The annual school barbeque was in full swing and Jack O'Neill wandered over to where the food was cooking. He watched the children play and wondered how soon he could join them. At some point this evening Sam would tell one of the newer parents that the only reason they had decided to have kids was to provide him with a playmate and he thought she had a point. That was where all the fun was. The adult conversations were so predictable. Someone would mention the word 'General' and make some half-assed comment about putting him in charge of anything and Sam would laugh and quietly remember fighting aliens on other worlds. Again, he could see their point. But just 'cos he chose not to act like an adult if he could avoid it meant nothing. When you had saved the world countless times maybe you appreciated the chance to chill even more. Plus he had never been the deep contemplative type and he enjoyed ball games.
The guy on cooking duty was unknown to Jack, but he seemed to be making a hash of tending the sausages. Why did the incompetent ones always volunteer to cook at a barbeque? Jack turned and saw Sam walking towards him. As he did so he noticed the guy next to him was also watching and Jack had to tell himself to just ignore it. All else aside, Sam would not be too keen on him telling some guy to leave his wife alone, as if she was not more than capable of dealing with it herself. Obedient and somewhat subservient (even then she had her say) Captain Carter had become a very feisty Mrs O'Neill and he knew better than to rile her over some idiot incapable of flipping a burger.
Sam was aware of the two men watching her and had noticed the second Jack became aware of the other man's interest in her. Well, he had come on a lot but in a perverse way it was nice to know he cared even if she would have killed him for saying anything. She smiled to herself. When men complained about women being difficult to understand they didn't know the half of it. She made a point of standing close to Jack and putting her hand on his arm when she spoke to him, although her words were in no way intimate.
"Did Pat give you the school keys?"
"Nope. Not sure she considers me responsible enough."
"Jan was asking whether we would be around for the trip next month, but I couldn't remember which weekend Daniel was coming."
Jack grinned at her, "And you expect me to remember? Or were you just trying to get out of going on the trip?"
She laughed and the guy behind the barbeque was so distracted by the interplay between them that he dropped the lit taper in his hand. He was not quick enough to catch it but his startled exclamation caught Sam and Jack's attention as the taper landed in the greasy dish of sausages and flames spurted upwards.
A group of children had come to see if the food was ready and one of them screamed.
"Carter, move the kids away," shouted Jack as he ran around the barbeque.
"Yes, sir," she replied as she turned away.
With one hand Jack grabbed the oven glove hanging uselessly from the other guy's hand as the other covered the flaming dish with a cloth. He grabbed the dish and threw it into the water bucket then watched it sizzle before the flames went out.
"The sausages may be a bit cold and wet, folks, but I'm sure we can heat them up again,' he said to the concerned parents who had come over when they heard the scream. 'That's assuming the water was clean."
Sam turned back to the scene, walked up to Jack, pretended to flutter her lashes and said 'My hero,' in a high squeaky voice. The ensuing laugh broke the tension but barbeque guy started stammering out a mix of excuses and apologies.
"Hey, no harm done," said Jack with a shrug.
"But you were so quick. I didn't have time to react before you were there."
Jack rather thought it was not lack of time but lack of grey matter which was the problem here. He shrugged modestly, a skill he had perfected over the years and not as easy as it sounds.
"Training. It kicks in in a situation like that."
"Yes, I suppose. But,' here the man's face lit up with admiration and Jack wondered what more there could possibly be, 'she called you 'sir'. It was fantastic. Wish I could get my wife to call me 'sir'. It's clear who's in charge in your house. Wow."
Jack heard a snicker in the background as he stared at the guy in disbelief. Some of the other parents knew them too well to believe he was in charge.
"No way. Believe me, that was habit and again all the training. We spent too many years working together not to slip into old habits occasionally. What you saw was military discipline and that was all."
"Yes, but if you were her boss….."
"Yeah, well, you might have noticed that I am also just a little bit older than Sam – the grey hair gives it away. She actually made Colonel younger than me, so who knows, if things had been different she could have been my superior." He winked at Sam.
"Yes, but you are obviously in charge…."
"I'm not sure I was in charge even when I was in charge. My team had a nasty tendency to argue and, even worse, be right. Before you jump to a heap of conclusions you need to realise that Sam is way more intelligent than you, me and probably most of the people here. She is also a brilliant officer and commander. Yet she is also extremely modest and will probably hate me saying any of this. You need to get up to date, mate, and realise that the whole little woman thing is so last century. Women like Sam can join the military, go out and save the world and still look cool."
Without another word Jack took Sam's arm and headed towards the table with the drink.
It was left to one of the other mothers to sigh quietly and mutter, "Yeah, but there aren't many like her – or you for that matter."