The tannoy and klaxons burst to life as the chevrons on the Stargate glowed and clanked into place. Sargeant Harriman turned to Major Pierce apprehensively and announced: "It's the Tok'ra sir."

Pierce took a deep breath. "Open the iris, and call General Hammond" A few moments later Jacob Carter stepped through the gate and Pierce ordered the defence teams to stand down. He heard the control room empty out behind him as he made his way down to the gateroom and was nearly knocked down by the rush of SF's and technicians who were trying to put as much distance between themselves and the bewildered Tok'ra as possible. Pierce squared his shoulders and braced himself. Why'd this have to happen when he was officer of the watch?

"Good Morning General Carter, I'm Major Peirce. General Hammond is currently in a meeting at NORAD, but he'll be back down shortly. Would you like to wait for him in the briefing room?"

"Thank you Major, but if my daughter's here, I'd like to see her"

"Major Carter is currently at her home General, she's not working today."

Jacob could sense fear radiating from Pierce. He felt a stab of anxiety and asked quickly "Is she OK? Why isn't she working? Has she been injured? Is Colonel O'Neill here?"

"She's fine sir, perfectly healthy – I'm not sure why she's not working today. Colonel O'Neill and the rest of SG-1 are on a mission off world right now".

"And she's not with them? What's going on?"

"Jacob! Good to see you – it's been a long time!"

Pierce sighed in relief at the sound of General Hammonds voice. He came to attention and with a quick "Sirs" left the room as quickly as he could without actually running. Jacob stared at his rapidly retreating back in consternation. "What's going on George? Why isn't Sam here and why isn't she with her team? Pierce said she was OK, but everyone seems to want to put as much distance between me and them as possible"

Hammond chuckled. "Sam's fine Jacob. She's just worked a 7 day stretch and I ordered her home to get some rest. As for SG-1, well, she isn't assigned to them anymore. She works full time in the labs at the moment." He held up his hand as Jacob's mouth opened to ask more questions. "There's nothing wrong Jacob but I think she'd want to tell you all about it herself. Why don't you go to the infirmary and let Doctor Frasier clear you and I'll organise a car for you to go and see Sam."

Jacob allowed Selmak to calm him as he glared at Hammond. He trusted his old friend not to lie to him but he was still worried. He could see the remaining SF's in the room shifting nervously and avoid his glare. The control room looked suspiciously empty and the only technician he could see through the glass was staring intently at the monitor and looked as if he was trying hard to be invisible. Something wasn't right. He looked at the other General with narrowed eyes. "You've just called her Sam twice. What happened to maintaining proper military protocol?"

"I'm facing an anxious father here Jacob – worried about his daughter whom I first met when she was a baby. In those circumstances military protocol be damned. Go see Doctor Frasier and then go see for yourself that she's.." Hammond paused, and considered his next words carefully, "..that she's healthy. Airman, escort General Carter to the infirmary." The waiting airman looked as if he'd prefer to take on an army of Jaffa. He wilted a little further as Jacob Carter glared at him. "Now, Airman"

"Yessir!" He took off quickly not even waiting to see if the Tok'ra followed him. Hammond also left the gateroom leaving Jacob no other option than to follow in the airmans wake.

His attempt at pumping Janet for more information was useless. She would only tell him what he had already heard, that Sam was healthy, not injured, off work because she needed to rest. She did let on that O'Neill, Daniel and Teal'c were off world with SG-1's new team member and that they were due back sometime in the next few hours. She point blank refused to tell him why Sam wasn't on the team any more. Eventually she came back to where he was waiting and announced that all the tests were clear and that he was free to leave the base. She caught his arm as he started to leave.

"Jacob you have to believe us that she is well and happy right now. If anything had been wrong we would have tried to contact you somehow. The Tok'ra told us months ago that the mission you were on would take some time and that we shouldn't expect to see you for a while. Sam wanted to expain why she switched assignments to you herself and not have you receive a message via the Tok'ra."

Jacob's head dipped and as he raised his eyes Selmak spoke in his deep and measured tones. "Thank you Doctor Frasier. Your words have calmed Jacob somewhat. You must understand that he wanted to return here before now but was prevented from doing so because of our mission. We had received word some time ago that SG-1 had been missing for some weeks. We have been concerned about Samantha since then as we had only been told that they had returned with no word on their condition"

Janet smiled. Jacob would learn the truth of what happened on that mission soon enough but there was no way she was going to be the one to tell him. No way.

