Title: Change of Heart
Gift: Secret Santa gift for Sparky She-Demon
Category: fluff

Season: SGA 4
Spoilers: Trio (SGA: 4x16)
Pairing: S/J

Summary: A broken leg means medical leave, even for the base commander. Still, Sam is surprised when instead of a member of the IOA to temporarily replace her it is Jack O'Neill who comes through the 'gate. Jack expects his orders and the subsequent changes might not go over well on Atlantis right away, but his priorities are Sam and the future of the Atlantis Expedition.

Rating: K+
Warnings: none
Disclaimer: see profile

A/N: I don't have a beta, so any mistakes are my own. I always appreciate feedback and/or constructive criticism or just a comment to let me know why you (don't) like it.

Gate Room, Atlantis
New Lantea, M35-117
Pegasus Galaxy

Jack smiled inwardly as he stepped out on the other side of the 'gate and came face to face with Carter, Sheppard's team and some other Atlantis personnel awaiting his arrival smack dab in the middle of the Atlantis gate room. It was great to be traveling through the 'gate again and while his last trip to Atlantis hadn't exactly been fun he had been looking forward to today, especially after a twenty-four-hour quarantine at Midway Station and it would be interesting to see Carter do her thing here in person. He was quickly reminded of his reason for coming upon giving her a onceover, though. Getting the news about her injury had surely cost him a few years of his life and it had once again made him painfully aware of the great distance between them, but at least it had all ended well and she could get rid of the cast in about six weeks or so.

He could tell everyone in the room was surprised to see him but he simply put on his professional mask and walked over to the base commander. She was doing an admirable job of hiding her shock and confusion at his arrival but he knew her well enough to read her face in spite of her masked expression. At least Carter was smiling, Jack thought to himself. He'd missed that smile of hers. "Howdy folks," he greeted, briefly glancing at her entourage before locking gazes with her.

"General O'Neill," she replied, her voice still containing a trace of surprise, "welcome to Atlantis."

"Good to be back, Carter," he said. "Sheppard, Teyla, Ronon… McKay."

The Atlantis' flagship team nodded and gave their respective greetings of "General O'Neill" in various tones, with McKay's sounding the least welcoming.

"We weren't expecting you, Sir," Sheppard said cautiously. "Colonel Carter and I were under the impression that the IOA would be sending someone to take temporary command with the Colonel on medical leave."

Jack nodded and he could tell Carter was a bit conflicted about his arrival as well, probably upset that he'd obviously pulled some strings to get here and at the same time happy – he hoped – to see him again. "Yeah, Woolsey wanted to send one of their schmucks to take over until someone reminded him and the rest of the IOA that they had chosen a military commander for good reason." He neglected to inform them he had been that someone and that he naturally had ulterior motives to visit Atlantis, or how much persuading and schedule clearing it had taken for him to finally get here.

"Well, I think I can safely say we're all happy to have you, Sir," Sheppard replied, grinning.

He didn't doubt Carter's 2IC felt that way, considering the man's opinion on politicians was similar to his own but Jack hoped it wasn't just the fact that he wasn't an IOA schmuck that made him welcome here. Well, he didn't really care about what most of the Atlantis personnel thought and he figured Sheppard was at least grateful to him for getting him transferred from Antarctica – even if the guy said he liked it there – to Atlantis but hopefully Carter wasn't too pissed at him and she would even appreciate him coming over like this, even if it somewhat went against their deal of not interfering in each other's career. Okay, so that probably applied to him mostly seeing as how he was the higher-ranking officer and the director of Homeworld Security, but still… "Thank you, Sheppard. How's the leg, Carter?"

"It looked worse than it was, Sir," she said in a neutral tone. "Upon getting back to Atlantis Doctor Keller discovered it was a clean break by using the medical scanner; the cast should come off in about six weeks."

"You didn't damage that big brain of yours with your fall did you, Colonel?"

Carter shifted on her crutches and glared at her people when someone snorted. "No, Sir, I didn't sustain any head trauma."

"Good, 'cause that would have been a shame. Now, who's going to show me my digs and carry my bag?" Jack smirked and if he hadn't been carrying a bag he would've rubbed his hands together in glee. He had read the report of her mission and how she had been injured, of course, but it was still good to hear nothing except her leg had been injured. The only thing he wasn't certain of yet was how Carter's reception would be in private so he would let her take the lead for now and see how things would turn out.

