This journey started way back in Pre-Pandemic times, now almost 10 months and 300k words later, we finally say goodbye to this rollercoaster of angst and love and you wanting to kill me because I wouldn't knock their heads together. :D

Thank you, so much... for all the time you guys invested here. All the tears and anger and chuckles and every little thing this monstrosity of words made you feel. For all the comments and moments you left behind.

Now, we let them go...

Enjoy.

M.

Chapter 103

Sunday, February 23, 2013

Sam stirred up as she felt someone watching her. She opened her eyes to find Parker looking at her while kneeling on the floor beside her bed. Jack's hand was heavily placed on her waist as he softly snored on her ear.

"P? What's wrong?" Sam whispered, trying not to wake Jack up.

"Are you happy?" Parker asked, looking at her mom seriously.

"I am," Sam answered, not a hint of doubt in her whispery tone.

"Will you forget about me now that you have Dad and a new baby coming?" Parker frowned.

"I could never forget about you, P. Why would you think that?"

"Dunno," She shrugged.

"P... You know you can tell me anything, right?" The girl nodded. "So, what's wrong?" Sam said. Jack's breathing had changed, telling Sam that he was awake. She gave his hand a light squeeze so he wouldn't do anything.

"I woke up. I had this not so great dream and I came looking for you, you know? Like I always did? When I saw you… I was just thinking that you have him to cuddle up with now," P took a deep breath. "You don't need me anymore." Parker finished, chewing her lower lip.

"Do you want to cuddle with me?" Sam smiled. Parker nodded. "Then hop in, there's plenty of space here." She said moving the covers to the side and patting the space in front of her.

"And… Dad?" Parker asked worriedly. Although it was laced with a plea for her mom to say her dad wouldn't mind. It was Jack's turn to squeeze Sam's hand as if pleading along with P.

"He won't mind," Sam smiled brightly.

"Are you sure?" P squinted.

"Want to ask him?"

"I… Don't know."

"Parker, it's too early in the day for so many questions…. Hop in the bed and cuddle up with your mom. So she'll stop thinking, you'll stop worrying and we can all get back to sleep." Jack mumbled against Sam's skin, bringing goosebumps all over her body.

"Told ya'" Sam grinned as Parker placed herself right next to Sam. A tear left Sam's eye. Her family was here, complete, after all, they'd been through. There wasn't anything else in the world that could make it better.

"Carter…" Jack mumbled.

"Huh?"

"Stop thinking," Jack stated. Placing a quick kiss on her neck and cuddled closer to them both, managing to embrace the two of them.

"Yes, sir." She grinned and Parker giggled. It was so contagious that soon Sam was giggling too. Jack groaned.

"So much for a late morning…" He shook his head. "Since you two look oh-so-comfy… Why don't I get started on breakfast? How pancakes' sound?"

"With chocolate chips?" Parker grinned.

"Ow! And scrambled eggs." Sam smiled.

"Can we get bacon too?" Parker pleaded.

"All right, all right! Geez… How many stomachs do you girls have?"

"There's a food stomach and a dessert one." They said at once, making him laugh.

"Okay, okay… Let me get a quick shower and I'll start. Enjoy the cuddling," he said. Pecking Sam's lips and ruffling Parker's hair.

"He loves you, doesn't he?" Parker asked, making herself comfortable half atop of Sam.

"He does." Sam nodded in awe.

"How cool is that?"

"Very cool indeed."

"You think we should help him?" P wondered after a while.

"Are you up to that?"

"You mean cooking breakfast with my mom and dad?"

"I guess that's what I mean."

"Oh, I've been waiting for that my entire life!" She exclaimed, jumping out of the bed and rushing to her room. Sam laughed and stood up too.

"Well, seems like a need a shower too." She grinned, opening the door of the bathroom. Jack was concentrated on showering. So he didn't hear her coming until she embraced him from behind. Sam laughed wholeheartedly when he yelped at the intrusion.

"Carter!" He whined as he turned around in her arms. She scurried away some water from her face and chuckled. "Weren't you two cuddling?"

"Yup, but we thought we'd like to help you cook. We can't allow you to burn our breakfast, can we?" He kissed her thoroughly.

"No O'Neill on Earth has ever burned a pancake before," Jack stated seriously. Sam laughed.

"Move away, will ya? I need to shower too." She said swatting his ass. "And FYI… There's a Carter-O'Neill out there that has burned more than just one pancake."

"Hmm… I bet that's the Carter side, in that one that keeps burning'em." He said.

"Go, get dressed, General. That kid will be barrelling in here as soon as she finishes."

"Aren't you coming?" He asked getting out of the shower.

