A few hours later she managed to go to sleep and when her doorbell rang at around 9am she felt rested.
"Good morning, Sir! Come in, I've just made coffee."
He strolled down the hallway, his footsteps echoing softly, until he arrived at her kitchen counter where he set down the stack of papers he had been holding under his arm. She had followed him and immediately busied herself by getting two cups out and filling them with the dark liquid.
Jack inhaled the scent of it and remembered one reason why he loved to hang around in her lab so much, Carter just made the best coffee ever.
"Thanks, how are you doing? Did you at least get some sleep?" concern floating within his voice.
"Yeah, I sat outside for a while, but eventually I got some sleep. Let's go to the couch and we can go through dad's wishes for the funeral."
She had expected a bit of awkwardness after yesterday's confession. They now know about their feelings, it was no longer just a guess, but it also was clear that this couldn't change anything. He did tell her they'd be okay, but until this moment she wasn't sure.
With an ease he moved through her house and sat down beside her, close enough to to share a sense of comfort yet far enough to maintain a respectful distance. Yes, they would be okay and by the time their friends arrived with bags of food they were relaxed in the presence of the other.
Jack had managed to schedule the funeral for Friday, which gave the Tok'ra time to extract Selmak and carry out their rituals. Jacob didn't want to be buried at Arlington, he wanted to be close to his children and buried next to his wife. He wasn't a religious man, but always felt comforted when he was able to visit the grave of his wife. So that was taken care of.
While the guys arrived with enough food to feed a company Sam called Mark and arranged the hotel for him and his family. She would have offered to stay with her, but her house just wasn't big enough to fit everyone in.
Her house. This was another topic for her to think about. She loved this house, it was the first time she bought a place for living. While working in D.C. she has lived in an apartment provided by the pentagon and before that she had lived with Jonas in his flat or at military accommodations. Now she would have to leave her house and move into the one Pete had shown her yesterday. At first she was angry, thought he already bought it without asking for her opinion but he just had it reserved. And it was her final decision that made them buy it. She became silent while making the decision to rent the house, she wouldn't sell it.
Despite being deep in thoughts she felt observed, looking up she saw the General eyeing her concerned. With a brief shake of her head she told him that he didn't need to worry.
They hadn't realized how late it was until the front door opened and Pete joined them.
He bent down from behind the couch to kiss Sam and give her a hug.
"Hey Sam, again I'm so sorry for your loss."
She hugged him in return and turned to introduce him to her team.
"Thanks. You remember the General?"
He reached out to shake hands.
"Of course. General!"
"Hello Pete! And it's Jack. It's enough that Carter can't get rid of the honorifics even in her freetime." He took Pete's hand in return and winked at Sam to ease the tension.
"Thanks Jack." turning towards the others he continued "And you must be Dr. Jackson I assume."
"Ahm yes, Daniel!" He also reached out to greet the fiancé of his friend. "And this guy is Teal'c."
He was the only one not shaking Pete's hand, but bowed his head in response. "Pete Shanahan!"
"It's nice to finally meet you all."
He grabbed himself a drink, sat down in the free armchair next to Sam and turned to her to ask: "Is there anything left I can help you with?"
"No, thank you, we scheduled the funeral for Friday, I just informed Mark and the family. The General is going to inform the military personnel and that's it. Not that much to do."
Jack leaned forward.
"That's how Dad wanted it to be. No additional stress for you."
At hearing Jack call Jacob 'Dad' Pete would listen up, the father of his fiancé denied him calling him that. Not now, but he would ask Sam about it, just out of curiosity.
"What about the wedding, Sam?"
Suddenly all heads flew around and he was facing four pairs of eyes staring at him.
"What about it?" She wondered.
"I mean, if you need a little more time between the funeral and the wedding. Closing one chapter first. I can understand. We could reschedule if necessary. I mean, I know you wanted your dad to walk you down the aisle…"
Thankfully no one noticed the look she shared with Jack, a brief confirmation that what she was about to do was the right thing to do. At least they thought no one noticed. She had his support, confirmed by a blink.
"No Pete, we don't need to reschedule. It's still a few weeks until then."
That was all what was spoken about the topic, the conversation returned to Jacob and everyone shared their favorite stories about him. Sam even told them stories from when she was little and her mother was still alive. Pete listened with interest, having met his future father-in-law just once before he died.
It was Jack who announced it was time to leave. Everyone got up and said their goodbyes. Pete stayed behind, giving Sam room to see them off.
She got a nod from Teal'c and a quick hug from Daniel before they left. Daniel was taking Teal'c back to base.
