Aloha!

Well, for once, this late chapter wasn't my fault! (Seriously!) Jessie refused to let me post it 'cause she didn't like what we had and then she decided that it's 'not bad'. What a pal.

A note from Jessie:

"Hi people! Thank you so much for your kind reviews! I always get excited when Morgann tells me we have a new one! I wrote the majority of this chapter (as might be evident) and while popular opinion is is that it is too 'mushy' (looks pointedly at Morgann), I liked it and didn't want to rewrite it. Any out-of-characterness is my fault. I hope you guys enjoy it and thank you very much for reading this!"

If you check the reviews for chapter nine, a reviewer named 'palmer89' came up with a different scenario for this story. I didn't post it here 'cause it's rather lengthy, but it's funny. (-:

We hope you like it!

In movies, when there is a dramatic moment, time passes in slow motion.

That's what it felt like to Jack O'Neill. In the few moments that passed, he made a decision.

"'Cause," he said huskily, "then I couldn't do this."

Slowly, he cupped her face and kissed her.

Sam yielded for a few seconds… then broke away. "Sir," she said raggedly, moistening her lips as she spoke, "we-we can't."

Mentally he made a note that this was the first time he had kissed Carter without her being drugged… or without her knowledge. He didn't plan for it to be the last. "Why not?"

"Regulations-" was all she got out before he kissed her again. She stepped back, slightly trembling. "Sir-"

"I'll quit."

Her eyes widened. "No-"

"Let's not pretend this is some big heroic sacrifice." Jack fingered a folder lying on his desk, not quite meeting her eyes. "I'll retire, Hayes will offer me command as a civilian… so, nothing'll change except I'll become Jack O'Neill instead of General O'Neill." He shrugged. "Works for me."

Sam swallowed hard. Her indecision was clearly written across her face, as well as her skeptism. "You… you'd resign, sir?"

He nodded. "I would."

"Why?" she whispered.

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Does it really matter?"

"Yes."

"Carter-"

"I need you to say it, sir."

Jack sucked in a breath. "Because," he started after a second, "Carter, you're worth it."

The look in his eyes almost made her agree until her eyes fell upon his desk plate. Brigadier General Jack O'Neill. He had worked hard for that. He loved the Air Force and despite his earlier objection, it would be different.

"Don't, sir," she objected quietly, "you can't."

"It's not your choice," he said bluntly.

"Sir, you-"

"Damn it, Carter!" He interrupted, exasperated. "I love you! Let it go, for cryin' out loud!" He continued to rant until a small laugh made him look at her. Carter stood there, a wide smile on her face.

"What?" he demanded.

Sam walked towards him, her eyes never leaving his. "Say that again," she whispered.

Jack was momentarily thrown. "What?"

"Say that again," she repeated.

He stared at her. "Carter, what the hell-"

Sam laughed again; she stopped directly in front of him. "Jack," she whispered, "say it."

Jack mentally rummaged through what he had said. "I… I… Damn it, Carter?"

Sam grinned. "After that."

His eyes widened with comprehension. Apprehension filled his face as he slowly murmured, "The… 'I love you' bit?"

She nodded.

He cleared his throat. "Carter…" the words were stuck for a second. "I love you.'

Carter gave a weary sort of cross between a laugh and a sigh. "Jack," she said quietly, "why didn't you just say that to begin with?"

And she kissed him.

They weren't quite sure how long they were there standing there in each other's arms when the door was flew open and an excited figure hurried in, waving a fax.

"Jack! You know the tablet SG-6 discovered on P73-6W3? These carbon-datings clearly indicate-" He stopped as he belatedly noticed his two friends in each others arms. His cheeks darkened. "Oh… you're busy…"

"Ya think?" Jack complained.

Sam, as red as Daniel was, stepped back. "We-"

"No, no," the archeologist interrupted. "I'll uh… just go…" he backed away. "So…you guys aren't mad at each other any mo-"

Jack kicked the door closed, narrowly missing hitting Daniel's face. He turned to the Colonel who was still a pretty shade of pink. "Where were we?"

"You have a meeting in five minutes, sir."

The General scowled; he strode over to the desk and hit the intercom button. "Walter-"

"You need to press the button, sir," came the loud yell from outside the door. The General looked down. The intercom was now off.

He pressed the button. "Oh, Walter," he began, doing his best to sound nonchalant, "did you hear our little chat?"

Walter was quiet a moment. "You hit the base intercom earlier, sir. Everyone heard."

"Of course they did," Jack muttered. "And… you didn't say anything?"

"I tried too sir," came the longsuffering technician's reply. "You two were yelling too loud."

Sam groaned. "Well, that's just great…" She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Sir, you realize that everyone-"

"Carter," Jack said with a grin. "Shh." And he covered her lips with his.

It was very effective way to quiet her.

He'd have to remember that.

Å


In the infirmary, quietly lying on his bed, John slowly smiled. A bittersweet victory had been won.

Jack had (finally) got the girl.

He sighed and sucked on the cherry lollipop the nurse had given him earlier.

But Carter was happy if the suspicious silence that followed Jack's startling announcement (startling to the base, not to him) was any indication.

Good. She deserved little happiness.

So could Jack, he admitted. Poor guy- he had a desk job. Plus all the other bad stuff.

But…

He sighed again and looked at the ceiling.

It still hurt to have her go.

"You did the right thing," Daniel remarked from the doorway. "I think you were the only person on the planet who could talk sense to Jack."

He wasn't surprised to see the archeologist. He had either the worst or the best timing on the planet. "Daniel." John held up a lemon pop. "Want one? One of the nurses gave me a handful."

"I'm good."

"You sure?" He dangled a green one. "Sour apple…"

With a small smile, the archeologist accepted it. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

After a few companionable minutes of silence, John spoke again. "Any particular reason you're here?"

"Yeah." The man pushed up his glasses. "I was going to do this earlier, but I got side-tracked. I uh… wanted to apologize… for abandoning you."

John groaned. "Daniel-"

"Let me finish." After John quieted, he continued. "After I descended, I… I felt lost. I couldn't remember who I was, who you were… but you stuck by me. When you became… mini Jack… I should've realized that your bravado attitude was put on, that you felt as lost as I-"

"Whoa there," John cut in. "No touchy-feely personal how-I-felt stuff." He looked at his old friend. "Daniel… I never blamed you. I probably would've done the same thing."

"No, you wouldn't." Daniel bit his lip. "You may've not wanted to deal with it, but… you would've done something."

"I'm not sure about that."

They were quiet.

"Well, this is fun…"

A smile slowly appeared on Daniel's face. "O'Malley's?"

John reached for his crutches. "Let's go grab T."

Å

Sam pushed him away and took a breath of air. Her eyes widened. "Sir-"

"Carter."

"Jack," she amended. "I-"

"Ah." He kissed her again.

"But-"

"Ah!"

"I-"

"Carter," he groaned, tilting her head back and looking into her eyes, "do you have to talk?"

"No, sir."

There was a brief moment of silence.

"Jack?"

"Yeah?" he murmured.

"My dad's in the doorway."

"Oh, crap."

Well…

I (we) hope you liked it! If you were disappointed, we're very, very sorry. (Same applies to any and all OOC.)

Thank you so much for reading! As of now, this should be the end… unless we decide to write an epilogue.

Please review!