Setting: The day of fishing trip in Threads (8x18)

Pairing: Sam/Jack

Disclaimer: I don't own Sam, Jack, or anything Stargate-related. If I did, this scene would have been in Threads.

A/N: This is the clean version of this chapter. I finally gave in an wrote smut, so I'll post the M-rated version separately. This is the final chapter because, let's face it, there's no story here. Enjoy!

They'd stopped for gas a few hours in, and she'd slipped out of the truck to kiss him, under what seemed like the bluest sky she'd ever seen, as soon as he'd finished filling the tank. They were interrupted a few moments later by the attendant clearing his throat. Well, it had seemed like a few moments to Sam, but apparently it was a little longer than that, judging by the number of cars waiting behind them for the single pump and the annoyance with which the attendant was tapping his foot and frowning.

She'd waved apologetically as he'd gone inside to pay, and she'd slipped into the driver's seat. He'd refused to accept any gas money so she'd decided to pay him back by driving the rest of the way. He'd raised an eyebrow when he saw her, but said nothing.

The trip had been filled with a comfortable silence, for the most part. He'd asked how Cassie was coping at school, she'd laughed a little as she answered – As if Cassie didn't call him every other day. When they finally arrived at the cabin, after the dustiest stretch of highway Sam had ever seen, they parked in front of the lake.

"It really is nice here." she said, softly, as she slid out of the cab and wandered over to the lake. It sparkled in the midday sun, and beyond it there was nothing but trees. Proper Earth trees. She'd seen some beautiful things through the Stargate, and the alien trees had become commonplace when set next to a planet orbiting twin stars, or a lunar landscape of palest shimmering green, but this place... it was magical.

"Isn't it just?" Jack had crept up behind her to place his arms round her waist, and now he kissed the top of her head. She squirmed around to face him, clutching the open edges of his navy shirt at chest level, and kissed him properly. She'd always wanted to do that – to do this! To be at his cabin, alone with him, able to kiss him at will... Or was she?

"Jack?" she said after a slow pull-away, as he opened his eyes slowly and smiled. "What about the regs?"

His smile slid away, and his hands slid up from her waist to hold her shoulders as she looked up and moved her own arms to rest along his, hands on his strong biceps. Those brown eyes that had always betrayed how he felt (though sometimes she'd thought it was just wishful thinking) were thoughtful again. He sighed.

"Screw the regs." He said, finally, and his face cracked into a grin.

She shook her head a little in disbelief. That was so very... well, Jack.

"Screw the regs?"

"Screw 'em." The skin around his eyes crinkled – he'd aged so much in the last 8 years, and his hair was completely grey now, but she barely noticed any more. Just occasionally. "If they try and take this away from us I'll call Thor in, or say I'm retired or something." She let out a quiet laugh. "Besides, have you looked closely at the good ol' regs lately, Carter?" She raised an eyebrow. "Sorry. Sam?"

She bit her lip. In truth, she hadn't. She skimmed through when they were updated, of course, but she couldn't quote them by heart or anything. The pools of deep brown twinkled.

"No." she admitted.

"Well, I have. After Kerry... well, after Kerry I did some reading." She arched an eyebrow, more out of amusement than anything else, to be honest. "Don't look at me like that, Carter!"

"Sorry, sir."

He smiled and his hands dropped back to rest around her waist, pulling her in closer so he could kiss her forehead.

"You know what's been stopping us all these years?" He put on what she thought of as his 'air steward voice' to say "Dating, courtship, and close friendships between men and

women become matters of official concern when they adversely affect morale, discipline,

unit cohesion, respect for authority, or mission accomplishment. The formation of such relationships between superiors and subordinates within the same chain of command or supervision is prohibited because such relationships invariably raise the perception of favouritism or misuse of position and erode morale, discipline and unit cohesion."

She almost laughed at how he'd memorised all of that, but figure this was probably too serious a moment. Besides, what was he getting at? She frowned. "With all due respect, Jack, how does that help us?"

"Ah, it's the first bit that's important."

A thought dawned in Sam's pre-frontal cortex and hit the amygdala as it spread, making her beam at him in happiness as she said, slowly, "You're saying that because we've never adversely affected the outcomes of our missions, that rule doesn't apply?" She frowned a little and he smiled at that, though she had no idea why. "But, sir... it said it's prohibited anyway."

"Because such relationships invariably raise the perception of favouritism etcetera, etcetera."

"So?" She could feel the creases spreading across her forehead.

"Do you think anyone at the SGC would argue that there'd ever be 'misuse of position' or any of that other stuff? Come on, Carter, we can fight this!" His voice was rising, excited – possibly more so than she'd ever seen before. It was contagious.

"Okay, Jack, how?" Her question was an attempt to ignore her increasing thoughts that right now he was at his most attractive. That would have to wait.

"By doing this..." he trailed off and ran his hands up her back and into her hair, as he leant forward to kiss her. She shut her eyes and leant in, finding her arms around his neck and her hands in his silver hair.

Breathless, she broke away a few minutes later.

"Nice plan." she gasped. "It could maybe use a little more thought, though."

"Oh, I've put plenty of thought into it." she heard him say in a low voice, before he scooped her into his arms and began to carry her into the cabin.

Afterwards they found themselves lying tangled in each other, breathless but happy, until the alarm clock on the bedside table bleeped to signal the hour.

"Carter..."

"Sir?" she mumbled in reply, lacing her fingers through his as he untangled himself from her and lay on his back beside her.

"Daniel and T could be here any minute..."

Reluctantly, they both rose and tried to retrieve their clothes. At least this time they were all in one room.

20 minutes later they were dressed, the truck was unloaded, the beers were in fridge, and they were sat on the deck, finally fishing.