"Ben's birthday is on Thursday," Sam said as Jack trailed a finger down her bare arm.

"You've been thinking about Ben's birthday?" he asked incredulously.

"Not for the last several hours, no, but generally, yes," she said and smoothed his ruffled feathers by trailing a hand across his chest and reveling in the feel of his chest hair against her palm. She was right all that time ago in California – it was soft. She turned her body into his snugging her body up against him.

He situated them so that she was resting her head on one shoulder and had one thigh thrown over his. "What are you thinking?"

"Cake, ice cream, presents..."

"Maybe at my place?"

"For the telescope," she remembered Ben's request, "yeah."

"What are you going to get him?"

"He made a list," she said offhandedly. She actually hadn't had to try to get too awfully creative. The kid knew exactly what he wanted and he wasn't going overboard with his requests so she figured why not?

"What do you think I should get him?"

"You don't have to-"

"Sam, please," he said with exasperation.

"I don't know..."

"How about a telescope of his own?"

"I kind of like having the excuse to go to your place. I like it there," she said, feeling shy about the admission. "I always have."

"Well, it's not like it'll be as powerful as mine, we'd still have an excuse to spend some time over there."

She was a little sad at the idea that if they were going to be together they were going to have to do it at her house. Because she really did love his house. And she knew he loved it too. Not that he wouldn't go home sometimes, but she hoped he wouldn't go home quite a bit, too. She was torn.

"Whatcha thinkin' about?"

"Your house."

"Why?"

"You love that house."

"Yeah," he said slowly, encouraging her to continue.

"But I hope you want to be here, too."

He squeezed his arm around her, "Of course I do."

"But you'll want to be there, too."

"Carter," he said sharply, reminding her quite a bit of the man he'd been when he was her commanding officer, "what's this about?"

She rubbed a circle on his chest and he reached up and covered her hand with his own to still her movements. She looked up at his face to find an eyebrow raised at her in question. "I just... I really like your house and I know you do too and I don't want you to regret not being there because you're here with me."

He blew out a breath she could tell he'd been holding, waiting for the worst. Then, he chuckled. "It's just a house, Sam."

"It's not just a house. It's your home."

"Yeah, maybe it is," he said pragmatically, "but I enjoy being here with you, too. I can go home whenever I want. This thing with you is new enough that I would rather be here with you. Honestly, I'm not even sure it's a newness thing. I'd probably always want to be here with you."

"Well, I'd rather be at your house," she said huffily. "You've got better property."

"At the risk of thinking too far into the future," he started slowly, "if you're so dead set on my house, why don't we just add on to it?"

She pushed up off him and sat up. The sheets fell away from her skin and she watched as his eyes drifted down to her chest. She rolled her eyes and cleared her throat. He looked back up at her sheepishly. "You'd do that?"

"Well, yeah," he said, shrugging as best he could considering he was still lying down.

She knew she was beaming, but that solved everything, in her head at least. He looked a little bewildered and she was sure it was because he didn't think it would be so easy to assuage whatever it was she was feeling. She leaned down and kissed him. "Thank you. I mean, we're talking about the future here, but that makes me feel a lot better."

"You do realize you just told me you want to live together," he said with a grin and then poked her in the ribs.

"In the future," she qualified. "If this works out."

"We've been together a minute and half and you've already thought about it," he teased.

She crossed her arms under her breasts, drawing his attention again, but she continued, "Oh, and you haven't?"

"Sam," he said, suddenly serious, "I've been thinking about it for years." He grabbed her arm and pulled her down, sprawled across him. "Now, I believe it's my turn to be in charge again..."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Ben's birthday went off without a hitch. The boy seemed to enjoy the cookout and subsequent stargazing. Sam had found herself, mid afternoon, standing in the backyard contemplating an expansion and, when caught by Jack, blushed thoroughly when he'd said "See? Plenty of room."

"Hawthorne sprained his ankle," Jack said idly that night while the kids were taking turns looking through the telescope.

"Um... I'm sorry to hear that?"

