Sam didn't want to go to this stupid wedding; she had too much to do at the SGC including the testing on the new artifact from PX12355. But looking down at the invitation of her old Pentagon buddies Greg and Carol, Sam recalled introducing them to each other, she guessed she couldn't get out of it. She felt obligated to attend. Sam remembered that Greg was a confirmed
bachelor up to that point, but when he saw Carol, a Washington DC upper-crust-socialite, he fell like a brick wall.
She arranged her leave and called Carol months before, to give her RSVP. Carol asked if she would do her a great favor and help her with a dilemma. Sam had a feeling where this was going.
"Sam? Would you do me the great honor of being my maid-of-honor?"
"Oh!?! I..."
Sam knew how Carol could manipulate, and explained that she has two sisters and Greg has two sisters, and can't she pick one of them to be her maid-of-honor? "Sam, don't back out on me now, I need you, and besides your coming anyways."
Sam realized she'd been cleverly maneuvered. So she accepted gracefully.
Realizing two days before she actually had to leave for DC, she needed someone to help *her* at the wedding. She needed someone to help her run interference of her old friends trying to fix her up. If one friend is married, they think everyone should get married.
Who should she ask? She giggled at the thought of taking Teal'c with her; he'd make any overbearing mother-in-law type run the other direction. But no, too many questions would be asked, particularly from Teal'c. Colonel O'Neill? No. Definitely not, for more reasons that one, and that one being a court martial after the regulations were broken. Daniel! Yep, he'd do it! Perfect.
Wearing her green fatigues, she walked into Daniel's office, looked around and noticed that her good friend was asleep, again, at his desk with books open all around him and the screen saver of hieroglyphics scrolling across the computer screen. She'd had stopped wondering long ago what those hieroglyphic said. Probably something about Sha're.
"Daniel?" Being a heavy sleeper Sam shook him and asked again, "Daniel, wake up,"
"Hmm? What's wrong? Sam?" She smiled. Whenever someone suddenly woke at the SGC, they thought something was wrong right off the bat, including the science teams.
Should she take advantage of him in his groggy state and corner him in to escorting her to the wedding. No, Daniel's a nice guy, if I ask, I'm sure he'll try to help anyway he can. "Daniel I need you to wake up so I can ask a favor of you, please?"
"Okay, hang on", He got up and stretched, walked over to his coffee pot, noticing that it was burnt on the bottom he started to clean and make a fresh pot of coffee on autopilot. "You want some coffee?" He was wearing his khaki pants and a black mock turtleneck, partially tucked into his pants.
"No. Thanks." She then waited until he was ready.
Still waking up, he watched the coffee drip into the pot. He looked over his shoulder wondering what the favor was. Once it was finished, he poured himself a large cup of coffee. Putting a couple of cubes of sugar into his cup, he wandered back over to behind his desk and sat down. She hadn't moved from the side of his desk, where she was when he first woke up. She wasn't very comfortable, Daniel noticed. After taking a deep sip, Daniel looked up to Sam and said, "Okay, what's the favor?"
All of the sudden Sam wanted to retreat; but she steeled herself, and started in...
"How's the testing going on the new artifacts from PX12355?" Now she'd done it. She finally had a first.. she chickened out.
Daniel knew Sam well enough to know that Sam never, ever, well rarely ever asked for any assistance on anything, let alone for favors. So he took her asking about the latest artifact as her attempt at trying to back out of it. "Sam, I'm sure you really want to know about them, but I haven't for the life of me found anything new", he commented, and then added, "As you well know." He watched her as she struggled to figure out how she was going to ask the favor of friend of hers.
"Sam, just ask your question." He smiled at her, and she started to relax.
"No wonder your good at first contact with the aliens we come across, you help them relax without even trying."
"Thank you, now stop procrastinating, and ask your question."
She sat down heavily in the chair across from him, picked up one of the rocks from his desk and started to fiddle with it, just like Jack would and had done many times, Daniel thought. Those two, sheesh! He waited.
"I have to go to this wedding in two days and I need someone to help me from not getting married in the near future" She said in a rush.
"What?" he asked confused not sure he'd heard all of it.
"I don't want my friends getting the idea that I'm available, to be .. Umm.. Brokered out to the next available bachelor."
"Oh, I understand. You need a... a boyfriend"
She sighed, he realized exactly want she needed, but he stated it like she had no life. "Daniel..." She exclaimed.
"Sam, I'd be honored to be your boyfriend for the wedding. When is it?"
"This weekend, Sunday. But, I need be there the night before for the Rehearsal dinner too; Are you sure? Can you make it both days?"
"Sam, you've never asked me for anything, and you've gotten me out of so many jams in the past that if I can return the favor by being your escort, I'd be happy to do it," he reassured her.
Still worried, Sam asked softly, "Both days?"
"Yes Sam, don't worry, I'll be there. Do I need a tux?"
"Oh my god! Do you have one. Yes you need one!!"
"Yes, I have one. I haven't had a chance to wear one, Thank God, for a long time, but I'll get it out of storage and I..."
"Oh Daniel," she jumped up and rounded the desk, and uncharacteristically hugged the stuffing out of him. Daniel even heard her giggle, "Thank you Daniel, Thank you."
"Oh! I just remembered."
"What?" Sam panicked.
"It's just that I have a standing lunch date on Saturday with Kathryn and Ernest to keep them abreast of the Stargate project."
Sam suddenly felt helpless, trying to figure out what she was going to do if Daniel couldn't get out of lunch with Kathryn. I'm sure she'd understand.
"How about I meet you there, I'll fly out of Atlanta to DC." Daniel said. "I'll meet you there, you just tell me the time, and place and I'll work out the details."
Sam sighed, and said, "Thank you so much Daniel, you don't know how much this means to me. I'll get the details of the wedding and hotel arrangements to you directly." She said, and flew out the door.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
It was late afternoon when Sam arrived at the Hotel wearing her most comfortable blue jeans, a white t-shirt with her royal blue blazer over it. She had no trouble finding the ballroom where the wedding ceremony was to be held; and could see that it was already being set up for the big event. The tables were set up and covered with royal blue and white linen. Napkins, fine china, silverware and glassware were all set up. With the chandeliers overhead it was quite beautiful already. Sam saw Carol York, dressed in a cute little pink spring dress, she also saw that everyone else was dressed up, Sam started to feel uncomfortable and out of place. Carol was in the middle of a group of people and arm-in-arm with a very handsome man at her side, Greg Roller. He was wearing a dark navy business suit, but Sam noticed that he had discarded the coat some place. Sam remembered a time when she went out on a date with him. He took her to a Washington DC business function. She realized that evening that she liked this man, but his idea of a first date left a lot to be desired.
She made her way over to bride and groom, standing just out side the small horde that, she figured consisted of the bridesmaids and grooms attendants and probably the odd friend. Greg had just made a joke as she was approaching and looked up to see everyone laugh.
"Sammie!" Greg shouted above the laughing and pushed thru to her to give her a big hug. Sam forgot how she hated that name. "Long time no see, Carol told me you'd be coming.
"Oh, Hi Greg." She returned the hug, happy to see him. Wow he must be working out lately, Sam thought as he wrapped his arms around her.
"Carol look who's here!"
