John Doe
Chapter Fifty Two
Authors Note: Nah, 'Dora isn't going to be in the wedding. It would be cute, though. And no aliens freaking out, either. Things are going to go well for a change! Yay.
Ack. Forewarning, this is a really sappy chapter, even before you get to the wedding part!
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Jack was slowly becoming more and more impatient. With only half an hour left to go before his marriage to Sam, time was ticking all too slowly. The last thirty minutes had seemed an eternity to him, and all of those around him, as well. Daniel and Teal'c were used to the complaints, and Jacob and Bra'tac had grown somewhat accustom to it over the many years each knew the man, but for Mark it was brand new, and very annoying.
"Could you sit down, for five minuets?" the man asked, finally. "You're making me anxious!"
The others nodded in agreement, they too were getting tired of all the pacing he had been doing. Not that they wouldn't be behaving the same, were they in his situation, most of them had been worse than such before their weddings. Jacob recalled nearly hitting his soon-to-be brother-in-law because he would not allow him access to his bride-to-be, and Daniel had been in a panic before his "ceremony" with Sha're, because he had misplaced his glasses and could barely see a thing.
"I'm sorry," he apologized, as he sat down in a spare chair. "I'm just really, really nervous. I mean, Sam is just... she's way too good for me, and I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop, I guess."
"Still?" Daniel asked, puzzled by his friends lack of self esteem. "You can't really think like that now. She's pregnant with your twins, Jack, if that doesn't tell you that you fit up to her standards, then I don't know what would. Women don't just pick any average joe off of the street to father their children, you know."
"Indeed, O'Neill," Teal'c responded, "the same as the incident many years ago, when under outside influence Samantha Carter singled you out as the alpha male and attempted to–"
Jack looked nervously at Jacob and Mark Carter, not certain he wanted the two to know about the 'touched' incident. "That's okay, Teal'c, I get the picture now. She thinks that I meet her standards. That doesn't mean she's right."
"Are you kidding me?" Jacob questioned. "My Sammie has one of the most brilliant minds on this planet. She rarely ever makes a bad choice, and never when it comes to something of this magnitude. Face it, Jack, you're a good person. You're just going to have to learn to deal with that, no matter how horrible it may be."
A defiant smile tugged at the corners of Jack's lips, as he wondered where Jacob had picked up his sense of humor. Perhaps it was the work of Selmac. He would have to ask Sam about it one of these days. "Thanks, dad."
"You realize how strange that sounds, considering you're merely fourteen years younger than I am." the elder man replied.
"Whoa," Jack said with a grin, "atta boy, Jacob. Early bloomer, eh?"
"Ha ha." his very soon-to-be father-in-law laughed sarcastically. "Better than being a late bloomer, I suppose. Right, dad?"
Well, yeah, the man had a point. Forty nine was a bit old to start having children, but in his defense, the twins weren't his first. Nearly pointing that fact out, Jack decided to keep his thoughts to himself. No use bringing up old haunts on such a happy day, as it were. Besides, all in the room knew of Charlie, so there was no need to point the fact out.
"Well, if that's not a great big 'welcome to the family', I don't know what is," he stated jokingly.
"Don't be silly, Jack," Jacob replied. "You've been part of this family for years now."
Telling himself that men did not cry, especially in front of their father and brother-in-law, not to mention two of the most stoic people in the history of stoicism, Jack managed to hold back the tears stinging at his eyelids. "Thank you, Jacob. That means a lot to me."
Nodding, Jacob Carter allowed an affectionate smile to play on his face. "You're welcome, son."
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Sam had to keep herself from looking at the clock, because every time she did, she grew more and more disappointed. There were still twenty odd minutes until her wedding, and she just wanted to get it over with and head to the Bahamas with her husband. She had been sitting in the same spot for nearly fifteen minutes and her backside was becoming numb, and she was slightly surprised by that fact. With all the cushion her dress was providing she didn't know how her skin could feel the sensation of any sort of contact.
