Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Cassie walked in the house behind Sam. High school was almost over for her and then she would be headed off to college. After her mom had died, Sam had taken her in and her house is where most of her things stayed. However, she typically split her time between there and Jack’s house when Sam was off-world. Jack helped to keep her fed and would help out with her homework. At least the English and History homework. He left the Science and Math to Sam, even though Cassie was pretty sure he could have helped with those subjects too.

It had been a rough year trying to finish school and dealing with her grief that never seemed to end. But, she could now think of her mom and not fall apart. She was even sometimes happy to think about her mom. The therapist Sam had found really worked wonders too. She supposed it helped that she had already gone through it previously. Even though it sucked to think she had now lost two mothers.

The other challenge, of course, had been how often Pete was hanging around now since Sam had finally said yes to his proposal. It was a long several weeks delay before she finally had accepted. Cassie kept thinking she would just say no, but something had happened and Sam had come home one day saying that she had accepted. The wedding was actually coming up in another couple of months. It would be just after school was over. Then she would be here for the entire summer before heading off to college in the fall.

Cassie was excited about going to college but not about leaving Sam and Jack behind and alone. She knew Sam would have Pete and maybe he would move in to her house, but Sam never really seemed overjoyed about the situation. Pete kept talking about the decisions they were making about the wedding, but it never really seemed like Sam was in on the decisions. However, she had heard Pete mentioning the other day that cake testing was next and then flowers.

Cassie tossed her backpack on the bed before flopping down face first next to it. She groaned at how comfortable it was and how much she wanted to take a nap. But, she had a lot of homework to do. She didn’t understand why the teachers were making them do so much work in the last months of school. It didn’t seem like they would be learning that much that would help her succeed in college or anything. She flopped back over on her back before sitting up and opening her backpack, pulling out her notebooks and textbooks.

She saw a piece a paper tucked into one of her notebooks and she pulled it out. She smiled as she thought about a possible plan that her mom would probably call evil. She could maybe make something happen before she had to leave.

Snatching up the piece of paper she walked across the hall into the room Sam used as her office. She wasn’t supposed to touch anything, because Sam always had a very organized chaos thing going on in there. But she had free reign with the printer. She laid the piece of paper inside the scanner part on the top and hit the buttons to make a single copy. Grabbing both once it was done, she went back and put the copy inside her notebook again.

Taking the original, she went out to the living room to find Sam sitting on the couch flipping through a science magazine.

“Hey Sam, I need your help.”

Sam looked up and asked, “Sure Cass, what’s going on?”

“Well, we have this really cool field trip that my biology class is doing, but Mr. Todd needs more parent chaperones. I was really hoping you would be free to help out.”

“Cass, if I’m free, of course I’ll always help out.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, what day is it?”

“It’s on Friday.”

“Oh, luckily I’m not on the mission schedule for the rest of the week, but I’m supposed to meet Pete to taste some cakes for the wedding.”

Cassie frowned, “Oh, okay, I understand. Maybe I can get Jack to help instead.”

“Where are you going on the field trip?”

Cassie grinned, “Oh, it sounds like a lot of fun actually! We are going on a nature hike in the Garden of the Gods and seeing some of the wildflowers that are growing. There is also going to be some bird watching which doesn’t sound like a lot of fun, but then we get to see all of the rock formations too. I know I’ve been there a bunch of times, but we’ve still not seen everything there and I haven’t been there since before Mom…” Cassie got choked up at the end and couldn’t finish her sentence.

“Aww, Cass. Ok, let me see what I can do about rescheduling our cake testing.”

“Are you sure?”

“Definitely. You’re way more important and it does sound like fun.”

“That would be so cool. Thank you, Sam!” Cassie threw herself onto the couch next to Sam and hugged her. When she almost had crumpled the piece of paper in her excitement, she pulled back suddenly. “Oh, I almost forgot! Here is the permission slip and at the bottom is where you can check that you’ll be a chaperone too.”

Cassie turned around to grab a pen from the side table next to the couch and handed it to Sam. She placed it on the coffee table and finished filling out the form in the two places that were marked.

“Alright, here you go, Cassie.”

“Thank you, Sam. You’ll have fun, I promise.”

“I better get a visit to Patches the cow out of this.”

“I promise we can go after the field trip unless we go that way during it.”

“Ok, I’m holding you to that promise. Now you better go finish your homework.”

“I know, I know. I’m going. Thank you, Sam. Really.”

Sam smiled watching her skip away in excitement. She snagged her phone from the coffee table where she had tossed it and opened it up. She had a phone call to make.

Chapter Text

Sam pulled into the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center parking lot and snagged one of the few empty spots left for her Volvo. She turned the car off and sighed, “Good thing we left early, otherwise, we wouldn’t have found a parking spot.”

Cassie had almost fallen asleep against the window, even though it was a short ride to the park. She didn’t exactly relish being awake this early. Cassie rubbed her eyes as she looked around comprehending where they were.

“I don’t even see anyone from school here yet.”

“Well, let’s get our stuff out and organized, so we’ll be ready.”

Cassie nodded her assent and unfolded herself from the passenger seat of Sam’s Volvo. She looked around the parking lot again, trying to find anyone she knew. She saw a truck that looked familiar but it was too hidden behind another car to be sure. She walked to the trunk where Sam was already pulling out their backpacks and other items.

Cassie grabbed her water bottle and took a sip of it while leaning on the car. She looked around and saw a man coming from the direction of the visitor center. It was closed at this time of day, but she assumed he had wandered over to kill time. She smiled as he got closer.

Sam was organizing her backpack when she heard a voice call out, “Good morning, ladies.”

Jerking up in surprise, Sam knocked her head against the trunk lid and fell forward back towards the trunk floor. She let out a yelp as her hands went up quickly to the back of her skull to inspect the damage while she was bent over. Remembering the person who had come up behind them, she quickly swiveled around without standing up. Tilting her head up, she made sure she was clear before straightening herself. “Holy shiiii—, s— sir!” She verbally stumbled before finally getting the honorific out correctly. No one would have expected her to be the highly trained, high-ranking military officer that she in fact was. She rubbed at the offending spot on her head as she squinted her eyes towards her commanding officer.

“Hiya, Carter. Cassie,” Jack said with a small grin.

“General, what are you doing here?” Sam raked her eyes down him. He was looking very casual and sexy in his infamous green baseball hat, light grey t-shirt, a pair of baggy black cargo pants, and his hiking boots. Sam quickly averted her eyes, lest she keep going down that line of thinking.

Cassie moved over to hug Jack, “Hey Jack. Thanks for coming.”

Jack returned her hug, before turning back towards Sam smirking. “Yes well, happy to help. That knock on your head make you forget I was coming, Carter?”

Sam was confused. And she was pretty sure it didn’t have anything to do with the bump on her head. She didn’t remember anything about Cassie asking the General to come as well. All she got out though was, “Sir?” She followed up her eloquent question with directing her eyes over to Cassie and raising an eyebrow.

Cassie looked down and scuffed the toe of her tennis shoe on the parking lot pavement. She knew she had asked Jack as well behind Sam’s back, but since her mom couldn’t be here, she really wanted both of them around. And if Sam had to miss something related to the wedding planning, well, she definitely wouldn’t admit her thoughts about that. She took a deep breath and finally looked up. “Well, I know you said you’d come, Sam, but with your job and umm Pete and everything… I just wasn’t sure you’d be able to make it. So, I kind of asked Jack as well.”

Sam looked surprised. “Cassie, I— you—. I don’t know what to say.” Sam blew out a breath, trying to get her words together in her head. Sam loved Cassie with all her heart, but it was really hard to be the main person that someone relied on. Especially when that someone was a kid, albeit almost an adult one. “You are one of the most important things in my life, Cass. I’d like to say you are the most important thing, but my job unfortunately has to hold that spot. But if I can be here for you, I will do everything in my power to be here. No one else will ever take your place.”

Jack, who was still watching silently, nudged Cassie’s shoulder to give her a slight shove towards Sam. Cassie took the couple of steps over and gave Sam a hug. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe that you’d come. I love you, Sam.”

“Love you too, Cass.” Sam wrapped her arms around her and squeezed. Sam looked up at Jack watching with a small smile on his face. She smiled back at him and mouthed the words, “Thank you.”

When Cassie stepped back from the hug, Jack cleared his throat, “I’ll just head back home.”

Cassie started shaking her head but Sam spoke up first, “No, sir, you really don’t have to. You drove all the way here and I wouldn’t mind the help to keep an eye on all of these kids.”

“Yeah, Jack. Please stay. My teacher said they were low on volunteers, so I’m sure he wants all the help he can get.”

“Alright, alright. I would hate to just show up and surprise Walter on my day off.”

Sam and Cassie grinned. “Yes, sir. We definitely wouldn’t want to make you work on your day off.”

“You and me both, Carter. I could really use the exercise instead of sitting at my desk again today.”

Cassie and Sam both chuckled. Sam knew even though he was behind the desk more often than not, he still kept up his jaunts to the gym with Teal’c. She had run into them plenty of times, along with watching him try to rope someone in to his daily break to play table tennis in the new break room he had set up.

Cassie looked around the parking lot before clearing her throat also, “Umm, so, could you guys like maybe cut the whole weird military thing out for the day? I mean everyone knows you aren’t my mom and dad obviously, but maybe try and use your names or something?”

Sam glanced at Jack before quickly breaking eye contact. Her cheeks flushed. “Umm, sure, Cass. I’m sure we can handle that.”

Cassie almost rolled her eyes. In all the years she had been hanging around them, she never heard a first name being uttered by the other. She looked over to Jack.

He had a blank look on his face, but nodded, “Whatever you want, Cassie.”

“Riiiiight,” she replied drawing out the word. “Can you actually say your names?”

“I’m Jack. Pretty sure I nailed that,” Jack sarcastically stated as his lips tipped upwards.

Sam dipped her head hiding her grin. “That wasn’t very nice, s— Jack.”

“I know, Sam, but I think she deserved it,” Jack said emphasizing her name.

“I’m just glad to hear you actually know each others names. Let’s go find the rest of the group, okay?”

Cassie slung her backpack over her shoulder and turned around to a group of classmates she had seen arriving a few minutes ago. She didn’t look back, but she could tell that Jack and Sam had fallen into step behind her.

Jack looked towards Sam and whispered, “Weird military thing?”

Sam grinned and shrugged her shoulders. “Teenagers,” she quipped as they continued to follow Cassie.

Chapter Text

Sam and Jack stood next to each other with the rest of the parents and listened to the teacher, Mr. Todd, explain the route they were going to take and the itinerary for the day. Jack’s eyes roamed around at the group as he tuned out the dumb questions that the parents were now asking. Jack was a soldier and walking through a very popular National Park was practically the same as a beach outing to the survivalist military spec-ops trained man.

He took note of a woman who looked like she had just bought her gear. He spied the tags still hanging from the bottom of her backpack. Her feet were probably not going to survive the trail with the new boots she hadn’t broken in yet.

A guy that reminded him of Daniel kept pushing up his glasses and drinking water from his bottle. He was going to run out of water pretty quickly into their hike and then have to stop and take several bathroom breaks.

He jerked his head back to the teacher when he felt a nudge come from Sam next to him. He knew she was telling him to pay attention. She used to do it all the time in the field when his attention would wander. Usually it would be when the villagers were rambling on about something with Daniel and he would get bored. He acknowledged her with his own slight nudge back.

The teacher was calling names from his list and assigning tasks to each group of two. He watched as the woman with the new boots got teamed up with a guy who thankfully looked like he had hiked before. The water guy got teamed with another guy who was rather short, but had a backpack that was bigger than him. It looked like he had maybe prepared for every contingency that could possibly happen. He wondered if the teacher knew who should be paired with who, as if they had to answer some sort of questionnaire about their hiking and survival skills.

He wondered who he was going to get stuck with, because surely he wouldn’t be nearly so lucky to be paired with the woman next to him.

“Samantha…”

Sam raised her hand in acknowledgement to the teacher calling her name. “Just Sam, please.”

“Umm, right. Sam. You and uhh, Jack, is it?” Jack nodded. “You can bring up the rear for us and make sure the kids are all keeping up with the group. Does that work?”

Jack couldn’t remember the teachers name, but nodded, “Sure, straggler duty. We can handle that. Right, Sam?”

Sam smiled at him enjoying her name being said out loud by him, “Yep, we’ll keep an eye out for anyone hanging around the back, Mr. Todd.”

“Great, ok, let’s have everyone get your gear together and make sure the kids are ready to go. We’ll head out in 10 minutes from the trailhead over there,” he said as he pointed out the location.

Jack bent down and snagged his pack from the ground, grabbing Sam’s while he was down there since she had set it right next to his. She had chosen a light gray pack and even though it was fairly light in weight as well, he knew it would contain the essentials though if something were to happen. A first-aid kit, maps, extra water, and he would be willing to bet a flashlight too even if it was only 0800 and the sun wouldn’t be setting for another 12 hours.

He handed her the bag and while she rummaged inside of it for something, he took the opportunity to run his eyes down her form surreptitiously. He knew it was wrong to look at her like he had, he just couldn’t help himself sometimes. He had walked up to an eyeful this morning when she was bent down inside the car trunk earlier and he had almost hated to say hello because he knew she would stand up and take the view away from him. She was dressed in a pair of dark gray form fitting yoga pants, and a light-weight blue tank top that showed off her arms and her physique. She had taken to wearing them lately on base too, and Jack couldn’t say he was sad about the decision.

She had a pair of sensible hiking boots on her feet. He knew that they were broken in even if they still looked brand new on the outside. She probably scrubbed them clean after every use. It was the military way after all, to have everything neat and squared away.

Jack’s own boots were probably much newer than hers, but they certainly didn’t look like it. He finally had to break down and buy a new pair last year when his last pair had split apart at the soles. He was neat, of course; the military the had beaten that into him at a young age. But now, he didn’t really care so much. His personal stuff got used a lot and he didn’t always take the time to take care of things like he maybe should. He’d much rather just relax on the couch, watch some TV, and drink a beer.

Regardless of what he joked about earlier about always being behind a desk, he knew he was struggling to keep fit. He had daily sessions with Teal’c, but it wasn’t really the same as walking 20 klicks on a new world.

Jack brought his eyes over to a nearby tree when he noticed Sam was straightening again.

Sam pulled out a bottle of SPF 50 that she started lathering on her shoulders and arms. Without being asked he took the bottle from her hand and rubbed some onto the back of her neck and shoulders where she couldn’t reach. He always allowed himself these small touches just to remind himself that he wasn’t allowed to touch her. He knew the logic wouldn’t really make sense to others, but in his mind feeling her soft skin underneath his rough, calloused fingertips always served as a rude reminder that he was not worthy of her. She was rubbing a bit onto her face when she turned around facing him.

He handed the bottle back to her and turned around himself. She reached up and pulled his shirt down a little bit to get the back of his head where he had just gotten a fresh haircut. While she would burn in probably an hour out here, he didn’t burn very easily. However, standing out in the strong Colorado sun for an entire day still wasn’t great for him either. He closed his eyes as he relished the feel of her hands on him. Reminding himself again that she was off limits he turned back around and said, “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Thanks as well.” She twisted the cap back on the bottle as she looked around.

