When All Else Fails

Chapter Thirty Five

Disclaimer: I don't own the show or the original characters.

A/N: Ok, here we go again. Listen I don't know if you think you are funny or something, but those reviews were really stupid. Yeah, I don't want anything from eBay, thanks anyway, I already have a cell phone. Anyway, I have a very easy remedy for you. If you do not like my story then STOP READING IT. You won't have to waste your time on something you don't like and I won't be bothered with your childish antics. Moreover, thank you for your extremely rude honesty, but I prefer for people to tell me why they think my story sucks, rather than just saying it does. Because without a reason I don't have a way to change anything, not that I would for you anyway. So, for now, I'll listen to the 300 other reviews that are positive. By the way, learn to write correctly. You use capitals at the beginning of a sentence, please is spelled with an a and there is no z, don't has an apostrophe between the n and the t, so does can't, hdngb is not a word, and if you are having problems with the differences between to, two, and too, the one that you needed in your review was "too", which would be defined as "in addition".

Sorry to those who had to read all of that. On with the story.

XXXX

By the time that Cassie let herself into Jack's house, nearing 1845, the man had already left, much to her relief. Sam had mentioned something about them going out earlier, and Cassandra was fairly certain that tonight was finally going to be when he proposed. She only hoped she was right and that if he didn't, Sam wouldn't be disappointed. However, she didn't think that would be the case.

As she waited for Matthew to arrive she used the guest bathroom to check her makeup, the little she had put on. After fixing her eyeliner she ventured back into the living room and sat down in front of the TV and flipped through the stations for a few minutes, not settling on anything in particular. She glanced nervously at the clock, watching as the hands neared the 12. There were only four minutes left until he was officially late, and truthfully, she was worried about being stood-up.

But, her fears were laid to rest when, at two minutes before 1900, the doorbell rang. She breathed a sigh of relief and stood up from the couch, checking out the peephole before answering the door. Further relieved when she found that it was indeed Matt and he was wearing jeans and a t-shirt she opened the door, suddenly happy she had decided not to dress up. Her roommate had suggested wearing something fancy, rather than jeans and sneakers, but she had argued that she knew a little bit about the man, and didn't think they were going any place too classy.

"Hey," she greeted with a genuine smile. "I'd invite you in, but..." it wasn't exactly her house and there wasn't much to do in Jack's place, unless they wanted to watch the complete first 8 seasons of The Simpsons. He nodded and moved aside to let her out of the house, then waited as she locked the door behind her. "Where are we going?" she questioned as they walked down the front steps of his concrete porch.

"You'll find out soon enough," he told her with a grin, heading for a green Wrangler and the end of the driveway. "You don't mind driving with the top off, do you?"

Well, her hair would get messed up, most likely, but she had a mini-brush in her purse. "No, that's fine with me."

He opened the door for her and waited for her to get in, then closed it and walked around to the drivers side. "Sorry it took me so long to get here. The Marines didn't really buy my excuse and tried to drag me to the bar themselves." he looked over at her with a smile and started up the car. "I had to promise them a rain check to get away."

"How is your leg?"

Matthew shrugged, "Well, I lucked out with it being my left one, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to drive. I really shouldn't be, doctors orders, and all, but it's healing good and doesn't hurt much anymore."

"You sure?" she asked, concerned. He hadn't been so great that afternoon. "What about the headache?"

"It went away," he assured her. "I'm alright, Cassandra, don't worry."

She nodded and turned her attention towards the road, and the buildings they were passing. "You're really not going to tell me where we are going?" she asked once more, looking at him.

"Nope."

Cassie scowled in a very Jack O'Neill way, and Matt smiled because of it. And she said he had been acting like the General earlier. Ha. "You know, you're actually really cute when you do that... If it's supposed to intimidate me, you need some practice."

Her face turned a shade of bright pink and she turned away, hiding the flush of her cheeks and the broad smile that she couldn't keep from forming on her lips. "I guess so."

"Where did they go anyway? General O'Neill and Colonel Carter?"

"Some Italian restaurant. Very expensive."

"Really?" he questioned, in a suggesting tone. "Is he planning on...?"

"I think he is. Daniel and I have been trying to get him to propose for weeks now, or at least speed things up a bit. So, we kind of figured that with the fancy meal... the special day–"

"What's special about today?"

"It's been exactly a month since Sam returned," Cassie explained. "I don't think she even realizes it."

