AN: I am SOOOOO sorry this took me so long to post. I have been massively struggling with this story. It turned into such a bigger story than originally intended. Luckily my wonderful friend Mini_Goat helped me get it back under control and I will do my best to post daily now.
I hope you enjoy it!
"I can't believe you proposed without me!" Sharlynn exclaimed for possibly the hundredth time. She had been badgering her brother ever since he and Sam walked through the door and said "Boy, do we have a story to tell you."
"If it's any consolation," Sam said from her seat on the couch. "I was hoping that maybe you could be one of my bridesmaids?"
Sharlynn looked at the woman who held her brother's heart and smiled. She was curled up under a large Afghan with a warm cup of her alien anti-nausea tea on the table beside her, and a sheet of paper in her hand as she filled responses to the long list of decisions Janet had given her to make about the wedding. Janet and her daughter Cassie were sitting on the couch next to her, while the boys were standing in the kitchen arguing about whether to order pizza or Chinese, while the girls were already beginning to discuss the rapidly approaching upcoming nuptials.
"Sam, I would be honored!" Sharlynn replied eagerly. "But don't think that will get Jack out of the doghouse with me."
"Hey! Keep in mind you're the only one of the O'Neill clan to actually know about the wedding."
Sharlynn studied him for a moment, then decided to let the subject drop for now and turned her attention back to Sam.
"So, are you nervous? You're getting married in less than four days."
"Nervous? What's there to be nervous about?." Sam said sarcastically rolling her eyes. "I only have a Napoleonic fear monger planning a wedding that's supposed to happen four days after I got engaged to a man I've never even dated."
"Hey! That's my loving nickname for the dear doctor." Jack teases nervously from the kitchen.
Sam snickered. "It would be nice to have more time to plan this sort of thing, and possibly date my future husband. But, hey, when is the last time anything normal ever happened to SG-1? I only wish I could invite my brother."
"Why can't you?" Sharlynn asked, confused.
"They don't have the clearance to know about this particular situation." Janet provided. "If they come to the wedding, then Sam has a baby a month later, there will be questions."
"Wait, your dad is an alien but your brother still hasn't been read in? I got read in because my friend was an alien. Besides, won't he have questions about that anyways? Didn't you just see him three weeks ago for Thanksgiving?"
"You were read in due to the specific situation you walked in on when we were speaking with Nefer. Selmac has never spoken directly to Mark, and one person being read in is also quite different than an entire family being read in. Especially two kids who wouldn't understand the meaning of a non-disclosure agreement. As for the rest…" Sam hesitated and looked to Janet for the answer.
"Well, every pregnancy is different. Some women don't show up until the very end, and given Sam is an incredibly active person, it is feasible that she could have been able to hide a baby bump under an oversized sweater. As for the sake of the timeline, General Hammond and the President created a paper trail to make it appear their personal relationship had been approved ten months ago, which would fix the timeline for the child's due date."
Sharlynn looked between the three women feeling as though her head was spinning.
Sam shrugged and said "Anyone with the clearance to know about this particular situation will know that no rules were broken. The paper trail is really just a safety net in case certain individuals who have been trying to remove us from the program try to make the issue public in a way that could harm our careers."
"Why don't we move back to the more cheerful topic of the wedding, guys?" Cassie cut in, rolling her eyes at the older women.
"Yeah, let's do that. It sounds way more fun." Sharlynn said, laughing.
"Well," Sam said, grinning. "I was hoping that Janet, you would be my maid of honor, and Cassie, you would be a bridesmaid."
"I'd be honored, Sam." Janet said smiling.
At the same time Cassie winked and said "Just don't make me wear pink."
"I thought you liked pink?" Sam replied, laughing.
"Eww no, pink is so last week." Cassie exclaimed, wrinkling her nose in disgust.
Janet game Sam and Sharlynn a look as she rolled her eyes and said "Teenagers."
"Well, I'll just have to cross that off this extremely long list of decisions your mother gave me after saying she would plan the entire wedding and I wouldn't have to do a thing aside from picking a dress." Sam said, glaring pointedly at Janet.
"Hey, all you have to do is make a few decisions, pick your dress tomorrow, and show up to the wedding on Saturday."
