"You sure you're going to be okay?"
Sam turned around and smiled at her CO, "Yes! I've been itching to get back to work!"
Jack stepped towards her and placed his hands on her upper arms, "Relax tiger! Remember the doctor only cleared you for light duty and Cathy said to limit your eye strain, so no reading lots and lots of backlogged reports!"
Sam rolled her eyes, "Yes dad!"
Jack couldn't help but smile at the tone of her voice. "This base needs you healthy, no sense in setting your recovery back by working too hard… And to make sure that that doesn't happen, I'm going to have to periodically bug you," he told her in an exhausted manner that belied his excitement at the idea of seeing her more often.
Sam leaned in and whispered into his ear, "How about you let me take care of myself here at work, and when we leave work tonight you can play doctor and I'll play the good patient."
She leaned back ever so slightly so she could see his reaction when he jerked his head towards her face and smiled at that idea.
"I'm so going-"
"Off world gate activation!"
"Damn it!" Jack called out as he tried to take his mind off what he had started to plan for that evening. He walked back to the door and turned to allow her past him, "Shall we?"
"Yes sir."
Jack tried not to flinch at the 'sir,' but after three weeks of her calling him Jack, it was hard to get used to that again. Once they'd been granted permission, they had laid down the ground rules for their behavior on base, especially because the way they conducted themselves would set the mark for any other couples on base.
They had decided that whenever doing anything work related, they would maintain a proper military relationship. But when they were alone and or just keeping each other company and not discussing work, they would allow themselves to behave as Sam and Jack, not Carter and Sir.
So right now, it was back to business, as they headed to the control room.
"What have we got Walter?" Jack called out as he entered a step behind Sam.
Walter looked at the computer screen as the Stargate came to life and illuminated the far wall of the embarkation room. "Receiving a signal… It's the Tok'ra sir."
Jack looked at Sam, "Well it's about time they return our call! Open the iris."
As they headed down to the embarkation room Sam asked Jack a question, "Do you think it's my dad?"
Jack shrugged, "The messages we sent right after were pretty insistent on them sending your father through."
Sam grimaced and nodded, "Think he won't notice the cast?"
Jack merely raised an eyebrow at her as they entered the Gate room.
"Right," she mumbled as they waited at the base of the ramp for their guest to arrive.
"Sam! Jack! What happened?" Jacob called out as soon as he stepped through.
Sam and Jack looked at each other and knew he was referring to their messages to the Tok'ra. Sam turned back to her father and raised her casted left arm, "Hey dad!"
His eyes went wide as he rushed down the ramp to her side, "Sam what happened? Are you okay?"
Jack spoke up first, "I'm fine Jacob, thanks for asking."
Jacob glared at his daughter's CO who sheepishly stepped back. "Sam what happened?" he asked again.
"Relax Dad, I'm fine now!" she began.
"NOW! What happened?" he asked picking up on her word choice.
Jack stepped forward again, "How about we do this upstairs?" he tentatively offered. They had a lot of explaining to do.
Once they were upstairs Jacob began his inquisition again, "So what happened?"
"Jacob! It's good to see you!" Daniel called out when he and Teal'c entered the conference room.
Jacob glared at them, they were keeping him from learning what had happened.
Sam redirected his attention to herself, "Dad! … About five weeks ago General Hammond informed President Ryan about the Stargate program."
"What? You're telling me that the President of the past ten months only recently found out about the Stargate program?" He couldn't believe what he was hearing.
Jack explained to him the situation, about how they had decided to wait to inform the President rather than add one more ball for him to juggle.
"Anyways," Sam continued, "The President wanted to come out here and take a look at our operation and go off world-"
Jacob nodded his head impatiently, "Yes, I know, Per'sus informed me that he had met the President and during his visit a platoon of Jaffa had arrived. But what does that have to do with what happened to you?"
"Well, I didn't go with the main group to visit other planets, I stayed at the Alpha Site with Vice President Jackson to take him up in an F-302 and to help some scientists out. While we were there, there was an explosion… Nine people died," she added somberly.
"Oh my god!" he quietly let out. "Is that how you hurt your hand?"
Sam nodded.
Daniel and Jack looked at each other, was she going to leave it at that?
Jacob walked up to his daughter and wrapped her in his arms, "I'm glad you're okay!" he whispered into her ear.
"Uh… Sam?" Daniel tried to interrupt.
Jacob leaned back and looked at Daniel, "What?"
He didn't notice Sam shaking her head 'no' warning him not to tell her father more details.
"What she's failing to tell you, Jacob," Sam turned her attention to her CO, "is that she was seriously injured and we almost lost her."
Jacob stared at his daughter who was trying to protect him. He spoke quietly, "What happened?"
Sam sighed and explained to him her injuries. As he listened to the long list he tried to hide the fear at realizing that he had almost lost his little girl. Once she'd finished, he wrapped her in his arms again, "But everything's going to be okay right?"
Sam nodded her head, "Yeah, the doctors repaired all the damage and the cast will come off in two weeks."
"Actually the First Lady operated on her eye!" Jack proudly added.
"She did?"
Sam stared at Jack, wondering why he added that piece of information. He tried to look innocent, "What? We may as well tell him the whole story!"
Jacob looked between the two, "What story?"
"Why don't you have a seat Jacob?" Jack began.
"I'd rather stand," he sternly replied as he got a bad feeling that he wasn't going to like where this was going.
"Right…" he looked over at Sam expectantly hoping for some assistance in continuing their tale.
Sam raised her hands in defense, "Uh uh… You wanted to tell him!"
