One week later:

The assembled Generals watched the 302X twirl around the skies like kids at a fireworks display, only without the 'ooh'ing and 'ahh'ing, though some of them were probably making those noises internally.

Jack watched the ship pinwheel around from behind his shades impassively. The pilot was Major Paul Bailey, whom Jack had never met, but Sam, on one of their too-short phone conversations, had given him the thumbs up. Well, what she had actually said was that he was an arrogant little sod, but a damned good pilot. Jack had to agree. About the pilot part anyway, he reserved judgement on the arrogant little sod bit, although Sam's opinion made him already dislike the man on principle.

Bailey conducted another impressive manoeuvre, and beside Jack General Francis Maynard whistled under his breath.

"Quite a show, huh?" Maynard mumbled at him.

Jack nodded absentmindedly. Thoughts of Carter had distracted him, and he had taken his eyes off the fighter to scan the crowd for her familiar blonde head.

He couldn't see her. She must be around here somewhere, surely? He carefully inspected the group of geeks who seemed to have gathered around General Arthur for protection, but she wasn't there.

"Looking for something, Jack?" Maynard asked.

Jack turned his head to look at him. The older General was still following the 302 around the sky, but apparently had eyes in the side of his head. Jack filed the information away.

"Nope."

"Right," Maynard said skeptically.

Jack forced his mind off Carter and returned to watching the aircraft dance around, but every so often his eyes returned to skim the people present, looking for her.

"I don't think Colonel Carter's here yet," Maynard observed.

Jack turned bodily to look at him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sam was late.

One of the experiments in her lab had run away with her, and as a result the demonstration had started 20 minutes ago.

It didn't matter incredibly. The meet 'n' greet wasn't until after, but still, she hated being late.

She dashed along the corridor then up the small flight of stairs which would take her to the platform from which everybody was watching Major Bailey.

She got to the top of the stairs and stopped.

Jack was there.

Of course, logically she'd known that he would be, but that didn't stop something from running in small circles around her chest, periodically jumping up and down.

He wasn't watching the F302, but was staring rather intensely at the man standing next to him, who Sam recognised as General Maynard.

Her heart, oblivious to anybody else, ran out towards him and proceeded to kiss the living daylights out of him. Thankfully her legs were infinitely more sensible and took the rest of her towards General Arthur, who was standing at the other end of the platform.

He was surrounded by a plethora of civilian scientists, who seemed to be using him as a refuge from the scary General types.

"Sam!" He greeted her as she came to stand next him, grinning at her widely. When she'd first arrived he'd reminded her of Santa Claus: white-haired, rotund, jolly and welcoming with everybody.

He patted her on the back and she smiled at him, leaning against the railing at the front of the platform.

Ostensibly she was watching the 302, but out of the corner of her eye she was scanning the faces of the present Generals.

Jack she picked out easily, and Maynard standing beside him. She could see Vidrine, and Jumper, and someone she was fairly sure was General Schwartz. Colonel Emerson was there too, and she realised that she'd never seen him in his Class As before.

There was a man leant against the rail a little way down from her whose black uniform stood him out as a Naval Officer, against the blues of the Air Force and the green of the Army. Sam recognised him as Admiral Duckworth, current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Stood just behind him was a man whose insignia marked him as a Lieutenant-Commander, they were the only two representatives of the Navy present. The 302 shot forwards over their hands and Duckworth leant forward to follow its path as far as he could until it disappeared under the metal ceiling. Sam saw the Lieutenant-Commander jerk slightly, as if afraid that his superior was about to tumble over the railing. She smiled. Major Bailey brought the 302 back into their line of sight; Duckworth leant back, and his aide visibly relaxed, making Sam smile again.

The aircraft carried on away from them towards its hangar, and Sam realised that the demonstration was over.

"That's it for now, Gentlemen," called General Arthur as he made his way behind her and towards the other Officers. "If you'll follow me there are some refreshments available, you can relax, have a chat with some of our scientists. Major Bailey will be along to answer any questions as well."

Sam followed along with the other scientists, deliberately not looking towards Jack, who must surely have spotted her by now.

Down in the corridor under the sand the scientists picked up the pace, apparently about as eager to chat with the Generals as Jack would likely be about chatting to them. At any rate, they opened up a gap in front of Sam, who wasn't exactly dawdling, but wasn't in any rush either.

There were light footfalls behind her, then a foreign hand came to rest gently against the small of her back. Foreign, and yet utterly familiar.

