His cell phone rang as he was just finishing a bowl of ice cream that Dotty had produced for desert. Fishing in his pocket for the thing, he pulled it out and watched as Shawn gave Jaffer the last bite of his ice cream bar.

"O'Neill."

"Hey."

He smiled, even though she couldn't see it, and Dotty smiled as well when she saw the expression. It had to be Sam on the other end of the line, since she was the only one who made Jack smile like that – aside from Jaffer, who was already standing close by.

"Hi, Sam."

"Where are you?"

"Hi, Sam!" Shawn hadn't really been eavesdropping, but it was hard to miss the greeting when you were sitting right beside the person talking.

"Guess." Jack told her.

"I don't have to." The humor in Sam's voice was evident, and Jack knew she was smiling. "Tell him I said hi."

"Sam says hi." Jack dutifully told Shawn.

"Ask her if she wants to come over, Jack." Dotty told him. "We still have plenty of dinner left."

"You're eating again?" Sam had overheard Dotty's words, and there was disbelief in her voice now instead of humor. She, Jack and Gina had only eaten a couple of hours ago, and it had been a large meal.

"Yeah... well..." He looked down at the black lab, who was waiting to see if Jack was going to drop his bowl of ice cream from his lap. "Jaffer was hungry."

"Uh huh."

"Dotty wants to know if you want to come over. She says there's plenty."

"Tell her I accept." The line went dead, and Jack closed his phone.

"She accepts."

"Yay!" Sam was Shawn's favorite girl Air Force officer, after all, and he didn't see her nearly as much as he'd liked to.

...............

About half an hour later, Jaffer's ears perked up and he headed for the door. A moment later they all heard a car door close.

"Sam's here," Shawn said, unnecessarily, springing to his feet and heading for the door as well. He opened it before Carter could knock, and Sam smiled to see Jaffer and Shawn both playing welcoming committee.

"Hey, Sam," Shawn said, giving her a smile that was so much like Jack's that Sam couldn't believe they'd never noticed immediately.

"Hi, Shawn." She gave him a one-armed hug as she went past him and into the house. Her other hand was busy petting Jaffer, who'd been very insistent on getting some attention of his own when he saw her – acting as though he hadn't seen her in years instead of hours. "How was the trip?"

"Grandma gave me fifty bucks!"

Sam smiled.

"Wow. What are you going to do with it?"

"He's going to put it in the bank," Dotty said, before Shawn could respond. Shawn's mother walked over and gave Sam a welcoming smile, taking her hand and leading her over to the couch where Jack and James were sitting. "It's good to see you, Sam. Are you hungry?"

Carter smiled at Shawn's scowl - which looked even more like Jack's - and shook her head. "No, thanks, Dotty. I ate just a few hours ago." She looked over at Jack as she came over to the couch, but he didn't appear to be at all repentant for having eaten again.

"Something to drink, Sam?" James asked, standing up and gesturing for her to take his spot next to Jack.

"Whatever's handy, James." She smiled a thank you and sat down next to Jack, who gave her a welcoming smile of his own. One that warmed her very soul.

"They've been telling me about their trip," Jack told her, reaching out and rubbing Jaffer's ears when the lab came over to be petted before going back to wrestling with Shawn on the living room floor.

"Oh?" Sam looked over at Dotty, who'd seated herself on the arm of the sofa next to Jack. "How was it?"

"Marvelous!" The woman launched into the story she'd been telling Jack about James' mother's house, which apparently had a view that was to die for and some of the most interesting people living next door. James brought Sam a glass of tea, and she and Jack spent the rest of the day at the Adams' house, where they discussed the pool boy that lived next door to James' mother, then discussed the weather there, then switched over to discussing the Air Force Academy, which Shawn was trying to convince Dotty and James into letting him attend the next school year – even though he was about 5 years younger than the youngest cadet there.

All in all, it was a nice way to spend a lazy Sunday, and Sam enjoyed herself immensely.

................

"Where are you heading, now?" Sam asked as Jack walked with her to her car. They'd just said goodnight to Shawn, Dotty and James – with promises to come for another visit soon – and the night was still young.

"Depends on you," he told her, smiling.

"Oh?"

"Yup."

He opened her door for her, then crouched down next to the car so he could look into the driver's side window when she closed the door.

"If you're going to go home, then I'm going to your house. If you're going to my house, then I'm going to my house."

"You seem pretty sure I want to spend the evening with you..." Sam said, teasing him.

Jack didn't bite. He shrugged. "Well, it's this whole animal magnetism thing I have going on, you know?"

Carter rolled her eyes.

"I'll meet you at your house in about half an hour."

"Okay, Sam."

He didn't move from the window, though, and she smiled, because he was giving her a look that she couldn't quite read. And she was really good at reading him most of the time.

"What?"

"I love you."

Her smile widened, and she kissed him, softly. He always knew what to say to make her feel gooey inside.

"I love you, too."

"Drive safe."

She nodded, and started her car when he stood up and moved away. "Don't stop on your way home and get anything to eat, Jack." She told him. "No matter how hungry Jaffer is."

He gave her a half-hearted salute, and looked down at Jaffer, who was watching him from the edge of the grass. The two of them watched Sam drive down the road, and then headed for jack's car.

"She never said anything about not getting something to drink," Jack said to Jaffer as the black lab jumped up into the truck. "How about a milkshake?"

The look on Jaffer's face plainly said the black lab definitely thought a milkshake was in order.