November 2012

It's odd to be the one with the apartment to herself for a while. Jack is off playing nice – she hopes – with the Chinese government, negotiating for the continued secrecy of the stargate program. He's been gone for a week and in all that time, he's only managed to send off one quick e-mail letting her know he'd arrived safely, and a longer note venting his frustration with the diplomatic process.

It's strange coming home to an empty apartment at the end of the day. Sam has gotten used to knowing that even if she beats him home, before long Jack will be installed beside her on the couch, fighting over what they have for dinner and which games they watch and cracking wise about the latest made-for-TV sci-fi movie, because after all this time, he finally gets why she loves them so much.

Sam is no stranger to loneliness. She's used to being away, holed up in a lab at Area 51 with only her fellow scientists for company, or zipping through space, cut off from her friends and family. But ever since she and Jack moved in together, she's gotten used to the idea of home being more than just a series of rooms filled with stuff. He's now an integral part of her idea of home, and she suspects the same holds true for him.

For the first time, she appreciates what it must be like for him, with all of her comings and goings.

One night when the loneliness is really dragging at her, Sam picks up the phone and calls Cassandra. She means to break the news about her relationship with Jack when she's got the freedom to talk without fear of him overhearing, but once Cassandra begins unloading on her, Sam can't bring herself to mention the break up. Cassie is freaking out about grades and acceptances to PhD programs. She doesn't need anything else to worry about right now.

Instead of sharing her own, albeit dated, news, Sam winds up playing the sympathetic aunt, letting Cassandra vent for well over an hour. When they finally hang up, the young woman is feeling much better and Sam is feeling only slightly guilty about putting off the inevitable for a little while longer.

Surrendering to boredom, Sam begins flipping through the multitude of channels Jack insists he needs. Nothing holds her attention, though, and when the phone rings on her fourth pass through, she's grateful for the distraction.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Sam."

The familiar voice on the other end of the line brings a grin to her face. "Daniel!"

"It's been a week and we aren't at war with China yet. I just wanted to call and see if Jack actually went with the diplomatic delegation."

"Ten dollars says Major Davis is being run ragged, keeping him from causing an international incident."

"No bet." It's a wise choice. "Are they still due back on Wednesday?"

Sam tosses the remote aside and reaches for her glass of wine. "Last I heard. Why?"

A few thousand miles away, Daniel laughs at her. "You really have no idea what next weekend is, do you?"

Sam wracks her brain, running through her mental list of birthdays and major holidays. "Holy Hannah, I forgot about Thanksgiving!" Daniel laughs a little harder. "It's not funny, Daniel! I talked to Cass less than an hour ago and I didn't invite her over! She's going to think…"

"She's going to think her favourite aunt lost track of time again," he says sagely. "Besides, she knows she doesn't need an invitation to visit."

"Still, I should have…"

"Sam, relax."

She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. Daniel waits to hear her inhale again before continuing.

"Teal'c is going to be around that weekend, so I thought maybe the four of us could get together."

"What about…"

"Cam's mom made him promise to bring Vala hom for the weekend. His parents think she's a riot."

Sam grins at the memories of Vala's past visits to the Mitchells. For a couple of small town retirees, they handle Vala's outrageous personality pretty well.

"That would be great." It's been two and a half years since the four of them managed to all be in the same place at the same time. They've managed to get together in pairs or, on rare occasions when the universe truly smiles on them and allows their schedules to sync up, threes, but it's been far too long since the four of them have met up.

"Jack's going to be jetlagged enough already. I figured Teal'c and I could fly out there on Thursday morning and stay through the weekend, if that's all right with you?"

"Absolutely," she agrees easily. By the time she realizes what she's done, it's too late to take the invitation back. Her voice tight with barely contained but rapidly rising panic, she recaps, "You and Teal'c. Here. All weekend. With us."

"Cassandra too, if we can pry her away from her books."

"All three of you. Right. Great. Sounds… Good."

"Is everything okay?"

