Chapter 8

The past few weeks fly be, filled with wedding arrangements. Hammond stopped voicing his discouragement as munch. One thing that Sam thought was peculiar was O'Neill had cut back from joking with her as much. She still went to team nights, and the team dynamic was okay, but anyone who had been around them knew something was slightly off.

Sam decided to find out the reason of the sudden distance that echoed off her commanding officer. Finding him in the locker room. She takes a hesitating sigh.

"Uh. Colonel? Are you busy?" Her voice wavers with uncertainty.

"Oh, sorry Carter. I was just about to leave." He thought she had needed to use the locker room. Why else would she ask if he were busy.

"Actually I was wanting, no needing, to talk to you. It's kind of important." After she managed to start the conversation, the Colonel's face brightened, looking hopeful which threw Carter off guard. Slightly, she still had a mission to accomplish.

"No problem, maybe we should talk off base? The Colonel's voice was unsure, mimicking Carter's earlier. Carter saw that he was getting the wrong idea of what she wanted to talk about.

"Here is fine. It's nothing life altering or anything, just about the team."

"Oh. Alright, well what's going on?" He was slipping fully into his military façade now.

"nothing is wrong, really. I just noticed that ever since Jonas and I got back together, the team dynamic seems off; especially between the two of us. I just can't understand why." Carter explains, ending with a sigh of relief.

"We haven't changed Carter. You have actually. At team nights you aren't as, animated, as you used to be. I don't know if it's because of Hanson tagging along, but Sam, the man is not even a part of our team. The only time you aren't strung up is offworld! The time when you should be tensed the most!" the Colonel was standing now. Carter noticed how he used her first name rather than her surname.

"I don't see what the big deal is sir, Hanson is black ops. I'd of thought you two would get along well together." The Colonel held an angry glint that would have been indiscernible to the average person.

"That's just it Carter! Nothing good comes out of any kind of relationship with a black ops guy. I just don't like him. You say the team is off? Hanson is definitely off! I can tell. If there wasn't anything wrong, why did you even bother to hide the fact that you two are married and were estranged?"

Carter had managed to escape the explanations with her team thus far. So this question came as a shock. "It's. It's complicated sir. Everyone deserves a second chance anyway. And besides, you've turned out as a strong capable man from black ops."

Now Carter held an embarrassed obsession with the texture of the floor. Absentmindedly complimenting on the Colonel's characteristics as a man, instead of the more acceptable way, complimenting his military prowess. It was obvious, he was trying to figure out how to respond, the situation grew more awkward by the moment.

"Not everyone deserves another chance! I'm just as messed up as the next ex-black ops Carter. He must have done something pretty damn bad to make you want to forget about it so strongly! And I'm sorry, but if he was foolish enough to let you go the first time, then he doesn't deserve you." Jack had subconsciously stepped closer to Carter.

Tensing noticeably, Carter took a step backwards. No words filled the room, that only seconds before were full of words meant for another time and place. Before Carter got a chance to recover enough to reply, the klaxons sounded, announcing an unscheduled gate activation.

"I uh, I guess we should go chick it out." Carter quickly turned around, and exited the awkward situation. Standing in the control room. Everyone was witness to the return of Hanson's team, sans on member.

"Infirmary to the gate room!"Hammond called over the system. Stepping into the embarkation room with Hammond, Carter came to Hanson's side. Noticing he was limping, Carter attempted to help him to the infirmary, holding one of his arms around her neck and supporting his weight.

"We will debrief after you all are cleared from the infirmary." Murmurs of 'yes sir' rang through the now decreased team.

Helping Hanson onto the last bed, Carter asked, "what happened back there? The planed was supposed to be uninhabited."

"Obviously you were wrong. We got ambushed. Allen fell down and we barely had time to get through the gate." Hanson was clearly upset, but aside from some cuts, many bruises and exhaustian, physically well. Sitting up he was unsteady.

"Here Jonas, lay down." Carter suggested, concerned for Hanson's well being.

"I got it Carter. I really don't need you babying me, especially at work." Hanson spat with venom in his voice.

"Alright, sorry. So I don't understand. You just left Allen behind? Are you sure he was even dead yet?" Carter asked, unable to believe that Hanson left one of his team members behind.

"Are you blaming me? Criticizing me?"

"No. I just am trying to understand what happened." Sam answered, editing her truth thoughts on the matter. She was about to say something further, seeing he didn't want support or her concern, she tried another approach.

"Captain Hanson, what really happened?" She asked in a deep command voice.

Hanson's head whipped into her direction. His eyes narrowed, and that hand farthest from Carter clinched the bed sheets in blatant anger. "What?! Are you trying to pull rank on me?" His voice quivered with disbelief.

"No. I'm not trying, I am. So tell me what I just ordered you to tell me." Carter said. She couldn't seem to win at all with Hanson, he didn't want a worried wife, yet he didn't want the military side either.

"Fine. Allen fell. We were already a good ways away from him by the time anyone took notice. Lt. Gerald suggested we go back for him. That was an idiotic idea, Allen was a lost cause, I figured I'd just save everyone who still had a chance, so I got my team through the gate. Case closed. No big deal." Hanson said. Whether he was hiding his true feelings, or he actually didn't care about losing a team member was uncertain.

Carter had to believe that Hanson was just trying to cope with it in the best way he knew how.

((AN: I had more planned for this chapter, but really, it could be broken down into 3 extra chapters. So you saw a touch of Hanson's bad-ness. What's gonna happen? And don't worry, you'll see what happened with Sam's missing 2 years soon. I tried to put an intense Sam/Jack convo in this chapter, which is why the outcome was so much different than my outline. But…REVIEW!))