Thank you to my Beta HonorableHelen. You're fantastic , as Ålways xx

For my Fangirls xx

Jack stirs, and turns onto his left side, he takes a deep breath and smells her English Lavender soap in the air. He stretches out and his hand seeks her warmth but it's not there. Instead, he finds cool sheets and and empty space where she had earlier fell asleep.

His slumber filled eyes open a crack and he registers the sliver of light coming from their bathroom. Ah, bathroom break, he thinks. He settles onto his back and waits for her to return, eager to feel her warmth against him again. He sleeps naked now, enjoys the feeling of her skin on his, even if she is too injured for him make love to her.

His Sam, the centre of his universe.

Panicked memories flood his mind, the feeling of dread he felt on the day she returned, the worry of not knowing how badly she was hurt. Of thinking, just for a few seconds when Landry had called him, in the dead of night, that his wife was dead. Of feeling like his heart had stopped and his world had ended in those few seconds.

He'd come so close to losing her, maybe this had been the closest shave ever. The line between life and death was a thin one, and Sam seemed to walk that line far too often these days for his liking.

He remembers the moment when she sees him as they all step through the gate, she is supported on one side by Vala and by Cam on the other. She's bracing herself against Mitchell's arm, holding her belly through her blood soaked tank and he knows she sees the concern in his eyes turn to panic when he takes in her injured frame. He pushes past the medical team, who have been on standby for their arrival, without so much as a second thought. There are several voices in the room, but Jack only wants to hear one - hers.

"She's fine, Jack" Landry says, from somewhere behind him, uncertainty tainting his normally calm voice.

"She doesn't damn well look fine, Hank," Jack barks, not talking his eyes off her face, searching her eyes for 'his Sam'. "How the hell did this happen Hank? No, wait, don't even answer that yet."

He reaches her, his arms coming out to stabilise her as she tries to get out of Cam and Vala's grasp to get to him.

"I'm really glad you're here." She whispers, as he catches her and bends to lift her into his arms and walks back down the ramp, laying her gently onto the awaiting gurney.

"Where else would I be Carter?" He says before looking at her intently. "I'll be down in a few minutes Sam," he murmers quietly, running his hand through her sweat soaked, blood stained hair. "Go and get cleaned up, you look a hot mess." He gives her a wink, and she attempts a giggle and his shoulders visibly relax.

"Mitchell!" Jack barks, spinning on the spot, as Sam is wheeled from the Gateroom. Cam immediately straightens up as the very imposing General strides towards him.

"Sir," he replies, executing the perfect salute.

"Oh, for Gods sake Mitchell, at ease," he says, stopping and extending his hand to Cam. He shakes his hand, a look of relief in his face and says, "Thank you Mitchell, Thank you."

"You're welcome sir." he replies, leaning in, lowering his voice to a whisper and looking at the Generals left hand, where the gleaming platinum band sits on his third finger. "And, uh, congratulations on the nuptials."

"Thank you. I don't need to tell you how discreet I need you to be with this Cam."

"What, you... and Sam?" Vala says, aghast!

Jack nods and Valas lips erupt into a beaming smile.

"You know it's about bloody time." She says.

"Yeah, the passwords fishing apparently." Cam says, smiling, walking past the General towards the infirmary.

Jack is pulled from his memory by the sound of his wife cursing, which was the last thing he expected to hear from the bathroom at almost 3 in the morning.

He stands and walks towards the slightly ajar door, knocks lightly and calls her name.

"Sam, honey. You okay in there?"

"Dammit, dammit, ouch, DAMMIT." He hears her say from inside, oblivious to the fact that he's standing at the door.

He waits outside for several moments and when he hears her cursing again, taps lightly and slowly opens the door. He's almost afraid of what he is going see inside, expecting the worst, for her wound to have opened. Instead, he's confronted by Samantha O'Neill sitting on the bathroom floor, in her panties and tank top, with what appears to be marshmallow fluff for legs.

"What the...?"

"Jack," she says pitifully, "I can't reach properly, my belly hurts."

"Well what the hell are you doing? It's 3am and you're injured. Lam will never let me hear the end of it, if I bring you back in more damaged than I brought you home. I guarantee you she'll have the shot needles sharpened already in preparation!"