"But O'Neill does?"

She nodded, "He and Daniel were talking about it yesterday, I guess. Daniel hadn't even remembered, to tell the truth. I think Jack was the only one keeping count. Maybe he's afraid she's going to go back or someting." She smiled lightly, "Or that she's going to figure out how much better she is tan him and leave."

"He really thinks like that?"

Cassie nodded, "Even though she always tells him otherwise. Jack hasn't exactly been a perfect angel, he's had to do things that will haunt him for the rest of his life and thinks that because of it he's less of a person. What he doesn't realize, is that Sam has had to do some distasteful things too... neither one of them are perfect, but to him, she's much closer to it than he is. Therefore, she deserves better."

"I don't think she'd ever find a better man than General O'Neill."

"She wouldn't. He just doesn't know that..." she shrugged. "I guess as long as things work out it doesn't matter. He knows that she loves him, and that's all that really counts."

Fehr nodded, pulling into a parking lot. Noticing that they were stopping Cassie looked up at the building, a grin tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Who told you?"

XXXX

Giovanni's was a small, intimate restaurant down the street from Jack's home. Neither had ever been before, since it was less than a year old and at the time it had been built she was ascended and the last thing on his mind was eating Italian food alone... or worse, with Daniel. He claimed that you could never eat anything other than American food with the man, unless you wanted a history lesson on the culture who invited it. And Sam knew that he even prattled on about American made food, and how it came to be.

They had made reservations for 1900 hours, on Sam's suggestion, and were seated almost immediately upon arrival. The table was positioned in front of a large window that looked out upon the city, the restaurant being settled high on a mountain. For miles all that could be seen was lights coming from other stores and restaurants and cars.

"I remembered what today is," she said quietly as the waitress left with their drink orders. Jack looked up at her, waiting for her to continue, as if he hadn't a clue of what she was talking about. "It's been a months since I've been back. A month since we started... dating I guess."

"Is it really?" the tone in his voice showed surprise, but he had a knowing look in his eyes.

She nodded, looking over the menu, "Is that why you wanted to go out?"

"Partly," he admitted, picking up his own menu and glancing at it.

"And the other part...?"

"It's a surprise," he said nonchalantly. "You'll find out later."

"Jack, I hate surprises."

"You'll like this one," he assured her. "Don't worry about it."

Sam sighed and nodded. She wasn't worried about it, she was just impatient and wanted to know. They were quiet for the next few minutes, only speaking to ask the other if they knew what they were getting, and when the waitress came once more with their drinks they were ready to order. "I'll have the Chicken Marsala." she told the petite, brunette woman, whose name tag read Amelia.

"And I'll have the Chicken Sparpariello." Jack said, giving her his menu. Sam did the same and the woman walked off towards the kitchen to turn in their orders.

"So..." Sam said as soon as the woman had gone, "what's the surprise?"

XXXX

Cassie looked in surprise at the building Matthew had pulled into, waiting for the man's answer. He smiled at her and turned off the car, stepping out of the Wrangler and heading over to her door to let her out. As she unbuckled her seatbelt he opened the door, then helped her onto the concrete road. "A little birdie," he replied cryptically. "To tell the truth, it's classified."

"I am a Staff Sergeant in the Air Force and have full security clearance for everything SGC related," she reminded him with a grin. "You can't use classified with me."

"I can when my boss tells me to," he told her with a smile of his own, not at all worried about the fact that he just slipped. "...Oh, oops..."

"So it was Jack, huh?" she questioned, as they walked into the building.

"I didn't say it."

"I bet your probably wondering why I like it so much?" she asked with a sheepish smile.

"I wasn't really... but if you'd like to tell me, then I'm game."

"The first place Jack took me to after I came down from... Toronto, was Laser Tag. I won the game, but only because he let me. The next time we went, it was with mom, Sam, Daniel, Jack, and Murray. We had the greatest time and even though I came in last place, because I made them promise not to go easy on me, I had the time of my life. I was only twelve years old and I didn't know much about this... state. It was something that I never grew out of, I guess. I still have to swing on the swings at the park, too..." she blushed lightly and smiled. "Kind of dorky, huh?"

"Not at all," he assured her. "I love Laser Tag, and swings... See, I'm the oldest out of five kids, and my youngest brother is just now turning 10 years old, so it was my job to watch after them and they all loved to go to Laser Tag, among other things."

"Do you have any sisters?"

