Part 11: Euclidean space
8 months later…
Jack was in the kitchen making pancakes, he knew Sam would be up any moment and he thought that spoiling her with breakfast in bed on her birthday was the kind of thing a husband should do. Especially a husband that dropped something in her lab yesterday and earned a stern look not just from her, but also from three of her assistants.
There was a knock at the front door just as Jack flipped a pancake over. He waited until it was finished and added it to the stack on a plate nearby.
An impatient second knock could be heard as Jack padded through the house in stocking feet.
"Cool your jets," he grumbled under his breath.
Jack was really, really hoping this was wasn't one of Sam's underlinings come to collect her for some important break-through experiment on her birthday. Or worse, someone telling them O'Neill family downtime between missions was being cut short. The woman deserved some rest; she wasn't a machine for God's sake.
Jack swung the door open about ready to give someone a piece of his mind. But was startled into silence when he saw Daniel standing on the doorstep.
"Jack," Daniel smiled, "good to see you."
"Likewise, I'm sure," Jack said suspiciously. "Come in. Eat pancakes."
Sam rubbed sleep out of her eyes as she walked into her kitchen smelling pancakes and coffee and hearing voices. The voices didn't even register because coffee was her only goal at the moment.
The voices continued in the background as she poured a cup, still blurry-eyed, and drank half of it before blinking. Seconds later, she gasped.
"Daniel!" she threw her arms around him. Jack wisely took the coffee out of her hand so as not to burn their guest.
"Sam, it's good to see you too."
She grinned at him, "What are you doing here?"
"Well, as I was just explaining to Jack, I've got some news. They captured Parker Burns and several other members of the conglomerate. They are standing trial in a few weeks."
Sam said, "You're kidding," her shock apparent.
Daniel sipped his own coffee, giving them a minute to let the news sink in. He watched Jack put a hand on Sam's back and rub it. She shut her eyes and leaned into her husband, who gathered her in a hug.
Daniel didn't know all the details of their kidnapping and relocation to Weston Heights. He knew that it gave them their family, and for that reason alone he was sure Sam and Jack had mixed feelings about the years spent in the community.
He watched Jack comfort Sam. There was something amazing about their relationship, stronger now than ever before. But Daniel couldn't help but feel that familiar– something like a twinge of jealousy– that he'd always felt around them. Even back when they all first worked together on SG-1, it was clear that the two officers had something special.
Daniel's second wife had passed several years ago. Twice now he'd been blessed to find love and fulfillment with another. The second, giving him a son. But Daniel knew that nothing he'd ever experienced would come close to what the two people before him shared.
They deserved that special bond. After all, Sam and Jack had sacrificed more than anyone Daniel had known. They deserved many things, including answers. Who had set up the experiment on Weston Heights? Why were Sam and Jack chosen? What did it all mean for JJ and Lilly? Daniel wanted to give them the answers, it was the least he could do.
"I don't know what you want to do." Daniel hated to interrupt the moment between his friends. "But, if you wanted to come home for the trial, I've got a spare room."
Sam opened her eyes and looked at him with unshed tears at the corners. "Thank you, Daniel."
"David will be prosecuting the case," Daniel informed. He wasn't surprised that Cassie's husband also felt a strong sense of wanting to help Sam and Jack if he could. "He says the defense plans to say Tok'ra are responsible for setting it up, for the good of humanity, and that Burns and the others were just following orders."
Sam said, "I did sense a symbiote. But there's no way to tell if that supports their defense."
Daniel nodded. "Your dad intends to testify also. He says that the Tok'ra were unaware and not involved in any way."
"But," Jack couldn't help himself, "if they were planning on taking his daughter, they may not have let Jacob in the loop." So he still didn't trust the Tok'ra, what else was new?
"Well," Daniel stood. "Did you expect a surprise trip home as a birthday present, Sam?"
The next hour was frenzied, filled with quickly packing, and informing work and the neighbors of their sudden but potentially lengthy absence.
Thankfully the war had turned sometime earlier in the year. Jack felt that their absence from the mission rotation and Sam's break from her research wouldn't negatively impact the overall efforts. It was really a matter of handling the rebel pockets of resistance at this point. And JJ, Lilly, Becca, and Lucas were good. As good as SG-1 in its prime. So, maybe the old man could take a break for a few weeks.
Daniel had the Daedalus make the stop at Kyrus during one of its regular trips back and forth from the Atlantis expedition. When Sam and Jack were packed and ready, they were beamed aboard.
That evening, after having dinner in the mess and catching up with some former members of the SGC that now worked on Atlantis, Sam and Jack retired to a room on the officer's quarters deck.
"So… home," Jack said casually. "Earth," he corrected himself, thinking of the life they had on Kyrus. He glanced at Sam. "Earth-home?"
Sam fought the urge to chuckle. It was just so… so very Jack. She knew exactly what he was trying to say, what he was trying to do. He wanted to give her a chance to talk if she needed to, if there was something upsetting about returning to a place that was home in one sense, but in so many ways, it no longer was. They had raised a family together somewhere else. Years had passed and yet, Earth was where they met, where they first went through the Stargate together, where they returned every time a mission had gone wrong and they barely escaped with their lives. Home. Eventually.
"Home," Sam smiled up at him. He was removing his shirt and climbed into the lower bunk with her. It was narrow and Sam was pretty sure he was going to get uncomfortable before the night's end. But for now it was a nice idea to snuggle together so that they could both fit.
"OK?" Jack asked, rubbing a hand on her lower back.
Sam settled her head on his chest and sighed softly. "Yeah," she finally responded. "I think so. It will be weird."
"We do weird pretty damn well."
"Yes, we do."
His hands continued to stroke and soothe. Sam felt her body relax against him and simultaneously he was stirring up something inside.
He asked against her ear, "Need to talk more?"
"I'm good."
"Want to not talk for a while?" Sam smiled as his hands moved lower.
I was remarkable to Sam that after all these years, after bearing two children, and her body clearly past it's prime, Jack could still want her this much. He still had the ability to set her on fire with only a few touches. He brought her to amazing heights and held her as she fell. He was there, pouring his love and hope into her, even in times of turmoil or fear. Taking the bad as well as the good, the easy as well as the difficult.
What had started that evening before the invasion of Earth had only grown over time. It matured into this beautiful, tried and true love, filled with more passion than Sam ever understood was possible. She always his anchor and he always her salvation, and as their lovemaking cooled, Jack snuggled her close again and kissed her lips.
"Jack," she whispered, "I never knew it would end up being like this. If I had a clue, I don't think I would have waited one moment to be with you."
"Me too."
"I love you more every day."
"Me too."
Sam raised a brow, unsure if he was teasing her. It was a common reaction from him when she got a little too emotional or serious. "Don't you have anything to say to me other than 'me too'?"
"No. But thankfully," he began moving his hands on her skin again, "I'm great at demonstrating without words how gorgeous you are and how much I'm in love with you."