Chapter 16 : the Pegasus Project
Atlantis. This was the conclusion Daniel had reached after a few days of reflection aboard the Odyssey. What better way to find the coordinates of the planets that would have housed Merlin's weapon than with the database of the ancients. Sam had also thought a lot during the trip aboard the Terran ship. She had thought of many ways to prevent the terrifying reopening of the Supergate. It was also a great way for her to keep her mind off the simple word "tomorrow". An idea had sprung to mind, P3W45. She had been working on the idea until Daniel convinced General Landry to arrange a meeting with the head of Homeland Security to convince him of the wisdom of sending SG1 to another galaxy in the midst of an Ori invasion. Atlantis. Keeping Daniel's excitement in check was a miracle. He was so enthusiastic despite the circumstances that Sam couldn't help but tease him, as well as Cameron, on the ride back to the SGC. When the Odyssey stabilized in orbit around Earth, SG1 gathered on the bridge to be beamed back to Stargate Command in the departure lounge. It was tomorrow, she thought as the light stream carried them away.
"SG1, welcome to Earth." General Landry stood in front of them, dressed in his "official" uniform, but it was not him who addressed them this greeting, it was not him that Samantha noticed immediately, at his side stood General Jack O'Neill.
COLORADO SPRINGS - SGC BASE - BRIEFING ROOM
"That is why, with the help of the warhead, we are confident, that the wormhole will be transferred from the Pegasus galaxy to the Oris Supergate." She concluded as she displayed the final slide on the briefing room screen. She had laid out her theory after Daniel's. During the briefing, General O'Neill had been sitting next to her, listening to Daniel's argument in silence, his hands wisely placed in front of him on the meeting file. However when she had taken the floor, he had not taken his eyes off her in the half-light, his glance had destabilized her but she had succeeded in not letting anything appear.
"So if I understand correctly..." He spoke calmly but his warm voice confused her. "It will take you eighteen days to get from Earth to Atlantis. An undetermined amount of time there, say at least four days. Then another eighteen days will be needed for you to return with the Odyssey." He did the math. "So SG1 will be on a mission and unavailable for ... forty days. Well, except for Teal'c." The jaffa nodded, and although he didn't say it, the entire team seemed to hear his traditional "indeed." Daniel was about to open his mouth to argue but Jack interrupted him by raising a hand in front of him. "Let's not get carried away, Daniel. I'll authorize the mission. BUT..." He emphasized that last word when Daniel seemed about to exult. "You can't leave immediately. You've just returned from a mission and it seems to me that the Odyssey is not quite ready to leave for Atlantis yet. You have a few days to get your affairs in order, rest, and gather the materials necessary to complete this mission." He turned to Landry. "Let's say departure in two days?" He suggested. Hank nodded his head in agreement. "Well SG1... Go save the galaxy again." he concluded.
COLORADO SPRINGS - SGC BASE - HALLWAY TO CENTRAL ELEVATOR
"Sam!" She froze, her hand brushing against the elevator call button. She closed her eyes for a second. Then she turned around.
"Cameron." She smiled at him, letting the bag she was carrying, fall back to the floor.
"Pizza night at my place before the home stretch?" He offered, his leather jacket over his shoulder.
"Sorry Cameron, I already have plans for tonight." She replied, an enigmatic smile on her lips.
"Oh." Her mouth rounded in surprise. "Date ?" He asked with a teasing smile on his lips.
"A video with Cassie and then a bubble bath." She lied with aplomb as the elevator opened in front of them.
COLORADO SPRINGS - HOME OF LIEUTENANT COLONEL SAMANTHA CARTER
Jack O'Neill was pacing along the living room of his companion. His hands buried in his pockets. He was no longer wearing his uniform, he had changed into an old pair of jeans and an old SGC T-shirt. He would return to Washington tomorrow. But tonight, tonight ... he sighed. Tonight his whole life could be turned upside down. He clenched his fists deep in his pocket and took a deep breath. He knew she wouldn't be surprised to find him at home. She kept a spare key in a small key box hidden in her backyard that he knew the code to. When he heard her motorcycle pull into the driveway, he nervously ran a hand through his hair. Nothing was completely resolved or appeased between them. The night they'd spent together after Sam's two "MIAs" didn't mean they'd ironed out their difficulties. It simply meant that they loved each other, despite everything, and that Jack had needed to feel her alive with him after those two incidents on the mission. If their night together had been passionate and tender, the fact remained that Samantha had run away as soon as she got up, leaving him alone. He had hurt her and he knew it. He had put duty ahead of his feelings for her, because he ... well, that was what he would have to explain to her tonight, if he wanted her to give him a second chance. When she unlocked the door to her house, he was waiting for her, almost at attention in the adjoining living room.
"Good evening Samantha." He sighed as she closed the door behind her. He had a lump in his throat from stress, which usually never happened to him. Yet, if he had prepared himself for multiple scenarios during Samantha's absence these last weeks. He had not foreseen what happened next. She dropped her bag and leather jacket heavily to the floor, seemingly unconcerned. Then she walked slowly to meet him, seeming to consider what to do about it. She stopped one step away from him, their breaths mingling.
"Jack." She murmured then she wrapped her arms around his neck and captured his lips, raising herself slightly on the tiptoes. Surprised, he nevertheless ended up returning her kiss, wrapping his arms around her waist to hold her close to him. She deepened the kiss, taking his breath away. It was far from having imagined this case of figure. Very far. She passed her hands under his tee-shirt, brushing his abdominal, he shivered. She went down her hands in direction of his belt, ravaging his skin of shivers of pleasure. Oh Lord, thought Jack, but ... he had to prevent her from continuing. She separated their lips the time to remove her tee-shirt, she found herself in bra in front of him.
