Title: Backyard Barbecues
Rating: T (mild)
Setting: Post-Atlantis Season 4 mainly
Pairing: S/J established
Summary: Barbecues have always been SG-1's thing. During a celebratory barbecue when Carter comes home from Atlantis, Jack thinks back to the first time he had the team over.
Author's Note: My last previously unfinished story was really well received, which surprised me. So I wanted to put something else up. This story is basically two old unfinished stories that I decided to mesh together and polish up. Thank you for reading!
Backyard Barbecues
Chapter 1: Now
Jack O'Neill woke up freezing. For the third time that night, the seventeenth time that week, and the thirty-second time in the past three weeks. And he wasn't even the one who liked numbers. That one was all warm and cozy, and was also the reason why he was habitually waking up feeling more like a penguin than a General in the United States Air Force.
He glared across the bed at the nest of squashy comforter and pillows, but it was a very unenthusiastic glare that would have had about as much chance of intimidating her had she been awake as it did now, when she was asleep. The first time he had awoken all those months ago, absolutely convinced he was minutes away from freezing to death, he had looked over and found the mounds of covers and pillows with the bit of blonde hair poking out of the side (rather than the top; she had turned completely perpendicular in her sleep) to be incredibly cute. And for the longest time they'd been together so infrequently because of the insanity that was their lives that he kept finding it cute because he kept sort-of-almost forgetting about it until the next time he saw her and it happened again. But now that she was back from Atlantis for good… it wasn't so cute anymore. He definitely needed to come up with some sort of long-term plan to fix this situation.
But first, he just needed to get warm. That was his top priority at the moment. Unfortunately, it wasn't the easiest thing in the world to do. He could go get another comforter from one of his other two bedrooms. But he'd already tried that, and it had just become another layer of Carter's little cocoon as soon as he had gone to sleep. He could go sleep in another room altogether, but that wasn't fun for anyone. That left one obvious solution: get the covers back. Again, easier said than done.
It hadn't taken him long to categorize (and name) Carter's usual sleeping positions. There was 'The Mummy,' of course, in which she slept flat on her back, all of the covers wrapped tightly around herself. There was opposite of that, flat on her stomach, usually with her head under a pillow as well. He hadn't officially named that one, but only because he kept forgetting, in the bright light of day, to go look up the name for that fish that disguised itself as a rock and hid on the ocean floor, waiting for unsuspecting snacks to wander by. That was the name of that position, as soon as he remembered to go look up what that fish was called.
Tonight she was in her most common, and hardest to combat, position: 'The Hamster.' It was hardest because she was hardest to find under all those covers and pillows – she was somewhere under the mass of tangled sheets, covers, and pillows, curled up in a little ball on her side (usually facing him,) a hidden little ball within a ball. If he could get in there, he knew it would be so warm and soft that he probably wouldn't complain about her selfish sleeping habits in the morning.
Okay, that was a lie. He would still totally complain.
He would point out, once again, that he had immediately and unselfishly renounced his former sleeping position to generously accommodate the other person in the bed. He no longer sprawled diagonally across the mattress, face down, as though he had fallen asleep while trying to make a snow-angel in bed, did he? No siree, he did not. Did he complain when she cranked the AC down and turned on the fan before getting into bed, specifically to counteract the fact that she slept under a mountain of covers? Nope. Never said a word.
Now full of self-righteous determination to take back his share of the covers, he scooted across the cool sheet and propped himself up on one elbow, leaning over the ball of covers to peer down into the one opening and try to find a place to start. After much tugging, rolling, and burrowing, he finally located his... well, they still hadn't agreed on what was proper terminology for who they were to each other yet... so he located his 'bed buddy,' smirking a little because she was asleep and could not give him the look she normally gave him when he suggested, with completely fabricated seriousness, that that was a perfectly acceptable thing to call her. To their friends.
Sam finally located within the hamster nest, he rolled her practically on top of him and pulled the blankets and everything around them both. Ahhhh, no more penguin-Jack. He sighed and closed his eyes, but they opened again automatically when she tensed up and tried to roll away from him. "No way," he objected.
"You're too cold," she mumbled.
"Your fault," he pointed out.
She mumbled something that probably wasn't very nice into his shoulder and started to go back to sleep.
"Hey, since you're awake and all..." Jack started. "What's the name of that fish that disguises itself as a rock?"
She didn't answer, but he wasn't really expecting her to. She didn't usually wake up, no matter how much he tugged at the covers or how cold he was when he finally got to her, but occasionally she did.
The funny thing was, when they fell asleep every night she was inevitably as close to him as she could manage.
Sam Carter was a total cuddler, as long as she was awake. She probably wouldn't appreciate him spreading that information around, but it was true. Not that he would, as she'd probably just return the favor. Although he seriously doubted anyone would believe it in his case.
It had taken Jack a few nights of simultaneously thinking and waiting for the feeling to return to his extremities to figure out what their problem was. When they went to sleep, Jack immediately dropped off into his deepest (some might call it 'dead to the world') state of sleeping. It was probably because with a life and career like he had lived, you really didn't want to waste one precious second of sleeping time.
So, while he was dead to the world, Carter slipped off into dreamland gradually, warm, soft, nicely snuggled up with him, perfectly content to share the covers. Then, before she was deeply, deeply asleep, some crazy part of her brain made her take all the warm covers and her warmer self over to the other side of the bed. By the time Jack was out of his dead-to-the-world phase enough to realize he was freezing off vital bits of his anatomy and wake himself up, she was the one completely zonked.