"So, have you decided when the baby shower is going to be, yet?" Tracie asked, letting the awkward silence in the room slip away.
"No," Sam replied, a bit bored of small talk. "Since we've still got so many months left, we haven't really thought about anything like that."
"But you've already got the nursery finished?" this was from Isabelle.
"Yeah," she replied with a grin of remembrance. "Jack finished it while I was out of town. It's amazing, he painted the ceiling to look like the night sky." A bit of a frown appeared on her face, "Although, he somehow managed to make one constatation look like the face of Homer Simpson. I hope the babies don't get frightened by it, or worse, become fond of it."
The women laughed, while Cassie just smiled, since she had already seen the room, and been a part of the conversation over the likeness of Homer's face on the ceiling. Sam had been none to pleased about it, although she had been amazed that her fiancé could make something so realistic looking. And she had to be thankful that he hadn't asked Teal'c to help and drawn Chubaka or Yoda. That would certainly frighten the babies.
"I'd like to see it one day," Andrea mused. "You should take pictures of it or something, maybe a home movie."
Sam nodded, she could always barrow one of Daniel's many camcorders, or buy one of her own. She found it odd that she didn't have one, until she remembered that she had, and when bored one day during downtime disfigured it, only to lose a key component. After that, it had been useless, and Daniel wouldn't let her within ten feet of his.
Speaking of Daniel, well, thinking of him, really, she wondered how Jack and the guys were doing with the wait.
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"Just under ten minutes left, Jack," General Hammond informed him, after knocking on the men's dressing room door. "The priest is asking that you head out to the sanctuary now, to continue waiting there."
Taking a deep breath, Jack got up from the chair that had been holding him hostage, and followed Hammond out the door, and through the corridors, on the tricky path to the sanctuary. "Thank you for everything, George," he said once more. "We couldn't have done this without you."
"It was my pleasure, son," the man replied, with his comforting Texas drawl. "I wish I could have done more."
Feeling the brief need to embrace the man, Jack kept his arms to his side. Perhaps later, at one of the receptions, he would express his gratitude with a hug, but not walking through the halls of Higher Ground Baptist Church, mere minutes away from the beginning of his wedding. Instead, he smiled warmly as they parted ways, Hammond back to his seat on the front row, where Jack's parents would have sat, were they alive, and Jack to his spot at the head of the isle.
Pesky butterflies found the opportunity to flutter in his chest, causing Jack's feeling of nervousness to rise to def con level two. This was actually about to happen. He was really, in reality, about to marry Carter.
Whoa.
How long he had been standing there, he did not know. All he was aware of, was that after a short amount of time, the traditional 'dum dum dum dum' filled the air around him, sending the butterflies currently taking up residence in his stomach to panic, and he, himself, to do so consequently. His very soon-to-be niece made her way down the isle, throwing out white rose petals, with pink tips. Sam's favorite.
The first to follow her, besides her brother, who had accompanied her down the isle, were the maid-of-honor and best-man, Cassie and Daniel. Daniel was wearing the traditional tux, and Cassie had on her special 'maid-of-honor' dress, which was different from the bridesmaids. Pale lilac, strapless (which he had fought against) and to-the-floor hem. To Jack's disliking, it was very shapely, and showed the curves that the girl, woman, had acquired in her twenty one years of life.
Following her were Tracie and Mark. Mark worse a tux as well, and Tracie wore a dress much like Cassie's, only a light, non metallic silver, with thin straps. It was the same as all the other bridesmaids.
After her, Andrea and Teal'c, a quite odd looking couple. Teal'c, in his large, muscular Jaffa ways, seemed to overpower the petite woman, only five foot four, and maybe 110 pounds, probably less. Nonetheless, he walked with her with a strange sort of grace, and it looked fairly natural. As if he had been participating in weddings of this nature for years.