Sam looks defeated. "I just needed to ... "

"Shhhh," he says walking towards her.

He sinks to the floor beside her, envelops her in to a hug and whispers, "You able to get up?"

She nods and he stands, bends and gently helps her to her feet, then walks her slowly backwards towards the countertop.

"Jack, you're getting shaving foam all over your legs and your, em..." She laugh, her eyes moving downwards.

"Don't care." He replies. "Up you go."

She slowly takes a step up and he turns her, motioning for her to sit on the counter top. He switches on the faucet and lets the water run until it's warm and relaxing. He pulls a glass bowl from the shelf below and fills it with the steaming liquid, then positions it on the step she has just used.

"I'll be right back, honey," he says, rushing from the bathroom, returning moments later, slightly less naked, with the stool from her vanity unit.

She watches in amused silence as he retrieves his shaving brush, a navy washcloth and the disposable razor she had tried unsuccessfully to use earlier, then positions the stool in front of her legs.

"You're really gonna do this aren't you?" She asks.

"If this is what it will take to get you back to bed, then yes, I am really gonna do this. You trust me?"

"You know I do, to the ends of the earth." she replies.

"Considering how far we've travelled, that's not really a lot of trust, Sam." He chuckles.

He places his hands on her thighs and pulls his fingers down her skin. She closes her eyes and hums. She lifts her leg and he guides her foot onto his knee, picks up his shaving brush, dips it into the warm water, and swirls it over her shaving foam covered leg. The sudden warmth makes her shiver.

Starting at her ankle, he slowly and carefully drags the pink handled razor up her leg, to her knee, before rinsing it off in the bowl of water in front of him.

"Now, tell me about '882. What happened?"

"You've read the report Jack."

"Yeah, but I want to hear your version of events, seeing as you haven't been able to get them written in a report yet." He points the razor at her before bending and starting at the bottom of her ankle again.

"Ok, well, at first, everything seemed to be working fine. We hooked up the three naquadah generators and activated Merlin's device and the whole village cloaked. I was secretly relieved that it had worked so easily. Thilana and the other villagers hosted a celebratory feast that evening, when we noticed a phase shift and we got word that the village had reappeared. I got to the generators and realised that the fail safe had triggered and I tried to figure out how to fix it. I was there all night. The next morning, Teal'c radioed to tell us that the Ori army were on their way. I tried to cloak the village on time but an Ori guard had fired his staff weapon at me. I managed to avoid a direct hit but it went through me anyway and destroyed two of the three generators. He was about to fire again when Mitchell shot him in the back." She stopped for a second before saying, "he saved me."

"Remind me to send that boy some scotch Carter," Jack says, dragging the blade up and over her knee, then rinsing it in the now foggy water.

"You're doing a great job, 'cause that's a tricky spot." She says, watching as he carefully runs the blade around her ankle bone, with the precision and concentration of a surgeon.

He leans forward, kisses the inside of her leg, removes her foot from his knee and replaces it with the other.

"Go on." He says quietly.

"I had Mitchell bypass the two busted generators and hook up the third and the building cloaked from the village. We couldn't risk the Ori getting their hands on the phase shifter. Cam made me comfortable, fixed me up as best he could and gave me morphine to..."

"Two bottles of scotch for the kid..."

"He wouldn't let me fall asleep, in case I didn't wake up so he just kept talking to me. Something about his grandmother, and macaroons, and other random stuff."

She stares at him, a look of pure concentration on his face. "I told him that there were letters on my computer to be given to people if I died. You know, Mark, Cassie, other important people and that the password for my computer was..."

"Fishing." He finished. "Yeah the kid told me. Then congratulated us on our marriage. In my rush to get over there, I'd forgotten to take this off." He raised his left hand and wiggled his fingers in the air, the lamplight catching the etched detail on the band. She catches his hand in hers and his movements still. She lowers her eyes to his.

"I thought they were calling to tell me you were dead. I really did. I thought you'd run clear out of lives." He says, quietly, the weight of the world suddenly on his shoulders.