Jack wasn't stupid (despite what some people might think.) He knew full well that if the only problem he and Sam had was while they were sleeping, he was pretty damn lucky. But they had both waited so long just to be allowed to be together like this, something the majority of the world's population completely took for granted, he couldn't help but think that they were entitled, after all this time, to perfect. And they almost had it.
He had to admit, any apprehensions he might have had about 'problems in the bedroom' had most certainly not been centered around the time in the bedroom when they were actually sleeping. After all, he wasn't exactly a young man anymore, he could admit to himself. And only to himself. But it was true. All the new physical and emotional parts of their relationship had grown naturally from the parts they already had, without those cherished older parts being lost in the change. They just... grew. Spread out naturally... like crystals. Okay, that was totally Sam's metaphor he had just stolen, but she was asleep so who cared?
So, all in all he was infinitely happier than he had ever really thought he had any right to be. But sometimes it was still hard to remember that when he was trying to sleep and keep from developing frostbite at the same time.
While zonked-out-Sam obviously wasn't too concerned with his predicament, she more than made up for it while she was awake. He did complain and he did tease her for turning into a hamster at night, but he had to be careful, because he had soon realized that she was actually quite bothered by her own unconscious behavior. At first she had been defensive about it, pointing out that she had slept that way her entire life, so it wasn't exactly an easy thing to change in just a few nights.
But as that number of nights had increased, so had her frustration with herself. She didn't know why she stole all the covers and left him to 'freeze to death,' and she certainly couldn't control or be held accountable for her actions while she was asleep. But she still felt guilty about it, despite the fact that she had yet to use the phrase 'freeze to death' without air quotes and sarcasm.
Still, Sam Carter couldn't stand an unanswered question, and he knew it was irritating her to death that she couldn't figure this out. It only frustrated her even more that she was the one responsible for presenting herself with a mystery that had so far denied an explanation, and a problem that defied a solution.
At this point, Jack was finally beginning to understand something: old habits die hard. While the idea of being part of proving such a particularly awful cliché true was definitely not appealing, he was beginning to think that if he wanted to cure Sam of her selfish sleep habits, he needed to try thinking outside the box.
For the rest of that night, at least he wasn't cold, although since the way he got round that was by staying awake, working out a plan, he figured it was a temporary solution to only part of the problem. After all, he did need to sleep, but being awake and thinking also had the added bonus of spending lots of time curled around his warm, soft, sleeping bed buddy/whatever-name-they-finally-agreed-upon, making sure she never got the chance to get away from him.
By the time she started to wake up in the morning, he had an idea. It was a little bit out there, but then again that's what 'outside the box' was all about, right? Happy and now almost looking forward to putting his plan into motion the next night, he didn't realize she was gradually waking up until she nuzzled his shoulder and hugged him tightly, inhaling deeply.
"Morning."
"You're awake early," Sam the-earliest-bird-on-the-planet Carter commented, speaking directly into that soft space between his shoulder and chest. She lifted her head to look at his face, her chin poking into his shoulder and tickling a little, and corrected herself. "No, you're just up really late. What's wrong?"
"Nothing," he said with an I'm-not-hiding-anything smile.
"Jack..." she sighed, and somehow he felt it go through her entire body. "How many?"
"How many what?" he asked.
"How many times? Last night?" Sam clarified. She was getting irked. It didn't take long to irk her before coffee, and he found that quite funny.
"Me or you? I don't think we really need to keep score, Sam, but if I recall it was..." he started innocently, trailing off when she poked his ribcage with one sharp prodding finger.
She made that irritated sound that was remarkably similar to a growl and said, "Jack, you know what I'm talking about."
Victory, Jack thought with a smile into his pillow.
"Okay. I woke up three times."
She groaned and pressed a long kiss into his neck that was surprisingly soft and sweet considering she'd just been so irked. "I'm really sorry," she said sincerely.
"It's okay," Jack said quickly, running his fingers around on her back lightly. "It was actually good – it gave me time to formulate my plan."
"Your plan?" Sam asked, amused.
"Yup. Battle strategy. Or de-programming strategy. Don't worry, you won't feel a thing but I guarantee you will be amazed at the results."
Laughing, she said, "You shouldn't have to do that."
"Hey, I sit at a desk all the time now, I've got to come up with something to keep me occupied."
"I think we were doing okay on that front already."
"You are most definitely correct about that, Carter. But this... this might actually be something I can share when Daniel and Teal'c ask me what I've been up to."
"Teal'c would never ask you what you've been up to," Sam countered. "And I don't think Daniel would either, knowing what a loaded question that is now. Not after he called while we were at the cabin last year, and you gave him that graphically honest answer."
"Yeah... all the more reason for me to come up with something I can share with them. 'Operation Separate Sam from her unnatural tendency to Bogart the covers.'"
"Bit of a mouthful, isn't it?" Sam asked with a giggle.
"That's my line," Jack objected, tickling her ribs. She squirmed and continued giggling. "That's against the rules," he reminded.
"Then stop making me," she gasped in between laughs.
He stopped, content just to be lying there. He was really, really tired after all; he'd had a busy night of blanket-recovery and plotting. She moved to get up but he objected, tightening his arms around her as he said, "Not yet."
