'Here goes.' She thought.
"I'm glad we could do this." Daniel said.
Vala nodded. "Me too, I enjoy being with everyone. I hated being up on base." She said.
"Thank you, Sam, for taking me off base for the most amazing experience of my life." She said. Sam nodded.
"You're welcome. Now, Jack and I wanted to wait until after the wedding to tell you this, but we've talked, and I decided that it was time to let you all know about it."
She said. Jack's hand snaked down her thigh, his fingers entwining with her own. "I'm pregnant."
She said. Cassie smiled. "Oh my gosh, Sam!" She said, bouncing in her seat. "That is so great!" She finished.
Sam smiled.
"Congratulations Sam." Daniel said, grinning widely.
"I also offer my congratulations to the both of you." Teal'c said.
Jack grinned. "See, I told you." He said.
Sam smiled, leaning into him. "Yeah, you did tell me." She said, kissing him.
Vala had hired Andrea Jensen, a wedding planner, to help, knowing most of Sam's nerves would be because of the baby.
She knew her friend was more than ready to marry Jack O'Neill, she remembered talking to Sam about him, how in her eyes he could do nothing wrong.
He seemed almost godlike when Sam described him.
Of course, meeting Jack had seemed monumental to Vala, knowing that this man alone was responsible for the deaths of several system lords.
"Sam, what colors are we gonna use?" Jack asked.
"Um, I was thinking maybe burgundy, pink and silver." Sam said as she looked through one of the many books the planner had brought with her. "Complementing my hair?" He asked with a grin.
"Out you go, mongrel." Vala said, shooing him out the door. He growled. "Val, hold on." She said, standing up.
"Jack, baby, this is boring. I realize you want to stay with me, but there are some things that women have to do when it comes to a wedding. The planning takes forever." She said.
He smiled. "You wanna get rid of me already." He said, chuckling.
"Just for a little while." Sam replied with a grin.
She kissed him. "Now, why don't you and the boys go have some fun?" She said, kissing him again.
"Okay." He sighed.
"Thank you." She replied.
She came back to sit down.
"The only thing I don't want them doing is street hockey. We've had complaints from the neighbors." She said, shaking her head.
Andrea laughed. "Well, boys will be boys." She said.
Sam nodded. "Yeah, I tried using that one, and she replied with 'well, tell them to act their own age'." She said.
"Was that the time Daniel came home with a bloody nose?" Vala asked.
Sam nodded. "Yeah, they got a little too competitive and Daniel caught the ball instead of blocking it. He's lucky it didn't break his nose. Jack has a brutal slap shot." Sam said.
"Daniel tried to teach me how to play, I'm pretty good." Vala said, flipping through the magazine.
"Jack taught me, and then he broke General Hammond's car window with the stick." Sam replied.
"I have an idea." Jack said.
"What?" Sam asked, walking into the bathroom.
"Well, Danny and T wanna take the weekend and go somewhere. I figured you'd be with Vala and Cassie plannin the matrimonial event of the century, so I'm thinking that you can spend the weekend with them here, and I'd take Danny and T up to the cabin. They wanna paintball, and good ol' Daniel was a little miffed when I told him we couldn't down here." He said.
Sam smiled. "Well, if you promise to behave, and stay in human form, then I don't see any problems with it." She said.
He smiled. "Okay, we've got two nights…completely to ourselves…in an empty house." He said, looking at her in the mirror.
He stepped behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her neck. "Mr. O'Neill, I like the way you think." She said, turning in his arms.
Cassie lay in bed, listening to her IPod. Sam was having a baby, Jack's baby.
Her surrogate parents were having a baby.
She had wanted to stay with Jack, but he insisted she stay with Daniel, to be closer to Sam.
Things had been rough when her mom died, and Jack asked her to keep as close to Sam as possible, because Sam was feeling that loss too.
Cassie knew that Sam had lost her parents too, and that if anyone was qualified to help, it was her.
She could imagine what the baby would look like, his mom's eyes, his dad's hair, mom's brains, and dad's sarcasm, the perfect little O'Neill.
Cassie smiled, letting the image of her family pull her to sleep.
Jack sat at the table, trying to think of people he wanted to invite to the wedding. Lou Ferretti and his family was the top on the list.
"Sam, where's your list?" He asked.
"On the table, it's in the cover of that book." She said, pointing at a book on the table.
He grabbed it, looking down the list at the people.
Everyone he wanted was already on her list, his family included.
"Why's Joss on here but Mark's not?" He asked.
Sam shrugged. "He doesn't want to see me and I don't want to see him." She said.
"It's your wedding, Sam; he owes it to you to be there." He said, writing Mark's name at the bottom.
"Who knows, maybe they'll get along." He said.
"One more question. Why's Kerry Johnson on there?" He asked.
