Title: "Exactly"

Author: Jackie W.

Email: PG-13

Classification: Jack/Sam

Season: Season 9

Spoilers: Ex Deus Machina

Summary: If not exactly single, then what?

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and places are the property of MGM, World Gekko Corp and Double Secret Productions. This piece of fan fiction was created for entertainment, not monetary purposes, and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended. Previously unrecognized characters and places, and this story, are copyrighted to the author. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.

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She'd gone straight to Washington after the whole debacle with Ba'al, and after a long debriefing she and Jack had headed home. Once inside the door she kicked off her shoes and collapsed onto the couch with a sigh. Jack similarly kicked off his shoes (although his were left in a pile in the middle of the floor where she would surely trip over them later) and then loosened his tie as he went to get them both beers.

"You know this whole cloning thing gives me a headache. It's not like they ever clone anyone useful either," he complained.

"Who would you like to clone? And if you say Uma Thurman I'm going to punch you," she warned.

"Umm… ok, well you for instance! You know the planet could use at least three of you to keep all of the research projects in line," Jack pointed out. "And then I could have the original all to myself!"

"Nice save," Sam chuckled. "But what would the poor copies do without their own Jack O'Neill?"

"Well, one of them could always date Agent Barrett," Jack suggested slyly.

Sam groaned. She just knew she was going to regret telling Jack that Barrett had asked if she was single again.

"By the way you never told me what you said to him in reply," Jack asked innocently.

"He asked if I was single again, and I told him 'Not exactly'. Then Daniel came in and that was the end of the conversation," she explained.

"That's it?" Jack asked seeing a bit put out.

Sam looked over at him to judge the moment. Was Jack a bit jealous? Excellent! Maybe it would be a good time to point out that there really wasn't a good name for this relationship they had fallen into.

"What did you want me to say? Calling you my boyfriend seems a bit too seventh grade, and I refuse to use the term lover. It's not like we are engaged or married, and it's kind of difficult to explain that we are living together when we are based so far apart. Even Daniel and Teal'c don't know that part yet," she stated calmly.

"Yeah, where exactly do they think you go at night?" Jack wondered.

"I have no idea. They have to have noticed I don't even drive a car to and from the base anymore," Sam agreed. "I'll bet there are quiet a few theories though."

"I bet none of them have guessed that we have our own space station on the moon," Jack grinned.

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It had actually all stemmed from an off the cuff comment Jack had made one weekend when they had been dating about two months. They had gone through the first awkward few weeks while Sam was getting set up at Area 51 and Jack was moving to Washington and then as their visits back and forth became more regular they started to realize just how hard this was going to be. After one steamy week-end where they hadn't stepped foot out of Jack's house in DC at all, Sam had been reluctantly getting ready for the taxi to come get her when Jack had lamented that maybe they should find a place halfway in between to cut down on travel time.

Sam's overactive imagination had played with the thought on the entire plane ride back to Nevada and by the time she was back in her lab the next day she had it all worked out. The Asguard had given Earth the transport and cloaking technology that was currently in use on several of the different ships in the fleet. All she needed was an old beat up ship that could support those systems along with life support. It didn't even have to fly. She outfitted one from the scrap heap the way she wanted and got Thor to tow it to the moon, where she cloaked it.

She still remembered the look on Jack's face when she beamed into his living room a full four hours before she was due to arrive. She proudly handed him his own transported device and they beamed up to the ship on the moon. Then she reset the transport controls in their 'space station' to send them to her apartment in Nevada. Then they made the return trip to make sure he knew how to set the controls. To say Jack was impressed was an understatement. He'd always known Sam was smart, but for her to find such a practical use for alien technologies was really thinking outside the box.

A few weeks later after a bad day she had beamed herself to Jack's on a week-night, needing his arms for comfort. Ever since then she simply transported to their home in DC every evening. Slowly she had brought things with her, and by the time she was recalled to the SGC she didn't even have an apartment in Nevada anymore.

Twice when she was too busy to get home for several days, they had met on the moon for an hour, convincing Jack that they held the record for the mile high club.

No, she didn't consider herself single by a long shot. But what exactly was she?

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"Well we have to fix that," Jack suddenly said slapping his thighs and rising from the couch.

Sam jerked her thoughts away and tried to remember what they had been talking about. "You want to tell Daniel and Teal'c about our living arraignments?" she asked.

"Not exactly," he grinned

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One month later…….

Sam waited until the end of the team leaders meeting and then indicated to General Landry that she wanted to talk to him. She left the door of his office open to ensure that Walter and anyone else listening in would have no problem overhearing the conversation.

"Colonel, what can I do for you? I'm assuming you had a good leave, you look well rested and tan," the General commented.

"Yes, Sir. I just wanted you to see this paperwork before I handed it in," Sam told him giving him a stack of papers.

He glanced at them and then at her. "Care to summarize them for me Colonel?" he requested.

"One is just a name and status change form for personnel. The others are various requisition forms, one for new uniforms, a new name plate for my lab, things like that," Sam told him.

Landry did a good impression of Teal'c and quickly flipped to the personnel form. He'd heard the rumors but until he saw the new name there in print he wouldn't believe it.

"You got married?" he questioned. "To Jack O'Neill?"

"With two L's," Sam confirmed.

"That scoundrel! You have my sympathy, Colonel. I'm not going to be losing you from the SGC because of this am I?" he pleaded.

"No, although I might request a cut back on gate travel," Sam told him.

"I understand. A long distance marriage would be hard enough without adding in other planets. I'll be happy to do whatever I can to keep you from transferring to the Pentagon," Landry offered.

Sam had no intention of transferring, but it was nice to have the leverage. "Thank you, Sir. Now I'm sure I have a pile of work waiting for me after being off for a week, and I know you'll want to call Jack and give him grief so I'll leave you to it," Sam teased.

As she exited the office she stopped down at the control room where Walter was pretending to work.

"Did you get all of that?" she asked.

"Married General O'Neill, staying here with decreased gate travel," Walter summarized.

"Exactly," Sam smiled.

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The end