Life After the SGC

Disclaimer: Nope, they're not mine; I'm just playing with them

A/N: The End of the Band was supposed to be a one shot deal, but someone asked about further stories from everyone's POV to see what they thougth about the ending of SGC. I don't think this is quite what she meant. For once the SGC hasn't ended in my little universe and I'm not sure if this is really a POV story. But she got it into my head to write some else and this is what came out. It won't be a one shot because now that I've thought about it, I have more to say about what's going on in the life of the former SG1. But I think this is a good place to start. Please let me know what you think. And thank you to all of you who've bothered to review my stories. -- Ok, so it's been a long time and I'm very sorry about it, I'm back and this time I'll finish it. I already have three chapters done and working on the last two. I've also taken the opportunity to finally have this story betaed. Thanks to Pup for all her hard work and let me know what you think!

Chapter 1: Honey, I'm Home!

"Honey, I'm home." Major General Jack O'Neill couldn't resist saying (anymore than he could resist the accompanying smirk) as he entered the Alexandria home he shared with his wife, Colonel Samantha Carter also known as Sam O'Neill.

It had been five months since the last three remaining members of the original SG1 had gone their separate ways; five months since Sam had been promoted to full colonel and five months since she moved to the DC area with Jack. In other words, it had been five months of pure, unadulterated bliss in the life of Jack O'Neill. He never got tired of using the old cliché whenever he got home to Sam and she always greeted him and it with a smirk as wide as his own. Well, always except today, as she was nowhere to be seen. Jack closed the door behind him and set down his suitcase on the floor and his hat on the hallway table.

"Sam?" He called, as he walked further into the house to look for her, knowing she was home because her car was parked in the driveway. Though they both worked at the Pentagon, their workload was so heavy and their schedule so unpredictable that they rarely got to come home together.

They did have the luxury of driving to work together but after a week of one or the other having to wait for the other to finish for the day, they decided that it might be best if Sam took her car home and Jack used the car and driver assigned to him. Working in the same building also allowed them to have lunch together at least two times a week. It was not the same as being on the same team or working in the same, relatively small base but after the last two years of living across the country from each other, it was heaven.

"Sam?" He called out again, as he crossed the living room towards the kitchen, unbuttoning his jacket and loosening his tie. He looked into the kitchen but found nothing there. He continued towards the bedroom but heard the toilet flush and detoured towards the downstairs bathroom. He reached the door just as Sam came out. "Hey," he said as he leaned in to kiss her forehead. "You ok?"

"Yeah," Sam answered with a wan smile. "I shouldn't have had the seafood at lunch, that's all."

Jack cupped her neck and ran his thumb across her cheek as he offered, "You want some ginger ale, or maybe some weak tea?"

She closed her eyes for a few seconds, as she leaned her face into his hand. "Um, a ginger ale sounds good." She answered.

Jack nodded and said, "Ok, go get comfortable in the living room and I'll get you one." He moved his arm across her shoulders, as he pulled her into a hug and led her to the living room. After he settled her on the couch, he went to the kitchen and got a bottle of ginger ale from the refrigerator. "Here you go," he said, as he came back. "Drink up and I'll be back after I change out of this uniform."

Sam just nodded and took a long swallow of the cool drink. She then sighed deeply and leaned her head back on the back of the couch, as she brought the bottle to rest on her thigh. She relaxed deeper into the couch as the nausea seemed to recede a little. Her stomach still seemed a bit unsettled and she brought a hand to rub it even as she grimaced at the uncomfortable feeling. She decided right then to forgo any seafood dish for the foreseeable future.

Jack, whose many decades in the military had taught him to change into and out of his uniform in less than two minutes, came back into the living room to see the grimace. He walked towards the couch even as he noted that this was a whole new side of Sam.

For most of the time he'd known her, he had never heard so much as a peep out of her in complaint. Of course, for most of those years she had been his strong, loyal and capable 2IC. Then when they had finally gotten together, they'd had so little time together that she had chosen to not mar it by complaining. But it seemed she had decided that, since they were now living together, it was ok for him to see this more vulnerable, softer, whining part of her personality.

