Summary: Jack gets home from a long day of work.

Author's Notes: I wrote this on my netbook after a Jack/Sam dream I had, and the Nerdy!Jack talk was straight from that. Established Jack/Sam, post Continuum/SGA.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights for Stargate: SG-1. I only wish I did, so Jack and Sam would be together onscreen.

In the small two story home they stared outside of DC, Samantha Carter sat on the king sized bed, a small netbook on her lap as she rewrote coding for a program that she had just modified as a door shut down the hallway.

"Hey," she called out, blue eyes still zoned in on the screen.

A sigh, then, "Hey yourself."

Jack O'Neill laid his briefcase down on the table near the entry way to their bedroom, shrugging out of his black fatigue jacket. "How you doing?"

She inhaled, nodding. "I'm good. Just ... working."

He got on the bed, making his way over next to her, sitting down, arms flush. Giving her a slight nudge, he asked, "Whatcha working on?"

"It's a program I've been developing. I've been trying to work all the kinks out of it. Basically, it's a virtual status indicator for every Earth-based ship in the Milky Way, along with other bases, allied ships, and the like. It—"

Jack quickly put a finger to her lips, silencing her. "Ahh, easy," he murmured in a low voice. "I've had scientists preaching at me for the past three hours. I love you, but one more word of scientific hokey pokey and I may have to punch you."

She smiled, leaning her head on his shoulder. "There's the Jack O'Neill I know. Although I don't know if you've ever called it hokey pokey before."

"Maybe I meant hocus pocus," he answered, turning into her hair and pressing a kiss to her head.

She had changed her hair rather drastically, Sam reflected inwardly. For years, she always kept it short and blonde, considering it to be simpler given her working conditions. Then she finally grew it long, something Jack had been pleading for ever since they started their relationship. However, just as Jack's hair had colored with age, so did hers. As she progressed into her forties, the natural blonde was starting to fade, replaced with a more brunette color. After trying to deny it and coloring it, she finally let it grow naturally.

It helped to silence all the dumb blonde stories, that's for sure.

He tilted his head away from her, looking curiously at her netbook. "You have a galaxy-sized tracking system … on your netbook? That think only has a 250 GB hard drive in it."

Sam half shrugged. "Eeh, I might have tweaked it a little."

His brown eyes mischievously turned back to her. "How little?"

Blowing out a breath of air, she answered quickly, "It's got a terabyte hard drive now."

"Three times bigger than the factory modifications? What about the processor? Can an Intel Atom handle all that?"

"I love it when you talk nerdy."

"Well, enjoy it. It only comes in spurts now."

She laughed, then turned back to her netbook screen. With a decisive nod, she pressed the power button. "I guess I've done enough for one night." Closing the lid on the netbook, she laid it on her bedside table, turning back to her husband. "I'm all yours."

The smile on her face was quickly replaced with a frown as she saw his face. Jack looked lost in thought, an expression not commonly seen on his face. His guard was starting to come down after a long day, and being the head of Homeworld Security came with a lot more burdens than heading up SG-1 or the SGC. Having previously been in command of the George Hammond, she understood.

Sam offered a smile as wound her hand into his. "I'm always yours," she promised in a reassuring, soft whisper.

With her free hand, she reached for the silver chain that disappeared below the neckline of Jack's black undershirt. Pulling the dog tags into view, she fingered the silver wedding band over the chain, feeling the engraving on the inside. The same word was etched into her ring, still hidden on her chain below her blue shirt.

Always.

Throughout their lives, "always" was a code word, a reaffirmation of their feelings even when they couldn't say it aloud. When she was trapped on Prometheus, the version of Jack she had hallucinated had told her he would always be with her. While mourning the imminent death of her father, in response to her gratitude for his support, Jack told her "always".

The universe kept throwing them hints; she was glad they finally got their heads knocked together.

Jack's hand wrapped over hers, bringing her mind back into this time. His grey hair, his brown eyes, the wrinkles around his eyes when he cracked a joke, everything about him made her love him more. She didn't regret all the years that the regulations prevented them from being together; rather, she cherished them, for it had allowed her to learn more about the man who had felt the same for all that time.

His brown eyes twinkled as he smiled at her. "So, whatcha wanna do tonight?"

Sam pretended to bite her lip. "Actually, I don't want to do anything."

Jack pursed his lips. "I could do that," he agreed, chuckling.

Sam stared at him for a moment, then narrowed her eyes. "I TiVo'ed 'The Simpsons'."

He kissed her cheek as he reached around her for the remote control on her nightstand. "I knew there was a reason I married you, Carter."

"I know," she quickly replied, but not before she let him escape her reach. Placing her hands on his cheeks, she pulled him in, kissing him on the lips.

Jack tensed up, but quickly relaxed and pulled her closer, wrapping his hands behind her neck.

When they came up for air, he smiled that wonderful, pure, innocent smile that still made her knees go weak.

"I love you, Sam," he said softly but full of meaning.

"I love you too, Jack," she replied. Then, without pulling her blue eyes away from his soft chocolate ones, she picked up the remote from the bed covers and handed it to him.

He cleared his throat, accepting it. "Thanks."

As they settled next to each other on top of the blankets, Sam kept stealing glances at the man next to her. He had earned the love and respect that she gave to him every day, and she knew without a doubt that he would never lose it.

That was about the farthest her mind could get tonight without caffeine.

During a commercial break, Jack hit the mute button and turned to look at her. "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. You know what the best part of my day was?"

"What?"

"About a half an hour ago. When I came home to you."

It was cliché, but it was Jack.

She loved him even more for it.

Fin.