Prompt 11 – First Christmas after Sam retires
She sighed as she got out of the car, it had been a hell of a few months and she was so glad that it was over now. After years of fighting and running and lobbying, she was finally able to just stop and enjoy the peace that she had helped achieve.
Walking through the front door of the cabin Sam smiled as she heard the sounds that were echoing through the house. Laughter and shouting, running feet and what sounded suspiciously like someone bouncing on a bed. She was home, and there was now nothing, no emergency meeting, or alien invasion, that could pull her away.
She took off her jacket and bent down to take off her shoes. When she straightened again she was forced to take a step back as she was nearly bowled over as someone ran into her and wrapped their arms around her thighs.
Looking down she gently laid her hand on the blonde curls of the girl who had buried her face in Sam's trousers. "Hello little one," Sam said, picking up the girl and giving her a proper hug before resting her on her hip, "Where is everyone?"
"Everyone's playing," the little girl said. She then looked Sam in the eye. "You're late," she then said determinedly.
"Sorry sweetie," Sam said, "I just had to finish up a few things. But I'm here now."
"Yep."
"Where's your grandpa Gracie?" Sam then asked.
Grace gestured to be put on the floor, which Sam did happily, and then grabbed Sam's hand and pulled her through the cabin.
They went into the front room and found Jack sitting on the sofa talking with the adults.
"Grampa," Grace shouted, getting everyone attention immediately, "Nana's here."
Jack got to his feet and moved to his wife's side. He didn't move as fast as he used to, he was really beginning to feel his age now and years of chasing aliens off-world had left their mark on him, but he was still the same man that Sam had fallen in love with so many years ago. He beamed at Sam and pulled her into a hug and then pulled back and kissed her quickly.
"Hey," he said in a soft voice, "Glad you could finally make it." He pulled away slightly and looked Sam in the eye. "All sorted?"
Sam nodded. "It became official this morning," she said, "I am now officially retired. As soon as it happened I used the transporter for one last time and got transported right here." She looked around the room. "It's so good to see all of you," she told them honestly, "And I'm really looking forward to spending this holiday with all of you before you all have to go back to the real world."
Everyone in the room laughed and then got to their feet and one by one all greeted Sam, all giving her a hug and congratulating her on her retirement.
Once she'd said hello to everyone present, she'd have to find the younger contingent later, Sam looked around the room, feeling more content than she could ever remember feeling. Around her was her family.
Sitting next to each other on the sofa at one end of the room were Daniel and Vala. Daniel's hair had long ago turned grey and he'd let it grow, but Vala had always managed to keep it from getting too out of control. The two had gotten married years ago now, having finally started dating after the Ori had been dealt with. Around the room were their children, their oldest Daniel Junior, or DJ as everyone called him, then their daughter Sha're, who tended to go by Re, and then their youngest Micheal. DJ's wife and Re's husband were also present, and Sam knew that somewhere in the cabin Daniel and Vala's five grandchildren would also be running around.
Cassie was also there, with her husband, and Sam was so proud of the young woman. She had come so far from the scared little girl from another world. She was now a strong young woman who had followed in her adoptive mother's footsteps and had become a doctor. Beside her was her husband, who knew all about Cassie's origins since he worked for the SGC. Cassie also worked as the Chief medical officer. The day that had happened Sam had felt like everything was right with the world, a Doctor Fraiser was working at the SGC. Cassie however hadn't joined the Air Force, although her husband was an officer. Sam also knew that their three little girls, the most precocious triplets that Sam had ever come across, would be running around with the rest of the children, and knowing the three of them were probably the ring leaders of whatever the children were doing.
Teal'c was also here, and although they'd been invited Ishta and Rya'c and his wife and children they hadn't been able to make it. Teal'c was sitting quietly, talking with Cassie's husband about something, Sam wasn't sure what. He had aged as the rest of them had, but he was still as strong and loyal as ever, just a little slower in his movements.
He looked up and saw Sam looking at him. He inclined his head slightly then returned his attention to his conversation.
Cam and Carolyn were also present, sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall. They were childfree but loved being aunts and uncles to the veritable smorgasbord of nieces and nephews that the rest of them had.
The others in the room were the children that she and Jack shared. Jack was perched beside her on the arm of the chair and Sam lent her head against his side. Jack glanced down and took hold of her hand before he returned to the conversation, which was mostly just friendly banter back and forth, he was having with Daniel.
