Sam appeared in her living room with a small sigh. "Cass?"

There was no response, and Sam walked to her bedroom. Cassandra was probably was in class. She'd see her later.

The phone rang, and Sam reached for it. "Carter."

"Sam, it's me." Jack greeted.

"Hi, Jack." She said with a small smile.

"You told Cassie yet?"

"No, I just got home."

"Oh."

"What about you? Are you home yet?"

"Yeah. I have a meeting in a half-hour."

"You should get ready for your meeting."

"I'm all ready. Finished typing my report last night at the base."

Sam sighed. "I miss you."

"I miss you too."

"How is this going to work?" She asked after a moment's hesitation. "I mean, we have a new enemy on the horizon, and so, I'm not going to be the only one taking on a new role. I'm sure you'll have new meetings to attend and leaders to brief..."

"It's gonna work, Sam." He interrupted.

"How?" She repeated.

"I don't know." He admitted. "But it's going to. I promise you that much."

Sam heard the front door open, and she bit her lip. "Jack, I think Cassie's home."

"Okay. Call me later?"

"I'll try."

"Want me to call after work?"

"That would probably be best." She admitted. "I'm going to talk to Cassie, and then I'm going to start packing everything up."

"Let the movers do that. Enjoy your time with Cassandra and finish up your projects at Area 51."

She sighed. "Jack..."

"The Air Force is moving you, Sam, now enjoy it. That's an order."

She managed a small half-smile. "Okay, Jack. I will."

"Come hell or high-water, I'll be there this weekend, Sam," he said, seriously.

"I know you will."

"Maybe we can keep talking about this then?"

"That would be a good idea." She admitted.

"Then it's a plan. Now, go talk to Cassie."

"I love you."

"Love you too."

She hung up the phone as two arms flung themselves around her. "SAM!"

Sam smiled as she returned the hug from the energetic young woman. "Hi, Cass."

"What's wrong?" Cassie asked, noticing the look on Sam's face.

She inhaled. "I'm being reassigned."

"Reassigned? Where? Back to the SGC?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Forever?"

"Until the next transfer, yes." She said, nodding.

Cassie sighed softly. "Oh."

Sam wrapped an arm around the younger woman comfortingly. "I'm going to miss you, Cass."

"I'm going to miss you too."

Sam looked over. "You're going to be fine."

Cassie bit the insides of her cheek before she nodded. "I know...but I'm still going to miss you."

"I'm going to miss you too," she murmured as she rested her cheek against the top of Cassandra's head.

"I can still come and visit you on the weekends sometimes, right?"

"Always." Sam said seriously. "You're always welcome at my house. Holidays, weekends, anytime."

"What about you and Jack?"

Sam sighed before she managed a brave smile. "That's...what we're going to figure out this weekend."

"He loves you, Sam. He has for a long time now."

"I know, Cass." Sam said, softly.

"Don't let him go, Sam."

Sam looked over at the younger woman, trying to offer her a reassuring smile as her thoughts traveled lightyears away.

-

The knock on the door caused Sam to look up from her laptop and glass of wine. It was Friday night, so that was probably Jack, she thought to herself as she stood and walked over to the door.

Sure enough, there he stood on her porch, dressed in his dress uniform.

"Had to work a little later than usual," he explained as he entered. "Didn't have time to change."

"You're fine." She said, softly.

"You okay?"

"Just tired, I think." She said, shrugging off his concern as she closed the door.

"You've had a rough few weeks." He acknowledged. "Without any well-deserved downtime."

"We can't really afford downtime right now," she said, sagely.

"You and I are going to relax this weekend if it's the last thing I do," he said, seriously.

She smiled softly. "Yes, sir."

"You wanna go out?"

She shook her head. "I've been out too much. I just want to feel your arms around me."

"Why don't you find "Singing in the Rain" and pop it in."

She hesitated for a moment before she shook her head. "Uh..."

"It's your favorite movie, isn't it?"

She tensed. "Pete and I had a..."

"Say no more." Jack said, waving his hand. "I should have just asked you to choose a movie. We'll make it "our" movie."

"Uh...okay...any preferences?"

"Anything that wouldn't have you yelling at the TV like you did when we watched "Signs"."

"It's stupid to have aliens attempt any kind of invasion when they could be killed by something as prevalent on our planet as WATER! I mean, does ANYONE think that these presumably more intelligent beings wouldn't do their homework?" She cried, throwing up her hands in exasperation. "GAH!"

"Sam..."

She inhaled sharply. "I'm okay, I promise."

His face held an amused smile at the thought that she would actually finish her science fiction rant. "I'm gonna change, and then I'll be back."

"Okay. I'll try to find a movie."

"Let's stay away from anything...science-y, okay?"

She managed an embarrassed smile as she nodded. "Okay."

"Not that I don't love how well you do what you do, but..."

"But this is the weekend where we finally get to celebrate that we're on the same planet together."

