TITLE: Standing By You

AUTHOR: Tiffany Flowers (tiffanyflowers2@hotmail.com)

RATING: PG-13 (language)

ARCHIVE: SJRA, Heliopolis and Tiff and Alex's Archive. All others ask.

DISCLAIMER: The characters of SG-1 do not belong to me. They belong to MGM, Double Secret, Gekko and Showtime. I own only the idea of the story, Captain Hardesty, Lieutenant Mowers, Lieutenant Lewis, the planet Calumia and its natives. Infringements were not intended by this author.

CATEGORY: S/J Romance, character death and angst.

SUMMARY: When a trade negotiation goes bad and it leaves Jack feeling alone, he gets some help from a couple of friends.

SEASON/SEQUEL: Season 4, sequel to "Where I Belong". You must read ”Where I Belong” first.

SPOILERS: Fire And Water, The Nox, reference to "Where I Belong" and Emancipation.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Thanks goes out to Alexandra, my archiver, and Tami, my beta reader and mother. My mom hardly ever reads my fics, but I actually talked her into beta reading this. Kudos gals! Where would I be without you?

~@~ Lyrics
~*~ Thought

SONGOLOGY: "I'll Stand By You" is sung by The Pretenders from the album, "Last Of The Independants". Infringements were not intended by this author.

FEEDBACK: Most appreciated.

Copyright 2001 TIFFANY FLOWERS

The event horizon gushed towards the slightly empty room, then snapped back, creating a vertical, shimmering pool of energy. The soldiers that were in the room aimed their weapons at the event horizon until a shield of metal closed over the opening, covering the shimmering, water-like event horizon. In the room above, technicians and officers ran about. A stout, bald man came down a set of stairs from a room above. He walked up behind a master sergeant that was at work on a computer in front of him. "Do we have a remote signal, yet?" The stout man asked, glancing at a computer screen near him. "Not yet, General." The master sergeant replied, answering his commanding officer that stood directly behind him. "Defense team," the general said into a microphone. "Stand at the ready." In the room below, the soldiers did as they were told and cocked their M-16's and shielded .50 caliber machine guns. They watched the giant stone ring tensely. In the room above, the general and the master sergeant watched the computer screen with growing anxiety and worry. "Signal received, General," the grey haired sergeant said, glancing at the portly general over his shoulder. "It's SG-1, Sir." General George Hammond walked down the stairs to the Gate Room. When the door opened, he waved the defense team at ease and they lowered their weapons. Hammond ordered the iris to be opened, and then he waited for the flagship team to come through the Stargate. Suddenly, Hammond could see the silhouettes of three members of SG-1. Hammond's brow creased when he finally saw the three members of SG-1 come through the Gate and walk down the metal ramp, solemn looks on their faces. "Colonel O'Neill?" Hammond asked, looking at the leader of the team. The greying haired colonel just looked at the general and then walked out of the Gate Room without saying a word to anyone. Hammond looked at the remaining two members of the team. He first looked at a tall, black male with a bald head and a gold emblem on his forehead and a tall stick-like weapon in his right hand. Hammond then looked at a slightly shorter, blonde female, who had tears running down her cheeks and her P-90 laid against her chest. "Major Carter," Hammond said softly, seeing the somber look on her face. "What the hell happened?" Major Samantha Carter couldn't say anything and just stared at her feet. "General Hammond," the tall, black man said. "Daniel Jackson is deceased." When he said Daniel Jackson's name, Sam ran out of the Gate Room in the same direction that Colonel Jack O'Neill had gone in. "Teal'c," Hammond said. "It was my understanding, and I thought that you were there for trade negotiations."

