Name: Golden Oportunities

Writer: AthenaIceGoddess

( Kate)

Pairing: Jack / Sam

Rating: T

Humor/ Angst/ Romance

Spoilers: Season 8, Grace, Moebius

Author's notes: Thanks for pointing out the rank problems, I'll be sure not to make the same mistake!

Chapter 2

( Sam's POV)

" What do you want for supper?" Jack yelled upstairs to his guest. " Hold on!" She yelled, and the General heard her run down the stairs.

" What do you have in the cupboards? I could whip up something, I'm sure." Jack snorted. " So says the woman who's Kraft Dinner tastes like chicken. Leave it to me, you just go sit down and veg." She raised her eyebrows at him.

" Veg. Chill. Relax." She laughed. " You cook?" He had the dignity to look vaugely affronted. " I'll have you know that I'm an excellent cook. We have the fixings for spagetti, how does that sound?"

Carter shrugged. " Sounds good to me, s- Jack. Need some help with anything?" She asked, and he pretended to think about it. " Well, since you're my guest, it wouldn't be very gentlemanly of me to put you to work, but I haven't been mistaken for a gentleman yet, you can get a pot and put it on the stove to boil while I open a can of sauce."

Sam dug through his cupboards, and couldn't find the pots. " Where are they?" She asked, and heard Jack walk up behind her. She got up and turned around as he reached over her head and handed her a large pot.

She swallowed as she felt her body temperature rise simply because of his proximity. All she could think was how she wanted to kiss him. It shouldn't be too hard, she did it when she was trapped on the ship all alone. It always seemed that in moments where she was sure she was about to die, it didn't matter that she was in love with her C.O.

Yeah, that's because you're about to DIE, dummy. Regs can't get you when you're dead. She thought sarcastically. She looked up at him, and her thoughts took on a different track when she realized that he was staring back. KISS HIM! What do you have to lose? Even if it's just tonight, you deserve that at least after eight years of wanting him.

She decided to listen to herself, for once. She leaned forward, just as he did. Their lips were about to touch...

Her phone rang. They jumped apart like kids caught making out in the 'rents van as Carter cleared her throat and grabbed her phone to cover her embarrassment.

" Carter. Oh, hi, Mark. No, now's not a bad time. What's up?" She asked her brother, barely suppressing the urge to grind her teeth. Every time something was about to happen, something interrupted them!

" I sound annoyed? Nah, I'm fine. What's up?" She repeated. " This weekend? I can't. I have a previous engagement. I'm staying with a couple of friends." Jack went over to the stove, and emptied a can of thick tomato sauce into a pan. He reached for Sam's pot, but she waved him off.

" No, I can get it, Jack. No, I wasn't talking to you. Yes, I'm staying with a man. A man friend. Pete's gone. We broke up. Jeez, Mark. Fine, bye." She hung up the phone, annoyed at her brother for assuming that she was already dating after her sudden breakup with Pete.

" That your brother?" O'Neill asked, smirking. " Yes." She replied, filling the pot with water and switching on the burner.

" You seem a little perturbed." He said, still smirking. She glared. " I'm not." " I think you need to cool down." He said, suddenly grabbing her around the waist and throwing her over his shoulder.

" General! Put me down!" She yelled, pounding on his back. She didn't know what he was going to do until she saw the lake.

" Jack, no! That lake's freezing!" He chuckled. " Ah, well, we all need a cold shower now and again. In you go." He chucked her, not realizing she had a death grip on his shirt. He let her go, but suddnely found himself pitching forward as well.

" Carter!" He yelped before hitting the water with a splash. They came up sputtering, and when they saw each other soaking wet, in the lake fully clothed, they burst out laughing.

" Fancy a dip, Carter?" He asked, splashing her. She threw water right back. " It WAS your idea. It isn't as cold as I thouht it would be." He shrugged. " It's summer. I should hope not." They tread water for a minute or two, until they remembered what was in the house.

" The sauce!" Jack swam over to the dock, O'Neill hoisting his 21C out, and they ran into the cabin.

" This is what you get for throwing me into the lake." Carter told O'Neill, who surveyed his tomato- sauce covered kitchen with amusment. " I guess we have some cleaning to do."

20 minutes later, the kitchen was scrubbed clean. Sam leaned against the counter while jack sat on a chair. " So, what are we doing for supper now?" Sam asked, looking in the sparsely filled cabinets.

" Beer and chips?" Jack suggested, and Carter laughed. " Well, if there's nothing else... Sounds good to me." He smiled and grabbed a bag of chips and a beer.

" And off to the living room we go." Carter followed her C.O. into the living room for the strangest supper she had ever had.

Jack's POV

He looked over at his 21C, who was well on her way to being drunk. Well, if you can't beat 'em... He downed the rest of his third beer, and got up for another.

" Grab me one, will you? Please." Sam said, giggling. Jack returned with the two beers and handed her hers. " No giggling, Major." She broke out into a full laugh. " Antarctica sucked. And don't try to tell me that was your sidearm." Jack frowned. Ooooook, maybe closer to being drunk than I thought... Damn her though, she's right.

" I'll never tell." He said, sipping his drink as he stared at the beautiful blonde. She sat forward on her chair. " I would. These last nine years... have been amazing. In more than one way."

She sat back, toying with the label on her bottle. " Do you know, the thing that we've been ' hiding' hasn't been all that secret. Janet figured it out. My dad figured it out. Pete, dumbass that he was, even he figured it out. WE're the last to figure it out, it seems." Her voice took on a sad quality.

Jack narrowed his eyes. She's can't be talking about... feelings. Can she? " Before my father died, he told me I could still be happy. I told him I was, I was happy with Pete, but I guess how I really felt about him was pretty transparent. Dad told me to ignore the regs, to go after what I wanted."

Jack's heart began to pound. " What was it you wanted?" He tried to keep his tone light, but knew that if she looked into his eyes, she would know everything he was feeling.

She looked up. " You."

A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update. Next chapter, some more angsty- ness. R&R, and I'll update soon!