Well, those of you who read "One Normal Evening" already know that I'm back, but those of you who don't: I'm back!
Well, obviously, since I'm updating this thing...
I would like to thank Yasmine Lupin, Holly, Skycross and LadyMo for your reviews and I hope you like this chapter as well!
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"I saw your faces that night, Jack. Until that moment I have never seen you happy in my entire life and so was she. Even more, I think she's in love with you, cause only a woman who is happily in love can look like that." his voice turned sad then. "Sha're had that expression"
"She did say she could not love... live with my issues." mused Jack, ignoring Daniel's reminisce in order not to sink his friend into sorrow even deeper.
"There, you see?" Daniel brightened up. "The woman is in love with you, you just have to be really ready for a relationship with her and she'll give you a chance."
"You think so?" Jack didn't dare hope.
"I know so! She even said it herself!" Daniel argued passionately.
Jack fell silent and Daniel could see him thinking. "She did say 'love with' at first." he muttered to himself.
Daniel jumped at the chance. "That's a textbook example of a freudian slip."
"Who?" asked Jack.
That threw Daniel off. "What?"
"Who's slip?"
"Freud, Jack." Daniel said impatiently.
"Oh." nodded Jack understandingly. "The guy with the penises."
Okay, that had really thrown Daniel for a loop. "What?"
Then he thought back "Penises?"
"Yeah." nodded Jack. "He blames everything on penises and lack of them. And on parents of course... Shrinks like to do that."
At Daniel's perplexed look he explained. "To blame things on the parents."
"Yeah and he's also the guy who's book you have on the bottom shelf in your office at home, next to Jung, Plato, Nietzsche, Machiavelli, Sun Tzu and others." snarked Daniel.
Cue in startled eyes. "How do you know?"
"You forgot to hide them for our last team night."
"Crap." Jack winced. Might as well give in. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, wanting to know the extent of the damage done. "Do the other two know?"
Daniel rolled his eyes. "Jack, Teal'c has always known you act dumb. He and Cassie saw through it immediately. Well, admittedly I believed that act too for a long time. As for Sam... who knows, given that she always explains things to you in simple terms I can only speculate that she buys it. Besides, she had a date with him that evening and didn't come."
Seeing the subject had deteriorated Daniel thought it best to get it back on-track. "The best thing you can do now is to get away from here, from Sam for a while. You can't get over her if you see her every day..." Daniel thought furiously. "How much leave time do you have stored up?"
"A couple of years..." mumbled Jack.
Daniel snorted, but then stopped and squinted at Jack suspiciously. He rolled his eyes when he read the confirmation in Jack's guilty look. "Take a few months off, Jack, Reynolds can cover for you. The Goa'uld and the Replicators are now finished, you need some time to yourself now. Heal and move on. And when you're healed and ready, find Kerry and ask her for a second chance. But don't beg. If you beg then your relationship will restart with you two being unequal. Because you begged you will automatically have a submissive position. Just be sincere, apologize for hurting her and ask for another chance, but be proud and self-confident. Kerry fell in love with the irreverent, mouthy, determined, caring, proud and confident you, not with a wuss. Be the man she fell in love with, be yourself. If you didn't hurt her too much and she wants an equal relationship then she will gladly take you back even though you didn't beg."
Jack nodded in agreement, seeing logic in his friend's words, then fell silent.
"Funny, isn't it, how life turns?" Jack commented after a few seconds of thoughtfulness. "Had Carter just waited, I would've probably been asking her on our first date right about now. The plan was to wait until the war was over before starting anything. But then she got impatient and wanted it right that second, not caring who gave it to her. Never thought she was that shallow. And now that the war is over, she's with another. And, even if she suddenly broke up with him I don't think I'd want to have a relationship with her now. I don't trust her with my heart anymore, what she did felt too much like a personal betrayal and just hurt too much."
Daniel listened to Jack broken-hearted. He knew Jack had been hurt by Sam's relationship when Daniel had found out about the man (and Daniel considered himself generous to even call him that) when the bozo in question had blown their op, but Jack had perfected that impassive mask so well over the decades that no-one had had a real clue just how much he was hurting. His face gave nothing away, but the people who knew Jack also knew he felt deeply and therefore knew it had hurt him. Even though Jack hadn't let it on, Daniel knew Sam must've known, and had always known, that she had hurt Jack with her betrayal more than even Sara had when she'd left him.
The magnitude of not only a broken heart, but also of a wounded pride and damaged self-esteem, was revealed by Jack's comment that he wouldn't want to be with Sam now, not after what she'd done, even if she broke up with the cop.
"Trust is everything."
And that was the crux of the matter. Trust was everything to Jack, he couldn't have a relationship with a woman if he didn't trust her, either with his heart or trust her fidelity. And Sam had betrayed Jack's trust when she'd decided she didn't want to wait anymore and found someone else to have sex with, without even warning Jack of their promise being null and void.
"Especially in a relationship." Jack then added lowly. His best friend agreed with that.
For a relationship to succeed trust is more important than love, more important than anything. If you don't have trust you don't have anything, no matter how much you two love each other. If two people in love don't trust each other then the relationship is fated to fail, with no chance of recovery.
As strange as it sounds, romantic love is not required for a long-term romantic relationship to succeed. Daniel personally knew of 6 different couples who'd gotten married while being only friends. Neither of those couples had been madly in love with each other when they'd gotten married, they'd just been close friends.
Each of them had been through their share of heartache, failures and disappointment at finding suitable mates, so since they got along well they'd agreed to have a family with each other, in order to avoid even more disappointments while trying to attain that goal with people they'd fall in love with. Or even risk ending up alone for good. It was a safe bet situation, but the thing was that both parties knew it and had agreed to it. None of the parties was in the dark about being the safe bet to their partner.
And all of these 6 couples had a successful relationship, marriage and emotionally and mentally fully healthy and adjusted children. The fact that they had trust went without saying.
Which proves that for a successful relationship love is not the necessary requirement, but trust is. If the relationship is successful and there is love, then the love is there to just sweeten the pot.
"And Kerry still has your trust, she never betrayed it." Daniel said gently.
"But she could." replied Jack pessimistically.
Once bitten twice shy.
"Think about it Jack. Do you really think she would ever break your trust?"
Daniel stared intently into Jack's eyes.
"She wouldn't." Daniel said finally with conviction.
Jack knew Daniel was right.
They sat like that for a while until Jack let out a loud sigh. "Thanks, Daniel."
The man could hear both the dismissal and the sincere gratitude in his friend's voice and rose, knowing Jack had a lot of thinking and planning to do. "Anytime, Jack, anytime. If you need anything, you know where to find me. Take care of yourself and do what is best for you in the long run."
Then he left the office, closing the door softly.
As he was once again alone in his prison of concrete and steel, Jack sighed and dropped his head onto his hands. Looked like he would accept that promotion Hammond had been pestering him with after all...
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