"That is true, General Hammond." Teal'c responded stoically. "Are you sure he's dead this time," Hammond asked. "What if this is like before? With Nem." "I was witness to the death of Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said, no emotion in his voice. "He is surely dead. Murdered by a native of Calumia." "Alright, Teal'c," Hammond nodded sadly. "Dismissed. Tell Colonel O'Neill debriefing will be tomorrow morning at 0900." "Understood, General." Teal'c answered, bowing his head slightly, then left the Gate Room. General Hammond inhaled, and then exhaled a huge sigh, closing his eyes. ~*~ SG-1 won't be the same now. ~*~ The general thought silently, his brow still creased in sorrow, also feeling the loss of a good friend. In the locker room, Colonel Jack O'Neill punched the cement wall next to his alcove. He punched the wall over and over, until there was a trace of blood on the white wall. Sam, who was just entering the SG-1 locker room, saw the colonel beating his fist against the wall. She ran over to him, pinning his arms down at his side. "Let go of me, Carter!" O'Neill yelled out, trying to break the hold she had on him. "It's not your fault, Colonel," Sam said, tightening her hold on him and putting her right cheek against his back. "We didn't know." Jack quit fighting Sam and he hung his head. Sam released her hold on him and took a few precautionary steps back, in the case that he decided to try and hit her instead of the wall. Jack turned to face her and that's when she saw that he had been crying. In the five years that Sam had known Jack, she had never once seen him cry. "That should be me on P4Z 641," Jack said. "Not Daniel. Me. "Then Daniel would be doing the same thing you're doing right now," Sam said softly. "You know that." "He was my best friend," Jack stated. "I should have been there to protect him." "We did the best we could, Sir," Sam said, not trying to sugar-coat the truth. "All of us. No one's to blame." "Daniel is dead, Carter," Jack snapped. "He's not coming back! Not this time!" Sam closed her eyes against the tears, but suddenly opened them when she saw visions of Daniel's limp body with the knife in his chest. "Carter," Jack said softly, making his way to Sam and put a hand on her right shoulder. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you." "It's okay," Sam whispered. "We're just in shock. And angry at the Calumians." "It's no excuse." Jack told her. Sam just looked at Jack, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to flow again. "I'm going to miss him." Sam suddenly sobbed, her knees suddenly giving out on her. Jack held her as she finally collapsed to the floor, breaking under the emotional release. He held her in a friendly embrace as she cried on his shoulder. After some time, Sam finally spent; Jack released her and stood up. Jack went to his alcove and removed his flak vest and field jacket, hanging them up along the sidewall of the inside of the alcove. Sam did the same. Jack grabbed his shower kit and towel and walked towards the showers. "I'm going to my lab, Sir." Sam informed the colonel. He just waved his hand and began to remove his fatigues and black T-shirt, ignoring her. Sam left the locker room, closing the door behind her, and walked down the corridor to her lab. As she walked, she noticed the sorrowful looks from passing airmen and other officers, but she ignored them. She was about to enter her lab, when a voice called out her name. "Major Carter," the deep voice repeated, causing her to turn around. "Have you seen O'Neill?" "He's in the locker room, Teal'c." Sam said. Teal'c bowed his head and made his way to the locker room, while Sam entered her lab and turned on the lights. She just stared at her things, then turned and left her lab. A couple of minutes later, Sam ended up in a large darkened room. She reached out and turned on a lamp, filling the room with light. She looked around and saw different kinds of books, masks and other artifacts that had once belonged to Doctor Daniel Jackson. She picked up a picture from his desk. It was of Daniel on a camel with three pyramids behind him. He must have been in Egypt for a vacation or an archaeological dig. Daniel had a smile on his face, his blue eyes bright with life. A life now extinguished. Sam's eyes filled with tears and she replaced the framed picture back where it had been. Sam looked around the cluttered lab once more and then shut off the light and left the lab, closing the door behind her for the last time.

