I really am sorry to have kept everybody waiting for this, but it's here at last! The FINAL CHAPTER

That's if I can actually get it to load!

RL has been a real pain lately and it's not just my update that's suffered. I've barely put my fingers on the keyboard for anything! Not even for my e-mails. However, I hope you all enjoy the finale, and it's a really long one so grab a snack and lock the door! Thank you all for being so patient with me over the past year it has taken to write this story. I hope it was worth the wait!

THIS OLD MAN.

By LetitiaRichards.

Previously:-

"That's right Jack! Jimmy was my son, and Miriam's too. And you took him away from us! Now you're gonna pay for what you've done!"

Chapter 30

This old man, he played seven,

He played nick-nack with my heaven...

"What? That's impossible. Miriam always said she couldn't have any kids." Jack's face screwed up in puzzlement, wondering who between the two of them was lying.

"Yes, it's true, she did say that," Gene reassured him, but then shattered Jack's long standing illusion by continuing. "You were away, oversees somewhere, at that time, and Miriam never told anyone that she was pregnant, not even your Mom and Dad. She went away to have the baby, our son, but as far as your family knew she was working in Chicago. Your ol' man never liked me from the get go, but that didn't stop us. We met up while she was there, and were married at a small chapel I knew of in Cicero, where the pastor there was an old friend of the family." Here, Gene paused, almost lost in his memories, but he snapped out of them and continued.

"It wasn't an easy birth, and Miriam very nearly died; she got some sort of infection, I can't recall what they called it, but afterwards they told her that she'd never be able to carry another child. She'd informed everyone all about it without revealing the whole truth of that statement. We stayed with an old friend of hers until the baby was coming and then we went to a private clinic. After she'd fully recovered, she returned home while I looked after Jimmy."

Jack tilted his head slightly and furrowed his brow, wondering if Gene was just making this up as he went along, because this didn't sound at all like his sister, but then, she was just plain crazy now, so...?

"I can see you don't believe me Jack, but you're gonna have to trust me, it's all real. Just take a look at the city records and you'll see its all true. I moved nearby a short time later so that we could see each other and she could see Jimmy but he didn't know she was your sister, or that you were his uncle. But," he shrugged exaggeratedly. "there again, it doesn't matter whether you believe me or not, because you're not gonna be around long enough to check up on all the facts, are you?"

Gene finished his explanation with a smug sneer watching as Jack attempted to sort through the pretty astonishing revelation about his sister. Her being married for one, let alone having a child. A child whom he'd liked so much and had treated him almost like a... He was half afraid to admit that Jimmy had almost felt like a son to him; Charlie had been his own son and look how that had turned out! Now it seemed that Jimmy too hadn't escaped the O'Neill jinx either. Apparently Jack seemed to have this uncanny ability to get on well with all kids and become attached to them; only they would somehow end up dying, and ripping his heart out in the process.

A case in point being Re'tou Charlie; even he hadn't escaped unscathed, handing him over to Jacob to be snaked of all things; something he would never have wanted for himself in a million years. Had he been selfish for wanting the kid to live? This thought brought him right back to the present with the revelation about Jimmy. He'd been totally unaware that Jimmy was, in fact, his own nephew.

So, maybe he didn't really know Miriam after all? He just couldn't believe, or get over the fact, that she would have handed her own son over to his father and gone back home to look after Mom without revealing anything to anyone? What kind of a woman was she? Well, obviously completely insane if the last 48 hours were anything to go by!

Jack, his heart heavy with regrets and paying no heed to the fact that there was a loaded weapon trained on him, jerked to his feet and wandered over to the small fire burning in the hearth, heating the room. He stooped down, ignoring the slight twinge from his bruised shoulder and tender knees, to place another thick log onto the fire and then stood up again. His dark eyes were riveted to the mesmerising flickering flames as he fought an inner struggle, trying to deal with the undeniable mess going round in his head at this point.

All was quiet in the room for some time before he turned his body and his attention back towards Gene.

"Okay," he began, resigned to whatever was coming. "I can understand the...pain you must have gone through losing Jimmy. I so know what that feels like, and I'm truly sorry for that, really. But... why all the horse-play? Why not just shoot me and be done with it? Why put me for one, let alone Sam, or for that matter my friends through all of those failed attempts? Was that some kind of sick retribution for the fact that Miriam is now a raving lunatic?"

Gene glared dangerously at his victim. There was a hardness glinting in those dark eyes. He tried to calm himself from reacting out of sheer hatred for the man who had, in his eyes, ruined his life. His hand shook as he fought against the urge to pull the trigger, but he wanted Jack to know everything before he finally killed him.

