Retirement The Easy Way

by Belladonna

URL: http://www.area52hkh.net/asb/belladonna/retireme.php
Summary: Jack wants to retire to be with the one he loves, but gets roadblocks. Watch how he gets around them

"I'm sorry, General O'Neill. You're too valuable to the program," the President said. Jack ignored the smirking Chief of Staff off to the side.

"Sir, I've got good people in place. I'll even consult but I really want to retire."

"Not an option at this time," the President said, obviously annoyed that Jack wasn't getting it. "You're dismissed, General."

Jack stiffened and got to his feet, marching blindly out of the Oval Office.

"Too bad, Jack," Lt. General Bill Scott said from behind him. "That little blond floozy masquerading as a Colonel is just going to have to find someone else to warm her bed," he finished maliciously.

Spinning on his heel, Jack gazed at his enemy, not letting his seething emotions show on his face. "Have a good day, sir," he said and spun back around and marched off.

Jack and Billy Scott went back to the first Iraq War, when he'd been a hotshot Major and the Lt. General had been a light bird. The ignorant, inexperienced Colonel had made a decision that Jack had vocally disagreed with, and subsequently ignored which had made Scott look bad and Jack a hero with the troops.

The subsequent animosity between the two men, at which all of the troops had sided with Jack, had escalated when Jack became a POW. After he'd been rescued he'd discovered that the company had been split up- one of the men had tried to frag Scott when he'd told them 'no, they weren't going to try and rescue Jack', and the General in charge who'd been kept in the dark about how bad the morale in the unit had become had sent Scott back stateside and reassigned the men to other units.

Over the years they'd been assigned to the same command twice, both times Jack had almost been tossed into a cell for insubordination. After that, the powers that be had been more careful not to assign the men even in the same state at the same time.

In the staff car Jack tossed his cap onto the seat beside him and roughly scrubbed his face. "How the ~hell~ did that sorry sack of shit become Chief of Staff?" he asked aloud.

The young captain who was assigned as his driver looked in his mirror. "Sir?"

Jack sighed. "Nothing, Barker. It's just been one of those days."

Barker suppressed a wince. When the General was having a bad day, everybody had a bad day.

The newly minted bird colonel Paul Davis glanced up and muttered "Oh, shit," which alerted the rest of the staff. He got to his feet. "Sir, how did it go?" He caught Barker's wince out of the corner of his eye as the man hung up his uniform cap and sat down at his own desk.

"It didn't," Jack said evenly.

Davis blinked. "They said ~no~?" he asked incredulously. He'd known that O'Neill planned to retire soon (and was pretty sure he knew who with, and not a certain astrophysicist either), and never expected it to be an issue. Then when their immediate boss had denied the request for no discernable reason it had gone downhill from there.

"No, nein, nyet, nada," Jack confirmed. "The Chief of Staff was there and informed me that 'too bad you won't be able to get with that little blonde floozy masquerading as a Colonel'."

"He's never met the Colonel, has he?" Davis asked.

"Oh," the General said dryly, "but he has. He's lucky she didn't hear him. She woulda kicked his ass."

"Oh fuck," Davis groaned, and was rewarded by Jack's wry chuckle.

"Yes, yes I was. Thank you and good night."

Sergeant Chet Miller and the Captain Mike Barker both snickered as they continued to work. They and Colonel Davis were hyper aware of the bad blood between the Chief of Staff and their boss and had tried to keep them apart as much as humanly possible in the Pentagon.

When Miller, hacker and busybody extraordinaire had found out the truth behind the rumors he'd informed his co-worker. He and Barker, who'd served with O'Neill at the SGC, took good care of their General and were fiercely loyal because the Old Man was a joy to work for, not only because he was laid back but because he really cared for his troops and it showed.

"Excuse my French," Davis told them apologetically but the men both waved it away. He turned back to the General. "What are you going to do now?"

Jack opened his mouth, a considering look flashing over his face, then he smiled. Evilly. "Cancel all of my meetings, Chet," he told the sergeant. "I'm flying to Colorado Springs."

Davis blinked. "Sir. ~Jack~. Don't do something stupid!" (He knew his voice was just shy of begging, but hell, after serving with the SGC and SG-1 in particular, he wasn't proud).

