AU: Sam's time missing onboard the Prometheus drives Jack to distraction, setting them on a course they have denied themselves for years. Set in Season 7 after 7.13 Grace, but before 7.16 Death Knell.

Prequel to Lost and Found.

Chapter Summary: The Langaran's are gone. Sam is worried that Jack has changed his mind about 'them' until she meets him unexpectedly in the elevator.

TRIGGER WARNING: Sexual Content

Chapter 7: A Good Drilling

Friday morning, 23rd January 2004

So much for our mission this week. It had been scrubbed on Tuesday when Jonas walked through the Gate with a planet sized problem and three politicians' intent on fighting despite the so-called reunification. Of course, that meant I missed spending Wednesday and Thursday evening with Jack despite us returning early Thursday morning. After the crisis had been averted, the mediation and negotiations with the Langaran's continued for another whole day necessitating the whole team to stay on base for Thursday. Not being with Jack for two nights was something that filled me with a profound loss after waking up with him every morning four days in a row. Aside from the big smile he gave me when I returned from Langara for the last time this mission, he had been unusually professional with me – more so than normal – which had me worried. Was I going to lose him? Had I already lost him? Was it the mission with the secret Goa'uld, or the diplomatic situation he was forced into? Was it Pete's message? God, I hoped not.

Sitting on the fold out ladder in the mirror storage room, I waited, my eyes on the small USB drive I had tossed through nearly an hour ago. It wasn't Tuesday, so she probably wouldn't come today since I had already left a message this week and it was gone. There had been a photo of Grace taken building a snowman. Her grin had been equal parts me… I closed my eyes, equals parts Samantha and Jack. God, how I wanted that for myself. One day. Maybe. Wringing my fingers together, and waited, just in case. Maybe I should get the USB back. Yeah, I should do that. It's not like Samantha could help me with my own inadequacies. I stood up and reached out for the mirror. The zapping sound and sucking sensation was not pleasant. Stooping to pick up the stick, I stared at it before turning around to leave.

"Sam?" Her voice broke through my hazy brain and forced me to turn around.

"Samantha?"

"Hey, what are you doing here? It's not safe."

"It's OK," I said fiddling with the memory stick, "I just wanted to get this back."

"What is on it?"

"Umm…" I tried to think of an explanation, but my lip trembled, and tears came to my eyes.

"Sam? What's wrong? Is it Jack?" She asked. I blinked and looked towards the wall shaking my head, then nodding.

"I don't know. I think… I think he has changed his mind." I breathed deep and uneven, feeling the onset of panic. God why was this happening to me. I am an Air Force Major, a Theoretical Astrophysicist. I was stronger than this.

"Oh, Sam. What makes you think that?"

"I don't know. We had the diplomatic thing with the Langaran's I told you about and I had to go to their planet to help them to stop it from exploding, there was a Goa'uld hiding in plain sight. He hasn't been the same since I got back."

"Hey, c'mon." She soothed, drawing me into a hug. "It's OK, you know he hates diplomacy." I nodded into her shoulder.

"I know, but it's like his undercover mission all over again. He's not talking, and when he does, it's short, he won't smile… and his eyes are hard." I replied with a sob.

She drew back from me. "Did you say exploding planet and Goa'uld in the same sentence?"

"Yeah. We had to drill deep into the planet's core and detonate a volatile pocket of Naquadria."

"Oh, Sam." She sighed heavily, "He's scared."

"Scared? What? Jack doesn't get scared."

"Oh, yes, he does. What you are seeing is his reaction to thinking he might lose you. When else have you seen him act like this?"

I swallowed and thought back over the years. Several times came to mind. In the brig, when Jolinar had control. Netu after my third round of torture. I had heard it in his voice in the lift going back into the silo to be with Cassandra. The forcefield, Nirriti's dungeon and the hospital in Seattle. If I thought about it longer, I could probably come up with more. Wiping my eyes, I looked at her sadly and chewed my lip. She was right. "Yeah, I guess so."

