A/N: This sequel to A Mother's Love takes place around year 10. I have taken great liberties here as Janet Frasier and Jacob Carter are very much alive and well in my story. As this is future tense and therefore new territory, please be understanding! Updates won't be as quick as my previous stories due to hectic nearing the end of the school year stuff! I'll do my best though! I also wanted to thank all of you for your thoughts for my student who had a bone marrow transplant last month. Everything went well and he is nowresiding at the Ronald McDonald house and so happy to be out of the hospital! Children have such strength and resilience..it just amazes me! Well, on with the story!

A Father's Determination

Chapter One - Family

Jack O'Neill leaned against the door frame to his son's room, arms crossed loosely, and smiled at the sight before him. His wife, Sam, sat in an antique rocking chair, singing softly to the little boy cuddled up in her arms. From his vantage point, Jack could see the little boy's eyes drifting closed as his mother's soft voice lulled him to sleep. His heart swelled with love for both of them as he gazed upon the scene. He could never quite get over the fact that this was real: Sam and JJ were really his. This wasn't a dream, wasn't an alternate reality, wasn't an alien-induced hallucination. No, this was his life now and he hadn't known such peace and contentment in a long time.

Sometimes, late at night, his heart would clutch in fear that it could all be taken away from him in an instant; just as Charlie had so long ago. At times like that, he would get out of bed, make his way down the hall and check on JJ. His heart always stopped its erratic beating once he heard the steady breathing of the little boy in his crib. He would come back to bed and reach for Sam and pull her tightly to him; just needing the contact to reassure himself that she was real as well.

The scene currently before him was indeed real and it warmed his heart. Quietly, he stepped away from the door and came to stand beside the chair. Sam looked up with a surprised, yet welcoming smile, "You're home early." Jack just shrugged in return, putting a hand on her shoulder and squeezing gently.

Whispering quietly, she said, "He's finally asleep. Can you put him in his crib?" As Jack bent to take JJ from her arms, Sam brushed a soft kiss on the baby's head and relinquished her hold on him.

Jack laid his son in his crib and pulled the light blanket over his shoulders. Then he took Sam in a loose embrace and they stood gazing down at their child for several moments before he led her quietly from the room.

Once they were in the living room, Jack turned Sam in his arms and looked deeply into her eyes. "I missed you guys," he said quietly before bending his head to give her a kiss that he had been thinking about ever since he had returned from his visit to the Asgard. Well, much longer than that, if he were honest with himself.

Sam leaned back in his arms and looked up at him with a gentle smile. "We missed you too. How did everything go with the Asgard?"

"Oh, you know. A little talking, a little compromising, a lot of dancing around the issues: the usual diplomatic meeting between twodifferent cultures," Jack stated with a grin. "I must say, both the Asgard and the Makesh were very impressed with my diplomatic skills."

Sam raised an eyebrow at that but said nothing.

"What? They were," Jack insisted.

Sam chuckled then rested her head against his chest and sighed happily. He had been gone for almost a week – the longest they had been apart since they had married almost 2 ½ years ago. And she was very happy to have him home once again.

For her part, Sam hadn't been on a mission in quite a few months. Since she had given birth to JJ 9 months ago, she had opted to stay on base as the lead research scientist , working in her lab and leading a team of over 20 specialists in various scientific fields. In the last four months, she would occasionally go out on scientific or fact finding missions, but preferred to stay away from the type of missions that could end in disaster. Of course, she didn't always have a say in the matter and would go wherever she was needed. But deep down, Sam felt that since she had worked so hard at finally having the family she had always dreamed of, she didn't want to risk losing them. And she definitely didn't want to take the chance at leaving her son motherless.

Although Jack sometimes broached the subject of the changes that had occurred for her on base, Sam didn't feel as if she had given up anything. She had to occasionally reassure him that she didn't regret giving up command of SG-1 and that she hadn't done it just for him and JJ. She had really done it for herself. She was no longer just content with her life: she was truly happy and Jack couldn't argue with that. He felt the same way. No more running for his life from the Gou'ald, no more alien viruses running rampant through his body. And most important of all; no regulations keeping them apart anymore. Jack was more than happy to go on the occasional diplomatic mission to help out the Asgard. That, along with his duties as Off-World Operations Specialist, kept him busy enough.

