Don't Know Why
Early Monday morning Samantha Carter turned the key in the ignition of her car and found her self totally amazed at two things: there was gas in the tank and the volume of the CD player. Cassie had borrowed her car over the weekend and had come back with Jack's truck. Sam would have asked about the car switch but when Cassie looked at Pete as though he were something that needed to be scraped off the bottom of her shoe, Sam opted out. She just didn't need an argument.
Cassie took off again when Pete was unexpectedly called back to work, returning with the Volvo on Sunday evening, to be picked up by her roommate for the trek back to college. And somehow she managed not to drain the Volvo's gas tank. She was turning into a thoughtful young woman. However, the ear splitting volume of the CD player betrayed her youth. Cassie had left an eclectic mix of love songs or were they songs of heartbreak. This was just what she needed – there wasn't enough tumult in her life. Sam popped out the CD and inserted another one in its place, Nora Jones. 'Oh shit' she thought 'it had to be that song' "Don't Know Why I Didn't Come" – she wasn't sure exactly what was meant by the song but it seemed to be the story of this weekend. This was probably even worse; it fit her mood, an aching emptiness, more than Cassie's tunes. Pete kept pushing about the damned wedding and second thoughts nagged her waking hours and punished her with restless, sleepless nights. She promised herself that she would summon up the courage to talk to him, the General, to tell him how she felt, to see if there was anything left, any spark they could rekindle or had her clumsy attempt at getting a life destroyed their unspoken feelings. Christ, she was so stupid. It wasn't the General she needed to speak to, it was Jack. And there on the passenger's seat was a receipt from the dry cleaners for a J. O'Neill.
Sam drove to the base with the music filling her ears and the thoughts of approaching the formidable general pounding in her brain. When she got out of her car there he was, getting out of his truck, decked out in his dress blues. The sunlight caught on all the highly polished brass on his uniform and she smiled at him. She knew he understood the powerful image he projected but Sam wondered if he had any idea of how very handsome he looked. She raised her hand to wave at him from across the parking lot when the bright morning sunlight also caught the diamond on her hand causing it to sparkle. She felt the engagement ring burn the flesh of her ring finger. How could she have betrayed him with another man, another man who could never measure up to Jack O'Neill?
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Jess Harris – "Don't Know Why"