Set at the end of Moebius Part 2, Season 8.
Disclaimer: All Stargate characters, etc, belong to MGM, not me.
A/N: Okay, so my standard take on the whole Sam-Jack relationship is that they'd only be together once their careers would allow it, which in the Stargate Canon, would be sometime after Stargate Universe. Thus my first two stories. That being said, a very dear friend of mine (and a fellow shipper), has pointed out numerous times now that even the creators of Stargate have admitted that, in their minds at least, Sam and Jack were together after Season 8 of SG-1, whether it ever made it to TV or not. So why don't I write about that, instead? This one is for her.
Feedback: Always welcome.
"Daniel, wait up!," Sam called, racing down the long grey hall of the SGC to catch up to her teammate, who was currently several yards ahead of her. Daniel turned to face her, obediently pausing in his trek toward the elevators to wait as she drew up beside him.
"Thanks," she panted lightly, her face slightly flushed as they fell into step together, resuming their progress towards the elevator leading out of CheyenneMountain.
"No problem," he replied, eyeing her speculatively as they walked. When she didn't speak again, he asked, "So, was there something on your mind, or did you just really want my company?"
"Hmm?," Sam replied, startled from her thoughts.
"You asked me to wait up...was there something on your mind, or did you just want some company?," he repeated, growing concerned. They had been through a lot this past year...
"Oh. Right," she said, looking embarrassed. Daniel swiped his card for the elevator, motioning for her to enter first as the doors slid open before them. They both climbed in, Sam hitting the button for the surface. "Um, well, I was just wondering...," she began awkwardly. "What exactly do you pack for a fishing trip?" Daniel snorted his amusement.
"Are you serious?," he asked. The growing embarrassment spreading across her face was answer enough. Daniel chuckled again. Go figure the woman who could pack everything she would need for a two- week mission off-world in ten minutes flat would have problems deciding what to bring for a week-long vacation in Minnesota.
"Well," he replied, somewhat mischievously, "I'd probably start with some clothes, if I were you... Maybe a fishing rod and some tackle, too, for good measure, and a laptop for when you inevitably get bored..." he added thoughtfully.
"Daniel Jackson, are you making fun of me?," she demanded, the sternness in her voice belayed by the humor in her eyes.
"Me?," he asked innocently. "Never. Seriously though, Sam, I've seen you pack for hundreds of missions without a moment's hesitation. What's different this time? Are you having second thoughts?"
"I'm not having second thoughts, Daniel," she replied. "And packing for missions is easy. All you have to do is follow protocol and regulations. This is very different."
"You could always pretend it's just another mission and pack what you would normally bring."
"Somehow I don't think the General would be quite as amused as you'd be if all I brought were emergency rations, a med kit, and a single change of clothes," she replied, rolling her eyes.
"I don't know Sam. I think he'd find it a little funny..." Sam slugged him in the arm, hard.
It was a fifteen minute trip up to the surface. They had just reached the parking lot when Daniel asked, "Just out of curiosity, why did you decide to come, this time?" Sam shot him a startled look.
"Why did you?," she countered. In eight years of asking, Jack had only ever successfully coerced one other member of their team into joining him for fishing, and the event had never been repeated since.
Daniel looked thoughtful for a moment, as if trying to decide what he should tell her. At last he replied, "Oma said this would be the last time she'd help me ascend." He smiled wanly and shrugged. "I just thought, maybe, I should enjoy what I have. While I still have it."
Sam wrapped an arm around him, leaning into him for something of a hug as they walked to their respective cars.
"Now, what about you?," he asked lightly, trying to brighten the mood. Sam groaned softly. She had really hoped no one would ask. At least not until after she'd had the chance to sort through her own thoughts on the matter.
Sighing, she said, "My dad didn't like Pete."
"O-kay...," said Daniel, hoping there was more. While the statement went a long way to explain some of what had happened in recent months, it really didn't seem to answer the question at hand. And it wasn't like Sam to leave a question hanging...
"Right before he died, he told me he just wanted me to be happy," she continued, after a bit of a lull. "And he sort of gave me his blessing..."
"To marry Pete?," Daniel asked, now genuinely confused. Sam shook her head.
"No," she said, apparently almost as confused as Daniel was himself. "To break the rules," she added.
Daniel stopped dead in his tracks, gaping at her. "He did what?," he asked incredulously.
"Exactly," Sam replied. "So when fishing came up again, I figured maybe I should just keep an open mind..."
"And that's why you can't decide what to pack?," he ribbed, amusement creeping back into his voice.
"It's not funny, Daniel!"