It had come as a complete surprise at first; but now he'd found that, as much as he admired the professional, tough as nails, nothing is impossible aspect of her, he absolutely adored this more feminine, somewhat bitchy and weaker side of her. (And yes, he knew that if she ever found that out she'd kick him all the way from here to Chulak.) Call him a primitive, chauvinistic pig but knowing that she has a softer side that he and only he got to see, made the reality of them all that sweeter.

"You feeling any better?" He asked, as he sat next to her and turned sideways to put an elbow on the back of the couch and rest his head on his raised hand.

"Yes, thank you," She answered, as she turned her head to look up at him, without moving any other part of her body. She was finally comfortable.

"I'm glad." He said with a tender smile. "You've been home long?"

"No, not really," She answered, as she shook her head. "About half an hour."

"You ok to talk about dinner?" He asked after a minute's hesitation, not sure whether it was a good idea but hungry enough to risk it.

She took a few seconds to think about it and then nodded again before saying, "Yes, how about Italian?"

"Italian sounds good," he responded. "Anything in particular?"

"Yeah, how about spaghetti and meatballs?" She asked and then before he could say anything else, she added, "No, fettuccini alfredo . . . with grilled chicken . . . and tiramisu for dessert." She nodded, to show she was sure of her choice, and then added firmly, "Oh, and garlic bread, lots and lots of garlic bread." Jack looked at her like she'd lost her mind and she asked, "What?"

"Ah, forgive me for pointing out the obvious but haven't you just been sick as a dog? Shouldn't you have something more . . . Oh, I don't know, simpler?"

"Oh, no. I'm fine now," she assured him. "Besides, I just got rid out of whatever it was that was making me sick so I can eat whatever I feel like."

Jack wasn't sure she was making sense, but far be it from him to keep a hungry Sam away from what she wanted. He'd made that mistake a few years back and it was not something he was likely to ever do again. Plus, she was a grown up and if she thought she was ok to eat such a heavy meal, who was he to argue?

He got up to get the menu and phone number of the nearest Italian place and came back five minutes later. "The food should be here in about forty minutes."

"Good," Sam said, as she continued to look for something good on TV, she'd turned it on while he was out of the room.

"So," she asked, as he once again sat down next to her, "how was work?" This time, though, he put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him. They both sighed as they settled into their favorite position: his arm around her shoulder and her head on his. He then put his feet on the coffee table as she turned her body so that she could bring hers up on the couch.

"Oh, you know, same old, same old." he answered, as he started to play with the ends of her hair and took a swallow of the beer he'd brought from the kitchen. "Had a meeting with the Chiefs," forgetting that for all intents and purposes, he was now part of that group, "a couple of phone calls from different ambassadors, a conference call with the President, went over the proposed budget for Area 51." He paused for another swallow and then added, "Oh, I also had a meeting with Paul."

"Paul Davis?" Sam asked, with more interest than she'd shown to the mention of all the other meetings and phone calls.

"Yeah," Jack answered, as he focused on the channel Sam seemed to have settled on. He hoped she wouldn't stay there long; he really was not in the mood for a chick flick.

"How is he?" She asked, as she changed the channel yet again; she knew the movie was something he wouldn't want to watch. Besides she'd seen it already and it wasn't that good.

"Ok, says hello. He wanted to know if we'd be interested in maybe going out with him and his fiancé sometime next week." He added matter of factly.

"Fiancé?" Sam asked, as she pulled back a bit and sat up to look him in the eye. "I didn't

know he was engaged." She paused for a minute before saying, "I didn't even know he was seeing someone seriously."

"Well, apparently the engagement is a fairly recent event. He sort of wants to go out to celebrate it."

"And he wants to do that with us?" Sam asked surprised. "That's sweet," she added, as she settled back down.

"Um, I don't know if sweet is the word I'd use. But it seems that the fiancé is someone not associated with the program and has been bugging him to meet some of his friends from work. Most of the other guys he works with are either single and on the prowl . . ."

"So not good for a dinner with the fiancé," Sam concluded.

"No, not at all." Jack agreed. "Or they're all much older than him and have been married for a long time. But us, on the other hand . . ."

