A/N- Hi thanks for reading! Sorry it took me so long to update this has been sitting on my desktop waiting for me to find time to finish it! Hope you like it! Beta'd by Aussie73!

Walking Through the Woods

Sam and Jack were walking hand in hand along the path. Both were deep in thought about the past, present and the future. Jack smiled at the memory that popped into his head at the moment.

His quiet laugh and smile did not go unnoticed by Sam. "Whatcha thinkin' about?" she asked.

"Oh, just memories of the first time I met you," Jack said.

Sam smiled; she too remembered that first meeting in the briefing room. She blushed - she could not believe she had said that to her new CO. Talk about bad first impressions!

"Don't be embarrassed about it Sam; I was cocky and worried that all those kids on Abydos were hurt by the Goa'uld, and I don't like scientists," Jack said without thinking about the last part. When he saw Sam look distraught he realized what he'd said and how it must have sounded. "Ugh… I didn't mean it like that," he stumbled out.

"You said you don't like scientists, Jack; then what about me?" Sam said, knowing that Jack truly did not like scientists; that she and Daniel were exceptions. She still wanted him to define how he thought of her, if he didn't like scientists.

"I know I said that, and I really don't, but you, Sam ...". Jack put his hand on her cheek, hoping she didn't pull away. He didn't like talking about feelings, but she needed to know how he felt about her. "You Sam are more than a scientist, you're a soldier, and you've saved this planet more times than I can count. You're a woman, which you also made clear in the first briefing." Sam blushed; she had said that very clearly.

Jack smirked. "You ...". He had to choose his words carefully, it had to sound just right "you Sam are an amazing woman with great brains, a kick-ass attitude, and ...". Jack paused again.

"And?" Sam asked.

"And a beautiful woman, who I am deeply in love with," Jack said with a smile. He leaned down and took her lips in a very passionate kiss.

Sam had to pull away. She had to tell him how she felt now; right now the timing would be perfect. "Jack."

"Yes Sam?"

"I love you, Jack."

"I love you too, Sam."

Sam could not pull herself together to say anything else at his words - just pulled him into another passionate kiss.

After a moment of absorbing what had been said and the atmosphere around them, Jack slowly pulled away. "Sam; much as I would love to just stand here all day and make you mine right now, we should keep walking. It's not too much farther and then we can finish this," Jack said, waggling his eyebrows.

"Okay Jack, as long as we get to do this later." Sam said in a similar tone.

"Oh we will," Jack said with a devilish grin on his face.

With that, they continued down the path, hand in hand. After not too long, they were coming across a clearing in the woods. Jack stopped and turned towards Sam. "Okay, we're almost there; in the clearing you'll have a great view," he said. "Sam?" he added.

"Yes?"

"You need to close your eyes, so you don't peek."

Sam smiled; Jack was acting like a little kid who was hiding something. "Okay Jack; I promise not to look." She thought he looked so cute when he was acting like this. She really wanted to know what could be seen from the clearing; apparently it was something really good for Jack to be acting like this.

Sam closed her eyes and then felt Jack's hand on the small of her back directing her into the clearing. When she felt Jack pull her back she knew they had reached the spot, she waited for Jack to tell her to open her eyes.

"Okay, Sam open them!" Jack said.

Sam opened her eyes; she was truly amazed by the sight in front of her. They were standing on some sort or cliff, and below them was a huge lake. At one of the shorelines was a very large house; it could be a starter mansion. The house looked like the style of the Breakers in Boston; it was just a smaller version. Sam was so taken back that it took her a minute to find her voice again. "Oh my god Jack, it's beautiful!" she said.

"I love the view from up here, and I had a feeling you'd love it too," Jack said.

"Well, after eight years you're finally right," Sam said.

Jack frowned at her comment, but knew she was just joking. "Well, we should get going - someone's waiting for us down there," he said, looking at his watch. When he'd called before they left the cabin, Ellie said she would get his room set up and alert the seamstress that she would need to make a dress for whoever Jack was bringing along - to meet the whole gang.

Jack smiled and was not sure when he should tell Sam why he had brought her here. 'Well Jack,' he thought 'there's no time like the present. That way she can expect to be fitted for a dress.' "Sam, I need to tell you something," he said.

"Yes?"

"You're going to meet my whole family this weekend."

"Really?"

"Yeah, sorry for not telling you earlier." Jack said, looking like he had done something horribly wrong.

"It's okay Jack, I'm sure I'll like them all. If they are anything like you are," Sam said, giving Jack a quick kiss.

