A/N: After long battles with my muse over the fact that this chapter was severely OOC in some parts, it was rewritten twice and now it is ready!
Oh, and it is the longest chapter yet... ENJOY!

Title: What Happens After Dinner?
Author: Chozen Rogue
Rating: Teen; language, sexuality, eventual character death
Characters: Jack/Sam; Team; Landry; Thor
Summary: What if Jack was indeed on the Odyssey during the events of "Unending?"
Spoilers: Unending (Duh!); whole series
Disclaimer: Stargate: SG-1 belongs to MGM, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Films. I just took the characters out for a spin.

FIFTEEN WEEKS AFTER THE ORI ATTACK

Jack tried not to notice the pounding in his head as he swung his head back to dry swallow the two Tylenol that he held. Fighting back the automatic gagging response, he quickly wet his hands from the running water from his faucet and brought it up to his mouth before using the rest to splash on to his burning skin.

He continued to wet his face with the cold water until his shirt had been thoroughly soaked and the hotness of his skin seemed to have cooled. Slowly, he raised his head and braced himself against the counter as he held the back of his hand to his mouth, taking measured breaths that seemed to be in time with the pounding in his head.

Hopefully, his headache would be gone before the meeting that was scheduled for all of them at 1100 hours. Rolling his head on his shoulders to stretch the muscles in his neck, he once again ran his hand over his face and then reached for the towel rack to dry off.

Glancing down at his hand, Jack saw a dark pink smear on the back of his hand. Blinking slowly, he turned his hand over and saw the same smear on his palm and it seemed to be running down his arm in pink droplets. He raised his eyes to the mirror and was surprised to see that his nose was bleeding. The water on his skin only made it worse. His light grey shirt had turned a rust color along the collar.

He grabbed the towel he had originally been grabbing from the wall and bunched it up under his nose while he cleaned himself off with toilet paper. After washing off all the blood, he carefully stripped his shirt off and then climbed into his bed. Once settled, he leaned his head back to help stem the flow of blood still issuing from his nose.

Damn spaceships and their recycled air.

*****

TWO DAYS LATER

"I don't think I've asked you yet, but what do you think about Daniel and Vala?"

Jack paused in the shaving of his cheek as his eyes met Sam's in the mirror. "You're kidding, right?"

A grin crossed her face as she continued flipping through Thor's book, which he had recently discovered was actually named A History of Asgard Legends and the Truth behind Them. Even now the title still brought a smile to his face, it sounded so damn human-like.

"And what are you smiling about?"

"At the fact that Danny-boy seems awfully tired now-a-days."

A small giggle issued from behind him, and he once again took his eyes off the blade that was now trailing down his neck to look at Carter's reflection. She glanced at him and her cheeks tinted as she said, "She does seem to wearing him out."

"Speak for yourself," he dipped the razor in the sink before bringing it back up to his neck, "you didn't catch them in the Projection Room."

He watched as she shuddered violently, "And I hope to never do!"

A comfortable silence descended as she continued her reading and he his shaving. It was moments like these with Sam that Jack looked forward to the most, he thought as the razor slid through the last patch of cream on his neck. He also loved that they had been growing in number in the past few weeks since they had finally agreed to let their relationship progress naturally.

She had come to his quarters an hour ago as a wake-up call that he hadn't needed but had appreciated. She had even brought him an orange and a thermos of coffee for breakfast, which he quickly devoured as she finished her own yogurt.

From there, the morning had steadily grown more domestic as he had finally scratched the underside of his chin and she had arched an eyebrow at the noise his two-day-old beard had made. Though her breaking point with his disheveled appearance came when he had run his hand through his hair and she had noticed how long it had gotten.

"How long since you cut it?"

Jack shrugged and answered, "Maybe a week or two after the attack… It has gotten a bit long, hasn't it?"

She smile at him and nodded. "Yes, it has." A moment passed before she continued, shyly, "May I cut it?"

He had stared stupidly at her until finally, he had answered yes.

