Discoveries
They had been back on Tangea for three days and Jack O'Neill had barely seen his wife. After returning to Earth after their initial encounter, it had taken two days for Carter to assemble the people and parts that she needed to make the repairs to the Hyper drive's buffer. Then Sg1 along with a gaggle of Carter's geeks and two F.R.E.D.s loaded to overflowing had returned. Their welcome this time had been much more pleasant. Carter and crew had set to work. Then Teal'c and Jonas had headed off with Tarek to try to uncover as much of the planet's lost history as possible. Which left Jack O'Neill to, well, play diplomat. At least he had gotten along well with Chairman Ashwan during that first tense visit, so although he disliked hanging around and talking to the government officials, he was enjoying his time spent talking alone to the Chairman, and meeting his family.
Today he and the rest of his team had been invited to dinner with Ashwan and his wife. Jonas and Teal'c had gone off on a field trip with a couple of the Tangean historians and were not expected back until late. Jack was determined to make Sam take a break however. He had been surprised to find after their marriage, that he still had to drag Sam away from her lab most days. He had always assumed that the reason she spent so much time there was that she had no life. But he had come to realize that she just loved her worked. When they were back at the SGC, getting her to leave was pretty easy. They were newlyweds after all. So he would just poke his head in and get her attention, and she wouldn't need much prodding to shut down whatever she was working on and head home with him. But here they were technically on a mission, and they were assigned separate quarters on the ship, so he knew she was overworking and not getting to bed until exhaustion had overtaken her. Tonight he would make sure she ate and slept.
He set off from the city center and headed back to the Prometheus to collect Sam, and change from his BDUs into something more comfortable for dinner. Both he and Carter had brought their dress blues for the state dinner the following night, but Jonas had instructed them to bring along something more casual in case they did any other socializing. Now Jack was glad he had followed the suggestion. He found Sam in the engine room, where they had just finished the installation of the new buffer. She was talking to Colonel Renson giving him an update, and something in her body language made him pause just out of sight and listen in.
"Colonel, I am very flattered, but – " she was saying.
"Sam, I don't think we need to worry about protocol out here. Call me William. And I can talk to O'Neill if you are worried about anyone having a problem with you seeing me. Please have dinner with me tonight," the Colonel pleaded cutting off anything further she was going to say.
Sam barely suppressed a chuckle. Now there was a conversation she would love to overhear. Renson asking O'Neill for permission to date his wife. She knew Jack well enough to know he would get a perverse joy out of winding up the Colonel before he shut him down. The thought appealed to her immensely.
"I think that would be a good idea, sir. Let me know what he says," Sam replied much to Jack's surprise.
Then he realized something. The woman he had married had a wicked sense of humor and combined with her intelligence that made her very scary. He had always suspected it. Now he had confirmation. He was going to have one heck of a time keeping up with her. Of course he had a few ideas of his own for keeping her just as off balance. Yep, life with her was going to be an adventure, and not just when they were off exploring the universe.
So he stepped into view and joined in the conversation. "What who says about what?" he said keeping a straight face despite the laughter he saw dancing in his wife's eyes.
"Colonel Renson was asking me to join him for dinner tonight, but I told him I didn't think it would be appropriate," Sam said, backing down slightly. Getting Jack jealous when they still had a return flight ahead of them suddenly didn't seem like the smartest thing she could do.
"Far be it from me to interfere in the Major's social life," Jack started out saying, loving the way Sam's eyes widened in panic before he continued. "But the Major already has plans for this evening. She's been invited to dine with Chairman Ashwan and his wife. And she's right. It would be extremely inappropriate for her to go to dinner with you, Renson."
"I didn't think you were that much of a by the book guy, Jack. Besides it's not like she is under my command or anything." Renson commented.
Jack looked at Sam for approval before replying. "You are right, I am not much for following the rules, but I am a pretty old fashioned husband, and I just don't like the idea of my wife dating."
Colonel Renson was momentarily speechless. When he finally did speak it was with a wry smile. "I don't blame you, Jack. Sorry I had no idea."
"No problem. We haven't been married very long, and we don't exactly broadcast the fact when we are in the field," Jack said. "Sam, why don't you shower and change for dinner."
