Chapter three

Daniel kept looking at his watch, and by the time it was five minutes before the ceremony to begin, he decided he had to go look for Jack. Trying to not draw attention to himself, he turned and slipped out the side door at the front of the chapel. It didn't take him long to discover that Jack was not behind the church, or anywhere else in sight! Daniel ran around to the front of the church and found Jacob, Sam and Janet standing in the foyer. They were obviously ready to begin walking down the aisle. Daniel hated to be the one to tell Sam that Jack wasn't there, but he felt he had no choice in the matter.

"Daniel, what are you doing out here? You're supposed to be at the altar," Janet said nervously, her brow furrowing with worry.

'Oh, God, what's wrong?' Sam thought, but she didn't utter a word. Jacob just stood there next to his daughter with a peculiar smile on his face.

Just as Daniel opened his mouth to speak, Jack came rushing in through the front door, jerked open the chapel door and disappeared inside without looking at anyone or saying a word. Daniel sputtered an apology and then opened the door and followed his friend up the aisle to the altar. He didn't see the angry, frustrated look on Jacob Carter's face, or hear the words that followed between him and Sam.

Jack had spent the last half hour thinking about everything that Jacob had said to him. He knew that some of it was true. He wasn't as smart as Sam. She did probably wish she could talk to him about stuff at work, but realized he wouldn't understand it. And he knew she was independent, willful and stubborn. He wasn't so sure about the ambitious part. 'If she was ambitious, she would probably be commander here by now! She certainly has the brains for it,' he thought with pride. And that was the thing; he WAS proud of her. Very proud. And he liked the idea of being married to someone of whom he could be proud.

As for the kid thing, it hurt to think she had told her father that she didn't want anymore kids. Hell, it even hurt to think she had been writing to Jacob and seeing him behind his back. But he figured he could put the blame for that on himself; Sam probably didn't tell him, because she was afraid of how he'd react. That she felt she wasn't cut out to be a mother, Jack already knew. That she had actually consider aborting his baby, he truly didn't believe. He knew Sam better than that. He knew she loved this baby. He had heard her talking to it, and he had seen how excited she got when they talked about names. But if she really didn't want anymore after this one, then that would be fine with him. He just wanted her, not anyone else. He didn't want her to try and be something she was not. He loved her the way she was, and that was why he was here now and why he wasn't going to let Jacob ruin their wedding day.

As Janet arrived to take her place opposite the men, they both noticed she had a peculiar look on her face. The wedding march seemed to be starting all over again, and Daniel was just beginning to worry that now something had happened to Sam, when he finally saw her and Jacob standing in the doorway. Jack looked past the rising crowd to Sam. He thought she had never looked more beautiful, and he thought Jacob had never looked more discouraged and unhappy. 'Score one for O'Neill!' Jack had cheered on the inside.

There were quite a few people dancing, including Janet and Daniel who really seemed to be taking their romance up a notch. Janet, whose feet had been hurting since before the ceremony, had taken off her six-inch heels and was actually standing on Daniel's feet as they moved around the dance floor. The petite brunette had both arms around his neck and he had his arms around her waist. And every couple of minutes they would kiss and look dreamily into each other's eyes.

It wasn't until they were dancing that Jack found out what had happened just before Sam walked down the aisle. They were dancing what they had decided would be their last dance before they left to change for their honeymoon, when Jack commented on the fact that Sam's father had left right after the ceremony. He figured he knew why, but he wondered why Sam didn't seem to be upset about it.

"Jacob left awfully fast," Jack commented into Sam's right ear as they moved slowly around the dance floor.

"Yes, he did," was all she said.

"Any idea why?" he asked, fishing to see if she knew about the conversation between her father and him. He was certain that Jacob had said something to her before the ceremony, and Jack wanted to know about that conversation as well!

"I think you know why, Jack. He came here to try and talk me out of marrying you. He was disappointed when he didn't succeed," she said.

"I could tell. What did he say exactly?"

"Oh, you know...the usual. How we are not compatible, you're too old for me, etc., etc."

He wondered why Jacob hadn't brought up their age difference with him, but he guessed it really didn't matter now. Jack had been pleasantly surprised that her father hadn't announced, in front of the entire group, that he knew of a reason that the two should not marry. Jack had held his breath through that part of the ceremony. After it passed and he breathed a sigh of relief, Jack wondered if maybe Jacob wasn't as much of an ogre as Jack had thought!

"Hmmm. Is that all he said?" Jack asked.

"Pretty much."

"And what did you say to him?" Sam hadn't mentioned the subject of kids just now, but Jack figured they could talk about them some other time. And besides, they did already have one lovely daughter and another one the way!

"Well obviously I told him I wasn't going to change my mind," Sam replied, grinning at him. "Jack, I've got the man I want, and no one is going to convince me I've made a bad choice...not even my father!"

"I'm glad, Sam. Really glad," Jack told her as he kissed her cheek. "Did he tell you he'd already talked to me?" Sam pulled back and looked him in the eye.

"No! When?"

"About a half hour before the ceremony." They danced without talking for a minute, and then Sam pulled back again and looked at him.

