Hey guys! I've finally managed to finish chapter three. I have to do about three more essays this week then I'm free until my exams at the end of April early May. I should then be able to update at least weekly up til then and after that but anyways on with the story ;)

Chapter three – Conversations and surpises.

Sam stared at Jack for quite some time not quite believing what he just said. As the seconds ticked by Jack's ears slowly turned red and he finally broke the silence in the car.

"Never mind, just forget I said anything, you know me yak yak yak, probably a lost cause anyway" Despite the light tone of his voice, Sam realised that he was hiding the pain that Sam had not answered right away. Whilst she was desperately trying to figure out how to rectify the situation they pulled into the bases car park. They sat quietly in his truck for a moment until Sam spoke.

"Jack, I truly hope that one day we can be together in that way but I don't see how. I mean if the president were to allow the regs to drop, he would have to for the whole Air Force right? I wish …"

"Like I said Carter it's all speculation at the minute but you never know …" he let his sentence drift off. They looked awkwardly at each other before Jack continued, "Right well I really do have a mountain of paperwork so lets go Carter, you can do some more work on that doohickey thingy" As she looked at his face screw up at the thought of paperwork, she felt her stomach writhe, she really did love this guy. The tension of the minute before was broken and Sam found herself smiling broadly at him. They chatted away as normal, or rather Sam rambled on about the current doohickey whilst Jack had his usual half amused, half confused expression on his face, as they walked into the SGC. They signed in and the SF at the desk sprang to attention and saluted Jack and Sam.

"Sir, General Hammond requests your immediate presence in you office."

"At ease airman" they walked towards the elevator and Jack sighed as she doors closed. "I think the paperwork pile's gonna get much bigger before I have a chance to even start it" he grinned at Sam.

"Yes sir" she responded before the doors opened. "Good luck sir and thanks again for … you know" she smiled again and walked off towards her lab leaving Jack staring after her. He shook his head. Damn he was in trouble, he couldn't keep denying how he felt about that woman. If General Hammond hadn't bought good news he didn't know what he was going to do. As he opened the door to his office Jack smiled at the General who was sat down on the small two seater sofa Jack had placed there.

"General, nice t'see ya" he shot off a half hearted salute as General Hammond stood up and held out his hand.

"Nice to see you too Jack, how's things" they shook hands and sat down at the chair in front of the desk as Jack took his seat.

"Not bad sir, Teal'c is off world with Ishta and her band of merry women, Daniel's off with SG12 at the mining post with the Unas, Carter's in her lab with her latest anti spatial … her latest doohickey thingy, we've just unearthed a ZPM and the Commissary was out of cake again this afternoon" The older General laughed at the younger man.

"Too bad Jack, now about why I'm here"

"Yes sir"

"I think you'd best call me George during this discussion Jack"

"Ok, why am I getting a bad feeling about this?"

"Because you're turning into a pessimist in your old age," Georges eyes were alive with amusement. "First I need to ask you some questions that may be slightly uncomfortable for you"

"Ask away"

"The President has been going over my request for amendments to the fraternisation regulations as they apply to the SGC. He agrees that for such high risk programs as the Stargate program the usual policies don't work anymore. The life and death situations you people face everyday are immense and the fact that you don't get to have anything resembling a normal social life as you're getting called back in here all the time is also a major factor. The President needs to know if at any point before today whether you and Colonel Carter have acted against the regulations, more than that Jack, I need to know." Jack looked up at George and decided to tell the whole truth.

"I've been tempted many time, like during the Zatar'c testing. The reason Sam and I were considered as one is because we didn't tell the whole truth about the time that we got stuck behind that damn forcefield when those damn armbands fell off. We had to admit during that testing, albeit as subtlety as we did, that we had feelings for each other, more than we should have. We left those admissions in that room sir and didn't act upon them. There have been many time where I had to remember the fate of the whole world over her fate, but I always did. Oh but you should probably know as long as we're being honest that when Teal'c and I were 'looping' I resigned and kissed Sam in the middle of the control room" George looked shocked for about a minute then burst out laughing.

"Well I think we can forgo the charges on that one Jack" still chuckling about Jack, the General continued. "There is still one thing I'm worried about Jack. If the regs do change where will that leave Sam's relationship with Pete, she will be incredibly torn over that kind of decision,"

"Luckily she won't have to make it, she and Pete have just broken up, Pete wasn't too happy about it actually so you'll probably receive a letter of complaint about me"

"Why would I receive a letter of complaint?" George asked confused.