"You were hiding from me," Jack accused.

She turned her head to look at him, finding him surprisingly close. "No, I wasn't."

"Where were you then?" He asked, eyes boring into her.

"I was late."

She dragged her eyes away from him, facing again towards the front. That hand pressing against her back was terribly distracting.

"Late, Carter?" He teased, "Didn't I teach you the value of time-keeping?"

She bit her bottom lip and smiled, "Apparently not."

They came to another flight of stairs which led them up into a sunlit conference room, large windows on three sides revealing the empty sand and blue sky of Nevada. The large table which usually occupied the centre of the room had been pushed back against a wall and was covered in an assortment of buffet items; small sandwiches and the like. The rest of the scientists already there had gathered at one end of the room.

Jack used his hand to move her forward as people started coming up the stairs behind them. Remaining somewhere near the top, Jack beside her, she turned to look at the people coming up, inspecting them in more detail than she'd been able to earlier. Those she'd meet before nodded at her, apart from Arthur who grinned at them both broadly, and Paul Emerson who gave her a friendly smile.

The last one up the stairs was Maynard, who looked at the pair of them then said "Found her, did you Jack?", glancing down at Jack's arm which disappeared behind her back.

Sam blinked in surprise, while Jack narrowed his eyes at the other General, who ignored him and carried on towards the buffet table.

She looked at Jack accusingly.

"I didn't say anything, I swear," he said, "the man's got ESP or somethin'"

She maintained the look, though more for entertainment than anything else. She doubted that Jack'd said anything, and Maynard hadn't gotten to where he was by being an idiot.

"I want food." Stated Jack grumpily, headed away from her towards the table. He got five paces then turned. "You comin'?"

She came forward to catch up with him, placing her hand subtly on the bottom of his arm as a peace-offering. He looked her affectionately in the eye, then led her towards the sandwiches.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Major Bailey wasn't as big of an ass as Sam had made him out to be, although he was still an idiot, and Jack suspected that the man was holding back on account of the company he was in. After all he wasn't stupid, and you could say and do things in front of scientists which you wouldn't dare to in front of top brass. He must have know that Sam was a Lieutenant-Colonel, but apparently that hadn't saved her from the umbrella of geek-dom.

The Major did however look at Sam in a manner which made Jack uncomfortable, and caused a feeling in him which reminded him of the first time they had gone to the Land of Light, and after, when he had attempted to punch Daniel's lights out in the Control Room. Luckily for Bailey, Jack had his hormones under slightly better control this time, and he refrained from leaping across the room to smack the man when his eyes wandered further south than Jack was comfortable with. Didn't mean he didn't want to though.

Sam had stayed close to him throughout the morning, and he was fairly sure that any pretence at a platonic relationship was shot to pieces. Friends weren't generally glued at the hip, they separated occasionally. He had left her once to go to the bathroom, but that was the only time they had spent apart.

He had pointedly ignored Maynard's smirk, which had only grown as time had gone on.

She had been introduced to Duckworth, who had been suitably impressed, and had glanced between them in such a way that convinced Jack that the Admiral, too, had cottoned on.

Eventually, after lunch, and a short presentation on the new specs of the 302, the assembled officals had made to depart.

Jack turned to Sam, "Wanna show me your lab?"

"You're not going?" She looked confused.

He shook his head at her, "Uh-uh. These lot are going back to D.C., I'm going to hop across to the SGC, poke my nose around, maybe annoy Daniel.

"So when are you leaving?"

He glanced down at his watch, "Well," he said, "technically the plane leaves when I do, not the other way around. Should leave at 1700 tops."

It was 1200.

She swallowed, "Five hours?"

He nodded. She simply stared at him.

He jerked his thumb in the direction of the departing Generals, "I'm gonna go say bye, okay."

She nodded at him dumbly.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Five hours?

Her tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth, suddenly dry.

Oh God.

This, she hadn't anticipated. Frankly if she'd gotten a kiss from him before he left she'd have been happy. Five hours left scope for a whole lot more than kissing.

Just to reiterate: Oh God.

She watched him talking to the group of Officers as they prepared to depart, suddenly super-aware of every movement of his body.

He finished, and came back towards her with General Arthur beside him.

"So," started Arthur when they'd reached her, "I'm told General O'Neill will be staying with us a bit longer."

Sam nodded, "Yes, Sir." She managed to get out.

