Title: Waking Dreams
Pairing: Sam/Jack
Summary: It takes time for Jack’s memories of his last weekend prior to being frozen. But as he searches for Sam, they come back to him. Sometimes in bits and pieces, sometimes in flashes that nearly knock him down. Concludes the Awakening Series begun in 'Slow Dances' and continued in 'Thirteen Hours.'
Disclaimer: I don’t own Stargate, Stargate SG-1, Jack, Sam, Teal’c, Daniel… none of them. Don’t make any money. Never will. This just had to be done.
Genre: Romance
Timeline: During New Order
Feedback: Absolutely!
Notes: Yes, I took some allowances with some scenes. Keep in mind – in the timeline I’ve created with Slow Dances and Thirteen Hours – Pete was history a while ago. It might make more sense if you read Slow Dances and Thirteen Hours first… though I intend to manipulate many of my stories into a type of series.
Fragmented scenes – flashes – bits of the past assaulted the darkness. He tried to still them… hold them for a moment… just to absorb their meanings.
*”Orgasm by chocolate…”*
*Please, Jack…”*
*”It was all just an excuse to kiss you.”*
*”We’ve both danced around this… thing that I refuse to name… for seven years. We both know it’s here, right?”*
*Tastes like strawberries…”*
*”I refuse to regret anything, and I won’t let you either, Jack.”*
Pain. Thumping, pounding, pulsating… pain.
*Whatever I drank last night, I ain’t touching it again!*
Jack tried to open his eyes, but it hurt too damn much. “Oy…” With tremendous effort, he raised his hand and covered his eyes, shielding them from the light that seemed to bore through to his brain. “What a headache…”
“Take it easy,” came Daniel’s voice from the dark, and a hand touched his shoulder. “You’ve been through a lot.”
*Oh, great.*
He tried opening his eyes again, and if he squinted just a little, the burning wasn’t quite so bad. Jack focused on Daniel first, taking in their surroundings. *Definitely not Kansas*. Teal’c stood nearby… *with hair*?
*What the hell kind of dream was this?*
“What now?” Jack asked.
Daniel glanced sideways to Teal’c, then back to him. “Umh… what’s the last thing you remember?”
Jack sorted through the murky, broken flashes in his mind. He shook his head, and tried to sit up. The fragmented memories finally categorized themselves in his head, and he remembered the weekend he spent with Sam in Denver. But, he was pretty sure Daniel didn’t need to know how close he and Sam had come to throwing the regs out the window. He tried to focus beyond that. Daniel had discovered the location of another repository… they went to try and retrieve it.
He remembered the sound of staff weapons, and arguing with Daniel. And being overtaken with the need to act, before Sam got it in her pretty little head…
Daniel gripped his arm and helped him slide back in whatever the coffin-like contraption he had been lying in. “Getting my head sucked by one of those dang … Ancient… head suckers.”
Daniel glanced at Teal’c, who just smirked. Smirked? Was that a smirk? What the hell *happened* while he was out? He swallowed against the desert in his throat. “Teal’c… what’s with the hair?”
“O’Neill…” came a small, synthetic sounding, yet familiar voice.
Jack looked to the final member of the small congregation of people. *Okay, four of us… but the wrong four.* “Thor… you got aspirin?”
“You should feel better momentarily, and your memory will slowly return.”
He blinked, the moment gone as quickly as it came. It was hard to focus, hard to keep his mind in place.
*General Hammonds voice… “You should be in the infirmary.”
“Why? We all know exactly what’s going to happen. In a few days I start speaking some strange language,” he said with a wave of his hand. “A few days after that I start doing things beyond my control, and a few days after that it’s good night, my someone, goodnight.”*
When he woke up in the hospital after returning from his three-month stint as a prisoner of war, he had been in a haze from the Percocet the doctor had him on. Weird dreams… not knowing if he had done something – or just thought about doing it. Muzzy. Scattered. That’s the way he felt now.
“Teal’c. What’s with the hair?”
