Chapter 4-A Time To Tear Down

Jack arrived back in DC with a whole new attitude. He had made the first tentative gesture to Daniel and it felt good. Their friendship was still early days in healing the rift that time and distance had created, but the bad feelings were gone. Without those feelings, Jack was sure it would only be a matter of time before they were bantering back and forth over little or nothing.

In fact, his first day back in his office, Daniel had send him an email complaining about the weather. Apparently, an early snow storm had taken the area by surprise and caused early morning traffic problems. Which led Daniel making a late start, which led to him missing his usual coffee run, which led to him being 'forced' to drink the coffee in the chow hall, which… well, let's just say that you had best not sneak up on a cranky Daniel with SGC coffee in hand.

Jack had been touched that his friend had thought to send the email. It was the highlight of his whole day. Since then, Daniel had made a point of emailing at least once a day and calling as often as he could without appearing 'needy'. Not that Jack cared. He was just glad to have his friend back.

With his success with Daniel fresh in his mind, Jack set about planning his next move. He wanted to regain his friendship with Teal'c, but the Jaffa was based off-world. A phone call was impossible. A letter or an email seemed too impersonal for that first tentative contact. A visit would be best, but the President had already nixed him leaving the planet. Jack wasn't sure how well would take to being 'summoned' to Earth, just to talk to Jack, especially about something personal. So, Jack reluctantly put his reunion with Teal'c aside for a later time. A better time. He was sure that he would eventually need to talk to the Free Jaffa Nation, officially, of course. He would pull Teal'c aside at that time to try and heal the rift in their friendship.

Which left Sam…

Jack wasn't sure how to approach Sam. Unlike the other two, he hadn't lost contact with Sam. She emailed regularly. But, she refused to talk about anything except her pregnancy. He had spent the last several months trying to re-connect with her, trying to find common ground outside of the child they shared. He had tried to be subtle and not push her too hard. But he wanted more from her than just friendship. He loved her. He had loved her for a long time. He didn't want to let the possibility of 'them' go.

It took Jack a week of hard thinking before he came up with a new approach. A new way to attack the same problem. Maybe he didn't have to give up the possibility of a relationship. Maybe the way to reconnect to Sam was to start over from the beginning. He had been avoiding talking about anything professional, because he didn't want to remind her of their ranks and positions. But she had been is subordinate long before she had been his friend… and while she could ignore questions from Jack, she wouldn't ignore questions from General O'Neill.

With a heavy heart and great reluctance, Jack scheduled a site visit at the Groom Lake facilities. The visit was long overdue. He had been putting it off since he had accepted his new position. But, if it would get him a face to face meeting with one stubborn LtCol Samantha Carter, then he would do it.

His plan was simple. Visit and be professional and pleasant. Give her the opportunity to talk about more, but don't pressure her. Be available. Be involved. Be interested.

…Now, if he could just be sure it would work.

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Two weeks later, Jack was trying to smile pleasantly as Colonel Thomason escorted him through the facility. Not for the first time, he wondered how many general officers were navigationally challenged. Everywhere he went, the hosting commanders felt the need to personally escort him to his destination. From the plane, to the car, through the facility…Jack almost asked if he needed an escort to go to the bathroom, but refrained when he decided that he just might get a 'yes' answer.

"And here are the simulation labs," the colonel droned on. Jack tuned him out as he waxed philosophical about yet another lab where his science geeks tried to solve all the problems of the universe. Jack continued to nod and appear… general-ish. He didn't think that Colonel Thomason was buying it.

But this time, the horrible boring narration was interrupted by an incessant beeping coming from one corner. Jack turned to find the source, and froze in place.

Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter was sitting at the corner console completely absorbed in whatever computer simulations she had been running. She finally noticed the beeping watch and turned it off before slowly standing up and stretching. She absently rubbed her belly just before she shut down her console and collected her notes. It was only as she turned to leave that she noticed the group in the doorway.

Jack watched as emotions raced across her face; Surprise, fear, happiness, anger, frustration, and confusion. He gave her a small smile and felt his heart lurch as her face settled on resignation.

"Colonel Carter," Colonel Thomason greeted, with a smile. "I see you're taking the doctor's restrictions seriously."

Sam looked away from Jack over at her commanding officer. "Yes, Sir." She turned back to Jack, and greeted him in a neutral tone, "General."

Jack resisted the urge to frown, "Carter, you're looking good."

