To all my adoring fans: LOL! Just kidding. I really appreciate all of you who take the time to comment on my stuff. It lets me know I'm doing okay. Here's the epilogue, as promised. Enjoy! (P.S. Happy 4th of July! That's when I'm typing this, so if it's past then now, sorry!)

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Previous:

The ring fell to the ground, but this time, when it was all over, no one picked it up. Sam's ring finger was entwined with the rest of Jack's as they held hands, walking out of the gym together. As soon as he opened the door, she went first, not hinting to anything as if nothing had happened. Jack exited the other way, to find a very curious Daniel.

"Come on, Jack. Please please PLEASE tell me what happened?"

Jack smirked. "Figure it out, Spacemonkey."

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Daniel knocked on Sam's front door, waiting a while before Sam stepped outside, closing the door behind her. She crossed her arms. "Daniel. Hey."

"Hey, am I interrupting something?"

She shook her head briefly. "No, why? What's up?"

He rummaged in his pocked. "I found this on the gym floor at the SGC," he held the ring between his first finger and his thumb, the early morning light dancing on the stones, "This belong to you?"

Sam took it heavy heartedly. She played with it in her palm. "It did."

"I figured out what happened for myself. Now you have to figure out what you're going to do with it."

She leaned against the left post of the overhand on her porch. Daniel knew exactly what to say to make her think. "Yeah. Thanks, Daniel."

"Anytime."

Daniel turned to leave, but turned back to her, stroking his chin slightly. "Nice shirt, by the way. I'd compliment more if you were wearing it, of course."

Major Samantha Carter was standing in the top half of BDUs that if they were closely examined, would reveal their true owner on the nametag. "J. O'Neill." She glared at him.

"Of course," she retorted.

Daniel smirked to himself as he left, knowing he'd left her angry, but nothing past immediate repair.

Sam sighed and went back inside, smelling something on the stove. Jack looked at her. "Morning, beautiful."

"Morning, sir."

"Ah-ah-ah!"

"Jack. Morning Jack."

He smiled. "Now that's better," he brought her plate of eggs to the table, along with a glass of orange juice, "So, was that our favorite archaeologist at the door?"

Sam sat across from him, playing with her eggs by means of her fork. He tried again.

"Carter?"

"Sorry."

"Was that Daniel?"

"Yeah," she reluctantly placed her old engagement ring between them on the table, "He came bearing gifts."

Jack nearly glared at the jewelry. He glanced back up at her for a moment and then looked back at the ring.

"So did the Greeks."

Sam couldn't help but smile, sipping her orange juice. "That they did."

A silence came between them as they tried to eat. This wasn't the first time they'd shared breakfast, as well as attire. Sam smelled the coffee brewing and wondered what he was thinking. Sam knew it was hard for him to remember that Pete still cared about her. She'd been a wreck after she'd talked to Pete. He hadn't taken the news well, after all. Hell, had she expected him to? No…but he didn't have to run off like that. She played with the last forkful of her eggs nervously.

"He, at least, deserves to have it back."

"No he doesn't."

"Jack…"

"Mail it to him. FedEx fixes all sorts of would-be awkward situations."

"Jack, I'm being serious here."

"Who said I wasn't? Look Carter, I don't want you to hafta see him any more than you have to."

"Why not?"

He didn't answer; he just ate.

"Why not?" Jack didn't speak, but now he looked at her.

"Tell me, damn it!"

"Because you care too much!" He slammed his glass to the table, causing hers to jump.

That was the last thing either of them were expecting to come out of his mouth. Jack looked a little surprised himself at his sudden fury. Sam gagged on her own words. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me, Carter, you care too damn much about Pete. If you go over there, you'll come back all sad and depressed and I'll probably see you next at the SGC, which is the one place in the whole damn universe where I can't sneak my arms around you and make you feel okay about it again. About us," he paused and looked at her, "Call me jealous, I know you're thinking it. I don't care. I just love you. Is that so wrong?"

He hadn't expected a response, but she walked over to him and knelt beside his chair. She ran one hand through his hair, but he caught it between his before she could do it again. He stood, still holding her hand and so bringing her up with him. His arms encircled her, and she looked deep into his eyes, reading the novels residing there, but seldom seen. Treasured literature. She spoke.