Jack studied her face and his lips twitched when he noticed a streak of white across her cheek that she hadn’t rubbed in very well. He murmured, “You’ve got a little still here,” and reached out to run his thumb across her cheek gathering the excess lotion.

Sam felt the heat rush to her face and knew it had absolutely nothing to do with the hot sun already beating down on them. She got lost looking at Jack’s face as he concentrated on getting all of the extra lotion off her cheek. His fingers found their way into her hair just behind her ears. His eyes found hers again as his hand started to slowly ease away. She wondered what it would feel like to place her hand at the back of his neck to pull him down to meet her lips halfway. She would feel him tense under her lips and hands for a second before returning the kiss and feel his hand grasp her shoulder and — “Wha—?” she was startled out of her fantasy when she realized the hand on her shoulder was actually shaking her.

“Carter!” Jack called her name quite loudly to knock her out of wherever she had gone just now.

“Yeah, I’m here.”

“Where did you go?”

Sam felt her face get hot again, as she tried to slow her fast beating heart. “Oh, um, nothing. I was just thinking of something.”

Jack noticed the blush and raised his eyebrow knowing she must have been embarrassed. But, like usual he ignored it and tried to move past it.

“You think we should check on Cassie real quick since we won’t be with her?”

Sam looked up at Jack finally and nodded before stepping around him and walking towards Cassie and her friends. She couldn’t believe she had gotten caught up in yet another fantasy of her commanding officer, especially when she was engaged to another man. She angrily shoved the offending sun block into her bag and hitched the other strap over her shoulder as she strode away.

She missed the look of longing Jack had on his face as he followed along behind her.

Chapter Text

Sam trailed along behind Jack at a slow pace. They were used to walking a lot faster than this off-world. Even just walking through the grocery store she would walk faster than this.

She was still shaking her head about her earlier day dream. It had been a long time since she had one right in front of him though. Years, probably. They had spent years denying there were any feelings and they got used to hiding their reactions. She had also learned to indulge in them alone instead of when she was next to the subject in her dreams. She was still embarrassed and even though Jack had just glossed over it, she knew he figured her mind had gone somewhere it shouldn’t of. He knew far too much about her to be completely oblivious. But, they never talked about it.

She never talked about the various looks he had given her over the years either. Or even just a month ago when he had grabbed her by her shoulders desperate for her help to get the Jaffa women from Ha’ktyl off his base. He had looked down afterwards at both of his hands realizing where they were before quickly removing them. Then he had followed that up with his own over correction by ogling some of the women that had walked by.

She knew it was his way of deflecting the situation and defuse some of the tension between them. She appreciated it, even though she had turned him back around after he had looked for a few seconds. He had looked long enough, in her opinion.

Even more recently, Jack had bent down over her shoulder looking at the video of her replicator doppelgänger from the MALP together. She had looked over at him and he had been so close. Even during that she hadn’t fantasized of kissing him, because she was in the control room with several other people nearby. But at home later that night, when Pete was in bed with her, she had let her mind wander to some inappropriate thoughts. And again earlier, when he was just wiping sunscreen off her face.

She knew it was hypocritical of her when she was engaged to another man. She was a mess sometimes and she really needed to do better, but Pete was still fairly new. Sam’s fantasies for 8 long years had featured Jack and what it would be like if they would finally get together. It wasn’t like she could just flip a switch.

Sam was now ignoring all of that and taking the opportunity of walking behind him to stare at his ass. While she regularly had walked behind him for 7 years, she rarely indulged in watching him like this. She had kept her eyes on their surroundings when they were on a mission and it helped to always have the ongoing conversations with Daniel to remind her she wasn’t meant to be staring at her commanding officer’s ass.

Today though, she had no reminders of that. Just some kids that were lagging behind that they had to slow down their tempo for. All of a sudden the legs she was watching had stopped. She snapped her eyes upwards when she realized they were turning around as Jack made eye contact with her.

“Hey, Carter, you know you don’t have to walk behind me, right?”

“Oh. Right.” Sam took the couple of steps to where Jack was waiting.

He turned with her and they continued walking side by side. “Much better, yeah?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Hey now, we made a promise, Sam,” he once again emphasized her name.

“We did, Jack. However, I’d like to point out you were the one who messed up first with Carter a second ago.”

“Touché. I suppose us walking like were on a mission, you know,” Jack waved his hand up towards the sky to indicate off-world, “probably didn’t help.”

“You’re probably right.”

“Walking this slow should have been our first reminder that we weren’t out there.”

“I know, I was just thinking that I walk faster in the grocery store than we are out here.”

“Kids, ya know. Never in a hurry. They’d probably just stand around too even when a herd of Jaffa came up on them.”

Sam chuckled. Jack looked over and grinned. He had missed her laugh. It seems like it had been a while. Being on base all of the time brought a different dynamic. More professional, especially with his promotion to General. It had taken him a while again to get her out of the habit of coming to attention again every time he entered a room. But, when he got to make her laugh, it always made him feel like he had accomplished a mission.

They continued walking in silence for a while before Sam finally broke the silence.

“Thank you for coming and being here for Cassie.”

“Of course. I’m sorry that Cassie didn’t tell you that she had asked me too. I really figured you knew. She told me that not enough parents had volunteered, so that’s why she asked you and me.”

“Oh, she didn’t say anything about that. Just asked if I could come. I had to move an appointment that Pete had made for today, but I told her that unless something came up at work, I was going to be here.” Sam shrugged her shoulders not knowing why Cassie got the feeling exactly as to why she may not make it here. “Anyway, it doesn’t really matter. I’m just glad you’re here to help out when I can’t.”

“You know I’m always happy to help her. And you.” Jack added the last part quietly.

Sam looked over at him and smiled, “Thank you.”

“No need to thank me. Just how it is.”

Sam was saved from responding when they spotted two kids veering off the path just ahead of them. They were looking back trying to see if anyone had seen them, but the astute military officers saw everything. They stepped up their pace and quickly got to the spot where they had stepped off path.

“Hey kids, we saw you go off trail!” Jack yelled. “Everything ok?”

He was pretty sure they had ducked behind a tree to hide. Probably wanting to make out or something. Jack looked over to Sam next to him and rolled his eyes.

She indicated she would go investigate, and she took a couple of steps in the direction of the kids. “We know you’re standing behind a tree. Just come on out.”

The two kids sheepishly came out behind the tree and walked back towards Sam.

“Sorry, we just wanted to take a break for a minute,” the boy said.

Sam knew it was just an excuse, but checked her watch. “We should have a break coming up in just 10 more minutes. Think you can make it until then?”

The boy looked over the girl standing just behind him and nodded his head, “Yeah, ok.”

“Good, let’s get back on the trail so we can get to the spot for our break.” Sam stood to the side as they passed and she followed them back to where Jack was standing on the side of the trail. A few other people had passed them already, so they’d have to catch up to the rest of the class.

The kids ducked their heads down as they passed by Jack and got back on the trail. He watched as the girl grabbed the boys hand — the one that wasn’t currently wearing a cast — and held on as they continued to walk. Jack took a step back to let Sam by and they moved out keeping pace behind the kids.

“Let’s just hope no one else decided to escape while we were busy with them, huh?” Jack asked.

“Yeah. Thankfully we aren’t too far from the first stop, so we can always backtrack and find the kids easily enough.”

“Still, let’s keep an eye out to see if we spot anywhere they may have gone off trail along the way.”

Sam nodded as she looked on her side of the trail for any tracks heading off the path. They both continued to walk faster which made the kids also walk faster. They made it to the first break location with a couple of minutes to spare. Watching as the kids went over to sit down with a few others, they also spotted Cassie amongst another group of kids. Mr. Todd nodded at them as they entered the clearing checking boxes on his clipboard.

“All kids accounted for?” Jack asked. “We had a couple of kids who wandered off the trail for a minute,” he added to clarify why he was asking.

Mr. Todd looked down at his clipboard and nodded. “Yeah, they are all here. Thanks for looking after them.” He pointed over to a section where the other parents and volunteers were seated. “Feel free to have a seat with the other adults. We’ll be spending 45 minutes here and a couple of the others have already volunteered to help me out during that time, so you two are free to do whatever you want until we are ready for the next part of the hike.”

Jack nodded while Sam thanked him as they moved over to claim a nice semi-flat rock she had spotted.

Chapter Text

Sam sat down on the rock and Jack perched next to her. They both took out their waters to re-hydrate. After a couple of sips, Sam looked around to the other adults sitting in the area. Jack’s eyes, meanwhile, were drawn to keeping an eye on the kids, especially Cassie. She was sitting kind of close to another boy and was laughing at something he was saying. Jack sat up a little straighter knowing he’d have to keep an eye on that kid.

“Who’s the chump next to Cassie?” He queried.

Sam directed her attention to where Cassie was sitting. “Umm, that might be Josh.” Cassie had recently been talking about one of the boys and Sam was pretty sure it had evolved into a crush.

“Josh. What kind of name is Josh?” Jack scoffed.

“One that his parents gave him?”

“Well, he doesn’t need to be sitting so close.”

“I hardly think that they are going to get into trouble here in the middle of their entire class, sir.”

“Yes, well. Still.”

Sam stopped herself from rolling her eyes. Barely. She was pretty sure he had caused a lot of trouble when he was growing up. It’s probably why he was so concerned, but Cassie was almost 18 now. She would have to make her own decisions soon. Sam made a mental note to have the sex talk with her again soon. She knew Janet had talked to her about it many times as had Sam, but it had been a while so a good refresher seemed like it might be due.

The kids were called over by Mr. Todd and they watched them all move away from the clearing. Several of the parents went over with them.

Jack set his water bottle to the side and leaned back on his arms stretching out his legs. “So, what plans did you have today?”

Sam looked back at him over her shoulder, furrowing her brows, and queried, “Plans?”

“You said something earlier about having to move some plans today.”

“Oh, yeah. It’s nothing. Just wedding planning stuff. I asked Pete to reschedule our cake testing appointment.”

“Ah. You think you’ll have leftovers?” Jack asked hopefully.

“You normally just take a bite to try it, so yeah, there are usually leftovers.” Sam knew what he was getting at and smiled. “I’ll see if I can get you a slice.”

“Sweet.”

Sam put the cap back on her water bottle and tucked it away in her backpack. “How come you took today off?”

“Avoiding responsibilities? And well, getting to torture the kids in her class just seemed like a bonus.”

Sam grinned widely and let out a laugh. “Let’s try not to traumatize them too much. I don’t think you’ll want to pay their therapy bills.”

Jack grinned back at her, “I do have a lot of hazard pay saved up. I promise nothing.”

Sam shook her head.

Jack sat up when he noticed the guy who had brought the biggest backpack he had ever seen was heading their way.

“Umm, hello.” The man gave a little wave, as he looked towards Sam stopping in front of them. He flicked his eyes over to Jack for a second, but then they were right back to Sam.

Sam gave a little wave and said, “Hi.”

Jack nodded at him when the over-packer looked over towards him again.

“I think I’ve seen you at school before. Um, Cassie, I think?”

“Yeah, she’s my god-daughter.”

“Right, I was really sorry to hear about her mom.”

“Thanks, it’s been tough.”

“I can only imagine. I’m Josh’s dad, Sean. Him and Cassie seem to be friends.”

“Right. It does look that way.”

Jack had just observed the conversation so far, but jumped in, “He better not hurt Cassie in any way.”

Sean’s eyes finally moved off of Sam over to Jack. “He’s a good kid, I’m sure everything will be fine.”

“Good. Otherwise, she has a lot of family that takes that kind of thing very seriously.”

Sam placed her hand on Jack’s arm to tell him to back off. She smiled up at Sean, “He doesn’t really mean that. None of them would ever hurt a child.” She squeezed Jack’s arm before letting go.

Sean’s eyes tracked her hands movement and Jack could tell he was looking for a ring. However, Jack had noticed earlier that she didn’t seem to be wearing it today. Maybe she didn’t want to lose it on the hike. Or maybe she had finally dumped the loser. Jack could only hope, but considering she had moved wedding plans with him today, it seemed highly unlikely.

“Right,” Sean cleared his throat. “So, um, I was wondering… Would you like to get coffee one day?”

Sam’s smile faltered for a second, “Oh, I’m actually engaged, but thank you.”

Sean looked over to Jack and started to apologize, “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize.”

Jack certainly wasn’t jumping in to correct his assumption that she was engaged to him.

Sam looked over to Jack and watched him doing nothing. She blushed before looking back to Sean. “It’s not —, umm, I’m not —.”

Jack finally decided to help her out, “What she is trying to say is she isn’t engaged to me.”

“Oh, I see. I just assumed because you’re here and were talking about Cassie as well.”

“We are family.” Jack didn’t expand on that statement. He knew Sean would assume he was talking about Cassie, and he definitely was, but Sam was just as much family, if not more than Cassie. Even if she was getting married in a few months and would likely start her own family, he would still be a part of her life. He wasn’t sure if he could be around her everyday watching it all, but he was still her CO. At least for now.

Sam blushed again at hearing that they were family. She knew that they were, and that it had been like that for a long, long time, but Jack rarely ever said things like that.

Sean looked back over his shoulder and they watched as the kids came back into the clearing and started gathering their bags.

“Ok, well, I should get back. It was nice to meet you. Um, both of you.”

Jack grabbed his backpack and before Sam could say anything else, he walked back over to the trail to wait for the hike to start up again.

Chapter Text

They had been back on the trail for 15 minutes. It was the second half of the 2-hour hike and they were circling back towards the visitor center where they were to meet up with a Park Ranger for an hour long lecture. If he remembered correctly, it was some sort of geology lecture. Right up Daniel’s alley, but Daniel was off doing some translating of some sort. Jack was certain he would be hearing all the gory details about it when he was back at the SGC tomorrow. Jack was positive the Park Ranger lecture would be boring, but at least he was out in nature. Not much could be better than that, even if it was on Earth and not another planet.

His thoughts were broken by the woman walking alongside him. “Sir, up ahead.”

Jack saw the kids ahead of them had stopped and were standing around. He picked up his pace, worried something had happened. None of them looked particularly panicked or were yelling for help, thankfully.

They made their way over to where around 10 of the students were standing around and in his oft-perfected General voice, he asked, “What’s going on?”

Cassie wasn’t in the group, but Jack noticed that Josh was. He was also the first one to speak up, “It’s Natalie’s mom. We aren’t sure what happened.” He pointed to the side where she was sitting on a rock.

Jack followed Josh’s finger and saw it was the woman who looked like she had never hiked a day in her life with all the tags still on her gear. He made his way through the crowd over to her noticing that Sam was on his six. The woman was sitting hunched over grimacing. Jack was pretty sure he knew what was bothering her, but questioned anyway. “Ma’am, are you ok?”

She looked up and shook her head. “No, my feet feel like they are on fire.”

Jack nodded in sympathy. “Yes, ma’am. New boots can do that.” He bit back the second half of the lecture.

