"I'd love to go."
Sam and Jack were both noticeably happier that evening and the five other people (Adam, being only a few days old, doesn't count yet) knew right away what it was. That night after dinner, Esther felt the need to close one specific chapter of their lives for good before her parents started a new one.
"I hate to put a damper on this really jovial mood and all…but when's the sentencing?"
The family was sitting around the dining room table playing Monopoly while Lou and Caroline took care of Adam and went to bed themselves. Abby had the dice and was about to roll when the question caught her off guard. Calling up their telepathic link, Esther shared her thoughts on the matter with her siblings as Sam and Jack sat in silence.
It was finally JJ who spoke, "When is it, Dad?"
Jack sighed loudly, "The day after tomorrow."
Sam looked up and met Esther's eyes, "Are you sure you want to go, Esther?"
She nodded, meeting her mother's eyes with a firm, O'Neill/Carter look of stubbornness. "I need to go, Mom. I need them to hear my story before a decision is reached. I need to face him again and let him know that I may be afraid, but I will never again give in to that fear." Tears came to her eyes, "That fear cost me a child and my childhood – I'm not giving anything else to that bastard."
Her parents smiled sadly but Jack answered in a half-joking manner, "Now, do you think she gets the stubbornness from me or you?"
"Here, Mom," Abby said as she passed Sam a dress from the rack in front of them. "Try this one."
Sam glanced down at the dress her younger daughter had picked out for her to wear on her date with Jack. It was baby blue, rather short and low cut in the front. Sam remembered one time Jack saying that it was what he couldn't see that turned him on. She pursed her lips at her daughter, "I'm not too sure, Abby. It's kinda short."
Abby just smiled, "I'm not telling you to buy it – just try it on. You haven't gone shopping for yourself in a while, Mom. Even if you like the dress, it doesn't mean you have to wear it tonight with Dad."
"Okay. You win." The mother and daughter spent a few more minutes browsing the isles of clothes that filled the small clothes boutique Sam and the girls were fond of in the outskirts of D.C.
In the end, after much thought and the donning of twenty different dresses, Sam chose three to buy: the baby blue one Abby picked out (not so low cut as she fist thought – nor so vulgar); a black one that came down to her knees and was modestly cut at the neck; and a peridot colored baby doll dress that took ten years off Sam's face and brought out her figure, still slim from years of military service and maintained workouts.
The mother and daughter left the shop with a feeling of accomplishment at their day's work. "So, lunch?" Abby asked.
"You buying, Abs?"
Abby smiled, "Have you been drinking today?"
"Come on," Sam slung her arm around her daughter's shoulders, grinning like a madwoman as they skipped down the street. "I wonder how Esther's doing."
"I'm sure she's fine, Mom." Abby reassured her mother. "Uncle Daniel and Uncle Teal'c were going to teach her how to kel'no'reem today. Something about being able to move on and release ones burden."
"Yep, that's Daniel for you. Always wanting someone to release something."
Jack spent the day with JJ, rummaging through his closet trying to find something suitable for a night on the town with Sam. "What about that gray sweater over there?" the boy asked, agitated that it was taking so long for his father to find something to wear.
Jack looked at it, then at the pair of black slacks he already wore. The battle was half done! "No. It'll make me look depressing. I'm not Johnny Cash, I'm not going to a funeral, and it's way too hot to be wearing sleeves. I know it's here somewhere…" Jack trailed off as he rummaged some more through the piles of clothes that he didn't know had accumulated through the years.
"What's where?" JJ whined.
"The peridot button up that your mom gave me for Christmas right before she left," Jack muttered as he searched some more.
"You're going to wear a sixteen-year-old shirt on a date with Mom?"
"You got a better idea?" Jack's head popped up from the pile of clothes, one of his eyebrows raised in Teal'c fashion.
JJ grinned menacingly, "We go shopping."
"Ahhh!"
Sam wore the knee-length baby doll dress and was rather pleasantly surprised to find that Jack was wearing a peridot shirt and black slacks – the shirt the exact same color as her dress! JJ and Abby grinned as their parents looked over each other, relishing the reactions they gave off from the outfits.
Oh, the joys of being telepathic! JJ said silently in Abby's mind. His sister mentally giggled in reply.
"You look…really good," Jack said when he finally found his voice again.
Sam blushed lightly, "So do you." She raised her voice as she said, "JJ, Abby? Next time leave the shopping up to the two of us, please!"
"Sorry, Mom!" JJ replied. "Come on, Abs. Let's go see what's on TV while Mom and Dad ohh and ahh over our great tastes."
Jack snorted softly at his son's attitude as the two siblings trotted off down the hallway into their room. "Have they always been like that?"
Sam nodded with a smile, "Some days I felt like you were actually there with us when they would start acting out like that. There's so much of you in them."
Jack's smile turned a little sad, "Yeah. I missed out on so much with them. I don't want to miss out on anything else."
Sam smiled lovingly as her hand stroked his cheek, "You won't." They stood like that in silence for a long while, just gazing into each other's eyes. After a few minutes of eternity Sam broke the contest and asked, "So, where are we going tonight?"
Jack's face quickly sported the grin that said 'Wouldn't you like to know? But, no, I won't tell you because it's too much fun to not tell you and watch you're eyes light up when you see it for yourself.'
"Surprise."
As it turned out, Jack's idea of a surprise was having Daniel and Teal'c play 'baby sitters' while Caroline and Ferretti left to drive back to Colorado with a brand new baby in tow. Not to mention the wonderful Italian restaurant he took Sam to before going and watching a very elite ballet. All in all, it was the perfect way for the two of them to grow closer in love before the hearing the next day.
A/N: So? Like it? Please review! I'm really stressed out because I have dress rehersal tomorrow until 2000 hundred hours and I perform on Thursday and Saturday! I seriously won't be able to post again until Sunday at the earliest...unless the cast party goes 'til 0300 again...