"Oh Sam," Carol said as she hugged Sam in a warm welcome. "I have my maid-of-honor now" Carol looked so happy and please to see her, Sam started to think everything was going to be okay.
"Greg, Carol I hope I'm not late, it looks like everyone is here already" Sam said
"No, no, your not late. But we could probably start now, Greg?"
"Yep, no problem. We'll go get the minister." Greg said a matter-of-factly and moved off to get his best man. Not wanting to leave his bride-to-be, and with the arrival of his old friend, he sent his best man off to find the minister.
"So how was your trip in, any problems?" Carol asked sincerely.
"No, no problems, except that the flight was delayed a bit in Chicago, so I came straight here." Greg came back and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and noticed where Sam indicated, her bags behind her. "I haven't checked in yet". She wondered if Daniel had arrived yet, she did a quick scan of the room and didn't see him.
"Oh dear I thought you were going to be here hours ago, you poor thing. How awful."
"It wasn't so bad" Jeez, being stuck in an airport for an hour and a half was a breeze relative to what her life had been throwing at her the last few months. After introductions were made all around, Carol asked, "Did you come by yourself?" Sam could see the wheels already start to spin in her head, starting to play matchmaker.
"Well if she did I know the perfect best man that is." Greg was in on it too, trying to set her up already, sheesh!
"Well, yes and no..." Sam said interrupting them both, hopefully before they got any further in those thoughts Carol looked confused. Sam smiled at her, hasn't changed, still a bit blonde. "I traveled by myself, but I'm meeting my friend here," she looked down at her watch, "He should be here in about an hour." Probably more like an hour and 15 minutes though, Daniel was always a bit late Sam thought. It sure will be a comfort to have a good friend at her side, one that she trusted completely.
"He?" Carol inquired
"Yep..." Sam didn't offer any more information, and Brad, the best man was coming back with the minister and saved her before she had to say anything more.
"Ahh, there's your lovely bride." The minister took Carol's hand and gallantly kissed it. That sent Carol in to a round of soft of giggles. "Okay people, let's get started and do a walk thru." The minister gathered everyone up and started rehearsal. Not that Daniel was to be part of the ceremony, Sam still felt a bit uneasy, scanning the room, hoping he'd be on time for once.
After the rehearsal, Sam noticed that her bags were missing, and asked Greg if he knew were they went. "I checked them in for you. Here's your key." Sam thanked Greg, and then looked at the keys noticing the room number. I wonder if Daniel has checked in.
"Sam!" Carol came rushing up. "I need your help" Carol hustled her away from her old friend. Sam waved another thanks to Greg as Carol was pulling her away.
"What is it Carol, what's wrong?" Not really sure she'd be able to help with much.
"Nothing really, ahh. I just need your help deciding if I should wear flowers in my hair," she said as an excuse to pull her away from Greg and the others, "And I need to give you this..." Her smile was beaming, Carol handed her a small box with rose color paper and a white ribbon wrapped around it.
"What's this?" Sam was surprised. "I..."
"Open it already" the other girls came over, and as they had already received their gift, and knew what it was. Sam started opening the small box. The younger girls were literally bouncing with anticipation at her. Sam was diligently unwrapping the paper slowly and careful as any scientist would do. She took the lid off and peeled the tissue paper back, and noticed a certificate inside. It was a spa certificate for an afternoon of pampering tomorrow afternoon, before the wedding.
"What's this?"
"It's a spa package, the ULITMATE SPA PACKAGE. For all of us, a bridal gift," the youngest bridesmaid said. Sam had been in the middle of the small group at that point with her back to the door.
Sam smiled, knowing that both Greg and Carol come from affluent backgrounds, and they probably didn't want much for wedding gifts or money for a honeymoon, but she said, "And here I thought we were meant to give you presents!"
"Ohhh, who is that?" One of the other bridesmaids said, pointing to the door.
The other girls looked too, Sam was still reading the certificate and looking to Carol for more information. Sam finally heard what the girls were saying and looked to who they were ooing and awing over. Sam looked over her shoulder and had to agree with everyone, that's one dashing handsome... Oh!
She turned all the way around and walked directly over to him, intercepting him in his path. "Sir?!? Is there a problem?"
"Daniel.."
Immediately thinking that there was something wrong back at the base with Daniel. "What's wrong?" trying to control the rise in her panic levels.
"He sent me in his place." He said smoothly.
Shocked, Sam stutters asking, "Wh.. Why?"
"Do you want the fabrication that was told to me or do you want the truth?" O'Neill teased her looking down into her eyes. I wonder if she wears colored contact lens?, Jack thought gazing even more intently.
"The truth..." She said as she tried to back away slightly from his piercing gaze.
Not letting her escape, Jack leaned toward her and said, "Daniel and Doc Frazier came up with a plan; Daniel suddenly came down with the 24 hour flu and couldn't come, so they sent me instead."
"Their plan? What do you think it is?" Still confused and uncomfortable about the whole situation.
"I believe," he moved even closer to her. "For us to be alone." Since no one besides Daniel, Dr. Janet Frazier and now Sam knew that he was here, he started to let his hair down-so to speak.
"Well; it worked." She looked around, realizing that the bridal party was starting to creep closer recognizing the 'scheming' that was going on in some of the ladies eyes. She saw them inch their way over to find out who the handsome man she was talking with... "Kinda..." She tried to maneuver her Colonel away but he resisted. "Sir..." she whispered.
Colonel Jack O'Neill had never seen Captain Carter so flustered; it was kind of fun he thought. She'd always seemed in control. "Danny filled me in," he whispered back, "Hi Ladies..." he greeted the bridal party.
"Hello... Sam can you introduce us?" Carol asked.
Still seeing that Sam was having problems with having him being there instead of Daniel, Jack took the lead and introduced himself. "I'm Jack O'Neill, Sam's friend." "Are you two a couple?" The youngest bridesmaid asked innocently, hoping she had a chance with the handsome man.
"Yes.." "No.." They answered at once.
"Well... which is it?" Carol asked amused.
"Yes, we're together." Jack said and being Sam's CO, she couldn't totally disagree with that statement.
"How did you two meet," Carol lead the inquisitions.
Jack thought this was going to be fun, watching Sam he answered the question. "We met in a meeting."
True, Sam thought reluctantly.
Being the socialite she was, Carol hooked arms with Jack and walked him further into the banquet hall. "So, how long have you been going out?" She continued to inquire. Jack thought, if I weren't so much fun here, watching Sam sort through my sudden appearance, this would seem almost like a mission briefing.
Jack caught Sam's waist as he was guided away, so she had to follow. "We've been going out for, oh, almost a year now, right Honey?" That should wake her up, Jack thought.
True, Sam thought again, on autopilot. 'Honey'?? "Yes, that's right."
"That's wonderful Sam, I'm so happy for you and Jack." Carol said and realized that Greg was motioning for her to join him with the minister. "Please excuse me. Girls, we should be going soon. I'm going to see what Greg wanting. "Sam? Jack, you'll be joining us for dinner, won't you?" Jack accepted on their behalf as Carol was walking away. He noticed the way Carol looked at her husband-to-be; it must be wonderful, Jack thought. Carol had seen that Sam wasn't herself, for some reason so she wanted to get the nosey girls away from the couple.
