Jack caught the soft awe in Sam's voice immediately – even through his greeting with Jaffer – and let the lab go with a final happy thump on the side, and followed his wife through the door. Into recognizable chaos.

"Wow…"

He looked at Daniel, who didn't seem to know what to say, and then walked the rest of the way into the living room, stopping at the couch and looking at it, since it was the epicenter of the mess. Binky watched him from where she was sitting, and Jack reached down and scooped her into his arms, one hand on her chest holding her upright, and the other under her butt to support her as he looked at her.

"You're a bad kitty…"

She looked back at him, completely unconcerned and unrepentant.

Sam smiled and walked over, noticing immediately the chewed up legs of the coffee table.

"I doubt she's the one that tried to take the legs off the table, Jack."

"She's the one, Sam," Jack said. "I'm sure of it. My perfect angel of a dog would never think of doing such a thing…"

Sam looked over at Daniel as Jack set Binky back down the back of the sofa.

"How did he manage to make such a mess in such a short amount of time?"

Daniel hesitated, and was relieved to see Sally walking into the living room just then, wearing a pair of jeans that clung attractively to her hips and long legs, and a sweatshirt that Daniel had given her for Christmas. Jack noticed her entry as well.

"Sally, don't worry. We'll buy you new furniture…"

Sally had had time in the shower to get over her shock, even though she was still amazed at the scope of the damage. To Daniel's relief, she was able to smile at Jack.

"It wasn't his fault, completely, Jack," she said, shrugging. "I-"

"See?" Jack said, picking up the cat once more. "I told you it was Binky."

Sally's smile grew, and Daniel stepped forward.

"You don't have to buy the new furniture, Jack. This was my fault. I was supposed to be watching him, and I didn't do a very good job of it. I-"

"He's chewed up his leash," Sam said, noticing the leash trailing behind Jaffer was thoroughly gnawed on. She reached down and unsnapped the leash from the lab's collar, examining it. But Jack had noticed something else.

He set Binky down and reached out and took Sally's hand – so quickly and smoothly that it reminded the woman just what he did for a living, since she wouldn't have been able to stop him if she'd seen it coming and had tried to avoid the grab.

"What's this?" He asked her, looking down at the ring on her finger. A ring he knew well, since he'd helped Daniel pick it out months ago.

Sally smiled brilliantly – almost as brilliantly as the diamond set in the ring – and Sam came over to see what Jack had noticed. Her face lit up and she took Sally's hand from Jack and looked over at Daniel, and then at Sally.

"Is it what I think it is?" She asked. The ring hadn't been there on Christmas, she knew. So it wasn't a present.

"Daniel asked me to marry him," Sally told her.

Jack looked over at Daniel, who flushed, slightly, even though he smiled.

Sam squealed with happiness – a sound more fitting for a teenager hearing that her first crush was going to ask her out, although it made Jack smile – and she grabbed Sally up in a hug.

"Congratulations!"

Sally hugged her back, careful not to squeeze too tight.

"Thanks."

"So… to celebrate, you decided to let Jaffer tear up your house…?" Jack asked.

Sally grinned sheepishly and released Sam, who went over and hugged Daniel, kissing his cheek.

"Of course not."

"Then…?"

He was still confused, although Sam suddenly figured it out, and started giggling, giving Daniel a pointed look that made him blush – confirming her guess.

"We got… distracted…" the archeologist said, his cheeks turning about as red as Jack had ever seen them. "And… sort of forgot about Jaffer's partiality to chewing on things…"

Jack wasn't dumb. He wasn't quite as quick to pick up on it as Sam was, but he understood, now, and the amused gleam in his brown eyes clearly told Daniel he'd never hear the end of this one.

"Distracted, huh? And out of sight, or he'd never have been allowed near a recliner lever – since you have both seen the lever on our chair at home."

He made a show of pretending to try and think things through, taking up Jaffer's leash and tapping the end of it against his chin, thoughtfully.

"I wonder what you could possibly have been doing that would-"

"Jack…"

Sam smiled and put her arm on his to stop him.

"What?" He gave her an innocent look that was ruined by the twinkle of amusement in his eyes. Oh it was time for payback! How many sex jokes had he had to put up with from Daniel? How many sly little comments? A gazillion of them! And now it was his turn! "I was just trying to figure out what they could have been doing – and where they could have been… doing it… to have left Jaffer and Binky unsupervised long enough that they managed to destroy so much of the-"

"So! How was the doctor's appointment, Sam?" Daniel asked, abruptly, causing Sally to giggle despite the fact that she was blushing just as badly as Daniel was.

They were all grownups, of course, and while it was true she was embarrassed, she was hardly mortified. After all, she was fairly certain she knew where Jack and Sam had first started their own relationship – at least the physical side of it – and if all else failed and the teasing got too bad, she'd bring up the bushes at summer camp and a game of Capture the Flag.

"It was good, Daniel," Sam said, smiling, and allowing the subject to be changed. She started to say something else, but Sally put her hand on Sam's arm, stopping her.

"Why don't we go have lunch?" She suggested. "And you can tell us all about it? I'm dying to hear what the doctor said…"

"And you're probably pretty hungry…" Jack added, unable to help himself.

Daniel blushed again, but Sally simply smiled and put her arm around Jack's waist, heading for the door. She whispered something in his ear, and although Sam couldn't hear it from where she was standing beside Daniel in the middle of the living room still, she did see the reaction. Jack's ears turned a bright shade of crimson, and he chuckled.

Wondering what she'd said, Sam didn't have a chance to ask. Daniel's arm was suddenly sliding around her waist, and he leaned over and kissed her cheek, feeling happier than he could ever remember being.

"It's never happened to you two?"

"The Jaffer thing?" Sam asked, clarifying.

"Yeah."

"Oh, goodness, yes." She smiled. "But not in a long time. I really thought he'd grown out of this…" she took another look at the living room as they walked to the front door. "Why didn't you bring a chew toy to distract him?"

Daniel sighed, and looked at the chew toy that was sitting by the bags of treats on the stand by the TV.

Yes... why hadn't he?