Still wish it was mine, but darn it all it belongs to MGM and SCI-FI.

Chapter 5

It was several days after Sam's departure that anyone had seen Jack O'Neill again. After he had walked away from Sam that morning, he had gone up to the surface to be by himself. Less than half an hour later he saw Sam walking out of the mountain being escorted by a guard to her car. He could see, even from the far distance that she was still crying. As if she had sensed his presence, she quickly turned to his direction. After a few moments of staring at each other, Jack turned and headed back into the mountain.

Now, more than two weeks later, he was still in shock. But now it was a completely different type of shock. It was no longer the shock from Sam's betrayal, but rather the fact that she was gone now that was bothering him. Now his nights, which used to be spent with Sam, were now spent drinking away whatever feelings he had.

Two weeks after her departure, Jack returned to work, and life returned to normal; whatever normal was for now. SG-1 was cleared to return to active duty, and Hammond had spent the previous two weeks trying to find a replacement for Carter. Life at the SGC continued on as if nothing had changed.

Two months later...

While life had returned to 'normal' for the SGC, there was one person having trouble to reach any kind of normalcy. After leaving the base that day, and packing up her things at home, Sam had boarded the plane that Hammond and Jack had been oh so nice to book for her, and returned to Washington. When she had exited the plane six hours later she found Justin and a few other NID agents waiting for her at the gate. She was stuck now; she knew there was no way out. She had spent most of her life trying to get away from here, and now she was back in the family.

She was now just in her sixth month of pregnancy, back to her old life. The NID seemed to be happy, knowing that they were inflicting the worst punishment and pain onto her; her assignment was to keep an eye on the SGC and all the information that was feed to them by the mandatory guidelines set forth. Ironically though, this allowed her to keep an eye on her friends and see how they were doing. Turning off her computer for the night she grabbed her purse and headed out.

Harry Maybourn was walking out of the store twenty minutes later when something, or rather someone, caught his eye. Believing that his eyes were playing tricks on him, he followed the person in question into the deli. He recognized Samantha Carter as soon as he saw the back of her head. Wondering why she was in Washington and then looking around for the rest of SG-1 he walked up to her and tapped her on the shoulder. When she turned to face him, Harry got the biggest surprise of his life.

On the way out of the office, Sam remembered that she had yet to do her weekly grocery shopping, so she decided to stop at the deli across the street from her apartment. After placing her order she felt a light tap on her shoulder. Turning, she faced the last person she ever thought she'd see.

"Hi Sam. What are you doing in Washington? And, more important, are you pregnant?"

"Hi Harry. I'm surprised to see you here too. I thought you would have been as far away from Washington as possible."

"Is it his baby?"

"If by his you mean Colonel O'Neill, then the answer is yes."

"You mean to tell me that you got transferred to Washington, six months pregnant with O'Neill's kid and he didn't kill anyone? I find that a little hard to belief."

"Actually it was Jack who got me transferred."

"Run that by me again. Why would he want you out of there?"

"They know Harry."

"They know what?"

"That I worked for NID."

"How? There is no way that they could know- we made sure of that."

"Two months ago Justin Miller walked into the SGC. The entire time he was there, he tried to get me to come back to work for them. I told him there wasn't any chance in that happening. Apparently he didn't like the answer so he took it into his own hands. He gave Jack the file- the very one that no one was ever supposed to see. Let's just say that they all think that I am still working for NID and made sure that I ended up back here."

"Did they allow you to tell them everything?"

"They didn't give me a chance to say anything. Jack even told me that he didn't want anything to do with the baby. He pretty much gave up his parental rights and said it would be best if we just stayed out of each other's lives."

"So, what are you going to do?"

"I don't know. I'm not sure that I can do this. I don't know if I can raise this baby on my own, but at the same time I think, this is Jacks' baby and it is all I have left of him. But I'm scared too Harry. You know what the agency is like. If they are not happy with my work they will see me as nothing more than a liability. What happens then?"

Harry could see that his friend was on the edge of breaking down. He found himself thinking of all the wonderful things that he could do to Jack O'Neill. How many ways could he torture him as he was torturing Sam? He could think of more than a few.

At the very time that Sam found herself pouring her heart out to Harry Maybourn, Jack and SG-1 found them selves on Edora. It had all started a few hours before when the code from Edora had activated the gate. Lara had stepped through and requested the help of the SGC. Apparently they were having troubles with a new system lord that was trying to take over the planet.

Now, Daniel, Teal'c and Silas - Sam's replacement, were setting up camp. Lara had asked Jack to take a walk with her. They headed down a very familiar path, one that he had walked almost every night for three months. He had always thought of Carter on those walks, and now he just wanted to forget her. He knew that he needed to concentrate on what lay ahead. He needed to have a clear mind in order to succeed in defeating the new system Lord.

A week later SG-1 and the people from Edora were busy celebrating their victory. Earlier in the day they had finally killed the gould and the Jaffa warriors. Tonight they would party and forget of the weeks events. At some point in the evening, Daniel noticed Jack walk off with Lara into her house. Daniel shook his head, knowing what was to happen. He also knew that no matter what, Jack was still thinking about Sam. Daniel did too; these past two and a half months with out Sam had been miserable. While he liked Major Silas, he was no Sam Carter, and no matter how hard they tried, it just wasn't right. The dynamic of the team changed and nothing was working the way it was.

The next morning Jack got early to take a walk. He felt horrible. He had slept with Lara the night before, and just felt completely guilty now. He felt as if he had betrayed Sam, and knew for a fact that he had. He knew that without Sam in his life, no matter what happened, was empty. But he just couldn't find the room in his heart to forgive her.

When he returned to Lara's house later that morning, he found her awake and sitting at the kitchen table.

"Good morning Jack"

"Good morning Lara."

"We need to talk Jack." with that said, he took a seat next to her at the table. "I think what happened last night was a way for you to forget about Major Carter. Before you say anything, I asked Daniel this morning what was going on and why she was not here. He told me that there was a falling out between you and she had gone home.

"The reason I say this Jack is because last night you called me Sam. And, on a few of the nights we spent together when you were living here, you did the same."

"Lara, I am so sorry."

"I think that you should go home and resolve what ever differences you have with her, or you will never be happy."

With that said, Lara left the house. Jack followed a few moments later trying to locate his team. He knew that what Lara had said was right; he needed to resolve the whole issue of Sam. The only problem was that he wasn't ready to face her yet.