Daniel twisted his neck back and forth, trying to loosen up already knotted neck muscles as he stared blankly at the computer monitor. For the last two hours he had been trying to take his mind off SG-1's last mission, but the details kept on coming back to him, becoming more vivid with each passing moment. It was getting unbearable. Somehow, it seemed so much worse that Sam was in a coma, instead of being captured by a Gao'uld or other enemy. This was something they couldn't fight as a team, couldn't help Sam with - she was alone, and they were powerless to aid her.

He looked up to find Jack at the door, his figure framed in half-shadow by the dimly lit corridor behind him.

"Danny."

"Jack."

There was a pause, as if Jack didn't know what else to say. Yet there was clearly something on his mind, Daniel could tell by the expression on his face.

"What's the matter?"

Jack sighed deeply, a sigh that suddenly reminded Daniel of how old his friend was getting. He and Jack had had their share of differences in the past ... *a lot* of differences ... But somehow in the end these differences merely served to make their friendship all the more stronger.

Jack entered the lab, closing the door behind him. Daniel frowned in concern at the seriousness of Jack's expression.

He sighed again. "Hammond said I should retire."

"What?" Daniel was incredulous. Why on earth?...

"'Cause the Appropriations Committee people were here the past few days. Apparently saw the way I was acting. Jumped to conclusions ... And we both know who'll make the most out of this."

Daniel did know. Senator Kinsey.

Daniel sat back onto his chair, removing his glasses to rub his bleary eyes. This day just got a whole lot worse.

"I mean, they can't *make* you retire, right? I mean ... there's got to be some way you can get around this ..."

"The thing is ... I've been thinking Daniel. It's just not me any more. I wouldn't mind facing court martial, except ..."

"... You don't want to drag Sam's career down with yours."

Jack nodded, and Daniel understood his dilemma.

"What about Major Davis? He's at the Pentagon, surely ... he could do something?" Could he? Even Daniel thought it was a bit of a stretch for Major Davis to pull a miracle like that out of his hat.

Jack shook his head. "It's an Air Force regs breach. If anything, there'll be a court martial."

Daniel looked penetratingly at Jack, understanding dawning on his face. "You're retiring, aren't you?"

Jack's answer was short, distinct. "Yeah."

It was Daniel's turn to sigh. Sigh at the stupidity of it. To be forced to retire just because of stupid, idiotic regulations, that didn't make sense in the first place ...

"Have you told Teal'c?"

Jack nodded. "I even did that kel'no'reem thing with him."

Daniel didn't ask what kel'no'reem had to do with talking to Teal'c about Jack retiring. There were so many things that Jack said that Daniel didn't understand.

"Well I guess I'm going to tell Hammond. I ... guess I just wanted to tell you guys first."

Daniel nodded silently, forcing himself to accept the fact that Jack would no longer be part of the team. There was a horrible, sinking feeling at the bottom of his stomach as he realised that this was the end of SG-1.

***

Sam felt her hand gently brushed against something soft. Stirring, she gradually opened her eyes to blinding white light. She gave an involuntary gasp as the sudden lumination struck her.

"What the-?" She suddenly realised that she was back at the SGC, in the infirmary. Myriads of wires and tubes were hooked up to her arms, and something was jammed down her throat. She tried to sit up, but found that she didn't have the energy to do more than make her body twitch.

And then she saw him.

She saw the battle-hardened, always alert Jack O'Neill - fast asleep, his head resting on the side of her bed. His ruffled grey hair was sprayed in all directions, suggesting he had been having fitful dreams. She reached out to smooth his hair back as a young medical technician entered into the makeshift ICU.

"Major Carter!" She exclaimed, making Jack almost jump out of seat and slide onto the floor. He quickly picked himself back up again, and gazed at Sam as if she were a figment of his imagination.

"Sam?" He whispered softly. He must have seen the puzzled expression on her face as she took in everything all at once - she was in the infirmary, obviously had been injured, and Jack had stayed with her.

Jack had stayed with her, and he had been worried.

All thought was wiped from her mind as he suddenly rushed towards her, almost choking her in his desperate gratitude. "Oh my God Sam, you're awake. Baby you're awake ..."

"Yeshmph" She tried to speak but found it difficult nestled so tightly against his chest. She hugged him back, not knowing exactly why he was so grateful that she was awake ... and then she remembered.