"Excellent," the General said, "I'll leave him in your capable hands, shall I?"

Sam nodded again, but couldn't bring herself to say anything. The image which his words had created had left her unable to speak.

Arthur clapped his hand onto Jack's back, "If I don't see you before you leave, I hope you'll come back soon," he told him.

Jack smiled, "No doubt."

Two sets of eyes followed the older man out the room, then snapped back to look at each other.

"So," Jack started in an innocent voice which did nothing to fool her, "where first?"

She looked into his eyes, catching the heat which lingered there and flowed into her own body. She turned on her heel and headed for the door, confident that he'd be close behind.

He followed her as she led him along corridors and through checkpoints, finally entering the accommodation block.

As they approached her quarters she faltered slightly. Jack's hand appeared in the small of her back again, and he leaned forward to whisper "Don't stop now," in her ear.

She didn't, although an army of butterflies seemed to have set up camp in her stomach.

Fiddling with the keys and entering her rooms, she only turned to look at him when she heard him shut and lock the door behind them.

He looked at her, his body swathed in blue, and her stomach tightened.

He reached up and unbuttoned his jacket, pulling it off and hanging it on the hook by the door.

She did the same with the lab coat she'd been wearing. Having nowhere to hang it, she threw it over the back of the couch.

He approached her slowly, reaching out when he got close enough to tug her into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his back, burying her nose in his neck, as he did the same to her.

"You ready for this?" He asked her.

She smiled against his neck, "I've been ready for this for years." It was the truth, and no amount of butterflies was going to make her say different.

He pulled back to look at her, and brushed his thumb along her cheekbone. She closed her eyes, leaning in to the touch.

He exhaled and she felt the air sweep along her face. She moved to rest her forehead against his, and opened her eyes again.

He was staring down at her, his eyes a darker brown than she'd ever seen them, and she felt his fingertips caress the side of her neck, making her shiver in anticipation.

He briefly gave a sly smile, and held her gaze as he lowered his lips to hers.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

An indeterminate amount of time later:

Her bed wasn't really made for two people, but as she lay snuggled up against Jack's chest she was finding it hard to complain about the cramped conditions. She stroked her thumb absentmindedly across his sternum, and simply breathed in the scent of him.

His right hand lifted from its place against her hip, moving up to trail soft fingertips down her upper arms. "You okay?" he asked her.

She smiled against his chest. Was he afraid that she would decide that once was enough? That she'd decided that one roll in the hay was enough to get him out of her system?

Because the truth was quite the opposite. She felt closer to him than ever, and a frivolous side of her was seriously considering tying him to the bed to stop him leaving.

She kissed the patch of skin next to her mouth and felt his breath hitch slightly.

She lifted her head up and rested the bottom of her chin against his chest, looking up at him. "Performance anxiety?" she teased.

He regarded her seriously, intense brown eyes looking through her brain and into her soul. Then he relaxed, and a crooked smile broke out on his face. "Should I be?"

She moved herself up his body slightly and leant in to kiss him, "Oh, I'd say you passed."

He broke his lips away from hers, "Passed?" he asked. He abruptly flipped her over, pulling her immediately under him so she didn't fall off the side of the bed.

He leaned his body into her and started pressing butterfly kisses along her neck, "As in, barely scraped through?"

Sam's arms wrapped around his shoulders and he lifted his head to nuzzle his nose under her ear, "Average?" he continued, "A 'C' grade?"

Sam was finding it difficult to come up with a reply. "A 'B', at least," she ground out.

"Mmm," he said, making her body vibrate, "how generous."

She swallowed. "Well," she told him, "you know what they say..."

She felt him smile against her skin. He lifted his head to her lips to kiss her deeply. "Practice makes perfect," he said, finishing off her thought.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It was 1600.

"I should go," he told her.

Head tucked under his chin, she murmured sleepily. He leant his head down to kiss her blonde hair lightly then slid out from under her.

Her hands stroked along his skin as he moved away from her, keeping contact until the last possible second. He retrieved his boxers from next to the bed and pulled them on, before moving across the bedroom to pick his trousers up from off the floor.

He turned to look at her. She was stretched along the bed, bottom half hidden under a sheet and blue eyes watching him sleepily. She looked rumpled, dishevelled, and utterly appealing. Playboy, he decided, had nothing on Sam Carter. And she was in his bed, metaphorically speaking.

