Thanks to Hazmot for pointing out something, although to be honest, I think tptb forgot about the healing device as well, lol. (no surprise there – hardly sticklers for their own canon, are they?) :o)

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Daniel mumbled as he munched on a macaroon, his eyes closed, "Mmm. I'm glad I'm marrying you. These are great." He reached for another one. Laughing, Sam lightly punched his arm as they leaned against a worktop. She feigned shock.

"You're only marrying me because I kicked ass making some macaroons?"

He swallowed, and then smiled as he gazed at her. He raised a finger as though to make a point. "You didn't blow our house up. That's a trait that any man would love in a woman."

She shook her head in disbelief and then leaned against him, her head on his shoulder. He asked, mumbling around another mouthful of macaroon, "Do you want some?"

She made a face. "I don't like macaroons much. I guess it's the coconut. When Cam made some for me, I could have sworn they were more coconut than macaroon."

He chuckled. "They're mostly coconut anyway." He smiled at her teasingly. "You eat Mounds."

She shrugged and then smiled as she looked up at him a touch coyly. "Well, you like them... and they are covered in chocolate. Kinda distracts me from the coconut."

He grinned. "I like chocolate." He glanced at the tray of macaroons next to him. "Hey, you know, we could make some cookies. Not now though because I'm sure that you're thinking of the same thing I am." He raised his eyebrows suggestively.

She laughed softly as she hugged him from the side. "Daniel, you are incorrigible." She paused, looking up at him, her head still on his shoulder. "How are you feeling?"

He shrugged a little. "Still in pain, if that's what you're asking. Carolyn insisted on putting me on a lower dose of painkillers."

She smiled. "You're disappointed."

He kissed her forehead. "I usually hate the high, but it's different when I'm with you. I don't have to worry about acting like an idiot because I do it anyway."

"Oh Daniel..." She readjusted her arms around him. "You don't." She laughed a little. "Well, not all of the time." She smiled as he kissed her, her hand on his shoulder as he slid his hands down her waist. "You taste of macaroons."

"Are you going to stop kissing me now?"

She stood on tip toe as she held onto his shoulders. "That would be impossible."

He murmured against her lips as he moved some hair from her face, "Good."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Daniel lie tucked in bed, watching Sam undress, a smile on his face. He remarked as he shifted a little to get a better view, "Well... just got to wait for Mitchell to heal, and then we can get down to the whole wedding business again."

She sighed as she put her pyjamas on far slower than usual. "Yeah. Can you imagine how much more pain he'd be in now if Vala hadn't used the healing device? It took so much out of her though – Carolyn had to grab the device from her so she didn't collapse."

He murmured distractedly, "Yeah. It takes a lot of mental energy... and Vala was already pretty drained what with the whole Tomin thing as well as what happened on Ortus Mallum."

"Hmm. Yeah." Worried, she joined him under the covers as he instantly held her. "You know, you never told me exactly what happened." He shook his head, but she persisted, wanting to know exactly what had happened to him. "Tell me. I need to know."

She watched him in the soft light of the bedside lamp as he looked up at the ceiling. He closed his eyes and remembered everything. He said quietly, his voice sounding congested and a little hoarse, "The Doci... he used my own fears against me." He met her gaze as she looked up at him, scared and concerned. She was upset to see tears in his eyes. "Losing you, and everyone... my parents, Teal'c, Jack, Mitchell, Vala... some other stuff." He sniffed and shook his head, his eyes closing again. "I don't want to think about it, Sam. I know I should try to deal with it, but... I can't. Not right now."

Quietly crying as she had inkling of what he had been through, she peppered kisses all over his face. She whispered, her hair falling around him as she leaned over him, "When you're ready, I want you to tell me everything."

He nodded as he gazed up at her. "I'll try. It won't be easy..." He chuckled humourlessly as he looked away from her, looking troubled. "... you know that. I guess I've just got to work things out in my head first, you know?" He smiled a little as he reached up to play with a strand of her hair, changing the subject. "I really love your hair at this length."

She decided to let her worries go for the moment, knowing that in time, he would share the memories of his ordeal with her. She smiled as she lowered her lips to his. "I'll admit that it took a lot of getting used to after having short hair for so long, but you know... I get this really nice girly feeling..." Her smile widened as he looked amused. "... and you seem to like it."

"That I do..."

She continued to smile as she lie down next to him and she asked as she rubbed his arm, "How's your arm?"

He shrugged. "I've had worse."

She sighed. "Unfortunately... that's not far from the truth."

"You worry too much."

"Someone has to." She suddenly smirked mischievously. "Evidently your boyfriend does as well."

He looked at her in confusion and then closed his eyes, groaning. "If I ever find that Airman, you can hold him down while I shove his playing cards where the sun doesn't shine."

She snorted with laughter at the belligerent expression on his face, and he frowned as he looked at her. "You never said anything."

"I was waiting for you to say something."

"I was going to."

She raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. When we retired." She paused. "So you gonna tell me why General O'Neill was apparently banging my fiancé?" He looked at her in disbelief and she shrugged. "Hey, don't shoot the... grape vine eavesdropper."

He frowned, looking annoyed. "I happened to mention stitches to Mitchell while Jack was there."

She chuckled. "Uh-oh, bad idea."

"Yeah, tell me about it. When we left Mitchell, Jack practically dragged me into a room and took my clothes off. An Airman walked in on us while I was half-naked... which must have resulted in a gossip explosion. Who did you hear it from?"

She smiled as she snuggled up to him. "Cam overheard a couple of nurses expressing their utter disbelief... and disappointment that you're gay. He seemed to think it was the funniest thing in the world when they worked out the odds of me killing Jack when I 'found out'."

