CHAPTER TWENTY

Megan and Daniel followed her grandfather through the living room and in to his study.

He took a seat behind the desk with Johnny still in his lap and he motioned for Daniel and Megan to take a seat.

"Now, I understand you two are getting married. Have you set a date yet?" He asked while making faces at Johnny.

"Pop, we have the invitations in the car, we weren't going to give them to anyone until tomorrow. Today is your's and Johnny's day." Megan replied enjoying the scene in front of her.

"Just tell me what date you picked, that's not encroaching on our day, is it Johnny?" Jonathan Snr asked his great grandson.

"Nope." Was all he got in response from the toddler.

"It's in about two months, on the 12th of October. We were undecided on where the ceremony was going to take place, considering that everyone is everywhere. But we found this beautiful little bed and breakfast just outside of the Springs. We booked the whole place out, so there is plenty of room for everyone." Megan answered.

"So how big are we talking, how many people?"

"I think at last count there is 52 people invited, Mr O'Neill." Daniel replied.

"First off, Daniel. Please call me Jonathan. I feel old enough already. And secondly, I want to help you two out with some money towards the wedding."

"Jonathan, that really isn't necessary. Jack is helping a bit and we are able to afford the rest. It isn't going to be a big ceremony. We are keeping it small so we can put some more money into the house we just bought." Daniel insisted.

"Nonsense. It's not everyday that a man's grand-daughter gets married."

"Pop this is the second wedding for both of us. We didn't want anything big. We both have other priorities. Don't stress about it pop, honestly. We appreciate it really but we honestly don't need any help, everything is covered at the moment."

"Ok but, I do want to do something for the boys at least. I have an education fund put aside for each of my grandchildren and since you obviously don't need it Megan. Let me do it for your children. It's not much but it will help them when they want to go to collage."

Megan and Daniel looked at each other and realised that he wasn't going to let them go with out doing something for the children. Daniel nodded his consent at Megan to accept.

Getting up Megan went to her grandfather's side and kneeled down beside him.

She pulled Johnny out of his lap and pushed him towards Daniel.

"Thank you Pop. We appreciate it. I know the boys will thank you when they are old enough as well." Megan reached up and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"You two have made an old man very happy." Jonathan Snr said as he watched his future Grandson in law play with his great grandson.

"Megan can you take Johnny outside, I want to have a talk to Daniel."

Megan looked at Daniel and he nodded that it was ok. She picked her son up and walked out of the room closing the door behind her quietly and went to find her father.

"So Daniel tell me about yourself? I understand that you work with my son."

"Yes sir, I work with Jack. I've known him for about six or seven years now. I work with him as a civilian consultant, on a classified project in Cheyenne Mountain."

"Jack told me that you are an archaeologist." Jonathan prompted the younger man.

"Yes, I've travelled all over the world on digs, and I'm also a Doctor of languages."

"How many languages do you speak?" Jonathan asked, sincerely interested.

"Twenty three at last count, most of them are ancient dialects, not much call for them now days."

Daniel was interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Come!" Jonathan announced loudly, clearly frustrated at the disturbance.

Jack came into the room, shut the door behind him and pulled up the seat that was previously occupied by his daughter.

Megan had grabbed him outside and told him that his father was interrogating Daniel. Jack knew what his old man was like and decided to intervene before Daniel came out of the study a blithering mess.

"So, dad. How are you enjoying your party? You know the one outside."

"I'm having a ball, Jack. You?"

"Fantastic time dad. So are you finished interrogating Daniel yet or can I stick around for the finale?" Jack asked with a smirk on his face.

"Jack, I know Megan is your daughter and I cannot claim to have known her for as long, but there is something about that young woman. She makes me feel extremely protective of her and the boys. I only wanted to find out this young man's intentions towards her." Jonathan stated as he got up and poured the three of them a drink from the crystal decanter on the side table.

"Jonathan all I can say is that every intention I have towards your grand- daughter is completely honourable. I fell in love with her the moment I met her and I plan on never letting anything bad happen to her again." Daniel said.

"Satisfied dad, or should we start the Chinese water torture?" Jack asked smugly.

"Thank you Daniel, I appreciate your candour. And you appear to be an honourable man. I also hope that you love those boys as your own, because Johnny seems to dote on you."

"I do. I never thought that I would ever have a family and now Megan has given me a chance to be a father. I can never repay her for that." Daniel said while he sipped his drink.

Another knock at the door interrupted Jonathan before he could ask anything else.

"Daniel can you come and help me with the twins please, I can't find Sam." Megan said when she popped her head through the door.

"Excuse me." Was all Daniel said as he gratefully got up and left the room.

"Jack, ill give you credit, that was very well orchestrated."

"I don't know what your talking about dad." Jack feigned innocence.

"The convenient little plan to rip Daniel from my tempered grasp. I only wanted to see if he was worthy of joining the O'Neill's. Nothing wrong with that is there." Jonathan replied.

"Dad, what do you want to know about Daniel and ill tell you? I have known him for a lot of years. Shit, we even lived together for a while after Sara left me."

"I don't know I was just curious. Megan said before that it was the second marriage for both of them. What happened to his wife?"

"She died a few years ago. I knew her. She was a lovely woman."

"Have you met his parents?" Jonathan asked while he got another drink for himself and Jack.

"No, they died when he was young. He moved around quite a few foster homes until he finished school. I have met his grandfather, but he is on an archaeological dig at the moment, we can't get in contact with him to tell him what is going on."

"That's a shame. He seems to have made quite a life for himself, despite a bad beginning. The only thing that I really want to know, is if you trust him with your daughter?" Jonathan asked.

"I do. Very much. He is the best thing that has happened to her for a long time and vice versa. They belong together. I'm not going to stand in their way." Jack replied sipping on his drink.

"Well on to another subject, who is that lovely lady that you bought with you today. What's the deal between you two?"

"Sam is the best thing in my life apart from Megan and the boys. We have known each other for almost as long as I have known Daniel. She is the reason that I retired from active duty."

"She was in your team wasn't she? Well that makes things complicated."

"We denied our feeling for a very long time. And Megan made us open our eyes to the possibility that we might not be here tomorrow and to go for it."

"Well I can't say I approve of you dating an officer under your command. But she does seem like a very nice woman, and she has some balls standing up to Caroline like she did before. They didn't realise I was in here and heard the whole thing."

"What did Caroline say?" Jack asked, slightly worried, not having heard about it before.

"Well Caroline made some smart arse remark about Sam being a scientist, and saying that you weren't bright enough to want anything to do with an egg head. And then Sam came back with a whammy, saying that you were smarter then you let on and that she was fantastic in bed. Personally I thought it was a classic comeback to a classic bitch." Jonathan said with pride in his voice for his son's girlfriend.

"Well, that did take some balls. I think I have to go and remind my Major who wears the pants in this relationship." Jack said with an amused tone as he got up out of the chair and headed for the door.

"Definitely her." Jonathan said under his breath as his son shut the door on his way out.

NOTE FROM ME:

Thank you very much for your patience. I apologise whole-heartedly about taking so long on posting this chapter. But I recently found out I was pregnant with my first child and for any of the ladies out there who have experienced non stop morning sickness, you know why I could barely turn the computer on. I apologise again and again. I promise the next chapter will be up in a week or so. I've almost finished it. Any suggestions on where you want to see the story go, I'm more than willing to incorporate them into the story. Let me know.

Thank you again for your patience.

Ellie Mae