Chapter 4: Trust

Author's Notes: Sam's been missing for four months. Jack blames himself and after countless unsuccessful leads, he is beginning to loose all hope of ever finding her.

(Chapter 1's layout has been edited... sorry!)

That I love you
I have loved you all along
And I miss you
Been far away for far too long

She pulled back slightly, while still keeping her grip on him. She had only met him all of ten minutes ago but in the four months since the accident she had never felt as safe as she did when she was in his arms. She felt a connection to him, something deep within her that made her feel protected, wanted, loved and something she couldn't put her finger on. She had never felt anything this strong even around her parents… which caused doubts to creep into her mind.

She looked into his eyes and begged him to forgive her, "Please don't hate me for this but… I don't even know your name…" She felt so guilty and embarrassed and she dropped her head, not ready to see the hurt in his eyes again.

He placed his hand lightly under her chin and lifted her face so he could look into her eyes.

"It's okay… I'm Jack O'Neill."

"Jack O'Neill" she repeated, and to her surprise the name slipped off her tongue with great ease.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have run away like that…" she spoke softly. "I was just overwhelmed, I could feel it inside, that I knew you somehow but I also didn't…I…"

"Hey, shh, c'mere" he spoke to her and he hugged her close once more, and all of a sudden she was assaulted with rapid flashes of memories…

She was firing a weapon

She turned to look

She saw him hit by a blast of some kind

He fell

She ran to him

Seeing him sitting on a bed with a bandage around his waist

Then he was standing before her looking at her with such love and emotion, she could almost see tears in his eyes. He was dressed in a black t-shirt and green trousers. He spoke softly, "c'mere" and enveloped her, moving his face into the crook of her neck as she hugged him back and looked to the heavens thanking god that he was alive.

She pulled back from him and reached for his white shirt and lifted it. She saw a fairly large round scar and she placed her fingers to it softly running them over the skin.

She looked up to see him staring at her with questioning in his eyes.

"I remember that…" she spoke barely above a whisper.

Jack softly raised his hand to her face, his thumb brushing over the skin of her cheek and up through her hair. That was when he saw it, a small stitched up scar on her hair line.

"What happened to you?" he asked her.

"I… I was in a car accident, four months ago…" she replied and saw anguish flit through his eyes. "I was okay physically, just… a few cuts and bruises, but…I couldn't remember anything of my life before the accident. The doctors told me I had a severe case of amnesia, and that I may never regain my memories."

Jack looked at her and he leant forward and placed a soft kiss to the scar. "I'll help you get them back… I promise."

"Where have you been all this time then?" Jack asked her.

"With my parents."

She saw confusion enter his eyes.

'That couldn't be right', Jack told himself. For one her mother was dead, had been since Sam was a teenager, and Jacob… well he was on the Tok'ra home world and had visited regularly over the past four months to aid in the search for his missing daughter.
That meant that whoever she believed were her parents… well they couldn't be and he realised that what she thought had been an accident may have been planned and it scared Jack, wondering who would go to these lengths to take away Sam Carters memories.

He could think of a few people, several rogue NID groups, Adrian Conrad's 'lackies', people they had generally pissed off through their years in the Stargate Programme.

He looked at her and spoke softly, he needed to get her away from here, back to the safety of the SGC but he didn't want to scare her away, "I know we've only just met, well actually.. well, oh for cryin' out loud…" he saw her smile at that and wondered whether his remark had caused her to remember something.
"Do you trust me?" he asked her.

She didn't reply for a few seconds but then she smiled softly and replied, "yes"

"Would you come with me…I mean… you don't have to… but I need you to… I can't…." 'my god' he thought to himself, 'when did I become such a babbling wreck?'

She placed her hands on either side of his face "Jack… I said I trust you." She reached down and took his hand in hers. "Now… where are we going?"

I keep dreaming you'll be with me
and you'll never go
Stop breathing if
I don't see you anymore