Sam was expecting Daniel or Teal'c. She'd called both of them, but they had been out. So when General Hammond showed up at her door later that day she was surprised, but glad to see the man. However one look at his face told her she was in trouble.

"Major, just what do you think you are doing?" he inquired in his best General voice.

"Doctor, not Major," she corrected, stepping back to let him into her house.

He stared at her for a minute as if something in her demeanor would give him a clue as to what was going on, but as usual she was in control and not giving anything away.

"Sam, why would you resign?" he backed off realizing he might have better luck speaking to her as a friend.

"I have my reasons, and eventually I will let everyone know what they are. For now they are personal," she explained.

"Dr. Weir said you were getting married," he reminded her.

"A white lie, but it's a possibility," she said.

"To that young detective?" he inquired.

"No, not Pete. We broke up," she told him, but offered no further information.

She could see he wasn't going to leave until he was satisfied she knew what she was doing. She sighed, and offered him something to drink. She took her time getting the beverages trying to think of how to explain.

"It's been a crazy six months, General," she began with a sigh. What she was about to tell him was the truth. It just wasn't the reason she was resigning. "I've lost a best friend and almost lost another. My father is so far away and out of touch I might as well have lost him too. When Fifth tortured me he took things in my mind and made a new reality for me, one where I was married to Pete and far away from here. It didn't work because it wasn't a reality I could envision myself wanting. But it did make me stop and acknowledge what I do want," she admitted.

In truth she'd known it was false because she had managed to hide her memories of her marriage to Jack from the Replicator, burying them deep and allowing the Pete memories to come to the forefront. It had been a minor victory in a battle she'd had little hope of winning.

"And you don't want to be part of the SGC anymore?" he asked incredulously. He couldn't imagine that was the case. Sam Carter lived and breathed the program. The events of the last six months had been brutal, and it was possible that it had finally been too much for her, but he doubted it.

"No, Sir. I still want to be part of it. As a matter of fact if you have any pull I happen to know a theoretical astrophysicist in need of a job. The position would need to have a good medical plan and doctors with a really high security clearance," she hinted.

"I'll see what I can do. I don't think there will be any problem getting you hired back as a civilian, as long as that's what you are sure you want. But if you are going to stay there why resign?" he wondered.

Even as he voiced the question a possible answer came to him and he stopped and stared at Sam. She saw the look and correctly interpreted it. Not wanting to give anything away just yet she gave him her best innocent look back. His eyes narrowed. Yep, he was on to her. Then to her surprise he relaxed and smiled.

"I'll suggest to Dr. Weir that she get you on the payroll as soon as possible before you get other offers and we can't afford you," was all he said letting his previous question drop.

"Thank you, Sir," she replied. And she knew it was a done deal.

She breathed a sigh of relief at his departure. That was one load off of her mind. If everything else went to hell she could at least support herself and her child. Jack's child. Oh, that thought made her knees weak. And thinking of her husband (damn she had to learn to hide the grin that thought brought for at least a bit) she still needed to call him. Before she could reach for the phone her doorbell rang again and she opened it to find Daniel and Teal'c. She really didn't want to lie to them and she hoped they would understand without her having to make up anything.

"I'm not leaving the SGC, at least I hope not. I just am going to concentrate on other things. I'm sorry if you feel like I'm abandoning you, but I really needed to make this change. I've had enough guys," she confessed.

Teal'c bowed his head in acceptance of her decision. He probably understood better than Daniel why she was doing this although he didn't know the latest details. His unspoken blessing meant the world to her. Daniel wanted to argue, but Sam looked so tired he didn't have the heart to. He thought of everything they had all been through lately, Besides losing Janet and fighting Anubis Sam had had the added stress of the her mission on the Prometheus, being stalked by that Supersoldier, and tortured by Fifth. God no wonder she looked so exhausted he thought. Sam always just bounced back from everything and he had come to think of her as indestructible. Obviously she wasn't.

To her relief they were satisfied with that explanation. She gave them each a hug to show her appreciation. She knew that when she told them the whole story they would be happy for her and she could count on their support. It was wonderful to have friends that cared that much. So that was three down. Still, the hardest yet to come. And according to Daniel he was on his way. She went to bed that night expecting not to be able to sleep worrying about the confrontation, but her body overruled her active mind this time and she slept soundly. Pregnancy was good for something.