Sam, finally gaining some control, thanks to her friend, walked Jack away from the others to talk privately. "Sir?" Sam started; but Jack knew better and he could still see she hadn't recovered her control yet.
"We're off duty at a private party, call me Jack." He said nonchalantly.
"S.. Jack, what's going on?"
"Haven't you been paying attention, Sam" Still amused, Jack smiled down at her. "We are at a Rehearsal dinner for your friends."
She was beyond being frustrated and waved him off, "I mean with you being here!" she snapped.
"You don't think I can pull this off for you, eh? Well, let me see if I've got this straight," he paused to make sure he had Sam's full attention. He had originally been terribly disappointed that Sam hadn't asked him first, but he probably figured that she had multiple reasons why he didn't ask him, including the regulations and Daniel still considered himself married. "You needed Daniel to run interference for you, so your friends and their relatives don't try and set you up with boyfriends. Right?"
"In a nutshell, Colonel." She realized she wasn't going to get out this; She was here, and so was he.
"Jack." He reminded. "And I'm ... Well I'm here to do just that." And maybe more if the opportunity rises, but definitely because, I don't want her getting married to any one else, He thought.
Sam groaned and rolled her eyes, getting increasingly aggravated.
"What's wrong," did I put my foot in my mouth already?, Jack thought. Did I say that last part out loud?
"Well..." confession time Sam thought "I didn't want to come to this wedding in the first place, because of all the work that needs to be done, but I got maneuvered into it by the best," Sam looked over to Carol and Greg who were getting ready to escort the wedding party to the restaurant, "and now my CO, is escorting me to this damn thing." He definitely wasn't bad to look at. The girls were right in their ogling of him. She took a look at him dressed in his khaki pants, black shirt and leather jacket. She'd always try sneak a peek at him when he was just coming on base or leaving. He had such good taste in street wear. Damn he's sexy, she thought.
Realizing that she was frustrated about the whole situation, and relieved that it wasn't his fault, Jack tried to set her at ease. "For crying-out-loud, Sam, don't worry about anything. I'm enjoying this...," He indicated the whole banquet hall. "This is definitely an undercover recon mission where I don't have to worry about either of us being blowup." he smiled down at her trying to coax a smile from her. If I can only get her to smile again, things will be all right, Jack thought. She tried smiling back, but it wasn't happening. She was still trying to figure out why he was here and not Daniel - and why her best friend Janet Frazier had any part in this.
"Sammie," Greg yelled across the hall, "You two lovebirds ready to join us?"
"Sammie?" Jack leaned down to her and guided her over to the rest of the group.
"Sir!" she said firmly, "The last person that called me that name suffered a great deal of pain."
Jack gulped. No doubt, he thought realizing that she was damn serious. "What about Greggie there?"
"Well," she paused, "he's. special." They got into hearing distance of Carol and Greg and she continued, "If I hear him call me Sammie, I get to call him." she told Jack, and reminded Greg at the same time.
"...Oh, sorry Sam, I totally forgot," Greg blushed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The next morning Sam woke at her normal early morning time - 4:30 am. It never failed, alarm or no alarm. Every morning while she was on Earth, she'd get a workout in. Sometimes she'd workout at her neighborhood gym, other times, when she stayed overnight on base, she'd work out at the base gym. Sam really needed to get a good exhausting workout in this morning, to get some of this stress out of her system. Sam pulled on her black gym shorts, her green tank top and went down to the hotel gym. It was a pretty big gym for a hotel, and there were already a few others in there working out. She hopped on the treadmill. And after about 10 minutes she looked up from the treadmill monitor seeing Jack walk in, and straight over to her.
"Morning" Jack offered, he immediately noticed that she was wearing that tank top he liked her in. I wonder if that was on purpose, he thought.
"Morning" she said with a smile. He looked good even in the morning. Well she knew that after waking up next to him, or near him off world many times before. Out of the four team members, it was the two of them that were up first, well, that is if Teal'c ever went to sleep that is. She smiled at the thought of the good memories she has of her friends and teammates.
He was wondering what she was smiling at, because he didn't think it was him, They hadn't said anything except morning to each other yet. He picked a treadmill that was right next to hers and started in on a slow jog. He looked over and saw that she picked up the pace. Hmm. he thought, maybe a little competition. I wonder if she's up to it? "So.. " he looked over at Sam, "You ready?"
"Ready, sir?" she asked and he groaned. "Sorry sir. It's a habit.. umm, Jack. Ready for what?"
"A little competition." he grinned at her, hoping she'd take him up on it.
She grinned back, might be fun. I could probably take him on most things, she considered, maybe not all the weights, but most... "Alright. What did you have in mind?"
He hadn't thought that far ahead as he didn't really think she'd take him up on it. They were already on the treadmills, and both were already warmed up. "Speed test, one mile, standing start."
She considered it a half a moment, "Your on!" She punched the emergency stop on her treadmill, and he did the same. "What's the stakes?" She goaded him.
"The stakes, oh.. we're going to bet" He laughed to himself, fraternization moving into a different level now... "Breakfast. Loser buys breakfast."
"Well, I'll have an omelet then." she continued to goad him. He laughed at her, we'll see he thought.
"Ready?"
"Yes"
"On three. 1"
"2" She added.
"3" They both hit start at the same time, and then quickly the speed, punching the numbers up. Jack started to laugh, but looked over and saw that Sam was already at a higher speed, and had a totally serious concentrating look on her face as she was concentrating on winning. He quickly punched up the extra levels to match her speed. It didn't look like she was struggling,
but she was putting the mile behind her pretty quickly. She looked over to him and noticed that he was matching her stride for stride. She reached down and punched in two more levels, caught his eye and smiled with an evil grin at him. Jack reached down and pushed in 3 more levels, increasing hers by one. She repeated the challenge by punching in 2 more. He did three... and
they were both reaching a half-mile already. They stayed there for a few moments, conserving. During the third lap, Jack looked down and realized that he was going to be paying for this little stunt later, well, at least his knees were going to be paying for it because he didn't want to buy breakfast. As long as I can still walk, I should be fine. Sam looked over at Jack, and was determined that she was not going to buy breakfast. They noticed at the same time, both were on the final lap at the same time, and they both reached down to the treadmill panel at the same time and kicked it up a few more notches. She went up five levels, and Jack had already matched that. She went up two more, Jack matched it. She went up one more, starting to stretch her strength and speed, panting. She looked over at Jack and he was struggling too. It was coming down to the last quarter lap. They were equal up to that point, but she was serious, she didn't want to pay for breakfast.
"Hey look over there" Jack looked where Sam had pointed, and she punched in 10 more points while he was distracted. Hearing in the beeps of the treadmill, he looked back and cursed. She was smiling and sprinting all the way to the finish line. She'd won the bet! She looked over to Jack, and noticed he was already slowing the treadmill down realizing that she cheated.
"Cheater." he said through a smile.
"You bet I am, anything to get out of paying for a meal!" She slowed her treadmill down too. They did a cool down for a couple minutes and then they made their way to family-style restaurant on the lower levels of the hotel.
As the elevator opened to a frantic mother-in-law-to-be, "Sharon, what's wrong?" Sam asked her.
"Oh, nothing, just last minute details. Something I should have taken care of a couple of days ago." She noticed they were attired as they passed each other. "Coming or going to the gym?"
