Author's Note: Wow, what an amazing response! I'm truly blown away! Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, favourited or followed. Very much appreciated. Okay, I reckon I'll be updating this every one or two days, provided my muse can keep up a good enough pace. So here is installment two, I hope you continue to enjoy.

Stepping into the sports hall, Sam felt just a little self-conscious as she took in the room and its occupants. She could sense almost instantly that the General hadn't arrived yet and the disappointment that pooled in the pit of her stomach was not at all surprising. In fact, it was very normal, so normal that for years it barely even registered. But lately, that feeling had been jumping to the forefront of her mind when coupled with the fact that they would soon be stationed at opposite ends of the country.

Soon every room would fill her stomach with disappointment.

The slap of someone's back on the crash mat to the right shook her from her depressing thoughts. Looking over, she saw a group of five young men taking turns at throwing one another to the ground, a mix of showing off and attempting to intimidate the others in the room. She tried her best not to smirk and let her gaze pass over them. There were a few more small groups of people milling around and chatting amiably, Sam walked past them and towards a lone woman stretching. She was a little shorter than Sam, African-American with close cropped hair. It was impossible to distinguish her rank so Sam approached cautiously.

'Hi.' she said softly standing closer to her. 'Do you mind if I warm up with you?'

'Not at all.' she said in a southern accent, slowly straightening her spine to look up at the new-comer.

'Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter.' Sam said introducing herself.

'Ma'am.' the other woman said standing to attention. 'Staff Sergeant Simone Macleod.'

'At ease, please.' Sam said softly with a kind smile.

'Are you a new lecturer, Ma'am?' she asked resuming her stretching routine.

'No, I work at NORAD.' she responded, starting to stretch too.

'Oh, are you here to help take the class, Ma'am?'

'Not quite.'

'Put that mat away!' Jack barked as he wandered into the room. That was the good thing about being a General, there were so few of them he could be pretty sure that he was the highest-ranking officer in any room. Outside of Washington that is.

It wasn't just his order that set him apart. Everyone had chosen attire most suited for working out, shorts and t-shirt for the men and cropped leggings and tank tops for the few women who were present. The General however wore baggy sweatpants and a t-shirt that was a size or two too big. The combination looked oddly familiar to Sam who watched him approach, but she had trouble placing the outfit.

'Carter,' he said stepping up to them. 'Glad you could make it.'

'Yes, Sir.' Then it struck her where she'd seen those clothes before. 'Are... are those your pyjamas, Sir?'

Jack looked down at his clothes and then back at her. 'Maybe.' he said somewhat childishly. 'Right let's get started!' he said rubbing his hands together and making his way to the front of the class.

'That's Colonel Harvey?' Simone murmured.

'Ah, no. That's...'

'Gather round everyone.' He called. 'Colonel Harvey couldn't make it so I'll be taking this little hand to hand combat class this week. General Jack O'Neill, kick-ass extraordinaire.'

The room shifted audibly as he announced his rank, everyone standing to attention. It shifted again at his informal title, many unsure what to make of it. Sam just grinned knowingly.

'All right, does anyone know what Tai Chi is?' he asked.

'Sir!' one of the younger men who'd been messing about on the crash mat called raising his hand. Jack nodded to him. 'Old Chinese ladies waving their hands in the air.'

A titter of laugher went around the room, the young man was buoyed by the response, but Sam watched Jack's carefully schooled features. It was clear, to her at least, that he was anything but impressed. In fact, she'd seen that look cast in the direction of many of their enemies, often just a few hours or sometimes even minutes before their death. Jack remained stoic and still until the laughter died down. He stood like a statue until the silence started to grow uncomfortable.

'It can be that.' He said softly. 'But it is also a martial art that is incredibly diverse. There are all sorts of different disciplines including wrestling, meditation and the form I'm going to teach you today, defence training.'

'Sir?' the young man persisted, raising his hand again. Jack tipped his head in acknowledgement, this time only slightly. 'Defence, Sir? I thought this was advanced hand to hand combat?'

'It is. In basic hand to hand training you all learned how to give a punch and probably take one too, in what you thought was close combat. Trust me I say that when you get out there and into a fight you have no idea what is going on, you don't even have room to breathe because your opponent is right up in your face, in which case Tai Chi is an ideal martial art to implement.

