A very long self contained one chapter story. JS. Follows my Content story and the idea behind my Valentine's story although just the Hershey's Kiss part. Not the last chapter.

As always, of course I don't own anything nor do I make anything by writing this.

"Hey. Watcha doin'?"

"Working on a new naquadah reactor. When's your flight leave?"

There was a long pause on the phone. "Yeah. About that. Sam, I'm really really sorry but the President..."

"...has you doing something really important. I understand." Sam sighed. "So, you can't come at all?"

"No. I'm really sorry, Carter. Our first anniversary and I'm screwing it up."

"Hey, don't. Really. It's not your fault. I'm just as likely to have to cancel something big as you are. It's just the way things are for us. We talked about this."

"I know, but I still feel bad about it. I'll make it up to you. I promise."

Sam grinned, her smile coming across in her voice. "You better."

"I'll let you know as soon as I can get an opening to get out there. Maybe I'll invent some kind of ...inspection or something."

Sam laughed.

"No giggling."

"Yes, sir," she replied dutily with a slightly wistful sigh. God, she missed him.

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

"Good. I gotta go. I'll call you tonight."

...

...

March 16th. The one year anniversary of their first date. Well, okay, not technically their first date. More like their first kiss. Hmm, not really their first kiss either. Just their first non-influenced-by-aliens-or-memory-swipe kiss. And the day they decided they didn't want to just be 'content' anymore and gave this crazy thing called dating a try. And it had been a great year. Seeing Jack's adorable sappy side that no one would ever believe if she told them, going to his cabin with just the two of them for the first time, discovering each other on an intimate level and really really liking what they found, finding out that Jack O'Neill, hard ass General extraordinaire was a cuddler ...who never failed to have quite possibly the most adorable bed hair of all time first thing in the morning, learning each others quirks and annoyances...like the way he massacres the toothpaste every morning without fail or the way his socks never make it to the hamper which drives her absolutely insane. Sigh. She really missed him. And waking up alone, which was by no means unusual, on March 16th, reminded Sam exactly how much she hated that they lived on opposite sides of the country.

Today was a Friday. And since she no longer had the glorious plans of staying in bed all day and showing Jack exactly how much she had missed him, Sam was going to work. On her anniversary. Joy. Sam arrived at the mountain, bright and early, as always. Getting a cup of coffee from the commissary after changing into her regular BDU's, Sam crankily walked to her lab. Daniel greeted her way too cheerfully in the hallway and Sam gave him a questioning grimace. He must have detected her I'll-apologize-later-but-right-now-I-can't-be-held-accountable-for-my-actions look because he quickly muttered something about needing pencils out of the storage room he had just walked out of and disappeared. After turning on her regular equipment once in her lab, Sam sat her coffee mug on the desk to boot up her laptop. What's this? A letter.

On the front of the plain white envelope was scrawled 'Sam' in a very familiar script. Sam greedily opened it to devour whatever he had managed to have someone sneak in for him.

Sam,

I know you told me to quit apologizing for not being able to be there but I'm going to do it again anyway. If you don't want to read it...skip to the next line. I'm sorry. We've already broken our rule of how long we can go without seeing each other and now I go and miss this. I really wish I could be there but since I can't, I'm hoping my plan can be the next best thing. I'm got some surprises in store for you today, Carter. No, I'm not going to tell you anything about them. And no, you can't ask Danny or T. They don't know anything. And even if you think I'm lying and they do know something, they aren't going to tell you. I love you.

Jack

And he expected her to just sit there and wait! When he peaked her curiosity like that!

Sam realized that there were multiple sheets of paper with the letter, so she flipped to the second.

P.S. Stop glaring. Patience is a virtue, Carter.

Sam turned the page muttering 'you better be glad your...'

P.P.S. And yes, I'm glad that I'm across the country right now.

Sam couldn't help herself, she grinned. The way he read her mind was endearing in its own creepy little way. Sam flipped to the final page.

Go to the briefing room in an hour. Yes, that's in an hour. Remember...patience.

Oh, that man was evil. He better be glad she loved him. Otherwise she might have killed him years ago.