'Wow,' Sam thought, 'I get to meet all his family and this is our first real weekend together. God I hope we don't rush into anything, like Pete did. NO SAM!'. Sam scolded herself at the thought. 'You've known this man for eight years. He's never rushed into anything that caused you danger, he knows what he's doing. And you love each other, and have for who knows how long without admitting it to each other.' Only when the base was in danger had they even admitted to any feelings. Sam smiled and sighed at the thoughts she had just had, not knowing that the man she loved was having similar thoughts to hers.

Then it hit Sam; she hadn't packed to be with people who could own a house like that. All she had was what she was wearing! Jeans that she had worn before, a tank top, and that was it!

"Jack?"

"Don't worry; you're going to be fitted for a dress, and you and my sister are the same size so you can borrow some of her clothes," Jack said with a smile. He had known what she was concerned about because he saw her look at what she was wearing with a worried look on her face. Yeah he loved this woman.

"Jack; how did you know?" Sam was confused about how he had read that from her thoughts.

"I saw you looked worried and glanced down at what you are wearing."

Sam smiled at that, but that soon became a devilish grin. "Jack ...," Sam said in a rather dangerous tone, "are you saying that you were staring at me?"

Jack read through her tone and replied in his own dangerous tone, "Well, Samantha, if you are suggesting that I, John O'Neill, was staring at my hot girlfriend because I can, than, yes I was and will continue to stare at you until I must take my eyes away."

Sam blushed, oh yeah she loved this man. "Yes I was," she said than kissed him.

Once the moment passed the couple continued to walk down to path to the house. When they approached the large door, Jack looked at Sam and said, "You ready?"

"As much as I'll ever be."

Jack raised his hand and rang the doorbell. It wasn't five seconds before the large door was opened by a woman about 5'3 with dark hair was pulled up out of a face filled with small sharp features. All of which lit up like light bulbs when they saw Jack, who had a smirk on his face.

Elizabeth could not believe Jack was here! She had talked to him about 20 minutes ago, telling her he and a woman would be coming for the reunion and she was to prepare his room and alert the seamstress that she would have a project coming up for this woman. And here they were!

Elizabeth could tell she was being looked over by this woman, and Jack just stood there smirking. "Jack; it's so good to see you!" she exclaimed, pulling Jack into a hug.

"It's good to see you too, Ellie," Jack said, hugging her back.

When the hug broke Sam had a look of distress on her face. Whoever this woman was, she knew Jack and that made Sam feel ... jealous? Sam frowned at that thought and remembered the words they'd shared on the way here. Jack loved her, this woman was just a old friend he had known growing up. 'I am here with him; he's mine,' Sam thought.

Jack had noticed the distraught look that crossed Sam's features as he hugged Ellie; did she feel jealous? Ellie brought the couple out of their trance. "Jack being the brilliant man you are, have you forgotten all the manners I taught you!"

"Sorry Ellie. Ellie; this is Sam Carter. Sam; this is Elizabeth or Ellie as us kids call her, she has been the main maid/nanny/friend for all of us over the years," Jack said. Ellie and Sam shook hands, and greeted each other.

"Well Jack you should go find Bill; I know he's around here somewhere. You can tell him if anything needs to be fixed up before everyone else shows up, and then I can take Ms. Carter down to get her fitted," Ellie said.

"I'll go find him. Carter; make sure you find a dress that Hammond could see you in - nothing too revealing now," Jack said with a wink.

"I won't do anything of the sort, sir," Sam said, adding the 'sir' at the end because he'd called her Carter. Taking the hint.

After Jack left, Ellie decided to ask the question that was weighing heavily on her mind. "So, Ms. Carter ..."

"It's Sam, please."

"So Sam, you are really Sam Carter? The one Jack has talked about whenever he does tell us about what he does for the Air Force. Most of the time when we ask why he's hurt or where he's been, or how things are going he says 'Classified' and if he doesn't he tells us stories of you, a Dr. Jackson, and Murray."

Sam laughed. "Yes, that's me."

"So you know the real reason why he jumped at Deep Space Radar Telemetry, and he stayed there then comes home with scars and stories of broken limbs and bad reasons for why he didn't call anyone for months at a time. I understand he would jump at something with space in it due to his PhD in Astronomy, but I never thought he would hurt himself so much in that field."

"Yeah we get hurt a lot, and yeah I know the reasons and stories ... but I never knew he had a PhD!"

"Plays like a box of rocks, does he?"

"Yeah; I leave out large terms in my reports for him but not anymore!"

