Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate or any of the characters you recognize. I'm just borrowing them for entertainment. There is no monetary gain and no copyright infringement intended. The lines of dialog you recognize are from the show, the rest you don't recognize are from me.

AN: Last Chapter! Thank you for all the kind words. Thank you again to my awesome beta Gategirl7.

Previously:

That thought brought the reality of their situation rushing back to him. It was everything he could do not to take a horrified step back from her. She depended on him, he was her CO and he'd taken advantage of her, but he couldn't find enough regret to wipe out the rightness of how it had felt to claim her.

Chapter 3 – Secret Desires

Slowly, Jack withdrew from the warmth of Sam's body. She shivered and lifted her head from where she rested against the side of his neck. Reluctantly, he took a step back out of the circle of her legs and the pants still joining them. "Sir, we...," her voice was shaky and she wasn't looking at him. Jack's own legs weren't too steady.

"Shh, Sam," he couldn't bring himself to use her rank right now. "Get dressed, we're lucky Teal'c hasn't come to find us yet." That thought hadn't seemed important a few minutes ago. Thankfully, she only nodded. He wasn't ready to hear her call him Colonel or Sir yet. He could still smell her scent on him. His body was still humming from having finally claimed her.

"O'Neill. Major Carter," Teal'C's voice sounded from further along the beach. Jack couldn't see the big Jaffa, but just in case, he stepped in front of Sam, blocking view of her with his body as she finished dressing. She didn't say anything as Teal'c became visible coming around some rocks jutting where the beach curved. Her face was closed off. He wasn't sure what she was thinking. Hell, he wasn't sure what he was thinking. Did she regret what had just happened? Would she report him for a court marshal? She should, if they ever got back to Earth. He looked down at her and caught her eye as they approached Teal'c. The emotions he saw there mirrored his own.

Jack tried to reassure her with his eyes before turning back to his alien teammate. "I believe I have located the parents of Loran," Teal'c informed them, turning to lead them in the direction he'd come from. Jack stepped back to allow Sam to follow first.

"Good job, Teal'c," Jack said, trying to put some enthusiasm in his voice. They clustered around two bodies turned mostly to bone, half buried in the sand.

"Sir," Sam's voice was mostly normal as she addressed him. Nothing like danger on an alien plant to get them back in military mode, he thought cynically. He should be holding her, reassuring her that he... what? That you what O'Neill? Jack asked himself. He was still her commanding officer. "These bodies were buried. Look at the rocks placed around them. Loran knew his parents were dead all along." Yeah, he'd come to the same conclusion. With a sigh, Jack nodded at her words. He wasn't looking forward to confronting the kid. Being stranded on an alien world, alone except for two addicted parents was a tough break, but the kid needed to come clean with them. Maybe he'd have some clue how to fix this and turn off the machine.

"Let's go talk to Loran," Jack ordered. "Take point, Teal'c." Teal'c turned back down the beach and Carter turned to follow. Things were feeling more normal between them, but he knew they needed to talk, he just had no idea what to say.

As they approached the structure that housed the addictive light show, Teal'c surprised him by stopping in their path and turning back to them. "What's up, T?" Jack glanced at Sam and could see the same question in her face. The big warrior didn't speak for a moment as if he was considering his words first.

"Now that we know the purpose of this place, I have seen devices that work in similar ways when in the service of Apophis." The man looked apologetic, troubled. Did he blame himself for not recognizing what this place was and telling them in time?

"Not your fault, T," Jack assured him. "You didn't know what it was at first. I'm guessing the snakehead didn't use these places much when you were First Prime, not his drug of choice."

"That is so, O'Neill," his friend agreed. "But not for the reasons you may believe. Apophis enjoyed such activities, but he found it too troublesome to control the humans in his service during such times. Their actions were too unpredictable once exposed. It was said that places such as these lowered the inhibitions of even those thought most loyal to their masters. The humans had little control to stop themselves from undertaking impulses they felt strongly about. Their secret desires often were acted upon, whether that was to run away, to kill their oppressors, or to give in to other desires they would dare not express at any other time." Teal'c studied each in turn for a moment before turning and heading inside.

"Was he trying to tell us what I think he was?" Jack asked turning very slowly to his 2IC. He wasn't sure he was ready to face her.

"I think so, Sir," she answered softly, before turning wide blue eyes on him. "He knows." Jack didn't deny her words. He wasn't surprised. If he'd been in his right mind, he'd have known that the protective warrior would never have allowed teammates he knew to have their judgments compromised to fall that far behind without checking to make sure they were ok. He could see that the same thought was dawning on the young officer beside him. A flush was spreading up her neck and across her cheeks.

"Don't over think, Carter," he warned as gently as he knew how. They had a lot to sort out and he wasn't sure where to start. She had every right to blame him for not protecting her from all this and now their teammate might have witnessed them breaking the fraternization rules. Not to mention how she must feel about what he might have seen.

