Forewarning - this chapter is mostly just filler and probably a little boring. I promise the next couple of chapters will be full of action, adventure, and even more lovey-dovey-ness than ever before.

On with the show!

P.S. The SGC isn't mine, but Aeda is.

It was a long running joke throughout the SGC that Daniel didn't like Monday mornings. Almost always, something went wrong on a Monday morning. The whole Sarah/Osiris debacle had gone down on a Monday morning. Jack's first encounter with the Ancient's head-sucking technology had happened on a Monday morning. Bad things just seemed to happen on Monday mornings. So, he tended to go into work late on Mondays – arriving right around lunchtime instead of at seven like the rest of the SGC. Occasionally, if the general had scheduled something for a Monday morning, he'd come in on time but everyone knew it was with protest. He was funny that way.

So, on the Monday after he got back from Boston, he met up with Sam for breakfast at a diner in downtown Colorado Springs with absolutely no intent of finding out how things had gone for her with Jack as a houseguest. That changed when the smile she presented him with was brighter than the early April sunshine.

"You're scaring me," he said as they sat down in a window booth and ordered coffee.

"Why?" she asked, opening her menu.

He took his glasses off and perched them on top of his head. "Because, you're smiling like a crazy person."

"I'm happy."

"I can tell."

The waitress stopped by and they both ordered coffee. As she walked away, he took his glasses off and rested them on the booth. When he looked up at her, the smile was still going, full watt.

"Go ahead and ask, Daniel. You know I'm going to ask you all about Boston, so just go ahead and get your Jack interrogation out of your system." She never even looked up from her menu.

He grinned. She was very good at reading him, even without looking at him. "So, how was your visit with Jack?"

At this she looked up. "I'm smiling, Daniel. I've been smiling since Friday night and I can tell you right now that I don't think I can stop it. I try, but every time I try to frown, I feel like I pull a muscle."

His grin widened. "Aeda told me about Friday night."

Her smile faded just a little. "She's not very good at keeping secrets."

"Actually, she's fantastic at keeping secrets. You, on the other hand, have been telling her far too much about our exploits."

The smile returned, as did the waitress with their coffee and a pad to take their orders. Sam ordered eggs and bacon with toast and he settled for French toast and hash browns. When she left them again, they went back to their original conversation.

"She asked me over lunch one day. I couldn't not tell her."

"That's a double negative."

She stuck her tongue out at him in a very uncharacteristic gesture of immaturity. "Anyway. I only told her the really funny things."

"Which reminds me – did you tell Jack about the multiple versions of yourself?" His smile widened when she shrank a little. "I didn't think so. How about the thing with the bugs?"

"He already knew about that one."

Their food arrived and they again waited for their waitress to leave so they could talk. When she was gone, Sam leaned forward and motioned for him to do the same. He leaned in and said, "What?"

"Does Jack know you're sleeping with his goddaughter?"

"Yes." At least he thought Jack knew. Of course, Aeda was really good at keeping secrets so there was a chance that Jack knew...well, jack about it all.

"Just checking." She leaned back and took a bite of her eggs. "How is Aeda?"

"She wants to move out here." Sam choked on her eggs and he nodded. "I know. I kind of had the same reaction and she took it to mean the wrong thing."

"What happened?" she croaked.

He sighed. "I love her, Sam, but we have lives on completely opposite ends of the continent. I can't ask her to move out here for me, just like I know she wouldn't ask me to move out there for her."

He ate some of his French toast, contemplated everything they'd said before having brunch with her family. He'd fallen in love with her all over again Sunday morning, when he'd seen her with her family. Her father was an older version of Jack and her mother reminded him in so many ways of his own – beautiful and intelligent and funny. Aeda was a perfect mixture of Belvedere and Carolina.

"Where does it stand?"

"Back in limbo where it likes to be." He smiled thinly. "We'd see each other even less if she was out here, and I'd constantly be worried about her. At least this way, I know she's safe. Boston is so far removed from Colorado."

"You're being awfully optimistic," she said with a smile almost as bright as her earlier version.

He grinned. "I'm testing out Teal'c's theory, that every once in awhile something good has to happen, if for no other reason than to just balance out the bad."

"Teal'c?"

He nodded. "That, or Confucius."

"Same difference."

They ate their breakfast quietly, discussing simple things every so often, and eventually Sam told him about the developments that had occurred during his short absence. Ishta and Teal'c had called it quits, apparently leavingboth Jaffa heartbroken. Cameron and Dr. Lam had gone out to dinner on Saturday and had apparently spent the night together, though Cameron wasn't spilling the full story. Sam was convinced she could get him to tell her everything eventually.

Jack had flown out Sunday night on a red-eye, with promises of coming back at least once a month from then on – promises he intended to keep. He told her that he loved her, which he had done before, but for some reason it felt more real when he was in front of her than it did over the phone. To see him say the words was, in Sam's view, even more wonderful than to just hear them spoken aloud.

Daniel had called Aeda upon arriving in Denver to tell her that he was alive and on the ground. She told him she was lounging half-naked in her living room and he had to stop for a minute in the middle of the airport and collect himself. When they said good-bye, he could hear the sadness in her voice, but she laughed at his lame jokes and he promised to call her in the morning, which he had.

"It never gets any easier to say good-bye, does it?" Sam asked suddenly, interrupting their silence.

He looked up from his plate and frowned. "No, not for any of us."

"Do you ever worry that when you say it, it's the last one?"

He shook his head. "I don't want to think about it. Maybe that's why I always call her, just before we head out, just to say something, anything, so she won't worry."

She smiled slightly. "I do that, too, except I know Jack worries. All the time."

He returned her smile. "So does Aeda, even if she won't admit it."

"Couple of peas in a pod, huh?" she asked.

He nodded, raised his coffee cup. "That we are, Samantha. That we are."

A/N: You guys rock! Your reviews are all so supportive and encouraging. Thanks for all the good press. :-)

I've actually written the ending, which will probably be up some time this coming weekend unless something horrible happens, like the Red Sox losing to the Orioles.