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DREAM COME TRUE
“So, what do you think? You? Me? Marriage?”
The sounds from the laughing and talking personnel off in the distance faded away, even the bright and cheery birdsongs and light rustle of the wind through the trees providing shade for the party disappeared as Jack O’Neill waited for her reply. The object of his proposal sat in front of him, on the blanket he’d carefully spread out beneath the shade of a large tree just far enough away from the main celebration for privacy, but close enough to maintain a semblance of security on what was still an alien planet.
Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter’s expression was not encouraging. He smiled and wiggled the open ring box he held in front of her. He hoped her frown wasn’t because of the ring; he’d deliberately chosen one as far removed from the one she’d had before. Maybe the two karat princess cut diamond was too glitzy, but he’d wanted something worthy of her.
“If you don’t like the ring, we can get another one,” he blurted out, giving into the nervousness slowly building the longer she remained quiet.
“It’s not the ring.”
Almost flinching at her sharp tone, Jack’s jaw clenched and he concentrated on keeping the smile plastered on his face. The look on her face told him she expected him to do or say something else, but he didn’t have a clue what she wanted. He was the one waiting for answer.
His heart sank when her blue eyes clouded over and she shook her head, abruptly standing up. He squinted up at her when she towered over him and said tersely, “You just don’t get it do you?”
“Don’t get what?” Jack called after her retreating figure. She didn’t turn around and as much as he wanted to get up and chase after her, he didn’t. He’d already made more of a spectacle of himself than he wanted with the aborted proposal; no point in drawing anymore attention to himself. Maybe proposing to Sam during the festivities on P2C-106 hadn’t been such a good idea after all.
“O’Neill?”
Jack yelped in a most un-general-like way when Teal’c suddenly materialized from behind the large tree. Evidently he had been sitting behind a desk too long. “For crying out loud, Teal’c! You almost gave me a heart attack.”
Teal’c appeared unperturbed, smiling faintly as he lowered his considerable frame down onto the blanket and leaned back against the tree trunk. The Jaffa raised an eyebrow. “O’Neill, are you considering a proposal of marriage?”
“What?” Jack asked in momentary confusion until he realized he still held the open ring box in his hand. Grimacing, he flipped the lid down on the black velvet box and stuffed it in one of his vest pockets. “Briefly, Teal’c.”
Jack couldn’t stop himself from looking in the direction Carter had walked; she stood with a small group of people clustered around one of the food tables. He frowned, she looked completely calm and unfazed by their recent conversation and he wasn‘t surprised when Teal‘c, with his usual uncanny perception asked, “You proposed marriage to Colonel Carter?”
“Yeah, T,” he admitted. “I did.”
Teal’c shook his head. “O’Neill, you love Samantha Carter?”
If anyone else would have asked him that question, under these particular circumstances, Jack would have gotten up and walked away--or slugged the person. But this was Teal’c. “Yeah, I do.”
“And yet you ask her such an important question here?”
A roar of loud, raucous laughter suddenly rang out, followed by the sound of running feet and Cameron Mitchell suddenly landed in the middle of the blanket, clutching a football triumphantly to his chest. “Got it!”
If Jack had been in a better mood, the look on Mitchell’s face when he realized where he had landed would have amused but him. But under the circumstances…. “Ah, sorry, sir.” Mitchell scrambled to his feet, still clutching the football and slowly backing away.
“Mitchell! Come on!” One of the other football players called from a safe distance.
“It won’t happen again, sir.” With a quick salute and cheeky grin, Mitchell loped back across the field, raising the football in triumph. Jack watched for a moment as the football game reorganized before his eyes once more searched for Sam, locating her in the shade of one of the tents, sitting next to Landry.
Jack sighed. “Probably not the best idea.”
He didn’t even try to explain to Teal’c how he’d had the ring for two months and it wasn’t until he’d seen the look on Sam’s face when Vala had made her innocent suggestion to Marty about a wedding that he’d finally found the courage to ask her. It was too humiliating to admit, even to Teal’c, that he’d been a fool--first for not asking her to marry him months ago and second, for totally screwing it up when he finally did.
“Do you not believe Samantha deserves the marriage proposal of her dreams?”
Jack’s head jerked around, not surprised when he saw the look of understanding on Teal’c’s face. Tilting his head, he studied Teal’c for a minute before curiosity got the better of him and he asked, “How do you know her dreams?”
“She is a woman. Whether on Earth or Chulak, dreams remain the same.”
Jack’s eyes drifted back to Sam. She was the most important thing in his life and he really had made a hash of proposing marriage. Teal’c was right, she deserved better than his casual proposal.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Where’s General O’Neill?” Sam kept searching through the various groupings of laughing and talking personnel gathered around the DHD. Shading her eyes against the still bright sun, she looked back towards their picnic area where the personnel assigned to breakdown the tents and other equipment worked. Nowhere did she see that familiar head of silver hair.
Walter didn‘t look up from the DHD, slowly and carefully identifying each glyph. “Went back already.”
“Back to Earth?” He did look up then and gave her a ‘where else’ look. “Sorry,” she said. “Stupid question.”
“O’Neill remembered a previous engagement.”
Teal’c spoke from over her shoulder; Sam turned and looked at him. “A previous engagement?” Even though she tried, she couldn’t keep all the skepticism out of her voice--at both the excuse and choice of words.
“He did not elaborate.”
“I see.” The sound of the gate opening gave her an excuse to turn away from the sympathy in Teal’c’s eyes. She didn’t really understand, Jack’s unexpected departure was just as confusing and unexpected as his earlier marriage proposal.
