Hi all! Sorry it took me so long to update... college kinda got in the way. Between midterms and spring break, and trying to fit in a life in there I've been a little busy. Did get to spend spring break in London, though, which was awesome! So I'm back into writing again, and after writing myself into a bit ofa corner I now feel inspired, and have found my way out. Review quickly and expect another chapter by the end of the week.

Thanks to my loyal reviewers: Freckles, Whirlwind, RomieG, and of course Emerald Green Queen.

EGQ- As always you write the best reviews. I do have quite a few tricks up my sleeve, but be patient, it might take a little time to fully be revealed. Ah yes, the rollercoaster. Should be interesting... anyways read on and enjoy. This chapter is a little long, but hopefully rewarding...

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Haley had insisted on being early for the party since she was, of course, the guest of honor. Jack still felt somewhat uneasy about this, and insisted on greeting the parents before leaving. Haley was mortified, but tried to be patient. Once Jack was satisfied that all was well, or at least well enough, he took off. Haley headed up to Monica's room and proceeded to change out of her jeans and a tee shirt into her real outfit for the evening.

xxxxx

Janet opened up the door to find her two guests a few minutes earlier than expected. "I just have to turn off the oven, make yourselves at home," she instructed, taking the salad out of Sam's hands and heading towards the kitchen. "Daniel should be back from dropping Cassandra off any minute now."

"Yeah, about this party…" Jack started, as he shucked off his coat and reached for Sam's.

"I know it's making me uneasy as well," Janet responded, sticking her head out of the kitchen. Jack hung up their jackets and joined Sam on the couch.

"I don't know what you two are so worried about," Sam laughed, drawing a scowl from Jack. Janet entered the living room and dispensed glasses of wine.

"Just wait until you have children," she smiled. Sam got an uneasy feeling in her stomach. She really hadn't thought that far in advance, and had no clue what her future held. To be honest she wasn't one-hundred percent sure where her relationship with Jack was going. They had been seeing each other for about two months now. Seeing each other. That was a funny term. They couldn't go out in public, not yet, anyways. Sleeping together was more appropriate. Basically Sam spent time with Jack at his house, and very rarely, her house. She didn't know what was going to happen after Jack's transfer went through. Sam wasn't entirely ready to ask Jack that question. He could be very private. Would he want to hide their relationship from people on base? Would she care?

"Hey, Earth to Sam," Jack nudged her.

"Huh? Oh I'm sorry."

"Where'd you go there?"

"I was just thinking."

"I didn't know you were capable of stopping." Jack just smiled at Sam, completely clueless, as usual. Janet sipped her wine, hiding her smile. She had a pretty good idea of what was going on in Sam's mind. She had the same questions for her friend the next time the two were alone.

"While we wait for Daniel, why don't I bring out some appetizers?"

"Do you need a hand?" Sam offered.

"That would be great, thank you." The two women left Jack alone in the living room. As soon as they were out of his earshot Janet quietly spoke. "SO," Sam made a face suggesting she had no clue what Janet was talking about. "He's giving up his position on SG-1!"

"Relax; it's not because of me."

"Do you wish it was?" Janet took out a plate, and began placing vegetables on it.

"No! I would feel so guilty. I could never ask Jack to give up his career for me."

"Well, regardless of whatever reason he has left SG-1, he's left. You can't hide behind the rules for long."

"I have no idea where we're going from here, Janet, but I promise you'll be the first to know if it's ever figured out."

"Have you ever, oh I don't know, thought of talking to Jack?"

"You know he doesn't do feelings well. The past few times we've had any conversation with that kind of depth I knew it was killing him."

"And yet, you were the one who was able to get him to open up in the first place. Something many, MANY, people have failed at. If you can't talk about important issues then do you really have a relationship? Or is it all about the sex?" Janet asked, a grin creeping across her face.

Sam's face quickly turned beet red. "JANET!" Sam closed her eyes and took a big gulp of her wine. "We need to go back out there. He's going to know we were talking about him."

"So let him. You worry far too much."

Jack picked up some kind of stone sculpture… thing on the coffee table and started studying it. The round circular object on top fell off into his hands. Quickly, he tried to put it back together.

"Whatcha doing there Jack?"

"Daniel! I… um…" Daniel took the pieces out of Jack's hands, as well as another object on the table and placed it on top of a shelf across the room.

"Where are Janet and Sam?"

"Supposedly getting appetizers, but it's been a few minutes. It's pretty safe to assume they're talking about me."

"What have you done now?"

"Hey! Why does everybody assume that I've screwed up?"

"Because you usually do?"

"Speak for yourself klutzy."

"Mature, real mature," Daniel mumbled, leaving Jack to find the ladies. He stuck his head in the doorway just in time to see Sam's eyes go ridiculously wide, and her face turn beat red.

