Response to a challenge at The Sam and Jack Fan Fic Challenge Archive

Where we left off:

"Oh for cryin' out loud! C'mon everyone," He walked off in Daniel's direction followed by Teal'c and Jonas…but not by Sam. She was not going to face her doom out—

THUMP

Okay, doom with everyone else was certainly better than doom alone! She raced off to where everyone else had gone, only to find---

…and now… the shippy conclusion!

Chapter VII: SOMETHING WORTH FIGHTING FOR

"JANET! Oh thank GOD," Sam ran to and embraced her doctor and friend. "There were axe murderers and we were going to Jack's crawl space to get murdered and Jonas got hit in the face with a tomato and—and—Jack has an insane obsession with the simpson's that's kind of err… a little scary. And we don't have electricity and McDonald's is like a million and a half miles away!

Daniel sneezed.

"And Daniel won't stop sneezing."

"Um, hi to you too, Sam!" Janet giggled.

"Oh, and Jack—"

" 'Jack' !" Janet raised an eyebrow.

"CO's orders. We're on VACATION, Doc! Team bonding begins with calling each other by our names." Jack answered for Sam who was six shades pinker.

Janet glanced knowingly at Daniel and Jonas and Teal'c, who promptly returned the glance and there was an awkward silence.

"Let's er, go inside and have some coffee or something, " Jack suggested.

"Yeah, coffee."

"…Sounds entertaining…"

"As long as I don't get my face peeled off…"

"What is 'something else' ?"

"Are you referring to an alcoholic beverage? … because if you are …"

57 minutes later----

"It's not my fault DANIEL drank all the coffee yesterday," Jack said as he poured Jonas his third glass of champagne.

"THIS is team-bonding!" said Jonas, clearly beginning to get a buzz.

"Hey… whatever happened to the BUMPs?" asked Daniel.

silence

"I believe they were THUMPs, DanielJackson"

"There must have been a problem with the ventilation system or something…"

"IT WAS AN ASS-MURDERER!" Sam shouted vehemently.

Jonas giggled.

"Okay, Sam, that's enough champagne for you, " Janet said as she carefully took the glass from Sam's grip.

"But—"

"No 'but'! We're going back to Colorado in the morning. Last thing you need is a massive hangover and the long drive," Janet reprimanded Sam.

Jonas giggled again.

"Same goes for you Jonas!" She snatched Jonas' glass too.

"…Napoleonic power monger…!"

"Did you say something, Colonel?"

"I…said…'Now I'm getting hungry!', yep… 's what I said…"

"Ooh! Oooh! I want… STRAWBERRY BUBBLE CAKES! Hmmm… "

"Okay, Sam has definitely had too much alcohol. Let's get some bread in here. STAT! "

Sam laughed, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding! I'm just drinking seltzer water, look. But Jonas on the other hand…"

"Weeeeeee!"

"I must meditate, I will escort Jonas Quinn to our room."

"Good idea, Teal'c."

" 'night."

"Hey, no fair! I want strawberry bubble cakes, too!…although bed does sound—" Jonas collapsed and Teal'c threw him over his shoulder.

"See you in the morning, T."

"Gee, I'd hate to imagine what I've missed… I've only been here and hour!"

"I guess we'll call it a night. It's getting late and we have an early morning. Be right back." Jack stood up to go upstairs and get blankets for himself, who had been sleeping on the couch all vacation.

"Hey where'll I sleep?" asked Janet. Currently there were two bedrooms and two couches, which folded out into beds. Daniel and Jonas had shared the spare room, Sam had taken Jack's room, Jack slept on one couch, and Teal'c on the other. … even though he technically didn't "sleep" as such.

"Teal'c moved in with Jonas and Daniel so you can sleep in Jack's room, I'll sleep on the couch."

"Thanks. Good night, Sam! See you in the morning. "

"Night, Janet… Oh hold on a second—I have to get my bag from up there!"

