She sat up with a sudden jolt. Breathing heavily, Sam wiped the sweat from her face and neck, shaking from the adrenaline rush that her dream had given her. She remembered the dream that she had just had. She tried not to think about it, afraid that she might cry all over again. Looking at her clock that was sitting on her drab, grey desk, Sam decided to get up and put on her black T-shirt and olive green fatigue pants. Sam then walked out of her quarters barefooted and ended up in the Gate Room.
But when she entered, she noticed that she wasn't alone. Colonel Jack O'Neill was sitting on the cold, grey floor in front of the Gates ramp. She looked around the room, which still showed signs of the Orbs' chaos a few hours before. She saw the chipped concrete, to which Jack had been pinned to. She tried to fight back the tears that were now welling up, but failed. She sniffed and wiped her nose with her shirtsleeve.
Hearing something from behind him, Jack turned to see Captain Samantha Carter crying. Being a concerned friend, Jack got up and walked over to her and placed a hand on her right shoulder. She spun around, quickly drying her tears that had left trails of wetness on her soft, pink cheeks, and quickly getting herself together in front of her commanding officer, knowing that she should hold in her emotions better from now on.
"Carter, you okay?" Jack asked with sincerity. He looked at her with the same sincerity.
She looked back with a forced smile and lied to him, knowing that he'd know that she was lying. "Yes, Sir. Fine, Sir." Sam replied simply, hoping that he hadn't noticed her tears welling up again.
"Sam, what's wrong? I've only seen you cry twice. And that was after your episode with the hypnosis to find Daniel and when we were stuck up in Antarctica. Now. What's wrong?" Jack asked questioningly.
"I couldn't sleep, Sir. I..." Sam stopped and abruptly started to sob. Jack held her close to him, feeling her body heat on his body, as she fell to the floor, shaking uncontrollably. He placed his right hand on her blonde head and tried to console her until she was ready to talk about it and telling her that it was all okay.
After what seemed like an hour, Sam stopped crying and was now down to sniffling and wiping her nose on her sleeves. She looked up to see dark brown eyes looking at her with worry, concern and friendship.
"Ready to spill it, Carter?" Jack asked plainly, without his usual joking manner. She looked at him and sniffed again, wiping her nose on her sleeve. Jack reached into his pocket and found some kleenex and handed it to her. She took it and thanked him.
"Yes, Sir. I think so." Sam replied finally.
"Sam, we're off duty, call me Jack." he said with a slight grin, hoping that she'd cheer up if she saw that he was in good spirits. He thought about how Sam had held his hand when she told him about her idea to save the Mountain. She had done the same when he had lost hope in Antarctica.
"Yes, Jack." Sam said sadly. Knowing that she had almost killed him twice made her feel guilty, and she wanted to cry all over again. But she held it in and made good on her promise to herself about how she'd never show her emotions to Jack again. Jack looked at her and wished that she'd let go of her bottled up emotions, knowing that keeping that stuff inside might get you in trouble in the long run. He should know, he's done it. Sam looked at the Gate and wondered if she could hide all of her emotions. She'd soon find out, being that she was in the arms of the one man that she thought knew her best. That too would soon be revealed.
"Anytime your ready, Sam." Jack said. He looked into Sams' blue eyes and noticed that the tears that had welled up, were now gone. He had to give her credit for holding in her emotions. He even remembered the time that she had faught for herself and a young girl named Nya. He thought that took guts. But he wanted to protect Carter, why, he didn't know.
//Yes you do, Jack.// he thought to himself. //It's because you love Sam Carter and you know it.// He looked at Sam now with a passion that shouldn't have even been there, but he couldn't deny how he felt about her any longer.
"Colonel?" Sam asked, snapping Jack out of his thoughts. He looked at her and grinned, knowing that she was ready to talk about the incident.
"Go ahead, Sam. Tell me all about it." Jack replied in a jokingly fatherly way. Sam smiled, knowing that she could trust him. She thought about the time when she and Jack got stuck in Antarctica and how she had set his broken leg, kept him company and warm, and tried her damnedest to get them out of there, but failed. The feelings that she had for him at the time had multiplied during that incident. But now, after this latest incident, her already strong feelings were made even stronger.
For about an hour and a half, Sam and Jack had been talking about the troubles the two of them alone had gotten into. By the time Sam had quit talking, the both of them were sitting with their backs to a wall, Jacks' left arm around Sams' shoulders. Sam had her head on his left shoulder and Jack had his head on hers.
