So this was a random idea that popped into my head at the beginning of the week, hope you like it.

Sam looked up from her desk as she heard the gate start to spin. She glanced at the clock and frowned. No one was due back or was due to check-in, which meant something was wrong. Getting to her feet Sam walked out of her office and went to stand with Chuck.

"Raise the force field," she ordered.

Chuck nodded and activated the field as asked.

The gate engaged and Sam watched as the wormhole formed. She held her tongue, knowing that as soon as Chuck knew who it was he'd tell her, he didn't need to be micromanaged.

"Receiving midway IDC," Chuck announced.

Sam felt herself relax. She was confused though, they weren't expecting anyone from Earth, and it was very unusual that a message hadn't been sent in advance.

"Lower the force field," Sam ordered. She then headed down the stairs muttering to herself." Did I miss a memo?" she wondered.

As she reached the bottom SGA1 appeared.

"Colonel, Teyla, Ronan, Mckay." Sam greeted them all.

"Colonel," they all replied in response.

"So who's coming through?" John asked, "I wasn't aware that we had anyone due to visit from Earth."

"I'm as in the dark as you are," Sam admitted.

Any further conversation on the matter was unnecessary as the wormhole shivered and someone stepped through.

Sam stood frozen in surprise for a fraction of a second before she snapped to attention. "General O'Neill," she greeted.

Around her, the other military personnel all snapped to attention as well.

"At ease," Jack instructed as he gave his own sloppy salute in response.

"We weren't expecting anyone from Earth," Sam said, her tone just the right side of accusing.

"Yeah, well, you know how it goes Carter," Jack replied with a smirk, "Sometimes things just can't wait."

Sam narrowed her eyes at him but didn't have a chance to say anything as John spoke.

"What are you doing here General?" he asked, "I mean..."

He trailed off awkwardly as Jack continued to smirk.

"Sir?" Sam pressed when Jack didn't answer.

"I need to talk to Carter about a few things to do with her command here," Jack informed the group. Sam gave him a sharp look but Jack ignored it." I've also got some personal messages for some of the Atlantis personnel."

"We can use my office, sir," Sam said, "We can go over whatever it is that you need to discuss with me, and then we can arrange to have the personal messages delivered."

"Sounds great Carter," Jack said. "See you later I'm sure," he then said to the rest of the group. "Shepard, Ronan, Teyla, Makey."

He gestured for Sam to take the lead and the two of them headed up to her office.

"It's McKay," Rodney called after them.

Sam and Jack both ignored him and continued walking.

Rodney scowled at Jack's retreating back.

"Don't you have work to be getting on with Rodney?" Sam called, not needing to look behind her to know that SGA1 were still standing at the base of the stairs.

She opened her office door and let Jack walk in ahead of her before she followed him in, firmly shutting the door behind them and then dropping the blinds.

"You heard the Colonel," John said to the group," Back to work." He glanced at the group. "See you all for lunch?"

They all agreed, although Rodney was still decidedly grumpy, and then went their separate ways. They all meet up again for lunch. They grabbed a tray each and headed for a table. Just after they'd sat down John saw Sam and Jack walk into the room.

They were chatting about something and John assumed it was work-related right up until Jack said something, complete with some wild hand gestures, and Sam laughed quietly.

As they walked past the table John called to them. "Will you join us General, Colonel?" he asked them.

The two shared a glance before nodding. "Sure," Jack accepted for the pair. He glanced at Sam again, a question on his face. She nodded and took a seat as Jack carried on towards the food.

"Are you not eating Colonel?" Teyla asked.

"Oh I am," Sam replied, "General O'Neill is going to grab food for both of us."

Teyla accepted that wordlessly and continued eating.

"So what was your meeting about?" John asked Sam," Anything I need to know as your second in command?"

"Just political crap," Sam said with a sigh. She then frowned at her choice of words. "Well that was unprofessional," she then muttered to herself. She shook her head. "I'll go through it all with you later John."

she said, "I just need some time to process it all."

"Is something wrong?" John asked.

"Nothing serious," Sam assured him.

Jack then rejoined them, carrying two trays of food. "Here ya go Carter," he said, putting one tray down in front of her and putting his tray down beside her and taking a seat beside her.

"Thank you, sir," Sam said with a smile. "Oh before I forget," Sam then said, "There are letters for both you and Rodney, John. I've arranged for them all to be delivered to quarters by the end of the day."

"Did you get any letters?" Rodney asked.

Sam debated telling him to mind his own business but then decided against it, a grumpy Rodney McKay she could do without. "A few," she said.

" From anyone interesting? "Rodney pressed.

"Now you're just being nosy," Teyla informed him.

"I'm taking an interest," Rodney exclaimed defensively, "What's wrong with that?"

Sam just shook her head and continued eating.

