I don't really remember Fragile Balance and Grace, so I can't really comment on that, but Sam and Jack seem to be friends, not just have that working relationship. They're somewhat formal when it comes to titles, but other than that they don't seem to really respect the boundaries they're supposed to have. Even if you don't ship them (which I don't particularly), you have to admit that they're closer than they should be by military rules.
Yeah, Jack's close to all his team. But of his team, Carter's really the only one that he enforces a bit of a distance with -- there's the implication in Ascension that he's never been to her house before, there's her level of uncomfortableness when she's just dropping by his house in Lost City. The fact that, after four years of knowing her, neither Jack nor Daniel knew that she liked Diet Coke in Upgrades.
Then then we have the times when Sam does cross over that line, and Jack invariably pushes her back to the other side.
In Grace, she calls him 'Jack' when she's waking up, and he repeats it in this disbelieving voice, so she immediately corrects herself. I just keep going back to the end of Season 1 and Jack's stunned reaction to the idea that he and Carter were hooked up in the AU -- "It's against regulations." The fact that even when he's stuck in a time loop and knows that she won't remember anything, he still a) retires first and b) makes certain to kiss her just before the loop restarts. Honestly, I can't see our Jack ever getting involved with a subordinate officer. He has too much respect for the Air Force. Which is also why I will probably never write Jack/Daniel that isn't set post-retirement or other extenuating circumstances.
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Yeah, Jack's close to all his team. But of his team, Carter's really the only one that he enforces a bit of a distance with -- there's the implication in Ascension that he's never been to her house before, there's her level of uncomfortableness when she's just dropping by his house in Lost City. The fact that, after four years of knowing her, neither Jack nor Daniel knew that she liked Diet Coke in Upgrades.
Then then we have the times when Sam does cross over that line, and Jack invariably pushes her back to the other side.
In Grace, she calls him 'Jack' when she's waking up, and he repeats it in this disbelieving voice, so she immediately corrects herself. I just keep going back to the end of Season 1 and Jack's stunned reaction to the idea that he and Carter were hooked up in the AU -- "It's against regulations." The fact that even when he's stuck in a time loop and knows that she won't remember anything, he still a) retires first and b) makes certain to kiss her just before the loop restarts. Honestly, I can't see our Jack ever getting involved with a subordinate officer. He has too much respect for the Air Force. Which is also why I will probably never write Jack/Daniel that isn't set post-retirement or other extenuating circumstances.