Sam moved around him and knelt down to the woman’s eye level. “Ma’am, I know you said no, but I’m sure your feet are just sore. We really should take your shoes off to see what’s going on though. Is that ok?”

The woman grimaced but nodded her head.

Sam asked, “What’s your name?”

“Maria.”

“Ok, Maria, I’m Sam. Let’s see what we have here.” Sam started to unlace her left boot and as gently as she could removed it. She peeled off her sock and winced in sympathy when she saw that Maria’s foot was rubbed raw and even bleeding in a couple of spots. The rest of her foot was red in several more places.

Maria gasped, “Oh my god.”

“It’s ok, Maria. I’ve seen a lot worse.”

“Really?”

“Oh yeah, trust me. This is nothing. I have a first aid kid and we’ll get your feet cleaned and wrapped. That way you can make it the rest of the way out of here and then you can take it easy the rest of the day.”

“Thank you.”

Jack stepped away back towards the kids once Sam took her backpack off and pulled out her first aid kit.

“So, kids.” Jack clapped his hands together once to get their attention. “Can I get volunteers for two of you to run ahead?”

Josh raised his hand, “I’m on the track team, sir. I can do it.”

“Great, anyone else?”

A muscled kid raised his hand, “I play football, sir.”

“Ok, great. You’re Josh?” Josh nodded his head. “And you are?” Jack asked the footballer.

“Will.”

“Ok, Josh and Will. You will not actually run. There are a lot of rocks on the trail and it’s very uneven. The last thing we need is one of you to get injured out here. Just walk quickly and you should meet up with the group in the next 10 minutes or so. If you don’t see anyone at that point, step up the pace a bit more. When you find the first adult from the class, tell them that we got held up and ask for them to stop until we can catch up. Got it?”

He got two “Yes, sir’s” in response. He nodded his head and told them to get going. Looking at the rest of the kids, he pointed to a couple of rocks on the side of the trail. Counting how many were left standing in front of him, he pointed the rocks out. “Let’s go have a seat over here, everyone, while we wait on Car— Sam and Maria.”

He watched as they all moved over and found various sitting spots before he turned around back to where Sam was currently patching up Maria’s other foot already. The first one was wrapped up already and just needed a sock and shoe put back on.

After another 10 minutes the other foot was wrapped up as well and Sam was easing her socks and boots over Maria’s feet. Jack was keeping an eye on their progress while watching the kids and all the people passing them by. A few had stopped by to make sure they didn’t need help. Jack kept them moving saying they were fine.

Jack turned towards the women. He could see how irritated Sam was getting with Maria and her ridiculous comments and complaints that he was overhearing. He finally asked, “Carter?”

“Yes, sir. Almost done.”

Maria was eyeing them weirdly, which seemed apt when Jack realized they had reverted back to their weird military ways as Cassie had called it. “Oh you’re the Army woman who takes care of that moody girl, umm, Cassie. Right?”

“Maria. Can I call you Maria?” Jack continued speaking before she could answer one way or the other. “This woman in front of you is Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter of the United States Air Force. She logged over 100 hours, 114 to be exact, in enemy airspace during the Gulf War. And while she doesn’t get to fly as much anymore, she can fly just about anything there is on Earth and is a general badass. This woman has done more things for this world and hell, universe, than anyone will ever know. On top of all of that, she is the god-mother of Cassie and when we lost Cassie’s mother in the line of duty, she stepped up to be family for that moody little girl, as you said, who had just lost her second mom in her short lifetime. Cassie deserves to be in whatever mood she wants, and Sam here is a true national treasure who is currently wrapping your feet. I would ask for a little respect. Please.” Jack had overheard some of their conversation previously where Maria was being rather snotty to Sam and he found he couldn’t hold back when she had mistaken Sam for an Army grunt.

Sam was blushing profusely when Jack got done speaking as she looked up at him with her mouth slightly hanging open still squatting on the ground and hanging onto the roll of gauze. Sam realized that he had probably said more words just now than she had ever heard in a row. He also not only remembered what she had told him when they first met but for some reason had her exact flight hours from the Gulf memorized as well.

Maria looked properly chagrinned to Jack’s delight, as he continued speaking. “Now, I would suggest you tie your boots and let’s get going so we can catch up to the rest of the group.”

Jack finally dared to glance over to Sam to see if he had gone overboard and what type of groveling he would need to do. It’s one thing to back up your second on another planet when she was disrespected for being a woman, but it was another to do it in front of another woman on Earth. Instead of anger though, he found that she was flushed and she had a small grin starting.

He raised his eyebrow asking silently if he had gone too far. She grinned a little wider and shook her head slightly. She turned back towards Maria and said, “Don’t tie them too tightly, it will only irritate your feet more.”

“Right, thank you. I’m really sorry, um, Lieutenant Colonel. I meant no disrespect, and thank you very much for helping me. I wasn’t sure I was going to finish the hike and I guess I got a little irritated.”

“It’s quite ok, Maria. It’s just Sam as well. Like he said though, let’s get going.”

Maria stood up and shook out her feet to see how things felt. She nodded, grabbed her bag with the tags still on it and began to walk gingerly down the trail. Jack moved over to the kids and told them to get moving and follow Maria. He counted them once again to make sure everyone was still accounted for before moving back over to Sam. She was still packing up her first aid kit so he grabbed her bag and helped put the other things away in it. Once she got done, she handed the kit over to him and he placed it back in the bag. Their hands brushed when he handed her the bag back.

“Thank you.”

“Sure.” Jack stood up, biting back the groan when he felt his knees cracking.

Sam got up and brushed her knees off before looking over to him. “No, I mean, thank you, for what you said to Maria.”

“Oh.” Jack sighed, “You sure it wasn’t too much?”

“No, of course not. She was kind of rude.”

“Yeah, but more than anyone, I know you can take care of yourself.”

“You’re right, but it’s always nice to have a little backup every once in a while.”

“Ok, good to know.”

They started walking on the trail again, “So, 114 hours?”

“Huh?” Jack questioned, playing dumb.

It had been a while since Sam had fallen for that, so she just raised an eyebrow waiting.

“Yeah, is that right?”

“I think you know it is.”

“Yeah, I suppose so. Just be glad I didn’t suggest you arm wrestle her to prove your superiority.”

Sam giggled before she got serious once again, “Thanks for all the rest of what you said too, Jack.”

“Always, Sam.” Jack smiled at her as they continued to walk down the trail behind the kids.

Chapter Text

Thankfully the rest of the hike passed without any more drama. They were able to meet up with the group again after 20 minutes and finished making their way back down to the visitors center parking lot. Maria was keeping a wide distance between herself and Sam and Jack. That suited Jack just fine. Cassie had another couple of months at the school, so it wasn’t likely that they would have to deal with the woman again.

They had just settled in sitting behind the kids who were listening to the park ranger talk about the park. Then the ranger started talking about the rocks found in the park and all their variations. Jack promptly tuned her out. He got enough of that from the geologists at the SGC, who for some reason still thought he wanted to hear about their rocks. And stones. And pebbles even, sometimes. Then there was Daniel and he loved his rocks too, even if he still reminded Jack that they were actually ‘artifacts’. Daniel probably would have been up there with the ranger giving the lecture if he was here.

Sam leaned over and whispered, “How many times do you think Daniel would have corrected her so far?”

“So many times that she would have killed him by now,” Jack replied whispering back.

Sam giggled before she noticed a couple of kids turning around looking, including Cassie. Sam covered her mouth and bent down pretending to look in her backpack for something.

Luckily before Jack could fall asleep twenty minutes later, the lecture was over and that meant that everyone was free to leave.

Cassie ran over to where they were still sitting, tossed her bag to the ground and said, “That was soooo much fun! Right, Sam? Jack?”

Jack nodded, “Yeah, kiddo, it was fun.”

Sam nodded as well. “It was, Cass. I’m glad you had fun. We should go thank the teacher for organizing everything.”

“I’ll stay here with the bags,” Jack said before he could also get dragged off by Cassie like Sam. He watched the two of them make their way over to the group of people standing around the teacher. Jack took out his water and drank a sip.

He almost spit it out though when he saw Maria headed his way with a determined look on her face. He so did not want to rehash what he said to her earlier while standing up for Sam. Regardless of what Sam said, he still felt like he had overstepped. He always had Sam’s back in the field and off, but he rarely stood up for her like that. It’s not like he didn’t want to, but Sam could take care of herself. She had proven that so many times from their very first mission and she had rarely needed her commanding officer to step in. He’d have to ask Teal’c one day to see how many times he had saved Sam’s life versus how many times she had saved his. He was pretty sure it was no contest.

Right now though, he still had a very determined woman coming his way. He sat up a little straighter physically and mentally preparing himself. Maria walked right up in front of him and stood there. Warily, Jack looked up. “Can I help you, ma’am?” He asked, ever the polite gentleman, as his mother had taught him a long time ago.

“I wanted to apologize again about earlier. I was getting a little cranky and was in pain.”

“Yes, ma’am. I understand.”

“Please call me Maria.”

“Jack.”

Maria smiled, “I feel like we got off on the wrong foot, Jack. Cassie really seems like a good kid. Her and Natalie don’t really run in the same crowds, but we all heard about her mother.”

“Yes, it was hard on us all to lose Janet.”

“Look, I really wanted to apologize. But, if you’re willing to forgive me, maybe I could buy you dinner one night?”

Jack raised a brow. He was not expecting that. It did feel really good to be asked out by a woman again, if he was honest. It had been far too long. He looked at her face and he found her to be an attractive woman. She had long brown hair in a ponytail and was nice to look at. Jack just wasn’t sure if he was willing to go there with someone from Cassie’s school. Nor could he imagine dating a woman that didn’t even know you had to break in a new pair of hiking boots before taking them out the first time. He flicked his eyes over to where Sam and Cassie were still standing talking to the teacher before turning back and saying, “Oh, I’m flattered. Really. But —”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I just assumed you were single, since you didn’t have a ring. But, I should have realized. The way you talked about her, I should have known you two were together. But then she was calling you ‘sir,’ so I was hoping —”

Jack cleared his throat as she trailed off. That was the second time today that someone suspected Sam and him were together. Normally he would be ecstatic about that and would probably tease Sam about to no end. But now, she was engaged, it wasn’t his place, and it was just yet another reminder that she wasn’t his. And she had clearly made up her mind that she didn’t want him anymore. “No, we’re not together. I’m just very busy this time of year, so I’m not sure I really have the time right now.” Who was he kidding, he was busy all year around, but it seemed like a nice way to turn her down.

“Oh, so you are single?”

“Yes,” Jack raised his eyebrow again, and drew out the word.

“Well, maybe when things calm down for you, you can give me a call.” She pulled out a business card and handed it to him. “My cell phone number is on the back. I promise I’m normally much better with people than I proved today. I think we can have some fun.” Maria smiled at him and tossed her hair over her shoulder in a very flirtatious manner.

“Um, yeah, maybe.” Even though he took the card, he had no intention of calling the woman, but it felt nice to be flirted with, especially from a woman so young. He guessed she was probably even a few years younger than Sam.

“Great, I look forward to hearing from you.” With one last smile, she turned and walked away just as Sam and Cassie were coming back towards him.

He quickly tucked the card into his pants pocket and stood up as they arrived. “Ready?”

Sam had furrowed her brows as she had watched Maria talking to Jack for several minutes over the teachers shoulder. She had watched while she handed something over to Jack that he had just tucked into his pockets. He was an eligible man, the best man that Sam had ever known. Seeing someone who likely just asked him out made her sad. And a little angry that they were free to do that. Meanwhile, she couldn’t do anything about her own feelings for 8 years. And now, she kept having to remind herself, she was engaged. She should not be getting jealous, for crying out loud.

Sam bent down to grab her bag as Cassie did the same and simply said, “Yep.”

Cassie was confused why Sam was being so short with Jack at the moment, but she put on a happy face and asked, “Can we go see Patches now? Pleeeeease?”

Sam looked over to her and smiled, pushing her thoughts to the background. “We did say that we would go visit her, didn’t we?”

Cassie nodded enthusiastically, “Yes! Jack, please say you’ll come too?”

Never being able to say no to Cassie, Jack found himself agreeing to walk over to the Rock Ledge Historic Site with them. It’s not like he had anything better to do that day. It was late spring, so no hockey games were on and his favorite baseball team wasn’t playing today.

They made their way through the parking lot and they all stopped to put their backpacks in their respective cars. They made their way past the visitor center and carefully crossed the busy road. Most cars were entering the parking lots so it was fairly quick to cross. They made their way down the gravel road listening to Cassie go on and on about everything she had seen today. They passed by yet another parking lot before turning right down towards the barn.

Cassie finally had run out of things to say, so she jogged ahead to go scout out where the animals were. Jack and Sam followed at a more sedate pace, but still much quicker than the speed they had maintained on the trail with the kids.

All of a sudden, Jack groaned and moved quickly to the right towards Sam. She reached out a hand to help steady him before he came crashing into her. Before she could ask, he yelped, “Ahh, I just stepped in dog poo!”

Sam grinned at his antics and the disgusted look on his face as he was hopping on one foot looking down at the other one. She looked back to see where he had been walking, “Nope, I think that’s cow poo, sir.” She finally giggled when she couldn’t control herself anymore.

“Carter! What did I say about giggling?”

Sam was still giggling as she said, “Come on, let’s go find Cassie and Patches. You can tell Patches all about how you stepped in her poo.”

Sam watched as Jack, a grown General, made gagging noises while he was still trying to wipe his boot off on the grass. It caused Sam to laugh even more and even let out a little snort. Jack, against his will, found himself smiling back at her. He was pretty sure he would step in animal poop every day if he could see her laugh like that every time. And even if it made him a dirty old man, the form fitting yoga pants certainly helped even when she was laughing at him.

Chapter Text

Sam walked up to the first level of security holding a fragile box. She placed it on the conveyor belt and watched it move slowly into the x-ray machine. She stepped through the metal detector and picked up the box on the other side. She thanked the Sergeant’s manning the security checkpoint and made her way to the elevator. She repeated the same steps at the second checkpoint and signed in before waiting on the second elevator.

Pressing the correct floor number for the locker rooms, she leaned back against the wall sighing. She thought back to the previous night.

Pete walked in the house behind her. Cassie was at Jack’s tonight so it was just the two of them. They were just getting back from their twice rescheduled cake tasting. The first time Sam had rescheduled because she had volunteered for Cassie’s school field trip. The second time, Pete had called her at the base and said that he was stuck at a crime scene and couldn’t make it. At the time, Sam had been deeply involved with the crisis with Russia. They had been at DEFCON 3 and on the verge of going DEFCON 2. She had just quickly agreed to whatever Pete had said so she could get off the phone as soon as possible. She hadn’t even remembered that they had the cake tasting appointment that day.

Sam tossed her purse on the entryway table and set the cake box down before she hung up her jacket. She picked up the box again and took it into the kitchen and placed it in the fridge.

“Remind me again why you wanted all those slices of cake?”

Sam closed the fridge door and turned around to look at Pete standing at the kitchen island. “I’m sorry?”

