A/N: This story is intended to be fun and semi tongue-in-cheek. When Hank Landry joined SG-1, I was not a fan…at first. This has absolutely nothing to do with the actor (I love Beau Bridges!), I just happened to dislike the idea that another General could ever replace our beloved Hammond and O'Neill so easily. While Landry did grow on me, I wrote this to give him a bit of a hard time.
Setting: SG-1, Season 10. There may be some slightly AU elements. Being cross-posted on AO3.
A big thank you to PixieKayGirl for all the excellent ideas to help bring this story together. Another big thank you to my awesome beta Julie! I re-wrote a few sections after her review (she gave me wonderful ideas), so if there are any errors, they are definitely all mine.
Chapter 1: The Secret
They married on a Tuesday. The date itself wasn't significant. It wasn't Valentine's Day or Christmas. It wasn't a day falling on 2/22 or 1/11 or any other such whimsy. It was simply a beautiful Autumn day that happened to be a Tuesday.
Statistically speaking, Tuesdays were the least wedded-on days of the week. That piece of trivia was wedged somewhere between the atomic mass of water and the equations of motion within Sam's brain and was, perhaps, why she'd agreed to the random Tuesday for her wedding. More likely, she'd chosen Tuesday because Jack had proposed on the Monday before and she had never been one to enjoy long engagements. In fact, she loathed them. Her past engagements tended to end in disaster, so why even bother taking chances. Best to skip the whole fiancée part and jump right to wedded bliss.
The wedding itself was intimate. Mark and Cassie were noticeably absent. The logistics had been too hard to overcome given less than twenty-four hours separated the proposal from the ceremony. The couple, however, was still surrounded by family as Daniel stood as Jack's best man and Teal'c proudly served as Sam's man of honor. George walked his goddaughter down the makeshift aisle lined with roses of every color imaginable, while Henry Hayes officiated.
Neither Sam nor Jack could ever have imagined the President of the United States marrying them, but Henry had insisted. He wanted to provide them with an added layer of protection and having the Commander in Chief of the United States military officiate was a big old rubber stamp of approval.
And their marriage was going to be scrutinized. It was going to be examined and questioned and opposed—especially considering George would be retiring soon after their honeymoon, making Jack, Sam's commanding officer. Again.
George's one-month extension of service was his wedding present to them. It gave them two weeks of their marriage flying under the radar so Henry could get all the legalities finalized before the military's feathers were inevitably ruffled. Which then provided them with another two weeks to return to work and get their affairs in order before their new posts began.
Sam had insisted both she and Jack wear their Class As at the ceremony. She'd previously shopped for two wedding gowns, both times settling for something she didn't really love. Not wanting to go through the experience a third time, especially without Janet, Sam argued becoming Jack's wife was much more important to her than what she wore. Jack had reluctantly agreed but insisted on throwing a reception at a later date complete with a dress, dancing, and, of course, cake.
The ceremony was simple. Vows were made. Rings exchanged. Henry pronounced them husband and wife, prompting Jack to sweep Sam into a deep dip as they kissed. Daniel wolf-whistled. Teal'c smiled a rare toothy grin and George laughed. It was beautiful. It was perfect. It was just the beginning.
Two weeks after the wedding, all hell broke loose. The brass in Washington were livid at what they saw as subterfuge and a blatant disregard for the frat regulations. Careers were threatened, but Henry had laid ironclad groundwork.
Jack also decided to issue a few threats of his own. You didn't become a Major General in the US Air Force, or a Black Ops specialist, without learning what personal information people would prefer to keep secret. While blackmail typically wasn't his style, Jack made it clear that he would do anything to protect his wife's reputation. If she went down, he'd burn them all to the ground.
A truce was quickly brokered, and both Jack and Sam agreed it was better to keep their relationship strictly on a need-to-know basis. They wouldn't hide it; they were too proud of each other for that. They simply wouldn't flaunt it. Sam had already decided to keep her maiden name, which suited Jack just fine. She'd always be Carter to him anyway. That simple decision would prove exceptionally useful as they both assumed their new command roles.
They maintained three residences, Jack's house in Colorado Springs, Sam's rental near Area 51, and a flat in Washington. Jack added Sam to both his deeds, while Sam listed Jack on her lease. Despite their obvious efforts to cohabitate whenever possible, everyone began referring to them simply as Sam's place and Jack's flat. Another distinction that suited them both just fine. For anyone who wasn't in-the-know, it provided another veil around their relationship.
By the time Daniel and his new friend Vala had pissed off the Ori a year later, the drama surrounding Sam and Jack's marriage had faded into the background. The brass' egos had settled and Sam and Jack were once again simply Colonel Carter and General O'Neill.
The couple had even developed personal protocols to help them navigate between their personal relationship and chain-of-command responsibilities. Their system worked exceptionally well. So well, in fact, that they forgot not everyone was in-the-know about their marriage. This, at times, led to some rather interesting revelations.