"She wasn't always like that," he growled defensively. "Miriam was sweet, and patient, biding her time, but your Mother took too long to die and she grew restless after Jimmy died, needing to escape. But she had promised to look after the old woman, and she never shirked her responsibilities. Unlike her younger brother." Gene was growing more and more agitated, and his words grew angrier and more bitter, while his breath quickened into gasps as he hung on to his sanity by his fingertips.

"I didn't have a choice," Jack threw back just as tersely. "I was out of the country most of the time. Miriam knew that, and she was quite happy with the arrangements. In fact it was she who kicked me out of the house, telling me never to return. She was the one who returned my letters to Mom unopened and refused to let me speak to her when I phoned." Jack was really irritated now. There was no way he was to blame for Miriam's frustrations; this had been brought on by the stunningly stupid arrangements between themselves. Why hadn't she told Mom about the baby? He was sure his Mom would have loved the chance to have had another grandson, especially as she had lost Charlie... But... then she would have lost two grandchildren, so maybe it was for the best that she didn't know; it would probably have killed her, he reflected with a deep pain filled sigh. "Then there was that little matter of her telling me Mom had died! Why did she do that? Was it all part of your sick little plan too?"

"She wanted to hurt you, as much as losing Jimmy had hurt her. That's why she allowed Daniel to take her to your wedding, so that you would bond with her again. That way her death would be all the more painful to you; just as hurtful as Jimmy's had been to us."

Gene paused for a moment to watch the scattered painful emotions flicker over Jack's features. There was pain, guilt, and regret mixed with anger and frustration for his easy acceptance of the situation. The corner of Gene's lip curled upwards as he saw how Jack now regretted his decision to leave it all to Miriam; how he'd simply acknowledged his Mother's inaccessibility and moved on with his life without ever challenging his rights as her son to see her for even one visit after Charlie had died.

Jack swallowed the lump that had suddenly obstructed his throat, his voice sounding strained and raw when he spoke.

"So, tell me, why the song and dance? Why not just end this all right here? You've had plenty of opportunities lately, even now. Go on... Shoot!" he yelled, but Gene merely shook his head, biding his time, despite the longing to comply with Jack's wishes and shoot him.

"Do you remember Jimmy's favourite song?"

Taken aback at the abrupt change of topic, Jack nodded, wondering where this diverse line of conversation was leading. And just how could he forget it? Jimmy had whistled or hummed it all the time and it had driven him nuts.

"Good I see you do," Gene grimaced. "Great; that means you'll understand things. Well, we literally took it and applied it to you Jack. Every damn verse! Just think about it for a moment!" Gene sneered disdainfully while Jack mentally ran through it in his head, and Gene watched for the full realisation when it dawned on his victim.

...This old man, he played one,

He played nick-nack on my drum... Bun? No, it had to be something worse than that...Gun... His gun... He had been shot. That's when this all started.

Two... he played nick-nack on my shoe... Stew Brew! He'd been poisoned with the beer. Damnit!

...he played three... Tree?Knee? Knees! His knees had been cut to pieces with sharp gravel after having been beaten with a baseball bat or whatever it was.

...four…door... Oh yeah, the door of his Truck. He'd shut it, triggering a damn bomb. On his wedding day of all things. Yeah, great memory to cherish over the years... If he survived that was.

Now...five... hive? ...life?Sam. She'd gone... somehow...? Agh! His wife! They'd been playing with him, Sam knew nothing about it, yet she had been used against him. God! They'd played him for a fool too!

...six...sticks... Hockey stick! His old hockey stick, to be precise. Miriam had almost... had beaten him senseless with it, and he still had the bruises to prove it!

And then...seven...heaven... The finale?His death? So it would seem, hence the showdown here and now.

Jack closed his eyes and unconsciously straightened himself up, pulling his hand away from the mantelshelf where he'd been leaning on it and had felt the welcome warmth in opposition to the coldness filling his heart right now with the full realisation of what had been happening to him lately... and sadly the reason why. God help him.

"So, what kind of hold did you have over those other guys, huh?" Jack asked. He wasn't stupid; neither Gene nor Miriam had the guts or the wherewithal to set those things up, and he knew Mayhew and others were involved.

Gene saw what he wanted to see reflected in Jack's haunted eyes. He could also see that Jack wasn't afraid to die either. He held the gun steady now, well aware that the final moment had arrived at long last. Victory was in sight.

