Jack was finishing the pottery piece he was making for his wife. If they knew what it really was, the Military Police would be here in a microsecond. It was his interpretation of the city of Atlantis. Of course it was round where it should be cylindrical, but he knew Sam knew the significance of what he was making. He hoped. He thought back to the day he found out he'd been the grand prize winner.
Flashback to three weeks earlier
"I have a courier here that needs your signature, and then you have a 1100 meeting at the White House." Major General Jack O'Neill's administrative assistant chirped.
"Is it that time already?" Jack grumped. She was used to his mood swings and didn't take offense.
.
He was headed to a meeting with the IOA and they were never fun. It didn't help that he knew what was on the agenda, a discussion on the Atlantis project, Sam's job would be critiqued, and she would not be there to explain what was really going on. He'd hoped that it had been postponed until her upcoming leave was to begin. However, he knew that schedule could be tossed out the window by anything from a crisis on Atlantis to a crisis in one of the capitals of the IOA members. So far every report that had come across his desk--- so much for the much touted paperless society---Sam had done quite well. There were only four people alive who knew what it was like, to run a base like the SGC or Atlantis. These were bases like no other on the planet Earth. He, Sam, Landry, Hammond, even the late Elizabeth Weir, knew that what worked on earth, didn't necessarily work off world and sometimes rules needed bending, if not the occasional break. The IOA might have been a good idea, on paper, but in reality….They were messing with success.
He put on the hated jacket and went to the outer office. "I understand you have something for me to sign" It must have been important for them to track him down in his Pentagon office. He couldn't' think what it was that would require his signature. A young woman was standing there wearing a black suit, which looked expensive to him. Sam, and Sarah before that, had drug him through enough women's clothing departments for him to recognize quality clothing.
"You are Jonathan J O'Neill, " She had to ask."
"I have ID with me if you need it, what is this about."
"Yes, I do, I need to confirm your identity before I give you your prize winnings." Jack handed his Pentagon ID, as well as his Virginia drivers license.
After a close look at each card she smiled brightly. "Congratulations, you were chosen as the grand prize winner in the contest the DC Mall had that ended on Saturday. "You and a guest have won an all expenses paid trip to Atlantis." Thankfully she was looking at her PDA that had all the information she needed to give to the contest winner and missed the very quick look of shock on Jack and his administrative assistants faces. "The Atlantis resort is located in the Bahamas, I will live a brochure with you that will detail everything that you are entitled to as the grand prize winner. I just need your signature. The Captain has informed me that you are to be at the White House in half an hour. I won't keep you any longer than necessary."
He stood there stunned, and mechanically signed his name on the papers the black suited woman shoved in front of him. She turned and left the room after shaking his hand.
Captain Nelson, his assistant knew about the very secret base and now that the civilian had left the office she started to laugh.
"Congratulations General O'Neill, now you know where you can take your wife when she gets back from Atlantis." She'd heard him mutter the past few days on where he should take his wife when she was on leave. He knew he wanted some privacy and staying at home would not cut it. There were a few perks to being the director of a small federal agency, he arrange his leave time to correspond with his wife's.
"True, oh they have a pottery studio that sounds fun." Jack had thumbed through the brochure quickly. "But this meeting doesn't, and if I don't get going they are going to start without me." He grumbled. Captain Genie Nelson, her parents had been fans of a certain show and had a wicked sense of humor, gave him his briefcase that had all the reports she had compiled for him. "I don't expect I'll be in a good mood when I get back so make sure to hold all my call for the rest of the day. There were a few people that were exceptions to that directive, and Genie knew who to let through. She hoped that Cassie would call, the pre-med student lived in Baltimore, and called her 'uncle' at least once a week. She was due to call.
About 1530 O'Neill returned to the office, and he was in a foul mood, Genie had quickly learned her commanding officer's mood and he was not a happy camper. If his mood were a hurricane they would be declaring a national emergency for the area around him. "Captain Nelson, I am going to spend a few minutes in my office, and then I am going to the gym, before I kill someone." She wondered what the IOA had said to make O'Neill this upset. "In their infinite wisdom, they have decided that the Atlantis base needs a civilian commander, and they have appointed Woolsey."
"I'm sorry General, but there is a bright side to this." Genie said quickly, realizing something that Jack hadn't in his disgust with the group that controlled the SGC and Atlantis. "Your wife will be home, for good." That elicited a smile for a moment.