*[]*[]*[]*[]*
Jack leaned forward in his sitting position and braced his elbows on his knees, chewing on his fourth ration bar after scavenging both Daniel’s and Teal’c’s supply. It tasted like honey-coated cardboard, but he was hungry as hell.
“What something to wash that down with, Jack?”
Daniel stood beside him, holding out a bottle of water. He sat back, groaning at the aches all through his body. Probably from being frozen for weeks at a time. His next point of business was to find an Asgard version of the head.
“I don’t recommend the stuff Thor has on board,” Daniel said. “Remember Sam’s description of their nutrition supplements? Their idea of hydration is worse.”
Jack took the canteen and swallowed several mouthfuls of water. He hadn’t realized how thirsty he was until the liquid hit the back of his throat. He wiped his lips with the back of his hand as Daniel sat down beside him. Jack felt the nervous tension in the younger man – had gotten to know him well enough over the years to recognize the signs. Daniel’s eyebrows pulled together, partially hidden behind his glasses, and one heel tapped a steady, aggravating rhythm against the floor.
“Spit it out, Daniel.”
“Um… yeah… how are you feeling?”
“Been better. Definitely been worse. Just tell me.”
Daniel leaned forward, mirroring Jack’s position. He tapped his fingertips together and cleared his throat. “It’s about Sam.”
Jack swallowed the last bite of energy bar, forcing it down like a load of rocks. Her absence had worried him from the moment he woke up, but had managed to control his near overwhelming need to ask. His voice wouldn’t cooperate, so he motioned with his hand for Daniel to continue.
“She and Teal’c left Earth 10 days ago in the cargo ship you modified-“
Jack looked at him, raising an eyebrow.
“You’ll remember eventually,” Daniel clarified and waved his hand, then continued. “We knew the Asgard were the only ones that could help you, and she talked Weir into letting her take the chance. When they got to Hala, they found a black hole the Asgard’s had created to destroy the Replicators. Before their ship was torn apart, Thor brought them to this ship. But the Replicator’s grabbed Sam and sabotaged the… uh… Daniel Jackson so he couldn’t follow.” Daniel paused, and cleared his throat. “The Replicator’s ship has been destroyed by the Asgard Fleet.”
Jack crumpled the cellophane wrapper in his hand into a tight ball.
“Escape pods?”
“We don’t know. Thor hasn’t been able to reach Panagal to confirm anything, but we’ll reach Aurila soon, and we will know more then. But, Jack—“
“She’s not dead.”
“We don’t know anything. If the ship blew up—“
Jack shot to his feet, immediately putting his hand against the ship’s wall to steady himself. His equilibrium still wasn’t quite right.
“She’s not dead,” he said louder.
Daniel stood. “Jack, we have to assume-“
“No!” Jack turned to face Daniel, not really caring if he was loud. “Damn it, Daniel… how many times have you been *dead*? Or me? Or hell, even Teal’c? She’s not dead until I see it with my own two eyes,” he shouted, jabbing his own fingers towards his face.
Daniel watched him for several moments, then looked down and nodded, pushing his hands into his BDU pants. “Okay, Jack.”
Jack raised his hand, tried to find something to say, but nothing formed. Just one thing rotated through his mind…
*She’s not dead. She’s not dead. She’s not dead.*
*[]*[]*[]*[]*
“Have you regained any of your lost memories, O’Neill?”
Jack turned from the gigantic view of space from the front of Thor’s ship, looking to Teal’c who stood behind him. Unable to help it, his eyes shot up to the short, black hair that covered his friend’s previously bald head.
*That was going to take some getting used to.*
“Hey, Teal’c. Don’t know for use. I get bits of stuff, but I don’t know if they’re… uh… real.”
Teal’c bowed his head in understanding. “Perhaps if you tell me of these memories, I may be able to assist you in remembering further.”
