Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine. This story is written for entertainment use only and is not intended as an infringement against the copy protected material that belongs to Showtime, MGM/UA and GekkoFilms.

This story is 100% Sam/Jack fluff and romance with a little bit of humor (well, it's O'Neill we're talking about), so if you don't ship those two, you're wrong here.
It is set at the beginning of season 6 but with Daniel still alive.

It has 7 chapters that are already finished and I will update once a week. I promise!

I hope, you have fun reading!
Please read and review!
I'd love to hear/read your thoughts on this and will reply to every
message or review as soon as I can.

Last but not least a huge thank you to my kind and awesome beta readers, Mauryn and PeaceTapping. This story wouldn't be here without you!

The Love in Our Stars

Chapter 1 – The Plan

"I gotta make this one special" Jack O'Neill thought, wondering what he could get his 2IC for her upcoming birthday in two days. It was just after Christmas and he hadn't seen Sam since the 23rd..

Jack already missed her like crazy.

He wanted to surprise her and reveal a little bit more of his feelings for her, not enough to scare her away but enough to let her know that he still cared about her more than he was supposed to. He wasn't sure that she still knew. She had seemed to be a little uncomfortable around him in the past weeks and he wondered what had happened. Did he say something wrong or inappropriate? Did she have personal issues? Could her feelings for him have subsided? Or even worse, could the reason be another man?

Even the thought of this made him flinch. He couldn't lose her to somebody else.

Jack was sure that he had never had such intense feelings for a woman but for his ex-wife Sara. He loved Sam Carter, his blonde and beautiful, incredibly smart and big-hearted 2IC with all of his heart.

Who wouldn't fall in love with her? But he was in the lucky position that she returned his feelings. -

At least she used to. He still couldn't believe that she had confessed it during the Za'tarc test. Even she had had to hold back then and give the abbreviated version because they had had an audience, but her words kept replaying in his mind over and over again.

Flashback to the Za'tarc re-testing:

Anise: Major Carter, what did you feel when you were trapped behind the force field?
Sam: I was sure that I was going to die and I felt myself retreating.
Anise: And what about Col. O'Neill on the other - the safe side - of the shield?
Sam: I wanted him to leave me behind. I couldn't stand the thought of him dying with me.
Anise: Why exactly? Isn't it a rule of your military that no one gets left behind?
Sam: Yes, it is but my death seemed to be unavoidable, so I wanted him to forget the rules once and just leave.

There had been unshed tears glistening in Sam's eyes and Jack had had to hold back the urge to pull her into a hug for comfort.

Anise: Were you aware of the fact that Colonel O'Neill might have had other reasons beside that military rule?
Sam: I became aware of it when I looked into his eyes.
Anise: What did you see there?
Sam swallowed hardly: Pure emotion, deep feelings, obviously for me.

She wouldn't use the L-word because it was just not the right time for it but Sam had been pretty sure that what she had seen was pure, unshielded love. She couldn't remember a guy had ever looked at her like this before and her heart skipped a beat just by the thought of it.

Anise: And what did you feel at this Moment?

Anise's voice yanked her out of her daydreams.

Sam: I...I felt the same way for him as he did for me and I still do.

Those words rang in Jack's ears. She loved him too. He really couldn't have been any happier.

But the Za'tarc test had been 2 years ago, they had agreed to leave it in the room and Jack wasn't sure if Sam's feelings were still there. Could such a beautiful and smart woman really love a grumpy, much older soldier like him? He had issues and flaws...lots of them.

Sometimes he just thought that he would never be good enough for her. She could do so much better and yet she was still around. Fighting with or for him, always getting him back when he was lost...even when everybody else had given up.

Sam was too good to be true. Once Jack had realized this, he knew that he had to do something about it before it was too late.

So, what was the perfect birthday gift for the most perfect woman?
He really had no idea until his eyes caught the local paper on the desk before him and an idea started to form in his head. That was it.

Jack knew that Sam didn't really care about material things. So he wouldn't just buy something.
He would make her day special. He would even try to make it unforgettable.

Since Jacob Carter wouldn't be around due to his Tok'ra duties, her brother Marc couldn't visit because his daughter was in the hospital with a broken leg, Janet was on vacation with Cassie, Teal'c would be off-world to help Bra'tac with recruiting people for a new Jaffa legion and Daniel would be on PX-9325 with SG-11 to translate some insignia, Sam had tried hard to fight her disappointment that she seemingly would have to spend her birthday without her friends and family. She hadn't even considered that Jack would be free and he hadn't offered.

He began to plan the day in his head: At first he would take her to the zoo. Jack knew that Sam loved animals and he was sure that it would be fun to go there with her. Maybe he could even impress her with his knowledge about some of the animals. He had gone with Charlie several times a year, but hadn't been there since his death. If he would feel like it, maybe he would share some of his stories from their visits to the zoo with Sam. He had rarely talked to her about him because it was still hard and brought him close to tears every time but if there was one person in the whole universe he would open up to, it would be her.

Charlie would have loved her. He had been a little science geek and had been interested in everything that had to do with experiments, stars and the sky. The two of them would have definitely gotten along well. He knew that Sam loved kids as much as he did. She was great with Cassie and it always made his heart jump when he saw her around children. He pictured Charlie and Sam working on one of her doohickeys together.

Jack suddenly realized that he had a huge lump in his throat. The thoughts of his late son clouded his mind. He blinked back the tears and tried to focus on his task.

After the zoo he would take Sam to her favorite Chinese restaurant. They had never been there together but he knew that Sam had gone with Janet a couple of times plus he had overheard them talking about the excellent food. So Mr. Wong it was.

