Ch 21: The Question

Colonel Jonathan O'Neill walked into the jewelry shop nervously; he had no idea what kind of a ring he should get, should he get diamonds? She didn't seem like a diamond person though. He walked over to the glass counter filled with rings and necklaces, how would he ever choose? A saleswoman walked over and smiled at him. "Can I help you with anything today?"

Jack looked up at her and smiled nervously. "Yeah, that would be great!" he guessed there must have been a lot of guys not knowing what kind of ring to get. "I'm looking for a ring, an engagement ring."

The saleswoman smiled. "I'm sure we have what you're looking for."

"I'm not sure what I'm looking for." He said as he looked back down at the cases.

"Oh, then I'm sure we'll find something, does she like diamonds?" she pulled out a display of diamond rings.

"I'm not sure, I don't think she's a diamond person…" Jack looked over the rings.

"What's her birth month? You can always give her her birthstone."

"It's May."

"May… emerald." She looked over the displays of rings. "Ah!" she lifted up a tray. "Here's all the emerald we have, they're very popular this year." She sat it down.

Jack glanced over it, the pressure was getting to him, and he didn't know what she liked.

"Does she wear a lot of jewelry?" The saleswoman asked.

"Um…" he wouldn't really know, she wasn't allowed to wear jewelry on base. "No." he answered.

The saleswoman smiled. "What about this?" she asked, she picked up a ring that had two emeralds on it, with two small rings round the emeralds.

Jack studied it. "Would you like it?" he asked. "For an engagement ring."

She smiled. "You know what, the truth is, I wouldn't care what them ring looked like, I would just be happy he asked me. A ring is nice, but the man is better."

Jack smiled, that made him feel better. "I'll take it."

----

A couple days later…

Sam sighed and she struggled up the stairs with a big and very heavy box, she no longer had to use her crutches, which she was very happy about, but her leg still felt a little odd. Janet had said to take it easy and to try not to put to much pressure on it; it was a good thing she wasn't around. Sam put the box down for a moment and rubbed her back, SG-6 had just came back from a planet with a bunch of artifacts to test.

Sam missed going off world it seemed like she hadn't gone for years when in fact it only had been over a week. She picked back up the box and continued up the stairs, the elevators had broken down, for the first time since she had worked here.

"Carter!" Jack called from behind her; he quickly ran up the stairs and stopped next to her. "Hey, let me get that, it'll save your back." He took the box away from her and balanced it on his knee.

Sam rubbed her back. "… My back?"

Jack gave up and put the box on a step. "Not a very romantic proposal is it? Marry me, eliminate lower back pain?" he said as he shoved his hands into his pockets shyly.

Sam's mouth dropped. "What?" she asked, did he really just ask her to marry him?

"I'm now officially retired." He said somewhat proudly. He grinned.

Sam covered her mouth with her hand, she wasn't normally a very emotional person but she couldn't help but blink a tear out. "I thought I lost my chance… after Pete and- you retired?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah, I guess it took a three-year-old to convince me that work isn't everything… sometimes you have to just… get hitched." He winced. "Get hitched… wow, deep."

Sam laughed slightly. "I… I never thought this day would come."

"Well, I would have asked you a while ago but… you know, I had to battle a couple of snake heads and everything, had a couple of busy years, ya know."

Sam smiled; she hesitated before throwing her arms around him. "I love you, Colonel O'Neill!"

"I love you Samantha Gertrude O'Neill."

Sam pulled away from him. "How'd you know my middle name?"

"Asked your dad while getting his blessing, I thought it was cool- S.G.C. Oh, he said mazel tov and if you don't send him an invitation, he's going to have some Tok'ra or another come… do something horrible to earth."

Sam laughed. "You asked my dad?"

"I thought it would be the gentleman thing to do." He replied with a cocky grin.

"Since when are you a gentleman?" Sam asked as Jack pulled her into a kiss.

Jack pulled away. "Since now."

Sam smiled. "I really never thought this day would come."

"You still haven't answered my question." Jack said.

Sam stared at him puzzled. "What question?"

"If you would marry me. Here we are making out in the SGC, and you still haven't given me an answer."

"Well… let me think, you know this is a hard question for me, I guess so… you may be my last resort."

"Oh fine, now I see why you like an old man like me." He said.

Sam kissed him again.

"What's going on?" came a voice from behind them, Sam turned around to see Daniel standing there, his mouth hanging open.

"Daniel!" she said blushing, she took a step away from Jack sending the box flying down the stairs, and breaking a few artifacts. Under normal circumstances, Daniel would have rushed over to make sure the rest were fine, but he seemed frozen to the spot.

"Last I heard you weren't allowed to make out."

Jack smiled. "I guess you missed the part about me retiring then, eh?"

"Jack, you could be court marshaled for this and- you retired? When?"

"It is official today." He replied.