"Coming from the gym, going to the restaurant" Jack said as he guided Sam out away from the elevator doors.
Sam waved, and you could hear Sharon comment as the doors closed, "Dressed like that?"
"Do you think we're over-dressed" Jack asked grinning trying to imply something else.
"Maybe under-dressed for breakfast? But your not getting out of buying me breakfast that easily, Flyboy.. Sir. Jack." She smiled. He smiled as they made their way to the restaurant. He had always hated that flyboy label, but with her saying it, he realized he didn't mind.
"Hmm... Sir Jack. I think I was just promoted." They both laughed as they moved into the restaurant.
Sam ordered the omelet just as she said she wanted, and Jack ordered a slightly bigger meal of pancakes, bacon, and scrambled eggs. "So besides your pampering appointment later," Jack teased. "What's on the agenda?"
"Hmm..." she considered. "Well, I've always wanted to play tourist here. I've been stationed here before, as you already know, but I never got a chance to do any of the touristy things. I was always stuck at the Pentagon, or at home sleeping."
"I haven't seen any of the memorials before either. I'm always here overnight most times. In, then out of meeting and the back to the base." he groaned at some of the memories.
"Well then, I think a walk on The Mall is what I vote for." Sam offered as a suggestion.
"Sounds like a plan" he smiled at her. A morning with her all to myself; how perfect can a day be?
"But.." she paused to gain his attention from his thoughts, "I do want to shower and change first" He agreed as they were getting up and he was paying the tab. They arranged to be back down in the lobby in 30 minutes.
Jack was down a few minutes ahead of the planned schedule. He checked his watch and noticed that Sam would be down in 5, so he went over to the concierge desk and picked up a map. Even though he had been to Washington DC before, he didn't know the lay of the landmarks, well, except the Pentagon and the White House.
Sam was right on-time, of course. Her hair was still a-bit damp from her shower. She had a bit of makeup on and was wearing jeans and a tan tank top. Jack was wearing jeans also, with black t-shirt and a NHL style baseball cap. Both looked like your normal everyday tourist, instead of highly classified team members of a secret SGC team. They started out their walk to The Mall. Auto traffic was light, seeing it was early on Sunday morning, as was foot traffic.
They checked out The Mall, walking by the Lincoln Memorial they stopped and read: "...with malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds..."
With unspoken words, and understanding they continued on in silence ending at the Vietnam War Memorial-"The Wall". As they approached, Sam asked if he knew anyone that was in 'Nam. He gruffly responded that he knew of a lot that went right out of the Academy during his freshman year. "Sorry that came out harder than I intended." he looked at her with regret, and the look in her eyes told him that she understood - completely.
"It's okay sir, I understand." And he believed her. It hurt him sometimes to think back about those days. He had the choice of going straight from high school over to 'Nam, or to go to college, The Air Force Academy, and becoming an officer. The Academy won because he wanted to make the Air Force a career. If the war in Vietnam were still going on when he graduated, he
would serve without hesitation. He made his decision and went to school instead.
They walked silently, with their thoughts to themselves. Both being military, they each knew what the memorial meant. Looking down at the Wall as it sliced into the serene parkland like an open wound, its tall mirror-shiny panels filled with names...
So many names... So many boys... So many lives.. So many left to live without those whose names were now carved in stone...
Colonel Jack O'Neill and Captain Sam Carter paused, watching as a young boy finished a tracing of what might have been a brother's or a father's name.
Farther on, two veterans cried as they found the name of a mutual friend and remembered together.
A mother held up a child to touch a name on another panel as she told the child about Uncle Johnny.
A woman was quietly placing a wedding picture against another panel.
Tears were dripping down the cheeks of one of the ceremonial guards who stood proud and erect looking over the names of two uncles he would never meet. An older man dressed in an old but clean uniform leaned heavily on his walker, confused, and obviously of poor sight. Sam asked if she could help him. Jack looked on with a heavy heart still thinking about his decision. The old officer, his uniform was that of a colonel, asked them to help him find a name for him, Sam and Jack look for the name he had indicated. They stood back as the old officer leaned into The Wall, and said, "I'm back, Mac. Just as I promised, I've been watching out for your kids. Suzie just got an A in her calculus test last week, and Robbie is trying out for soccer." He paused and noticed that the two tourists were still behind him. He looked at them, and filled in the story. "I only knew Captain Macmillan for 3 days, before he got killed. He shared with me his family pictures that he had been carrying with him. I was new to the unit, and he was the old man of the outfit at 20 years." He smiled remembering and then continued the story. "We had been tracking the VC, and he was ahead of me about 2 feet, just about as far as I am to you two now. He stepped on a landmine that blew both of us straight up into the air. When I landed, I bounced a couple more feet away, with my legs burning. But when he came down, he landed on another mine." He stopped, pausing while he remembered his friend. "It should have been me, I keep thinking. He had a family., he should have gone home.," He was saying it more to himself than to the couple in front of him. Looking back up he continued, "But fate plays tricks on us His name is on this wall..." Un-ashamed, he let a tear fall. Looking up to the two tourists, he
saw that they understood his story. He'd been coming here, and telling that same story to who ever would actually listen, and he finally got the response he was looking for.
Sam looked up at Jack; as he was still looking at the old officer, seeing his memories work their way to the present. Jack looked back at Sam, and could read what she was thinking. They served together in just as tough and uncertain terrain as this former officer did with his Captain Mac. "Sam..?" Jack whispered. Sam looked to Jack and nodded. Turning his attention back to the older gentleman, Jack said, "Sir, we'd like to thank you for the service you and your Captain did for your country." Jack saw another tear come down the old Colonel's face. It's rare that anyone from that era ever got any appreciation, let alone a thank-you. Jack continued," Freedom is Not Free. We have only one way to show how we feel, it might not be appropriate, but it comes from the heart." They both took a half step back at the same time, and Jack said, "Attention" Jack and Sam, even in their civilian clothes, saluted crisply to the elderly ex-Colonel. He brought himself to attention too, and returned the salute, out of respect for tradition.
"Thank you" the Old Officer said, "On behalf of all that served, I accept your thanks."
Jack and Sam walked away in silence. They found a bench nearby but away from the memorial. They sat for a while before either of them could speak.
"Sir.."
"Hmm.."
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"For sharing that with me. It was one of the most... profound experiences..."
"I know." He said simply. "I want to thank you too." He finally looked at her, and they shared a moment of complete understanding. Their eyes locked, and a million things neither was quite ready to say passed between them.
Jack reached down to Sam's right hand like he was going to shake hands, and he looped her hand through his left arm. Arm-in-arm, Holding her hand still, they went back to the hotel. They had some lunch, talking about nothing in particular as good friends do. When suddenly Sam got a faraway look, and Jack saw that she was thinking (again). "Oh My God." she exclaims - "I think I figured out what that artifact..."
Jack interrupted her... "Captain." he said firmly.
Because of her training she responded automatically, "Sir?"
He did a movement with his eyes and a hand, the motion saying not here.
"Oh... but I have to talk with Daniel about the...." she starts to whisper conspiratorially, "artifact we brought back from.." and then she stopped as he holds up a hand.
"Not Here." He states firmly.
They got up and walk out of the hotel restaurant and into the lobby. He steered her away from the phone banks and out on to the street. "Where are we going? I have to call Daniel and.."
