When General Hammond was transferred to Washington DC to take up the role of Head of Homeworld Security, and Doctor Weir left to take up the position of civilian commander of the Atlantis expedition, Jack was offered a promotion to Brigadier General and the position of Commander of the SGC.

To the surprise of everyone, he declined both.

At first, anyway.

After several–long, boring–conversations with the Joint Chiefs, General Hammond and even, on two occasions, the President himself, they eventually asked him in exasperation what they needed to do in order to get him to accept the promotion and the position.

There was only one condition, and that was that his marriage to one Major Samantha Carter that accidentally took place on the planet of Hanandra some five months ago be formally recognised.

Now, the request caused a lot of questions to be asked. Namely, how do you accidentally get married to your Second in Command, when it's wholly and completely against regulations. It was General Hammond who pointed out, with a grimace that spoke volumes as to the size of the headache he was experiencing, that it wasn't an all that uncommon occurrence. After all, to his count, Jack and Sam had been married–accidentally–at least four times previously that he could think of. At least being the operative term, as he and they had no way of knowing how many other accidental marriage ceremonies they'd taken part in over the years.

When asked why this time was different, Jack just shrugged and said they were tired of it happening and then unhappening. If no one knew about it, no one could make them complete the mountain of paperwork needed to first acknowledge and then dissolve the union.

When asked if the marriage had been consummated, he was adamant that it hadn't, nor would it be, until they were allowed legally without ramifications for either of their careers. He respected Carter too much for that, and she respected him. Not to mention they both respected the Air Force, despite the hardships they'd endured whilst serving.

One of the Joint Chiefs had asked if they'd known they were getting married at the time; Jack answered honestly and said no. He was just thankful no one asked what they'd had to do to be considered married, as he hadn't been looking forward to explaining a room full of men that he'd kissed his Second by the river on an alien planet. A kiss might just be a kiss, but it had still been against regulations at the time.

A review was called; Jack was excused from it as mission reports from the past seven plus years were gathered and poured over. They weren't so much looking for evidence of wrong-doing as they were evidence to prove the relationship between the pair had influenced the command team, and whether that influence had worked in Earth's favour or not.

In almost all cases, General Hammond stated, feeling the need to defend himself as much as his former people, it had.

He spoke in favour of the couple, acknowledging that while he was sure there were feelings between them, he had seen nothing to suggest they had had a detrimental effect on his flagship team. In fact, he attributed the closeness of the team as a whole as to their exceptional success rate when it came to preventing the destruction of Earth itself.

Missions reports were highlighted, pulled apart and put back together. More and more questions were asked, not just of General Hammond and Jack, but also of Sam, Daniel, Teal'c and several others on the base. While the majority remained mystified about the reason for the questioning, assuming it was all part of a convoluted interview process for Jack as the new base commander, not one spoke out against the command duo of SG-1, either as a whole or as individuals.

It took over a month in total, over a month of endless meetings, countless debates–some of them heated–and questions, oh so many questions.

Finally, Jack was summoned back into that room, his dress blues crease-free, medals and shoes shined to perfection.

He stood, rather than sat.

He listened intently to what was said, waiting for that one sentence he'd been holding out for.

"On consideration, Colonel, we have decided to grant your request. On the condition that you accept the role of Brigadier General and Commander of the SGC, your marriage to Major Carter will be recognised, formalised and an exception to Air Force Instruction 36-2909 be granted and placed in your file. To that end, Major Carter's performance evaluations will be conducted by the Head of Homeworld Security and not by yourself. This will be overseen by the Joint Chiefs of Staff as appropriate. Is that understood and agreed?"

"Yes, Sirs." He fought hard to keep the grin off his face; he wasn't sure he was very successful. "Understood and agreed."

And that was that.

Jack was promoted to General. Sam, sometime later and at the say so of General Hammond, was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.

Shortly after the official Air Force related ceremonies, another was held in the private grounds of Jack's back yard. Preceded over by General Hammond, and attended by SG-1, Cassandra Fraiser and Jacob Carter, Jack and Sam were married for the sixth time, officially, willingly, and for good.

#

The ceremony was simple, intimate. Having been married five times already - six in Jack's case - they both wanted a straightforward, traditional wedding that was recognised without a shadow of a doubt.

General Hammond had agreed to do the honours, which suited them both perfectly. They'd wanted him to play a role in their wedding, especially as he was instrumental in helping make it possible for them to be together.

A message was sent to the Tok'ra, and Jacob arrived just hours before the ceremony was due to begin. It was a rush to explain it to him - most of it, Sam opted to wait to tell him just how many times she'd accidentally married her commanding officer until after they were married with his blessing. After interrogating Jack for a good hour before the ceremony, and checking there was no way his baby girl's career would be unfairly hampered, he and Selmac proudly walked Sam down the makeshift aisle.

Cassandra, Daniel and Teal'c were the only other attendees at the event. Though they'd debated over the people they might possibly be offending by not inviting them, they decided it was better to keep it small and just explain it was a family-only affair.

Her dress was sky blue, to complement the dress blues she'd asked him to wear. She'd considered wearing her own but Cassie had talked her out of the idea, reminding her with a smirk that "you only get married once - usually!"

There was nothing usual about them, though, and that was fine with Sam. They were what she wanted, and she was so grateful that, finally, they were what she could have. She knew Jack felt the same way, too, which made it so much sweeter. Their unspoken decision to not tell anyone about their accidental marriage on Hanandra had been a way of affirming their commitment to one another, and to a someday neither were willing to put off much longer.

They exchanged vows, the first ceremony in which they'd actually had to speak. They exchanged rings, grinning at each other like the happy newlyweds they were as they slid the simple metal bands onto each other's finger.

And then General Hammond announced them man and wife - again, Jack was reaching for her, and they sealed their final and forever union with a lingering kiss.

And then season eight happened, but with Sam and Jack all married and loved up. Hoorah!