"Whatever do you mean, Davis? I'll be the soul of propriety," Jack said, eyes gleaming as he gathered his things including an already packed carryall they all had in case of emergency. "I'm going to the MAC terminal to bounce some jet jockey outta his plane. I'll call you when I arrive," he said cheerfully and swept out.

When the door shut, Davis collapsed into his chair. "Oh god, we're doomed."

~*

Pressing the start button to nuke a meal, Daniel idly watching the spaghetti spin on the turntable as he sipped his wine. He yawned, then jolted in surprise as his doorbell rang. And then again. What in the hell?

"Hold your horses," he called as it chimed again.

"Danny, open this door!"

Daniel stopped in shock. "Jack?" He could feel the delight in his heart and ruthlessly stomped on it as he opened the door to stare at the man on his doorstep. The man he loved more than life, death and ascension itself.

"Daniel," Jack said, his dark eyes serious but burning brightly. "If I asked you to marry me, this minute, would you say yes?"

Squinting, Daniel stared suspiciously. "You're drunk, aren't you?"

"Dan-iel," Jack whined and Daniel was obscurely reassured.

"Get in here and tell me why you've suddenly lost your mind," he ordered and was relieved when Jack obeyed, dropping his carryall on the floor, which gave Daniel pause because it meant that Jack was staying for awhile.

"I'm serious, Daniel."

Daniel heard the microwave ding and went into the kitchen, feeling Jack on his heels. He sat back down at the bar and chugged the rest of his wine before getting another glass and pouring some for Jack, more for himself.

"Okay, let sanity reign and start from the beginning," he said calmly though his heart was beating a mile a minute.

Jack chuckled, loosening his tie and unbuttoning the top couple of buttons of his blue uniform shirt, feeling the heat of Daniel's eyes on his actions.

"I want to retire," he said, and at Daniel's surprise held up his hand. "Let me finish," he ordered, waiting for Daniel's nod. "I want to retire because I've decided I've given enough to the program and to Earth. I want to be happy, to be with the person I love. So I put in for retirement but the President said no."

"So, you want to stick it to them by marrying a man?" Daniel said bitterly. "I'm sure that Sam will appreciate that."

"Dan-iel," Jack sighed. "You're missing the point. I asked you, ~not~ Carter, for all of the reasons I listed earlier."

Daniel froze with his wine glass halfway up to his mouth, eyes huge. "You meant ~me~?"

Jack was watching Daniel carefully and caught the emotions on the younger man's face, and sighed with relief- sure of his footing now. "Yes, Daniel. You. Spacemonkey, trouble magnet archeologist and anthropologist and former glowy guy."

Daniel carefully set his wineglass down and said, "Okay, one more time from the top."

"Geez," Jack whined but at Daniel's look he sighed. "Fine. Okay. I tried to retire, to be with you, you big dummy. General Myers denied my request but allowed me to continue up the chain of command to find out why. Turns out that the Chief of Staff still hates my guts as much as I hate his and persuaded the President that I'm 'necessary'," Jack raised his fingers in sarcastic quotes, "so the President told me no. And goddamnit, I deserve to be happy so I came straight here to ask you to marry me."

Daniel was still gaping at him so Jack got up, rounded the bar and cupped Daniel's face in his hands, smiling into the stunned blue eyes. "I love ~you~, Daniel Nicholas Jackson," he said tenderly before he pressed his lips to Daniel's, and moaned as his sweaty fantasies became a reality.

Jack moaned again as Daniel's lips fell open and their tongues tangled, Daniel's strong hands gripping his shoulders as Jack jerked him to his feet and deepened the kiss. When they pulled back both were gasping for breath, eyes wild and somehow their hair sticking up like hands had gone through it (maybe they had, Jack hadn't been paying attention). With a snicker Daniel patted Jack's hair to make it lie flat and Jack yanked him into a hug.

Then later, much later, when Daniel and Jack were both trying to catch their breath, Daniel raised his head, eyes gleaming with a look that Jack knew only too well.

"D'oh. What now?"

"Yes."

Jack hated it when Daniel got all verbally twisty on him, especially since his brains had dribbled out his ears. "Ye-es?"

"I said yes, I'm going to marry you. C'mon, I need to make a phone call."

"Seriously?" Jack gaped at Daniel's very nice ass as it trotted out of the bedroom. "Who are ya calling?" he called after he remembered what Daniel had said.

"You'll see," Daniel called back.

