Three days later
Sam can barely contain herself as she plays 'Life' with Cassie and Janet. The second that Cassie goes to the bathroom, Sam leans forward and says, "I'm dating Colonel O'Neill."
"What?" Janet says blinking. Then she thinks a bit more, and says, "What the hell are you thinking?"
"The General knows."
"How?" she says in shock.
"Jack asked him."
Janet blinks, "So the Colonel went to the General and says 'may I please date my second-in-command'?"
"Pretty much," Sam says.
"And the General said yes?"
Sam nods again.
"Well, thank God," Janet says jumping up to give her friend a hug.
"What is this about?" Cassie asks entering the room again.
The two woman turn to her mid-giggle, and freeze.
"Sam is dating," Janet says.
Sam makes a hushing sound.
Janet rolls her eyes. She works for the Stargate program, does her best friend really think she can't lie?
"Yep, it's a long distance thing," Janet says, knowing that she's got to make up some reason why Cassie isn't going to meet Sam's boyfriend.
"Stargate-related," Cassie says.
"Yep," Sam says cheerfully. At least that wasn't a lie.
"You're dating an alien," Cassie grins. "What's he like?"
"It's classified, love," Janet says.
-0-
Four Days Later:
"You do know that this movie is in black and white," Sam warns.
"Yes," he says.
"And there is singing," she continues.
"Correct."
"This is exactly the kind of movie that you have banned from team night," she smirks.
"Yes, and you never used to follow my orders," he says, and there is real worry beneath his eyes. When he first met her, she thought for herself. She defied orders when she needed to, not just when he told her to. If he had told her she wasn't allowed to bring her favorite movie to team night when they first met, he would have gotten a 'screw you' or a challenge to a drinking contest or something. Now, it just gets her to stop bringing the damned movie to movie night.
"I'm pretty sure it's my job to follow your orders, sir," she says playfully, touching his arm at the word 'sir'.
"Not when we're off the clock it's not, and… you should probably stop doing it when you're on the clock as well," he says.
She gets now that he's serious, but she still isn't sure what he's thinking. She wishes she could tell what he was thinking beyond those deeply analytical eyes. She's figured out now, after a week of dating the man, how to get him to spill his guts. She links her fingers with his softly, barely touching.
"I just worry that you're losing yourself in this thing we're doing," he whispers.
"Jack," she protests, like he is completely ridiculous. Really though, he's not. She's lost herself in every single relationship she's ever been in. Ever since her first boyfriend, when she was sixteen, who she scared away by being far too intense. "Okay, so maybe that's a thing I do."
"Carter, when is the last time you slept in your quarters at base?" he asks.
She rolls her eyes. "Ever since we met you have been telling me to get a life, and now I actually have a life, with you none the less, and you're telling me to go back to my workaholic ways. I really can't win with you!" she says, pulling her hand out of it his.
"Sam, are you happy?" he asks, those eyes which miss nothing burrowing into hers.
She shifts, unsure how to answer.
"I just think maybe we need balance. Maybe that's what it will take to make this last," he says, putting his hand on her knee gently.
"Got it - ignore your phone calls, never do as ordered," she teases.
The previews begin, and she lays her head against his shoulder in the way that he's gotten familiar with since they started dating.
"Why do they put these arm rests in?" he complains as he reaches an arm around her to cozy her into a side hug.
"Not everyone comes to the movies just to snuggle someone, sir," she responds.
"I thought we were dropping the 'sir' in our private time," he protests. He hasn't been reminding her of it, figuring it would just take her some time to get used to it. Lately, though, the 'sirs' have picked up in frequency, if anything.
"It's hard, because when we're there, I still have to call you that. I'm sort of scared I'll mess up." He rests his head against hers in almost sympathy, "Besides, you still call me 'Carter'."
"That's different, it's your name," he retorts.
"It's my last name. Who calls their girlfriend by their last name?"
"Samantha?" a voice asks, surprised. Moving down the row in from of them is Walter, and his wife, Maggie.
"Colonel O'Neill," Water says. He doesn't look shocked, so much as sort of bemused.
"I didn't realize that the two of you were together!" Maggie exclaims.
"Well, it's not exactly known on-base. We don't exactly want it to be known on-base," Sam stammers.
"Illicit romance? That can be exciting," Maggie coos.
"The General is aware of their actions," Walter says.
"Nothing goes on at that base that you don't know about, does it?" Jack asks approvingly.
"No, sir," Walter says.
"Well, if it's not a secret, you should have told me, Samantha," then she turns to her husband a light slap on his arm, "Or you should have."
"It is a secret. The General asked up to keep our relationship one the down low," Jack responds somewhat nervously.
"So it does have a little bit of the Romeo and Juliet thing to it," Maggie grins. A piece of popcorn smacks her in the head. Obviously another movie goer is not a huge fan of their talking. She smiles, and she and Walter turn around and take a seat.
"The whole point of that play was that Romeo was a stupid teenager in love with anything with a pulse. Why do people insist on taking him seriously?" Jack whispers so close to Sam's ear that his breath tickles her.
"You were a lit major in college weren't you?" she whispers back. He squeezes her hand.
-0-
"The car is this way," Sam says, lightly tugging on Jack's hand which is clasped tightly in hers. It's amazing that a man who can find his way around the entire galaxy has no sense of direction as soon as he's put on city streets.
"Let's go for a little walk, eh?" he says.
She nods, now using the connection between them to pull him closer to her. Close enough he can smell that glorious shampoo that she uses whenever she showers at home. It used to be rare for her to smell like that, now it's a guarantee for every date.
"You should take that shampoo to work," his tongue says before his brain can stop it.
She giggles, "I did when I first joined SG-1. Daniel kept using it."
"That's a bit disturbing. In the case, leave it at home," he says.
"He likes tangerine," Sam says with a shrug.
"If you're going to go around and name the smell, you're going to become less mysterious," he warns. She gives him that grin that she reserves just for him, just for his bad jokes that no one thinks are funny.
He leans forward, and delivers their first kiss, more chaste than passionate.
Then he thinks of the time loop, and dips her.
She screams, but kisses him back. When he sets her right she smacks his shoulder, "Next time you do that, make sure it's not over concrete."
-0-
One week later:
There are little things that remind her how old he is. One of them is walking her to the door. It always makes him feel like he is a man of a different generation.
"Do you want to come in?" she asks turning the key with a shaking hand.
He takes her hand, and gives her a questioning look.
"I'm nervous," she says.
"How about we wait until you're not so nervous, before I come in?" he asks confused as to why she would want him to come in before he was really ready for it.
"It's been weeks," she says.
"Oh, Samantha, there is no timeline on this sort of things," he says running a hand through her short hair.
"You want to come in, and just have a beer, and talk, and…" she doesn't finish that sentence.
He checks her hand for shaking, and only when he is able to assure himself that it is not he kisses her.