Stargate SG1 Fan Fiction ❯ The Secret Life of a Major General ❯ Chapter 33 ( Chapter 33 )

Chapter 33

Master Bedroom, O’Neill’s Residence, Alexandria, VA
June 19, 2005
Early Morning

Awakening from sleep the next morning Jack opened his eyes, hardly daring to believing or comprehending that last night had actually happened. But as he turned his head to the woman curled up against his side, there was no denying it. He wondered what had led to the final push, last night of all nights.

Especially when he himself had been convinced that even with there being no more cop, no more engagement, there had been no hope of a shared future with a committed relationship to each other, even if they were sharing parenting to a degree.

As for Sam… he gave up trying to fathom her and even would not attempt to work out her motivations. Whatever Sam’s reason and if even with her conviction of last night was replaced with morning regrets, he knew he would cherish the memory.

A quiet murmur and wiggle from Sam drew his attention back to her. He was familiar with her stages of wake-up, having slept beside her on countless missions, and woken her for her turn on watch as nearly as many times.

Keeping his body relaxed and breathing steady Jack was certain after a while she was awake. The hand tangled in the greyed hairs of his chest was slightly flexing and there was a peculiar little smug smile just turning up the corners of Sam’s mouth even though her eyes remained closed.

“Sam,” Jack drawled huskily, slightly nervous about how this morning after would go as he used the arm Sam was laying on to give a light squeeze of her torso.

“Shh,” Sam murmured lowly as her smile grew but her eyes remained shut. “I’m dreaming and don’t want to wake up.”

“Come on,” he cajoled, his nerves replaced by euphoria brought on by her shy and playful manner. If anything, it convinced him that last night had not been a regretted abbreviation aided by wine but a deliberate choice and commitment. It had been his private fear, even knowing that neither Sam nor he were casual in their relationships and could not be with each other because of their long history.

“Nah-yah,” Sam smiled fully as she scrunched her eyes tight shut.

Jack’s other arm came up to wrap around her torso and pulled her body towards him. Sam rolled with the movement, her blue eyes popping open when Jack rolled her onto her back and braced himself on his arms above her.

“Morning,” he greeted huskily as he lowered his head to hers. Sam eagerly raised her face and their mouths met, the touch light and teasing, as they explored each other’s lips.

“Morning Jack,” Sam finally greeted with a brilliant smile when Jack lifted his head to look down at her again.

Jack was unable to resist smiling a truly happy smile back. It seemed that he was not the only one giddy with euphoria this Sunday morning.

“Oh, and Happy Father’s Day,” Sam purred.

Jack was surprised by the reminder. Since Charlie’s death, the day had been an unwanted day of sorrow, but with the twins in his life and Sam in his bed, it did look like it was going to be a very ‘happy’ day.

“So,” Jack began, reluctant to break the happy mood enveloping them but slightly more sombre himself with the reminder of the day’s holiday, “I guess we’ve got more to talk about?”

Sam’s expression faded slightly, but only slightly compared to the sombreness of her voice when she spoke. “Yes, we do.”

With a great deal of reluctance, Jack lifted himself off of Sam and his mattress. A quick glance at the clock beside the bed revealed that they had approximately thirty minutes before the twins’ usual wake-up time of 08:00.

“Up and at ‘em,” Jack playfully slapped a hand against one of Sam’s thighs. “They’ll be up soon, so it’s best if you shower now if you want to.”

Sam took the warning to heart so she rolled from the bed herself and stalked seductively across the bedroom to the doorway. Casting a last, long, appreciative, and flirting look over her shoulder, she disappeared through the doorway to the shower in the downstairs bathroom.

Jack huffed out a breath as his hands raked through his hair, making the strands stand even more on end. God, if that look was anything to go by last night was not his only time to get lucky this weekend. And next time he would take time to explore her body to his heart’s content.

Happy day indeed.

Three hours later after feeding the twins and themselves breakfast, the four of them settled into the backyard. The twins were finally occupied in their sandbox, having spent at least an hour insisting on being pushed on the swing set by one of the two adults when they had first gotten outside.

Sam and Jack both savoured the break as they sat on the patio lounging chairs and sipped from the glasses of ice water that Jack had had the forethought to bring outside, knowing how warm a sunny day could get and how tiring watching two energetic two-year-olds could be.

“So,” Sam began, blue eyes shyly flicking from Jack’s face to his chest. “I should probably start with something that happened to me about a year and a half ago, onboard Prometheus.”

Curious Jack leaned towards her, his body language encouraging her to continue.

“I… I guess, for some time now there’d been the possibility of… of more between us… and at that point I had gotten… tired…,” Sam confessed a little ashamed. “Tired that there was only the possibility and wanting some happiness for myself. So onboard Prometheus I experienced hallucinations—you, Dad, Teal’c, and Daniel mostly—that I talked with about things.”

When she glanced up from looking at his chest, Sam found him watching her patiently with nothing judgemental in his expression. “What we—or the hallucinatory you—talked about had me deciding that I would try to find happiness elsewhere, if… if we—we weren’t, you know….” Sam waved a hand half-heartedly between them. “So I agreed to the date set up by Mark…” her expression turned thoughtful as her mind turned inwards, evaluating the months that had passed since her first date with Pete. “It wasn’t a wrong thing to do per say… because being with Pete taught me things about myself, and how I handled relationships, and other stuff…”

Jack found himself agreeing with her self-evaluation. In some ways, as much as being with Pete had broken his heart, Sam had grown from that relationship. She had seemed to have finally found a balance between the woman and the soldier aspects of her personality when before the soldier had dominated all areas of her life, even her personal one. Seeing that, knowing that Sam was finally becoming the person he had always known she could be, made him proud and thankful to have viewed and been a part of the evolution. That made the heartache bearable now.

Sam’s eyes focused back onto Jack’s face. “So, while we’ve hurt each other over the years, even though we didn’t mean to… it was probably, in the end, the right thing. Not the hurting, but…” Sam worried her lower lip in frustration at her inability to convey clearly what she wanted to.

Jack nodded, understanding what she was trying to convey without words. Nonverbal communication had always been so much clearer between them anyway. There had been many chances in retrospect for them to have been together in years past, but it would have had to have been—from their perspectives—done through choosing the selfish choice and put themselves ahead of the happiness of the planet. So for them, the decision to keep the status quo had been the right decision.

He knew that others, probably even Daniel, would argue against it. But it was just who they were.

As the silence between them grew and Sam picked at the fabric of her skirt and alternated between looking at him and the twins, Jack knew it was his turn to speak.

“Your being with Pete did hurt Sam, but don’t ever think I begrudge you your choice to find happiness. I had that happiness and a normal life with a family—I lost it—but I still had it, and you never did. And Sam,” Jack’s hand reached out to squeeze her knee. “You do deserve to be happy.”

Sam nodded as her fidgeting fingers moved to lace with Jack’s hand. “Things have changed. While there still are and will be goa’ulds to hunt and more mercenary groups to contend with, there is really only one remaining System Lord. The project is already returning more and more to its original mandate of exploration—just think of the team in Pegasus—and I think our time has come now.” Sam smiled as she squeezed his hand within hers. “And Jack, I’d like us to take it.”

Jack squeezed her hand in return as he nodded, barely able to contain the joy—a feeling that had been foreign to him for so long—bubbling up in his chest.

“Okay, Sam, okay,” Jack agreed huskily. “We’ll take it.”