AN: Why hello campers! Sorry about the wait. I had to work Thursday and then I kind of forgot because I was busy working on house renovation stuff. Nothing drastic, just getting some things moved around as we are attempting to give my youngest his own room finally. Our Assistant Manager is super stressed, and I'd do her paperwork for her, but I already have gobs of my own actually. All I can do is stay on top of everything else.
Chapter 5 - Next Friday
"Good evening, Dr. Jackson."
Daniel nodded as he sat. "Hey, um, this is confidential, right? No one but you guys will have access to what I say here, correct?"
"All testimony during Tribunal hearings is sealed."[1]
"Good. Good." Daniel said nodding absently.
"Dr. Jackson, your testimony is that you witnessed the wedding between Samantha and Jonathan O'Neill?" The attorney who specialized in Canon law started the interview.
Daniel nodded. "Yah, um, we were in this remote village and the elders were really patriarchal about Sam's being a single woman teaching in the village. Jack didn't want to deal with it so he told them he was Sam's husband."
"Why did he do this if he was not?"
"Well, it's not the first time we'd been in that situation. It can be dangerous for Sam and it gets in the way of accomplishing our mission."
"Which was?"
"Classified." Daniel said firmly. "And, no, I can't elaborate because I told Uncle Sam I wouldn't and he signs my pay stubs."
"Fair enough, Dr. Jackson. Tell us more about this marriage."
"All right. Well, there wasn't much to tell. The elders were suspicious so they forced Jack and Sam to have a ceremony." Daniel shrugged.
"And they did not consider this marriage valid?"
"Well, the elders did, but Jack and Sam did it to avoid conflict." Daniel frowned. "It's not like they aren't already in each other's pockets anyway."
"How do you mean?"
Forgive me, both of you, Daniel thought of his best friends. "Well, they have been close for years. They trust each other implicitly and they do everything together already anyway. We all did as a team but Jack and Sam have always had a special bond more so than the rest of us."
"Can you give an example?"
Daniel squinted and rubbed his bottom teeth on his upper lip. "Kind of? We had an incident where they had to have a lie detector test because of a possible spy and they kept pinging as lying because the reason they did something was because of how they feel about each other. Once they admitted it, the computer stopped redlining." Sam herself had explained to him in confidence how they had finally passed the test after he'd pestered her for answers a few weeks after it had happened.
"I see. Do you have any other examples you would like to share?"
Daniel sighed. "Neither one handles it well when the other goes missing, at all. I mean Jack gets upset when anyone he loves is in harm's way, but Sam has cried more than once when Jack has been missing for a mission." He deliberately left out that Sam had sobbed inconsolably over him too a couple of times. She'd never crawled into Teal'c's lap and cried like a child for him. Only for Jack.
"Are you of the opinion that they are in a loving committed relationship?"
"Yah, yah, I guess I am."
"And do you believe they willingly chose to exchange vows on that day?"
"They did." Daniel agreed.
"Would you say they intended to marry for life?" Another Canon attorney asked Daniel.
Daniel shrugged. "At the time, I'd say so yes. They didn't act like they didn't plan to be together at the time." He admitted. Because at the time, they had all thought the war with the Goa'uld would end some time or one or both of them would eventually be reassigned. They had seemed to have some kind of understanding at the time from what Daniel could ascertain of the situation without asking outright and getting them both in trouble.
"Did they plan and promise to be good to each other?"
"They are usually, even now." Daniel said thoughtfully.
"Thank you for your time, Dr. Jackson."
"Sure. Anything else?"
"One last thing, Dr. Jackson."
"Yah?"
"In your estimation, do Samantha and Jonathan love each other?"
"Truthfully? I've never met two people who love each other more, not even me and my wife if you want my honest assessment." Daniel told them.
"Thank you for your time, Doctor. We'll contact you if we have more questions."
[1] This is no longer true but as recently as the early 2000s witnesses could ask that their responses remain confidential if they thought the couple might be upset by the answers or there was a safety concern.