Pete pointed at the fridge. “All that cake, Sam?”

“Oh. I told the guys I would bring them some after we did our tasting.”

“The guys?”

“Yeah, the team. My team.”

Pete shook his head. “Oh. I was thinking we should maybe still try to have the caterer make the cake too. It would be a lot easier logistically. I’m not sure if this place was that good after all.”

“Hmm, I really liked it, but whatever you think is best.” She automatically agreed. She had really enjoyed the cake from this bakery, but she was ready for all of these decisions to just be over already.

He nodded and asked, "You want to watch some TV?”

“Sure, go ahead. I’m going to get something to drink.” She pulled out the canister of coffee to make herself some decaf. It was kind of late and she didn’t need any more caffeine.

Pete made his way into the living room and made himself comfortable on the couch. A few minutes later Sam followed him with a steaming cup of coffee. She sat down next to him.

Pete turned down the TV and turned to her, “Hey, babe?”

“Yeah?”

“I was thinking about our honeymoon.”

Sam jerked her head towards him in surprise. They had talked about it a few times now, but had yet to come up with dates that would work. Nor any real ideas on their destination. Sam didn’t really want to go too far away from the base considering how tense everything seemed lately in the state of the universe. But Pete, of course, wanted to go somewhere tropical, which meant far away.

“Ok. What about it?” She finally asked.

“Let’s go dive.”

“Dive?” She parroted back raising her eyebrows.

“Yeah, you know in the water, like with sharks or stingrays or something like that.”

“Dive? With sharks?” She looked at him incredulously. While she was a fairly regular adrenaline junky, he never came off that way. Their lives were so often in danger — more so hers of course. He was a cop and he regularly asked her what she was doing to save the world that day. The idea that he would want to do something like diving with sharks was kind of out of character. Or, so she thought.

“Yeah, it sounds like a lot of fun. I was reading about it on the website for one of the resorts in Mexico we looked at.”

Instead of just saying no, Sam thought she would try to one up the adrenaline rush. So, she suggested something she had been wanting to do for a while now. “How about tandem parachuting?”

“Parachuting, as in, jumping out of airplanes?”

“Yep. Now that is a lot of fun.” She needed to renew her license in the next couple of months, and this would be a good way to knock that off too. Even though Pete would have to do a tandem one with her, she could do what she needed to get hers renewed at the same time. She hadn’t needed to parachute since they had to do it in Russia several years ago, but she always kept up with her license just in case.

“That doesn’t sound like very much fun.”

Sam sat back disappointed, “Oh. Well I’m sure we’ll come up with something else.”

“Did you ask for time off yet after the wedding?”

“No, I was planning on doing that this week.”

“Ok, good. Don’t forget.”

Sam avoided rolling her eyes. She had in fact been procrastinating having the conversation with her commanding officer.

As her thoughts returned to her commanding officer, she realized the elevator had stopped and the doors were opening. Re-gripping the box, she stepped out and made her way to the locker room. She set the box down and quickly changed out of her clothes into a blue set of BDU’s. She grabbed the box once again and headed back to the elevator. She took the route to the General’s office on auto-pilot.

Once she arrived, she saw him sitting in the office looking at some paperwork. She knocked on the doorframe.

“Carter.” He waved her in when he saw who was there.

“Hi, sir. Do you have a minute?”

He made a show of looking at his watch. “For you, Carter, I think I might have three.”

Sam smiled and made her way in. She set the box down in front of him before sitting in one of the chairs in front of his desk. “Thank you, sir.”

“That for me? Or are you just trying to make me drool?” Jack pointed at the box now covering his never-ending paperwork.

Sam smiled. “Yes, sir, it’s for you. A while back you had mentioned wanting some cake when we went and did our cake tasting. And well, we finally did that last night.”

“Ah.” Jack opened the box and peeked inside. He raised his eyebrow when he counted about 5 different slices sitting inside. And they weren’t small slices. “Umm, Carter, you know how much I love cake, but that is quite a lot.”

Sam smiled again, “Yes, sir. I figured you can share with the guys once you take what you want. I saved Cassie a slice back home of her favorite kind.”

“Thanks, Carter. So, what kind did you pick?” Jack said feigning his interest.

She blushed a little bit at having to talk to her commanding officer about her wedding plans. “Oh, um, we didn’t really pick one yet. Pete really liked the vanilla with buttercream frosting, but he wants to try the cake from one of the caterers he has lined up in a few weeks as well.”

“Vanilla?”

“Yes, sir.” Sam’s cheeks blushed more. She knew that he knew it wasn’t her favorite kind of cake. She loved chocolate cake and when she would get ‘fancy', it would be a red velvet. She had yet to find a cake made with blue jello.

“You know those types of decisions are generally made by the both of you, right?”

Sam blushed even more, “Yes, sir. But it didn’t seem worth the argument. I like vanilla.”

“Ok, if you say so.” Jack pushed the cake box a little towards her. “I spotted a red velvet slice in there if you want to snag that for later.”

“If I eat any more cake, I’m gonna need to go for a 10 mile run later.”

“Come on, we can have it for dessert after lunch today.”

“Ok, maybe I’ll have a few more bites later. It was all really quite delicious.”

“I bet. It certainly looks good.”

Sam still sat there even though Jack had turned back to his paperwork.

He glanced back up again, “Was there something else, Carter?”

“Yes, sir. Well, as you know, the wedding is in another couple of months,” she started trailing off.

“I’m aware.”

“Right, well, I was wondering if I could get some time off afterwards for the honeymoon, sir?” she asked in a hurry.

“Did you decide where and when you’re going?”

“No, sir. We’re still deciding. Sometimes, I just want to say, ‘Let’s elope!’ but it seems really important to Pete to have this big wedding. Anyway, he wants to take off for a week and a half after the wedding.”

“Carter, you deserve to take the time that you want. It’s not like you don’t have the time saved up since you never take any time off.”

“Well, yes, sir. Thank you. I just really love my job and I know how busy everything is around here,” she trailed off again.

“Yes, but it’s always been that way and pretty sure it probably always will be. You can still take whatever time you want or need.”

“Ok, sir. If you’re sure.”

“I’m sure. Put the request in and I’ll approve it.”

Sam tried not to look disappointed. It wasn’t like she wasn’t excited about the wedding and the honeymoon, but sometimes it took a lot of effort to get into it and feel like she was actually ready. “Oh, ok. Thank you, sir.” When she thought about being a married woman going on a honeymoon in just a few months time, she felt overwhelmed.

Jack nodded and went back to his paperwork, effectively dismissing her once again.

Sam cleared her throat before getting up to leave. Jack calling her name made her turn around at the door.

“Lunch at 13:00?”

Sam grinned. “See you there, sir,” she called out over her shoulder as she turned to make her way back down to the control room to check in on things before heading to her lab.

Chapter Text

Sam walked into the commissary a few minutes early for lunch. She was well aware that she had a bit of a reputation for getting sucked into her work, and often lost track of time. She would regularly forget to eat until someone would come remind her. She had found that the guys regularly rotated the job with each other. Janet also used to be included in that. Today, however, had been a bit slow in the lab and her test results had come in with plenty of time to make her lunch plans with the General. She definitely hadn’t been looking forward to it all morning. She was probably just thinking about another slice of cake.

She looked around the room but didn’t see the General yet. Well, the General or SG-1, she kept having to remind herself. She grabbed a tray and put something that looked like chicken on her plate. She added a scoop of roasted baby potatoes for a side. Potatoes were generally pretty hard to mess up, so they were a safe choice. She also made a little mini salad just in case the chicken didn’t work out. Finally, she debated grabbing a bowl of her favorite blue jello, but if she ended up having more cake, she should probably skip it. Deciding to skip it, she grabbed some silverware, picked up her tray, and went to sit at their usual table.

She was just sitting down when she saw Jack come in. He spotted her quickly and gave a little nod before going through the line himself. She watched as someone from the kitchen went to the back and handed the cake box to Jack. He balanced his tray and the cake box together walking over to her. He carefully set the box down between them along with his tray. He sat in the seat across from her.

“Carter, you’re early. For once.”

“Yes, sir. I guess I was a couple of minutes early.”

“That eager to have some more cake?”

Sam smiled, “Something like that.”

Ignoring his tray of questionable food in front of him, Jack opened the cake box and grabbed a chunk of the closest piece to him with his fork. Pointing with his fork, he said, “Dig in, Carter.”

“Well, I was going to eat lunch first. Usually dessert comes after the meal.”

He swallowed the first bite of cake and made a little ‘yum’ noise. Going back for another bite he said, “Usually, sure. But I can’t promise that this cake will still be here once you get done with that mystery meat.” His eyes went down to her plate with a grimace looking at what he assumed might have been chicken at some point. It was the same thing he had on his plate, and he wasn’t looking forward to it.

She followed his eyes down to the meat. She had taken a couple of bites of the potatoes and was trying to work up the courage to try the chicken. She grimaced as well. Cleaning her fork off with a napkin, she grabbed herself a bite of the chocolate cake, “You have a good point, sir.”

“Of course I do. I never mess around when cake is on the line.” Jack switched from the lemon slice he had tried first to try the chocolate cake that Sam had just snagged. It was cold from being in the fridge and the icing had hardened just a little bit on top. It was quite magnificent. Jack considered himself a bit of a cake connoisseur, but he had to admit this was one of the best ones he had tried. There were still several other flavors to try though.

Jack took a bite of Sam’s favorite red velvet one next, but he didn’t like that one as much. He tried the pink one next, he wasn’t sure if it was meant to be strawberry or raspberry. Strawberry, he decided, with his first taste. It was pretty good, but he went back to the chocolate after that. Sam had taken some small bites of the other ones too, but she had gravitated back towards the chocolate too.

Sitting back after several more bites, she could feel the sugar rush starting up. “Well, what do you think?”

Jack set his fork down after another bite of the chocolate. Looking back in the box, there were only a couple of bites left of that particular slice. He looked back up to Sam, “I think it’s pretty clear we have a winner.”

Sam smiled. “Yeah, it’s pretty good, right?”

Jack nodded in agreement. “Pretty damn good.” He had noticed the box didn’t have any labels on it earlier when Sam had brought it to his office. “Where is this bakery?”

“Oh, it’s called ‘The Springs Sweets’, which is a bit of a tongue-twister if you ask me. It’s all the way across town. I didn’t even know it was there. It’s some hole in the wall bakery, but I guess Pete had driven by it on his shift a while back and stopped in for a muffin. He said it was good and suggested we try their cakes.”

Jack made a non-committal noise in his throat. He guessed this Pete was worth a little something if he had found this bakery. However, Jack had tried the vanilla slice of cake that he assumed was the same one Pete had liked so much and found it to be pretty boring. None of the other slices compared to the taste of the chocolate.

Sam picked up her fork and pushed around the chicken on her plate. After all of that cake, she didn’t really want to eat anything else, but she knew she probably should. She took a bite of her salad instead. It tasted a little weird with the chocolate taste still in her mouth.

Jack drank some water before dumping a pile of ketchup on the chicken on his plate. He hoped he could drown out the taste enough. He ate quickly so that he didn’t have much time to process the taste. It was an old military trick learned by having to eat MRE’s for months on end.

Sam took a couple more bites before she finally asked, “Where are Daniel and Teal’c?”

“I saw Danny earlier, but he was pretty engrossed in some translation or another. To be honest, I wasn’t really listening. T was there though, and I told them 13:00, so I’m not really sure.” Jack paused to think if they had said anything in response before continuing, “Maybe they’re looking for you.”

Sam looked down at her watch, “Surely, they haven’t been trying to find me for 20 minutes.”

“Carter, you do tend to hide on us sometimes.”

Sam raised her eyebrows, “I do not hide, sir.”

“Ok, ok. Not hide, per se. But, you have a tendency to wander.” A small smile appeared on his face as he thought about how difficult it was to find her sometimes. “Better?”

Sam scoffed, “Well, I can’t help it when everyone drags me off every which way asking for help. Sir.” She was a beat late on the honorific.

Jack quirked his eyebrow, “I know you’re in demand, Carter. We should discuss hiring some other scientists to help out some more.”

“Really?” Sam perked up at the thought. She was always in demand and it never seemed to let up when she was on Earth.

“Sure, why don’t you put some names together and call me when you’re ready? We can go through them next week sometime.”

“Yes, sir. That sounds great. Thank you.”

Sam thought back and realized that they had talked on the phone quite a lot more in the past few months. Sometimes it was work related, but a lot of times it wasn’t. They would just talk about what they were doing or something from their day that they thought the other one would enjoy. Jack had called her the other night because he had picked up a meal at her favorite restaurant and he had pretty much spent 20 minutes oohing and aahing over it to rub it in. She had laughed at his antics.

She realized that the phone calls had started up more frequently after he became a General and no longer went out off-world with them. She knew he missed the action and since he didn’t go off-world with them anymore, he missed out on all of those normal every day conversations they would have while out on a mission. Thinking even further back though, the calls had started up after she had been kidnapped by Adrian Conrad. Each one would check in on another on their days off to make sure that nothing had happened. It had taken them two days to know she had been kidnapped and none of them wanted that to happen again.

While she had been lost in thought, she realized that Daniel and Teal’c had entered the room and were making their way over to the table.

Daniel plopped his tray down on the table and sighed, “Sam, you’re here.”

Sam smiled, “Yep, here I am.”

“Teal’c and I have been trying to find you.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’ve been here the whole time.” She looked over to Teal’c to see him sit down next to her. He inclined his head in acknowledgement of her apology. “I hope you didn’t look for me this entire time.”

“No, Colonel Carter. We have just spent the last 10 minutes checking various laboratories for you. Daniel Jackson was responsible for the other 10 minute delay in our arrival.”

Daniel looked affronted at Teal’c’s call out, but chimed in, “We finally found someone who said you had mentioned going to lunch, so we made our way here instead.”

“Maybe we should place a tracker on Carter here so we can keep better track of her.” Jack started to grin at Sam’s incredulous and offended look.

“I’m not that bad.” She looked around to Daniel and Teal’c for backup. “Am I?” Daniel wasn’t making eye contact and Teal’c simply raised a brow. “Oh, come on. Daniel here is worse than me in being late and missing meals. Case in point,” she reminded them of what Teal’c had said less than a minute ago.

“Indeed, Colonel Carter. However, he can always be found in his office or quarters. Everyone comes to him when they need his assistance.”

“Exactly, everyone comes to my office. But you… you always go to them when someone needs help,” Daniel helpfully explained.

Jack smiled at the repeat conversation they were now having for the second time. “I already explained this earlier to Carter, Daniel.”

“Well, I’m sorry I’m so much trouble. Most things that I help with can’t just be carried around from room to room, you know.”

“It is quite alright, Colonel Carter. We are a team. We will always find each other, no matter how long it takes.”

Sam smiled at Teal’c’s sentiment and Daniel chose the opportunity to change the subject and start talking about an artifact that SG-9 had brought back from their last mission. Sam tuned him out and started thinking about who she could get to help her out in the labs. Maybe, just maybe, that would help her to be able to have more of a life outside of work. She wasn’t exactly sure what she would do with all that extra time, but between Cassie, Pete, and the guys, she was sure she’d find something.

