Chapter Text
"Hey, Major, could we talk?"
Sam looked up from her computer, the calculations loading so much slower than she would have liked. They didn't have a scheduled mission for a couple days, so she theoretically had time to finish this round of tests, but something always came up.
Daniel was in front of her, fidgeting more than he had since that first year home from Abydos where he was so unsure of his place in the SC Not unsure of his expertise or even his right to be there, but of his welcome on the team and whether they would actually listen to him unlike years of academic rivals and professors (and possibly years more as a child that she had only heard hints of). He had been surrounded by people who didn't want to listen to him, so he had made sure he was indisputably right, so they would have to. Then he had posited aliens and no one believed him anyway, but he was right.
At first, while he had Jack's trust, he had known he hadn't had the rest of the SGC or their team, and he didn't get along with a lot of the normal military. That had also changed over the years, saving the world a lot had helped. And the unique culture of the SGC helped too, it was hard to stay so rigid and superior when saving lives across the galaxy required multiple military arms, alien technology, an ability to adapt, and experts of all disciplines. Getting home alive and safe was more important than rigid hierarchy, to the boots on the ground SGC anyway. She often forgot how far they had grown from normal military culture until the occasional event in Washington or on another base where the rigidity hit her again. She couldn't say she regretted it.
But Daniel was looking at her like he used to, unsure and ready for a reprimand that he wouldn't take but would have to listen to.
"Of course, Daniel. What's going on?"
"Sam. I, uh, I have a favor to ask you. Well, the term favor might be a little too casual for this, but it's really the only word that fits, in English anyway—"
"Daniel! Calm down, I'm happy to help, what's going on?" She kept her tone light but firm, new recruit or new alien calm.
"Don't agree just yet." Daniel closed the door and grabbed one of the extra stools to sit near her. "Okay, listen, I need you to hear me out. And if you say no, there will be no hard feelings, I won't be offended, nothing will change, I'll never bring it up again."
"Daniel."
"Right," He took a deep breath, "There's not really a gentle way to say this so, will you marry me?"
"What?"
"Not like that! I mean not that you're not beautiful and accomplished and the smartest person I've ever met, but well, you know…"
"I thought I did, but now I'm pretty confused."
"Okay, here's the thing. I keep dying. Or being presumed dead. Or falling into mysterious comas, or being stuck on alien planets with very little hope of ever leaving. And I don't have a next of kin. I don't have anyone. Except, well, you guys." Daniel looked so sad for a moment, but he pushed forward before she could figure out what to say. "The state of Colorado doesn't accept coworkers as legal next of kin, and neither does the United States Government."
"And a will wouldn't work, why?"
"It might, but with how classified everything I do is, chances are they could get away with not honoring it. General Hammond had you all pack up my apartment before, but he's going to retire eventually and if we get another general like General Hardass there might be nothing you all can do, especially if they make it an order. If we were married though, you would have the legal responsibility of my things and since you're read into the program, heck you know most of what I've found since you were there, you'll know what to do with anything potentially dangerous or alien, and I know you would honor my wishes for the rest of it. And my wishes for burial too."
"Of course I would. But I don't know, Daniel, it still seems like a nuclear option."
"I know. I know. But I've been thinking about it for a while now. Sam, I, I can't sleep. I can't let it go. It shouldn't be such a big deal, I've rebuilt my life from nothing so many times, once on an alien planet for gods sake, you'd think after dying several times and coming back I'd be less worried about death but I'm not. I can't control that, I can't control anything, but maybe I can control this." Daniel slumped, frantic energy spent for the minute, and Sam took the time to think.
Daniel could talk a lot, so could she, but they both knew when to let the other think. Some of that was practice and experience being in so many deadly situations together, but they had worked well together almost immediately. All of SG1 had meshed in a way that would have been terrifying if it wasn't so comforting in the face of the unknown.
The military had plenty of structure and tradition to fall back on, and with her history with her dad, she could get along in any team, follow orders, but SG1 felt different, like they were actually friends. She hadn't really had friends before. Hadn't felt like she had had real respect before, not something demanded by rank.
So Daniel let her think and she gave his proposal real consideration.
"My dad is my next of kin, but even though I love him, he wouldn't know what to do with my stuff either. He shut down when my mom died, I had to clean up all her stuff, I had to do everything. He would have cleaned it all out, but he would have gotten rid of it, he would have treated it like a task to do as efficiently as possible, not a chance to remember her and preserve her memory. He'd probably donate all my stuff to the SGC or throw it away. If he was still alive that is."
She wasn't really talking to him, but she was. They were practiced at following impossible tangents. Daniel could follow her thought path.
"We might die at the same time and it would be moot anyway, your dad might still be your next of kin if that happened, but then, he might also be mine, father-in-law is better than nothing."