"I need to go to the bathroom. I'll be back."
He let go of her and cracked one eye open as she slid off the bed and headed to the bathroom, just in time to catch a good glimpse before she pulled the t-shirt (his) she scooped off the floor over her head. She turned quickly after smoothing it down to where it reached mid-thigh and caught him. He gave her a sheepish grin and shrug and she went into the bathroom laughing.
When she came out of the bathroom a few minutes later, he pulled back the covers for her and was mildly surprised when she actually slid in next to him; usually as soon as she was awake she was ready to get up, even on Saturdays. He figured she was being extra nice because she still felt guilty about waking him up so much, but he was too tired and warm to care about her motives at the moment.
"So, are you going to tell me about this brilliant plant of yours?" Sam asked, turning on her side to face him. Her bright smile confirmed his expectations - she was completely wide awake. Well, why shouldn't she be? She had slept like a log, after all.
She always did. It had surprised him at first, because she had always been a pretty light sleeper in the field. But Sam, as Jack's grandmother would have said, slept hard. She crashed and then clung to sleep fiercely for about four or five hours, then woke up ready to attack another day with the same relentless energy. Or even the next two or three days sometimes, in her case.
So, the fact that she seemed willing, this morning, to keep him company while he dawdled around in bed, not really awake but not quite asleep either, reinforced his ideas about how guilty she felt about her habitual nocturnal thievery.
"Nope, not gonna tell ya," he answered, as he pulled her up against him in a quick hug that took her by surprise and made her yelp. Before she could get too settled in like she was he pulled her shirt back off and tossed it back to the floor, refusing to acknowledge the fact that she was laughing at him. He tucked her, on her back, half-underneath him, pinning her down with an arm and leg so she wouldn't be able to slip away unnoticed if he did fall back asleep, and then tucked the covers tightly around them both.
"Comfortable?" she asked with an amused smile down at the top of his head that he felt rather than saw as he abandoned his pillow in favor of her chest.
"Yup."
"Good." She scratched the back of his neck lightly, not saying anything more, but he figured she'd only be able to take that for about five minutes.
When five minutes were up and she was still lying there peacefully, not even going through the list of all the stuff they had to do that day before everyone showed up for the upcoming barbecue, he smiled. Apparently she felt really guilty.
Paradoxically (and he cringed as he realized he had mentally just begun a sentence with that word), her uncharacteristic behavior, which was meant to lull him back to sleep, was actually intriguing him enough to make him decide that sleep, at least for the time being, was highly overrated. It would be terrible, after all, to pass up such a rare and perfect opportunity for really slow Saturday Morning Sex. Yes. It was worthy of capitalization.
Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill loved to barbecue. It was one of the things he hated most about the DC apartment where he currently resided for far too much of the time - no place to barbecue. Not that the time or the weather available there leant themselves to the past time much anyway… and it would be awfully lonely cooking for one most of the time…
Anyway, when he was back at his real home in Colorado he barbecued whenever he could. It was something of a tradition, begun years ago shortly after SG-1 had originally been formed. Over the years they had gathered in his backyard so many times he had lost count. It was second nature now whenever he was in town and they weren't off-world to have them all over. He even let them bring the "new kids," Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell and newest alien recruit Vala Malduran, although the latter kept pointing out that they weren't really "new" anymore.
Today was going to be one of the better barbecues though, he was sure of it. Because the best barbecues always had a little surprise to them. And today he had a big surprise for all of them.
He was grinning to himself, picturing the looks on Daniel and Teal'c's faces, when said surprise walked into the kitchen wearing a bath robe that covered far too much, in his opinion. Her skin was pink from her shower - she took ridiculously hot showers - and her hair was wet. "What's so funny?" she asked.
"Not funny. Just thinking," he said, pouring coffee for both of them.
"Don't strain anything," she advised.
"Cute. If you must know I was picturing the blubbering goldfish look Danny Boy is going to have when you jump out and surprise them."
"Jump out?" she asked in amusement. "Why do I have to jump out? Can't I just be here when they get here?"
"But what am I supposed to do with the giant hollow cake I ordered for you to jump out of?" he joked. When she raised an eyebrow in response, he said, "Come on, humor me? It'll be great. They think it's just me in town to do a check on the SGC, they didn't gate in until late last night so there's no way they've been by or anything… I specifically told Hank NOT to tell them you're back from Atlantis so we could surprise them…"
"Okay, okay," Sam relented, too happy herself to be back to consider ruining his little fun. She sipped her coffee and said suddenly, "Wait a minute. Did you specifically assign them to the mineral survey they've been on the past three weeks so they wouldn't be here when I first got back?"
He shrugged, grinning unapologetically. "You'll never prove it. Anyone could've set that schedule… and besides, I didn't want them hogging you as soon as you got home."
She snorted into her coffee cup. "Hogging me?"
"Yeah." He pushed up his nose and made an oinking noise. "Hogging you."
She laughed. "Well, okay, but before I go into hiding we have a lot to do."
"What's to do," he shrugged. "Mitchell's bringing the beer, Daniel's bringing the aliens."
"And I'm sure Teal'c's bringing the salad. No surprises there," she mused, popping bread into the toaster.
"Nope, no surprises there," Jack agreed, smiling to himself again. She might be in on this surprise, but he had another one up his sleeve she knew nothing about.
