1. Chapter 1

**Changing the Status Quo** By Ardin

Disclaimer: I am a poor college student and I own nothing of the wonderful Stargate franchise.

Spoilers: General show knowledge. Pete's around so I guess sometime late season 7, but in my world Janet didn't die and Jonas is still hanging around the SGC just on a different team.

Warning: Chapter one contains Pete-whumpage that may be disquieting for some audiences. Chapters two and onward may also, but I haven't decided yet. Reader discretion is advised.

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Swimsuit – check.

Sunblock and tanning lotion – check.

Clothes for the beach – check.

"What else?" Sam scanned the contents of her suitcase again. Her and Pete's first chance for a romantic vacation since she had said yes. She paused in her packing and looked down at the ring on her finger. A smile crossed her face as she thought of her fiancé. Pete was just what she needed: safe and loving. He knew about her work, which made him better than a lot of the guys she'd been with since the program started, and while he bitched that she didn't tell him enough, she knew that in his heart he understood. He loved her, she could see it in his eyes when he smiled, and she loved him. At least she was pretty sure that she loved him.

So why was it that when she closed her eyes at night it was to imagine a different set of eyes, a different smile, and a very different butt.

She shook her head to shake the slightly erotic thoughts that accompanied that last memory. She was going away with the man she was going to marry and it was therefore a very bad time for her to be fantasizing about her CO. Not that there was ever a good time to fantasize about him since he was her CO, but that didn't seem to stop her.

She shook her head again and moved to the chest of drawers. Her thoughts may be inappropriate, but they had reminded her of one more thing she needed to pack.

She opened the bottom drawer to reveal various forms of sleepwear. Everything from cotton boxers to very see-through lingerie. She sorted through the lingerie and came up with two: a black teddy and a dark blue one. The black had been a gift from Pete along with the tickets to Hawaii and had actually been designed with some thought to the comfort of the wearer. The blue she had bought herself years ago, shortly after the first trip to the Land of Light. The purchase had been spur of the moment and, if she forced herself to admit it, could largely be credited to the Colonel's comment about 'that sweet little tank top number.' It was not designed with any thought toward comfort, but instead was most likely intended to be removed just seconds after it was viewed.

Tossing the black into her suitcase she closed it and after one final look around the room she turned off the lights and headed to her car. Shaking off one last urge to ditch her cell phone for the duration of the trip, she got in and pulled out of her drive.

Within just a few minutes she was parked in Pete's drive. Having arrived a few minutes earlier than they had planned, she had expected him to still be packing and doing other last minute things. Instead she found him sitting on the porch with a soda in one hand and a magazine in the other. As she turned off her car, he set both down, stood, and walked down the path to her.

Kissing her lightly on the cheek, he grabbed her bag and tossed it in the back seat of his car.

"We'd best get going, babe. We don't want to risk missing our plane." He smiled brightly and moved to the driver's side, leaving her to open her own door. She winced slightly at the endearment he had used. She had told him time and again that she hated being called 'babe' but he persisted as though he had not heard her the twenty or so times.

She opened the car door and was about to slide in when a shrill ring went off at her waist. Pulling her cell phone from its holder, she flipped open the top and glanced at the caller ID.

"Ah, Sam." Pete whined from the other side of the vehicle. "Don't answer it. We're going on vacation. Everyone knows that and they agreed to do without you for a week."

"It's the base. I have to answer it." Seeing the perturbed look on his face, she lied smoothly, "I'm sure it's nothing important. Just give me a second." She hit the answer button and wedged the phone between her shoulder and ear as she dug in her pockets for something to write with if necessary.

"Major Carter."

"Hey, Sam. Sorry to bother you before your vacation." Daniel's tenor came through the line and Sam could hear the strain in it.

"That's okay Daniel. We haven't left yet." Pete's face fell even further as he realized that they might not leave.

"You don't need to come in or anything, but I thought you ought to know…" Here Danny trailed off as though mentally steadying himself. "Teal'c's mission with SG-8 didn't go as planned. They took heavy fire just out of the gate and Teal'c was hit hard. They managed to gate back, but he's in bad shape."

As Daniel briefly took the phone from his mouth to say something to someone on his end, Sam switched the phone to her other ear and prepared herself for the worst. Already she was having trouble holding back the tears that threatened and she knew that she wasn't going to Hawaii or anywhere else any time soon. Daniel came back on.

