Once again, thank you to those of you who are reading, and especially those whose comments I can't answer personally. I hope you enjoy.
81
Janet is delighted that Jack is well, but his constant whining and complaining are making her life, and that of all the infirmary staff, hell. That is why she is currently in General Hammond's office with a request.
"Please let me discharge him, sir!" She is practically begging. "He's driving us all crazy! I know the regulations say forty eight hours after surgery, but they don't take healing devices into account. There are only nineteen hours left. He's fine—in fact he's healthier than he was before this all happened! The device healed his arthritis and even fixed his knees! He's healthier than anybody I know!"
Hammond chuckles. "All right, doctor. Consider the 48 hour rule waived in this case."
"Oh, thank you, sir!"
"Also, I need your professional opinion about something." His tone has grown more serious."
"Yes, sir."
"Colonel O'Neill's kidney function—how much is it impaired by his having only one kidney?"
"It isn't impaired at all, sir. All the tests I've run indicate that his renal health is well above optimum. I'd say fifty percent better than what you would call 'perfect' for lack of a better term. Sina not only healed the wound from the damaged kidney, she made the remaining one... well, perfect."
"So his activities will not need to be curtailed in any way?"
"Not at all, sir. As long as nothing happens to the kidney that he has."
"Good to hear that, doctor. What about Major Carter? Is she all right?"
"Yes, sir. The healing device worked great. Her shoulder is completely healed."
"Thank you, doctor."
There is a thoughtful look on Hammond's face as he watches her leave his office.
82
Fifteen minutes later Janet hands Jack a clipboard and a pen.
"What's this?" he asks without even looking at it.
"Your discharge paper, Colonel," she says with a grin. "All you have to do is sign at the bottom and you can go home."
"You're letting him out?" Sam asks as Jack eagerly grabs the pen. "What happened to forty eight hours?"
"General Hammond waived it in this case." The doctor gives an exaggerated sigh of relief. "Thank goodness!"
Sam laughs as Jack thrusts the signed sheet back at Janet. "Here you go! I'm outta here!"
"Just a minute, Colonel." Janet puts a hand on his arm to hold him down. "I do have to give you a few cautions."
83
Jack has been out of the infirmary two hours when he gets the message that General Hammond wants to see him. He knocks on the half open door.
"Come in, Jack." Hammond looks up from his work and beckons Jack into his office.
"You wanted to see me, sir?"
"Yes. Come sit down."
Jack closes the door and comes to the chair in front of Hammond's desk.
"It's good to see you up and around, son," Hammond says. "How're you feeling?"
"I'm fine, sir. Better than fine, even."
"Glad to hear it." Hammond pauses and glances down at his desk, pursing his lips. "I got your letter, Jack."
"Yes, sir. I thought it would be easier for me to just resign than to go through the process of a medical discharge. You know, less paperwork all around."
Hammond raises his eyes to his subordinate and after a moment shakes his head. "I'm sorry, Colonel. It's a little more complicated than that. The President has ordered me to decline your resignation."
"Sir?"
"You're needed in the Stargate Program. We can't lose you."
"But, General, losing a kidney disqualifies me from serving in the Air Force."
"You're technically correct. Having one kidney would certainly prevent you from joining the Air Force. But the current circumstances can be dealt with by a Presidential order, exempting you from being released on the basis of your unique experience and one-of-a-kind value to the program."
Jack stares at Hammond for long moments. "Suppose I want to leave, sir?" he says at last.
Hammond folds his hands on top of his desk. "Do you, Jack? Do you want out of the Air Force? Do you really want to leave the Stargate Program? Or did you just think you had no choice?"
Jack opens his mouth, and then shuts it without speaking. Truthfully, he'd thought of nothing except that this is the way he and Sam can be together. This is what he originally offered her, and it would leave her career intact. She warned him earlier, when he was writing his resignation, just as she did at the cabin:
"Jack, they won't let you resign."
"They'll have to let me." He is confident. "Air Force rules. Missing body part—automatic disqualification." And he is okay with that—there is no choice, and in exchange he gets what he wants most in the world.
"They'll find a way around it," she warns.