Minutes later, he had been sitting in the cramped bathroom on the toilet sans shirt and she had gone about trimming his hair with the small electric shaver he always carried with him on travels. Once she had finished, they had gone about cleaning up the hair that had strewn the floor and then he had shooed her out of the bathroom before taking quick shower to rid him of the remaining hair that still clung to his body.

That had been twenty minutes ago, and now she was sitting on top of his toilet lid wearing a pair of sweats and a tank top; her hair, which had grown since the attacks, was pulled back messily, and she flipping though the book. He, on the other hand, was now in the process of shaving and still shirtless, clad only in a pair of BDU pants.

The domesticity of it all was painfully sweet. It was new and exhilarating because it was Carter but it was also scaring the hell out of him because it reminded him of him so much of the marriage he had botched.

Shaking himself out of the painful memories he had brought back, Jack quickly rinsed the razor and then his face. When he was sure all of the left over shaving cream was gone he reached for the towel beside him only to find it missing from where he had left it on the counter.

Looking up in surprise, he found Carter standing in the doorway holding the towel and the book, all the while giving him a look that made Jack suddenly very aware of how cramped the bathroom was. He smiled at her, hoping that she wouldn't be able to tell that the thoughts coursing through his mind weren't the most gentlemanly.

A coy smile crossed her face as she held out the towel for him, which he reached out to take which she held onto a bit longer than necessary until letting it go. "Uh, thanks."

Sam grinned before walking into the living area, and by the way her hips shook, she had been wise to where his thoughts had drifted… Damn minx.

His eyes quickly left her shapely behind as she turned around to sit down on his bed after replacing Thor's book on his nightstand. He continued to watch her as she started to pull on her sneakers. "You leaving?"

She nodded without looking up. "Yeah, I still have to get dressed." Once her shoes were tied, Sam's eyes met his and she asked, "I'm going to do some more scavenging in the lower decks with Teal'c later if you want to help?"

"I might," he answered as he finished drying his face off. If he was perfectly honest with himself, he hoped that she wouldn't change into another set of clothes… The image of a sweaty and dirty Carter in a tank top had a certain appeal to him.

"You okay?"

His mind focused back on the here and now causing him to shift his stance uncomfortably; he cleared his throat. "Yeah… Well then, thanks for cleaning me up, Carter." He ran a hand over his freshly cut hair. "I know I was getting pretty shaggy there."

"Anytime, sir." She threw him a smile and a small wave before she exited his quarters.

Staring at the door as it closed, Jack couldn't help the grin that threatened to split his face in two. He always liked it when Carter was in one of her playful moods. They were rare but man did he love them.

Turning to the sink once more, he threw the towel on the counter and grabbed his toothbrush. After putting the paste on it, he started brushing as his mind once more went over the events of the morning.

Taking the brush out of his mouth, he spat into the sink and recoiled slightly when he saw red swirl into the white frothy liquid. Looking up in surprise, he found a trail of blood leading from nose to his top lip, smearing itself across his lips. Sighing heavily, he rinsed his mouth and nose before going over to the toilet and grabbing a wad of tissue paper.

"A perfect end to a perfect morning," he mumbled sarcastically to himself.

*****

Landry was staring at the Ori missile through the forward window of the bridge when Jack found him. Walking over to the man, Jack leaned against the sill and asked, "So, based on Carter's evidence yesterday, how do you think we're doing?"

Hank gave a heavy sigh before turning to Jack. "It doesn't look good, that's for sure." Jack nodded and glanced once more at the missile before refocusing his attention on the other general. He was staring at him. "What?"

Landry blinked. "I'd forgotten what you looked liked cleaned-up, looks good on you."

"Yeah well, you can thank Carter. She helped get me to do it." There was no one in hell he was going to tell Landry the exact details of what happened this morning; he'd never hear the end of it, whether in teasing or in admonishment.

The other man smiled and then a dark cloud seemed to pass over his face causing Jack to raise an eyebrow in interest. "Even cleaned-up Jack, you still look like hell. What's up?"

He shrugged. "I think I'm just tired…" His eyes once more settled on the missile, which might have appeared beautiful to him if it didn't mean death. "Of everything. Human weren't made to live in a bubble."

He felt the man shift next to him before Landry said, "You might be right, but at this time, we might not have any choice."

