Jack had paced the length of the briefing room at a hundred times before General Hammond showed up. The older General cleared his throat to announce his presence.

"Sir! I'm glad you're here. I need to talk to you before I leave for San Diego." Jack said so quickly that George could barely understand him

"Well, how about we step into your office and speak then." Jack quickly turned on his heels and walked into his office. George followed shortly behind him.

"Now son, what do you want to talk about?"

"I want to retire, now." George looked at him flabbergasted. Shaking his head a couple of times, as if to clear a fog from his mind, George looked Jack straight into Jack's eyes.

"Why?"

"I'm in love with Carter, and I want to marry her and help her raise her nieces and nephew." Jack wanted to end this conversation quickly with an answer in his favor, so he pushed Hammond for a response.

"Sooo, can I retire?"

George looked at the man in front of him for a few minutes, clenching and unclenching his jaw a few times. Hammond sighed.

"You better do damn well by her Jack, since Jacobs no longer with us I will personally see to it that you treat her like the treasure she is." George smiled. "I'll tell the president about your decision when I talk to him tomorrow." Jack's surprised features quickly erupted into a full-blown smile.

"Well, in that case, I need to get to the surface, I have a plane to catch. Bye sir!" George chuckled as he watched the hardened General O'Neill jog out of the room faster than most men his age could dream of moving.

Sam sat in the living room, looking around. Daniel and Alison had hit it off right away. Which made sense to Sam, both Daniel and Ali had lost their parents in one fell swoop, and booth loved to study different languages and cultures. Alison was almost fluent in German, Russian, and Spanish, all three of which Daniel had mastered. Now, Daniel and Ali were speaking in Russian, and from the little of the language Sam understood, she knew they were talking about their pasts. Teal'c was now sitting with Jenna in his lap. The little girl was presently teaching Teal'c how to play Cats Cradle. Surprisingly enough, Teal'c was able to master the game quickly. Sam's observation of her 'family' was cut short by the sound of the door bell and Tabitha complaining loudly about being bothered while in mourning. Sam just shook her head. Soon Tabitha's voice was joined with the sound of Jack's strong voice. Sam jumped up and quickly left the room.

"Hello, I'm looking for Samantha Carter." Tabatha looked at the handsome man with a lustful eye, which Jack decidedly ignored.

"And you are" Before Jack could answer, Sam shot past Tabitha and into his arms. Taken completely by surprise, Jack almost fell over, regaining his equilibrium, Jack wrapped his arms around Sam's waist and buried his head in the crook of her neck, breathing her scent in deeply.

"Jack, you're early." Sam was so relieved to have him here with her. Somehow, he made her feel safe, like the world wasn't about to come crashing down around her. Tabatha coughed once to remind them of whose company they were in.

"Right, Tabatha, this is General Jack O'Neill. Jack this is Tabatha Foreman, Kathy's mother." Jack extended his hand to the woman.

"My deepest sympathies Mrs. Foreman. It truly is heart wrenching to loose a child." Jack's voice was soft, and slightly emotional. Tabatha scoffed and was about to cruelly retort. Sam could sense she was going to say something rude, so she quickly took Jack's outstretched hand and led him in the house.

"Well Tabatha I'm going to introduce Jack to the girls." Sam quickly rushed them into the living room. Everyone looked up at the new person.