AN: Hi :-)
Here we go with the next chapter. I hope you like it :-)
And again thank you so much for reading and following this story and a big hug to my loyal reviewers, you're just great!
While Daniel and Jacob lead the colonel to his quarters, Janet made her way to the lab to see how far Sam and Anise had come in the meantime.
"So, how does it look?", the doctor asked directly when she arrived in the laboratory.
"We have an idea how to transfer the colonel's memories back", Sam explained. Janet looked at her excited.
"We will download a specific, unimportant memory from Major Carter and then we will try to transfer it back. If this memory, unexpectedly, also got lost, it would not be so bad", Anise explained.
"And what kind of memory are you thinking of?", Janet asked skeptically. She didn't like the plan because she was afraid that Sam could meet the colonel's fate and lose all her memories, too.
"For example, I might ask her to recall what she ate for breakfast today. It is such a memory we are thinking of", said Anise.
"Well, that really doesn't sound as important as necessarily to be remembered. When will you start?", Janet wanted to know.
"As soon as possible", Sam stated.
"I see. But maybe you can go and visit Colonel O'Neill before you start, Sam. "
"How is O'Neill?", Teal'c, who stood silently beside them the whole time, wanted to know now.
"Well, physically he's fine. Only that he remembers nothing. But he is clearly still the colonel...", Janet said with a smile.
"What do you mean?", Sam asked, frowning.
Janet chuckled again and said "Well... He still has his certain charm and his impatience is almost worse than usual."
Now Sam chuckled also. She could imagine how Jack has made them all livid in the infirmary. Anise looked back and forth between the two women. She didn't understand what they were smiling about. In her view there was nothing funny about this situation but she hesitated to ask for an explanation. She just didn't understand this tau'ri.
"Well, then I'll go and visit the colonel. Where is he right now?", Sam decided and Janet told her that they had taken Jack to his quarters and that from now on always someone would accompany him.
Sam was nervous. She didn't quite know how to confront Jack. Only a few hours ago she has been absolutely happy when she and Jack had finally found each other. And now he was in his quarters and couldn't even remember this morning. Or anything else. And he also couldn't remember her.
Afraid of what she would experience in the next moment Sam knocked on the door of Jack's quarters. Without anyone having answered she opened the door and immediately saw Jack who was lying on the bed. Jacob was sitting on one of the chairs, he had probably kept watch for the moment.
"Hi honey", Jacob greeted his daughter quietly.
"Hi dad. How's he doing?", Sam wanted to know from Jacob.
"I'm fine. You can still talk to me. Even though I know nothing, I can still speak", replied a clearly annoyed Jack O'Neill.
Sam and Jacob looked at each other dumbfounded.
"Can you leave us alone for a while, dad?"
"Sure, of course. I'm out there if something should be." With this words Jacob stood up and left the room, but before he was gone he encouragingly pressed Sam's hand.
Slowly Sam walked toward the bed. Jack lay there, his head still directed to the ceiling.
Great, he thought, someone else who wants to tell me that I'm on another planet with tons of aliens around. Who believes...
Jack sighed but didn't turn toward the woman who was standing in the room.
"Jack?", the woman asked him softly.
He listened. Something was different. Jack noticed it immediately. The woman's voice was quiet, restrained. He turned his head slightly toward her and looked at her. Something was different about her. He felt that he had met her before and not only a few hours ago in this room. He furthermore looked silently at her.
"Jack?", she said again, this time a little louder.
By now he knew that he was meant when someone said "Jack".
"Jack... that`s me?", he asked also quietly. His impatience was suddenly gone. Whether it was because of this woman?
"Yes, that's you", the woman said. He could see that she had tears in her eyes.
"Why are you crying?", he asked.
"I don't", the woman replied and wiped the tears away quickly.
"But you do", insisted Jack.
He didn't know why but he stood up and walked toward the woman. Without thinking he took her in his arms and stroked gently up and down her back. But this action didn't have the desired effect. Instead to calm down, as he had hoped, the woman was crying even more. He stroked her back further gently, trying to calm her down.
"Hey, everything is okay. You don't have to cry, you know. Everything's going to be fine again", he said with a gentle voice that also surprised him himself. And that actually seemed to help. The woman clung to him and he squeezed her even tighter to his body. Somehow it felt right. He couldn't explain why he thought that but he knew that it was true then. Little by little the woman detached herself from him and looked at him with tear-stained eyes.
Her eyes were blue, incredibly blue. He imagined how those blue eyes may look when no teardrops were therein. He supposed them to be gloriously beautiful.
He couldn't help wiping the still existing tears gently to the side with his thumb. The woman flinched slightly at the touch. Why? What had he done wrong?
"Would you tell me your name?"
The woman swallowed he could see it. The whole situation seemed to be uncomfortable for her. Though it was him who knew no one here and who had no memory of anything.
"Sam", she said. "My name is Sam." She lowered her gaze and exhaled. Why didn't she look at him anymore? He wanted to look into these beautiful blue eyes.
"And we know each other, Sam?", he asked her.
She laughed briefly and then looked at him again. "Yes, we know each other. Very well indeed, I think. "
"How well, exactly?" Where did this question come from? Actually he didn't want to ask but he was glad that he'd done. He felt a strange connection to this woman. To Sam. He actually liked her name.
She blushed a little at this question. That was sweet. He liked that and he had to smile at the sight. It was the first time that he smiled - at least the first time to which he could remember.
"Well... that's a bit... complicated?", she stammered to herself.
"What do you mean, Sam?"
"Well, you know... that's...uhm..." She told him everything from the beginning. About the Air Force and that they are colleagues. About the regulations. And the zatarc test. And about yesterday evening and this morning.
Jack listened attentively and he felt a strange feeling in his stomach. What was that? He felt it the whole time since Sam had entered the room. But since she had told him all these things he felt this strange feeling much more clearly.