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"Hey Sam."

"Hey, Janet!" Sam greeted the other woman with a smile. They sat and chatted about everything and anything for a few minutes until, when they were almost ready to order, Janet noticed the beautiful sparkling ring on Sam's left hand.

Janet stopped dead in the middle of what she was saying and demanded, "Sam, what the hell is that on your hand?"

Sam just grinned blissfully.

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"I was going to tell you, I promise!" Sam was still grinning as she tried to explain to her best friend. "Jack proposed last night after you left, but I didn't want to call and wake you.".

"Hmmm, a likely excuse," Janet narrowed her eyes playfully at Sam.

"I'm not lying, I swear! Don't you trust me?" Sam laughed and Janet joined in.

"Congratulations!I'm so happy for you! So, shopping this afternoon?" Janet asked.

"What for? You can't be thinking about my wedding dress already!" Sam answered with a shocked look on her face.

"Oh, but I can!" Janet had a very mischievous look on her face.

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Four hours later, Sam finally escaped after trying on at least twenty different dresses and deciding on none of them. She was exhausted. Fortunately, it took her only fifteen minutes to drive back to Jack's, where he was waiting with a cold beer and barbequed steaks.

"Thanks, Jack. I'm wiped out," Sam sighed, sinking into a chair on the deck. It was a lovely evening, mid-summer so it wasn't too hot or too cold.

"Janet wore you out?" he asked with a smirk on his face. "All that shopping must be so tiring"

"Oh shut up," she said good-naturedly. "I need to go home after dinner."

"Why?"

"In case you've forgotten, we are actually working tomorrow and it may have escaped your keen observational skills, but I have no BDUs at your place."

Jack just raised his eyebrow at her before replying nervously, "Why don't you just bring all your stuff here? It'd make things so much easier."

"Are you asking me to move in with you, Jack O'Neill?"

"Well considering, we're already engaged it would make the most sense, wouldn't it? And you're supposed to be the clever one. Sheesh!"

Sam rolled her eyes. "The next time we get some downtime, I'll move in some of my things," she promised.

"Really?" He grinned at her like a puppy with the promise of a new toy.

"No, I just thought I'd say it," she said sarcastically. "But, now I have to go home. I'll be back in about an hour." She jumped up, kissed him quickly and left him sitting on the deck, nursing his now warm beer.

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When Sam got home, she grabbed her keys from the side pocket of her coat and walked quickly up to her front door. She picked up the various letters and bills on the door mat, left them on the hall table and went to her room. Sam got a bag out of her wardrobe, put in some clean BDUs, her overnight kit and the small amount of make up she owned. She then checked her answering machine. There were three messages.

"Hey Sam, it's Mark. Just wondering when you're gonna come to see us; the girls are missing their favourite aunt. Give me a call when you get this." The second was from an old school friend and the third was from a telemarketer. She called back her friend and chatted for a few minutes, but skipped calling her brother. She knew if she called him back it would only end in an argument, because Sam knew that she couldn't go to San Diego anytime soon and she didn't want to deal with that right now. Sam picked up her bag, checked to see that everything was secure and left to return to Jack's.

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When Sam woke up the next morning to the shrill blare of Jack's alarm clock, she groaned. Back to getting our asses kicked every other day, she thought. Then she shook her head and smiled when she realised just how much she sounded like Jack. Her smile got even bigger when he reached across to turn off the alarm and mumbled, "Morning gorgeous," into her shoulder.

"We really need to get up or we're gonna be late," Sam said half-heartedly.

"I know," he answered just as half-heartedly. Sam pushed herself out of bed and headed for the bathroom.

"I'm gonna have a quick shower."

"Want to share?" Jack was leering at her from the bed.

"Then we really would be late!" Sam waggled her eyebrows at Jack in a classic O'Neill manner.

"All right, I'll go make breakfast for us," Jack said with a mock-hurt look on his face as he grabbed a pair of sweatpants and Sam went for her shower.

Half an hour later, they were in Jack's truck on their way to the SGC. When both jumped out of Jack's truck, the SFs on duty gave them a strange look, especially when Jack half-bowed to let her through first saying, "Ladies first." Sam laughed and shook her head, loving this playful side of him. When they got in the elevator, Sam said, "You do know that your little diplay is gonna be all over that base by lunch time."

"Yeah," Jack answered, "But to be honest, I don't really care."

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Over the next few months, Sam and Jack spent all of their spare time organising the wedding, with huge amounts of help from Janet, Daniel,, Teal'c and Cassie. They settled into a familiar routine, going off-world together. They had a review every couple of weeks with General Hammond to check that their behaviour was indeed still professional. They passed every review. Then, two weeks before they were supposed to be married, on their final off-world mission before the wedding, something went wrong. Very wrong.