Guess the interest in Jack/Rachel stories is waning.

Should I even bother continue writing them? Or should I just give up?

I'm asking seriously cause I have several more in the works and can think of a more efficient use of time otherwise.

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Jack felt his eartips burn in embarrassement. "Oy!"

When he turned back to her and she was still glaring at him he finally understood. "Oh, sorry." With an apologetic glance he moved slightly to his right so she could move out of the wet spot.

Frustrated he ran his hand through his hair, mussing it up even more and winced when he felt a pain in his scalp. "For crying out loud!"

From the corner of his eye he caught Rachel's wide eyed stare. "What?" he asked slowly.

With dread in his stomach he slowly lowered his hand into his field of vision and gulped. Numbly he stared at the innocent thin gold band on his left ring finger, as if it was a ferocious beast trying to chew his arm off. Unseen to him, Rachel switched her attention to her own left ring finger and swallowed heavily.

At this time Jack had managed to tear his eyes away from the ring and glanced around the room. Nope, this wasn't his room. Last time he'd checked he didn't have a king-size bed in his hotel room, nor had there been clothes strewn on the floor in a very uneven and broken-up line, starting at the door. Or his suitcase standing next to an overnight bag/duffel near the door.

Nor had there been an innocent looking paper on the bed-side stand which, upon unfolding, turned out to be a marriage certificate with stating that John O'Neill and Rachel Hamilton, from now on O'Neill, were here-by married.

"Oy."

He murmured, breaking Rachel's trance.

"Oy?" she demanded, not caring that her voice broke slightly. "That's all you can say!?" Her voice rose into shrieking.

Jack shrugged, completely out of answers. This was NOT what he'd expected when he'd arrived to Vegas yesterday. Nor had it been what he'd expected when he'd woken up just minutes ago.

But Rachel wasn't done ranting. "This is terrible! I got drunk, married someone I don't even know personally and had sex with him! And I didn't marry just anyone. I had to marry someone who lives in a different state and has a dangerous job!"

"I'll... ah." he cleared his throat, interrupting her rant. "I'll sign the divorce papers, but you have to ask yourself something seriously."

When he was sure he had her full attention he continued. "You have to ask yourself if you really want to carry the stigma of 'divorced' around for the rest of your life. You won't be 'single', you'll be 'divorced' and trust me, speaking from my own experience, that's not something you want. Everyone who'll know about it will treat you differently, not to mention all the legal difficulties and problems that come with it. If we could, I would've suggested an annulment, but there's no chance for that. We obviously didn't use condoms." he gestured towards her vaguely, remembering her statement of feeling sticky and so forth. "Are you on the pill?"

"No." she replied subdued, looking down at the sheet and picking at the loose threads. "I'm not sexually active and haven't been in a long time. There's not exactly a picking of good men at Nellis, most of them being scientists, especially since there are the frat regs and most of them are pompous, arrogant, self-centered bastards like McKay. And we're out in the middle of nowhere so there's also no chance of meeting any civilians. And since I had to concentrate first on my studies and then on my career, I didn't have time for relationships. And I don't do one night stands, it's not for me. I still don't know why I did it with you. I never did something like this before, no matter how drunk I was. But, back on topic, even though I'm not on the pill and am in the middle of my cycle there's not much chance of me having gotten pregnant, not at my age. I'm no spring chicken anymore."

"But there's still a chance, right?" Jack wanted to know.

"There's always a chance." she conceded. "A very small chance, but still a chance. Though I wouldn't go out picking the nursery furniture just yet."

"And because of that I can't agree to an annulment. If you got pregnant that would be denying my own child and there's no way I could do that." he got quiet after that, remembering Charlie.

Unknown to him, with his adamant refusal to deny a child of his, Rachel's respect for him had grown in a big leap and she actually started to like the man she'd only heard of before.

First-rate soldier, they called him. Born leader. Brilliant tactician and strategist. Never leaves a man behind. Devoted to his men. There were also others who weren't quite as nice. A nutcase, they said. Irresponsible. Impulsive. Insubordinate.

However, it was all just about who he was as an officer, a professional. There was nothing anyone could say about him as a person, as a man, and she was learning about him from square one, with no pre-made sketch or idea of who he was. He was obviously an intelligent man, who felt very deeply and had some very strong morals and standards in his personal life. If she had to be married to someone he was starting to look like not the worst option. Besides, the way she'd been going she would've ended up alone and lonely, which was something she'd never wanted. Perhaps this was a good thing after all.

"You know there really isn't much of a chance, right?" she murmured.

"I know. But..." he sighed. "This is a sign. I'm taking this as a second chance and, if you're willing, I'd like to give it a shot."

She looked undecided, thinking it through furiously. Suddenly it was important to Jack to get her to say 'yes'.

"We could pretend that last night didn't happen. Well, except for the whole wedding thing... I'll call Hammond and get another 2 weeks of down-time and we just get to know each other. Just take it slow, get to know each other better and spend downtimes together in the future."

She looked at him and Jack could see the cogs turning.

Then after a couple of seconds, that to Jack seemed like hours, she nodded and said softly. "Okay."

Jack exhaled heavily, only now realizing how much it meant to him. He grinned. "Great! Do you want to take a shower first? Then we'll go have a breakfast and we'll talk."

She nodded in agreement, then squinted at him assessingly. One of them would end up fully exposed if she got up to shower. 'It's not as if he hasn't seen all I have already.' she tried to convince herself. She was normally a shy woman, not used to prancing about naked, especially not in front of men. But she didn't know how the sight ofhim naked, if she'd take the sheet to cover herself, would affect her. This way she had some kind of control. Over herself and over what would happen. He also looked the kind of guy that kept his word and really meant it when he said they'd take it slow. She also knew that there was no way that he'd jump her and rape her if he saw her naked. He was well known for his protection of women and children, even at Dreamland. 'Besides, we're married...'

Having come to a decision she slipped to the edge of the bed and got out. She thought it kind of sweet that he tried to give her some privacy by looking away.

Jack carefully averted his eyes as his wife, it would definitely take some time before he'd get used to the fact that he was a married man again, got out and headed towards the bathroom.

Being a healthy, straight guy, and since she didn't seem shy, bending shamelessly to take clean clothes out of her duffel, showing herself in all her glory, he couldn't help himself and he threw a quick glance her way just before she entered the bathroom. The momentary look, before the door closed behind her, revealed that he'd hit the jackpot. The woman was, beside being a genius, also a true knockout and he'd bet all the men at the base, even the married ones, had their tongues on the ground when she went by.

'Getting drunk last night might turn out to be one of the smartest things I've done in my life, after all.' he grinned and got out of the bed to find some clothes for himself.

In the shower, the beautiful brunette smiled as she heard the sounds of her husband rummaging about, thinking that she won't be lonely no more. Perhaps, if she was lucky, for the rest of her life.

THE END

REVIEW!

AN: and remember, this was just fiction, in real life it would've gone much differently.

Avoid having sex with strangers, especially unprotected sex, momentary sexual gratification isn't worth the possible consequences. From STD's that either kill you or make your reproductive organs rot or fall off, or even make you incapable of having children later on and/or with someone else, to unplanned and unwanted pregnancies, dragon-like new in-laws, miserable, ruined life,...

While I'm not saying no sex before marriage is the only way to go, I'm saying that one should think with one's head and not one's reproductive organs. It's what makes us different from the less-evolved species. It's also what can insure us a long and healthy life (barring warmongering politicians and lobbyists and soldiers, of course).

Live smart and stay healthy.