MERRY CHRISTMAS :o)

I just wanted to wish you all Merry Christmas cause I have no idea if I'm gonna post another thing till then… so just to be on the safe side. Enjoy it, embrace it and if your life is not easy and you are struggling a bit, try to find something beautiful on every day – it kinda helps, trust me, I know.

A/N: So I was watching Enchanted (yep, I love Walt Disney and this movie is like a tribute to all the Princesses and love and songs and it's just sooooo nice) and I couldn't get one thing out of my head… so here you are with a story. And listen to the song and watch the movie! :o)) You're gonna love it :o))

Timeline: Set after season 8.

Spoilers: Up to the end of season 8.

EVER EVER AFTER by Isobel

No wonder your heart feels it's flying
Your head feels it's spinning
Each happy ending's
A brand new beginning
Let yourself be enchanted
You just might break through
To ever ever after
Forever could even start today
Ever ever after
Maybe it's just one wish away
Your ever ever after
- Ever ever after by Carrie Underwood

Jack O'Neill was sitting in his office, finishing paperwork. He knew he was slow but he had to learn to really read through everything. No wonder Hammond had been suffering from headaches!

The mission reports containing a story were good. Yeah, those were okay, readable. People going somewhere, discovering something, doing something, usually either making friends or enemies, that was okay. He could even laugh sometimes at what his people put down there to the reports, sometimes he was sick as well, really, his old team wasn't the only one with bad luck. So again, no wonder that George had been suffering from headaches. Geee – he even understood why he had left him those six bottles of whiskey in the bottom drawer of his table!

Oh and then there was another kind of reports. Reports about some amazing crystallizing rock and about enormously huge hibiscus… about land with something incredible in the soil… With those he was struggling a bit. He was thankful more than ever for working with both Daniel and Carter for all those long years. Scientists.

Oh, sweet memories, huh? Without realizing it, he chuckled.

He so wanted to put those papers away, just sign the bottom line and let Walter take them. But Hammond, the good man he was, gave him an advice. It was better to really read it through – one could never know when it would come in handy. Plus – some of people were hoping that nobody would really read it, so sometimes the reports could be useless. And his bosses wouldn't be that amused while reading some crap.

God bless Walter – he helped him with creating summarizations for the covers. Who knew that the CO of the base had to do that? Really, read a report, make notes, sign it, create a summarization, write it down onto the cover page and then let Walter to take it away… what the hell was that? Another way of torturing him when the aliens couldn't?

And he particularly hated those looooong paragraphs. Who would write like that? But truth to be told, it had been some time since the last report with huge paragraphs. Huh. Or he got used to them.

But what he loved were reports from people that knew him. And it was not just Carter and Daniel, no, many other people were doing these little things for him – writing the summarization for him to use, highlighting the really important bits, stuff like that.

It was almost time to stop though. Not that he would need a break that much, but he had something to do – a place where to be. There was a person he had to talk to. Oh and he was looking forward to that. So he closed the last report, another kind of plant would be listed, they would try to grow it here on Earth. Nice, huh? Yeah, he needed a minute and then he would go.

Jack wished he knew when this had started. But he couldn't remember, he couldn't place the exact date. It was just part of his daily routine now and he loved it. Visiting Carter in her lab, distracting her, bringing her food and drinks and making her laugh, sometimes scaring her with sneaking up on her. Oh yeah, he couldn't make it through his day without this.

And when she was off-world, he would stop by her lab anyway and leave something for her there. Anything from sandwich through coffee up to one of her favorite fluffy towels. Yeah, those were not standard but well, being THE guy here allowed him to do something like having extra towels locked in his office in case of emergencies like this, right? Nobody knew of course. Hopefully not even Walter.

He would always remember the first time he had brought her the towel. She and her team got stuck off-world for a few extra days in heavy rain. He knew she'd be pissed. She usually didn't mind rainy planets but a freaking monsoon and no chance of getting back? Oh yeah, rescue missions were usually the best ones.

So he remembered that once she sort of mentioned the fluffy towels she loved.

"What?"

"What's wrong with that?"

"It's just so… I don't know… really?"

