John Doe

Chapter Thirty One

Disclaimer: I regret to inform you that the show still does not belong to me...

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Three days later:

Jack set down his keys on the coffee table, his eyes darting around the room searching for signs of life. It was early, however, and he assumed that Sam was still asleep, and from the empty space in Pandora's bed he safely assumed the now full-sized pup was keeping her company while he was working. Stepping out of his shoes and shedding his jacket as he walked down the dark hallway.

When he opened the door to their room his earlier suspicions were confirmed. Sprawled out in what was usually his side of the bed was the silver husky, sleeping peacefully. It was such a cute sight, however, that he couldn't help but grin. Sam had her arm snaked around Pandora's silky hide and was cuddling closely to her pet, her face buried in her thick hair. Jack shed his work clothes, pulled on a pair of jogging pants, and crawled into bed, gently shoving the dog. Pandora's eyes opened slowly and she snorted at him, obviously upset about being up at such an hour.

"Move over, mutt," he said gently as he ran a hand along her white and silver coat. He didn't mean it, of course, he loved Pandora as much as Sam did, if not then just a little less. The pup barked quietly at him, but moved when he gently shoved her, leaving him just enough space to squeeze in-between the two of them. Pandora changed positions and rested her head on his stomach, sighing. Jack ran a finger along the bridge of her nose, knowing that by doing so it would help further the dog into sleep. Sure enough, 'Dora's eyes drifted shut at the motion and within a few seconds she was lightly snoring.

With a smile he looked at his watch, 0432 hours. He hated when he had to stay at the SGC so late, for one reason or another. This time it ended up being due to the time difference between earth and a certain planet that SG-3 had been assigned to. When they returned at 0300 hours to earth, it was only 1300 hours on the planet. Which, as Sam had explained to him, was because the planet SG-3 had gone to was much closer to it's sun, and day's were shorter as a result.

Sometime during his musings Sam had shifted in her sleep, wrapping an arm around his waste and cuddling up against him as she had been with Pandora only minutes before. Another smile spread across his face and he was tempted to turn and face her. However, it would only end up waking both her and the dog, so he decided against it and simply closed his eyes and let himself drift off to sleep.

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When he next woke it was due to a cold, wet nose on his side. He groaned inwardly- in case Sam was still sleeping- and opened his right eye, only to come face to face with Pandora, who promptly whined. Oh yeah, she needed up! Another groan- although more audible in content- escaped his lips and he gently pushed her side. "Alright," he whispered, "alright. I'm up. Let's go."

Of course, go was all she needed to hear. In a flash Pandora was off the bed and sitting in front of the closed bedroom door, once again whining. Jack followed her out the bed, making sure not to wake his sleeping fiancée in the process, and followed her to the door, opening it quietly. 'Dora raced out of the room and towards the kitchen, which led to the sliding glass door, which led outside- which was where she needed to be.

He slid the door open and she squeezed her way through once there was enough room for her to do so. While she was doing her business he took the time to glance at the clock, and scowled because of it. Pandora had managed to wake him up only a few minutes more than a hour since he had drifted off to sleep. Dumb mutt.

A few minutes later Pandora was at the sliding glass door, scratching to get inside. Jack slid the door open for her and she came bounding inside, panting cheerfully. "You hungry girl?" he asked, figuring if he was up he might as well occupy her time.

'Dora's tail wagged happily; sure she was hungry! She would have barked a response, but she knew that barking when it was dark was not allowed. Jack had certainly told her so enough times.

"Alright," he replied, pulling out the Purina One from the cabinet, and pouring some into her silver dish. Then, he filled the other bowl up with water, and set it next to the food. Soon she was too busy to notice that he had slipped out of the kitchen, and headed back down the hallway, towards his bedroom.

Sam was awake when he slipped into bed, and she snuggled up to him comfortably. He snaked an arm around her waist and kissed her hair. "Hey," he whispered, pulling her closer to him.

She mumbled a reply and kissed him back. "When did you get home?"

He ran a hand through her hair gently, "About an hour ago... go back to sleep, it's still early."

There was no nod of confirmation, no reply at all. She simply let her eyes drift shut and cuddled up with him, wrapping her arms around his waist just as he had wrapped his around hers. Within a few minutes her breaths became slow and even, so he knew she had fallen asleep.

Jack watched her for a little while, admiring how beautiful she looked while sleeping, and wondering how the hell he became so lucky to have her in his arms. Which was nothing new, he often wondered why she had fallen for him- she was way better than he was, anyway. Somehow she seemed for overlook that, though, although he couldn't fathom how. She regularly told him that he didn't give himself enough credit, he was the bravest man she knew, one of the strongest (couldn't actually be the strongest, since there was always Teal'c... even Bra'tac, who could still kick his ass any day of the week), kindest (although, not many people saw that particular side of him), and one of the smartest men she knew. Of course, he would never let anybody other than her know exactly how smart he was. People think you're stupid and you're of no consequence, they don't need to worry about you getting suspicious or catching onto what they're really after. But, if you establish the full extent of your knowledge around them then they lie and manipulate their way onto your good side, only to turn and betray you. In his unique position it was better that people thought he was an idiot. And, the fact that he still acted like a teenager most of the time helped that immensely. Somehow, to her, he was perfect.

Since it was so early in the morning his musings quickly lulled him back to sleep, where he stayed for the remainder of the morning.

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"Jack," Sam's soothing voice called out to him, "wake up..."

A lone eye slowly opened, then quickly shut as the brightness of the room became apparent. "Ugh..."