"Uh huh." Sam replied dubiously.
After some time Jack, Daniel, and Teal'c joined everyone in the living room. Jack tried to steal Janet's seat by Sam but backed away looking like he'd just offended a velociraptor after she gave him a stern look. Instead he took a seat on the floor in front of her, leaning his back against the foot of the couch with his knees bent, arms draped over them. Daniel and Teal'c sat on Jack's second couch.
They sat like that for some time, chatting about the wedding, making a game plan for the day of. Picking colors and flowers and a theme. Sam wanted to go somewhere off world, but Janet put her foot down. No gate travel during pregnancy, she said. Eventually someone knocked on the door, and Jack pushed himself to his feet quickly.
"Those must be our steaks!" He said, grinning.
"Steaks, sir?" Sam said, "I thought you were arguing over pizza verses Chinese."
"Yeah, but then I remembered the good doctor wanted you to get more iron in your diet. And O'Malley's is doing delivery now!"
"They are? God I miss that place." Sam said, looking reminiscent.
"Yeah, too bad we're still banned." Daniel mused.
"But not from takeout!" Jack exclaimed cheerfully.
Sharlynn watched the exchange, and knew there was a story she was going to need to get out of them. A story that Janet and Cassie clearly already knew, as they were nodding in understanding.
Jack opened the door, faltered for a moment, and said, "I take it you didn't bring our steaks."
"Now who do you think I am, your delivery man?" A familiar voice replied.
"Well, actually.." Jack trailed off.
As soon as she heard the voice, Sam threw off her Afghan and bounced to her feet. She rushed to the door just as Jack stepped aside to let the man in.
"Dad!" Sam exclaimed, reaching the door just as he entered the house.
"Hey Sammy. I told you I wouldn't be long." Jacob said, wrapping his daughter in a hug.
"I can't believe you got approval from the council so quickly!" Sam said, pulling out of the hug to stare at her father. "And how did you get here?"
"George had an SF drive me over. He would have brought me himself but he didn't want to intrude." Jacob said, leading Sam and Jack back into the living room. "Now, Jack already showed me the ring this afternoon, but I want to see it on your finger."
Sam looked at her father in shock, then looked over to Jack who shrugged awkwardly.
"I told you, I wanted to do it the right way." He mumbled.
"Wait, so your telling me in the few hours I was with Daniel, you not only went off world to buy a ring, and have it engraved, you also stopped by the Tok'ra base to… what, as my father's permission?" Sam looked irked. Sharlynn found that understandable, Sam wasn't exactly the type to be happy her fiancé asked for her hand like she was someone's property or something.
Jack nodded uncomfortably.
Seeming to have recovered from her shock, Sam looked around the room conspiratorially and then stage whispered "And what did he say?"
The tension in the room shattered, and everyone began to laugh at the perplexed look on Jack's face.
"I believe my exact words were 'it's about damn time," Jacob said smiling down at his daughter as he placed a hand affectionately on the side of her face. "Congratulations, sweetie."
"Thanks dad." Sam replied, smiling back at him.
As the night progressed Sharlynn watched her brother interact with everyone. This was different than his trip to Minnesota, because this time he wasn't hiding how he felt for Sam. Watching him, she realized she had only ever seen her brother this in love before, and that had been with Charlie.
That's not to say he didn't love Sara. He loved her very much, but it was a different kind of love. With Sara, she didn't understand his darkest truths. Not many could, given his history in Black Ops and his 'need to know' career. But there's only so much love you can put into a relationship where you have to hide half of yourself from your partner.
Sam, on the other hand, knew all of him. More than that, she had been there by his side through some of his darkest times, going through it with him. She was truly his equal, in a way Sara never was, or could have been. And that made their bond stronger.
Another thing that crossed Sharlynn's mind, as she watched him, was the fact he and Sam hadn't actually gotten any alone time - save their car ride to and from the base today - since everything in their lives had changed. Mere days ago, the two were hiding behind a curtain of duty. Now they were suddenly engaged and expecting, and they weren't even given the luxury of some one on one conversation. Suddenly she felt guilty for taking up space in Jack's house, but she was formulating a plan to get out of the way. If only for the night.