He smirked at her before turning his attention back to a waiting Jacob. "Right… what happened? Well, you see the President and First Lady are old friends of mine. And when he, the VP and SecDef came here they were very impressed by what they saw here and how we did our jobs… And well… you see… Cathy, she's the First Lady," he explained as he stalled. "Cathy mentioned something to Jack, he's the President…"
"And…?" Jacob impatiently asked.
"And well you see Jack took that under advisement and spoke with a few people and they decided to change a few things around here… You know, kind of like a 'Thank You' from the whole world…" The members of SG-1 couldn't help but be amused by Jack's attempt to explain that he was now dating Jacob's only daughter.
"And…?'
Jack looked at Sam and pleaded with his eyes. He didn't think it was going to be this hard.
Sam smiled back at him and decided to take pity on him. "Dad, what the General is trying to say is that the President issued an executive order concerning the SGC that amended the regulations on fraternization between personnel."
Jacob was confused, "Why?"
"Because I love Jack," she simply told him as if it was common knowledge.
Jack's head shot up, "You love me?" They had yet to declare their love for one another.
Sam turned to the man she loved and smiled tenderly at him, causing his heart to melt, "Yeah."
Jack stepped towards her and took hold of her hands. He was lost in her eyes for several moments before Jacob stood just behind his daughter and glared at the pair.
"I l-" he stopped though when he saw Jacob's eyes flash. "Whoa!" he exclaimed.
Jacob and Selmak rarely ever let their eyes flash. Usually when one stepped forward they always lowered their heads, not flash their glowing eyes.
"Do you have a response?" the deep metallic voice of Selmak asked.
Jack looked at Selmac and saw what looked like the hint of a smile. "Yeah…" he then looked at Sam, "I love you Sam."
As they shared a short, but passionate kiss, Jacob lowered his head and when he looked up he was grinning happily.
When they pulled themselves apart from each other, they turned to her father. Needless to say Jack was quite surprised to see Jacob's smile.
Jacob enveloped the pair in a hug, "I'm really happy for the two of you!"
Jack cautiously wrapped one arm around Jacob as he looked at Daniel and Teal'c to see if they knew what was going on.
"So Daniel did I win?" Jacob asked with a wide grin as he released his daughter and her boyfriend.
Daniel finally let the smile on his face show, he couldn't wait to see the surprise on his friends' faces. "No… actually no one did."
"Really?"
"Yep! Over five hundred bets, and not one person guessed it!" Daniel told him equally surprised.
"Where was it?"
"Daniel?" Jack asked his best friend.
"Jack?"
"What is he talking about?"
Jacob turned to him and calmly answered, "The betting pool on where your first kiss would be. So where was it?"
"You entered that pool?" Sam asked.
Jacob nodded his head, "Yeah, so where was it?"
Sam and Jack looked at each other as they processed what his involvement in the pool was implying.
"So you suspected…?" Sam asked.
"It was pretty obvious you two!" he teased them. "So are either of you going to tell me where your first kiss was?"
Sam and Jack were still too shocked to answer his question. Daniel who was enjoying himself immensely, answered the former General on their behalf. "The Oval Office."
Jacob's eyes went wide, "You guys kissed in the Oval Office? In front of the President? Are you guys crazy?"
Before they could answer him, Siler walked in, "Sir. Ma'am, we're having a few problems with the Gate dampeners."
Sam looked at her CO, who nodded his head. "Thank you, sir. Let's go see what you got Siler," she told him as she walked beside him and he explained the situation.
Jack continued to watch Sam's retreating form until it was out of sight. He had a happy look to his face the entire time, it only disappeared when he looked around the room again and saw Jacob.
"So you kissed my daughter in front of the President?"
"And the First Lady and General Hammond," Daniel happily added. He was definitely not going to miss this chance on making his friend squirm, not after all the teasing he had taken in the past ten years.
Jack turned to Daniel and glared at him, "Thanks Daniel! Don't you have somewhere else to be?"
"Actually I-"
"Daniel!"
"Perhaps it is best if we leave Daniel Jackson," Teal'c turned to Daniel as he led him out of the conference room.
Jack was relieved to see the antagonist of the situation leave. That is until he realized he was alone with Jacob and Selmak. He turned to him and offered a goofy smile, "Hey!"
"So you're dating my little girl?" Jacob asked in a mildly threatening, yet teasing, tone.
Jack gulped, Jacob may have acted one way in front of his little girl, but when it was just the two (three if you counted Selmak) of them things might be a little different. "Yes sir."
Jacob raised an eyebrow. "Jack, how long have we known each other?"
"Eight years, give or take…"
"Right and in the past seven years you haven't called me 'Sir' once," he pointed out.
Jack contorted his face, "Well yeah… But…"
"But now you're dating my daughter? My only daughter?" he emphasized.
Jack swallowed the lump in the back of his throat. "Yeah."
"Relax Jack. I know how you guys feel about each other. You make her happy. That's all I want for Sam. I'm glad you guys were finally able to find a way to one another."
Jack was visibly relieved as he smiled, "Thanks, me too."
"So how'd it happen?"
Jack led Jacob into his office to explain everything that had happened and how they had charmed the President and his entourage.
"So Jacob, now that you're here, I was wondering if I could ask you something?"
"Sure what is it?"
"I want to ask Sam to marry to me."
"When?"
Jack shrugged his shoulders, "Sometime soon I think… I just know that I want to marry her and spend the rest of my life with her."
"You just better make sure you wait to marry her so I can be there and walk my daughter down the aisle," he told him with a smile.
Jack smiled happily back, "Right!" He then leaned over his desk and pretended to write himself a note, "Make sure Father in Law can attend wedding."
TBC