A/N Are you not impressed with my speedy updating? Have a couple of thank yous to do this time round. Thank you to Parvatti, Verb, Beth-TauriChick, Seeria Nix and Aphrodite Queen of the Damned for being so happy about my eventual update.
Thank youto Katie MichelleBelle for making me giggle as I imaginedpeople doing the happy chapter dance. Why does Jack spring to mindwhen I think of that?
Hello to Wren Maxwell, who hasconverted from the dark side andstarted reading SamDaniel. I'll try my best not to disappoint.
Andwell done to Tixylixfor guessing the cause of the cliffhanger - and you thought I couldn't get any more cliched! And to Karone Evertree, now you mention it it should have been a squirrel because no-one would have ever guessed that (except you of course)!
Wow, I imagine that's what being at the Oscars feels like. 'Cept there are thousands of people watching you say it. Here's chapter 9 anyway.

Chapter 9

Timers designed to ensure the lawns for the restaurant were continually green clicked as they reached their programmed time. Somewhere in the recesses of the gardens a pipe started filling with water, and seconds later it started spraying quietly from the hidden sprinklers.

As Sam realised what was happening she dissolved into giggles of laughter and Daniel, watching her, started laughing as well.

It was a good a few minutes later when Sam lay back on Daniel's jacket and quietened down – only hiccupping occasional giggles of laughter. The sprinklers continued quietly with their job, showering her and Daniel in thousands of little diamonds.

Daniel lay back next to her and relaxed as the droplets landed coolly on his face.

"Well that kinda killed the atmosphere." He stated, looking at the stars and water mingling in the sky above him.

"Yeah." Sam replied, turning her head to face him seriously.

He heard her move beside him and turned to face her. He studied her face; the way her eyes were twinkling like the water drops on her skin, and the way her lips were still twitching with smiles.

"I would love to be married to you as well. I think we should make a go of it."

Sam grinned happily and Daniel felt his lip movement echo hers. "What, no more yelps?" She asked cheekily.

"I hope not," he murmured more to himself than her. He moved forward to kiss her, finally having reached the right time.

X x x x x

Jack groaned as his onscreen commander crumpled in a blur of red and Teal'c was left battling a room full of aliens on his own.

"I observe," Teal'c said over the noise of fighting and aliens dying, "that you are not your usual self O'Neill. In the television or out of it."

Jack 'hmmd' idly and watched Teal'c knock out four aliens with one blow.

"I wish you could do that in real life."

"Indeed." The level finished; Teal'c paused and revived his companion before continuing the game.

Jack picked up his controller from where he had placed it on the coffee table and glanced at the phone. "Do you think Dannyboy will be home?"

"I do not know O'Neill. But if he is it is unlikely he will appreciate a call this late in the evening."

"You don't think they're…?" Jack shuddered at the thought.

"As I said, I do not know O'Neill. But we should not attempt to contact either of them." Teal'c said firmly, turning up the volume on the playstation.

"Yeah," Jack drawled, glancing at the phone longingly.

X x x x x

Sam sighed happily and Daniel's arm tightened round her as they lay on the now crumpled jacket, gazing at the sky.

"This is the best date ever," she murmured lazily.

Daniel whispered his agreement and began tracing patterns on her bare arm.

"Mind you, the company's much better than usual."

Daniel chuckled. "I think as far as dating goes the military are somewhat lacking in their instructions."

Sam rolled onto her stomach and looked at Daniel. "Hey! I'm here with you aren't I?"

"Well what does the military teach you about where to go from here?"

"Well I don't know what they say in their mission protocol about dating, but I know that we were taught not to remain any longer than necessary in wet clothes."

Daniel raised his eyebrows in what he hoped was a look of surprise at Sam's innuendo, but he had just been thinking about how best to spend the remainder of the evening and had come to a similar conclusion.

Sam stood up and smiled at Daniel as he did the same and picked his jacket off the wet grass. He shook his jacket out in an attempt to remove the grass but only a few bits drifted away from the material - most stubbornly remaining.

"Next time I go on a date with you I'll have to remember to come in outdoor gear."

"It was your idea to sit down on the grass Dr Jackson." Sam replied as Daniel gathered her hand in his and they started to walk back toward the gravel path.