Jack was washing and preparing vegetables for people to put on their burgers when Sam came in, looking a little nervous. "I was kidding about jumping out of a giant cake. I would never have you do that." He paused for a moment and added, "In front of other people."
She rolled her eyes but was smiling. "It's not that. I just got off the phone… I had a surprise for you today too… but my surprise has its own surprise so now I think I'd better just tell you about it now so you're not too surprised."
"Uh-oh. Bad surprise I take it?"
"Not bad, just… well, different. Cassie's coming."
"That's great!" he said enthusiastically, failing to see the problem. The girl was almost finished with her first year of medical school, and Jack missed her a lot being in DC most of the time. Although now that Sam was back, he was definitely going to be spending as much time as possible here instead of there.
"She's driving in from Denver so she won't get here til the party's well under way but still. But um, here's the thing. She just called and warned me she's um, bringing someone."
"Well we've got enough food to feed at least twenty people so…"
"As in, a guy."
"A guy," Jack stated, looking as though he had never heard of such a thing. "Cassie. Our little Cassie…"
"It's not like this is the first time she's dated anybody…"
"Yeah but it's the first time she's willingly introduced any of us to someone."
"You're right. Must be serious," Sam said, just the faintest hint of amusement in her voice at how this news was affecting him.
"It's not serious and he's never touched her," Jack said quickly.
Sam patted his arm sympathetically. "You keep telling yourself that if it helps. I'll just go finish my letter to Santa Claus and mail the Easter bunny some fresh carrots."
"It's not funny," Jack insisted.
"I know. Look, let's just wait and see what he's like. Who knows, you might really like him." her attempt to placate him was totally transparent, but he appreciated it all the same. Even if it didn't really help.
"Fat chance," Jack said, stabbing the tomato he'd been slicing moodily.
Sam glanced at the clock and offered, "I think I might have time to make some cake if that will cheer you up."
He smiled. "Cool."
She returned the smile and went back to the task at hand.
Feeling his eyes still on her several seconds later, she looked back up at him. "What?"
He started to ask her something but stopped, shook his head, and said, "Never mind."
He mentally patted himself on the back for showing such restraint. He'd almost made the mistake of bringing up the only thing they still hadn't really worked out, which was an extension of the 'how would I introduce you if we ran into an old friend of mine somewhere' issue.
While arguing about the semantics of labels like 'girlfriend,' Jack had, early on, accidentally hit on something else when he had casually thrown out, "Let's just get married, that'll make it easy." He fully admitted, later, that that probably had not been the best way to propose. But since he felt like they were married already anyway, and (according to Daniel) they certainly acted like it already, he didn't really see the big deal.
There was something stopping Sam though, aside from his poorly worded first proposal. Because there had been several better ones after that. She never said no, but she never said yes either. It had sort of become like their long-standing "Want to go fishing?" "No (but keep asking)" conversation.
At this point, sometimes she just smiled when he said it, but sometimes he could tell it made her genuinely uncomfortable, and she did an evasive trying to explain/trying not to let something out thing that just left them both irritated. So today he decided not to risk spoiling the happy mood. For whatever reason (and he knew she had one, he just didn't know what it was), she wasn't comfortable with anything official yet. But he knew she'd say yes eventually; she'd already told him as much.
Feeling her eyes still on him, he looked over at her and returned the 'thank you' smile with a 'you're welcome' one. Did it completely defeat the purpose that she had known exactly what he was going to say anyway, despite the fact that he hadn't actually said it? He would have guessed yes, but judging by her response, apparently the right answer was 'no.'
Sam finished her dip thing she was making and picked up the large dish, which required both hands. "Want me to get the oven?" he asked, heading towards it anyway before she answered.
"Yes, please." He opened the door and she slid it carefully in, waited until he shut the door, and set the timer. "I love you, you know," she told him in an uncharacteristically serious tone as she took the oven mitt off of her hand and tossed it onto the counter behind him.
He smiled in surprise – neither of them were going to be winning any prizes for most mushy speaker of the year anytime soon, despite how wonderfully close they were. It just wasn't how they were – Daniel was the word-driven one, the rest of them were action-driven. "I know," he said simply. "And I love you... and as soon as I can get you to stop hoarding the covers we'll be all set," he added, pulling her into a tight hug.
She laughed into his neck, rubbing his back, and said, "Still not going to tell me your big secret plan?"
"Nope. It might not work if you know what to expect."
"That sounds..." she trailed off as he kissed her, truly (really, Scout's honor) not intending anything more than a simple, easy, slow liplock.
Sam had other ideas, and her ideas had never disappointed him before and had frequently completely blown his mind. She quickly caused a long, hot build-up of need to jump from gentle to rough, then back to tender as she bit and sucked at his lip, smiling against his mouth when his tongue suddenly became twice as aggressive as hers, deliberately torturing both of them until he had no idea why they were even in the kitchen in the first place, let alone why they were wearing so many stupid clothes.
"God, Carter, are you trying to kill me?" he gasped.
At the same time, she said thoughtfully, "Ominous."
"Huh?" Okay, there were a truckload of adjectives that would have been appropriate after a kiss like that, but ominous wasn't exactly one of them.
"What sounds ominous?"
"Whatever we were talking about."
"Okay," he agreed, looking around the kitchen quickly. "Are we done here?"