"Course she did," Jack said. Sam gave him a warning look but Jack just smirked at her. "There were some for the team, one from Cassie." He looked around the group and his smile grew as he continued to speak, "And from her husband of course."

Sam coughed in shock and glared at Jack even as Rodney, who had been in the middle of taking a drink, spat it out, covering Ronan in the process.

"You're married?" he exclaimed, "But I thought..." He trailed off as Sam glared at him.

"You thought what exactly Rodney? "Sam asked in a level but dangerous voice.

"Nothing," Rodney muttered, staring down at the table and fiddling with his food.

"I didn't know you were married," John said in a careful voice. He didn't want to be on the receiving end of Sam's glare like Rodney still was, but he was curious.

Sam stopped glaring and turned her attention to John. "It's not exactly a secret," she admitted," But with my track record, I could really do without all the comments and the jokes that were bound to happen."

"Comments?" Teyla asked at the same time as Ronan said, "Jokes?"

"Yeah, "Jack said, "Carter here has a bit of a reputation as a black widow."

Sam started glaring daggers at him and John knew that if she'd looked at him like that he would have turned and run away, not stopping until he was sure he was as far away from Sam as he could be. Jack however just seemed to roll with it and carried on talking. "Anyone who seemed to show even the remotest of interest in Carter tended to meet with a sticky end."

"That's enough sir," Sam said, her tone level but with a hint of warning in it.

"But Carter," Jack said, smiling at her, "I thought McAde would like to hear this."

"Sir," Sam said, her voice now firmer.

John was impressed that she still managed to sound respectful even though there was a hint of threat in her voice.

"Ok, ok." Jack accepted. He returned his attention to his food, but John saw that he kept looking up and smirking in Rodney's direction.

Rodney was staring into his food, his face slightly red, but John knew him well enough to know that he was upset about what he'd heard. John looked down at his own food and hid a smile. This was the quietest he'd ever seen Rodney and he was taking a small amount of pleasure in that.

Teyla and Ronan were watching them all like they'd gone mad, but neither of them said anything.

The table continued eating in silence until Sam got to her feet.

"I've got work to be getting on with," she said," Let me know when you're leaving sir." She glanced at Jack briefly before she turned and left the room, dropping off her now empty tray en route.

The rest of the table watched her go before they too all finished up and left, leaving just John and Jack seated at the table.

"Is everything ok sir," John asked eventually, "Is there anything going on that I should know about?"

Jack shook his head." Carter will share with you what you need to know, "he said, "But mostly it was just political crap."

John frowned slightly at the word choice, having heard Sam use the same phrasing not so long ago. "I've got to say, sir," John then said, changing the subject. "You're either a very brave or very stupid man." His eyes widened as he realised what he'd said. "With all due respect. General," he said quickly, stumbling over his words in his haste.

Jack looked at him with a slightly raised eyebrow for what felt like an age to John before he smiled. "You're talking about messing with Carter aren't you?"

John nodded, not trusting himself to speak in case he put his foot in it again.

"Very stupid," Jack admitted, "But I haven't been able to pull anyone's leg in a while and I just couldn't resist." He sighed." I better go find her and apologise before she plans my demise."

"I'm sure she wouldn't do anything to you, sir," John said, although he wasn't entirely convinced.

Jack just gave him a knowing smile. "You haven't seen Carter truly angry yet have you." John shook his head. "Lucky you," Jack told him. He glanced around the room and then leant in closer to John. "Free bit of advice Shepard," he said in a low voice, "Never get Carter angry at you, and if you do happen to do something that pisses her off run, just run away."

"Um thank you, sir," John said. He then glanced around before speaking. "I hope this isn't overstepping sir." he said slowly, "But haven't you just pissed Colonel Carter off?"

"Yep." Jack accepted.

"So why aren't you running?"

"Because I know the secret of getting her to be less pissed off," Jack said with a smile. He then got to his feet and left, leaving John sitting in shocked silence.

Later that afternoon John made his way towards Sam's office, he had some paperwork that he needed to give to her. He knocked on the door, noting that the blinds were still down, and waited to be invited in.

He heard movement on the other side of the door and then hushed voices saying something that he couldn't make out. He shifted awkwardly and raised a fist to knock again when he heard Sam call for him to enter.

"I've got some paperwork for you, Colonel Carter," he said as he entered the room. He then took in the scene and saw that Sam was sitting at her desk while Jack was perched on the edge of her desk. There was something off about the pair but John couldn't put his finger on what.

"Thanks, Shepard," Sam said, "I was just going over some more information with General O'Neill," she then continued, "He's staying in Atlantis tonight then heading back to the midway station tomorrow."

John nodded in understanding. He placed his files on the desk and glanced between the pair again before he made his exit. As he shut the door behind him he suddenly realised what was off about Sam and Jack, both of them were looking decidedly dishevelled. He frowned to himself as he carried on walking.