He looked grumpy. "He would." He looked at her, a little confused. "You're surprisingly okay about this piece of gossip. You went after Carolyn and half the nurses with a training stick when someone spread a rumour that they had naked pictures of me."

She shrugged, sounding defensive at first. "Oh come on... you've seen how they look at you... even if you won't admit that it's anything but friendly or professional." She leaned over him again. "I know you're not gay, Daniel. That's been..." She smiled contentedly. "... repeatedly obvious. I'm not sure about the General when he's around you sometimes, but I don't care."

"Well, all's well that ends well. Speaking of which..."

"Oh... if the guys could see you now."

He groaned as he held her a little tighter. "Sam. I'm not that injured."

She looked at him in dismay. "Not that injured? Daniel, you've got stitches!"

"On my shin!"

"And then there's all the bruising that you have and the cuts and..."

He pouted, looking grumpy again. "You know, most women just say they have a headache."

She smiled slightly as she rested a hand on his lower back when he turned onto his side. "I'm doing this for you... because you are definitely not fit enough for the things I mentioned on the Odyssey."

"Says you." He closed his eyes. "Sam..."

"You know, when it comes down to it, you can be a typical guy sometimes."

He rolled his eyes. "Hello, Y chromosome here."

She laughed. "You're so cute when you're grumpy."

"Well, you give me enough practice."

She lightly traced the barely visible cuts on his face, a thoughtful expression on her own face. He kissed her fingertips when they reached his lips, and she smiled a little before kissing him gently. She lie at his side, facing him as he lie on his side too, undoing her pyjama top. He reluctantly stopped when she pulled his t-shirt off, and then they giggled as they took their own clothes off to expedite matters. They went back to each other's arms, his lips going her throat as she groaned, her fingertips gliding up and down his back and neck.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Cam woke up, his eyes still closed as he slowly moved each part of his body, checking his pain levels. He moaned a little and eventually opened his eyes, realising that it was still night-time as the Infirmary lights had been dimmed. He wondered how long he had been asleep. His eyes moved to his left to see Vala curled up in a chair, sound asleep. He smiled weakly as he watched her, more than grateful to still have her in his life.

Not wanting to wake her, he grimaced silently, looking very much in pain as he sat up, fighting the urge to scream. He managed to get up, steadying himself against his bed as he felt a little dizzy, having not stood up for at least a couple of days. He stretched a little, mouthing a pained scream when he moved something that he probably shouldn't have. He rubbed a shoulder and looked down at his fiancée. Ignoring the pain that every single movement brought on, he carefully picked her up in his arms, struggling not to drop her or to grunt. He lay her down on his bed, pulling her boots off, looking worried that they hadn't even been tied in the first place. He smoothed her hair and then sat down in her chair, again mouthing a scream as he slowly lowered himself into it.

He moved the chair closer to the bed and rested his head on it, closing his eyes and breathing through most of the pain as he rested a hand on her hip.

A few minutes later, Vala woke up, confused at being in a bed. For one scary moment, she thought that perhaps she had been injured somehow but then she remembered where she had been before finding herself in an Infirmary bed. She had been at Cameron's bedside. She carefully turned over, feeling something on her hip as she quickly assessed the situation.

All thoughts of looking for an escape from a captor flew out of the door on seeing Cameron seated where she had been sleeping earlier, his head on the bed as he slept, looking very uncomfortable. She appeared troubled as she touched his hair tenderly and she got up. The movement woke the Colonel and he asked in a groggy voice as he tried to sit up,

"Baby?"

She helped him sit back into the chair as she said, shaking her head as she looked worried, "Cameron. You can't do this. Get back into bed."

His eyes closed, he said quietly, "You need to rest."

"You need more rest than I do right now. You're going to impede your recovery if you do things like this. You're in a lot of pain right now and... just you wait 'til that scary doctor finds out. Wait, no, I should be more of a threat here. What were you thinking?"

He groaned. "Oh, come on..."

"No, don't 'oh, come on' me. Get back right now."

He groaned again. "I just want to go home and sleep. I hate being here."

"Well, as I understand it, you're not supposed to prefer this place." She tugged him to his feet as he moaned pitifully. "Cameron, stop it."

He whined. "I can't help it."

"You should have thought about that before risking your health by getting out of bed and picking me up." She shook her head in disbelief. "You know, I wouldn't be surprised now if you and Daniel were actually related." She smiled a little, heaving him back into his bed. "I thought you were anyway but that was because of the limited gene pool in this part of your fair planet."

He smiled weakly, grimacing periodically as she covered him up. "You know, it's your planet as well."

She shrugged, paying a little more attention than was necessary in tucking his blankets in. "I wasn't born here."

He reached up to touch her face as she looked down at him. "It's still home... for as long as you want it."

She smiled, suddenly tearful as she leaned down to kiss him. "Well, then... I doubt whether I would not want it at any point." He smiled too and she said as she smoothed his brow, "Go to sleep. I'm not going anywhere."

As he closed his eyes, he said softly, "Go back to my quarters. That chair is not comfy."

"Oh, like that's going to happen." She dropped back into her chair and held his hand as she watched over him. She kissed his hand, resting her face against it as she whispered, "You know, I'm going to have to get used to using your last name... when we eventually tie the matrimonial knot."

He murmured, his eyes still closed, "Oh, baby... you don't have to. That's just some old Earth tradition. I don't own you."

She smiled and kissed his hand again. "That's what Daniel told Samantha... and she's taking his last name on account that she knows he respects her as a person."

He opened his eyes a little as he looked up at her. "Vala... your last name is a part of who you are. I don't want you running away from that. God knows you spent all those years running anyway from things and hiding. I'm flattered you want my name, but..."

"But nothing. If it will make you happy, I could always put them together."

He smiled. "I'm happy whichever name you go for." He closed his eyes once again and groaned. "We might end up getting married here at this rate."