Beep! Beep! Beep!

Sam Carter rolled over and hit the snooze button for the fifth time that morning. She was determined not to get this day started any earlier then absolutely necessary. If she could stay in bed all day today she would, but Pete had left a message on her phone last night saying he'd be over that afternoon, much to Sam's disappointment. It was nice having Pete around there in the beginning, but things had gone from bad to worse within the past year after everything happened on the base, and she would have much preferred to have been left alone today.

The alarm went off again and Sam finally turned it off for good as she hauled herself towards her bathroom. Sam took longer then normal in the shower. She finally got out of the shower and blow dried her hair. Just as she was finishing brushing her teeth the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Sam, It's George." the voice on the other line identified itself.

"Oh! Hello, General!" responded Sam.

"Sam, you don't have to call me General anymore, remember?" Hammond gently joked.

"Sorry, old habits and all. The Colonel could never get me to drop the habit either."

At the sound Colonel O'Neill's name both got quiet. Today was a hard day for everyone. It was one year today that the then Major Samantha Carter watched in horror as her CO was killed before her very eyes. Just as it happened she was shoved through the gate by Daniel falling into her and the gate deactivated before she could do anything but scream his name. Sam shoved the memory back into herself.

"How are things at the base?" Sam asked.

"Fine, everything's okay. I just wanted to check in on you and make sure everything's going good. I haven't heard from you lately."

"Everything's fine. I started lecturing up at Denver University about six months ago."

"How do you like that?"

"It's nice. I actually come home every night." answered Sam

"You mean there's no cots or sofas around to crash on so you HAVE to head home." grinned Hammond.

"Yeah, pretty much, sir." she said blushing.

"Maybe I should have tried that. I should have shut down your quarters and made you find somewhere else to stay. Do you miss the long nights? That's a stupid question. You lived for the technology."

"Yeah, sometimes. Okay, a lot of the time I miss working on all of the new technology. Pushing my mental limits. I miss the excitement of going through the gate. The only adrenaline rush I get now is when my bike leans too much on a curve." joked Sam.

"Well, we miss you, too. I actually need to see you if that's okay." ventured Hammond.

"General, I really would rather not-"

"Sam, it's important. I wouldn't ask you to come back here if it wasn't. Dr. Jackson and Teal'c will be here as well. At least come for them. It's about Jack."

"What do you mean? What's going on? And how does it involve the Colonel?"

"I would rather not discuss it over the phone. If it's okay with you, I'm going to send Jack's service record over to your house."

"I thought his service record was top level classified? And why do I need to see it now?"

"It is, but you've been given clearance to see it." responded Hammond.

"Will Daniel and Teal'c see it?" asked Sam

"No, only you will be allowed to view it. I want you to see all that he did in his life in order to understand what we will be discussing tomorrow."

"What time do I need to be there at?" Sam asked, her mind made up.

"Dr. Jackson will be arriving at 0830 tomorrow morning. Teal'c will be arriving at 0845. Why don't you get to the base at 0800 to get yourself prepared and settled in? You might want to bring some extra clothes as well. I don't really know how long this is going to take. Will you be able to miss your lectures?"

"Yes, sir. I'll just call and tell them tonight. Is there anything else I should know about before hand?"

"No, just be prepared. We have a lo of things to discuss."

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow then. Goodbye George." Sam said with a smile.

About an hour later an SF rang her doorbell. Sam opened it and showed her I.D.. The young man just handed her a sealed folder and left. She carried the folder into her living room and began reading.

Three hours later Samantha Carter had a whole new respect for the late Jack O'Neill. First of all, he had a Masters Degree in Chemistry which meant he understood most of the theories that Carter used to spout off at him that he pretended to not understand. Also, he had a long lists of languages he knew that included; Latin, French, Arabic, German, and many ancient languages as well. So all the times that Daniel thought he was the only one who could understand or grasp anything any one said, the Colonel was right there, silently digesting everything everyone said.

A memory came to mind of when they had gone to a planet where they weren't exactly welcomed with opened arms. Daniel had been trying to explain to the chieftain that they were all peaceful people. He told Sam later that the chieftain said that Jack was smarter then he acted. Daniel had told the chieftain that Jack had the intellectual level of a boar's ass. Sam had doubled over laughing at that. But now Sam remembered that not five minutes after having that talk with the chieftain, Jack had accidentally stuck Daniel in a pin with the planet's equivalent of pigs.

As she read on she cried and cried for all the horrible things that Jack had been through. The reports on his Iraqi imprisonment were very detailed, as were the reports on his capture and torture at the hands of Baal. Finally, after she had read everything, she laid the file down on the table in her den and went to the bathroom to pull herself together and wipe her eyes.