"Are relatively newly married and much closer to his age," Sam finished the thought. She thought for a minute and then she mused, "Well, I could think of worse ways of spending an evening. I've always liked Paul and it'll be nice to have a couple friends to go out with sometime."

It was Jack's turn to nod. "Yeah, that's what I thought. So, I told him there shouldn't be a problem and that we'd get back to him on when it'd be a good day."

"Ok, I'll call him tomorrow and suggest Saturday?" At his nod of confirmation, she added, "And maybe I'll get more info on this fiancé."

Jack had to smile at the evidence of her curiosity. He knew she'd been missing someone to share gossip with now that Daniel was so far away. Speaking of which, "I heard from Daniel and Teal'c today."

Sam turned up her head to look at him and said, "Really? What'd they have to say?"

He shook his head and said, "Dunno. I received the transmission as I was leaving for the day. I just downloaded it and brought it home."

Sam jumped up from his arms and was tugging on his hand less than five seconds later, "What are you waiting for? Let's go see it."

"Alright, alright," Jack said, with a laugh, as he got up. She always acted like a kid the night before Christmas when they received a message from Danny and T. "You go get the laptop and I'll get the CD."

It was easier to play the CD on Sam's laptop, which had a pretty big screen, than to transfer the contents onto a DVD and watch it on the TV. Sam nodded and went to den to retrieve the laptop while Jack went to get the CD from his suitcase.

"Isn't it a bit early?" She asked, as she came back into the living room.

"No," Jack answered, as he sat next to her and handed her the CD. "It's right on time."

"I can't believe I was so busy I forgot all about it," she murmured, as she inserted the CD into the computer. "Were you able to send our message?" She asked in a louder voice; they had gotten used to recording a message as soon as they'd heard the one the guys sent. That way it was fresh in their minds and they could respond to anything that needing responding.

Of course, they also added to the original message several times, whenever something important, funny, sad, big, or irrelevant happened. Danny and T had been their best friends for over ten years; they'd been their confidants, sounding boards and conscience through all the good and bad times.

That kind of bond did not break easily – regardless of the distance between the participants. Heck, once Jack moved to DC, the volume of phone calls between Jack and Danny and T had been as high as the volume between Sam and Jack – and for a good chunk of that time Jack and Sam had been newlyweds!

As close as Jack and Sam were, no one could take the place of Danny and T – especially since they were the only ones that Sam and Jack felt truly comfortable talking about the other one with. So, the only thing that had made the boys' move to another galaxy half-way bearable was the weekly exchange of messages – all of which ran several hours long and allowed the group of friends to feel like they were communicating daily since it usually took a few days before they finished viewing them.

It wasn't the same as being together, but it seemed to be working quite well. And both Sam and Jack would have been loathed to miss an opportunity to send their message because they knew how Danny and T would have felt if they'd received nothing from them.

"Yes," Jack nodded. "Walter contacted me a few minutes before the Atlantis crew was due to report in to see if we if had a message to send." That was one of the perks of being a General and in charge of all things 'Gate related: he was informed of anything related to the Atlantis expedition and since everyone knew how close the O'Neills were to Danny and T, he was always reminded when they were due to call in.

"Good old Walter," Sam commented.

"Yeah," Jack said and then half-jokingly added, "I'm kind of thinking he might need a raise."

Sam smiled, as they scooted back onto the couch and once again got comfortable, but she well knew that the SGC wouldn't run half as smoothly if it weren't for the quiet officer.

--

A few hours later, after devouring their dinner and watching a quarter of the message from their friends – which had been full of detailed information about everything he'd discovered in the last week from Daniel, short and to the point comments from Teal'c and the frequent risqué interruptions from Vala – Jack and Sam turned in.

Just as Jack was drifting into sleep, he felt Sam, who had just settled down, sit up abruptly and almost leap from the bed in her haste for the bathroom. He shook his head and rubbed his face with a groan. He then got up and went to do his duty as a husband, comforting his ailing wife. Still, he couldn't help murmuring under his breath, 'shouldn't have had such a heavy dinner,' as he made his way to the bathroom.