"Because I kinda hit him … hard" Jack admitted.

"O'Neill! Why the hell did you hit Carter's fiancé?" General Hammond yelled. Jack stared Hammond in the eyes as he answered.

"Because he was insulting Carter and making accusations about her and me because I was there and I think I kinda knocked him out. He did deserve it sir" George sighed again.

"Why were you at your 2IC's house?"

"I went to tell her about the promotion, she was looking upset all day and I figured she could use some good news, she had already left her lab so I went to tell her, you know to cheer her up "

"How did she feel about it?" The General asked with a smile on his face, knowing how much the promotion would have meant to his best friends daughter.

"As you can imagine sir, she was shocked, grateful and very happy" General Hammond looked at the doe eyed expression on the younger mans face and decided to tell him the reason for his visit.

"Ok General O'Neill. The reason I've come all the way from Washington D.C. instead of just picking up the phone is to tell you of a very specific change in regulations. This change is effective immediately for all SGC personnel. Fraternisation is still discouraged, however exceptions may be made under the discretion of the base commander, that would be you Jack. However you must gain the discretion of your superior, that would be me" Jack looked at Hammond to continue. When he didn't say anything Jack prompted him.

"Well General sir, you know the discretion I want you to use in my circumstances" Jack said hopefully. In response Hammond handed him an envelope. He opened it. The letter was signed by General Hammond and The President and it basically stated that Jack and Sam were finally able to have a relationship as long as it didn't interfere with the running of the base.

"Thank you General" Hammond nodded, knowing from these three words just how grateful Jack was.

"You're most welcome Jack, it's taken its sweet time but there's been poll after poll around here about when and why you and Sam would finally get together. Now I'm gonna go to my hotel until the ceremony tomorrow. See you then" he got up and walked to the door. "By the way Jack as Jacob isn't here to say it, you'd better take damn good care of that woman"

"Yes sir, I love her and I plan to" Jack saluted him and Hammond nodded and walked down the corridor and he could have sworn he heard Jack yell "I'm gonna get this framed!".

Later that evening Jack stood outside Sam's lab, watching her from the doorway as she played with her latest item. She frowned and looked at some readings and sighed, "Amazing!" with a slight shake of her head.

"What's amazing Carter?" he asked by way of a greeting. Sam looked up startled.

"This device sir, it's incredible, the amount of energy it has and the way it makes the spatial …"

"I know I asked but is there any way to explain without the technobabble?" Jack asked hopefully.

"No sir, lets just say that we may have found a way to put new and more powerful weapons on the X-303 now"

"Sweet, now that s my kinda briefing" he grinned at her and she stood up and stretched.

"What time is it sir?"

"A little after ten"

"What did General Hammond want?"

"He was discussing your promotion and the regs with me" he said carefully. Sam's head shot up and she looked Jack in the eye.

"And what did he say?"

"UNSCHEDULED OFF WORLD ACTIVATION, GENERAL O'NEILL TO THE CONTROL ROOM"

"We'll talk about this later" they both rushed out of the lab.

"When they got to the control room, Walters looked up at them and smiled to himself then quickly turned his attention back to the computer screen where an IDC was now flashing.

"Receiving SG12's IDC Sir" he stated briefly. Sam looked sharply at Jack.

"Open the Iris" Jack ordered, he looked back at Sam and calmly said, "Daniels not due back for another 11 hours" There was a pause until Daniel and SG12 stumbled through the gate carrying a stretcher.

"MEDICAL TEAM TO THE GATE ROOM" Jack grabbed the mic and yelled over the com as he rushed down to meet the team with Sam hot on his heels.

"What's going on Danny boy?" Jack asked the obviously shell shocked archaeologist.

"Are you ok Daniel?" Sam asked and then after a pause added, "And who's injured?"

"It's … Janet" he said as though he didn't believe his own words, "She was just there and …" he let his sentence drop and looked helplessly at Sam for answers.

TBC

Yeah I know another cliff hanger, never mind he he he, I just want to thank all you guys that have reviewed. I know this chapter was a lot between Jack and Hammond but I figured there should be a decent questioning of Jack before they would allow the regs to change, next chap should be up in about two weeks or basically any time after the 18th when I finally finish lecture for this year, yay! Anyways please review again feedback, constructive criticism or positive is always welcome, thanx again luv Nicki