It's Kat's first birthday today. Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! There are things in my fridge older than her. We got her a motorised dangle toy thing that she finds TERRIFYING, so that's just great. It probably didn't help that, the moment we switched it on, the motorised arm lashed out and swung the spider dangle thing right at her head.

Hopefully she'll get used to it.

I also made her some Marmite cheesecake, from my cat recipe book. She liked that a little more. Yes, my cat is spoiled. *g*

Speaking of birthdays...

Title: Best Not To Think About It
Author: Pepper
Fandom(s): Stargate SG-1
Rating: PG
Wordcount:
Featured Character(s): Jack, Sam
Pairing(s): Jack/Sam
Summary: In his defence, he hadn't intended to propose to Carter in a storage closet.
A/N: For holdouttrout, a belated birthday gift. Another in the Storage Closet series.

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In his defence, he hadn't intended to propose to Carter in a storage closet. For that matter, he hadn't intended to propose to her at all (yet, anyhow). She'd only just broken her engagement to Shanahan, for one thing, not to mention that she'd just lost her father, they were barely days out of a long-term relationship as CO and 2IC, he was moving to DC next week, she was going to Nevada a couple of weeks after... There were a million good reasons not to start anything right now, and it was certainly a bad time to suggest a lifetime commitment. A terrible time.

Yeah, Sam was still staring at him in shock. He could just about see her expression in the low light filtering under the door - and how had no one replaced these lightbulbs yet? Seriously, it was, like, years since he'd stolen them. He should speak to Walter. It made for a misleading sense of intimacy when accidentally knocked stumbling in there by a passing squad of Marines who weren't looking where they were going and didn't notice that their ex-General was leaning in the doorway, talking to his ex-subordinate, who was innocently getting a pen.

If he had to explain it to anyone, it was going to sound very contrived.

It probably didn't help that he could barely convince himself that it hadn't been subconsciously planned. Lately, around her, he'd felt like a kid on the brink of a long, hot, glorious summer. It had been harder and harder to conceal the feelings that had bubbled under so quietly for so long. Now, apparently, they'd decided to stage a mutiny while he was distracted by the smell of her perfume in such close quarters.

"What?" she said, her expression saying she thought she'd misheard him. It was probably best that he let her continue to think that. What could he claim to have said, instead? What else sounded like ‘Marry me, Carter'? Harry... parry... carry... Crap, she was waiting for an answer. Jack cleared his throat, hoping inspiration would strike.

…Nope, nothing.

"Uh, you know, ignore me."

"No."

Jack's eyebrows shot up. So she had heard him. "No? Carter, this isn't—"

"Oh, shut up."

All these years, he'd told himself that they'd both been holding back, but the truth of it was, she'd been the strong one. The moment she weakened, the first hint that she wanted something more, and he would have gone along willingly, damn the consequences. It had always been her choice - he hoped she'd known that. So when she leaned into him and put her arms around his neck, his arms went automatically around her waist in response, and he was dipping his head towards hers before he could think.

She tasted exactly like he remembered. It was almost impossible to believe that it was years since he'd last kissed her. How had he not gone insane?

She broke away at last, with a gasp, and buried her face in his neck. Jack pressed his cheek to her hair and tried to ignore the giddy promptings of his heart.

"God, Jack... If you meant it, yes. Yes."

It took him a long moment to work out what she was saying - and when he did, his heart made another lurch for freedom. He pulled it back and tried to think sensibly. It had never been more difficult. "What - Carter, you shouldn't - I don't - of course I meant it, but you shouldn't be making big decisions right now—"

"It's never going to be the right time," she interrupted. She looked up. "Yes, I ought to be sensible, we ought to wait until things settle down - but when is that ever going to happen? I'm sick of waiting. Can't I be reckless for once?"

"Sam—"

She gave a huff of annoyance. "Jack, for God's sake, would you stop trying to be rational and just marry me already?"

Jack gave in. "Okay! Okay."

In the low light he could see the gleam of her smile. "Yes?"

"Yeah, sure. Since you insist. But only if I get to tell the grandchildren that you locked me in a cupboard until I agreed to make an honest woman of you."

...Wow. Oh, wow.

He wasn't exactly sure which part had made her yank him back down and kiss him like that, but he planned to have a lot of fun finding out.

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END.