Chapter 7: Lies
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.
As soon as the elevator doors closed he let out the breath he had been holding and slumped back against the wall of the elevator, his back hitting the hard metallic wall as he swept his hands over his face.
He was an asshole… a grade one pure, foolish and idiotic asshole. How could he do this?! He cursed himself. He was taking advantage of Sam… but part of his brain forced its way through the mass of internal cursing and berating.
But she wants you to… and remember what you saw… when you looked into her eyes.
Jack thought back to what had happened only a couple of minutes earlier. When he had pulled away from her, apologising and disgusted with himself for letting his desire and love for her overwhelm him… when she had kissed him softly and looked into his eyes, he had seen it… a small almost infinitesimal glimmer of the old Sam in her eyes… a flicker of recognition… but then it was gone.
He was so lost in his thought that he didn't even register the door opening to his floor. As the doors closed again with a thud, the sound brought him out of his reverie and he punched the 'open door' button and the doors parted for him.
As he walked towards the briefing room he made a conscious effort to straighten out his clothes before entering the room.
As he entered, four faces turned to him. Daniel was the first to speak.
"Jack, what's going on?"
Jack scrubbed his hand over his face and over the top of his head to the back of his neck where the interlocked and rested there as he replied.
"She doesn't know who she is."
The response he got was a mix of "what", "how", "I'm sorry?"… and a slight tilt of Teal'c's head and a raise of his eyebrow. Jack would have laughed if the situation wasn't so serious.
"LOOK!" Jack yelled suddenly.
They stopped speaking abruptly, all with shocked looks on their faces, but all silently demanding an answer.
"She's got amnesia, when I found her she thought her name was Kate and she was working as a waitress and she doesn't remember anything about her life before the accident."
"What accident son?" General Hammond inquired.
"She says she was in a car accident, but I'm not so sure." Jack replied softly. At their questioning gazes he added "she told me she had been staying with her parents… which we all know is impossible given that Jacob is off world and her mother died when she was a teenager."
"Colonel O'Neill, do you believe the NID is behind the amnesiac state of Major Carter?" Teal'c asked him.
"My thought's exactly T." Jack smiled at the Jaffa.
"Okay, look, I know you all have questions and just wanna see her, but she's kind of afraid right now… hell we arrived here by an asguard beam… she doesn't even know alien's exist. She just wants to get some rest… I think it'd be best if she went somewhere a bit more homely, just for the night till she's calmed down a bit…I was going to take her back to my house. If the NID really are behind this I want to keep an eye on her and if they find out that we've found her the first place they'll probably look is her house… that's all with your permission of course sir?" Jack directed the last part at the General.
"That's probably a good idea Colonel. I'm giving SG-1 a week's leave effective immediately. I know you've all been working tirelessly on finding Major Carter. Get some rest guys"
"Um, with your permission sir's I'd like to run a couple of tests on Sam before she leaves. The sooner I can run the tests, the sooner we may find out what happened to her."
"Okay Doctor, Colonel, will you accompany Major Carter down to the infirmary."
Janet could see the worry on Jack's face. "Colonel, if she really doesn't want to come down I can wait a few days, but I think it's for the best.
Jack sighed, "I'll talk to her".
Jack knocked lightly on the door before opening it. When he walked in he saw her sitting on the edge of the bed, her eyes fixed on an imaginary spot on the floor. He walked quietly over to her and sat next to her on the bed. He placed his hand on the small of her back and spoke softly,
"hey"
She whispered her reply, "hi", and looked up at him. "Are we leaving?"
"Soon, I promise, but first… Doctor Frasier, Janet Frasier, she wants to run a couple of tests, just to make sure you're okay."
"Do I have to?" She asked.
Jack smiled softly. "I think it's for the best. The sooner we get these tests out of the way, the sooner we can get you outta here"
"It'll be okay, I promise."
She looked into his eyes and nodded silently.
As she entered his house, she felt a sense of warmth overcome her. After having her blood taken and an MRI scan performed by a Doctor called Janet Frasier, she had been allowed to leave. Janet had seemed so friendly, and so caring (much more so than the doctors and nurses at the hospital after her accident. She felt a sense of familiarity with Janet and that she owed the doctor a lot.
Jack shut the door and guided her into the living room, "Uh, make yourself at home, I'll… I'll go put some coffee on".
"Okay" Sam smiled at him.
As Jack left she stepped down the last step into the living room and took in her surroundings. The place was cosy, a large fireplace at the centre of the room which held photo frames atop of it.
She walked over to it and looked at the one at the centre and what she saw made her smile. In the frame was a photo of herself and Jack, and two other men who she recognised as being the ones she had seen earlier. A tall muscular, bald African-American man with what looked like a gold tattoo on his forehead and another man with brown hair, glasses and a friendly face, both of whom stood next to her and Jack. They were all smiling, but what gave her goose bumps, the ones that make you go all tingly inside, was the fact that she and Jack were laughing. She felt warmth seep through her and she closed her eyes at the sensation.
She moved around the room taking in every detail she could in the hopes that it would help her remember. She saw box sets of a TV show she had come to love in England called 'The Simpsons', and saw photos of Jack and other men in US Air Force uniforms in other photos, photos of Jack's life.
She walked past the sofa and saw more photos… but then she stopped… and what she saw made her blood run cold, made all the warmth seep from her. Her hand started to shake as she reached out and picked up a photo frame. In the picture, Jack had his arms around a woman and a young boy, no older than eleven. She saw the rings on Jack and the woman's fingers and just by looking at the boy she could tell he was Jack's son. She looked up and saw another photo of the boy on the shelf.
'How could he do this to her' she thought. Tears started to well up in her eyes. 'How could he lie to her… he had a wife!?' Her fingers became limp and the photo frame slipped from her grasp to land face down with a soft thud on the sofa cushions as she ran for the door.
Jack was filling the coffee maker with water when all of a sudden he heard a slam and realised it was the front door. He raced into the living room and couldn't see Sam anywhere. As he turned for the front door he was distracted by a shiny object on the sofa. He turned and his breath hitched in his throat. Carefully he picked up the photo frame and turned it over.
"Shit" he cursed and ran for the front door.