"Yes, sir," she said, and left the two men alone.
"Sir?" Renson commented.
"You don't know how much I used to hate the word," Jack acknowledged with a grin.
"And now?" Renson asked.
"It's a habit, and she refuses to call me Jack in the field. Besides, I can't break myself of calling her Carter most of the time, either," Jack admitted.
"Well, Congratulations. You know that you are a lucky S.O.B, right?" Renson quipped.
"Oh, yeah," O'Neill agreed grinning. "I'd better get a move on. I need to shower and change too and Carter is amazingly fast for a woman."
When he stopped by Sam's quarters she was ready to go. She gave him a glare as they headed out. "I thought for a minute there you were going to leave me hanging," she said with a sigh.
"I should have, you would have deserved it." He said smiling.
A small grin escaped. "Yeah, but you so loved telling him I was your wife, didn't you?"
"You can't blame me. I spent years watching guys fall all over you and not being able to do a damn thing about it. Now that I can, I am going to enjoy every minute of it," Jack said.
"You do know that none of them were ever anything more than friends, don't you?" Sam asked, amazed that he had ever thought he had anything to worry about.
"None of them?" he inquired
"None of them," she repeated firmly.
Dinner ended up being a relaxed, enjoyable affair. The two couples had talked about everything from the types of sports played on the two planets, to women's role in their societies. After dinner as they sipped a glass of what passed for the local wine, Ashwan's wife Muriel asked Sam about the items she was wearing around her neck, wondering whether they were a team symbol, or had another meaning. Besides their dog tags, both Sam and Jack wore their wedding rings on their chains. (Sam's engagement ring was left at home)
"Actually, these two are an identification used by our military. The two tags are identical, and each has my id number, and my blood type in case I need treatment in the field," Sam explained.
"And the ring?" Muriel asked.
"It is my wedding ring. Normally at home I would wear it on my left hand, but we are not allowed to wear jewelry in the field," Sam commented, rubbing a finger over the slight indentation on her left hand.
"You are married, Major? It must be very difficult to be separated from your husband for such long periods of time," the Chairman commented. "What about you Colonel? Do you have a spouse?"
"Yes, I do," Jack said, pulling out his dog tags to display his matching wedding band.
The Chairman did not see the significance, but his wife made the connection quickly.
"They are identical, I should have guessed!" she laughed, then explained to her husband who was looking confused. "They are wed to each other, dear."
"Really? Colonel, I am most interested in discussing this with you. We are just beginning to allow women into our military, and relationships out in the field are an issue we are struggling with," the Chairman explained.
"Yeah, join the club. Our military has a whole set of regulations that are supposed to govern relationships, especially those between officers. Only problem is, you can't order two people not to fall in love," Jack said.
"That is what I am always telling him!" Muriel laughed.
"I'd be happy to sit down and talk about this with you. I have a lot of practical experience since Carter has been my 2IC for six years," Jack admitted with a wry smile.
"How many of those years have you been married?" Ashwan asked.
"Oh, it took us almost all six to finally figure it all out. We've only been married for two months," Sam said with a chuckle.
"Novices!" Muriel said with a wicked gleam in her eye. "We have many traditions here on Tangea for novice spouses. For example, it is customary for their friends to make a lot of noise under their bedroom windows the first month that they are wed."
"A shivaree. That custom on Earth has not survived in our hometown thank goodness!" Sam exclaimed. "We barely ever get home to sleep as it is."
They spent another pleasant half hour discussing wedding rituals, and then Sam and Jack headed back to Prometheus. On the walk back, it was Sam who brought up the question on both their minds.
"So are we keeping to separate quarters tonight?" she asked with a hopeful gleam in her eyes.
Jack chuckled. They had agreed to no fraternization on missions, and they kept strictly to that off-world when they needed to stay alert. Even though this was hardly a standard mission, he was surprised that Sam was the one to break down and suggest they forgo their rule.
"Miss me already? It's only been three days," Jack teased.
Sam just rolled her eyes, then reached for him and pulled his head down the couple of inches needed to give him a kiss that made his knees go weak.
"Ok, I vote we lock ourselves in the VIP quarters. After all we are supposed to be doing a thorough shake-down of the vessel, and I don't think anyone has inspected them yet." Jack said with a grin when he finally came up for air.
