A/N Well here's the big reveal, I hope it's exciting and y'all enjoy it! Thank you so much for reading and reviewing, it means a lot to me :)
Chapter 9: The truth comes out
Mark gets a serious look on his face, sits up straight, and nods slowly.
"I want to start by saying that I love you, so much more than I can explain. You're such a good man and I don't deserve you." She pauses for a moment, overcome by emotions. She takes a breath and steels herself and continues, "I really hope that what I'm about to say doesn't change how you feel about me."
Mark wonders what she could possibly be about to say that would change how he feels. He's not happy that she nearly kissed another man, but he also knows that she's not always the most coherent after one of her fainting spells, she could have been confused. Jack happened to be in the room when it happened so it's reasonable that he would've tried to catch her and make sure she's alright. Onica was dazed and probably didn't know what she was doing. Though he's not happy about it, and he really doesn't trust Jack now, the man did pull away before any contact was made, so he'll give him credit for that. Perhaps Sam will rethink her choice in men because of this, Mark thinks. He shakes his head, he can't focus on that right now, his wife has something to say that she thinks is big enough that he might not love her anymore. Nothing could change his feelings for her, he loves this woman with his whole heart.
She asked him to hear her out so he reassures her by saying, "Onica, I love you, nothing you could possibly say will ever change that."
Onica chokes back a sob at his words, she really really hopes he means what he just said. She steadies her nerves and swallows the lump in her throat, and begins, "About 20 years ago I was in a relationship with someone."
Mark opens his mouth to say something but Onica holds up a finger, stalling his coming words, and says, "Please, let me get this out."
Mark closes his mouth and nods, Onica continues, "I met him when I was 18 and we started dating. We were together for 4 years, in fact, we were engaged to be married." She pauses to gauge Mark's response to that revelation. She had told Mark about her previous relationship but not how long it had lasted, or the fact that she was engaged to the guy.
She sees Mark's eyes go dark, the way they do when he's not happy, he takes a breath and says, "Is this the guy that was a jerk to you, the one who broke your heart?"
Onica looks down and says quietly, "Yes, but that's not exactly what happened." At Mark's quizzical look, Onica continues, "He wasn't actually a jerk, and the break up was my fault, not his."
Confused, Mark asks, "Then, why…?"
"Because he was my first love, and it was easier to blame him than to admit the truth. And when I met you, you were so nice and you treated me so well. I thought that if you knew the truth," she pauses and takes a breath, then finishes quietly, "I thought you wouldn't want me."
"Did you cheat on him?" Mark asks.
"No, not technically anyway. A couple of months after our engagement, I met someone on campus." She looks at Mark and emphasizes, "Nothing happened. All I did was spend some time with him and talk to him on the phone. He actually transferred to a community college a couple of cities over, but I kept in touch with him, even drove to visit him a couple of times when I had a break from school."
Onica looks at her husband, the look on his face says it all. Maybe nothing physical had happened with her and this other guy, but she did cheat on her fiancé, emotionally anyways. She takes a deep breath and says, "My fiancé wasn't happy about it, and didn't agree with my view of the relationship. It led to many arguments, and when things came to a head, I accused him of being controlling and I threw the engagement ring he gave me in his face," she pauses and takes a shaky breath and continues, "I told him I didn't love him and never did, and I walked out. I changed my phone number so that he couldn't call me, and I went to the other guy. However, the other guy had a girlfriend that I didn't know about," she shakes her head in frustration and continues, "so I had nothing. I was too embarrassed and ashamed to go back to my fiancé , so I dropped out of college and moved to California and I met you a couple years later."
Mark screws up his face in confusion. Onica has always been so level headed, how could she have done something so reckless and deceitful? He tells himself that it's in the past and it doesn't matter today. She's clearly not that person now. Today, she's his smart, beautiful, loving wife, and a wonderful mother to their children. He can't imagine her being this complicated, childish, person she's described. Childish is the only word he can think to describe her behavior, of course, because she was young back then. Meeting a man at 18 and then planning on marrying him, that's a huge decision for such a young lady, not that he condones her behavior, but he does understand. She was probably overwhelmed by everything. Mark thinks that he should be upset, but he actually feels sympathy for her. This ex fiancé of hers couldn't have been a saint, he probably suffocated her, or did something to cause her to find someone else.
Mark shakes himself out of his musings and back to the present and says, "Onica, I can't say that I'm happy that you didn't tell me about this before, but I am glad that you're telling me about it now. I'm just not sure what this all has to do with now and this situation." He says, gesturing with his hands.
Onica feels her heart rate increase and that faint feeling return. She tries her breathing exercise again with minimal success. She makes a fist with her hand and gently taps it on the table. It was hard telling Mark what she's already told him, but this, what she's about to say, this is the thing that may end their marriage. Not to mention, make her responsible for causing Jack more pain if Sam can't get past it.
