AN: Before and During Fair Game.

Sir, you can't just will something to happen because you want it to be a certain way. Carter's voice rang in Jack's head as he finished signing her official promotion letter and set out to deliver it to Hammond. About returning to 1999 from 1969 she had been wrong, but he had a feeling she was right about some other things that he wanted.

Although, he had wanted to find out if she would shiver under his fingers if he could touch her skin, and he had willed that to happen. She had shivered a little, but that could have just been from the cryogenic freeze. Jack thought back to the softness of her shoulder as he'd shaken her awake and how his fingers had lingered longer than necessary after she'd regained consciousness. He thought about how he'd 'accidentally' brushed them lower than her shoulder when removing the IV port.

In the moment it hadn't seemed inappropriate. He was just waking her up to get her out of there. He hadn't really absorbed the intimate nature of it, but in hindsight, after the adrenaline wore off, he remembered all of it. Mostly, he remembered that she responded. Her hand had found his arm, and it felt to him as if it meant something to her to touch him. But it couldn't, could it? She was just overwhelmed. Then she sat up and the compromising reality of the situation had crashed into him as he tried to simultaneously look away from her naked back while also memorizing every detail.

"Sir, I just came to leave this with you for your approval as discussed," Jack announced from General Hammond's open door.

"Captain Carter?" Hammond asked.

"Yes, Sir."

"Well deserved, if I do say so myself," Hammond added.

"You'll get no arguments from me," Jack confirmed.

"And you're sure you don't want to tell her first?"

"Yes, Sir. I asked her father, but he can't make it to the ceremony. This way, it's my fault instead of his."

"Very well. Maybe next time."

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have another delivery to make."

"Dismissed, Colonel."

Jack hit the elevator up to 21 and tried to look like he belonged. Logs showed Carter had gone home for the day, but you never could be too careful. Knocking on the closed door of her lab, he waited a second, and then entered the vacant room. Setting the purple flowering plant in the center of her workbench, and balancing a note against it, he stepped back and considered. Maybe this was a bad idea. It's not like he had to do anything special for this occasion other than pin her insignia and throw a party, but that all seemed so mandatory. He would do the same for Daniel or Teal'c, wouldn't he? That is, he would if they were able to be promoted and also talked to their plants like Carter did.

Carter, who had pulled him out of a second cryogenic freeze cycle after Hathor's Goa'uld had wormed its way into his head was being promoted. Carter, who had held onto him after a second cryogenic freeze cycle, just for warmth he told himself, did talk to her plants. She deserved better than unsolicited interest from her CO, but she also deserved better than a family who wouldn't be present for an important milestone. She deserved this achievement to be special. Before he could talk himself out of it, he did an about face and closed the lab door behind him.

Sam was in early, even for her. There were some things she had left undone last night, but Colonel O'Neill had ordered her to go home. He didn't tell her not to come in early though, and they had a DC visitor coming on Friday so her work week would be cut short. Flicking on the light, her brow crinkled when she noticed something out of place. She didn't have plants in her lab.

She opened the note in front of it and read in block letters:

It's a major deal.

"Did you know about this?" Daniel was the obvious first choice for the gifter of the plant that Sam had decided to keep in her lab, but the handwriting didn't look like his. It didn't look like any she knew.

"No, just that I was told I was going to be here tonight," Daniel answered. The party had gotten a late start thanks to the Asgard which meant that it was also ending late, but only a few of those she knew really well were still hanging around Colonel O'Neill's back yard.

"So, you didn't leave anything in my lab? A gift, maybe?" she pursued.

"No, should I have? I mean, it probably is customary to—"

"No, no, I just thought... never-mind."

"What is it Jack says? 'My presence is gift enough'?" Sam had a feeling that Daniel's mocking was a little more sincere than hers, but she chuckled anyway. He didn't seem to give the Colonel as much grace for his ego as she did. Speaking of the Colonel, she realized he must have come back outside. She didn't see him behind her, but she felt him. Usually, she was hyper-vigilant of his location in a gathering like this—something to do with being a team for so long, she supposed. He seemed to be telling General Hammond about when he had received his own promotion to Major.

"...but my dad said, Son, this is a major deal." Sam wasn't capable of hearing anything else for a few long moments.

Colonel O'Neill? Surely, not. The handwriting wasn't his, but she didn't know anyone who wrote in block letters. He would have known about her promotion though, and that list appeared to be short.

"Sam?" Daniel prompted.

"Sorry, what?"

"Did you want another drink?" he offered again.

"No, thanks. I've got what I need."