Sam was grateful for the week's downtime that SG-1 had been given. Not only did it give her time to think about what she might say to Pete, but for once, she actually left the base, tried to concentrate on normal, everyday things. She tried to focus on tidying up the house, watching the TV, working in the garden… but no matter how hard she tried, Jack's face kept popping up in her head, her body tingling at the memory of the sensations he caused in her, the thought that tomorrow, if things didn't go horribly wrong, she and Jack would be able to start their future together.

The afternoon had come a lot quicker than she had expected and she was in the middle of making herself a cup of coffee, pleased with her work around the house. It was amazing how dirty a house can get when you aren't around to clean it, instead you're off travelling to other worlds and engaging in battles that most people could not comprehend. She and Pete had practically been living together in her house but he wasn't exactly the most tidy of people and that bugged her. She made a genuine effort to keep the house tidy whenever she was actually at home, but Pete, who seemed to be living there more than Sam herself, rarely ever cleaned. That had bugged her but she had just thought she was being picky and therefore rarely mentioned it.

As she poured the coffee into the mug, set on sitting quietly for however long it took, and thinking about what to tell Pete when he came home, she heard a set of keys in the door and what shocked her was that her first fleeting thought was 'Jack's home', and for a second a smile crossed her face, then she realised that a. Jack didn't have a set of keys and b. Pete was the one who was actually expected home, all be it not for several hours.

Sam started to panic, she hadn't thought about what to say to him, how to break up with him… nothing. She heard to door open and then close. "Hey baby, you home?!"

"Pete?! I thought you weren't gonna be home for hours?" Sam tried to sound as calm as possible and tried to compose herself.

"Well I wanted to beat the traffic" Pete told her as he walked into the kitchen. He moved over to her and went to kiss her but she turned slightly so his lips met her cheek. "What's wrong baby?" He asked her, confused.

Sam took a deep breath and spoke as evenly as possible. "We need to talk."

"Okay, just let me go get changed" Pete told her and then turned and left the room before she had a chance to say anything more.

When she was alone in the room she ran her hands over her face, she hadn't expected him to be home so early and had thrown her completely off. She walked out of the kitchen and into the living room where she sat on the couch, feet curled under her, silently prying for this to be over soon while also trying to think of what to say to Pete. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't register Pete coming into the room.

"Sam? You in there?" Pete asked hr waving a hand in front of her face. She jumped slightly and spoke "Sorry…"

"So what did you wanna talk about?" Pete asked her, sitting down next to her.

She took a breath and faced him. "Please let me finish before you say anything" Sam pleaded.

"I can't o this anymore, I'm sorry Pete, I can't marry you. I thought I could but I can't. I can't give you everything you deserve, everything you want, and I just don't think that we're meant to be. You deserve better."

Pete didn't say anything for a few moments and his silence scared her. As she was about to ask him to say something Pete spoke quietly. "There's someone else isn't there." It wasn't really a question, more of a statement.

Sam was taken aback, she hadn't expected him to say that. She closed her eyes. "Yes… but I promise you that nothing has happened between us while you and I were together, I i promise /i ."

"Who is he?"

"I can't Pete… I'm sorry…"

Pete cut her off, "Come on Sam, you at least owe me his name!"

Sam couldn't tell him it was Jack, she couldn't risk Pete telling someone, someone who could get Jack into a hell of a lot of trouble. The Sam had an idea and hoped it would satisfy Pete. Hell she felt she al least owed him some semblance of the truth.

"His name's Jonathon." Pete didn't act like he knew who she was talking about.

"He's someone from my past." It was kind of true. Jack was her past, her present and her future.

"How long has this been going on?"

"Nothing's happened between us… but I know that I love him and that's why I can't marry you Pete. I'm sorry."

Pete breathed in deeply and closed his eyes before he spoke, "I guess all I can say is… I hope you get what you want."

"That's it?" Sam said shocked.

"What do you want? You want me to get down on my knees and beg?" Pete asked her looking at her intently

"God, no! Of course not! I just ... I thought you would react differently." Sam sighed.

Pete turned and walked for the front door and stopped before he opened it. "Goodbye, Sam." He said solemnly and opened the door and left.

