Chapter 4: Bananas And White Lies

Daniel couldn't believe his eyes. After radioing Sam and asking her to report the happy news back to the SGC, Jonas had led them into the buried building, into large, intricate hallways that were lit by some unknown power source.

When Jonas finally showed them what he'd been so excited about, he felt just about ready to burst.

At the end of the large hall, was a chair, a very familiar chair. "He-llo," he muttered to himself.

"Before you even ask, Dr. Jackson. 'Yes' there's definitely a working ZPM in there."

He walked over the Ancient chair and sat on it. Nothing happened. "How did you get the lights to work?"

Jonas shrugged. "I figured it was from something that Nirrti did that somehow lets this place detect my bio-signs and signals things to power up. The chair didn't work though."

"No. I think we'd need Jack for that." They definitely needed Jack around. His Ancient gene would show them just how much of the city's technology remained intact and if they could somehow salvage it. They desperately needed a functioning ZPM to defend Earth.

"You wouldn't believe this place! There's pools in the centre of the building. That's how I managed to survive. I think this city used to be near an ocean before this solar system's star became this hot. They couldn't use the sea water, so they built underground pools."

"Amazing."

"Oh yes! It's even got it's own greenhouse. I don't know if you saw it from the Stargate, but there's a huge dome that somehow maintained plant life and vegetation... It looks like a jungle."

He saw Jonas grin, reach into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a banana.

Teal'c raised his eyebrow. "Indeed."

"These grow everywhere."

Sam watched the event horizon wink out and moved away from the MALP. General O'Neill was pleased that they found Jonas safe and was now prepping a science team to join SG-1 in checking out what was left of the Ancient ruins.

She was itching to go down and check out the ZPM Jonas had found, but she had to wait for SG-3 to show up to cover the gate. They couldn't be too careful. Although, Anubis was gone, there was still Ba'al and they didn't know how much of Anubis's research into Ancient technology the system lord had access to. Anubis had sent a probe to '666 and he too might have found out about the gate address.

Until Reynolds and his team arrived, she was left to cool her heels by the gate, guarding the Naquadah generator.

She sighed, impatient to join her team inside the city. She'd had a sleepless night and the heat wasn't helping any. At least there was a breeze, albeit warm.

Her mind started to wander to her discussion with Pete last night. After seeing General O'Neill and the boys at the restaurant, she and Pete headed to Starbucks for some coffee. Her fiancé had asked some uncomfortable questions about the General and she'd had to lie to him.

It was becoming more and more easier to just lie to Pete instead of getting into another argument about her work. He never really pushed or got angry with her, but he always had that look of disappointment that she couldn't share a large part of herself with him.

She couldn't really tell him about the Asgard and how General O'Neill was now actually a clone because his body couldn't survive the Ancient download and subsequent stress of being frozen in Antarctica after having save the world from alien invasion.

No. She couldn't tell him that.

The only thing that made her lie believable was that Pete had never really met the General except for brief glimpses during the Osiris op. He'd been hurt at the time and couldn't really trust his recollection of the people involved.

So many lies just to cover for the fact that Jack looked a lot different than he used to.

Jack.

She'd rarely called him that even in her mind. She'd completely stopped after what happened on the Prometheus and started dating Pete. She would never be able to call him that now. Whatever hopes she'd harbored about the two of them ending up together were no more. She'd decided to move on with Pete and had declared it for the world to see with his ring.

She sometimes wondered if she'd done the right thing. If Jack even thought of her in that way anymore. She'd tried to get him to say something, going so far as to ask for his advice about her answer to Pete's proposal. She'd given him the opportunity to change her mind, but he'd given her a vague answer about not being at the SGC if things had been different.

She supposed he was right. If things had been different and his son were still alive, he wouldn't have been on the first Abydos mission. He'd be with his family, still married to Sara. They would've never met and she wouldn't have fallen in love with him.

Maybe she was meant to be with Pete. She and Jack would always have something stacked against them. Being both at the SGC meant being in the same chain of command. If things had been different, he would still be married and probably still very much in love with his wife. Either way, they couldn't be together.

She'd comforted herself with the thought of just having his friendship and going out there fighting the war side by side. That was something they had together that no one could replace.

Then, he'd been frozen for months and just when she thought they had him back on the team, he got himself promoted to General. SG-1 as she knew it was no more.

From what she'd seen last night, he'd also moved on with his friendships. It used to be the four of them going out to dinner. After she started seeing Pete, it had become less frequent and eventually it just stopped.

It wasn't a surprise that he'd decided to get out there instead of staying home doing nothing. It was only a matter of time before he also moved on with his life. To what he moved on to she wasn't willing to contemplate just yet.