"Exactly. Science rant is a DEFINITE mood-killer."

She chuckled as he walked down the hallway to her bedroom. "I'll pour you a glass of wine if you want..."

"Aw, what the hell? Why not?"

She smiled softly as she uncorked the wine and poured him a glass. Then, she returned to the living room, trying to find an appropriate "date-night" movie. She smiled as she finally made her selection.

"I broke the rule," she called through the bedroom door.

"Huh?" He asked through the door. Only a moment passed before he opened it, dressed in his Air Force tee-shirt and blue sweat pants. "What rule?"

"The no-science rule."

"Aw, Sam..."

"It's still a romantic comedy." She continued. "And though it's not at all historically accurate, I love it."

His brow furrowed. "Okay..."

She held up the box to show him the picture. "I.Q."

"What's it about?"

"Albert Einstein's niece."

"Einstein had a niece?" He asked, surprised.

"No." She said, shaking her head. "That's where we get into the historical inaccuracies..."

"Ah."

"But it's cute. I like it, and I think you will too."

"Why?"

"Because it's our story." She said, simply, as she walked back to the living room.

"Okay, now I'm curious." He said, following her.

"It's about a woman who's so focused on numbers and theories and science and everything that she doesn't know how to have fun. How to relax. How to love," Sam began, looking back at him. "And one day, she meets a mechanic, who is everything that she isn't. And even though the sparks fly at their first meeting, she stubbornly clings to the neatness and cleanliness of numbers and science until finally, after a great deal of coercion from her uncle, his friends, and this mechanic, she realizes just what she's missing."

"So...I'm the mechanic, and you're Einstein's niece?"

"For the purposes of the analogy? Yes."

"So Danny, Jonas and T are the friends?"

"I suppose so..." She said, puzzled by his tangent.

"Sweet." He said with a grin as he sat on the couch.

"Jack, I'm trying to be serious." Sam said, looking at him somewhat hurt.

"What?" He asked, surprised by her reaction.

She teared up. "I'm trying in my own, awkward way, to tell you how grateful I am to have you in my life, and you're making jokes..."

Jack sighed softly. "I'm sorry, Sam. You're right. C'mere."

She sat down beside him, and he wrapped his arms around her, allowing her to rest her cheek on his shoulder. "You're not awkward." He murmured seriously. "And I didn't mean to make fun."

"I'm sorry I got so sensitive."

"It's been a long and hard few weeks, Sam." Jack soothed. "It's okay to be sensitive. Reminds the rest of us that you really are human."

She chuckled through her tears.

Silence reigned for a few moments before she looked back at him.

"What are we going to do, Jack?" She asked, softly. "This...this won't work in Colorado. Not as well as it has here."

Jack sighed. "I know."

"I'll be off-world sometimes, I'll be staying on-base sometimes," she began.

"You'll be injured sometimes, you'll be out of the country sometimes," he continued.

"I may even be in a different time period than you."

"Or another reality." He said, nodding.

"It's not fair to put you through that." She said, softly.

"You said that once before." He said, seriously. "When you were thinking about marrying Pete."

She inhaled sharply as she remembered that encounter.

"I told you that I thought Pete could handle it..."

She nodded. "Yes, you did."

He swallowed for a moment before he continued. "Losing...Charlie...didn't just put me on a path where I could meet you, but..." He paused. "It taught me that I could handle anything."

She looked over at him as his eyes turned back to hers. "I know I can handle it, Sam. It won't be easy. It'll be hard, but I can handle it. And I'm in a position to demand a rescue mission if need be."

"Landry's good about not leaving people behind." She said, softly. "Like you and General Hammond were..."

"I know." Jack said, soberly. "But I still want you to be very careful when you're out there."

"Of course, Jack." She said, softly. "I've got you to come home to now."

"Good. Then, I'll tell Mitchell to be watch your six, and we'll be all set."

"Jack, leave the guy alone. He's a good officer..."

"I still don't like the idea of you going out there without me watching your six..."

"You didn't like it when you were commanding the base either."

"True, but when I was commanding the base, I still had a monocle of power to help you. In DC, I won't even know if something's wrong for a few hours or a few days until the report comes in."

"I'll call you before and after each mission." She promised. "Or at least email or text."

"Sam..." He protested.

"Jack," she whispered, placing a finger on his lips.

"I know I just said that I'd be okay, but the truth is..." He began slowly.

"I promise to be careful," she assured.

"Don't die, Carter. That's an order."

"And you know how I always follow orders." She whispered with moist eyes.

He wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her heart as he held her in his arms. "I've missed you, Sam," he murmured. "You'll never know how much I missed you."

"Not nearly as much as I missed you," she whispered softly as she looked up into his eyes.

They spent the rest of the night, holding one another in anticipation of how their relationship was about to change.

-

Look for the sequel, "In Love and War", which will cover the events from the rest of the SG-1 series, the movies, Sam's tour in Atlantis, her tour on the "George Hammond", and the time in between.