Jack almost laughed at the suggestion. The kinds of stuff going through his head weren’t exactly things he could share with Teal’c. Or Daniel. He was pretty sure they were just vivid - *very* vivid – fantasies. After that weekend in Denver with Sam, sharing a bed and coming very close to… he shook off the memories. With a weekend like that, who could blame him for his fantasies?
“What happened after we left the planet with the repository thing?” Jack asked, avoiding the topic of the heated flashes in his head.
“Many things, O’Neill.”
“Just give me the highlights.”
“You requested time to prepare yourself for the possibility of your own death. During which time, General Hammond was replaced as commander of Stargate Command.”
“Weir…”
“Indeed, O’Neill. Your memory does seem to have improved.”
Jack nodded. “Funny thing is, I can’t get a clear image of her in my head. She keeps bouncing back and forth between blonde and brunette.”
Teal’c raised one eyebrow, and Jack shrugged.
“Keep going.”
“We then learned that Anubis planned an attack on Earth, and as the knowledge of the
Ancients overtook your mind, you were able to utilize a weapon and destroy Anubis.”
Jack’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? Me?”
“Indeed, O’Neill. You saved your world. You were then placed in the cryogenic chamber to maintain your life until Major Carter and I were able to contact the Asgard to revive you.”
“And that was a few weeks ago.”
“Yes.”
“Anything good happen since then?”
“My answer would only be relevant to your definition of ‘good’, O’Neill.”
Jack chuckled, and turned back to the forward window, bracing his hands against the slight ledge along the base. Teal’c stepped beside him, looking out onto dark space. Jack ran a hand along the back of his neck, trying to work out the kinks. His body was recovering quickly from the cryo-whatever, but some of the old pains still hung on.
“Daniel told me about Carter,” he said after several minutes of silence.
“It pains me deeply that I was unable to stop the Replicators from taking her.”
“Doesn’t sound like there was much you could have done, Teal’c.”
“My heart is heavy with grief that she may be gone.”
“She isn’t gone.”
Teal’c looked at him, and Jack shook his head. Something in his gut told him – had always told him – that Teal’c got it. He understood. And he knew how to keep a secret.
“If she were gone, I would know,” he said, keeping his voice low so it didn’t carry back to
Daniel and Thor.
“Indeed, O’Neill. I believe this to be true. Many times in my years with the Tauri, I have witnessed an unexplainable awareness between yourself and Major Carter. If you have faith that we will find Major Carter alive, then I, too, have faith.”
Silence settled again between them. Comfortable silence, without the need to be overrun with words. Or explanations. Jack closed his eyes as another memory – or fantasy – danced through his subconscious.
*The house was dark behind him as he stood on the back patio, a Guinness in his hand that had long since gone warm. He stared up at the stars, searching for something he couldn’t find.
The phone rang, and he moved through the dark house to answer after the second ring.
“O’Neill.”
Silence came back to him, yet in that instance of silence, he knew…
“Come to me, Sam.”*
“Major Carter has been diligent in her efforts to find a way to bring you back, O’Neill.”
Teal’c’s words brought him back from his waking dream, and he blinked, looking down at his hands as they gripped the rail.
“Has she been okay?”
“Daniel Jackson and I have endeavored to maintain a close watch on Major Carter’s well being. Yet, there were times that sleep and nourishment were not enough.”
Jack nodded. He could imagine Sam working hours on end to find the answer, nearly killing herself. He had seen her do it before.
“She has missed you, O’Neill.”
Jack looked up, meeting the stare of the big Jaffa. Yeah, Teal’c understood… probably more than Jack himself.
“Jack,” Daniel called from the other side of the bridge. “Thor is receiving a message.”
Jack and Teal’c headed back to where Daniel stood beside Thor.
*[]*[]*[]*[]*
Jack sprinted through the sparse woods of Aurila, his gaze scanning the landscape around him for any sign of her. He heard Daniel and Teal’c call for her, but let his gut drive him forward.
