Watching
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Nothing really, season 7 and 8 maybe. It's a future fic.
Ship: Jack and Sam Summary: Sitting in the back of the quaint little chapel, he watched her walk down the aisle into the arms of another.
Distribution: If you want it, let me know.
Disclaimer: Yeah, ok you all know the drill. I don't own the characters… unfortunate as it is. If I did, I'd be incredibly rich right now and I would have written lots and lots of fluffy moments between Jack and Sam into the show.
O O O
Sitting in the back of the quaint little chapel, he watches. The people around him chat to each other, they smile and laugh, they talk in awe of the beauty that surrounds them. And he watches. White lilies. The chapel is covered in white lilies. He never knew they were her favourite flower. But he does. The man at the end of the aisle. He watches him. He's smiling and joking with his groomsmen. He's not even nervous. But then, he knows the truth. She's amazing. She's the best, they don't come any better, and he knows. He's happy… but then, she loves him…
He didn't think this day would arrive so soon, if ever at all. He'd always hoped it wouldn't. This morning when he opened the paper and saw the announcements he'd died inside. She was marrying him, she'd never even told him, and she was gone.
The music starts and his back stiffens. All the guests will turn towards the back of the chapel and they would see him. He stands with them, and turns, his head down as the bridesmaids start down the aisle. He can hear the women in attendance gushing as they seem to float down the aisle. He sees everything in slow motion, but he continues to watch. He watches as the woman he loves walks down the aisle, escorted by the general.
She doesn't see him, doesn't even know he's there. Her eyes, her focus are completely trained on the man waiting at the end of the aisle, waiting for her. She smiles brightly, a smile he's never seen her wear before. It's radiant and beautiful, and it's for him only.
She's marrying the wrong man. She's supposed to be marrying him. He watches and he wonders if she ever loved him at all. But he fears the answer more than he fears the question. She never smiled at him like that, her attention never focused solely on him like that. Like the world disappeared and there was only him. The pain builds inside him. It hurts more than he thinks he can bear…
And then, she reaches him, she reaches the end of the aisle and he takes her hand. Her fingers wind around his in a gesture of love he doesn't think anyone else has even noticed. He watches them and he knows he can't stay.
He can't stay there and watch her do this. He doesn't even know what possessed him to come in the first place, some sadistic place deep inside him obviously guiding him here on this day. The congregation sits as the minister begins, but he turns for the door, completely unnoticed by the people in attendance.
When he reaches the door, he pauses. Something inside him won't let him leave. Not until he knows this is real, that this isn't some horrible dream. That she is really in there, marrying another man. And then he listens…
Her voice…
"I, Samantha Carter, take you, Jonathon O'Neill to be my husband."
Finally his feet can carry him. He runs from the chapel. From her voice echoing the vow in his head. From them. From the future they'd never have together… but she would, with Jack. The pain is too much.
He never stood a chance. She'd loved O'Neill when he met her, and she'd loved him while they were together. She'd loved him her whole life and never stopped. He was everything in her eyes. He was her hero. He never stood a chance. He was just a simple cop from Denver… O'Neill was a hero, and he had her heart.
The End…