Escape

Story Notes: Set in season 8. Pete must disappear.

Disclaimer:
If they were mine, I'd smile all day
The things they did would be my way
But since mine they are not
Fanfic is all I've got
So don't sue me 'cause I cannot pay.


In one typically quick and decisive action, Jack turned around and headed back the way he came. Teal'c swiftly stepped between him and the chapel door, while Daniel locked onto his elbow and steered him back inside. "Wrong way, Jack."

"I forgot something I need to do at the office," Jack protested.

"Un-hunh. What?" Daniel challenged.

"Something important," Jack sulked.

Daniel had been prepared for this, but he had to suppress a sigh nonetheless. He wasn't happy that he was about to plunge headlong into discussion of a personal matter with Jack, and on a taboo subject, too. It felt a lot like sticking your arm into the tiger cage at the zoo. He judged it best to take a swing at the tiger with a rolled up newspaper. In for a penny, in for a pound of flesh, or maybe a limb.

"Jack O'Neill, you are not going to bail out on this," Daniel scolded. "Sam feels the need to have you here, and you are not going to disappoint her."

"Yeah, well, I don't think it's going to break her heart if I'm not here to watch her pledge her undying love to that... that... well, I can't think of anything bad to call him, but I will!"

The sigh escaped this time despite Daniel's best efforts. "Don't make this harder on her. Sam's never really going to move forward unless you're here to let her go."

"Umm, Daniel? She's marrying another man. I think she's the one who let go first."

"You had a chance to make this work out differently. For whatever reason, you didn't take it."

"Dammit, that's none of your business. Why do you even care?" Jack snapped.

"Because I'm tired of seeing Sam hurt."

Jack stared at Daniel, deflated. "The last thing I want is to hurt her."

Daniel looked at Jack, then back at Teal'c. Teal'c inclined his head slightly, a gesture that for him passed as an encouraging nod. "Jack?" Daniel said hesitantly. Jack looked up at him, waiting. "Teal'c and I, we think, well..."

Teal'c interrupted. "You must tell Colonel Carter of your true feelings for her."

"Have you two been watching soap operas again?" Jack asked incredulously. "We're at her wedding."

"Seriously, Jack," Daniel replied. "She deserves to know."

"You were the one just telling me to let to her go!"

"No," Daniel said as though he were explaining to a small child, "I said if you were letting her go, you needed to be here so she'd know it."

"We do not believe Colonel Carter is happy, O'Neill," Teal'c interjected.

Clearly, this was reason for pause. "Why not, Teal'c?"

"Because she expends a great deal of effort in attempts to convince us that she is."

"You believe she isn't happy because she says she's happy."

"That is correct, O'Neill."

"Ya know, I expect this kind of bull from Dr. Hearts-and-flowers over here..."

"Hey!" Daniel interrupted.

"But I rely on you to be rational, Teal'c. When have you ever known Carter to do anything she didn't want to do?"

"We're not saying she doesn't want this. But maybe she wants it because she thinks it's all she can have," Daniel said.

"Well, maybe it is. Unless the U.S. Airforce had a sudden and dramatic change of heart, the same regulations still apply."

"So, just so we're clear," Daniel said with a pursed-lipped look of profound disapproval, "what you're saying is that your career is more important than the woman you love."

Jack raked his hand through his hair in an attempt to keep it separate from Daniel's throat. "It is not that simple, Daniel," he said through gritted teeth.

"It is."

"You're basically asking me to try to screw up Carter's best shot for a normal life. No. I won't," Jack said with all the decisiveness of a man prepared to dig his heels in for as long as it took. "Even if the guy is a smarmy, stalking, obsequious weenie. Ah! See, I told you I'd come up with something," he added triumphantly.

The door at the side of the chapel's foyer opened, and Cassie's head appeared. "Hi! Please tell me General Carter is with you."

"He has not yet arrived," Teal'c replied.

Cassie grimaced. "You guys better come with me. I need protection if I'm going to give her one more piece of bad news."

"What else is wrong?" Daniel asked.

"There's a list," Cassie replied with a roll of her eyes. "We've got one angry bride on our hands."