Jack's eyes tracked towards the bed, seeing Sam lying there so peacefully, her tousled blonde hair sticking out from the covers. With one long lingering, and maybe his last look he silently blessed her for all the unconditional love she had given him over the last several years of his life, then slowly turned back to face Gene.

"So," Jack sighed with a wide shrug, his hands spread out, showing he was neither armed nor bothered by the prospect of meeting his maker. He'd faced death so many times, and had actually died several more times than he'd cared to remember, and revived too by that most annoying of all Goa'uld, Ba'al. No sarcophagus here though...

"So," Gene replied, a smug grin creasing his face as he straightened his arm, bringing Jack's chest into the target area, aiming straight for the heart with his pistol.

There was a slight noise from somewhere behind Gene which startled him just as he pulled on the trigger, but he still managed to fire several times. The noise of gunshots in the room was deafening, making anyone in proximity wince in pain.

Jack had been jolted backwards by the forceful impacts, letting out a sudden startled pain-filled gasp before he lay crumpled and insensate on the floor, just as Sam had sat up screaming his name in fear of what she'd just seen. The end of the hand-gun Jack had given her was still smoking in the aftermath of being fired in quick succession.

Chaos was blossoming all around her when Daniel and Teal'c had stormed into the room mere seconds after she'd fired her weapon, their own Zat guns whining as they both fired on Gene simultaneously.

Gene lay motionless on the floor, three bloody bullet holes putting a swift end to his embittered and vengeful life, as did the double helping of Zat blasts, intentional or not. There would be no doubt about it; Gene Thomas was dead, and Teal'c regretfully restrained himself from firing again. The man had more than deserved to die for all he had put his warrior brother and his wife through.

Daniel holstered his Zat and hurried over to help Sam, as she struggled uselessly to get to Jack, whose chest and arm was covered in blood and, to her eyes, was lying far too still for the man she knew and loved. Teal'c gave Gene a mandatory check just to see if there was any sign of life in the man, despite knowing it was a lost cause. His fingers confirmed that there was no pulse, so he removed the spent weapon from Gene's lax hand and headed over to check on O'Neill. Hiding in the hallway and also outside the window, both Teal'c and Daniel had heard every word, thanks to Jack's hidden microphone, and had attacked just a fraction too late, and now Jack had been wounded...again.

Sam was sobbing so hard she barely heard Daniel trying to talk to her. He had his hands full in comforting her and attempting to calm her enough to explain how things were not as bad as they first appeared, but he couldn't get a word in edgeways, as she struggled weakly to get to Jack.

Moments later Papa Bear...er...General Hammond, walked into the chaos showing grave concern, closely followed by Thumbelina...em... Janet Fraiser and her medical team. She made straight for the Colonel just as he was rousing. A curse flew from his lips as he felt the bite of a bullet that had buried itself deep in his flesh.

"Ow! Crap! I always knew we should have had sleeves on these damn things!" Jack cursed, biting his bottom lip to hold back another groan of pain as he looked down at the damage done to his arm. Blood was flowing freely but he knew that now the Doc had arrived he'd be fine.

Trying to focus on something else instead of what Janet was doing, he could hear loud, almost hysterical sobbing, and tried to sit up to see Sam knowing it was coming from her, but the impact of the other two bullets against the Kevlar vest dead centre of his chest was quite painful and he gasped in agony and let his head fall back to the floor with a thud.

"Doc?"

"Just a minute Colonel." Teal'c and Janet helped sit him up and removed the cumbersome vest which had saved his life. There were two huge bruises appearing from the impact but other than that no bullets had actually pierced the bullet-proof garment. "You're going to be sore for a while Colonel, but I'm thinking that's better than being dead, don't you agree sir?"

"That it is Doctor," agreed General Hammond who had come over to make sure his 2IC was still among the living, as per the idea of supplying him with the appropriate clothing.

"You okay son?" Hammond enquired, placing a warm hand onto Jack's uninjured shoulder and giving it a little pat as Jack gave a nod in confirmation.

"I'm fine sir. And thank you."

"That's not a problem Jack. Glad to see you put the contents of the bag to good use."

Jack was about to comment further but instead sucked in a huge hiss when Janet cleaned the messy bullet wound on his arm.

"Sorry sir."

"It's okay...just do what you have to Doc," he growled through gritted teeth.

She did, by placing a sterile dressing onto the bullet wound, having stopped the bleeding. Jack assumed that it had happened when Gene had jerked the gun when he'd fired just as the cavalry had arrived. Good job he had been wearing the vest he sighed with relief. Looking up into Janet's face expectantly as she finished the hard part, he asked.

