"Oh my God. Oh, my God. OH MY GOD."

Those were the words Jack O'Neill woke up to. His response was, as ever, eloquent.

"Huh? Wha-" he mumbled, rolling over.

Carter was sitting there, sheet wrapped around her (Naked, naked, naked! said the voice, ever gleeful) body. She also looked panicked. It was kinda cute. "OH MY GOD," she repeated, seemingly shocked and – he was somewhat annoyed to realize – horrified.

"Carter, am I so old that the mere thought of sleeping with me is repulsive?" he grumbled, pulling himself into a sitting position.

That seemed to pull her back to reality. "No, sir-"

"Carter," he interjected, "we've just finished 'a night to end all nights'. I think you can call me Jack."

She blushed. "Er, yes si- Jack." She fidgeted with the sheets. "Call me Sam."

"Right. Car- Sam, can I ask you a question?" He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"Go ahead."

"Why did you pick six-thirty A.M. to freak out on me? Y'know, I'm not as young as I seem, and after a night like that, I need my rest if you ever expect a repeat performance." The bit about a 'repeat performance' sent her right past 'blush' and into 'volcanic activity'. He smirked.

Finally, finally, finally!!! the voice was singing. And… was that a happy dance he detected in the far reaches of his mind? Oh, forcryin'outloud.

"Sorry… Jack… I, uh, just woke up and it, um, hit me." She was tugging on the sheet now. He gave it a jerk and she squeaked as it flew out of her grasp and slid down her body. "Jack!"

"Sorry, Carter. Reflex." He grinned at her and she poked him in the stomach. "Anyway, what's there to freak out over?"

Her mouth dropped open. "What's there to- Sir! We could be court-martialed! Sent to prison! Our careers would be over! We'd never go through the Stargate again."

"Oh, right. That." She poked him again, harder this time. "Ow. Carter, forcryin'outloud, stop it!"

"Sorry, sir," she muttered, settling up against the headboard with the sheet pulled back up over her. "Just a little worried about my future here."

He reached up and smoothed her hair and then kissed the crown of her head. By the look on her face, she hadn't expected him to be so… so…

Tender? the voice supplied. Loving? Oh, come on. We both know you can – and will – do it. Be the supportive, caring boyfriend. It won't kill you.

You never know, he grumbled at it. Out loud he said, "Carter, it's obvious. I'll retire; you go on at the SGC. Life'll go on."

"But, sir-"

"Ah!" She swatted him, laughing.

"Jack, we need you! You can't retire – who'll deal with the Asgard? Or lead SG-1? Or…" she trailed off, "…do the… myriad of things you… do."

"Ha, you can't think of anything can you?" He laughed. "Face it, Carter. I'm replaceable. Besides, you can lead SG-1. I have every confidence in you. As long as you come home, in one piece, ready to do exactly what we did all last night."

"Don't think I could give that up," she replied, smiling up at him. "But Jack, you can't retire; the SGC needs you. And that's more important than-" she motioned between them, "-is, as sad as I am to say that."

He sighed. "Carter, I'm sick and tired of doing the whole denial thing. I love you, okay? I want to be with you. And I've saved the world enough; it's time for me to do something for me. Or I'll go crazy, not being with you."

She was silent for a while, and when he looked down at her, she was crying. He must've looked alarmed, because she made reassuring motions and sniffled loudly until she could talk. "That… that is the most romantic thing anyone has ever told me," she said. She looked like she was going to say something else, but it disintegrated into a wail and – slightly alarmed, since Emotional Carter was hard to process – that's when Jack pulled her to him and held her, face buried in her hair, for a while.

Finally, the crying subsided. He was relieved. "Um," he said as she sat back up. She looked at him. He raised an eyebrow.

"I'll retire," she said, firmly. "I'll put in my resignation tomorrow."

"Oh, no," he said, but she held up a hand.

"Hear me out, Jack, please." He closed his mouth and gave her a 'continue' look. "Right. If you retire, they wouldn't be able to rehire you and send you out on missions – you'd be a consultant for the SGC, but they couldn't send you out. But if I retire, they can hire me back as a scientist – I mean, I've got two Ph.Ds. Besides, General Hammond told me once if I ever left the military, he'd keep a spot open for me." She started to grin. "And, if I retired, I wouldn't have to keep calling you 'sir' all the time."

"I dunno, Carter. I kinda like the 'sir'. Hey!" He held up an arm to protect him from the pillow she was hitting him with. "Carter! Stop!"

She stopped. "Well?"

"Well what?" He rubbed his arm where she'd hit it. That woman could wield a pillow.

"Well, do you agree with my idea?" She gave him an impatient look and he would've sworn that if they'd been standing, her foot would've been tapping.

"I don't want to be the reason you get out of the Air Force, Carter," he said quietly, looking her right in the eye.

She smiled and reached over to take his face in her hands. "Jack. I love you, too. And I can still have a career in the academic field, if not with the military. Being in the Air Force doesn't mean as much to me as being with you would."

He grinned, slowly and – he would never, ever admit it, even in a court of law – shyly. "All right, then, Carter. I guess I'm all yours."

And then she jumped him.