"A little hard to do, Sir," she told him. That he understood. She surprised him when she touched his sleeve and finally met his eyes for the first time since he'd withdrawn from her body and stepped back from her. "Colonel," she started, obviously drumming up the nerve to say something. Jack braced himself, the awkwardness she felt was a clear indicator what was coming. Here it comes, the recriminations. His stomach clenched sickly. Well, at least he had to respect the fact that she'd tell him to his face how she felt and not just report him for a court marshal. "Did I just end my career?" she asked, pulling herself up and standing nearly at attention in her nervousness.

"What?" he barked, shocked by her assumption. "Carter," he said, shoving his hands in his pockets to keep from reaching for her. "I'm your commanding officer. It's my job to watch out for you, if anyone is to blame here it's me. If you want to bring me up on charges I won't deny that what happened was my responsibility." How could he?

She looked honestly shocked. "You told me how close you were to losing control. You asked me to walk away." Her shoulders relaxed a little but the tension was still there. "I couldn't bring you up on charges. It was my choice not to walk away." She rubbed her hand over her face again. She was still wound pretty tight.

"Spill, Sam, what else is going on in that brain of yours? We both know we have some stuff to deal with, but you look like someone killed your dog. Say what you have to say." He could understand why she would have that reaction to having shared her body with him. He was many years her senior and not exactly a catch for someone with her brains and looks, not to mention the eagle shaped off limit signs on his uniform.

"What Teal'c said about secret desires," she hesitated, licking her lips and searching his face. "Can you ever work with me again? Can we stay on SG1? This team means the world to me, Sir, but now that you know my inappropriate feelings are that deep..." She wasn't rejecting him, she was worried about him rejecting her. The thought hit him hard.

"Sam," he interrupted, grasping her shoulders, finally unable to fight his impulse to touch her. "I will say again, you were not there alone. I was the one holding you against that wall so intent on you that I could have gotten us killed. What if Teal'c had been a hostile alien?" He stopped and gathered his thoughts. God, he didn't do emotions, but he'd be damned if he'd see this woman in this much distress. "It's that damn machine, Sam. It lowered both of our inhibitions to the point we acted in ways we never would have before. I've got to believe that no matter how deep the attraction, without this machine we would not have compromised this mission. I have to believe that we will find a way out of this and we will continue to operate as the most kick ass team at the SGC." It was as reasonable and reassuring as he could be. It was what he truly wanted to happen.

She considered his words. He could see her brain computing. "Secret desires don't mean nonexistent desires, Major," he used her rank deliberately. "You going to stand there and tell me that today just happened out of the blue?"

"No, Sir," she agreed. He could see the light bulb going off in her head. "We've had these feeling for a while and we've been fine as a team. Without the machine we would have never acted inappropriately." He nodded at her and was relieved to see her shoulders relax. Satisfied that they had settled things enough to hold them off until a more appropriate time, Jack turned. He needed to go and find the kid and see what progress Daniel had made.

"Colonel," Sam's voice stopped him in his tracks, her tone was soft and full of resigned acceptance. She'd come to some kind of decision and he had the feeling he wasn't going to like it. "There might be a problem, Sir," she told him carefully. He raised an eyebrow at her in question.

"And what would that be, Major?" he asked, no idea what she was going to say.

"I can't lie to you about this," she started, running a hand down her neck to ease the tension. Her movement revealed the top of her shoulder where the shirt normally covered, showing him a bruise on her creamy skin. It was in the shape of a bite mark. He didn't remember doing that, but now he knew how he'd stopped himself from shouting out his climax. The sight twisted his gut. He was perversely glad she wore his mark. How was he going to keep this professional between them?

"Jack," oh god she'd called him by his name. "I don't think I can forget what it feels like to be with you." He froze, he hadn't been expecting that. Unsure what to say, if he should tell her he felt the same Jack didn't move, he just listened. "I want SG1 more than I have ever wanted anything before. I can't lose that, but I can't lie to you and tell you that I can just forget how you make me feel." The hurt in her eyes was his undoing. He was being as stoic and strong as he knew how, but faced with her feelings that too closely mirrored his own, Jack was at a loss. He wasn't sure how they might work things out, but was suddenly very sure he wanted them to try.

"Sam, we can't do anything about this now, but I'm not sure I can give you up either." He reached out and ran a finger down the side of her neck where the collar had settled back over his mark in her skin. "Sounds like we have a lot to talk about when we get back," he told her. Smiling and squeezing her shoulder. "We'll figure this out. I mean, if you're sure that's want you want."

Sam smiled the most beautiful smile he'd ever seen light up her face. "It's what I want, no matter how we have to get there." Jack heart lifted. She wanted him. The woman that had inhabited his dreams for years really wanted him. They would figure something out. "Well, I guess you better go in here and save our asses Major" he told her. "So we can get home and get this sorted out."

"Yes, Sir," she answered, a twinkle in her eye. This had been a very good day, Jack decided.