General Hammond glanced up at the sharp knock on his open door, unsurprised and a little chagrined to find a pair of big, hurt blue eyes just outside his office. "I've been meaning to find you."

"I think I beat you to the punch, sir," Captain Carter answered shakily.

"I take it you found out about Captain Hanson." He really had meant to tell her, to warn her... but he just hadn't been able to find the right words. And he hadn't wanted to see the hurt in her eyes when she'd heard what he had to say. As it turned out, this way was no better. "Close the door." As she did so, he added, "He'll be leading SG-9."

She whirled against the newly closed door. "Leading? He's only a captain!" He raised an eyebrow, and she added gingerly, "Sir."

The gut reaction came from hurt and surprise, he knew, and he let it go. "You and I both know he has more experience than his rank would dictate."

"That is exactly my point, sir! They knocked him back a rank for a reason," she insisted. "A good one."

"I was referring to his years as an enlisted man, actually." With a sigh, he leaned his elbows on the desk. "Captain, I understand your reluctance. But his record has been spotless since. He's passed a whole battery of psychological evaluations; he completed all the mandated classes. According to the Air Force, he's perfectly competent."

He watched her for a moment, how the confident woman it had taken her years to grow into had regressed in a matter of minutes. She slumped, eyes downcast as she faced what she knew was a losing battle, and he felt terrible. "I can order him to limit contact with you, if you want me to."

She shook her head without looking up. "That won't be necessary, sir. I won't take up any more of your time."

He stopped her halfway to the door. "Captain. Just because the Air Force has forgotten the past doesn't mean I have. Nothing's going to happen here; I promise."

"Thank you, sir."

"But you understand that all such personnel matters are confidential. Even if you happen to have first-hand knowledge."

He knew what he was asking of her – that she add just one more thing to the arsenal that separated her from her teammates. That she face this problem on her own. And when she met his eyes, he saw that she knew it, too.

"Yes, sir."

~/~ ~/~

The head of brown hair visible through the doorway brought Carter to a dead halt. How had Jonas found her lab so quickly? Even she still got lost in the mountain sometimes, and she'd been there for weeks. Then again, if she knew anything about Jonas, it was how he always got his way.

The toy bouncing easily from his hand didn't make her feel any better. It was only further proof that he had, in fact, totally lost his marbles.

She didn't really want to have this conversation on base, but she sure as hell didn't want to have it at home. Or anywhere, really, without a few hundred people on hand. Casting the guards over her shoulder a quick glance – if she left the door open, they could be there in seconds – she started into her lab.

And got as far as the door frame before she changed her mind.

Yeah. This was a bad idea.

They didn't actually need to talk, after all. There was no point, really, in telling him to leave her alone; if she avoided him pointedly for long enough, he'd surely get the hint. Knowing Jonas, that could take months, but it was a big base. Running didn't make her chicken... It was just about taking the higher road, that was all.

Unfortunately, he sensed her presence and turned around before she had the chance to escape.

Very fortunately, paranoia had led her to jump to conclusions, and the tall, muscled man wasn't Jonas at all. "Captain," Colonel O'Neill greeted simply, the yo-yo snapping efficiently into his palm and staying there.

Surely she didn't look as much like a deer in the headlights as she felt. Surely. "Sir." Trying to look casual, she crossed to the lab table and picked up the dry-erase marker she'd left there earlier, pretending to glance once again at the calculations that seemed to be from a lifetime ago rather than that morning. "What can I help you with?"

"So you and Hanson have a past, huh?"

Well, he sure didn't beat around the bush. Shocked blue eyes flew up to his. "He told you that?"

"No."

That didn't make her feel any better. Her heart thudded painfully against her chest at the idea that this man – the man she so wanted to respect her – knew about her past. He had to have seen the file, and the thought of that was mortifying.

"I read people, Captain. And he was the only guy in the room who didn't look surprised by your... let's call it a hasty tactical retreat."

And odd mix of relief and embarrassment poured through her. He'd been guessing. "Oh."

Long, lean legs kicked up across her lab stool as he leaned much further back in the chair than was probably wise. "So I take it you two were..."

"Engaged."

She had already learned that the colonel was the king of micro-expressions, and so the tiny quirk of his eyebrow said clearly how surprised he was by that. "Ah. And I take it that ended..."

"Poorly," she supplied simply.

"Yeah." Abruptly, he swung his legs down and smoothly came to his feet. "Is this going to be a problem?"

"No, sir," she answered immediately. And then, "Probably not."

The eyebrow twitched again.

"I know that we'll probably be deployed together at some point, Colonel, and I'm prepared for that." More or less. She didn't really want to say more, but he had the power to give assignments that could make things very uncomfortable for her, and she had to at least ask. "I would just request – if it's at all possible – that he and I... not be left alone together."

She'd seen that stare before – the one that could knock back a Jaffa a few steps or size up a person in milliseconds – but it had never before been directed at her. It would have been incredibly sexy... if it weren't so damn unsettling. It was like his eyes could reach into her and forcibly remove her soul. She winced a little.

"Relationships go bad, Captain. Is that all this is, or is there something else I need to know?"

Oh, she wanted to tell him. Tell him everything. That Jonas was a nut who scared her more than a little; that nothing he said could be trusted. That, while she'd never been in the field with him, she wasn't entirely sure he could be counted on there, either. She wanted the colonel squarely on her side to hide behind, to protect her from this past evil that had suddenly reemerged, uninvited, into her life.

But even without the not-so-gentle reminder from General Hammond, she couldn't tell him any of that. She was Captain Sam Carter, and a man to fight her battles for her was the last thing she needed. If two years with Jonas Hanson had taught her anything, it had taught her that.

She forced a smile. "It's fine, sir."

She didn't think he bought it – not entirely, anyway – but he gave a curt nod. "Okay."