"He'll leave for Atlantis as soon as she gets here, the day after tomorrow, with the situation there, I don't think I'll be able to get hold of her before she leaves." He must be Woolsey, a man that had not impressed Nelson, she decided to move the Atlantis group higher up on her nightly prayers. He went into his office and gathered up the items he knew he would have to take home and work on, later. Right now he needed to beat the stuffing out of someone or something, and the gym would allow for that.
Fifteen minutes later, he was in the gym locker room. They actually had one set aside for generals, which had been a surprise on his first day working at the Pentagon. There were more people here than he expected, forgetting the fact people worked here twenty four hours a day, and some worked out before their evening shift. He decided to spar, and though it took a few minutes to find someone will to spar with him, due to his rank, he worked out his aggressions. It wasn't the same as sparring with Teal'c, but it worked. He realized he had been lax in his workouts of late as he felt like he'd just run a ten k race with a full pack on his back. As he had sparred with the unfortunate commander, he'd realized that Genie was right; Sam would be home for good. As the commander of a base, even a highly classified one, looked good on ones resume, it wasn't her performance they were criticizing, it was the fact they wanted more control over the base, and the only way that worked was to transfer her out of Atlantis. Effective immediately.
He was the one who would have to deal with a ticked off Colonel. Not them. The one thing he could do would be to go to Colorado Springs and be there for her. It was time he went to visit the bases out west in any case. He would talk it over with Nelson in the morning and set up a trip to Area 51 and Colorado Springs.
As expected, Carter had not been happy with the way she'd been informed, anyone would have been. Jack had half a mind to act in kind at the next meeting with the IOA. But thought more about it and realized that Woolsey was at fault, he might be good at what he did, but some of his people skills needed a lot of work.
End flashback
He could pick up his project the next day, which was fine with him, he had plans for the evening and the next day they enjoyed the excursion they had chosen. Sam seemed more relaxed than he'd seen her for over a long time. Even if she relegated his gift to the cabin, he knew she would love it. He'd thought long and hard about what color to make it, until he saw a color that appeared to be the same color as the waters around the city. That made it easy for him.
The excursion was relaxing, and Jack actually missed hearing Daniel's talk about the local culture. Admittedly, Daniel was not a Mayan expert, but Jack found that his long time friend had learned how to inform without being entirely scholarly in his approach, which is something he felt that their guide today could have learned. After hearing about some of the sacrifices he was pretty sure that the Mayan people had been influenced by the Go'uld. He and Sam had seemed to be the only people in their group that were not completely disgusted by some of the practices. They had seen much worse. The hundreds, if not thousands, of miles they had covered over their time with the SGC had made their trek through the jungle seem like a walk in the park. When one of the twenty something couples asked Jack why he and Sam didn't seem to be out of shape for the walk they were on he replied "Do'h. We are on the Uncle Sam exercise plan. This is a short walk compared to most we've experienced, and we don't have people shooting at us either."
This seemed to shock one of women, "You been over there?" Her tone was condescending, as if she was expecting them to say they had committed mass murder. They were not going to admit that they had been in the Middle East, during the first Gulf War.
"Both of us, more recently my husband has been at the Pentagon, I was in command of a highly classified base and if I told you about it, I'd have to kill you." Sam said sweetly, getting the reaction she was wanting out of the uppity woman. "I just returned from my tour of duty, and we are on our second honeymoon."
"How long have you been married?" the boyfriend was trying to smooth things between the two women.
"Eighteen months, but only living in the same city, for six months." Jack responded. "But Sam's home now, until her ship is ready."
'Ship, so you'll have your own command?" This intrigued the guide.
"Yep," Sam smiled. Thankfully, they had reached the boat that would take them back to the resort. This seemed to stop the conversation, for which Sam and Jack were both grateful.
When they returned to the hotel Jack told Sam, "Go on up to the room, I have something to get you," He went to the pottery studio and got his project. It was small enough fit into the luggage they had brought, but he bought the packaging for it in any case.
Sam was in the shower when he got to the room, and this worked out for him, he placed the small replica of the city on the small table in their room. He got his clothes out for the evening, he might prefer wearing casual clothes, but there were times when it was okay to suffer and wear a coat and tie. Dining out with his wife was one of them.
Sam came out, wearing just a towel; her clothes were lying on the bed. He gave he a kiss and then went into the bathroom to get ready. Sam didn't notice the pottery right away, and was nearly dressed before she realized that her husband made something for her. She was trying to figure out why it looked familiar to her, but she was not an art expert.
