Disclaimer: Not my characters. :(

Thanks for all who have left reviews. I appreciate each and every one. I try to respond, but if I skipped you, know that it's simply an over sight on my part. For all the "guest" who have left reviews, I wish I could respond to you. One guest wanted to know why Sam wanted to meet Jack in the lab, so I tossed in an explanation just for you. ;)

This has not been beta'd, so all mistakes are mine and mine alone.

Sam's Lab-SGC

Jack was already waiting for her when she got to the lab. She could hear the machine she'd rigged to mess with the security cameras running. He must have turned it on when he got there. She looked at the machine to avoid looking in his eyes. Guilt washed over her, though she had nothing to feel guilty for as far as he was concerned. She should feel guilty for Pete, but oddly, she didn't"How'd you get in here, Sir?" She asked tossing her bag on the table.

"I have the key." Jack pointed to his collar, where his star would be on his uniform. It was less successful with a plaid shirt and she struggled not to laugh. "General," he said. "Comes with perks. Like being able to get into every room on base. There is one closet though that I can't seem to get a key. I think Syler and Walter have some sort of man cave in there."

Sam knew he was waiting for some sort of laugh or comment, but she didn't say anything. He was probably right though. She's secretly thought the SGC would fall apart if it weren't for Syler and Walter.

"So," he drawled out, noticing her stillness. "I'm assuming you have a good reason for dragging me to the SCG at midnight, other than to look at my pretty face. Wanna tell me?"

She'd picked the lab, because it was neutral territory, and would hopefully keep her from getting too emotional. She also knew that her lab was entirely secure, given the gadget she had rigged to scramble the security cameras as well as any listening devices that might have been placed by anyone wanting to find out what was going on at the SGC. She had the room swept on a weekly basis, and had not found any since their last big run in with the NID, but she decided she could never be too careful. She'd figured out the where and the security, but how to start this conversation was something she's tried to figure out the entire ride over here, and had come up with nothing.

When the silence continued, he tapped his watch. "Tic-tock, Carter. Not getting any younger over here."

She nodded. "I-uh-see-the," she stumbled over her worlds.

Jack walked toward her slowly, stopping when he was only a foot or so away. He was too close for her comfort, but Sam couldn't make herself move away. The smell of him made her sway slightly, but she caught herself, and hoped he hadn't noticed.

Jack saw her sway and grinned ever so slightly. Part of him wished she'd swayed enough that he could wrap his arms around her to keep her steady. Another part of him was glad she hadn't, because he wasn't sure he would be able to let her go. He struggled every day, and had almost convinced himself he couldn't really feel anything anymore. He'd done it after Charlie had died, and thought he could do it again, but seeing her almost daily made it harder than he'd thought. He'd started dating Kerry as a way to forget Carter, but even when he was with Kerry, he was thinking of Sam. He knew it wasn't fair to Kerry, but couldn't stop himself. Abruptly cutting off that train of thought, he tucked a finger under her chin and pulled her face up to look at him. "Well?"

Sam blushed, remembering an hour or so earlier when John had done this exact same thing, shortly before he kissed her. And you kissed him back, she reminded herself. Deep down, she hoped Jack would kiss her too, but she knew that wasn't going to happen. He was with Kerry and she was with Pete. They'd move on with their lives and the years they'd spent dancing around each other would eventually fade into the past. She felt her eyes start to tear up again, but blinked them away. "I had a visitor tonight."

When she took a step back, Jack moved with her, keeping close to her. He knew he shouldn't, but it was almost involuntary. His body simply responded to her every movement. "You said. You gonna give me a name?"

She looked down, guilt flushing her cheeks. "John. John O'Neill," she said. "Your clone."

Jack blew out a harsh breath and turned away from her. He scrubbed a hand through his short spikey hair as he paced a few steps. "I didn't know you two were in touch." His voice was tinged with anger, but Sam wasn't sure why.

"We're not," she rushed to explain. At his head tilt, she clarified. "That is, we weren't. Not until tonight. I haven't seen him since, well, the last time he was here."

He turned back to face her, but didn't move any closer. "What did he want?"

Sam gave him a very brief overview, leaving out the kissing and finished with, "He's lonely, Sir."

Jack snorted. "So, let him go out and make some friends. He's young, he's got plenty of time, why is he bugging mine?"

"Sir," Sam said calmly, "to him, we were his friends too. At one time he thought he was you. He is you, in a way. Your memories are his. He told me he's tried, but I can understand why it would be difficult. Imagine if you woke up tomorrow and had to give up everything you knew and everyone you cared about, not because you wanted to, but because you had to, because it wasn't really your life."

Staring at her, Jack suddenly realized that's exactly what he was being forced to do with her. He was giving her up, and it ate at him every day. He felt an unexpected touch of sympathy for his young clone. "Seems I've become quite chatty in my youth," he said sarcastically. Her eye roll irritated him. "What do you want me to do about it, Carter? I can't exactly welcome him here with open arms can I?"

"Sir, why do you have such anger against John?" Sam knew Jack was uncomfortable about having a younger version of him running around, but she didn't understand why he was so angry about it. It wasn't exactly John's choice. "What has he done to you?"

Jack didn't want to answer. She was right, John hadn't done anything, other than be born, or created, or however the hell it was he came into being, but Jack couldn't help but be angry at the younger man who could do his whole life over. He could have the things Jack couldn't, and that made him angry. He batted her question away with a wave of his hand. "You haven't answered my questions. 'He's lonely' doesn't tell me what he wants, and I still don't know what you expect me to do about it. Let's start over shall we? Use simple terms. It's late and I'm a bit slow on the uptake on a good day. What does he want?"

Swallowing, Sam forced herself to look him in the eyes. "Me, Sir. He said he wants me."

Jack's heart pounded loudly in his hears. He thought it might even have skipped a few beats. "You?" He repeated, practically choking.

"Well, yeah. Like I said, he's lonely. He needs someone who knows him. He, um, he wanted me to go away with him." She couldn't look at his eyes any longer, and dropped them to the table, taking in the random detritus scattered around.

Jack wanted to throttle the little bastard. How dare that punk try to take Carter away? She was his. No he corrected himself she wasn't his. It was bad enough he had lost her to that Shanahan character, but he'd be damned if he let some younger version of himself have her. "Lonely, huh? So, why you? Why didn't he go buddy up to Daniel? Why didn't he try to chum up with Teal'c?" He stepped closer and she could feel the annoyance radiating from him. "What did you say, Carter? You going to run off and be his best friend, now?"

Sam was starting to feel her own anger rise. "And if I did?"

"You're not seriously considering this, are you?" Jack's voice was incredulous. If she'd had Teal'c punch him in the gut, it would have hurt less.

She exhaled sharply. "One of you is more than enough for me to deal with."

Jack deflated. "Touché, Colonel."

They stared at each other in tense silence. Jack wondered if Sam had been tempted even for a moment by his younger self. Tempted to be more than friends. "Okay, so, what are your plans? Don't tell me you don't have one, because if you didn't you wouldn't have called me."

Sam looked up at him. He was so handsome it made her ache. "You're not going to like it."

"I'm sure I'm not."

TBC

Reviews appreciated