AN:
Well this is the last chapter, in this chapter you will all find out
why this story was called Jacob's Bet so I hope that you enjoy
it!
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1!
Chapter 13 – The ceremony
Jack O'Neill stood awkwardly in his old dress uniform next to Sam and Daniel. Vala was on Daniel's other side, Cam and Teal'c were also present. They were making small talk with Thor, Freya, Bra'tac, Ry'ac, General Hammond and many other people who were vital to the running of the SGC and who had taken part in the raid or rescue mission. They were all waiting for the President to arrive in order to start the ceremony.
Suddenly one of the airmen walked up to General Hammond and whispered in his ear. Hammond immediately sprang into action "Attention all personnel please can you make your way to the gate-room, President Hayes has arrived." As soon as the words had left his mouth all the people proceeded to the gate-room and stood in ranks. It took the President ten minutes before he arrived at the gate-room, by then all the people had taken their place in the gate-room.
"Attention" was the shouted order. All military personnel stood to attention as he walked in the room. He made his way up to the podium that stood in front of the Stargate.
"At ease," he said "thank you all for attending this, I came here today to thank you all for your bravery in taking down Ba'al and for actually getting rid of him once and for all." He was interrupted by a large cheer from all the airmen. "I also want to say thank you for getting Dr Jack O'Neill and Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter back safely from his hands, I am sure they also appreciate it greatly. After all we wouldn't want to lose two of our greatest leaders for the SGC would we?" Another cheer rose after his question and Vala shouted "NO", a lot of people laughed at that one.
"So as a reward for something good coming of the SGC once more, there has been an agreement that more resources will be assigned to the SGC to help in future missions. You will also have a larger group of personnel to choose from and I hope that this will help." Everyone looked extremely happy at this announcement as there was always a need for more resources and equipment for research and development and the off-world missions as well.
"Now, I would like Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter to come to the podium to accept her new rank," said President Hayes looking at Sam. Sam walked up to the podium and was accordingly given the full rank of Colonel. She looked extremely pleased if a little embarrassed at having the President give her the new rank. "I would also like to ask Dr Jack O'Neill our recently retired leader, however, still in charge of the SGC to come to the podium to accept an award which has recently been designed." Jack walked up to the podium after Sam had retaken her place and stood next to the President.
"Dr O'Neill I hereby present you with the SG award for bravery, the conditions for receiving this award are that all the people that we have formal dealings with must agree that the person in question has distinguished himself or herself greatly. In this case all of our allies in fact decided that five other people had distinguished themselves in this way, so would Colonel Samantha Carter, Dr Daniel Jackson, Teal'c, Vala Mal Doran and Colonel Cameron Mitchell please make their way to the podium to also receive this prestigious award. They all went up to the podium and accepted their awards, all of them embarrassed at such a distinction although for Vala it was more surprise than anything else. They all went back to their places smartly.
"Now, as you all probably have guessed by now, our own Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran have decided to get together and I would like to wish them all the best in the future," President Hayes started again. He paused while everyone clapped them and Vala and Daniel looked more embarrassed than before, then looking at each other they broke out into smiles instead.
Meanwhile
President Hayes had said quietly so that only Thor could hear, "are
you ready Thor?"
"Of course President," replied Thor.
"Now, as you also all know Jack O'Neill and Samantha Carter are engaged to be married," after he had said this Thor pressed a button and all the people who were in the gate-room were transported into the control room of The Jack and Sam. It was only Jack and Sam who were surprised at the transportation, the rest of the people present were not surprised and all looked very satisfied with themselves as they had managed to create such a perfect setting without Jack and Sam finding out. They were all looking out at the earth and it looked beautiful from the distance that they were from it.
"Now, I have the pleasure of being able to marry Jack and Sam," said President Hayes looking at Jack and Sam for their response. They looked at each other and knew that it was the right time and place for them to be married, they nodded at the President. Jack moved to stand in front of the President with Daniel next to him, Vala went to the end of the aisle (created hurriedly!) with Sam and Hammond. Vala handed Sam some flowers and she had some in her own hands. She proceeded down the aisle to the traditional wedding music, she stood to the left side near the President, General Hammond then walked Sam down the aisle in place of Jacob who was unfortunately not able to be there.
As they arrived next to Jack, Sam turned to Hammond and said "thank you sir." "You are welcome Sam," he replied before taking his place.
"And so for the vows, Jonathon repeat after me:
I, Jonathon O'Neill, take you Samantha Carter, to be my wedded wife. To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish 'till death do us part. And hereto I pledge you my faithfulness." Jack duly repeated it,
"Now Samantha repeat after me:
I Samantha Carter, take you Jonathon O'Neill, to be my wedded husband. To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish 'till death do us part. And hereto I pledge you my faithfulness."