"Really. Come on, it's nothing bad! They just…"

"They what, Carter?"

"They make me feel good. When I'm cold or when I have to take a quick shower and cannot take a long bath… they just… I love them, that's all…"

Jack was really grinning by then. Sam was blushing, hugging the towel to her chest. Then she just smiled at him and threw the pink towel at him. That was how Daniel found them later, laughing, both tugging at the towel. That was one of their days in his cabin after Jacob had died. That vacation had been one of the best in their lives – they all agreed.

So now he had a stock of these towels in his office. Different colors but same type, same brand, her favorite one. Well, the first time he had put it into her lab, she managed to catch him. It was embarrassing and humiliating but … it never stopped him from doing it again.

Jack was walking into Sam's lab, quietly, trying not drew too much attention. He was a boss, yeah, but still he was sneaking around with a blue fluffy towel underneath his jacket!

He placed the towel onto her table back then, wrote her a note and was ready to leave. But well, that was one of the times when she had sneaked up on him.

"Sir?" She asked.

"What?"

He screamed in shock and turned around. His first instinct was to yell at her for giving him heart-attack but then he noticed her smile. Cold, frozen, tired, probably angry as not so many times before and still she was grinning at him, her eyes sparkling.

"Carter."

"Sir."

"Ehm…"

"Yes?"

And she knew he was uncomfortable, she knew he had done something, he looked like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. So after few long beautiful moments of staring at each other, grinning and not knowing what to say, he just left without a word. And he was hoping she hadn't noticed the blush on his neck. What the hell?

She thanked him for the towel in her report later. Oh yeah, that was one of those things he loved. She knew how much he hated the paperwork so she was putting these little personal post-it notes into her reports. Telling him about small stuff that happened but wasn't important enough to be put into the report itself, reminding him of something similar from the past, and so on. When she finished her report about the rescue mission and the crazy monsoon, she put the post-it note there with "PS: My mood was saved by a fluffy towel miraculously appearing in my lab. Thanks." And that made his day more than anything.

So now, he knew what to do. Every single time. He would stop by the commissary to take some snack along. And he would go there and he would surprise her. And this time it would be special. He could just wish, he knew, but something was telling him that this particular wish would be coming true. Soon.

This morning he got a letter. One important letter. And a phone call. Important phone call. And it caused a lot more than just headache and smile. It also triggered some memories. Pleasant memories, that was for sure. Some of them rather peculiar, some of them worth remembering for the rest of his life and some… well yeah.

The first few days over in Minnesota were nice but a bit awkward. They all had just too much on their plates. Last weeks, last months, it all dawned on them.

The first day he arrived with Carter. The whole way they were silent, both tired and thinking. There was tension between them and they both knew the reason. Then at one stop she just stopped in front of him and put her hands around his neck. After a second he hugged her back, not really understanding but not caring about the reason. He missed having her in his arms.

"Sam? Everything okay?"

"Yeah…"

"All right…" There was a question in that... was she sure?

"Could we just… look, I know we have to talk, we have a lot to talk about and I really want to and I know we can't now and that it will take time… it's just… the tension is killing me."

"Tell me about it…"

He breathed in the scent of her hair and let her melt into him a bit more. They were putting on quite a show for people passing by but they didn't care. And if anything, they were both off duty. On vacation after all.

"So that's what we are doing now? Getting rid of the tension?"

"Well… no, I just needed a hug." She told him and made him laugh.

The rest of the drive was okay, really okay. And those few hours they've been alone out there were good too. Quiet. Relaxing. No pressure. Then Daniel and Teal'c arrived and they all spent a good afternoon by the pond. The evening was awkward, a lot. But blaming it on the tiredness, they just went to sleep and that was it. They had been working together for years, they knew each other well enough to know when to push the issue and when to just leave it.

The second day was a bit better but still there was the elephant in the 'room' with them. The next morning it was raining so they stayed inside. And in few hours Jack brought beer and whiskey and they just got drunk together, telling jokes, laughing about them, teasing each other and also in a way dealing with what had happened to them, to all of them. One small step after another.