"Um. I was going to make dessert," she said hesitantly, clearly fully aware that the statement invited one of many rather obvious suggestive responses.
Rather than bothering to pick one and actually say it out loud, Jack just let it go and asked hopefully, "Cake?"
"Maybe. Want to hang around and lick the spoon?"
Jack groaned and stopped trying to control his hands, which very much wanted to be running up and down her arms. "You're really trying to kill me today, aren't you?" he asked, knowing full well that if you factored in more showers and Sam drying her hair they definitely did not have time for anything that involved lots and lots more skin.
"That's a 'no,' then?" she asked, clearly amused and pleased with herself.
"Sam, unless you were planning on giving all of our friends and our goddaughter a very graphic greeting when they arrive, I think it would be a very good idea if I removed myself from this kitchen." She did the lip-chewing thing that he'd still never told her drove him crazy and he quickly added, "Immediately."
She ducked under his arm and crossed the kitchen to another cupboard, pulling out a plastic bowl for the cake she was going to make, giving him a sweetly innocent smile that he really didn't buy for a second.
"I'm going to go clean the grill," he said quickly, yanking open the back door.
Twenty minutes later, his mind sufficiently numbed by the simple work required in cleaning the outdoor grill, he smiled as one hand pressed into his back between his shoulder blades and the other snaked under his arm, which was busy scraping at the grill, holding one of the things from the electric mixer, dripping with chocolatey batter. He dropped the scraper brush and took her offering happily, wrapping his arm around her as he licked at the batter.
"Good?"
"Perfect. Don't even bother putting it in the oven, let's just serve it like this. Hand out spoons to everyone and let them dig in."
She laughed, scratched his back lightly for a moment, and went back inside. As he stood there, licking the batter (and dripping a fair bit of it onto the freshly-cleaned grill,) something occurred to him. Unless he was sorely mistaken, he had just figured out why Sam always said no when he asked, but never seemed scared about the idea in general...
His head whipped around to the back door, but she was long gone. He felt like running up to her and chanting, "I figured you ouuut, I figured you ouuuuut," but doubted that would go over well. Besides, if he was right, it would be much better to bring this up later, when they weren't about to have a house full of people. Maybe tomorrow... or maybe he could run this by Daniel tonight, see if his theory made sense at all or if it was just the chocolate talking or something.
The back door opened again and he turned around with a ridiculously large smile on his face, still inordinately pleased with himself for his revelation, as Sam called, "Hey, Jack, I'm going to go change, if the timer goes off can you come get me?"
"Yeahsureyoubetcha," he replied.
She eyed him warily. "You okay?"
"Never better," he assured her, picking up the scrubby brush thing in an attempt to look slightly more normal. From the look on her face, he guessed that he didn't quite pull it off. "Almost done with the grill too."
"Okay... thanks." She went back inside and the door clicked shut softly.
Jack quickly finished up with the grill and went inside, peering into the oven for his cake... he frowned at the spinach dip. It was excellent spinach dip, but when you're expecting chocolate cake, spinach dip is just disappointing.
He opened the lower oven door and said quietly, "Jackpot."
He inhaled the cakey smells slowly, nearly jumping out of his skin when Sam appeared next to him and commented, "It's going to take a lot longer to cook with the door open."
"Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" Jack yelped.
"Never. Are you done ogling the cake? We should get cleaned up."
"Can I ogle you instead?"
"Yeahsureyoubetcha." She pecked him on the mouth again and left the kitchen quickly.
Jack followed her, frowning suddenly. "What should I wear?" he called.
Jack groaned as Sam came out of the bathroom, hair and makeup done and clothes on. She was dressed casually and comfortably, in jeans and a lightweight navy sweater that he knew for a fact was even softer than it looked. The sweater was the reason for the groan. When she leaned forward the loose V-neck had a truly spectacular view.
"Do you have to wear that?" he asked. It came out sounding much harsher than he meant.
She stood up from tying her shoes, smoothing the sweater and looking down at herself in confusion. "You gave me this sweater, Jack," she reminded him.
"I know, but... whenever you wear it I can't stop touching you..."
"Maybe that's the idea," Sam smirked.
He rolled his eyes. "You're being very evil today," he accused.
"Poor baby," she teased mildly, stepping close to him and smoothing out the wrinkles of his muted button-down shirt. The green plaid one that was kind of like the cushions on her couch (where she didn't really live anymore.) He couldn't help but notice she was taking her own sweet time on the little adjustments to his shirt, and the distracted look on her face told him she wasn't just trying to get to him.
He smiled at that thought and covered both of her hands with his, pressing her palms flat against his chest for a few moments before squeezing her fingers gently and tucking them into his hands. Smiling warmly, he said, "I always knew you liked this shirt."
"You're looking at me differently," she commented.
"No I'm not."
"Yeah – you look like you know something I don't."
"Maybe you just don't know that I know something you already know," he countered. She shook her head, her eyes twinkling, and they both jumped as the doorbell rang. "Well, let's see, impeccable timing as always, this must be Daniel Jackson," Jack commented.
"I seriously have to hide? I haven't seen them in ages."
"Just for a few minutes, until they're all here, and I give you the signal."
"What's the signal?" Sam asked.
"I don't know… just…" the doorbell was ringing again, more rapidly. "… just come out whenever you want, but make sure everyone's here first. Except Cassie I mean, that would take too long."
