When All Else Fails

Chapter Fifteen

Disclaimer: Check chapter one.

A/N: See, I was right. A good deal of you did guess who my mystery guest was. Like I said, it wasn't the hardest one I've ever done. But, I stumped some people, so it makes me happy.

A/N: I'm sorry it took so long to get this updated. I couldn't do anything until I got the internet on my laptop and well, now I've got the internet on my laptop!

XXXX

She slowly walked over to him, thinking over what she would say carefully. After shaking his hand she blurted out, "With all due respect, sir, what are you doing here?"

XXXX

He looked at her with slight amusement, slight confusion. "I was invited, Colonel."

"Really?" she asked, looking over at Jack. "I didn't know."

"Well," he said with a smile, "it's my understanding that you knew nothing of this party."

"That is true, sir." she said with a sigh. "It was a surprise. I'm glad that you could make it, though. I'd expect that you're a very busy man."

"Nah," he replied, jokingly. "Not at all, I've got a bunch of people to do my work for me."

Jack grinned, "Great thing being the boss, isn't it sir?"

President Hayes nodded in reply, "Oh, yeah. Which reminds me of the other reason why I am here."

"Other reason, sir?" Sam asked, looking at Jack, who just shrugged.

"Yes, official White House business, you don't mind, do you?"

She shook her head, "Not at all, sir. I'm just glad to have you here."

By then, everyone else in the room had noticed that the President was at their party. About three fourths of them went on with what they had previously been doing, unfazed. These people where the ones who had met the man on more than one occasion, since they were the World's first line of defense from a threat that only they knew of, the President made sure that he knew each of them, although not all of them personally. However, he had made it a point to at least shake each one's hand and thank them for everything they did at the SGC.

The last fourth of the guest sat in their chairs, staring at the man who was the ruler of their country. They made no sounds, except for surprised yelps at first, and then whispers of "that's the president" or "over there, talking to Sam, you see him?". This did not go unnoticed to those who could care less, and they had a little laugh at the civilians expense. If they only knew.

Sam and Jack didn't seem to notice the hush that had fallen over most of the room, they were too busy wondering what business the president of the United States needed to discuss with them at that particular moment. The regulations never once crossed their mind, according to Hammond it would take at least a few days before any news would be heard. They trusted Hammond completely- and they had no reason not to believe him.

One thing that they had noticed, though, was the lack of security with the man. Both had already seen the secret service agent by the door of the room, but he was the only one who was with him. Even at his trips to the SGC he had at least five agents with him. But, then again, a party was hardly dangerous compared to a top secret military facility that could be breached by numerous races of aliens at any moment (even though the iris did provide defense from that).

Hayes pulled a manila folder out of his jacket and handed it to Jack, "I'm sure you will find this very interesting."

Jack took the folder without hesitance, who knew what could be contained in it, and it was fairly heavy. He opened the package and took out the contents, looking over at Sam. "It's a copy of the regs."

She took the large book from his hands and began to flip through it, on the first page there was a post-it, she read it out loud. "Page 247." She looked up at the president who just grinned at her.

"Well? You gonna see what's on page 247 or what?"

She looked over at the person who the comment had come from, "Cassie ... be quiet."

The girl shrugged, she had just wanted to say hi to the president. She had never met him before, but she had heard about him from Jack and Hammond both, and their favorite subject when speaking of the president was how he fired Kinsey.

Sam flipped through the book and landed on page 250, she went back a few pages and gasped quietly at the bold letters that lined the top. "Fraternization Regulations," it read. She looked back at the president, again all he did was grin. She went back and began to read the pages. There was a lot of talk about the inappropriate behaviors that were not allowed and how those officers working together should not be involved, the same old-same old. But, when she flipped to page 248 she saw something that caught her eye.

"Fraternization Regulations for Top Secret Facilities."

She continued to read, in short it said that those officers who worked in a secret facility were now allowed to fraternize. But, if the commander officer of any particular facility saw that a relationship was getting in the way of work then he could go back to the regular regulations, it was his choice.

Jack smiled, "See, this is why I agreed to be General. You can do whatever you want."

The president nodded, "Welcome home, Colonel Carter."

"Thank you Sir, for everything." She was tempted to hug him, but instead opted to shake his hand. "You don't know how much this means to me."

"For everything that you've done for this country this is just small potatoes. You deserve much more."

"There's nothing else I could possibly want," she said, then looked up at Jack, then back to the president. "That you could give me, at least."

He grinned with understanding, "Well... this is a party, is it not?"

"Yes, sir, it is."

"Let's hear some music then," he looked at Jack with a smile, "do you mind if I barrow her for a dance?"

Jack gave him a look of mock incredulousness. "As long as you keep your hands where I can see them, sir."

Hayes chuckled, "I'll do my best, General."

The friendly banter between the two was not uncommon, Hayes had become one of Jack's favorite people when he had fired Kinsey, and since he was the CO of the SGC he often had to call the president over pressing issues. When he had called him to invite him to Sam's party the man hadn't thought twice about it. He had only met Sam once, but he had read her file, he knew how important she was to t he US, hell, to the entire planet.

