The yelling had stopped. Jack O'Neill stood in Sam's lab, completely spent. He couldn't remember a time when he had been this angry about something completely out of his control. Something work-related, at any rate. He was a soldier first. Orders were meant to be followed, and he had never had to like them to do his duty. But losing Sam? It was inconceivable.
"She was right, you know," Sam said gently into the silence. Her CO glared back at her.
"So you're saying I should just forget what's best for the SGC and let you go so I can have you for myself?," he growled incredulously. Sam shook her head patiently, trying to repress the smile threatening to spread unashamedly across her face.
"No Sir," she replied, the hint of her repressed smile lingering dangerously in her voice. "I'm saying I have my orders, as do you, and for once, they don't conflict with anything else we might want."
"This program needs you, Sam," he said with conviction.
"And it will still have me," Sam replied pointedly. "The orders state that I'm to report to Area 51 as the Head of Stargate Research," she reminded him, placing special emphasis on the Stargate portion of her new title. "I'll still be watching your six, Sir," she added with a daring flash of that irrepressible smile. "I'll just be doing it from this side of the gate, for a change."
O'Neill considered that a moment. "But from Nevada?," he asked.
Sam rolled her eyes. "Nevada isn't exactly the other side of the galaxy, Sir. It isn't even the other side of the country. If you really miss me that badly, I'll only be a few hours' drive away."
He eyed her doubtfully. "I'd still feel safer if you were just down the hall," he replied at last, a hint of his usual humour shining through. Sam grinned back.
"You could always requisition the transfer of Area 51 into CheyenneMountain," she observed wryly.
"Carter, are you mocking me?," he asked, eyeing her suspiciously.
"Never, Sir," she replied unconvincingly. O'Neill shifted uncomfortably. He had the distinct impression that Colonel Samantha Carter was laughing at him under those beautiful blue eyes of hers. More disconcertingly still, he found that he rather liked it. At least she wasn't looking at him as if he had completely lost his mind for his earlier flash of temper. The laughter was much more reassuring than the open hostility he usually received from Daniel when arguing about transfers.
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?," he asked at last, frowning slightly.
"Well, Sir, it was bound to happen eventually," she replied with a little shrug.
"What, me flying off the handle?"
"No," she replied, grinning. "SG-1 breaking apart. We've had eight years together, Sir. That's almost unheard of for a military assignment, and you know it."
"And you're ok with this?"
Sam frowned at the question. Finally she said, "It won't be easy leaving you, Teal'c and Daniel behind, after everything we've been through together. But honestly, Sir, I can't say I'm entirely unhappy about the change either." O'Neill's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Don't get me wrong," she added quickly, "I love my job at the SGC, and I wouldn't trade these past eight years for anything. But Sir, part of the reason I couldn't make things work out with Pete in the end was this job." Again, surprise registered on O'Neill's face, and Sam pressed on. "He bought us a house, Sir, with a fenced yard and everything. And he kept talking about all the dogs and kids we'd have running around someday, and that's when I realized that it could never happen. This job, Sir, what we do everyday...you can't have a normal family life while out saving the planet all the time. It would just be too much."
O'Neill stared at her, dumbfounded. "So, you are glad to be leaving?," he prodded cautiously, not sure he really wanted to hear the confirmation.
"In a way, Sir, yes."
"Oh," he replied dully, rocking back on his heals. "Well, in that case, I guess I should sign off on your transfer and let you get packing."
"Sir," she said quickly, stopping him dead in his tracks as he reached for the handle of her lab door. "I'm not running back to Pete the second this is all over," she said, gesturing to the environment around her.
"That's really none of my business, Carter," he replied evenly, still facing the door.
"I thought you might like to know anyway," she said with a shrug, turning back to her work as her CO silently slipped from the room.