"Sam, I know you're worried. We all are, but the docs say that he should be fine as long as he comes out of the coma he seems to be in. You don't have to come back to base. I'll keep you posted." Daniel paused and gave her mind time to catch up with everything.

"No, Daniel, I'll be there as soon as possible." With that she hung up and grabbed her bag from the back seat. She was most of the way to her car before Pete blocked her path. In her worry over Teal'c she had almost forgotten that he was standing there. Now he planted himself in her way with an angry look on his face.

"What do you mean, 'I'll be there as soon as possible?' We're going on vacation. You're on leave." His voice was full of rage.

"Teal'c got hurt and is in a coma. I'm not going to go to Hawaii and leave my friend like that." Her anger quickly rose to match his at the unimpressed look on his face. She knew what was coming next. He had never liked the idea that Teal'c was an alien and this prejudice had irked her on more than one occasion.

"So what. You guys are always getting hurt. Daniel will stay with him and you can come with me. It's not like he's human or anything like that." He could just as easily have been talking about a rat for all the concern he showed.

Trying to even her tone and have patience with him she spoke while trying to step around him. "It doesn't matter if he is an alien. He's a friend. No, more than that, he's family and I won't leave him any more than I would leave my own brother in that condition."

As she tried to pass him, he grabbed her arm roughly and pulled her to him. Growling roughly in her ear, "You aren't going anywhere except to the airport. You're my fiancé and we are going to Hawaii."

He attempted to pull her back to the car, but she expertly maneuvered out of his grasp and swung his arm around into an armbar that would make most grown men cringe. On Pete, who Sam could no longer view as a man, it made him cry out in pain.

"I am not your possession. And after that little display, I am also not your fiancé." Pushing him not so gently to the ground, she reached to her hand and removed the ring. Fighting the strong temptation to feed it to him, she let it fall to the ground next to him, got in her car, and drove away.

On reaching the base, Sam parked the car and sat for a minute composing herself. There was no way she was going to let anyone see her in such a state of disarray. She hadn't cried, though she had a feeling that it would happen sooner or later and only hoped that she could be alone at the time or hide it as worry for Teal'c.

Grabbing her bag from the seat next to her, she entered the base as normally as possible, even stopping at her quarters, stashing her case and changing into more work appropriate clothing. She didn't go as far as BDUs, but did switch out her short shorts for a pair of jeans and her tank top for a t-shirt.

When she reached the infirmary it was to discover Daniel and Jack sitting on a bed next to Teal'c's. Daniel hopped off the bed and hugged her gently while apologizing for taking her from her vacation. Jack tried a smile, but failed as his eyes drifted back to his injured friend. Sam pulled herself on to the bed next to him and his eyes traveled back to her. She watched as his eyes turned from worry to anger.

"How the hell did you get that bruise?" He leapt from the cot and stood in front of her, eyes fixed on the hand shaped bruise that tinged her upper arm.

"It's nothing, just an accident, it was…." She trailed off as further words seemed to push her closer and closer to tears.

"Bullshit it was an accident. Those are fingerprints!" His gaze finally left her arm and he met her eyes. Reading the hurt and fear there, he softened his expression and tone. Reaching up he brushed some hair from her face, "Sam…who did this?"

She pulled away from his touch, ashamed that she had been unable to hold back the emotions. She swung her legs over and hopped off the bed, leaving it between them. And with one last look in his eyes she dashed from the room. Daniel stood shocked and confused. Jack took a look at Teal'c and then turned to the door while speaking to Daniel.

"I'm going after her. Let me know if there is any change with him."

Daniel nodded and opened his mouth, but Jack had already set off after Sam at a jog.

He had intended to search her lab first since she frequently went there when upset or frustrated, but his instinct had taken him instead to her quarters. He heard no sound from inside and, when knocking yielded no result, he went in. She lay on the bed, but made no attempt to act as though she were aware of him.

He sat down next to her on the bed and when she tried to move further from him, he leaned over her and put a hand behind her so she couldn't go anywhere. Lightly he brushed the bruise that now showed distinctly.

"I know you don't want to tell me what happened and I won't make you or even ask you to. But I've seen that look on your face before. You blame yourself for this, whatever this is."

