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Tel, this is for you. Not the wedding yet, but maybe they're headed in that direction. I hope you like it!
EXCITED! A HAPPY CHAPTER!
Cadet Cassandra Fraiser rolled over and glared at the ringing phone on her bedside table. She shut her eyes and willed it to silence. It didn't work. Three rings. Four. At the fifth she gave in and reached for it, glancing at the time—six forty-nine! She brought the phone to her ear and pressed talk.
"This better be life or death," she snarled.
Sam's delighted laugh rang in her ears. "Oh, goodie! I woke you up."
"Huh! And why is that a reason for rejoicing?" Cassie demanded.
"Just wanted to invite you out to breakfast."
"Are you serious? You know I never eat breakfast! I have an exam at ten and I was up til two studying. So the answer is NO!"
"Is she givin' you grief?" said another voice, and Cassie realized they were on speaker. "Gimme that phone. Cadet Fraiser!" he barked, loud enough to make her jump. "Atten-SHUN!"
"Jack! What on earth are you up to?"
"That's General O'Neill to you, Cadet!"
She could hear Daniel and Sam laughing hysterically—and was that actually a rumble of amusement from Teal'c?
"My turn," Daniel demanded. "Cassie—get yourself down to MacGyer's diner right now! We got news... Chop chop!"
"Indeed, Cassandra," Teal'c added. "You will not want to skip breakfast this morning." The merriment in the background reached new heights.
"Cassie..." She made out Sam's voice, laced with giggles. "You gotta come."
"Sam! Are you guys drunk... at this hour?"
"No alcohol has been consumed this morning," Teal'c assured her. "Only much frozen orange juice.
The hilarity exploded again.
"Come on down, Cassie," Jack said, finally getting control of himself. "It's important. Want me to come get you?"
"No." She sighed. "You've ruined my sleep anyway. I'll be there in twenty."
Twenty-three minutes later Cassie parked her motorcycle in front of the diner that the team had dubbed MacGyver's. It's owner's real name was McGivens, but even some of the other patrons had picked up on the nickname.
She pulled open the front door and looked around. The team was sitting in a booth at the end of the aisle, and she headed that way. Daniel and Teal'c were facing the door and Daniel spotted her and waved. Jack and Sam turned, smiling and calling a greeting. Jack had his arm around Sam's shoulders.
She was almost to the booth when that registered.
What? Jack had his arm around Sam's shoulders! And not just casually along the back of the seat, either. He was holding her—and she was leaning slightly into him!
Cassie stopped at the end of the table, and glared down at them. "Okay—what's going on?"
Sam giggled and straightened, but Jack did not drop his arm.
"Grab a seat, kiddo," Jack invited.
She narrowed her eyes. She could see that Daniel was busting to tell her, but Jack was giving him a warning look. She reached over to the nearest table and grabbed a chair, swinging it around to the booth, and sat down. "Okay. I'm sitting. What's. Going. On?"
"Guess what..." Daniel began.
"DanielJackson!" Teal'c raised a warning hand—almost as if he intended to muffle Daniel's with it! "This is Samantha's news to tell."
Daniel clamped his lips together with his teeth and growled with impatience.
Cassie turned to Sam. "Well? Spill it!"
Instead of answering, Sam took her left hand out of her lap, and wiggled the bare ring finger in Cassie's face.
"Where's Pete's ring?" Cassie broke into a giant grin. "Did you give it back? Did you break up with him?" she cried. She was so excited she was bouncing in her chair.
"I did!" Sam replied at the same moment Daniel yelled, "Yes!" And Jack's huge smile became gigantic! Teal'c looked very satisfied.
Cassie squealed, and launched herself at Sam. Of course Jack was in the way, so she wound up sprawled across his chest, knocking over sugar shakers and coffee cups, before she could reach to get Sam in a strangle-hold. By now everyone was cracking up again.
"Yes!" Cassie screamed. "Yay! It's about time you came to your senses!"
The other customers in the diner were looking on and chuckling, and Angus McGivens stuck his head out of the kitchen to see what was going on. Peggy, the redheaded waitress, just shrugged and snickered.
Sam was starting to make choking noises, only half in jest, and Cassie loosened her arms a little, and kissed Sam on both cheeks. Then she turned and hugged Jack, and then Daniel and Teal'c, and danced around in a circle, knocking over her chair, before she finally righted it and sat down again.
"I've never seen anybody so happy over a break-up," Daniel said at last.
"Do we dare tell her the rest of the news?" Jack asked, looking sideways at Sam. "Hey, Angus—do you have damage insurance on this place?" he called, causing their audience even more amusement.
"What? There's more?" Cassie demanded. Then she remembered Jack's arm around Sam and shrieked. "You two are together?! Is that it? Is it? Ohmigod!"
When Sam and Jack both nodded Cassie stared at them for a stunned moment, then clapped her hand to her mouth and burst into tears. The others froze in shock as she covered her face and sobbed uncontrollably.