Sam watched the clock while she worked. 0743. This had to be the longest hour of her entire life. Sam was absolutely positive he had to have had someone alter her clock. There, the second hand so just got stuck on the 9. Sam contemplated taking her clock off the wall to check for tampering but found that annoyingly, her wristwatch showed the exact same time. 0745. Surely, fifteen minutes wouldn't make any difference. It's not like he would know after all. He was on the other side of the country. Which was the reason she was declaring the clock her nemesis in the first place. But it was a matter of principle now. He'd claimed she couldn't be patient so she was going to show him patience. Heh, a mental image of other much more fun ways she could show him the meaning of patience flooded her brain. Oh yes, paybacks a bitch, General. Sam looked at the clock again. 0755. Hmm, fantasies did have a way of passing the time.

Hopping off her stool, Sam walked briskly to the briefing room. To find it occupied. SG-7 was apparently going over their last mission. She looked at her watch. 0759. Down in the control room, Sam tapped her foot impatiently and tried to look like she had a reason to be there. Walter smiled at her a little too knowingly and she narrowed her eyes at him. He quickly turned back to his computer, thoroughly chastised. 0800 and the briefing room emptied. It was almost like he'd planned it to make sure that she...no, he wouldn't. Would he?

Sam semi-dashed up the stairs into the briefing room, quickly standing straight when she realized General Landry was still in the room.

"Sir!"

"Good morning, Colonel."

Landry's eyes diverted to a side table against the wall, lingering for a moment, before looking back at Carter. Sam followed his eyes and spotted another white envelope. She couldn't believe it. Jack had actually involved the General in ...whatever this was. Sam blushed sheepishly, but Landry just chuckled quietly to himself gathering his papers and returning to his office. Once she was alone, Sam grabbed up the envelope.

Sam,

This is where we first met.

Sam was taken back by the simple sentimentality of that little statement. She looked around the room with fresh eyes, having taken for granted it's appearance after so many years.

When you walked in, all legs and attitude, I knew I was in trouble. I wasn't exactly sure what kind at the time, but I knew it was bound to be a wild ride. I know you thought that I didn't think you were good enough in the beginning, but I was impressed from the get go. When you said you'd pulled 8 plus G's in an f-16, I was surprised and impressed. Having taken you for a Pentagon lackey and then on top of that ...a scientist. And we all know how I feel about scientists. But when you laughed at one of my dumb jokes about Samuels, I realized there was hope for you yet. And you've only gone up from there, Sam.

You are one of the best soldiers I've had the honor to serve with and I'm thankful every day that you walked into that briefing room. Not only because you saved all our asses a million times over with that massive brain of yours, but because of what we have now. Thank you, Sam. I love you.

Jack

Well, there was no way she could work now. She was officially a pile of dopey-eyed mush on the floor. Sam would be quite impressed with herself if she could walk in this room ever again without going dreamy. Folding up the letter carefully and putting it back in its envelope, Sam allowed herself a moment of girlish sappiness to smile and hold the envelope to her chest. Ever the military soldier, Sam quickly schooled her features to prepare to leave the room, holding the envelope in her hand that she would put in with all Jack's other little love notes that he didn't know she kept.

Sam didn't know when to expect another 'surprise' and watched the clock in her lab closely for the next hour. When nothing happened, Sam soon got absorbed in her work and lost track of time.

"Hey Sam."

Sam looked up to see Daniel making his way into her lab.

"Hey Daniel. What's up?"

"Nothing. Just came to see what you were doing."

Sam readily filled Daniel in and they talked for a while about this and that. Sam even got caught up on some of the latest gossip.

"Oh, and I have this for you."

Daniel pulled out a small envelope and handed it to her.

"I knew you were in on it!"

Using his most innocent expression ever, Daniel claimed to not know what she was talking about.

"Actually, I don't know what it says. Jack sent it to me and told me to give it to you today about this time."

"And you actually remembered?," she asked incredulously.

Daniel tried to look indignant but admitted, "Well, no." Smiling guiltily, he said, "Jack called to remind me between meetings."