Onica closes her eyes and tries to push back the faint feeling, it's now or never, she takes one more deep breath, blows it out slowly, looks down and says, "The man I was going to marry, is Jack O'Neill."
Mark sits there dumbfounded, surly he misheard, there is no way she just said that her ex-fiancé is Jack O'Neill, his little sister's boyfriend.
"And," she says, fingering the emerald, "my mother didn't give this to me, he did."
Mark is speechless, he has no idea what to say, or even where to begin. She's worn that necklace since the day he met her, even wore it to their wedding, and now she's saying that another man gave it to her. Not just any other man, but Jack O'Neill, the man his sister is dating, the man that tried to kiss his wife. At that last thought, Mark slams a fist onto the table and stands up so forcibly that the chair falls over backward, and stomps over to the front door and flings it open.
When Jack gets outside he sees Sam standing by the garage with her back turned to him. She doesn't turn as he approaches, in fact, she acts as though she doesn't notice him at all, though he knows she does.
He walks over and stands about 2 feet to her side, slightly behind her, giving her space but allowing her to see him clearly if she chooses to. "Sam, nothing happened." He says quietly.
She turns her back a little further away and says, "That's not what it looked like."
Jack closes his eyes and runs his hands through his hair and says, "I know what it looked like, but I swear to you, nothing happened."
Sam cocks her head slightly in his direction and says, "You've been acting strange ever since you got home, ever since you met her. Maybe nothing happened, but you wanted it to," she accuses him.
Getting frustrated, Jack snaps, "No I didn't." He sighs heavily and continues, "Look, I was talking to her, she got faint and started to fall, I caught her and helped her to a chair. I was just making sure she was alright, I didn't know she was gonna lean in like that."
Sam turns to face him fully and asks defensively, "Oh, so this is all her fault then, is that it?"
"No, I didn't mean it like that," Jack starts, then adds, "I just"
"Are you attracted to her?" Sam interrupts.
"No," Jack replies immediately.
"She's my brother's wife for goodness sake." Sam snaps back.
The look of betrayal on her face nearly kills him. He hates seeing her like this, he hates even more that he's caused it. He really hadn't intended for anything to happen with Ronnie. Though if he's being honest, if her lips had touched his, he probably wouldn't have pushed her away, at least not that quickly. Jack feels conflicted over his feelings for Ronnie, he wasn't happy when she left, and now that she's back, he doesn't know what to feel. He loves Sam, he knows that for a fact, and he doesn't want to lose her, but he does have unresolved feelings for Ronnie. Oh he doesn't want her back or anything, he just wants to know why she left, why she found someone better. He also can't help but think about what might have been.
Jack hears Sam sniffle and sees a tear roll down her cheek, he feels a knot twist in his stomach. She doesn't deserve this, she doesn't deserve someone like him, someone conflicted and with so much baggage. He should let her go, let her go find someone worthy of all she has to offer, but when she looks at him, his world is complete. When she kisses him, it's the sweetest thing in the world, when she tells him she loves him, nothing is better than that. When he first met her, he was broken, she's his glue. He doesn't know how she does it, but just one look from her and all his pain and loss from the past vanishes. So he should let her go, for her sake, but he can't, for his sake. He just loves her that much. In this moment he realizes that, yes he did love Ronnie, and was really hurt when she left, but he survived her. He would not survive losing Sam.
Jack walks up and stands right in front of her and says softly, "Sam, look at me."
Sam stubbornly refuses to avert her eyes from their spot on the ground.
Jack puts his finger under her chin and gently applies pressure until she lifts her head and looks him in the eye, and says calmly, "Sam, please understand that I love you and only you, you're the only one that matters to me. There is something about Ronnie that I need to tell you, and I swear I will tell you, but it's going to be a long conversation and I'd rather have it when we won't be interrupted, alright?"
Tears fill her eyes, but Sam nods her acquiescence. Jack leans forward to kiss her when suddenly Sam pulls back, looking angry and asks, "Who's Ronnie?"
Before Jack can think of a response, a hand touches his shoulder and roughly spins him around only to have a fist connect rather harshly to his left cheek. Jack stumbles back but doesn't fall, after regaining his footing he touches his left hand to his cheek and says something under his breath.
Sam whips around and sees Mark charging toward Jack, ready to level another solid hit, she steps in front of him and shouts, "Mark, what is wrong with you?"
Trying to push past her, Mark says forcefully, "Get out of my way, Sam."
By this time, Jack is standing at his full height, ready to defend himself. He can't believe Mark actually snuck up on him like that. He was so distracted by making things right with Sam that he hadn't been paying attention. The man has a mean right hook.
