“Welcome, kids, to the first annual Jaffa-con!” Jack shielded his eyes from the sun with one hand as he stared out at the groups of Jaffa wandering around. “With special guest appearances by Teal’c and Master Bra’tac.”

Sam rolled her eyes at her CO’s comments. She didn’t really want to be here, and hoped they wouldn’t have to spend the night. There were too many bodies, too many eyes, too much tension. Not her ideal way to start out the week.

Teal’c found them and led them to a large tent where the various Jaffa leaders were already sitting on cushions on the floor. They all seemed interested to meet the tau’ri heroes that Teal’c had been working with for the past few years, and SG-1 found themselves accepted as onlookers to the proceedings.

Jack lost interest first. Sam sniggered and almost felt sorry for him; this wasn’t exactly her cup of tea either. Daniel seemed absorbed, soaking up the politics of Jaffa culture like a sponge. The colonel, however, seemed to be staring intently at a spot on the ceiling.

Sam reached out and lightly touched his arm, causing him to jump.

“Sorry,” he said quickly to the several faces that turned towards him. With a backwards glance at Sam, he stood and slipped out of the tent. Sam exchanged an eye roll with Daniel then followed.

“Bored, sir?”

“I’m not a politician or an ambassador,” Jack bitched as Sam fell into step with him. “So hell fuckin’ yeah I’m bored.”

Sam giggled. They headed away from the camp, seeking the shade of the forest a little ways away. Neither of them said anything until they came upon a small river and Sam sat down, stripping her shoes and socks off and sticking her feet in the cool water.

“Why is it everywhere we go is so hot?” Jack sat down next to her, pulling his cap off.

Sam shrugged, leaning back on her hands. They weren’t due to report back to Hammond for another hour or so, and she thought she deserved a little relaxation time.

Jack reached out to lightly touch her hair, and Sam instinctively ducked away. Then she realized what he was doing and allowed him to run his fingers through her hair and gently massage her scalp. She sighed. This was how she liked starting her week. Nice and relaxing.

His hand jerked away suddenly and Sam opened her eyes. “What –“

“Shhh!” Jack put a finger to his lips and got slowly to his feet, raising his P90. Sam pulled her shoes on. As she was tying the laces she heard what was unmistakably the sound of a staff weapon being fired. And another, and another. Jack motioned for her to follow him and they crept slowly back to the camp.

What they found was sheer pandemonium. It seemed that some of the Jaffa decided they didn’t want to be so rebellious after all and turned on the others. Jack tried to contact Daniel over the radio; no response.

“Let’s hope they got back to the gate,” Sam called over the din as she opened fire on a couple hostile Jaffa headed their way.

Seconds later her stomach dropped as a goa’uld death glider zoomed overhead, firing at random into the clearing. Dust and debris flew everywhere.

“CARTER!” Sam looked over in time to see Jack’s horrified expression before there was another deafening explosion and everything went black.

Sam propped herself up on her elbows and looked around. She nearly vomited.

Bodies lay everywhere. Bodies with their heads blown off or chests caved in from staff weapon blasts. Sam’s breath seemed to catch in her own chest as she looked around at the massacre; even in the dim moonlight she could see the blood that was splattered everywhere.

“Colonel?!” Her voice was high pitched and terrified. In sheer desperation she called, “Jack?!”

“Carter!” It was more of a cough than a word, but a moment later Sam felt the comforting sensation of his arm around her waist.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know,” Jack held her to him, rocking her back and forth, more to comfort himself than anything. “I don’t know what happened…”

“Daniel and Teal’c?”

“I don’t know.”

They clung to each other for a minute, giving their brains a chance to process what their eyes were seeing. Jack reluctantly let go of Sam as they got to their feet, a difficult maneuver as they both were injured. It took even longer to get back to the gate, but one glance showed the army of Jaffa guarding it.

Hopeless. Sam stared over the ridge at the Jaffa and felt such a sense of hopelessness that she very nearly started crying. It wasn’t like her to feel that way, but for some reason she did. Then Jack’s hand was on the back of her jacket, pulling her gently away.

“Come on, Carter,” he said softly. “We need to find shelter…we’ll try to get back in the morning.” So much for not spending the night.

They went back into the woods, and a fifteen-minute walk found them at the base of a small rocky hill. Two house-sized boulders formed between them a decent cave, and Jack pulled himself and Sam into this, leaning against the rocky wall and holding Sam close.

“Tell me something interesting, Carter, I need to take my mind off things.” His eyes were closed, his head leaning back against the rock.

“Interesting? I don’t know anything interesting.”

“Tell me something boring then. Tell me what your deepest secret is or what you had for lunch two weeks ago, I don’t really give a fuck. Just say something…It’s too quiet.”

