A month and a half later
Cassie is giggling at Dominic's impression of his English teacher when a familiar figure catches her eye. It's Jack O'Neill, and he's coming out of a jewelry shop.
"Jack!" she calls.
He freezes and turns to her with an expression which can only be described as completely horrified. That's a surprise to her. Jack is always glad to see her.
"Hey Cassie!" he exclaims with artificial brightness. She is honestly not a huge fan of the fakeness. If he's not happy to see her right now, she'd rather he was just honest about it.
"What are you doing in there?" she asks, leaving the seat outside of the frozen yogurt place to cross the few steps over to where Jack stands, awkwardly shifting back and forth on his feet. Jack doesn't have any family close enough to give jewelry too. She's probably the closest he has to family. She ponders for a minute; maybe that's why he's acting all squirrely… but it's not close to her birthday, and Jack O'Neill isn't the sort of guy who just randomly gives big gifts.
He's much more of the 'show you how much he cares by doing things with you' type. Much better, in her opinion.
"I was just looking around," he says nervously.
She raises one eye brow (Teal'c taught her), and glances at the bag in his hand.
Jack deflates, and abandons whatever charade he had going on, and says, "Fine! I was buying an engagement ring!"
"What?! I didn't even know you were dating anyone! How long have you been dating her? What is she like? Does my mom know about this? Does Sam know about this? What is her name? How did you meet her? When can I meet her? How are you going to propose?"
While the questions are coming fast and furious, Jack figures he's safe. There isn't actually time to answer between the questions. Then the pause, and the silence fills the air, and he figures he's got to give her some kind of an answer, some kind of a response. "It's classified," he says stone-faced (he learned that from Teal'c).
"So you're dating an…" Cassie leans forward and whispers, "… alien, too?"
"Too? Who else is?" Jack asks, deciding its best neither to confirm or deny her suspicion.
"Sam," Cassie says with a roll of her eyes. She figures there is no way that Jack could really be ignorant of that little fact, and figures he must have just been pretending in case she was fishing for information.
Jack chuckles a little at that, and Cassie doesn't even attempt to understand. She knows that SG-1 has so many inside jokes that you would need a diagram to get through the average conversation with them. "I wouldn't think you would have a problem with aliens dating, little missy," he says after a quick check assures him that no-one is within earshot.
"I just don't like you dating people that I can't meet," she pouts. He sees something else in her face, and realizes that she just doesn't like Sam and him dating people that aren't each other. That realization makes him take a little pity on her.
"I think you'll like her," he says.
"When can we find out for sure?" she asks cheerfully.
Jack seriously debates telling her. After all, the General said he had to keep it quiet until there was a ring involved, and technically there was a ring involved. It was right there in the shopping bag. The only thing that keeps him from telling her is the fact that he's having a bit too much fun with torturing Cassie.
"I don't know. If she says yes, I suppose I'll invite you to the wedding."
"Jack," Cassie whines, "Come on! Tell me something about her!"
"She's without question one of the smartest people on the planet," Jack says.
"Wait, this planet?" Cassie asks.
Jack doesn't say a word, but his face clearly says 'oops'.
"Is this girl smarter than Sam?" Cassie asks. She can't actually imagine someone smarter than Sam.
"I would say about equal in intelligence," Jack says, holding the laugh inside his cheeks.
Cassie looks at him critically. If she didn't know that Sam was dating an alien, she would think that Jack was dating Sam. Then again, Jack claimed to be dating an alien.
"Blond hair, blue eyes, leggy?" Cassie asks.
Jack is far too focused on keeping a laugh inside his mouth to answer.
"Oh my God, you are going to marry Sam!" Cassie exclaims, so loud that anyone else who happens to be in the parking lot turns to stare.
"I said nothing," Jack says, raising both of his eyebrows high.
Cassie jumps into his arms to give him a hug that just doesn't end. He swings her back and forth.
"I can't believe you kept it quiet this long! Seriously! How long have you been together?" Cassie demands.
"We've only been dating for two months, so this whole thing might be a bit premature. I would really appreciate it if you didn't mention it to her. With our jobs, we're not supposed to date. We sort of got special permission, but we're not supposed to say anything until we're married."
"Oh, come on, Jack, it's me. You can tell me."
"You were not on the list of people that I am allowed to tell," Jack says.