"Fine! Better than fine! Great, even. Why?"

"Your voice sounds strange."

"I think I'm coming down with something," she fibs.

"Get some rest."

"Yeah, I will."

She can sense Daniel frowning from several states away. "Are you sure everything's okay?"

"Everything's fine," she says, trying to keep her voice even. "Listen, I should call Cassandra back and let her know…"

"I'll let you go," Daniel says easily. "But seriously, Sam, get some sleep. You've been pretty hard at it lately."

She smiles at the warm concern in his voice. "And you haven't?"

"Not like you have. Take care."

"You too." Then she disconnects, dropping the phone to the couch and her head into her hands. "Crap! Crap! Crap!"

In a few short days, their cozy little DC apartment will be filled with people who, in the more than two years since they broke up, she and Jack have neglected to inform about said break up.

Jack is going to kill her.

The universe is not smiling on Sam Carter. Immediately after getting off the phone with Cassandra, she'd e-mailed Jack. She assured him that everything and everyone was fine, then proceeded to all but beg him to call at the first opportunity, any time, day or night. Long hours later, he'd e-mailed back, saying he wasn't sure he would have the time and politely demanding further assurance that things were all right back home. She'd assured him they were, then reiterated the importance of calling ASAP.

He didn't get a chance to reply before boarding the flight home.

Jack was due to arrive back just before Sam had to leave for work, and she'd hoped to have a chance to talk to him then. But of course, that plan fell apart when bad weather diverted the flight, forcing an unplanned stopover while waiting for the storm to blow over. Sam had been forced to leave before Jack had returned.

She'd been antsy and distracted all day long, but she'd managed to stick out the day doing mindless administrative tasks. Had she been involved in any sensitive lab work, she'd likely have blown a sizeable chunk of the Pentagon sky high, so, much as she loathed it, admin work had probably been the right priority for the day.

Sam had arrived home, hoping to be able to speak with Jack immediately. His hastily scrawled note had put the kibosh on that idea pretty quickly though. He'd arrived home a little after noon, exhausted from the longer than usual flight, and made a bee-line for bed where he'd warned he may very well stay until dawn the next day.

With nothing left to do but wait and worry, Sam had launched into a more thorough cleaning than the apartment had ever been subjected to before.

She's on her hands and knees scrubbing at the grout between the kitchen floor tiles with a toothbrush when a long shadow falls over her.

"Whatcha doin'?" Jack's voice is rough with sleep and his hair pokes up in four dozen different directions, making her smile despite how much she's dreading the coming conversation.

She's up and wrapped around him a split second later. "Welcome home."

"It's good to be home." He squeezes her tightly and ducks his head, tucking his face into her neck. "Is everything okay? Your e-mails sounded… Off."

"I'm fine," she assures.

"You sure?"

"Yeah." She takes a deep breath and then steps back, breaking the hug but leaving her hands resting lightly on his forearms. She winces and admits, "I may have made a mistake while you were gone."

"Oh?"

"I may have invited Cassandra, Daniel and Teal'c here for Thanksgiving. Tomorrow."

"May have?"

"Actually, I definitely invited them."

"And they're coming here."

"Yes."

"Tomorrow."

"Yes."

"Oi."

"Yeah." Sam grimaces again. "I'm sorry. Daniel called out of the blue and mentioned getting together and I just…"

Jack gives her shoulder a firm squeeze, silencing her ramble. "It was only a matter of time."

"I'm really, really sorry."

"It's not your fault, Sam. If we'd told them sooner, this wouldn't be happening."

"They're going to be angry it took us this long to get around to telling them we broke up."

"Some welcome home." The hug he pulls her back into takes the sting out of his words. "This is so not going to shape up to be the weekend I was hoping for, is it?"

"Probably not." Sam leans a little further into him. "I'm really…"

"Stop apologizing," he chastises lightly.

"We've got to tell them when they get here. No more procrastinating, no more excuses," she says into his shoulder.