Suddenly, Sams' head came up, turning it so that she could look Jack in the face. Jack looked down at Sam with a questioning look. He tried to grin at her and it worked, because she returned the smile.
"What?" Jack asked, trying to be cheerful after listening to Sam blame herself for the Orb and Antarctic incidents. He had tried to tell her that it wasn't her fault, but she wouldn't listen.
"I'm just so sorry that you always end up getting hurt and I don't." Sam said, emotion trying to flood her eyes and voice again. She knew that she couldn't keep this wall up for much longer, sooner or later it was going to fall. Jack looked at her, took her face in his strong, big hands and wiped away a tear that had escaped from one of her red-rimmed, tired blue eyes, eyes that showed obvious hours of crying.
"Carter, it's not your fault. Stop blaming yourself. Do I blame you? NO, I don't. I never have." Jack said with a soft, caring voice. He leaned his face down to Sams' and kissed a tear that had started to fall, tasting the salty wetness. He picked up his head and looked at Sam. Sam looked back at him with a new kind of respect and emotion. She wasn't sure if it was what she thought it was.
//Admit it, Sam. You love your commanding officer.// she thought. Sam shook her head trying to disregard that thought, but couldn't do that just yet.
"Thanks, Jack." Sam said smiling, knowing it was going to be okay. She wanted to bury her face in his muscular chest, but his big, strong hands prevented that from happening.
Sam shifted her tired, blue eyes to look into Jacks' brown ones, seeing passion for her in them. She had the same passion for him. She just wasn't sure that this should be happening. She thought about asking Jack to pinch her, but he said something first.
"I love you, Sam." Jack said softly, his already soft voice echoing in the empty room. Leaning down, he finally kissed her the way he hoped that she wanted him to kiss her. He could taste the salt from tears that must have flowed down to her perfectly drawn, pink lips. He had been kissing her for what seemed like an eternity, when Sam pulled back and smiled the first big smile that he had seen in the last five hours.
"I love you too, Colonel." Sam replied, relieved that she could admit this to him finally. She sighed and felt a great weight lifted off of her chest. Sam hugged Jack and looked up to see him smiling back widely, knowing that Sam was going to be okay.
"Let's get out of here and get some sleep. YOU could sure use it." Jack said jokingly. Sam grinned and playfully slapped Jacks' left arm. Jack grabbed Sam around the waist, turning her so that she faced him. He took her face in his hands again and kissed her with more passion than the last one. Sam could feel his tongue in her mouth, loving every minute of it. Sam returned the gesture in full passion, hoping that nobody was walking by the Gate Room at the time, being that they were standing halfway in the Gate Room and the corridor at the time.
After they parted, Jack hugged Sam so tight, he thought he'd never let go. He looked down at her slightly, being that she was a few inches shorter than his 6 foot tall physique, and smiled. She smiled back, glad to see that he was happy again.
"Sam, you make me feel like I could... I don't know. I feel something that I never thought I'd have again after losing Sara. Thank you so much for that, Sam." Jack said seriously. Sam looked shocked, knowing that it was against regulations to interact with higher ranking officers. But she didn't care and she got the same feeling from Jack.
"I love you too, Jack." Sam replied. They turned to leave the Gate Room and headed for Sams' quarters. After they arrived at her door, Jack and Sam kissed again, then Jack turned to go to his quarters to get some sleep before their next mission.
"'Night, Jack. Love ya." Sam said before closing her door, but paused breifly to hear a response from her new lover.
"'Night, Sam. Love ya, too." Jack said, then walked away, after hearing the click of her door shutting closed. He knew that this new "love thing" was going to turn out alright. That's when he started thinking to himself.
//I love Sam more than Sara. Why?// he thought. //Because Sam can understand me better than Sara could. Sara was good to me though, I give her that much, I mean she did give me Charlie.// He thought this last part with sadness as he removed his boots, laid his head on his pillow and fell asleep, dreaming of Sam, and hoping that she was dreaming of him. //Of course she's dreaming of you, you big goofball. Who else would she dream about? She loves you.// Jack thought to himself finally and fell asleep again with a big, happy smile on his face. //Love ya, Sam.// Jack said in his dreams.
THE END
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Story Notes: Takes place two hours after the incident in the Gate Room in the episode "MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE" and mentions the following episodes "EMANCIPATION", "SOLITUDES" and "FIRE AND WATER". // represents thoughts
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters, settings, etc, are the property of their respective owners. Any original characters and plots are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended. ... [ read more ]