Sam had to agree with that. The night seemed empty; no insects chirped, no nighttime animals scuttled through the underbrush. There wasn’t even a breeze to stir the trees. She wracked her brains for something to say. Only one thing came to mind, and it sounded more like a confession when she blurted it out. “I kissed Janet the other night.”

“Doc Fraiser?” Even in the dark she could see his eyebrows raised.

“Yeah…”

“Wow.” Jack leaned back once again. “Can’t blame you, she’s pretty hot.” He misinterpreted Sam’s look of surprise and said quickly, “But not my type. Not the way you are.”

Sam shook her head, ignoring the last half of his comment. “Good thing too.”

“Yeah, I don’t need to be getting a hard-on anytime I go in for a physical.” He grinned at Sam, who scowled. “Good thing you’re not that type of doctor.”

“Hrumph.” Sam brought her head down on his shoulder with a little more force than was entirely necessary.

“So why’d you kiss her?”

“Just for the hell of it.” Sam didn’t really want to go into details. It was too complicate and Jack would probably end up taking it the wrong way. To her relief Jack seemed to understand her completely.

“I know how that is. ‘Just for the hell of it’ is how I survive half the time.”

“I know,” Sam said quietly. “And I won’t flatter myself by thinking its only me.”

“Only you?”

“That you…” Sam made a vague gesture with one hand.

“You can say it, Carter. That I screw, fuck, whatever.”

“Right.” Sam could feel her cheeks going red.

Jack sighed, resting his chin on the top of Sam’s head.“Could we be serious for a moment?”

“I never stopped.”

“You ever wonder where we’ll be when we’re too old to be doing this anymore? Going off world, I mean.”

“Old, alone and miserable.”

Jack snorted. “Such the optimist, Carter.”

“What?” Sam shifted so she was looking him in the face. “What else do you think we’ll have?”

“Each other.” It was as if something inside Jack had opened up. He never showed that much emotion; never. “Someday things will get better, Carter. Someday we won’t have to…” his voice trailed off.

Sam leaned her forehead against his, wondering if this really was Jack talking. She liked this. If he really could be like this, Sam wished he would do it more often.

“I’m not saying you should wait for me.” Jack continued. “Go with Fraiser. She can probably give you more.”

“I don’t…” Sam shook her head.

“You deserve more than this.”

“So do you.”

Jack shook his head, then wrapped his arms tightly around Sam. “Get some rest.”

“I-“

“That’s an order, Major!”

Sam let out a sigh and settled against Jack’s chest. She closed her eyes, but couldn’t seem to fall asleep. Jack sensed this, and after a few long minutes he began gently rocking Sam back and forth, one hand rubbing her back in a soothing, repetitive motion. As she finally drifted into a blissful sleep, she half expected him to start humming a lullaby.

“Hey, easy there,” the sound had awoken Jack and he was immediately at her side. “I know it stinks…lets get you down to the river…”

Jack was watching Sam splash cold water over her face when his radio crackled to life.

“Colonel O’Neill? Major Carter? This is General Hammond, come in, please.”

“Reading you loud and clear, General.”

“Colonel, where the hell are you?!” Hammond sounded angry in that worried grandpa sort of way.

“We couldn’t get back to the gate, Sir,” Jack explained, distracted briefly by the sight of Sam rolling up her pants to stick her feet in the water as well. “There were hostile Jaffa guarding it all night.”

“It’s all clear now, Colonel, we just sent a UAV through.”

“Great, looks like we’ll be dropping in soon then.” Sam was now examining her injuries and trying to wash some of the blood away. Jack added quietly, “have a medical team ready. Carter’s not looking too good.”

“Neither are you.” Sam shouted as Jack turned off the radio and walked down to the bank of the river. They glared defiantly at each other for a minute before Jack pulled Sam’s arm over his shoulders to lend her support as they headed back to the gate.

Hammond had been right, luckily, and the gate was now unguarded. Jack began running to the DHD before any more Jaffa could show up, but Sam let out a yelp of protest and he slowed down.

It was a relief to step back into the gate room. Janet and her medical team helped Sam onto a gurney.

Daniel rushed over to Jack. “You stupid fuck!” he cried, throwing his arms around the surprised Colonel. “You stupid fu…don’t do that again!”

“Danny!” Jack wrapped an arm around Daniel’s shoulders for a moment before holding him away. “I’m ok, everything’s ok!”

“And Sam?”

“Carter’s a little roughed up, but she’ll be fine.”

Daniel’s hand came to rest on Jack’s shoulder. “We thought you two had been killed…”

The murmur of voices reached Sam’s ears and she looked over. Jack and Daniel hugging. Daniel looking worried. Them glancing in her direction, then back at each other. Before she could get a chance to figure out what was going on, however, the medical team was wheeling her gurney out of the gateroom and into the hall.