Author's Note: Set during Season 7 – for no other reason than it's one of my favorites and it's so shippy at times.

He should open a bottle of Jack Daniels, and drink just enough to impair his judgment. That way, he would have to stay at home and be unable to drive to Carter's house to make sure that she really is alive and home and safe.

But he doesn't. Instead, he exchanges the whiskey for his keys, and finds himself driving across town. Not that he's being irrational in his decision-making or anything. Nope, not at all.

It's just that they'd come a little too close to losing Sam on this occasion, and he blames himself for putting her in that position in the first place. They'd manage to rescue her from the hands of PXZ-665's megalomaniac and misogynistic emperor, but not before he had already punished Sam for being 'out of line'.

Now, every time he closes his eyes, he still sees the whip striking her back, and how there wasn't a damn thing he could do to stop it. He pushes those thoughts aside though, and tries to tell himself that it's not really guilt or fear that is making him drive to Sam's house, but rather his concern as her commanding officer – because he would do the same if it was Daniel or Teal'c who had been punished in that antediluvian cage. Yup, of course he would.

When he arrives at Carter's, she lets him in without question and offers him a drink, but it rests untouched on the table until she asks if he's okay. He admits it's all his fault and he apologizes, but she berates him and he doesn't like it, and then they are shouting and he's pretty sure Sam just said she hates him for a reason he stores away to deal with at another time, and it's fine, really, because while he knows it's the meds talking, he also hates himself right now too.

But, somewhere along the way, the shouting stops and they are staring at each other from across the room and he feels like he's back on Apophis' damn battleship.

He hadn't been able to save Sam then either.

And then before he knows what's going on, he's pushing her up against a wall and she's kissing the hell out of him, and there's a moan, and a curse and he'd swear the woman pressing against him just squeaked as his fingers brushed over a certain spot on her body.

And he knows – deep down he knows – that they'll regret this in the morning. Not because it's a mistake, because if they are honest, it's been a long time coming, but because they'll have to work even harder to hide the feelings that they aren't supposed to have and act like everything is normal in their lives, when really, it's as far away from normal as can be.

Right now, though, he's content to do the things they really shouldn't be doing, but he feels Sam around him and on him and under him and it just feels so fucking right. He doesn't just take though, he gives as well and he thinks he admits how hot – but wrong – their current position is. He appreciates the breathless laugh she gives and realizes that she needs this just as much as he does, because it was too close for them both.

They know that tonight is their first and last night rolled into one. But, for now, they're okay with that, because they know that it could be their one chance, and when they lie sated and spent in the morning, they'll agree that it's better than the alternative.