"You won't mind being a kept man?" asked Sam.

"Uh, sorry to break up your private party," complained Daniel "but some of us are about to die of starvation."

"Okay, okay" groaned Jack, annoyed because he was just about to swoop down and kiss Sam, "do you ever NOT think with your stomach?"

Jack leaned over and pecked Sam on the cheek. "Let's get the food rolling before Danny boy faints from hunger."

O O O O

The next few weeks on base were not much fun for Jack. Somehow the picture did get around, he was almost certain it was Daniel. No one dared say anything directly to his face, but instead he endured muffled laughs and giggles and a few young officers turning bright red. One of the airmen even turned a bit red. He tried to really ignore that one.

Sam was having the time of her life. Little did Jack know it was she who was guilty of letting the picture out. She had innocently posted it on her laptop as her screen saver. She had to admit, the picture did affect her in 'that" way. She enjoyed looking at it each time she booted up.

First she thought that someone must have seen it and somehow hacked into her system to get it. She knew that was next to impossible. She then guessed that the security team must have zoomed in on it with one of the cameras and done their little dirty work from there.

The picture was first found in the ladies locker room. Sam had walked in on a few of her female colleagues collected in a corner having a gossip session about something. She tried not to take notice.

She then heard one of the ladies say "Can you believe that this magnificent body has been hidden from us for all these years. Generals are not supposed to be this hot."

One of the ladies suddenly turned around and saw Sam and elbowed her friend. "Colonel

O'Neill, I mean Colonel Carter, we didn't hear you come in," stammered the young Lieutenant.

Sam knew that people joked about calling her "Colonel O'Neill" this was the first time someone had slipped right to her face. She just smiled and said "Don't worry I don't mind."

"Sorry," she continued as she shoved the picture in her locker and gathered her stuff "have a nice day Colonel Carter."

As the group of ladies was leaving the locker room Sam couldn't resist. She leaned over to the Lieutenant, "I like that picture too, it was my laptop that security borrowed it from."

The next was the cafeteria. Jack was staying over on base and was rummaging for some food around 1AM. He went over to a pantry and when he opened the door he got the shock of his life.

There he was in all his glory "Mr. September" staring right back at him.

He did what he thought best, grabbed his snack and headed for his quarters.

The next morning the kitchen crew got a big surprise when the opened the pantry to find their much loved photo was now autographed.

The picture was the hottest thing on the SGC black market, almost hotter than the rumors of Jack and Sam.

As expected, they were getting pretty hot. Amazingly, the rumors were kept to the base. No one outside of the SGC was the wiser. Everyone was so accustomed to keeping their life on base top secret that the issue of Jack and Sam seemed to be regarded in the same way.

They knew that the couple had laid their lives down for Earth on countless occasions. The secrecy for their relationship was a sort of a "thank you" from a base that respected them and would gladly risk the court marshal.

It was also decided that the General was also a much nicer guy to be around. So why blow something that was making everyone's life better.

Jack and Sam were doing everything they could to think of ways to make their relationship legal. One of them could retire. Both of them could retire. One of them could get reassigned. The list went on and on.

They kept everything very low key, Jack was former black ops, keeping this relationship a secret should have been a piece of cake.

That was until the auction.

O O O O

The planning committee decided that they would draw an even bigger crowd if they scheduled the auction for Valentine's Day. Sam received her notification letter in the mail and showed it to Jack.

"See, you now have an extra month to save your pennies for the auction," she laughed as she handed him the letter one morning.

They were in bed at Sam's one Saturday morning reading the paper and having coffee. She had gotten out of bed to get a refill for the coffee and grabbed the letter off of her desk.

"Oh, great I'm going to need it," said Jack as he gladly accepted the coffee refill. "You know they don't pay Generals all that much more than Colonels."

"Hardly," said Sam "you're new truck says differently. Could that thing be any bigger?"

"Hey, don't knock my truck. I'm not the one with both a vintage Harley and Volvo in their garage."

Sam just smiled over her coffee cup. She loved her Harley and her Volvo coupe. She had rebuilt them both herself.

Jack then got out of bed and went to his overnight bag. "Guess what I got?" he asked with a big grin.

Sam took the letter. "You have got to be kidding me," she said in disbelief of what she was now reading.

Dear General O'Neill:

As a former model for the Stars and Stripes "Men in Uniform" calendar we would like to extend the following invitation.

It is a fond tradition that all former models take part in our annual "Men and Women in Uniform Auction." Each year this event raises countless dollars for our deserving charities. We find that the addition of our past models only enhances the event, whether our models choose to assist with the planning on the committee or with the evening itself.

Yada, yada, yada.

"I get that letter every year. I was actually thinking of taking part this year. Maybe I can rig the auction so that no one else can bid on you" said Jack.

"No way!" said Sam "I think it would be only fitting that you should have to bid for me fair and square. Anyway, just think how embarrassing it would be if only one person bid on me. I have enough anxiety about the whole thing as it is."

"I don't think you have much to worry about," continued Jack "I overheard a few guys in the locker room boasting about how much they were planning on bringing to the auction, with you specifically in mind. A few of them are even planning on pooling together and plan on bringing you out on a group date."

"Thank God McKay is in the Pegasus Galaxy at Atlantis. I don't think I could handle going out on a date with him. He would spend the entire evening telling me how wonderful he was and how he had improved upon my Gate dialing programs."

O O O O

Sam spent the next few weeks at the gym. She always considered herself in pretty good shape, but the thought of being bid on, while wearing a bikini on a stage in front of hundreds of people, terrified her. She was even hitting the tanning booth.

She was actually looking forward to her hours before the auction that she would be spending with the Stars and Stripes beauty crew. This time she would just sit back and let them work their magic.

Jack was getting a bit worried. He hated to see Sam on any kind of diet or serious work out regime. This usually meant that he would be suffering the same fate, he hated diets. Plus, a Sam without chocolate was not a happy Sam.

He never saw her like this before. Suddenly she was worrying about some of the scars on her body. She was even considering backing out at the last minute.

"You have nothing to be worried about," insisted Jack as he was spotting her while she was doing sit-ups in her basement. "You have an absolutely fantastic body that most nineteen year olds would be envious of."

"Thank you, but you are a bit biased," groaned Sam as she came up for her fiftieth.

"Hey, that's not just me talking," said Jack. "I hear the guys in the locker room talk about you all the time."

"Oh, that makes me feel so much better," groaned Sam again. "What else do the guys say about me?"

"Just that you are the hottest female Colonel on base and they hope they win you" he continued.

"I am the only female Colonel on base!" said Sam as she flopped back down onto the sit-up mat.

O O O

The day of the auction finally arrived.