The man who designed Sam's wedding dress was a genius. He'd known that after the wedding there was a reception, and that she wasn't going to want to be weighed down when there was dancing and feasting going on. So he'd made it so the heavy stuff – which was most of the embroidered things, and all the layers – came off with a few simple fasteners. As they rode in the limo over to the reception hall, Jack helped Sam with these fasteners, so by the time they emerged from the limo a half hour later, the fancy wedding gown Sam had been wearing was now a plain, yet elegant white gown that was form fitting, but wasn't bulky. She was ready to dance and enjoy the party that her friends were throwing her and her husband.

The building they were having the reception at was a large one. It was downtown, and nestled up against a bank on one side and a popular Italian restaurant on the other. The front of the building was beautiful, with columns and pillars and all sorts of complicated designs, but Jack didn't care about any of that. He had eyes only for Sam.

As they walked up the steps, with her arm in his and Jaffer trotting happily on his other side, he decided that today was probably the best day of his life. And it was barely 1 o'clock.

"Are you warm enough?" He asked. It was the end of summer, but even though the sun was shining, there was a definite nip in the air once they entered the air-conditioned building.

Sam nodded.

"I'm fine."

He put his arm around her anyways, just because he could, and she leaned into him as they walked down the hall, the only noise in the air the sound of their shoes and Jaffer's claws on the tile.

"Our flight leaves at 6," Jack said, leaning over and brushing a kiss against her temple. "So make sure you're ready to go by five, okay?" He didn't really know how long receptions lasted – since weddings weren't really his thing – but he figured four hours was plenty of time to eat cake, dance and open wedding gifts.

"I'll be ready whenever you are."

A moment later they heard the quiet buzz of a large group of people in a less than formal setting, and Jack guided Sam to the room where their reception was taking place. Amazingly enough, everyone at the wedding had arrived before them – probably because the limo driver had been told to go slowly – and when the three of them walked into the room another loud cheer went up – this time led by the Jaffa who still had their hats on tight.

Jack grinned, looking around. The room was filled with people – almost all of them military. Which only made sense. Of course, there were also a bunch of younger people, since the kids had all been brought over by various parents or friends, and they were still dressed in their finery, which was fine with Jack. There were still wedding photos to be taken, after all. Preferably before they had a chance to get smudged.

Daniel came forward and took Sam's hand, taking her away from Jack, who scowled. The scowl faded, though, when Janet came over and took Jack's hand and led him into the room and among the partygoers.

"You'll have plenty of time alone with her later, Colonel," Janet told him, smiling. "For now, you have to share her."

Jack slid his arm around Janet's waist, smiling.

"I suppose since the substitution is so beautiful, I'll put up with it this time," he said, grinning because Janet blushed again. "What's the agenda for the rest of the afternoon?"

"Wedding photos, first. Then the cutting of the cake, then the first dance – just you and Sam."

Jack nodded. He'd known that he was going to have the first dance with Sam, and he was prepared. Not only had he and Sam been dancing with Gina for almost three years now – so they were terrific together – he even had a special song picked out to dance to. Slow, but not too slow, and exactly right.

"Then we eat, and Sam throws the bouquet, and then you guys open your presents and leave before you have to help clean up the mess."

"Sounds good."

"I thought you'd like that."

Jack smiled.

"Jack! Over here!"

The photographer was standing next to Sam and Daniel, talking to them, and Dotty was rounding up all the kids with the help of Hammond and Jacob. "Let's get the pictures taken care of, okay?"

"Whatever you want, Daniel."

They started lining up for pictures.

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

The men were dangerous. Vicious and brutal, they were also desperate, and that more than anything was what made them so dangerous. Two were drug addicts who needed money for their next score. Even better – they needed enough money to buy enough to last them for a few days. One of the men was an escaped felon who needed money to bankroll his way down to Mexico where he'd live the rest of his life in a non-extradition town and maybe find himself some nice senorita to settle down with. The fourth man wasn't as desperate, he just liked to hurt people, and he loved to scare them first. He was the most dangerous of all.

They needed money, and the bank was the perfect target. It was downtown, yes, but nowhere near a police station – and they'd checked the police patrols and none of them came close to the bank. They figured they'd have a good ten minutes to get in, get the money and get out.

They left one man – the felon – out in the car. He'd be their getaway driver. The other three walked into the bank, wearing long jackets on a nice day – which should have alerted the guards immediately. It didn't, though. No more than a minute after walking into the bank and taking a quick look around to make sure there were no cops on their lunch break doing any Saturday afternoon banking the three men pulled shotguns out from under their coats and yelled for everyone to get down. This order was punctuated when the leader of the little gang fired his shotgun up at the ceiling, enjoying immensely the way a few of the patrons screamed in terror at the noise.

Everyone went to the floor, and the holdup was almost exactly like you'd see in a movie. The tellers handed over the money in the bags the two addicts were holding while the leader covered the crowd with his guns, and then the three of them headed for the door.

What they hadn't been expecting was the silent alarm that one of the tellers had managed to press. She'd seen the men coming into the bank with coats on a nice day, and unlike the guards, she'd been suspicious. With her hand already on the button, it had been a simple matter to press it the moment the situation had presented itself to be an actual robbery. By the time the men had reached her station, her hands were well away from the button and they were none the wiser. But the police were already on the way.

The men headed out the door, and at the exact same moment the getaway driver saw a piloce cruiser pull up, lights flashing but the sirens off. This was to keep their presence a secret as long as they could and hopefully to keep the bank robbery from turning into any kind of hostage situation. The getaway driver had simply started his car and headed out of the parking lot at a normal speed, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. He escaped easily, but he left three desperate men even more desperate, since now they didn't have an escape route. The cruiser screeched to a halt near the men running out of the bank, and an officer got out, reaching for his gun.

"Stop!"

Yeah. That never worked in the movies, and it certainly wasn't going to work in real life.

The leader hastily fired a shot off, and both cops ducked back behind their car.

"This way!"

They all three headed for the first open door they saw. An open door at the top of a small set of steps of a big building with a lot of columns and pillars.