Stargate SG1 is somebody else's, probably MGM/Gekko Corp/Sci-fi, and I freely admit that whoever's it is, I'm borrowing their show and they retain all rights, etc
Author's Note: Written as a thanks to everyone who has supported my writing; thank you.
Sam/Jack so please turn away if you're not that way inclined. Set post-Continuum, minor spoilers for Stargate.
Chaos Theory
(Giving Thanks)
The moments when the world slowed down long enough for Jack O'Neill to take a breath were rare.
His life seemed to exist in chaos especially since he had moved to Washington and had been appointed Head of Homeworld Security. Each day moved with the speed of a whirlwind: meetings with people who wanted something from him, people he wanted something from and people who just seemed to want to meet people. The politics frustrated him but the challenge of devising the strategy that kept Earth safe engaged him. He might not be the type of General that Washington was used to but Jack did his job well and he had become a power broker in the country's political capitol just by being his normal taciturn, plain speaking self. It was quickly becoming known that he had the President's ear, that the Secretary of Defence had him on speed dial and the Joint Chiefs made a point to lunch with him, a lowly two star.
But Washington was Washington, and Jack was always glad to leave that particular type of chaos behind. His usual secondary work location had an altogether different type of chaos. The SGC remained the frontline for Earth's security and it guarded the Stargate that remained their quickest – and in Jack's biased opinion – best way of travelling to the stars. The base had a rhythm and a heartbeat as personnel travelled back and forth through the wormhole, as the staff investigated their discoveries and met with alien allies. Underneath the chaos was an order and structure that was only disturbed by the occasional alien incursion. It had been less chaotic in the past year since the Ori had been defeated, and a few months before, they had even managed to find Ba'al's final clone. They still had enemies out in the galaxy so Jack figured the calm wouldn't last forever. In truth, he continued to love the chaos at the SGC as, compared to Washington, it always felt like he was closer to the field action there.
That was a type of chaos he loved and missed. He could remember the smells: wet grass, dirt and soil, the charcoal smoke of a camp fire; the sounds of gunfire and energy blasts; the yells of the enemy; the adrenaline coursing through him as he protected his team and they protected him. Jack figured he belonged on the battlefield; had always enjoyed the rush of tactics, the high pressure of execution and the sense of satisfaction at a mission completed. He'd always thought he'd die on a field somewhere; shot or blown to bits; that an alien sky would be the last thing he would see.
But that kind of chaos was no longer his life's blood, and he had given it up willingly. He couldn't say he regretted his decision. It had allowed him to embrace the singularly unique chaos that was embodied by one Colonel Samantha Carter. He had once thought he would never know all the chaos that was Carter; that he would only ever know part of her because he was her CO and there were rules. But in one of those rare moments when the universe had seemingly conspired in their favour, they had changed the rules and taken their opportunity to love each other.
Carter was a beguiling and chaotic mix;
the military officer who had challenged him to arm wrestle yet who led her teams with calm serenity and a compassion he was sure he hadn't taught her;
the scientist whose mind whirled with theories, equations and went on tangents he couldn't follow;
the surrogate mother of a brilliant young woman they both loved;
the sister to her sibling but a sister too for the two men who they had served with in SG1;
the woman who was his wife, sexy and vulnerable, loving and honest.
The chaos Carter brought to his life was imbued with as many facets as a diamond; shone with as many colours of the rainbow and could be as confusing to figure out as time travel.
Jack loved it all; he loved the chaos of their lives together – the mesh of their love for one another and the clash of their differences. But he had to admit that he loved their rare moments of stillness like the one he was enjoying right that moment.
Carter was sleeping.
The morning sun was peeking through the gaps in the blinds. It slanted across the antique dresser and spilled out over the master bedroom of his cabin; over the hardwood floor and the large bed where Carter lay curled on her side, one arm tucked under her pillow and the other covering her chest – even in sleep she was naturally modest.
She liked plain white cotton sheets covered with old quilts. She joked that when she finally retired she'd start a quilting bee. The blue quilt she loved had slipped and fallen in a puddle on the floor beside the bed. It reminded Jack of a wormhole as the sunlight made the material shimmer and shine like the fluctuations in the event horizon.
