Jack O'Neill sat on his back porch and looked out over his back yard. As of exactly forty-five minutes ago he had relinquished command of the SGC over to Hank Landry. His last act, before that, had been to approve Carter's request for a transfer.
Tipping his beer bottle up to his lips, he watched as Carter chatted with Cassie while the girl tried to teach Thor – the sixteen week old shepherd mix that Jack and his 'niece' had picked up at the pound the day before – to sit. Swallowing a mouthful of Guinness, Jack smiled as the sound of Carter's laughter drifted over to him when Thor tried to sit up and promptly rolled over instead. Shaking her head and placing a consoling pat on Cassie's back, Jack watched as she stood and made her way over.
"Enjoying the day, sir?"
"Can't complain, Carter. You?"
He wondered if Daniel or Teal'c had known that she would request a transfer, wondered if she'd spoken to Daniel about it at all. Teal'c had requested time off before they'd left for Minnesota and he'd thought he was going to have to fight the man to go. Oddly enough, even Carter had agreed surprisingly easily, which he'd taken as a very good sign.
She took a deep breath, seemed to hold it for a moment while she watched Cassie, and then let it out. "Relaxed."
Her eyes left Cassie and met his, a brief smile touching her features. She looked older to him. The faint lines of her face showing through a bit more than he'd noticed before. The years hadn't been easy on any of them and he wondered briefly what he must look like.
"That's good. You deserve it."
Her eyes moved down to her shoes, as if there was suddenly something very captivating about the sandals she'd worn, and she rested casually on the arm of the lounger next to him.
Glancing carefully at his watch, he wondered again what was keeping Daniel; the man was supposed to show up over an hour ago.
"Want me to call him, sir?"
"Nah, I'll just throw the steaks on without him. He can help himself when he gets here. You know how he is, Carter, probably got lost in his rock collection."
Her head ducked as the smile overtook her features, but he caught enough to know that he'd gotten the desired reaction. Finishing off his beer, he stood and headed inside to grab the tray of food for the grill.
As he opened the sliding glass door, he decided to try one more thing, "Oh, and, Carter? Drop the 'sir'."
He entered the house, before waiting to hear any reply she may try to give, and moved into the kitchen. After grabbing some sauces from the fridge, he turned to see her leaning against his counter, her eyes downcast.
"Want me to fix the salad?"
Her eyes looked up but her head didn't tilt, and he almost wished that he could span the gap between them and get her to look at him.
"Sure, Cassie will be starved after her lesson."
He went to pick up the tray and turn, but stopped at the feel of her hand on his elbow. Her eyes searched his face, but never quite met his, while she kept a respectful distance.
"I've requested a transfer."
He waited a beat, not quite sure what she expected as a reaction, though he could tell she thought he didn't know. Had she thought he'd leave her fate in the hands of his replacement?
He closed his eyes briefly, unsure of so many things, but always sure of her.
"You've got it."
Her gentle smile greeted him when he opened his eyes again.
"With everything going on with Cassie, I think she needs someone close. I just wanted you to know in case you came back to the SGC and I'm not there. I wanted you to hear about it from me."
He nodded as his hand came over to cover hers on his arm.
"I understand, Carter. If there was one thing I never had a doubt about, it was that you had thought it through and had your reasons. I approved your transfer to R&D this afternoon. Though, you will need to wrap a few things up before you can leave."
Her surprise and confusion briefly flashed across her face but she covered it quickly. He's known her far too long not to notice, though. He could tell that thoughts were running through her head at a speed far greater than he could ever hope to imagine, and she looked like she was almost about to ask a question but hadn't thought of exactly what yet. Maybe they hadn't reached the ground where she feels she can ask it yet.
Her head cocked to the side and he was sure that she knew she was pausing way too long, but instead of saying anything to break the comfortable silence, he just raised an eyebrow and smirked at her. Tapping her hand he moved his own and went to move back to the porch before she stopped him.
"I just put in for the transfer this morning, how could you have found out about it, never mind approved it, before you left?"
He wondered if maybe she planned it that way, hoping that he wouldn't know about it.
"Being general does have certain perks. While Daniel was wrong about me not being able to do anything I want, I can make sure that any requests from certain people, specifically a certain team, are expedited to my attention as soon as they come in."
He wasn't sure what to expect when he looked back at her face, but the sight of her soft smile wasn't it.
"So, I got it?" she asked softly.
"Yes. Like I said, I knew the minute you requested it that you'd thought it through."
"You don't want to know why?"
Placing the tray of steaks back down on the counter, he closed his eyes briefly before looking at her. "I'm not sure I have any right to ask, but if you want to tell me, I have to admit I'm more than curious."