"Is that why you were so late? Did he say something to make you have second thoughts, Jack?" she asked, her brow furrowing.

"I did spend some time thinking about everything he said to me. But I decided that I think you're worth the risk, even if you're not perfect," he said with a mischievous grin.

"Well, I guess I should be thankful that you decided to take a chance on me," she said, faking offense, but he could see a smile playing at he corners of her mouth.

"Me too! I'm sure your father was pretty good at pointing out my faults to you, and I know that I have an awful lot of them, Sam. So I'm really glad you decided to give me a chance too." They stared at each other for a few seconds, and then they stopped dancing and kissed...one long drawn-out embrace that caused everyone to stop what they were doing and watch. The entire room broke into applause, and then the song was over.

Two hours later Jack and Sam were changed into BDUs, which he told Sam were perfect for what he had planned for their transportation. She just looked at him curiously. He had been like a kid, planning their honeymoon trip behind her back and not willing to tell her anything about it. So she had played along, but she was getting very anxious to know where they were going.

"Okay, I'm all ready! I just hope we're not going on a mission," she joked, "because I can tell you for certain that I won't be much help if we have to run from any irate natives."

Jack laughed. "No, I promise there won't be any irate natives. Come on, honey. Let's go," he coaxed her as they left their apartment. Mellie had already been dropped off at the sitter's apartment, so now all they had to do was take their duffel bags and get on their way.

Thanks to Bill Reynolds, Jack's replacement, they had the use of an ATV to get them up to their campsite. That had been one worry that Jack was happy he'd solved. Now he just had to pray that Sam would enjoy his little surprise. As soon as they got on the four-wheeled vehicle and headed in the direction of their mountain, Sam leaned over and shouted in Jack's ear.

"We're going to the mountain?"

"Yes!" he shouted back over the roar of the engine.

"But Jack, the house hasn't even been started yet!" Was there something he wasn't telling her? She knew he couldn't have built the house without her knowing about it. They could probably sleep outside, she figured, since none of those large predators had been seen for the past year, but still...

"You worry too much!" he shouted back. Sam just hung on and waited patiently to see what Jack had in mind. But when they passed the turn that would take them to where their house was going to be built, and began climbing the steep path up to the place where they'd first made love on Egeria, Sam could stand being quiet no longer.

"Jack, are we going where I think we're going?" The sun was beginning to set, and Sam was beginning to hope that Jack had thought this through. It was still the summer season here, so at least it wouldn't get very cold at night. But she also wondered about bathroom facilities, water and other things! A pregnant woman without toilet tissue and a place to sit down was not something she liked to consider!

"Yup! But I said don't worry!"

"But Jack, I can't sleep on the ground in my condition! You know how much my back has been hurting lately," she worried aloud.

"I know!" was all he said, and so she just held on tight to his waist and waited. In just a few minutes they arrived in the little hidden space near the summit. Sam had always thought of it as a magical place...the kind of place she'd read about in legends as a child. She could almost imagine that fairies lived here. Well usually when they'd come up here that was the feeling she had gotten, but today her impression of the secluded little valley was somewhat different. It had changed...big time!

Today there was a tent at one end of the grassy area. And in the center there was a wooden platform, and all around the platform were tall, flaming torches sticking up out of the ground. And there sitting on the platform was a large bed. Not a military-issue cot, but a real bed! And on the bed were white linens, including a fluffy comforter and four plump pillows. And also on the wooden platform was a table and two chairs. The table was covered in a white linen cloth, and on it sat plates, silverware and glasses. Sam stood next to the platform and stared, astonished by what she saw.

"You did all of this for me?" she asked him.

"Well, I did have a little help. But I planned it all...down to each item of food that we'll be eating. By the way, dinner was just delivered a few minutes before we left to come up here, so I think we'd better eat it while it's hot," Jack suggested.

Sam looked at him with love in her eyes as she accepted his hand. Then he guided her up onto the platform and over to one of the chairs. After she was seated, he opened a bottle of sparkling water and poured some into their glasses. He had decided that if she couldn't drink alcohol, then he wouldn't either!

Next he went to the insulated boxes which sat to one side of the table and took out two salad plates, setting them down on the table. As they ate they looked at the sky, a few stars making an early appearance in the blue-blackness. After the green salads, Jack got out the main course, which consisted of filet mignon steaks prepared medium well, and baked potatoes with real butter, sour cream and chives on the side. When Sam had eaten every last bite of her steak and most of the potato, he placed a pink bakery box on the table and opened it. Inside were two huge slices of cheesecake, and in a separate container was the strawberry topping which Jack poured over her slice. When it came to cheesecake, he was a purist!

When they were finished, Sam pushed her chair back from the table and groaned.

"Oh, my God, Jack," Sam said, her hands rubbing her belly. "I'm sorry, but don't think I can make it to the bed, let alone have sex with you tonight. I'm positively stuffed!"

"Don't worry, sweetheart, tonight I promise to do all the work," Jack assured her, lifting his right eyebrow provocatively as he winked at her.

TBC