The two headed off to the dance floor and Jack looked over at Cassie with a grin, "You think you can do an old man a favor and dance with him?"

"I'd he honored," she smiled and they too went to the dance floor. Soon, couples littered the floor, if not to dance than to get close to the president who was still dancing with Sam. When the song ended the one-fourth of the people at the party who had never met him crowded around him to shake his hand. The secret service agent that Sam and Jack had both previously noticed surreptitiously made his way closer to the Commander In Chief.

The party went on for nearly two more hours before people grudgingly began to leave. Thirty minutes after that the only people who remained in the large room were Sam, Jack, Daniel, Teal'c, Hammond, Jonas, Cassie (Dominic had left nearly an hour before, he had to be up early in the morning for work), Major Davis (whom Sam had discovered was at the party about an hour before the president arrived), Walter, a few other SGC personal, including the marines of SG-3, and the president and his secret service agent, who had yet to speak one word.

They were all sitting at the largest table in the room, it held twenty chairs and only a few were empty. The marines were laughing over some mission they had gone on with Doctor Jackson, wherein the natives of the planet insisted they all celebrate their meeting by drinking what they called Delati, but what turned out to be like pure vodka. And Daniel had never been one to hold his liquor. They were at the point where Daniel started speaking in French and undressing himself when a bright light flashed in the room, causing everyone to squint and shield their eyes with their arms.

When the light was gone a small, gray, familiar friend was left standing in the room. Out of the many in the room only two did not have the clearance to know of the Asguard, Cassie and the Agent. Of course, Cassie already knew of the Stargate so seeing the alien did not surprise her. However, the Agent recoiled with a shout of surprise and instantly trained his weapon on Thor. Immediately three voices called out to him.

"Stand down!" Jack ordered.

"Lower your weapon!" Sam yelled, afraid that the man would shoot.

"Larry, put the damn gun away." Hayes said, a bit perturbed with the agent's actions.

The man, Larry, looked at the three with shock. "What?!"

"Ah," Jack said with a smile, "he talks."

"No shit," Larry cursed. "What the hell is that," he motioned towards Thor.

"I am Thor," he replied. "Supreme Commander of the Asguard fleet."

"Good for you," Larry the secret service agent congratulated before looking back at the president. "Sir, what is going on here?"

Haynes sighed, "Larry ... let's go back to the plane. I'll explain everything on the way home."

The man nodded and looked over at Thor once again, truly amazed and confused. "Yes, sir."

The President looked at the rest of the people in the room, "Sorry to cut this short, but I do need to head back to Washington."

"I'll go with you, sir." Davis said, standing up.

"Nah, you stay here. I'll have a plane waiting for you in the morning." He said his goodbyes to those at the table and walked over to Larry, "I'll start from the beginning, Larry...."

When they left the others began to laugh. "Did you see his face?" Cassie asked.

"I think he shit his pants," one of the SG-3 marines said.

Thor blinked, "I am sorry if I caused a disturbance. I had heard of Colonel Carter's return."

"Don't worry about it, Thor." Sam assured him, "You're late for the party."

"Party?"

Jack nodded, "Can you stay long?"

"No," Thor replied, "I only wished to see Colonel Carter and welcome her home. I need to return to my ship as soon as possible."

He nodded, "Of course."

A few minutes later after a short talk Thor beamed himself back up to his ship and the rest of those at the table decided that they should call it a night. After Sam hugged each and every one of them and thanked them for the surprise she and Jack headed out the door, the others not far behind.

"Thank you so much, Jack." she said as they walked to his truck. "I wasn't expecting this at all."

Jack grinned, "I know."

He opened the passagers' side door for her but before she got in she kissed him, very passionately. When they broke apart a few catcalls and yells came from the other end of the parking lot. Sam and Jack looked over to see the marines climbing into Major Vickers black suburban, all grinning and laughing. Sam colored slightly but wasn't fazed and kissed him again, although not as passionately.

"I love you," she said breaking away.

"I love you, too." he replied, kissing her briefly. "Let's get you home."

She nodded and climbed into the truck. He walked around the front and climbed into the drivers side, turned it on, and then took off out of the parking lot. Ten minutes later he pulled up in front of her house, she leaned over and kissed him goodnight. "I'll see you tomorrow?" she asked, opening the door to the truck.

"Of course," he assured her. "We'll go out for lunch."

"Good," she agreed. "1230?"

"0100," he corrected. "I'll see you then."

She kissed him again, "Alright. Goodnight." and with that she stepped out of the truck and walked up her sidewalk, the after digging through her small purse she opened the door and stepped inside, turning back around to watch Jack take off in his truck. She smiled to herself, looking down at the large book that she had in her hands. The regulations had been changed. She could be with Jack and not worry about her job.

Things were finally looking up.

XXXX

A/N: Sorry if the ending of this chapter isn't very good. I'm not sure how long this story is going to go to, so I'm not going to make an estimate because whenever I do that it's totally wrong. Anyway. Let me know what'cha thank. And kudos to those who guessed correctly. I even threw Thor in there for an extra, just to catch people off guard. I wanted at least on surprise in this chapter.

So, you know what to do!