"I'm sure Colonel Sheppard wouldn't mind showing you to your quarters, General," Carter said in a suspicious tone with a polite smile.

Jack knew that tone of voice and was pretty sure it meant he was in trouble. Oy! A glance at Sheppard, who was reaching for his bag, showed him the Lieutenant Colonel was a bit confused by his commander's veiled order, which was no doubt retaliation for his snorting and overly warm welcome. "Lead on Macduff."

"Yes Sir," Sheppard shot off a smart salute and turned around.

"I believe you're supposed to be resting, Colonel," Jack told Carter. "I'll drop by your quarters to discuss this command-thing in twenty minutes." With that, he followed his bag – carried by Sheppard – but he knew Carter got the message and would make sure she was actually in her quarters by the time he got there.

Carter's Quarters, Atlantis
New Lantea, M35-117
Pegasus Galaxy

Sam was going over yet another systems check using her computer tablet, sighing irritably when everything was fine just like the last two times she had checked it. Not doing anything really wasn't her style and she wanted to get up off her bed and go about her daily routine as base commander. But because of her unfortunate fall down the abandoned Genii mine she was on medical leave until her right tibia had healed enough for the cast to be removed. Naturally, having a cast around your leg and relying on crutches to move around meant she was a liability on base in case of emergency. If she had still been based at the SGC she would have been sent home to recover but considering the living quarters she was… well, living in nowadays were her home away from home and Atlantis was the only Tau'ri settlement in this galaxy, things were a bit more complicated.

The past week she had managed to keep the base running with the help of her 2IC, Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard, while awaiting her temporary replacement from the IOA. Instead, she had been caught off guard when it wasn't Woolsey or one of his buddies but Major General Jack O'Neill who stepped out of the wormhole from Midway Station. Couldn't he at least have given her a heads-up? Not that she wasn't happy to see him again or anything; it had been months since they had been in the same galaxy, let alone the same room. Video chats had been rare and were always professional and recorded, so they usually sent each other encrypted emails or video recordings.

Normally she would have been happy to see him in person after such a long time yet the circumstances seemed to indicate he had pulled some strings to get here; something they had both agreed on they would never do. Both of their careers and assignments were important to them but just because they were together now didn't mean they could demand special treatment other military personnel didn't have at their disposal. It was pretty obvious neither the IOA nor the JCS would insist on sending a high-ranking general officer to replace her while her leg was healing and frankly she was surprised they even felt the need to send someone to take over while Sheppard could probably do it – he was her 2IC, after all. Still, even then it was odd to say the least that they sent the director of HWS…

Just as she cast another glance at the clock she heard the chime indicating someone was at her door and a moment later Jack O'Neill slowly entered her quarters. "Come on in."

He seemed uncharacteristically cautious, almost shy as he headed straight in her direction and stopped at the foot of her bed. The dashing dress blues had been exchanged for his favorite olive drab BDUs, even though they were one star short. "Hey," he said softly, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Hi," Sam replied after a beat. The transformation from stern and confident General O'Neill to regular Jack never ceased to amaze her and she had to admit – to herself – that it was endearing when he went from superior officer to repentant husband. "Why are you here, Jack?"

"I told you the IOA decided your temporary replacement should be a military officer instead of a civilian and-"

"And you had nothing to do with that decision?" She inquired dryly, knowing him better than that.

He shrugged but couldn't hide the impish smile on his face. "Maybe… but that's beside the point."

"Is it?" Sam sighed and brushed her bangs out of her face in frustration. Having him here was like a dream come true after missing him for so long but, damn it, they had an agreement about not letting their personal feelings interfere with their jobs! It was bad enough that there had been rumors about them for years while their relationship had been platonic; they needed to remain professional while on the job now that they were married and held such high positions or heads would roll.

Them getting together had attracted enough suspicion from the higher-ups as it was and they had more or less promised their superiors they could make this thing between them work without making bad judgment calls. Once they had gotten married it had been more difficult for the brass to deny them the privilege of working together as the frat regs didn't apply to married couples but considering their history and the brief time they hadn't been in the same chain of command meant people would still talk and speculate. It was why she and Jack had decided to keep their relationship low profile and so far they had managed quite well. "You used your position to get this assignment, didn't you? You let your personal feelings interfere with our jobs!"

