"Hey, look, there's Mac!" Susan called from her vantage point of the stage. Everyone turned to look at the new comers to the reunion, clapping when they recognized the infamous man and wolf calling when they saw the hot blond on his arm.
The silver haired man looked at all of them in confusion, wondering why they were clapping at his arrival. He opened his mouth to say something, but before the words could come out, the door opened again and a man looking almost identical to him walked through the door with a brunette on his arm.
"Hey, guys!" the second man said jovially to the room.
Susan spoke again into the microphone, "Sorry, Johnny-boy."
The first man waved, shouting, "No problem, Sue! Happens all the time!"
Sue grinned, "Okay everyone, now that the Devils themselves have arrived – this party can really start! Have fun – and remember: It doesn't matter who started the fire, just who was blamed."
Sam looked at Jack quizzically, "It doesn't matter who started the fire, just who was blamed?" she repeated slowly. "What the hell were you like as a child, Jack O'Neill?"
Jack grinned evilly at his 'date', "Wouldn't you like to know, Sam?"
"I can tell you," a voice said from behind the couple.
The Air Force General turned and looked long and hard at the owner of the voice, "Jack?"
"Johnny-boy," the other man nodded. The wheels were turning in Sam's mind as she looked from her CO to a man about the same age as him, dressed in an Air Force uniform with the insignia of Colonel on it.
"Sir?" Sam asked, reverting back to protocol in the… unusual situation.
Jack (Sam's boss) looked at her briefly before turning back to the Colonel, "Carter, this is Colonel Jack O'Neil, one l. Jack, this is Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter – she works with me."
"Under that program they've got running under Cheyenne? Something to do with NORAD, right, Johnny-boy?" O'Neil said.
"Jack!" a third man cried gleefully as he approached the two Jack's and Sam. He practically leapt into O'Neil's arms. It's been ages! How are you?" the man stood back, and then saw the other Jack and leapt into his arms, "Johnny-boy! Oh, the three are together again! At last!"
Sam and the third man, Mac's, date both snickered with each other at the PDA.
"Hey, Mac, how are you?" Jack O'Neill asked as he tried to get out of the bone-crushing hug being forced upon him by the other man. He turned his head slightly to Mac's date, "Lena," he nodded politely. She smiled her amusement evident on her face.
Mac let go of Jack and both turned to the other Jack, who had sidled up along side Mac and Jack's dates. Sam got a good look at the man who'd just hugged her CO and grinned in recognition, "Mac? Mad Mac?"
He recognized her the moment she said that particular nickname, "Sparky? Oh, it's been ages!" Now it was Sam's turn to be hugged by the very strong man. "You look so good! I can't believe it's really you. How long has it been? Five years?"
Sam smiled, "Try eleven. No one's called me Sparky since I moved to Washington."
Jack cleared his throat, "Carter? You know Mac? Do tell."
Mac grinned at the two Jacks and his date, "Fist, let's go find a table. This is just too cool! Hey, Sparky? Where'd you end up meeting the Devil? I mean, Johnny-boy!"
Sam grinned at her CO as she sat down next to him, mentally filing away those two nicknames for endless torturing… erm, tormenting, yes, tormenting later; "We work down in Colorado Springs together. I met him eight years ago."
Mac whistled before turning to Jack (two l's), "So… I thought you hated scientists?"
Jack sighed, "I do. But I was kinda stuck with 'Sparky' here. You see - I had no choice."
"And you would have transferred her if you had?" O'Neil asked, indignant that the man he'd known growing up was that sexist… and biased.
Jack scowled, "No… okay, maybe. But the point is I couldn't and I was stuck with her on my team for seven years and now…" he trailed off, giving Sam a look that only she would understand.
Jack grinned mischievously to his 2IC turned date for the night, "You haven't told me yet – how do you know Mac?"
Sam blushed, "Wewenttospacecamptogether," she mumbled as quickly as she could.
"What was that?" Jack mocked.
"We went to space camp together!" Sam said more harshly, her cheeks burning with embarrassment that she was admitting to her CO that she went to space camp as a teen.
"Oh."
Susan came running up to the table, stopping to examine the three men there. "Well, well, well, together again at last! Jack O'Neill you just don't know how distraught we were when you didn't come to the twentieth reunion! Mariah was very sad that you didn't come even if it was just to say hello!"
Jack looked down, ashamed, "I'm sorry, I was going through a tough time when the invitation came."
Sam calculated in her mind what was happening ten years before, and came up with that it was right around the time Charlie had died and Jack went on the first Abydos mission. She silently reached over and squeezed his hand, giving him her support.
"So, got any stories that I can spread around the grapevine back home about him?" she asked innocently.
Susan sat down next to O'Neill and said with a smile, "Did you hear about the time one of them – we don't exactly know whom because all of them blamed it on the others – burned down the science building?"
"Really?" Sam said, shocked. She playfully hit Jack's shoulder, "I can't believe you Jack O'Neill! If you ever come near my lab with Siler's torch, I'll… I'll… I'll resign."
Jack looked at her in horror; knowing that if she resigned the whole world would be destroyed within two weeks – especially with his 'diplomatic skills'. "You wouldn't!"
"I would!" Turning back to Susan, she said, "Now, please, tell me what happened."
"Well, it all started when Mrs. Stevens, the chemistry teacher, gave us an assignment that none of the Devils liked very much…"
Jack was sad. It was the honest to goodness truth on the matter. He was sad that he'd actually let Sam 'coerce' him into going to this god-awful party. He was sad that Susan (the self-appointed gossip of their class and know-it-all queen) was telling Sam all these stories about stuff he did in high school. Stuff he just knew she was going to end up telling Daniel and Teal'c and before he knew it – the whole base would be calling him Johnny-boy or something like that and wouldn't respect him ever again.