"...and you have to keep quiet for a moment longer,..please..." He walked them away from the public phones, "Okay, now you have an appointment in a few minutes with the rest of the bridal party, and it's my responsibly to get you there on time." She started to protest, but he held up his hand again, "Tell me and I'll call Daniel and relay your information."
"But.. " she started to protest again, but thought about what he was requesting of her. She smiles thinking that maybe if she can get him more involved with Daniel's 'rocks'.,. "Okay," she gives in and she tells him. "Ask Daniel to run a low level laser thru the eyes on the Mask's stones, I believe that will cause the mask to display the last seen writings."
"Okay.. no problem. I'll go and call him right now, you get back," He looks down at his watch, "because you're almost late." She smiles her thanks. Thinking back over the last hours, she felt drawn to him wanting to kiss him, but she protectively took a step back gave him a wave and left him.
As he walked to the elevator and back to his room 'Dang.. I half way understood what she was talking about...' Jack mutters to himself before going and making the promised call to Daniel.
After getting thru the security phone system at Cheyenne Mountain with his code, he finally gets a hold of Dr. Daniel Jackson.
"Danny...?"
"Jack." surprised to hear from him, Daniel's curiosity was getting the better of him. "How's it going in DC?"
"Good. How are you feeling? and if your so sick, why are you at the base?" Jack called here, Daniel thought, I wonder if he called my place first and figured that if I'm not at home, maybe I would be at the base. Sick or not.
"Well.. umm Dr Frazier thought... "
"Uhh huh..." Not believing him, Jack interrupts his reason and pauses to see where this fiction was going to go, but Daniel doesn't say anything more.
"Well.. never mind. Things are good." Got out of that one it seems, Daniel thought. Then Jack's voice changed from teasing to serious. "Daniel I need you to scramble this call."
"Uh.. well.. okay.. wait a minute." He put Jack on hold, and he's gone for almost five minutes. Then Daniel came back on the line and Jack could hear the difference in his voice, "Okay Jack. What's up?" He returned the serious tone, hoping that Sam hadn't beaten the crap out of Jack, and was heading west to do the same to him.
"Sam wanted me to..." Daniel is a bit taken back by Jack referring to Captain Carter by her first name. It's rare... "to tell you her brainstorm about the PX12355 artifact." Another surprise. Jack actually referring to the 'rock' or more accurately the mask this time, as an artifact. But trying to concentrate on what Jack was saying, Daniel mentally logged all that aside and listened intently as Jack relay the information.
Daniel mumbled, "Yes, kinda like a copy machine." He attempted to ask a couple of questions, and Jack doesn't know the answers. "Okay. Thanks Jack" He said, then hung up the phone without the 'goodbye' pleasantries.. Jack could envision Daniel already engrossed in the project again.
Jack looked at his watch and figured he had about 4 hours to spend while waiting for the evening ceremonies to commence. He grabbed his cardkey, and the plastic bags from a desk in his room and headed straight for the ice machine. After making a couple of ice bags for his knees, he settled down and ordered a movie in the hotel room.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Sam, as well as the rest of the bridesmaids, were getting pampered at the hotel spa that afternoon to prepare for the wedding. 'A fabulous day,' the certificate read, 'that begins with a one hour-long full body massage, followed by a Deluxe spa facial, a traditional manicure and hydrating pedicure; finished with a shampoo, blow-dry and style. Emerge relaxed and re-energized. Package includes a light lunch.' Looking around Sam saw that most of the girls were giggling and doing the female bonding and primping.. but Sam was feeling out of place, and was wanting so much to call Daniel still thinking of PX12355 artifact. After her massage, she'd relaxed, but still couldn't get the artifact information off her mind. She decided that if she was going to halfway enjoy the afternoon she was going to have to make that call to Daniel anyways. At least that was her reasoning. She was sure that the Colonel passed along the information. She was just doing a follow up to see if it was actually working.
"Daniel?"
"Sam? How's it going." Daniel said a bit distracted. "Is something wrong?" Sam laughed to herself, there it was again, something always has to be wrong.
"No things are good. I just called about the..." She started.
"Hang on a minute." He puts her on hold, and she got frustrated. After finally getting through to him, and he puts her on hold. Sigh.
"Okay." His voice was different sounding. Ah.. stupid me, he scrambled the call. "Sam?"
"Daniel about the mask..."
"I know, Jack called about an hour ago, and I tested it out, it worked... I'm attempting to translate the text now. What I have so far is.." Daniel heard a small groan, and realized that he was going into his lecture mode. He then asked, "How's the wedding going?"
"It's tonight, actually."
"Oh and about the rehearsal last night, I'm sorry..."
"No, it's okay.. it's good." She was at a loss for words, and a bit peeved at being left out of the testing, having to be here at this wedding. One of the bridesmaids rushes over to her and told her it's her turn now.
"Turn for what?" Daniel inquired.
"Well, Daniel, I got to go and get..." What am I supposed to tell him? I don't want him to know that I'm wasting my time here in a spa getting my nails done, while he's back at the base working.
"Huh?" Starting to slip back into work again.
"A facial." She whispered to him.
"Oh Sam, good for you" Daniel surprised Sam, didn't he see that getting a facial was not an in-thing to do with the guys. Drinking beer, watching football or hockey was the thing to do in her off time.
"I have no choice" she admitted.
"Why not?" Not sure of why she'd pick those words for getting a facial. How can anyone not enjoy such relaxation?
"It's all part of the wedding events for the bridal party."
"It's a cultural thing, Sam" he started to inform her, "That pre-dates..."
"Daniel!" she interrupted.
"What? Oh, sorry. Well, Samantha..." he teased. Daniel could just see her rolling her eyes through the phone. "I'm sure you'll enjoy it, along with the rest of the afternoon."
Giving in, she truly had to admit, that after the hard competitive run this morning, as well as walking The Mall, she did enjoy getting her tight muscles to relax. "Well, your right, Daniel. I did enjoy the massage." Not wanting to go into further detail, or make the others wait for her, she said, "Got to go. Bye Daniel." As he hung up the phone, he smiled thinking fondly of his good friend.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Jack woke up to the beeping of the alarm on his watch. He rolled out of bed, testing his knees as he stood up. Not as bad as I'd figured. Sweet. He walked over to his Valpak, and pulled out his suits. Well, which am I to wear? he thought to himself. He first pulled out his dress uniform, which had all of his medals hanging off the lapel. Hmm, he thought of what Sam might think of seeing him in his dress uniform. He'd thought often of how Sam's uniform looked on her, he kept coming back to the same thought over and over again. Nice legs.
I haven't worn this suit for along time, and I don't think this is the most appropriate time either. It would be just a nagging reminder to both him and Sam that they were pushing the envelope of the fraternization regulations. Nope, this suit is not for tonight. He replaced it and pulled out the black tux and his shoes that go along with it. Seeing that everything was in order, he went to the bathroom to take a shower and shave.
Sam was with Carol, helping her get ready for the evening. Carol seemed very calm even a bit reflective, but excited about her dreams coming true. Carol's mom was there directing traffic like a police officer on a street corner. "Don't forget everyone," She said in a singsong voice. "You need to be ready about 30 minutes before so we can take pictures. Sam groaned, Great, bribing material. "Here Samantha, let me help you get into your dress."
