Chapter 12
On Christmas Morning Samantha was like an excited six year old. Jack was rudely awoken at 8am by her jumping on him.
"Come on, get up, get up!" She cried as she began bouncing on the bed.
"Stop, stop please, you know I have to wake up gently! Alright, alright! However, I need my Merry Christmas kiss and hug."
She stopped and flopped down next to him.
"No problem." She kissed him and rolled over on top of him. He pulled her close and sighed, kissing her neck softly.
"You know," he mumbled,"we could just stay in bed for a little while longer."
"I want my present!" She said giving him a playful shove.
"Ok, come on." They got up but as soon as she got to the door he stopped her and put his hands over her eyes.
"Jack." She whined.
"No one likes a whiner, come on. Bear with me; I'm trying to be romantic here."
"Well, if it's for romance…" She said, stumbling towards the living room.
"Ok, stop. Turn around a little bit. Ok, open your eyes."
Samantha blinked as she adjusted to the light. In front of her was a huge box with a big red bow around it. It looked suspiciously like the same size of box that their stereo had been in a few weeks ago. Jack had claimed the box for some dark purpose he wouldn't tell her about. She turned around and looked at Jack who had a huge smile on his face.
"Well? Are you going to open it or look at it all day?"
They sat down on the floor and she began undoing the bow. Jack smiled at how bright and excited her eyes were as she opened the box. Her expression changed to one of confusion when the box seemed to be full of nothing but shredded tissue paper.
"You'll have to feel around in there for it." He explained.
She plunged her hand into the box and felt around. Suddenly she stopped and smiled, pulling out a small velvet box. She looked from it to Jack and said,
"What's this?"
"Your present, open it."
She could feel tears welling up inside of her as she looked at the box. She was pretty sure what it was but was still shocked when she opened it to reveal a beautiful platinum diamond ring. She began to cry and simply stared at it. Jack took this as his cue. He moved closer to her and put his arm around her.
"I know it's really soon and maybe not what you expected. All I'm saying is take as long as you need to be okay with this. I want you to be my wife. You've waited for me so I'll wait for you. Forever, if you ask. I've put you through things and still you've been there for me. You've loved my kids like they're your own and you've made me happier than I have ever been in my entire life."
Samantha was sobbing hard now as she knew he spoke from the heart. In spite of himself, Jack was beginning to shed tears too. He looked at her and took her hand.
"Samantha. Sam, will you marry me?" He asked.
She began nodding even before he finished the question and flung her arms around him.
"Yes, yes you know I will." He pulled back and took the ring from her, slipping it on her finger, hardly able to see through his own tears. As she watched him do it she knew that everything he'd said had been true. Jack doesn't cry much, hardly ever she thought.
Finally he held her face in his hands and kissed her.
Later as they sat at the in front of the fire she was fixated on her new ring. The way the sparkle from it caught the flames of the fire and sent lights flashing all around the room. Jack laughed and then remembered that he'd bought her something else.
"Be back in a second." He said, she nodded, still in a trance. Moments later he returned and placed a flat box in her lap.
"Another present? I don't think you'll be able to top the ring. Is it clothes?"
"Kind of." Jack said with a mysterious smile on his face.
She opened the paper to reveal a Victoria's Secret box. She lifted her head and smiled at him.
"You went to Victoria's Secret? By yourself?" She exclaimed as he chuckled a little sheepishly.
After he had dropped Vivian off, their conversation about lingerie put the idea in his head. He felt a little stupid, being a guy in a women's lingerie store but the girl had been real nice and helped him out when he had explained what he was looking for.
"Viv actually put the idea in my head. I hope you don't mind but I brought her along for some input the day I bought the ring."
"Of course not. She didn't choose these did she?"
"No. That was all me and Ava helped me with sizes and stuff."
Samantha raised her eyebrows at him, "Who's Ava?" as she tore at the tissue paper.
"The girl who works there. She said this was very popular with brides looking to dazzle on their wedding nights."
"Oh she did. How sweet. So I'm not wearing this until our wedding night?"
"You can if you want but I thought it would be something to look forward to." He said unable to contain his glee.
Finally she got through the paper to reveal a delicate white underwear set. Jack preferred to think of that type of underwear as 'lacy and racy'. Samantha blushed as she held them up to look at them, shaking her head at his obvious delight at having a legitimate reason to be looking at ladies' lingerie.
She held them up against her and laughed.
"Right size, very good."
"Can you not hold them up against you like that? You're getting me all bothered."
"Sorry honey." She said putting them back in the box.
Leaning back against him she sighed and said,
"You know we've got a lot to organize."
"Yep, have fun with that." He said playfully. She punched him softly on the shoulder.
"Oh no buddy, if you wanna do the crime you have to do the time with me. That means planning with me."
"I know I was just kidding."
"Oh yeah I'm sure you were."
On New Year's Day Jack and Samantha sat in a local bar waiting for Viv, Danny and Martin to show up. Amazingly since Christmas Day they had pretty much figured out everything about the wedding in theory. Samantha's only worry was telling the girls. They had arrived on the 27th and it took about an hour for Katie to ask what Jack had bought Samantha for Christmas.
Samantha looked at Jack and he nodded so they sat down beside the girls.
"He bought me this ring." Samantha said holding up her hand. "Do you like it?"
"It's shiny." Katie said in awe.
Hannah knew what it meant.
"Are you guys getting married?"
"Yes, sweetie we are. Is that okay with you guys?"
"Can we be bridesmaids?" Samantha laughed at Katie.
"Well honey, we're not having a very big wedding so I won't really be having any but I will get you nice new dresses and some flowers to hold, like mine, how bout that?"
"Okay." Katie was sold at the mention of a new dress.
Hannah was a little more sedate but accepting nonetheless.
On New Year's Day, they decided to meet Danny, Vivian and Martin to break the news to them. They met in the bar across the street from the bureau. They'd shared a lot together in that place so it seemed only right that it would be the place where they'd share the most important news they'd ever had to tell them.
"Hey hot stuff." Danny was the first to arrive.
"Quit flirting with Jack, I'm right here Danny." Samantha quipped as he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.
"Ok, Ok I'll stop." He said holding his hands up in surrender and sitting down.
Martin and Vivian swiftly followed. Once they were all seated Jack called everyone's attention.
"Hey, all right, you guys. Now the reason we are all here is that Samantha and I have something to tell you.
Vivian smiled at Samantha, knowing what was coming. Jack cleared his throat nervously. They all knew they were seeing each other but it was rarely mentioned. At the office, everything was completely professional and above board (except for the odd stolen moment in the file room).
"On Christmas Day, I asked Samantha to marry me….and she said yes."
Danny hung his head and passed a twenty dollar bill to a triumphant looking Vivian. She took the bill and kissed it.
"Damn you and your female intuition." He cried in defeat.
"You guys had a bet on us?" Samantha exclaimed. "But Viv, you knew Jack was going to propose, he told you."
Danny looked at Vivian in shock.
"I want my twenty back, you had insider information Martha Stewart."
"No way buddy, the bet was made before Jack told me. If I had divulged that information it would have ruined the bet and the surprise."
As Danny and Vivian continued to debate Jack looked on in amusement. Samantha was looking at a silent Martin. She leaned over and looked into his eyes.
"Are you ok?" She asked concerned.
"Yeah, "he reassured her. "It's just a little sooner than I expected but I think it's great. Congratulations."
She smiled taking his hand and giving it a thank you squeeze. He let go and stood up offering the same hand to Jack.
"Congratulations Jack." Jack smiled and shook it warmly.
"Thank you Martin."