"So Doc...I'm gonna live?"

"That you are Colonel, but that will need surgery, and soon!" she replied slipping his wounded limb into a sling to hold the arm steady and immobile.

While Janet had worked on Jack, several other people had entered the room and lifted Gene's dead body onto a stretcher and removed it from the room.

Jack nodded to the Doctor and waved her fussing away and then, between one of the SF's and Teal'c, they hauled him to his shaky feet, where it took him several minutes to regain his balance. And much to his chagrin, Janet forced him to sit on the end of the bed, not that he would have admit to needing the support in the first place, but she knew him well enough by now, and expected he was still weak from the beating he'd had not so long ago, and now this. So Jack dutifully sat down on the end of the bed and called out to his wife, shooing the other helpers away.

"Sam! Sam, it's okay. I'm right here!"

The tear streaked face that was buried into Daniel's shoulder looked up in confusion.

"Jack?" Her eyes widened with surprise at seeing him sitting there sporting the biggest grin in all the world. "Jack!" she cried, lurching away from her friend and practically throwing herself into Jack's arms, until she saw the sling and his bloodied shirt. "Are you okay? My god, I thought

he'd killed you. I thought I was too late!" Sam was running her hands over his face, chest and down his good arm as if she was looking for more bullet wounds, but could only find the still livid bruises he'd received a couple of days ago. She'd have to ask how he'd gotten them but not now; she was too happy to see him alive.

"Hey!" Jack crooned, stopping her actions by cupping her face in his working palm. "I'm fine. He just got lucky and clipped the arm. I was wearing a vest so I'm okay. Are you alright Sam? You looked so totally out of it, and I wasn't sure if you were awake enough to understand what was going on?" He dropped light kisses onto her head as he brought her closer and she'd buried her face into his good shoulder.

"I'm okay, but what happened to you?" Sam gasped, looking up at him earnestly, appalled by the battered state of her husband.

Jack shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant, but the wince it caused had Sam wondering if it was just physical or perhaps something deeper; she could see it in his eyes; something was bothering him.

Hammond coughed and everyone in the room discreetly took off to the kitchen to make some coffee and report the incident to the local police, giving the couple some privacy for a short while.

"It's a long story, and I promise I'll explain it all to you...later."

"You promise?" Sam frowned, giving him a sense that he should beware of failing for fear of the outcome.

"Of course Sam. Just as long as you tell me what happened to you too!" Jack paused, looking down at the floor, unable to meet her eyes for a moment, weighed down as he was with guilt for thinking the worst. "I'm sorry..." He'd started to apologise, but their time alone was quickly coming to an end.

"What? Why? I'm still a little confused. I didn't know what to believe at first. I was so damn stupid!"

"None of that matters now! It's over Sam," he sighed thankfully, pulling her closer again. "Let's just try to forget this and live our lives together as we intended, huh? That's what you want isn't it?" he asked, looking down into her upturned face.

"More than anything Jack. I love you so much, and I'm sorry I doubted your...um... well, you know. I should have known better than to jump to conclusions. I'm sorry."

Jack could feel a headache coming on, because he didn't have a clue what Sam was referring to.

"Jack...I don't know what to say. I was so... And..." Her words stopped mid flow because she could see the confusion in Jack's eyes. "Actually...I have no idea what you need my forgiveness for?"

Jack cringed inwardly, knowing that he would have to make it up to Sam, just as she had obviously felt that something she had done needed absolution from him too. He wanted nothing more than to hold her in his arms and kiss away the pain and confusion he could now see reflected back at him, but right now, he was in real pain as his arm throbbed mercilessly and admitting to himself that he really needed something to ease his discomfort there, and in his head. It had been one hell of a few days!

"Uh...Can we do this another time?" he pleaded, unable to hide the wince of pain as he moved, trying to find a more comfortable position.

Sam nodded, tears leaking down her cheeks again as she recalled how close he had come to dying so many times, and nodded to him that she was okay with leaving things there until later. Perhaps they would be better able to discuss and understand each other when he was feeling a little better again.

She buried her head into his good shoulder again and hugged him tightly, while he slipped his arm around her shoulders a little tighter, and hung onto her too, using her to lean on when he began to feel a little woozy. He dropped a kiss on to the top of her head and stayed there, unable and unwilling to move; besides which he was luxuriating in the smell and feel of her against him once more, knowing that things could only improve from now on. All this messy business was finally over; the demons had literally been laid to rest so they could live together in comparative peace from now on.