"Oh thank you, but that's not necessary, ma'am. I can manage. Please help the others." Sam took off her robe and slipped the gown over her head. The neck opening was wide enough for her head and pimped up hair-do to slip right thru due to the scoop back. Her hair did not get messed up; and Sam was careful to make sure that none of the fabric touched her face for fear of messing up the fabric or her makeup.
After zipping up, and checking her look in the mirror, she saw Carol's mom was still over seeing the other girls, so Sam went and finished helping Carol. Carol was glowing, and Sam felt a pang of jealously come on. As Sam was helping Carol with all the pearl buttons up her back, she pondered where that jealously was coming from. She didn't have any man courting her..., and
she never thought of Greg in that way for herself., and her life plan was always the Air Force. and her work, she concluded. I guess it's every little girl's dream to have the fairy tale wedding. Well, I'm not a little girl. So she pushed the jealously down and back into her memory. But then her mind wandered over to thoughts about Jack.
After some pictures of just the bridesmaids with the bride in the changing room were taken, the two mothers moved all of them out into the lobby for more. The groom and his attendants had already had their pictures taken. As soon as Sam and the other girls were out in the lobby area, Sam started to look around for Jack, but kept doing her honorary duty as maid-of-honor, watching out for Carol and her train, and the rest of the girls.
Jack walked into the lobby as the pictures of the bride were being taken. Carol sat on the ledge of the fountain that was in the lobby, holding her flowers, and the photographer was having her tilt her head, into what Jack thought as pretty uncomfortable position. He looked around and saw all the bridesmaids standing off to one side. He didn't see Sam there, and began to get worried. Where is she? Others were gathering around, some obviously those that came for the wedding, and others that must be guests at the hotel.
Jack scanned the crowd again, with increasing worry he couldn't find Sam anywhere.
"Here you go," Sam came back into sight holding the bridesmaid's bouquets, smaller versions of the one Carol was holding. Jack's jaw dropped. Sam? No, he couldn't call that, not with the way she was dressed. She was even more beautiful than he'd ever seen her before. She was Samantha to him. Her dress was perfect on her, he knew that she wore the same as all the other ladies, but on her, it was stunning. Her dress was a flowing royal blue dress that was fitted around her upper bodice, her arms were bare and showed the definition of all the combat training, and then turned into a floating cloud as it fell to the floor. He could just imagine how that color was bringing out the blue in Sam's eyes. He just had to find out if he was right. Sam turned away from him to answer a question, and his jaw dropped even more. Wow. The back of the dress scooped down to her mid back, and Jack mentally started to drool. He unconsciously wiped the back of his hand over his mouth. That's got to be illegal, he thought.
Sam finished passing out the small bouquets and turned to look around the growing crowd, and her eyes fell on to a gorgeous man dressed in a tux. She was drawn to him, and realized slowly as she approached that it was Colonel Jack O'Neill,... Her Colonel,. her Jack., her escort for the evening. As she got closer, the minister cut her off to ask her a question. Jack had seen
her move toward him, but then the minister interrupted her. He continued to close the distance between them, maneuvering to get behind her. Sam directed the minister in the answer to his question to where she thought the groom was, and then turned to look where she'd last seen Jack. She sighed, she had lost him. She scanned the crowd, she couldn't find him. She started to wonder if he had been a figment of her earlier day-dreams.
He moved right behind her, so close that he could smell her perfumed hair. A heady sent, no fair he thought. He whispered, "Looking for someone?"
Shocked, she whipped around and saw Jack standing so close. She looked down his body, appreciating the way his tux was cut in at all the right places, and then looked slowly back up his body finally arriving at his face. He was smiling at her. "Wow" he said looking right into her deep blue eyes.
"Wow is right, Sir Jack" she teased. He uncharacteristically blushed, realizing how good it felt to see her look over his body, just as he was still doing, looking at her.
They couldn't take their eyes off each other, they didn't notice that the wedding party moved on down the hall to the ballroom. One of the groom's attendants came rushing back and broke the moment. "Umm Sam? Jack? We're all going in to the ballroom now."
"Oh, right. Thanks Pete." Sam said without taking her eyes off of Jack's eyes.
"We'll be right there," Jack told the young man absentmindedly.
"We should go, sir"
"Jack, remember?"
"Yes, I do" Pun intended, she thought.
"You do?" He raised one of his eyebrows in response. He got the implications, and wanted more!
"Yes." She knew that she was playing with fire with this train of flirting, but she didn't care. She hadn't felt so much like a woman as she did right at that moment. She hadn't realized how much she missed that feeling.
"So do I" he snaked an arm around Sam's waist and they started walking slowly, savoring each moment as they followed the young man to the wedding.
"Oh Jack, wait." She said, holding them up for just a moment.
"What?"
"I would like you to have something." She said asking him to hold her bridesmaid's bouquet. He took it, not understanding what she was doing. Picking out one of the stronger Lily-of-the-Valley flowers of the bouquet, she placed it into his tux's boutonnière hole. She looked proudly at it and said. "There."
Handing the rest of the bouquet back to her, he asked, "What's this for?"
"Well, I don't want you to go in there naked." She commented innocently.
"Naked?" he flirted.
"Oh... Well.." she stammered. "I mean all the men are wearing carnations and I figured..."
He laughed with a raised eyebrow. All of the sudden she was off balance again. Jack was enjoying the faint blush that was rising to her cheeks. He reached up his right hand to her bare neck. He felt the heat rise into his hand as he played with her dangling pearl earring with his thumb.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
During the wedding, Jack watched Sam intently. From Sam's point of view, she got see Carol gaze longingly into Greg's eyes. Sam couldn't bear to watch at the moment. It was too private, too intimate, even though they were in front of about 200 people watching them. Sam felt the need to look away. She looked to the crowd to find Jack, and there he was, sitting right near the front, in her sights. Sam so beautiful, Jack was hoping that she'd take a moment look at him. Just then she did, and they shared a smile between them
The minister started the ceremony and that brought Sam back to pretending like she was interested when all she wanted to do was gaze back at Jack. As Sam turned away Jack looked at the whole group in front of him, and started musing on what Daniel would have to say about our culture and it's marriage ceremonies. As his thought started wondering on what Daniel would have said, just as if he was here, Jack was ignoring him. All of his attention was back over gazing at Sam again.
The wedding photographer got in his way interrupted Jack's view. He watched the photographer wander around taking pictures. Jack looked up and saw Sam. Her eyes, he noticed had a small tear wanting to fall. Too bad he didn't have a camera just then, he would have loved. Jack then saw the photographer take that exact same picture. I got to have that shot. He made a mental note to talk with the photographer.
He started to wonder how many other photos there were of, hopefully of just Sam, in that gorgeous dress, not looking like an Air Force Captain, but looking like his Samantha.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
After standing for what seemed like hours in ill-fitting shoes, Sam couldn't wait until she could sit down at the reception. Unfortunately she knew she wasn't done for the evening. She mulled over the round of dancing she knew she was going to have to do, some with Greg's attendants. As she was standing n the reception line greeting all of Carol's and Greg's family and friends, she was wishing she could just kick off these damned shoes. Dancing with Greg might not be so bad. She remembered the couple of times she had danced with him in the past. But she couldn't count on all the dances with him, especially since he has a new bride. She was being introduced to so many people her head was spinning, until she heard Jack's voice approaching. Her heart did a leap in her chest, Sweet, she thought and giggled realizing she was taking on some of Jack's traits. I wonder if Jack dances? She thought totally forgetting about her feet hurting.