Sam shook her head at him while grinning and then thanked him for playing along with Jack's plans.

"No prob, Sam. I'll see ya later. I'm gonna head back and finish my translations."

Sam opened the small envelope to find a simple piece of paper.

Lunch time. Eat up, Carter. A surprise awaits.

Sam was shocked to see that it was actually 1200. Time had really flown. Sam made her way to the commissary and almost laughed out loud at the sight she saw upon opening the doors. The table directly in her line of sight had a large 'RESERVED' sign on it and a bowl of blue jello waiting on the table. Sam got her lunch and sat at the table, thinking about the man who was going out of his way to make her day better when he couldn't be here. Well, technically, he was making other people go out of their way to pull this off, but still, he was behind it all. When she had just about finished off her bowl of blue jello, Teal'c sat down at the table across from her.

"Hey, Teal'c."

"Hello, Colonel Carter. Did you enjoy your lunch?"

"Indeed."

Teal'c quirked his eyebrow at her choice of phrase but did not otherwise comment on it.

"I am here to deliver a communication from O'Neill. After which, I am to direct you to the men's locker room."

"The mens locker room?!"

"Indeed."

Knowing that she would get no information out of her Jaffa friend that Jack didn't want her to know, Sam merely furrowed her brows and grimaced disapprovingly. Taking the letter from Teal'c, Sam read,

Sometimes, I found myself looking forward to these moments. When I would drag you to the commissary for cake or jello and it was just us for a while. You'd ramble on about some new doo-dad you got and I'd tell stupid jokes to try and make you laugh. And sometimes, we'd let down our guard just a little, even if we didn't do it on purpose. It's one of the things I miss most about not working there anymore. Though, there are some definite benefits to me not working there so I guess I shouldn't complain. Anyway, Teal'c should be there waiting patiently while you read this in all his ...Teal'cness, so follow him for your next surprise.

I love you.

Jack

P.S. The red is still better.

Blue. Definitely blue, babe. Sam let Teal'c lead the way to her next surprise ...the men's locker room of all places! What on earth Jack had for her to find in there was beyond her. Jack was right about the commissary though. It was one of the few places that Sam had felt it was okay to be 'alone' with him. Oh, she had told herself for years that she wasn't trying to be 'alone' with him in any sense and that she didn't purposely get there early when the team was meeting for lunch because she knew he would. But on those rare occasions that it happened, it was ...nice.

Teal'c stopped outside the men's locker room and turned to his ward.

"I will ensure that no occupants reside within."

Sam stood, dumbly, in the hall while Teal'c entered the room. He came out again quickly and informed her that the room was, indeed, empty.

"I will secure the exterior, Colonel Carter." On her askance look, he continued, "To render you privacy."

Sam nodded and entered the room. At first, Sam had no idea what she was doing in here as nothing looked out of the ordinary. Typical military male locker room. Then, she noticed on one of the benches there was another one of the envelopes with a piece of candy on top. A Hershey's Kiss. Sam smiled. Their Valentine tradition started so long ago. Just last month they'd had their first Valentine's where they actually kissed, instead of just passing chocolates. But why was he bringing up Valentine's here ...in the locker room? They certainly hadn't celebrated in here. Sam opened the envelope and read the first line.

Our First Kiss.

Ohhh! Makes so much more sense now. Sam looked around where she was sitting. This was the very bench she'd thrown her then brand new CO down on. God, she had been so embarrassed after that incident. Mortified even. Of course, now Sam could look back on it with different eyes. On one of the weekends that Jack had been able to come back to Colorado, Sam had casually thrown on that same tank top after he'd gotten out of the shower. It took Jack all of five seconds before he attacked her. They never even made it to the bed.

To alien viruses and sweet little tank tops.

