Title: Of Boxes and Boxers (1/1)

Author: Lisa Yaeger

E-mail: lisayaeger@hotmail.com

Rating: PG-13 (I don?t have kids, I don?t know what to rate it!)

Category: Very little angst, Romance, maybe a little humor?

Pairings: Sam/Jack

Content Warnings: mild language, hints of sexuality

Summary: There's a box and a pair of boxers involved- you'll see

Season/sequel: S6

Spoilers: Up through the present, although I?ve only seen seasons 3-6.

Archive: SJD & whoever wants to- I?d be flattered!

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and places are the
property of MGM, World Gekko Corp and Double Secret productions. This
piece of fan fiction was created for entertainment not monetary
purposes and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended.
Previously unrecognized characters and places, and this story, are
copyrighted to the author. Any similarity to real persons, living or
dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Status: Complete.

Author's notes: Hope you like it!

Feedback: Welcomed

The four of them had been sitting around staring at it for what felt
like hours. It didn't do
anything but sit there- a small wooden box in the middle of the
briefing room table. It
was like they expected it to open by the sheer force of their combined
wills.

Teal'c spoke first, "MajorCarter, do you not think it would be wise to
transport this item
to your lab for further study?"

Jonas nodded in agreement, "There isn't any marking on it at all that
would help us to
determine who, or what, left it behind. Or for what purpose."

"I just hope there isn't any sort of auto-destruct that will activate
if I try to force it open.
But, we're not getting anywhere this way either," Sam started to reach
for the box as she
stood.

"Not so fast, Major. This thing was left for me, and I'm going to
carry it wherever it
needs to go," Jack stated rather possessively.

Sam, Teal'c and Jonas shared a look as Colonel O'Neill tucked the box
under his arm and
walked out of the room toward Sam's lab.

As Teal'c watched with his zat handy, Sam tried any way she could
think of to get that
stupid box open! No element know to man (at least on earth or a few
of the other dozens of
planets that they visited) was strong enough to force the box open.
She finally threw up
her arms in desperation, "I give up!" What/whoever had made this
thing didn't want it to
be easy to get into.

Always trying to see the bright side, Jonas offered, "At least we know
it won't self
destruct if we try to open it."

The glare Sam sent his way might have been the best weapon they had
against whatever
that thing was made of. "I'm going to get some coffee."

Teal'c lowered his zat, "I will now leave to meditate."

Jonas left the lab in search of some fruit, and Jack was left alone
with his box and his
thoughts- yes, his thoughts. Couldn't he even go away for a week
without something
alien happening to him anymore? He had been at the cabin, cleaning
out some old papers
and pictures- things he hadn't dared to look at for almost 10 years.
Pictures of his family,
or rather, the family he had then; old awards; letters; stuff from a
different life. As he
searched through the last drawer in what used to be Char...- in the
guest room- he found
this box. Plain and simple, but he couldn't open it. It felt, well,
different somehow, and
so he cut his trip short and brought the box back to base. He
couldn't imagine who- or
what, as Jonas had pointed out- had left him this thing, and why? In
a place he wouldn't
really have found it, that is if he hadn't been thinking about a
certain major he knew.
What was it about her that made him want to put the past in the past,
and not in a stuff-it-
away-don't think-about-it-ever-again kind of way. It was more of a
put-it-where-it-
belongs-and-in-perspective kind of way that he felt when he thought
about his future. Or
rather a future that he envisioned with her, when he thought about the
future, which
wasn't often. Or thought about her, which was often. As his mind
wandered in the
general direction of her, a grin appeared on his face at precisely the
moment when she...

"Something amusing, Sir?" She liked to see him smile, and it didn't
happen often.

"No. Nothing. Not at all. Just thinking about... nothing." He had
a hard time getting rid
of the smile on his face, especially when she was shooting one right
back at him.

"Well, I was. Thinking, that is. And I wondered if you could be a
little more specific
about how and where you found this. It might give me a clue as to its
purpose."

"I thought its purpose was to drive you crazy, Carter."

"Sir, if that's true, then it might just be working."