Then he saw it. The slash of black against the green undergrowth, and he shot forward with a new burst of desperation. He fell to his knees in the damp leaves beside her, his heart pounding in his chest, as he touched her hip to gently turn her onto her back.
“Sam?” he said softly, touching her cheek. “Sam, wake up.”
With her eyes still closed, she turned her head into his touch, and a shot of adrenaline coursed up his arm. Sam moaned softly before she opened her eyes and looked up at him.
Jack couldn’t help the smile that took over his face.
“Hey,” was the only words he could find.
“Jack?”
He nodded, and Sam sat up – wrapping her arms around his neck in one fluid motion. Jack held her, inhaling the underlying scents that defined Sam Carter, and pressed his face against her throat.
“Sam,” he whispered. “God, it’d good to hold you.”
She nodded, and hugged him tighter, a shudder moving through her. “It’s good to hold you, too.”
He reluctantly released her, aware that Daniel and Teal’c could find them at any moment, and did a quick visual scan of her body for injuries. Jack rested his hand on her thigh, letting the heat of her body through the material confirm for him that she was real.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “Did he hurt you?”
Sam shook her head, her hands coming up to hold his face, urging him to look straight at her. Jack swallowed as he looked into her blue eyes, felt her looking into his soul.
“Are *you* okay? Is everything okay?”
Jack wrapped his hands around her wrists, nodding as he moved to stand. She let him help her to her feet, but her gaze never wavered from his face.
“I’m good,” he said, “Don’t remember some stuff after the whole download, but it’s coming back… I think.”
He heard Daniel’s voice call through the trees, and called out that he had her. Seconds later, Daniel and Teal’c broke through the tree line and headed for them. He looked back to Sam, and paused at the intense – yet – almost devastated look on her face.
“What? What is it?”
“You don’t remember…” she whispered, but before he could ask her what he didn’t remember,
Daniel reached them, pulling Sam in a hug. Teal’c followed behind
*[]*[]*[]*[]*
Jack sat on the floor, unable to find any kind of soft surface on Thor’s ship, with his head back against the wall and his eyes closed. His feet were flat on the floor, his knees raised with his forearms resting on them. The soft hum of the ship had a lulling effect, and he felt sleep tugging at his limbs. All he wanted was to get back to Earth, back to Colorado, and back to his own bed.
*Sam lay beneath him, her arms wrapped around his body, her hands urging him closer. Everywhere their bare skin touched was as hot as a brand. Jack rose over her, supporting his weight on his elbows so he could touch her hair with his fingertips. She looked at him, the moonlight through the window dancing over her features. He moved against her, his body screaming for completion. Sam moaned, her eyes fluttering closed.
“No. Look at me, Sam.”
She opened her eyes, blue pools in the moonlight, and her lips parted as he slid inside her. Her soft gasp was the only sound in the room.*
Jack jerked awake, pain shooting through his head. “Ah! Damn!” he ground out, pressing the heels of his hands against his temples as he tried to keep himself upright in an ever-tilting reality.
He fell sideways into Sam’s soft support, her arm circled his shoulder, the other supporting his head. Jack pressed his eyes closed, trying to fight the pain and the dizziness.
“Sir?” Sam’s voice came through the miasma of throbbing pain. “Sir, what’s wrong?”
Another hand touched his arm. “Jack?”
“Yeah,” he finally said, pressing his eyes together. A gentle touch skimmed over his hands, and he knew it was Sam. The pain backed off as quickly as it hit, and he pushed himself up to a sitting position, letting the back of his head touch the wall before he opened his eyes.
Sam was beside him, no longer touching him, but her eyes were wide and wary as she watched him. Daniel crouched on his other side, his expression just slightly less concerned than Sam’s.
“I got it,” Jack said, raising one hand. “I’m good.”
“What happened? What’s wrong?” Daniel asked.
“I was almost asleep, and I think…” The memory flashed again, without the intense pain, and he could no more prevent his eyes from shifting to Sam than he could prevent his next heartbeat. “I remembered something.”
“What?” Daniel asked.
