Hooray! Sequel has begun! You know I need your reviews to fuel my creativity...please keep them coming! I'll try to update often. I have many plans for this story...

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"Any word from General Hammond?"

Sam leaned into General Landry's office, hanging onto the doorframe and trying not to look too eager. She knew it was the third time she had asked, but she didn't know Landry well enough yet to be sure he would call her if Hammond's letter was brought down.

"Nope," Landry replied, not bothering to lift his head from the mountain of paperwork on his desk. Boxes were still stacked up all around him, and the walls were blank, with tiny pinholes visible where General O'Neill's framed medals, photos, and other items had hung around the room. Sam leaned farther into the office and waited for Landry to add something else, but he didn't even seem to notice her presence. She let out an impatient sigh.

"Right."

She turned to leave, but spun around on her heels when she heard Landry call her back.

"Oh, Colonel?"

Sam peeked her head back in, and he waved at her distractedly, gesturing for her to come in. She sauntered inside the office, glancing inside one or two of the boxes stacked up on the floor. Landry opened one desk drawer after another, obviously searching for something.

"Do you know where Jack kept his stapler? I've looked everywhere, but-"

Sam reached behind him and opened one of the glass doors of the cabinet behind the General's desk. Landry looked confused when she dug a stapler out from where it was being used as a bookend, dropping it into his hand. He stared at it a second, and then started to laugh.

"How did anything ever get done around here?"

"We managed, sir," Sam responded, a little too defensively. Landry waved her out the door, still laughing.

"Go on, Colonel. Finish packing. I'll let you know if I hear from George."

Sam sighed and headed back up to her lab. She had less than a week before she would officially be leaving the SGC, and there was still a lot to do. Unfortunately, knowing what she had planned for the weekend was making it very difficult to concentrate.

Wandering back into her lab, Sam taped up the bottom of another box and began filling it with books. She stacked them carefully, making sure they all were packed in order. She was dreading the task of unpacking all of her things into her new office at Area 51. It was nothing like the astrophysics lab she'd been working out of for the past eight years, and it stung a little to think of leaving it behind.

To cheer herself up, Sam left the box on the floor and wandered over to her desk, sliding open the top drawer and pulling out a small, grey box. She popped open the top and ran her fingers over the smooth, silver ring and the stones embedded in the top, reminding herself of her reason for leaving. A smile crept across her face and she snapped the box closed, resting it back in its place in her drawer.

Sam wished she could wear her engagement ring openly, but she knew that it was important for her and Jack to keep quiet about their relationship. She hadn't mentioned her breakup with Pete to anyone outside of SG1, deciding to let that be her cover if anyone happened to catch her making wedding plans. Jack assured her that everything would work out fine, but Sam knew she would feel much better once she heard for sure. General Hammond had a meeting with the President that morning, and he had promised Jack that he would talk to him about their situation. Sam was crossing her fingers, waiting to hear word back on how it went.

There was a knock on her open door, and she looked up to see a young Sergeant standing in the doorway, holding a large envelope in his hand. Sam jumped, but she restrained herself from bounding across the room.

"This just came for you, ma'am."

She slowly crossed the room and allowed him to drop the envelope into her hands, thanking him and waiting until he was out of sight before tearing it open and scanning the letter hurriedly. Skipping the opening pleasantries, she felt her heart leap as she found the words she was searching for towards the bottom of the page.

"You have a go."

She didn't bother to read the rest of the letter, dropping it onto her desk and reaching for the phone, the grin on her face so wide that it made her cheeks ache. She dialed the number that was quickly becoming familiar to her, and asked to speak with General O'Neill.

"I'm sorry, the General is in a meeting. Can I take a message?"

Disappointed, Sam replied, "No, thank you," and hung up. She glanced around the room and thought of resuming her packing, but changed her mind, snapping up the letter and walking swiftly out of her lab. Jogging to the elevator down the hall, she rode it up one level and made her way to Daniel's office.

Daniel was more excited about his Atlantis expedition than Sam had ever seen him about anything. He'd spent the last week digging up every article, report, and artifact he could find that had any relevance at all to the lost city. She walked in to see him leaning over a large, dusty book, his fists pressed into his cheeks as he read over the words on the page. Sam waited a moment before clearing her throat loudly, and Daniel looked up at her in surprise.

"Oh, sorry, Sam," he said, pushing up his glasses and smiling at her. "Didn't see you. What's up?"

She crossed the room and held the letter in her hands over his desk. He smiled at pulled it from her fingers.

"What's this?"

She watched him eagerly as he read over Hammond's words, and when he was finished, she was amused to see that he seemed just as happy as she was.

"Sam, that's great!" He stood and walked around his desk, wrapping her up in a bear hug and squeezing her until she complained that she couldn't breathe.

"Congratulations!" he said merrily, releasing her and dropping the letter back into her hands. His eyes darted to the camera in the corner of his office, and Sam knew he was trying to be careful with his word choice. "Have you talked to him?"

She sighed and folded Hammond's letter, sliding it into her pocket. "He's in a meeting. I'm sure he'll call later, hopefully when I'm home, so we can actually talk." Sam gestured up to the camera, and Daniel nodded understandingly.

"What about your brother? Did you ever call him?"

Sam groaned and leaned against Daniel's desk, sending a mysterious cylindrical object rolling off the edge and Daniel diving to the floor to catch it. He glanced up at her over his glasses and frowned.

"Sorry," she mumbled, giving him her hand to help him up. "Yes, I called Mark."

Daniel placed the cylinder up on a shelf, out of Sam's reach. "And?"

"And he's not happy with me. I didn't even get a chance to tell him about…" She waved her hand around in the air. "…you know." Daniel nodded, and Sam continued. "All he wanted to do was lecture me about Pete. Just when we were starting to get along, too."

Daniel shrugged and leaned up next to her. "Well, they're good friends, right? Just give it time. He won't stay mad forever."

Sam smiled and patted her pocket. "When are you leaving?"

"For Minnesota? Not till Friday morning." Sam looked disappointed, and Daniel held up his hands. "Hey, don't look at me. You're going to have to recruit somebody else to take care of your decorations."

She laughed and gave him a playful nudge. "I don't have any girlfriends, Daniel. I was relying on you and Cassie for that stuff."

"So hire somebody."

Sam shook her head. Having gone through the entire wedding-planning ordeal with Pete, the last thing she wanted was to have a fancy wedding with Jack. She had already told him that all she wanted was a simple ceremony with their closest friends, which suited Jack just fine.

"I'll figure something out," she said cheerfully, pulling herself up from Daniel's desk and stretching her arms. "I guess I'd better get back to packing."

Daniel returned to his seat behind the desk and waved to her. "Have fun."

Making her way back to the elevator, Sam pulled Hammond's letter from her pocket and read it in its entirety. He had been careful not to mention a wedding, and she laughed at the way he referred to their weekend plans as if it were their next mission. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the wall of the elevator. In a way, it was a kind of mission, the last for SG-1 as a team, to help them all find happiness and a way to move on with their lives. Sam folded the letter and placed it back in her pocket, hoping this wasn't the last chance the team would have to be together. Things would certainly be different from now on, but change wasn't always a bad thing. The elevator doors slid open, and Sam sighed, wandering back into her office.

Before she resumed packing, she took one last peek at the ring in her desk, reminding herself of just how good change can be.