The next day was a busy one. Sam supervised the simulations on the Warp drive, which all were looking good. Hopefully they would be able to head home in a couple of days. Jonas and Teal'c were back, and giving the Tangean scientists a crash course in the ABC's of gate travel, including a list of safe planets. O'Neill, after moving both his and Sam's things into the VIP quarters they had used the night before, spent the rest of the day meeting with Chairman Ashwan and Commander Tomak who had replaced Kalfas. The man had a good head on his shoulders and he and Jack hit it off immediately, sharing military strategies, and discussing the role of women in the military. Tomak had not yet met Major Carter, but was looking forward to doing so that evening, as he was quite impressed with what he had heard of the woman.
That night was the formal dinner that had been planned to celebrate the new alliance between Tangea and Earth. The SGC would be sending scientific and negotiating teams through the gate over the next several months to work out the specifics of trade, but tonight was the official event to acknowledge the new friendship. SG1, along with Colonel Renson and Major Gant all mingled, sitting at different tables during dinner, and chatting with the Tangean officials afterwards. Carter and Gant were especially popular out on the dance floor as some of the younger single men attempted to teach them the local dance steps. Jack watched in amusement as Sam was spun around by a particularly energetic partner.
"I thought you didn't like your wife dating, Jack," Renson commented with a smile.
"I don't think that qualifies as a date. More like torture. I do think that I am going to have to rescue her soon, or I will be sleeping back in my own quarters tonight," Jack chuckled.
Chairman Aswan overheard the conversation, and when that particular dance was done he made a point of asking the ladies to show the assembled crowd a dancing style from Earth. Sam explained to the band the type of beat they would need, and the two Colonels were pressed into service. Renson and Gant danced together keeping a modest distance apart, and dancing with measured, even steps. O'Neill and Carter however stepped in close to each other, and Jack took one of Sam's hands and trapped it with his on his chest. His other arm went around to the small of her back, pulling her in close. Sam's free arm wrapped itself around him letting her fingers come to rest where they could run through the bottom edge of his hair and rest on the back of his neck. With a sigh they began to sway to the music, cheek to cheek.
Several of the Prometheus crewmembers found partners among the Tangeans and led them out to show them the basic steps. There was a lot of laughter and encouraging calls from the crowd as their friends tried out the unfamiliar dance. But the real crowd-pleaser came towards the end of the song as suddenly Colonel Jack O'Neill swung Major Sam Carter around the floor in perfect ballroom style, and then dipped her in a move worthy of Fred Astair.
As he raised her back up to stand nose to nose with him, she looked him in the eye and saw those brown eyes sparkling with laughter. Darn it. She had known the man for six years. How had she not known that he could dance? Then she couldn't help but smile. She loved the fact that he could still surprise her like that. She wondered how many other little secrets there still were for her to discover.
Almost as if he could read her mind he whispered in her ear, "I can't let you in on all of my hidden talents at once, Sam. I need a few to keep you off balance."
She laughed at that. She had spent most of her life totally in control. She kind of liked 'off balance'. Thankfully she had a few secrets of her own that he had yet to uncover, too. After all, they pretty much lived on take-out when they were at home.
She couldn't wait to see his face the day he discovered she was a gourmet cook.
The end
Story Notes: Email: jackiesfic@aol.com
Season: Season 6, Immediately after Memento
Sequel: In Demand, Momentum, Epidemic, See Jack Run, Classified and Prelude
Spoilers: Major ones for Memento, very minor one for Forsaken
Archive: SJD, yes. Anyone else, please just ask.
Author's Notes: We all loved that look at the end of Memento. So I just had to go back and let them have some fun on Tangea.
As always feed back craved!
Season: Season 6, Immediately after Memento
Sequel: In Demand, Momentum, Epidemic, See Jack Run, Classified and Prelude
Spoilers: Major ones for Memento, very minor one for Forsaken
Archive: SJD, yes. Anyone else, please just ask.
Author's Notes: We all loved that look at the end of Memento. So I just had to go back and let them have some fun on Tangea.
As always feed back craved!
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters, settings, etc, are the property of their respective owners. Any original characters and plots are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended. ... [ read more ]