Just then, Janet bustled into the room, all businesslike and began ordering her team to get busy. Outside Jack could now hear a helicopter as it landed nearby, and then Sam was taken from his embrace, wrapped in several blankets, and helped out of the cabin to get into the waiting transport. He too, was bundled up and supported enough to be able to walk outside and climb aboard the helicopter, without too much fuss, and readied for the flight back to Cheyenne Mountain and the promised surgery.

OoOoOoOoO

Jack lay back, resting against the pillows on the bed in the small private room attached to the infirmary beneath NORAD, in the bowels of the earth that hid the SGC from the public. Sam was snuggled up beside him, her long legs stretched out along the top of the bedclothes. Daniel and Teal'c were there too, standing by the bed nearest to Sam while Janet and General Hammond stood across from them next to Jack.

Sam had practically leapt off the bed when the General entered the room, but he insisted she stay where she was, perhaps because of the very nature of what he was about to divulge was going to be a little hard for the patient to hear. Not that she minded in the least; she just wanted to be as close as possible to Jack after all they had been through, and it wasn't as if they were on duty, let alone actually married. The General could be such a teddy bear when he wanted to be less formal, and they couldn't get more informal than they were now...not without getting thrown off the base at any rate!

Jack and Sam had already held their private little chat about what had occurred that fateful night, and how it had profoundly affected them, each believing the very worst of the other. Only because of the love they had felt for all those years before all of this, forgiveness was relatively easy. Now that it was out of the way they felt even closer, knowing without a doubt that their commitment would be all the stronger from the ordeal they'd been put through.

All of those in that room were now listening intently to General Hammond as he spoke with concern. They'd tried to add their comments or asked questions whenever they felt it was necessary, but were waived off until he'd said his piece. Hammond was doing his best to give them all the facts that he, and a new team from AFOSI; a team that had been drafted to replace Mayhew and his crew - who were now languishing in a holding cell awaiting trial - had gathered together to make sense of the past events. It had taken a very long and tiresome week to gather and collate at least a months worth of work, but now he'd felt reasonably confident that he had all the necessary information to put Jack's, as well as his team's, minds at rest.

Sam could feel Jack tense up with each new fact as the General explained it, and was now sure that was why the senior officer had permitted her to remain where she was. This way she could keep Jack grounded and gave him something to help him over what had to be a painful process.

"So, let me get this straight," Jack growled in disbelief, thinking that some more of Janet's happy juice would take away the growing headache he was getting from listening to the whole outlandish story. "Gene and Miriam had this huge grudge against me, which I so know about. They dragged in members of an old AF team to carry out a series of attacks, in the hope that they would injure, rather than kill me outright, and all because he had a little blackmail thing going over their participation in an undercover raid?" Hammond nodded but refrained from making any comment while Jack tried to sort through things.

"And they were told that if they did this, they would finally be free from their debt?" Jack couldn't believe how convoluted this whole thing had been, and how incredibly stupid those men had been too. "And they believed him?" Jack was clearly shocked that they'd been so easily taken in. Everybody knew they should never give in to a blackmailer in the first place. Having done so, the odds were that whomever it was doing the dirty on them would never give up on trying to extract money to stay quiet. "So what exactly did they do in this raid, or whatever it was?" Jack seemed to deflate after that, and not because he was feeling the headache pinch, but because there was nothing to add to the incredulity of it all. He was just left feeling totally drained.

"It all happened back in the early 80's apparently." Hammond picked up the story again now that Jack was happy to allow him to finish. "It was a top secret undercover mission to assassinate three Nicaraguan drug lords who'd had set up a cartel between them. They were supposed to attend a special emergency meeting because a row had developed over how an illegal shipment of drugs was to be dealt with, because the local government was waging a tougher war on their illegal exports. The mission report says the whole thing was a huge success. They broke up the meeting and several of the higher ranking members had been killed or imprisoned for their crimes. The Team were awarded some of our top medals for bravery, but they weren't exactly honest about the amount of drugs they'd confiscated and handed over to the government in their reports."

Here, Hammond paused to frown down at Jack, who had the grace to look slightly abashed over lying in his report at one time too. The report concerning that first mission through the Stargate; the one that the General had 'coerced' him into rescinding in order to prevent a bomb being sent through to Abydos.

There had been a lot of water under the proverbial bridge over the past six years, but Hammond had obviously remembered it well enough, despite the fact that Jack knew he had been forgiven for that minor indiscretion a long time ago. He'd never lied, or even stretched the truth to the General since, believing him to be one of the best COs he'd ever served under and he deserved nothing except total honesty from him and those who worked at the SGC. With a slight grimace at the reminder, he turned his attention back to what the General was saying.