SG-1 LOCKER ROOM "O'Neill," Teal'c called out upon entering the room. "O'Neill, are you here?" "Go away, Teal'c," Jack said from behind the wall dividing the showers and the team's alcoves. "I just want to be left alone." "I cannot, O'Neill," Teal'c replied. "You are my friend and I am only concerned for you and your well-being." "Then kill me now." Jack said, his voice hollow and without emotion. "I cannot." Teal'c said. "Then leave me be, Teal'c." Jack said angrily. "General Hammond would like to speak with us, O'Neill." Teal'c said. "Why?" Jack asked. "I do not know, O'Neill." Teal'c answered. "Fine," Jack said, getting up from the floor and walking into the area that Teal'c stood in. "Let's get Carter then." When the three members of SG-1 entered the Briefing Room, General Hammond, SG-2 and 3 stood waiting. Hammond waved everyone to take a seat. "Colonel O'Neill," Hammond said, causing Jack to slowly look at him. "I know that you just got back and lost a team member, but the President would like you and your team to go back to P4Z 641 and bring back Doctor Jackson's body back to Earth. SG units 2 and 3 will accompany you." "Yes, Sir." Jack said without argument. Sam and Teal'c just stared at the tabletop in silence, not fighting with the general. "Get geared up, Colonel," Hammond said. "You leave in fifteen minutes." SG-1, 2 and 3 got up from the table and headed out of the Briefing Room. Sam and Teal'c were just about to leave the room, when Hammond's voice stopped them at the door and they turned to face him. "Major, Teal'c," Hammond said, looking at them. "I want you both to keep an eye on Colonel O'Neill, understood?" "Yes, Sir." Sam replied, while Teal'c bowed his head. Hammond dismissed them and they left the Briefing Room.

