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Jack was having a bad time.

Not only Carter had a case of amnesia, but he couldn't tell her anything either. After he'd left her room earlier this morning, he'd been summoned to see Hammond, only to be told that everything about the Stargate program was to be classified from her until she found her memory again, or until she was back enough not to be a "security risk."

But Jack knew Carter, and he knew that, memory or not, she wouldn't tell anything if she understood how important the Stargate program was, and how important she was to the SGC and SG-1. He'd even argued with Hammond until finally the man had thrown him out of his office.

After several debriefings from Fraiser and her shrink friends, it was decided that Carter's "situation" would be temporary, but they couldn't tell how long it would last.

"You'll all have to be patient with her." Fraiser had said, with that warning look of hers. "And I'm sure Major Carter will need your support now more than ever, so talk to her, remind her of who she really is so she can be it again."

Hammond decided to put SG-1 on downtime during Carter's recovery, so that they would be able to spend time with her, and, for Jack, to catch up on some paperwork. Normally he would have screwed the paperwork and go straight to Minnesota, but not this time. This time he was counting on obeying Doctor's orders and spending some time with Carter. Not that he considered it as a duty. On the contrary. Nothing could be further from the truth, in fact. The truth was, he wanted so much to spend time with her, and it saddened him somehow that it was professionally correct now that she had amnesia while it wasn't ok when she was her normal self. But, he thought as he walked towards the infirmary, Carter's Carter, and he'd treasure this little time with her as much as he normally would.

"You guys ready to go?" He asked as he crossed the infirmary in a few steps. Daniel and Carter were deep in conversation and the archeologist jumped slightly at the sound of his voice. Carter smiled and got up. She'd had time to change since Fraiser had dismissed her and she was now wearing more comfortable clothes – jeans and white t-shirt. Her eyes were still constantly moving and there was such a look of insecurity on her face that all he wanted to do was take her hand and give it a reassuring squeeze. But he couldn't do that could he, he reminded himself bitterly.

"We are." Daniel said as he looked at Carter and then began walking towards the door. They'd made a little schedule for the next few days, determining who would stay with Carter and help her finding her way in her neighborhood. Tonight was Daniel's turn, but Jack had suggested going with them on the first day back home. And Carter had enthusiastically agreed. A little too eagerly to be proper, he'd thought, but he was happy she liked him even when she couldn't remember everything they'd gone through in the last few years. In fact it was quite nice, nicer than he'd ever admit actually.

As they made their way to the elevator, Jack was watching her. He watched as she stared at everything around her, the gray walls, the rather dark corridors, the offices they passed, and she seemed to concentrate on her surrounding only, as if she was trying to integrate everything in her mind in case she'd forget again. It was sad, in a sense. Carter was always so focused on everything she did, it was hard to see her like this, trying to get her life back online without being able to help her. They reached the elevators and walked in and Daniel pressed the button that would take them to the other elevator.

"Wow, how deep were we?" Carter asked as she saw the number of levels there were in the complex.

"Deep." Jack replied with a smile and she returned it immediately, which made his gut lurch in a very disconcerting and unexpected way.

Finally they made it to the top and they signed out, walking in silence until they were in the parking lot. Carter's car was there, next to Jack's truck and Daniel searched his pocket for her keys.

"This is my car?" She asked as she watched Daniel enter the key in the lock.

"No actually it's mine," Jack joked with a smile, hoping Carter would see it wasn't true in his playful tone. "You…have the truck." He added, trying to hide a grin. Actually he couldn't picture Carter with his dirty truck, but the shocked face she made was even funnier. Of course Daniel had to ruin everything.

"Come on Jack, this is not fair, she'll believe everything you say, don't lie to her." He turned back to Carter. "Jack is only jealous because your car is cooler than his."

Jack grinned but feigned hurt as he slapped Daniel's shoulder. At least it made her chuckle, he thought, which was a good sign, she hadn't laughed since she'd woken up the day before. Daniel opened her door, but Jack grabbed the keys from his hand before Daniel had the time to say anything.

"You take my truck." He told him with a smile, "we'll meet you there." Daniel made a face as he caught the keys Jack had thrown his way, but he didn't say anything, which was something Jack was grateful for. Somehow he knew that Daniel understood his desire to spend time with Carter, not that they'd talked about it, but it was like a tacit understanding between them ; Jack cared but didn't want to talk about it, and Daniel knew he cared but wouldn't talk about it until Jack did.

So Jack eased himself in the driver's seat while Carter sat in the passenger's seat with a low whistle. "Wow, look at that car!" She said as her fingers trailed slowly over the board. "I mean, how cool am I?" She added cheekily.

Jack smiled and handed her her sunglasses that were lying on the dashboard. "You have your moments." He replied with a small smile. She smiled and he cleared his throat, trying to forget what that smile did to his insides, he would not go there, he wouldn't go there, he wouldn't…

"I think we can go." She snapped him away from his thoughts and he realized Daniel had already started rolling away, so he looked away from her face while he ignited the car.

"Yeah I believe we can."

Jack drove silently, letting Carter take in her surroundings. She looked amazed, but there was still a constant frown clouding her expression. He couldn't blame her. He probably would feel way more frustrated had the situation been reversed. In fact, he thought, he would be totally panicked and frustrated, and he was sure everybody around him would know that soon enough. But Carter wasn't like that, she was patient, logical, and she knew that there was nothing she could do but wait, no matter how frustrating it was for her to feel useless. He sighed as he shifted the car and Carter threw a look at him through her sunglasses.

"Do I often let you drive my car?"

He was surprised by the question, so he threw her a look, but there was nothing on her face saying if there was a deeper purpose to that question. "Um, no. Actually, this is the second time I sit in here."

She looked surprised and a tag disappointed. "Oh." It was a sign that they weren't as close as she might have first thought.

Realizing she wouldn't say any more, Jack explained. "The first time was when you bought it. You were trying to make your choice between two cars so you invited us and asked for our opinion." Glancing at her sideways, he saw that she seemed perplex. She must have figured there was more to the story than that, Jack mused, and she was right if he was honest with himself. In fact he had omitted the fact that she'd asked *him* to come along, but he had immediately included Daniel and Teal'c. He knew she had been trying to make things like before again, but he didn't want to go back to before. He wanted to go further and the truth was he had turned her down because he didn't trust himself enough not to take it further. He knew if he were alone with her he would do or say something really stupid that would make their relationship even more complicated than it already was. She had been asking for his friendship, but he'd found he couldn't give it to her, because friendship was far too simple compared to what he felt for her.

But no matter how he had felt then, he knew now that his feelings had been selfish. He realized now that things wouldn't - couldn't - go further, and friendship was all he could offer her overtly. Of course deep down, there was more to his actions than friendship, but he was trying his best not to show it.




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