The next morning John woke up and headed to the control room, to see if Sam wanted to join him for breakfast. He'd noticed that sometimes she'd get up early to get a head start on the day but then forget to stop for breakfast. He'd started going via her office to breakfast each morning to remind her to eat.

He greeted the techs in the gateroom and went to Sam's office. The blinds were now up and John could see that Sam wasn't there yet.

"Have you seen Colonel Carter this morning?" he asked, turning back towards the gate techs.

They all shook their heads and John frowned slightly. He'd actually gotten up a little late this morning. Then he shrugged to himself. Sam was probably already in the mess. He'd forgotten to take into account that Jack was visiting. Provided she hadn't killed him for his stunt in the mess hall the day before then they were probably eating breakfast together.

He headed for the mess hall but as he scanned the room he couldn't see either Sam or Jack. He turned and headed back towards the quarters, he knew that Jack had been put in a room on the same corridor as his and Sam's rooms.

He knew that he probably didn't need to check up on her but something was going on and he really wanted to know what.

Reaching Sam's door he knocked on it and waited.

The door opened slightly and Sam's head poked out. "Morning," she greeted," Is something wrong?"

"What, no," John answered," I was just wondering if you were planning on having breakfast today."

Sam glanced over her shoulder and then looked back at John. "I didn't realise what time it was," she admitted.

John frowned. "Is everything ok Colonel? "he asked. "It's unlike you to be late, and to not realise what the time is. And it was. Since he'd known her, she'd been the most punctual person he'd ever met.

"Everything's fine," Sam assured him. She glanced up and down the hallway and then back to Shepard. "Thanks for checking on me," she said to him." But I'm fine. I'll get sorted then grab some breakfast. You go on ahead." She went to shut the door but there was a thump behind her and she froze, looking like a deer in headlights as John stared at her.

"What was that?" John asked sharply, trying to peer past her into the darkroom.

Sam sighed. "Shit," she muttered under her breath. She knew that John wouldn't drop it so she glanced up and down the hallway again and, seeing that there was no one around, she grabbed hold of John and pulled him into her quarters.

"What the..." John started to say in surprise but then stopped when he saw a very sheepish looking Jack sitting up in Sam's bed. "General," he greeted.

Behind him, the door slammed. "It's not what you think," Sam began to explain.

"Sorry Carter," Jack said at the same time, "I knocked your book off the bedside table."

"Your husband, "John said slowly, beginning to get over his surprise, "Is General O'Neill."

Sam sighed again and went and sat on the edge of the bed.

She looked at Jack and then back to John. "This is all above board," she began to explain, "We never did anything that went against regulations."

Jack reached out and placed his hand over Sam's, in what John saw as a comforting gesture.

"Of course," John accepted easily, "I've gotten to know you pretty well since you took over command here Colonel and I believe you."

He locked between the two sitting on the bed. "Can I ask how this did happen?" he then asked, "And why it's such a secret?"

Sam and Jack shared another glance before they both gave a small nod.

"It's not exactly a secret," Sam explained, "But the whole situation ruffled a few feathers so we don't want to make too big of a deal out of it, or there are people who would really enjoy making our lives difficult."

John nodded in understanding. As much as he tried to avoid politics, it was impossible to ignore it altogether.

"If it's all above board then why did it ruffle feathers?"

It was Jack who answered this time. "The marriage is legal, and binding," he said, a soft smile on his face as he gazed at Sam, "But it was performed partially at the request of Thor."

"The supreme Asguard Commander?" John asked, slightly surprised.

Jack nodded. "That's the fella," he said, "As well as being an ally he was also a close personal friend. He felt he owed us a favour for something we did, so he sorted it that we could get married but still carry on doing the jobs we love."

The two shared a loving glance and John felt like he was intruding on something very private.

"Well," he said, clearing his throat," I'm really happy for you, and your secret is safe with me."

Sam smiled at him. "Thank you, John," she said, her voice soft.

"But I would love to hear the story that led to Thor owing you a favour," John said with a smile.

Jack laughed." Maybe another time Shepard," he said. "Now if you wouldn't mind," he glanced pointedly at the door.

"Jack!" Sam exclaimed, a blush rising on her cheeks.

John couldn't help it, he laughed. "I'll see you whenever General, Colonel," he then said by way of goodbye. He turned and left the room, making sure the door was firmly shut behind him.

He headed back towards the mess, a small smile on his face. He was happy for the two of them. He didn't know a lot about what had gone on at the SGC before he'd joined, but he'd heard all sorts of stories and knew that SG 1 had really had a hard time of it over the years and he was glad that they'd clearly found happiness together.

Ashe walked he wondered if there was a way he could tease Rodney about this whole situation. He knew the doctor had a crush on Sam. Learning that she was married definitely would have dented his impressive ego and he really hoped there was a way he could tease him about it, without letting Rodney know who Sam was married to of course.