He considered her words for a moment. No, it probably wasn't quite as funny as it seemed. This was probably the sort of thing Janet and Cassie would have helped with in the past, only with Janet gone and Cassie away at school...
"Sam, do you want me to come over and help?," he offered rather abruptly, surprising himself almost as much as he surprised her. Sam eyed him suspiciously, registering the note of sincerity in the offer, despite the ribbing he had been doing only a moment before. Sighing, she replied, "I'm really not sure how helpful you'd be."
"Probably less helpful than Cassie, but more helpful than Teal'c..." he hedged. Sam giggled.
"Fine. We'll order a pizza and make a girls' night out of it," she replied teasingly.
"Sounds great! I'll bring the cookies and ice cream," he replied with feigned enthusiasm. Sam rolled her eyes, still chuckling.
"See you in a bit!," she called, climbing into her car.
Oh boy. What have I gotten myself into now?, thought Daniel.
Half an hour later Sam opened her door to find Daniel on the front step, ice cream and cookies in hand. She blinked in surprise, a grin spreading slowly across her face as she let him in.
"I didn't think you were serious about the desserts," she said at last, trying to suppress a giggle.
"Oh. Um, well, I didn't really know what to do for a girls' night..." he trailed. "This is my first one, you know." Sam snorted.
"The other guys are never going to let you live this one down, Daniel," she replied, shaking her head fondly.
"Don't be silly. They're never going to find out," he retorted, grinning menacingly. "Besides, it's not like I'm letting you do my hair and nails. I'm just here to help you pack."
Sam's grin widened, her eyes sparkling with amusement. "The pizza should be here soon, lets get the rest of this into the kitchen and get started upstairs while we wait," she replied, trying to resist the urge to laugh at the absurdity of having a girl's night with one of the guys.
Once upstairs, Sam threw open her closet and said, "Okay. So, what do I need?" Daniel ogled the chaos warily, unsure where to begin.
"Um, Teal'c complained a lot about the mosquitoes," he said at last. "Maybe some jeans?"
"Decorated or plain?," she asked.
"Uh, plain?"
"Okay," said Sam, rooting around to throw a couple pair of jeans on the bed. "What next?"
Daniel's head was already hurting by the time the pizza arrived a few minutes later, but Sam seemed considerably more confident about the whole process by that point anyway. Grabbing a plateful of food and seating himself at the kitchen table, he was hopeful that his role as wardrobe consultant would be minimal for the rest of the evening. The moral support thing, he could do. The fashion guru thing? Not so much.
"Penny for your thoughts," said Sam, watching her friend chew thoughtfully across the table from her. He hadn't spoken a word since coming downstairs for pizza. She couldn't remember Daniel ever being so quiet before, or for so long.
"Hmm? Oh, I was just thinking about what you said earlier. About breaking the rules."
Sam grinned. "I promise I won't jump him while everyone is there," she said with a twinkle.
"Believe it or not, that's not what I was wondering...although I'd be more than a little concerned for your mental stability if you did. I mean, I know it's been eight years and all, but seriously, you two should take it slow. You've both been through a lot."
"I know, Daniel," she said, absently picking at her pizza.
"Have you tried talking to him at all, since calling off the wedding?," he asked, frowning.
"Actually, yes," she replied, growing sullen. "I went to his house right after telling Pete. I don't know exactly what I would have said, but it didn't really matter, anyway," she said with a shrug, her fingers mindlessly tearing her pizza crust to shreds. "When I got there, he already had company. Things got a little awkward after that."
"Jack had company?," Daniel asked. Sam nodded.
"Kerry Johnson," she replied.
"As in, Agent Johnson?," Daniel asked, startled. Sam nodded again. "Good lord. Are they together?"
"It definitely looked that way," Sam replied desolately. "But then he asked us all to go fishing, and you don't normally do that sort of thing with your former team when you have a beautiful woman waiting for you at home, right?," she asked in a rush, a note of hope in her voice.
"I have no idea," said Daniel, still in shock. "It is Jack, after all. He's not exactly emotionally connected. And he has been inviting us for years. Maybe he really wasn't expecting us to accept..."
"You think we're crashing his solo-time?," she asked, concerned.
"I don't know. I really wasn't expecting to hear about another woman in his life. I mean, he's not really the dating type. As far as I've known, you're the only woman he's seriously thought about in at least five years."
Sam choked on Daniel's last statement, coughing hard for a few moments to clear her throat again before speaking. Daniel eyed her in amusement. "You know, the more I think of it, the more I think it couldn't be anything serious," he continued musingly, Sam's face burning red with embarrassment. "With Agent Johnson, I mean," he added quickly. "I think we're going to have to rethink some of your wardrobe choices though, just to be sure..."