Ellie laughed. "Jack is something else isn't he?"

"Yeah."

"Well, here we are." Ellie opened a door and walked in. "Sam this is Molly, Molly this is Jack's Sam Carter. And yes that one."

Sam laughed. "I guess you already know me as Jack's Sam."

"Yes; he talks about you a lot," Molly said.

"Well I have work to do, Sam, so I'll leave you in Molly's hands for your dress fitting, then I think Jack will come meet you for the grand tour," Ellie said before she left.

"So, Sam let me have a look at you." With that, Molly got to work measuring and testing and fitting and talking with Sam about Jack and stories of when he was a little boy.

An hour later, Jack had finished with Bill and was ready to find Sam and have some fun. When he approached the door, he stopped at the sound he heard. Molly was telling Sam about when Jack was 13 and what happened when he brought home his girlfriend at the time.

"So Jack had been all nervous about his date, they were going to swim, then go on a boat ride, and have a picnic an the boat," Molly said.

"Aw, that's so cute, he must have really liked her," Sam said.

"Yeah, but when she showed up, she didn't want to swim, or go on a boat ride, or have a picnic. All she wanted to do was make out with him and listen to music in his room."

"So what happened?"

"Well, Jack had never kissed a girl before and at the time rumors tell that he wasn't very good. So when they got to his room she started making her move, he wanted no part in it, so he tried to stall, he put on the music and when he turned around she'd taken off her coat to show a very short skirt and very small tank top. So she started to walk towards him swaying her hips when she reached him she started dancing like he was a pole."

"Oh my god! What happened next!" Sam said laughing.

Jack hated this story.

"Well, the music turned slow and she was still all over him, she had one leg wrapped around his waist and her hips almost ground into his from her dancing. She put her one hand behind his head and the other one on his cheek. She unwrapped her leg and turned him so his back was to his bed. She walked him to his bed and then wrapped both legs around him and started to try to mold his face with her mouth and tongue. They fell back onto the bed and Jack's hands found her ass, which was uncovered to show a thong. Jack found this out the hard way and when she felt his hands on her ass well she hopped off of him and yelled at him for trying to get her in bed with him and stomped off home before Jack could get a word in. And she told all her friends and if Jack had not switched schools he might not have had another girlfriend until college. That, Sam, was Jack's first girlfriend and his first kiss all in one."

"Wow that was interesting, I wonder what happened to her?"

"Well, she got drunk one night in high school and her boyfriend slept with her and she got pregnant," Jack said making his presence known to Molly and Sam.

"Oh, that's too bad Jack," Sam said.

"Yeah, but she had it coming." Jack said. "Well Molly; I think I'll take Sam away from you so you don't tell her any more stories that I hate."

Molly just smiled.

Jack led Sam out of the room and started to explain himself and what happened that day.

Then Sam spoke. "Jack; she wanted you, you played no part in it, and I'm not sure what would have happened if you had not touched her ass and she jumped away. You wanted no part in her plans."

Jack just smiled. One of the many things he loved about Sam was that she understood things like that. He just had to kiss her. So he did and of course she kissed him back. Jack really loved this 'get to kiss her whenever he wanted' thing.

When they pulled away Jack said, "Would you like the grand tour?"

"I'd love that."

"Let's begin." Jack led Sam through the maze that was his vacation home. Briefly explaining the room, and how it was used and any other bits of information he felt like adding.

When the tour was over, Jack led Sam outside to the backyard that overlooked the lake they'd seen earlier. "Jack; this place is so beautiful!"

"Yeah; it has its perks."

"What do you mean? This place is almost perfect."

"Well, it loses a lot of perfection when it's full of O'Neills."

"Oh, so you don't like your family?"

"Well, they don't like me. After what happened with Kevin, Scott hates the military, and after my Charlie shot himself they liked me even less because my military life had killed two young boys."

"Oh." Jack had been through so much, so much death and hard times. The SGC had helped him so much; he got to say goodbye to his son, and Daniel, Teal'c and Sam showed him that life is worth living - to beat the bad guys and save the world.

As they were staring into space in each other's arms overlooking the lake, a woman's voice broke through the silence. "John! John! Is that really you! John!"

Sam looked up to see that Jack had gone pale. As Jack snapped back he took his stance behind Sam with his arms around her waist. The calling came closer. "John; it's good to see you again."

"Oh yeah; they like to call me that to piss me off. No doubt you'll be called Samantha, so brace yourself," Jack whispered in Sam's ear.

"John! Aren't you going to say hello?"

"Hello, Mother."

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