After dinner it would already be dark outside and since the Christmas-fair would still be around, Jack thought it would be nice to take Sam there. In his thoughts he walked with her through the illuminated place, fireworks above them, hand in hand, maybe some ice-skating if Sam would like to.

He smiled at the thought, and then shook his head. "Reality check, Jack", he said to himself. He didn't even know whether she would even join him. She had refused to go fishing with him on more than one occasion and suddenly Jack wasn't so sure about the whole 'special-day' idea.

What if she didn't want to spend the day with him? Or to be more specific, spend it ALONE with him?

Again, the memory of her strange behaviour in the last two weeks started to surface. She hadn't smiled at him with that incredibly cute smile, she had stopped to laugh or smile at his jokes, she had even hardly looked at him anymore. He knew he shouldn't be so painfully aware of these things since she was still his 2IC, but it hurt him more than he would admit.

Jack suddenly realized that he couldn't take it anymore. He wanted to make her birthday special, but he needed to clear the air between them first. He needed to find out what was wrong and if there was another guy.

His stomach turned at the thought. He picked up the phone and dialed Sam's number. Only then did he realize that it was already 2am but it was too late, Sam picked up after the second ring.

"Hello?" she sounded very sleepy and Jack mentally kicked himself for waking her in the middle of the night.

Only when she said hello a second time, he realized that he should say something but his mind was completely blank. He cleared his throat.

"Carter? 'That you?" he managed to say. Then it dawned him that he was just making a complete fool of himself. Of course it was her, he had called her himself.

"Sir, is everything ok?" Sam asked, now wide awake and slightly alarmed. The Colonel never called her in the middle of the night.

"I'm um...fine...I guess" he stammered and slammed his flat hand against his head because he felt like a teenage boy again asking his crush out on a date.

"You guess?" Sam began to get really worried.

"Sir, why don't you give me 20 minutes to shower and get dressed and then I'll come over to see what's wrong?!" she suggested. Then adding insecurely: "Unless you already have company?"

That caught him completely off guard. He managed to deny the company and agree for her to come over and then hung up. How could he face her in a few minutes without wanting the ground to swallow him whole? He really had to get himself together or he would scare her away.

Jack went into the kitchen and started to make coffee, because he was sure Sam would want one, once she arrived. Suddenly he was looking forward to seeing her so soon. He really loved to see her in her civvies because they made her look more feminine than the wide BDUs she usually wore off-world.

He took a couple of deep breaths and let his mind wander.

Jack wasn't sure how long he'd been standing there, but the ring of the doorbell yanked him out of his dreams. He opened the door and took a quick look at his stunning 2IC. She wore tight, dark-blue jeans and a long black winter coat. She smiled slightly but in her eyes he could see worry.

"Come on in" he said, stepping aside to let her enter the house. He fought the urge to help her out of her coat. He knew her too well and was pretty sure she would hate it.

"Coffee?" he asked as she took the coat off herself and was surprised when she shook her head.

"Do you have hot chocolate?" Sam wanted to know, her blue eyes beaming at him.

"Oh, yeah, sure" Jack answered and went into the kitchen to heat up some milk.

"Make yourself comfortable, will ya?" he shouted for her to hear in the living room.

When he came back, Jack saw Sam standing at his picture-wall, a picture of him and Charlie in her hand. She hadn't heard him entering the room because she jumped when he cleared his throat beside her.

She almost dropped the picture and mumbled: "Sorry, Sir...I didn't...I wasn't...".

"It's okay, Carter. Mi casa es su casa, right?" Jack joked and winked at her.

Sam seemed to relax a little at this reaction and put the picture back. He handed her the hot chocolate and she took a small sip.

"So...what was that phone call all about?" she asked, the worry creeping back into her eyes.

"I uh...I wondered what is wrong with you lately...you seem so un-Carter-like. Towards me at least."

Jack hoped that she would get what he was talking about. He wasn't a man of many words and didn't know how to describe it any better.

Sam swallowed. She hadn't been aware that her change in behaviour had been that obvious. But after what she had learned a couple of weeks ago, she wasn't in the mood to keep the flirty banter up.

"I...I saw you and your...girlfriend at the park a couple of weeks ago, Sir" she managed to say and was glad when it was out, so she didn't have to pretend she wouldn't know anymore.

"My what?" Jack couldn't believe what he'd heard. What was she talking about?

"Tall, slim, long brown hair. You know what your girlfriend looks like, don't you, Sir?" Sam was starting to become slightly annoyed by his behaviour.

When Jack realized whom she was talking about, he couldn't help but smile. Plus, the jealousy in Carter's voice gave him all the answers he needed.

"You mean my cousin Anna? We ran into each other at the park. We hadn't seen each other in years and she was happy to see me."

"Your cousin?" Sam almost choked on her hot chocolate. She tried to hide her flushed face by tucking her chin into her chest and letting her hair fall across her face. Jack still smiled at her but then grew serious again.

"I wouldn't want any other" he whispered unsure if Sam had heard him. Regarding her lack of reaction she didn't seem to. She put her cup on the table and said: "I better go, Sir. Unless there's something else you wanna talk about. It's late and I'm really tired."

"No, nothing else. Well just one more question really..." Jack tried to bring up the courage to ask her, "would you mind spending your birthday with me?"

Sam looked shocked at first, then her face lit up and she gave him one of her beautiful and rare Carter smiles.

"Actually, I would love to! Goodnight, Sir!" With that she turned around and left, leaving behind a very happy Jack standing in his living room with a birthday to plan.