"Go and see her. She'll be excited to see you."

UhOhUhOhUhOhUhOhUhOhUhOhUhOhUhOhUhOhUhOhUhOhUhOh

The drive from the base calmed Jacob even further and he felt a little embarrassed about his reactions earlier. He knew that Sam would eventually hear about it so he decided to do a little pre-emptive strike and soften her up a bit. He stopped at the local shops and picked out a few small presents for her – he had after all missed Christmas and her birthday while on his latest undercover mission for the Tok'ra. He wandered around the mall for a while enjoying the running commentary from Selmak on the weird and wonderful behaviour of the Tau'ri and their bizzare customs. Eventually Selmak had enough and requested that they go somewhere quieter. Jacob drove the few blocks to his daughter's house and pulled up opposite and started to gather his parcels together.

A screech of tires made him look up to see a black truck come flying round the corner and speed down the quiet street toward him. As it came closer he recognised it as O'Neill's truck and his concerns came to life again as it slammed to a halt outside Sam's house and Jack flung himself out of the truck running towards the front door, leaping over the gate in his haste. The door opened and Sam stepped out onto the porch. Jacob's breath caught as he saw her and a shiteating grin blossomed across his face. Even from this distance the swell of her pregnant belly was visible – or it was until Jack reached her and enveloped her in his arms. He could see Sam's hands moving over Jack's back as she tried to calm him down.

Jacob laughed softly as he understood the fear he had felt around the base. He toyed with the idea of playing with Sam and Jack and producing the reaction that everyone obviously expected from him. Memories of the hormonal mood swings of pregnancy surfaced and that, coupled with Jack's highly protective nature and killer instincts made him abandon the idea. Jacob wanted to live long enough to meet this latest grandchild. He didn't know how they had managed to circumvent the regulations and be together and at this point he really didn't care.

UhOhUhOhUhOhUhOhUhOhUhOhUhOhUhOhUhOhUhOhUhOhUhOh

Sam had heard Jack's truck pull up and came out to see what the rush was about. As he grabbed her in a crushing hug he was saying over and over again, "It'll be OK, it'll be OK." He was freaking her out and she pulled back from him so that she could see his face. It frightened her.

"What happened? Daniel? Teal'c?"

"They're fine, it's not them. Are you alright? Has he upset you?" Jack looked angry and scared. Really scared.

"Who?" She lifted her hands to his face and kissed him softly. "There's no one here but me. I've been resting quietly, just like everyone told me to. No phone calls, no visitors and no work. Who could possibly have upset me?"

"I think he means me"

"Dad!"

"Jacob. Sir" Jack moved protectively in front of Sam and stood as tall as he could while praying for Thor to beam them both away. A long way away.

Sam swatted him out of the way and moved to hug Jacob. "Surprise!" she whispered in her Dad's ear as he gently embraced her.

Jacob's eyes filled with tears as he looked at her glowing face. "It's the best surprise ever. I'm really sorry now I couldn't get here earlier. When are you due?"

"In four months. Everythings gone fine so far and we're not expecting any problems. I'm so glad you're here."

Jacob looked over her shoulder at Jack. "I certainly hope you had something to do with this."

"Now listen Jacob before you go all snakehead on me and tear me limb from limb you have to let me explain – I…"

"Relax you idiot – I'm not angry at you. How could I be angry at the only man in the galaxy who could make my little girl so happy? I guess you must managed to get by the frat regulations if you're both still working at the SGC and I'm glad because it was getting too painful for me to watch knowing how much you loved each other and that there was nothing anyone could do about it."

Jack was poleaxed. "You're happy about this? You wanted me and Sam to be together? Jacob you realise I am going to be the father of your grandchild and you are never going to be rid of me?"

"Jack, this is obviously going to come as a huge surprise to you and if you repeat it to anyone I may have to kill you, but I not only like you, I have a great deal of respect for you and have considered for a long time that you are the only man good enough for my daughter. I am proud that you'll be a member of our family." Jacob reached out and gripped Jack's shoulder. "Really. I think this is a very good thing."

"Uh, cool. We're cool then. Good. Excellent. OK."

Jacob swept inside the house with Sam talking softly into her ear. Jack was left standing on the porch trying to figure our what just happened. Eventually he gave up trying. If Jacob was happy then Sam was happy and if Sam was happy that was all Jack cared about. The fact that he hadn't been torn limb from limb by an angry father/airforce general/Tok'ra was an added bonus.

Life was definitely good.