GATE ROOM 15 MINUTES LATER

Jack stood at the base of the ramp, his hand on his sidearm and his chocolate brown eyes on the Stargate as it dialed up the coordinates for Calumia, or P4Z 641 as the computers called it. Once the event horizon stabilized and General Hammond said they had a go, SG units 1, 2 and 3 walked up the ramp and through the Stargate to Calumia. What they saw when they got there stopped them in their tracks and made their jaws drop. SG-1 looked around the area where the Gate stood and saw that the village stood before them smoking and in ruins. "Wonder what happened." Sam spoke up from behind O'Neill. He glanced over his shoulder at her and cocked an eyebrow. "Spread out," Jack ordered. "SG-2, you go in that direction. SG-3, go over that way. Carter, Teal'c with me." SG-2 went to the left, SG-3 went to the right and SG-1 went up the center. The three teams looked through the entire city and found no signs of the Calumians. SG-2 and 3 met up with Sam and Teal'c, while Jack had gone off into one of the huts. The others sat and heated up M.R.E's and ate in silence, no one wanting to guess what had happened here. After about an hour, Sam excused herself and went to the hut Jack had gone to and crossed the threshold into the living area. Jack had his back to her and hadn't turned around when she cleared her throat to make her presence known to the ex-Black Ops Colonel. "Sir?" Sam asked softly, trying not to startle him. "Go away, Carter," Jack said, not looking up at her. Sam walked a little closer to him and tried to put a hand on his shoulder. "I SAID, 'GO AWAY' DAMN IT, CARTER!" Sam jumped back when Jack suddenly leapt to his feet, pointing his 9mm at her. "Colonel." Sam said, holding her breath when she finally saw the gun. "Pay backs are a bitch, eh, Carter?" Jack snapped, causing Sam to flinch. "Colonel, don't do this," Sam said, repeating his words from two months ago. "Let me help you now. Like you helped me two months ago." "Stay back, Carter," Jack said. "I don't want to kill you, too. Not like I did with Daniel." "Jack," Sam said. "Daniel was not your fault. It just happened. How were we supposed to know that the Calumians were extremely loyal to the Goa'uld? Stop blaming yourself." "I am in command of this team," Jack said, sitting back down where he had been before. "I'm responsible for every member of this team. No one gets left behind. We should have taken Daniel with us." "Then we'd all be dead," Sam said, sitting in front of him. "You made the right call." "Then why do I feel so damn guilty?" Jack asked, his eyes moistening with tears. "Because Daniel was your friend and you didn't want to leave him behind." Sam said, making him realize the truth, tears filling her own blue eyes. "Carter." Jack whispered as he fell toward her, making Sam grab him into a crushing embrace. She held him as he sobbed into her shoulder, like he had done with her, her own tears falling down her cheeks. Twenty minutes later, Jack sat back in the chair he had been in and looked at Sam. They just stared at each other until Teal'c entered the hut. "O'Neill," Teal'c announced. "We have found one survivor of the Calumians." "I'm coming, Teal'c." Jack said, drying his cheeks and then standing up and putting his sidearm into its holster. He then left the hut with Teal'c ahead of him and Carter behind him. They saw the native restrained and bound at the campfire, sitting on a rock. Jack charged the native and began pummeling his fist against the restrained man's face, like he had done to the locker room wall, causing the man's lip and nose bleed. Teal'c grabbed Jack and restrained him. The native just sat there staring at Jack with fear evident in his green eyes and on his face. "YOU BASTARD!!!!" Jack yelled, trying to kick the native as Teal'c pulled him away from the native. Teal'c dragged Jack off towards the other end of the village. Sam just watched, obviously shocked. Sam turned to SG-2 and 3, looking at Lieutenant Mowers, Lieutenant Lewis and Captain Hardesty each in turn. She glanced at the native, then Captain Hardesty. "Captain Hardesty," Sam said. "I want you and Lieutenant Mowers to question our prisoner. Lieutenant Lewis, I want you and the others to look around again, understood?" "Yes, Ma'am." Captain Hardesty and Lieutenant Lewis said in unison, saluting Sam. Then Lieutenant Lewis took the rest of SG-2 and 3 and went to conduct their search. Sam followed the path that Teal'c had taken Jack on and heard voices a few minutes later. Jack was saying that he owed it to Daniel to tell Kasuf that he had lost his other son. Teal'c agreed and told Jack that he'd do it with him. "Major Carter, Colonel O'Neill," Captain Hardesty called over the radio. "Come in, over?" "This is Carter," Sam said into the radio, making eye contact with Jack. "Go ahead, Captain." "Sir, Ma'am," Hardesty said. "I think you should return base camp. ASAP. There's something here that you should see." "We're on our way." Jack said into his radio when he heard the tone of Hardesty's voice. The three members of SG-1 ran towards the base camp as fast as their feet could go. They saw the campfire a few feet away and a recognizable figure. They skidded to a sudden stop when they saw a sight that couldn't be possible. The figure before them slowly turned and faced them. Jack and Sam's jaws dropped, while Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "Daniel!" Sam exclaimed. Jack shook his head and Teal'c bowed his head. "Sam," Daniel said, smiling and then walking toward his teammates. "Jack. Teal'c. It's good to see you again." "Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said. "How is this possible?"

"That's what I'd like to know. " Jack finally spoke up from behind Sam, cocking his head to the side. "Thor." Daniel said simply. "Thor?" Jack asked skeptically. "Well," Daniel said. "Thor and the Nox. Remember how the Nox could bring people back from the dead?" "Uh, yeah." Jack replied. "Thor found me and took me to the Nox." Daniel explained, receiving bewildered looks from Sam, Jack, Captain Hardesty and Lieutenant Mowers. Teal'c only raised an eyebrow stoically. "Love those guys." Jack said with a smile. He walked towards Daniel and gave him a brotherly hug. Daniel then hugged Sam and shook Teal'c's hand. "I thought I'd never see you guys again," Daniel said, suddenly serious. "I thought for sure that was the end of me." "Well," Jack said, patting Daniel on the left shoulder. "It's good to have you back, Daniel. What do you say we go home?" The teams met up at the Stargate and all of them, including their prisoner, went back to Earth to celebrate the return of a good friend and teammate. SG-1 knew that the briefing for this was going to be long and very interesting.