"You know," he said, hours later, "it's a really good thing that today's Sunday. Otherwise we would be in so much trouble."

"Wow, Jack, you're really insightful, you know?" she said, laughing at him.

"Oh, shut up," he growled at her, pinning her against the counter with his face an inch from his. "I'm making you breakfast; you're not allowed to be mean to me."

She leaned in and kissed him lightly. "Just don't put beer in the pancakes."

"But that gives it so much flavor!" he argued, as the doorbell rang.

"I don't want to hear it," she called back, still laughing at him. "No beer!"

Normally Samantha Carter was a much more thorough thinker than she was that morning. The reason this is stated – since it's usually obvious – is because she was answering the door wearing Jack O'Neill's oversize The Simpsons t-shirt, which had been the closest thing to hand when they'd finally got out of bed.

So as she was laughing at her not-so-newfound-boyfriend/partner/something, she opened the front door.

And standing there were Daniel and Teal'c.

"Well, this is a surprise," Daniel said, his eyebrows raised. Teal'c nodded.

"Indeed."

"Hi guys," Jack heard Carter say. "What're you doing here so… early?"

"MajorCarter, it is indeed past noon."

Jack came out then. "Hey there campers! Whatcha doin' here?"

Daniel smiled at him, very amused. "Oh, we just thought we'd stop by and see how you're doing… Seeing as how it's one-thirty."

"Ah!" Jack held up a finger. "But it's a Sunday. So you really have no reason for being here."

"No… No, I wouldn't say that," Daniel said. "We just, uh, happened to be driving through your neighborhood when we saw that Sam's car was still here and we thought we'd drop in to see if she was okay." He looked at Teal'c. "Right, Teal'c?"

"Indeed, DanielJackson. I believe that is exactly what you instru-" He was cut off by Daniel coughing loudly.

"Yes, yes. So, Jack, something smells good. Can we join you?" Daniel asked, grinning.

"Sure," Jack said. "As soon as Carter puts on some pants." The last word he said loudly into Carter's ear. She jumped.

"Right! Pants. Yes. Um. Where are they?"

"I believe they're, um, outside the door to my room," Jack replied, trying not to look at Daniel's smug face.

"Right. Right. I'll be right back." Carter smiled, nervously, at Daniel and Teal'c before going to find her pants.

Jack turned to Daniel, who was smirking now. "What?" he said.

"Oh, nothing," Daniel said. Now he was smug.

I vote we smack the smug off of him, the voice said. Wouldn't that be satisfying?

Yes, but it would be wrong he thought back at it. And what're you doing here? Carter and I are together!

Who said I was just here for that? the voice said, sharing Daniel's exasperating smugness.

Argh, Jack thought, and then went back to Daniel. "I'll say it again: What?"

"You've just won me a lot of money," Daniel said, grinning.

"What? Money?" he looked at Daniel, confused. Then realization dawned. "You bet on me and Carter?"

"Indeed, O'Neill. In fact, the entire SGC has been gambling on when you two would enter into a relationship for quite some time now. DanielJackson is the closest." He voice took on a slightly darker tone as he said: "I was but a week off."

"Hey, you snooze with placing your bet, you lose," Daniel said, positively chipper.

"You were the one who informed me of an incoming transmission from Chulak, DanielJackson, in order to beat me in placing your bet."

"All's fair in love, war, and betting on your colleague's romances," Daniel said sagely.

"Indeed. This is why I have placed numerous bets on your relationship with ValaMalDoran." Teal'c gave Daniel his smug look.

"Hey, isn't that the chick who beat you up?" Jack said.

Daniel was turning red. "She did not beat me up!"

"Whatever you say. Ah, Carter. Glad to see you back here. Apparently Danny-boy and Teal'c bet on our relationship. Hey, are those pancakes burning?" And, since he didn't really want to witness Carter killing Daniel and Teal'c, he went back into the kitchen.

A second later he heard the dulcet tones of his beloved say: "You did WHAT?"

"Jack," she said, between kisses, "I really have to go."

"Why?" he murmured. "Why don't you just go get your stuff and come back here?"

"Because," she said, pushing him away firmly, "if I did that, I'd never get any sleep and you know it. We both need to be well rested for when the General kills us."

"Oh. Right." He wrinkled his nose at her. "We could just cuddle, y'know."

She gave him a Look. "Cuddle."

"I've been known to cuddle!" he protested.

"Somehow I doubt that's what you'd do if I stayed." She smirked at him.

"Yeah, yeah." He rubbed the back of his head.

She turned and opened the front door, but before she walked out he grabbed her and pinned her against the door, for one last kiss.

"Jack," she said, when he finally pulled away. "I'm not going anywhere. Figuratively. Literally, I have to go home."

"I know," he said. "I just like doing that. It's fun."

She laughed. "Fun. Right, sir."

She gave him another kiss and walked out. He grinned.

By the way, the voice said, I don't know if you remembered or not…

Spit it out, he said to it as he closed the front door.

Carter's dad is coming in for that periodic 'liaise with the Tok'Ra' thing. Tomorrow. It's your first meeting. The voice sounded amused. This should be good.

He didn't even hear it. Oh shit, he thought. I'm dead.