Suddenly anxious to leave, Sam ignored the rest of her team and joined the first group going through the gate. Her stomach was churning; she needed to get back to Earth and find Jack. She couldn’t believe that he would just leave, it wasn’t like she had said no. He should have known that she wouldn’t say no, she’d just been…disappointed. Which, after she’d had time to think, had to acknowledge was her problem--not his.
And then before she could give him her answer, he’d had the nerve the leave.
Sam made it through the gate and after confirming--much to her disappointment--that Jack wasn’t on base, changed out of her gear on automatic and made it to her car in what was probably record time. It was a beautiful late summer evening, which was going to go to waste if she couldn’t find Jack. If he wasn’t on base and hadn’t returned to DC, there was really only one other place he could be and if she got home and he wasn’t there…well, she didn’t want to think about that possibility. She really had to get a grip, she loved him and she knew he loved her, their relationship was strong and once they talked, everything would be okay.
Leaning against her car, Sam tried to call him again, but his cell still went directly to voicemail. “Dammit, Jack,” she swore softly, tucking the phone back in her jacket pocket. “Where are you?”
The words were barely out of mouth when Sam felt the still mostly unfamiliar tingling sensation that, at least for her, was generally followed by envelopment in a transport beam. Instinctively closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and in the next moment, exhaled when she found herself onboard what could only be the Odyssey. A grinning Captain Emerson merely waved at her from across the control console and before she could even gather her wits and open her mouth, she felt that tingling sensation again.
The second time she materialized, she gasped for breath and staggered, letting out a small yelp when she felt a set of strong arms close around her from behind. “Hey there, it’s okay, Sam. Take a deep breath.”
“Jack!” She relaxed marginally, turning in his loose embrace as fast as her still wobbly knees would let her.
“Surprise!” He grinned at her, his dark eyes sparkling with something very akin to mischief.
“Where are we?” she asked, taking a step back. His arms fell from around her and she slowly looked around, finally recognizing the rustic porch and surrounding wooded area. “We’re in Minnesota?” Jack nodded, his expression only dimming slightly at her slightly accusing tone. “But how?”
“Let’s just say,” he commented lightly, taking her arm and urging her towards the open front door. “That both Emerson and the President owed me a favor.”
“Oh.” Even though there was so much she wanted to say, one syllable seemed all she was capable of at the moment. Once inside, she let him help her off with her jacket. It had been several months since she’d been to the cabin and she looked around in bemusement. The living room looked much like she remembered, except for all the candles, their flickering light casting a soft glow around the comfy room, their presence only adding to her confusion. He had managed to knock her totally off-kilter; first with his proposal of marriage and then with the unconventional means of transportation to Minnesota.
“Sam.”
Her nerves stretched so tight now, Sam almost jumped at the sound of Jack’s voice, smiling nervously. “Jack, I don’t understand….” She didn’t know what else to say, her voice trailing off helplessly.
His smile was gentle and he took her hand, leading her towards the sofa. Evidently she was more distracted than she realized, because she hadn’t even noticed that the coffee table was covered with the checkered table cloth that was normally on the kitchen table. It was too early for a fire, but there were candles on the mantle and at least a dozen more flickering brightly on and around the grate.
Sam slowly sank down onto the sofa, only then noticing the ice bucket resting on the floor and holding a bottle of wine, along with the slightly battered picnic basket they used when they went out on the lake. It was all starting to make sense, in a very odd and Jack-like way, and she felt a small thrill of hope start to build. “Jack,” she tried again, “what’s going on?”
She thought she was an expert at reading him, but the look in his eyes was one she’d never seen before and the thrill in her stomach turned into a warm flush that started to slowly spread through her. And when he knelt down on one knee on the floor in front of her and took her left hand in his, her heart almost stopped beating.
“Sam, I love you more than I ever thought I could love someone. I’ve spent the last ten years with you and I can’t imagine spending the rest of my life without you.” He paused for a brief moment, the exquisite diamond ring she’d only glimpsed earlier suddenly in one hand. “Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
Sam didn’t think she could love him anymore than she already did, but her heart swelled to near bursting with love. It was the most perfect marriage proposal ever. “Yes,” she whispered, brushing at the tears brimming in her eyes with her free hand. “Yes,” she said again more firmly. “I’ll marry you.”
“Thank god,” he said, slipping the ring onto her finger.
Sam couldn’t take her eyes off his face, even to admire her engagement ring, the dark flash of love and desire in his eyes when she’d yes burned through her. And the look of tender love on his face now, made her heart melt and she turned her hand in his, tugging him closer and murmuring, “Kiss me, Jack.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The sun had long set and the candles burned down before they finally had the picnic Jack had prepared for his second attempt at proposing. Sam looked particularly fetching, with her hair tousled, wearing only his shirt and her panties--and the ring, of course. He was secretly touched, and amused, by how often she would pause and look at it, as if she still couldn’t quite believe it.
“I’m sorry,” he said suddenly. She gave him a questioning look. “For earlier.” He shrugged, “For such a lame marriage proposal.”
Sam smiled, looking almost shy when she admitted, “I would have said yes, you know. Even without all of this.”
“I know,” he said, not because he was that smug or conceited, but because he was that confident of their love. “But as I was reminded, we all have dreams.”
“And do you have your dream?”
Jack was surprised by her question and almost tossed out a flip answer, but the look of idle curiosity on her face was tinged with just the slightest hint of uncertainty. Reaching out, he took hold of left hand, lightly rubbing the ring he’d placed there, relieved to see the glow of love replace the uncertainty in her eyes when he roughly murmured, “I’ve got my dream come true.”
THE END