"Teal'c, that is incredibly deep." Daniel laughed at his friend and put the beer bottle to his mouth only to find that it was empty.
"Indeed." The Jaffa allowed a small smirk to play on his lips as he raised one eyebrow in reply.
"I'm outta beer," Daniel remarked and moved toward the edge of the sofa.
"I'll get you one," Sam offered and Daniel shook his head.
"It's okay, you've been through more than the rest of us. Rest. I'll check on how Jack's cremating the food, anyway."
"Okay." She smiled and it made Daniel pause in getting up. It might be the alcohol clouding his mind, but she had not smiled that happily in months. Maybe it was the hindsight knowledge that it had not been Sam for those months.
"I'm so glad you're home, Sam. Have I told you that?" The team had been home for over a week and had been put on leave until a decision was made with regards to the new commander of the SGC. Sam and Jack had spent a lot of the week alone with their family, but Daniel and Teal'c had managed to invite themselves around for dinner most evenings. Even General Hammond had popped in the night before for dinner with his wife and Grand-children. Daniel had taken the first two days to relax at home and did actually manage to forget everything related to work and aliens.
"You're drunk, Daniel."
"Am not."
"You are highly inebriated, Daniel Jackson."
Daniel stared at Sam then Teal'c, then back to Sam. "Doesn't make it any less true. I'm hungry." Ignoring his friends' sniggering, Daniel headed toward the kitchen and then out through to where Jack was manning the barbeque. Daniella was upstairs having a nap, but Cassie was outside helping Jack to cook. Daniel marveled at the teenage girl and everything she had been through in recent months. Her adopted mother had died trying to save another's life and then the whole Sam issue at the O'Neill-Carter residence. Being marooned on a planet as the only survivor of a deadly plague would make one incredibly resilient. He paused near the doorway as Jack and Cassie were in the middle of a conversation.
"You sure you're okay?" Cassie seemed to be repeating.
"Shouldn't it be me asking you that?"
"Why? You're the one who just had his brain re-written, spent time successfully in suspended animation and discovered his girlfriend was an evil spy. I'm fine, I got to see the look on Sasha's face when she saw the Stargate activate."
"She seems to be handling the news okay."
"She loves Daniella and you guys. After putting up living with you all these years, she can cope with pretty much anything."
"Funny," Jack replied. "Honestly, kid, are you okay?"
There was a long pause and Daniel now found himself unable to make his presence known because it sounded as if Cassie were struggling with answering. If he were to interrupt now, she might never answer him. Eventually, she replied, "It's Sam, isn't it? I mean, so she doesn't have certain memories. It doesn't change anything."
"She'll take time getting used to things around here. The routines that we have." There was another pause. "She hasn't really mourned your mom yet."
"That's okay, I haven't finished mourning her yet." Daniel heard movement and could only imagine that Jack was giving her a comforting hug. "Alright, that's enough sappy stuff." Jack coughed and Daniel could hear Cassie giggle. "Do you wanna go tell the others that the food is ready?"
"Jack, the food was ready ages ago. Now... Now, it's burnt to a crisp."
Daniel stepped into the doorway. "Ah, just the way I don't like it." He smiled at the others and they smiled in reply. Cassie moved past him, to pass on Jack's message and Jack held out a burger for Daniel. "Thanks."
"You need another drink?"
Daniel remembered his empty beer bottle and was not actually sure where he had left it. Maybe he had drunk too much. "Nah, I'm good. So," he paused.
"Yes, Daniel?" Jack took another mouthful from his glass of coke.
"What happens now? I mean, with SG-1 if you do take the new post."
Jack seemed to study Daniel's face for a long moment. "Even if I don't take the new post, Danny, Sam and I can't be in the same chain of command. I have no idea what role I'm going to take, but I think you can count on me not being on SG-1 anymore."
Daniel saw a sadness in his friend's eyes that he was positive was mirrored in his own. It had been Jack and him who had begun this journey, this adventure when he had been a ridiculed scientist able to crack the code and Jack had been a broken man willing death to take him. Sobering, Daniel considered how much his friend had changed, maybe even grown up. "So Sam's gonna get command? Can you give her the command if you become the boss man?"
"I'm not sure Sam wants it. She's too important for the entire project, but she wants to be at home a lot more, too."
"Fair enough, especially after the past year. We'll get someone new then?"
"Yeah, a replacement for Sam and Carpenter."
"What? Nicola? Where's Nicola going?" The voices of Sam and Cassie were approaching, but Daniel could only focus on Jack who seemed to be dodging his eyes now.
"She quit, Daniel. She told me she'd wanted to after the whole torture thing with Osiris, but she'd stuck it out."
"What changed now?" Daniel could not believe this. The team was falling apart and he had not known there were such problems.
Jack shrugged. "Requested a change of position. She's over at Area 51. Started yesterday." He was still avoiding Daniel's eyes.