"All right," she agreed with a sigh.
He grinned, kissed her, and hurried to get the door before Daniel decided to just use his own key.
Opening it, he found Daniel with Teal'c and Vala. "Jack," Daniel said in greeting, already sounding exasperated. "Why was the door locked? You never lock your door."
"People change, Danny boy, what can I tell you. Good to see you guys, come on in." Jack clapped Daniel and then Teal'c on the back in what he considered to be manly hugs. It had been a few months since he'd seen them in person.
Vala hugged him enthusiastically, which he tolerated, although privately he thought they didn't really know each other well enough yet to be on hugging terms. Still, she was a hugger. "General O'Neill! Thank you so much for inviting us!"
"Sure, no problem. Good to see you. Mitchell's not here yet. Oh, and I just found out Cassie's coming by later and she's bringing somebody she's been dating apparently, so we have to watch what we say once he gets here. And T, I believe you and I might have to find some time to have a private conversation with the lad."
"Understood, O'Neill," Teal'c said stoically. Jack grinned. Teal'c just got him.
At that moment, Mitchell started making his way up the driveway behind the group, carrying a bunch of beer. "The beer is here!" he called. "Somebody help me before I drop it all over the driveway."
They all hurried to help him, and once his burden was lightened, he shook Jack's hand. "General, nice to see you, sir."
"You too Mitchell. In fact, I've never been happier to see you," Jack said, snagging a Guinness from the six pack in his hand.
Daniel rolled his eyes and said, "Can we get inside now, please? We're all here."
"What about Cassie?" Vala asked as they all filed inside.
"Cassie?" Mitchell asked sharply.
"Yeah," Vala said, looking at him like he'd grown an extra head. "Cassandra Frasier. We met her at Sam's going away party. General O'Neill was just telling us she's going to be here today as well, and apparently she's bringing someone for he and Teal'c to terrify."
"New boyfriend she wants us to meet," Jack explained.
"Oh. Really." Cameron finally remarked, seemingly unable to come up with something else to say.
"Yeah. Don't worry, Mitchell, you can help us scare him if you want," Jack offered, clapping him on the back goodnaturedly.
It was then that he noticed Daniel scrutinizing him closely. "What is it, Daniel, did you forget how handsome I am in the months we were apart?" he asked jokingly.
"No," Daniel said thoughtfully. "But you're… happy."
He stated it as though he had just diagnosed Jack with some obscure medical condition that had been eluding doctors for years.
"I'm what?" Jack asked, trying to look blank.
"You don't usually act like this unless…" Daniel started.
Jack swatted the air between them. "You have to ruin everything, don't you Spacemonkey? Jeez, can't a guy arrange a nice little surprise for anyone these days?"
He looked over towards the hallway that lead to the bedrooms and called, "Come on out!"
Sam emerged, grinning a little sheepishly. "Hi, guys."
Daniel and Teal'c hurried over to greet her, closely followed by Cameron and Vala, and Jack lost track of everyone for several minutes as they swarmed around her, hugging her and demanding to know when she had gotten back, how long she was going to be here this time, and about a million other questions.
"Guys, let me get a word in and I'll explain!" she finally said, laughing. "It's really simple. I got fired," she shrugged, grinning from ear to ear.
"Aren't people usually upset when that happens?" Vala asked Daniel, looking confused.
"Yeah, they are," Daniel said, scowling. "Sam, what do you mean, why would they fire you?"
"She's too good at her job," Jack called. "One year under military leadership, no more replicator problem in Atlantis, Wraith under control… the IOA doesn't think a military person needs to be in charge during 'peace time.'" He frowned to show what he thought of that stupid assessment, but then added brightly, "But good for us, right?"
"Very," Sam agreed.
"So you're home for good now?" Daniel asked. "Where are you going to work? Are you coming back to SG1?"
"I don't know, guys. We haven't really worked out all the details," Sam said. "But probably no, not that, Daniel," she said gently.
He started to protest but then nodded like he understood.
"So, great surprise, huh?" Jack asked, rocking proudly on his heels.
"You and your surprise barbecues," Daniel muttered as they all headed to the backyard, Sam listening patiently to Vala's list of complaints about being the only woman currently on SG-1.
Jack surveyed his back yard happily, glad that everything was going relatively smoothly and everyone seemed to be having a good time. He was a bit unorthodox in most things, but especially when it came to parties and things. He was perfectly willing to put in the work, enjoyed playing host actually, but during the party itself he liked to sit back and watch it happen.
Sam was perched on the picnic table, talking to Daniel. She was smiling and gesturing with her hands while she talked, so Jack figured she was telling a good story.
Vala, Teal'c, and Mitchell were playing with a Frisbee, the two aliens fascinated by it but clearly not understanding the fact that there wasn't really a point to it other than tossing the thing back and forth. He watched as they attempted to get Sam and Daniel in on the game. Sam relented but Daniel held firm, even when Vala tried to literally drag him off the bench he was on. Instead, Daniel headed his way and joined him on the patio.
"Hey, Jack. Great party."
"Thanks."
Daniel was giving him a funny look, like he was trying to read his mind or something. Jack tolerated this for about two seconds before demanding, "Daniel, what?"
"Nothing. I just... apparently lost a bet to Vala."
"You had a bet with Vala?" Jack asked, amused. "She's a con, Daniel. Don't you know any better by now?"