The couple exchanged rings that were hastily handed to them by Vala and Daniel respectively as this was being said, then President Hayes said "you may now kiss the bride." Jack and Sam kissed in front of all the witnesses. "I now give you Dr and Colonel O'Neill, everyone!" Everyone cheered and clapped and Sam and Jack both looked extremely happy.
"Everyone be ready for transport," said Thor as soon as the clapping and cheering had stopped. They were beamed down to the commissary of the SGC which was decorated accordingly and had many refreshments for the reception. There was a large cake in view which had a little mini SG team of Vala, Cam, Daniel, Teal'c, Sam and Jack next to a mini stargate. Sam and Jack loved it, it was so perfect. The reception was not a sit down meal however, there were of course the mandatory speeches made.
First of all Daniel made a speech "Now as everyone knows Jack and Sam have been tiptoeing around each other for so long that no one really thought in the end that this would happen. However, I have to say that we are all very happy for you and we all want to wish you the very best as we always have done. We are a large family and having you two become married has made us all happy, so thank you. Now, I know Jack hates being in the spotlight so I will stop there, but I would also like to say how I am so glad that I met both him and Sam all those years ago. To Jack and Sam." "Jack and Sam" everyone murmured raising their glasses.
Then Jack decided that he had better say something "Thank you Daniel, I would also like to thank every one of you for turning up to this event and I am also amazed that you guys managed to pull it off without Sam and I knowing of it, so well done everyone!!!! I'd like to say thank you to our allies on behalf of our team for awarding us with the SG award for bravery as I know that none of us expected it. However, I would also like for you to raise your glasses for the people that are sorely missed from our lives," Jack finished sadly thinking of Jacob Carter and many other warriors who had lost their lives previously. Everyone raised their glasses in memory of those men and women "now everyone get back to the celebrations and we'll have some of this lovely cake!" There was laughter around the room as they all went back to their previous conversations.
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"Daniel, one day I
want to have a wedding like this, although with a smaller load of
people, just our close friends," said Vala.
"I think that,
that would be nice," replied Daniel smilingly, he leaned in and
gave her a quick kiss.
"I'm glad you
agree," she replied and they hugged before turning to talk to
Ry'ac.
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"My old friend,
how are you doing?" asked Bra'tac walking up to Teal'c.
"I am fine thank
you Bra'tac," replied Teal'c "I am very happy for O'Neill
and Samantha, they will be very happy together."
"Yes, it is
amazing that it took this long before they got together," replied
Bra'tac with a sparkle in his eye.
"Indeed," was
Teal'c's only reply to this.
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Cam was talking to
Thor on the other side of the room. "That was a great wedding
Thor, thank you for the use of your ship," Cam said.
"I have done what
any of my race would do for O'Neill and Samantha, they are well
loved by the Asgard and many of us have been wondering when they
would get together," Thor replied.
"Yes, many here
have been wondering the same thing," responded Cam laughing.
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"So George, how
did this happen?" Jack asked standing with his arm around Sam.
"Yes I was
wondering that as well," said Sam.
"We-ll, as you
might know there has been a pool of betting. The bets were about
when you two would finally get together," started Hammond.
"We were aware
that something was going on," replied Sam, while Jack just looked
embarrassed.
"Well, in the end
it was actually Jacob who won the bet. He won the whole pot of
money, and believe me there was a lot of money in that pot. He left
instructions that the money be put towards giving you two the best
wedding that the money could buy. So that is what we did,"
explained Hammond looking sad because Jacob had died and couldn't
see his daughter get married. Sam and Jack also looked slightly sad,
however, "you two be happy, he knew that you two were in love and
he approved, he will be up there in heaven laughing and clapping for
you." Sam and Jack looked at each other and again knew that
Hammond was correct.
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"Alright everyone get ready for photo's, I want the bride and groom, Thor, Freya, Cam, Vala, Daniel, General Hammond, President Hayes, Bra'tac, Ry'ac, and Teal'c to be in this picture." They all lined up dutifully and the snapshot was taken.
The happy picture stayed on Dr Jonathon 'Jack' O'Neill's desk at the SGC for many years to come.
THE END
AN: Well that is the end; I hope that you enjoyed the story. It certainly took me awhile to write. Even though I only started posting it on fanfic a couple of months ago it has taken me a couple of years to actually finish. Jacob's Bet is finally finished. Plz read and review as you all know how excited and happy it makes me!
I would like to say thank you to all those that have reviewed me before : Kat Spencer, feb04, Ilovesg1, VisualIDentificationZeta, Aruna Hart Leilina, i.m. nell, SJAuthor, E. Nagrom and a special thank you to atlantis sg1 who gave me the most reviews and encouragement! Thanks!