Sam wasn't exactly sure what she was doing. Here she was, getting ready for dinner. Dinner… that was so much more formal than coffee; so much more formal than lunch.

It almost had the same connotation as fishing. She pushed that thought far from the front of her mind. That wasn't why she needed to see him. She needed someone's ear. She needed someone's shoulder; someone who could understand and not judge.

She needed Jack.

Above it all, and through it all, they have been friends. They had saved the world together, and lost each other so many times. He knew her better than anyone… so why was she so nervous?

Because this was Jack.

This was the man she thought she would spend the rest of her life with. The man who through… everything… knew what to say or do. He could make her feel… right, complete, whole. He was the only one who knew what she wanted even when she didn't know it herself.

"I'm seeing someone else."

Those words changed everything. She knew shortly after she hung up the phone that he was lying to her. She tried to call him, to tell him that she knew; to tell him that she would go, but he stopped accepting her phone calls. He would never answer his cell phone. Her emails to him started to bounce.

Sam did the only thing she could. She returned his ring and wrote him a letter telling him how she felt, and what she knew. That too fell on deaf ears. If he wanted her gone, then he certainly did a good job.

But still, here she was, waiting for him. It was a little before seven, and he wasn't quite ready. Her eyes glancing over his office, looking for any trace of herself. Hoping that in some small way that he still needed her. That Jack hadn't cut her out entirely.

Sam's eye did find a picture of her and Jack. Cassie had taken it, back when they days where light, filled with the promises and hope that only new love shares. Back to a time that she had just recently dreamt about. Back to a time when nothing could go wrong.

But it wasn't then any more. It was now. Now she had to face the facts that he wasn't hers. Now it was about two very old friends who had been through the war together. Time to sit and reminisce about old times. Now she just needed someone to listen.

Their conversation never broached the subject of them. It was just what she could openly share about her time away. It was about her feeling as if she had gotten a rough deal.

Sam never looked Jack in the eye.

Jack was sitting next to her at the table. He thought it might make it easier for her. Easier to let out that she had been holding back, what she didn't dare let out in front of other people.

He tried not to stare at her too much. He thought about somehow trying to comfort her, but he wasn't sure how. He didn't know how to touch her without it hurting him. So his arms stayed on the table, his hands in plain sight. He just looked at her, and gave his thoughts when she asked for them. But Sam was still cold and a bit distant.

He had hurt her more than he thought… and he hated himself for it.

When they parted ways, he longed to hold her in his arms and tell her that everything was going to be okay. That no matter what she decided she was going to do, she would be great at it. He wanted to hold her and never let her go again. But that time had passed. He said goodnight to her in the lobby of her hotel, and walked back to his car and driver.

He couldn't be "friends" with her. Not anymore. Not with all they shared, and still how deeply he cared for her. It just hurt him too much. And this pain, unlike the physical kind, was harder to push away from.

Jack just didn't have it in him. And by the way that Sam was tonight, neither did she.

Dinner… that was just a bad idea.

TBC

Thanks again for all your reviews! They make me smile!

OH! And I have no idea what the matter with Ch 3 is... I swear the extra line is not there in my copy.