Thanks again to BruisedReed for the awesome beta work!
Two months later
Sam is pretty surprised, and eternally grateful that they make dresses to fit people who are seven months pregnant. She smiles at the room full of her family, some of whom are related to her by blood, and some of whom are not. She tries hard not to think about the ones who are not here to share the day with them-Daniel, her mom, Charlie, but focuses her face on those that are.
Their memories have come back much faster since their arrival back on earth. In fact, most of their memories are now back. Every once in a while they begin to think that all of their memories are back, and then one springs upon them out of the blue.
She has a lot of bad memories to be sure, but she has enough good to balance them out.
"You ready for this kid?" her dad asks her, taking her arm.
"Definitely, Dad," she says focused on the face of Jack O'Neill before the altar. His eyes focused on her, those deep eyes which she loves.
Do you promise to love…
Always have
…cherish…
How could you not cherish every moment when each and every one of them could be your last one with them.
…honor…
It is easy to honor one who is so honorable
….and obey…
Ha! No more!Never again.
…through sickness and health…
Been there, done that.
…good times, and bad times….
And all the times in between
….for richer and poorer…
I think naked and without belongings is just about as poor as you can get, so this shouldn't be a problem
…as long as you both shall live?
And maybe even after that.
We do.
I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.
And he does.
"You aren't going to carry me over the threshold!" she exclaims as he grabs her knees later that night.
He fakes confusion, "Why not?" he asks.
"First of all we've been living in this house for a week all ready, secondly because you carried me over the threshold of the cabin we lived in on P3X-942, and third and most importantly I'm huge enough to be declared my own continent," she protests.
"So you admit our home on P3X-942 was in fact a cabin not a hovel," he says lifting her ever so gently.
"No! Your knees!" she exclaims. When that has no effect she adds, "You're going to drop us!"
He set her down gently on the other side, "I love the way you do that," he says.
"What?" she asks.
"Talk about the baby like it is already here," he says
"And just what do you think this is?" she asks putting her hand over her rapidly expanding stomach.
"I know, but that's the point. Most people refer to an unborn baby like a piece of furniture or an animal. Actually, a lot of people refer to a six year old like that. You talk about the baby like it's your equal," he says, "You have no idea how much I love that. How much I love you," he says kissing her.
"You do that too," she says, "Hey, I thought of the perfect name, and this time there is no way you can reject it!" she says excitedly.
He rolls his eyes, he has been dead set against all of her suggestions so far. Most of them were too strange and new. He believed in simple strong names for boys, things that wouldn't get them teased. She would roll her eyes at his suggestions as well saying, "I'm not going to have my son share his name with half the planet, Jack!"
"Ok, what have you got?" he asks.
"Jackson," she says proudly.
He stares at her for a long moment hoping he'll see the grin she makes when she's trying hard not to laugh. It doesn't appear. "No," he says.
"Come on, it's perfect! I mean he is Jack's son, and it would also be like we're naming him after Daniel. You KNOW how honored he would be if he was still alive," she protests.
"You are not seriously going to use my missing Daniel to sell me on that name, are you? We might as well name him 'offspring of the O'Neill's' or," and as the thought occurs to him he can't help but let a little giggle out, "Samson."
"Sure, we can go ahead and name him Samson, and get him a little set of baby dumbbells, and let his hair grow out to hippie lengths…" she begins.
"I resent that, I was a hippie," he says.
"You were not a hippie, Sir! You fought in Vietnam!" she says. Then she pauses, "I guess I didn't really know you then did I? I mean even with my memory back there is still so much of your life I don't know."
"So, I'll just have to tell you," he says, "and I wasn't really a hippie. Man…in the days of the hippies you were…" he begins.
"Don't do the math, Jack," she says, "Please don't do that math."
"You called me Sir before, I thought you were finally over that, and I've done the math," he says.
"So Jackson?" she asks.
"How about Carter, since you're done with that name now Mrs. O'Neill?" he asks.
"If we're going with a president theme why not Millard," she says sarcastically.
"Fillmore would be worse," he says laughing.
"Ok, let's forget baby names for now," she says, "mocking each other's suggestions isn't what I'd call helpful, besides it is our wedding night."
"We had a five month honeymoon," he says.
"You have a strange definition of vacation," she says.
"Close as you've come to a vacation," he says. Her eyes look injured, and he tries to back pedal, "Sam, I didn't mean…"
"No Jack, you're right…you were right anyway. It's just that lately I've been trying…I mean really trying," she says.
"No, Sam, since we've gotten back you haven't been such a workaholic. I just figured…I mean I figured this kid had you exhausted," he says touching her belly.
She looks away, just like she always does right before she says something that's important, that's hard for her, "When I was growing up my Dad was always gone. We were second place. I…I never want my baby, or my husband," she says with a wide grin remembering she could call him that now, "to wonder if they are first or second place. First place, always," she says.
"Sam, you can't put me before the whole galaxy," he says concerned.
"Notice you didn't say anything about the baby," she says.
"I don't mind you putting Jackson before the galaxy," he says.
"What?" she says.
"Oh come on, like we didn't already know you were going to win the name the kid argument," he says.
"Ok, now I'm serious, no more baby talk, it's our wedding night," she says.
"Are you sure? Because Teal'c was telling me about how they raise children in Chulak, and it's really quite humorous," he says.
Her smile fades, "Don't go reminding me of our missing anthropologist," she says.