"The men had decided to keep a few thousand dollars worth of the class A drugs for themselves. They smuggled the drugs back into this country in the hopes of paying off a certain police officer so that he would drop the charges he'd brought on one of the team members. It appears that one of the team got himself so drunk in the aftermath of a previous mission gone bad that he had badly assaulted the traffic cop who had pulled him over; the injuries had put the officer in the hospital for four weeks. Apparently Gene had overheard them talking about it on base one night, and unknown to them, had recorded the conversation, blackmailing them into keeping him quiet and not revealing the truth. He also blackmailed the police officer for accepting the bribe of illegal drugs in exchange for dropping the assault charges. He stated that if anything were to happen to him, someone he knew and trusted had every detail, including taped conversations, filed away on computer disc. His instructions were to send it to the press on his death, shopping them all. That police officer had been promoted several times over the passing years, and would have an awful lot to lose had someone talked."

Hammond paused to look around at the shocked but saddened faces lost in their own thoughts about the futility of it all. He did smile slightly at the next piece of news though, knowing how much it would please them.

"Before I leave you though, I'm sure you've all heard the shocking news about Senator Kinsey's running mate being arrested for illegal drug dealing?"

Eyebrows shot up and then smiles lit their faces; Hammond hadn't been disappointed by their reactions.

"I thought you'd enjoy that piece of news. It's just a pity that the Senator himself couldn't join him." Again Hammond's eyes pinned Jack with the knowledge that he was indebted to him for the sake of that little disc sitting locked in a safe place. They exchanged brief nods and Hammond then called a halt to the gathering, dismissing the others so that Jack could be left on his own with his wife.

Hammond paused at the door, looking back at the happy couple. He could see they still desperately needed time to talk over what had happened, so he decided his news could wait at least a little while longer. He smiled and closed the door behind him, giving orders to the medical staff that the patient and his wife were to be left alone unless Dr. Fraiser gave them the necessary permission to enter the room.

OoOoOoOoO

"Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"I would never have left you, you know that don't you!"

"I know, but I wasn't thinking straight. What with Miriam arriving and telling me that Mom had died... My mind was all over the place. I'm so sorry, Sam! I should have known that you would never do anything like that. Not without speaking your mind first, at any rate." He grinned down at her as she lay snuggled up to him on the bed.

"And you know that I wasn't thinking straight either. I know how much you love me, but I just couldn't figure out what had gone wrong. It wasn't until after I got kidnapped, that things started to fall into place...eventually, that is."

"So now we got that off our chests. I have something to tell you," Jack stated with a wide grin.

"You have? What?" asked Sam, sitting up, but still holding on to him like she never wanted to let go. Ever!

"I love you Mrs. O'Neill!"

Sam giggled, and rose up higher to kiss her husband deeply and passionately, getting carried away. It had seemed like a lifetime ago since they spent the night together. Not that they could do anything here in the infirmary, and not while Jack was recovering from getting shot at. Sam laid her hand over his heart and gazed lovingly up into those wonderful, dark eyes of his.

"I love you too Jack." She closed her eyes and snuggled against him again, loving the feel of his arm as it slipped round her, pulling her closer. "Do you forgive me?"

"Only if you can forgive me too Sam!" he murmured into her ear, making her shudder and moan when his warm breath tickled that sweet, tantalising, erogenous spot on her neck. She felt like purring under his touch, and lifted her head to smile goofily up at him, before she nibbled at his throat making him groan with longing. Two could play at that game.

"So we're quits then?" he asked, his voice nearly an octave higher than normal. He coughed to clear his throat, testing it to see if he could sound normal under the circumstances.

"Sure!" Sam sighed happily, seeing that certain look on Jack's face. "Touché!" she mumbled as she snuggled up once more. She'd got Jack back, so what else mattered right now?

OoOoOoOoO

"General. Doc." Jack greeted the two with a brief nod.

Janet smiled back, her face aglow for some reason they knew nothing about, and then turned to place some things onto the vacant chair before turning back to the others. Sam eyed her suspiciously.

"Sir?" Sam looked towards General Hammond, straightening up slightly, feeling that whatever their visit was about, was important to warrant their full attention.

"Colonel, Major," Hammond began. His face was all suspicious smiles too, Sam thought.

"I thought you would like to know what the joint chiefs have finally decided on regarding your situations here now that you are a married couple. Though, there is one thing I have to tell you first, but it's not been announced officially as yet, and I wanted you two to be the first ones to know... I'm...being promoted."