Jack watched Sam, trying to see in her eyes if she suspected what he remembered… if it really was a memory or if it was another intense fantasy. But it was so real… too vivid… far too vivid to be a creation of his subconscious. Her eyes shifted to Daniel only for a split second before coming back to met his stare. The corners of her lips tipped up just the smallest fraction of a degree, and pink color bloomed in her cheeks.
*Damn!*
Jack closed his mouth, realizing it was open, and cleared his throat as he looked at Daniel.
“Um, just… something from that weekend… before… you know…” He wiggled his fingers beside his head.
“And you had pain?”
He nodded. “Yeah. But it stopped after a minute.”
“I hope that doesn’t happen every time you remember something,” Sam said, her voice just slightly rougher and softer than usual.
“Me, too,” he said slowly.
Daniel stood. “I’m going to go check with Thor. See how long it’ll be before we’re home.”
Both Jack and Sam nodded, and he watched Daniel leave the chamber before looking at Sam again. She knelt beside him, her hands on her knees, and when their gazes locked, warmth moved through him. Something familiar, and pleasant, and powerful.
“Where is Teal’c?” he asked.
“He’s meditating until we reach Earth.”
“In another chamber?”
She nodded. He couldn’t stop staring at her face, from the bright glisten in her eyes to the color in her cheeks.
“Are you feeling better?” she asked after several moments of silence between them.
“Yeah.” He ran a hand over his hair, rubbing the back of his neck. “The memories… or whatever they are… come in these waves. Sometimes, it’s fine. Sometimes, it’s like a sledgehammer.”
“I’ll feel better when we can get you back to the SGC and you can be checked out.”
Jack nodded, still unable to look away from her. “I guess. I just want to go to bed…”
Her eyes snapped up, meeting his, and cold heat flashed through him.
*Damn! Maybe it wasn’t a dream!*
“Sam…”
“Thor says we’ll be in Earth’s orbit in about three minutes,” Daniel said as he came back into the room, Teal’c following behind. “So, if you’re up to it, we’ll get ready to go.”
Sam stood, and gripped his elbow to help him stand. He was still off balance from the memory burst, but once he was on his feet, he felt his equilibrium return. But he didn’t rush to pull back from her grip, finding it was different than through the last seven years. There was only the slightest hesitance, but as her fingers squeezed his arm before she let him go, there was a different ease and familiarity to the contact.
He liked it.
A lot.
And hoped to God, and whoever else was listening, these fantasies weren’t… well… fantasies.
*[]*[]*[]*[]*
“Well, besides some signs of fatigue and a mild case of dehydration, you’re just as healthy as before this all happened, Colonel O’Neill.”
Jack picked up his BDU jacket from the foot of the infirmary bed and slipped it on. “Thanks, doc. That mean I can get out of here?”
“Sure,” Dr. Brightman nodded. “I’ve told Doctor Weir you should take a few days to get your bearings before returning to duty.”
“Nah, just give me a day to sleep. Then I’ll be good.”
The new doctor smiled, and shook her head. “I’ve heard about you, Colonel. Never one to take the time you need.”
Jack shrugged, not wanting to take the time necessary to argue with her. *Yay, a new doctor to break in.* He just wanted to get out of his BDU’s, get into some jeans and a sweatshirt, and go find Sam.
He needed answers. Confirmation…
*And if it all really wasn’t a fantasy… he needed her.*
“I’ll want to see you in a couple of days, whether you’re back on active duty or not.”
“Yeah, sure,” he said, pulling the front of his jacket together. “You betcha.”
He headed for the infirmary door, but stopped when Doc Brightman called after him. “You’ll have to tell me what kind of good luck charm you carry. If you figure out a way to bottle and sell it, I’m your first customer.”
Jack gave a lopsided salute and headed into the hall. He reached the SG-1 locker room and sat down to unlace his boots. A shower was going to feel great.
