Title: Resolution

Although Jack was delighted that they were going to bring their relationship out into the open and into the light of day, he didn't expect either one to start quite so quickly. Well, the light part he did. It was morning after all; and it was Colorado, where the sun shown 320 days a year and the skies were always a clear azure blue from the altitude. He'd woken up with Sam missing, and then smelled the coffee whose perking located her in the kitchen, and headed into the shower. Afterward, he'd thrown on his jeans and a tee, but couldn't find his shoes. Barefoot, and still drying his hair with a towel, he headed down the staircase to the main floor. That's when the open part had started.

"Sam, have you seen my sand-- uhhh."

He stopped cold, two steps down, staring at the front door where Daniel, Teal'c and Mitchell were all staring back at him, dumbfounded.

"Jack."

"O'Neill."

"Sir." Mitchell saluted.

Well, at least that he could do something about. "At ease, Colonel."

He looked apologetically at Sam. "Sorry. In the shower. Didn't hear the door."

She shrugged. "In the living room."

"What?"

"Your sandals are in the living room where you left them last night."

"Oh. Thanks."

He hadn't heard that kind of silence in a very long time.

Daniel finally recovered. "This had damn well better be what it looks like, or I'm throwing you both in the bedroom and locking the door until you finally get it figured out."

"Indeed."

Jack felt the need to defend himself. "Hey, I'm not that slow."

"Nine years is quick?"

OK, Daniel had a point. He'd forgotten how irritating Daniel could be when he had a point. He changed the subject. "What are you doing here? It's 9 am on a Sunday morning, for crying out loud."

Mitchell coughed but stepped up to the plate. He had to give the man credit. "That would be my fault, sir. Daniel and Teal'c weren't convinced, but I finally persuaded them to come with me to see if we could convince Sa--uhh-- the Colonel to change her mind about staying permanently with SG1. I can see now that that was presumptuous. With your permission, we'll head out now."

Jack put the towel down around his shoulders and rubbed his eyes. "Ah, jeez, Mitchell, I haven't even had coffee yet."

When he looked up again, Sam was grinning. He stared at her suspiciously. "You're enjoying this."

She shrugged her shoulders and volunteered a peace offering of sorts. "There's a full pot of coffee in the kitchen, and lots… lots and lots… of cups."

He sighed and gave in. "Whatever, Carter." When Daniel, Teal'c and Mitchell stayed where they were, still staring at him, he waved them away after her as she headed toward the kitchen.

"Go. I learned a long time ago not to argue with her when she's decided to make up my mind for me." He headed towards the living room where he hoped to recover his sandals, and maybe, just maybe, the last shreds of his dignity.

When he finally made his way to the kitchen, he found them all seated around the table, cups in hand. The silence that settled when he entered was impressive, even by his standards.

Daniel coughed. "So, Jack, how's D.C.?"

"Just swell." He sighed in relief as Sam handed him a coffee cup. He gulped down nearly half of the liquid, trying to wake up.

Daniel looked highly amused. "OK, enough small talk. So-- I'm curious. Just how long has this been going on?"

"Oh for crying out loud, Daniel, it's none of your--"

"Jack." Sam interrupted him. "You did plan on telling them some time, right?"

He realized that her tone sounded slightly hurt.

Hell. Of course she'd want to tell them first. They were the closest thing she had, they both had, to family.

He winced and apologized. "Sorry."

He turned to Daniel. "Sam and I decided to … explore our options just after you took out Anubis." There. That sounded sufficiently dignified.

Daniel grinned. "I see. So… that's why your move to D.C. and Sam's to 51. You could have told us, you know."

"I'm not done yet, Daniel."

Daniel ignored him. "Sorry. So, to summarize to this point, just so we're all clear here, you finally started sleeping together about six weeks ago, kept it quiet, but arranged it so you weren't breaking the regs and in the meantime confused all of your friends and colleagues, who consequently started questioning both of your sanities as well as their own. I think I have it so far. Go on."

He was gonna shoot Daniel one of these days, he really was.

Sam broke in. "Quit baiting him, Daniel. He'll be like a bear with a sore paw the rest of the day."

Jack stared at her, distracted from Daniel's damned presumption, which he realized was probably what she intended. He defended himself. "I never act like a bear with a sore paw."

Daniel broke in, diverted as well. "Oh yeah, sure. What about P3X787?"

"As well as P3X585." That from Teal'c.

Jack looked at Teal'c, annoyed. "You're not helping."

Teal'c raised his eyebrow, unrepentant. "There was also P3X975."

He surrendered, mostly because of Mitchell's amused grin, which he ultimately decided was bad for maintaining the command structure. There was just so much information he wanted let out. Besides, the conversation was getting embarrassing.

He changed tactics. "OK, so I growl occasionally. Sue me. To continue, it wasn't until last night that she agreed to marry me."

Hah. That shut them up. Well, to be accurate, it shut up Daniel and Teal'c. Mitchell looked slightly stunned again, then recovered almost immediately. Sam just smiled at him happily.

He decided the conversation was worth it.

"Congratulations, sir. Sam, I'm happy for you." Mitchell turned to Daniel and Teal'c, who were still gawking at Jack. As a slightly awkward silence settled, Mitchell tried to fill the gap. "Daniel, Teal'c, maybe we should… uhh… head back to base or something." Mitchell turned back to Jack. "I'm sure you have a lot to talk about, sir, and I'm very sorry we interrupted your morning."

