The sun (or the Trelean equivalent) rose higher in the sky and the morning air started to warm. He knew that any moment Sam would have to come out of her tent and get ready for their trek to that Guardian place.

She was later than usual this morning – not surprisingly considering the night before. He hoped she hadn't spent too miserable a night. He also hoped that what he had to say to her would make her feel oh so much better!

He wasn't overconfident or cocky. He realized there was a chance that he'd blown his chance and she wouldn't forgive him. Knowing Sam as well as he did however, he didn't think that likely. Oh, she would probably make him suffer, in fact the whole team was probably going to make him suffer. Buy hey, he deserved it and it was a small price to pay for the happiness he knew was waiting.

So, when her tent flap finally zipped open, his heart began to beat a bit faster, As first one foot and then an arm appeared his breath began to quicken. As the rest of Colonel Samantha Carter exited from the tent he thought his nerves were going to leap out of his body and go running off in shear terror.

Oh course he sat there and showed none of this. Tough Jack O'Neill would never show terror. He laughed in the face of danger! Okay, so maybe he did feel ready to toss his cookies – to the world he appeared to calmly drink his (now very cold) coffee and slowly glanced up at her.

"Mornin' Sam. Want some coffee?" Although she looked a little tired, she didn't seem too upset. This was good, he thought?

"Yes", she replied serenely. "Thank you." (Interesting, no "Sir" at that end of that?) She then took the cup he handed her and calmly sat across from him. Slowly sipping the coffee she continued to look at him with a very strange expression on her face, an expression he couldn't quite read. Uh oh!

"Ah Carter", he started.

"No, Carter isn't here right now – it's Sam. And don't say anything Jack, not yet. Let me enjoy my coffee – then you can listen to what I'm going to say. After that you can have your turn. I'm giving you fair notice, however, if you so much as mention getting old or how feeble you are or how there's nothing left for you in life and it's time we put you out to pasture I'm going to come over their and kick your ass!

At that moment the sniveling cowards that were Teal'c and Daniel both jumped up – and with inane and muttered excuses fled the scene. See if he was ever going to save their butts again!

"Ah okay, no problem. I'll just sit here quietly and not say a word. Wouldn't want to bother you first thing in the morning."

After about two seconds he couldn't take the loud silence.

"So, you sleep okay C.. Sam." Stupid, stupid question – of course she didn't sleep well. He had ripped her heart out.

"I slept well Jack. And you."

"Well, no actually. Hard ground you know – the old back ain't what it used to be."

"And the fact you didn't return until about 45 minutes ago probably didn't help either."

Crap – busted. What was going on here? Sam was in a very strange mood. This wasn't a woman who appeared heart broken or devastated. Maybe he should just come right out with it and tell her that he loved her and wanted to start a life with her. Maybe …. yeah okay …. now was the time ….. get going O'Neill ….. open your mouth, breath …..

"Sam, …."

"Shut up Jack and let me finish my coffee."

He shut up.

Finally Sam put her cup down (that must have been the most savored cup of coffee in the world – it sure took long enough for her to drink it, he grumped to himself!).

"Alright Jack, here's how it goes. I love you, you love me (instantly the Barney song started playing in his head ,… no, no, no Jack, now's not the time to let your mind wander).

Sam continued. "We are meant to be together. I don't care, I really, really, really don't care how old you are. In fact, I strongly believe that I am, in fact, much older that you – at least if your actions of the past few days are anything to go by" (ouch, that hurt, he thought). "There's physical age and then there's emotional age … I don't think I need to say more on that! I'm sick to death of you feeling sorry for yourself. We have something great here Jack and we are going to try and make something of that. You can scream and holler, you can run away, you can invoke all the gods, you can call on the mighty powers of Homer Simpson but you will not get away. You are mine Jack O'Neill and you might as well get that through that thick but cute head of yours."

With that, she stood up.

"I'm now going to get ready for our trip to the Place of the Guardians. When I come back out of my tent I will be Colonel Carter and will remain so for the rest of this trip. However, the moment we are back on Earth and have debriefed, Sam is coming back. You have been warned, General Jonathon O'Neill!"

Turning her back on him she then walked (stomped!) to her tent, bent over and entered through the flap.

Oh my god, he thought. I've just witnessed the most glorious example of strong, invincible womanhood I've ever seen. She was magnificent, amazing, delightful … and sexy as hell. Well, he'd better go over to the tent and tell her, tell her she didn't need to do all that, that he was already hers, she had already won.

But …, okay it was mean, it was small, it was childish … he didn't think he was going to tell her right now. Evil, evil Jack! How can you not put her out of her misery? But let's face it he thought – how many men have the opportunity to have a warrior goddess decide they wanted you and let you know that they were going to capture you and keep you. God, how lucky can a man get. And hey, if he wanted to draw it out a little, let her have her way and think she was going to vanquish him, well why not. He was only human!

He thought back to the time she had gotten that virus and grabbed him and kissed him in the locker room. Janet said she had gone after him because he was the 'Alpha Male' (how ego stroking was that!). Well, this time he was going to let Sam/Alpha Woman chase Jack/Alpha Man and catch him – but not right away. He would wait and enjoy the chase and then reallyenjoy the capture.

Holy Hannah! Life was good. Life, in fact was great! With an evil, wicked, sinful grin Jack rose and went to his tent. As he entered his last thought was, "she said my head was cute!"

Thanks to LadyMo for the comments about Jack's maturity level! I'm in total agreement and, as you saw, I incorporated that into this chapter!