Epilogue

A/N: Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed this story. It has been a whole lot of hallucination-fun!

"Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you'll reach out and take it. Maybe being able to reach out and take it is a gift too." -- (Carl) Frederick Buechner

Noises scratched through Jack's ears as he came into consciousness. He didn't dare open his eyes, afraid of where he might end up.

He heard a cello melody lilt through his mind.

Sam

He opened his eyes to see his 2IC sitting next to him, her face in her hands.

"Sam," he said, his voice croaky and sore.

He saw a brief glimmer of confusion in her eyes. Sam smiled and the glimmer was gone.

"I'm here, sir," she said softly, staring at him with those beautiful blue eyes. She looked as though she was about to hold his hand, but had thought better of it. Jack reached out to her anyway. He felt her hand flinch. She looked anxious for a second, but she didn't pull her hand away. He caressed her hand with his thumb. She felt so soft. So warm. Surely she was more than just a hallucination.

"Where's Daniel?" he asked, looking around him. His neck pinched as he turned it.

"Daniel?" Sam asked, looking sad and fearful. "Sir…he's…" she struggled with her words. "Daniel's…"

"Sir…" Jack repeated back to her in disappointment. Why was she being so formal? He looked around him again. They were surrounded by a curtain. He was lying in a bed. She was wearing her BDUs, her hair cropped close to her head.

"Daniel's dead," he realized.

Sam nodded.

"You cut your hair," he added. She had looked so good with long hair. He could still feel it in his fingers.

Sam ran her own fingers through her hair, self-consciously. "No…" she started, eyeing her boss with concern.

"No," he agreed. "It's short."

Sam frowned and tilted her head. She didn't understand.

"Never mind," Jack said. He subconsciously stroked her hand again.

He watched her out the corner of his eye as she watched him and smiled a little at the confusion on her face. He was confused enough himself, to be completely honest. She had been so inviting, so loving. So damned real.

But this Sam…this Carter wasn't real. She looked at him with hidden eyes. She was holding something back. She was pretending. She wasn't real.

Jack winced as his brain pounded in his head. He let go of Sam's hand and beat it against his ear.

"Shhh…" he heard her croon. He felt her hands lift his wrists away from his face.

"It's alright, sir,' she said. "You're beginning to feel the withdrawals of not being in the sarcophagus for so long." Her eyes were full to the brim with blue concern. "It's ok," she added, awkwardly trying not to let go of his arms.

"Yeah," Jack murmured back, realizing for the first time, that maybe it was going to be ok. He was free. Ba'al was nowhere to be seen. He wasn't likely to be burnt, lynched, or poisoned to death in the next day. He had escaped. Sam had come for him, just like she had promised.

She had saved him.

"What?" Sam asked quietly at the smile on Jack's face. He did nothing to hide it. He watched as a faint blush wriggled its way onto her face.

"Nothin'," Jack replied, closing his eyes and squirming back down into his infirmary bed.

"Maybe I should let you sleep," Sam said, backing away from the bed.

"I don't mind," Jack said, hopefully.

Sam smiled and shook her head. "Janet would kill me if you were over-exhausted. Besides, I need to change out of these BDUs." She gestured at the somewhat dirty uniform she was wearing. It occurred to Jack that she hadn't changed clotes since she had rescued hi. Had she been with him this whole time.

"BDUs," he mumbled.

"Yeah," Sam said with a nod.

"Or nothing," he whispered, more to himself than to Sam. The less than commanderly look in his face did not go unnoticed. Sam flushed bright red.

"Or nothing?" she said, a nervous giggle in her voice.

"Ah...nothing," Jack said, shaking his head. Sam fidgeted uncomfortably. "Go – have a shower," he said.

"Yes sir," Sam said and stood up to leave. She doubled back. "I'm really glad you're ok, sir," she said.

"Me too," he said and smiled.

Sam smiled back left.

"One more thing," Jack called. Sam stuck her head back in the door. At the look of happiness on her face, Jack's imagination whizzed into a highly detailed fantasy of kissing her right there and then. He could practically feel her lips upon his skin.

Sam smiled at him. She looked as though she knew exactly what he was thinking.

"Sir?" she asked.

Jack cleared his throat, trying to think of something else to occupy his brain with, other than lips and tousled hair and….oh crap. "Uhh…do you play the cello?"

Sam giggled quietly in confusion. "No," she said.

Jack nodded. "You should learn."

Sam smiled. "Yes sir," she said and left him to sleep.

Safe.

fin