Pink Is For Girls
Chapter one
Sam had just completed her last day in the lab in the community of Tok'ona. Now she would have four months of maternity leave, for which she was very thankful. She was just plain tired of lugging all the extra weight around all the time. She had put on more weight than with she had with her first child, and now her back hurt, her feet hurt and she had been having contractions for the past few days, although she hadn't mentioned them to Jack. Her OBGYN said she wasn't concerned about them, as long as Sam took it easy until the baby was born. So, since she knew Jack would worry needlessly, Sam had decided not to tell him. But she did have some other news for him, and she hoped he'd be happy about it.
Jack, who had managed to retire even earlier than planned, had already fallen into a routine, having dinner on the table for her each night when she arrived home. 'At least she no longer has to walk in all that mud,' he thought happily as he looked out the window of their new two-bedroom apartment at the newly paved street.
Sam had invented a surfacing material from some new minerals found on Egeria, and already there were ten miles of the stuff laid down inside and outside the compound, which they were actually calling a town now. The only road outside the perimeter fence was the one that lead to a nearby lake and also to the base of their mountain...the place where Jack was building their new house.
He looked up when he heard the door opening. "Hey, there, beautiful!" he cried as he hurried over to welcome her home from work. 'She really is beautiful,' he thought as he pulled her into his arms, hugging her as closely as her growing belly would allow.
"Nice of you to say that, Jack, but I certainly don't feel very beautiful," Sam groaned as he walked with her to the table. "And I look like a beached whale!"
"I love whales, Sam, but believe me, I see no similarities between my beautiful wife and a leviathan of the deep!. In fact, you always look great!" he assured her. He knew that women became insecure about their appearance when they were pregnant, and Sam had been no different. To combat her insecurities he always tried to make her feel special. And that's what he did now. She sunk gratefully into a chair and watched quietly as he dropped down, albeit cautiously, onto one knee in front of her. After removing her regulation boots and massaging her feet in his large hands, Jack helped her into her house shoes. Then he got up and went to the stove.
"So what did you do today?" she asked, looking around the room. Everything was dust-free and tidy, and the only things laying out were a legal pad and some of Jack's magazines on the sofa.. She suspected they were copies of "Astronomy Monthly", which were about the only thing he read...with the exception of a few particular comic books, and an occasional copy of USA Today when he could get one.
"I've been planning our wedding! I contacted everyone on Earth, and I ordered the bcake/b !" Jack told her with a pleased grin on his face.
"I just bet you did! I hope we don't get stuck with a lot of extra cake this time," she remarked and then wished she hadn't. The last time they had planned their wedding, it had been canceled because of a fight they'd had. She had forgotten to cancel the cake, and so even after offering it to everyone on base, they'd had to throw most of it out. Apparently the Tok'ra didn't have a sweet tooth.
"No way, Sam! This time nothing is going to keep me from making you my wife," he vowed as he bent down and kissed the top of her head.
"Besides, everyone said they're coming! We wouldn't want to disappoint our friends, now would we?" he asked, winking at her as he set a basket of hot, fresh cinnamon rolls on the table.
God, one thing the man could do really well was cook! Well, maybe not just ione/i thing, she thought wickedly. But the good cooking definitely had something to do with her significant weight gain, she decided with a frown. Her doctor had even threatened to hospitalize her, if she didn't behave herself!
"No, I certainly don't plan on disappointing them, but things do have a way of happening to us," she said with a smirk. They were getting along much better lately, so she felt that teasing him now wouldn't make him jump to the wrong conclusion, as it had done a few months ago. Jack certainly seemed to be more confident about their relationship now, she thought to herself. Where as, for months during and after her affair with Martouf, he had literally shied away from anything personal between her and him. Heck, for months he didn't even speak to her!
'I'm sure my carrying his baby must have something to do with his level of confidence,' she thought briefly.
"Oh, and Teal'c's bringing his wife and daughter. And guess what?" Jack asked her, his excitement obvious.
"What?" She loved seeing Jack feeling so excited and happy about something. There had been far too many times when he'd been worried or depressed, and knowing she had caused much of his pain over the last two years made her feel terrible. She quickly pushed the thought aside.