He didn't believe her, but now it seems they have found a way around it. He sits back in his chair and says nothing. Suddenly it is not such an easy decision anymore.
"Dr. Fraiser has assured me that you are in better health now than anyone else at this facility," Hammond continues. "And you are certainly more experienced and capable in the field than anyone here."
"Others are just as capable," Jack says. "As for experience, there's Feretti, and Reynolds and Dixon and a dozen others who've been here from the start." But he knows he's just playing for time. Hammond is watching him much too closely. He stands up. "Can I think about this for a while, sir?"
"I have to admit you've surprised me, Jack," the General says, ignoring the request.
"How's that, sir?"
"I thought you'd be happy about this."
"I'm sorry, sir."
"What else is going on here, Colonel?" Hammond asks, his eyes narrowing.
"Sir? Nothing, sir..."
Hammond's tone turns chilly and stern. "Two of my best people have handed me their resignations in the past twenty-four hours, Colonel, and I'm supposed to believe they're not connected? Would you like to try that again?"
84
"Well, you were right," Jack says as he enters Sam's lab.
"How's that?" she asks, without looking up from her laptop.
"They wouldn't take my resignation." He pulls a stool over and sits down across from her.
She finishes a few more keystrokes, then raises her eyes to his. "What did General Hammond say?"
"Oh, things like exempt by Presidential order, or some such, because I'm so valuable to the program."
"I'm not surprised," Sam says.
"Plus he scared me half to death."
"Oh?"
"Dave Dixon resigned today, too, and Hammond was pretty upset. The way he put it was that two of his best people resigned and there had to be a connection—and I thought he meant you. That you had quit. And he'd figured it out about us."
"I wouldn't do that without warning you," she says. "Why did Colonel Dixon resign?"
"Family. Four kids. He wants to be home more, plus he needs something a little less risky. Can't say I blame him. Hammond talked him into taking reassignment to Peterson for now."
"Why'd the General think that was connected to you?"
"He was afraid it was just an excuse, and that something was going on among the SG team leaders that he didn't know about," Jack says. "I think he expected me to jump at the chance to stay on, and when I didn't he got worried." He grins. "He did say he was authorized to offer me a substantial pay increase."
"Really? That's nice."
"Yeah. It raises my annual hazardous duty bonuses to six figures."
"Wow!"
"Yeah. Soon I'll be a millionaire," he says sarcastically. "Are you about done here? It's late."
She looks up at the clock. "It's 18:20."
"Feels later. I just want to get out of here."
"All right." She yawns. "I'm pretty tired, actually. Give me another half hour. Go get something to eat, or find Daniel or Teal'c to talk to." She leans over the table until her face is only about six inches away from his. "I'm glad you're okay," she says quietly.
"I love you," he says, just as softly, knowing the security camera is behind him and no one would be able to read his lips.
"Back atcha," she says.
85
When they get outside the mountain, they discover it is not quite dark, but getting close.
"What's today?" Jack asks.
"I have no idea," she laughs. "What difference does it make?"
"Not much, I guess. You wanna call and order pizza? Daniel and Teal'c will be over to the house in a little while. I promised them a team night way back, and it never happened, so when Daniel asked I couldn't really refuse. The usual combos."
"Sure." She gets out her cell phone and makes the call. By the time she is done, he has pulled into a market a few blocks from his house.
"Beer," he says, when she looks the question at him. "You want anything?"
"I'll come in with you."
They buy some soda, and a deli salad, as well as the beer. And Jack picks up donuts from the bakery. "For breakfast," he explains.
"Right. A healthy start for the day—donuts, coffee..."
"And probably a hangover," he finishes.
"Are you planning on getting drunk?" she asks. "Didn't Janet say something about not overdoing it, now that you're short a kidney?"
"She also said the one I have left is 150% better than perfect."
"How can anything be better than perfect?"
He looks at her with a little smile and a lot of love. "We are."
86
They beat the pizza to his house by fifteen minutes, and Daniel and Teal'c pull in as the delivery truck is leaving.
It is a very subdued team night. Even the choice of movie does not elicit the usual bickering. Daniel falls asleep on the couch after two beers and Teal'c retires to Jack's spare room to kel-no-reem.