"I say I was helping, not cooking. I'll be there ASAP."

"Yes, ma'am!" He mocked saluted her, making her giggle again.

Shaking her head, Sam watched him go and stood under the spray for a while. Just thinking of how different this shower was from many of the showers she'd taken during the previous almost twelve years. Now, she had them both under the same roof. She hadn't need to cry herself to sleep the previous night. Instead, she'd slept cocooned into Jack's embrace and woke up to her daughter's watchful eyes.

There still were many things they would need to overcome. She had to deal with her own mind, and sure, Jack did too. She still had to find the courage to let him see the videos she'd made. They'll still be a somewhat awkward family while learning how to live together as a family. She still had to deal with the issues from the base and sure Jack had to deal with those too. There still was the stress of having to juggle her time to help Jordan and keep their business running smoothly. And yes, there still were people out there that could try to get to her… Them…

But for now, she was happy to let it all rest.

Taking her time, so they could bond. She dried herself and got dressed. Finding the one pink sweater Parker had given her for her birthday. She smiled. She didn't feel like wearing her black clothes today. She donned it and padded to the kitchen.

"Whoa! You're serious?"

"Yup!" Jack said, accenting the p.

"Four brothers?" Parker asked in awe.

"And three sisters…" Jack added.

"Whoa… How many cousins do I have then?"

"Too many," Sam grinned, joining them.

"Yup, that sounds about right," Jack confirmed as he flipped one pancake. "See, P… It's all in the wrist."

Sam sat on the kitchen counter as she watched them cook. She could be there forever. She could start to forgive herself for all the things she'd done, if only because they were together. Laughing, joking, loving each other as it always was supposed to be.

"Earth to Carter…" Jack said, as he turned the stove off and found her sitting there quietly observing them. "Everything all right?" He asked, coming to stand between her legs.

"Yeah… I was just thinking…" There was a snort coming from both Parker and Jack. Showing her just how alike they were.

"You do that aaaaaall the time, mom." Parker chuckled.

"Very funny." She deadpanned.

"So… you were 'rarely' thinking…" Jack prodded, as he noticed the faint blush covering her cheeks.

"That Parker should meet your family."

"Yeah, she should!" Parker agreed, making them chuckle.

"But there's more, isn't there?"

"That our anniversary is just around the corner…"

"The first one that we get to celebrate it together…." Jack acknowledged.

"So… I thought…" she blushed more. Seeing her looking utterly adorable all flustered, he pecked her lips. "I thought that we could, I don't know, renew our vows?" She said, lowering her eyes, embarrassed as her own proposal.

"Would you want to?" Jack asked, raising her face with his fingers.

"I guess it would be nice to say those again, knowing that we'd be able to stick to them, without having to be apart for once."

"And you want to do it there?" He guessed.

"Would you mind?"

"Not at all… It would be an honor. I'm sure Shannon will be thrilled."

"So, whatcha say?" She said jumping off of the counter. Taking her by surprise, Jack kneeled.

"Samantha Carter, would you make me the happiest man alive, and marry me?" He smiled brightly. "Again?" Jack added, winking at P.

Parker laughed as Sam nodded, tears falling down her eyes as she kissed Jack.

"Okay, kids. Breakfast is cooling down…" Parker said before she turned around. "And then they say movies are corny…" she mumbled walking away from her kissing parents.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Jack's town was crowded. The tiny five-bedroom B&B hasn't seen so many people since the last high school reunion. It's odd, too, that people are out there on a Tuesday. But they wanted to make it right. Making it right meant they had to do it on the right date too.

This time around, Sam isn't wearing a quickly found wedding dress. It was one that Janet, Vala, Cassie, Parker, and she had searched for. Harper, Shannon, and Libby had also flown to Colorado to check out the dress and to complete the outfit with 'that red little number that I'm sure worked just fine the first time around' as Harper had put it.

Libby had also the chance of meeting Parker then. Easily finding all the O'Neillisms of the girl. Finally, Sam, Jack, and Parker had driven to Jack's town late on Sunday night. Stopping on the way to watch the sunrise.

Parker had experienced her first very loud family dinner the previous night. Jack had stopped in front of his parents' home and watched his two women with a smile on his face. "Ready?" He asked. Sam nodded and Parker took a deep breath. Sam looked at Jack and he got down first.

"P… Everything will be all right. You already know your Aunts and your Uncle Connor. They'll love you." She said as reassuringly as she could.

"Okay. Let's do this." P grinned. They walked to the front door and as soon as the door was opened, they were pulled inside and embraced tightly. Before they could even start to process what was going on, they were standing inside the living room, and silence filled the previously loud room.

