"I know you," Jack said just as quietly. "And I know you're stubborn and beautiful and brilliant and you're going to find a way home or die trying. I love you because of those things, not in spite of them, and I really need to just stop standing in your way."

He sighed a little.

"But I don't think there's anything for me to go back to, Carter. I think I died then, at least in my timeline, and I'm just so damn tired of burying this part of me when I know you want it too. But I will. I need to get you home to him."