Chapter Text

Cassie snapped her cell phone closed and sat back. She was pissed at Jack. She had just found out that he had a date tonight. With some random woman of all things. She had called him at the SGC after her school day to see if she should order dinner for him. Sam was out on a mission, probably saving the world again, so she had planned on staying at Jack’s house that night. When she called him though, he got really awkward when she asked about dinner. He finally admitted he had plans that night. She had teased him asking him if he had a hot date. His silence said everything. He finally admitted to having a date with a woman that evening. But he swore it was nothing. And he made her promise she would keep it to herself.

Cassie was used to Sam and Pete by this point. Don’t get her wrong, she definitely wasn’t happy about that situation either, but she never thought Jack would start dating too. It’s not like he wasn’t an eligible bachelor, but that meant that things were irreparable between the two of them. They had both given up. Sam had done it first, and now Jack had too. She wasn’t sure how to fix it, but she had to do something. She opened and snapped her phone closed repeatedly trying to think of what to do this time.

Even though she knew Jack and Sam had fun at the school field trip they had chaperoned, she was under no illusion that it hadn’t been enough. Especially after what she had just found out. She had hoped they would be able to talk outside of the military world they had spent their entire adult lives in. Cassie had to go bigger this time. Smiling, she finally put her phone in her pocket and got up. Her plans tonight had been ruined, but she knew just what to do next.

1 week later

Cassie didn’t know all of the details, but she knew that Daniel was missing and Sam had definitely saved the world somehow. Again. Jack wasn’t really talking about Daniel, and Cassie could tell that Sam was worried too. She wasn’t positive that it was the right time to put her plan into action, but she couldn’t wait any longer. She’d be done with high school soon and in a couple of months, just after the wedding, she would be off to college.

She was in Jack’s kitchen putting the final touches on the dinner she was cooking. She had made a pasta bolognese. It was simple but quite good. She and her mom had made it a lot and it was one of the few dishes she could make easily.

She set plates out on the table, along with water and wine glasses. She set a napkin down alongside the plates and placed silverware on top. Hearing a knock at the front door, she went back into the kitchen as she heard Jack getting up to open the door. She could hear his surprised, “Carter,” from where she was. Moving quickly before the conversation could progress too far, she moved out into the hallway and jogged into Sam’s arms giving her a big hug. Sam pulled out of her arms and Cassie realized both of them were staring at her.

“Surprise!” She blurted out awkwardly.

“Cassie? The General said he didn’t know I was coming over to get you tonight.”

Cassie bent her head down and looked up through her eyelashes at Sam. “Look, before you get mad, I wanted to do something nice for you both. You both helped out a while back with the school field trip and I wanted to make dinner for you.” She saw Sam and Jack both opening their mouths to speak, but she kept going before they could interrupt her. “Please, just come in. It’s just dinner. I cooked and made Pasta Bolognese.” She tilted her head up finally and flicked her eyes between the two of them realizing she wasn’t getting anywhere. “It was my mom’s favorite,” she said before turning away for a second. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the two of them look at each other and they must have decided to give in. She had to work really hard to not smile and give up her game.

She finally turned her eyes back to them and Jack spoke, “Ok, kiddo. Let’s go eat some pasta.”

Sam nodded and took off her jacket. Jack took it from her with a smile and set it on the table in the hallway.

Cassie turned around and went back into the kitchen. She brought out the bowl of pasta and set it in the middle of the table. She returned to the kitchen one more time to get the garlic bread she was keeping warm in the oven and the freshly grated parmesan. Setting those on the table, she turned one last time to grab the bottle of wine from the ledge dividing the kitchen and dining room. She had gotten it out earlier from Jack’s liquor cabinet. She knew she wasn’t supposed to go into the liquor cabinet, but it was a special occasion.

Jack eyed her walking back in with the wine, “I’m really more of a beer guy, Cassie.”

Cassie pinned him with a glare that had him averting his eyes. Before Jack could argue further, she told them both to “Sit!”

They both sat without question. Jack was at the head of the table and Sam sat on one of the sides of him with her back to the front door. Cassie returned back into the kitchen and brought back two candles in one hand and a lighter in the other one. She set the candles down and went to light the first one.

“Cass, I really don’t think we need the candles,” Jack spoke up having watched her carry the bundle in.

“Come on, Jack, it’ll be nice,” she argued back. She continued lighting the first candle and then the second. Then before she found a seat, she made a big elaborate act of checking her watch. “Oh, shoot. I just realized I was supposed to call Josh. He was going to help me with my homework from Biology class yesterday. The teacher was really confusing.” She started backing out from the dining room. “Anyway, I’ll be back in just a bit, but go ahead and eat, please. Just save some for me!” Before she could hear their arguments, she had made it to the hallway. She flipped the kitchen light switches off before turning and going down to the room she had appropriated as her own a while back. She couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across her face this time realizing her plan had worked perfectly.

Jack watched Cassie turn and practically run down the hallway. He looked down at his plate and tapped his fingers on the table next to it. After a moment, he finally dared to glance at Sam next to him. She was sitting straight up in the chair stiffly. Her hands were held together in her lap, her lips were pressed together tightly, and she was currently winning a staring contest with the plate in front of her. She could feel Jack looking at her, but she continued to stare at her plate.

“Carter?” Jack finally asked softly.

Sam looked over to him finally. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking. “Sir, I’ll just leave.”

“What? Carter?”

She repeated herself, “I’ll just leave.” She went to stand up from the table, pushing herself up using the table. Jack’s hand shot out to her arm closest to him and she paused halfway standing up. “Sir?”

“Carter, you don’t have to go. It’s just dinner. Right?”

Sam looked over to Jack again. She could see that he was trying to make it not as uncomfortable as it had become. He raised his eyebrow when she continued to hover in the half standing, half sitting position she was in. Giving in, she finally sat back down slowly. “Sure, sir. Just dinner.” She flicked her eyes down to where Jack’s hand was still on her arm. She had a long sleeve shirt on, but she could feel the warmth of his hand spreading into her arm. She catalogued the feeling in her memories.

Jack followed Sam’s eyes down to his hand. Looking back at her, he slowly lifted his hand up, and put it back down on the table beside his plate. Trying to be the good host, he cleared his throat, “Umm, do you want something to drink?”

“The water is fine. Unless you wanted to open that bottle of wine.”

“Sure.” Jack found himself picking up the bottle opener and after a moment he had the bottle opened.

While he was doing that, Sam had scooped out generous portions of pasta on both of their plates. She was starving. She had come straight from the base to pick up Cassie. They were supposed to grab some dinner on their way back to Sam’s house. Now, she knew exactly what Cassie had planned all along in her deception.

Jack poured wine into both of their glasses before holding up his waiting on Sam to grab hers too.

“To friends we’ve lost along the way?” He asked thinking of Janet and how Cassie had roped them into having this dinner so expertly by bringing up her mom. He had finally realized the game she was playing about the moment she was running away to her room a few minutes ago.

Sam refused to get choked up thinking that he might be including Daniel in that. It still didn’t stop her from changing it slightly, “To family we’ve lost along the way.” She clinked their glasses and took a sip.

Jack did the same before setting his glass down. “Hey, Carter?”

“Yeah?”

“Did we just get ‘parent-trapped?’ Again?”

“I think we did, sir,” Sam barely held back her chuckle.

“Yep, just making sure. That sneaky little —” he trailed off muttering a few choice words of how he’d plan to get even.

Sam smiled widely and picked up her fork to dig into the meal.

Chapter Text

Jack watched as the candlelight flickered across Sam’s face lighting up her smiling face. She was laughing as he recounted his adventure of rescuing Siler a few days ago during the replicator attack and how Jack learned he was apparently written into Siler’s will.

Sam laughed again as he finished the story, “I wonder what he is leaving you, sir.”

He watched as she scooped up the bigger chunks of tomatoes he had pushed to one side of his plate and add them to a second helping of the pasta on her plate. The military forced a person to eat whatever was in front of them, but at home he picked out the things he didn’t love, just like the chunky tomatoes. Off-world they’d usually trade around the meals so they all got something they were generally ok with.

“Who knows, maybe his wrench collection?” When she was done taking his tomatoes, he snagged the rest of her garlic bread that he knew she wouldn’t finish. She was never a big fan of the garlic taste, so he regularly took it off her hands once she had eaten what she wanted.

Sam giggled. “Do you have a lot of use for a wrench collection?”

“I’m leaving him my Simpson’s DVD collection, so it better be something as good as that.”

“Because they’re so rare?” Sam grinned.

“Yes! Exactly!”

Sam nodded in fake agreement, “Uh huh, ok.”

“Hey, now. Do not talk bad about the Simpsons, Carter. They are the best.”

“I believe that’s what you think,” she chuckled again at his insulted look.

Jack knew she was just ribbing him. It would hardly be a surprise to him to find out that Sam didn’t enjoy every single thing that he did. He definitely knew that he didn’t enjoy every topic she did. The astrophysics stuff she spouted all the time went right over his head probably 90% of the time. He knew the basics and had even learned a lot from her over the years, but it was a very specialized field. However, he could understand why she got excited about it, and that was good enough for him. He generally understood a lot of the other engineering related things she would talk about because he had those skills too in his background. He was a pilot after all and those skills were needed for that. On the other side, the computer stuff she did blew his mind sometimes. He and technology just generally did not get along.

He had been thinking a lot about things lately and wondering why he was sitting around alone most nights. The SGC had ruled his life for 8 long years. He had made the decision to not call the woman, Maria, from Cassie’s school field trip but when he was asked out again by Kerry Johnson, he had made the executive decision to say yes. So far, he had been out on a few dates with Kerry in the past several weeks, prior to the attempted replicator takeover. He knew she was going to be back again in another few days and he was torn between wanting to go out with her again and wanting to just avoid her altogether. He liked her, but he regularly compared Kerry to Sam, which wasn’t fair to either one of them, or himself. He had to keep reminding himself that Sam had moved on first. He was allowed to have a life.

That was really hard to think about however when he was currently sitting next to a candle-lit Sam at his dining room table eating pasta and drinking a glass of wine. Jack thought it was nice to just sit and have a nice meal with one of his favorite people in the world. Once he got past all of the dogs sitting at the top of the list, that is.

He smiled as her chuckle finally trailed off, “More wine, Carter?”

“Umm, maybe in a few minutes. Thanks.”

“Sure.”

Jack stood up, gathering up their plates to take them into the kitchen. He flicked the lights on with his elbow as he went past. Sam also got up and carried the pan full of the pasta that they hadn’t eaten. She rummaged around in one of the lower cabinets to find a container with a matching lid to put the leftovers in for Cassie. Sam rolled her eyes as she realized again that Cassie really had just deserted them. She heard Jack turn the water on to start rinsing the plates. She scooped the pasta into a container and put the lid on it. She then turned around to place it in the fridge. She stepped around next to Jack just as he was finishing cleaning the first plate. She swapped him the clean plate for the dirty spoon she had just used. Grabbing a towel from the counter, she took the plate from him to dry it. He followed up with the second plate and then the silverware they had used. She dried them all and placed them in a stack to be put away.

When Jack was rinsing his hands off, he said to her, “Go get our glasses topped off. I’ll finish up with the dishes.”

Wiping her hands on the towel she laid it on the counter to dry before turning back to the dining room table. She could hear him putting the plates and silverware back where they belonged. She picked up the bottle of wine and filled up their glasses. Then she carried them into the living room.

She felt like she should be embarrassed at how domestic this all seemed, but she pushed those feelings down. It just felt normal. It felt right. That brought a blush to her cheeks. She needed to wait for Cassie to be ready to go anyway. She was supposed to be taking Cassie to school in the morning.

Sam had been busy with everything at Dakara this past week. She really needed to do some maintenance on Janet’s old car that Cassie was now driving, but she hadn’t had the time yet. She figured this weekend she could do what she needed to on the car so that Cassie could start driving it again. In the meantime, her and Jack were taking turns taking her to school, or she would take the bus if she really had to. Cassie was probably missing her freedom a bit.

Sam set Jack’s glass down on the coffee table and took a sip of hers, while she stood in the living room waiting on him to come join her. She looked over the photos sitting on the fireplace mantle and hanging on the walls. There were a lot featuring Charlie and his ex-wife Sara, of course. There were a few older shots of him in his younger years with his teams he had been deployed with through the years. Then there were even a few of SG-1 thrown in there too.

It made her think about Daniel and where he might be or what might have happened to him. She had tried a couple of times now to talk about Daniel with Jack, but he had shot her down each time. He was confident he would just show up again. Sam certainly hoped that would be the case, but she knew in her gut that he had likely died again. She could only hope it was just another one of Daniel’s nine lives and he really would be back again. She smiled briefly, thinking that they needed to come up with another saying to describe their habit of coming back to life though, because she was pretty sure he had blown right through his ‘nine’ lives a long time ago. She figured they all had at this point.

Jack stood at the living room entrance for a minute watching Sam before descending down the stairs into the room. He could tell she was struggling with something. Following her line of sight, he saw a picture of SG-1 where you could tell Daniel was still in motion trying to get in the frame before the timer went off. They had all laughed at him encouraging him to move faster. Even Teal’c had a hint of smile on his face with the ubiquitous eyebrow raised. He knew that she was thinking about Daniel and was fighting to keep her emotions in check. It was getting harder and harder for him too the longer time went on without hearing from him.

Jack walked up to Sam and took her wine glass from her hand. She startled at the touch, but without spilling it, he got a hold of it and set it on the mantle. Without any more thought he said, “C’mere,” and wrapped her in his arms.

Her arms came around his back automatically as she moved in closer. Her forehead landed on his shoulder as she sniffled a few times. He could tell she was holding herself together still and she wasn’t crying. But he could feel her sadness seeping into him. One of his hands found its way to the back of her neck and he squeezed her a little closer.

She turned her head into his neck and breathed deeply. He brushed a soft kiss into her hair before bending his head down into her neck. He had been in this same spot barely a year ago after Janet had died. He treasured it then and he treasured it now. That she would trust him enough to be vulnerable around him. He wasn’t thinking that she was an engaged woman or that she was still his 2IC. The former being wrong in all of society and the latter being very wrong to the USAF. He definitely shouldn’t be hugging her when she was either one of those things, let alone both of them. Instead, he just concentrated on the feel of her and how she fit against him perfectly.

It was like she was made for him. Her hair tickled his nose making him want to move it away, but the smell of it overwhelmed that desire. She begin moving her hands up and down his back and he fought against a shiver that wanted to let loose. She was still breathing deeply in and out. He could feel the cool air against his neck when she inhaled and the warm air flowed over him a moment later when she exhaled. Between her hands against his back, and her breath on his neck, his arousal was getting starting to take a front seat. It didn’t matter that there were two layers between her hands and his skin, he felt every fingertip against every nerve ending. His hips had thankfully kept a small distance from her so she wouldn’t be able to feel him.

