DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. If I did Sam and Jack would be married with a daughter named Grace by now and Pete would never have existed. Now, on with the ship!
Sam sat in her study with the door almost closed and ran her hands across her face. Most of the guests had left but her team and a few stragglers still remained in her living room, finishing off the buffet food and the last of their drinks. God she was tired. The funeral had really taken what energy she'd had left and drained the last few drops. Her reserves were officially empty and, damn, did she need a break! Truth be told the one part of her wedding that she had been looking forward to was their two-week vacation in Maui. Sadly, Pete had been the one to take care of those particular arrangements and the trip had been cancelled along with everything else. She had retreated to her study for a moment's peace but apparently even asking for that was too much. A quiet knock on the door interrupted her musings. Seconds later a familiar shock of grey hair appeared around the door.
"Sorry, Carter, I didn't want to interrupt but Daniel said you had disappeared. Just wanted to check everything was ok."
Sam smiled weakly and nodded her thanks.
"I'm fine, Sir. I just needed a minute. I don't really do well in crowds."
Jack smiled back.
"Oh, I know that feeling alright. Can I get you anything? Some food? Glass of wine?-"
He frowned and paused mid-sentence.
"Carter, not that I'm prying or anything but where's Pete? I haven't seen him all day. Shouldn't he be in here with you?"
Sam sat a little straighter in her chair and shifted uncomfortably.
"He, ah, wasn't invited", she offered. Jack flexed his hand against the doorframe awkwardly.
"Ooooh-kay... You've had a hard week but don't you think he wanted to be here for you as much as we do? I mean, he *is* your fiancé and all..."
Sam glanced up at his hair.
"Sir, there isn't going to be any wedding."
Whatever Jack was expecting her to say it certainly wasn't that. His eyebrows hitched up several inches.
"There isn't?" He queried, more than a little confused.
"No, Sir," she confirmed but no elaborating further.
Jack let out a long breath and paused for a second before fully entering the room and closing he door behind him. He lowered himself slowly into the easy chair in the corner next to Sam.
"What happened?"
Carter shrugged.
"That big, huge mistake I told you about? Turns out that Dad agreed with me."
Sam clasped her hands together on her lap, her ankles crossed beneath her Air Force blue skirt. Jack nodded as though he agreed, in truth he felt like he'd been doused in cold water.
" ... Carter, maybe it's just nerves. Ok, so Dad didn't warm to Pete but is that a reason to break up with the guy? I'm assuming you broke up with him, right?"
"Ordinarily I'd agree with you but, you see, it wasn't Dad that convinced me to do it."
There, she'd said it. That hadn't been too hard, right?
"Oh?"
Sam shifted again and raised her eyes to meet his.
"Yeah, I kinda had a cosmic slap in the face the other day. It seems that something I saw bothered me quite a bit more than it should given that at the time I was somebody's fiancée."
Jack looked confused for a second and then realised to what she was referring. He mouthed an 'oh' and his eyes bugged a little.
"For what it's worth, I'm sorry'" Sam continued, "It took me about 30 seconds to-, well, let's just say that it's an experience I'd rather not repeat and I realised that maybe I caused you-, or not, I mean I'm being kind of presumptuous here-"
The look on Jack's face gave Sam pause. His eyes softened, the hard line of his lips fell away and he regarded her with the same expression as he had the day that Janet had died and she all but told him that she had feared he was dead. When he spoke, his tone was low and the volume barely above a whisper.
"Sam, all I want is for you to be happy. And if he made you happy... I'm happy!"
Sam smiled a disbelieving and knowing smile and rolled her eyes subtly.
"Thank you, Sir. See, even if I believed that, there's still the problem that however happy he may have made me for a time, he still wasn't the guy, you know?"
She really wished he did know. Jack grinned conspiratorially.
"There's "a guy"? Carter, I never would have pegged you for a closet romantic!"
Sam didn't take the bait.
"Yeah, well, Dad told me to fix it. I thought it was impossible but now I'm not so sure." She paused and took a deep breath, it was now or never, "Problem is, he's getting transferred to Washington and he's still gonna be my boss."
A deathly silence reigned. Sam didn't think she'd ever seen Jack O'Neill so silent or so still and it had her a little freaked.
"I've been offered a position at R&D in Nevada, which would also bring me closer to Cassie. But if I go you'd only not be my CO for a few weeks. Our only option is to get married."
Her rambling complete, there was still no forthcoming response from the armchair. Seconds ticked by and the silence was getting louder and louder. Sam cleared her throat and resisted the urge to wave a hand in front of O'Neill's face.
"Jack, I'm kinda out on a limb here and you're leaving me hanging!"
When he finally spoke it wasn't expected.
" ... I'm hallucinating." He announced, a slight squeak to his pitch. Sam fell back in her seat.
"What?!"
Jack propped his chin on his hand and began speaking to himself or so she hoped!
"I think Carter just proposed to me, I must have fallen asleep or something-"
Sm leant forward and gripped him by his arms, shaking him a little, and furrowed her brow.
"Oh for cryin' out loud, Sir!" Ah, that worked! "Look, I've been weighing up the options and this is the only one that won't get us a court martial and a dishonourable discharge without either of us quitting."
Without a word, Jack stood and began wearing a hole in Carter's cream carpet.
"Carter, Sam, I'm beyond flattered but this is crazy! You just broke off your engagement to another man, your father just died-"
She cut him off with a frustrated sigh.
"You think I don't know that?! Look, I've had 8 years to think about this and it turns out that I'm finally done waiting! We finally defeated the galaxy of bad guys and, you know what, I kinda feel like the universe owes us! I'm done sitting watching either of us almost die knowing that we never had the balls to give it a try. Look, we might not work out. I might hate the way you ignore me when the Simpsons is on and you might hate that I tread oil into the carpet sometimes when I work on my bike but so be it. If marrying you is the only way to see if this thing between us could work then I'm game!"
By this point Jack had ceased pacing and was openly staring at her, his mouth slightly open.
"Ok," came his only response after a significant pause. At this, Sam jumped from her seat.
"That's it?!" She spat, "After 8 years and all of the stuff I just said..."
Jack's smirks threw a bucket of ice on her heated temper. He raised a finger and continued.
"Assuming I'm not dreaming or being tortured by Ba'al, which right now I'm considering is a possibility, ok I accept. It's a little unconventional but, hey, when have we ever done things the normal way? Screw normal! Besides, if I say anything else it gives you time to change your mind!" Sam saw the moment his brain caught up with his mouth and at that moment she was damn sure that she had never seen Jack O'Neill look as smug as he did a that moment. "So... did we just get engaged?!"
Sam laughed at his smugness.
"We'll, I did tell you that it was theoretically possible, Sir!"
Jack groaned.
"You know, I hope you're not gonna keep up the "Sir" thing when we're married. It's a little weird!" He announced grumpily. Carter smiled slyly.
"Oh, I don't know, I kinda like it!"
Her expression turned from sly to downright wicked and Jack covered his ears with his hands in a futile attempt to unhear her last sentence.
"Carter! Lalala I can't hear you! Damn it! Why did you have to say that? Now every time you call me "Sir" I'm gonna be thinking of you naked!"
Sam chuckled.
"Consider it payback for all the times you called me 'Samantha'!"
Jack gripped her bicep and pulled her closer,
"Seriously?! That worked?!"
She leaned in closer to Jack's ear and lowered her voice to a whisper.
"You have no idea the things I was thinking when you called me that." Stepping back, Sam mentally patted herself on the back at the way Jack's chocolate eyes had suddenly darkened to a mocha black. She knew at some point soon he was going to find out.