"I know so, but you should go before the entropic cascade failure hits you."

"It'll be fine. You were on my side for days before…"

"Yes, but I used the mirror once. Sam, this is your sixth visit over the years, that's twelve transfers. It adds up, and each time you use the mirror going either way accumulates in your system. You know this."

"Yeah."

"Hey. None of that." She said wiping my eyes. "He loves you. It's just he compartmentalises things. Now go." She said, hugging me one more time, before her fingers wrapped around my USB drive and slipped it into her coat pocket.

"Tuesday?" I asked.

"Yeah, but a message or video only. I'm taking Gracie ice skating at the cabin. We are flying into Duluth tomorrow and back on Monday afternoon. I'll make sure to include photos."

"Thanks." I replied with a sad smile, then turned and touched the mirror. Samantha had made me feel marginally better. I hadn't showed Jack any of the photos of Gracie. I knew he didn't know about her. I knew he would be angry if he found out now, now that she was nearly four years old. Turning and waving to Samantha, she smiled just before the mirror disconnected.

Walking back to the elevators, I thought on everything that Samantha had said. Was I just being paranoid? Was she right? He did smile at me when I came home, though he hid it quickly when General Hammond entered the Gate room. Biting my lip, I thought of all the times he seemed aloof or succinct like he had been since this cluster of a mission began. Every time seemed to coincide with something going wrong, or something not going to plan. Not that Plan A ever worked, most of the time it was Plan B or Plan C.

"Carter?"

I looked up quickly to find him standing in the elevator, that same aloof look on his face. I hadn't even heard the doors open, so consumed with my own whirring thoughts.

"Sir." I responded and walked into the car.

"What level?" He asked.

"19, thank you Sir." I responded. Instead, he hit the button for 25 and jammed his finger on the close doors button. "Sir?" I queried as the world's slowest elevator doors started to slide closed. Finally, the doors closed, and the elevator jerked downwards, until he hit the emergency stop button. Moments later, he had me pressed against the wall, his lips on my neck and his hands working on my belt.

"God, I've missed you." He murmured into my skin. Oh yes, yes. I missed this. I missed him. Samantha had been right I thought with a smile as I wrapped my arms around him.

"I missed you too, but Jack, this probably not the best place."

He drew back and smiled as he flicked open my button and zipper. Not that I had ever been into voyeurism before, but this was exciting me more than it should. This kind of thing was new ground for me. Reaching for his belt, I managed one loop for he batted my hands away. "Later."

"Jack, the maintenance crew will…ahhh!" My sentence died in my mouth when his fingers found their target and his lips found mine. "Mmmm…" I moaned into his mouth while he turned my legs to jelly. I needed to feel his skin, so I pulled his undershirt up and slid my hand up his back, the other gripping his bicep as he fondled. Pulling his lips from mine, he leant his forehead against mine and stared at me with lust blown eyes.

"C'mon Sam." He huffed, pressing his hips into my thigh.

"Ahh… Jack… kiss me… oh God!" I begged, knowing I was going to be loud after two days of nothing. He smiled and started kissing me but stopped when I kept breaking away to inhale more air as I got closer, instead guiding my head to nestle into his neck, my hands gripping onto him. The tendrils of electricity ignited causing me to bury my open-mouthed scream further into his neck to muffle the noise. Slowly I let go of him. He withdrew his hand and sucked on his fingers before helping tidy our uniforms. He smiled and pressed the emergency stop button again.

"I need a new pen, Carter." He said as the doors opened, his hands pulling his overshirt down over the bulge in his pants. Pressing my lips together to try not to laugh out loud as we stepped into the corridor on 25.

"My protractor broke, and I could do with some more highlighters, Sir." It hadn't broken, I didn't use highlighters, and whenever he needed a new pen, one of mine generally disappeared, but I knew what he was getting at. Our conversation was a production for the cameras in the corridor.

"Staples as well. I always run out of staples when I need to staple something." He continued as we walked toward the stationery room.

"Why don't you take a whole box then, Sir?"