He felt her stiffen a tiny amount and he realized that the hand not cradling her head had dipped down a little too far. He had been unconsciously moving to pull her lower half closer. Realizing he had made a mistake, he quickly moved his hand back to safe territory on her lower back. But, the moment was broken and she begin to pull back from him. He couldn’t believe he had done that but before he could apologize, he heard her speak.

“I’m sorry.”

He didn’t understand why she was the one apologizing when he had clearly been the one to take advantage. “For what?” was all he could ask instead.

“I’m just mad. At Daniel, sir. He already did this to us once before, and now he is missing. Again.”

“Yeah, but he has a good habit of showing up again.” Jack paused and sighed. “Look, you know all of the SG teams have been notified to be on the lookout for any new arrivals on the planets they are visiting. He’ll mysteriously turn up somewhere and someone will find him. I’m sure of it.”

Sam blinked back her tears of frustration and anger. One slipped loose however, and Jack reached up to wipe it away from her face. It was eerily similar to when he had wiped the suntan lotion from her cheek a while back at the Garden of the Gods. Sam looked up at him into his eyes. Hers were shining with unshed tears and the tiny blue flecks were sparkling from the lamp light. Sam flicked her eyes down to his mouth and back to his eyes again. She saw the same indecision she felt reflected back in his eyes.

A loud sound coming from down the hallway caused them to jerk apart. Jack’s hand moved away from her cheek and briefly landed on her shoulder before he lost the contact and his hand moved back down to his side. Her other arm had been gripping his bare forearm after he had rolled up the sleeves to do the dishes earlier. Her hand made a fist to alleviate the loss of the contact with his skin.

Jack ran a hand through his hair making it spike in even more directions. Sighing, he cleared his throat before speaking, “Look, Carter —”

“Sir, you don’t have to say anything.”

Jack raised his eyebrow. If she was going to just ignore it, he would take his lead from her. “Right. Ok. I was just going to ask if you wanted to play a game of chess?”

Sam flushed in embarrassment. She figured he was going to try and acknowledge whatever had happened between them just now. She wasn’t even really sure what had happened, if anything. It had happened so quickly and now she was second guessing herself that she had seen something in Jack’s eyes.

“Yeah, I’d like that, sir.”

Jack closed his eyes briefly at hearing the honorific slip from her mouth so easily again. He was pretty sure that if she wasn’t engaged, he would have slipped his arms back around her and pulled her close again to feel her body against him from head to toe. He knew he couldn’t do that though and it frustrated him to no end.

He quickly turned and moved to the entertainment center to pull out his old, worn out chess set. He breathed deeply and thought of anything that would get a handle on his arousal that had started.

Chapter Text

Jack sat down on one end of the couch. He turned so his back was against the armrest and pulled up one of his legs, the one with the good knee, to bend on the cushion. He unfolded the chess board on the cushion in front of him. He heard Sam set down her wine glass on the coffee table next to his and felt her sit down on the opposite side of the board. He glanced up to see her maneuvering sideways contorting her legs like a pretzel. Jack was envious of her working knees for a moment as he was every time he saw her contort her body into some position that Jack had long realized he could no longer do.

He started to separate the pieces giving her the white pieces and keeping the black for himself. Once it was set up, he conceded the first move to her with a gesture of his hand. He lost himself in the game after a moment concentrating on making the appropriate moves against hers. She was a fierce competitor and he knew it after having lost to her many times in the past. He had also won his fair share of games though, too. He was fairly sure it was the only thing where he had a small chance of beating her.

After one of his moves, he paused and reached for his wine glass on the coffee table to take a sip. He took a moment to watch her as she thought about her next move. She had a look of intense concentration on her face as she slipped her lower lip in between her teeth. Jack was envious of her teeth wishing his were in their place sucking her lower lip in between his. He would gently nip at it before soothing it with his tongue.

He turned his attention to her hand as he watched it move towards one of her pawns. She pulled it back at the last moment second-guessing the move she was going to make. She settled back on the same pawn after a moment and Jack watched her elegant fingers move it to its next home.

Jack settled his eyes back on the board when he felt her eyes tilt up towards him. Holding the glass of wine in his left, he moved his next piece to counter her attack. “Check,” he murmured quietly into the silence that had settled around them.

He felt Sam bend closer to the game as she studied the pieces once again. He knew she hated to lose, but the game wasn’t over yet. Keeping his mind on the game, he knew she only had one possible move to try and get out of his trap. He raised his eyebrows when she didn’t make the move and instead lost the game. He moved his final piece and said, “Checkmate.”

Sam looked up at him and matching his low volume said, “Good game, sir.”

“Carter, you alright?” At her puzzled look, he gestured towards the board where she had just lost a game she could have continued.

She looked back towards the board, “Oh, yeah. Guess I’m just a bit distracted.”

“So, again, I ask, you okay?”

Instead of asking she looked up at him and asked, “Can I ask you a question?”

Teasing her, he replied, “Carter, you just did.”

She rolled her eyes at his childish response before raising her eyebrows silently repeating her question. He gestured to go ahead.

“What has it been like to see Joe’s life now for so many years?”

“The barber?”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Is there another Joe in which you’ve been seeing glimpses of their life? Sir?”

Jack’s lips tilted up at her question cased in sarcasm. He had taught her the sass well.

“Just the one that I’m aware of.”

“So?” She gestured for him to answer her original question.

He took another sip of wine to buy him a moment. “Sure you don’t want to play another game, Carter? I’m pretty sure I have a game of monopoly around here somewhere…” he trailed off.

“Sir. If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine. I was just curious.”

He sighed. “I don’t know, Carter. It was weird when it would happen, but I guess I got used to it, it seemed like it was a dream most times. As if I lived another life as a barber. Most times it was soothing, almost.”

“Soothing?”

He nodded. “Yeah, you know, it was relaxing. Not having to deal with everything that happened through the years. Just sitting back and watch a game of bowling. I mean it was weird that it was in my head and not on the TV or whatever,” Jack shrugged. “But, it was a normal moment, I guess, in the middle of our crazy and very abnormal lives every day.” Jack shrugged again not sure how else to explain it.

“I can understand that. I still don’t get why you didn’t say anything though.”

“And get my head examined and studied? Or sent to the looney bin? No, thanks.”

“We would have figured it out, sir.”

“Maybe.” Jack shrugged again. “It really did seem like a waking dream most times. I just put it down to wanting to feel something normal.”

“And that’s something you want? Normal?”

Jack wasn’t sure how to answer the question. He knew what he wanted, but he also knew he was very unlikely to get it now. “Sometimes, maybe. But, what is normal anyway?”

Sam smiled at his question. “I really don’t know, sir.”

Jack went to say something about how she was getting her normal life with her fiancé. He was still trying to figure out how to say it and not sound bitter. He took a moment and placed his wine glass back on the coffee table. Before he could say anything, he heard Cassie trying to sneak quietly into the kitchen. Making sure Sam also heard her, he winked at Sam and spoke up loudly, “I think that will work to get back at Cassie for abandoning us. She is really going to hate it though.”

Sam bit back another smile. Matching his volume she said, “Yes, sir. She really will hate it, but she will deserve it.”

A muffled voice came back from the direction of the kitchen, likely with her head inside the fridge, “Oh, don’t pretend you haven’t enjoyed yourselves all evening.”

Jack could just about see the eye roll he knew accompanied the words. She must have pulled herself away from the fridge, because she came bounding back in looking like the cat that ate the canary. She had found the leftover pasta and was currently gathering a forkful of it. She took them in sitting on the couch with the chessboard between them. Without taking the time to study the pieces she questioned, “Who won?”

Without answering her question Jack asked, “Get your biology homework done?”

She scrunched up her eyebrows, “Huh?”

Jack let her witness his own eye roll. “The reason you left us earlier for dinner. So you could call what’s his name and do your biology homework.” He had put up air quotes around the word ‘reason’ and put his hands back down.

“Oh, yeah. Right.” Cassie nodded along. “I got it done. It ended up not being so hard, so we talked about other stuff most of the time.” She smiled at Jack’s eyebrow and his expression that so wanted to question what other things, but knowing that at the same time he didn’t want to know the answer. “So, other than the game of chess, what have you guys been up to?”

Sam cleared her throat, “Oh, not much else.”

Cassie took another bite of pasta. It was cold now, but still just as tasty. She nodded along wondering if she really had interrupted something. Sam was staring at the chessboard again. Jack was watching Sam. Cassie cleared her throat. Jack looked over to her realizing she was still there.

She would have rolled her eyes, but it appeared as though her plan had maybe worked to get them talking. She couldn’t stop the grin from forming though. Jack narrowed his eyes at her.

Before he could say anything, Cassie spoke up, “Sam, are you ready to leave? I can be ready in 10 minutes.”

Sam finally looked up from the chessboard nodding, “Sure, sounds great.”

Cassie turned and skipped off back down the hallway to get her stuff together.

Chapter Text

Jack walked into his office and sighed. It had been a long week. Months, really. Who was he kidding? It had been a long year and it didn’t seem to be calming down much. As Teal’c had said at one point, things would in fact calm up. At the moment though, there was a brief amount of time between meetings and he had some phone calls to make. It had just been 3 days since Jacob had passed and the bureaucracy was still trying to make up their minds on what to do with his body. He knew Sam was in her lab working. He had gotten her to go home immediately after Jacob had died. However, within a day and a half she had come back. He could hardly bring himself to force her to leave. He knew that work was a crutch for her and would help keep her mind off her dad.

Jack sighed again as he thought about Jacob. He was going to miss the old guy. He was also their last tie to the Tok’ra, which was getting everyone in a tizzy, wondering if their alliance would end as well. Jack would be happy to just say ‘good riddance’ to the snakes. Now that Jacob was gone, there wasn’t a good one amongst them anymore. At the moment though, he had several Tok’ra still on the base wanting to take Jacob with them back to whatever planet they were settled on for the moment. He also had the USAF on the other side who didn’t want to let a former General go. He just needed a final decision so he could tell Sam.

Jack picked up the phone and dialed Walter’s extension, “Can you get the President on the line, please?”

He hung up and looked at a few files in front of him while he waited. The mess needed more cheese apparently. After a minute, his phone rang. He picked it up, “O’Neill.”

Walter connected him with the President’s Chief of Staff who asked him to hold for a moment while the president came on the line.

Jack signed off on the cheese order and placed it in his outbox. He started skimming over SG-12’s report on their last mission.

“Jack. What can I do for you?”

“Mr. President, I’m wondering if there is a decision on General Carter yet, sir. I’ve got a family waiting on the decision and several Tok’ra still on the base.”

“Understood, Jack. There is still an argument going on here. If they don’t make a decision by the end of the day, I will make it for them. Does that work for you?”

“Yes, sir. I appreciate you helping out.”

“No problem. How are you holding up?”

“Me? Oh, I’m okay, sir. It’s a big loss to everyone here, sir. You know as well as I do what Jacob has done for Earth. He’s saved my life more times than I can count as well as many others around here. Not to mention what he just did to save the entire universe on Dakara.”

“I’m aware, Jack. He was a hero and a good friend. His actions have not gone unnoticed. In fact, he will be getting a Medal of Honor, posthumously. I was trying to get it escalated through the process when I heard he was sick, but I didn’t quite make it in time. I did just get word that it was officially approved though.”

“That’s great, sir. I’ll be sure to let Colonel Carter know.”

“Speaking of Colonel Carter, how is she doing, Jack?”

“I’m not really sure, sir. She’s thrown herself back into work. I put SG-1 on stand-down for a while though.”

“Is that healthy? Surely she should be at home grieving.”

Jack let out a short laugh, “You try telling her that, Mr. President. I haven’t exactly ordered her home, because I know she needs to be here. Plus, with Anubis still out there working on his evil plan, she might be needed, sir.”

“Understood, Jack. I’ll let you use your best judgment for Colonel Carter. And let me know when you hear more about Anubis.”

“Thanks, sir, and will do. Let me know when a decision has been made regarding General Carter, sir?”

“Of course, Jack. You’ll be the first to know.”

Jack said his goodbye and hung up the phone. He leaned back and ran a hand through his hair. He should probably go tell Carter about the medal that Jacob would be receiving, but he decided to wait until he also heard the final decision on where Jacob would be be laid to rest. Sitting back up, he started reading the latest SG-12 report again from the top. That was until Walter announced an unscheduled activation. Jack jumped up to go see who was knocking at the door this time.

Later that afternoon

Sam placed another item on top of a box full of various trinkets and other artifacts that the techs had given up on. She picked up the box and put it by the door next to the others. As she straightened up, she noticed that Jack was leaning against the door jamb watching her.

“Hi, sir.”

“Carter. Doing some spring cleaning?”

“What?” She scrunched her eyebrows in confusion.

Jack pointed towards the several boxes that were now decorating her lab.

“Oh, I guess you could say that. Just packing up things to get shipped to Area 51.”

“Right.” Jack pushed himself off the door jamb and walked into the lab. He pulled out the stool that she left for guests on the opposite side of her workstation and perched himself on it. He leaned his elbows on the desk and watched her again as she moved to her chair and sat down. Sam watched as he picked up a pen and started playing with it. At least it was harmless and not something more dangerous.

“Did you want something, sir? Please don’t tell me you’re ordering me home.” She leaned forward ready to beg him to let her stay.

He held up his hand quickly stopping her. “No, no. I mean obviously you are free to go home if you want to, Carter. But, no, I’m not going to order you. I know why you’re here.” Jack looked up from the pen to her eyes.

She could see that he really did know why she was there working. She couldn’t just sit around at home all by herself and just do nothing. After the first day, she told Cassie that she was going back to work. Cassie had understood and asked to go stay at a friends house for a few days. And Pete, well in that one day she was at home, she had left for a few hours and asked to meet him at the new house he bought.

She stopped herself from re-hashing their break up conversation yet again for the 100th time. She had been doing enough of that already for the last two days.

“Thank you, sir.”

Jack waved his hand dismissing her thanks. “Anyway, I got a phone call from the president. They made a decision on Jacob.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah, they agreed with him being cremated. Considering Selmak hadn’t quite been absorbed yet, that’s the only way they will let him be ‘buried’ on Earth. They can’t risk him being discovered. They’ve agreed to do a 50/50 split of the ashes with the Tok’ra. Before I informed them of the decision as well, I wanted to tell you.”

“Thank you, sir. My mom was cremated as well. We spread her ashes a long time ago as a family, and he asked that the same be done with him.”

“Good, I’m glad that it worked out with his final wishes then.” Jack sighed in relief and leaned back from the table. “There’s something else as well.”

“Sir?”

“Apparently the President had been trying to get a Medal Of Honor approved for your dad. He didn’t get it done before he passed, but he got word earlier today that it was approved. It will be awarded to him as part of the funeral.”

“Oh, that means the President will be attending?”

“Yep, which means all kinds of fun security procedures that I now get to be involved in, but I also know Dad deserves it.”

Sam smiled at Jack’s brief look of horror on his face as he mentioned the security procedures. “He does deserve it, sir. Thank you for handling that part.”

