A/N: Hmm, it would appear that being on holiday from Uni in no way, shape or form equates to having free time! It also makes apparent the severe difficulties of transferring a file from a laptop with no internet or a USB stick to a pc. Must sort that. I'm very sorry. Thank you so much for your responses, as always! I still appreciate it more than I can say.

Chapter 16: In which a lot of people learn a lot of things.

"Son, are you absolutely sure about this?"

"Ah.. No, Sir, not entirely, but... Needs must, I feel..." the Colonel smiled wryly at the General. Sam didn't appear to entirely have an opinion, having chosen to shield herself somewhat behind Jack. Hammond shook his head slowly, not quite believing he was actually going to do this, and pressed a finger to the internal microphone switch.

"Attention, all personnel," the General's clear voice rang throughout the base. On every level, people stopped what they were doing momentarily to listen, turning expectant faces upwards in the vague direction of the speakers. "I would like to bring an announcement to the attention of all of you." Frowns passed between colleagues as they wondered at the General's statement. Normally, all but the most urgent announcements were transmitted by memo, or internal email. But the General's voice didn't sound particularly urgent... "In three weeks time, on the 18th June, all personnel, bar a skeleton crew, will be required to attend an event being hosted by some of our personnel." The confused frowns across the base deepened. Jack began to tap his foot, his arms folded tightly. Sam still appeared to be cowering slightly behind him. Though she did not like any details of her private life to be broadcast to everyone, she had agreed it was probably a more efficient way to invite everyone, and would prevent the risk of any gossip spreading out of control, should people learn individually about her and the Colonel. Hammond looked at them briefly, receiving a nod to continue. "People, on that date, I expect all of you to be ready and available to attend the wedding of Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter." He released the button with a small, satisfied smile as he imagined the reactions across the base.

That reaction was, in fact, for several moments, a deep, stunned silence. Never before had there been such complete silence all throughout the base. Every person stood still, mouth open, trying to process what their General had just said. Seconds later, the halls began to ring with the deafening, elated cheers and whoops of every single personnel member on the SGC base. Tea'lc, in line in the commissary, raised an eyebrow as he got clapped on the shoulder by the airman next to him. He turned around to see the entire room in chaos. Janet, in the infirmary, was taken by surprise when Siler interrupted her administrations to him by pumping her arm up and down, grinning fiercely and laughing. Daniel poked his head out of his office to wonder about all the commotion, and was met by the sight of Colonel Reynolds screeching around the corner with cries of "I knew it! I knew it!".

Back in the control room, Jack raised his eyes heavenward, sucking in a breath, as Sam hid her face in her hands, peeking between her fingers as they assessed the reaction in the control room. Walter sat completely still for a full minute, before leaping up and throwing his arms around the couple in a deep hug. He pulled back suddenly, looking somewhat sheepish.

"Sir, Ma'am, I- I'm sorry, but.. I just want to tell you how thrilled I am, how thrilled I imagine everyone on the base is," his words were confirmed by the fierce nods and smiles of everyone in the vicinity of the control room.

..--00--..

Sam arrived at Jack's house early that evening, flustered, as he had been, from the sheer effort of getting out of the mountain. It had been made difficult by the amount of well-wishers she had had to get past; it seemed that every person on the base wanted to stop her to congratulate her. It also had become apparent that it was the opinion of rather a lot of people that the revelation of their relationship was "about time". She smiled wryly to herself; all those years and months they thought they were maintaining a completely professional relationship, to all outward appearances. It turned out it was their fierce denial, and complete avoidance of anything which might be even slightly misconstrued as unprofessional, that had clued people in the most. She had been particularly horrified to learn that there had, in fact, been bets between various personnel on when exactly one of them would transfer or resign so that they could be together. Her smile brightened as she caught sight of the proud sparkle of her engagement ring on her hand, resting on the steering wheel. No need anymore to hide it, forbidden, when she was on base. The simple thought made her unspeakably pleased, for some reason.

Reaching Jack's front door, she had barely reached her hand out to knock before it swung open in front of her, and she was swept into Jack's warm arms. He chuckled quietly as he felt her smile into his shoulder. Sam rested her head there a moment, breathing in his scent, steadying herself against him. She responded as he took her face gently between his hands, tilting it upwards slightly in order to reach her sweet lips more easily. He gazed warmly down at her for a moment, taking in her beautiful smile, staring unashamedly as her eyes were already closed in anticipation. He lowered his head, kissing her soundly, arms wrapping around her to pull her snugly into his body. His eyes drifted closed, allowing the pure sensation of her, on his lips and in his arms, to wash over him, engulfing him.

The entirely pleasurable sensation was broken by a loud, deliberate cough.

"Aw come on, enough already, you guys!"

"Ever heard the expression 'get a room'?!" The friendly complaints of their friends smashed into their intimate reverie.

Jack and Sam pulled apart reluctantly, smiling sheepishly. Sam blushed, not entirely comfortable with such public displays of affection (although she would never really complain, Jack being the object of said affection). Jack smiled fondly at her deepening blush, as she noticed that General Hammond was seated amongst their team, accompanied, as usual, by Janet.

"Sir! I - I.." she coughed in embarrassed surprise.