Both Sam and Jack sat up to attention now, and Sam slipped off the bed to stand beside it, though still holding onto Jack's hand.

"That's great sir," they all cried, ready to congratulate him, but Hammond staved off their celebrations with a wave of his hands.

"That's just the tip of the iceberg Jack. Along with my extra star comes a long overdue reassignment." Three faces fell in consternation. "Actually they're not going to let me retire, so I'm off to Washington to take up a new post at the Pentagon." Once more he waived off their obvious questions before continuing. "There's more." Hammond took out the communiqué he'd received and unfolded it to read the exact words, skipping straight to the important parts.

"With regard to Colonel Jonathon (Jack) O'Neill... He is to be promoted forthwith to Brigadier General and will take over as commander of the SGC on General Hammond's reassignment. Major Samantha Carter will also be promoted to Lieutenant Colonel forthwith, and will take over as CO of SG-1. However, as this would still put her under General O'Neill's direct chain of command, we therefore propose that SG-1 will become a separate entity and answer only to Lt. General George Hammond at the Pentagon as Head of Homeworld Security, thus taking her out of General O'Neill's jurisdiction. We hope that you will find this a satisfactory solution to your problem and we wish you well in the future... signed General Joshua Lazenby. Joint Chief."

Jack was stunned. Promoted! He'd never, ever, seen himself becoming 'The Man!' Not in a million years! He was more than happy to hear that Hammond had been given a higher rank; and if anyone had earned it he had, for being such a great CO and putting up with him for the past six years. And then there was Sam who had been promoted too, and if she'd been overlooked in this at all, he would have put her up for it as his first order of the day as the new CO of the SGC. She so richly deserved it after all the hard work she'd done over the years, both on the base as the foremost expert on the Stargate, and while she'd been part of SG-1.

Yeah, SG-1. God, he was going to miss going off-world with Sam, Teal'c and Daniel. They were his family. His kids. But, time couldn't stand still and changes, as well as challenges, came and went whether he liked it or not, so he would just have to deal with it but he was sure going to miss George though. He had a slight moment of panic which set in with the thought of all that paperwork, but it would be worth it if he could still be a part of the SGC and get to see Sam whenever she was on home territory, as it were.

Hammond came up to the bed, and shook Jack's hand, congratulating him on his promotion, and Sam on hers. He told them both they had been long overdue for this and he was going to miss them, but not the trouble they always found themselves in. They returned the compliment and hoped that they wouldn't cause him too many problems as he sat in his plush executive office so far away, and that they were going to miss him too.

Hammond then stood to attention and saluted them, turned and walked from the room. Janet smiled while she took a few tests on her patient, knowing that things were going to change from now on. The one thing she was so not going to miss was having Jack O'Neill grace her infirmary. With his promotion to being the base's new CO, there was little or no chance of him being injured and ending up driving her staff crazy with his bad moods and constant whining. At least, she had yet to hear a General whine. Colonels yes, Generals? Well, she wasn't so sure about that, especially not if this one had anything to do with it. There was always a first time for everything she supposed, with a sigh.

Sam had waited for Janet to finish up before she hugged her husband; the one she would have to call General from now on. And what sounded even stranger was that they would have to call her Colonel O'Neill from now on, after years of calling Jack by that title, it would take some getting used to.

"Well, congratulations you two," Janet said, grinning at the pair of them. Neither looked anything like a General and a Colonel the way they were snuggled up together. "General Hammond's leaving party will be held in a few days time on Friday. Then Daniel and Teal'c have been arranging a promotion do for you 'General' for when you take over here on the following Monday. And then there's a smaller one on Tuesday for Sam too." Janet couldn't help but grin at their surprised faces; they hadn't been expecting that. "So, when you've quite finished 'General O'Neill' you may consider yourself dismissed from the infirmary, just so long as you go home and rest. Report to me on Friday morning sir, that way the General won't suspect anything if he sees you wandering around on that day."

"Sure. Okay, I get it. And Janet?"

Janet stopped flapping around getting things written down to organise his medication for when he left her care, to look over at him, unused to him calling her by name on base.

"Yes sir?" Oops, habit!

"Thanks!" Jack said softly, smiling up at her with heartfelt thanks. "For everything you've ever done for me. I know I'm not the best of patients, and for that I'm sorry, but I just wanted you to know I really do appreciate what you've had to do to patch me up in the past."