After nodding in concession, Jack leant his forehead against the glass and sighed as the extreme cold hit his nerve endings, somewhat dulling the headache that had returned after his nosebleed.

A comforting hand landed on his shoulder. "The headache back?" At Jack's nod, Landry continued, "They've been growing more frequent Jack; you need to ask Sam or Daniel to check you out with the medical scanner before they get worse."

"Planning to…" At the sound of his voice trailing off, he felt Landry squeeze his shoulder. After a moment, Jack pushed himself off the window to face the other man. "But later, Carter needs help with some stuff and I offered my services."

"You're not going to be much help to her you can't stand straight."

"That's why I was going to ask if you wanted to help!"

Shaking his head, Landry said, "Sorry Jack, but you're going to have to get someone else to cover your ass. I'm in charge of dinner tonight, remember?"

Jack shrugged his shoulders good-naturally as he made his way off the bridge, pretending to not notice the way Landry was watching every one of his movements like a hawk. "Suit yourself. See you at dinner!"

*****

Sam sat staring at her hands as she folded the paper napkin she held into various shapes, her thoughts on the events of the morning. She hadn't really planned on staying in O'Neill's quarters as long as she did. It was suppose to be a nice little breakfast that they could both enjoy before what was sure to be very long day… Not the almost two and a half hour conversation that it had become.

She sighed. Jack hadn't been feeling well, she could tell by the way his face would pale occasionally or the slight falter in his step or stance. Little things that hinted at an underlying problem that she didn't want to admit that was there. She was even starting to wonder if she was the only who saw it since no one else had mention it, let alone him.

A snort escaped her, like he would ever willingly admit that he needed help. He was Jack O'Neill after all.

Regardless, this morning had been amazing. Every little touch, smile, or look that had been shared between them kept replaying in her mind—her own private movie. She still couldn't believe that he had let her give him a haircut and then had let her stay as he took a shower and later shaved.

Damn, was he beautiful after a shower…

She was in the middle of a particularly arousing memory of a certain water droplet that she had followed from his hairline and down his back to the hem of his towel, when a talking Vala suddenly appeared in her line of vision.

Snapping back to the here and now, Sam blinked, in what she was sure was in a stupid manner, and asked the other woman, "I'm sorry, what?"

Vala raised an eyebrow as Sam tried to fight back the blush she felt creep into her cheeks. "Oh—I said, I want to help you."

It took a moment for Vala's request to register, but once it did, Sam smiled.

*****

Daniel could hear the sounds of wood against wood mixed with the thwacks of wood hitting flesh as he neared the gym, already knowing who would be in the room. He happened to enter the room in time to see Teal'c sweep the bashaak under Cam's feet and winced when he saw the man hit the ground on his back, hard.

Both men turned to him as Teal'c reached down to give a helping hand to Mitchell. "Hello Daniel Jackson."

"Hey Teal'c, Cam."

Mitchell grunted his hello and waved a hand at him, apparently still trying to catch his breath. "You alright?"

"Yeah, but I won't know for sure until my lungs start working again." He threw a smile at Daniel. "I'm good."

Teal'c nodded and said, with pride in voice, "You are doing quite well Colonel Mitchell, that was the only time today that I was able to find and exploit one of your weaknesses."

"Aw thanks, Teal'c." Cam patted Teal'c on the shoulder before heading over to one of the benches that lined the wall of the room and sat down next to his stuff. He grabbed his water bottle and downed half of it before turning to Daniel and asking, "What's going on?"

Daniel shrugged. "I was in the projection room and found something that I wanted to cross-reference with Jack's book."

"I thought the book was about myths?"

"Well, myths are typically based on real circumstances, usually made-up to explain things a civilization couldn't." Sitting down next to Cam, Daniel continued, "Regardless, I remember some kind of reference in the book but I can't remember the whole thing."

Mitchell nodded. "Cool…" his attention turned to Teal'c who was in the process of putting away the sparring weapons. "You need help, T?"

The Jaffa shook his head as closed the door to the locker that held some training equipment, "No need." He turned to Jackson, "And about you inquiry into O'Neill's location, I believe he is on the observation deck resting."