We didn't really know each other when that happened. It was so early on. It definitely took me a while to put you back in the 'Captain' box of my brain. As the years past, I found myself wondering if that would be the only kiss we ever had. And then I realized what I was thinking and that kind of freaked me out so I forced it all into the back of my mind. I was in denial for a long time about how deep my feelings for you were. Ya know the exact moment that I was thrown head first into awareness that I loved you? That damn force shield on Apophis's ship. I was so terrified and angry with myself for not being able to get you out of there and you were yelling at me to leave and I lost it. When I looked in your eyes, it hit me like a mack truck right in the chest. Not very romantic, I know. I was so shocked that for a moment, I forgot where we were, forgot to breathe, everything. And what shocked me even more was when I saw that you felt it back clearly on your face. I know you wanted me to leave and if I was in your place, I would have done the same thing, albeit not as nicely, but I couldn't leave you. Seeing the tears in your eyes, I had never wanted to hold you more up until that moment. I love you, Sam. And now that I can say it, I'm going to make sure that you always know it.

Jack

Sam wiped the tears from her face. If there were any more surprise letters like this one, it was going to be a very weepy day. Jack was never this open about his 'feelings'. Oh, he told her how much he loved her all the time. At random moments whispered in her ear. But even now, after a year together, they were reserved with their affections in public. Years of military distance ingrained in them. Only with their closest friends were they comfortable enough to be completely coupley around. And Jack was romantic in small gestures not grand declarations. So, this, a whole paragraph answering questions she's always wondered about over the years, was overwhelming and she was so unbelievably touched. Sam wished more than anything that he could be here right now. Or she could at least call him. But he was in meetings all day. Cleaning herself up, Sam walked out of the locker room, Teal'c still dutily guarding the door.

"Thank you, Teal'c."

"It is my pleasure, Colonel Carter."

The rest of the day passed without incident. That is until 1730. Walter appeared out of thin air in the middle of her lab and handed her an envelope. She needed to ask him how he did that. Seriously, Jack had nothing on this man's sneakiness.

Time to close shop, Carter. Head home and relax. And don't hem and haw at me about how you'll be bored all alone or how exciting your latest doohickey is. Please...do it for me. And just in case your thinking of ignoring me, even though I used please, I'm calling to check in with my informant at 1745. You have fifteen minutes to get off base.

Love,

Jack

Sam hemmed and hawed at him anyway. Fifteen minutes! He could have at least given her a little warning. And she really didn't want to sit at home alone. And she was absolutely not pouting right now.

Sam drove into her driveway and sighed at her dark little lonely house. She supposed she could clean. Do dishes and laundry. Sam was so busy looking over the different notes that Jack had given her throughout the day that she almost didn't see the one attached to her door.

"Oh," she said audibly, pulling it off the door where it was taped. Not bothering to enter the house, Sam read the note right where she stood using the porch light to see.

Sam,

One year ago today, everything changed right here. When you came to D.C. and told me everything, told me you loved me; I was blown away. I'd thought you'd moved on long ago. I didn't get anything done that next day at work, just thinking about all you'd said. At some point, I don't really remember when, I realized I was just sitting there on my ass when the woman I loved had told me that she loved me back. I'd been so used to the idea that it wasn't gonna happen for us that the fact that it could ...well, it kind of overwhelmed me for a while. I'll never understand what you see in a rundown soldier like me. But once what you'd said really hit me, I knew I didn't want to live without you for another minute. I booked a flight out to Colorado and hightailed it over there as fast as I could.

Holding you again, and knowing it wasn't wrong, words can't even describe how that felt. No matter how cliche that is, it's true. I'm so glad we've gone down this road together. I love you.

Always.

Jack

Yes, she was definitely weepy again. Tissues were going to be needed this time. Sam blearily opened her front door and actually gasped at what she saw.

"Jack!"

He smirked, looking absolutely delicious in his black long sleeve shirt with the sleeves pushed up just so, but before he could say anything Sam threw her arms around him and kissed him. When she finally pulled away from him, he began to wipe at her cheeks with his thumbs.

Remarking the kiss they'd just shared, Sam stated, "I've needed to do that several times today."

Jack grinned. "I'll need a list of names to know who I need to kill tomorrow."

His grin grew as he watched confusion cover her features as she tried to replay their conversation in her mind. He loved confusing her, knowing he was one of the few people who could. And Jack liked to think he had made at art of it. Once she figured it out, Sam narrowed her eyes at him momentarily before deciding she really just wanted to kiss him again.

