AN: During and after Point of View.

Something Sam Carter never thought she would feel was jealousy. More specifically, jealousy of herself. Or something like it. On top of the jealousy was a whole lot of confusion and discomfort. Colonel O'Neill, her CO, was kissing another version of herself who was married to another version of him. Twice now they had run into alternate reality versions of themselves, and 2 for 2, their alternates were involved with each other. The first time, she had tried to dismiss it. She had been embarrassed that any version of her would have done something so cliche like fall for her CO. Then Doctor Carter showed up and it occurred to her that maybe this Air Force version of herself that she was might be the exception.

It's not like she hadn't thought about how it would have been between herself and the Colonel if they had met under different circumstances—him still retired or her with a different assignment. He was a good man, one of the best. She was sure of that. He had plenty of rough edges, but she was lucky. She was able to see his character under the prickles of his personality. And those prickles didn't seem as abrasive as they once had either. She knew too well now where they had come from and what purposes they served. It made sense to her, and she appreciated all of who he was.

It also didn't help that she was attracted to him. Something in her had sparked when she had first noticed the grey coming in at his temples. It wasn't the grey itself; it was something about the way he hadn't wanted her to see it that had been simultaneously endearing and challenging—as if he cared what she thought of him. It had surprised and flattered her. The cherry on top was that he had become one of the best friends she had. Her team was like family to her. She would do anything for them, and they would do the same for her. He would do anything for her, she knew he would. But he wouldn't kiss her. And as she stood here, watching him with Dr. Carter attached to his face, all she could think was that bitch!

Forget her though, what the hell was he doing? Was he interested in her—Dr. Carter her, not her, her? Other than the alternate reality thing, it's not like there was anything wrong with it, but it just didn't seem like someone like him would ever really be interested in someone like her... someone who was her. She had assumed she must have been cooler or funnier or a little more something to get his attention in the first alternate reality, but she met this Dr. Carter. She was her, and maybe a little crankier even. There had been moments over the past couple of years that she thought she had seen something in his eyes after a close call, or a little something extra in his smirk when he teased her, but moments didn't make the big picture. She had always just brushed aside those flickers of something in him as her own wishful thinking. There were no flashing lights anywhere in the past two years that told her he was interested in her. And yet there he was, kissing her. He was kissing her like he wanted to kiss her—like it was inevitable.

D'oh! Carter was still looking through the mirror. Jack had approximately 10 seconds to figure out how to handle this one. With a touch of the glass and a glance back toward Dr. Carter, he schooled his features and turned around to face his world. His world where Major Carter reported to him and had no interest in anything that Dr. Carter seemed to want. Namely, him. Whether she deserved an explanation or not, didn't matter. If he didn't address this, things would get uncomfortable between them. She might deny it was weird, but it would be weird. Then Daniel would have to pretend that it wasn't weird, but he would feel it too. Teal'c would sneer at him, he just knew it.

"Briefing room in ten," Hammond ordered before turning to leave Jack alone with Carter.

"Carter, about that..." he started immediately, poking his thumb back toward the mirror. He couldn't let her think that... well, he didn't know what she was thinking, but he couldn't let her.

"Sir, please, you don't have to explain," she attempted while staring resolutely away from him. Dear God, please don't explain. She couldn't tolerate the awkwardness.

"I never got to say goodbye to Charlie," he continued against her will. Sam couldn't say what she would have expected him to say, but this wasn't it.

"It didn't really start to get better until that other me showed up, and... it helped. Anyway, I didn't want that for her. For you." What Carter didn't need to know is that maybe this wasn't the whole truth. It was true that he had wanted to help her. As cliche as it was, Jack was a sucker for a woman who needed him. Carter didn't need him, but Dr. Carter had. He couldn't watch Carter or any version of her need something and not be able to give it to her. "I just don't want things to get... weird."

"Really, it's ok, Sir." She was blushing furiously and looking everywhere possible to avoid his eyes.

"Already weird?"

"A little," she agreed.

"Weirder than having android body doubles? Every other version of us in the universe seems to be getting together, I bet they are too." She couldn't help but smile at that. "You ever gonna look at me again?" He saw her take a breath and slowly look up at him.

"Hi," she said with an awkward wave.

"Hi, yourself. Come on, everybody's waiting." They walked side by side to the door, but just before they rejoined the others he stopped her and added, "Listen, we can't change what other versions of us do, and it'll probably always be a little strange, but we can control this," he said gesturing between them "So, let's just... focus on this."

