John Doe

Chapter Fifty

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Cassie pulled her car into the church's parking lot five minutes before 1000 hours, and Sam nearly panicked when she didn't see Jack's truck, nor was Daniel's CR-V or Teal'c's regular black Suburban anywhere in sight. Telling her that they were probably almost there, Cassie did her best to calm her down. Besides, she reminded her, there were still two hours left until the wedding. And, while that made sense in the college students mind, it caused Sam to freak out even more.

"That's it?" she questioned, running her hand through her short, blonde hair. "Just two hours left? That can't be it..." she looked overwhelmed, a feeling that Cassie hadn't thought she knew. Here was a woman who had saved the world countless amounts of times, and had even blown up a sun (which Jack had slipped to her once), and she was panicking because she only had two hours until she got married. It was a bit strange, if you asked her, but then again, she had never been married before so she had no idea of what Sam had to be going through.

"You'll be just fine," the girl assured her. "Come on now, before they get here. We need to get all of your girls together and get into your dress. Okay?"

Sam nodded, looking around the parking lot, to see who all had arrived thus far. The rental car that she knew was her brothers (because who else would have rented an Outback but Tracie) was sitting closer to the church than Cassie had parked, and next to it was a red Malibu, which she figured was the car her cousins had driven. That left Daniel, Teal'c, and Bra'tac. Of course, Jack still had to arrive, and Sam was fairly sure that the four would end up showing together.

As they walked into the large church, Sam looked over at Cassie, "Would you call him, please? Just to make sure?"

"Yeah," she agreed. "I guess I can do that." She pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number, then waited for a few seconds. Obviously, it was Daniel who picked up the phone, "Hey, Daniel, how far away are you guys from Higher Ground?... Oh, alright... Yeah, Sam was getting worried... Ok, I'll see you in a few, then." She hung up the phone and looked at Sam, "They're at the light, as we speak."

Sighing, Sam looked around the church. It was beautiful, done up in white and silver. But that wasn't what she was concerned with at the moment, waiting in the front pews were her brother, his wife, and their kids, along with her two cousins Andrea and Isabelle. She smiled at them and hurried down the isle, as they stood to greet her. Hugging her brother, she felt tears stinging at the backs of her eyelids and closed them tightly to keep the liquid from flowing. Damn hormones.

"We should go and start getting ready," she told him, as she pulled out of the hug.

He nodded and kissed her on the cheek, "You look great, little sister."

Laughing, she rested her hand on the bulge of her stomach. "I'm not 'little' anymore, Mark." She sat down on the pew and pulled Joshua into her lap, who was staring at her stomach in surprise. He reached out and laid his hand on it, and one of the twins kicked in response to the touch. Recoiling in surprise he looked up at her, his eyes wide.

"Auntie Sam... what was that?" he asked, shocked.

The adults laughed, and Sam took his hand and placed it back over her stomach, "That was the baby, Joshie. One of them, at least." She smiled as the baby kicked once more, and his eyes got even bigger than before.

"That's the baby?"

She nodded, "Yup." Looking around at the others, she asked, "Does anybody else want to feel?" Her eyes narrowed on her niece, "Elizabeth?"

Liz nodded shyly and sat down beside Sam, placing her hand next to her brothers, just as another kick landed. The girl jumped slightly, then blushed, embarrassed at the reaction. "Wow," she told her. "It's really strong."

Nodding, Sam stood back up, letting Joshua down on the floor. "We should probably rush me off to a back room before my husband-to-be gets here. Cassie would freak if he saw me before the wedding."

The twenty one year old smiled sheepishly, then nodded, "We really should go and get ready..."

Everyone else nodded in agreement, and then started to file out of the room, headed to their respective dressing areas. Cassie, Sam, Andrea, Isabelle, Elizabeth, and Tracie all gathered in one of the larger classrooms, and since the church itself was huge, they had plenty of breathing room. The men were across the building, in a room almost the same size. Cassie had picked both out, saying the further away they were from each other, the better.

It was fifteen minutes after ten, they had roughly an hour and a half to finish getting ready, which would only require changing, as they had all already gotten their hair and makeup done. Nonetheless, in no more than two hours time, Sam and Jack would be getting married.

Looking around the room, that very thought on her mind, Sam inhaled deeply, "Is it getting hot in here?"

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At almost the same time, Jack was being led into his dressing room by his brother-to-be. With him was Teal'c, Daniel, and Bra'tac. Back at the SGC, Hammond was busy explaining the rituals of Tau'ri weddings to the other-world humans and humanoid aliens that would be attending the service. Among those were a few Tok'ra, Jonas Quinn, and various Jaffa. Feeling sympathy for his old friend, Jacob Carter had volunteered to stay a few minutes extra to help, before he, himself had to leave to change, being one of the most important people in the wedding besides the bride and groom.

Teal'c and Bra'tac had already been cued in on what their jobs would be, who they would be walking down the isle, and they knew where they would be standing. Teal'c would walk Isabelle and Bra'tac would walk with Andrea. Mark would walk with his wife, and Daniel would walk with Cassie. And of course, Joshua and Elizabeth would walk down together, first of all of them.