After a moment Teal'c reached out to put a hand on the girl's shoulder. She turned toward him, and he just had time to swing toward the outside of the seat as she threw her arms around his neck and crawled into his lap. For a full minute no one moved, and the only sound in the diner was Cassie's sobbing.
Jack's expression had morphed into one of anxiety. He turned to Sam. "I thought she'd be happy..."
"I am happy, you fool!" Cassie blubbered. "I've never been... so happy in all my life... It's the best news in the world. Finally. Finally! It shoulda happened years ago. What took... you guys so long?" Of course all of that didn't come out at once, or very clearly, since her face was still buried in Teal'c's chest—but they all got the gist. The tension around the table eased in sighs of relief.
And then another sound could be heard—a low rumble, as Teal'c began to shake with mirth. For a moment the shock was just as deep as it had been at Cassie's outburst. But then she started to giggle through her tears, and soon they were all chuckling, snorting or howling with glee once more.
It took a while for the cachinnation to die down.
"When did all this happen?" Cassie demanded a bit later, after she had made a trip to the ladies' room and washed her face. "How? What about those nasty rules?"
"This morning," Daniel said. "It happened this morning!"
"Seriously? It's only 7:30 now!"
"It was...an eventful morning," Teal'c confirmed.
"I quit the Air Force, remember," Sam said. "That means we're not bound by the rules anymore."
"Right!" Cassie said. "So what are you going to do now?"
"I expect I'll join up again," Sam said casually.
"What? But then you'll just be back in the same fix!"
"Oh, we'll get married first," Jack put in with a smirk. "That way the regs won't apply."
"Yes!" Cassie shrieked and pumped her fists in the air. "I'll help you plan the wedding! Where do you want to have it? How about the Cadet Chapel at the Academy? It's so gorgeous in there! Perfect! It's so beautiful you don't even need flowers. I went to a wedding there last winter. One of my classmates. It was awesome! Have you ever been inside—of course you have... And when do you want to get married? Oh, golly, you better make reservations right away—I'll bet there are lots of weddings there..."
"Cassie..."
"I'll call and check on available dates. You're both eligible because you're Academy graduates, so that's not a problem. What are you going to wear? Have you thought about the dress? We can start working on the guest list today, if you want... Well, I'll have to take my exam first. Darn. How'm I gonna keep my mind on poly sci now?"
"Cassie!"
She jumped and looked around to see who'd spoken her name. Jack was grinning at her. "One thing at a time," he said. "How about we order some breakfast?"
They looked at the menu and ordered an assortment of pancakes and waffles, eggs, toast, sausage, and bacon, oatmeal and fruit, milk, juice and coffee. Cassie talked continually about dresses and flowers and bridesmaids, receptions and cake...
"Cake?" Jack's ears perked up. They'd been letting her babble on for over half an hour. "Can we have chocolate with chocolate frosting?"
"I don't see why not," Sam said. "I guess we can have whatever kind of cake we want." Her eyes twinkled. "Within earthly parameters, at least..."
Daniel smothered a chortle, and Teal'c... tittered?
Jack squeezed his eyes shut. "How long are you guys gonna keep throwing that in my face? It's been eight years, for cryin' out loud!"
Puzzled, Cassie looked from one to the other. "What?"
Now was probably not the time or place to explain about Kinthia and the marriage cake, Sam decided. "I'll tell you some other time," she promised with a wink.
"Okay," Cassie said, getting that this had to do with the stargate. "Anyway, I saw the most beautiful cakes online the other day," she went on. "This place in England. Artie Cakes, I think it was called. Check out the website. You would not believe what those people can do with cake...!" And she was off again.
By 8:30, they had demolished large amounts of breakfast foods... and Cassie was still talking! Between serving up orders, Peggy was hanging out in the booth next to theirs, listening in, and several of the regular customers were gathered around, smiling and occasionally making comments and suggestions.
At 9:00 Sam called a halt to the gathering, pointing out that Cassie's exam was only an hour away... and she was sure some people had jobs they needed to go to. So they reluctantly broke up. Cassie hugged everybody, including Peggy and a couple of strangers, before jumping onto her bike and heading back to the Academy, although she said she was sure to flunk this exam. Daniel and Sam had each brought their cars, and Jack his truck, and so they separated, Daniel and Teal'c heading for the SGC, Jack back to his place before going to the Mountain, and Sam to her house.
Sam was smiling to herself as she drove. She would see Jack—and probably Daniel, Teal'c and Cassie, too!—tonight and they would start to make plans. She hadn't really thought about the wedding yet—was it even three hours since she accepted Jack's proposal?—but Cassie had set her imagination in motion—even if some of the girl's ideas were a little extravagant. It would be fun to spend the day thinking about it all, though... Did she want the full blown, white dress and tux treatment...? How many people to invite...?
Funny how she was actually getting all excited about this, but planning her wedding to Pete had been a complete nuisance. That reminded her—she needed to cancel those arrangements...
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