Sam's POV
She walked into the briefing room, a different person than she'd been twelve years before. She'd given up the dream of being a Broadway singer, giving into her father's protests. Instead, she had gone down the other path she had considered: NASA. But, just like so many things in her life, her path had been altered, and she had ended up in the Air Force. Now, she was walking into a briefing that could very well change her future.
Jack's POV
"I'm assigning Sam Carter to accompany you on your mission." General Hammond said.
"I'd prefer to put together my own team, sir." He said, somewhat agitatedly.
"Not on this mission, sorry. Carter's our expert on the Stargate."
"Where's he transferring from?" Jack asked, leaning over the table to scribble down a note.
"She is transferring from the Pentagon." Came a female voice, that startled him out of his thoughts. As she walked into the briefing room, Jack felt his heart constrict. It was Samantha. He thought she would never see her again- especially not now, and certainly not here. She was supposed to be in New York pursuing a hot Broadway career. Why was she in the Air Force? Under his command?
"I take it you're Colonel O'Neill." She snapped a sharp salute. "Captain Samantha Carter reporting, sir."
He swallowed. He hadn't seen her for twelve years, and he had changed radically in those last few years. With his black ops experiences, his marriage, and...Charlie, he wasn't sure that she would recognize him at all.
He turned his piercing gaze upon her, searching her soul the way he had done so many years ago. She squirmed under the pressure, and he stopped. She didn't recognize him. He had been the one who had left her only a week after the last performance of U.C. Berkley's "The Phantom of the Opera." In a way it was better for him if she didn't recognize him, he thought. He wasn't ready for anyone new, let alone anyone old. From now on, she would just be Carter, his second-in-command. That was, if they survived the mission and the program was opened for good. Which, of course, would probably never happen.
"Oh, please, General- another scientist?" He said in response to her scientific explanation of the Gate's processes.