"Hey, look at me, I'm fine." she says.

"You're hardly fine. You have a hole in your stomach. I'm afraid I'm gonna hurt you every time I hug you for reassurance that you're still with me."

"You won't hurt me Jack, I'm still me, I'm kinda unbreakable."

She watches as he creates stripe after stripe on her legs, removing the shaving foam, dipping the razor in the water and repeating. He rinses the washcloth under the faucet and uses it to wipe the last of the sticky residue from her leg and then reaches for a towel. He pats at her legs dry and leans past her to grab the body lotion she is so fond of. Depositing a small amount in his hands, he rubs it together, warming the thick liquid, then slowly massages it into one leg and then into the second.

He kisses her thigh when he leans in and reaches behind her leg to massage the lotion into her skin and she runs her fingers through his silver grey hair.

"Will you...?" She questions.

"Only if you want me to," he replies and she nods. His hands run up the outsides of her legs and hook under the sides of her panties and slowly tease them down her legs, letting them drop to the floor beside him.

"You ok?" he checks, "I'll be gentle."

"You're always gentle," she whispers, her hand reaching for his cheek and squeezing softly.

Jack's hands roam to the insides of her knees and very carefully pushes her legs further apart. He rolls the stool closer to her and slowly lowers his head between her legs. His hand reaches out behind her back and holds her steady, as his eagerness to taste her grows. He laps at her glistening flesh, exploring her warmth and drawing moans from her body, his name escaping her lips into the small room. He licks from her opening to her clit, where he stops and pays special attention to her needy bundle. He flattens his tongue, licks a long drawn out taste and then flicks his tongue several times in rapid succession. He places two fingers at her entrance and she stops him, pushing her feet against his knees.

"What?" he says suddenly. "Did I hurt you?"

"No," she replies almost breathless, "I just... I need you inside me... But take it slowly, ok?"

"You sure?" He responds, a sudden tenseness to his voice.

She nods, leans forward when he stands, pulls his face towards hers and kisses him, her lips tasting herself on his.

He stands, drops his boxers before swiping the palm of his hand between her legs, then coats his cock in the sticky liquid. He positions his now glistening and throbbing cock at her entrance and as carefully as he's ever done, enters her in one long, slow, drawn out motion. She throws her head back and cries out, but Jack recognises it as pleasure, not pain. He leans into her neck, kisses her sensitive skin and thrusts gently as she moans softly into his ear. His movements are controlled and slow but he can feel his impending orgasm building? Which surprises him. He leans back, thoroughly soaks his thumb and begins to massage her clit, feeling the beginnings of her orgasm spiralling as her inner muscles begin to flutter around his cock.

"Jack, I'm coming Jack," she cries, and she crashes around him. Her soft cries and the sudden pulsating feeling around his cock is too much for him and he braces one hand on the counter to the side of her, leans into her neck once again and holds her as close as he can do, allowing his orgasm to completely take over. He moans her name, long and low into her ear, while she whispers, "come for me Jack."

He lifts his head from her shoulder after several seconds.

"That was intense." He says. "Just...wow, who knew taking it slow would feel like that."

"It certainly was." She replies, wincing slightly, before taking both his cheeks in her hands and kissing him softly. "See, I'm still here and I'm perfectly fine. A little bit more tender than I want to be but fine none-the-less."

"Yes, you are still here, now Sam, bedtime for you. And there will be no moving tomorrow, I am completely at your beck and call.

"Yeah, I definitely think I should go and sleep." She replies with a mock yawn. "After that I could possibly sleep for a week."

He helps her down from the counter, kisses her once more and says; "I'll be there in just a second. Go warm up the bed for me."

She pulls the door closed behind her, Jack quickly cleans off and mutters a heartfelt 'Thank you' to whichever higher power helped bring her home to him.

"Jack, sweetheart, are you coming?" She calls from their bed.

"Coming." He replies, walking out the door and crossing the room. He returns to his spot in their bed and she cuddles back in against him, both of them naked, other than her bandages, this time.

Exactly where she should be, he thinks as he kisses the top of her head and whispers, 'I Love you' and settles in for the first peaceful nights sleep he's had in over a week.