Sam slammed the door behind her, pacing, tears breaking out again.

How can he not understand? she demanded.

He may not feel anything for you, her conscience reminded her.

But even so, as a teammate, hell, as an intelligent human being I deserved better treatment than that! Jack (ass) O'Neill is a no-good, hateful, hurtful moron of an idiot! And that's putting it lightly!

Her conscience sighed dreamily. But he's a lovable idiot.

Hey, I'M in charge of daydreaming about him. (Though my fantasies are closer to kicking his ass than…erm, I'll leave it at that…) YOU get to tell me I'm insane, Sam snapped at her inner self.

Oops, right. You're insane.

Thank you.

Suddenly, her doorbell rang. Sam sighed, wiping the remaining tears. "Whatever it is, I'm not buying!" she hollered as she swung open the door.

Jack O'Neill.

On her doorstep.

Her hand tightened on the handle, and for a moment she was dangerously close to slamming the door in his face, yelling that if he wanted to get in he had to break down the door. If he was in love with Laira, she was fine with it. Colonel Idiot was perfectly capable of running his own life. She was fine!

She hoped…

Sam finally let go of the door and leaned against the doorway, crossing her arms.

"Can I come in?" he asked hesitantly, with the air of a man who was about to be denied.

"What for?"

Déjà vu. Wasn't that what he said to her? Oh yeah…well, what they said about payback was true… She felt a twinge of satisfaction, and oddly, guilt, at his wince.

"Yeah, uh…you know, I'm not so good at this 'sorry' stuff, but…"

"I get it."

He blinked at her. "You do?"

Sam smiled, a cold, twisted smile of amusement and bitterness, her baby blue eyes icy. "Oh yes. Sure, come on in."

With that, she led him to her living room. "Wait here," she ordered, and left for her office, picking up her laptop and bringing it back to him, suddenly glad she'd saved that document after Jolinar.

She booted it and clicked on Microsoft Word, and dug deep through files to one she swore never to open but never delete. She opened it, and shoved it on his lap.

"For you, Colonel. Or is it Jack? Well, I never can tell what to call you," she said bitterly, remembering his hateful words about her not calling him anything.

His eyes widened. "I won't accept it!" he said, surprised. He closed it and went to "My Documents" and deleted it.

"I'll go over your head, then. I'll talk to General Hammond. I'm not staying where I'm not wanted, Colonel – Jack – Jackass!" she finally yelled, glaring at him angrily.

O'Neill certainly was shocked by her behavior. He opened and closed his mouth several times, then scowled. "I came here to apologize, Major!" he snapped, shoving the laptop back in her hands. "When did you have time to type a resignation, anyway?"

"I typed that after Jolinar, Colonel Jackass. I never did anything with it then and it's about time I did."

"We need you, Carter!" Then he remembered his conversation with Daniel. "I need you!"

She snorted. "No, you don't. You never needed me. Hell, did you even like me?" Sam tried to ignore the hurt look on his face. It was probably fake anyway.

"I like you, all right. More than like you." He stepped closer, the pained look still in his eyes. "Carter…Sam…I have to know: Are you upset about Edora because you have…feelings…for me?"

She closed her eyes. "I…I…maybe."

"Maybe."

"Maybe," she confirmed.

He paused. "Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"…Would that 'maybe' turn into a 'yes' if I told you I love you?" He paused again, for effect, and smiled inwardly at her widening eyes. "Because I kind of do, ya know."

"W-what?" Sam stuttered. "What about Laira?"

"I was drunk, Sam. I understood that she wanted me to have sex with her, to 'give her a child', but…one moment I was thinking of home, of SG-1, of you…and then she was kissing me and I was kissing her and…yeah."

"And the whole not wanting to come home thing was just an act so you wouldn't break her heart, is that it?" Sam asked wryly.

"Oh, come on Carter!" he said indignantly. "What would YOU have done in my position?"

"I wouldn't have put myself in that position to begin with!" she said angrily.

"Oh, please!" Jack snapped. "I know how many guys you've screwed over."

His words hurt but she was determined not to let it show. "Name one!" she demanded.

"Martouf!"

"Kynthia!" she snapped back.

"She drugged me!"

"You didn't have to eat the cake!"

"Narim!"

"Please! Jealous, Colonel?" she said, the rank bitter on her tongue.

"You wish, Carter! As far as I'm concerned, they can –" He stopped, words hovering on the air, many more cruel ones obviously waiting to follow. He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. It wasn't calming, but it gave him back his control. "Sam," he began gently.

"They can what?" she demanded, anger mingling with hurt as it raced through her veins.

"It doesn't matter. I…I was angry, just now. Angry and competitive. When I get that way, I start saying things that aren't true, that I don't mean. Sam…" He sighed and looked deeply into her eyes, searching, as though needing to know something.

Sam's anger faltered. She suddenly didn't know what to think anymore. "Jack?" she whispered.

"Yeah?" he asked, a sound of subtle hope in his voice.

"Hold me? Just for…?" Sam's voice trailed off. She knew she looked pathetic, but…

Moments later, Jack's arms wrapped her, and he dipped his head into the base of her neck. She closed her eyes and tried to hold in sobs and screams of uncertainty.