The last to walk down the isle were Bra'tac and Isabelle, who Jack knew had to feel left out, stuck with the eldest man of all. If only she knew how many years her senior Bra'tac really was! If only Andrea had any inkling that Teal'c was well over 100 years plus her age! Jack hid a smile.
The music grew louder, as Isabelle and Bra'tac took their spaces, and from the empty doorway, Sam emerged. Jack was suddenly breathless, amazed by her beauty. The dress was a slightly off white color, which was hardly a noticeable fact, strapless, with what he knew was a cathedral train. From what little she had told him, he was already privy to the fact that it was made of satin. The beaded embroidery was silver, and lined her square neckline and train, as well as covered the bodice in an almost triangular shape. On her, it was arguably the most beautiful wedding dress ever. At least, that would be his opinion.
Her vale did not cover her face, at her request, and as quickly as she had appeared, Jacob was at her side. They walked down the isle slowly, Jacob grinning from ear to ear, although still not at a match for Jack's smile, or Sam's. She had the makings of tears in her eyes, which he knew she would blame on hormones at a later hour, and he was fighting back his own. He couldn't believe they were actually about to get married.
When she was finally near the end of the isle, Jacob kissed her cheek and they parted ways. Jack took a step forward, and replaced her father by her side, entwining his arm with hers. They walked together up the steps to stand in front of the priest.
Letting their arms drop, he gave her hand a light squeeze, as he turned to face her. As the priest began his speech, "dearly beloved, we are gathered here today" and blah, blah, blah, Jack found it hard to focus on anything but the beautiful, deep blue of her eyes, and how they shimmered with her lightly falling tears. Gently brushing them away with his thumb, he made himself pay attention to the priest once more.
"Who gives this woman away?" he was asking.
"I do," Jacob said, standing up briefly. The priest smiled at him, and then Jacob sat once again.
A man of little words, Jack had decided not to do his own vows, but instead follow the traditional ones. Sam agreed, not needing any more stress than she already had in her life. However, Tracie had suggested something to them, and they had decided to follow her advice.
"Jonathan," the priest was saying, "do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, for long as you both shall live?"
Smiling broadly, he nodded, "I do."
"And Samantha, do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, for as long as you both shall live."
Going against every one of his previous theories, Sam's smile grew larger than Jack's as she replied, "I do."
"I understand that there is something you wish to say together?" the priest, who's name was Anderson, asked.
They nodded, and in unison, while staring directly into each others eyes, said; "Entreat me not to leave you, or return from following after you. For where you go, I will go and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. And where you die I will die and there will I be buried. May the Lord do with me and more if anything but death parts you and me."
When the passage was over, they turned to the priest, who had the rings in his hands. "Take these rings and repeat after me."
Jack took Sam's ring, and she did otherwise. Sam went first.
"With this ring, I thee wed."
Sliding the ring onto his finger, she repeated, "With this ring, I thee wed."
Jack then did the same, sliding the ring onto her finger and repeating after the priest, "With this ring, I thee wed."
Smiling, the priest concluded the ceremony, "It is my honor to be the first to announce to you, Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan O'Neill." He looked over at Jack, and with a broad grin, said, "You may now kiss your bride."
Without a moments hesitation, he pulled Sam to him, and their lips met in a passionate, but guarded, embrace. When they pulled apart, an uproar of applause filled the air, and a few catcalls that Jack and Sam instantly recognized as coming from the SG-3 marines. With sheepish smiles they walked down the isle, hand in hand, for the first time as husband and wife.
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A/N: If anything about the wedding wasn't status quo, I apologize. I've only been to a handful of weddings, and the last one which I attended was over two years ago. Their shared vows is from Ruth, a chapter in the bible. Anyway... please let me know how I did on the wedding, because it was stressing me out. The next chapter might no be out for awhile, because I'm going to North Carolina Thursday morning, and won't be getting back until sometime Sunday... I'll bring my laptop with me, and hopefully be able to write another chapter, but I'm not sure. Anyway... review please! Be fairy nice!