"Oh, c'mon, Jack." Daniel pleaded. "Why can't we have a Starbucks on base?"

"You mean on our extra super classified top secret base?"

"Yeah, that one."

"How about one on the Alpha Site, too?"

"Could we?"

"That'd be a BIG "no" on both counts, Danny-boy."

"Okay. So it might be a bit of a security risk."

"Ya think?"

"How about my own personal barrista?"

"Um- No."

"Why not? You ordered the commissary to always have blue Jell-O on hand for Sam. Can't you at least send one of the kitchen staff to barrista school? I deserve this. I've saved the world, too, you know."

Jack turned to Teal'c, "You think we can get Jonas back? I know he had that creepy smile, but he hardly ever whined."

"Shall I attempt to contact Kelowna now, O'Neill?"

"Thanks a lot, Teal'c, ' Daniel glared at him and then turned his attention back to Jack. "C'mon, Jack, you're a general. You can do anything."

"Give it a rest, Danny. No wonder Oma descended you."

"Hey, guys. Sir." Sam greeted them as she took her seat at the table. She lifted the lid of the donuts and pulled out a chocolate iced one.

Daniel looked at her BDUs. Blue. He looked at Jack and Teal'c's. Blue. He looked at his own. Green. "Hey, how come you didn't tell me you changed the color for today?"

Jack looked innocently at Sam. "You didn't call Daniel?"

"No, sir, "she replied looked equally innocent at Teal'c. "I thought Teal'c was going to call him."

"And I thought, you were going to call him, O'Neill."

Jack grinned at Daniel. "Oops."

"Maybe I'll call Kelowna myself." Daniel sighed as he poured Sam a cup of coffee. He suddenly realized his earlier request. "Sam, tell Jack I need my own personal barrista. He'll do anything you ask."

"Shut up, Daniel, " Sam snapped and jerked the cup away from Daniel spilling some coffee on the table.

Daniel was shocked by her sudden anger, "Um, ah, okay."

Jack quirked his scarred eyebrow at Sam's sharpness. "Thank you, Carter. He's been whining about that all morning. Right, T?"

"Indeed."

---

There was a soft knock on his office door. Without bothering to look up from the papers he was reading, Jack called out, "Come."

"Sir?"

"Carter," he studied her standing tentatively in the door way. "I figured you would already be out of here."

"I'm just leaving now, sir. I wanted to come by and let you know if you need me for anything-"

"Stop, Carter. I think we might be able to do without you for a little while."

"Are you sure, sir?"

"We can handle it. You've trained us well," he gave her a slightly wistful smile.

"Enjoy yourself, Carter. You deserve this,"

"Thank you, sir. You'll be at General Hammond's on Friday, right?"

"Undomesticated equines and all."

"Good. Then good night, sir." She nearly door shut before she stuck her head back in. "If there's anything-"

"Just go, Carter. That's an order."

"Yes, sir," She smiled briefly at him and closed the door behind her.

Jack stared at the closed door for a moment and sighed heavily. This was going to be one of those nights. He pushed his paperwork out the way and pulled out the bottom drawer on his desk. He shifted the files over and pulled out the false bottom to reveal a bottle of fine twenty year old Irish whiskey and two heavy crystal tumblers etched with the SGC logo. The whiskey and glasses were a gift from General Hammond when Jack accepted his current position. He poured himself a glass. After taking a long sip leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. He sat there for a long time, taking the occasional sip, and willing the ache inside him to go away.

"Jack."

"No," he replied to Daniel not bothering to open his eyes. "You cannot have a coffee slave."

"Okay. I'm not here about that."

Jack opened his eyes and studied the other man's troubled expression. "What?"

Daniel sat down in one of the chairs in front of the desk. "I went to go see Sam this afternoon. I wanted to see if she was okay. She normally doesn't snap at me like that."

"Yeah, what was that about anyway?"

"Apparently she heard someone say that the only reason she got promoted to Lieutenant Colonel was because you did it."

"That's a bunch of crap." Jack set his glass down heavily in irritation. "Everyone on base knows how hard she works. She deserved that promotion. If anything, I probably held her back by wanting to keep SG-1 together. Who said that?"

"I don't know. But that's not why I'm here. Anyway, when I went to see her. She looked like she had been crying."

"Carter was crying?" Jack asked in shock.

"She's not made of stone, Jack."

"I know," he responded quietly and poured himself another glass. "So what was she upset about?"

"Her father not being at her wedding."

"Oh. Hammond's still giving her away, right?"

"Yeah. Jack we've been looking for the Tok'ra for months. It's like they've disappeared. This afternoon, I went through all the latest mission reports again trying to find any indication of where the Tok'ra could conceivably be, but I can't find anything."

"Snotty little snaky bastards. Always got to do stuff the hard way. You know, Jacob's going to be royally pissed when he finds out he missed Carter's wedding."

"I wish there was some way to find him. For both their sakes."

Jack sat thinking for a moment. "Hey, you know Thor's coming. He might be willing to do a little investigating on his way."

"You think he might come up with something?"

"It's worth a shot."

---

TBC

"Well, it's good to have friends in high places."