"It's alright, Sam. I'm here on a purely personal agenda," George Hammond raised a hand with a smile. It caused him no end of joy to see two of the people he cared about most so openly happy. He noted happily that Sam was positively glowing.

..--00--..

Despite occasional modest protestations from Jack and Sam, the evening's conversation revolved largely around their upcoming nuptials.

"But, where are you gonna hold it? I, I mean... There's gonna be aliens there, and that's, that's gonna look kinda weird if you're in a church ceremony, and there's, there's Lya, or, or Thor or somebody there..." Daniel chuntered, the effects of his single beer already beginning to show.

"Don't you worry, Danny-boy," Jack drawled from his position on the sofa, arm slung comfortably around Sam's shoulders. "That's all been taken into consideration."

"Yeah, it's going to be an ordinary ceremony for family and friends, obviously with those of our allies who are less... conspicuous," Sam clarified, receiving a gentle nod of acknowledgement from Tea'lc. "But for the people we'd still love to see, like Thor, we'll have a separate celebration at the SGC at another time."

"Ooh, so we'll have two parties!" Janet exclaimed in excitement. Jack rolled his eyes, smiling.

"Of course, I'm sure anyone you need at the base would be more than happy to lend you any assistance in organising it, myself included," Hammond offered. "But now, have you thought about a honeymoon? You're more than entitled to some time off, providing there's no situations that require you to be called back," he added with a smile, remembering the numerous occasions that SG-1's well-deserved leave had been unduly interrupted by various galactic emergencies. Jack opened his mouth to answer, raising a hand, then paused, frowning, as he remembered that they hadn't actually discussed that yet. He turned towards Sam with a frown. She ignored him, smiling sweetly at their friends as she answered without hesitation.

"Yes, there's actually -"

"Whoa, uh, we have..?" Jack interrupted. Sam turned to smile at his adorably confused expression (it still surprised her how a mature man of Jack's experience and age could ever be described as adorable, but he managed it), nodding at him, before turning to the expectant faces around them.

"We're going to spend it in Minnesota. There's a little, secluded place that I've heard about there," she smiled, imagining Jack's face beside her. He blinked slowly several times, closing his mouth and swallowing hard. It struck him, all over again, just how much he loved Samantha Carter. She was perfect. He turned slowly, a somewhat dazed, but ever more excited grin gracing his features.

"Yeah.. Yeah, we are. It's a lovely spot," he said proudly. "Huge fish. Huge."

Janet, Hammond and Daniel smiled, knowing exactly where they were referring to. Tea'lc's face was more sombre. Maybe Major Carter appreciated the activity of fishing more than he had been able to. But then, he wasn't really sure what a 'honeymoon' was.

"Is the act of attempting to catch fish an important component of this 'honeymoon' ritual?" the Jaffa wondered aloud. "I have been to the cabin of which you speak, and it seems there is little else to do there," he frowned, with less than fond memories of O'Neill refusing to allow him to do anything else other than the futile act of fishing. His eyebrow rose in confusion at O'Neill's loud and sudden snort, and Major Carter's swiftly reddening cheeks.

"Oh no, Tea'lc, no, you don't, you don't fish.. Unless that's what you're callin' it now.." an increasingly inebriated Daniel slurred, spurred on by the increasing laughter from Hammond and Janet.

"Tea'lc," Hammond interjected, being the one most able to coherently explain the matter, recovering slightly better than Janet, who was collapsing in giggles beside him, or Jack and Sam who were still somewhat too dumbfounded to answer. "A honeymoon is an earth tradition, nothing to do with fishing. When a couple become married, it is customary after the wedding to take a holiday together, to spend time with each other alone, I suppose to get used to married life before coming back to the real world, so to speak," the General smiled warmly.

"I see," Tea'lc murmured. "Isolation is a requirement of this honeymoon, then? A test to see whether the couple is well-suited. I believe Major Carter and Colonel O'Neill have no need for such a test, General Hammond."

"Well no, it's not quite like that," Hammond chuckled. "It would depend where the honeymoon was, it doesn't necessarily have to be an isolated place, but some couples would rather spend a lot of the time alone -"

"Tea'lc, Tea'lc, it's so the relationship can be con.. consu.. consummated," Daniel stammered semi-coherently. "They wanna be alone so they can.. you know.. be intimate...! They wanna have a whole load of -"

"DANIEL!" The archaeologist's rambling voice was cut off suddenly by the combined shrieks of shock from Jack and Sam, and laughter from Janet. Hammond, too, was turning slightly pink as his shoulders shook with mirth.

Tea'lc raised an eyebrow, silently surveying the occupants of O'Neill's lounge. Jack had now leapt on top of Daniel, trying to stifle the archaeologist's increasingly loud attempts of explanation. Sam had hidden her face resignedly in her hands, and the General and Janet appeared to be incapacitated with laughter. He, himself, saw nothing funny in the situation. He understood the concept of consummation of a union, and did not see why O'Neill and Major Carter should be so horrified by the mention of it, unless, perhaps, it was not their desire to. But that would make for a strange union indeed, and he did not believe it to be so between them. He made a mental note to ask O'Neill when he next got the chance; perhaps in a different situation, he may be more forthcoming...

TBC

A/N: Thank you for taking the time to read!! I promise I'll carry on getting chapters out as soon as I can. Reviews would be really, really lovely!! Thank you!!