"Glad you could come, Jack" Greg shaking Jack's hand and greeting him in the reception line. "Mrs. Roller, my lovely bride." Greg introduced Carol proudly to each and every person who would let him. Carol blushed and did a light punch on his arm. "Oh honey.. Don't.. stop" She giggled loving each and every time.
"May I give your beautiful bride a congratulations kiss?" Jack grinned, briefly looking next to Carol and to Sam to see her reaction.
"Yes, you may" Carol said given her consent. Jack leaned in, and placed a simple kiss on Carol's left cheek. "Thank you for coming," she said happily. "Jack, I'm sure you know my maid-of-honor ."
"Yes, I do." He paused to see Sam's reaction to their earlier conversation. He leaned in and spoke directly so only she could hear him. "You're the most beautiful woman in the room," he whispered softly into her ear, taking advantage of being so close to her again to smell her perfume. He almost let a low groan slip from his lips. He pulled back slightly not leaving the
realm of her perfume and asked, "May I have the first dance Sam?"
Sam was about to jump at the offer, but Carol caught her before she could respond, "Oh no, no, no. She can't. That will ruin everything!" Sam turned her head and rolled her eyes so only Jack could see. Then she turned back to Carol to hear what else she had to say. Not noticing, Carol continued, "You see, the bride and groom dances first, and then we dance with each other's
parents, and then the rest of the wedding party dances together. You see."
"Oh," Jack said mimicking an understanding. Sam could almost hear Jacks words under his breath, 'For Crying Out Loud' he leaned into Sam again and whispered, "It would ruin everything," he told her. Pulling back he saw that she agreed with him, and they hid their smiles from the bride. "Well, then, I claim the first dance when we lowly peasants can dance." He said lightly
with a smile and bowed and backed away from the bride and groom. Sam couldn't help herself; she let a laugh escape her lips. She turned to see if Carol was enjoying Jack's antics. She wasn't, Sam tried very hard to stifle her grin.
Sam was released from the reception line to pass a message to Carol's mother. She was walking past the photographer when she was looking for Jack. She saw him at the bar, and her breath got caught in her lungs.
The photographer must have heard her gasp for air, because he asked her "Are you alright?"
"Oh, yes, thank you I'm fine." She said gaining her composer back. She recognized him as Carol's photographer for the wedding. As he was walking away, she grabbed his arm and pulled him back to her. "Take that man's picture for me. I want a copy."
He looked over to where Sam was indicating, and saw a very dapper James Bond-like stance of a man at the bar. "Kinda looks like he should be drinking a martini, huh." He mused. He snapped the shot, and asked for Sam's address of where he could send the proof. He jotted it down on his note pad and moved on.
She walked up behind Jack, placing a hand softly on his shoulder and walked around to his front, "May I have a drink too?" she purred.
He gulped, not knowing who it was at first, and he was relieved that it was just Sam. Samantha he corrected himself, looking at her again. Damn, that dress and her perfume is a lethal combination. "Sure" he choked out, none too suavely to his ears. He cleared his voice and asked, "What will you have, beer?"
"No, not this time" she wanted to keep her wits about her, especially around Jack. "I'd like a Diet Pepsi with some lemon in it, please." Jack nodded to the bartender and he started pouring the ladies' drink. "Does the offer still stand?" she teased.
Still off balance a bit from her touching him, he wasn't sure what offer that was, but he wasn't about to admit he'd lost his brain. "Sure, it still stands" "I didn't think you were the dancing type," she prompted.
He cleared his throat again, and said, "Piece of Cake", grinning down at her, losing himself in those deep blue eyes. Taking a chance Jack broke an unspoken barrier in the flirting department, "I've never seen your eyes so blue."
"Are you trying to change the subject?"
"Nope, it's all the same subject to me." He said flirting, looking into her eyes and seeing his grin being reflected back at him.
"I don't understand," she purred moving a bit closer to him.
He explained, "You in my arms, on the dance floor, looking.no, swimming in your perfect blue eyes." This simple statement said it all, and she couldn't wait.
Greg came up to her just then; oblivious to the moment they were sharing, he called out, "Sammie! There you are!" Sam groaned loud enough so only Jack could hear.
"Greggie-boy." She turned to him, seeing that he slipped again.
"Sorry, Sam. We are starting the dancing. Can I steal her away from you for a while Jack. I want to introduce her to her partner." Carol wasn't sure Jack was right for their oldest friend, and Greg was starting to agree with her. Greg maneuvered Sam smoothly away from Jack, and right over to the best man. Sam remembered his name to be Brad Hendly. A nice enough guy, but a wimp as far as Sam was concerned. Greg re-introduced Brad to her, like she was meeting him for the first time. Sam smiled forgivingly at Greg, and thought, he's lost his mind with all this wedding commotion. Poor thing. "Hi Brad. I guess you're my partner for the dancing."
"Yes, I hope you don't mind. I have a feeling that Carol has been trying to get us together ever since last night."
Sam laughed a bit, "I've had the same feeling. Um, should I be worried about a girlfriend coming out of the wood work?"
"No, not really." He responded back. "But I think I probably should worry about your boyfriend coming over and beating me up if I even touch you." They both looked over Sam's shoulder to see Jack coming up to the edge of the dance floor.
"Don't worry about him, he couldn't hurt a fly," Sam laughed at her inside joke and reassured him.
"Why don't I believe you?" Brad commented.
"Really, don't worry, he's not carrying his gun. I think." Brad was shocked at Sam's comment, and looked down at her and saw that she was laughing a teasing laugh.
"I hope your pulling my leg, Sam."
"Yep" she winked feeling good at seeing the jealously she saw in Jack's eyes as Greg was leading her away from him.
The song that they were to dance to with the rest of the wedding party started and Brad reached for her, looking over her head, seeing Jack stalking the perimeter of the dance floor waiting to pounce on any wrong move on his part. Brad moved her into the middle of the floor gracefully, and switched partners with another guy. Sam was told that it was his brother, another friend of Greg's. She was being passed between a few other groom's attendants, having her toes stepped on a few times in the process. She smiled and let it pass. When the song was over she was in the middle of a bunch of guys asking if she could have the next dance with them, or if she wanted any thing to drink, or if she wanted to sit down with them. Sam's head was swimming, wanting to remove herself from the group. Being slightly smaller than most of the guys that surrounded her, she couldn't see past them to catch Jack's attention.
Her patience was just about to explode, when someone caught her shoulder and swung her around, "Scarlett," he whispered. Sam saw her hero at that moment, and responded accordingly.
"Rhett." She laughed. Jack reached his hands up to cup her face softly, and leaned down and started to kiss her. Pausing just as their lips were about to touch, he saw the most amazing moment pass before him, Sam giving herself to him completely. He touched his lips to hers softly but possessively savoring the moment.
Their kiss lasted almost two minutes before they realized that they were in public. They were very much in public, on the dance floor still. Jack moved his right hand down to her waist, and too her right hand in his left hand and start to swing her around in to the waltz that was playing.