Jack descended the stairs rather clumsily with a pile of blankets and sheets, with which he made the two couches (which turn into beds… they would have proper names but the author neither knows what they're called nor thinks its relevant. Ahem… where was I? Oh yes. Being the narrator.)

"Yeah, goodnight, Jan. " came Sam's voice from upstairs…

'wait a second,' Jack thought '… 'goodnight, Jan'! That would mean…' he turned around to see Sam descending the stairs…

and then stop where she stood. "Uh… I… um… you?" she stumbled stupidly.

"Uh… I … err… me," he stumbledstupidly

"I guess… um," Sam tried to regain her composure. How old was she? Fourteen! For crying out loud, she'd slept next to him plenty of times—it wasn't even as if they were going to be in the same bed!

"Yeah," he said, looking at Sam, his 2IC in her fluffy bunny pajamas... and tank top number…. He mentally slapped himself. This was exactly the reason he didn't call her 'Sam' on a regular basis… get too familiar, get too friendly, get too… frisky.

When Sam—Major Carter— had put down her bag and sat on the edge of the bed, Colonel O'Neill turned off the lights. "Night Carter," he said as he got underneath his covers

… covers! What an idiot! It's the Fourth of July weekend and the air conditioning wasn't working (because the electricity wasn't). He groaned and got out of his bed, and began to make his way to the kitchen, which was adjacent to the living room. He reached the porch doors and opened them to reveal a beautiful evening—well by now it was technically a beautiful morning. He gazed into the night, which was pure darkness with the exception of the full moon and countless stars. They were truly beautiful. No, that wasn't even the right word. The sky was amazing, especially knowing what was out there. Out there was…a threat. But down here as well as out there was—

"Something worth fighting for,"

He turned in the direction of the voice. Right beside him stood Sam, her beauty a strong competitor of the night sky's. In the moonlight, he could just see her face and he could tell she too was looking at the sky before them.

"Yes, yes it is…"

"But?" she asked, turning to face him now.

"But… why—?"

"Because we have to. If we don't fight…"

"I know, but… why do we have to decide between…" he winced and hoped she couldn't tell. He was crap at this—putting his thoughts and feelings into words.

"Between doing the right thing and doing what feels right… happiness… … … love…?"

He cleared his throat.

"I'm sorry, Sir, I shouldn't have—"

"Don't apologize. You had the courage to say what should have been said a long time ago… what's been locked in that damned room for so long."

"Everything has a reason for being the way it is."

"…you sound like Oma."

She smiled, almost laughed.

In this light, he saw something glimmering on top of her shirt. When he recognized it he looked down at his own shirt and saw the same thing—his dog tags. He reached over and held hers in the palm of his hand and he took off one of her two tags… He read:

MJ SAMANTHA CARTER

USAF

AB RH-

12743804725

and put it on his chain. He took off his second tag and placed it on her chain...when he noticed something else glittering on hers. The ring. He managed to free it from her chain. He took the ring and slid it gently onto her left ring finger.

When he looked back into her face, he noticed that tears were streaming silently down them.

"It's time, Sam." He said dramatically.

She stared at him intently as emotions welled up inside of both of them. Finally, in one quick motion, she leaned in and kissed him passionately.

Fireworks exploded! Rockets launched! Flowers bloomed!

… and suddenly Homer Simpson didn't matter so much any more.

THE END!

EPILOGUE TO FOLLOW

A/N: Well I finally figured out that this is post-Grace post-daniel-coming-back and pre-pete HAHAHA DIE YOU !$$ ahem. Well… it's the end of the shippy line! This is the first story I've actually completed! Woot woot! Go me! Go me! You should take a peek at my new story 'all that I've got' it's not too shabby… no humor though, just nice and angsty. Humor's too hard… oh there I go rambling again! Sigh what'll I do! EPILOGUE TO BE POSTED SHORTLY I've already written it, I'm just waiting for reviews! Evil smile XOXO