Jack broke them up this time, saying, "Come on. I've got dinner ready."

"You cooked?"

He smacked her butt playfully. "I can cook. You're the one who can't cook worth a darn. Come on."

He went to break their embrace and lead them to the dining room, but she stopped him with a hand on his cheek. Once their eyes locked, she said, "I love you."

He smiled, the soft smile that he almost always got when she said it.

"I know." Jack kissed her lightly. "I love you too."

He gazed over her features, memorizing the way she looked right at this moment. Pulling her into an impromptu hug, Jack buried his face into her neck, kissing where his lips met.

"I'm so glad to be home," he mumbled against her skin, both of them knowing home for him was her.

Jack led her to the backyard where she was awed to see a candlelit table awaiting them.

"Jack! How long have you been here?"

He grinned. "Not long."

"How long is not long?"

"Since about six thirty this morning."

"So, the meetings..."

"Didn't have any. I just wanted to surprise you."

Sam pulled him by their entwined fingers until her arms were around his waist. Her face dangerously close to his, she avowed, "You're going to pay for that. I was..." Well, she didn't want to admit she was decidedly weepy.

"You were what?"

Instead of answering his question, she restated, "You're going to pay."

Jack kissed her lips. "I think I'll be able to live with my punishment."

Sam mock glared at him as he pulled out her chair for her. "Awful sure of yourself there, flyboy."

A cocky grin was her answer.

"Ya know, you almost caught me this morning."

"How?"

"I was at the SGC getting all your notes around and Daniel spotted you coming and shoved me in a supply closet before you saw me.

"I'll have you know it was very uncomfortable and I hit my head," he added petulantly.

Putting on a face of mock sympathy, Sam comforted, "Well, we'll just have to punish Daniel for hiding you so you're surprise wouldn't be ruined."

"Exactly. I'm thinking a banning of his rocks is in order."

Dinner was wonderful. Jack was definitely going to have to cook more often. These little hidden talents of his kept popping up over the last year. Daniel would be shocked into his grave if he knew how many languages Jack spoke fluently. Sam found out completely by accident, too. They had been watching some movie together and one of the characters had shouted something in Russian. Jack had snorted and when Sam asked him what was so funny he told her what the character had said without realizing his slip. After that discovery, Sam had cornered him and evilly used, as Jack called them, her 'feminine wiles' to get him to tell her just how many languages he knew. Still, no matter what she did, he wouldn't speak any of them. He didn't see why she wanted to hear any of them so badly, even when she said it was insanely attractive. And then two weeks later, Jack snuck up behind her while she was doing laundry and whispered something Russian in her ear. The laundry room was another room they didn't make it out of.

Dinner finished and dishes left in the sink, which had taken some convincing from Jack that it really was okay to not put them in the dishwasher right away, Jack led Sam back outside. Turning on some slow dance music from the cd player that Sam hadn't even noticed, Jack pulled her into his arms. Sam relished being able to dance with him and be held by him. This was by far the most romantic day of her entire life. And he'd manage to pull it all off in his simple Jack O'Neill style.

"Sam," he murmured by her ear.

"Hmm?"

"I love you."

She smiled serenely.

"I love you too, Jack. Always."

He stopped dancing and kissed her forehead. Looking deeply in her eyes, he smiled and then rested his forehead against hers, his hands in her hair.

"Marry me."

It came out in a breath, both of their eyes closed and Sam was so shocked that her eyes almost popped right out of her head and she audibly gasped.

Jack leaned back, still holding the sides of her head in his hands, seeing her adorably shocked expression and that she clearly didn't know if she'd heard him right or not.

"Marry me, Sam. Nothing on this earth or in this galaxy ...or in any galaxy would make me happier. And I promise you, I'll..."

"Yes," she cut him off.

"Yes?"

Sam smiled her mega-watt smile. "Yes." Kiss. "Yes." Kiss. "Yes."

Jack grabbed around the waist and kissed her firmly, lifting her off the ground and twirling her in a move he absolutely refused to admit was cliche.