"Yes, Sir."

You don't even see her that way, do you? Jack knew he had a good poker face, and it was on whenever Carter was around, especially recently. But in that moment, he knew it slipped. He could feel the frustration spreading across his face unbidden as the realization of what they, Dr. Carter and this other version of him, were to each other slammed into his gut. Like an idiot, he had hoped for several long minutes that it was a sign that he could somehow get what he wanted. But Dr. Carter, for all she knew about her Jack, hadn't known what he was thinking.

Jack had held Dr. Carter and comforted her. She had let him see so much of her in just a few minutes. He knew he didn't deserve it from her. He was capitalizing on some other Jack's hard work with her. There were so many things he wanted to know, but Dr. Carter was having a hard enough time without answering his awkward questions. So, he had left her. At the time, he thought she was staying, so there would be time to ask. He had wondered fleetingly if there might be a chance for him and Dr. Carter, but it had felt wrong. He had left her to go do the work himself that the other Jack had already done, thinking that maybe, just maybe, his Carter might be willing to share a piece of herself with him.

The harsh juxtaposition between the broken, open-hearted Dr. Carter who needed comfort from him and his carefree Major Carter was a blow. Carter casually asked for a couple hours of his time only to brush him off when he agreed. He wanted those hours with her. He knew Dr. Carter would never be his. It would be too ethically questionable, but he would be lying if he said he didn't wish for his Major Carter to adopt some of Dr. Carter's willingness to share herself with him. Maybe not the crying though. He wasn't great with the crying.

The part of the truth that Jack hadn't shared with Carter about that kiss was that he hadn't just kissed Dr. Carter because she needed closure. He needed it too. Selfishly, he knew he would never get this chance again. At this point, it was pretty clear that he would never get close enough to his Carter to ever experience this with her. He had to let go of this absurd notion. This was his closure, too. It was time to turn the page on this infatuation he'd been harboring for her. Carter wasn't interested, but Dr. Carter was. She wanted to kiss him. Or at least she wanted to kiss her Jack. Maybe that was enough.

But it hadn't been enough. Dr. Carter knew the moment it was over, and instinctively though he had a poor basis for comparison he knew it too. The DNA may be the same, but the soul was alien. He had no doubt that Dr. Carter was a brilliant and wonderful woman, but she wasn't Sam Carter. She wasn't his Carter. Damn. Who knew that it was the soul that made a kiss feel so right? He did now.

"All right, people. Dismissed. Colonel O'Neill," Hammond added gesturing with his eyes for Jack to remain. Jack shoved his doodles into the folder and closed it, waiting for the room to clear. He had a feeling he knew what this was about, and he wasn't going to like it. Carter seemed to buy the explanation he gave her. Maybe it would work on Hammond. It was true. It just wasn't complete.

"General?" Jack initiated when everyone had gone.

"My office, please, Jack." Oh boy. Jack followed him in without being asked, shut the door behind him. "You know I have to ask this. About what Major Carter and I saw before you came back through—do we have a problem?"

"No, Sir. No problem," Jack answered quietly, but resolutely.

"And Major Carter, does she think we have a problem?" Jack considered briefly asking Hammond to ask her himself. She might actually be more comfortable talking to him about this, but who was he kidding? None of them wanted to talk about this.

"I don't think so, Sir. I think the whole situation was a little disorienting for everyone, but I think she's going to be okay."

"Does she have a problem with you?" Hammond persisted, this time with more precision.

"I hope not, Sir. She knows that I was just trying to help her—Dr. Carter—deal with her loss. Of me. Him. The other me."

"What's done is done, but there might have been a better way to handle this."

"Yes, Sir, you're probably right," Jack assented with a grimace.

"Very well, let's proceed as if everything is in order, but if anything feels off with Major Carter, I need to be in the loop. We can't afford to make mistakes out there. I need everyone's head in the game."

"Understood, Sir."

"And Jack, you're always welcome at the house if you ever need to discuss anything." Nobody was better at saying what couldn't be said than General Hammond. Jack heard the invitation to talk to him off the record. He wasn't proud of the fact that he might need to take him up on it if he couldn't shake Carter out of his brain. That version of her in his head was stubborn though, and didn't seem to want to leave him alone. If Jack was honest with himself, he would admit that he didn't want her to leave him alone. But this wasn't the first time he had lied to himself.