Jack arrived back in Colorado in the wee hours of the morning. Too exhausted to think straight he knew he needed a few hours of sleep before he saw Sam. He barely managed to undress before he was out like a light. Four hours later he awoke at his normal time, and decided to shower, shave and make himself presentable to pass the time until it was late enough to head to Carter's. He was hunting around for his wallet, which he had tossed haphazardly onto his dresser the night before when he spotted something. A man's wedding ring. He'd never seen it before, but somehow he knew it was his. Sure enough he slid it on and it fit perfectly. He removed it and looked inside.

There was a simple inscription: 'Forever Yours – S'

He stood contemplating the thing for several long minutes, then he slipped it into his pocket and headed to the one place he figured he would get some answers. Carter had some explaining to do.



She was waiting nervously. She'd been up showered and dressed for over an hour. Food was out of the question. Makeup had been carefully applied, and she'd made sure to pick a flattering outfit. The flowered skirt showed a good amount of leg and the figure hugging pale blue top showed off a bit of cleavage as well as the belly button piercing he'd liked so much. She figured it wouldn't hurt to remind him of a few of the reasons he'd married her. She'd been wearing her wedding ring at home and after a quick debate had left it on. She would just keep it out of sight until she was ready.

The slightly stunned look on his face when she opened the door told her she had succeeded in her goal of looking her best. Another perk of not being in the military anymore. She could dress like a girl again.

She finally broke the silence that had grown lengthy. "Hey, come on in," she offered.

He tried to gather his wits as he walked to her living room. He'd had a whole line of questions prepared. Somehow they had all fled from his head the moment he'd laid eyes on her. So he asked the first thing that came to mind.

"Care to explain this?" he asked pulling the ring out of his pocket.

He saw her pale slightly, but when she met his eyes they were full of nothing but love. She silently stepped forward and took the ring from him. Reaching for his left hand she gently pushed the ring onto his finger using her own left-hand so that her matching ring ended up on display next to his.

"I wish you could remember," she whispered.

He knew it must have happened that weekend after he stuck his head in the Ancient gizmo. The rest of the details she could fill in later. Right now he needed to know two things.

"When were you planning on telling me?" he asked keeping his feelings locked up tightly for the moment.

"As soon as I could get a moment alone with you," she pointed out.

"Is this why you resigned?" he wanted to know. She couldn't just throw her career away like that.

"It was one factor," she confessed. "There were others."

"Because you don't need to. We can figure this out without you resigning. We could keep it quiet," he offered.

She sighed in relief. No mention of undoing it. That told her everything he was trying not to let out. She shook her head and walked over to him raising her arms up around his neck.

"There is no way I am hiding how I feel about you ever again General O'Neill," she told him before she closed in for a kiss.

That was all he needed to open the floodgates. He might not remember marrying her, but he didn't doubt it for a single second. He lifted his wife in his arms and carried her off to the bedroom.



Later as they lay in bed she recounted their first night together, the quick trip to Vegas, their wedding night. She contemplated when to drop the other bombshell on him. Maybe after lunch she mused. She'd just have to play it by ear.

"So we need to have another wedding. One our friends can be at and that I will remember," Jack suggested.

"Yeah, we were planning on doing that anyway," Sam agreed.

"And nobody but us will know the difference," he offered.

"That was the plan," she acknowledged.

Jack let that sink in. "That would only have worked if one of us had quit. So you were planning on this before?" he asked.

She couldn't lie to him. "Um, you were going to retire," she confessed. "But this works out better."

Now he was upset. "How do you figure that?" he demanded.

"Because we want kids right away," she explained.

"We do?" Jack asked starting to relax again. Damn Thor. He was grateful to the little guy but he wanted his memories back.

"Well I do," Sam said uncertainly.

"Oh, me too, " he assured her. "How many? Did we decide?"

"No, but at my age I'm thinking two," she suggested.

"Let's start today and maybe we can go for three," he grinned beginning to kiss her neck as his hands started to roam. "What kind of birth control are you on?"

"None," she whispered and waited.

He leaned back and looked are her with wide eyes. "So we could have made a baby this morning?" he asked in awe.

"Um, no. We took care of that five weeks ago," she told him.



End Part 2