Still trying to fix whatever is wrong... until i get it straightened out, I can't post another chapter, or it'll just go from bad to worse! Bear with me!

Author's Note: I don't know a lot about Jack's parents, so I'm leaving them out completely, just so you all know.

..........................

Jack managed to drag himself out to the living room before he absolutely had to sit down. He flopped down on the sofa – sprawled, really – and was asleep again in minutes. Jaffer joined him on the sofa. Sam had let him out, so he didn't have any pressing needs, and he was more than willing to spend the morning keeping Jack's legs warm. Jack sighed when Jaffer joined him; the black lab always made him feel better when he was close by. Of course, he couldn't feel much worse at that moment.

A knock on the door a few hours later woke Jack and Jaffer. Jaffer a little quicker than Jack. The big lab jumped off the couch and scrambled over to the door, wagging his tail as he waited for Jack to come and open it. The knock came again before Jack managed to drag himself off the couch and to the door.

"Good lord, Colonel. You look like hell."

Jack frowned. He actually felt much better than he had before he'd gone back to sleep.

"It's Daniel's fault, Sir."

Hammond smiled and walked past Jack and into the house, where he greeted Jaffer cheerfully.

"He's paying for it, I assure you."

"Oh?"

"I just came from his place. He's barely coherent."

"Good."

"Well, it does mean you won't have as much help today as you were supposed to."

"They're good kids, General," Jack said, "I won't need much help."

"Well, I'm here to help. When will they be here?"

Jack looked at his watch and was surprised to see it was already almost noon. He'd be married in less than 24 hours.

"I think Dotty said she'd be bringing them by around noon, so they should be here soon. Would you like some coffee while we wait?"

"I would, but I'll make it. You need to go get showered and pull yourself together."

Jack nodded.

"Make yourself at home, Sir. I'll be right back."

"Take your time, son." Hammond said, heading for the kitchen, with Jaffer right behind him.

Fifteen minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Since Jack hadn't reappeared, Hammond went to open it, meeting Jaffer at the door. The black lab was wagging his tail ferociously, which made the General assume that it was someone he liked on the other side. When he opened the door to reveal Dotty Adams and a crowd of thirteen and fourteen year old boys, Hammond knew he'd been right.

"General Hammond, what a pleasure." Dotty said as the boys rushed in past her. All but Shawn, who stayed close to his mother to greet the General as well. "Where's Jack?"

"Repairing the affects of a little too much drinking."

Dotty smiled, and looked at Shawn. "I thought you said there wasn't any drinking?"

"I didn't see any..."

"The drinking didn't start until after I took the boys home, apparently," Hammond explained, smiling. "But then it started with a vengeance, according to Teal'c. The Marines that were there brought some heavy stuff and spiked Jack's drinks hard."

"Poor guy."

"At least Jack's on his feet," Hammond said. "Daniel couldn't even drag himself out of bed when I went to his place this morning."

"I'd better stick around then, to help you and Jack with the boys."

"We'd appreciate it." No matter what Jack said, dressing nine boys in tuxedoes was a daunting task, and Hammond was glad to have as much help as possible. "You want some coffee while we wait for Prince Charming to put his face on?"

"That'd be great."

She turned to Shawn, ruffling his hair. "You and the boys go out back and run off some of that energy."

Shawn nodded, and headed for the back door, calling to the other boys and Jaffer, all of whom were eager to go outside. They'd chase Jaffer around until Dotty or someone else called them in, and by then they'd be ready to settle down enough that they could have the fits of their tuxedoes checked without a lot of fidgeting.

"Now... where's that coffee?"

................

They were on her second cup when Jack finally made an appearance. His hair was still damp from the shower, but he was fully dressed and looked far better than he had when he'd vanished down the hall half an hour earlier, and he was able to give Dotty a genuine smile when he saw her sitting at the table talking with Hammond.

"Hi, Dotty. Where's James?"

"Working. How do you feel?" She gave him a searching look, but couldn't see any hint that he felt miserable, and he looked okay.

"I feel a lot better than I did earlier."

"Where's Sam?"

Jack scowled, and sat down.

"Over at Janet Fraiser's, being kept away from me so I can't see her before the wedding."

"Oh." Dotty smiled, and handed her coffee cup to Jack, who took a sip gratefully. "Stupid custom."

"I know."

He'd known there was a reason he liked Dotty. She'd just given him two more.

"Are we ready?" Dotty asked. "Since Daniel's not here, I'll help you and George get the boys dressed."

"I'm ready." He'd had a shower, had a chance to put some eye drops in his eyes, and had even had a little coffee. He was ready to face the boys.

..................

"Oh, they look adorable..."

Dotty knew her son hated it when she called him adorable, but she couldn't help herself. She had all nine boys standing in front of her, Hammond and Jack, and all of them were decked in black tuxedoes and white shirts, complete with bow ties and cummerbunds. Predictably, every boy in the row rolled his eyes, although Andrew grinned at the compliment.

Jack smiled, but he had to agree. The tuxedoes all fit perfectly, and the boys looked sharp.

"Everyone stand up straight for a minute," Hammond told them.

Without even realizing they were obeying, they all obeyed, including Jack, who'd responded to the order automatically. Dotty smiled.

"Okay, boys. Take them off, and make sure you put them on the hanger that has your name on it, and then hang them up. We don't want to look wrinkled tomorrow, do we?"

They all shook their heads, and headed for Jack's bedroom, where closet space had been made for their wedding outfits to hang until the big day.

"Are you getting nervous, Jack?" Dotty asked him as Hammond followed the boys down the hall to supervise their undressing. Otherwise, he was certain there'd be Andrew's tuxedo with Simon's shoes and Tyler's tie.

"A little," Jack admitted. "I keep having this nightmare that Sam is just getting ready to say I do, and then realizes that it's me she's marrying and starts laughing."

Dotty smiled, although she knew that under his joking tone, Jack was absolutely serious. She knew as far as he was concerned, Sam was marrying way below her. Although Dotty knew Sam didn't see it that way.

"She'd never do that."

"I know..." He shrugged, and looked down at Jaffer, who had been standing close by, watching the boys but now watching Jack and Dotty talk. The black lab came over and stuck his nose in Jack's hand, almost as if he were trying to reassure Jack, and O'Neill smiled, feeling better. "It's just a dream."

"You're better than you think you are, Jack. You know that, right?"

He shrugged again, and Dotty knew the conversation was making him uncomfortable, so she changed the subject.

"Are the Tok'ra really coming to the wedding?"

Jack nodded.

"Jacob absolutely has to, you know. Since he's giving Sam away. The rest of the high council has decided that since they're our allies, they should be there as well. So the Tok'ra are coming. Some of them, anyways."

"That ought to be interesting."

"Oh, yeah." He started to say something else, but Devon came running down the hall, pulling his shirt on, and followed by Andrew and a couple other boys who were apparently the fastest undressers in Colorado.

"Jack! General Hammond says we're going to go have ice cream!"

"He did, huh?"

"Yeah."

Andrew nodded his agreement, grinning. The boy wasn't so fond of ice cream, but he loved spending time with Jack and the other members of the SGC. With Shawn going into the Air Force Academy, Andrew was doing some hard considering about his future as well, and he'd pretty much decided he was going to ask to go into the Academy the next year. It was too late to go this year, even though he was sure he'd do fine – the Asgard had been teaching him almost nonstop for the last two and a half years, and the Jaffa had been working on his physical training, so he was in fine shape and had even managed to grow a few inches so he wasn't quite so puny.

"Ice cream sounds great," Jack said. "Maybe we should go see if Daniel wants to join us..."