Daniel nodded as he scratched his chin. "I see… Oh well, I'll catch him at dinner."

"Okay, now that we have located the missing General and his book, why don't T and I get cleaned up and we'll head to dinner." Mitchell stood up from the bench and threw a glance at Daniel. "You in?"

"Yeah, sure. I just need to close everything down in the Projection Room, so I'll meet you guys in a little while."

"Nice; see you then. Let's go Teal'c, I'm not sure I can stand my own smell much longer!"

"Indeed; neither can I."

Daniel couldn't help the laugh that escaped him as he watched Cam's jaw drop.

*****

"Okay, so the problem is that there isn't enough time to shut off the dilation field and start a new process."

Sam followed Vala with her eyes as the former Goa'uld paced the small span of the work station. "I know."

Holding up her hands to stop Sam from continuing, Vala said, "Uh, I'm just thinking out loud here."

"I know."

Both women traded bemused smiles, until suddenly, in a fashion that was true to Vala's nature, her focus changed and she referenced something behind Sam. "What is that thing?"

Turning in a somewhat puzzled fashion, Sam saw her cello behind her and it dawned on her that even though she knew Vala knew about the music lessons with Jack, the woman had never actually seen the instrument. "Ah, it's a cello; the one I've been practicing with Jack. I've always wanted to learn how to play."

Vala shot her a knowing smile. "I keep meaning to ask you how the lessons are going…" Her voice trailed off but Sam could clearly hear the implications beneath.

"Nothing's happened Vala."

A moment passed as Vala stared at her suspiciously, apparently not believing a word that she had said, while Sam held Vala's gaze, daring the woman to question her farther.

Raising an eyebrow, Vala gave Sam a small smile. "Uh-huh…" She started pacing again, apparently dropping the subject for now, because Sam was sure that the subject would be broached again. "Is it possible to use the time dilation technology to solve our problem?"

Vala's question once again caught Sam off guard mostly because, like most things dealing with Vala, logic failed to follow. She had no idea what the other woman was referring to specifically. "How?"

"Well, obviously it would—"

Sam noticed too late that Vala had begun to lean back against the console behind her and quickly reached out in order to stop her. But it was too late and an angry beeped issue from the console before Vala had time to register and straighten back up. "Sorry!"

Sam couldn't help the thought that having Vala near sensitive areas was just a much of a danger as it was with Jack.

She gave Sam a sheepish look before continuing. "Obviously it'd be great if we could go back in time and not get into this situation in the first place."

A small laugh escaped Sam before she said, "Well, slowing down time within a localized field is not even close to the same thing as reversing time altogether." At Vala's crestfallen expression, Sam quickly added, "It's a good thought, though."

*****

"See what we need," Cam grabbed a napkin and the salt shaker in front of him, only to wrap the napkin around the neck of the shaker, "is we need Superman to fly around the ship really, really fast." He made flying motions over his food as he salted it.

Next to her, she heard Jack snort into his glass causing her to nudge him in the stomach playfully as she turned to Cam who was sitting on the opposite side of her. "Oh, if you only knew how ridiculous that was…"

Mitchell rolled his eyes and started to gather his trash onto his tray as he got up to leave the table. "No, it only sounds ridiculous 'til you hear yourself say 'I am trapped on a spaceship stuck in a time dilation field'."

Sam watched him as he took his tray over to the bar that separated the kitchen and Captain's mess, before grabbing a napkin and placing two of the cookies that Vala and Teal'c had made the day before onto it. "I'm just saying that maybe it's getting to the time that we start trying what we think is impossible."

Daniel nodded. "I hate to say it, but I agree with Cam." He glanced at her before shrugging as he began to work on his second helping.

Glancing at everyone, Sam said, "Look, I know that everyone wants to go home, I want to as well, but we need to ensure that we do it safely."

"I agree, Colonel." Landry smiled at her before addressing the table. "We keep our present course of action. Isn't that right, Jack?"

"Uh," Sam saw the slight confusion on O'Neill's face as he looked up from his playing of his food, apparently not have been listening, "yes, and most of all, try to have fun. Keep it light."