He heard her laugh, "Come on, lazy- it's already after noon."

So? What was her point? He had only gone to bed at 5. That was only seven hours. Add that to the four he had on base the night before and that only added up to eleven for the past two days. Didn't she know that?

"And...?"

"And," she replied, crawling over the bed and straddling his hips. "We're meeting Cassie for lunch in less than an hour."

He grabbed a hold of her waist, opening his eyes, and scowled. "Can't we cancel?"

"No!" she replied with mock-horror. "She and I are going to start with wedding ideas."

He threw her an incredulous look, "I thought you wanted a long engagement?"

"If we're going to get pregnant then I think we should shorten it up a bit, don't you?" It was a rectorial question, so she didn't wait for an answer- although, he was about to give her one, anyway. "You got to add the 9 months for the pregnancy, then a few months after the baby is born. And adding that up it'll be about a year before we get married. Do you want to wait a year?"

He frowned, a year did seem like a long time to wait...

"Besides, I want my baby to actually be an O'Neill when he is born."

"She," he corrected.

Sam's eyes rolled, though she was only half serious. "He will not be a Carter, he will be an O'Neill."

"So, how long do you think the wait is going to be then?" he asked, ignoring the fact that Sam was still insisting on the fact that their child would be a boy.

"Three..." she mused, "maybe four months."

"That's all?" he questioned, three months didn't seem like nearly enough time for planning a wedding.

"I'll start to show after then," she informed him. "And, we may already be pregnant."

Jack grinned- he liked that idea.

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Cassie was already waiting for them at the restaurant when they arrived, so were about five or six magazines that he easily recognized as wedding catalogs. They were really going to get to it, eh? Sam slid into the booth next to Cassie so they could go over things more easily and Jack sat across from them, not at all interested in what kind of dresses Sam's bridesmaids would be wearing, or what color the flowers would be.

A minute or so later their waitress arrived, wearing a bright smile. "Hi, my name is Andrea, I'll be serving you this afternoon. Are you ready to order your drinks?"

"Lemonade for me, if you have it," Sam said. Andrea nodded, telling her that they did indeed have lemonade. Which was a good thing, because Sam was cutting back on her soda intake, as well as coffee, in case she was actually with child. Cassie got Iced Tea, and Jack ordered a simple Coke. Andrea then took off to get their drinks, returning only moments later.

"Are you ready to order?" she questioned, handing them their straws.

Jack shook his head, as did Sam. Neither had gotten the chance to even look at the menu yet.

"That's fine," she assured them. "I'll be back I a few minutes."

They nodded, then began to search through the menus. A few minutes later Andrea returned, her notepad ready and the smile still on her face. Which, was a bit surprising to Jack, because the smile seemed so genuine, and who really liked waitressing? But, he guessed she was in her early twenties, so she was probably just part-time, paying for college. He ordered first, a bacon-cheese burger, cooked well-done, with mayonnaise and lettuce- no tomato. Cassie went next, just a simple salad, without onions, and with ranch dressing. Then, it was Sam's turn. She ordered a order of chicken fingers- which came with fries- as well as a side salad. The look that Jack gave her caused her to blush.

"What?" she asked, "I very well may be eating for two, you know?"

He shrugged. That really wasn't a lot of food, but for her it was something different. Normally, she would have been like Cassie and simply ordered the salad. Who was he to tell her she was eating too much, anyway? She could be eating for his child, as well, anyway. Andrea smiled at her comment and wrote her order down, then went to give it to the cook, leaving them alone to plan the wedding once more.

"I was thinking pink," Sam mused, flipping through a book of bridesmaids dresses.

"Pink?" Jack asked, a bit surprised.

"What?" she questioned. "I like pink."

"I just thought you'd pick blue..." he replied. "It is you're favorite color, right?"

She shrugged, yeah- blue was her favorite, but pink was just as nice. "What do you think, Cassie?" she asked. "You are going to be the one wearing it, of course."

It was Cassie's turn to shrug. "I like either color, Sam." She pointed at a strapless dress, "But, I do like this dress."

Sam studied it carefully, "It's pretty..."

"But?" Cassie asked, knowing her friend well enough to sense that there was more to that statement.

"I was thinking about wearing a strapless." Sam replied with a slight grin. "You wouldn't look real original."

"There's plenty more where that one came from," Cassie told her, not at all phased. "We can look some more."

Sam nodded, Cass was right. The catalog they were searching through had nearly four hundred pages, and at least three dresses per page. They were only on page 53, so there were many others to choose from.

"Have you taken the test yet?" Cassie asked, changing the subject, and reaching for her tea.

She shook her head, "I can take it in two days."

"What do you think, though?" she asked. It was Sam's body after all, even though she had never been pregnant before, she should know if there was a child beginning to form inside of it.

"I think..." Sam replied, looking over at Jack. "Within the next eight months there will be baby boy O'Neill occupying my time, rather than a wedding."

Jack scowled slightly. They were going to have a girl. Didn't she know that?

"A boy, huh?" Cassie asked, "Wouldn't he be too much like his father?"

It was obvious that Cassie meant that as a bad thing, but Sam only smiled over at her husband-to-be. "That's what I'm hoping for."

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A/N: To be honest guys, I have no clue when this story will end. It could be two chapters, it could be ten, heck it could even be twenty (although I doubt that). This story has the most chapters out of any that I have ever written, already, and I just don't know where my muse wants to go with it. We'll find out soon enough, I guess.