Sam gaped at him, suddenly horrified by the possible implications of his words. Grabbing the box of cookies he had brought earlier, he quickly dragged her to her feet, pulling her back upstairs to re-organize her packing. Sam's only rational thought as she watched him work was that Janet, wherever she was now, would have been very proud.
"Sam, what do you have to sleep in?," Daniel asked, half-buried in her closet. She pulled an old Air Force t-shirt and a pair of shorts from a drawer, handing them silently to her newly possessed friend. Daniel frowned at the items. "Anything else?," he asked doubtfully.
"Nothing I'd like to be parading around in while trapped in a cabin full of men," she replied. Daniel snorted.
"Come on," he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her from the room.
"Daniel, where are we going?," she asked.
"Shopping," he replied simply, quickly handing her a pair of shoes while he tied his own.
"For..."
"New pajamas."
Sam sighed. "What was wrong with the t-shirt and shorts?," she asked, trying to stay patient.
Daniel looked up, briefly meeting her gaze. "Do you really want to be reminding him that you're Air Force, too?," he asked, turning back to his shoes.
Sam laughed. "Daniel, I don't think that's something either one of us ever forgets."
"And you never will, if you insist on including it in your down-time as well. Now come on, the stores are all going to close soon!," he exclaimed, yanking the door open and bolting down the steps to his car.
"What happened to taking things slow?," she called mockingly, trying to catch up. "And when will he even have the chance to see me in my pajamas?"
Daniel paused at the car door, frowning. "I think I was wrong," he said slowly, in answer to her first question. "And hopefully every day," he replied more cheekily to the second, ducking into the driver's seat for safety.
Yep, Janet would definitely have been proud.
Shopping with Daniel was, if possible, even more frantic than sale-hoping with both Janet and Cassie in the lead. They covered the entire selection of three stores in under fifteen minutes. Sam barely had the chance to register any of what she saw before he'd pull her away again, muttering about needing something just right. She couldn't for the life of her figure out why her sleepwear should matter so much. Sure, they'd all be sharing the cabin, but she really had no intention of wandering around half-dressed in front of her teammates. Friends or not, some things were not meant to be shared.
Ten minutes before closing, Daniel triumphantly held up a blue cotton camisole and shorts set, nodding happily over his own brilliance.
"Perfect," he muttered. Sam raised an eyebrow.
"It looks exactly the same as at least three other sets we've seen so far tonight"
"Don't be silly," he said, frowning at her. "This one has a built in bra." This time, both of Sam's eyebrows shot up. "Daniel," she warned.
"What? It's cute, and modest."
"You are seriously un-hinged, you know that?," she shot.
He smiled. "Blame it on two and a half hours in your closet," he replied. Sam rolled her eyes, taking the pajamas to the check-out as she did. If possible, Daniel's grin widened even further as he took in his victory over her apparent sleepwear issue. Sam sighed. He really was as incorrigible as any other girlfriend she had ever had. Too bad she couldn't escape the fact that she was secretly loving every minute of it long enough to scold him for worrying so much over such an insignificant detail.
Back in the car, Daniel surprised Sam yet again by asking, "Do you think I should make a quick stop home to get my things before going back to your place? I mean, we still have to make everything fit into a suitcase for you, and we haven't even touched the ice cream yet..." Sam laughed. "Daniel, are you inviting yourself over for a sleep-over?," she asked.
"Uh, I guess I am," he replied sheepishly. "Is that all right? I mean, I don't have to..."
"No, no, it's fine," she reassured him. "Only if we're going to do this, we should do it properly. After we stop at your place, we'll need to grab movies, snacks, and drinks."
The packing finished save for Sam's new pajamas, which were currently in the wash, the two friends flopped down on the couch, ready for their munchies and some light entertainment. Sam grabbed the remotes first, switching everything on and starting the movie. She was fairly certain Daniel was going to hate it, but "Pretty Woman" was one of her secret, tell-anyone-and-die, all-time favourite movies. And it just so happened to be the perfect girls' night movie as well, which was precisely what he seemed intent on giving her: the perfect girls' night, minus any other actual girls. Reaching for the ice cream and two spoons, she scooted closer to her friend, offering him one of the utensils before digging into the carton herself.
Daniel smiled as he watched her, glad to see her happy and relaxed for a change. He dug into the ice cream too, only groaning slightly when he realized which movie she intended to inflict on him that night. Oh well. It would only be a small hit to his ego to have to sit through it, and he was doing this for Sam, after all. If anyone deserved a relaxing night with friends, it was Sam.