It was easy to forget Daniel didn't have any family, here under the mountain where the rest of Earth felt like a dream, even if she went home most nights. "You'd have a brother-in-law too, and some nieces. But they don't have any kind of security clearance at all so they wouldn't be helpful in that circumstance. On the other hand, my brother would probably be a little less worried about me if I actually brought a husband to family dinner."
Daniel actually smiled for the first time in their conversation, "Family dinners seem like a small price to me. I'd be happy to actually."
"The only thing is, Daniel, I know my social life, my romantic life, is nonexistent. Right now, nothing is more important than the Stargate, and my work here, but one day…"
"No, I thought of that! We'd get divorced. The divorce settlement would give you access to all of my belongings in the event of my death. Heck, you could take me for all I was worth at the divorce anyway, it could be a wedding present. Like I said, I've rebuilt my life before, I don't actually care about money or my house or anything like that. The second you meet someone you actually love, we divorce, no harm no foul."
"And what about you?"
"What about me?"
"What if you find someone you want to marry?"
"Oh I doubt it. Shar'e was…special. I loved her so much, and looked for her longer than we got to be together, I'm not sure I could find someone like her again. Besides, I've never really cared for that kind of thing."
"…Marriage?"
"Eh," Daniel wiggled his hand, "more like sex. It's fine, fun sometimes, but unless I'm with someone that likes it, I don't really care. There's a reason I wasn't married before Shar'e, I hadn't even tried to look for it. We were married before I knew what was happening, and I was so impossibly, improbably lucky for it, but I don't know that I would have paid enough attention to realize I wanted to marry her if the circumstances hadn't forced the issue."
Sam nodded, absorbing everything, and realized she had already made her decision. Being so used to making snap decisions helped, or hurt, time would tell. She would die for Daniel, and while marriage was a very different ask, she didn't hate the idea. Something about it was maybe even good. But that didn't mean they didn't have some hurdles to overcome. "We'll have to talk to Hammond, I'm not your direct commanding officer so that's not an issue, but we'll need his go ahead so he doesn't split up SG1."
Daniel nodded in agreement, "We'll have to be delicate, we don't want them thinking we're…" he waved his hand vaguely.
"Possessed? Sick? Clones come back from another planet?"
"Yeah, any of those." They both laughed lightly, their lives were so bizarre. "Now would actually be a good time since we haven't be off world in almost a week."
"Nearly a record, and our med scans came back clean." Sam agreed. "We'll still have to be careful though. Hammond would understand, but his hands are tied with procedure. If we got married just for the benefits, even if that benefit was making sure our wills were carried out, that would be gray area at best, a court martial for me and possible dismissal for you at worst. We'll have to…. sell it, I guess."
"Guess it's good the military isn't known for encouraging PDA." Daniel said dryly, and that more than the rest of their discussion put her at ease. Maybe they didn't know how to 'be in love', but most of the rest of this stuff, being a partnership, they had that part down fine. They understood each other.
Sam smiled at him and locked her computer. "No time like the present."
Hammond was alone, and didn't look unduly stressed, so Sam plunged ahead.
"Sir, can we speak with you?"
"Major Carter, Dr. Jackson. What can I do for you?"
"Well…" Daniel started as he often did, but he lost steam quickly. Asking Sam was clearly very different than asking General Hammond, and he looked at Sam in a panic. "I don't actually know the protocol for this kind of situation."
Sam made a face but stepped up, she had agreed already, which meant this wasn't just Daniel's plan anymore. They were in it together, like always.
"Sir, we wanted to inform you that Daniel and I," she looked at him one last time to check he definitely wanted to move forward, and he nodded back. "We would like to be married, and while Daniel isn't technically military and so doesn't fall under your jurisdiction in his personal life, we would appreciate your blessing because we would prefer to stay on SG1 together."
"Excuse me?"
"It wouldn't affect our working relationship in anyway, sir. As proof, you have the last few months, nothing has changed or impacted our work at all. We can maintain professionalism both in and out of the field."
"You mean to tell me, that you've been carrying on a secret relationship for months and haven't said anything to anyone. Does the rest of SG1 know?"
"Uh, no sir, not yet. We wanted to be sure."
"Major, Doctor, I honestly don't know what to do with this." Hammond looked like he was ready to call Dr. Fraiser on them, or lock down the base. "All your medical scans have been coming back clean?"
"Yessir. Nothing unusual, except for, you know, the ones you know about. This isn't caused by anything specific, and we're not rushing into this"—that was the second real lie, but then again, they had been like family for years, it would feel like more of a lie to say they were rushing honestly—"this isn't something we'll regret in a month sir, I guarantee it."
"Major, I" He clearly wanted to say something else but held back. "I would say congratulations, and I will give my blessing, but not before you get the blessing from the rest of your team. You came to me because you wanted to ensure your working relationship will remain unchanged, but your team is more important in that decision than I am. If they give their blessing, then I will as well. And I'll be talking to Colonel O'Neill privately to make sure he's not concerned about the functionality of the team."