So this left her standing in her hallway with Jack.
"Again, thank you, Sir! I'm sorry to keep you away from work today, if there's too much paperwork on your desk tomorrow stop by my lab, I owe you one."
"There's nowhere I'd rather wanted to be today, Sam. I told you I'd be there for you. Just one thing. With your upcoming wedding, could you please think about stopping calling me Sir and General at least in our freetime? It won't be necessary to keep up that barrier any longer."
She smiled, knowing how much it had cost them to build up those barriers, and that habit wasn't easy to break, but she sure was going to try.
"I'll try to remember that, Jack! Won't be easy, old habits and all…"
"You'll manage. C'mere!" He took a step closer to hug her goodbye. "Good night Sam!"
"Good night Jack!"
Before he left he called towards the living room. "Goodbye, Pete."
"Bye Jack."
Sam closed the door behind him and then settled down in the armchair with Pete, it helt enough room to fit them both close together.
"Hey, you good?"
"Yes, I am."
"I like your team! I really hope they like me too."
"They will. I still can have them over for team nights, right? I mean when we've moved in together."
"Of course you can, Sam! I'll also invite my colleagues over from time to time. And if you need me to get lost for that evening just tell me. I don't want you to change your habits. And I'm sorry for bringing up the wedding in front of your team, I just needed to know. So you're really sure we don't need to postpone it? Lately I had the feeling you weren't in with all of your heart." Pete asked again, bracing himself for an answer he actually didn't want to have.
"No, that's alright. I had a lot of other stuff going on, you know, saving earth. But we're safe now and I can give my attention to other important things. It may have been cold feet, but I'm all in now, I promise."
Sam nestled closer, resting her head gently on his shoulder, while his arm enveloped her in a warm embrace.
She thought for a long time whether she should bring up the topic or not, but these things need to be discussed beforehand.
"Just one more thing, Pete."
"Huh?" He already dozed off a bit.
"Whatever we do, we can't get a dog, I'm a cat person." She whispered, knowing that wasn't entirely true, but she knew there was only one person she would want to have a dog with.
Jack heard the car before he saw it. He could easily recognize the cars of his team. Having said goodnight to Sam just half an hour ago, leaving her in the arms of her fiancé and Teal'c not owning a vehicle it could only be Daniel.
He observed him from his safe place on his roof, making his way to Jack's front door, knocking three times. Daniel was about to open the door, he didn't think he would get an answer from Jack in the first place, while Jack was torn between continuing to hide or revealing himself.
"Up here, Daniel!" He called the archeologist.
Daniel looked up and confirmed that he saw him. He closed the door again and rounded the house towards the garden and the ladder to the rooftop.
Arriving at the top he took a seat in the empty chair next to Jack.
"So, what was that?"
"What was what, Daniel?" Jack asked half not knowing what the younger man was talking about, half trying to avoid the topic he suspected.
"You and Sam?"
"What's with me and Sam?" He was annoyed.
"Exactly, and I don't understand why. What's with those looks you shared today, thinking nobody noticed? And why are you suddenly so supportive about her upcoming wedding? I mean, I half expected Jacob to talk her out of it…"
Jack heard enough and interrupted Daniel. "He was trying to."
"What?" It left him almost speechless. "What are you talking about?"
Jack took a moment to think about what to tell his friend, but he came to the conclusion Daniel deserved to know the truth.
"Jacob wasn't that happy about Sam's choice for a husband, he told me I was foolish to let it go this far. I explained to him that I don't have a choice and I also told Sam. Daniel, do you have any idea how often I tried to retire? This year alone I tried it three times. It went so far up that the President himself called me and told me I am needed in this program and I am where I'll be for an unpredictable time. I'll ever be her commanding officer, that won't change for a long time, that's what our commander in chief told me unmistakably. Is it fair to keep her waiting for a time we don't know is coming? Pete loves her and she deserves this, the whole nine yards. She wouldn't have said yes if she didn't feel anything for him, she just needed a push in the right direction. I won't say it will be easy for me, but all I want is for her to be happy. She's my best friend and that won't change. As a matter of fact, when she's married it might get easier for us to actually behave like the close friends that we are."
"Oh Jack, I didn't know. I just thought you'd be too stubborn to talk things out with her."
"No Daniel, not this time, but what good is it to me when things can't change?" He took the last sip of his beer, placed the empty bottle next to his chair, exchanged it for a new one and handed Daniel another one.
They never spoke about that topic again that night. In fact there wasn't any more talk, just two friends, drinking beer, trying to process the events of the last few days.