Unlocking the door, Jack entered their home office and simply stared at Sam who did not even seem to notice his presence. She had been back from Hebridan for two days and, under the excuse that she had paperwork to catch up on, had been locked in their office ever since. It came to something when Jack had initially been grateful that she had chosen the home office rather than her lab on base. Unfortunately, he was pretty tired of her excuses now. All that Sam did was work and Jack was not prepared to sit back and watch her work herself into the ground. Fully appreciating the fact that she had always thrown herself into her work, to the extent that holidays and leave had been non-existent, Jack was not willing to allow her to use their family time to work. This was not the Sam Carter that he had got to know over the months of living with her.
She was avoiding something and Jack had had enough of it.
After spending a few days taking part in an alien race, under the disguise of learning the technology, Sam had returned to a few days of down-time and had only left her office for meals, during which she barely acknowledged Daniella. Jack had been willing to let it all pass, believing that things would work themselves out, but then he had learnt from Daniel the truth about the race, the Loop of Kon Garat.
Initially Jack had been fine with her volunteering for the mission, despite the fact that Daniel and Carpenter were perhaps not the best two for the diplomatic part of the mission, because Sam was all about the technology and she did have a thing for fixing things and travelling fast. Her beloved motorbike had sadly remained in the garage ever since they had moved in together. Jack also had to admit that he was pleased to get out of the diplomatic part of the mission, but seeing as his job role was moving down a different path it would have been a perfect mission for him. Sam had wanted to see the technology in action and Jack had enjoyed seeing her enthusiasm.
That was until, after the mission, Daniel had relayed to Jack exactly what the race had involved. Space based drones that fired on all ships until they were destroyed or the contestant became disabled was one thing, but flying into a star and then through an asteroid field brought an entirely different level of danger to the race. Jack could not believe that Sam had risked everything for the word of Warrick Finn that he would not put her life in danger.
What was making Jack even angrier was the fact that he had been standing in the office for over five minutes and still Sam had not looked up. He coughed to clear his throat and was rewarded by a smile, albeit a confused one, from her.
"Jack, how long… how long have you been there?" She sounded guilty and Jack considered that to be a saving grace for her.
"How long have you been in here?" He asked, closing the door behind him to prevent Daniella wandering in. She was napping, however, the child had an amazing ability to get into the most peculiar of situations that Jack considered impossible.
Glancing at her watch, Sam started doing the calculations in her head. It took her longer than it should have and Jack's body position shifted as he shifted the anger within him. "Umm, it's been a few hours since lunch. So, three hours."
"Sam, are you alright?" He took a few steps closer to her and she began shuffling at the paperwork in front of her. She looked dazed and half asleep. She had not looked asleep when he had been watching her, but Sam had not moved in that time either. "Have you been sleeping in here?"
Blinking repeatedly and then rubbing at her eyes, Sam laughed. "Do I sleep with my eyes open?" Looking directly up at him, the usual brightness back in her eyes, she smiled naturally at him. "What's the matter?"
"How about you've been locked in here for two days straight, only eating because I drag you out of here?" Some of his anger had been replaced with concern, but there was still enough anger. "Can you remember what your daughter looks like?"
"Don't be so silly, Jack." Sam tried to laugh, but Jack did not believe it. She reached for another file and Jack slammed his hand down on it. "Jack."
"Don't. Don't even think about opening another file. Your work for the day is over."
"You can't tell me what to do, Jack. If I want to work, I will work. Get your hand off of my desk." His hand did not budge. "I'm warning you, Jack." She stood up and their eyes locked in confrontation.
"You need to spend time with your family, your daughter."
"No, I need to finish my reports."
"Negative, Major." The words slipped out of his mouth before he could stop them and both of them realised at the exact same moment what he had said and what line he had crossed.
"You're not my commanding officer anymore. And even if you were, you're certainly not at home. How dare you give me a command!" She stormed past her desk and him, attempting to flee the room. His body moved at a faster speed and he grabbed her by the arm, swinging her back around to face him.
"You are not leaving here."
"I thought that's what you wanted."
"Not like this."
"Get the hell off of me then!"
Both of them were on the verge of shouting and Jack knew that although the room was slightly sound-proofed, it was not enough and their arguing would awaken Daniella. Releasing her arms, he held his hands up in defeat. "We need to talk."
"About what?" she demanded as if he were still annoying her.
"You." She made a move to leave again so he said, "Ack!" Turning she stared at him defiantly.
"There is nothing to talk about."
"What's wrong with you, Sam?"
"Nothing. I have work that needs doing. Don't you? Or did you give it all up to be a stay-at-home daddy? How much longer before you stop even turning up to work?"
"Where's this coming from?"
"You get to constantly have a go at me, telling me there's something wrong with me, I can't return the favour?"
"I'm not risking my god-damn life!" he yelled and she physically backed down slightly. "Daniel told me about the damn loop. You could have died. How dare you?"
"It's the risk we take every day when we go to work. Get over it."
"No, we risk our lives to save the world, not win a race."
"Did I die?" She paused to allow him to answer. "No, I didn't. So, get over it." This time as she stormed from the room, he let her.