“It’s no big deal. Part of the job. Just a lot more phone calls and messages that Walter and I now get to deal with.”

Sam reached out to place her hand on Jack’s that was resting on the table. She smiled again as she said, “Thank you, sir. I mean it. For everything that you’re coordinating.” She squeezed his hand once before moving hers back to her lap.

“Sure, Carter. How’re you holding up?”

“I don’t know that it has quite hit me yet. Even with what we just discussed. It’s not real yet, I guess. But, work is keeping me busy.”

“Well, when it does hit, we’re all here for you, Carter.”

Sam sniffed, “Thank you, sir.”

“I was going to ask if you would like to do the wake at my house? There is a lot more room than your tiny house and I’d be willing to bet my salary that the whole base is going to try and be there, not to mention your entire family and friends.”

Sam started to refuse the offer. She felt like he was doing too much and didn’t want to be a burden. Especially with Jack and Kerry dating now, she didn’t want anyone to get the wrong impression. She opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off.

“Before you say no, it’s not a big deal, Carter. Everything is going to be handled by the military anyway, so it’s either we give them your address or mine. It isn’t any more work to be at my house than it would be at yours.”

Sam smiled at him reading exactly why she was going to say no. “Ok, sir. If you’re sure, that would be great. Mark and his family are going to be staying at my house, so not having to worry about the wake being there as well would help out a lot.”

“Great! I’ll let the coordinators know the location.”

Sam smiled at him again, “Thank you, sir.”

Jack just shook his head, “No thanks needed, Carter. I’ll let you get back to your cleaning.” Jack rapped his knuckles twice on the table and stood up. When he got to the door, he looked back over his shoulder and tilted one side of his mouth up, “See ya, Carter.”

“Oh, General?” Sam called out before he left.

He turned back around with a raised eyebrow.

“Can I have my pen back, please?”

Jack looked down at the pen he was still holing in his hand. He looked back up at her and sheepishly said, “Oops. Here, catch.”

Sam caught the pen and tossed it back on her table. She sat back and smiled at his retreating figure.

Chapter Text

A week later

Jack watched as Sam slipped out the back door of his house. He glanced around to see if anyone else had noticed or was moving to follow. He caught Teal’c’s eye from across the room, who raised his eyebrows. Jack nodded at him in acknowledgment that he would go after Sam in a moment.

He continued his recon over the room and saw Daniel passionately explaining something or other to a gaggle of scientists. Jack looked away quickly though and slightly cringed. He was still desperately trying to the image of Daniel naked in his office out of his mind, even if he was also glad he was back amongst the living. Stepping away from the group of officers that had huddled around him talking about a football game, Jack walked into the kitchen and tossed his almost empty beer bottle into the trash. After grabbing two more from the fridge, he also stepped out his back door.

He closed the door behind him and let the noise of the party die down. It was night already and cloudy, but the moon was bright at the moment. He looked around trying to figure out where Sam might have gone. She wasn’t on the deck and he didn’t see her in the backyard. He briefly wondered if she had snuck around the house to try and escape via her car, but then he heard a shoe scuffle on the roof above him. He tucked one of the beer bottles in his pants pocket and grabbed the ladder up to his rooftop deck. He climbed carefully still holding the other bottle in one of his hands.

He got to the top and saw her sitting in the corner of the bench he had added many years ago. She didn’t even so much as glance at him but he knew she was aware of his presence. He pulled himself up onto the deck and took a seat next to her. He silently handed her the beer in his hand and dug out the other one from his pocket. He popped the top off tossing it into one of the corners and leaned back to look at the sky. The clouds were rolling in again and he knew it wouldn’t be worth it to uncover his telescope.

The funeral had been much earlier in the morning and it had been a sunny, perfect blue sky day. The wake had been scheduled for later in the evening because they weren’t sure exactly when the funeral would occur due to the president’s schedule fluctuating so much. Jack was thankful that they had several hours in between because it gave them all a chance to get out of their uniforms and other monkey suits. Sam and Mark had decided they wanted this to be more of a celebration of life party rather than a more traditional wake. When Jack had gotten home earlier, he had immediately gotten out of his uniform and put on a pair of slacks and a black button down shirt. Cassie had helped him pick it out the other day. Then he spent the afternoon coordinating everyone on where to set up things in his house.

He took a sip of his beer and looked at Sam out of the corner of his eye. She hadn’t moved other than gripping the beer tight in both of her hands. She hadn’t even opened the bottle yet. He’d wait for her to be ready to talk. He was not the most talkative person in the world and he would never push someone to talk before they are ready. He would just sit there with her all night if that’s what she needed.

He had noticed that Pete hadn’t shown up all day and he was wondering why the guy had left Sam to just deal with this by herself. Sam was the strongest person Jack knew and he had no doubt she’d be just fine, like she had told him in the infirmary last week, when her dad was still alive. But, that didn’t mean she didn’t need someone to lean on every once in a while. It reminded him of when she had survived the encounter with the super soldier on the Alpha base. She had run and survived for so long, but when it came down to it she needed to lean on him afterward. He didn’t think of her any less when she needed help. He just thought it showed how comfortable she was with the person she was leaning on. He was incredible happy when it could be him.

As he mused, she shifted and leaned her head on his shoulder. It was deja vu when he whispered, “C’mere” and wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. They had done this so many times before, but every time felt like a gift. Just like last time, she reached up to grab his hand from her shoulder and started playing with his fingers. She rubbed hers against his and his palm for a few minutes before finally entwining their hands together. She shifted just a little closer and turned her cheek against his shoulder. He leaned his head against her hair and sighed with contentment.

Just like the many times in the past, he wasn’t thinking that it was inappropriate to be holding her like this practically snuggling together. Instead, he was just thinking how comfortable it felt. He enjoyed the silence around them. It was occasionally broken by the sound of a car starting and moving down the road before it would go silent again. He could tell by the frequency that it seemed like the party was dying down. He supposed that was probably because the person they were there to support had abandoned them. He knew that no one would hold it against her. Everyone dealt with grief in their own way and he knew most people would understand. Everyone at the SGC knew about loss having experienced far too many times. He was sure that Daniel and Teal’c were providing their apologies and accepting the remaining messages on Sam’s behalf that she hadn’t gotten to hear herself.

It started to sprinkle a little bit, but it wasn’t anything to run from. He glanced down at Sam to see if it was bothering her. He knew the rain didn’t disturb her one bit when she was off-world in a pair of BDU’s. She would just grin, slick her hair back, and keep on trekking. But, that was quite a different situation compared to how she was now in a beautiful black dress. She didn’t seem to be making any movement to get up, so he squeezed her hand and settled his head a little deeper into her hair. The scent of her hair mixed with the rain was quite nice.

After several more minutes, she finally tilted her head towards him and whispered, “Thank you.”

He had to lift his head to look down at her. He thought about asking her what she was thanking him for this time, but he just nodded and said, “Always.” Whether she was thanking him for letting her use his house for the wake, or for being there in that moment, it didn’t really matter. The answer would always be the same whenever she was involved.

“I really am ok with my dad and everything, but it’s still not easy. So, thank you for being here with me, again.”

“You don’t have to explain and you don’t have to thank me.”

“I know, sir. I know. But I think I need to. There are things that I want to say. There are things I need to say.”

“We’ve got time. It doesn’t have to be this moment, this night.”

She sat up a little more to look at him but she still held tightly to his hand. She was shaking her head, “If I don’t get it out now, I don’t know if I ever will.”

“Ok, I’m here. I’m listening.”

“I came over the other day to tell you that I was having second thoughts about Pete.”

“You mentioned that. You also said that he had bought a house.”

“He did. He didn’t ask me beforehand, just showed it to me as a surprise and I guess I was supposed to be happy about it. But, I didn’t get to tell you why exactly I was having second thoughts.”

“Yes, well, people get cold feet sometimes. These things happen.”

“Jack, stop.” Sam pinned him with a look that said she was going to get this out even with his attempts to interrupt or deflect.

Jack thought that finally hearing his name sounded wonderful. He mimed zipping his lips, which got a small smile out of her, and gestured with the hand holding his beer for her to go ahead.

“I’ve been having second thoughts because I’ve realized that my feelings for Pete just aren’t strong enough. Not when I compare them to what I feel for someone else.” Sam looked away from his eyes for a moment to take a deep breath. “He also wanted someone that I couldn’t and wouldn’t be. I’ve been thinking about it all for a while now, but I think something my dad said just pushed me over the edge.”

Jack squeezed her hand again in encouragement. “What did he say?”

“He said I could still have everything I wanted. That I shouldn’t let the rules stand in my way.” She took in a shuddering breath trying to hold her emotions in for a few more minutes to get through the rest of what she needed to say. “I lied to him in his last few hours. I told him that I was happy, when I really wasn’t. I didn’t want him to be disappointed in me.”

“Carter, no one could ever be disappointed to have a kid like you. I know Jacob wasn’t. He didn’t say it often, but he showed it. He was proud of you, no matter what you might have said to him at the end.”

“You think?”

“Yeah, I do. He loved you. You know that.”

Sam nodded her head. “Yeah.” She looked back up at Jack, “I broke up with Pete right after Dad died.”

“Oh.” Oh.

“Oh?”

“I don’t know what you want me to say.”

Sam pivoted as she remembered why she didn’t finish getting this out the first time, “Ms. Johnson seems nice.”

“She is. She also broke things off with me last week.”

“Oh.”

Jack sighed. “Yeah. We’re a pair, aren’t we?” Two break-ups in as many weeks. Jack wanted to say more, but he wasn’t really sure now was the time. She said she cared for someone else more than her fiancé. Her ex-fiancé, he corrected himself. Wondering who else that could be, or if she was finally talking about him, he forced himself to not dwell on it. She had just lost her dad too, so now was not the time to be making big life-changing decisions. Even though she already had made one, by breaking things off with Pete. But, somehow Jack couldn’t bring himself to be upset about that.

Sam sighed in agreement. “We’re something alright.”

“Do you want to go back inside?” Jack could feel her fingers getting a little chilly and they definitely didn’t need a cold to add on to the misery of the day.

She shook her head even as the rain started to fall a little harder. Thankfully it was a warm night, but he had a feeling the rain was going to get worse. She maybe didn’t want to go inside just yet, but he figured they should at least find some shelter under the eave of his house. Setting his beer beside him, he reluctantly stood up, but kept a hold of her hand and used it to pull her up with him.

Her face crumpled as she looked at him. Her face was wet with the rain, but he could see her eyes were wet as well and the tears would soon mix in together. He cupped her cheek and rasped out a, “Oh, Carter.” He let go of her hand and wrapped her in his arms again. “We don’t have to go inside, but let’s at least get out of the rain.”

She wrapped her arms around him and shook her head once again. “In a minute. Just hold me for a minute, please.”

He wrapped her that much tighter in his arms. She started to shake as her tears flowed freely. He ran his hands up and down her back giving her as much comfort as he could. He was trying to infuse her with his strength for just a moment when she needed it the most. He didn’t have any words that would make it any better. Instead, he started swaying to some imaginary tune in his head. After a minute or two of swaying, he leaned back to look her in the eyes. The tears were still flowing as was the rain, but she had calmed. She wasn’t crying anymore.

He continued to sway as he watched her. One of his hands moved to her hip and the other reached up to run through her soaking wet hair and push it out of her face. He leaned in to brush his lips against her hairline, moving down to her temple. His lips settled once high on her cheekbone before leaning back again to look at her.

In a move he hadn’t anticipated she captured his lips in a kiss. Her lips were cold against his at first. He moved closer and returned the kiss fervently. Her hands ran up his back and gripped his shoulders. He could sense the urgency she was kissing him with. He did what he had dreamed about doing a few weeks back and nipped at her lower lip. The one he had watched her bite throughout their many years together. He soothed his nip with his tongue before she opened up allowing hers to tangle with his. Pulling back for a deep gulp of air after a moment, he settled his forehead against hers. He cupped her cheek, running his thumb across it, and she shivered.

He moved to press another kiss against her forehead before burying his nose in her hair and inhaling deeply still trying to catch his breath. The scent of the rain had almost overpowered her, but thankfully not quite. “So, when you said you had stronger feelings for someone else, you meant…” he said trailing off.

Sam shoved at his chest where she had rested one of her hands. “I meant you, you idiot.”

“Hey, I never claimed to be the smart one here.”

Sam smiled, “You’re plenty smart.”

Jack pulled her closer again. He searched for the right thing to say but came up empty and instead muttered, “This is such a cliché.”

Sam looked up at him with a small smile on her face, “Which part?”

“Probably a few things, but I was thinking the dancing in the rain part was the most cliché.”

Her smile grew as she teased him, “You think a little swaying is considered a dance?”

“Carter, swaying is exactly where my dancing skills both start and end.”

She reached up and gave him a quick kiss scratching her nails through his hair, making him shiver this time. “I’m ready now. Let’s go inside.”

Jack felt her back away and his arms dropped back down to his sides. He wanted to say so much more and pull her back into his arms that already felt empty. He couldn’t believe they had finally kissed and they were both aware of that fact. They weren’t infected, or stuck in a time loop, and one of them wasn’t in an alternate reality. They were just Jack and Sam. He smiled as he went to follow her down the ladder.

Chapter Text

It had been almost a week days since the little incident on his rooftop deck. He scoffed at him using the word ‘little’ in his head. It was far from little. In fact, it was quite a big deal, but they had finally needed to get out of the rain. Daniel and Teal’c were the only two left in the house as everyone else had gone home. Mark and his family had also already left to get the kids into bed. The guys had once again provided Sam with their condolences and said their good-byes to Jack. Sam had taken the opportunity to slip out with them before Jack could even realize what was happening.

Since then, Jack had been swept up in all of the aftermath of Anubis. Even though it had happened a week before, it took a while for the bureaucracy to catch up. He’d been in meeting after meeting discussing what occurred, especially his actions in choosing to initiate the self-destruct. There were so many questions about why the self-destruct didn’t go off. He could only offer up Daniel’s explanation, but no one liked that. They kept trying to blame it on a glitch of some kind. They were also worried that if the self-destruct did actually need to go off, they damn well wanted to make sure it would work. Jack thought it was morbid that they talked about it as though it wouldn’t take out the entire mountain and everyone in it. The self-destruct was set up to be their last ditch effort to stop whatever was happening in the lower levels of the mountain from making it out into the world. Jack didn’t relish having to be the one to make that call. He hoped he would never have to do it again, but at the same time he knew he would if he had to.

It was thankfully the weekend and he had a brief respite from it all. He was relaxing on his couch, while a baseball game was playing in the background, but he wasn’t really paying attention to it. He had gotten a call from Hammond the day before and he was still trying to figure out what do about it. It had the potential to change everything.

He was also debating what do about Sam. He wondered if she left so quickly after the wake because she regretted their kiss in the rain. He really hoped that wasn’t the case and she just needed some time to think things through.

He groaned when a knock at his front door interrupted his thoughts. He did not want to deal with some door to door salesman right now. He muted the TV, put an annoyed look on his face, and opened the door quickly with a glare. He saw Sam standing there as she took a quick step back in surprise.