When the door closed Sam felt guilty for it was like a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She felt guilty for hurting Pete like she had… and yet, the knowledge that she and Jack could finally be together gave her a feeling inside like warm honey running through her.

Sam arrived at the park around 15:50 and seeing no sign of Jack she went to sit on the bench opposite the play park. She sat watching the children playing on the swing sets, laughing and screaming happily as they span on the roundabout and flew down the slide to land in the sand at the bottom.

One little girl caught her attention. She had her back to Sam and wore a long white dress, her long blonde curls hanging down her back. She reached the top of the ladder and ran across the bridge to the slide. As she sat down Sam saw her face and she let out a small gasp…

It was the same girl she had seen on the Prometheus. The girl flew down the slide and into the arms of a man at the bottom. He picked her up and spun her around and placed a loving kiss on her cheek. He turned and Sam's breath caught in her throat.

It was Jack, his hair slightly greyer but his body still the same muscular, lean shape it had always been.

Sam was confused, wondering what she was seeing, and then a woman walked over to Jack. She had short blonde hair and had quite a petite but strong frame. She reached up and placed a passionate kiss on Jack's lips and as she pulled back, Sam saw herself standing with Jack's arm around her and running her hand through the little girl's hair. Despite how far away they were Sam heard the little girl speak as if she were standing right next to her.

"I love you mummy. I love you Daddy"

Sam just stared at them in shock, her future self with Jack and their daughter. Someone walked across her line of vision and when they were gone… so was her future self. Sam blinked, wondering what had happened. She knew she had seen them, it had all seemed so real.

As she sat staring at the spot where she had seem them someone came up behind her and placed their hands over her eyes. They were soft, warm hands and she suddenly felt lips kiss the back of her neck and his low voice sent a pleasant shiver through her entire body.

"How did it go?" Jack asked her softly.

Sam turned and placed her lips close to his. "It's over… I'm all yours… forever if you'll have me?" Sam spoke in a whisper.

"Always… I love you… now and forever. Nothing will ever come between us again." Jack told her quietly, his arms encircling her waist.

"How did Kerry take it?" Sam asked, looking into his eyes, feeling like she could almost see straight into his soul.

"Oddly enough, pretty well… she even told me you and I deserved to be together. She could see it from the first time she saw us in the same room together, but she wanted us to come to our senses on our own." Jack told her.

"So, this is it… we're finally here…" Sam smiled

"Took us long enough" Jack grinned, "we should get a medal or something."

"Well you are the general now, you get to issue the medals."

"Not for long. I submitted my resignation yesterday."

"What! Already?!" Sam gasped.

"I didn't want anything to keep us apart." Jack said softly.

"How did the President take it?"

"Tried to talk me out of it of course. He didn't know the real reason I wanted to retire. We had a loooong conversation on the phone. He persuaded me tokeep my position as head of the SGC."

Sam stepped back shocked. "What?! But… I thought…"

Jack placed a finger to her lips softly. "I'm no longer military Sam… apparently I was considered invaluable to the programme by the Pentagon, so they appointed me as a civilian."

"And the President was okay with that?"

"I told him that was the only way they'd be able to keep me."

Sam let out a breath and smiled.

"So we're okay, no rules or regulations are gonna be broken if I… do…" Jack leaned forwards and brushed the tip of his nose against hers, his lips brushing against hers briefly, "…this…" Jack spoke barely above a whisper.

He caught her lips in between his. Sam felt something inside her escape… she was finally free… free to love Jack the way she had always dreamed of.

Sam responded, their passion mounting and they held each other close.

They broke the kiss, Jack running his hand through her hair.

"I love you Samantha."

"I love you Jack." Sam smiled and pulled him into an embrace.

Jack took Sam's hand and they turned to walk towards the park exit… "C'mon, we've gotta get started on making lots of little O'Neill's" Jack told her, a huge grin breaking out across his face.

Sam laughed and leant her head on his shoulder.

"What do you think of Grace O'Neill?"

Jack looked down into her eyes.

"I love it."

And they left the park, hand in hand, finally at peace, and they knew no matter what was ahead of them they had each other… and that was all that mattered.

I hope you liked it! Sorry it took so long to update. RL has been SO hectic. I'm off to Avalon in 8 days! SO EXCITED! YAY!

Please review!