"Yeah," Daniel admitted sheepishly. "I thought... when you invited us all over and Sam was here, you and Sam were uh..."
"What?" Jack prompted blankly.
"I thought you were going to make an... announcement. You know, like maybe something official…"
"Oh, that," Jack said, glancing at Daniel and then looking down at the beer bottle he was rolling back and forth in his hands, really just playing with it. He remembered he had wanted to get Daniel's opinion on it, but wasn't sure this was the best place. He glanced around the yard; everyone was preoccupied, although Teal'c had just appeared next to Daniel out of nowhere, somehow successfully extracting himself from the increasingly violent Frisbee match taking place. "I did want to talk to you guys about that... because she keeps on saying no, but..."
"What?" Daniel said loudly. He cringed and whispered, "Sorry," as several pairs of eyes looked over at them.
"Let's go inside," Jack said quickly. Teal'c and Daniel followed him inside and into the kitchen.
"Are you saying you've already asked her to marry you?" Daniel demanded at once.
"God, Daniel, you sound like a gossipy teenager... and yes, okay, I've asked her several times as a matter of fact."
"And she has refused your request?" Teal'c asked, sounding surprised. Well, surprised for Teal'c.
"Look, it's not like I don't wonder what the hell she sees in me frequently, guys, but it's weird... it's like she's not opposed to the idea of... I don't know. Us as an us. She just won't agree to marry me. But I think I figured it out today."
"What did she say?"
"I haven't brought it up yet because we were getting ready for tonight and everything. But tell me if this makes sense at all. She's had two busted engagements, right? Pete, and that guy a long time ago, Jonas Hansen."
"Oh, I think I see where you're going with this," Daniel said. "You're saying she's worried that if you're officially engaged, something will go wrong?"
"Right. Like... maybe it's not being married that's the problem, it's the whole 'getting married,' thing."
"Well... but to be married you have to get married."
"Ya think?"
"So how are you going to get around..."
Sam and Vala came into the kitchen chatting. They stopped and looked at Daniel and Jack suspiciously. They had quickly stopped talking and were trying to look casual. And failing miserably.
"What's... going on in here, guys?" Vala asked.
"Nothing," they said quickly.
"Looks like you owe me, Vala," Sam commented as she went to the cupboard and got the cake.
"Yes, it does," Vala said. They started cutting it up and putting it on separate plates.
"Owe you for what?" Jack asked suspiciously.
"Nothing," Sam said, echoing his own bad lie.
Jack crossed his arms over his chest and watched her as she went to the freezer for the ice cream. "You bet on whether or not I was in here eating the cake, didn't you?" he demanded suddenly.
Sam looked at him quickly and turned red. "Y-yes... but I won because I bet that you hadn't touched it."
"Oh. Well... okay then. But I get the best piece," he said, glaring at Vala for betting against him.
Daniel pulled out the money he owed Vala and paid it to Sam instead. Sam looked at the bill in her hand in confusion. Vala looked at Daniel in surprise, and he motioned with his head for her to follow him into the living room. They left with their cake.
"What the hell is that all about?" Sam asked, handing Jack a plate loaded with a huge piece of cake and a lot of ice cream.
"No idea," he said, taking an overly large bite so he wouldn't have to answer. Plus it was cake. Really good cake. Made by Sam.
"WHAT?" Vala exclaimed loudly from the living room.
"I will go make sure Vala Malduran does not need assistance," Teal'c said, quickly excusing himself.
Sam and Jack turned to each other. "I gotta work on smooth exits with him, don't I?" Jack asked, taking another huge bite of cake.
"Hey, I'm here!" a familiar voice called loudly just before Cassie came into the room smiling. And alone.
Jack hugged her. "Hey, kiddo. I thought you were bringing some punk kid."
Rolling her eyes as she hugged him back, Cassie said absently, "I changed my mind" before exclaiming, "Sam!"
Jack watched as she hurried hugged the older woman enthusiastically, not having seen her in person in over a year. He noticed that everyone else gave them a few minutes alone before coming back into the ktichen to greet Cassie as well, and figured that now that Cassie was here was a good time to start working on announcing his next surprise…
"Okay, time for barbecue smores!" he called, adding more lighter fluid to the pit so that it flared up hugely.
Everyone came over, Daniel in the middle of explaining what a smore was to Vala. Jack passed out the long forks they used for nothing else but this and tossed the bag of marshmallows to Teal'c.
They all settled into a comfortable circle, people occasionally getting up to toast another marshmallow… or help someone blow one out when it caught on fire.
Everyone was relaxing and joking around, and Jack was just waiting for the right time…
"So Cassie why did you back out of bringing your boyfriend?" Vala was asking. "Surely it couldn't be because you didn't want him to meet those three," she said, nodding to Daniel, Teal'c, and Jack.
"Hey," Daniel objected. "I was nothing but polite to that guy who came to your birthday party that time."
"That's true… although polite doesn't have to mean treating a guy to the history of piercing just because he has a tongue ring," Cassie smirked, recalling the occasion vividly. The poor boy had been positively green after Daniel had described how some rural tribe pierced as many places on their body as they could.
"Tongue ring?" Mitchell choked out, choking on a bit of graham cracker.
Teal'c hit him on the back helpfully. "Indeed. The young man had vividly green hair too, as I recall. It was most disturbing."
Vala laughed.