Jack focuses on the scene unfolding in front of him. Sam stands between himself and Mark, who looks like he's out for blood, and Ronnie, or Onica standing in the driveway watching everything with her hands covering her mouth, while yelling at Mark to stop.
It's almost as though there's a time loop happening, again Jack thinks wryly. Onica is crying and says, "Mark, please stop." Mark ignores her and tries to lunge past Sam, and Sam pushes him back and Jack just stands there, then the whole thing happens again. After the third time, Jack decides this needs to end so he steps forward, only for Mark to sidestep Sam and tackle him like a linebacker going for the quarterback. Both men fall to the ground, Jack trying to dodge punches without actually swinging any of his own.
Mark is in a rage, Sam has never seen her brother act this way and can't imagine what is causing him to do so now. Sure he wasn't very happy about the almost kiss between Jack and Onica, neither was she, but my goodness, talk about an overreaction.
Onica stands there paralyzed, tears freely falling. She knew that Mark wouldn't be happy about all of this, but she never expected him to react this way. In all the years she's known him, she's never seen him like this. He's lost his temper sure, but right now he's acting like a crazy man.
Jack takes another two hits to the face before he's able to get his hands on the front of Mark's shirt. He pushes him off and rolls to an upright position, firmly grounding his feet, ready for another attack. He's not disappointed, Mark scrambles to his feet and dashes toward Jack. Jack doesn't want to hurt Mark, so he quickly sidesteps and grabs Mark's fast approaching arm, he twirls Mark around pinning his right arm behind his back. Jack applies a little pressure and Mark drops to his knees.
Sam rushes over and orders, "Jack let him go."
Jack glances from Sam to Mark, and leans down and says in Mark's ear, "Are you going to stop hitting me if I let you go?"
"Jack," Sam warns.
With one final look at Mark, Jack releases his arm and backs off. Mark slowly stands, and with a speed and force even he didn't know he had, he swings and connects one last time, dropping Jack to the ground.
"Mark!" Sam shrieks at her brother, then adds angrily as she makes her way over to Jack, "What in the world has gotten into you?"
Sam kneels over Jack and puts her right hand on his left cheek and asks, "Baby, are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Jack says sitting up. He's now sporting a split lip, a nasty shinner, and possibly a fractured jaw thanks to that last punch. He touches his cheek, and opens and closes his mouth, okay, maybe not a fracture, but it's sure gonna hurt tomorrow. If his face wasn't hurting he'd actually be impressed with the ferocity of Mark's punches.
Sam holds out a hand and helps Jack to his feet. After he's up and she makes sure he's stable, she turns her attention to her brother and shouts angrily, "What the heck is the matter with you?"
Mark steps forward and Sam puts out a hand to stop him, he stops at her hand and says seethingly, "I was right Sam, this guy," he says gesturing to Jack, "is no good. He's a liar and a jerk."
Sam looks back and forth between Jack and Mark, she notes Jack is preparing for another attack, one he will probably defend against this time she figures, and asks, "What are you talking about? Jack hasn't lied about anything and he's been nothing but nice to you, so you need to back off...now."
"Fine, he may not have outright lied, but omitting the truth is still a form of lying. And he certainly didn't tell you the whole truth, neither of them did!" Mark huffs, waving his arms in the air.
Sam is confused, she's pretty sure her brother has actually gone insane. She looks back to where Jack is standing to see if he has any idea what's going on. She pauses at his expression, he's guarded, almost unreadable, but there is an ever so slight hint of something else...guilt, shame, fear. Suddenly Sam isn't so sure her brother is crazy, but rather, wonders if there is something to back up his claim.
Sam turns back to her brother and slowly asks, "Who are you talking about?"
"Him!" Mark shouts, pointing a finger in Jack's direction.
"You said "neither of them" told the whole truth, who are they?" Sam asks, already knowing the answer but not wanting to believe it.
"Them!" Mark yells in frustration, pointing both hands in either direction, one at Jack and the other at his wife, who is covering her face, sobbing into her hands.
Sam's mind starts racing with all kinds of thoughts. She had come into the kitchen just as Jack pulled away from Onica but, did more happen in the kitchen than Jack had said? Had he pulled back because he saw her standing in the doorway? Jack had started acting strange after meeting Onica outside when he had gotten home, had something happened in the garage? Sam chastises herself, she's being ridiculous, Jack would never do anything like that, not to her, not to anyone. However, she can't help that little twinge of doubt as she turns to face the man she loves, to see that he's looking at the ground, and her doubt begins to increase.
Sam steadies herself, but her voice still shakes a little as she asks, "Jack, what is he talking about?"