"I wasn't gonna call you jealous, Jack."

"I'm sure of that," he breathed out a sigh, "I do love you, ya know."

"I do…" she tapered off, not even daring to finish her sentence aloud, knowing what he'd say.

"No buts."

He said it. And Sam still felt guilty.

"I just feel bad about it. I can't get him outta my head now."

He gave her his famous "I know…" smile. "I could help with that."

Her eyes got that certain twinkle to them, reflecting his smile on her lips. "A bit bold…"

"But true."

She let her arms rest around his neck as he mocked her with the glint in his eyes. She laughed. "Shut up. Sir."

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Daniel and Teal'c were sitting in the briefing room for an extra fifteen minutes that morning, waiting for Sam and Jack to arrive. Hammond was about to page them over the PA system when Jack entered casually. Hammond's eyes never left Jack as he sat in his chair.

"Have you seen Major Carter recently?"

"No, sir. Why, am I late?"

"None of your jokes, Jack. I'm only here to make an announcement that involves every member of SG-1, and that includes Major Carter. Do you know where she might be?"

"Eh, you know Carter, she's probably just caught up in her lab, or something like that."

As if on cue, Carter came jogging through the door, ready with an explanation to her tardiness. "Sorry I'm late, sirs, I got caught up in my lab," she sat to three amazed faces and one grave (yet amused) expression, "What? Did I miss something?"

Hammond laughed to himself at the male portion of SG-1. All of them knew something was going on, and one could tell the details of it if he were asked. Exact details. Hammond shook the thought from his head as he finally spoke.

"I'm just announcing that you've all been given a week's relief of duty. Teal'c has informed me that he wishes to visit R'yac and aid in the Jaffa rebellion efforts. You're all dismissed for the time being. Enjoy yourselves."

They all stood to leave, muttering their thanks as they exited. Hammond motioned to Jack. "Colonel, if you don't mind, I'd like to see you in my office for a minute."

Jack turned cautiously. 'Damn it…'

"Sure, sir. Be right there."

"Now, Colonel," Hammond had caught the sarcasm in that statement.

Jack shrugged nonchalantly. "Or now. Now works for me, too."

Sam and Jack exchanged glances as Hammond turned to his office. Jack followed, muttering to himself. "This ain't gonna be pretty…"

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Hammond sat down behind his desk, watching Jack as he entered.

"Close the door, Colonel, and leave your rank outside. George would like to talk to Jack. As a friend."

Jack sat down in front of him. "Okay…shoot. "

"What's going on between you and Major Carter?"

He looked blankly at his "friend".

"Jack, I think we both know what's going on between you and her, so please, just answer my question. What have you and Major Carter been doing lately?"

Jack smirked to himself, then turning it to a wince for effect as he leaned forward in his chair, proud of his new idea, "Can't we leave her rank outside, too?"

Hammond smiled. "I'm afraid we can't do that, Jack. I'd hate to have to court marshal my best colonel just because he couldn't control his emotions."

"Hey…wait, what? Ware we on the same page here?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Well apparently not, Jack."

"Well, what do you think is going on?"

"That you and Major Carter are having some sort of a secret relationship, what did you think I was referring to?"

Jack laughed in his face. "Are you serious?" Could you run that by me one more time?" He chuckled a bit more, "That's pretty funny, George…!"

As he cackled in his chair, Hammond felt a little guilty and very suspicious, but nonetheless, wrong. He turned a little red in the cheeks and ears, even a little on his bald head. As Jack's laughter subsided, George posed the same question in another way.

"Then what the hell is going on?"

"Nothing, George! Sure, I've got feelings for her, I'm not gonna deny that, but there's nothing the Air Force should be worried about. I'm not stupid, sir, I know the frat rules."

"So how do you explain what happened in the briefing room this morning?"

"George. I've been off-world with, saved by, died and brought back to life by, and been to hell and back on several occasions with that woman, and Lord knows what else, for how many years now? And you expect us not to use a little bit of the same terminology for everyday things?"

"So why were you both tardy?"

"You heard Carter, she got 'caught up in her lab'. As for me, I just lost track of time this morning."

"And that little smirk when she entered?"

"Now this is just sad, George. You're questioning simple amusement to use against m e in a future court marshal about breaking the frat rules."