Jack sat down on a stool, "There's nothing much to tell really. I was
going through some
old stuff. Found it in a drawer. It felt kind of weird, so I brought
it back."

"Ok, but can you tell me where it was in relation to other things-
like was it in the kitchen
cabinet, for example? And what do you mean it felt weird?"

He was quiet all of a sudden, but he knew she was right. They didn't
have anything to go
on, so any information he had might be important. He was glad this
was just her, "I
found it in a drawer in Charlie's old room. It was beneath some old
pictures and letters. I
honestly don't know what possessed me to look at that stuff, " Nice
lie, Jack- keep it up,
and maybe you'll convince yourself, "but there it was. When I first
touched it, I just
remember thinking that it wasn't like anything I had ever felt before.
Then when I saw it,
there was a feeling of déjà vu all of a sudden. But I swear to god,
I've never seen it
before, so how is that possible?" He was obviously frustrated at not
being able to
reconcile his feelings about the box and what his senses were telling
him. He ran his
hands through his hair, and just waited for her to come up with the
answer. Like always.

"It's obviously made of something that we haven't encountered before.
Maybe even from
the future. That would explain your sense of déjà vu about it, and
why we can't seem to
use any of our technology to open it. You know, that really could be
it. This thing could
be from the future!"

He watched with awe and semi-amusement as her eyes grew big and that
look came over
her. It was the one he loved the most, although he was sure there
were other looks he
would love more, if given the chance. "Carter, are you telling me
that you think this
thing was planted by someone in the future in my cabin for me to find
now? Don't you
think that's a little far fetched even for, well, even given
everything we've seen?"

"No, Sir, I don't. And I'm not saying 'someone'- I'm saying you left
it for you to find
now."

"Why would I do that? Wouldn't I just leave myself a note, or at
least the combination to
open this thing?"

"Maybe, maybe not. If you were you- well, you are you- but pretend
you are a future
you. Why would you put something in a box that was impossible to open?"

"To get you to look at it." He blurted it out without even thinking.
Damn! The problem
was, the minute he said it, they both knew it was true. The only
reason he would make
something this hard would be so that she would have to figure it out.
Double damn!

"OK, so I'm looking at it. But I can't figure it out, so that
probably means that I need
your help. Maybe that's why you didn't want to let it out of your
sight. Some future part
of you knows that we have to figure this out together." Could this
get any weirder?

"So, what- I just say 'open sesame' and the box pops open?"

At that moment, the box popped open. They just looked at each other
with huge eyes and
a little bit of fear. This was uncanny, to say the least. They both
leaned over the table to
peer inside. A folded up envelope that had been sealed was all that
was inside.

"It's your box, Sir, so you should do the honors."

He reached inside and pulled out the envelope. He unfolded it to
reveal the intended
recipient's name, scrawled in his handwriting- Sam. He handed it
wordlessly to her.

"I don't know if we should be going any further without..." She
didn't know how to finish
that sentence. Did she really want General Hammond in here to see
whatever was written
in the letter that the envelope presumably contained?

"It's for you- I think you should open it." Nervous didn't begin to
describe how he felt.
He had written dozens of letters to her already- all shredded and
recycled now- imagine
what a future him had to say. Hell, they could be married, engaged,
who knows??

She looked from the envelope to him and back again. Gently, she began
to open it and
unfolded the page that was written in his unmistakable writing:


Dear Sam,

If you are reading this, then at least there is hope. If this is
someone else, I'll have to kill
you when I find you. If all went as planned, then we should have
already gotten the note
that we sent back in time through the Stargate warning ourselves to
stay off of the planet
where the Aschen were. If we didn't get that note, make sure we don't
go there-ever.

Assuming it's really you reading this and that all happened, I guess
you figured out that I
left this box for myself to find. You also probably know that we had
to work together to
figure out how to open it. So, maybe not all of the Aschen technology
was bad- this
voice-activated lock thingy worked pretty well, right? At any rate, I
felt like my old self
should be there when you read this note written by the "new" me that
now won't ever
exist. At least not like how I know me now, I hope. Wow, is this
confusing. But, I've
had some time to think about it, and here it is in a nutshell.

