Author's Notes:

Despite pleas that I ignore the whole Edora fiasco (and it really was awful wasn't it?) this story demanded that it be dealt with. But Sam's path has been different up to this point and her path has had an effect on those around her, too. Including Jack O'Neill, who has maybe become a bit less pessimistic than the Jack of canon. At least in my little world he has.

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See Part 1 for notes and disclaimer

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Something was going on. There was a buzz running through the SGC that even Sam who had been in her lab most of the morning couldn't ignore. When Jack came and started to fiddle with things long before lunch it was official. He knew something and her gut was telling her it wasn't all good news.

Sure enough directly after lunch she was summoned to Hammond's office. Whatever she had been expecting it wasn't a full time spot on SG1. It seemed that three new teams were being formed and with a shortage of officers ready to lead the new teams Hammond had suggested that Henry Boyd be given a command of his own although it was rare for a Major. Henry of course had jumped at the chance, leaving a void on SG1. Since Sam had been filling the spot for the past two months it had been agreed that she should remain for the time being even though that meant that there was only one actual Air Force officer on the team.

Now Hammond couldn't technically order her to take the position, as she was a civilian, however it wasn't exactly put to her as an optional move. The General probably didn't expect her to protest. However with her wedding date now less than four months away she felt the need. She and Jack could certainly continue to be discreet on duty but she had no intention of hiding their marriage.

But when she opened her mouth to protest the General quickly moved to shut her down. "I really don't want to know, Doctor," he reminded her. He certainly had his suspicions that there was a full blown relationship going on between Sam and Jack, but as long as he could claim ignorance he could keep his best team together. And he had no doubts that the team was just as strong with Sam Carter on it as it had been with Henry Boyd. Still the woman before him looked concerned. And that gave him cause for concern. Maybe he had missed something. He could tell her mind was working over time.

Sam was thinking quickly. Surely there was someway of letting Hammond know what the concern was without telling him. Then she had a brainstorm. Her engagement ring was on a long chain around her neck carefully hidden away. She raised her hand as if to flick her hair behind her ear and on the way back down she caught the chain and pulled it out of her collar. Her ring now proudly blinked in the light and she saw Hammond's eyes widen at the sight.

At first she thought he wasn't going to comment but then with a sigh he relented. "We could make it a trial period. Say six months?" he offered.

"How about three," she countered.

Hammond looked at the confident young woman in front of him. She had been through so much in her young life, even more so in the last year. But he could see that with the help of one Jack O'Neill she had come through everything even stronger than before. How could he possibly ask her to put off her future happiness for even a day? As for Jack, he could certainly understand why he had fallen for Sam Carter. And his 2IC was due for some happiness himself.

"Fine, three months should give us time to find a replacement," he agreed.

"Thank you sir," Sam grinned.

"Yes, well, you'd better send Colonel O'Neill in so I can tell him that there had been another change in plans. He'll need to be looking at possibly team members because when I said 'us' I meant it should give him time to find someone. That should thrill him," Hammond stated with a chuckle.

Sam groaned slightly as she went to find Jack. He would not be happy at having to go through personnel files. Then she grinned. She'd just have to find a way to make it up to him.

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The next two months passed quickly. Nothing stayed calm around the SGC for long and those eight weeks were certainly no exception to the rule. After more than two years the fates of the two Abydonians that SG1 had sworn to save had both been resolved. In Skarra's case the outcome had been positive. Separated from the Goa'uld Klorel he was back with his people. Sha're however had not survived and the team was all still grieving in their own ways. Then to add to the stress they had jusy barely survived a foothold situation.

Currently the four were all just coming off of a forced couple of days of downtime that was to ensure that they had all recovered from the effects of a neural implant that had taken the form of an annoying man named Urgo. Today was their first scheduled mission back and as nice as the time off had been for Sam and Jack who had finally gotten their marriage license and in Sam's case bought her wedding dress, they were all glad to get back to work.

On paper the mission looked like the perfect way to ease back into things after a rough patch. The negotiations for naquadah did not seem like they were going to be problematic as the people of Edora were gentle and friendly. A bit too friendly for Sam's liking as one of the woman had taken an instant liking to Jack. He however was oblivious, or at least pretending to be, and although they stayed professional like always on a mission she had caught him looking at her once or twice over the campfire in the evening with a particularly heated look in his eyes.

She was sure the look was reflected in hers as she remembered their last few days off together. Jack had declared that they might as well treat it as a honeymoon since there was no telling in their line of work if they would actually get one after the wedding. Needless to say a majority of the time not spent on wedding plans or a bit of team bonding had been spent in bed. If they did get a real honeymoon it was going to be hard for it to top the unplanned pseudo one they had indulged in.

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It all went bad so quickly. The fire rain that had seemed so pretty until Sam had gotten her first inkling that it could be dangerous. Then had come the desperate pleas to the people of Edora to evacuate, and the final minutes when all hell had broken loose and Sam had just barely made it through the gate before it was hit. And the failed attempts to redial and send through a malp only to realize that there must be a problem on the other end, the hope that perhaps Jack would be able to dial out from his end that had slowly faded as the hours passed. Then finally the realization that the gate must be for all practical purposes sealed.

Sam had gone through all of the stages of grief at a rapid pace. But along with the acceptance that Jack was trapped had come the determination that she wasn't going to leave him behind.

After all, she had promised. No matter how long it took. She just hoped that he remembered that promise too.

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At first they were able to keep Sam on a fairly normal schedule. She ate, she slept, not a lot but enough. But as weeks passed and the day of her planned wedding drew nearer she became more obsessed. Until finally, on the actual day she was supposed to be wed she was impossible to deal with. The task of getting her out of the mountain finally fell to Teal'c, who literally carried her to the parking lot, and bundled her into a car where Daniel was waiting behind the wheel and Janet was in the back seat with a bottle of tequila. The first shots were poured before the car was even moving and the two women indulged several times before they reached Janet's place. Cassie was out for the night and they had all agreed that they would crash there to help Sam make it through the night.

Many, many light years away, Jack was dealing with missing his wedding in a similar fashion. The people of Edora that remained were having a party and for once Jack let himself indulge in the homemade liquor that practically ate a hole in his stomach. Still, he stopped after drinking just enough to dull his senses and slipped away to deal with the pain in private. Not wanting to go back to the house that Laira had been kind enough to share he grabbed a couple of blankets and headed to the edge of the lake where he often fished. From there he could see the stars and look up and hope that Sam could see some of the same ones from earth. It was the only connection he had to home. That and her voice in his head repeating that she would always come to find him no matter how long it took.

As crazy as everyone on Edora thought it was he was still clinging to the belief that he would indeed be seeing her again.

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TBC