"Yeah." Jack breathes in and out slowly. "How much sleep have you gotten since Daniel called?"

"Not much."

"Me either, so let's put this stuff" – he gestures to the cleaning supplies arrayed on the floor – "away and call it a night."

"This is really going to suck, isn't it?"

"Probably, but there's nothing we can do about it now."

"Yeah." She grimaces again. "You should go back to bed. You look terrible."

"Why thank you, ma'am." The dark bags under his eyes take away from the grin he flashes her. "Promise you'll call it a night soon?"

"Promise."

"Good." Jack leans in and kisses her forehead before heading back to his room. "Sleep tight."

"Night, Jack."

She's a bit relieved that he hasn't blown a gasket. There's still plenty of time left for that though, so she doesn't allow herself to relax too much.

This is so going to end badly.

By some fluke, Daniel and Teal'c's flight lands within 20 minutes of Cassandra's. The young woman's adopted uncles kill the time people watching in the bustling arrivals terminal. The three of them share a cab to Jack and Sam's apartment and Cassie regals them with tales of her latest exploits and fun facts recalled from her courses.

The fact that the three of them all arrive at once is a blessing for Sam and Jack. There's so much chaos during the happy reunions that there's little opportunity for the supposed happy couple to interact with one another. Despite the fact that they broke up over a year and a half ago, and despite the fact that none of their friends are aware of that fact, they haven't technically lied to anyone about their relationship yet. They don't intend to start now, whether through words or actions.

Jack and Sam had agreed to break the news to their friends once everyone had settled in, but in the time it took the quintet to make their way into the living room, Teal'c was deep into an update on Ry'ac and Karin. At the end of his spiel, both Sam and Jack jumped up to get drinks for everyone. When they returned, Daniel was spilling the latest gossip from the SGC, and they were loathe to interrupt him.

Before they know it, the sun is going down, and they've still yet to break their news to the happy group gathered in their living room.

When their Chinese takeout arrives, Cassandra follows Jack to the door. Neither he nor Sam thinks anything of it, but in hindsight, they should have exercised a little more caution with respect to her movements through the apartment.

"Why is all of Sam's stuff in the guest room?" Cassandra demands sharply.

Jack and Sam look up from dishing out the food, twin looks of panic on their faces.

One hand on her hip, the other clutching the strap of her overnight bag, she shifts impatiently. "Well?"

"What are you talking about, Cass?" Daniel asks. A puzzled frown mars his face and Sam knows this is going to to about as badly as she's been expecting.

"I was going to drop my bag off in the spare room." Cassandra pins first Sam and then Jack with an accusatory glare. "It turns out Sam's stuff is already in there."

Jack and Sam trade guilty looks.

"About that…" he begins before trailing off.

"There's something we've been meaning to tell you. All of you," Sam says.

"Is everything okay?" Daniel asks.

"Of course it's not okay! If it were, they wouldn't be sleeping in separate beds!"

"Cass, honey, why don't you sit down and let us explain?" Jack says. His voice is firm but gentle.

She does as she's told, dropping onto the couch beside Daniel. He curls an arm around her shoulders and looks expectantly at his friends. For his part, Teal'c simply raises an eyebrow and waits them out.

Jack takes a seat in the overstuffed armchair, leaving Sam to perch on the arm. A united front.

"Do you wanna…?" Jack asks.

Sam nods and takes a deep breath. "Things really weren't working out between us, so Jack and I decided it would be best if we just…"

"Broke up," Cassandra supplies.

"Yeah."

Daniel blinks at them in silence for a few beats. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"You were on a dig at the time."

"I haven't been on a dig for six months!"

"Do you mean to tell us you have not been romantically involved for six months?" Teal'c asks, seeking clarification.

"Not exactly." Sam ducks her head, hiding behind a curtain of blonde hair.

Jack takes this as his cue to speak up. "It's been about a year and a half now."

Teal'c's eyebrow reaches new heights.