"Hey, Sam?" he asked quietly after she had finished laughing at another of Sue's many tales. Sam looked at him with humor and something else hidden in her eyes. He was lost in the blue depths for only a moment before saying, "Let's dance."
"Okay," she said as the two rose and walked onto the dance floor right as the band starting playing a nice, slow melody.
Lena, Sue, Mac and O'Neil all turned toward one another in an air of conspiracy. "So, Jack, what's up with them? Do you know?" Lena asked first.
O'Neil shrugged, "Johnny-boy mentioned something about her being in the military… in that case they probably can't be dating. He's the commander of that base he works at."
Mac frowned, "But they obviously like each other – a lot. I mean, did you see the looks Johnny-boy was giving her while Sue was telling Sam all those stories about when we were in high school? He only uses those looks with girls he really likes."
Sue grinned, "They make such a cute couple, though. Don't you think so? Just look at how they're dancing together." The four of them looked and watched Sam and Jack twirl around the dance floor with her head resting lightly on his shoulder and his arms keeping her close. "They're so much in love."
Lena nodded, "Yeah. It's amazing that the guy known as 'Get Around Johnny' has finally met the girl that can put a stop to that reckless dating."
The four of them watched the couple dance for a while. "I think we should give them our blessings," Mac said suddenly as the song was drawing to a close. The other three stared at him as if he was insane. "What? She obviously makes him happy. When was the last time any of us saw Johnny-boy that happy?"
"Right after he blew up the science lab," O'Neil muttered.
"I did NOT blow up the science lab!" Jack barked after hearing the comment on their return to the table. "That was Mac!"
"Hey! Why would I blow up the science lab? I'm a freakin' scientist!"
Before the argument could escalate any louder and draw any more attention, Sue shouted at them, "Hey! I thought this was settled thirty-two years ago when you three blamed Andrew Smith for the fire!"
Jack smirked evilly as he remembered the boy they had blamed, "Oh, yeah. I forgot."
"Well, I didn't!" a voice said from right next to their table.
The three Devils looked up to see a very short, very angry looking man with a black comb-over standing in front of them. "Oh, hi Andrew," Mac said with a small, hesitant voice, "How have you been? Good? That's great."
Andrew Smith was not amused, "I was going to be the next Einstein." He wailed, "But thanks to the three of you and your reckless behavior and pointing fingers at me – I became an accountant! I'm a bloody accountant and it's all your fault!"
Jack looked at the man calmly before turning to Sam, who was trying her best not to laugh. "Sorry to burst your bubble, Andrew, but I happen to know the next Einstein – and she's not you."
"She?"
Sam blushed profusely at the praise Jack bestowed on her before turning to Andrew, "Hi, I'm Dr. Samantha Carter."
Andrew was in star-struck heaven, "The Dr. Carter? The one who wrote all those books on wormholes and the space-time continuum?"
Sam smiled modestly, "The one and only."
"Oh my God!" the accountant said before falling in a dead faint.
The rest of the evening went well as far as Sam and Jack were concerned. It was fun for Jack to watch as Andrew tried to get Sam to explain her theories more in depth, and watch as she backed out of it to a point where she would only explain things at the level of jargon she used with Jack.
By the time it was time to pack it up and head on back to the hotel, Sam felt like she'd known O'Neil, Mac, Sue, and Lena as long as Jack had… and she was relating Andrew with McKay.. Mentally she shuddered as she thought of the self-obsessed scientist who thought he was God's gift to women and science.
Back at the hotel, Jack went to get some beers from the local liquor store while Sam took a quick shower and changed into her pajamas. When he got back she was on the phone, talking to Daniel.
"Yeah, Daniel. We're both fine… No, it was actually quite fun… .Entertaining, really… no, Daniel, I really care about living to see my next birthday… that means no, Daniel… I'm not going to tell you those stories!… Daniel! I'm appalled that you would even think such a thing!… Good-bye!"
Sam hung up the phone with a shudder at what the archeologist had implied. She looked up and smirked at Jack, "Well, speak of the Devil." She patted the bed next to her and he sat down, getting out two beers from the bag he held.
Sam played with the label on hers while Jack flipped through the TV channels. Finding nothing of interest on, he turned the television off and studied Sam.
"I have to tell you something," Sam said suddenly, causing Jack to start a little.
"What?"
Sam continued to study her beer's label, unable to look him in the eyes, "Right before we left, I put a letter of resignation on your desk. It should be there when we get back."
"Why?" he asked, enraged that she would do something like that.
She reached into her pocket and took out a ring box, handing it to him. "Pete gave me this two days before we left."
"And?" Jack said as he opened it to find a rather gaudy golden ring inside. It so wasn't Sam's style. Jack knew from observing her that she preferred white gold, and small stones… that's why when he had purchased his ring for her, he'd found one with a small, princess cut sapphire, flanked by two smaller rubies set in a white gold band.
"I told him I needed to think about it." She finally met his eyes, "I wanted to see what happened this weekend. Either way, I'm leaving the military." He turned his eyes away and she asked with watery eyes, "Now what?"
Jack set the box from Pete down between them before fishing out another ring box from his bag. He opened it and placed it next to Pete's ring. "Now you choose."
Sam studied the ring in Jack's box for a long time. It didn't escape her attention that she had a drawing of a ring similar to this in her desk drawer in her lab… or the quality of the stones and metal. Hesitantly, she reached out and closed Pete's box with a loud snap, before picking up Jack's ring and handing it to him with her left hand.
"Then I choose you."
A/N: What think you all? There's a final chapter coming up...but I haven't written it yet so it may be a few days. Remember to review and tell me what you think!