~*~

ZNN reporter Anderson Cooper watched with bemusement as the Air Force General in full dress uniform married the civilian in the dark blue Armani suit in a lovely civil ceremony. After it was over, the General came over and shook his hand. "Did you get enough footage?"

Anderson nodded. "Yeah, Kurt did fine. Do you want a copy?"

The General turned towards his husband who was speaking to the Unitarian minister. "Danny, we want a copy?"

"Yes, please."

The General smiled. "Yeah, both of the wedding and the whole shebang once you air it, if that's okay?"

"Of course," Anderson said. "So, um, honeymoon?"

"Youbetcha," the General said and glanced at his watch. "Shake a leg, Jackson! We have a plane to catch."

Anderson and his cameraman watched as the General and the civilian got into a rental car, kissed for an almost embarrassingly long moment, before driving off.

"Well," Anderson said with a helpless smile as he slid his hands in his pockets and rocked on his heels. "I'm gonna get an Emmy."

The cameraman snorted. "It's gonna piss off the Pentagon."

Now Anderson smirked. "I know."

~*

The men were on the front porch of the cabin. Jack was rocking gently in his hammock, eyes closed, one hand folded across his chest and the other lightly clasped in Daniel's, while Daniel companionably read a book, when they heard the sound of a car coming up the drive.

"Showtime," Jack said mildly, not even opening his eyes.

Daniel gave Jack's hand a squeeze, stood and smiled wryly as he caught sight of the men who exited the car. "General Hammond, Colonel Davis, what a surprise."

Davis rolled his eyes while Hammond snorted. "Oh no, Dr. Jackson. Consider me more surprised than you, trust me."

Jack opened his eyes and swung his feet over to stand up and greet his guests. "George, Paul. Hey, all we need is Ringo and whatshisname."

"You can be whatshisname," Daniel put in dryly. "I'll be Ringo."

"Nah, I like Spacemonkey better," Jack said amiably. "Welcome to the Jackson-O'Neill's. Do you need a drink?"

Their visitors both politely declined. Hammond sighed and sat down in one of the other chairs while Davis settled onto the porch railing.

"So, you know you've started a ruckus."

Jack sat back on the hammock and Daniel joined him, the nature of the hammock causing them to be tight against one another, which caused Davis to raise his eyebrows.

"Yes, sir," Jack answered mildly. "How did Cooper spin it?"

"Oh, it was tastefully done," Hammond said mildly. "Right, Davis?"

Davis started, then grinned. "Yes, sir. And if you don't mind me saying so, the wedding looked lovely."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Oy," he said and Daniel muffled a laugh with a fake cough.

"Colonel," Hammond said with vast patience and Davis raised an apologetic hand.

"Sorry, sir. Mr. Cooper started out doing your typical DADT show, interviewing separated servicemembers from all branches when he began to wax poetic about this one active duty servicemember and his partner who had bravely decided that they really didn't care what the military thought, and had invited him to their wedding."

Jack and Daniel shared a smile. "And? So? Therefore?" Jack asked.

"Let's say that the President and the Chief of Staff were quite...perturbed," Hammond said. "There's been talk of a court martial."

"Tell them I'll blow the program wide open, sir," Jack threatened mildly.

Daniel's head whipped around to stare at Jack. "What?"

Jack smiled. "Danny, you've gotta know that I'd risk it all for you."

The look they gave each other made Hammond clear his throat. "That won't be necessary, Jack. There is too much overwhelming public support, including the Democrats the ACLU, the Democratic Congress and about approximately 7,200 service members who have come out to their commands in the past three days," he explained wryly. "It's become a major problem for the military."

"Well, duh," Jack said reasonably. "You separate that many service members all at once and compromise national security. I just wish I could tell that bastard Scott 'na na nana na'."

"Jack," Daniel reproved gently and Jack rolled his eyes but subsided.

Hammond's eyebrows went up and he exchanged a look with Davis.

"What?" Jack asked a bit defensively.

Davis looked innocent. "Um, we just noticed that Dr. Jackson has you well in hand, sir and we didn't think that could happen."

Daniel snorted and Jack smirked. "That sounded almost dirty, Davis. I approve," he said archly and laughed when Davis's face turned pink.

Hammond rolled his eyes. "What do you want, Jack?"

"To be with Daniel, sir," Jack said promptly.

"Did you and Dr. Jackson have an inappropriate relationship within the confines of the SGC?"

"No, sir," Jack said firmly, his brown eyes clear and calm.