"Wait, there is a list? In other words there are people who knew about his before me?" Cassie says in shock and dismay. "Wait, my mother? Did my mother know about this?"
Jack doesn't say a word, but she can tell by his face! "Oh, that little twerp!"
"Be respectful!" Jack scolds.
"I did not use the word that I wanted to use," Cassie says.
Jack looks over at the table where her boyfriend is waiting, and her frozen yogurt is melting. "You should probably get back to your date. I'll see you tomorrow for our hike," Jack says, referring to an outing they already had planned.
"Are you going to have more news by then? When were you planning on asking her?" Cassie asks with excited eyes shining.
"I am definitely not going to be asking tonight. I don't actually have a plan quite yet; like I said, this is pretty early. Maybe crazy early," he says, fidgeting. He is beginning to wish that he never got caught, maybe that he never bought the stupid ring.
"She's going to say 'yes'," Cassie says, as if it were perfectly obvious, "She would say yes if you asked her even before you guys ever stared dating."
Cassie's voice is so sure that Jack can't doubt anymore. "Thanks," he whispers, giving her another eager hug. Then he gives Dominic a quick nod of his head, before getting into his car, and beginning a more serious plan on how to get his girlfriend to agree to marry him.
-0-
Sam comes home from work, utterly exhausted, to see a note stuck to her door. She opens it to find the first clue to a treasure hunt. She is tempted to leave the hunt off until the next day, but surprisingly she doesn't feel as exhausted as she did a few minutes ago. He has an almost supernatural power over her, she realizes.
-0-
Two hours later after traipsing around all of Colorado Springs (including interrupting Teal'c's kel'no'reem to get a note out of the middle of a candle, yes they had to wait for it to burn down, and interrupting Daniel's dinner so she could rummage through his freezer. Thank God General Hammond never gave Jack a key), Sam finally arrives at the end of the treasure hunt.
She expects there to be a grand gesture at the end of it, but there is just Jack and a wide grin.
"You must think pretty highly of yourself. You're the prize?" she teases.
"No, the prize is in my pocket," he teases.
She glares at him.
"No," he says, flustered by the misunderstanding, "I'm not asking you to reach into my pants pocket."
"Good, not that that wouldn't be a pretty good prize," she teases, moving forward to kiss him. She is stopped by his outstretched hand which comes into contact with her stomach. "I'm sorry," he mutters, embarrassed.
She glances down completely shocked at the small velvet box. "Jack," she says.
"Please don't let this ruin everything if it's way too soon," he pleads, looking terrified.
"You want to marry me?" she asks, surprised, and a little confused by his words. Why is he already assuming that she is going to say no? Or is he hoping that she is going to say no?
"I do," he says.
"You're not supposed to say that quite yet," she teases, giving herself a little time to get her thumping heart under control. "I say 'yes', but how is this going to work? No-one is supposed to know about us. I think they just might notice if we get married."
"Don't be mad but…" he says the first words already earning a glare from her, "I left something out of the first conversation I had with General Hammond. He mentioned that if we wanted to get married, we could go public at the base."
"You're kidding," Sam says with a face that is clearly delighted. Then it falls, "You're not marrying me just so we don't have to hide it anymore?"
"You are grossly overestimating how much I care about keeping it a secret," he says.
She shakes the still unopened box, "Why?" she asks.
"Are you seriously asking me to make another emotional declaration? You know how strongly I feel I feel about you, Sammy…." He is actually going to continue talking, but she interrupts.
"I love you, Jack. I trust you in a way I'm not used to trusting people. I'm sure about this, and ready to start our life together."
He grins wider than she's ever seen him grin before. "Look at that, I can make you say emotional things just as much as you can make me," she teases.
She knocks his shoulder playfully with her own.
"I love you, too," he says, "Open up the box," he says, bouncing on his feet.
She flips it open, and he wraps an arm around the small of her back. The ring has a circle of small diamonds around a large blue sapphire. It looks vaguely like a Stargate. "Kwoosh," she whispers.
"Good?" he asks insecurely.
"Very good," she says, kissing his cheek and wrapping her arm around him.
"I feel like we should celebrate, but I'm also tired."
"How late did you work? I sat in this freaking park for four hours!" he exclaims.
She giggles. "Why didn't you call me and tell me to go home?" she asks.
"I didn't want to ruin the surprise," he pouts.
"Poor baby," she says, moving to get him a more traditional hug. "Let's go home."