Samantha Carter stood in front of the mirror in her bedroom and sighed. The image that looked back at her was the quintessential little girl's dream - the pure white dress tight at the bodice and a full skirt. However she wasn't sure that little girls dreamt of feeling miserable. Today was the day she became Mrs Shanahan. It should be the happiest day of her life. So why wasn't she? An image floated into her mind of a photograph of her in a dress. A picture in which she had been happy, but where the guy stood next to her wasn't the one who now waited for her. Sam quashed both the memory and the traitorous thought it inspired. "All ready?" Jacob stood at her doorway, a proud-father smile on his face. "As ready as I'll ever be." Jacob lifted his eyebrows at her choice of words, but let it pass. They climbed into the white limo and drove to the chapel.
Pete Shanahan stood at the front of the chapel, waiting for the woman he was going to make his wife. Only he wasn't entirely sure she was going to show up. Nerves, his best man reckoned, only Pete knew better. After all he'd seen the doubt in Sam's blue eyes, even as she said yes to his proposal. He had also seen the looks that passed between Sam and her commanding officer. Jack O'Neill had not attended Pete's stag night, but his friend Daniel had. And Daniel had gotten drunk and now Pete knew lots of things he really wished he didn't. Like that once Jack and Sam had been trapped off-world together. Like that Jack and Sam had been exposed to a virus that had made Sam predatory. Like that Jack and Sam had gone on a mission and Sam had gotten stuck and that Jack had not left her. That Jack had admitted, in front of Teal'c who'd told Daniel, that he cared for Samantha Carter. More than he should do. Being a cop did not mean some relationships were off the list, though a cop's wife was not every woman's first choice. He could love and marry Sam without endangering his career. He could not imagine what living with those kind of restrictions. Pete knew he had know Sam just months, Jack had a history with her that went into years. Pete did not know if he could compete with that. He also didn't know if he could live with being second choice. He heard a car pull up outside.
It was raining and the streets were full of cars and puddles. People huddled under umbrellas, not caring who they bumped or pushed as they hurried on their way. Jack O'Neill, never a great fan of the city, stood as close to the curb as he could, trying to catch a cab whilst avoiding the puddle waves from the cars that passed. Caught unawares by the sudden downpour, Jack had on his leather jacket and he was soaked. He had known it was a bad idea, had not even considered the thought of attending Sam's wedding until she had come and begged him. He had not been able to refuse confronted by that look in her eyes. Finally a cab stopped and Jack flopped into the backseat. "Airport," he said shortly. Despite his promise, it was a bad idea. And he was going to get as far as he could from that damned chapel. The radio was on. "And don't it always seem to go; that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone." The words sank into Jack's rain-frozen brain and the train of grumbling thoughts came to a shuddering stop. Without any reason he suddenly remembered being on Apophis' new ship, his second-in-command trapped the other side of a force field and the utter terror he had felt at the possibility of losing her. It could not compare with that he felt now, only this time he would not lose her to death but another man. "Ah driver? I've changed my mind. Take me here." And he passed the tattered invitation with the chapel's address.
The white limo had stopped at the bottom of the steps that led up to the chapel. Sam got out slowly. The rain had stopped and the clouds were beginning to clear. Smoothing down her dress, Sam took the first stair of the steps. From around the corner screeched a yellow cab. It stopped and Jack tumbled out. Sam stared at him, frozen on the bottom step. There was a creak as the chapel door opened, letting Pete out.
Sam stood on the chapel steps. Pete stood at the door. Jack stood in the road.
Sam looked from Jack to Pete and back to Jack. Pete sighed and shoved his hands into his trouser pockets. Jack stood, hope and fear vying on his face.
The silence stretched.
Sam looked at her father. "Born Air Force, marry Air Force, die Air Force," he said, trying to hide a smile.
Sam looked at Pete. "I'm sorry."
Sam ran to Jack, who simply opened his arms and hugged her tight.
As Pete walked away from the chapel the door shut as the yellow taxi took his girl away. Only she had never been his. She would be cared for, just as much as she should.
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