And that evening was the first one in a very very very long time when Sam had fallen asleep literally on him. Usually she could hold her liquor better. This time however things were different. She was in the kitchen, getting some water, when he came to her. Standing next to her, he wanted to say something, to offer comfort or whatever but she just looked at him, put her head onto his shoulder and when he put his arm around her he could feel her going limp. She fell asleep on him. By that time Daniel was already sleeping and Teal'c went for a walk so he just took her to bed. With practice he wasn't supposed to have, he undressed her a bit and tugged her in.

The next day they went for a walk together. He would never forget the moment she came to him and asked him to go with her. Just the two of them. Daniel heard it but kept on pretending he was busy and Teal'c just … was Teal'c with his stoic expression. And so they went for a walk. He showed her around and they talked a bit.

He was telling her about the place, sharing some very precious memories with her. And she talked about her father. She didn't cry, she didn't break down. He knew she would one day. And he would be there to catch her after the fall, he'd make sure of that.

When they reached certain place, he just sat down. It was a small meadow in the middle of nice forest. There was this little stream nearby. Jack had always loved that place. Sam sat down next to him, curious as usually. So he just lied down and stretched out his arms and legs. The sun was surprisingly shining that day and it felt really good, just to be there. She mimicked his actions and he could tell that it helped her. She was feeling better.

"Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't know how to do it."

"How to do what?"

"How to talk about it."

"We don't have to."

He was just trying to give her a way out but she turned on the grass and looked into his eyes. He wanted to hug her – again. She looked so vulnerable.

"We do…"

"Okay…"

"I hurt you, I know I did, I screwed up and … we need to talk about it."

"Wait a minute… you didn't screw up. You tried to have a life, you did what you thought was right. If anyone screwed up, it was me, Carter."

"Don't do this."

"What?"

"Stop trying to take all the blame, all right? If you really need to… well let's say we both screwed up. Can you go with that?"

"Yeah…"

"I'm sorry I hurt you."

"I'm sorry I hurt you."

She hugged him then and he was just hoping this was the first step. Shannahan, Kerry, Jacob's death – hell even Fraiser's death, it was all there in the air and they needed to sort it out. Among other things.

"Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"What are we going to do?"

"Whatever you want, Sam."

"I want this." And he knew she could feel his heart beating faster. With one of his hands in her hair, he tried to tug her even closer to him. He kissed her head then and made her look at him.

"Then we're gonna find a way because I want this too."

"Okay." She smiled at him.

Jack was tempted to kiss her, he wanted to, God he wanted to. But he wouldn't dare. To his surprise, she dared. It was nothing as he thought it would be, but it was the first step, this soft peck on the lips with a bit of lingering but with nothing suggestive.

"And till then?"

"Till then we could work on … us."

"Us?"

"Yes."

"Carter?"

"We know each other well after all those years, I'm not saying we don't. But the last months were difficult and I know I lost your trust, there are issues we have to fix and things we have to work on."

"So you're saying…"

"So I'm saying that we have never talked about certain thing because we couldn't. But now we can and we should. And I think there's a lot to talk about and I know it won't be easy but… Jack we can try, slowly but… we can…"

"Okay…"

"Okay?"

"Okay."

And so their little meetings started. His visits in her lab, her visits in his office. Shared meals, morning and evening runs, some of the work-outs, sitting side by side in the infirmary watching over Daniel when he got sick, evening talks over pizza, sleepovers. And through all of that they had been learning how to talk to each other about things they had never talked about before. They were working on mutual trust, they were getting to know each other as Jack and Sam, not officers, not colleagues, but very close friends with the tempting possibility of finally becoming more.

And then once she told him about one offer she had received. It was from Nevada. They were practically begging her from the R&D to take a position there to lead a whole section and some major projects. She showed him the letter over dinner in his living room after Daniel had left.

"You want to take this?"

"I want to think about it."

"Because?"

"Because I'm not going off-world anymore, because there's no team with Teal'c practically living on Dakara, because it's another step forward…"

"Oh…"

Jack knew he was being an ass but this would mean losing her from his sight. It would mean the definite end of one era in his life. Important era. He was sitting on his couch and she was walking around his living room. But after his all-saying 'oh' she came to him, stepped in between his legs and sneaked her arms around his neck.

