Chapter 6: The First Morning

A/N: A little shortie bit! To the anonymous reviewer (can't PM to reply, sorry!) who had some questions regarding the outfit choices that Sam and Jack made- not every wedding has a formal dress code :) My own, for example! Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback!

Enjoy!

Jack tried to sleep, he really did. He had pretended he was already out cold when he'd heard the shower turn off and Carter moving around as she toweled off and changed. He tried really hard not to imagine what those actions might look like, but other parts of him had imaginations of their own and Jack was immediately grateful that he was lying on his side.

He'd heard the door open and felt a damp rush of humidity as some steam escaped with Sam. He caught a subtle whiff of whatever shampoo and body wash she had used and Jack decided he really liked it. On base, they all used the same unscented stuff – this was to prevent enemies from being able to detect their presence by smell. Jack mildly wondered if there was flexibility in that rule – whatever Sam had used was light and almost coconutty and Jack had to fight really really hard to pretend to be asleep.

He heard her yawn as she shuffled over to her side of the king bed, hitting the lights as she went, and plunged the room into coconut scented darkness. He felt the bed shift ever so slightly as she pulled back the comforter and laid down, taking care not to move too much lest she wake the pretend-asleep man next to her.

Of course, she didn't know that he was pretending. Or, at least, he was pretty sure she didn't know.

It took about ten minutes, but her breathing slowed and eventually evened out into sleep. Jack listened for another minute or so before letting out a shaky breath that he felt like he'd been holding since Hammond had told him about the regs. Five years of angst, pain, and hope and it all came down to tomorrow. He was nervous – really nervous. But he was also excited. If this happened the way he thought it might, then those five years will all have been worth it.

Holding that thought close, Jack finally let himself drop into the deepest sleep he'd had in a long time. Whatever happened tomorrow, he wouldn't be able to blame it on being tired, that was for sure.

Morning came slowly and with the crisp, pale sunlight that only autumn could bring. Jack blinked sleepily, mind muzzily piecing together where he was and why he was there – hotel, DC, wedding, Carter, right. Brow furrowing as he yawned and glanced around, he secretly hoped that maybe Carter had scooched closer to him during the night.

No such luck, his major was still tucked squarely into her half of the bed, but she had rolled over so that now she was facing towards him. Her face was pressed deep into the pillow, he could really only see the top of her blonde head and the smallest expanse of her cheekbone, and the comforter was pulled all the way up into a cozy cocoon.

Jack allowed himself a minute to marvel at how differently she slept now versus when they were offworld. He was used to seeing her in their tent, sleeping bag unzipped and only covering her up to the waist always ensuring that her arms had free range of movement. Offworld, she slept on her back, her boots on, and her chest rising and falling with shallow breaths – half asleep, half awake.

A small shiver took hold of Jack's chest as he looked back at her now, completely relaxed and just about as dead to the world as you can get without being actually, you know, dead.

And he would know.

He wasn't entirely sure what this extremely grateful and incredibly tender feeling building inside of him was, but he didn't shove it away. Nor did he really analyze it further. If he had to take a guess, he'd say it was because in order to sleep like that, Sam must really feel like she could let her guard down around him and still be entirely safe. But that was just a guess. It was equally possible that she was just very tired.

Knowing that eventually she would begin to stir, Jack rolled onto his back and stifled another yawn. Lifting his wrist, he checked his watch and frowned at the little numbers that flashed at him – no way could it be almost 9 in the morning? He couldn't remember the last time he'd slept in so late. Ususally, he was up around 7 when he was on Earth.

"Morning." Her muffled voice cut through his momentary surprise and he turned his head again to look at her. Sleepy blue eyes met his and he saw them crinkle just the slightest which, he realized, meant she was smiling.

He was in bed with a just-woken-up Sam Carter and she was smiling at him.

Jack was pretty sure he was having a heart attack – could you die from happiness?

"Morning." Proud that his voice was steady, if not a little rough from sleep, he rolled onto his side to face her, propping his head up in his hand. "Do you know we slept till 9?"

Sam squeezed her eyes shut briefly as she yawned, burrowing a little further into her blanket burrito. "Hm." It wasn't really an answer, but Sam found that she wasn't really capable of coherent thought when her tousled and sleepy colonel looked at her like that – his walls completely down, his face open and expression unguarded. Is this how they could have been the whole time?

Regret, hot and suffocating, filled her chest and spread through every inch of her with each beat of her heart and before she knew it tears were pushing thickly against the backs of her eyes. Faking another yawn to be able to explain away her watering eyes, Sam rolled away from Jack and sat up under the guise of stretching the sleep away.

Concern lanced through Jack – had he read her expression correctly just now? After 5 years, he liked to think he was pretty good at reading his second in command…it was after all a crucial element to their effective leadership in the field. If he didn't know better, he'd say that for a second there Sam had looked incredibly pained and upset. But then she had yawned and turned away and he hadn't been able to see her face again before she'd stood up and headed for the bathroom.

He heard the sink turn on as he collapsed back on the pillow. That tender feeling was quickly being replaced by nerves as he realized there were only a couple of hours left before he would face possibly the most pivotal moment of his life. Awesome.

"Carter, hurry up in there, I've gotta pee." There, now that had almost sounded normal.

TBC