Hammond laughed once. "Whatever, O'Neill. Just make sure nothing happens that you'll regret."

"Cross my heart," he stood, then turning to leave.

"I mean it, Jack."

Jack turned, smiling. "So do I, sir. So do I."

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Jack left the SGC for his cabin in Minnesota for the week, after dropping a hint to Sam telling her to come after she'd been home for a while. The last thing they needed was more suspicion.

When Carter finally arrived at around 7:30 pm, Jack was sitting in a white wooden lounge chair on the deck, a beer in one hand, watching the sun set. Sam crossed her arms in front of her chest. "You made me come down here to see you drinking in patio furniture?"

Jack smirked at her. "Oh, come on, you know you like the view."

"You're talking about the sunset, right?"

He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. She laughed at him as she sat between his legs after helping herself to a beer from the cooler beside him.

"So…what did Hammond want to talk to you about?"

"You and me."

"And what did you tell him?"

"The truth."

"Which is…?"

"That I have feelings for you, but it's nothing the Air Force should worry about."

"So our…relationship never came up?"

"Oh no, that was the topic of interest. I just…played dumb for a while."

"Yeah, you're good at that."

He was silent, but she knew he was smiling at her, despite the jab. She looked at the lingering colors of the sunset, watching the oranges and pinks fade to reads and deep purples. The small, puffy clouds around the now crimson sun looked like a painting worth a frame. She'd never really enjoyed sunsets until that moment, Sam decided. Or maybe it was the fact Jack was holding her that made all the difference. She sighed deeply, tightening his arms around her waist.

"So what happens now?"

"We're careful. Everyone's always dropping by your place, so we'll probably spend a lot of time at mine. And here. And when we're off-world we can at least be close to each other when we make camp. And absolutely no repeats of today."

"Yeah, I never really found out what happened."

"I'd just finished telling everyone you were probably caught up in your lab when you came in and said—"

"I was caught up in my lab, right," she shook her head and looked up at him with a smile, "Not good."

He smiled back. "No, not good. Hence Hammond's 'concern'."

"They watched in silence as sunset turned to twilight. Twilight gave birth to night as the moon watched to forbidden romance in that single white lawn chair. The stars were so bright and the crickets were perfectly in time. Small fireflies and dragonflies made their way along the top of the pond. Every now and then, a long frog croaked his approval. Jack finished his beer and breathed deeply.

"I'm not easy to love."

"I know, believe me."

"So you're sure? About us, I mean."

Silence. Jack tried to explain himself. "I can be a real pain in the ass sometimes."

"You're telling me."

Jack laughed. "Someone is feisty tonight. Damn, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you hated me."

Sam stood up and leaned on the railing along the edge of the deck, knowing he'd follow her. She shuddered as his hands slid over her shoulders and down her arms. He felt guilty for some reason. She gave him so much in a single look…but he wasn't able to return half as much of the joy she gave him by simply being around him. That wasn't fair. But…she seemed to really want to stay, a fact that thoroughly baffled Jack.

"Are you sure you want to love me, Sam?"

She turned to him, finding his eyes in the cool darkness with her own of bright blue. Softly, she kissed his lips, not in a suggestive way, but more as a promise. A gift. A gift of understanding. Sam pulled away, running a hand down his chest.

"I don't have a choice, Jack. I'm already in love with you."

"But—"

"Don't. I'm a big girl, Jack. I can take care of myself."

"You're telling me."

Sam smirked. "Now who's the feisty one?"

"Wanna find out?"

Jack grinned invitingly at her. Sam just laughed.

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Sam woke up that morning to the smell of eggs and bacon. She pulled Jack's shirt over her head, a gray, plaid flannel shirt, and walked out to the kitchen to find Jack pouring orange juice. As she entered the kitchen, the scent of brewing coffee met her at her seat. Jack smiled at her.

"Morning, beautiful."

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Cute, eh? LOL! Hey, I don't wanna brag…but I like it. Wow, I just realized this is my longest chapter in this fic yet…and it was the one I did by request. Eh, what can I say? I'm a people pleaser. But only when those people REVIEW! So please do so. It's much appreciated. :D

And oh yeah, sorry if I spelled R'yac's name wrong, and anything else for that matter. I typed most of this very sleep deprived.