A.N. Sorry this took so long to get up - university has been so hectic. However, I have a few more chapters of this typed up now, so hopefully I'll be able to get some more of it up soon. The song in this is by Savage Garden - i knew I loved you before I met you. It was playing as I thought about writng this chapter - and it suddenly hit me. This is dedicated to all those doing resits like me - good luck!

Chapter 2


As Sam pulled into the car park at the restaurant, she took a deep breath. She was still nervous and shaken up from all of her feelings from earlier today, and she couldn't understand why she couldn't get them all under control. Looking down at her outfit she hoped she was dressed up enough.

It was General Hammond's birthday in a couple of days, and since he had to work, because it was a Monday, and jobs at the SGC were pretty much 24/7 anyway, his next door neighbour had organised a nice dinner at the local posh restaurant, which had a dance floor and a live band. They had rented out the whole place, everyone chipping in slightly, and pretty much everyone from the mountain was going to be there.

Taking another deep breath, she entered the restaurant, placing her gift on the table just inside the door, and wandered over to the bar to get herself a drink.

"What would you like?" the bartender asked her with a smile.

"A beer, thanks" she replied, but before the bartender could move, a voice from behind her said "She'll be having champagne, on me."

Sam turned in her seat at the feel of a warm hand landing on her shoulder, to look into the twinkling eyes of the colonel. He was smiling that smile at her, the one that always made her go weak in the knees. Luckily she was sitting down, so she returned the smile and questioned him.

"Champagne?"

"Yeah," he replied, lifting his own glass, "this is a special occasion, requiring a special drink," he smiled at her, as her glass of champagne was given to her by the bartender.

Passing over a note, he cut off Sam's protest with a finger. "Ack! I'm treating you! Don't even try to complain!"

Sam smiled. "Thank you, sir, that's sweet."

"No problem Carter. Now how about you come and join the rest of us over here."

And as they walked over to the rest of SG-1, he leant down and whispered in her ear, so softly that no-one else could hear, and in a voice that made her tingle all over "Drop the sir tonight, it's Jack, and I'll call you Sam. You look far too beautiful to be called Carter tonight."

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As the evening wore on, Sam became more and more relaxed, due largely to the copious amounts of champagne that Jack kept ordering for her. She had no reason not to drink them, not being on duty the next day, and only expecting to spend it curled up on the couch watching a few TV programs she had recorded earlier. Having decided this, she continued to drink it, with no qualms.

Jack spent the evening watching his second in command. She, for once, seemed to be relaxing and getting into the party mood. The only unfortunate thing about this was that it left him unable to question her about why she had seemed so distracted earlier. Still, it seemed that whatever had been distracting her had disappeared for the moment, and he didn't want to spoil her good mood by bringing it up. Indeed, seeing her shine yet another mega-watt smile at him, the kind she had been sending him all night, he vowed that he would do anything he could to keep her happy tonight.

It's the least I can do, he thought to himself. He felt so unimaginably guilty for the kiss he had stolen in that time-loop, the kiss she didn't know about, and probably never would know about, unless … well, unless all of his dreams came true.

It was useless to waste time dwelling on this. There were regulations, there were worries in case it didn't work, and hell, there were the matter of her feelings – most likely very different from his! He was jerked out of his reverie, by the sound of her laughter again.

"I love this song!" she exclaimed, with the largest smile he had seen on her yet that night.

Remembering his promise to himself, he took a few steps closer to her and extended his hand towards her.

"In that case, will you dance with me, Samantha?" he questioned, the twinkle in his eyes making her feel much more at ease, and much more likely to say yes.

Everything that would have normally told her not to be so impulsive was now suppressed by alcohol, and so she readily agreed, slipping onto the dance floor with him, hand in hand, and moved closer to him, placing her other hand on his shoulder as he placed his on her waist. The danced like that, at a respectful distance, exactly like two co-workers would, maybe a little too uncomfortable for "friends", but they gradually relaxed as the song wore on.

"Oooooh

Maybe it's intuition,

But some things you just don't question,

And in your eyes I see my future in an instant,

And there it goes – I think I've found my best friend…"

As Sam gazed up at Jack, she found those familiar feelings returning to the surface again, those ones she tried to keep constantly suppressed, for fear of making a move on her senior officer and, more than that, truly her best friend. With the help of the alcohol, however, which had been steadily and stealthily making its way through her system, she found it too hard to suppress these feelings and smiled at him, enjoying the tingling sensations his hand holding hers was provoking…

"I know that it might sound more than a little crazy – but I believe

I knew I loved you before I met you

I think I dreamed you into life

I knew I loved you before I met you

I have been waiting all my life …"

As Jack looked down at Sam, a smile of his own gracing his lips at the sight of hers, he thought back to when they had first met, and realised he had pretty much fallen in love with her then, for he knew he was in love with her, there was no other way to explain the way he was feeling…

"There's just no rhyme or reason,

Only a sense of completion,

And in your eyes I see the missing pieces

I'm searching for – I think I've found my way home…"

At this point Jack abandoned all pretence and pulled Sam closer into his arms, snaking his arm around her waist, keeping her body pressed next to his, the only way he now felt complete. After Charlie's death she had entered his life – the missing pieces he needed to continue living. She was his whole life. And with the memory of how she always helped him home from other worlds he smiled. She had given him so many second chances to say the things he wanted to say to people before he died, and yet he hadn't said the most important thing – to her! The way he felt about her was the most important thing in his life, and sometime soon he had to let her know that, before it was too late.

"I know that it might sound more than a little crazy – but I believe

I knew I loved you before I met you

I think I dreamed you into life

I knew I loved you before I met you

I have been waiting all my life …"

Sam thought back to all the boys she had dated in high school, all the guys she had gone out with since then – none of them compared to Jack. None of the feelings she had ever had for them compared to the way she felt about the man now holding her in his arms.

"Oooooh

A thousand angels dance around you

I am complete now that I've found you

I knew I loved you before I met you

I think I dreamed you into life

I knew I loved you before I met you

I have been waiting all my life …"

And as the song continued, both of them continued to dance, in each other's arms, oblivious to the stares of the others around them, both of them complete for the first time in a long while.

A.N.2. please read and review! they really brighten my day!