While she was in the bathroom, she heard a door open. She quickly turned the corner to see who it was. Pete was standing in her den, reading Jack's file.

"You can't read that!" exclaimed Sam as she lunged for the file and took it away from him.

"What is Colonel O'Neill's file doing in the middle of our living room? And why can't I read it?" asked Pete angrily.

"General Hammond sent it over this morning. He said I needed to read it. As for why you can't, it's classified top secret." answered Sam tersely.

"I know about the Star Gate, doesn't that give me clearance enough?"

"No, I wasn't even allowed to see it until today."

"Why now?"

"Because the General wants to have a meeting with me tomorrow and he said I would need all this information to understand what the meeting was about."

"Here we go again. More cloak and dagger bullshit. I thought you were all done with this shit?!" yelled Pete.

"Pete, I'm just going there for a meeting fer cryin' out loud! What is the big deal?!" Sam yelled back.

"I thought you were through playing military and had finally learned where you belong! With me!"

"Playing military?! How dare you say that to me! I've faced more amazing and dangerous things in my life then you could even imagine seeing in your sad excuse of a career! You go and bust hookers and car thieves. I protected the Earth, and you want to say I played military?! I lived and breathed it my whole life! I worked my ass off for my promotion to Major and-"

"Yeah you worked something! I checked up on you when we first met. You got every promotion every time you were up for one. Awards out the ass. Tell me, just how many people did you fuck to get you precious promotions, huh? I know you were fucking your CO. Is that why you retired? You one way ticket to promotions gets killed and you might as well give up right?!" sneered Pete.

Sam sat silent through all of this, in a complete and total shock. How had she let someone like this into her life? The two were so wrapped up in the argument they didn't notice the person listening at the window.

"You checked up on me? You fucking Bastard!" yelled Sam

"You're nothing but a cheap whore Samantha. You leaving the SGC was the best thing you could have done for us. I got to know the real you. Not the fake bravado you put on to impress everyone. I got to see just what a slut you were. Every time we'd be together all you could talk about was that piece of shit O'Neill. Nonstop. I couldn't believe that he had finally died. That was the happiest day of my life. When you came home and told me how that bastard had fin-"

Sam's slap to the side of his face stopped him in his tracks.

"You Bitch!" Pete pulled his hand back and punched her in the stomach. He had learned a few things while on the force. Never punch where it can leave marks.

The man at the window almost jumped through it when he saw Sam clutching her stomach but stopped as he saw Sam come back up with a hook to the jaw. Pete stumbled backwards from the force of her punch and fell back into her kitchen table. The man at the window watched in amazement as Sam got a look he had never seen before on her face. She walked towards Pete with a deadly look in her eye.

"This is my house," she said as she came up with an upper cut,

"and if I ever," she continued with a knee to the groin,

"see you around it," she said as she grabbed him by the hair of his head and spun him so he was pushed face down on her table now,

"Me, or anyone else I love, I'll come after you. Do you understand me?" Provoked by his silence she shoved his elbow behind him until he felt bones start popping and cracking.

"Do you understand?!" she screamed.

"Yes." Pete said painfully.

"And if I ever, EVER hear you talk about Jack O'Neill like that again," she paused as she raised his head up off the table,

"I'll kill you" she finished as she slammed his face down onto the oak table, busting his lip and breaking his nose. She grabbed him by the hair of the head and dragged his now bloody form through her house and threw him out onto her doorstep. Te man in the window looked on in amazement. The normally quiet and calm Sam was nowhere to be seen, and this very dangerous, very pissed woman was in her place.

Pete sat up and tried to nurse his broken nose as he heard her walking back towards him.

"Take these," she said as she threw his keys at him "And leave. Now."

Pete raised up on his knees now to look at her.

"Sam, baby, I'm sorry. I would never hurt you. I didn't mean it. Please, let me have another chance. Please bab-" he was cut off by the kick Sam delivered to the bottom of his jaw that sent him flying on his butt in the middle of the yard. Pete scrambled towards his car.

Sam turned and walked back into the house, calmly shutting the door and locking it. She turned and made a beeline to her closet where she pulled a box off the top shelf and carried it into the living room. She placed the box on the table and pulled out a framed photo. The man at the window couldn't get a good look at it right away. Sam sat and stared at the photo. Suddenly tears started pouring from her eyes. She laid down on the couch and cried herself to sleep.

After she fell asleep, the man in the window finally got a look at the picture. It was the picture that the alternate reality Sam had brought through with her. It had Sam smiling and laughing in her wedding dress with Jack behind her smiling just as big, holding Sam tightly. The man quietly left the bushes he was hiding in and made his way down the road, back to Cheyenne mountain in a shocked state.