"Teal'c, Shan'auc, and their baby daughter Shay'la are going to be living here full time!"
She had never met Teal'c's wife, but she had heard that the Jaffa woman was very beautiful and that she and Teal'c had met when they were just children. But at an early age Shan'auc had become a temple priestess, forbidden to marry, and he had become a warrior, sworn to protect and defend their god Apophis. But when they had discovered, thanks to the Tauri, that their god was nothing but an alien life form with no power of its own, the Jaffa of Teal'c's planet had slain their would-be god and had joined forces with the Tauri in order to free anyone oppressed by the Goa'uld. At General Hammond's invitation, Teal'c had brought his new bride to live at the SGC just the year before, and now they had a two-month-old daughter.
Jack continued to fill her in on the news. "Apparently Teal'c has been in discussions for quite some time with the President and High Councilman Malek. They've agreed to accept his proposal that he live here with a group of Jaffa warriors and their families. They will stay here in the compound for now. But if everything goes well, they will be allowed to build their own community later on. And they may be offered full citizenship on Egeria once they have proven themselves to be upstanding citizens. Isn't that great?"
"It's wonderful! But sort of surprising," Sam commented. Jack had been thinking the same thing, but then General Hammond had suggested that perhaps the Tok'ra were hoping to strike up more than a political or military alliance with the likable Jaffa.
"George thinks they may have an ulterior motive. As you know, the Tok'ra are always looking for new hosts and for people willing to marry their kind. He thinks the Tok'ra are looking at the Jaffa as possible mates. Which reminds me, the Tok'ra fleet arrives on Saturday, you know. I had really hoped they wouldn't get here until after the wedding," Jack commented. He didn't say it, but Sam knew exactly iwho/i he was thinking about.
Sam looked up at him and smiled. "It'll be okay," she said simply, but Jack knew what she was trying to say. Even if Jacob were among the Tok'ra settlers arriving on Egeria, he and Sam would stick together. Sam had chosen him over her father, and Jack believed that she would never go back on her promise.
Jack put a glass of milk on the table in front of her, saying, "Drink." Sam just rolled her eyes at him. He was worse than a mother hen when it came to her health and the health of their unborn baby!
Jack watched her out of the corner of his eye from the kitchen. He was very glad that they had a herd of cattle on Egeria now, making it much easier to meet the growing needs of the families in Tok'ona; their baby was among twenty-some that were expected this spring. Now they didn't have to send to Earth every few days for fresh milk and butter. Sam had even been able to design a small pasteurization machine that was just large enough to handle the milk they produced. It made Jack smile when he thought about the family of dairy farmers they'd had to recruit in order to make the farm possible. His grandparents would have been amused to know that these doctors and scientists needed the knowledge of simple people like them to get along...even out here zillions of miles from Earth.
Sam sipped her milk as she watched Jack dish out the food. She knew how lucky she was to have him, and she thanked her lucky stars each day that he had been able to forgive her stupidity and careless treatment of his heart. At least her short-lived affair had produced something good! Their daughter Malinda was still at their neighbors' apartment, where she had spent part of the day playing with their children. They sometimes preferred to eat dinner first before going after her. That way they had time to really talk to one another, which was something they had failed to do in the past. They were both determined that their relationship would last this time.
"I have to admit that I'm glad my maternity leave is finally here," she said as he set a dinner plate down in front of her. It contained a large helping of macaroni and cheese, applesauce and fresh green peas. Jack knew the combination was one of her favorites and that she considered it 'comfort food', so she smiled at his thoughtfulness. But it was such a large helping! What was the man trying to do to her!
"If I eat all of this, I will look like a whale!" she cried. She could barely get near the table as it was!
"Sorry. It's okay if you don't eat all of it. You need to save room for dessert!" he said, pointing at the cinnamon rolls with his fork. Sam just rolled her eyes at him again and dug in. When he was pouring her a cup of freshly brewed, decaffeinated coffee to go with her cinnamon roll, she surprised him with her news.
"By the way, I found out today that we're having a daughter, Jack." Jack recovered just in time to set the coffee carafe down without dropping it.
TBC