Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are not my property. No copyright infringement is intended.

Jack stared at the green traffic light. Putting down the window of his truck, he looked up the street to see why the traffic wasn't moving.

"Must be a wreck up ahead" he mumbled to himself.

Seeing a long line of vehicles and feeling cold air and snow brush against his face, he quickly raised the window. Turning up the heat a little higher, he rubbed his hands together.

He was glad to be going home after having spent the last two days and nights at the Mountain. One of his teams had run into trouble off-world and one of the men had been brought home in a body bag. He had sat in his office for a half hour, staring at a blank computer screen, trying to compose a letter to the man's family, knowing he could not tell them their relative had been killed on another planet. He could only tell them that he had given his life for his country.

Impatiently tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, he turned on the wipers as snow began to accumulate on the windshield.

His thoughts turned to Sam, knowing that when he eventually did get home, she would be there waiting for him.

As he waited for the traffic to move again, he thought back over recent events.

Shortly after he had been promoted and became commander of the base, Sam had broken her engagement to Pete and Kerry had ended their brief relationship.

Since Sam was adjusting to her break-up with Pete and Jacob's death, he knew she needed a break so he talked Sam, Daniel and Teal'c into going with him to his cabin for some rest and relaxation.

After being there for four days, Teal'c and Daniel decided to return to Colorado.

As he walked into a bedroom of his cabin, he watched Daniel pack his belongings into his suitcase.

Daniel grinned. "I've really enjoyed this. I'm glad you asked us to come. We all needed to get away."

He nodded his head. "It's been especially good for Sam."

"Jack, now is your chance."

"For what?"

"Sam. She broke her engagement because of you. You love each other so while you have this time alone, talk to her."

After Daniel and Teal'c had left, he and Sam spent the day at a local fair and returned to the cabin in the late afternoon. As they sat side by side on the dock, they discussed their relationships with Pete and Kerry. He confessed that he knew he would never love anyone but her and she felt the same way about him. They wanted to get married but since he was still her CO, they were willing to wait until the time was right to be together.

Two weeks after they returned from his cabin, he sent SG-1 to a planet on what they thought would be a routine mission but it had ended badly. The team had found nothing of importance and just as Sam made the decision to return to Earth, it began to rain.

As they hurried along, the rain came down harder. Sam had slipped and fallen down a hill and landed on her back on a sharp rock. Teal'c climbed down to get her and found her conscious but in great pain. He quickly picked her up, climbed as fast as he could back up the hill and hurried to the gate.

He met the team as they came through the event horizon and he followed Teal'c as he hurriedly carried Sam to the infirmary.

Dr. Brightman examined Sam and told him her condition. She had a sprained ankle, two broken ribs and a seriously damaged kidney which had to be removed.

After Sam had spent several days in the infirmary, Dr. Brightman informed him and Sam that it was her medical opinion that now that Sam had only one kidney, she should not be allowed to go off-world any more. Sam had protested but he had agreed with Dr. Brightman that it wasn't worth risking Sam's life should she be injured again.

After meeting with the Doctor, he had driven Sam home and they talked into the evening. They discussed what this would mean for her career now that she would no longer be allowed to travel through the gate.

Several weeks later, Sam took part in a training exercise with General Kerrigan and a new group of cadets that were being trained for the stargate program.

After the exercise was over, Sam and General Kerrigan met in the briefing room to give him their opinions on how well the training had gone. As they waited for him to get off the phone, Sam told General Kerrigan of her recent injury and that she was no longer allowed to go off-world.

A few days later, Sam received a call from General Kerrigan to offer her a teaching position at the Academy. He and Sam felt it was the perfect opportunity to continue her career in a different area of the military and since she would now be out of his chain of command, they could be married.

Sam accepted the position and their wedding had finally taken place. Mark escorted Sam down the aisle of the church, Cassie was her maid of honor and Daniel was his best man. General Hammond, General Kerrigan and many of their friends and co-workers from Stargate Command had come to the wedding. It had been a perfect day.

As he came back to the present, a smile came to his face when he thought about how happy he was to finally have Sam as his wife. It had been eight long years but their hopes of being married had finally come true.

As the traffic started to move again, he turned on the radio. A Christmas song was playing so he hummed along.

Finally arriving at home, he came inside and hung up his coat.

Coming into the living room, he could see Sam putting lights on a tree.

"Hey."

Sam turned her head and grinned. "Hi, honey."

They walked toward each other and embraced as they gave each other a long kiss.

After the kiss was over, they stayed in each other's arms as Jack glanced at the tree.

"Pretty tree."

"Thanks. I saw someone selling them at a tree lot on the way home so I stopped and bought one. When Mark and I were growing up, we put up a Christmas tree right after Thanksgiving so we could enjoy it through New Year's."

"Nice tradition."

"Yes, it is. How's everything at the Mountain?" Sam asked as they dropped their arms from each other.

Jack shook his head and sighed. "Getting back to normal but I hate writing condolence letters. It's the worst part of my job."

"I'm sorry, Jack."

"I'd rather not talk about it. How was your day?"

"It was good. I have a great group of students."

"You really enjoy teaching."

"Yeah, I do. I thought I'd miss all the excitement at the Mountain but I don't. I loved my time there and it was a great experience but it feels good to do something different."

Jack grinned. "Better than having aliens shooting at you?"

Sam smiled. "Much less dangerous than having aliens shooting at me."

Jack turned his head and sniffed. "Something smells good. What is that?"

"I'm heating cinnamon sticks on the stove. My Mom used to do that during the Christmas season. Makes the house smell good and it's a nice reminder of her."

Sam walked back to the tree as Jack's cell phone rang. He got the phone out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID. He raised his eyebrows as Sam looked at him.

"Who is it?"

"Kerry Johnson."

Sam stood still as he answered.

"Hello."

Sam stared at Jack as she listened to the one-sided conversation.

"I'm good. How are you?"

Jack glanced at Sam.

"Yes, we got married."

Jack gazed out the window and listened for several moments.

"We could meet at the base tomorrow."

Sam slowly walked toward him as the conversation continued.

"You can't tell me over the phone?"

Jack looked at Sam. "Well . . . okay, if that's where you want me to meet you."

Jack went into the kitchen, opened a drawer and picked up a piece of paper and a pen.

"What's the address and how do I get there?"

Sam watched as Jack wrote down the directions.

"I'll see you then. Bye."

Jack put the pen back in the drawer and his phone in his pocket as he looked at the piece of paper.

Sam stared at Jack. "What did she want?"

Jack shook his head. "I have no idea. She said it's very important and she needs to talk some place more private than the Mountain. She's renting a house and wants me to come there. She sounded nervous."

Sam frowned. "Interesting."

Jack shrugged. "Maybe she's making a career change and needs a reference or something."

"I don't think she'd need to see you in private for something like that, Jack. You should go find out what's going on."

TBC