You see, when the Aschen first came with their miracle cures, I
doubted them. I was the
only one. Even you believed what they were selling- of course, you
falling for the
Ambassador to the Aschen didn't help either. You married him, Sam,
and you have no
idea how that hurt. Well, I guess you do now. We didn't speak from
that time until
yesterday, when you came to ask for my help to send the note back in
time. You and
Janet finally figured out that the Ashen were trying to end humanity
with their sterility
drug. When you told me you couldn't have kids, a part of me died. I
guess I had always
hoped that if you had kids, they would be mine. But knowing there
wouldn't be any little
blond-haired, blue-eyed scientists in the future... Well, it made me
get past the pain of
you not believing in me then and decide to help you- us- now. I guess
there's a part of me
that still hopes that we can be an "us" in the future. Well, in the
future of my past.

So, that's it. I figured if I knew anything about me, it was that I
would never say anything
to you about how I felt. And now I know that not saying anything
caused you to go to
somebody else- in a way, it caused the end of our planet. Or rather,
it would have, if we
hadn't worked together to send the note back. And if we hadn't worked
together to open
this box. I guess that says it all- if we aren't together, the world
really does stop. And I
want our world to go on forever.

Love,
Jack

P.S. If you feel the same way, even a little, just ask me to retire.
I already have a
resignation letter signed in my top dresser drawer underneath my lucky
Simpsons boxers.

She couldn't believe it. But she could at the same time. She always
had this feeling that
they had to be together. Not just for themselves, but for something
bigger than either of
them. Now here it was. Proof that they were- what?!?!- destined for
each other? Not a
very scientific explanation, but since when was love scientific? Is
that what this feeling
was? Love? Did his future self just offer to retire his past self so
that they could... have
kids? Oh my god! OH MY GOD!

How long was it going to take her to read this freakin' letter? What
the hell did he write,
anyway? Well, she wasn't running away screaming- that had to be good,
right?

"Is your door open?" She barely whispered the question.

"Door to what?" What the hell was she talking about?

"Door to your quarters- is it open?" She was getting impatient and
jumped off her chair
and made a dash for the hall before he even answered. She ran blindly
to his room-
knocking a few people over in the process, but she really didn't care.
He followed just a
few steps behind- knocking the same people over. Couldn't they just
move?!?!

She flung the door open and looked for the dresser. Finding it, she
started to lose her
resolve. She had to know if it was there. If it was... well, first
thing's first. She could
hear him coming behind her, and turned around to lock him out. That
would buy her
enough time.

He pounded on the door, "Carter! Open up!" He reached into his
pocket for the keys, but
they were in her lab. Damn! He started to run back. God help those
people if they were
still in the hall.

She opened the top drawer. It felt odd to be going through her CO's
drawers, literally.
There they were- the Simpsons were unmistakable in any form,
especially cotton boxers.
So, guess he's not a briefs kind of guy, she smiled to herself.
'Enough, Sam! Just look a
little deeper,' she gasped as she saw the corner of a single sheet of
paper. Afraid and
thrilled at the same time, she heard a key in the door. Time was
running out. She could
either pull out the paper and change their lives, hell, apparently the
world, or close the
drawer and come up with some excuse. An alien virus maybe? No, tried
that already.

In the split second that the door opened, she made her decision. He
walked in, out of
breath, more than a little irritated, and saw her standing in front of
his dresser. Why was
the top drawer open? Why were his boxers on top? What was she
holding in her hand?
Oh my god! OH MY GOD! "How did you know..."

"You told me. Or rather the future you told me. You said that if I
felt the way about you
that you do about me, even a little, then you would resign."

"So that we could be together." It was a statement, not a question.

"Apparently, the future you wants me to have your children in the
present, or in the future
of the present, actually. You even hope they are scientists." She
smiled as their eyes
locked, both realizing the full meaning of the situation.

"Who am I to argue with myself?" And with that, he took the letter of
resignation and
walked toward General Hammond's office.

Guess they really were lucky boxers after all.