The General looked up at his Second-in-Command, wondering what was wrong now. 'Anything you're not happy about, Colonel? Too much paperwork? Not enough memos?'
'You know me and memos, George!' Jack smiled. The General replied with one of his patented glares. 'You can call me "George" once you're retired, Colonel.'
'That's the idea… Sir.'
'You can't be serious.'
'You know me. I'm always serious… OK, so not usually, but this time I am. I want to retire.'
The General sighed. This was going to be one long day.
No, this was going to be one hell of a long day.
'Major, you're kidding, right?'
'No Sir, I'd like to resign my Air Force commission.'
'Why?' the General asked, not wishing to dance around the subject.
'Um… well, I'd like more time to work on the various technologies brought through the Gate.'
'Fair enough, but why resigning your commission at the same time? Are you just assuming I'll give you a civilian position'
'Um…'
Way too long day.
'Carter.'
'Sir,' Sam replied, looking up at Jack, as he stood in the doorway to her lab. 'Watch'ya doin'?' he asked.
'Oh, just playing with a... doohickey, that SG-21 brought back from P4... you don't care, do you?' she asked, seeing Jack rolling his eyes.
'Not... really.'
'Thought so.' A slightly silence ensued. Before things got awkward, Jack spoke up. 'So, about the whole... retiring thing...'
'Jack, I...' Sam started, but was interrupted by her Lab phone ringing.
'Carter. Yes, Sir. He's right here, Sir. OK, Sir, we'll be right there,' she spoke into it, and then put the receiver down, and turned to Jack. 'The General wants to see us both in his office, now, and he doesn't sound very pleased...'
'Sir,' the Colonel and Major said as they entered the Generals office.
'Sit down,' the General said, indicating the two chairs in front of his desk. As they sat down, he handed them each a piece of paper. They both looked down at the pieces of paper they'd been handed, and within two seconds looked at each other and burst out:
'Jack!'
'Carter!'
'We went over this! I'd resign, not you!'
'Well, I'm sorry, but that's not how it's gonna work. I'm getting too old for this anyways.'
'Oh please, we both know how you get if you don't get out once in a while.'
'What about you? You love working on all your doohickeys.'
'Read, you dimwit. Civilian position!'
The General cleared his throat to make his presence known. 'Anyone want to tell me why, within two hours, I get the letters of resignation from both of my best officers?'
'Uh…' Jack said, looking at Sam for help. She, in turn, gave him a textbook example Teal'c style rising eyebrow that said 'hey, the plan was for me to resign, not you. You figure this out.' Jack, in turn, gave her one that said 'Oh come on!'
'Anyone?' the General asked.
'Well… you see… George,' Jack offered, and received a glare in return. 'It's like this…' A pause. A long pause.
'Yes?' the General asked.
'Sir, what I think he's trying to say is that… um…' Sam began.
'Look, General… we… Carter and me, that is… we'd, um…' Jack continued.
'Yes, we'd like to…'
'Well, it's like this…'
'We want to pursue a romantic relationship, General,' Sam finally blurted out. The General stared first at the Major, and then at the Colonel, giving them both his best 'you are in so much trouble right now' look, and with delight noted how both officers, who had no trouble facing down the mightiest of the Goa'uld System Lords, trembled. He gave both of them another looking over, before leaning back in his chair, grabbing both of their letters of resignations, tearing them up, and smiled.
'It's about time.'
'Huh?' both Sam and Jack said. All the General could do was smile.
'We'll figure something out. You're both too valuable to this programme, and I'm not about to either one of you go, just like that. But, by all means, enjoy yourselves,' he said, his smile growing wider by the second. 'But you didn't hear that from me.'
'It's about time,' he thought to himself.