Daniel looked around. "Why am I always the last to know?" he demanded.

"Actually, you're not." Janet said as she came into view with her hands on her hips. "No one told me."

Sam blushed. "I was waiting until AFTER I got the 'yes'." Jack said.

"You asked her?" Janet asked wide-eyed. Jack and Sam nodded. "Oh my gosh!" she rushed to Sam and gave her a hug. "I'm so happy for both of you!"

Sam grinned. "I know, me too."

"I have to call Cassie, she's going to kill me- I didn't let her come today." Janet reached in her pocket and pulled out her cell phone. "I'm so happy, I feel like I'm getting married."

"Yeah, I didn't think you had it in you, Jack." Daniel said with a smile.

"Hey!"

Daniel, Janet and Sam laughed. "Now, if you'll excuse us..." Jack said as he took Sam's hand. "We'll be going."

Janet smiled. "I'll call you later Sam!" she said as she walked away. Daniel waved goodbye and followed Janet.

"This is almost like a miracle, isn't it? You sure they're okay?"

----

By the next day, they knew that they were having a small wedding, at a little old church where Sam's parents had gotten married. Apparently, there was a betting pool going around when Jack would 'pop' the question, and Walter won the total of five hundred and thirty dollars. General Hammond decided it was time for him to retire, and Jack was offered the chance to run the base as a civilian, Hammond called it an early wedding present.

The wedding plans were simple, leave it to Cassie, Janet and Sam, and they didn't have much time, the wedding was in two weeks, so they spent the day picking out a cake, it wasn't anything fancy, just a nice cake. There wasn't going to be more then fifty people attending so they didn't have to worry about space.

Teal'c, Daniel, Walter, George and Jack were at the tailors, getting measured for their tuxes. The tailor pulled the measuring tape out of his pocket and threw it around Teal'c's waist. Teal'c looked down and picked up the man by his neck. "If you try to tie me up again, I will kill you." He said.

Jack glanced over at him. "Teal'c!" Jack shouted; he rushed over. "Put him down, he was just measuring you for your suit, he wasn't tying you up."

Teal'c actually looked a little embarrassed, maybe he had been hanging around humans for too long. Teal'c sat him down. "I am very sorry, it will not happen again." He said as he straightened up.

The tailor rubbed his throat and looked over at Jack nervously.

"It's alright, he doesn't get out much." Jack said. The tailor nodded and carefully began to measure Teal'c.

----

Sam shut the book of 'color choices' and turned to Janet. "Okay, it's official, I will never make it as a wedding planner." She rubbed her forehead; she never thought planning a wedding would be so hard! There was to many choices to make!

"Sam, it's okay, it gets easier, trust me, I've done this."

Sam smiled. "Really?"

"Really that I've done this or really that is gets easier?"

"The last one."

"No, but it sounded good…" Janet said. "So, you decided on periwinkle and baby blue, correct?"

Sam rubbed her forehead again. "Yeah... is it hot in here?"

"Nope," Cassie said, she sat down on the couch next to her. "Well, I'm not anyways."

Sam sighed. "I'm hungry." She said, she looked down at her watch. "We've been doing this for five hours! I think it's time for some lunch, don't you?"

"Yeah!" Cassie shouted. "I would die for a cheeseburger right now!"

"Where do you want to go?" Janet asked.

"How about-"

"No, we're not going to O'Malleys." Janet interrupted.

"I feel like Burger King." Sam said as she stretched her arms.

"Mom? That sounds good?" Cassie asked.

"Yeah," Janet said. "Just let me get my purse…"

"Janet!" Sam called after her; she stood up and slipped her shoes back on. "I'm paying this time, okay?"

Janet hesitated then laughed. "I can't find it anyways- too much stuff!"

Sam laughed and the three of them walked out of the house.

----

As the wedding drew nearer, Sam and Jack began to look for a new house, one that was also a little closer to the base. They found a two story one that was reasonably priced, Jack loved it; it had a nice big grassy yard, perfect for those barbeques he would be throwing. Sam agreed to it, but he would be cleaning half of it.

Mark, his wife Carol, and their two children Anna and Cody arrived a couple of days before the wedding, they all stayed at Sam's house, Anna was going to be the petal girl, which at first she insisted she was to old for it, Cody was the ring bearer. Mark wasn't in the wedding, Carol was one of Sam's bridesmaids, along with Cassie and Janet was the maid of honor. Jack's groomsmen were: Teal'c, Daniel, George and Walter.

As the wedding approached, Sam seemed to grow more and more excited. Jack thought it was about the wedding until she admitted that every time someone mentioned the wedding, nervousness would overtake her. He tried several times to get her to tell him why she was excited but she refused, saying he would find out on the day of the wedding.

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So, why do you think she's so excited? Sorry if this chapter seemed a bit rushed!

SG-Fan edited this, as always! Thanks! Please review!