A/N: Once again, thank you for reading this. And thank you also for all the kind words in your reviews, I'm really happy you seem to like this. TubaPrincess – I'm with you, I hate seeing partings between animals and people, so I'm still trying to figure out what to do with Rover so we're all happy with it. Without further delay, here's the next part...


Chapter 29 – The Big Day

"I... I'm sorry. I hope... I hope I'm not too late, Jack." Sam stuttered out. She had seen the look of disappointment that flashed briefly on his face as he turned to leave, right before it was replaced with the look of, what was that? Surprise? Some happiness? A little desire thrown in? at her arrival.

He was just staring at her, not believing this was actually happening. After a few moments he realized she had asked him a question and was now looking at him acutely concerned because he hadn't responded. "What? ... Oh... Late? No, not at all. After all, what truly great wedding in history ever started out exactly on time? I mean, if we were back on Earth, Daniel would probably delay us by boring me to tears with the intricacies of eastern Babylonian marriage rituals of the northern tribes, or some such thing."

Jack was disarmed by how she looked, by her smile, by the fact that she was actually there and by the fact that they were actually going to do this. He'd never been so nervous before in his life, and as usual, he felt the need to cover his discomfort by trying to make light of things, so he continued. "And Teal'c, you know Teal'c, he'd probably raise an eyebrow and say something like...", and in his best Teal'c voice, Jack continued, "'O'Neill, it is customary on Chulack for the betrothed to do battle before the ritualistic ceremony to prove that they are worthy adversaries.' And, well Cassie, she'd probably demand that everything be just so. And Hammond, well, you know he'd probably be secretly wishing your Dad was on some mission somewhere so he could walk you down the aisle himself..."

Sam was laughing at his ramblings. Her smile turned a little wistful, "Janet would have cried if she could be there. She'd be so happy for us."

"Well, of all of our friends, I'm sure she's around here somewhere watching over you. You sure you're ok with this?"

"Yes, Jack, I'm sure. I really do want this."

Jack clapped his hands together. "OK. Let's get this show on the road." He reached his hand out to hers and walked her over to the water's edge. He whistled over to Rover. "Hey Rover, I need you to just stand right here and watch us for a bit, OK?"

"?"

"Because it's part of the ceremony."

"?"

"Because it's important."

"?"

"It's something two people do when they want to spend the rest of their lives together."

"?"

"No, we don't have to do this for all of us."

"?"

"Look, just... just sit there, please?"

Sam couldn't help her bemusement at the exchange between Jack and Rover. The poor thing, just how could you explain a marriage to a young dragon?

Jack turned back to Sam with a sheepish look on his face. "Sorry."

"It's ok."

He grasped both of her hands in his and looked into her beautiful blue eyes, smiling sincerely at her. "Ok... um... I guess we can just say our vows, ask Rover if he objects and then kiss?"

"Um... Ok..." She took a deep breath and released it slowly. "Sounds easy enough."

"Ok... I... uh... I guess I'll go first? Unless you want to, of course... ladies first and all."

Sam hadn't gotten around to thinking about the 'vows' part. She hadn't yet reached that stage of planning with Pete, and hadn't been to anyone else's wedding in a while and was currently drawing a complete blank on what she should say. She realized she was probably giving him her panicked, deer-in-headlights stare, so she decided she would try to gracefully let him go first and see what he said. "Actually, Jack, doesn't the groom typically go first?" She was really hoping that was the case, or if not, that he wouldn't call her on it.

"Oh, ok, no problem." He looked down at his feet for a moment and he shuffled them side to side for a bit, then he looked back up into her eyes. "We don't have to do the standard vows thing, do we? Because, I honestly don't remember all of them, so is it ok if I just wing it?"

Instantly relieved at his admission, Sam quickly said, "Of course it's ok. We can just... we can just wing it and say what we'd like." She was still frantically searching her mind for what she could say. It always looked so great when other people wrote their own vows, but she was drawing a blank.

"Ok... I... Ok..." He smiled at her again and took a deep breath. "I, Jonathan O'Neill, take you, Samantha Carter, to be my wife, no longer my second, but my equal partner in life... I promise to cherish and respect you, to care for and protect you, to comfort and encourage you, and stay with you, for as long as we both shall live. With every beat of my heart, I will love you." He nodded his head to let her know he was finished.

Sam collected her thoughts for a moment, she could do this, just say what's in her heart... "I, Samantha Carter, take you, Jonathan O'Neill, to be my husband. I give you my hand and my heart as I pledge my love to you. My love for you is eternal and my commitment to you will never fail. I promise to love you unconditionally, to honor and respect you, to laugh with you and cry with you, and to cherish you for as long as we both shall live." She relaxed a little and raised her eyebrows to him, as if to ask, 'what now?'

"Ok. I have something else here. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a cake on such short notice." He released one of her hands and reached into his pocket and pulled out two wire rings. "But I do have these. They're not much, apparently the local jeweler wasn't in, but at least we'll have something until we get back home and can get some nicer ones... um... ok... With this ring, I thee wed." and with that he slipped one of the rings on her finger, then gave her the other one.

Sam looked closer at the ring she was handed and realized Jack must have made them out of fishing hooks, cutting off the barbs and carefully bending them into rings. She put the ring on his finger. "With this ring, I thee wed."

Jack then turned to Rover about to say something and looked at him for a second. Then he turned back to Sam. "I think maybe we might be better off if we don't actually ask if there are any objections, because we might just raise more questions. What do you think?"

Sam nodded her head. "I think you're right. I mean, if there were any objections, I'm sure we would know about it."

"So then I guess we're at the best part?" He waggled his eyebrows at her and then leaned in for the kiss.

It started simple enough, just a chaste kiss on the lips, then it deepened. Their mouthes opened to each other as the kiss became more and more passionate. As if by an unspoken agreement, they started lowering themselves to their knees, then before long were lying in the grass, mouthes searching and hands roaming. Jack felt heat radiating on his right ear. "Argh!" He instantly lurched away from Sam and to his left. When he had turned his head to see what was so hot, he saw he was nose to snout with Rover who was curiously watching them, way to close for Jack's liking.

He looked over to Sam who was holding her stomach from laughing so hard at his surprise. "Ok Rover, we're done now. You don't have to watch anymore."

When Rover continued to just sit there watching him, Jack made a shooing motion with his hands. "No really, go get yourself some dinner or something."

Rover nodded and trotted away before taking to the air. Sam stood up and held her hand out to Jack. "Maybe we should finish this back at the cave?" She waggled her eyebrows and Jack was immediately on his feet. He rushed up to her, picked her up and carried her back to the cave.