The cotton sheet had pooled around her waist, her long tanned legs tangled with the remaining material. A sweep of hair fell in golden waves around her shoulders and down her back. Her skin was luminescent; banded with light and dark from the sun and blinds. His chocolate eyes traced harsh edges of occasional white on her skin that the sun highlighted; scars that told the story of her life as a warrior. He treasured each and every one of them, and was intensely grateful that none had taken her from him.
Her lips were parted slightly and she had caught her lower lip between her teeth. Jack wondered if thinking she was adorable meant he'd crossed the line from besotted husband to sap. Her delicate nostrils flared with each breath she took and when a small snore escaped her, he realised with a spark of humour that he even considered the snoring adorable.
He didn't mind being a sap. Not about Carter. He'd waited long enough for her. He had every right to be a sap about her.
Jack pushed away from the doorframe and shrugged out of his jacket. He quietly and rapidly undressed down to his boxers, and stacked his clothes on a chair in a messy heap. He had intended to get to the cabin the day before to coincide with Carter's arrival but he had been delayed by a minor emergency in Atlantis. Woolsey apparently had it under control. The former IOA representative was remarkably doing more than a half-way credible job out in Pegasus and Jack knew that while Carter's sudden loss of command still rankled her given the way it was done, both he and Carter appreciated that they were both back to living in the same galaxy, on the same planet.
But not for the past two weeks. Carter had been immersed in her new project and had been away; Jack had been buried in budget discussions in Washington. The good news was that their planned vacation was still intact.
Thanksgiving.
Jack shook his grey head in disbelief as he slid under the sheet and snuggled up to his wife. She stirred as he nuzzled her neck, his arm sliding around her waist to pull her close.
'Jack?' Sam said sleepily.
'Yeah.' Jack murmured.
'Missed you.'
He kissed her collarbone. 'Go back to sleep.'
She turned in his arms and wrapped herself around him. He held her tightly as she slept on; all her chaos stilled.
His life really didn't get more perfect than this, Jack considered wryly. He stroked a hand down his wife's back and closed his eyes. He could hear music; Carter breathing, her heart beating. He could feel the silk of her skin under his fingers. He could smell the floral scent of her shampoo and the unique scent that was Carter. His senses were filled with her and it pulled him toward sleep.
They'd never had Thanksgiving before. Not really.
For so many years SG1 had been off-world during the holidays. They had celebrated around campfires with their rations and, on one memorable occasion, in a Goa'uld cell with no food at all. Then the Ori had invaded and the year before Carter had been in Atlantis.
Back on Earth, she was determined to do Thanksgiving and Jack hadn't been able to deny her. They had invited their old team-mates, Teal'c and Daniel Jackson and at some point which he couldn't quite work out, that had been extended to Cameron Mitchell and Vala. Daniel had promised to pick up Cassie Fraiser on his way in. It was going to be a full house. It was going to be chaos. People would be tripping over each other, fighting for bathrooms and places in front of the fire. He could already see in his mind's eye Daniel and Vala fencing around the thing they had; Cassie flirting with Mitchell just to tease Jack and Teal'c remaining calm in the centre while Carter refereed from the sidelines.
Jack couldn't wait.
Before Carter, the cabin had become his sanctuary; somewhere to hide where the chaos stopped. It hadn't always been that way. There had been fishing trips before SG1, before the Stargate, with his son and his then wife, Sara. Then the cabin had been filled with a childish chaos of a boy running and laughing, and of a father's joy. But Charlie's death had sent the cabin into stillness and Jack had retreated there from all the chaos in his life.
Until Carter. He'd invited her fishing so many times before they had eventually gotten together. Maybe he had always known he needed to fill the cabin with her chaos; with his love for her. And it felt good to fill it again, and to fill it with the people he and Carter loved.
Maybe that was the real purpose of Thanksgiving, Jack thought as his mind gave up on consciousness and slid into sleep; maybe Thanksgiving was to shake the stillness into motion;
to fill the dark corners with light and love again;
to fill the voids with chaos.
He had never been so thankful for chaos.
The End