Hot and wet. In and out. Sam let Jack's rhythm set her own heartbeat, submitting to his weight on top of her. His breathing was a steady cadence, one that inspired her trust, and in most things, she did trust him. Jack's sleeping form was half draped over her, his face tucked snugly into the scoop of her neck and shoulder, and his warm, damp breaths were pulsing against her throat. Not to mention, something insistent was pressed against her thigh. She could wake him up. It was getting a little difficult to breathe with his bulk on top of her, but there were no guarantees that she would ever have a moment like this again.

Sam wiggled to slide into a less restrictive position, but after a lifetime of sleeping on alert, he stirred, sighing into her neck with a kiss. The arm wrapped around her tightened, and he rolled them, shifting her to the top position.

"Morning." His sleepy rumble vibrated up his sternum under her fingertips.

"Morning," she whispered, and Jack dropped a soft kiss into her hair. This was different than how they had woken up yesterday, and Sam wondered how many different ways there could be to wake up with Jack.

"You're like a furnace," he observed rubbing his hips lazily against hers. "Are you always so hot when you sleep?"

"Hence, the tank top."

"Yes, hence," he conceded, and Sam felt his intentionality this time as he pressed his erection against her hip.

"Uhh, Jack," she asked, not entirely sure what the question was.

"It's not my sidearm. I'm just happy to see you, I swear." Sam giggled and sighed deeply at the feel of his fingers brushing through her hair. There was no point in ignoring the obvious, and Sam was glad he felt comfortable enough to joke with her about it.

"I'm happy to see you too, and as much as I might otherwise think this is nice, I smell coffee."

"I thought that was your perfume."

"I can see why that might be confusing."

"You saying we have to get up?" he asked, working his fingers down her neck and over her bare shoulders. "Because, not to point out the obvious, but I've already done my part, if you know what I mean."

"Wrong kind of 'up,' I'm afraid."

"Trust me. At my age, this is never the wrong kind of 'up.'"

"Sam, I need to make a phone call," Jacob told her, stepping away from the table and over to the bar.

"Yeah, sure," she said, sipping her coffee. Mark and the kids had their breakfast, and he was busy trying to get them packed now so it was just her and Jack hanging out with her dad for a few minutes over coffee. It was comfortable. It was nice. No need to perform or be careful about what they said.

"Look, George, no need to come get me. I'm gonna have Sam drop me off... Thanks. Yeah, I'll be there in a bit."

"I'm sorry, dad. I didn't even think about you needing a ride," she apologized, setting her coffee down. "I'll grab my keys."

"Don't bother. Jack's going to drive me." Jacob presumed with a knowing stare."Aren't you, Jack?"

"What?" Jack asked.

"What?" Sam asked also.

"Yeah, I wanna get to know my new favorite son-in-law." Jacob explained to her while flicking a menacing glance to Jack.

"Could you please stop calling him that? And you already know him," Sam argued, setting a protective hand on Jack's arm where he sat beside her.

"Not like this I don't. You afraid I won't let him come back? Please, sweetheart. I promise I'll behave," Jacob assured her.

"Don't worry about it, Carter," Jack told her with an attempt at reassurance as he reached into his pocket for his keys. "I think it's time your dad and I had a little chat anyway."

"Happy birthday, sweetheart," Jacob wished her with a hug and a kiss to her cheek when she stood to say goodbye. "I'll see you soon."

"Thanks, Dad."

Sam turned toward Jack, accepting his goodbye peck, both of them belatedly realizing that the comfortable behavior had quickly become second nature, and...

"Mark's... not here, is he?" Jack asked a stunned looking Sam who seemed both destined and afraid to look at her dad. Of course, Jacob had the nerve to be smirking.

"No," Jacob answered Jack's question. "No, he isn't, so I guess that one was just for fun. Ready to go, son?"

"Probably not, but what the hell. Onward."

"All right, Jacob, lay it on me," Jack began as he tumbled into his truck and buckled himself. "Give it your best shot."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jacob deferred from the passenger seat.

"Bullshit. You're the one that asked for this. Let's just get it over with." Carter's neighborhood was close to the base, so this conversation needed to happen fast.

"Okay, fine. Are you out of your damn mind? What possessed you to agree to this arrangement?"

"This was her idea," Jack was defensive, and he really hadn't meant to go that route, but he also hadn't expected Jacob to just let him have it like that.

"And, I don't suppose it occurred to you to tell her 'no'?"

"I did. Repeatedly, but she can be very persuasive."

"Yeah, she mentioned she bribed you. With what, a father might wonder," Jacob's implication was clear and revolting, and maybe he had just said it to get a rise out of Jack. If he had, it was working.

"You know that there is nothing out of line happening between us. She asked for a favor. I agreed. End of story."

"In exchange for what? I couldn't get her to tell me, so maybe you will. What's in it for you?"

Jack paused under the guise of yielding to oncoming traffic for a left turn, not wanting to divulge something that Sam hadn't chosen to share herself. But Jacob was too much a part of all of their lives to have any bad blood between them.