"Enough already, okay! I'm perfectly relaxed, you have nothing more to worry about," Sam turned around and nearly bumped into Daniel in her rush to leave the kitchen.

He grabbed Sam's shoulders and steadied her. "Are you alright?" Daniel had a hard time suppressing his smile at how flushed Sam looked.

"I'm fine, just ready to eat."

"Right." Sam maneuvered herself away from Daniel's grip, and went to rejoin Jack.

"You're evil," Daniel whispered to Janet.

"Me?"

"You knew I'd be back in a few minutes! Couldn't you have waited?" Janet chuckled and walked past Daniel to bring out the appetizers.

xxxxx

"C'mere Cass," Haley ordered, patting to the open spot on the bed next to her. "Let me fix your hair." Cassie smoothed down the tiny skirt Monica had loaned her for the night, and surrendered her hair to Haley. "This is going to look really good," she promised, wielding her curling iron.

"We better change out of all this before we go home tonight," Cassie giggled.

"You worry way too much!" Monica lectured. As Haley played stylist, Monica rambled on about who would be attending the party. When Haley finished Cassie's hair, she grabbed both their arms and pulled them off the bed. "Come, look in the mirror." The three stood, bunched together in front of the mirror grinning at their quick transformations. Cassie's hair had been done in ringlets, and she was wearing a very short jean skirt of Monica's along with three inch Steve Madden platforms. She had opted to keep on the red sweater she wore to the party. Compared to her friends she was modestly dressed. Haley and Monica had matching pink miniskirts and coordinating tube tops. Cassie laughed at them, since it was still the middle of the winter, right? Monica pointed out that the heat was turned up and that since Haley was the guest of honor she had to stand out. So why was Monica wearing the same outfit? Cass had retorted. She was the host, Haley replied. The doorbell rang, and the three girls were startled from their place in front of the mirror.

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"Are you ever planning on moving your stuff out of the apartment?"

"Why would I do that Jack?"

"I don't know Daniel… maybe because, oh… it's your stuff."

"Have you seen how much stuff he has?" Janet questioned, pointing at Jack with her chocolate cake stabbed fork.

"I still go there to do work, anyways. Once we get a house that has an office for me, and enough room for all of my things I'll sell the apartment."

"Do you need help house hunting?" Sam's last words were interrupted with Jack shoving a piece of the cake in her mouth. She startled giggling.

"I'm going to look at that castle tomorrow with SG-5. It appears to be abandoned by the Goauld. This place could be an incredible discovery-"

"Maybe you can move in there if it is unoccupied."

"Yes it is the ideal place to raise my daughter," Janet quipped.

"Vacation home?"

"Jack, does this mean you want to go on the mission with me?"

"Sorry Daniel, but Carter and I have to accompany SG-15 back to P3X-232 on Monday. We need to get back their equipment that had some important…" Jack paused and looked to Sam.

"The samples of the land they were taking showed that the planet might have large amounts of Naquaddah beneath the surface. We're fairly confident that we outnumber the Jaffa that attacked SG-15."

"Fairly?" Janet questioned.

"We're taking SG-3 along too. And I think Hammond plans on having another team on stand-by for backup. Easy breezy," Jack waved his hand in the air.

"I hate when you say things like that," Sam complained. "That's when things usually go wrong."

"Fine, I take it back, this will be the mission from hell. It is interrupting our downtime." Jack gave a wry smile.

"So are you trying to win back the land?" Janet questioned.

"First we're going to see if the land is even worth winning. And if so, we'll take some aerial surveys to figure out just how many Jaffa we'd need to overcome."

"Y'know, we never seem to talk about normal stuff. It's always all about the SGC."

Daniel turned his head sideways, and raised his eyebrows. "So what do you want to talk about Jack?"

"How about hockey? Anybody catch the game last night? Sudden-death overtime, doesn't get much better than that!"

"So Sam, let me tell your more about this castle I'm visiting-" Daniel was interrupted by a balled-up napkin being thrown at his head.

"Behave you two," Janet warned as she stood up and started collecting the dishes. Sam rose out of her seat to join. "Do you think you can behave while we're in the kitchen, for oh, thirty seconds?"

"Can't promise anything Doc." The women rolled their eyes, leaving Daniel and Jack to continue bantering. "Hey Daniel, thanks for suggesting Haley stay over here tonight."

"No problem. I figured you and Sam could use some time alone, and it'll be nice to have Haley over."

"Yeah, Sam won't let me near her when Hale's around. I think she's afraid of her or something."

"Imagine that, the spawn of Jack O'Neill invoking fear in others…"

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A little bit of a to be continued... just such a long chapter I wanted to split it up. PLEASE REVIEW! Your reviews are what feed me!