A/N: Hey guys, I had this sitting and waiting and just finished it off. I have to say I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with this story but, as usual, I have some ideas for a couple of scenes in the future so hopefully something will come together from that.


Rain thundered off her windshield as she pulled up at the Colonel's house. Shutting of the engine the building disappeared behind the sheet of water that was no longer being moved aside by the car wipers.

She took a deep breath and rushed out.

As her left foot made contact with the ground she instantly regretted her haste, a shot of pain firing through her thigh. With a little less speed she limped up to his front door, reaching a hand out to the wall to steady herself.

Shielded a little form the rain, she shook her head and attempted to dry her face to make herself look a little more presentable. A deep breath later and she had steeled herself enough to rap confidently on the door.

'Just a minute!' called a distant voice from inside.

'I've only got a twenty...' he murmured looking into his wallet before looking up and being surprised at the presence of his second in command on his front porch rather than the pizza delivery guy. 'Carter!'

'Hi, Sir. Sorry it's a bad time...' she said suddenly loosing all the courage she'd spent accumulating in the past two days since she'd spoken with Hammond. Gesturing to her car she backed up into the drizzling rain 'I'll just...'

'Jesus, Carter. Get in here.'

She hesitated, shifting all her weight to her good leg and moving slightly closer to him and the warmth that emanated from his doorway.

'Don't make me make that an order. You're supposed to be resting that leg.'

She nodded. 'Yes, Sir.'

'I said it wasn't an order, Carter. Grab a seat and I'll get you a towel.' he said disappearing down the hall and leaving her to find her own way inside.

Stepping over the threshold she closed the door, glad to shut out the cold.

She had been inside in his house just a few times, being alone for any period of time anywhere but the bathroom (and even there just a little bit) still felt odd so she waited in the hall.

'Carter.' he growled exasperated, passing her the towel. 'Will you sit down for crying out loud? I want to get back on missions soon, it won't do to have you limping away from one of those drones.'

'I managed okay at the alpha site.' she said taking her time going down the few steps to his living room.

'That you did.' he murmured barely loud enough for her hear, before asking. 'Beer?'

'Can't with the meds.' she said lowering herself into his couch.

'I have just the thing.'

She sighed with relief as the couch enveloped her taking a moment to enjoy the feeling before pressing the towel to her face. She wondered briefly why her own couch never felt this comfortable, then realised it was because the damned thing was still practically new. Drawing the towel away from her face, her vision was filled with the sight of a can of diet cola.

'Thank you, Sir.' she said taking the fridge cold can between her cool fingers. A shiver of goosebumps shot up her arm, not as a result of touching the cold metal, but the slightest graze of his warm fingers against hers. Her eyes glazed over as she focused on the middle distance.

God, she hoped she was doing the right thing.

'Carter?'

'What?' she breathed. How did he get all the way over there in the chair by the window?

'You zoned out a little.' he said with obvious concern. 'I said, 'So, what brings you to my humble abode?''

She frowned slightly. 'It's complicated.'

'Carter,' he started, resting his beer bottle on the arm of his chair. 'I'd be disappointed if it wasn't complicated. I think your only pastime is to confuse me on a daily basis.'

She smiled slightly nervously, but felt a little more at ease. 'I'm not sure where to start.'

A comfortable silence span between them for a moment and in that quiet she knew this was the right thing to do. He knew her well enough to give her space and time to bring her thoughts together. He knew how to calm her when she got spooked at the door. He knew her. And because of that she decided to begin with admitting what a terrible mistake she had made.

'I never should have started dating Pete.'

His eyebrows rose as high as she'd ever seen them. This obviously wasn't the direction he thought the conversation was going in.

'O-kay.' he drawled.

'You know I had a pretty bad concussion on Prometheus, right?'

'And that made you go out with the cop?'

'Sort of. After I hit my head, I started having hallucinations. They helped me find a solution to getting out of the gas cloud and saving the rest of the crew. But a few of them also seemed hell bent on pointing out that there was a bigger problem in my life in general; I had a great career, I had just about everything I wanted but I wasn't happy. My dad,' she shook her head. 'The hallucination of my dad suggested it was because I didn't have love in my life.'

'Carter, I don't get what...'

'Well at the alpha site, before the drone attack, when I actually tried to tell my dad, my real dad, I was dating someone he thought I was going out with someone else.'

'Who?'

Her gaze met his until realisation set in.

'Oh.' he murmured.

'Yeah, thing is though, he wasn't mad well not at...' She sighed finding she unable to finish that particular sentence. 'In fact he seemed more annoyed at the idea that I might be settling by dating someone else. That's when it kind of dawned on me that dating Pete was a huge mistake.'

'Carter...'

'I spoke to Hammond.'

'You what?!' he exclaimed loudly.

'I'm leaving SG-1.'

The silence that followed was as thick as molasses. The knock at the door followed by a yell of 'Pizza!' broke it quite effectively and shook Jack from his stupor.

To try to stop her mind racing she focused on the feeling of the cool soda can that still rested in her clasped hands.

She was barely aware of the open and close of the door, the cry of 'Thank you!' from behind the thick wood, the clatter of crockery, the hiss of beer opening. It was a good few minutes before he made his way back to the living room. She watched as he set the pizza box, two plates and a roll of kitchen paper on the coffee table and sighed back into the chair.

Silence rose up again.

The fact that he didn't immediately break open the pizza had her a little worried; of course she knew it was a serious conversation but to see him ignoring food made her uneasy.

'So you're leaving SG-1.' he said monotonously, his body still, eyes focused on the beer resting between his fingers.

'Yes, I'll be moving over to R&D and heading it up with Dr Lee as of Monday. I'll reporting directly to Hammond.'

'And Hammond knows why you asked for the transfer?'

'Yes.'

'And you didn't think to talk to me about this before you went to Hammond?'

'I did think about it. But I didn't want to put pressure on you. I needed this to be a decision I would be happy with even if this,' she gestured between them, 'didn't work out.'

'You should have came to me before.'

It wasn't just what he'd said, it was also the darkness of his tone that made her think that she'd hurt him irrevocably by trying to move on with Pete. It made her believe that he didn't see her the way she'd hoped any more, if he had done at all.

She sighed and stood.

'Well it's done now.' She said, her voice mirroring his. 'I guess I'll see you around at work.'

Sam made to leave but was stopped by his fingers wrapping around her wrist. Her feet rooted to the spot, the touch sending goosebumps cascading over her skin.

'What if I'm not worth it?' he whispered still not looking up at her.

The question caught her off-guard. Just when she thought it was all over appeared a chink in his armour, a small flicker of hope.

'Jack.' she murmured, catching his full attention and causing him to look up at her. 'You don't have to be. Like I said I'm happy with my decision to move no matter what happens between us. This is what I want.' She turned her arm in his grasp and wriggled until her palm was against his and her fingertips teasing his wrist. 'So... do you have any plans for Monday night?'