While Sam was on base five days a week, Jack was often there only 2 or 3 days, which left him plenty of time to bond with his brown-haired, blue eyed son. And that was time that Jack wouldn't trade for anything.

"So, what did you have planned for this afternoon?" he asked with suggestive tone to his voice, drawing her back to the present.

Sam appeared to give it some thought before she answered. "Well, I do have those specs from the generator that Siler put together to go over. Plus, I should start to get ready for this evening. We are having company tonight, remember?"

"We have lots of time to get ready for that. Throw some steaks on the grill and toss a salad together: won't take any time at all." He bent his head to her neck and began to kiss her softly. "I can think of much better things to do while our son sleeps than go over scientific mumbo jumbo."

Sam returned his eager kisses: she just happened to agree with him.

Two hours later, Jack was awakened by a thumping noise coming from the nursery. Reaching across the bed and finding it empty, he sat up and ran a hand across his face before getting to his feet. The thumping noise increased, followed by the building crescendo of babbling from his son. Jack grinned as he heard Sam call out from the kitchen, "Hold on JJ, Mommy will be right there."

Jack opened the door and called back to her, "That's OK mommy, I'll get him." He strode the few feet to JJ's bedroom and opened the door quietly. Jack grinned at the sight before him: JJ had thrown all of his stuffed animals out of his crib except for the teddy bear that dangled from one hand. He was standing in his crib, holding himself up by the bars, and rocking the crib back and forth as hard as he could, thus explaining the thumping noise that Jack had heard moments ago.

JJ's babbling stopped when he caught sight of his daddy standing in the doorway. "Dada!" he squealed, trying out the fairly new word he had recently understood to mean the man who stood in front of him.

"Hey there, little man. What's all the fuss about?" Jack stepped over the toys strewn on the floor and reached into the crib to take JJ out. "Why are you throwing all of your toys out? Bored with them already?" He cuddled the little boy close and kissed him on top of his head. Jack had missed this little guy so much in the last week; he was looking forward to spending a long weekend at home with his family.

JJ pulled back to look up at Jack. The two shared a look of mutual admiration before Jack's nose wrinkled. "Eww! Maybe I should have let Mommy get you up," he stated as he walked over to the changing table. "Now this, I did not miss," he declared once he had tossed the dirty diaper into the nearby diaper pail. JJ just gurgled at him as he chewed on his teddy's nose.

Jack chuckled as he picked up his son once more and glanced around the room. "Looks like my office at work." He bent to pick up the Bart Simpson doll that lay near the door. "Now, I thought we agreed that Bart wasn't going to get tossed around anymore. He's supposed to be treated with respect!"

Sam laughed from the doorway, "Sorry Jack, JJ apparently doesn't hold Bart to the same level of esteem that you do. He prefers his teddy bear; which is much cuter by the way!"

"Hmph!" Jack snorted as he brushed past her and went into the kitchen to retrieve a bottle for JJ. Sam followed him, smiling as she recalled how Jack had searched high and low to find a Bart doll similar to the one AU JJ had been attached to. He had been filled with triumph upon finding one in a specialty toy store in Denver. Unfortunately, their son preferred the soft teddy bear that Sam had purchased almost three years ago foranother little boy.

Truth be told, Jack didn't mind in the least that his son preferred the teddy bearover Bart; he thought it was quite fitting, actually, that his preference was a toy Sam had picked out a few years before he was even born. Jack just liked to make Sam think that it bothered him.

Jack took JJ out onto the back deck and sat down, cradling his son carefully while the little boy drank from his bottle. "So, when is this company supposed to arrive?"

Sam looked at her watch before taking the seat next to him on the deck and reaching over to tickle JJ's toes. The little boy grinned and giggled at her around the nipple in his mouth but didn't relinquish his hold on his bottle. "Everyone should be here in about an hour. Teal'c and Daniel are coming from the base but Daniel has to stop by to pick up Janet. Cassie has finals next week so is staying at school. I've already made two salads. Janet's bringing some fruit salad and Teal'c said he'd pick up dessert on his way over."