Sam's head was still swimming from the intoxicating kiss that they just shared, and didn't realize that they were now dancing. Sam thought, Jack sure did know how to dance with someone that has been on her feet all day. Oh how wonderful this night is, she thought. Please God, she prayed, don't let this evening end. Not yet.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Sam woke lazily the next morning, looking over at the alarm clock, she groaned, the one time I really rather sleep-in - '4:35 am' it shone brightly. Not yet, she thought, Not Yet! She didn't want the weekend to end just yet, especially since she had just left Jack about 2 1/2 hours earlier. Arrggh. She covered her head with the pillow hoping by some miracle that the clock would turn back a couple of hours so she could sleep! She peeked out from under the pillow and saw that the clock now said 4:36 m. She looked wearily past the clock to the dress that was hanging on the back of the chair and started to remember last evening. Dancing in Jack's arms. It had been one of the most beautiful evenings she'd ever had. Please God, Not Yet! She repeated.
Sighing, she swung out of bed, and picked the dress off the chair gingerly. Bringing it up to her face she sighed again, she could smell on the fabric a wonderful mixture of her perfume that she had been wearing, and some of Jack's cologne. I wonder if I can bottle this, she thought to herself.
She went over to the closet and pulled the dress's hanger out, and hung up the dress, zipping it back up into the garment bag it came with. Okay, enough, she reprimanded herself, time to get back to reality. She looked at her bags, and pulled out her travel itinerary. She had a 7:30 am flight back to Colorado Springs that morning, and Jack; she remembered was going to be
her traveling companion. That made her heart tumble again, a few more hours - Not Yet! She prayed. She was going to make sure she thanked Daniel and Janet for setting her up, she thought, forgiving them.
She pulled on her shorts and a t-shirt, and wandered down to the hotel gym, and did a quick 20 minutes on the treadmill. She kept looking and hoping that Jack would walk in again, but it didn't happen. He's probably sleeping, she groaned. Lucky Flyboy. She went back up to her room, ordered breakfast from room service, and then took a quick shower before it arrived.
She'd turned on the news to find out what had been happening the past weekend. There was a knock on her door. Room service probably. She walked over to the door, peeked thru and confirmed that it was room service. She opened the door for the bellboy, and he said good morning as he pushed the cart in. She signed the check, and started to sit down. She thought of Jack still probably sleeping. Do I let him sleep or...
The phone suddenly rang; she picked it up, "Hello?
"Sam, want to go out to breakfast?" Jack said enthusiastically. Go out with him or share with him, there was plenty, Sam thought
"Too late, flyboy." She teased.
"Huh? You've been up for hours already, eh?, And you've already eaten?"
She'd never heard the colonel pout so clearly, and through the phone.
"Just sitting down now. I'll share. Room service, my room." she hung up.
A minute or so later he was standing at her door. "So, what's for breakfast?"
"Pancakes, fruit, juice and coffee. What do you want first?" She started for the dinning cart.
He placed a hand on her arm and turned her around making every effort to take it easy, giving her the way out if she wanted. She accepted, "This," He leaned down and kissed her.
"Hmmm... I like your idea of breakfast better..." Sam purred. They both knew, as they did last night that if they didn't stop now, they would put both their own personal standards, let alone the military's standards at risk. "But..."
"Right, I'll have some coffee. How'd you sleep?"
"At first I didn't, but.. I did finally got to sleep for a couple of hours."
"Woke up at 4:30 again, eh?" Sometimes it was a good habit that most people only envied, but at other times, like this, it's quite a nuisance he understood.
"Yessss..." she groaned.
"Maybe you could catch some more Z's on the flight home," he suggested.
"Maybe."
They sat in silence for a while. He could see the wheels in her head turning about what was going to happen in the future. He knew that look because he had been thinking about it most of the night and this morning. He took it upon himself, as man, and colonel of this relationship to approach the subject.
"Sam.."
"Hmmm." she looked up to him, enjoying his company.
"I think we need to..."
"...talk, I know." She completed his sentence.
"I just want to let you know upfront that I don't regret anything that happened this weekend. Well, that's not totally true... I do regret one thing.."
"What's that?" she asked curiously.
"Not being able to stay with you last night." He said with a wink.
She blushed. "I've been thinking that this whole weekend has been some sort of wonderful dream come true. I keep asking the gods 'Don't wake me up, Not Yet.'"
"I feel the same way, but we do need to figure out where this is all going."
"I think one of the reasons it's been wonderful is that no one knew who we are; they didn't know that your my colonel, and..."
"I know, that's what I'd been thinking also, but that's not going to last." He looked into her sad eyes, and saw that she felt the same way. "We have to head back this morning."
"Too bad." was all she could manage.
"Yep... Maybe we can continue for awhile longer"
"How?" Sam asked.
He shrugged his shoulders and sat for a while longer, trying to sort it out for himself. Thinking out loud, "Our flight goes from here to Chicago, and then we change planes and head on back to Colorado Springs." She was listening hoping that he could find a miracle in the thin air. "We could..." thinking on the fly, "Go back to ranks in Chicago before we board the second flight..." He let it trail off because just thinking about it hurt him to even suggest it.
"We could." She didn't like the idea either, but at least his suggestion allowed for a couple more hours.
"Okay, then that's when our fantasy weekend end," he said sadly.
"Yes."
"Too bad."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Jack and Sam were sitting at the Chicago terminal hand-in-hand waiting for their last hour to go by. Both of them were dreading getting on the second flight. Jack was even having second thoughts about even going back to the base. He was about ready to escort Sam out of there, rent a car and drive to his cabin in Minnesota. Just then, Jack heard Sam sigh and whisper to herself as a prayer -'Not Yet'. She reached a hand out to his chin and brought his face toward hers as she got up. She planted a very long slow passionate kiss his eager lips and departed with her carry on. She couldn't look back to see how Jack liked the kiss, because she didn't want him to see that she was crying. She went to the ladies bathroom and changed from her jeans and t-shirt into her uniform. Walking back, she greeted Jack with a "sir"
"It's Carter again, is it?" Jack said with a truckload of regret in his voice.
"Yes sir" she said. She didn't want to be the strong one. Please she thought, Take command of the situation, Jack. I want to be in your arms so much.
"Too bad, " Jack mumbled. He had known as she picked up her bag that it was over. Jack went and changed into his uniform also.
The plane landed and they disembarked, collecting their bags from baggage-claim and proceed out into the parking lot.
"I'm over there, need a ride Captain?"
"No sir, my car is over here" She pointed in the other direction.
Back to normal, they both were appreciating how difficult it was going to be. They started walking in different directions from each other, Sam stopped, turned around to watch Jack go further down the lot isle. "Colonel," she called. He turned around with a hopeful look. "Thank you."
"My pleasure, Carter."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Christina MacKenzie
kachina@ecis.com
http://www.remingtonsteele.org
http://www.ecis.com
Story Notes: Authors notes: It's my first fanfic, go easy on me. And a big THANK YOU goes to my beta readers Arnise and Demelza! You two have been great!
Feedback: Please.
Feedback: Please.
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters, settings, etc, are the property of their respective owners. Any original characters and plots are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended. ... [ read more ]