"Excuse me?" Daniel and Cassandra demand in unison.

"We decided it wasn't working out and the longer we spent trying to force it, the harder it would be on our friendship." Sam flashes Jack a tight smile before continuing. "Neither one of us was willing to risk losing that, so…"

"But you two waited so long to be able to be together!" Cassandra protests. It's like they're ripping away her faith in the possibility of lasting love and happily ever afters, which, in a way, Sam supposes is exactly what they're doing.

"I don't understand. Whenever I call the apartment, I wind up talking to one of you, if not both of you."

"Yes." Jack drums his fingers on his knee, obviously wishing the conversation would end.

Daniel pegs him with his most exasperated expression. "Why?"

"Because we both live here, Daniel," Jack says impatiently.

"I fear this time it is I who does not understand, O'Neill."

"We both like the apartment, so when we broke up, Sam moved into the spare room and I kept the master."

Sam shrugged. "He's here more than I am. It made the most sense."

"Let me get this straight. You broke up a year and a half ago, but you've lived together all along?"

"Technically we only live together when we're both, you know, here. It doesn't happen all that often," Jack reminds.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Cassandra demands.

"It never really came up."

"In a year and a half?"

"Not really, nope."

Cassandra shrugs off Daniel's arm and gets to her feet. "I'm going for a walk."

"I will accompany you, Cassandra Fraiser," Teal'c says, making to follow.

"No, thanks. I'd like to be alone for a while."

Sam and Jack both wince but they let her go. She's an adult, even if she does stomp out the door and let it slam shut behind her like she used to do as a teenager. Besides, they live in a safe area.

The four former teammates sit in silence for a while, lost in their own thoughts. After a while, Daniel pinches the bridge of his nose and asks, "Sam, can I talk to you alone for a minute?"

She sighs but gets to her feet anyway and leads the way to her bedroom. It's not the most private place they've ever spoken, but it will have to do. Daniel follows her, shutting the door behind him.

"Are you okay?" he asks, voice gentle and sympathetic.

"Yeah."

"I mean with…" he twirls a hand around to encompass not just her room, but her living situation as a whole.

"I'm fine, Daniel. We both are," she says defensively.

"I can see that, and I'm glad," he assures. "I'm just trying to understand. All the times I've seen you two or spoken to you in the past two years, you've both seemed so happy…"

"Because we are."

Daniel holds up a hand for silence. "Happier than you were when you were a couple. And considering how long you two spent waiting for your chance to be together, that's… Surprising."

"Yeah, I know."

"Honestly, you two seem closer now than ever before."

Sam smiles then, a real, genuine smile. "We are."

"Okay." Daniel nods thoughtfully. "Then I'm happy for you."

"I'm sorry we didn't tell you sooner."

"Sam, I had no idea that you two had split up. I've never seen either of you more at ease with the other than you have been since your super secret break up. If this is working for you guys, then that's all that matters to me."

"You're not angry?"

"No, not angry. A little hurt, I guess, but I'll get over it." Daniel shrugs. "It's not really about me."

Sam closes the distance between them and hugs him tight. "Thanks, Daniel."

Her voice catches ever so slightly, a fact Daniel doesn't miss.

"Hey, you guys are family. I want what's best for you, and if that's this, then I'm all for it." He rubs her back lightly, trying to ease some of the tension in her spine. "Sam, you don't ever need to be afraid to talk to me. Okay?"

She nods against his shoulder. "Okay."

"Stop looking at me like that," Jack says firmly. Teal'c's expression remains unchanged, though his head does tilt slightly to one side. "I haven't done anything wrong."

Teal'c's head angles another ten or fifteen degrees, but still, his expression remains unchanged. Even the infamous Double Eyebrows of Doom are riding at half-mast.

"We both agreed it was for the best, so keep your Jaffa revenge thing to yourself." Jack resolves not to say anything more until Teal'c does, or at the very least changes up his expression marginally.