They were a mixed bag, all bar one had been adopted at various ages from various planets all across the galaxy. The oldest was Elowen who had latched onto Sam while she'd been in command of the Hammond. They'd found a life pod drifting in space and inside had been a single little girl with no memory of who she was or what had happened that meant she had ended up in the pod. Sam had been there when the pod had opened and the girl had immediately imprinted on her and wouldn't leave her side. It had taken a little work but nothing that hadn't already been sorted for Cassie all those years ago, but documents for the girl had been created and Sam and Jack had officially adopted her. The girl had bonded almost as strongly with Jack as she had with Sam and that had been the start of their family. Next had come the brother and sister Reid and Renee. Jack had been requested to go off-world to sign a treaty with a planet that had heard of SG1 and who had refused to work with anyone but. They'd used the Hammond as transport, rather than going through the gates, and had pulled Daniel away from his research and picked up Teal'c en route. The treaty signing had gone well but on the way back to Earth it had been discovered that there were two stowaways.
The two children had been found dirty and scared, hidden in the corner of one of the lesser-used storage closets. Sam had wanted to turn around the take them back, in case someone was missing them, but Jack had been quick to point out that if someone was missing them then they would likely hear from the planet. Rather than getting in contact with the planet, Sam had decided to hang around within hailing range in case something came up and then had spent some time with the children getting to the bottom of what was going on.
The children were scared but Reid was fiercely protective of his younger sister Reene and when they had tried to separate them to get them cleaned up and checked over he'd thrown a fit and had attacked the orderlies who were there the help.
After that Sam and Jack had sat down with them and worked it all out. The two were orphans who had been put in a home and who had then been abused. They had no desire to go back, there was no one on the planet that cared about them, they had nothing. All it had taken was a look between Sam and Jack and then their little family had grown. They'd gone through the required paperwork and then the siblings had joined Elowen in their house in DC. Jack had chosen to retire and had helped the two work through their trauma, setting up meetings with the SGC shrink to help them out. The three of them had blossomed and whenever Sam was Earthside she spent as much time with them as she could. She felt guilty about leaving them but they understood that she needed to be out there, and they were all happy with Jack and visits from the rest of the SG1 team.
Things had changed though when Sam found out she was pregnant. It was a complete shock, Sam thought she was too old and had been through too much to ever have children of her own, but she had and their son Jake had come into the world kicking and screaming and immediately winning the hearts of the rest of the family. Sam and Jack were both completely smitten and Elowen, Reid, and Reene had been thrilled to welcome him into the family.
With the birth of her son, Sam had started the process of being reassigned to Earth, it was now too much for her to be away from home for so long. She had been happy to just go and take up the research lead at Area 51 again but she had been surprised when she'd been offered the position of commander of the SGC.
It had been an easy yes and in no time at all the whole family had moved to Colorado Springs, the kids had started at the local school, and Sam had taken control of the SGC. It had been a learning curve for her, but it hadn't been difficult for her to find her groove, she knew how the base ran and with Jack's help she had kept it running like the well-oiled machine it was. Eventually, she'd been promoted and had been offered the position of Head of Homeworld Security but she'd turned it down, she didn't want to move the family again, they were all happy and had friends and lives in the Springs that Sam didn't want them to lose. The promotion had stuck, as had the next one, and the next, and Sam had retired from the SGC as a four-star General.
Jack and the kids couldn't have been more proud of her and she'd led the SGC with as much loyalty and dedication as the position deserved. They'd tried to get her to take over the Homeworld position but every time she refused. It hadn't been easy, the powers that be had really tried to push it, but Sam had so much clout of her own that it had never really gotten far, and the members of the SGC had all threatened to walk if she was forced to do anything she didn't want to. So Sam had stayed and she'd lead the SGC for nearly two decades, seeing the changes that they had caused, ripple across the galaxy.
Over the years she'd had her ups and downs but she was happy and her family had grown up, turning into the wonderful adults that they were now. They all had wonderful partners and they'd given Sam and Jack so many grandchildren it was almost getting hard to keep track of everyone. Sam looked around the room and smiled, she wouldn't change this for the world.
Jack, who could read her face like an open book, realised that she was deep in thought and nudged her shoulder. She looked up at him in question and Jack got to his feet and offered her his hand. "We'll be right back," he then told the room.
Sam took his hand and he pulled her towards the front door. He handed her her coat and grabbed his own and then the two of them slipped their shoes on and Jack led the way out of the cabin. Rather than heading to the decking, Jack lead them partly round the lake to the smaller decked area he'd added once the family had started to grow.