"Will our names change now that we are married? I mean, presuming we aren't getting an annulment-" Daniel shot a look at Sam and she shook her head. "You are serious though Sam? This will be a real marriage – if we don't get it annulled now with the General's help it could get complicated later on if you changed your mind."

"Daniel…" Sam tugged at his hand and got him to stop walking across the lawn. They stood looking at each other for a few moments as the sprinklers continued the job unfalteringly around them.

"Daniel," She repeated, her voice softer and quieter in the night air, "I'm not going to change my mind. Waking up… wow, it was only yesterday morning, it feels like it was days ago. Anyway, waking up yesterday morning was disconcerting, I'm not going to lie, but it felt reassuring having you there, and it perhaps made me realise something I should have realised a long time ago." Sam paused and looked down at where she was holding Daniel's hands between the two of them. "I just need to know though, you're not just doing this in some Daniel way of making the marriage easier are you?"

"In some 'Daniel way of making the marriage easier'?" Daniel watched Sam's face betray the emotions she was unwilling to describe and he pulled her in to a hug. "No I'm not doing this to make the marriage easier."

Sam's skin felt cool next to his own and he was reminded that they were still wet through and standing under sprinklers. "Sam?"

There was a muffled response from close to his chest which he didn't quite hear. "Sorry?"

Sam pulled back from Daniel's embrace and smiled at him. "I said I can hear your heart beating."
"Erm, well that's good. Means I'm not dead."

"Makes a change. What were you going to say?"

"Just that it's starting to get a bit cool out here…"

"Yeah…"

They continued walking and got back onto the gravel path. A few minutes later they entered the restaurant car park and Daniel unlocked the car doors, holding Sam's open for her.

Turning the keys in the ignition, Daniel switched the heating on to full and put the car into gear.

"Would you like a coffee?"

Sam raised her eyebrows and smiled at Daniel's comment. "Your place or mine?"

"Does yours have coffee?"

"Hey, I'm not that bad! But your place is fine." Sam secretly held a desire to see Daniel's flat again. She didn't go there nearly as often as she would have liked. It was so very 'Daniel', with artefacts and notepads and textbooks everywhere, and she loved it.

X x x x x

Daniel unlocked his door and gestured for Sam to enter, switching the lights on in his apartments as she did so.

"Do you want a change of clothes?" Daniel dropped his keys onto the table and laid down the wet jacket.

"Umm, sure. Could I be a pain and have a shower as well? I didn't realise how it cool it was out there." Sam fiddled with her bag, not exactly nervous – but still slightly more tense than she ought to be.

Daniel watched her for a couple of moments. "Sure, you know where the bathroom is – I'll go and get you some clothes."

Sam entered the bathroom and smiled at the tidiness of it all. Standing in front of the mirror she couldn't resist a quiet giggle at the state she was in. Her hair closely resembled rat's tails, and her dress was quite clingy. She pulled off her shoes and was just about to undo her dress when there was a light tap on the door.

"Am I ok to come in Sam?"

"Yeah."

Daniel opened the door slowly, wielding a large towel, an old shirt and trousers and a hanger.

"They aren't as nice as your dress I'm afraid…"

He handed the clothes to Sam and was rewarded with a bright smile.

"They'll be fine."

"And this is for the dress." He gave her the hanger and gestured towards the kitchen. "I'll go and make some coffee." He backed out the room and left Sam to shower.

Sam slowly peeled off her dress, hanging it on the hanger had provided. She stepped into the shower and relaxed as the warm water started to flow. She had to consider at the events that had led her here. She was starting to look back on the mission with affection now. She wondered if the mission hadn't happened, if Daniel and she would have still gone on a date eventually. She switched off the water and proceeded to dry off and get dressed. She would have to skip the trousers though – there was no way they were going to fit.

"Daniel?"

Daniel entered his kitchen and switched on the kettle – the mundane routine of making coffee allowing him plenty of time to consider how they'd got where they were. He thought back to their conversation from earlier. It definitely did seem like there was a higher force at work. When you thought of all the things that had happened to bring them to this moment, it felt like it couldn't all be coincidence. His thoughts were interrupted as Sam called him from the bathroom and he went to the door to answer.

"Everything ok?"

"Do you have any shorts?"