Daniel traded a knowing glance with Teal'c, as Vala smiled up at Daniel and Cam couldn't help but laugh at the "told you so" look directed at him by Landry. All of this Sam ignored as she leaned into Jack's side and whispered, "You have no idea what you just answered to, do you?"

"Nope."

She turned slightly into his shoulder to hide the giggle that escaped her and felt him smile against her hair. The sudden thought that it might not be wise to be this close in front of everyone yet made her immediately withdraw to a safer distance. Sam tried to ignore the sudden hurt expression cross his face as he went back to pushing the mostly untouched plate of food around.

God, she wish she could act like Vala did with Daniel; curled around the man she loved. Her eyes widen as the confession flowed smoothly in her thoughts.

She cleared her throat awkwardly causing Jack to raise an eyebrow at her. She feigned coughing as she took a drink of her juice. "Swallowed wrong."

He nodded and patted her back. Once her fake coughs subsided, she was more than a little surprised when he hand wasn't removed from her back and instead was moved to rest on the small of it, a warm and comforting weight.

If not distracting and definitely something she was happy to deal with through out the rest of dinner.

*****

Almost an hour later, the group, sans Landry, who had stayed behind to continue cleaning, filtered out of the mess and down the corridor towards the elevator.

"So guys, what are we all doing tonight?"

Everyone looked to Cameron who was wearing that easy smile of his that Sam had started to miss. He was still angry at being stuck here on the Odyssey for the foreseeable future but at least he seemed to coming to terms with it now.

She grinned back at him. "I don't know Cam, what are you planning on doing?"

"Well, I was going to see if anyone of you wanted to join me in the projection room for a movie. I've got my external!"

Sam felt Jack lean into her as she heard him snort at the enthusiasm in Cam's voice, his mouth suddenly close to her ear as he whispered, "Leave it to Mitchell to have a ton of movies with him at a time like this."

She turned to him slightly. "Says the man with half of The Simpsons on his own hard drive."

"Hey, it was a gift from Siler!"

Rolling her eyes, she cast her attention back to Vala who had begun saying something to Cam, and tried not to be disappointed when she felt Jack pull away from her. "We would love to come, but Daniel and I will have to leave early so we can have sex."

The group dissolved into laughter, except for Teal'c whose mouth merely twitched, at Vala's comment as Daniel suddenly grabbed her and put his hand over her mouth playfully. "Uh, what she means to say is that we have an early day tomorrow," he said quickly, a slight blush crossing his features.

Shaking her head slightly as she tried to stop her laughing, Sam said, "For what? More sex?"

Daniel merely shrugged in response as Vala reached up and placed a kiss on his cheek.

Looking nonplussed as usual by the exchange, Teal'c turned to Cameron and said, "I will also be joining you tonight."

Grinning, Cam turned towards Sam and asked, "How about it, Carter? I've even got General Landry coming by after he finishes up in the kitchen."

"Okay, count me in as well." Cameron beamed at her as they rounded a corner in the corridor, the elevator now within in their sights. "What about you, Sir?"

When no answer came from behind her, she tried again, knowing O'Neill's attention span wasn't the best, "Sir?" Again no answer; she turned around and found no one standing where he should have been. "Where did the General go?"

Teal'c was beside her immediately, though she knew everyone else had stopped as well. "I do not know Colonel Carter. Was he not behind you?"

"He was…" Sam couldn't help the worried feeling that settled deep within her stomach as she started to back track down the hallway.

Turning the bend in the corridor, she came to a sudden stop as she found him braced against a bulkhead, pale-faced and with his eyes shut tight. "Sir?"

He looked up at her and the emptiness in his eyes terrified her. "Jack?"

She registered that the others had caught up with her and that they had began to call his name as well but she only registered a single whisper from him before he fell unconscious, "Crap…"

Teal'c barely reached him before Jack hit the ground.

- A/N: As some might worry about where this fic is going, I will tell you now these new developments with Jack will only last for the next few chapters. This is still a retelling of Unending and the reason for Jack's mysterious condition will be revealed as it unfolds.
Besides that, whether you love it or hate it, tell me what you think?