He chuckled. "That means SG-1 is on downtime for a few days, then off the mission rotation until he's better."

"Okay."

He nudged her in the ribs with his elbow. "So... you wanna do something tomorrow?"

"I have the day off so I can get the kids registered for school," she reminded him.

"That's not going to take all day."

"I have no idea how long it's going to take," she said.

"An hour? At most, assuming you've got all their paperwork."

"Oh."

"So, yeah, you wanna do something tomorrow?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know, something normal. Like take the kids to the movies."

"They just went to a camp where they saw a movie every day."

He frowned adorably. "Okay, then something else."

"We could take them to Denver. Go to the zoo?"

"Yeah," he said with a nod of his head. "The zoo."

"Don't you think we should ask them if they want to go?" she said, a smile on her lips.

"C'mon, Sam, what kid wouldn't want to go to the zoo," he said loudly enough to be overheard by the kids.

"The zoo?" Hannah perked up.

"Really?" asked Ben.

"So I take it that's a yes to the zoo?" Sam asked.

"Yes!" both children cried.

"Okay then, the zoo it is," Jack said.

As she settled back to watch the kids look through the telescope and chatter about the upcoming zoo trip, she realized how much her life had changed over the course of one summer. She'd really thought she was perfectly happy with her life, and really, she had been. She had a job she loved and a life that really suited her. Sure, it had hurt to have to put off her personal life because the man she loved was out of her reach, but it was a small price to pay to get to step through the Stargate each week.

But then, then she'd been forced into the roll of caregiver and she realized that, while she had been happy, there were other kinds of happiness out there, too. That maybe she shouldn't have been so quick to judge her brother's life as too simple to keep her interested. Having the kids had been anything but simple, and that was even without taking into account their emotional states. She couldn't say she wouldn't change it for the world, because she'd rather her brother had lived and gotten to raise his own children, but she had no regrets about taking the children when it became necessary, absolutely none.

She'd thought she might regret the decision when stepping through the Stargate became something she didn't do. But the truth was, there was still plenty on base to keep her occupied. And there was the thought that she might go offworld again one day. Maybe, even, on a front line team in ten years once the children were older and on their own. She'd still be young enough, and if Jack could do it...

And then there was Jack, getting to start a relationship with him was the icing on the cake of her new life. She'd thought they'd missed their chance, and before that she thought they were years away from even having a chance. But in the end, she'd only had to wait seven years, because the truth was, she'd known from the moment she met him that she was going to have a problem. And then, as she'd gotten to know him, it just became more and more clear to her that she was going to fall for him, and fall for him hard.

By the time they'd had to admit to their feelings out loud, she was past the point of no return. And then, as the years passed and they'd had to bottle up how they felt... it was true she'd never stopped loving him. She'd just sublimated all her desires until she was only a sliver of the person she'd been when she'd loved him wholly. Nothing but the Stargate had held the same appeal to her once she'd started stuffing the way she felt about him into a box. And the Stargate held its appeal not just because it was what it was, but also because it was what let her continue to relate to him in some way.

"Penny for your thoughts," he broke into her reverie.

"Just thinking about how much has changed. And," she turned and looked into his eyes, "how much I love you." She held her breath for a moment because they hadn't said it yet, and while it was true, and had been true for a long time, maybe it was too soon to say it.

He kissed her. Then he trailed his lips across her cheekbone to her ear and said, "I love you, too," in a tone of voice that made her shiver with desire.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

When they got back to her house after the trip the zoo, there was a message waiting on her answering machine. There'd been an offer on her brother and Angie's house. It was a good offer. The real estate agent had suggested she take it when she called back. Sam promised to think it over and call back that evening.

Her brother's life insurance had paid off the mortgage and the house was worth much more than he'd bought it for ten years previous so she found that she was sitting on quite the nest egg. She could put it away for the kids' college and then that was one less thing to worry about.

She mulled over what it meant to be selling the house, though, and what it might mean to the kids. That was the only house they'd ever known, even if her brother and Angie had lived in a tiny little apartment when they'd first had Hannah. They were settling in with her nicely, but she wondered if the selling of the house would be just one thing too many.