"Dessert?" Jack's ears perked up. "I hope he brings cake."

"I'm sure he will," Sam laughed at him. "So all we need is for you to cook the steaks once everyone arrives."

"That I can do," Jack assured her. Then he quirked an eyebrow at her, "You say we have an hour?"

"Jack! Not in front of the baby!"

Jack chuckled and pulled her close. "Like he knows what we're talking about," he whispered in her ear before kissing her soundly.

Sam returned the kiss before pulling back. They both smiled as JJ let out a belly laugh at being squeezed between them. Sam leaned forward and gave JJ a kiss as well before standing up. "OK, enough of that for a while. I'm going to go shower and get ready. Will you two be all right on your own?"

"Of course, mom. It's not like we'll tear the place apart while you're in the shower!"

Sam stood back and crossed her arms over her chest, giving him 'The Look'. "And what, pray tell, happened the last time I left you two alone when I went to the grocery store?"

"Hey, that wasn't my fault! JJ wanted pudding. The directions never said anything about mixing it on low speed! I didn't want him to choke on any lumps!" Jack tried to explain, his expression a mix of innocence and defense.

Sam just rolled her eyes at him. "Right. So you used the hand mixer on high spend and just left lumps of pudding all over the kitchen instead." She turned to go back into the house, thought of something, then threw over her shoulder, "Just to let you know, there is no pudding in the house. At all." She slipped into the house before she could make out the mumbled reply that came from the deck.

"Well, she's no fun," Jack said under his breath. JJ just looked up and smiled.

JJ was sitting in his high chair in the kitchen, eatingan early dinner that Sam was spoon feeding to him, when the doorbell rang. Jack went to answer it, warmly greeting Daniel and Janet before ushering them into the house. He smiled at the way Daniel kept his arm possessively around Janet's waist. He was so glad they had gotten together last year. They were meant to be together, just like he and Sam were.

Sam looked up from feeding JJ and gave them a welcoming smile. "Hey guys. Glad you could make it. How has everything been at work?"

"Same as usual. We've missed you, though," Daniel told her truthfully. Like Sam, Daniel had been spending more of his time on base than off world. When Sam had opted not to return to SG-1 following JJ's birth and Teal'c had taken on a greater role in leading the now freed Jaffa, SG-1 had been formally disbanded. Although he did go off world a bit more often than Sam did and on various teams, they still sought each other out on base and ran ideas past each other. And shared cups of gourmet coffee in the privacy of Daniel's lab.

Sam stood up to get a wash cloth to clean JJ. "Yeah, Mrs. Nelson hasn't been feeling well so I took a few days off. She assures me she'll be fine next week and will be able to watch JJ for us." Mrs. Nelson, Sam's previous neighbor, watched JJ when both Sam and Jack were at work. Even though it was a bit of a drive from her house, she adored both Sam and JJ and love watching him. She had grown rather fond of Jack O'Neill as well, and enjoyed teasing him as often as she could.

"Ah, good old Mrs. Nelson. She ever forgive Jack for not saving any of that apple pie for you?" Daniel quipped.

Sam laughed as she cleaned JJ's hands and face. "Yes, eventually. But she made him promise not to eat any of the next one until I got the first piece."

Jack leaned against the counter and scowled, "Yeah, and I had to wait for 8 hours with that pie just sitting there. I tell you, it was complete torture!"

"More so than my needles?" Janet asked with a grin.

Jack looked at her out of the corner of his eye, almost wary that she might be carrying some with her right now. "Almost," he replied shortly.

The doorbell rang once more and Jack escaped the laughter that was aimed at him. "T!" he greeted upon opening the door. "Just what I need, a comrade in arms!"

"Is there something wrong O'Neill?" Teal'c asked with a lift of an eyebrow. He could plainly hear the laughter emanating from the kitchen, so knew there was no danger present.

"Nah," Jack waved his hand. "They're just picking on me. Is that cake?" he asked, abruptly changing the subject.

"Indeed." Teal'c handed over the cake and followed Jack into the kitchen. He was greeted warmly by his friends; it had been several weeks since they had last seen Teal'c. He spent his time traveling between Chulak, Earth, and various other planets that the free Jaffa now inhabited. He was an ambassador of sorts, much like Jack. But first and foremost, Teal'c was a warrior and would come to the aid of his Tauri friends whenever he was needed.

