Title: "The Ex Factor"

Author: Jackie W.

Rating: PG-13

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Sam knocked on General O'Neill's door exactly forty-five minutes later having set a land speed record for post mission exam and shower. He was on the phone when she entered so she had to sit and patiently wait. After a minute she found herself taking apart a pen that was on his desk. When he hung up she looked up to see him regarding her with amusement.

"Nice to see you've picked up a few of my bad habits over the years," he teased, causing her to blush.

As she hastily put the pen back together and set it in it's holder, she commented, "I got your note."

"And?" he asked.

Her smile lit up the room. "There were more than enough trees, I made it back safe and sound and I love you, too," she told him, and was rewarded with an answering grin from Jack. "Please tell me you have good news," she begged. He got right to the point. "I spent the day in Washington yesterday talking to Hammond, the Joint Chiefs and even President Hayes himself," he told her.

Now her eyes were wide and anxious. "You promised you wouldn't do anything rash!" she exclaimed.

"Calm down, I didn't. I had called Hammond Sunday asking for his advice. Turns out once they knew I might be interested they had a proposition for me," he explained. "I told them I needed to think it over but only because I had promised you I wouldn't do anything without talking to you first. I think this is the perfect solution and I had trouble stopping myself from telling them 'yes' on the spot."

Sam eyes were now full of hope. "So what's this magical solution?"

"Ol' Henry is still under tremendous pressure to transfer control of the SGC over to a non-military governing agency. To that end they have begun to form an oversight committee made up of people with a wide range of skills, both military, scientific and political for overseeing treaties with allies. The one thing they were lacking was member of this committee that could actually command this facility. They want someone with military experience that is no longer in the military. They were looking for a retired General, but none of them met their criteria. Quite frankly most were too old. So when I indicated I might be willing to retire, well they were quite excited," he told her, sitting back in his chair with a grin as he watched her wrap her incredible brain around what he had just told her.

"So, if you don't retire, they are going to replace you with someone non-military, but if you retire, you get to stay?" she finally demanded incredulously.

"That about sums it up," he nodded, now grinning like an idiot.

Sam felt excitement welling up in her. This was incredible. Short of the war with Goa'uld being over this was the best outcome she could imagine. Then another thought had her crashing down to reality again.

"You'd still be my boss," she pointed out.

"Sort of, but only as it applies to sending SG1 out on missions. I couldn't do any of your military reviews. That will be up to the most senior ranking active officer on base. Right now that's Reynolds, although they might assign someone who doesn't go off-world to be my 'military' 2IC. Basically I think the plan is a good one. It gives the critics what they want without actually disrupting the running of our operations here," he commented. "So what should I tell them? Am I putting in for retirement and becoming a civilian?"

Sam looked up at him with a grin that now matched his. "Hell yes," she told him.

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Epilogue

General Jack O'Neill (retired) Looked up from the grill where he was flipping burgers to view the group around him. Teal'c, Daniel, Cassie and Sam were all lounging in deck chairs chatting happily. Sam caught his eye for a moment and winked. He smiled in return and turned his attention back to the burgers that were just about done. Life in the seven months since he'd retired had been pretty good he reflected. Although the damn snake-heads were still out there threatening the galaxy, his little corner of the universe had improved immensely. As he put the burgers on a platter, Sam suddenly appeared at his elbow to take the meat from him so he could turn off the grill and he caught the sparkle of the diamond that graced her left hand. It had taken him two months to convince her to move in with him, and another two to get up the nerve to propose. Two months after that she'd become his wife.

As amazing as that whole adventure had been it was nothing compared to the surprise she'd given him two weeks ago when she'd come to him and told him she was applying for the head of research position the new oversight committee wanted to create. It was also a civilian position, reporting directly to the committee, and he had argued with her about her resigning her commission. He couldn't imagine why she would want to give up going off-world, especially since she had worked so hard to get to the point where she'd gotten command of SG1.

Of course then she'd explained, and his feet hadn't touched the ground since. Today they had told their 'family' the good news.

Sam was pregnant.

And ex-General O'Neill and ex-Colonel Carter couldn't have been happier.

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The end