"And I want to think about it because then I wouldn't be in your chain of command."

"So…"

"So we could …"

"Be together?"

"Be together."

"You sure?"

"Yes. But I need your support."

"Of course I would support you, Carter."

"No, I don't mean the support of my current CO. I mean the support of Jack O'Neill, my very close friend and more than that… a lot more than that."

And he could do that, he could definitely do that.

Maybe this was the time when he was supposed to tell her about George Hammond calling him and telling him about his health getting worse but he couldn't think straight. He had Carter in his arms, cuddling on his couch, watching some old romance. No, he couldn't tell her, not then.

"Sam?"

"Yes?"

"When you decide, just let me know. I'll put the request through as your CO. I have no doubts that you will get the job. They really want you."

"Thank you."

"If you decide not to do it, I will find another way for us, okay?"

"Okay."

"Good."

The movie was over before they talked again. They were just too comfortable lying there like that. Who wouldn't be?

"Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you do something for me?"

"Sure. Name it."

"The next time you invite me over to your cabin…"

"Next time, huh?" He had to tease her...

"Wait with it till the time I can go alone with you."

"Alone as… alone?"

"Alone as just you and me."

"Okay…"

He walked her to the door then, helped her with her things and kissed her forehead. He got used pretty quickly to these little moments of intimacy they shared. He hugged her then and couldn't resist.

"But it will be a short-time notice. There will be no time for packing…"

"Huh?" Was all she could say.

"You won't need anything after all. You have some underwear and spare tooth brush here… besides the only thing you're gonna be wearing is one of my t-shirts."

And he felt her hands gripping his jacket a bit more tight than before. Oh she got the meaning. She was a smart girl. But when he was about to pull away, she tugged him back close to her.

"I prefer shirts. Buttons are way more exciting."

And that was something that created this image, this idea, a fantasy… and he couldn't get it out of his head ever since.

So this morning he got the letter. The request for her transfer to Nevada was granted. She had been transferred, effective immediately. In few hours, right by the midnight, she would stop being in his chain of command. Wasn't that incredible? Something so beautiful as their years of working together was nearly over… but hopefully something way more beautiful was about to begin. He couldn't wish for more.

Besides he got a phone call from George as well. They talked about Sam, of course, about options. And they also talked about another major change that was coming upon the SGC, involving a promotion and … certain change of scenery for Jack.

He took a deep breath and walked away from his office. Stopping by the commissary just gave him time to figure out what to do, what to say. He had been waiting for this so long and now he was coming up empty!

So he came to her lab and instead of knocking, he was watching her work. A view he loved pretty much. But there was this one, when she would look up from her desk and notice him… and she would smile and his heart would take a leap.

And so he knocked on the door frame and she looked up and noticed him. And she smiled at him. And his heart felt like it was flying. His head was spinning a bit, as always while seeing her happy like that. He had it bad. He had always had it bad.

Without a word he presented her with the vanilla pudding and a small spoon. She took it, they sat down together and ate it in complete silence. He knew she could probably tell that he had been nervous the whole time. So then, after finishing the snack, he reached over and took her hand in his. After caressing her fingers for a few moments, he gathered up all his remaining courage and looked into her beautiful eyes.

He knew that by asking her he would end everything. But he would also give her the chance to start something else, something kinda incredible with him. It was just one step away, just one wish. He wished she would say yes… and to more than just one question, actually.

He took another deep breath, he was nervous and actually also freaking out!

"Hey Carter…"

"Yes?" She asked him, only partially disturbed by his nervousness.

"You wanna go fishing with me to Minnesota?"

A/N: So this is the end… but because I'm on a sick leave, I might do some more writing and give you a sequel – from Sam's point of view… with the answer you all are waiting for in the end, what do you think? :o)

Little personal note - on of our national heroes died today... Vaclav Havel. I'm sure many of you know about him, those who don't, just take a look, you can find him everywhere... Our country is mourning now... If you can, give him a silent thought of remembering. Thank you!