'Yes, it is defensive. Every move you will learn here involves dodging attacks followed offensive strikes that are either designed to put some distance between you and your opponent or daze and confuse them allowing you to regroup or retreat. But it's more than that, this course is about learning to use that close combat situation to your advantage, we're going to train your body to anticipate your opponent's next moves and wait for the perfect moment to set them off balance.' He spoke with passion and enthusiasm that had the whole room entranced.

Well, almost the whole room, there were a few grumbles from the direction of the young man asking all the questions and his friends that surrounded him which drew Jack's gaze.

'But since you thought it's just ladies waving their hands about in the air,' the General said authoritatively, 'We'll start with that!'

He walked them through the beginning of something called Square Form which reminded Sam of the Karate Kata she learned as a teenager. It seemed to take a whole 5 minutes just to get everyone into the correct basic stance having to clear away habits associated with other martial arts, something she was guilty of too. When they finally started the form, all the moves were grouped in threes. He demonstrated three groups of moves, so nine in total, and then called out the count as the class attempted to the copy the form.

'The final stance here is called Seven Stars, remember this as we'll be coming back to it later.'

She catalogued her position; she was standing with her left leg slightly bent and her right foot about eight inches forward on the floor, her right hand was about a foot in front of her chest with the fingertips of her left hand resting against her right wrist.

Sam stood and turned back to the front as Jack demonstrated another cluster of moves which finished in a twisting and pushing move.

'This is called a single whip. Once everyone has this first part of Square Form down we'll work on the practical application of the single whip. Again, from the top. One, two, three...' he called over and over as they practised the form but this was halted not long after.

'All right, everyone stop! You're all moving your hips too much! You need to focus on your core. Now, we really are going to do the waving hands through the air thing. This is called moving hands through clouds and it is about as basic as it gets.' he said, adopting a basic stance with his feet and twisting his torso from side to side moving his hands up and down, so as he twisted to the right his right hand was at eye level and his left swinging low as if to block a kick and vice versa. 'When you dodge an attack, the movement comes from your core, allowing your feet to remain planted and for you keep your balance during an attack.'

The group started copying this basic form as Jack strolled up and down the ranks commenting where he felt necessary. Sam tried to stay focused, to concentrate only on her own body but she grew self-conscious as he drew closer. He slipped from her peripheral vision and silently stepped up behind her before growling directly in her ear, 'Carter.'

She startled by his proximity and stopped moving completely.

'Stop moving your hips.'

His breath on her bare shoulder sent shudders down her spine and when his hands came to rest gently on her hips, every inch of skin erupted into gooseflesh.

'Try again.' he murmured.

She moved slowly, barely able to breathe, every ounce of her striving not to move a single muscle below where his thumbs rested on her body.

'Cold, Carter?' he asked, his voice low and quiet.

'Maybe little, Sir.' she answered just as softly.

'Perhaps you should wear a shirt tomorrow.'

'Yes, Sir.'

'Better.' he murmurs stepping away.

Sam released a long slow breath, continuing to move slowly and purposefully. As her breathing and heart rate calmed, her brain allowed itself to process what just happened.

Her body had always betrayed her, as soon as he got close, there was a physical response; breath catching, goosebumps cascading over her skin and her mouth somehow going dry and filling with saliva all at once. With significantly fewer layers and direct contact, this close encounter produced a particularly strong reaction. Strong enough for him to notice, for him to comment even.

It was just a few short weeks ago that she sat side by side with him on the deck at his cabin. They had been physically close then, but it was only over the course of the short trip, as it emerged that both of their relationships had fizzled and faded, that they became closer emotionally, enjoying the camaraderie of friendship that had been missing in the past year. The recent passing of her father seemed like the only thing preventing further closeness. And yet her dad's final request had been a constant monologue in her head.

Be happy.

Don't let rules stand in your way.

You can have everything you want.

He was right. But still not wanting to break the rules she applied for a transfer to Area 51 so they would no longer be in the same chain of command and something, finally, might be able to happen. It seemed like less than a week after her transfer request had been accepted that Hammond announced his retirement and Jack was pretty much the only option for his replacement.

As General O'Neill explained this to her, and Daniel and Teal'c too, a familiar feeling of resignation filled her. Something always stood in her way when it came to him.

Happiness had never seemed so far away and yet everything she wanted was almost in reaching distance, the figure of Jack O'Neill wandering amongst strangers waving their hands in their air.

'All right.' he said interrupting her thoughts. 'Let's try Square Form from the top again. One, two, three...'