As they came to a stop near the pond's edge, Jack turned Sam so her back rested against his chest and he embraced her from behind. She let her arms rest atop of his as his chin came to rest on her shoulder.
"You OK?"
Sam smiled at his question and turned her head slightly so she could see him.
"Yeah. You?"
"Never better," he grinned before he leaned down and kissed her slowly. When they broke apart, the voices of their teammates drifted over the air and they turned to see them walking towards them.
"Whatcha got there?" Jack asked as he let go of Sam and gestured to where Daniel and Teal'c had their hands hidden behind their backs.
"Remember the 'other thing' I mentioned?"
Sam nodded, while Jack resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "It was two minutes ago, Daniel."
"Whatever," he shrugged before he moved his arm and held up a bottle of champagne.
Jack's eyebrows rose and Sam's eyes widened in surprise.
"What –"
"How did you –"
The two of them spoke at the same time and then shared a look before they turned back to Daniel.
"This isn't from us," he explained as he presented the bottle to Sam. When she took it, Daniel spared a glance at Teal'c and smiled. "General Hammond sends his regards."
Jack leaned forward at Daniel's words and flipped over the label that was tied around the neck of the bottle. He grinned at the handwritten message:
It's about time.
Congratulations! Uncle George
"He, ah, paid a visit to the SGC just before we left," Daniel said with a shrug. "A flying visit, he said; but he gave us this and said we were to bring it to the cabin – but he didn't say why, just that we would know when the time came. For what it's worth," he continued as he read the message, "I couldn't agree with him more."
"Indeed," Teal'c added with a smile as he produced four glasses from behind his back.
Sam chuckled. "Shall we?"
"We shall," Jack grinned as he took the bottle from her.
He popped open the champagne and filled the glasses.
"I think this calls for a toast," Daniel said.
He looked at the three people standing before him. People who were no longer just his teammates. They were his best friends; friends who had supported him through his grief, his injuries, his ascension, and his subsequent return to civilization.
They had been with him at his best – and worst. They knew his strengths and weaknesses, yet they had never turned their back on him or failed him, and he knew they never would.
They'd helped him to carry on after Sha're had been abducted and taken host by the Goa'uld. They had supported him when she'd died at Teal'c's hand. They'd found him when he had been captured or had gone missing. They trusted him and believed in him when no-one else would.
Even as they all prepared to go their separate ways and he was due to join the Atlantis expedition, Daniel knew Jack, Sam and Teal'c would always be there for him and waiting for him to come home. His eyes filled as he smiled at each of them in turn.
"To friends," he finally said as he held his drink in the air.
Sam glanced at the three men standing around her. They had been her teammates for the past eight years, and even with the General's promotion, she would always view him as part of SG-1.
It was the best team she had ever been assigned to over her career and the guys were the first teammates she'd had who viewed as a person, not just a woman. They looked beyond the blonde hair, blue eyes and long legs to see the real officer underneath; when Sam had doubted herself over the years, her team were there to support and encourage her in ways she didn't even realize.
They treated her as an equal which she appreciated, and while they knew she was more than capable of defending herself from an enemy attack – physical or otherwise – they were also the first to jump in and defend her because they respected her, cared for her, loved her.
Her job had given her so many opportunities and allowed her to experience things others could only dream about; it had healed her once strained relationship with her father and given her a few more years with him. If he was here right now, Sam knew he would be proud of her. She missed him but deep down she knew she'd be OK because of the other three men in her life. They were no longer just her teammates or friends – they were her family.
She lifted her glass to meet Daniel's and tried to ignore the tears that threatened to fall.
"To family," she said softly.
Teal'c stood tall as he studied each one of his friends. He thought back to their first meeting and how the three of them had stared death – their own death – in the eyes, but had refused to back down or let their fear show. Instead, as the other prisoners had ran screaming in terror, SG-1 had stepped forward to protect them from the impending firefight.
But there was something about O'Neill, when he'd pleaded for help, that had struck Teal'c. He had thought about that single moment regularly over the years and every time he realized that he believed the male Tau'ri when he said he could save those people. It was in his eyes.
As First Prime of Apophis, Teal'c had witnessed and been forced to carry out some unspeakable acts and when he'd met O'Neill's gaze across the holding cell, he saw the eyes of a man equally as haunted by the reality of war. But there was something else; an underestimated strength and determination to fight. Teal'c believed him; trusted him; and in that moment, he knew Jack was different. He knew it was worth the risk to turn against Apophis; to leave his family and everything he knew behind if it meant they could, one day, be free from the Goa'uld.
SG-1 had finally defeated the System Lords and delivered that freedom. It had taken eight years and sacrifice from them all, but they had succeeded. His lips curled upwards.
"To freedom," he stated proudly as he too lifted his glass into the air.
Jack's gaze fell on the three people standing close to him and he smiled. If someone had told him eight years ago that his best friends would be an archaeologist, a theoretical astrophysicist, and an alien, he would have laughed. In part, because eight years ago, he was still a mess. Before he'd been recalled to active duty, Charlie had died and Sara had left him. Everything worth living for in Jack's life, namely his family, had disappeared; so, he'd decided to go on that very first mission to Abydos – because he didn't care if he made it home or not. He did return home, however; he returned a different man and he had Daniel to thank for that.
Then, he was introduced to the national treasure that is Samantha Carter and it was a moment he'd never forgotten over the years; when he felt something inside him flare into life. He remembered how Sam had walked tall and proud into the Briefing Room as a young Captain, desperately eager to prove herself to a room full of male, and far more experienced, superior officers.
His initial reaction was that she was hot, but during their verbal sparring match over the table, he also admired her attitude and her cheeky challenge to arm wrestle.
His gaze landed on Sam and his smile widened as he studied her. Captain Carter was long gone, but in her place stood an even more beautiful and stronger Colonel Carter – a woman he had fallen so deeply in love with and she was about to become his wife. He resisted the urge to shake his head in disbelief.
After all this time – after the heartaches, battles and sacrifice, they had made it. They had finally been given an opportunity to be together and while it was far from conventional or ideal, they'd make it work.
Jack's attention shifted to Daniel and Teal'c. Even though they would be stationed off-world, with Daniel in an entirely different galaxy altogether, Jack already knew he would be keeping close tabs on his friends while he was in Washington.
But they weren't just his friends; they were his family. From the moment they had become a team, he had fought to keep them safe – while they had also saved his sorry ass more times than he cared to remember.
He'd been with them when they were sick or injured, brainwashed or tortured. He had watched them laugh and argue, cry and drown their sorrows. They had celebrated victories and shared their losses.
They had let him into their lives and he had, sometimes unknowingly, let them into his.
The three of them had given him a reason to live. They'd given him a second chance at life, love, and a family.
He slowly raised his drink to join the others, and the clink of glass against glass echoed softly in the otherwise quiet surroundings. He grinned as he offered up his own toast.
"To SG-1."
From the bottom of my heart, thank you to every single one of you for the kudos you've left, comments you have shared, the messages I have received, and the words of encouragement and support you have given me throughout. I am overjoyed and overwhelmed with how you have taken this fic, and by extension me, into your own hearts and enjoyed it so much. It's meant the world!
I plan to take a short break from writing to recharge and work on a couple of other projects that I have; but I will be back to complete my other WIPs and – hopefully – share some new stories. In the meantime, my #FicRecFridays will still continue on Twitter and any updates with regards to my fics will also be posted there (the link to my Twitter can be found in my bio). Thank you.