He manages to sit in silence for a whole minute before his impatience gets the best of him. "All right. What?"

That Jack is actually able to detect Teal'c's amusement is testament to how long they've known one another. "I have said nothing, O'Neill."

"You're thinking it."

"For what reason did you and Colonel Carter keep this from us, O'Neill?"

"Because it was nobody's business but ours," Jack retorts, even though he knows it's not true. There are a lot of people who's business it isn't, but Teal'c and Daniel aren't on the list. Both men have been in the background quietly supporting him and Sam for a long time. Jack's relationship with her is about as much their business as it is his own.

Jack sighs, then admits, "Because we didn't really know how to tell you, I guess."

"Did you cause one another harm?" Teal'c asks patiently.

"Of course not."

"Were you unfaithful to one another?"

"What? No!" Jack splutters.

Teal'c frowns at him. "Then I do not understand."

"Look. I still love her, just not the way I used to. She deserved better than for me to keep pretending I felt more for her than I did, and she felt the same way, so we decided we were better off as friends. We did what was best for us, and we're not going to apologize for that, okay?" Jack says. His patience is wearing thin from the interrogation.

Teal'c actually smiles this time – a sight that still takes Jack by surprise most of the time. "I merely meant that I do not understand why you were ashamed to share this with us."

Jack scrubs a frustrated hand through his hair, annoyed with himself for spilling so much more than he really had to. "Right."

"You and Colonel Carter are family to me, O'Neill," Teal'c reminded. "I merely wish for the both of you to be happy, as does Daniel Jackson. If that happiness is something you cannot bring to one another, than I am pleased you have terminated your romance."

"Can we not talk about it like that? It sounds very… mechanical."

"And that bothers you?"

"You know me and technology," Jack says flippantly. "It's more Sam's thing."

Demonstrating somewhat better timing than usual, Daniel chooses this lighter moment to poke his head around the corner. "Guys, Sam is wondering if it's okay for her to come out now?"

Jack shoots a quick look at Teal'c. "We good?"

"Indeed."

"No Jaffa revenge ass kicking?"

"Not at this time, O'Neill."

"Sam, get out here quick before he changes his mind!"

She does as she's told, trailing Daniel into the living room. Despite the unexpected turn their Thanksgiving has taken, she manages a small smile. "I'm really sorry, Teal'c."

"It is done, Colonel Carter." He is, Jack notes, far quicker to forgive her.

Her smile relaxes into something a little more natural. "Do you think we should go after Cassandra?"

"Give her some time," Daniel suggests gently. "She'll come back when she's ready."

"In the meantime, we should do something about all this," Jack says, gesturing to the bags of takeout abandoned on the coffee table. "Cass can heat up the leftovers when she gets home. Sam – help me round up plates for everyone?"

She's hot on his heels as he leads the way into the kitchen. Daniel and Teal'c are no doubt on to them, but Jack doesn't care. Both men have made it clear there are no hard feelings, and, as far as Jack is concerned, that's that.

He tucks around the corner of the door and leans in close to Sam. "Everything okay?" he asks, voice pitched low.

"Daniel said he's never seen either of us as happy as we are now," she shrugs. "He's okay with it."

"How about you?"

Another shrug.

"Teal'c's okay with it too," Jack reports. "Actually… I don't know why we didn't tell them sooner."

"Because admitting we couldn't make things work between us feels an awful lot like failure, and that's not something either one of us is used to?"

It's Jack's turn to shrug. "Maybe."

Sam inhales a long, slow breath and lets it go slowly. "Are we good?"

"Not quite." Jack puts his arms around her for a bear hug. As she leans into him, he dips his face into her shoulder. "There, now we're good."

"What about Cass?"

"Daniel's right – she needs some time. She and I will have a little chat later."

"She has a right to be angry. We're the closest thing she's got to parents, and we've spent over a year forgetting to mention that we've split up. Throw in how long she's spent rooting for us to get together…"

"She does have a right to be angry," Jack agrees. "But she's also old enough to talk to us about her feelings," he reminds. At times, Cassandra can be even worse than he is at talking things out.