Hammond had known Jack for so long that he'd always been able to tell when the other man had lied to him. Looking at Jack now, he was reassured that he hadn't backed the wrong horse in this horse race.

He got to his feet and smiled. "Very well. It's a good thing that you have your retirement papers in now, Jack."

Daniel got out of the hammock first and pulled Jack to his feet (they'd learned the hard way how to get out of the hammock days before). Jack held out his hand to Hammond, "Thank you, George. I appreciate, ~we~," he corrected, smiling at Daniel, "appreciate everything you've done for us over the years."

"You made the SGC worth working at," Hammond said sincerely. "You and Dr. Jackson both." He shook both men's hands. "Congratulations, by the way."

Jack turned to Davis and smiled. "Sorry for leaving you in a lurch, Paul."

Davis smiled back. Seeing Jack O'Neill so incandescently happy showed him the reality of how miserable his boss had been in D.C. It was worth it to see him like this, and if he was happy with Dr. Jackson? Quite frankly, it was none of his business. "It's been an interesting week, sir," he said in the understatement of the year. "Though, I do have one request."

"Since I'm retired, remember to call me Jack and I'll consider it," Jack said.

"Jack," Davis said. "And it's actually for Dr. Jackson. The SGC wants to know if he's coming back?" In reality he was relaying the panicked message from the SGC and the other government programs that Daniel was working on. Apparently no one cared if the archeologist was gay as long as he continued to do his work.

Daniel looked at Jack who shrugged and silently threw the ball back in Daniel's court. They'd discussed it, and knew that they might be painting a bull's-eye on Daniel if he returned, but Jack had firmly told him that he'd back any decision that Daniel made.

Daniel pushed up his glasses and nodded. "I'll consult, but I won't be going back through the 'gate. Well," he looked at Jack with a grin, "unless it's something really cool."

Jack chuckled. "Poor Mitchell. He worked like hell to get you guys back together again."

This reminder of his team, made Daniel sigh. "How is everyone taking this at the SGC?" he asked, his thoughts on Sam.

"Well," Hammond said with a sly smile. "Hank assumed that you two were together for years."

"Seriously?" Jack asked in surprise.

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Maybe if you hadn't called him every time I got hurt, or disappeared or..." he stopped and his eyes smiled at Jack over Jack's hand which was now over his mouth.

"Okay, I might have been concerned. A little," Jack conceded.

Davis snorted. He'd dialed most of those phone calls himself. "Let's just say that it wasn't that big of a surprise to the SGC. Now, everybody else..."

~*~

Daniel rolled out of bed after pressing a soft kiss to Jack's head. He shuffled into the kitchen and reflected that Jack was a lucky son of a bitch because he got to sleep in, while he had to head into the mountain to deal with the fallout.

He blearily started the coffee, realized he couldn't see blessed thing and drifted back into the bedroom to get his glasses, smirking when he saw that Jack had star-fished and was now hogging the entire bed, face buried under a pillow. He pulled on his ratty bathrobe and headed to the front door, pulling it open and blinked at the cacophony of voices and bright flashes of light.

"Dr. Jackson! Dr. Jackson!" reporters shouted. "How do you feel about being responsible for changing national policy?"

"Um," Daniel said, wishing desperately for coffee and hoping there were no embarrassing holes in his bathrobe.

"We're very happy that this has woken up the Pentagon," Jack's voice came from behind, making him jump. A warm hand on his shoulder steadied him and he shot his husband (husband!) a smile.

"General O'Neill," another reporter shouted. "Why did you decide to do this now?"

Daniel felt Jack take a deep breath. "I've been the Air Force for over 30 years and I've seen too many good men and women separated from the service based on the fact that the government doesn't approve of their choice in lovers."

"You don't think it's detrimental to the military's good order and discipline?" someone else asked.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Duh," he said, provoking laughter. "It occurs to me that our allies in the British and Canadian militaries are allowed same sex relationships without a degradation of good order and discipline. I fail to see why we would be different."

"Are you happy?" a local reporter asked, holding her mike out to hear the answer.

Daniel and Jack exchanged a long look. "Oh, yeah," they chorused.

~*

Sam pointed her remote at the T.V. and it winked off. Throat tight, she picked up the phone and dialed a number, waiting for the party on the other end to answer.

"General Landry, it's Colonel Carter. I'd like to head Atlantis, sir."