Here's the next chapter, I hope that you like it.
The next few weeks were pretty boring by SGC standards. SG1 went on a few missions but thankfully none of them turned too nasty. They'd had a few problems with locals, on one planet they'd taken exception to Daniel's constant questioning and they'd had to beat a hasty retreat through the stargate, although they had gone back to the next day once they'd apologised and explained why Daniel was asking so much about their past.
On another planet Sam had gotten into a little trouble with a few men who didn't know what no meant. Sam, with the help of Jack, had ended up beating them up pretty badly after they'd tried to sneak into Sam's tent, thinking she'd slept alone. Even with the mess they'd made, the other villagers, especially the Elders, hadn't been opposed to opening trade negotiations with Earth, although they had requested a new team with only male team members so that the same thing that had happened to Sam wouldn't happen again.
Sam had been a little shaken by what had happened and had been wary on the next mission but Jack, Daniel and Teal'c had managed to reassure her and their next mission had gone off without a hitch.
Jack, Sam and Hammond hadn't told Teal'c and Daniel about the promotion, although Sam had wanted to, but the two of them had known something was up, they knew Jack and Sam too well to not notice.
Teal'c hadn't asked about it, knowing that they would tell him when they were ready. Daniel though didn't have that much restraint and he had tried to pester it out of them, and had even managed to start Janet on it, although to a much lesser degree, but Jack and Sam had still refused to tell either of them. Jack had given his word that he wouldn't tell anyone in the mountain about what was going on until closer to the time and, his family and Jacob didn't count because they weren't actually part of the mountain, Jacob only was to a certain degree and he wasn't around at the moment, and he fully intended to keep his word.
Aside from the missions, both the good and the slightly pear shaped ones; life had been pretty much the same. Janet and Daniel were going strong, both enjoying being together. Cassie was also enjoying their new relationship. Daniel was around at Janet's a lot more and was seeing a lot more of the alien child. While he wasn't Jack or Sam, Cassie still loved him, and loved being able to spend the extra time with him.
Jack and Sam also enjoyed their time together. While they'd gotten used to be together at work in the months before their wedding, being at work as husband and wife was still taking a little getting used to.
While they weren't meant to be doing anything at work they couldn't help but steal the occasional kiss from time to time. It felt natural, the stolen glances turning to stolen kisses and stolen glances, although the glances now were more heated than they had been before. They did mostly keep it together when they were around other people but once they were locked away in Sam's lab, Jack was still doing most of his work in there when Sam wasn't too busy, they were nearly always touching or kissing in some way.
Off world they were the same. Daniel was forever saying that he wanted the honey moon period to be over already because they were soppy but the two of them would just roll their eyes, or throw something at him if there was something suitable close by, and tell him to get over it.
The two of them didn't even think of it as their honeymoon period, to them it was just the natural progression of their relationship.
Maybe the want to touch or kiss would lessen over time but neither of them was entirely certain of that, and neither cared if it wasn't going to either.
Jack also spent a lot of time with Hammond in those six weeks, learning what it was that he was going to have to do. He did know roughly what it was going to entail but Hammond wanted to run him through everything, so that nothing fell through the cracks, and so that Jack didn't have to deal with the input and suggestions from the IOA and other interested parties because everything wasn't running as smoothly as it had been before.
Jack and Hammond both knew that things were going to change; Jack was very different to Hammond, in personality and demeanour, and in the way that he ran things, but if they could keep things looking similar on the surface then hopefully Jack would be able to get used to his new position without having to deal with the constant input, which wouldn't always be helpful, from those outside the mountain.
Hammond also talked Jack through dealing with the bureaucracy that came with the job. While Jack may not have liked dealing with that sort of thing he did have some ideas, and Hammond gave him pointers on how to deal with the stress that it could elicit.
"Make sure that if you do get annoyed you don't let it show," he explained to Jack, "You don't want to give someone more ammo against you."
Jack had nodded in understanding. It made perfect sense to him now that he thought about it.
Hammond had also given him other tidbits and things that he had learnt in his time in command of the SGC.
The main thing was that he had to deal with each incident as it happened, there was no point wondering what was going to happen in the future, or worry about what had happened in the past and if there had been anyway they could have changed it. He also said that while Jack shouldn't jump to conclusions about a race he should always trust what his gut said, especially if his gut said something was up, which was a good thing to point out as Jack tended to jump to conclusions quickly and it was usually a hell of a job to get him to change that.
Hammond reminded him never to take anything on face value, not that Jack really needed to be reminded of that, but Hammond said it none the less. Just because something looked easy, or looked like a good deal, or looked harmless, at first glance, it didn't necessarily mean that it was actually going to be that way.
Sam had also been there for him, calming him down and reassuring him when he had a moment of doubt about whether or not he could do this job. Sam had had to sit him down twice, once in the SGC itself after one of his talks with Hammond, and once late at night when he's woken her up with his tossing and turning in the bed, and tell him, in no uncertain terms, that he could do the job and he could do it well, and that there was no point in worrying because it was just making the two of them cranky.