"Sam... Sam... Wait." He sighed between kisses, struggling to catch the attention of the military, too busy undoing the buttons of his jeans and sliding her hand into the opening of the denim. But, she did not seem to decide to wait or to listen to him. Now, he did not want this conversation to be avoided, he did not want her to run away again without having given him a chance to talk about the future. So he took control of the situation in a very strange way. He tipped her onto the couch and locked her hands between their bodies, preventing her from continuing to undress him.
"Jack." She sighed surprised and also outraged to see him end what was going to be a pillowy reconciliation. She fidgeted against him, seeking to recover the control of the situation. He buried his face in her neck and sighed.
"God, you're killing me." He sighed as the movements of his companion did nothing but worsen the erection that Sam's caresses had made. After all, he was only a man, a man in love. She stopped finally. Her breath as short as his. "It is tomorrow Sam." Murmured he deposited a kiss in his neck. "We need to talk." He added as he straightened slightly. She had closed her eyes and was breathing hurriedly. "Sam." He called to her, slightly concerned.
"I don't want to talk Jack. Not to hear that nothing has changed. That we have to live in secrecy." She whispered as she opened her eyes. She pushed him away to sit with her knees pulled up to her chest. "I want more. You said it yourself, I almost died and I could die every day... The Ori are more powerful enemies than any we've faced in the past and..." He stopped her abruptly as he pulled something out of his jeans pocket. She stared at him in amazement and a little bit of anxiety, Jack's eyes were suddenly so dark and his features suddenly so serious. He then opened his hand and held it out to her.
"Marry me, Samantha." She saw what he had held hidden in the palm of his hand. A ring. He was holding an engagement ring in his hand. "I don't want to live in the past, I don't want to live hidden from the people we love. I want you. I want everything from you, everything you're willing to give me. I don't care about the rules. You're Samantha Carter, the soldier and scientist behind Earth's greatest technological advances. And I'm Jack O'Neill, head of Earth's defence system. Screw the rules, I love you, I want you to be my wife. And let someone try to stop me." His voice had grown more powerful and confident as he declared, he held the ring in the palm of his hand. "Marry me, Samantha." He was calm, determined, sure of himself. As in battle, as in command of the SGC. She shivered and contemplated his hand as if he were offering her a goaul'd.
"The rules are..." She began. She didn't know what to think. She had not considered this possibility, when he had said "screw the rules". She had thought that he wanted to go back to the way it was... But she never imagined that he would propose to her. Never. He slowly approached her. She could only notice that his jeans hung on his legs, that his boxers let guess a state of certain excitation. He was disheveled and a little out of breath. And his smile, his little smile that had made her heart capsize every day for ten years.
"The regulation is just a piece of paper, Sam. I spoke to the President this week. I told him I wanted to retire as soon as we eliminate the Ori." He announced quietly.
"You... What?" She was stunned. This was too much information all at once. She hadn't expected this.
"Of course" he added with a small smile, "the President tried to convince me to back out. But, I explained that after offering more than 11 years to this program, I aspired to retire to enjoy my family. Enjoy retirement with you. I still slipped in that if needed, I could remain a close advisor to the program as a civilian." She stared at him, mouth agape. "And this is the part where you say something ..." She stood up abruptly, starting to pace in front of the couch, running her hands through her hair, trying to get her mind in order. He sat down on the couch, pulling his jeans up over his hips to be more presentable, his ring still in his hand. "Sam, say something." She froze suddenly and turned to face him, her eyes going down to the ring between her fingers. She thought of the thousand things that were preventing this relationship. She thought of all the things that could happen to them, to their careers. And then she saw the Supergate open again and felt the fear that had gripped her again. Every time, he was the last person she thought of when she thought she was going to die. Him. It had always been him.
"Ask me again." She sat across from him on the coffee table in the living room, their eyes level. "Ask me again." She whispered again.
"Samantha Carter, will you marry me?" He asked, taking her hand between his. It seemed that he was running out of breath. The wait was not very long.
"Yes." She answered, taking his lips for a long, tender kiss. This was crazy. It was unexpected. It was real... He slipped the ring onto the ring finger of her left hand. It was a simple ring, delicate and discreet, that wouldn't bother her in the lab, easy to hide on a mission around her ID chain. The diamond was blue, the same blue as her eyes. She smiled against her mouth. For the moment nothing mattered but him, this moment. The rules could, indeed, go screw.
PEGASUS GALAXY - EARTH SHIP ODYSSEE
40 days. That was at least the time she would spend away from Earth. Sitting in a lab in front of her laptop, she was checking her calculations again for the "wormhole transfer" project, or as Jack had called it the night before, "Pegasus home phone". She smiled as she thought back to her General, naked, making questionable jokes about this new mission. She was still deliciously sore from the night that had followed this proposal and this mission departure. Everything was not yet perfectly smoothed out but ... She touched the ring hidden under his regulation shirt that rested against his skin, with his identification plates. He had made her a promise and Jack O'Neill never broke a promise. She smiled and got back to work.
Author's note: I want to say that I am using a specific reference to develop this idea that Sam and Jack are engaged, then if not married. In season 4 of SGA, when we see Sam unpacking her things in her room, she has a picture of Jack in her luggage prominently displayed. Then when later we see her in her office, behind her there are several pictures of SG1 and Cassie. In particular, there is a photo of Daniel in a suit at a wedding (a photo from episode 200 of SG1 that I will cover in the next chapter). When Sam talks with Kepler from SGA about a romantic relationship in another episode, she says that she is with someone older, that he is Washington and she is here, but that soon he will retire.
