Sam was startled by the sudden, insistent ringing of the cell phone on the nightstand. She groaned as she reached for it. "Carter..."
"Isn't it O'Neill now?" Daniel teased, lightly.
"Daniel," she greeted with a small smile. "How are you?"
"Fine. How's married life?"
"Uh...challenging." She admitted with a sigh.
"Something wrong?" He asked, sensitively.
"We just had a bit of a fight."
"About what?"
"The fact that apparently, I've decided to get a little faith at precisely the moment he's decided to give it up."
"Ouch."
"We'll get over it. We always do." She said, trying to force the issue from her mind. "How's life in your neck of the woods?"
"Uh...fine. Little translating, a few off-world missions, you know...same old, same old..."
"Saved the world again, did you?" She teased.
"Well...A world." He laughed. "Though maybe not Planet Earth. At least, not directly."
She smiled softly. "How's the team?"
"Well, I guess maybe it's not surprising, but Cam's getting pretty restless..."
"Oh?"
"Apparently, SG-1 is only "really cool" if you're actually fighting alien bad guys."
"I'm sure something will turn up." Sam chuckled. "The galaxy is rarely safe for too long."
Daniel laughed appreciatively.
"What about Teal'c?"
"Oh, he's great. He just got word he's gonna be a grandpa."
"Really? That's fantastic!" Sam grinned.
"Yep."
"In fact, he took some leave so that he could go and celebrate with Rya'c and Cor'in."
"That's just great." Sam said, shaking her head in mild surprise. "Teal'c must be just over the moon."
"He is." Daniel assured.
"What about you and Vala? I know you said everything was fine, but..."
"We're fine. She's decided to take some online classes so that she can be a little more "useful" on the team."
"After hosting Que'tesh?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, she thinks she's a third wheel now that Adria's not a threat anymore."
"I see..."
"And I tried to tell her that she's useful as she is, but you know how she gets..."
"Almost as stubborn as a certain archaeologist I know." She teased.
"Oh, gee, thanks."
"Daniel, she's not trying to be more useful for the team." Sam said with a small sigh. "She's trying to impress you. Get you to realize that there's more to her than her...blatant...sexuality."
He sighed. "I know."
"But..." She prompted.
"I'm not sure I'm ready for that, Sam. I mean, there was Sha're, and then there was..." He paused for a moment. "Uh...Sarah..."
"You forgot Janet," Sam murmured, softly.
"You knew about that?"
"You were both very discreet, but when Cassie got sick...we could tell."
"Yeah, well, that didn't last too long. I died and ascended, and that was the end of that."
"Daniel, it's been more than five years since Sarah was freed from Osiris, and she was the last one in that line."
"And I met Vala a year later. I know." He sighed. "I'm just...I'm not ready."
"To be fair, you met her first when she was trying to steal the Prometheus."
"Exactly. She gets in your head...messes with you..."
"No, Daniel." Sam said, soberly. "She gets in YOUR head, and messes with YOU. Everyone else has a fairly lucid head around her."
He was silent.
"Just..." Sam began softly. "Don't wait too long. I mean, time may heal all wounds, but sometimes that just creates bigger barriers to overcome in the future."
"Things that bad with you and Jack?"
"I don't know. I mean, we've been married less than a year, so I guess it's normal to get into fights more often, but..."
"You want to talk to Jack right now, don't you?"
"He needs his space. He'll find me when he's ready."
There was a soft knock on the door before her husband stepped in with a warm plate of leftover chicken fettuccine alfredo in his hand.
"Daniel, I've got to go."
"He just walked in, didn't he?"
"Yeah. I'll call you later."
"Bye."
"Bye." She said, hanging up the phone.
"Figured you could use a little dinner." He said, offering her the plate.
"Thank you." She admitted as she reached for it. "I am a little hungry."
He sat beside her, folding his hands into his lap silently, as she put the plate on the other side of the bed. She reached over and took one of his hands into her own, respecting his need for the silence.
They sat like that for several moments, and Sam wondered what was on his mind. For years, she'd been able to read him like an open book, and now, they were married, and she couldn't seem to get into that thick skull of his like before.
Then again, they were dealing with more complex issues than whether or not to follow orders.
Finally, he looked down at their entwined fingers. "You're right. It's not about you believing in the unexplainable..." He finally murmured.
She looked over, silently.
He sighed. "With my position...with our jobs..."
He stopped prematurely, and Sam bent her head in an effort to catch his gaze. "What is it, Jack?" She asked, gently.
"Maybe Grace is better off where she is."
Sam pulled away almost instantly as she inhaled sharply. "Jack, I thought we talked about this..."
"This isn't about what happened to Charlie." He assured.
"Oh, it's not?" She asked, confused.
"No, it's not. I mean, if we get rid of our personal firearms and teach her what to do or not to do when and if she comes across one, that shouldn't be a problem."
"Then what IS it about?" She asked, exasperatedly.
"Her safety." He said, seriously. "About Earth's safety."
"What are you talking about, Jack?" Sam asked, more confused than ever.
"When Cassie was sick, I made a deal with Nirrti."
"I know. And I would have done the same." Sam said, seriously.
"Yes, but I set her free on an unsuspecting world."
"That wasn't your fault, Jack."
"Like hell it wasn't!" He sneered with self-loathing.
"Jack..."
"And the worst part is that I almost made ANOTHER deal with her to save YOUR life because we got trapped on that god-forsaken planet!"
"You would have done it for Teal'c or Jonas too..."
"Jonas went INTO that thing, remember? And I wasn't thinking about saving him when I went up. I wanted her to fix you and the locals. Then, she could do whatever she wanted with me."
"So, what?" She sighed. "It didn't happen that way..."
"So what?" He asked, looking over at her. "What happens when you or Grace get taken hostage, hm? What happens when they realize that I virtually control all of the military stargate operations on Earth?"
"That's not going to happen, Jack."
"You can't promise it." He pressed.
"You would never let them," she assured. "You would know that I would rather sacrifice myself than jeopardize the fate of the world by making some compromise which may or may not actually save my life..."
"And Grace?"
"It's risky, Jack. But anything worth having or doing is." She inhaled. "And...I think Grace has seen a lot for her age. Maybe that's why she's so precocious." She reached over for his hand again. "Maybe that's why she's so careful when it comes to who she chooses to trust..."
He bit the inside of his cheek.
She wrapped her other arm around his as she leaned closer to him like she had so many years ago as Thera to his Jonah. "Jack...our situation may not be idea, but who actually as that, hm? If we wait for things to be perfect, then we're never going to get to have..."
"Maybe that would be best." He said, cutting her off.
She pulled away, somewhat shocked. "What?"
"Maybe we're not meant to have kids. Maybe it would be better for everybody..."
"You don't mean that," she whispered as tears stung her eyes.
"Actually, I think I do." He said with a small sigh as he looked over at her.
"I see..." She said, closing her eyes as she tried to stop feeling the hurt and betrayal that washed over her. She managed a self-deprecating laugh. "I can't believe I was so stupid!"
"You're not stupid."
"You fed me these...lines....about how much you wanted kids." She said, angrily. "But you were just telling me what you thought I wanted to hear!"
"I do want kids, but I refuse to be responsible for another kid's death." He explained.
His rational statement made her freeze and look at him with a look of supreme hurt in her eyes. "I thought you said it wasn't about Charlie..." She whispered.
He looked away in shame, and she wiped at her eyes before she grabbed her pillow and walked out of the room.