A/N: This story is winding down, but there's still a few more things I have to take care of before it ends: this chapter is the beginning of that. I also answer a number of questions in this chapter you guys have been asking.
"Yes, Mr. President. I'll tell them," Hammond said into the red phone. He'd been as surprised as anyone when Kinsey had won the election for president four years before, but he wouldn't be surprised if he won the re-election later this year. The man had been a good friend to the Stargate Program after he realized just exactly what they were dealing with (of course this only came after Sam was taken over by Jolinar and he saw the video tapes of it).
"Yes, sir. Goodbye, Mr. President." Hammond chuckled as he hung up the phone. Robert Kinsey really was a romantic at heart. He pressed the intercom button that connected him with Walter, "Walter, get me SG-1 and Samantha Carter in here ASAP."
"Yes, sir," came the voice on the other end.
A few minutes later the five people in question were cramped into Hammond's office. He noticed with some satisfaction that Samantha and Jack were standing rather close together. "Well, it seems that the five of you have a mission to complete."
Sam looked at him like he was crazy, "What?"
"President Kinsey wants all five of you to represent the SGC at his birthday Black and White next week. I have agreed. You all leave in seven days."
Sam started to protest, "What about.."
"I will be watching your three for you, Sam. Well, me and Alyssa, she's really anxious to meet them."
Sam rolled her eyes, "Uncle George, when are you going to marry that poor woman and put her out of her misery?"
Ferretti and Daniel looked at Sam like she had grown two heads: Uncle George?
Hammond chuckled, "In February, actually. Dismissed."
Everyone filed out of the office, all of them confused why they were going to the ball. Jack lingered a few seconds after Sam, wanting to ask Hammond a question.
The general knew what Jack was going to ask and beat him to the punch, "It's all taken care of, son. He knows what to do and has hired a…rather suitable person for the occasion. Don't worry about it, Jack."
"Thank you, sir."
Sam stopped by the infirmary to say hi to Janet before going to pick up Sarai at school and the twins at their daycare.
"Do you have a dress?" Janet asked curiously.
Sam shook her head, "All the clothes I had before Jolinar either don't fit me anymore or are completely out of date. I haven't had the time or the chance to go shopping for formals yet."
Janet thought for a moment before commenting, "Do you know what dress size you are?"
"Of course, I'm an eight."
Janet raised her eyebrows, "You don't look like it. I would have pegged you for a four."
Sam grinned at her, "It's my hips, I swear! So, what were you thinking."
"Well, if you want we can go shopping right now online. Have them send the dress overnight and if it doesn't fit right I can help you fix it."
"You sew?"
"I had to learn when Cassie would bring home clothes that were a little bit off in extreme ways. What do you think?"
"Sounds good. Let's go."
Janet pulled up a web browser and typed in the website she frequented for formal wear for Cassie and herself. "What style were you thinking of getting?"
Sam shrugged, "Probably an A-line or a sheath dress."
The petite doctor grimaced at her choices, "Pull up a chair, we'll browse all of them."
The warrior groaned but did as she was told. Fifteen minutes later, Sam spotted a dress she would definitely not have considered trying on in the store. It was a mermaid style with a satin black base coloring and white accents. There were a few petticoats showing beneath the black flare at the bottom, and a thin white ribbon accenting the hips and lower curves of the wearer.
"That one," Sam said definitively. "I want that one. Don't care about the price, just get me that dress."
Janet grinned at Sam then proceeded to order it, "Did Colonel O'Neill give you back your credit cards?"
"Yeah, here, do you want MasterCard or Visa?"
"Visa, it's safer online." A few seconds later Janet closed the browser and looked at Sam with a grin, "Tomorrow your dress should be delivered to the post office. Just pick it up on the way home."
"Excellent."
Sarai waited patently in the living room while Sam tried on the new dress. The little girl kept on catching the petite doctor, who was sitting next to her, staring at her forehead. Finally, the girl couldn't take it anymore.
"What is it?"
Janet was not phased that the girl Jaffa child knew she was looking – she hadn't exactly been subtle. "Why don't you have the mark on your forehead?"
Sarai reached up and rubbed her smooth skin, "You get the mark on your ninth year. Ishta uses the marks to symbolize who's started their serious training to become a warrior among the Hak'tyl."
Before Janet could respond they heard, "Now don't you guys laugh at me. I'm coming out," Sam said authoritatively.
"You look like a princess," Sarai said. It was the first thing that came to her mind, and it was so true. Anyone who looked at Sam would think that the dress had been made for her to wear. She was stunning.
"Jack's going to flip when he sees you," Janet said, causing Sam to blush. "Are you going to show it to him before the trip?"
Sam shook her head with a mischievous grin, "I want him to sweat a little, first."
"So, the Tok'ra have been working on something to help the Jaffa," Jacob told Hammond and SG-1 when he stopped by Earth two days before SG-1 and Sam was scheduled to leave for Washington. He pulled a vial out of his tunic and showed it to Hammond.
Daniel looked at it curiously, "Isn't that Tretonin?"
"What?" Jack asked.
"The drug the Pangarans offered us last year," Teal'c supplied.
"Whoa! That's ground Goa'uld!" Jack said, backing away from the table slightly.
"This is slightly different," Jacob said. "We've been refining it to work on the Jaffa physiology. This is the result. The last thing to do is test it on someone."
"I will undertake this endeavor," Teal'c answered the unasked question. "If it will free the Jaffa from reliance on a symbiote it is worth the risk of my life."
"That's what we were hoping you would say," Jacob said.
A/N: HEHE! Please review! Tell me what you think! You all know how much I value your reviews.