"You're sure you want to be here, and not your place?" Jack asked, rubbing his hand in a circular motion over Sam's stomach.
She was curled on her side, her back against his chest and her bottom nestled close to his hips. Her skin still emanated a pleasant heat from their lovemaking, and the sweet lethargy of contentment danced pleasantly over his body. His arm extended beneath her head, and she used it as a pillow, tracing patterns in the hollow of his elbow with her fingertip.
"I'm sure. I didn't feel right there. This," she said with a sigh. "This feels right. And besides, your daughter likes the trees here."
Jack chuckled and pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder. Sam rolled onto her back to look up at him, and Jack shifted to support his head on his hand. He pulled the blankets up to cover them against the evening chill that blew in through the slightly open window. The light from the bathroom illuminated her features, and Jack ran his finger along her jaw and chin.
"You're beautiful," he finally said.
Sam touched his cheek, her thumb brushing his lips. "You talked to General Hammond?" she asked.
Jack nodded. "I did."
"What did he say?"
"He doesn't know what's gonna go down any more than we do, Sam."
Sam stared up at him, examining his face, and Jack saw the thoughts swirling behind her blue eyes. "What is it, baby?"
"I don't want SG-1 anymore."
He pulled back to better focus on her face. "What?"
"Jack, it's going to be months before I can go off world again. And even when I can, I don't think I want to."
"You don't?"
Sam shifted closer, the back of her hand coming up to rub her knuckles across his chest. "We talked about this a very long time ago, when I was considering the possibility of children. I didn't know then what I'd do."
Jack remembered. It had been one of the hardest conversations he'd ever had with Sam.
"What about kids?"
"What about them?"
"Do I take maternity leave and then come back? What, do I drop the baby off at daycare on my way to some unexplored planet on the edge of the Crab Nebula?"
"Carter, there are people on this base who have families."
"What about you, sir?"
"I remember."
"I know now. I know because no matter what I choose, you'll support me. Right?"
"Of course."
"I have too much to keep me here. I don't need to go off world anymore. We've saved the planet how many times now? Someone else can take over from here. I want to come home every night to Hannah, and you, and our new baby. I don't want to risk it."
Jack watched her face, studied her eyes, looking for the truth. And that's all he saw. "If that's what you want, and it's in my power in any way to give it to you, I will."
Sam touched his cheek again, and he turned into it to kiss her palm. He moved onto his back and Sam curled into his side, her round stomach pressing against his hip, and her head resting on his chest. Jack pulled the blankets up further to make sure her shoulders were covered, and ran his fingers through her hair.
"Did you enjoy your bath?" he asked.
"Mmmmhmmm," she mumbled. "It was glorious. Especially after you joined me."
Jack smiled and stared up at the ceiling. "Sam..."
"Yeah..."
"Marry me."
She leaned up on her elbow and looked at him with a crooked smile. Jack continued to stroke the hair around her face, pausing to touch her cheek.
"I thought we already were married?"
"It seems that the date you figured out we got married on... correlating to Earth and whatnot... won't happen for another year or so. And would you believe... the State of Colorado refuses to acknowledge the Calla Hills Community as an actual place. And without a marriage certificate..."
"I get the point," she said with a crooked smile. "So, you want to get married again."
"Yeah. Unless, of course, you don't. This would be your chance. We'd have to work out custody, which is another problem all together since technically Hannah hasn't been born yet..."
She silenced him with a kiss, and Jack cupped the back of her head to hold her closer. Sam kissed him long and deep, and every nerve ending of his body was so alive he hated to stop even to breathe. But when he did, he pushed his head into the pillow so he could see her face.
"Just so I'm clear. We're going to get married?" he said, smiling.
Sam's smile lit up, telling him she got the joke. "Yes, Jack. We're getting married. Again."Daniel waited for the nod from the Justice of the Peace, and stepped forward to take his position. Jack and Sam, two people that meant more in his life than many he had ever known, stood side by side at one end of Jack's -- their -- patio. Behind them stood General Hammond and Jacob Carter, Cassie, Teal'c, and a small few others from the SGC. Without explaining in great detail what happened, those that could be in attendance were limited.
He knew that this was just a ceremony for Jack and Sam. Nothing more. In their hearts they had been married for a long time. Earth laws had no bearing on that fact, no more than it had on his marriage to Sha're. The linking of hearts went beyond planetary boundaries.
Daniel cleared his throat. "Since the day the four of us began traveling through the Gate, and before that for me, we have discovered the wonders of other cultures and civilizations. Some very different than our own, some not very different at all. So, today, I want to read from a text that very much is a part of our past. Though not uncommon in a marriage ceremony, for Jack and Sam it has special meaning."
He lifted the tattered and torn book he had carried from home, and with careful ease, opened to the page he had marked. The pages crackled as he spread them open, and he smoothed the parchment with his hand.
"This is in ancient Hebrew, so I'm going to translate as I read," he explained, pushing his glasses onto the bridge of his nose. "From the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians."
"Be ambitious for the higher gifts. And I am going to show you a way that is better than any of them.
"If I have all the eloquence of men or of angels, but speak without love, I am simply a gong booming or a cymbal clashing.
"If I have the gift of prophecy, understanding all the mysteries there are, and knowing everything and if I have faith in all its fullness, to move mountains, but without love, then I am nothing at all.
"If I give away all that I possess, piece by piece, and if I even let them take my body to burn it, but am without love, it will do me no good whatever.
"Love is always patient and kind; it is never jealous; love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take offense, and is not resentful
"Love takes no pleasure in other people's sin, but delights in the truth; it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes.
He paused, looked up at Jack and Sam, and smiled at the peace he saw in their faces. Not the bubbly joy of young newlyweds. Not the giddy happiness of two people new in love. But peace.
"Love does not come to an end," he finally said.
He moved back to join Teal'c and Cassie as the JP finished the service.
"Do you, Samantha Carter, take this man, Jonathan O'Neill, to be your husband? Do you promise to honor and cherish him, to be his strength and his support, to never fail him, whatever life comes?"
Sam looked up at Jack as they joined hands and held them between them, clenched tightly.
"My life to yours, as long as we both draw breath. I do."
"And do you, Jonathan O'Neill, take this woman, Samantha Carter, to be your wife? Do you promise to honor and cherish her, to be her strength and her support, to never fail her, whatever life comes?"
Jack kissed their joined hands. "My life to yours, as long as we both draw breath. I do."
"By the powers vested in me by the State of Colorado, I do now pronounce you husband and wife. Jack, you may kiss your bride."
Daniel led the chorus of cheers and clapping as Jack pulled Sam into his arms and kissed her, slowly dipping her back. Then suddenly, everyone fell silent in a split moment. Jack slowly righted Sam, and looked back towards the door to the house. Everyone turned to look, including Daniel.
Jack cleared his throat. "Glad you could make it... Mr. President."