"Everyone… Y'all remember Sam, don't you? And this is Parker." He added proudly, placing reassuring hands on P's shoulders.

"Oh, come on! It looks like you've never seen another O'Neill before," Connor said, rolling his eyes as he reached the family. "P, it's so nice to see you again."

"Uncle Connor!" She said throwing herself into his arms.

"Don't worry, P. We are many, but the ones you don't know... They're all just dying to meet you." He whispered to her ear before he let her go.

"Ah, there's one more thing…" Sam said. Since they already had the family's attention. Jack grinned, embracing her from behind and placing his hand over her belly.

"There will be one O'Neill more in a few months." Loud congratulations, hugs, kisses, and introductions were exchanged then. Parker couldn't find herself more at ease among equally chatty cousins, aunts, and uncles. Her grandparents had issues letting her out of their grasp. So, she found herself beyond at ease among the crowd, which was really just the family she never thought she had.

Like every day for the past nineteen days, Sam stirred awake to the warm body of her husband. Feeling his protective hand over her stomach. By the way, he'd pressed into her, she knew he was awake. She turned in his arms and pecked his lips softly.

"Good morning to you too," Jack whispered before he turned her around and placed himself covering her body.

"Don't you save anything for the honeymoon?" Sam giggled.

"I was just going to take advantage of the fact that our daughter has chosen to have a sleepover with her cousins instead of coming back here." He said, huskily. Her leg sneaked up and pressed his hips closer to hers.

"No complaints here, General."

They enjoyed themselves, for once taking their sweet time to rediscover each other now that they were finally fully alone. They got up from the bed only when Sam was so overloaded that the sightless touch could send her screaming in ecstasy. Jack had carried her to the bathroom because her legs had given up when she'd tried to stand.

Finally, and luckily, it was around the time when they'd finally gotten out of the room and into the kitchen that a truck stopped in the driveway. Parker came shouting happily, followed by Shannon.

"Good morning, although… Shouldn't be you starting to get ready, Sam? Not just having breakfast." She asked knowingly. She eyed Jack and slapped the back of his head.

"Hey! What was that for?" Jack complained, rubbing his head.

"Nothing," Shannon shrugged. Waiting until Parker had disappeared into the guest room. "It's just that you look utterly pleased with yourself."

"He has all the reasons to," Sam grinned mischievously, making Jack blush.

"Good, huh? Oh, well, at least this time he did get you to the bed, right?" Sam laughed at this. She had always known that Shannon had figured out what had happened that night between them.

"He did." Sam nodded, "several times." Shannon rolled her eyes then.

"Your friends are waiting for you, at the B&B. They guys were about to come to find you, Jack. There's one missing, though. That one who wrote the book? What was his name, again?"

"Daniel?"

"Yeah. The one with the golden thing said Daniel didn't make it. He didn't say why."

"Oh," Sam said a bit sadly. She had forgiven him, and they had started to fix their issues. Daniel wouldn't ever be the friend she thought he was meant to be, but that didn't mean he wasn't Jack's best friend.

Sam sighed. Her dad couldn't be there, Mark wouldn't be either… Now, Daniel. Jack noticed the saddened demeanor and placed a kiss on her neck. "Don't worry, Carter. Everything will be all right."

"I guess, if you, P and myself are there… There's more than I could've ever asked for before, right?" She smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Yeah."

"So, I hate to break bad news and then ask you to join me… but that's exactly what I came here for. Hair, make-up, and then fitting you into that gorgeous gown you picked!"

"I'm ready!" Parker said, bringing her suitcase out from the guest room.

After that, everything was a blur. She was pampered and moved from one caring hand into another as they did her hair and makeup. Janet, Vala, Cassie, were shocked to find out about Jack's sisters and were prodding all sorts of information out of the willing mouths.

On the other end of town, Jack had opened the door to Teal'c and Jordan. He was surprised that there was another truck parking in his driveway. He smiled brightly when he noticed just who it was. Things were going to be more than just all right.

The church was filled to the brim, not only with the friends who had come all the way from out of town. Jack's large family and everyone in town who had missed it the first time around was there. The small church was packed, making the place quite warm.

The car bringing Sam stopped in front of the church. Sam took a deep breath as she got out, helped down by the hand of Jonathan O'Neill Sr. He stood to the side as he waited until her gown was all fixed before they walked to the door.

She saw her sisters-in-law disappearing inside to walk down the aisle, followed by Vala, Cassie, Janet, and Parker. Then the doors opened, the crowd stood up, and Sam held her breath. It wasn't the first time she'd done this, yet her heart was beating wildly.