Since it was winter the chairs that usually sat on the deck when people were around weren't out so they went and lent against the railing, looking out of the lake.
"How was it?" Jack asked, "And how are you feeling?"
"It's weird," Sam said, "It's been such a large part of my life for such a long time and now it's over."
"It's not," Jack assured her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her tight into his side, "You know that they're going to want you back every now and then to do talks, that's what they still try and get me to do."
Sam laughed and snuggled deeper into his side.
"How's the announcement looking?" Jack then asked her.
"Good," Sam said, "I helped sign off the last of it today. Come the new year everyone is going to know about the programme and what we've done over the years. All of it."
Jack let out a low whistle. "So I guess that's it isn't it," Jack said, "Our quiet life is over, there's going to be all sorts of people wanting to speak to the heroes of the SGC." His voice was full of mirth and Sam knew without looking that he had a wide smile on his face.
Sam burst out laughing. "When have we ever had a quiet life?" she asked him, "Between going off-world together for seven years, almost getting lost in space, adopting literal alien children, and then running one of the most secret military programmes of all time, I think reporters are actually going to feel like a break."
Jack laughed too and then the two of them fell quiet and looked out across the water, looking back to the cabin.
"A lot of things are going to change," Sam then said.
"They are," Jack agreed easily, "But it's for the best. The world deserves to know what's been happening under the mountain for the last forty years."
"The family is going to come under scrutiny," Sam said, "Everyone in the cabin is going to be approached by friends, strangers, reporters, wanting to know what they know."
"And they know that," Jack said gently, "They know what's coming, all of them, even little Gracie, and they all know how to deal with it." Jack turned his body and turned Sam's as well so they were now standing facing each other. "They all know about the programme anyway," Jack reminded her, "Hell, most of the people in the cabin right now are at least part alien, and all of them know what the programme is and what we did." He pulled her in for a hug. "I'd also had a thought about dealing with all of it."
"Oh that sounds dangerous," Sam teased, "You thinking. I thought you gave that up when you retired."
Jack scowled at her and she smiled back at him with the most innocent smile she could manage. Jack shook his head and then moved his hands so that they rested just over her hips. He raised an eyebrow and Sam started to pull away, knowing exactly what Jack was now planning on doing. She didn't get far however as Jack manoeuvred her so her back was against the railing, trapping her with her body, and then tickling her sides. She tried to swat him away but couldn't, she was laughing too hard to do anything but weakly try and push his arms away.
Jack stopped tickling and pulled her close, holding her as she calmed down.
"That was mean," Sam said when she'd gotten her breath back.
"You were being mean to me," Jack pouted. He kissed the top of her head. "Anyway, as I was saying I'd had a thought. How about we just stay up here for the next few months. We're here for Christmas and I know that the others need to go home, but we don't." He looked down at her and Sam tilted her head to look back up at him. "It'll be easy enough to stop anyone getting up here, we just need to block the bottom of the drive," Jack continued, "And if we just ignore the phone then they can't bother us."
Sam thought for a moment and then she nodded. "I think that sounds like a perfect idea Jack," she said, her voice soft. She wrapped her arms around him and rested the side of her head against his chest, listening to his heart beat as she looked out over the water. "I love you, Jack," she said, "Thank you for everything the last few years. I couldn't have asked for anything more than what you've given me. Thanks to you I have an amazing family and I ended up in the best job in the world." She turned her head and pressed a kiss into his chest, right above his heart, and then turned her head back to look out over the water.
"If anything I should be thanking you," Jack replied, resting his head on the top of hers and also looking out over the water, "You're one of the best things that ever happened to me, Carter." Sam felt a thrill go through her at the use of her now rarely used nickname. "I know it took us longer than we would have liked to get the chance to be together," he continued, "But I wouldn't change the last thirty years for anything. I love you."
"I love you too Jack."
The two stayed where they were, looking back at the cabin, watching through the window as the adults all continued to talk in the front room and catching glances of the children running past the windows and occasionally braving the cold and coming out onto the balcony that was part of one of the extensions that Jack had had built over the years, growing the cabin as their family had grown.
They held each other close, just enjoying the calm before the storm that was bound to bear down on them in the New Year when the programme became public knowledge.
Jack kissed the top of Sam's head once again and Sam craned her neck to capture his lips with hers.
Yeah, she thought as they held each other close, life was good, and retirement was going to be a new experience for her, one that she was really looking forward to.