Sam and Jack climb to the roof where the telescope is set up, but they don't look at the moon or stars. They sit side by side on the bench with their arms around each other.
"I'm going to quit," she says after a while.
"Sam..."
"No," she interrupts. "Listen to me. I don't want to sneak around. After the last few days, I think half the SGC probably suspects how I feel about you, anyway. I know Janet does, even though she hasn't said anything. And I think I've worked out what I'll say to General Hammond."
"Okay..."
"Going offworld doesn't give me enough time to work on the naquadah generator design and there are so many scientific projects on hold I don't have room on the shelves any more. I want to stay at the SGC, but as a civilian, so I can concentrate on the science. If he refuses, then I'll say I want to transfer to Research and Development at Area 51."
"What?!"
"It's a bluff. I don't think he'll let me go that far. Even if he calls it, at least I'll be out of your command, and we can work something out... It wouldn't be forever, Jack. We could handle long distance for a while."
"Are you trying to get away from me?" He asks it lightly, but there's an undertone. "All you have to do is say..."
"Never." She sits up straighter and turns toward him, reaches up and strokes his cheek. "I want to be with you—more than anything. I'm just trying to figure out the best way to make it happen." He turns his head to kiss her hand. "I'm so grateful that you're alive... I was terrified that I was going to lose you, and we'd only had those few days together. I don't want to waste any more time." Her eyes are damp and she has to stop talking for a moment to get control. She wipes the tears away. "You said that there's never enough time—and that we have to take advantage of what we have. And you were right."
He pulls her closer and nestles his face in her hair. He vaguely recalls saying something like that to her, but the circumstances escape him. After a moment he lets it go and just enjoys holding her.
"I'm going to talk to General Hammond in the morning," she says after a while.
He laughs softly. "You'll give the poor man heart failure, Sam. He was pretty upset today, until he talked me out of pushing the resignation. He might not be willing to consider your request—then you could really be stuck in Nevada. Maybe you should wait until he gets over this."
"How long?" she asks unhappily.
"A week? Maybe two?"
"Meanwhile...?"
"We'll just have to be discrete." He kisses her temple and moves down to her cheek. "Stay professional at work..."
His lips find her mouth and exploring it keeps him busy for a while. Her breathing thickens after a few moments and she turns her body closer in against his. A hand slides under his tee shirt and he growls deep in his throat. She kneels up and straddles his thighs, moving her hips against him, her mouth hot and damp on his.
"This isn't the most comfortable place..." he gasps. His hands are guiding her hips as they rock.
"Daniel and Teal'c... umm... are downstairs..."
"Blanket... on the chair by the scope... God, Sam..."
She hisses against his mouth as his hands find her waist. Her fingers are dancing down his sides, pulling up the hem of his shirt. He releases her for the three seconds it takes to discard the garment. She immediately slides her lips down to suck on the skin of his neck for a moment before dropping lower and fastening her teeth on one nipple.
Omigod! He is caught in a wave of arousal that leaves him dizzy. His hands grope desperately to touch her skin; one slides into the back of her jeans to cup her buttock, the other moves unerringly to her breast. The weight of her breast fits perfectly in his hand, and he feels his self-restraint slipping away as the nipple hardens against the sensitive skin of his palm. She is making mindless little sounds as he squeezes the firm bud with his fingers. Her arms are wrapped tightly around him and her nails are digging frantically into his shoulders, the pain fueling his desire.
He manages to pull away and reach for the blanket, which he spreads roughly on the deck, and then they are down on the deck, and he rapidly divests them both of jeans and undergarments, and pulls her shirt over her head.
He kneels over her, watching her face in the moonlight as he slowly lowers himself onto her, slipping into the damp heat of her, as she groans and arches her body toward him, and reaches up to draw him more quickly into her embrace. They pause for a few brief moments, joined in love and lust, her legs wrapped around his waist, his arms straining her close, her hands pulling him deeper, his face buried in her neck. He feels her body clench around him, the muscles contracting as she begins the final climb to her crest, and he withdraws and strokes, once, twice, sending them both over the edge of ecstasy.