"Colonel Carter, I am most pleased to see you," Teal'c greeted Sam. "Is my Godson faring well?"

Sam smiled at Teal'c as she handed JJ over to him. Teal'c was always more than willing to hold the little boy. "He's doing just fine, Teal'c. You know, I really do think it's about time you started calling me Sam. You are one of my son's Godparents, after all."

Teal'c smiled as JJ patted his cheeks in greeting. He bowed slightly to Sam and said, "As you wish Samantha."

Well, it was a step in the right direction at least.

An hour later, the five adults were sitting in various spots around the living room, talking and catching up with each other. Though they didn't work as a close-knit team any longer, they were still best friends, family even. They had all missed being together like this.

"He's an awful lot like the other JJ, isn't he?" Daniel asked as he helplessly tried to keep JJ from grabbing at the glasses on his face.

Jack grinned, "When it comes to your glasses, Danny, he's exactly the same." Sam took pity on Daniel and handed JJ a toy to play with instead, then resumed her seat next to Jack. The baby settled down a bit in Daniel's lap and played with the soft cloth ball he had been given.

"I must agree with Daniel Jackson. There are many similarities between JJ and the child we cared for several years ago," Teal'c stated with his usualknack of restating the obvious.

Sam looked up on a bookshelf where she kept a framed picture of the little boy who came to them through the Quantum Mirror. He had been a little older than her son was now when the picture was taken, but the similarities were uncanny. Same light brown hair and deep blue eyes filled with curiosity. Add to that the same smile that definitely came from Jack, and they could almost be twins.

Almost – but not quite; for there were differences as well. Her son had deep-set dimples on either side of his mouth which made him all the more adorable when he smiled. He was also a bit more active than AU JJ had been. Once he began to crawl a month ago, there was no stopping him. Not content to sit and play quietly with his toys, he was into everything and had to be watched like a hawk. But every once in a while, he would stop his play and look at one of his parents with a look of wisdom that belied his tender years and would remind both of them of that other little boy.

Sam met Jack's eyes and shared a smile with him. Yes, their son was very similar to the child they had cared for nearly three years ago. They often wondered how he was and if he had a little brother or sister by now. He had been the catalyst that had brought them together and they knew they would never forget him. But JJ was well and truly theirs and they had never been happier than they were right now.

"Your domicile has changed much since I have last been here O'Neill," Teal'c stated, taking in the toys that dotted the floor, the playpen in the corner, and the wide array of scientific journals on the bookshelves.

Jack drew Sam closer to his side and let his gaze take in his son, still happily chewing on his toy. "That is has my friend. And I wouldn't have it any other way," he declared in all seriousness.

In a spaceship orbiting Earth's solar system, several members of a different race were huddled together over an intricate display of computer images. They talked quietly together, trying to decipher the information they had gathered at their meetings with the highly regarded Asgard.

The individuals who were huddled around the consoles straightened abruptly as two panels slid open, revealing three of the higher ranking members of their people. One man stepped forward from the group huddled around the computersand bowed slightly, "High Chancellor, we have been reviewing the information received from our scans taken aboard the Asgard ship. The human named O'Neill is as we thought. He has a gene of the Ancients but does not appear to be as advanced as we had hoped. He is not the one the Asgard sought to further their race. We do not believe he can be the answer to our own problems, either," he bowed regretfully and backed into the group, hoping not to incur the wrath of the High Chancellor.

They were all surprised to hear the even tone of their leader speak out. "I thought as much. O'Neill did not possess the attributes that are necessary for our cause. However, I have since learned something that causes me to regain hope. O'Neill and the one Thor calls Colonel Carter have recently produced a child."

An excited chatter broke out among the many gathered in the room of the vessel. "High Chancellor, do you think…"

"I think it may be possible. We have only to find a way to retrieve this child and discover if, indeed, he is the answer to our future. I fear we will have to continue this pretense with the Asgard we now find ourselves in. Although it is not our way, we must persist for the sake of our future."

Please review and let me know what you think. Should I continue? I have absolutely no idea how long this will be:)