"Of course, sir. We'll talk to them after our shift."
Hammond looked at the clock. "Take the rest of the day, you could all use a break anyway. Maybe you can all find a steakhouse you haven't been kicked out of yet."
"Yessir. Thank you, sir."
—
"Do you want to talk to Jack first or should I?"
Sam hesitated. "Honestly, both options could go badly. I think we'll have to do it together. might as well have Teal'c there too."
"I think we should stay away from any places we could get banned from."
Sam wholeheartedly agreed. "I'll ask Jack to cook steaks, he's always happy to do that."
"And I'll go grab Teal'c, meet you by the gate?"
Sam sighed before going to find Jack. She knew there was that thing between them, they both did. They hadn't exactly needed the hints from multiple alternate realities, but it was still like a slap sometimes, that it was something she could have had. Might have.
She loved what she did so much, she wasn't willing to trade a relationship for it, and she had seen how the four of them being on SG1 together had saved the world so many times. But sometimes, she thought about it anyway. She wondered what it would be like to actually have Jack as a partner and not just a superior officer.
But in all of her options, it just wasn't one yet. She had a lot of career growth ahead of her, and years to go through the Stargate. Jack talked about how he had retired before, but he loved it as much as she did or more. She could be decently happy being in a lab working with alien science for the next 5 years, but she was worried about how Jack would handle even another year retired right now.
He loved gate travel too much. He might kvetch a bit, but he loved meeting new people and fighting Gou'ald and even training new soldiers. He wouldn't be happy sitting at home waiting for her. And she could never ask it of him, or herself.
This was the best for both of them right now, and after Jack actually retired, whenever that was, maybe they could actually explore it, if they both still felt the same way. Daniel wouldn't mind a divorce for that. He'd probably sign the papers before Sam remembered to ask for them.
"Colonel?"
"Carter?" Jack looked up from where he was filling out his paperwork in his small office. He liked to pretend he didn't have an office at all, and he also pretended that he hardly ever did real work, but he was a full bird for a reason and also had his reports in before even Sam and Daniel did most of the time (they were busy doing research but that was neither here nor there).
"General Hammond gave SG1 the rest of the day off, and Daniel and I were thinking we could go for some steaks, if we could convince you to make them?"
Jack looked at her in suspicion, "I'd ask what you did…but I'm not willing to look a gift horse in the mouth. I'll be out in a minute."
"Yessir."
She ducked back out before Jack called out, "Carter!"
"Yessir?"
"You invite Teal'c?"
"Daniel is grabbing him."
"Good, one of you pick up some sides or something too. I know you all complain when we only have meat and potatoes."
"I'll grab some stuff." She left with a smile, hoping the dread in her stomach wasn't a sign.
—
"Alright out with it. What's got you two all… squirrely." Jack gestured at Sam and Daniel, who glanced at each other guiltily.
"I have also noticed your discomfort. Does it have something to do with why General Hammond gave SG1 time off today?"
Sam almost took one for the team, used to speaking and acting as Jack's second in command, but then realized that she had been the one to deal with Hammond so she looked at Daniel again. Daniel accepted it with a grimace but didn't argue.
"Well Jack. And Teal'c. For several reasons, none of which are romantic, I have asked Sam to marry me. And she agreed."
She was expecting an eruption from Jack, and Daniel was too from the way he leaned back in his seat, but Jack actually didn't say anything. Teal'c looked at both of them before smiling warmly, "I wish you congratulations on your bonding. Two intelligent and strong comrades such as yourself will surely make a good union."
"Thanks, Teal'c."
And that was when Jack exploded.
"WHAT?"
—
They explained it to Jack, and he didn't even drag them back to the mountain. Sam could see the hurt hiding behind the bluster at first, the look he gave her despite how clear they were that it wasn't romantic. But when Daniel got into all of his reasons, a conversation that turned longer and more painful with the four of them, Teal'c asking more questions and Daniel trying desperately to make them all understand, Jack's hurt shifted to Daniel. Hurt that he couldn't just fix it or solve it or prevent Daniel from being hurt ever again. Jack was hardened from his years of military, but he was also a marshmallow inside, for his friends. If he could have fixed it, he would have.
They left with his blessing—along with Teal'c's of course—and Sam knew the team would be just fine.
—
"You know Daniel, your apartment is kind of…"
"Horrible?"
"I was going to say small. My house isn't huge, but with our combined salaries, we could afford a decent place."
"An office with good windows would be nice."
"A bigger garage for my bike…"
"If we owned instead of rented, we could actually pick paint colors."
"More space to display your artifacts."
"We could even host sometimes instead of making Jack do it every time. I'm free this weekend?"
"I can put off my project till next week, I'll call a realtor."
"I'll start doing research."
They worked so well together. It was refreshing after her last few romantic partners, where nothing ever felt so easy.