"Thank you," she replied with a forced smile.

"So," Jack continued, "What are you working on?"

She turned a skeptical look on him and raised one eyebrow. "Sir?"

Jack winced. She was eight months pregnant with his child and she still called him 'Sir.' Professional, Jack. Keep it professional… "You know," he gestured absently at the computer that she just left.

"Yeah… Just some simulations, Sir. Nothing too important. So, I won't bore you," she replied in an amused tone before turning back to Colonel Thomason. "Sir, if you need me I'll be at home."

Colonel Thomason smiled affectionately at her, "No problem, Sam. Get some rest."

"General," she said one last time before passing the group and exiting the room. Jack watched her disappear down the hallway.

"… General?" the colonel said, interrupting his thoughts. "Are you ready to continue the tour?"

Jack sighed. He really didn't want to finish the tour. "Sure. Ready when you are," he said with fake cheer.

The colonel turned and led the way down the hallway, presumable to the next 'fascinating' lab. Jack was more than ready to rip his hair out. "So, how's Carter working out?" he asked, almost against his will.

"Sam?" Thomason asked.

Jack winced inside. Yeah, he gets to use her name. I wonder if she calls him Joe? No, best not think about that.

"She is brilliant," the colonel started unnecessarily. "She gets more done on limited duty hours, than most of the rest of the staff does on a full shift."

"No kidding," Jack said without enthusiasm. Of course Carter was doing more. She was Carter. She couldn't NOT do more. "But is she fitting in okay?"

"Fitting in?" Thomason asked, confused. "I guess. I mean, I think so. She spends most of her time away from the base." The colonel paused and turned back to Jack, "I assume she has been spending most of her off time with her boyfriend. But we don't really talk about it."

Jack's mind froze as his heart was caught in a vice. Boyfriend. The word seemed too innocent to cause that kind of pain. Breathe… remember to breathe… Jack took in a ragged breath. "Oh," he replied keeping his eyes on the floor as they walked to the next point on their tour. "That's good."

Colonel Thomason continued the tour, but beyond the occasional polite noises, Jack's mind was elsewhere. Was that why she refused to talk to him about anything personal? Why she didn't want to keep the baby? She did look good. Healthy good. Pregnancy looked good on her… And she had been glowing, as cliché as that was. He should be happy for her. He wanted to be happy for her, but it hurt too much.

In one small corner of his mind, he began to accept that she had truly moved on. She had made a new life without him in it and, as much as that hurt, he WAS happy for her. But he could still be professional and he could still be her friend. She was too important to him for him to just let her go completely. They had a child now and he was determined that their kid would know his or her mother.

By the end of the tour, he had accepted her position and was ready to face his new reality. Jack praised Thomason for his good work and requested time with each of the departments so that he could go over their current projects in detail.

Sam's team was scheduled for first thing in the morning and Jack had spent half the night trying to figure out the right approach. The meeting started just like he suspected it would. Sam was nervously overcompensating with 'generals' and 'sirs'. Jack would have been more bothered if he didn't know that it was her way of issuing a pre-emptive strike. Instead, he smiled and even surprised himself by keeping the banter light and interested. He even asked a few serious questions that didn't sound too clueless. By the end of the meeting, she had relaxed enough to launch into her usual technobabble. As she herded her team out of the meeting room, Jack called her aside.

"Sam," he started. He had reasoned the evening before that there was no reason he couldn't use her given name. If her new CO could use it, then surely her friend, Jack, could… "I meant what I said yesterday… you do look good."

Sam frowned but accepted the compliment, "Thank you, Sir."

"Groom Lake seems to agree with you," he added as the tension returned to her face. "You're team seems to be doing well."

"They aren't SG-1, but they pull their own weight," she replied in confusion as she examined his face closely.

"Good," Jack replied trying to seem calmer than he felt. "So… I just wanted to… you know… say 'hi' and… and let you know what a good job you're doing… not that you don't usually… do a good job, I mean… but…" he rambled on feeling more and more foolish.

"I know," she replied.

Jack risked a glance up to see her smiling at him. He returned her smile, "Good." They lapsed into a comfortable quiet. "Well, I'd… ah, better let you get back to it."

She nodded in agreement and turned to leave with only a quiet, "Thank you, Sir."

Jack felt his heart ache dully as he noticed that she didn't look back once. He sighed and braced himself for the next meeting.

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TBC