Title: When All Else Fails

Chapter: Nine

Disclaimer: I wish that they belonged to me, but unfortunately ... they don't. It would be nice to make money from this, but unfortunately ... I make no profit, and continue to be 15 and poor.

A/N: This would have come out sooner, but I didn't like the way it was going so I started over. Anyway, I think this version is much better than the other was going to be. Enjoy.
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They chose to go to a quaint little café in town, the kind where the only thing on the menu was sandwiches or soup, and of course coffee and various deserts. She had picked it, obviously she had frequently visited the café before she ascended, and was craving some of their chocolate mousse cake. Jack had pointed out that it had been two years since she had been to the place, what if they didn't have the cake anymore?

"They'll have it," she replied with confidence. "It was on their menu over a year before I even left, why would they take it off? Almost every person who ate there got a piece of that cake, it was sinful." She smiled, slipping her hand into his. "We can share a piece."

"What if I want my own?" he asked, a serious look on his face.

She contemplated the question until a grin broke out on his face, upon which she swatted him playfully. "I can never tell with you," she said. "You always put up such a good act."

He shrugged, "It's a gift."

She suddenly stopped walking, he looked at her with a strange expression on his face. She must have caught the question behind the look, "We're here," she explained, motioning at the small café behind her. Adeline's, the sign read.

"Cute little place," he mused as they entered. Scattered around the café were metal tables and chairs and some booths, few of the occupied. Most of the people were sitting with their laptops, a cup of coffee in hand and a piece of cake on the table, almost all of them looked like they were in college. "How did you find it?"

"Cassie told me about it," she said with a shrug, standing in line. "It was a little over three years ago, she and her friends would always come and order coffee, she told me it made her feel older." She smiled, "I really need to call her."

They moved forward in the line and he gave her hand a slight squeeze, "I'm sure she'd love to hear from you. I'll tell you what ... when we get done here you call her, see if she's got class or anything. If she doesn't invite her over, you two can hang out and catch up for a while. Then, when it's about time for Teal'c and Daniel to get off of work we'll have them come over, it'll be a party." He motioned towards the front of the café, where the cakes were held. "We can even bring one of those "sinful mousse cakes" you've been ranting about. Sound good?"

She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, "It sounds wonderful, Jack."

"Jack," he said with a sigh. "I like that."

It was her turn to give his hand a squeeze, "Well, you'll be hearing it a lot more often, now. It's just a shame we didn't do this sooner."

"No use dwelling on should've, would've, could've, Sam. We'll never know the differences."

"Wow, that was uncharacteristically insightful of you, Jack. I didn't know that you were so ... deep."

"See," he said with a shrug. "You learn something new everyday. I had no clue just how "deep" I was, either. "Deep" is a good thing, is it not?"

She nodded with a smile, "Yeah, good thing."

"Alright, just making sure."

They got to the point where there was only one person in front of them, at which time they decided to go over the menu. Sam had previously decided that if they had that cake she would get a piece so she was happy to find that they did indeed still carry it. Looking at the menu above the cash register she decided she would get half of a ham sandwich and a cup (which was smaller than a bowl) of minestrone soup ... not to mention the slice of chocolate mousse cake. Jack, however, opted for the full roast beef sandwich. After their orders were placed they were given a number, 45, and told to come back when it was called.

After waiting around seven minutes their number was called out and Jack went to receive their lunches. They ate in relative silence, neither saying much, but then again not much needed to be said. They just sat together, enjoying each others company. Something they wouldn't have been able to do previously, at least not without fearing the repercussions of their actions. Somewhere along the meal Sam had discarded her shoes and rested her feet on one of his thighs. Jack didn't mind, it was ... nice.

By the time she was finished with her sandwich and soup Jack was eyeing the cake with interest. She noticed him do so and pulled it closer to her, taking her fork and getting a bite. She smiled and popped it into her mouth, letting out a sigh of content as she did so. "That," she said when she was done chewing, "Is even better than I remember." She took another forkful, "Want some?"

"Sure," he said with a shrug. She leaned forward in the booth and fed him the cake, accidentally getting some of the icing smeared just above his lip.

"Oops," she giggled. "Sorry."

"No giggling," he scolded as he wiped away the icing.

"Oh no you don't," she said taking another bite of her cake. "That's not going to work anymore. I'll giggle any time I damn well please."

"Alright," he sighed. "If you must. Giggle away."

She smiled and laid her fork down on her plate, "Well ... I'm full. Do you want any of this cake?"

"Not at this moment, no. But, I was planning on getting one for tonight, what d'ya think?"

"It's a plan," she said, sliding out of the booth. "Let's get one then."