He rammed the trousers on harder than was necessary.

Glancing briefly around the room, he realised his shirt wasn't present, and moved through the door back into the main room, eventually finding both it and his tie on different areas of the floor, along with various articles of Sam's clothing which he didn't dwell on, lest he storm back into her bedroom, damn the helicopter waiting for him. Speaking of which...

He removed his cell phone from his jacket by the door and dialled a number while forcing one his arms through the sleeve of his shirt.

"Lieutenant, it's General O'Neill ... Yeah, I'll be there soon. 'Bout twenty minutes."

He snapped the phone shut and dropped it on Sam's dining table, pushing his other arm into his shirt.

A noise made him look up, and he found Sam exiting her her room, a white terry-cloth robe wrapped absently around her body. Her hair was still ruffled, and he clamped down on the urge to call Lieutenant Carpenter and tell him that he was going to be late.

She came forward to lean against the back of her sofa, watching him as he did his buttons up, shoving them into their respective holes with more force than finesse.

Damn, he wished he didn't have to go. He wanted to spend at least the next week in bed with her. But no, he had to be an important General, didn't he? Places to go, people to see. He couldn't wait until their honeymoon so he could -

He stopped thinking abruptly, pausing with his tie halfway over his head.

Honeymoon?

Had he really just thought that?

His stomach started to churn nervously.

"Are you okay?"

He snapped his eyes to Sam, "Huh?"

She glanced up at the tie still stretched above his head, concern in her eyes.

He looked up at the tie, then brought it down behind his neck, "Yeah, fine. I, er... 'S nothin'"

He straightened the tie out and flipped one side over the other, looking down at the strip of material.

As he moved on to the knot he realised his hands were shaking slightly. Marriage? He fumbled the knot.

Sam's hands appeared in the edge of his vision and she grasped the ends of the tie, pulling it gently out of his hands. He let her take it, and watched as she starting knotting it again.

"You sure you're okay?"

He glanced back up at her. She was looking at his tie, but he could feel all her focus on him.

"Yeah," he told her, forcing himself to calm down, "Just... had a thought, that's all."

She glanced up at him briefly, "Must have been some thought."

"Yeah," he said truthfully, "It was."

Now the thought had grabbed hold of him he wanted to ask her now. Wasn't really the right time though, and he held back.

A ring. He needed a ring. His mind spun immediately to the last ring she'd been offered, the one he'd only really seen once. He pushed the image out of his mind.

She's not with him any more.

No, she was with him, and he needed his own ring. Something special.

Abruptly he realised that she'd finished with his tie, and was now stood in front of him, palms resting on his chest.

"I, erm, I'll call you."

She smiled and nodded.

"You free Monday night?" he asked her.

She nodded again, "I am if you are."

"Cool. Usual time?"

"Yeah."

"So, I should..." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the door. Then he turned and grabbed his jacket from the hook it was resting on, pulling it on.

He fastened the buttons on the front and looked back at her, "I, er..."

He gave up talking as a bad job and stepped forward to kiss her, resting his hands on her shoulders.

Her hands came up to grip at his jacket, and he deepened the kiss lovingly. There was no time for lust, but he poured as much emotion into the kiss as he could, feeling her return it in equal measure.

They broke away, breathing slightly heavier, and rested their foreheads together.

He moved one of his hands up to cup her jaw gently, looking down into her eyes, "I love you."

Her jaw tightened under his fingers, and her eyes darkened, emotion swirling within them.

She swallowed and moved one of her own hands up to his neck. "I love you, too."

Jack exhaled shakily, his body tingling. "Good." He frowned, "Er, I mean..."

She smiled at him and he stopped. "You know what I mean."

She bit her bottom lip and nodded. He simply stared at her.

"You should go," she told him softly.

"Right." He backed up from her reluctantly. "I'll speak to you soon." He turned away and took the couple of steps to the door.

"Jack?"

He took his hand off the door handle and looked back at her. She was standing a step away from where he'd left her, holding his cell phone up, waving it around slightly.

"Oh."

"Looking for an excuse to come back?" she asked teasingly.

"I need an excuse?"

She shook her head, "Never."

He smiled. "Then I'll take it with me."

She held it out and he took it carefully. "Thanks. Bye."

"Bye."

He turned back to the door, finally leaving.

He strolled down the corridor outside with only one thought on his mind.

Ring.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sam collapsed on her sofa and stared at the ceiling.

Oh, God.