That falling tree ... branch, or whatever ... It had come straight for her, and she couldn't remember anything after that.

"Jack." She managed to gasp aloud, and at long last Jack released her from his tight embrace. He gazed longingly at her, his hazel eyes the most intense she had ever seen them, while trailing one finger down the contour of her face. What the hell was going on?

"What happened?"

She could see fleeting indecision on his face, but then he didn't have the opportunity to answer her as Janet came in hot on the heels of the young medical technician. Janet too seemed to have a kind of beaming relief on her face.

"Sam!" Again Sam found herself almost asphyxiating from another tight embrace from Janet.

"Janet, what's going on?"

Janet was evidently more prepared to face her questions and promptly told her, in unmistakable tones of worry, that she had been in a coma. She began to check her vitals.

"What?" She looked to Jack, and Janet, and then back again. "For how long?"

Janet ignored Jack as he almost clung to Sam's hand. "A couple of days. You had us all worried." Janet looked pointedly at Jack.

"God." Sam found the news hard to digest. One look at Jack and she knew how serious the injury had been.

A curious silence descended as each person became lost in their own thoughts. Suddenly Sam could hear a shuffling footsteps, and into the infirmary came General Hammond, Daniel and Teal'c.

The General came in and gave her a warm, friendly hug. Daniel hurried forward and with the same kind of desperate relief as Jack and Janet; he practically hurled himself into her arms and whispered, "Don't you ever do that to me again Sam. You're the only family I have."

Tears involuntarily welled in her eyes as even Teal'c lost his customary reserve long enough to give her a profound hug.

She looked up at the group standing next to her bed and it struck her - how important she was to these people, and how important these people were to her. She tried to picture herself in their shoes and understood the trauma they had been going through the past few days for her. But somehow, despite the injury and worry, she was glad - glad that she had found a kind of surrogate family that she could always depend upon.

She smiled, crinkling up her blue eyes as she spoke. "Glad to know you guys missed me."

Daniel looked to Jack, who suddenly became very interested in his shoes. "Oh ... I think you'll never really know how much." He smiled at her, a smile of relief and feeling. "We're just glad you're okay Sam."

For Sam the rest of the time was spent catching up on what had happened since her injury. Jack and Daniel took turns in relaying how they had gotten off P2C267 with a whole battalion of jaffas hot on their heels; Teal'c's only comment was that she was extremely heavy, to which she gave a friendly punch on the arm.

At long last Janet herded them out of the infirmary for the ostensible reason that Sam needed some rest, although she didn't really feel all that tired. Jack remained behind after a hurried conversation with Janet.

He sat back down in the seat he had vacated when she woke up. Sam could now sense that there was something wrong, something he wasn't telling her by the look in his eyes. His eyes darted back and forth nervously as if anxious about telling her about something particularly unpleasant.

"Jack?" She asked him quietly. "What's wrong?"

He sighed a sigh of heavy resignation. "I've retired."

"What?" He had to restrain her as she tried to leap out of the bed. "What? Why?" she cried indignantly.

"Listen to me Sam, it's all for the best." She gave him an almost hostile look as he told her about his behaviour when she had been in the coma. How a representative from the Appropriations Committee had seen him behave in that bizarre and irrational manner when she had been brought back hurt, how he had refused to leave her side ... tiny little small things that spoke volumes about his feelings for his second-in-command that had been difficult to ignore.

Sam could hardly believe it ... This wasn't what they had planned for! If only she hadn't gotten herself hurt, this never would have happened. It was all her fault.

"I'm sorry Sam."

"What? Why?"

"I let you down. If only I hadn't been so obvious, so ... I should've been more guarded, more ... I don't know ... It's just ..." he cleared his throat, preparing to utter those words that would bind him to her forever. "I love you Sam. I ... realised that I can't afford to lose you. Not now. Not ever."

"Oh Jack ..." Sam felt herself crying in response to Jack's speech. It was the most honest, most wonderful thing she had heard from anyone. It was so beautiful ... and so right that it was spoken by this man, this wonderful man she had come to know through the years. Sam realised that this was really who she had been born for. *This* was fate. Colonel Jack O'Neill was the one for her, and if there had been any doubt before, they were all washed away the second he spoke three tiny words.

"I love you Sam."

She smiled, her heart as light as a feather. "I love you too Jack."