But as he leaned over, the doctor’s words came back to him…
*”You’ll have to tell me what kind of good luck charm you carry…”*
*He grinned, slow and sexy, and wagged his eyebrows at Sam as he held up the flimsy pair of cotton bikinis she had been wearing under her skirt when they came down the hall. She held her hand out for them, but with a tilt of his head, he said “Nope,” and slipped them into his pocket.
“Jack!”
He scooted past her legs to sit on the couch. “They’re my new good luck charm.”*
Jack sat up, paused as he let the memory sink in, then pulled out one side of his jacket and dug into the inside pocket. He opened the zipper, and stuck his fingers inside.
And found soft cotton.
Jack paused, and looked around the room. Of course, no one was there. This was SG-1’s locker room, and Teal’c and Daniel had already gone home. Assuring himself he was alone, he scissored the cotton between his fingers and drew it out.
*Hot Damn!*
Pink cotton bikinis…
*[]*[]*[]*[]*
*With their mouths together, Sam lifted her hips and slipped down onto his hard penis.
“Oh… God… Sam…”
She sat up, letting her weight press on his hips, driving him deeper. It was glorious… she was whole. Jack gripped her hips, curling his body up, and she laid her hands against his stomach to feel the tight muscles of his abdomen. With gentle yet urgent coaching, Jack guided her body, and each time she came down he filled her again.
Jack moved his body beneath her, meeting each movement with an upward thrust of his hips. Their bodies worked together in unison, as if they had been doing this together their whole lives. His hand slid down her stomach, his thumb reaching between them to stroke her clitoris, and Sam moaned.
She gasped as Jack gripped her sides and used his long legs as leverage to flip them over, pressing her to the bed with one hard thrust.
“Oh… Jack!”*
*[]*[]*[]*[]*
*“Wanna hear another poem?”
Sam chuckled softly. “As long as it doesn’t have a line ‘there once was a man from Nantucket…”
He laughed and held her tighter, wanting to burn the memory into his mind. For the moment, the tension released and they were ‘them’ again. Lovers. Friends.
“Nope. No Nantucket lines.” He still held her against him, but she shifted to rest her forehead against his collarbone and he held his lips near her ear as he spoke. “It’s a long one, but I want you to hear it, Sam.”
She nodded. Jack drew in a long, deep breath and pressed a kiss to her cheek.
“I love you,” he began. “Not for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you, not for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me.” *
*[]*[]*[]*[]*
*“Sam, look at me.”
She blinked slowly before raising her chin to look at him. Her eyes shined bright, but her expression was set, as if she were doing her best to hold it all at bay.
“Don’t go there. Not now.”
Sam swallowed and offered him a weak smile. He reached across the space between them and took her hand, squeezing gently. She didn’t break down, but silent tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Jack, it should have been me. I should have done it.”
“What? Stuck your head in that thing? Are you nuts? Sam, you’re one of the country’s natural resources. If not a national treasure. And you are too important to me…”
“You shouldn’t have made the decision to do it because of how you felt about me,” she said, almost sounding angry.
“It couldn’t have gone down any other way. I just hope it was worth it.”
“Even if we find the Lost City… even if we get there and find exactly what we’re looking for to defend the planet…”
He squeezed her hand again. “That will be worth it, Sam.”
She pressed her eyes closed, and he watched the subtle shift of her throat as she swallowed.
“This day has made it all worth it.”*
*[]*[]*[]*[]*
*She touched his cheek, bringing his scattered focus from the cargo ship’s newly rigged engines. Jack looked at her, knew it was Sam, yet had to force his mind to see only her as a thousand other thoughts skittered around – waiting for the moment they might be needed.
“I’m loosing you,” she said softly.
Jack gripped her hand and turned his lips into the warm skin. The touch helped him keep his thoughts, grounded him. “No,” was the only answer he could find.
“Jack…”
He leaned across the console and pressed his lips to hers. It was a slow, soft, melancholy touch. “No. You’ll bring me back,” he said when he pulled back.
“What if I can’t?”