He remembers well the weeks and months after losing Janet Fraiser, when a much younger Cassandra had been so focused on her own feelings about her mother's death that she'd shown no consideration for anyone else's. At times she'd been downright cruel to Sam – not that Sam had ever said so. He'd learned about those instances from Cassandra herself – lashing out about everything from her adopted aunt's long hours at the base to her increasingly serious relationship with Pete Shanahan. It had taken a long time to heal some of the rifts that trying time had created between Sam and Cass. Jack won't let this fiasco create any new ones.

Teal'c puts away enough to feed a mid-sized army, but the others merely pick at their food. Though he shares in her lack of appetite, Jack pointedly adds a mish-mash of items to Sam's plate, warning her with a look that she'll do well to eat up.

Some things never change.

The food has largely been abandoned – even by Teal'c – when a sheepish Cassandra slips through the front door. Her reluctance to join them is palpable.

"Grab a plate, kiddo," Jack welcomes, trying to ease her back into the gathering.

"Actually, I was hoping I could talk to you and Sam first. Alone," she adds, flashing an apologetic smile at Daniel and Teal'c.

"We were just going to clean up." Daniel gets to his feet and shoots Teal'c a pointed look. "You know, in the kitchen."

"Indeed," Teal'c agrees, following his lead.

Cassandra's smile is more open this time. "Thanks, guys."

Both men squeeze her shoulder as they file past, each bearing a load of dirty dishes. They make a point of creating a racket in the kitchen, cutlery clanging and tap running at maximum. It's not much but it's the most privacy they can offer at the moment.

"I guess I owe you guys an apology," Cass says. She shifts, uncomfortable, but makes no move to take a seat. "This is your home – I shouldn't have assumed…."

"Let's get one thing straight: this is your home too, Cass," Jack interrupts.

"You are always welcome here, honey, no matter what," Sam adds.

Some of the awkwardness about her eases. "Still, I shouldn't have gone snooping around."

"Yeah well, you get that from Daniel." Jack ignores the good-natured thwack Sam delivers to his bicep.

"Why didn't you tell me you'd broken up?" Cassandra asks, shifting gears. "I mean, it's been a long time. You've had plenty of opportunities to tell me the truth."

"It was wrong of us to keep the truth from you," Sam admits. "There's no excuse for misleading you – or anybody else – the way we did."

"That's not 'why,' Sam," the younger woman says waspishly.

"Did you ever ask how things were going between us?"

Cassandra shoots a glare Jack's way. "I asked you first."

"We never lied to you, Cass. You never asked about us, you just assumed everything was hunky dory. Everyone did," he points out. "It was a lot of pressure."

"Pressure. Right. Because that's such a new thing for you two."

"Cassandra." His voice is a gentle warning to tread lightly.

"She gets the sarcasm from you, you know," Sam says helpfully.

"I'm aware."

"That is why I never asked about your relationship! You two go on like an old married couple! You can't be surprised everyone assumed you would eventually actually become one."

Jack and Sam trade a bemused look. They can acknowledge that there's at least a smidgeon of truth to that.

She's on a roll now, hands waving in a manner eerily reminiscent of Daniel. "I mean, you guys used to be in danger of spontaneous combustion from all the UST, and now you're pulling a Will & Grace!"

"UST?" Jack asks.

"Pulling a Will & Grace?" Sam adds a beat later.

Cassandra rolls her eyes, exasperated. "God, you two are so old, sometimes! UST is an acronym for 'unresolved sexual tension' and 'Will & Grace' is a 90s sitcom about a straight girl and a gay guy who live together in a weird pseudo-marriage."

"Hey!" Jack protests, indignant.

Sam grins, providing no back up whatsoever.

"See? This right here? This is that old married couple behaviour I was talking about."

"This is two old friends being comfortable with one another, Cass."