"Fishing. I've been trying to get her to actually stop working when she's on down time. She agreed to go fishing on her vacation."

"With you, I assume?"

"Maybe. What's wrong with that?" Jack asked, and for the first time in a long time, he asked himself the same question. Given his history with Carter, was it really appropriate for him to still be inviting her to the cabin?

"That depends. Is fishing a metaphor for something else?" Maybe it had been. Maybe it still was. Maybe Jacob had a point, and he should just put the fishing trip on ice. What right did he actually have to invite a female subordinate on a trip with him?

"No, I swear to you, I have no intention of even suggesting that she and I should—"

"Maybe it's your lack of intention that'sthe problem. She's going to put off the most important parts of her life until every opportunity has passed her by, and you're going to stand by and let her."

"Hey, I don't know what she's told you, but she has been very clear with me that anything more between the two of us, isn't going to happen." The words tasted bitter on his tongue, and he knew they sounded it. "Before you go pinning all of this on me, maybe have a chat with daddy's little girl."

"Part of loving someone is figuring out what they need from you even when they don't know what it is," Jacob's answer was softer than Jack would have expected given the bitterness that he had let bleed into his own voice. "She needs something from you, Jack."

"Hang on just a minute. Loving someone?"

"Why didn't you say 'no' to her?" Jacob asked again, maintaining his calm. "Why did I walk into the situation that I did yesterday?"

"Mark was buggin' her," Jack attempted to brush off Jacob's suspicions. Of course, he loved Carter. That didn't mean everybody and her dad needed to know about it. "She just wanted him to lay off the nagging and the matchmaking."

"If you believe that, Jack, you're a bigger idiot than I thought, and that's saying something." Jack knew definitively that he was, in fact, a bigger idiot than most people thought he was. The fact that he was in this position right now was proof.

"She just wants to be left alone, and I was in a position to help her."

"Yeah? Any other positions you've been in with my daughter?" Jacob asked with a smile, and though tempted, Jack didn't dare show his amusement. A fortuitous stop sign allowed Jack to look at the older man directly, and he used it to attempt to convince him.

"Jacob, I swear there's nothing going on here. Just a favor. She asked for my help, and in retrospect, yes, we probably should have gone with Plan B. But that ship has already hit the proverbial iceberg."

"And what would 'Plan B' be?"

"I guess Plan B would have beenthat she goes on a date with some cop from Denver." Jack tried, but he was pretty sure he let some of his distaste for the idea seep into his proposal. She didn't like cops, after all.

"What then, Jack?"

"I don't know. That's up to her."

"Jack, no bullshit, no spin. I know she's dealing with some stuff, but you... why did you do this?"

"Have you tried telling her 'no'?" Jack asked Jacob. "I seem to recall that there are three of us in this conversation right now instead of two because she batted her eyes at you said 'Daddy, please.'"

"Is that what she said to you?" Jacob asked with a smirk, and Jack gave a double-take to the apparently dirty old man.

"I'm going to pretend I never heard that."

"Selmak thought it was funny."

Jack's eyes rolled at the reminder of their companion's twisted sense of humor. That snaky, little voyeur was downright creepy sometimes.

"Look, it's different when it's your kid," Jacob explained. "I couldn't have told her 'no' even if I wanted to. I love her. So, why can't you tell her 'no'?"

A moment of bare understanding passed between two pairs of brown eyes with no veils, no pretense, no subterfuge.

"So, we're just going for it?" Jack asked, all energy drained from his tone. "Is that what this conversation is?"

"I just want her to be happy. And I know it's complicated, but she's a good problem solver. So are you. Some things are worth a change of plans."

"I don't know, Jacob. I don't think she's interested in rocking the boat."

"Maybe she is, maybe she isn't. But Jack, she was happy. Happier than I've seen her in a long time. I know it's not an act. It's real to her." And there was that word again. It was the same word that Carter had used last night when she had kissed him. She wanted to feel something real. But a kiss was one thing. Changing your entire life for someone was another.

"No offense, Jacob. I'm sure you and Selmak are very discerning, but I think I'm going to need to hear that from her."

"Okay. Just do me a favor, would ya? Listen really hard. When she tells you, it might not sound the way you expect it to. This sort of thing has always been tough for her. It's too much heart and not enough head. She overthinks things when she should just go for it."

And didn't Jack know that was the truth? Those little concentration lines across her forehead were going to be a prominent feature when she grew older, and he really hoped he was still in her life when they appeared so he could watch them grow. If he was lucky, he would be able to remember the origin of each permanent wrinkle.

Jack's truck rolled to a stop just past the security check point, and he was thankful for the too dim lights in the mountain. There had been enough visibility in this conversation to last him a lifetime.

"Jack," Jacob turned for one last hurrah after stepping out of the truck, his arms crossed, resting on the door and his bald head butting into the cab through the window. "For what it's worth, I wouldn't mind if you were happy too."