So she sat them down that evening, Jack at her side, to tell them that someone had made an offer on the house. Hannah seemed relatively okay, if a little quiet about the idea of the house being sold, but Ben didn't quite understand. "Does that mean we can't go back and visit."

"It'll be someone else's house now, so no," Sam said.

"Oh. Well, can we go one more time?"

Sam shook her head slowly, "I'm afraid not. If we accept this offer things will move quickly and you guys will be at the beginning of a new school year. There won't be time."

"What about the rest of mom and dad's stuff?" Hannah wanted to know.

"We've brought all the sentimental stuff with us. The rest will be sold in something called an estate sale."

"But what if there's something we want?"

"You just need to speak up," Sam assured her. "We can have things shipped here."

"I want mom's jewelry box."

"Okay," Sam said. That seemed reasonable to her. "Anything else?"

Hannah shook her head after a long moment of thinking.

"Ben?" Sam asked

Ben just shook his head, too.

"So you two are okay with this?"

"What if we say no?" Hannah wanted to know.

"Then we keep talking about it."

"But the house has to be sold?"

"Yes," Sam said and kept her voice firm rather than injecting the sympathy into it that she desperately wanted to. Next to her, Jack put his hand on the small of her back and rubbed small circles of support.

"Then I guess it's okay," Hannah finally said.

"Ben?" Sam asked.

"Okay."

"Okay, then. I'll call the Realtor back."

So Sam did, while her family sat there and watched her. The Realtor promised to fax the contract and explained that the property closing would be done by overnight mail and that was that.

Jack sent the kids off to play while the two of them cooked dinner.

"Are you okay with selling the house?" Jack asked her.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know," he said as if he had a litany of reasons she might not be okay.

"I'm okay, Jack." She said making sure to give him an honest, reassuring smile.

He smiled at her, reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and went back to chopping vegetables for a mixed vegetable medley.

"So, school starts on Monday, we've got to go shopping this weekend." She looked at Jack only to see him grimace. "Don't worry, I wasn't going to ask you to come."

"I would if you needed me to," he defended.

"That's very sweet," she said, "but unnecessary."

"Thank god."

She giggled. He threw her a smile and seemed to be unable to resist the urge to press a kiss to her lips. "Today was a good day," he said his lips still close enough to brush hers as he spoke.

And it had been. They'd gone to the school first thing, registered the children, and he was right – it had taken less than an hour to get them enrolled and get their supply lists from the administrative secretary. Then they'd made the hour drive up to Denver and spent the rest of the morning and the early afternoon watching the kids squeal with excitement over each new exhibit. Then, they'd come home, together, and were spending an evening as a family.

And, she felt it in her gut, a new sense of possessiveness now that the California house was being sold. Like it was the last vestige of the hold that California had over the kids and finally that tie had been severed. It was almost like they were wholly hers now, though they had been as soon as the judge had made his decree all those weeks ago. She couldn't explain why the selling of the house made such a big difference inside her, but it did. It made everything seem so much more permanent.

When dinner was ready, the four of them sat down together and she watched as Jack and the kids talked and laughed and teased and she realized that they hadn't just spent the day like a family they were a family that Jack was quickly becoming a part of. Maybe he'd been a part all along since he'd shown up in California with her father and insinuated himself as the rock she'd needed even before she'd realized she was going to need a rock.

"Aunt Sam, pass the potatoes, please," Hannah said, shaking Sam from her thoughts.

"What's that smile for?" Jack wanted to know.

"Nothing," she said and gave him a reassuring smile.

"You don't smile about nothing," Hannah said helpfully. "You smile about something."

"Well, I was just thinking, that's all."

"About what?" Ben asked.

"About family."

Jack gave her a soft smile and his eyes, his deep brown eyes, twinkled at her.

"Hey Uncle Jack," Ben said loudly to Sam's ears, "would you pass the chicken?"

And Sam, despite everything that still had to be navigated, decided not to correct him.

~The End~