Living
by LittleKitten

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"Okay Carter, dial us out." O'Neill spoke without even looking at his second-in-command. Instead, his attention was on the team's archaeologist; or rather the rapidly growing bruise on his arm.

Punching the seven symbols for home and pressing down the centre of the DHD, she let herself watch the Stargate come to life. It never failed to awe her; that she could actually see the event horizon of a wormhole.

Colonel O'Neill didn't think of it in quite the same way. As long as it got them from A to B and back again, he wasn't fussed.

Turning back and smiling at him, she let her commanding officer lead the way through the 'gate. Just like she always did.

Or rather, always used to. She had missed all the team's rhythms and rituals when she had taken time away from the SGC.

Taking one last look at the planet she knew they would probably never visit again, she stepped through to go home.



"I thought this planet was supposed to be uninhabited and therefore not risky." Janet's wry voice carried across the infirmary from where she was examining Daniel's arm.

"It was." O'Neill replied from his place next to Carter.

"Yet you still manage to injure yourself, Daniel?" She raised her eyebrows as she moved his arm; looking at the wince on his face to gauge how much pain he was in. "Okay, I'm pretty sure it's not broken; but we'll wait until the X-ray results come back to be certain. Try not to use it too much. You're free to go."

She wrote a few things down in her note as the two men left the infirmary; Daniel nursing his arm, and Jack satisfied that no member of his team was dying immediately or anything.

"Okay, it's your turn." Janet turned towards where Carter was sitting on one of the beds.

"How's Cassie?" She asked as Janet stuck a needle in her arm to take a small sample of blood.

"She's fine. Supposed to be revising for exams, though I'm not sure if she really is." Janet replied wryly.

"Tell her I said hi."

"I will. She was moaning the other day about having no one to play chess with any more."

"Maybe she can come round after her exams." Sam replied.

"She'd love that," Janet smiled as she continued her examination. "So, how's Jacob?"

"Oh, he's fine. Can't wait to see him." A grin crossed her face.

"Okay, I'm finished now. Oh, and remember we're having a girls night on Saturday at your place." She added as Sam jumped off the bed and headed for the showers.



Humming to herself, Sam pulled the fitted t-shirt over her head and rubbed her damp hair vigorously with her towel before brushing it.

Sitting down on the wooden bench to put on her trainers, she heard a knock at the door.

"Hey, Carter - is it just you in there?"

"Yep." She replied, and O'Neill came in to sit opposite her.

"Hammond's given us a few days off to see what Daniel's like before deciding what to do with us." He explained, and she smiled.

O'Neill sighed, a happy sigh, before talking again. "You know, I do remember a time when you wouldn't leave work. Now you can't wait to."

"Things have changed now. You know that." She paused before shoving the ends of her shoelaces inside her trainers and re-arranging the cuff of her jeans before standing up.

Glancing over at his clean BDUs, she grabbed her bag and keys, slamming the locker door shut.

"Are you staying here?"

"Just for a while. Hammond has some paperwork he wants me to do." He looked at her for a moment, before bringing his eyes up to meet hers.

"What?" She asked, and he shook his head. " Okay. See ya."

"Bye." He said as she walked out of the locker room, leaving him still sitting on the bench behind her.



Sam smiled as she pulled up into her friend's driveway, leaving the keys in the ignition. The door opened before she reached it.

"Hey Sam."

"Liz, hi!"

"Come on in. He's in the front room." She led the way, and Sam smiled broadly.

"Hello Jake!" She spoke quietly, picking up the young baby from where it was lying on the couch. "How've you been?"

"Great." Liz replied, smiling as she touched his cheek with one finger.

"Thanks again." Sam made her way to the front door.

"Well I'm stuck in the house all day anyway." She stood in the doorway for a moment, watching Sam walk to her car before shutting the door.

With the keys still in the ignition the radio was still playing quietly, with the cheerful voice of the presenter between the songs. She opened the passenger side door to put her child into the backwards-facing seat.

The song changed, and Sam sang the words gently as she fastened the harness. The young blue eyes looked up at her, and she smiled back.



Sam Carter looked out of her living room window, her baby cradled in her arms. She spoke softly to him, her voice making him calmer.

Turning to sit down on a reclining chair, she picked up the remote to surf the channels quietly with her son lying on top of her; his head on her chest, and his small mouth stretched in a yawn.

Coming to the music channels, she found one with a decent song on it and put the remote back on the armrest of the chair.

"Long day, huh?" she said as Jake closed his eyes, and she brought her arms up to hold his small body; singing softly the song in the background.

*Because of you
I forgot the smart ways to lie*

She still hadn't told her friends at the SGC who the father of her baby was. Not even Janet. All they knew was that they had named him after her father.

*Because of you
I'm running out of reasons to cry*

Sam smiled as Jake's fingers curled round the neck of her t-shirt, and she closed her eyes. She felt slightly guilty about leaving him with Liz during the day. Liz had been her best friend at one of the many schools she went to, and she had three kids of her own.

But she didn't feel she could give up her job at the SGC - it was beyond all her dreams, being able to travel to other planets...and then there was the new friends she had made there.

The time she did spend with her son felt all the more valuable to her.

*When the friends are gone
When the party's over*

Hearing the door being unlocked, she opened her eyes. "Your daddy's home!" she whispered to Jake's sleeping body as she stood up.

"Sam?"

"Hey." she walked over and kissed him gently on the lips, passing him their son.

"I missed you!" he smiled down at Jake. "I'll take him upstairs."

Sam nodded, wrapping an arm around his waist and leaning her head on his shoulder as they made their way up the stairs slowly.

*We will still belong
To each other*



They leant on either side of the cot with a mobile dangling between them.

"Jack?" she said quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Are we ever going to tell them?"

"Who?" he looked up from his son.

"Daniel, Teal'c, Janet...? About Jake."

"You know if anyone else finds out..."

"Yes, I know," she sighed. "Hammond will find out and we'll both end up court martialled. But I don't know how long I can go on pretending to Janet. She asks me at least once a day who the father is."

"I know."

"What about my dad?" she asked.

"He'd organise my court martial himself! That would be if he hadn't killed me already for accidentally getting his daughter pregnant, who was - and still is - in case you hadn't noticed, in my chain of command."

"It wasn't just you."

"You think he'd see it that way?" he replied, and she smiled.

"Janet's coming over tomorrow night, by the way."

"I suppose we could always let her accidentally find out." She caught the twinkle in his eyes as he walked around the cot.

"It feels like we're in two different worlds, and I can't decide which one I like better," he said softly as he slid both his arms around her waist from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder. "The one where I get to go to different planets and do things unimaginable to most people on Earth, where I have the best Major I could wish for, even though she is a scientist, who also flirts with me from time to time. Or this one, where I get to be with you, and have a child.

"I think I prefer this one at the moment," Sam smiled. "Do you want to get a take-away tonight?" she asked before his hands started to make their way up her top. Turning around, she captured his lips.

"Mmmm...actually," he said in between kisses. "I'm not hungry at the moment.

"You know," she tugged at his t-shirt as they made their way towards the room next door. "Neither am I."



*fin*