TWO DAYS LATER

SG-1 was given six weeks of downtime until Daniel had fully recovered from his ordeal. Doctor Janet Fraiser was keeping Daniel in the infirmary for observation for a few days, while Teal'c had decided to go to the light side of P3X 797 to visit his son, Rya'c, being that he didn't have anything else to do but sit in his quarters and perform Kel-no-reem. Sam and Jack had decided to spend some time together to talk about their last few months of guilt and actions that they had taken with their guns. "Colonel," Sam said. "I'm sorry for pointing my weapon at you." "Oh, Carter," Jack said. "It's alright. I did the same thing to you. Remember? And call me Jack for cryin' out loud. We're engaged. Colonel is for work, not home." "Yeah, okay," Sam said, grinning, then getting up from the couch to walk over to her jacket. "I have something I want you to listen to, Jack." "Okay." Jack said, watching Sam load a CD into his CD player. "I got this CD a while back," Sam said, handing the case to Jack. "When I heard this song, I thought of you." "'Last Of the Independants,' eh?" Jack asked, reading the title of the CD out loud, then turned the case over to look at the song list. Sam pushed the 'play' button on the stereo's remote and sat closer to Jack, making him put his left arm around her shoulders. As the music started, Sam put her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes when she felt his fingers in her short, blonde hair.

~@~ Oh, why you look so sad,
The tears are in your eyes,
Come on and come to me now ~@~

~*~ I'm here, Sam. I'll always be here. I promise. ~*~ Jack thought to himself as his fingers entwined in her hair.

~@~ And don't be ashamed to cry,
Let me see you through,
'Cause I've seen the dark side too. ~@~

~*~ I won't have a dark side anymore thanks to you, Sam. ~*~ Jack thought to himself again, kissing the top of her head. Sam opened her eyes and looked up at Jack and he looked into her blue eyes. Jack placed his other hand along her left jaw, his thumb caressing her cheek.

~@~ When the night falls on you,
You don't know what to do,
Nothing you confess
Could make me love you less.

I'll stand by you,
I'll stand by you,
Won't let nobody hurt you,
I'll stand by you.
So, if you’re mad, get mad;
Don't hold it all inside,
Come on and talk to me now.
And he,
What you got to hide?
I get angry too,
Well, I'm a lot like you. ~@~

Jack listened to the words as he stared into Sam's eyes. He knew that Sam was trying to tell him something. He then glanced at the V-shaped engagement ring that Sam had put back on upon returning from P4Z 641, then back to her eyes, grinning. ~*~ She'll stand by me no matter what. ~*~ Jack's mind told him silently.

~@~ When you're standing at the crossroads
And don't know which path to choose,
Let me come along,
'Cause even if you're wrong, ~@~

~*~ I'm wrong a lot, but Sam doesn't fault me for that, does she? ~*~ Jack admitted to himself, knowing that there are times when he's been wrong.

~@~ I'll stand by you,
I'll stand by you,
Won't let nobody hurt you.

I'll stand by you,
Take me in into your darkest hour,
And I'll never desert you,
I'll stand by you.

And when, when the night falls on you, baby,
You're feeling all alone,
You won't be on your own. ~@~

~*~ With you at my side, Sam, I won't be alone. ~*~ Jack thought happily, unable to wait for their wedding day to arrive. He wondered if he'd be able to talk her into wearing that sexy, blue dress thing from the Shavadai. He doubted it though. Sam had hated that outfit. Even the headdress with the veil.

~@~ I'll stand by you,
I'll stand by you,
Won't let nobody hurt you.

I'll stand by you,
Take me in into your darkest hour,
And I'll never desert you,
I'll stand by you. ~@~

As the song faded out and went onto the next song, Jack's lips were kissing Sam's. He then broke the kiss, picked her up and carried her to his bedroom, closing the door behind him with his foot.

THE END