Author's Note: Here is number four. Thank you to all those who are returning readers. Yes, Yalla my smile is huge how can it not be. So keep those reviews coming. Also some of you have noticed that Sam and Jack getting together is a little different that usual. As I have told those who reviewed I was tired of writing a scared and waffley Sam and decided to do it a little different. I hope it still works for everyone.
A side note: I am all done typing up my next fic Baby Mine, Ours?. If all goes well I will have it back from my betas and ready to post by the time this one is done. I will now turn my attention to Dreams of the Soul the sequel to Wishes of the Heart. Also does anyone know where exactly in Minnesota Jack's cabin is? I don't remember if they ever said more than just Minnesota.
To my anonymous reviewers: nath452 (): Thank you I'm glad you like it. Here is your more. Enjoy. dp ():Here you go. Thank you for the compliment. I'm proud of it. Yolie (): Well things can't be that easy can they. This is Sam and Jack after all, but I admit this story is a little different that my usual ones. So sit back and enjoy.
A knock at the door caused them to jump apart. Sam tried to break out of his arms, but he held on tight. Laying his forehead against hers, he said, "We fight- for us. We have never given up and we won't, not now."
All she could do was nod, she was so overwhelmed by the emotions. This was really happening, after all this time and all the hurt. They were going to go forward.
With her agreement, he let her go and crossed over to the door to let the General in. Giving Sam one last look, he opened the door.
"Major, Colonel, you asked to speak to me?" His eyes searched each officer for any signs of guilt or remorse. He was a little worried about why they asked to speak to him at three am after a week long trip to Washington together.
Not wanting to jump to any conclusions or force them to tell him more than he needed to know, he waited, studying them. They still wore their dress uniforms or most of them. Jack had removed his jacket and his tie with the top two buttons of his shirt undone. Sam had removed her jacket and shoes. There was no air of guilt around them, why had they called him here?
The two younger officers exchanged looks and Jack spoke, "Sir, we have a problem."
"What about?" The General swallowed, he was beginning to get very worried. He knew about the Zar'tac incident, how close they were during the memory stamp, and numerous other incidents that he had glossed over in his reports through the years. They always seemed to have their feelings under control and so he felt no reason to say anything officially about it.
Jack and Sam exchanged glances again before Jack continued, "Charlie's here and he brought his little sister with him."
Hammond's brows furrowed, "Charlie, the boy who saved us from the Reetu or the Crystal alien?"
Shaking his head Jack answered, "Neither. He is my - well another O'Neill's son. They came through that mirror thingy hidden away in some NID warehouse with the help of Dr. Carter, you remember she came through with Kawalski? She got them here and then returned to her own reality before that weird stuff happened again."
"Entropic cascade failure," Carter interrupted.
Scowling, Jack continued, "Where they come from, Carter and O'Neill are dead and Earth has been overrun with snakeheads. They have nothing to go back to."
Placing her hand on Jack's shoulder, Carter stepped forward, "General Hammond, the little girl is the daughter of that Carter and O'Neill and she thinks that we are her parents. The Colonel and I," Jack covered her hand with his. "Want to be her parents."
Hammond relaxed, this he could deal with, having to court martial his two favorite officers he could not. "What can I do to help?" This was one of those incidents where he was very glad he had one of those red phones. "Just tell me what you need and I will try and get it for you."
Carter squeezed Jack's hand and he said, "The children need us more than SGC does right now. SG-1 has not been in good shape since Daniel's death. I'm requesting a month's leave for Carter and I. Also the bending of regulations so that we can get married."
Blinking, Hammond smiled, "Let me see what I can do. I want those children brought to the mountain so Dr. Frasier can have a look at them. I will need to assure the President that they are healthy and have brought nothing through the mirror with them.
"For crying out loud General. I am not waking those kids up again. They have been through hell and I'm not dragging them out of bed to bring them to the mountain tonight. We just got them back to sleep." His voice was getting louder and louder with each word.
Sam interrupted, "Yes Sir, we'll have them in by 0900. We'll see you then and give you a full report."
Standing, the General smiled at these two people who seemed on the verge of having everything they wanted. "Very good then. I'll see you in the morning." Both Sam and Jack stood and watched him leave again through the back door.
George left Carter and Jack alone, after promising that he would do what he could to help them. Suddenly, everything was awkward between them. They had permission, but not. The General had made no firm promises and one or both of them might still have to resign. That no longer mattered, they were now parents and their children were more important than their careers.
Sam twirled the still unopened can and yawned. "It's time for bed Sam." Jack motioned in the direction of the bedrooms down the hall.
Still bound by habit, she responded, "Sir?"