Her gaze broke away from his for a moment as she responded. "There are a lot of reasons, honestly. It seems like the whole base is changing. And maybe it is time for a 'changing of the guard'." She paused, taking a deep breath. "Daniel is going off to Atlantis. Teal'c has already left for Dakara. You're going off to Washington..."
"And you feel like you're being left behind..."
Her head shot up. "No! It's not like that." Her eye glanced out the window toward Cassie and Thor before slowly coming back to meet his again. "To be honest, the team hasn't felt the same since you moved up to General. I guess it just feels natural to move on now that the Goa'uld have been defeated."
He stayed silent, watching her, knowing from years of experience that she wasn't finished.
"There's just so much that I haven't been able to do, or finish, or devote enough time to, around mission rotations. Moving to Area 51 would allow me to do so much more in those areas."
"And I'm sure the science geeks will love it."
She laughed lightly, "I guess they're my science geeks now..." Her voice had taken on an almost wistful tone.
"Nevada, though..."
She moved to the fridge, absently removing the head of lettuce, tomato, cucumber and various other items she had picked up for the salad. "I'm not selling the house. Not yet, anyway. Cassie and I are only bringing what we'll need for now and renting a condo."
"Condos are nice. I've been thinking about one of them for Washington, too."
She moved the cutting board out and he wondered when she'd become so familiar with his kitchen as he watched her turn away from him. It was like mentioning the new location made it suddenly real, and she felt the need to put some distance between them or it would all come crashing down on her. While she tried to convince herself that this wasn't as permanent as it all seemed.
"Besides, I told Daniel that he could store some things at my place. So I couldn't sell it now." Her voice paused as she moved the tomato slices aside and went on to dicing up the lettuce. "If you have anything you need to store for a while, I'm sure we can clear out a section of the garage for you, too."
"Might have to take you up on that for the bike, unless I decide to sell it."
Her cutting ceased while she laughed, and though it seemed slightly forced, he enjoyed the sound of it. "If you take my advice, you'll sell it and get your hands on a real bike."
He easily closed the gap between them, jabbing her lightly in the ribcage. An easy smile rose to her lips as she moved to deflect his attack, taking extra care with the knife currently in her hand.
"There is nothing wrong with my Kawasaki, Carter."
Giggling, she gently slapped his hand away as it continued to move forward. "Of course there isn't, sir. If you like cheap Japanese imitations. You could have at least gone for a Harley if you were going for a bike."
Both hands moved to rest on the counter top as he peered over her shoulder, her hands stopping their movements mid-cut. He watched as her breathing sped up slightly as she realized he had her boxed in.
"Sir?"
He watched as her cheeks gained a light tint of pink, something he hadn't seen himself able to provoke in a while.
"Didn't we establish that you could drop the 'sir', Sam?"
Her head turned slightly and his attention was drawn to her lips. She pressed them together lightly, almost biting them shut and trying to hold back her smile.
"Yeah. I guess we did." Her voice was barely above a whisper.
Her gentle smile calmed him and chipped away at some of his hesitation. His lips quirked up in a smirk as he watched her eyes dart back and forth between his eyes and his lips.
He leaned in slowly, watching as her chest rose with her increased breathing. She turned carefully, her breath seeming to catch in her throat as her shoulders brushed his chest.
"So, you really like Harley's, huh, Carter?"
He could feel her breath gently cascading across his lips as he continued his forward movement with slow precision.
"They do have a certain... appeal."
Their lips brushed lightly, barely touching before he took another small step toward her and solidified the contact. Jack watched as her eyes fluttered shut and he felt her hands move to grasp at his forearms. The tension he'd noticed building in her earlier seemed to flow out of her and she leaned into him. Deciding to take the extra step, he traced the line of her lips gently with his tongue, moving his hands to her hips.
A soft moan escaped from her throat before she parted her lips and tentatively traced her own path across his bottom lip.
The sound of the front door opening brought the kiss to a premature end. A soft sigh escaped from Sam as they parted and her eyes fluttered back open. He studied her eyes, looking for some sign of regret or apprehension, but she just smiled up at him before turning around and picking up the knife again.
"Jack? Sam? Cass? Are you guys in here or out back?"
"In the kitchen, Daniel. Though we were ready to start without you. Last I knew you could still tell time."
"Sorry, Jack, I..."
"-got caught up. Yeah, we know, Daniel." Winking at Sam, he flashed Daniel a smile. "Lucky for you, we managed to keep ourselves busy. Grab a beer, they're in the fridge."
Picking up the steak tray he left the two of them in the kitchen as he went out onto the back porch. Standing there, watching Cassie and Thor, and thinking about the two people he'd just left inside, he couldn't help but feel that though the move to Washington might be a big change, but it was definitely a step in the right direction.