream away and move the conversation into the living room. Sam flopped down on the couch and Janet came in carrying two mugs of coffee. She handed one to Sam before settling herself on the couch.

"So, how did it go?"

"What?"

"Your talk...with Colonel O'Neill."

"Good."

Janet looked at Sam, encouraging her to continue. She knew Jack had been innately bad tempered to everyone after Sam started dating Pete, everyone but Sam that is. She was interested to hear what they had talked about.

"We're supposed to report to Hammond tomorrow."

"What are you going to tell him?"

"I have no idea. I think we're just going to go in and wing it."

"Wing it? With the General? Sam..."

"I don't know, Jan. Things might change after tomorrow morning."

"How?"

"Well, Jack and I decided to stop running from whatever it is that's going on with us. We won't be without each other anymore."

"Oh, honey, that's great."

"But that means one of us has to go. He said he'd retire but we need him too much. I don't know if we can win this war without him."

"I know what you mean, but we need you too Sam."

"I'm just a scientist/soldier. I can be replaced."

"Sam, you're brilliant and you're one of the bravest and best soldiers we have AND you're the foremost expert on the Gate. You're not that dispensable."

"You know, Hammond said something to us this afternoon. He said that he couldn't afford to lose either one of us and then he winked."

"What do you think he was trying to say?"

"I don't know. Maybe he can do something for us."

"I hope so, Sam. For all our sakes, I hope so."