"Finally, food." Daniel gave a glance at Sam, Cassie and Teal'c casually getting dinner from Jack. "What took you so long, Jack?"
"Where's the salad?" Cassie asked.
"Salad! Salad is for wimps. Have a big juicy burger instead." Jack shoved a burger onto her plate anyway and Cassie raised an eyebrow at it.
"Juicy? Uh, Jack this looks more like a lump of coal than a burger."
"Cassie's right," Sam agreed.
"The food is cooked to an adequate state."
Daniel looked around at his team, his family and noticed how they were all happy and smiling. A small smile formed on his face. Everyone was so happy, but he felt like something was missing.
SG – SG – SG
As he entered the lounge of his house, Jack could not help but smile at the sight in front of him. Fast asleep in one armchair was Cassie and across the room lying quite comfortably on the sister chair was his almost two year old daughter. She had awoken whilst Uncle Daniel and Uncle Teal'c were still around and had then refused to go back to sleep after hearing their voices. Eventually she had fallen asleep in Uncle Teal'c's arms and he had left her on the chair when he dragged a very down Daniel out of the front door. Jack believed he was the only one to notice Daniel's change in mood after he informed him about Carpenter. He honestly knew nothing else about her being granted a transfer, and he assumed that she would have told Daniel, the file had not come across his desk yet. He had perked up as the evening wore on, but it had been clear to Jack that he was not right. Jack dismissed those worries as he looked at the three most important girls in his life. Sitting on the couch was Sam and he quickly joined her, pulling her towards him. She put up no fight as she relaxed against his side and he let out a deep breath. Despite the fact that he had been home all week long and aside from a mission debrief and a barrage of health tests, Jack still felt tired. He figured that it was the past few months catching up on him, if not the past seven or eight years. There was finally a feeling of contentment within him.
Sam snuggled against his chest and he placed a gentle kiss atop her head. "What now?"
Shrugging, Jack started absently stroking her arm, drawing circles and changing the direction every few turns. "I cooked so you should clean up."
She playfully and lightly punched him in the stomach. "Cheeky git." They were both whispering in the hopes that they woke neither of their girls. "I meant with work and everything."
"We'll work it out. We have two kids to bring up now."
"Don't remind me." He felt her smile against his chest. "Before everything changed, I was a single mother of one who just happened to live with the father. I come back and, well, I've got a partner and a teenager to be mother to."
"And you wouldn't change it." A silence fell over them as Jack regretted his comment. Of course she regretted not being there the past few months. They had still barely spoken of her ordeal and he was none the wiser as to if she had been taken as a host to Osiris. Part of him did not want to ask her, to bring everything back up and he would be happy to live in blissful ignorance. The other part of him wanted to know so that he could share those experiences with her and help her through it. "I am sorry." His voice was even quieter than before. "I should have noticed something." Sometimes awful feelings came over him and sometimes they woke him up. Every night since Sam's safe arrival home Jack had awoken in the middle of the night and simply watched her. She was not physically any different to the Sam who had lain in the same bed a week earlier, except for a slightly longer hair style. He knew that he had to stop thinking along those lines and that he had to focus on the now.
"Don't. The conversation that started us, that was me. She was me. She had no motive other than pass on information and maybe, if the time came, sabotage a mission. Anubis showed me the recordings, thinking that to see what she was thinking about you and Danni, that it would hurt me. She didn't want to be around either of you, that's part of why she started working so much. It wasn't just to gain more information. She had a role to play."
"She played it well."
"Maybe you should try and speak with her. When's she being moved to Area 51?"
"When we've gained a bit more information. She has nothing to fight for because she'll never be released. She hasn't been very forthcoming." They sat in silence again until Jack said, "I understand if you want…" He had no idea what he wanted to try and say. Was he trying to give her an out, an excuse?
Swiftly Sam moved her head and kissed him firmly on the lips. He inhaled deeply, registering her scent as he stroked her cheek. She made a whimpering noise and he, too, made some incoherent noise before she pulled away. "Jack," she whispered huskily. "All I could think about during these past few months was how I wanted to be home with my family, with you. I heard all of her details about your life, your relationship, my daughter and I never gave up. I wanted to take them back from her. I've missed so much." She paused and sighed. "Hell, Jack, I missed Janet's…" Her eyes met his. "I'm not missing anything else." They both leaned toward each other and their lips met, kissing each other deeply until Cassie's voice came from across the room.
"Eww, guys, get a room."
SG – SG – SG
The End.
A/N: There is a sequel, and the final chapter of More Than Friends: Part 1, shows Nicola leaving the SGC as was mentioned by Jack to Daniel. The sequel will run parallel to More Than Friends: Part 2.
A/N: As I said on an earlier chapter, I've revealed the clone and Zatarc, anything left? Oh, yeah a few odd scenes from Sasha in More Than You. Hmmm, what could she be up to? For now, consider this a happy ending!