Jack looked at him and realized Mitchell was partially right. Personally, he'd give his proverbial right arm to just spend today alone with Sam and bask in the glow of what was, is, and could be. But when he looked at Sam and saw her smile dim when there was still no response from Daniel or Teal'c, he knew that wasn't an option.

"It's alright, Mitchell. They'll recover soon enough. And anyway, I want to gloat. I haven't one-upped Daniel in ... oh… six weeks or so. And Teal'c, well, I don't think I've ever seen him quite so… uhh… Teal'c-like. It's kinda nice to know I can still have an effect."

That broke the dam. The somewhat wild and erratic conversation that followed led from congratulations, to questions about weddings, to, eventually, work and the SGC.

He sat back, and then pulled back quietly, watching Sam talk with Daniel, Teal'c and Mitchell, assessing the interaction between the four of them as they gave him update after update of what he'd missed.

And decided it was right. And it would be all right. As much as he secretly might want her safely playing with doohickeys at Area 51, she was needed on the front, and she wasn't ready to pull back from the main action yet. She'd miss it, even though she'd never tell him that. And he couldn't let that happen.

And, on another note, god only knew what might really might happen if she wasn't there on the front to pull all of their collective asses out of the fire, given the current situation with the Ori. She was Carter, after all.

Yep, and being Carter, if she did stay away, and then could have solved something that went bad, or even thought she could and hadn't been there, she'd regret it for the rest of her life. And he didn't want that, no matter how dangerous the situation might get, or how crazy every chance she took had made him in the past and was sure to make him in the future. He wanted no regrets for either of them. Not any. Not ever.

He looked consideringly at Mitchell, who was really the unknown in the equation. The man spent too much time actually acknowledging that he was listening to Daniel's diatribes, derivations and explanations for his taste, and he actually seemed to want to understand what Carter was saying. Unbelievable.

He smiled at that. The problem for him had always been that Carter did get through to him eventually on a scientific level. She was a great teacher; and, whether he admitted it or not, he did have the background to understand her. He'd never admitted it and never would; although he suspected she knew.

He shook his head and got back to the point. Mitchell was actually asking her to explain something in detail. He was in for trouble; as Jack knew from experience, just a little encouragement went a long way. But that was Mitchell's problem, not his.

The fact of the matter was, that whatever differences from his experiences, the four of them did seem to be gelling into some sort of team that just might make an impact. And the SGC needed that; hell, Earth needed that.

He sighed, annoyed. And once again, it was probably true that the galaxy needed that. And as the Air Force General in charge of Homeworld Security, he sure as hell needed them all.

He watched with some interest as Mitchell noticed his silence, unused to his moods like the rest of them. Mitchell tried to pull some semblance of order back into to the conversation, to subdue Daniel and Sam, as much as that was humanly possible, and to include Teal'c as they talked.

"General, what's your opinion?" Mitchell looked at him questioningly, trying to draw him, admittedly unknowingly, unwillingly back into the conversation at hand.

"On what?" He decided not to make it easy.

Mitchell was taken aback. "Uhh.. I just... I'm sorry, sir. That was out of line."

Daniel broke in. "Damn it, Jack, have you heard a word we've said in the last ten minutes about the situation out there?"

"Nope. Not really. Sorry."

Well, hell, it was sort of honest, and it did shut them up.

He gave them a bone. "But I did notice that Mitchell puts up with a lot more scientific, archaeological, and political drivel than I ever could. And he could use some training in 'bear'. "

He smiled as he watched them each react in their own unique ways to that sort of challenge.

And then he heard the doorbell ring. Perfect timing.

"You know, Sam, I think I'll get that. I'm getting used to the place."

And with that, he got up and left the room.

As he predicted, Hank Landry was standing on the doorstep.

"Jack." Landry's voice was stunned.

Jack decided that "stunned" was a reaction that he was getting used to, and to be perfectly honest, the whole business was getting a little dull.

"Yeah, that'd be me. Good to see you again, Hank."

Landry stopped short and then took a deep breath. "I should have figured it out. I'm sorry, Jack."

"Why, for crying out loud? And, jeez, will you come in? The neighbors are going to start to wonder."

"I—yes, thank you." Landry entered the house, still stunned.

Okay, Jack had to admit that, on second thought, maybe it wasn't all that dull, in fact maybe it was kinda fun, in a weird sort of way, of course, to "stun" your lover, colleagues and subordinates to the point where they were unable to function.

Okay, so yeah. He was not necessarily the solidest block in the construction, but he did have his moments.

"I should have known you were the reason she refused the reassignment."

"Really? Because if that's true, you knew more than I did, Hank."

"Are you serious?"

Jack smiled. "Yep. But it's all fine now. And I do appreciate your cluing me into ... uhh, things. It did help a lot."

"Jack?"

He smiled. "You know, I think we should rejoin the gang." He gestured toward the kitchen, amused at the idea of playing host. It was a role he intended to get used to.

"There's a gang?" Hank still hadn't recovered. Jack was getting more and more amused. He'd been through too many situations in the past with Landry for him not to remember Hank's seemingly unflappable persona, no matter what was happening.

"There's coffee, " he said encouragingly.

When Hank looked at him like he'd lost his mind, he grinned.

"Yep, just coffee right now. I'm sorry that there's no cake, precisely, ready for general consumption. We're working on it. But on the other hand, there are lots and lots of personal, local, national, and galactic news updates. "

He grinned again. "Coffee, Sunday morning, good friends and the news; the classic American activity, with all of its general confusion and possibilities. Doesn't get much better than that."

Hank smiled. "No, it doesn't. "

"Then let me show you the way."

End.

Copyright © 2005 sam938