“You will. I trust you.”
“Jack.” He voice wavered, but she swallowed, and he saw her strength return. “At the house, before Daniel came, I wanted to tell you—“
“I know.”
She tilted her head. “Do you?”
Jack smiled. “Tell me later. When I get back.”*
*[]*[]*[]*[]*
“Sir! I thought you’d be getting some rest.”
Jack stared at her, absorbing the sight of Samantha Carter dressed in ribbed cotton pajama shorts and a tank top. She was the most beautiful – most enticing – arousing – woman he had ever seen. He didn’t even try to hide the fact that he appreciated the view, allowing his gaze to rest longer at the swell of her breasts and the way the cotton stretched over her nipples – remembering with perfect clarity just how she tasted – before he looked into her face again.
“I’ll rest. Later,” he finally said and took a deliberate step into the hall.
Sam stepped back, letting him in, and shut the door. “How are you feeling?”
“Great.” He turned on the balls of his feet to look at her. “I am great.”
“No more pain?”
“No.”
Dusky color stained her cheeks and spread across her bare shoulders, and the underlying currents in the air around them nearly sparked. If he didn’t touch her soon, he was going to implode.
“That’s good…”
“I did have something I needed to talk to you about.”
Sam pulled her lip through her teeth. “What, sir?”
“There are still… holes… that… well, I think there was something you wanted to tell me.”
Then he saw the shift in her expression, the change that told him she knew. It was all there… all laid out between them… and all she had to do…
They came together in a clash of need and remembrance and heat that sent Jack back into the hallway wall. The hanging pictures bounced with the force as he spun them around and sandwiched her body between him and the hard surface, devouring her mouth with his own.
His hands moved of their own free will, needing to reacquaint themselves with the curves and planes that they had learned so briefly and an eternity ago.
“God, I missed you, Jack,” Sam said against his lips as her fingers yanked at the hem of his sweatshirt.
When her hands touched his skin, Jack froze, the intense rush of heat that shot through him enough to suck the air from his lungs. But it lasted only a moment before he pressed his
face to her shoulder and pulled her sweet skin between his teeth.
Soft moans and sighs of pleasure filled the hall as Jack remembered with his touch everything that had been given to him, everything that he had wanted for so long. He slipped his hand into the loose shorts, and Sam cried out as his fingers sought out and found her heat. She bucked against him, her fingers digging into his skin.
He didn’t remember moving from the hall to the bedroom, only aware of touching her – tasting her. Only when Sam lay back on her bed, naked and unashamed, did Jack pause to absorb the moment. Holding her gaze, he pulled his sweatshirt off over his head and undid the button and zipper of his jeans.
Jack joined her on the bed, kissing her lips again as he found home between her thighs. He slipped into her heat, moaning as he rested his forehead against her shoulder.
“I love you, Jack,” Sam whispered across his ear.
*[]*[]*[]*[]*
“It is with great pride that my first order of business as commander of this base is the announcement of the promotion of Major Samantha Carter to Lieutenant Colonel.”
Jack tried to keep his grin under some kind of control as he saw first surprise, then happiness, light up Sam’s face. The room erupted in applause, and even from his position behind the podium, he saw the blush in her cheeks. Daniel told her to come up, but she hesitated.
“Come on,” Jack said softly, tipping his head for her to join him.
As Lieutenant Davis read the President’s declaration, and pinned the new insignia of Lieutenant Colonel to her shoulders, he had to force himself not to look in her eyes. Because at that moment, he could not have been more proud of the woman who had started out as a pain-in-the-ass scientist, grown to be a friend and one hell of a second in command, and now his lover. He knew that, if he looked at her, everyone in the room would know just how he felt.
Finally, as he lifted his right hand in salute and she did the same, their gazes met, and he let himself enjoy the moment.
“Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter,” he said, and watched the reserved smile play across her lips.
He figured he was in trouble later for keeping this little secret… but the glimmer in her eyes and the smile on her lips made it all worth it.
.