"Damn straight I did!" Jack practically yelled as he suddenly started pacing in front of her. "For crying out loud, you fell from twenty-five feet – more than once! You're lucky your leg is all that's broken!"

"Jack-"

"Don't 'Jack' me, Carter! As if worrying about life-sucking Wraith isn't enough with you being a galaxy away, now I need to be concerned about collapsing ceilings, abandoned mines and rickety old crates too?!" He huffed and ran a hand through his hair, making the silver strands stick up even more. "And I have to hear about it a day after the fact through a report – a report, for Christ's sake! You could have at least tried contacting me directly when you informed the SGC of your status or have Hank call me afterwards."

Sam's anger disappeared as she saw how distressed he was and she leaned forward on the bed as best she could, reaching out her hand to him. "I'm sorry; I automatically assumed General Landry would call you." It was true that she hadn't thought of requesting he do so, seeing as he was aware of their marital status and Jack was listed as her emergency contact. "I didn't mean for you to find out that way."

"Well, I did," he said, slowly winding down and taking her hand as the peace offering he no doubt knew it was. "It's just… with all the paperwork crossing my desk I don't really expect to find something telling me my wife is in the infirmary after falling down an abandoned mine." Jack sighed and cautiously sat down next to her hip. "You know I hardly read anything that comes in its own folder and I could have easily overlooked this!"

She smiled at his lame attempt at humor and squeezed his hand. "It's just a broken leg, Jack. I'm fine. A few more weeks and the cast can come off and I'm good as new."

"What even possessed you to take McKay with you as backup?"

"He wasn't backup, it was a diplomatic mission," she said, rolling her eyes at his whine.

Jack scowled at her but the way his thumb was caressing her hand kind of negated its effect. "Still, McKay? The guy is worthless in a crisis and probably even more so in this case since he turns into a lovesick puppy whenever you're around."

"Maybe," she relented, "but Doctor Keller was there too and I'm pretty sure the best time to get injured is when your head of medicine is with you. Besides, McKay was the one who lowered both Jennifer and me down to the mineshaft and to safety."

"Don't remind me," he grimaced. "It's a good thing I read you were fine minus the broken leg prior to reading the details of your situation. If McKay had lost his grip on that rope or if it had snapped you would have fallen all the way down…"

Sam tugged on his hand until he was close enough to cup his cheek. "It wasn't my intention to scare the living daylights out of you," she murmured, letting her nails run over his five o'clock shadow.

"It better not," Jack grumbled, catching her fingers and pressing a kiss to her palm. "Still, can you really blame me for arranging this little visit? Knowing you were out here, injured and in pain, and with just some words on paper as reassurance you were okay… well, maybe I abused my influence a bit but I don't regret it, Carter. Trust me, sitting through those meetings with the brass and the IOA with you on my mind was hell. Then, when I finally got permission to be your temporary replacement I had to clear my schedule and do all kinds of paperwork before they'd even let me go to the SGC. A day later I finally reached Midway and had to remain quarantined there for twenty-four hours before I finally got to see you!"

"I know," she said, "that can't have been easy for you."

He chuckled softly, undoubtedly guessing she was referring to his famous impatience. "You have no idea what a sight for sore eyes you were when I set foot on Atlantis, even with your ridiculous cast and crutches."

"Why thank you, Sir," she replied cheekily.

Jack's lips quirked in a smile but he quickly sobered again and cupped her cheeks. "No seriously, Sam. It took me nearly a week to get here all the while being worried sick, only to arrive and not even get to wrap my arms around you or kiss yo-"

Sam placed her fingers on his lips. "Don't even think about retiring again! If you'd been retired you wouldn't even be allowed to visit me, you know that."

His shoulders sagged briefly in acknowledgment before a playful smirk appeared on his face and his tongue darted out to lick her fingers. "Okay, okay," he relented, "I guess I'll just have to keep my mind occupied with other things…"

"You still haven't hugged or kissed me," she helpfully reminded him.