"ANYWAY," Cassie said. "Let's just relax. Enough about me…"
"Yeah, I want to hear more about what happened in Atlantis," Daniel insisted. "Sam, I still don't see how they could have fired you. I mean…"
Sam shrugged, grinning sheepishly.
Jack figured now was as good a time as any. "Well, I guess technically, she was both fired and promoted."
Everyone turned to look at him, mainly looking confused. None looked as stumped as Sam though. He rarely got to leave her completely dumbfounded, and relished the rare opportunity.
After a few moments of silence, he added, "The IOA fired her for doing a good job but the Air Force is promoting her. The next ship's almost ready to roll off the assembly line, and it's all yours, Carter," he said, smiling proudly.
She seemed to have been frozen in place as she worked through what he just said. Slowly. Then, she got up from where she was sitting between Cassie and Teal'c - also slowly - and walked over to him. He was certain he was in for at least a big hug of thanks, and maybe even a bit more even though PDAs weren't really their thing, and stood there rocking on his heels while she approached, congratulating himself at his own brilliance in hiding it from her and getting the President to let him be the one to tell her…
When she reached him she didn't throw her arms around him in gratitude. She shoved the rest of her piece of cake in his face with a "Jack O'Neill!" that sounded like it was a swear word in and of itself based on tone alone.
"What?" he spluttered, now back to being the one dumbfounded.
"I told you after the last time you surprised me with a promotion not to do anything like that again!"
"You did?" he asked sheepishly, wiping his face off. She was right, now that she mentioned it, she had said something… "At least it's not in public this time," he defended.
"What are we, shrubbery?" Daniel cut in.
"Speak for yourself, Daniel," Vala said.
"Shhh," Mitchell scolded them both.
"You know what I mean," Jack said.
"Congratulations!" Daniel said quickly after a few moments of silence.
Jack started wiping off his face while they all started echoing the sentiment, finally going into the kitchen to utilize the sink and several paper towels.
He wasn't surprised when Sam joined him after a minute. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah."
"Sorry about the cake. I uh, I was surprised."
"Bullshit. You were embarrassed."
"What?" she asked defensively.
"You got the same surprised, 'who me, what could I possibly have done to deserve this' look on your face you got the last three times you were promoted. The sheepish embarrassed one," he informed her.
"I… I did? I do?"
"Oh yeah. Look, you deserve this command. just like you deserved the Atlantis command and your last three promotions." he scrubbed his face dry with a fresh paper towel. "Ah, hell. Maybe I should've let the President do it. Or Landry."
"Why?"
"Because I know what you're thinking. You're thinking this was all me so it doesn't really count."
"I… I wasn't…" she tried.
"I just wanted to be the one to tell you. You earned this, Carter," he said, automatically reverting to her surname because they were talking about work. "You shouldn't be second-guessing that. Not for a second."
He looked at her seriously until he could tell it had finally sunk in. then, she smiled. Finally. He pulled her into a hug. She returned it, hugging tight, then leaned back and smiled at him. "You still have cake on your chin," she informed him.
He shrugged. "I'll get it later."
"I think I can help you out with that, actually." She kissed a spot on his chin carefully, where he assumed he had icing, then moved on to another spot, and another… and suddenly he was really wishing there weren't a bunch of other people in the house when she reached the corner of his mouth.
They were interrupted when Daniel came bursting into the kitchen with Vala in tow, ostensibly looking for coffee, but really, Jack was sure, just being nosey.
"Coffee!" Daniel spluttered. "I was… going to see if anyone's made coffee yet. The sun's going down and it's getting chilly."
"Have at it, Spacemonkey," Jack said, waving him towards the coffee pot.
"Everything okay?" Vala asked knowingly.
"Yes, thank you," Sam said coolly, tucking her hair back behind her ears.
"So," Daniel said as he set about making the coffee. Cameron, Cassie, and Teal'c joined them, apparently having been lurking outside the door after sending in Vala and Daniel as scouts first. "Sam, I guess you could probably say this was the most surprising barbecue yet, huh?"
"Well, I don't know about that," she said, thinking back.
"Oh yeah," Daniel agreed. "I guess nothing could be more surprising than that first one!"
She laughed.
Jack looked at both of them. "Hey, that surprised the heck out of me. what were you two so surprised about?"
Daniel stared at him like he was insane. "Jack, don't you remember what you said?"
"Daniel, I may be getting older but my memory is still just fine, thank you. Of course I remember it. I was surprised that it didn't turn into a huge geek fest and I actually had a good time with you people. No offense, Teal'c," he added pointedly.
"No offense taken, O'Neill."
"Very funny, Jack," Daniel said sarcastically.
Sam merely smirked. "Actually, now that you mention it, Daniel, that was pretty surprising."
"I still don't get what surprised you two about that day. Unless it was my marvelous skills at the grill."
"Hey, someone fill us in, please, so we can weigh in here," Vala demanded, indicating herself and Mitchell.
Original SG-1 all looked at each other. Jack shrugged. "I'll bite."
Author's Note: Thanks to an observant reviewer, I've changed a bit of this to fix a HUGE error on my part regarding when Carter was promoted. Thanks, steadfast!
Also note, in the next chapter, Carter's "experiment" was done on an old episode of Mythbusters. After seeing that one, my family always does the salt water thing for soda and beer at parties. I haven't tried the other ones.