He had vainly hoped he would catch a glimpse of Sam before he was whisked away to the changing room, but they informed him that Cassie had already hurried her away, to keep that very thing from happening. When Jacob arrived he would send him in as a mole, because, really, who could refuse a father his last chance to see his little girl before he gave her away?

"Are you nervous?" Daniel questioned, as he began dressing. "I mean, you're getting married in like an hour and a half, to Sam. If that's not overwhelming, I don't know what is."

Jack snorted, hell yeah it was overwhelming, but on the other hand, he had never been so sure of anything, ever. And there had been plenty of other times that he had been extremely confident. "I'm still waiting for her to decide that she's too good for me." he admitted, buttoning up his shirt.

Mark smiled, doing the same, "Trust me, she won't. Tracie still hasn't, and we've been married for almost ten years now. All I know is my baby sister has never been as happy as she is now, and that has to count for a whole lot of something."

The older man nodded, hoping that his soon-to-be brother-in-law was correct and Sam wasn't going to back out on him. It then occurred to him how stupid he was behaving, of course she wasn't going to decided not to go through with the wedding. If anything, because she was pregnant. That had to count for something right? If she was willing to have a child with him, let alone two, then he must be doing something right. Telling himself that that made perfect sense, a smile appeared on his face and he went forth with dressing.

Five or so minutes later, Jacob Carter walked through the door, his dress blues in hand. Jack himself was wearing his own, feeling more comfortable in them than a tux. Before the man could begin to change, Jack walked over to him. "I got an idea, dad," he said, earning a look from Jacob. "Oh come on, I've called you it before," when Jacob shrugged he continued, "I can't go see Sam, Cassie would probably murder me on the spot, but there's no way she'd turn you down." When Jacob gave him an incredulous look and began to disagree, Jack spoke up once more. "You're her father, Jake," he said, "and she's about to become my wife, not your little girl. This is your last chance to see her before you give her away, what kind of person would say no?"

Jacob sighed, "You have a point..."

Beaming, Jack nodded, "I've thought this over a lot."

"What is it you're wanting me to do?" he questioned, hanging up his bag.

"Just go talk to her, she how she's doing..." he shrugged, "let her know that I'm here and that I love her. And, see your little girl, whatever it is you want to say to her and all that father-daughter stuff. I know Sam, and she probably needs that right now."

Giving him a look that plainly said he knew his daughter didn't need him for anything, Jacob nodded, "Alright. I'll go. Fifteen minutes, though. I have to get ready still."

"Of course you do," Jack agreed, shooing him out the door.

"Tell Sam we all said hi!" Daniel called out after Jacob, sitting down in a chair, since he was ready. "Let's just hope that Cassie thinks the same way you do," he sighed, looking at Jack pointedly. Nodding, Jack put his jacket on the back of a chair and sat down as well. Everybody knew Cassie had taken most of the preparations into her hands, and she had read up on Tau'ri wedding traditions very extensively, so there was no telling what she would and wouldn't allow.

"Yeah," he said, "but he's her father..."

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Jacob almost got lost on his way to the women's dressing room. He rapped lightly on the door, not surprised when Cassie was the one to answer it. She was in her dress already, and Jacob was floored by how mature she looked, and how much she had grown since the last time he'd seen her. She smiled at him and stepped out of the room, closing the door behind her. "You look great, Cass," he told her. "Your mother would be so proud."

"Thank you, Jacob," she replied. "You're not dressed."

"I know," he told her. "I was just wondering if I could see my little girl for a few minutes, you know, before I have to give her away." He knew he was putting on a puppy dog look, something a man at his age should never do, but Cassie was a hard negotiator.

"Jack sent you," she mused, "didn't he?"

"Well, kind of sort of," Jacob replied. "I was already planning on coming over here, myself, but I'm gonna let him take the credit for it." Which was the truth. Of course Jacob had wanted to see his daughter before she got married off. "Please. Ten minutes, that's all I'm asking for."

She sighed, looking around the hallway, making sure that Jack wasn't hiding behind a corner to pop out when Sam showed up. "He's not anywhere around here, is he?" she questioned of the retired general.

"Nope, he's getting dressed as we speak."

"Okay," she agreed, "ten minutes. There's a empty room next door that should be unlocked, you two can go in there and talk." She disappeared into the room for a minute or so, and then Sam emerged, still wearing her regular clothes, and launched herself at him before he could even get a chance to speak. She hugged him tightly, and he smiled, hugging her back.

"Come on, Sammie," he told her, leading her to the empty room, "we wouldn't want Cassie coming after us for not obeying her orders, would we?"

Laughing, Sam nodded and followed him, "No... no, we definitely don't want that happening."

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A/N: So once again, the wedding has been delayed a chapter. They're hard things to right, you know? Anyway, let me know what you think of it, and hopefully this next chapter will come out a lot sooner than this one did. It's summer you know, and I've been busy, but I'm trying... Well, then, review please!