He smiled at her confusion but put her fears to rest,"You take my bed, and I will take the hide-a-bed in the den. We still don't have an official okay, and until we do, I think we should keep the status quo. See you in a few hours. First door on the left, bathroom is attached. Sweats are in the top drawer on the left, t-shirts are in the next drawer and it's Jack."
"Yes, Sir, ah Jack. Sorry habit. I will see you in the morning." turning, she headed up the stairs.
Once inside Jack's bedroom, Sam stopped. In all the time they had known one another, neither had dared to venture into this part of each other's lives. Hesitating for a moment, Sam crossed the room and opened the drawer. Reaching in, she grabbed one of the pants from the top of the pile and did the same for the t-shirt in the next one.
A few minutes later, she laid in bed unable to sleep, her brain refused to shut down. It rushed back and forth over everything that had happened. Everything in the room screamed Jack. His clothes hung in the closet, his shoes lay abandoned beside the dresser. The sheets even smelled like him.
Rolling over, she tried to get comfortable but sleep still remained elusive. She had been up for over twenty-four hours, but her brain was running on overdrive.
Her eyes fell on a picture beside the bed. In the half-light, she could see the shape of a single person in the picture. Lifting it from its place, she tilted it toward the light coming through the window. She expected it to be of Charlie and was surprised to see herself smiling back from inside the frame.
On her head was one of those goofy desert hats, her hair was mid length and on her face was one of her classic smiles. It usually appeared when Jack cracked one of his jokes, but since Daniel's death both the jokes and smiles had been missing.
Setting it back down, she wondered where he had got it. Studying the picture, she tried to recall why it looked familiar and where she had seen it before. Then she remembered taking it down off of the wall in Daniel's office, only in that picture, the Colonel was standing beside her laughing at his own joke and it was a few moments before this one.
In Daniel's, he had been looking at her and she at him. It was one of those moments that they tried to forget and pretend had never happened. Lying to themselves that their feelings were still shut away in that room, never to escape.
Their someday was close now, but would they be able to make it past Daniel. Since his death the two of them had changed the tone of their pretending. Daniel stood between them, and Jack never talked about him and Sam wanted to, she needed to understand why he had decided to just let him go. Until he did, they could never be together, not really.
Turning again, she tried to think of how she was going to tell her father and her brother that she was now the mother of her CO's four year old child. It would be a very interesting conversation and she had no idea what to tell them.
Rubbing her temples, she decided that the whole thing made her head hurt. Snuggling into the pillow, she finally was able to drop off to sleep.
Jack stared at the ceiling, he knew he should be asleep, but his mind was going overtime. If the General wasn't able to come through, he was going to resign. Nothing Sam could do or say would change his mind. Those two kids needed someone to come home to each night. They had been through hell and back.
Punching the lumpy pillow, he rolled over, he really hated this bed and its pillows. This was what he offered to the guests he really didn't want to stay too long. Maybe he could sneak into his room and take one of his own pillows.
Moving silently through the house, Jack paused to look at Charlie. Is this really what his son would have looked like if he had lived another six years? He had been given a great gift and now he had a chance to make up for so many things.
Leaving Charlie, he crossed to the spare room to look in on Morgan. Her thumb was in her mouth and she slept soundly. He watched her for a few minutes and was about to leave when she called out, "Daddy, please come back."
His heart constricted as he sat down on the bed and rubbed her back. "Shh, it's alright . You're safe now, sleep Morgan." She sighed at the sound of his voice falling back to sleep and Jack stayed with her for a while longer.
Dawn began to push through the curtains, and Jack knew that he needed some sleep and for that, he needed his pillow. Once he reached his bedroom, Jack stopped. There was Sam Carter curled up in his bed. He had known she was there, but that was very different than seeing her there.
He stood there for a while watching her, this woman had agreed to marry him. He still couldn't believe it, but did she really mean as husband and wife. Things had been strained between them and he knew why.
Ever since Daniel had died, a chasm had spread between them. He didn't know if they could truly breech it until she had looked at him with that beautiful little girl in her arms. If he wanted to completely fill in that void, she needed to know the truth about how he felt about her and for how long.
That wasn't going to happen tonight and now he needed his sleep. It wasn't going to come staring at Sam. Slipping to the opposite side of the bed from where she slept, he grabbed the pillow and left before he changed his mind and climbed into bed beside her.
That's the end of this one. I hope you liked it actually took some from the next chapter because I realized that it belonged in this one. Leave a review and you might get another one this weekend.
As I said last time leave a review and make me smile. The more there are the bigger the smile and the faster I write. ~Kelleth~