Jack squeezed her behind and Sam laughed into his chest. She was lying half on top of him, half on the cushions, with his arms encircling her. "So," she said.
"So." He squeezed again. She responded by tugging lightly on a few chest hairs.
"So. Big day."
Jack yawned. He'd taken a redeye last night and he never slept on planes. "Yes. Big."
"You feel okay?"
He wriggled his hips. "I should think that would be obvious, Carter."
She tugged a few more hairs.
"It's just a Goa'uld, Carter."
Sam said nothing, only let him stew on that a while.
"I got over Baal a long time ago."
She propped herself up to look him straight on, and one of Jack's hands slid to her waist.
He scowled. "Okay, I got as much over him as I'm going to get a long time ago. Yes, I'm glad they're all gone, but it's not like I can suddenly leave the house alone again or anything."
Sam lay back down and kissed a nipple, deciding to let the subject drop. It wasn't the best pillow-talk topic, anyway, especially when they hadn't seen each other in six months and an occasional aftershock was still rippling through her body.
God, she'd missed him. In a little while, once she was sure she could stand up, she planned to drag him to the bedroom, and stay there until at least noon.
"So," she said again, having realized that part of her plan was not under her control. "How long are you here?"
"I have to leave in the morning, sorry. But I'll be back for good in a few weeks."
"For good? You didn't put in your retirement papers, did you?" It was earlier than they'd planned, but she was home earlier than they'd planned, too.
"Not exactly, no."
She pushed herself up again, one of her legs sliding between his for balance. "Jack, what's going on?"
He looked smug and nervous at the same time. "Oh, it's possible that I might have resigned in protest over Atlantis."
"You what?"
"What? I was going to retire at the end of the year, anyway. It just happened before I expected it to and I happen not to like the way it ... happened." His face screwed up in annoyance, more at his own syntax than at the subject matter, Sam thought.
"Jack, that's ..." She stopped, flustered. She hadn't just stepped through the Stargate an hour ago; they'd talked on the phone half a dozen times since her return, and he'd never hinted at this.
"Speechless, huh?" he said proudly.
"Stunned," she said, rising precariously from the couch and perching on the edge of the coffee table. "Possibly flattered."
"It wasn't selfless. We'll get to do a lot more of this, for one thing." He could no longer reach her butt, so he pinched her thigh.
When she continued to stare, he gave in and kept talking, using his hands for emphasis, and Sam had a feeling he'd been rehearsing. "It's perfect timing, Carter. With the Ori and the System Lords eliminated, the office can get along without me until they decide on a replacement. I'm only going back to sit in on some of those discussions, maybe write down some simple instructions for the next sucker. Do not pass Goa'uld without collecting $200, do not revive the replicators unless you're a fucking moron, that sort of thing."
Sam knew he was expecting a laugh, but she shook her head. "Jack, you don't just resign from the Cabinet."
"I do," he said.
"But they'll probably replace you with someone from the IOA, too."
"Oh, I doubt it. Hayes will find a spine to prevent that. It affects him personally."
"Find a spine?" Last Sam knew, Jack had had a lot of respect for the president.
Jack shrugged. "Look, the IOA were bound and determined to do this. They didn't ask for anybody's opinion, all of which were against this boneheaded move, by the way. Hayes thought it was stupid, too. He caved because a couple of the IOA members have connections in the Senate, and the Senate was already on his ass about the telecom bill. It was entirely political, just like Kinsey used to pull."
So Sam's reassignment had been due to a combination of IOA arrogance and political infighting. Terrific. She still thought Jack was crazy, but she could understand his reasoning. "You really just quit?"
"Yep."
"Did you storm out of the room?"
"Sadly, no. I dictated a letter. Much less dramatic."
Sam winced. "How many of them accused you of a conflict of interest?"
"Everyone who dared, just like always. Come on, Carter, you know I wouldn't do this just because we're together. I'd probably have put my foot down even earlier if we weren't."
She regretted asking; the defensiveness meant he'd been putting up with the question more than usual lately. She laid a hand on his chest in apology. "No, I know you wouldn't. I just wondered how it's being perceived."
He dodged the implicit question, which didn't bother her too much. She had a pretty good idea how it was being perceived. "It's not going to affect your next assignment, if that's what you're wondering," Jack said.
"I'm not," she said. The new Chief of Staff himself had called to tell her it would be a few weeks until her orders came through, and she might as well take some leave in the meantime. He'd also taken care to tell her that he'd been impressed by her work in Atlantis and she could expect her posting to reflect that.
Sam slipped her hand into Jack's. "Why didn't you tell me right away?"
"I wanted to see your face," he said with a grin. "Duh."
She bonked him on the forehead with the heel of her free hand.
"Hey, hey!" He grabbed both of her wrists, yanking and wrestling until she flopped gracelessly on top of him. "Ooof! I was going to tell you as soon as we walked in the door. You're the one who started ripping your clothes off," which was a point Sam had to concede.
She leaned down to kiss him and didn't surface for a while.
"You know," Jack said as he spread her legs so she was straddling him again, one knee barely on the edge of the couch. "I've got this big, empty apartment in Washington and I hear you might be in possession of some spare time." His hands slid up to her back and he skimmed up and down her spine with his fingertips. Sam hummed, catching a nipple between her teeth, and he shuddered under her touch, his muscles tensing, releasing, and tensing again.
"I think I can squeeze you in," she said.
Thanks for reading!