Her father-in-law kissed her cheek and let her go. Making her panic for a second until another hand grabbed her arm, and her eyes found him.

"Dad?"

"Someone told me I missed this the first time around. Eleven years went by, and I never figured out you tied the knot, Sammie." He said. "I figured I couldn't miss this for anything. Thank God, Daniel was still around when I managed to get back."

They started walking. There was no way she could keep her smile at bay. "But Daniel was supposed to come yesterday." She said. Jacob smiled and pointed to the side.

"We had to make a stop first." He said. Sam noticed Mark and his wife in the crowd. "We love you, Sam. No matter how screwed up our family is, we do love you." Jacob said, and a happy tear fell from her eye. "He does too," he added, nodding towards the front of the church, where Jack was waiting for her. The rest of the walk was done in silence, with her eyes fixed on Jack's.

"Jack, you'd better take care of her," Jacob said as they stopped close to him.

"Will do, dad. There's no easier promise than that." Jack grinned. Noticing the tears falling from her eyes, he cleaned them with the pad of his thumb. "No more tears, Sam. We've done all of that." He whispered. She couldn't agree more.

As they suspected, they were too emotional to be able to give their own version of the vows. Connor had them repeat the same ones they'd used twelve years earlier. They smiled when they noticed they hadn't faltered with any of them. They had loved, respected, cherished each other mostly in the bad… and they were now ready to have the good.

The party was loud.

Their friends mingling with Jack's family and finding out just how much they hadn't known about Jack. They were surprised to see that Sam had known all the ones that had been born before her disappearance. Jordan tapped Sam's shoulders. She turned around to find him with a woman she'd known.

"Kira?" She asked surprised. "I mean, Sarah."

"Sam," she grinned. "Or should I say, General O'Neill?"

"Sam's quite all right. But how? Why?" Sam wondered as she looked from the woman she knew as Kira to Jordan.

"Ah, she has something for you and was searching for you but couldn't find you. So, I thought…" Jordan shrugged, and Kira gave her a folder.

"I hope you don't mind?" She said as she watched Sam read it. "I wasn't sure if you'd want to keep both last names or not… but it was the safest way. This is the original file." Kira said.

"What about…"

"I placed an edited version in your original file. I kinda figured out the dates. Thank God, Rob wasn't so keen on pregnancies." Kira grinned. Sam hugged her tightly.

"God! Thank you… So, much. I wouldn't be here if you hadn't warned me."

"I did what I had to do, Sam. I truly hoped you could fix what I couldn't." Kira smiled honestly. "Okay. Now, I got to go… There's a woman somewhere who needs to learn a new identity. You know how that goes, right?"

"Wish her luck, but she has you. So, I'll bet everything will work out in the end." Jack approached her as the other woman walked away.

"So, what was that all about?" Jack asked. Sam gave him the folder.

"Really?"

"It seems so…" Sam smiled. He touched the document in his hand, awed. 'Parker McKenna Carter-O'Neill' it said under the name and last name, while under father, his name appeared filling the spaces.

Parker joined them. She looked at them and to the folder in her dad's hand. Sam nodded encouragingly, so Jack gave it to Parker.

"Really?" She said. An almost identical expression to Jack's previous one on her face.

"Yup." They both agreed. She embraced them both at once.

"Best day ever!" She shouted. Giving them the folder and mixing with the crowd. Jack looked at Sam and shrugged.

"She's right, you know?" He said. "Let me place this somewhere safe."

When he returned, he walked Sam to the dancing floor. They didn't care that everyone was watching them. One of his hands was spread open on the small of her back. One of hers rested at his neck, playing with the short hair there. Opposite hands were linked together tightly, as if their lives depended on it, pressed between their bodies.

Their gazes were locked, their eyes never wavered –blues watching browns. Browns glued to blues.- Both shining with unspoken words, as both prayed the soft notes would never come to an end. They moved slowly to a rhythm all their own, never breaking apart. There wasn't even an inch between the two. It was a time that was theirs and theirs alone, one perfectly stolen moment.

It was way past Parker's bedtime, but it was her parent's wedding anniversary. So, they allowed her to stay awake. It wasn't surprising to find them there, still dancing, even if the song they were dancing to had long ended. Glued together as if they were stuck in a bubble all their own.

There was not even an inch between them, because they knew what it was to spend years apart. Parker knew now, though, that was how love was supposed to look like. She knew now that shiny eyes and unspoken words were the most genuine displays of love.

There was no confusion anymore because love looked like that when they were together. There was nothing that could break them apart now. He was her rock, and she was his. They had survived even the most painful thing of all… They had survived time.

The end! (FINALLY!)