By this time Janet was feeling a little overcome with the sincerity in Jack's voice. There was no doubt about it, Jack had always been a bugbear when he'd been injured, but he was a damn fine officer and a good friend. He was just a pain in the ass because it was just the way he was; he really and truly hated being out of action and detested taking any form of medication, avoiding it if he could as he distrusted the effects over him. Jack could not abide the idea of being out of control with his thoughts and actions, which she could understand, knowing what drugs could do to a person.

Janet certainly hadn't expected any praise at all from this man, but now he'd said a whole cotton pickin' mouthful and she felt strangely touched by his words, spoken so softly yet in earnest. At that moment, Sam detached herself from her partner and went over to hug her, thanking her too for saving his life so many times lately. With tears prickling and threatening to break loose, Janet fled the room, needing to sort out her turbulent emotions, giving the excuse that she had to get his prescriptions sorted out before he left.

Jack pushed the blankets aside and swung his legs over the side of the bed. Sam handed him his clothes that Janet had already brought in when she'd entered with General Hammond. Sam helped him dress, and he slipped his feet into the sneakers Sam had retrieved from his old locker, clearing everything out of it for him and getting an airman to carry it up to the parking lot and putting it in the trunk. Being the new CO of the base meant he'd have a private washroom and locker to keep his things safe while he worked on site, so she'd taken on the task of clearing out his old locker for him.

The door opened a few minutes later and Daniel, Teal'c and Janet came in, faces aglow with happiness. Well, Teal'c was wearing a slight smile, which meant he was happy too. There was another round of congratulations and then Janet handed Sam a small bottle of pills, and ordered her to take him away, with the understanding that she didn't want to see their faces until Friday at the earliest. Daniel and Teal'c joined them as they rode the elevator up to the main entrance and to Sam's car, where they arranged to have a promotions celebration dinner at Janet's house on Thursday night so that Cassie could be there too.

Sam and Jack climbed into the car and bade farewell to their friends, happier now than they had ever been, now that there were no more threats to deal with. What had been the icing on the cake was the news that Janet had given them just after Jack had recovered from surgery on his arm. His Mother was now happily settled into her new home, and was feeling a lot better now that she'd stopped taking the medication that Miriam had been giving her. Apparently, Miriam had tampered with the prescriptions and the tablets she'd been giving her had worsened her condition, to the extent of actually causing a lot of the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease in the first place. Jack had been so angry about it, that Janet had feared for his health, but after a moment of pure hatred towards his sister, he had accepted his part in the whole regretful story, and could only nod his thanks for her telling him the truth. He was deeply relieved that his Mom was now feeling much happier, and that she was nearby and safe from future harm.

Sam stopped the car and turned towards him. He'd been miles away, and she'd given up trying to make conversation with him a while back.

"Jack?"

"Hmmm?"

"We're here!"

"Oh. Okay." Jack released his seat belt and tried to open the door. Sam was round there in an instant, helping him. It was then he finally looked up at the house.

Except it wasn't his house...it was his Mom's new home. It was a huge place, with seats on the veranda and along the lawn under the big window. There were flowers, roses and ornamental shrubs everywhere; great patches of vibrant colours brightening the whole place up, and the air heavy with their scent.

As he stood there wondering, his mind was taken back to where this all began; in his garden. That was when he first met Gene all those months ago. A year. It had all started a year ago. One whole year of nothing but anxiety for his friends, and mostly pain on his part.

Someone approached him, he felt their presence rather than saw them walk up to him.

"Jack?"

Jack looked round and smiled. He opened his arms, ignoring the sling and the pain the movement caused, and gathered in his Mother, hugging her while she clung to him. She sniffed back her tears; she'd missed him so much and couldn't understand why he'd never visited her back in Minnesota, though Daniel, that nice young man, had tried hard to explain everything to her, it was just too much to take in. He'd said that it was Miriam that had banned her son from the house, telling him never to return or write or call. She was upset over it all, but now that she was going to get to see Jack, and often too, it made up for Miriam's lies.

Sam sniffed back a few of her own tears at the sight, wiping her face with her hands, she joined in, bringing a smile of relief and joy to Jack's face, in what would become a regular and necessary family hug. He had everything he'd wanted. He'd married Sam; he even had his Mother back. Everything that was, except for Charlie, but then, maybe there was chance of being a father all over again. He'd have to put forward that thought to Sam sometime, but that was for the future, and right now he was just happy being in the present, alive, wanting to forget the ugly past. Just to be with them was great, and along with his friends he could be sure the future would be better.

This old man, he played seven,

He played nick-nack with my heaven...

Actually, Gene was right, Jack agreed silently, as he hugged the two most dearest women in his life; he couldn't ask for more, so as far as he was concerned...

He was already in heaven.

The End.