Ten minutes later, she was nearly ready to go, just needing Jack to zip her up the rest of the way when he came out of the bathroom. He looked great, she wished he would wear a suit more often, and knew that he hated wearing his dress uniform on a daily basis. It was the one drawback as far as he was concerned to being a Major General. He'd much prefer wearing his BDU uniform,.
"Thank you for the castle, Jack" she had decided that was what he'd made. "I just need you to zip me up, and I'm ready to go." He did as requested.
Jack was disappointed that she didn't recognize his masterpiece. But he could see why she thought it was a castle. "It's Atlantis."
"Oh, now I see it, you did a good job, I was wondering why the castle didn't seem like a castle." Thank you, I can keep this in my office and take it with me to the Olympus"
"I could have made it look more realistic, but that would have taken me a few days, and this way just you and I know what it really is." He kissed her and they left for the dining room.
They had finished their meal, and had just ordered a tiramisu, when one of the resort employees came up to the table. "Major General Jack O'Neill" Jack and Sam didn't like the sound of that, if someone was asking them his rank that likely meant that their vacation could be over a few days early.
"Yes, I am he, may I ask if were a military officer?" He had the feeling the man had served in the British Army by the way he carried himself.
"Your office called, there is a situation that requires your attention, I know that we don't have a secure phone here at the resort, however I can have you use one of the conference rooms, we have them one set aside that has white noise generators."
"That will have to do, please hold our dessert until we come back."
"Right this way, sir."
As soon as the call was transferred, Jack dismissed the employee, stating they could easily find their way back when they were finished with the call. If it was vital enough to track him down while on leave he knew it was a crisis. He was wrong, it was somewhat of a nuisance call, and could have waited until Monday when he was back at work. Jack didn't yell at the aide who made the call as he was just doing as told. Woolsey had arrived on the base and Carter's belongings were already on board for transit home. There was some good news, for Sam at least. The IOA was extending her leave until the beginning of the month as the Olympus was a few weeks behind schedule. "Due to scheduling delays at the manufacturer the components will not be ready on the targeted date. Because of this, there is no need for Colonel Carter to report until the start of next month. While we have you on the phone, is the Colonel there, I need to speak with her."
Sam took the phone, "This is Colonel Carter." She listened a few minutes. "I am not really dressed for it, my husband and I are in a public place, yes, we brought it along, I will activate it when we get back to the room, and have changed." She hung up and looked at her husband. "They are having a problem with the Sun Tzu, and need my assistance, from what he said, it shouldn't take any longer than an hour. If the restaurant can send up our dessert at" she looked at her watch "2245, I should be back by then."
When they got back to the restaurant Jack asked that the tiramisu be delivered later, along with a diet coke and a Heineken. Sam went back to their suite and changed into jeans and a t-shirt, and activated the beaming device Thor had given Jack years ago. Jack went for a walk along the beach. He didn't want to accidentally be beamed up, as he felt he could cause an international incident by letting them know his opinion of ruining their vacation for something that very likely could have waited a few days.
It turned out that the problem was actually minor, some of the crystals had been placed in backwards, and the problem solved within ten minutes. When the crew was informed they had interrupted her leave they were most apologetic. "This could have waited, Colonel" the second in command stated.
"It could have, but I know that it wasn't your call, so I am not upset with you." They both knew the IOA was at fault.
Sam returned to their room, and put on a jacket and sandals, so that they could take a nice moonlit walk. She took a closer look at what Jack made for her. It really did look like Atlantis if you knew what it looked like. She liked to see Jack's creative side, which he didn't let out all that often. One of the things she'd left behind on Atlantis, was a small pencil holder, and was glad to hear her belongings would soon be home. She would have packed differently if she'd known it was going to be a one-way trip. Not that she hadn't minded shopping to replace items she'd left in the city.
It didn't take her long to find him as he was waiting for her in one of the poolside bars. He finished his beer and they walked on the sandy beach just enjoying their time together. "I am going to take your little souvenir with me, when the ship is ready, that way when I see it I will think of you."
They had made a pact early in their marriage that work talk would be at a minimum on their downtime, and this trip was no exception. On their last day as they were packing Sam commented. "I have the feeling Rodney and the others are going to get a kick out of the stuff I am sending with the next ship."
"I think they will."