“Carter. What’re you doing here?” Jack groaned internally at his tone. He took a calming breath. To say he was surprised at seeing her at his door again would be a huge understatement.

“I’m sorry for dropping by again, sir. I can go if you’re busy?”

“What? No, I’m not busy. Just thought you were a salesman that I was going to have to argue with.” Sam smiled in response, but she didn’t make any further movement to come in. Jack opened the door wider and waved her in. “Come on in, please.”

She finally stepped in and took off her jacket setting it on the entry way table, while he closed the door behind her. It was Colorado, so the temperature had fluctuated quite drastically and it had cooled down since the last time she was at his house for the wake.

“So, what brings you to my neighborhood again on this fine day, Carter?” Jack bit back another groan when his brain realized he said the same thing when she dropped by unexpectedly last time and found Kerry at his house.

Sam looked him over from head to toe. He was barefoot and had on an old worn pair of baggy blue jeans. He was wearing a light gray tee shirt, also too large, with a plaid flannel shirt over top. She smiled at his non-existent fashion sense. His silver hair was sticking up at all kinds of angles as though he had been running his hands through it all morning.

She glanced down at his bare feet again. She didn’t think she’d ever seen them for any length of time. She wanted to pull him close and kiss him again. They were practically halfway to his bedroom, it was so close. She was already addicted and barely lasted these few days without seeing him outside of work. She knew if she ended up in his arms this soon though, she wouldn’t get out what she needed to say. She forced her eyes back to his and took a deep breath. “I came here because I wanted to tell you something. I didn’t quite get to say everything the other day.”

Jack nodded his head, “Okay. To be honest, I have to tell you something too. Let’s go in the living room.” He started to herd her down the hallway, before he asked, “You want something to drink?”

“Maybe some water?”

“Ok, go get comfortable. I’ll be right back.”

Sam watched him turn to go into the kitchen. She went the opposite direction and stepped down into the living room. She perched herself in the middle of the couch. That way, he wouldn’t be able to sit anywhere else but next to her. She needed to get a few things out first, but she was hoping they could make some decisions today and she didn’t want there to be any distance between them.

He brought back two glasses of ice water and handed her one. He sat next to her and turned his torso to face her. She watched him take a sip as she did the same.

“So, what’s up?”

“Well, I’m not sure if you remember or not, but when we went on that hiking trip with Cassie’s class, I told her…” Sam paused taking a deep breath, “I said that my job was the most important thing in my life. And well, I’ve come to realize that that isn’t what I want anymore. I thought I wanted something normal with Pete, but I don’t know what normal is either, to be honest. The only thing I do know right now is that I want you in my life, Jack. I love my job, but I don’t want it to be all I ever have.”

“I want that for you too, Carter. And I want you to be in my life, too. We do work at the same place, ya know.”

“That’s not what I mean. I mean I want us to be together. Outside of work.”

“Oh. Are you sure?”

Sam pinned him with a glare that said ‘don’t question me.”

Jack pressed on, “It’s a big decision, and you just lost your dad.” Jack shrugged. “No one would blame you for needing some time.”

“Jack, I am positive. This last week has been all the time that I need. Unless you need time or something,” she trailed off.

“No, no. I think we might have an option then if you want to hear it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, Hammond called yesterday and said he was going to retire in the next couple of months. They want me to take his job at the Pentagon. But, I think it would be enough separation to make this work.”

“You think? Or you know?”

“Well, I think. We’d still be in the same chain, technically, since Homeworld oversees the SGC. But, I think it’d be enough of a separation. However, we could see whether you’d have to request a different position too.”

“Ok.”

“Ok? I don’t want you to do anything that messes up your career.”

“That’s just it. It’s a job. The Goa’uld are gone. If we’re going to do this, I don’t think there is going to be a better time.”

“You’re probably right.”

Sam realized that when he took over Hammond’s position, he would be in DC. “So, we’re going to have to be apart to be together? That’s going to be hard.”

“Hard was the last how many ever years, Carter. I don’t know about you, but that was damn hard for me.”

Sam reached over to take his hand and gripped it tightly. “It was hard for me too. I’m sorry that I gave up on us.”

“I kind of did too, and I’m sorry too. Look, this isn’t going to be easy. We’re going to be apart more than we’ll be together. We’re probably going to fight a lot. We won’t be able to see each other whenever we want. You know I can’t dance. We aren’t going to like the same things. I will definitely leave the toilet seat up. Like, a lot.”

Sam giggled, “Are you trying to talk me out of this? Because you’re going to have to do better than that.”

“I’m not. I’m sure you’re going to get sucked into whatever projects you’re working on and will forget to call me. I’m going to be busy with whatever meetings I get pulled in to. The time difference is going to be a pain in the ass. And I’m going to absolutely hate being in D.C. surrounded by politicians. But, I told you all of those many, many years ago… how many years has it been since we met again?”

“Eight.”

“Right, I told you eight long years ago, that I adored you already. Well, I still adore you now. In fact, I love you, Carter. And no matter what happens, you can count on that.”

Sam smiled at finally hearing those words, “I love you, too. So much and I have for a really long time.”

Jack’s mouth quirked in response, “Ok, well, don’t turn it into a competition or anything. It’s not who loves more or who loved the other longer.”

“That’s probably just as well,” Sam turned her body towards his with a smirk.

“Why’s that?”

“Because you wouldn’t stand a chance.” Sam grinned.

In reply, Jack tugged on her hand and pulled her closer until she was in kissing range. When she was close enough, he did exactly that.

“You are going to be trouble,” Jack mumbled against her lips.

“I always am.” Sam smiled and gave him a quick kiss again. “Hey, Jack?” She reached a hand up to his chest. She toyed with a button on his flannel for a few seconds. “I’d really like to try this famous omelet recipe of yours.”

“Carterrrrr,” Jack turned her name into a groan. “Was that a pick up line?” Sam giggled and nodded. “That was really, really bad, but I also liked it. A lot.”

For the first time in a long time, his eyes crinkled as he smiled at her. The sunlight was causing the amber flecks to shine in his chocolate eyes.

“I’m serious. I want to try this omelet of yours.”

Jack couldn’t hold back his chuckle, “Yes, ma’am. Now?”

Sam grinned again shaking her head and leaned in for another kiss. This time though, she moved to straddle him. She grabbed a handful of his shirt and tugged him closer. Her lips were suddenly on his as her other hand moved and skimmed across the nape of his neck scratching at his scalp. The kiss was light at first, but Jack pressed deeper. Sam’s hand moved to the side of his neck where she could feel his pulse against her fingers. It was beating wildly, just as fast as hers was jumping around in her chest. She felt hot, wild, and didn’t want to stop for anything or anyone. His arms had wrapped around her and pulled her as close as they could get. One of his hands moved up to cup her jaw as he positioned her exactly where he wanted. She felt a jolt of arousal run through her body. As her heart started beating faster, his other hand roamed her back and slipped under her shirt to touch her heated skin.

Sam leaned back a second to breathe in some air. Jack took the opportunity to press kisses against her cheek and jawline, moving down to her throat. His hand was still cupping her other cheek and his thumb was stroking along her jaw line. He moved back to her mouth when Sam tugged on his shirt again.

She whispered against his lips, “I could eat… but let’s save the omelets for the morning, Jack.”

Jack nodded in agreement before settling his lips on hers again. And again.

Chapter Text

A few more days after Sam came by his house, and didn’t leave until after breakfast the next day, they figured out their job situation. Jack talked to Hammond about officially taking over Homeworld Security and an offer came across for Sam to move to Area 51 and take command of the science department. It was a great career move for her, and it would move them completely and definitively out of each other’s chain of command.

They were taking turns packing each of their houses up together. At Sam’s, where they currently were, they also had Cassie’s stuff to pack as well. Anything that wasn’t getting taken to college would be going to a local storage unit or was getting sold. Sam was also planning to rent out her house instead of selling it. She figured it was a good investment, and she couldn’t swear that Colorado Springs wouldn’t become her home again one day. She knew that the SGC was letting her go at the moment, but she knew that if duty called she would answer. Eventually, if she really, really had to.

They had just packed up her office and bookcase in the living room and were currently taking a break on the couch. The temperature had warmed back up in what the Coloradan’s affectionately liked to call ‘Spring of Deception.’ Jack was not one to complain though because it gave him a chance to see Sam wearing a pair of short shorts that he was currently taking advantage of. They were sitting side by side on the couch and Jack was running his fingers up and down her bare thigh. It was the one that still had a decent sized scar on from the super soldier fiasco, but he didn’t mind that. He certainly had his own plethora of scars.

He had been flirting with her on and off all day long and was currently attempting to talk her into breaking a few more rules by taking a break in the bedroom. She wasn’t quite agreeing yet, so Jack naturally stepped up his game. He turned towards her and leaned over to speak into her ear, “C’mon, Carter, I want to see what’s under these shorts.”

He could feel her start to give in, but she still wasn’t there. “You know exactly what’s under them. And Cassie is in her room.”

“We’ll be quiet.”

Sam looked at him incredulously raising her eyebrows. “I don’t think I can manage that. At least, I haven’t so far.”

“That’s true. You are a bit of a screamer.”

She playfully shoved at his shoulder. “You’re not so quiet yourself.”

Jack capitulated and pivoted to plan B. “Fine, how about we just make out a bit?”

Before Sam could respond either way, Jack moved in for a kiss. He went to wrap his arm around her to pull her close. Before he completed the move, he heard the loudest squeal ever. Yanking himself away, he jumped up from the couch reaching for a weapon that he didn’t have on him. He turned to find Cassie standing there with a grin so wide on her face, he thought that she might pass out at any moment.

“What happened?” Jack demanded. Cassie pointed between the two of them and squealed again. This time Jack covered his ears in response. “Geez, Cass, will you please stop that? You’re hurting my ear drums.”

He didn’t think it was possible, but she grinned even wider. He looked briefly over to Sam to find her grinning as well and currently paying him no attention. He wasn’t entirely sure what was going on and wasn’t getting any clue from her.

“Are you guys together?? Finally!” Cassie shouted.

Jack finally got the squealing. It wasn’t like they were purposely keeping it from her. But, they hadn’t gotten around to telling anyone else about their relationship yet. They hadn’t really talked about telling anyone or not telling anyone for that matter. They had just been in a bit of a bubble these last few days. A very happy, sexy bubble, Jack thought.

“Oh, well, we were gonna tell you, Cass.” Jack started to say.

“I don’t care that you didn’t tell me! I’m just so freaking happy!” Cassie yelled again and started to clap her hands in excitement bouncing on her toes.

“Geez, take it down a notch, will ya? I’m not gonna have any hearing left at this rate.” Jack grumbled.

In response, Cassie ran around the couch to hug him. Before he could even get his arms around her to return the hug, she was already moving towards Sam who was still sitting on the couch. Jack was dismayed to watch her take his seat next to her and pull Sam in for a hug.

“Tell me everything!” Cassie said when she pulled herself away from Sam after a minute.

“Cassandra…” Sam groaned.

“How long have you been together?”

Sam flicked her eyes up to Jack’s seeing him still standing there, slightly in shock probably. “Oh, umm, it’s been just a few days. Since Dad’s wake, I guess, technically.” She stumbled through the sentence a few times but eventually got it all out.

“I am so happy for you guys! Have you told Daniel and Teal’c yet?”

“No, and we aren’t really planning on telling anyone yet. It’s still not technically legal yet until the transfers are complete. We’re in a bit of a gray area right now.”

“Oh.” Cassie frowned in disappointment. “That sucks.”

Sam pulled her back in for a quick hug. “It’s ok. It’s not going to be much longer. But even still, we probably need to keep it discreet for a while longer.”

“Yeah, ok.” Cassie perked back up. “But you guys are like official, right?”

Sam glanced at Jack again, who had at least finally sat down in one of the side chairs. He raised his eyebrow letting her handle that one.

“Yeah, Cassie, we’re official.” Sam smiled at Jack who smiled back.

“Good!” Cassie stood up and like the little whirlwind she was, she left them just as quickly as she had arrived.

Sam sat watching Jack from her spot on the couch.

“Jack?”

“Yeah?”

“You ok?”

“Oh yeah, I’m great. You?”

“I’m great, too.”

“Great.” Jack sighed in relief. “I guess that’s one down and a couple more to go?”

Sam chuckled, “Yeah, but they’ll be easy too.” She stood up and went to sit on the armrest of the chair next to Jack. She ran her hand through his hair and stooped down for a kiss. “We’ll be alright.”

“Yeah, definitely. Once I get my hearing fully back that is.”

Sam giggled again as Jack started running his hand up and down her thigh in the spot he had already claimed as his five minutes previously. He had to start his flirting all over again, but he was more than happy to comply.

******

Cassie would end up making fun of them all summer long whenever she caught them in any kind of affectionate action. But she’d frequently hug them and say she was so happy they had finally figured it out without her having to meddle again. She would wink at Jack’s knowing look and grin at Sam’s blush.

After Cassie found out, he asked Sam an important question, “Will you go to the cabin with me?” They turned it into a celebration of sorts and had Daniel and Teal’c join them as well. They told Daniel and Teal’c that they were together and they both just said “We know” in response. Jack had just rolled his eyes while Sam had laughed. It would also turn into a farewell party as SG-1 was getting broken apart officially. Jack and Sam would have a few days to themselves at the cabin though where they would finally figure out their relationship. Jack would leave the toilet seat up during the entire trip and Sam would just laugh after yelling at him about it. But, at night, they would sway together on the dock watching the stars and moon shine above them.

During the next month, when their permanent change of stations were finalized, Jack would take the opportunity to ask a second equally as important question, “Will you marry me, Samantha Carter?”

Sam decided that the third attempt at a marriage was the charm for her, and she enthusiastically said yes. They wouldn’t even attempt to have a big wedding, and instead they would just choose a simple courthouse ceremony with Daniel, Teal’c, and Cassie as their witnesses. Due to their impending moves, they unfortunately didn’t have time for a traditional honeymoon. Instead they ordered the biggest chocolate cake they could from that little bakery in the Springs that they had both loved so much. They’d share a slice of it together in the hotel bed after the ceremony grinning like fools.

When Sam eventually rejoined SG-1, Jack worried like hell every mission she went on. It took him every bit of strength he had to not rush to her side every single time she came back injured or got even a little paper cut. He eventually got used to the politicians (albeit barely) he had to deal with and would grow Homeworld Security into a massive operation he was proud of.

Throughout the years, they’d let misunderstandings go for far too long before one of them would finally suck it up and talk about it. As Jack had predicted, they argued a lot about small, mostly inconsequential things, while working to get rid of the command structure that had ruled their professional lives for so long. Life wasn’t always perfect and it was in fact hard to be apart so much. But, they learned how to make it theirs and that was the most important thing. In between all of the time apart, they carved out whole weekends together and found work related reasons to be in the place at the same time. A planning session in Washington, or an ally meeting at the SGC, it didn’t really matter. When they were in the same location, they would make the most of the time they had. They finally had the chance for a life together and the love they shared far surpassed anything they’d ever dreamed about.

The End