"But I don't need a whole box of staples, Carter."

"Not all once, Sir, but it would save multiple trips here." I replied, opening the door for him as was required of a lower ranking officer. We stepped inside and continued talking of paper and pens as the door self-closed. Once it clicked in place, I flicked the lock.

At the sound of the lock snapping, I pressed her against the door and let my hands walk while she did the same. This room made me feel nervous, not because I knew what was about to happen, but because I had been here before for the same reason. Samantha. I guess it would have been about five years ago give or take. I had spent the first two years after she left dreaming of having my Sam in this room, or at the cabin, or – let's face it – I dreamed of having Sam everywhere. Some days, it consumed my entire being to the point where I had to purposefully avoid her to stop my unwelcome reaction to her presence. Now it had happened. We had finally cracked and broken down the door to our room.

I had to stifle a groan when she squeezed my shaft through my BDU's then removing both my overshirt and black t-shirt in one movement. This time was not going to be slow. It had been two days, half of that stuck under a veil of feigned disinterest and professionalism with her on this base. I had had no choice after Teal'c had spoken to me on Monday afternoon about our transparency. Packing all my feelings up into one of my internal boxes had been the only way to get through the Langaran visit, though I am pretty sure my resolve cracked a little when I delivered the ultimatum. Rucking her shirt up and over her head, I cursed the hard to remove sports bra, instead shifting to her belt while she attacked mine with equal fervour.

"I missed you! I thought you had changed your mind." She huffed while she kissed a line down my neck, her hands shoving my BDU's and boxers down over my hips until gravity finished the job for her.

"Never, Sam. It's just the Goa'uld and those people, you in that drill. You're stuck with me now."

"Good." She replied then wrapped her warm hand around me and started pumping.

"Fuck, Sam! Wait… wait! They are in my pocket." I stalled her, referring to my stash of protection. She smiled and crouched, taking me into her mouth while her hands searched. Making a small noise at the back of my throat, I swear I felt my eyes roll into the back of my head, one hand gripping the shelf beside me, the other tangling itself in her hair, "Ahuuhh… Sam. As much as I love what you are doing…" I huffed before my words disappeared into a groan of pure satisfaction when she swirled her tongue around the head of my cock. "Sam… please!"

Her mouth left me with an audible pop, then the delicate touch of her fingers stroking me as she rolled the condom on pulled another groan from my mouth. Once she finished, her tongue ran up my length one more time.

"Mmmm, strawberry." She said as she stood and dropped her own BDU's. Her scent hit me immediately. She smiled again then turned around, bending over slightly, and leaned against the door. I didn't need any further invitation. Grabbing her hips, I lined myself up and pushed into her warm, slick body.

"Damn, that feels good." I muttered through gritted teeth, stopping half way because the sensations from her warmth combined with the exhilaration from the slight voyeurism were overwhelming me. Pushing in again, she whimpered softly when I hit her cervix. "Are you OK?" I asked.

"Yeah, but I could be better." She replied, looking over her shoulder with an expression that said, 'fuck me now, and fuck me hard'. I smiled and leaned into her pushing even deeper until her fists clenched and her breathing was racing. "Yes, yes! Jack!" She moaned. Pulling out almost all the way, I moved my right hand to her shoulder for more leverage while slipping my left up under her sports bra band to massage her breast, then thrust back in fast and hard over and over having to grit my teeth to avoid making any noise. This silo was one big echo chamber. She felt glorious after two days of my hand. She whimpered and bit her lip, clenched her fists, squeaked, huffed, and sighed. I could feel myself getting closer and closer when suddenly she opened her mouth over the back my hand on her shoulder and bit down while she shook through her second orgasm.

"Jesus! Sam!" I muttered and pumped harder until the zap ping lanced through my body forcing me to bury myself deep when my own explosion hit. "Agtnn… huhh." I groaned as my release flowed. Leaning my forehead between her shoulder blades to get my breath back, I could not help but laugh at what we had done on the base. So much for keeping this thing away from work.