"One, she's about to turn 20."

"Oh," Cassie felt a little awkward being just a year older than his only sister. Then again, he, himself, was only 25. "So... are we going to play or what?"

He grinned, "Let's go."

XXXX

She watched from behind a barrel of "toxic waste" as he dunked into the hidden room. With a smile on her face she followed after him, as surreptitiously as possible, her gun ready. When she was far enough into the room to see his growing green vest she fired, hitting him with the first shot. The vest turned red. He was out for the next fifteen seconds. Even so, she proceeded into the room, her gun still drawn.

"That's cheating," he called out, a smile on his face.

"All's far in love and war," she said with a shrug, "and this is war."

The vest turned green once more and before he had the change to get a shot out he was hit. "General O'Neill taught you this, didn't he?"

She shook her head, "Murray did."

"That was my second guess." he mumbled as his time-out was up and the vest turned green.

Another shot, his vest stayed red. Cassie stepped closer to him, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "Shouldn't you be better at this than I am? I mean, you're a much higher rank than me. I'm only a lowly E5 and you're a big bad Captain."

"But you're cheating."

"So?" she questioned with a grin, stepping closer and forcing him to back against the wall. "If I can cheat, so can you."

He must have taken her advice, because before she knew it he stepped forward, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her as close as the vests would allow. She let out a surprised yelp that was covered almost immediately with his lips, forcing her to give up her protests. Not realizing what she was doing she dropped her gun and let the cord that attached it to her vest keep it from hitting the ground, then brought her hands around his neck, pulling him closer and deeper into the kiss.

Before she knew it, she was hit. She pulled away from him, her mouth dropping open and a look that could kill in her eyes. "That's so not fair," she complained, scowling at the broad smile on his face.

"All's fair in love an war," he repeated, backing out of the room and away from her gun, "and this is both."

XXXX

After they had finished their dinner they got back into Jack's truck and he took off down the road. Although she had tried numerous times he still hadn't told her what the surprise was or where they were headed to, and she was starting to get a bit nervous. What if he wasn't going to ask her that night? Had she and Cassie both been wrong?

The ride was only a few minutes long and before she knew it they were at the same lake that they two had gone to before her surprise 'welcome home party'. Confusion danced in her eyes as he shut the truck off and she glanced out over the water, "...Jack?"

"Come on," he told her, his voice almost a whisper. "I've got a surprise for you."

Well yes, she knew that. But what kind of surprise could he have for her at a fishing pond? She let herself out of the truck, and met him around at his side. He slid his hand into hers and led her down onto the sandy shore, a broad smile on his face. She paused for a moment to slip off her high healed shoes and when they reached the bank she understood. There was a small rowboat docked on the sand that she knew didn't belong there.

"Is this the surprise?" she questioned, still a bit confused.

"Part of it," he told her as he led her to the boat. "Here get in."

She got in easily and waited for him to push it out into the water, whereupon he got in as well. There was only one set of rows so she figured he had taken the others out, so she wouldn't have to help. From what she could see there was a bottle of wine in a bucket of ice, and two glasses beside it, in the seat behind Jack.

"I don't understand..."

"You will," he told her. "Be patient."

So she did. A few minutes later they reached the middle of the lake and he stopped rowing to reach behind him and grab the wine and glasses. It was a bright night, with the aide of the moon, so seeing to pour the wine was no problem and he gave her a glass, then poured himself one. "Samantha," he started, forgoing any sort of toast. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't come back... and I never in my life imagined being as happy as I am now."

"...Jack–"

"Just let me finish," he said, cutting her sentence short. "I don't know why you chose me or what on earth I did to deserve such a wonderful woman, but I don't plan on letting you go... ever. And the only way I know how to keep you for myself is by asking you to be my wife." Before she knew it a small, velvet box was in his hands, being opened. She nearly gasped at the sigh of it, her heart pounding in her chest as she looked at the beautiful three, square cut stones. "Samantha Elizabeth Carter," he continued, "will you marry me?"

"Of course," she said, allowing him to slid the ring onto her finger. She set down her wine glass, not really caring if it tipped over, and leaned forward in the boat, hugging him close to her. "Of course."

The End!

XXXX

A/N: Well... that's all folks! I know it ends kind of corny... but I'm thinking about doing a sequel. That's if you guys want one of course. But, if I do one it might not be out for awhile, because I want to get most of my other stories finished first. Anyway, let me know.