Jack followed suit and they walked to the front of the café and bought one of the cakes. They walked back to his truck, got in, and drove back to Jack's place. Once they got the Jack put the cake in the fridge and Sam used his phone to call Cassie at her dorm. Her roommate picked up.

"This is Shonna," the girl said, a little too cheerfully Sam thought.

"Yeah, uh ... hi. I'm looking for Cassie."

"Oh, she's at work right now. Do you want me to leave her a message for you?"

"Sure ... just tell her once she gets home to call Jack O'Neill's home. It's urgent ... family business."

"Do you want me to write all that down? The family part?"

"Yep," Sam said into the receiver. "Please let her know as soon as she gets home."

"Alright ... that'll only be in about an hour. I'll let her know for you, Mrs. O'Neill."

Sam held back her laughter, Mrs. O'Neill. While it was funny, Sam understood the logic behind the girls reasoning. She had called from Jack's home and asked for the call back to come to that same phone, stressing the fact that it was family business. She liked it though, Mrs. O'Neill. It sounded ... right.

"Thank you ... Shonna."

"You're welcome." Sam hung up the phone and walked into the living room, where Jack was.

"Did you talk with Cassie?" He asked, looking up at her.

"No, she wasn't home. I left her a message to call back on your phone, she should be home in about an hour."

He nodded, "Alright. Come sit down with me until then, we'll get you caught up on the news and television shows." He patted the space next to him, motioning her to sit.

She smiled and sat down next to him, snuggling close. He draped an arm over her shoulder and pulled her close.

"So, what's new with the world?"

He flipped from news channel to news channel. "You know, really nothing that interesting. The Red Sox finally won a world series, but other than that ... it's been a dry two years."

Sam laughed, "Curse of the Bambino's lifted then, huh?"

"I guess so," he shrugged. "But, if you think about it, 1 year out of 86 years isn't that impressive."

She hung her head and laughed, "I'd have to agree with you on that one. What about at the SGC? Anything different?"

"Other then the fact Daniel's started to date the nurses and Siler has now broken every toe on his left foot, and has since begun breaking those on his right ... not much there either."

"Really? Daniel is dating?"

Jack nodded, "Five nurses so far ... gotta say, I thought he would never get out of his "woe is me" dating complex." Shrugging, he added, "It's about time all their gushing got to his head. Too bad a certain doctor isn't here to be number 6 on his list."

"She would've been number 1." Sam sighed, "I could see a change before she died..."

Jack kissed the top of her head, "I know, me too."

The atmosphere in the room changed and silence took over. As they sat and watched the news Jack ran his hands through Sam's hair, causing her to shiver. She looked at him with a smile when he stopped, "Keep going...."

Half an hour later the telephone rang and Sam leaped off of the couch, headed for the phone. But, thinking better of it she motioned for Jack to answer instead of her. "Just ask her to come over," she explained. "So I can surprise her."

He nodded and picked up the phone, "This is O'Neill."

"Jack? Did you call earlier?"

"Yeah ... Daniel and Teal'c are coming by later, I was wondering if you wanted to come too." Then, as an afterthought he added, "I've got cake."

She laughed, "Alright ... if there's cake, what time should I come?"

"Well, the guys don't get off work for a few hours, and I'm off with nothing to do. So, why don't you come over now? If I'm correct I've got a bet to win."

"You're not still holding me to that, are you?" She asked, amusement in her voice.

"Hell yeah I am, come on over."

More laughter, "Ok Jack, I'm on my way right now."

He hung up the phone and smiled, "She's on her way."

"What's up with this "bet" you were talking about?" Sam asked, her arms folded across her chest.

"Well, the last time all four of us got together we played bullshit. I lost ... horribly. I bet her that the next time we played I would win, hands down. She took the bet."

Sam laughed, "Only you, Jack ... only you."

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her deeply. "But you love me for it," he said, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Right?"

She nodded, her arms coming up and around his neck. "Lord help me, but yeah ... I love you for that and so much more."

"Just making sure," he said, kissing her again.

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A/N: So ... I saw "Full Circle" last night ... er, this morning. Insomnia just wouldn't leave me be, so I decided to make use of it and at around 2:00 this morning I ventured downstairs to the computer with the internet on it and finally got ballsey enough to download episodes of "SG-1" on my computer. One of the episodes was "Full Circle", I have tried to get "Fallen" as well, but it will not load all the way and as of yet I have only succeeded in watching the first three minutes of the program. I have downloaded "Homecoming", so as soon as I have seen "Fallen" I will watch that. I also have both "New Orders", "Grace", "Urgo", "Window of Opportunity", and both "Heroes". I am continuing to download more ... hopefully I can get "Fallen" completely. Like I said, this was really, really sappy. But, what can I say, I'm a sucker for romance.