Three days later, SG-1 was back home. Daniel and Jonas had to be dragged off the planet, both protesting loudly just how important their find was. The ZPM was going to be removed in three days time and both wanted to take advantage of the time to study as much of the ruins possible before the city was robbed of it's power source.

O'Neill had a hard time convincing Daniel that once the ZPM was gone, the ruins would still be there and they had a spare Naquadah generator that they could rig up to provide lighting in the chambers. He'd also had to promise to let Daniel and Jonas return once they had recovered from heat exhaustion.

The planet was more than harsh, with the sun beating down 28 hours of the 32, with sand storms starting earlier and earlier each evening. He'd had to rotate the science teams, Dr. Brightman advising him that each team should have at least three days off to recuperate before returning to the planet.

Jonas wasn't allowed to return for another two weeks. He'd been a bit malnourished, having only eaten fruits and leaves. Jack had promised him a nice juicy steak to help him get back on his feet.

But first, he needed to deal with Washington. Once knowledge of an Ancient base had gone up through the channels, the NID had quickly come a knocking, wanting to lend their 'expertise'. Everyone wanted a piece of the pie and Jack was determined to keep the NID out of it.

He didn't trust the bastards one bit. He knew what they were capable of and part of taking the job as the SGC commander was looking out for the best interest of the facility from the enemies within. Although the NID were no longer controlled by the Committee, a part of him still distrusted the organization. He also now had the additional headache of making sure the Trust didn't get their hands on any of the tech and intel that would be coming into the SGC. He was a running a tight ship and only Carter, Daniel and Dr. Lee's team would have access to rocks and doohickeys they brought back.

General Hammond wanted to see him in DC once things quieted down to discuss his concerns with the President. Hammond warned him that there would be also a meeting with the NID, IOC and CIA. All the acronyms made his head hurt.

All the e-mails from Woolsey also made his head hurt. He hated bureaucrats with a passion, much more than he ever hated scientists in his early days with the SGC. The geeks always questioned his orders and then disobeyed them. He'd kinda mellowed on them after being constantly surrounded for more than eight years. Carter was a scientist, and he liked her.

He cleared his throat and started tapping furiously at his laptop keyboard to dislodge that particular avenue of thought. He wasn't going to think about her and just how much... Well he wasn't going to.

He quickly typed an appropriate and polite response to Richard Woolsey, telling him to f-off. Not exactly in those words, but he felt the sentiment had come through.

Just as his mind started to drift off to no-go territory once again, his e-mail program dinged, informing him that he'd gotten another piece of mail. He just hoped it wasn't Woolsey threatening to tell the Joint Chiefs.

He clicked on his dock and brought up the mail program. He sighed as he read the sender's name.

So much for keeping his mind off her.

It had been sent from her home account. She probably couldn't wait to get out of the mountain and back home to Pete. She'd only been back from the planet for about four hours and the old Carter never left her lab when she was expecting new technology to come in.

Then again, she wasn't going to be Carter any longer. He'd have to stop calling her that and revert to just 'Colonel' because he didn't think he could stomach calling her by her married name.

Shit.

What the hell was wrong with him?

He had to get over this. He'd had his chance and he'd fucked it up. She'd given him the opportunity and he'd let it slip by. It had been the right thing to do. It wasn't his place to make that life altering decision for her and as much as he wanted to fight for her, he didn't have the right to.

She loved her career, loved the SGC and he couldn't take that away from her. He'd tried to quit at least once after being promoted, but he always got pulled back in and he knew that it would always be the case. As much as he wanted to be with her, his presence at the SGC was needed. They still had a fight to win and with his new found abilities, courtesy of the Asgard and the O'Neill gene pool, they had a better chance with him at the helm.

He read through her e-mail and couldn't suppress a laugh.

Carter really did have a sense of humor. A sick one at that.

Jack was torn. Should he say yes just to spare her feelings and endure a torturous day with her fiancé? Or say no and endure that disappointed and hurt look she would give him when he sees her next?

A real tough one that.

He decided to ask Daniel. Picking up the phone, he punched in the archaeologist's extension and waited as the phone rang. And rang.

He was probably too distracted looking at more rocks with Jonas to notice the ringing. Jack knew from experience to just give it a few more seconds.

"Ah... Hello?"

"It's me."

"What is it,Jack? We're kinda busy here."

"Take a break, for cryin' out loud! I need your advice on something."

Pause.

"Hmm. With what exactly?"

"How do you feel about painting?"

Click.

"Daniel? Hello? Daniel?"

Any guesses as to what Sam has asked Jack to do with Pete? Knowing how you guys feel about the cop, this should be entertaining =) I also apologize in advance for the next chapter...