It was Saturday morning when Jack's phone rang. His first time off since the last two weeks. Hammond was visiting his grandchildren and since Jack was his 2IC he was in charge of the entire base.

He was looking forward to his commanding officer's return.

"O'Neill!" he barked into the phone thinking it was someone from base, not wanting to cut his free day short.

"Hey Jack, wow, you're in a good mood today, I can tell." Cassie teased him, not afraid of a grumpy greeting from her favorite person.

"Cassie!!" he answered joyfully. "I thought it was someone from base, I'm sorry. I've been stuck there for the last two weeks and was scared that my day off would end way too soon. What can I do for you?"

"I wanted to check on you and see if you're free and if you like to do something? Mom is working and Sam can't leave her experiment alone, she won't be home before the afternoon. I'm bored and I thought you might want some company."

At the mention of his Major his eyes shot to the papers on his coffee table. He went through them last night, because it had a note from the president on it and Jack had to fill in Hammond Monday morning because he was to inform the people on base about it after the weekend.

His mind drifted to the note, wondering what impact it would have to the base personnel. It was huge and he needed time to process what that could mean even to him.

"Jack? Jack, you're still there?"

"Sorry Cass, my mind was drifting. What do you want to do? It's raining like hell."

"I could come over and we could watch a movie. How does that sound?"

"I'd like that. Should I come and pick you up? You don't need to drive by bus in this weather."

"Ok, thank you, Jack. I'm ready, you can pick me up every time."

"I'll be there in ten. Just let me put some pants on." he said and made Cassie giggle.

"See you in a few."

Jack just cleared the house a bit and went to change from his sweatpants into jeans.

Exactly ten minutes later he stood on the porch of the Fraiser house and knocked on the door.

Seconds later he had a teenager around his neck, hugging and greeting him.

"I've missed you."

"Me too, Sweety. Come on, let's go. Do you have everything you need?"

"Yes, I packed snacks. Do you want to order pizza for lunch?"

"We can do that,"he said, smiling. He had missed the girl and was glad for a whole day with her.

Back home they made themself comfortable beside each other on his couch, sooner or later they would end up cuddling up to each other.

For her he was like a father. It didn't bother her that Janet wasn't married. They were happy with their girls household, but once in a while she needed a little father time. On Hanka she was really close to her Dad, there were a lot of similarities to Jack. Maybe that's why she gravitated towards him the most, out of the three men who loved her and welcomed her in their little chosen family.

At first for Jack it was a little difficult. He didn't trust himself with kids anymore, afraid of another failure, but that didn't last long. He loved kids, more than anything else in the world. Anything, but not anyone. And Cassie made it so easy for him to love and care for her.

Way into their second movie and after lunch Cassie spotted the papers placed onto the large envelope they came in and the letter with the presidential seal on it.

"What's that?"

"What's what?"

"A letter from the president?"

He knew he couldn't avoid an explanation. She was 16 by now and recognizes a letter from the president when she sees one. She wouldn't take 'classified' for an answer because she had clearance. And why shouldn't he tell her, if she said something to Janet it wouldn't matter, it was official by know

"Yeah, I had it on my desk yesterday and had to read it through to inform Hammond on Monday."

"Something bad?"

"No, not really. Once in a while our regulations are updated and we have to sign them all. So the commanding officer gets a copy first to make sure about changes and informs his personnel about them. Hammond asked for some changes that were include, so that's what the note from the president is all about."

" So, not bad but boring stuff, hu?"

"Mostly," he said and grinned.

"Jack O'Neill, what aren't you telling me?"

She stood up to go and get the letter, Jack didn't stop her.

As she finished the letter she looked up, straight into his eyes as if she wanted to make sure it was true what she just read.

"Is this true?"

He knew what she was getting at.

"Yup."

"Do you even know what this means?"

"Yes Cassandra, I'm well aware about it."

"Does Sam know?"

"No, I just got it yesterday evening and I'm still trying to process it."

"Jack, the frat regs no longer apply. That's huge!"

"I know."

"That's all you got to say? 'I know'?" she asked, confused. "I thought you would be at Sam's by now, doing things I'm not supposed to know."

"Cassie!" Did he really blush now? He grumbled. "It's not that easy." he said a little quieter.

"Of course it is."

"I can't spring this on her out of the blue."

"Why not? That's what you were waiting for, the whole time."

"Cassie,..." he said in a pleading tone, he should have stopped her as she headed for the letter.

And then it dawned on her.

"You're afraid!"

He frowned.

"Jack, what are you afraid of?"

"Look, it's been a long time since this Za'tarc test..."

"You're afraid Sam won't feel the same anymore?"

He only shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh Jack, believe me, that's not the problem here."

"That's easy to say, Cass."

"No Jack, you don't understand. I don't just guess this, I know this."

He looked confused.

"We're girls, Jack. We actually talk about our feelings. If I were you, I wouldn't be afraid to tell her. And if that's true what the president said, that the new regs apply since Friday, why the hell are we sitting here and watching movies???"

He smirked" Because I missed you!"

She leaned into him and hugged him.

"I did too. But now bring me home and go get your girl." she said as she stood up and kissed him on the cheek.

On their way out he grabbed the letter and the copy of the new regs.

He wasn't sure if he needed them to convince Sam this was really true, but it wouldn't hurt to have them with him.

He dropped Cassie off at home and found himself standing at Sam's door just a few minutes later.

"Sir? What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk." was the only thing he could get out. His heart was hammering in his chest.

"Ok, come on in. What's wrong?" she asked, afraid.

Jack O'Neill never was one for many words, especially when emotions were involved, so he just went for it. He closed the distance to her, placed his hands on either side of her face and finally kissed her.

After a moment of hesitation she leaned into him and kissed him back. A soft loving kiss. Jack couldn't believe it, he almost expected her to slap him.

Sam was the first one to recover and able to ask: "Not that I would mind, but what exactly are we doing here, Jack?"

For the first time in God knows how long she called him by his name and not his rank.

"We're doing what we should have done a long time ago. But now we're officially allowed to." he handed her the letter.

She read it at least three times and looked up to see him standing here in her living room, a bit unsure but smiling.

"That's..."

"Yup!"

"Jack..."

"Yes!"

"Yes?"

"Yes! So, you want to do this?"

"You have no idea how long I dreamt about this." she said and leaned forward to kiss him again. This time more passionate.

"I think we should take this somewhere more comfortable."

"I think so, too. Remember me to thank Cassandra later!" he said.

Sam looked at him in surprise, but he just shook his head and grinned. "Nothing. Come on, let's get comfortable!"

He took her hand and didn't stop kissing her for a long time.