She had every intention of denying it, but when she rolled slightly and looked at his face, she knew that she wouldn't be able to get away with lying to him. Instead she closed her eyes and took a deep steadying breath. She opened them as he spoke again.

"I may not be the best person to help you with this. Lord knows, I blame myself for a lot of things that maybe weren't my fault." Here his voice faltered and Sam remembered the pictures that adorned his walls at home. Charlie. "But it does help to tell someone."

When she made no movement, but continued to look up at him, he stood. Partly to allow her space and partly because all he could suddenly think of was how much he wanted to be able to kiss her.

As he was about to step away from the bed, a light hand on his wrist stopped him. He turned back, but remained standing. He could tell she was trying hard to make a decision.

In her mind a million thoughts a second spun and mixed, but in the end only one seemed important. This man standing before her was so dangerous. Dangerous because he could hurt her. Not in the way that Pete had tried to, but hurt her career and future. And more importantly, he could hurt her by not loving her back. Because she knew, as she had had to pretend with Pete, she knew that she loved him. But as much as he could hurt her, she knew that she could trust him and that very love made her pull slightly on his arm and begin to speak.

Following her silent command he resumed his previous position. Seating himself on the edge of the bed and leaning over her with an arm braced behind her back, he listened. He listened as she told him that she never loved Pete and that she was ashamed that she hadn't understood that earlier. He tried to keep his face still at this, but couldn't help the small smile. She explained the bruise and how Pete had almost hit her. His face became shadowed with anger at this and only Sam's tug on his collar stopped him from leaving to beat the crap out of the other man. And she told him that she was an idiot for not seeing that Pete was like that to begin with.

"I'm an Air Force officer. I've been trained to read people, but I can't even read someone that close to me. I'm so stupid." She buried her face in her pillow and the rest of her comment was lost. Jack was lightly relieved by this as it stopped her from seeing the rather large smile that had appeared on his face. Schooling his features, he reached out and gently pushed her face back up to look at him.

"Sam," Her given name came in a gentle tone and relaxed her in a way that no sedative in the world could have done. "You are anything but stupid. You know things, and understand things, that no one else I've ever met knows. You think about everything so much and, even when I bitch, I know it's your brain that saves us a lot of the time." He grinned as he saw the small smile spread on her features.

"Now as for this whole not reading people properly thing, welcome to the club. We have jackets." Here her smile grew and a giggle escaped her at his ridiculousness. "Everyone screws up with other people sometimes. I mean look at me. When I first met you I thought you were just another scientist. I figured you'd gotten through the ranks using your looks and Daddy. I couldn't have been more wrong. You're a valued member of my team and one of the people I respect and care for the most in this life."

Her expression changed from that of humor to a pensieve one and Jack worried that he'd said something wrong. Just as he was about to try to fix it, she spoke.

"What about my not loving him?" Her voice was soft and fragile and her eyes seemed to bore right through him.

Fighting off the urge to kiss her again, he leaned back slightly. When he spoke it was in a slightly huskier tone than before, "I'm afraid I can't help you there." A flash of fear shot through her eyes. "I've become too biased on that particular subject. I never wanted you to love him."

A look of contentment took over her features and she ran a hand up the arm at her side. But just as he was about to hope that she had understood everything he hadn't just said, she began to cry.

Ignoring his better judgement and his urgent desire to ask what was wrong, he kicked off his shoes and crawled up on the bed. Using the headboard as a back rest, he made himself as comfortable as possible before pulling her into his arms. She curled up against his chest, one arm tucked between them and the other across his waist. Within seconds she had stopped crying and a few minutes later she was asleep.

Moving so as not to disturb her, he turned off the light and shifted to a lying position, her curled up against him in a way that made him feel as though no other sleeping arrangement on Earth (or anywhere else for that matter) would ever feel right again. He was shortly asleep as well, despite his best efforts to remain awake. Neither of them stirred when Daniel came in an hour later. He merely shook his head, smiled to himself and left.