"Jack, she was rooting for us, remember?" Sam asked.
"I know that, it's just a little uncomfortable. And I saw that Pete wasn't on there." He said.
Sam nodded. "He wasn't rooting for us. Actually he kinda wanted to kill you, probably still does." She said.
"All the more reason to invite him, I won't hurt him…much." He said, grinning widely. "Kay, my list is done." He said.
She looked over. "Really?" She asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow. He nodded.
"Everyone I want to invite is already on your list." He said, shrugging his shoulders.
"Good, that's one less thing you have to do. But you still need to pack." She said. He nodded. "Can I take your paintball gun, too?" He asked.
"Jack, what did I tell you about behaving?" She asked in reply.
He shrugged. "I just want the element of surprise." He said.
"Well they're going to be surprised when you show up defenseless." She said, raising her eyebrows.
"Kay, I'll just take mine." He said. The light bulb went on above his head. She narrowed her eyes.
"What are you thinking?" She asked.
"They could hunt for me." He said.
"Jack, I don't want you attacking one of them by mistake. It's just better if you stay human." She said.
"I won't attack them. They're familiar enough to me that it won't be a problem. Please? They'll like it too." He said.
"I don't know." She said.
"Please." He said, getting down on his knees.
She smiled. "Well, when you beg…okay, just be careful. You're not invincible. And don't do anything that will get you on a news station." She said.
He smiled. "Thank you." He said, kissing her abdomen.
"Have fun baby." He whispered, brushing his fingers along her belly. She smiled.
Daniel loaded his stuff in the back of Jack's truck.
Cassie grabbed the camp chairs, making sure they had somewhere to sit while they 'fished'.
Teal'c grabbed the cooler, and Jack made sure they all had jackets.
"We probably won't be outside at night, so we should be okay, but it gets cold when it rains." He said.
Daniel nodded. Cassie hugged Teal'c.
"Try to keep them from killing each other." Sam said as she hugged Teal'c.
"I shall attempt to do so. I shall have my cellular device in case of an emergency." He said. Vala nodded, hugging him. "Good idea, Muscles." She said.
Daniel came up to the group. Sam hugged him.
"Be careful, and don't shoot yourself in the eye." She said, smiling.
"Don't worry little sis, I'll be fine." He said.
Cassie hugged him next. "Have fun Danny." She said.
"I will, you have fun too. Don't drive Sam crazy." He said.
Vala hugged him next. "Bye, love." He said.
"Goodbye, darling, have fun." She said, kissing him. Vala hugged Jack.
"Be safe, mongrel, and don't eat my husband, or you'll be dead." She said.
He grinned, shaking his head. "Ok." He said.
Cassie hugged him next. "Don't do anything stupid, okay dad?" She asked.
He nodded. Sam wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Drive safe. And try not to eat anyone, okay?" She said, kissing him. "I'll try." He whispered against her lips.
"I love you." He said. "I know."
She said, breaking the kiss. He leaned down to her stomach. "Bye baby. Don't cause too much trouble." He said.
"He says okay." He said to her.
"Good." She said.
They walked out to the truck. "Bye guys, have fun." Cassie said.
"Bye." Daniel and Jack said in unison.
"Goodbye." Teal'c said.
Sam went back inside with Cass and Vala.
"Okay, now we have to decide on bridesmaid dresses." She said.
"I say burgundy." Cass said. Vala nodded.
"Yes, I agree, considering the fact that I look dead in pink." She said. Sam smiled. "Okay, that was easy." Sam said. "Okay, you have to look at these cakes." Cassie said. She handed Sam the magazine.
Jack tapped the steering wheel, nodding his head to the radio. Daniel was passed out in the backseat, snoring softly. "O'Neill, now that Colonel Carter has agreed to marry you, and is carrying your child, do you not wish to spend time with her?" Teal'c asked. Jack chuckled. "Yeah, of course I wanna spend time with her. But I wanna spend time with the rest of my family too. See, the way I look at it, it won't matter where I am, no matter what I'm doin, I'll always be with her. I'm hers, for the rest of my life." He said, glancing at Teal'c. "I am truly happy for you, O'Neill. I do not believe I have ever seen you as elated as you are now." He said. Jack nodded. "I don't think I've ever been this happy, at least, not in a long time." He said, watching the road. "O'Neill, if it is not a subject you wish to discuss, then we will not speak of it again. I wish to ask how your son died." He asked cautiously. Jack shrugged. "I came home that day, like any other day. Sarah was sittin on the front porch, drinkin a beer. I came up, dropped my baseball cap and gave her a hug. She showed me his school pictures. She told me he was in the house. That's when we heard the gunshot. I ran in the house, and I heard her scream his name as she ran in the door. We, uh, we rushed him to the hospital…to the emergency room. The doctors couldn't save him. He died on the table." Jack said. "I knew I should've hidden that gun better." He said quieter. "O'Neill, the fault was not yours, neither was it your son's. When Apophis took Rya'c, I blamed myself, knowing that if I had not betrayed him, my family would have been safe." Teal'c said. Jack nodded, running a hand over his face. "Are you concerned about this child?" Teal'c asked. Jack nodded. "Yeah, Sam's petrified. She doesn't wanna screw up." He said, shaking his head. "I believe that the two of you will become great parents. She will adjust, as you will readjust. There will be trials, but I believe that if you stay together, you shall make it through." Teal'c said, placing a hand on Jack's shoulder. "Thanks T." He said, looking over at him.
