Chapter 3 - Time
"That function is not possible."
Sam dropped her forehead to her forearms in frustration.
"Going that well, is it?"
Sam looked over at the doorway. "Jack."
"Your month is up, Carter."
She tensed. "What?"
Jack walked in and sat backward on the chair beside her. "You asked for a month to see if you can get us home. I gave you—" He checked the watch on his wrist. "Five weeks."
Her jaw dropped. "You're kidding."
He tapped his watch, bringing it up to his ear as if to check that it was still running properly. "I don't kid about these things, Carter. You know that."
A teasing smile played on Sam's lips. "If I have to call you Jack, you should have to call me Sam."
"Giving me an order, Colonel?"
"I have before."
Jack looked somewhat impressed. "Oh yes. Good times. Cold times, but good ones."
Sam chuckled. Then, she sobered. "I don't think we're going home anytime soon."
"I got that, Cart—Sam, thank you."
She studied him closely. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"You don't?"
"All I'm saying is that if this doesn't work out, it could get pretty awkward pretty quick. We are only two of six people on board this ship."
Jack's entire demeanor grew wary. "You like evidence, right?"
She raised an eyebrow. "I'm a scientist."
"Exactly. So, you like evidence."
She nodded.
"How many realities have you been in where there wasn't an us?"
"I don't think—"
Jack rolled his eyes, his exasperation making him say her full first name in elongated syllables. "S-A-M-A-N-T-H-A. . ."
She answered quickly. "Just one. Sam was married to Rodney McKay in that one."
Confusion reigned on his features as he shook that image from his mind. "What?"
She grew sheepish. "Well, they were divorced by the time I showed up."
"Well, thanks for that picture."
She snickered. "All the same, I get your point."
He raised his hands in surrender. "I'm not exactly what you'd call a romantic, but my feelings haven't changed in almost ten years. Yours?"
He had a point. She'd tried moving on, but she'd always come back to him. At some point, she would just need to take the plunge. She studied the earnest look in his eyes before she turned up to the ceiling. "Thor?"
Jack jumped as the holographic representation of Thor appeared. "Whoa."
"Greetings, Colonel Carter."
Sam turned to the holographic Asgard representation. It still wasn't the same as having her friend. "Will you please record a message in the ship's log?"
"Audio or video?"
She caught Jack's hand in hers. "Audio only."
"You may begin when you are ready, Colonel Carter."
She looked at Jack, a soft smile gracing her lips as she tried to answer the unspoken question in his eyes. "I, Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter, of the United States Air Force, respectfully resign my officer's commission effective immediately."
There was silence for a moment. "Are you satisfied with your recording?"
Jack put his hands on her face before she could respond. She melted into his kiss, his lips warm and soft against hers. She could only manage a small moan as the Asgard mumbled something about how if she didn't make a response, the recording would be saved by default.
She wrapped her arms around Jack's neck, inadvertently knocking a couple of Asgard stones off the console as he pressed her against it.
Thor started talking again, probably explaining the concept of the holographic representations of the Asgard or telling her that the function was not possible.
"Can't you—" Another kiss. "Shut him—" One more.
"On it." She reached out to the button on the keyboard as Jack turned his attention to the crook of her neck. Her toes curled as if to find purchase despite the fact that her feet were still on the ground.
"Uh, Sam—oh! No, Vala, Sam's not—uh, Sam's busy."
Sam dropped her forehead onto Jack's shoulder as Vala tried to rebuff Daniel's attempts to preserve some semblance of Sam and Jack's privacy..
"That man has no sense of timing."
Sam's whole body shook with silent laughter before she finally pulled away and started cleaning up the Asgard stones. "Do you remember when Daniel used to enter rooms with his eyes covered because he was afraid he'd walk in on something like this?"
Jack groaned. "I miss those days."
She tugged on his hand as she headed for the door. "Come on, General. Let's make this official."
"It's about time."
The entire party turned in unison to face Mitchell.
The Lieutenant Colonel shrugged as he looked at the rest of them. "What? You were all thinking it."
Teal'c just nodded, one eyebrow quirked upward. "Indeed."
Sam blushed, more embarrassed by Teal'c affirmation than by Mitchell's exclamation.
Jack eyed the Colonel. "Out of curiosity, what made you think—?" He gestured between himself and Sam.
"Let's just Sam said a few things thinking she wasn't going to survive when we were out of phase."
Jack looked down at Sam, and she managed a nervous smile. "In my defense, I was under the impression that we were looking at either saving me or Merlin's device, and I was a little too invested to let anyone blow up Merlin's device."
"Also, she told me her password."
Sam closed her eyes in self-deprecation.
"And it is?"
Cam looked at Sam as if to ask whether she wanted him to reveal it or for her to reveal it. "At the time, my personal directory password was fishing."
"Wait, is that a euphemism?" Vala asked, winning a disgusted look from Daniel as the dark beauty looked between Sam and jack.
Sam shifted. "Uh, not the way you think."
Vala winked at Jack. "Too bad, eh, General?"
Jack shifted closer to Sam as she winced.
"Look, other than an official resignation on the ship's log, we weren't planning on making any announcements, but since Daniel and Vala found out, we figured we'd get ahead of it. We just wanted to make sure you knew this isn't going to affect our work."
Jack coughed.
Sam swallowed before she offered a nervous smile. "Uh, my work."
He coughed again as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
She reached across her body and patted Jack's hand as she tried to avoid the look Cam gave her when he seemed to realize that this latest development might keep them from going home as soon as he'd like. "Too much."