This fiasco of a party was all Daniel's fault. He was caught up with the romance of Rya'c and Kar'yn's wedding. Sam was still vacuuming up shards of chips and the occasional blob of semi solidified dip. She wasn't happy. And why the hell had the General left? Why didn't he tell her what was going on?
Okay, she was a little miffed by the mess and the mass evacuation of the guests. And she felt unsettled at how entranced she had felt by the presence of the General. (Don't call him Jack, don't call him Jack even in your mind.)
How does she tell Pete she doesn't think this is going to work out? Has she given it enough time? She has had deep affection for other men and again she knew when it wouldn't work out. Well, okay, most of them were aliens, a Tokra, a Tollan and an Ascended Being. With them it wasn't going to work out, it would never work out, and they probably understood that too. Or so she hoped. The nice ambassador was probably dead, so no dinner date. And as for a certain General… that impediment could be overcome if only one of them…
Now to tell Pete, or how to tell Pete. He seemed so certain. Sam thought he had no inkling of her doubts. And after all this, would he be embarrassed in front of his buddies at the station? Would he be angry or hurt? She didn't want to do this to him. Maybe he'd come to the same conclusion as her and bow out gracefully… given some time… maybe.
Then of course everything went to hell in the proverbial handbasket. The Stargate was stolen and Jaffa were being poisoned and millions more were in jeopardy of the same fate. Daniel and Carter were on the case while Jack got the dubious pleasure of calling the President with the news.
Sam and Daniel wound up on Osiris' Al'kesh which had been hijacked by the Trust. That's where the symbiote poison and Earth's Stargate were. Teal'c's entrance proved enough distraction and fire power for Sam to manage to transport them and the Stargate to the Prometheus.
All the while the Captain of the Prometheus, Colonel Pendergast, sought permission from General O'Neill to obliterate the Al'kesh. Jack hesitated. Was it he could not sacrifice SG-1, lose the Stargate, or was it merely indecision?
The Al'kesh exited into hyperspace and the chance to destroy it and the possibility to save millions of Jaffa lives was lost.
The next couple of weeks were non stop action. Sam had no time to think about Pete and her life decisions. She was awash in guilt over giving the replicators free reign in our galaxy and spent countless hours trying to figure out how to disrupt the cohesion of the replicators.
Cassie had a long weekend off and decided to visit her unofficial parents.
"She's never home and when she is, he's there." Cassie wailed to Jack. She needed to unload all the tension of college and distance and loneliness and Jack was handy. Feeling abandoned by Sam, Cassie felt she had lost another mother.