Cassie sat Indian-style on the floor, looking at one of the bridal magazines. "I think we should try this style of dress." She said, pointing it out to Vala. She grinned, nodding her head. "I like that." She said. "Now, these are some of the dresses I thought about for the type of wedding you want. You said you don't want anything fancy, so I thought maybe this one, this one and that one." Andrea said. Sam glanced at the dresses. "I like the second one." She said. "Okay, now it comes with a corset." She said. Sam nodded. Vala looked at the dress Sam had picked out. "Ooh, he isn't going to be able to keep his eyes off you." Cassie said, glancing down at the other dresses. "I agree with you. This one is a lot better for this wedding." Vala said.
Daniel and Teal'c kept their wits about them, ready for Jack's appearance. Teal'c could hear the tree rustling behind them, knowing it was meant to distract them. "No wonder it took Sam so long to get him back to the base." Daniel said. He heard rustling and headed toward the trees. A moose ran out of the brush, charging them. Daniel backed up, tripping on a rock and falling to the ground. Jack jumped out, pouncing on the animal. He leapt off, crouching down. The animal got back up, clearly unaffected by the attack. It lowered its head, charging Jack. He stood, catching its horns, and flipping it on its side. He grabbed it by the neck, dragging it off into the woods. "Daniel Jackson, are you uninjured?" Teal'c asked. Daniel nodded; taking his friend's outstretched hand. They stood, waiting for Jack to come out of the woods. He stumbled out, in human form and dove in the pond, washing himself off. He stood; his chest and shoulders heaving. "Jack?" Daniel asked. He raised his head quickly, and Daniel jumped. Jack's eyes were still yellow. "Oh, sorry kinda creepy, aren't they." He said, blinking a few times. "Am I normal?" Jack asked. Daniel nodded. "So, ya gonna hunt me?" He asked. Daniel chuckled, shaking his head. "Give me about an hour." He said. Teal'c nodded. Jack shrugged. "Okay." He said, getting out of the water and leading the other men to the cabin.
"You didn't eat that, did you?" Daniel asked. Jack nodded, running a hand through his hair. Daniel grimaced, shaking his head. "So, I've got a question for you." He said. Jack raised his eyebrows, flopping down on the couch. "Okay, shoot. What's your question?" Jack said. "Have you ever scared Sam?" He asked, gesturing to his eyes. Jack grinned, chuckling. "Yeah, Danny boy, I have, night before last, in fact. Ya know, Sam told me 'bout how you hate talkin 'bout sex. You're married, for cryin out loud." He said. "You scared her while you were having sex?!" Daniel asked. Jack laughed quietly, nodding. "I didn't mean to. It was totally an accident. She didn't think I was gonna attack her." He said. "What set you off?" He asked. "Daniel, lots of things set me off." He said. "Really, she gets you in the right spot and you're howling?" He asked. Jack raised his eyebrows, nodding. "So really, what did she do?" He asked. "Middle of it, I'm kissin her neck, she moans, arches her back, the next thing I know she gasps, eyes totally wide. She brushed it off, actin like it was normal." He said. Daniel nodded, trying not to visualize his sister in bed with Jack. Not working.
Daniel tried to track the large animal with no success. He stepped carefully, keeping the muzzle of his paintball gun pointed straight ahead. Teal'c walked next to him, his trained eyes scoping the tree line for any sign of their friend. Teal'c turned when he heard footsteps behind him. "Do not move any farther, Daniel Jackson." He said, turning and squeezing the trigger on his paintball gun. There was a flash of silver fur as Daniel was knocked to the ground, the breath leaving his body as he hit the ground. The large animal tilted his head to the side, the eyes a dark chocolate, a far cry from earlier that morning. "Jack, get off me. I can't breathe." He said. The big dog leapt off, crouching down. "That's gonna leave a mark." He said. Jack barked a laugh, cocking his head to the side. "Laugh it up, fuzzball…" Daniel said. Teal'c chuckled, lending Daniel a helping hand. "You're gonna be in trouble." Daniel said, smiling at Jack's playfulness. Head down, tail in the air, he pawed at Daniel's feet, barking quietly.