Jack quirks an eyebrow at Sam. "Who's old?"

Cassandra tilts her head slightly – now channeling Teal'c, it seems – and studies them thoughtfully. Uncomfortable under her scrutiny, Sam and Jack exchange an awkward look.

A long time later, Cassandra shares what's on her mind. "Huh. You are comfortable with one another."

"So?"

"So I don't think I've ever seen one of you this comfortable when the other is around." She smiles then, and even though they've still got a lot of hurt feelings to make up for, Jack and Sam know she's more or less forgiven them for lying by omission for the better part of the last two years. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm happy for you guys."

Sam blinks at her, surprised. "You are?"

"Yeah." Then she flashes them a wicked grin. "Don't think you're getting off easy though. You're going to be making this up to me for a long, long time to come."

"I figured as much," Jack says wryly. He gets to his feet, walks around the coffee table and pulls the closest thing he'll ever have to a daughter into a warm hug. "We are sorry, kiddo."

"I know." She snuggles into him, just the way she used to when she was a little girl, and holds an arm out to Sam. The group hug is on.

"We never meant to hurt you, honey." Sam strokes her hair, smoothing down the long, slightly wind blown locks.

"I know that too. I am hurt, but I'll get over it."

Sam lets Jack pull her and Cassandra closer, savouring the all too rare opportunity to have both of them here. Over the last few years, there have been too many holidays that saw her off in space or Jack swamped with work or Cassandra too caught up in school to make it back to DC.

For the first time in far too long, the three of them are together, and Daniel and Teal'c are just a few feet away. It's not perfect, it's not what she used to imagine on the rare occasions she allowed her mind to wander and envisage having a future and a family with Jack, but it's what they've got.

Right now, what they've got feels pretty damn near perfect.

When Jack hears a soft knock on the door, he calls out permission to enter, sotto voce.

He's not surprised when a slightly tousled blonde head pokes around the doorframe.

"Hey."

"Hey," Jack returns, gently. He tosses aside the remote and sits up a little straighter, adjusting the pillows behind his back. "How did girl talk go?"

Sam shrugs. For the first time since they'd shared the master bedroom, she crosses the threshold and settles at the foot of the bed. "She's still hurt, but I think we're going to be okay."

"Good."

Sam ducks her head, peeking at him from behind a curtain of hair. "Are we okay?"

"We've always been okay, Sam. As far as I'm concerned, nothing's changed."

She chances a glance at him, assessing whether he's telling the truth. Apparently satisfied, she lets out a long, slow breath, relaxing through the exhale.

"Is she getting up to help get dinner started in the morning?"

"Yeah. She doesn't think we can manage without her."

"Well, you are a terrible cook," Jack teases lightly.

"Please. We have the fire department on standby when you barbeque a hot dog."

"One time! And it wasn't even my fault. Daniel…"

"Daniel changed the channel in the closing seconds of the Stanley Cup final. I know."

They're grinning at each other in the flickering light of the TV. At times like this, it's easy to see why the others never suspected they might break up one day.

Sam thumbs over her shoulder, indicating the living room. "I'm going to call it a night."

"Do you want to take my bed tonight? I can sleep on the couch," Jack offers. It's easier to act chivalrous around her now. She doesn't jump down his throat or get up on her soapbox to rail against special treatment on account of her gender. Usually.

"No, you really can't. You need to be able to bend enough to lift a 25-pound turkey in and out of the oven tomorrow. That isn't going to happen if you sleep on the couch."

"Ouch, Carter. Way to make a guy feel good old."

"Poor baby," she retorts with a wicked grin.

"Just for that, I'm revoking my offer. You're sleeping on the couch tonight."

"That'll teach me."

She's a split second too fast ducking out into the hall. The pillow he lobs her way lands harmlessly on the floor.

"Night, Jack!"

"Good night, evil woman!"

"Spare me!" Cassandra shouts from the spare room.

Jack grins as Sam's giggles fade down the hall. It's good to have both his girls home.