TBC

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A/N: I don't know when I'll be able to post the next chapter for this, but as soon as it's written I will post it. Let me know what you all thought.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Hey everyone. I know there aren't enough apologies in the world to give you all for how very long it took me to get you all this next chapter. Every time I went back to it, I just couldn't seem to come up with the next steps in the story. But here it finally is, and if it makes anyone feel better, this is attempt number 43 (and I'd had such high hopes for number 42, sigh). I like this one and I think I already know where the next one will go. Huzzah, it finally has a direction.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS REVIEWED AND BEEN WAITING FOR THIS NEW CHAPTER!!!

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**Chapter Two**

"You are all ordered off this base for at least 48 hours." Janet's glare beat back any possible argument that Jack, Sam, or Daniel might have been tempted to make. "Teal'c is awake. I can't find any permanent damage. And the three of you have been by his side constantly for days. It is now time for you to leave and stop annoying my medical staff. I will let you know if anything else changes."

Sam and Jack hadn't spoken about that night, both quietly deciding to push it to the background until Teal'c was better. In reality neither had really had time to do anything except worry about their fallen friend.

It had taken nearly a week for Teal'c to come out of his coma and Janet was right: SG-1 had barely left his side during that time. They took turns leaving to get food or sleep, but made sure that at least one person was by his side at all times. Jonas had dropped by frequently, on leave from SG-13, but rarely stayed long, sensing the 'solitary' nature of the vigil the three kept at the Jaffa's bedside.

Both Jack and Daniel had found at least a few hours each day to sleep, but Sam's dreams had been haunted by images of every horrible event from her past; all seemingly brought to the surface by her confrontation with Pete. As such, she had given up even attempting to sleep by the second day of their watch and had managed only a few restless minutes since, a fact that Janet apparently picked up on as they were making their exit from the infirmary and Sam stumbled slightly.

"Hold it right there." The petite woman's uncompromising tone echoed through the room. SG-1 turned back to face the doctor, all simultaneously wondering what they had done this time. Daniel and Jack let out quiet sighs of relief when she addressed Sam and not them. "Major Carter, when was the last time you slept?" Sam opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off. "And I mean more than just ten minutes in a chair next to Teal'c's bed."

Sam looked to the side as though thinking about the question. In reality she knew exactly when it had been; remembered clearly the comfortable feeling of waking snuggled tight in Jack's arms. The scientist in her wanted to analyze why she could sleep undisturbed with him, but couldn't find peaceful sleep on her own. The woman in her already knew the answer. She would always be safe by his side, no matter how much danger the rest of the world presented. Looking back at Janet, she merely shrugged her shoulders in response to the earlier question.

"Well if you can't remember than it's definitely been too long. I want someone else to give you a ride home and you are not to drive anywhere until you've had some sleep." Janet's eyes swept over Jack and Daniel, silently asking which was going to take care of their colleague.

Daniel shifted uneasily and turned his eyes down to his feet. He remembered very clearly finding Jack and Sam snuggled together that night in her quarters and was reasonably certain that they probably needed to have a talk about that. He didn't have to wait in silence very long before Jack chimed in to take responsibility for getting Sam home.

"I can take her. It's pretty much on my way, so…" He shrugged at the doctor before turning to make sure that Sam was okay with the arrangement. She shrugged as well and, having placated Janet's protectiveness, the team once again moved out of the infirmary to gather their things before leaving the base.

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It had taken jack only minutes to swing past Teal'c for one last check on his friend and to assure himself that the big man was in fact okay. Grabbing the few items he knew he would want during their forced down-time, he made his way to sam's lab, where he waited impatiently for her to sort through her own things, jot down notes for her assistants, and shut down her computer.

The drive to sam's place was awkwardly quiet, both officers eager to talk about what had, or hadn't, happened, but neither willing to risk the other's censure by doing so. At various intervals Jack stole glances at the woman in his passenger seat, marvelling that she could appear so entirely beautiful even as she was so obviously tired beyond belief. Truthfully he had gotten only barely more sleep than she; laying awake consumed by thoughts and memories of her in his arms while a wide variety of ideas, each more crazy than the last, for getting her back in them.

Sam, for her part, kept her eyes resolutely pointed out the window, refusing to turn towards the driver's side even as she felt his eyes on her. As they turned down her street, she felt a confusing mix of relief that the tense ride was over and regret that it would be a full two days until she had the opportunity to see him again. Both emotions left her in favor of disgust and a slight amount of fear as they pulled level with her home and she realized that someone was already there, waiting for her.

Pete.

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**TBC**


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