A/N: This will probably be my last installment of this series, unless I get reviews asking to continue. Or, the plotbunnies once more stage a coup and chain me to my computer like they did last time. I say probably, because one of my other stories was supposed to be only about ten chapters, but has hit the twenty-seventh chapter today. Thank you all for sticking with me on this, and thank you to all my reviewers. You've been awesome, and your reviews have served my plot bunnies well as food. Toodles! VMD-J
Okay. Enough was enough. For the past week and a half, three month old Peanut Jackson had been hauled awake at odd hours and bundled into her backwards facing safety seat, Reading-The-Baby-To-Sleep Shape sliding in beside her while Comfort Shape "drove like a maniac". That's what Reading-The-Baby-To-Sleep Shape had grumbled to the Jack Shape every time they saw him. She wasn't sure what to make of that new shape, just that he was married to "Oh-My-God-Samantha-You-Look-Gorgeous!" Shape. That one also went by the name Sam, who, if Jack Shape could be interpreted correctly, was carrying Jack Shape's baby. And, if Sam Shape's death threats were real, the baby was slightly overdue.
By three and a half weeks.
And now, here they were again, waiting for Reading-The-Baby-To-Sleep Shape to…
Hold on. Not good. He was the one driving. They only did that during extreme emergencies. Peanut remembered well the last emergency, when Comfort Shape had fallen down the stairs and needed to go to the hospital because she was taking a long nap. Jack Shape had been there before them, waiting with the team of other white shapes to take Comfort Shape away when Reading-The-Baby-To-Sleep Shape had lifted her from the car. Without a word spoken between them, Jack Shape had taken her Shape's keys and come to lift her carrier out of the vehicle. Peanut had been terrified, Comfort Shape was so full of life before that seeing her napping was disconcerting to say the least.
At the SGC infirmary, Peanut set up a wail as they entered the doors, causing Vala to wince and take her from Daniel. "Good, you're here. Sam's eight centimeters dilated, and wants Vala in the room with her to discuss how best to kill me. Oh, and she wants to learn a few more words to scream at me." Jack grinned weakly. Vala nodded and tried to hand Peanut over to Daniel, but to no avail. The baby clung to her and cut loose with a bone-chilling screech that had Daniel backing away quickly. "She probably remembers what happened last time we were here. You being hurt and all. Take her with you. Plus, she'll probably want to eat pretty soon. You can bring her out later if she fusses." He urged. Vala looked between them for only a moment before nodding and following Jack through the doors to Sam's birthing room, Peanut clutched against her shoulder to quiet the baby. Moving away from Daniel, she felt Peanut relax as they entered, knew that Peanut was smarter than they had given her credit for up till now.
Rounding a corner, Vala stopped short at the sight of Sam sitting in a round tub, fighting through contractions. "Get your ass over here and help me!" she growled, and Jack jumped to obey. Clutching his shirt in one hand and his hand in the other, Sam let out something akin to a half-grunt, half-scream as she doubled over in pain. "Breathe Carter. Remember to breathe. Oxygen's really good for the little guy or girl you have in there." he soothed, using his free hand to stroke her sweat dampened blond hair back from her forehead. Moving to the side of the tank Vala perched on the edge, one arm holding her baby, the other stretched out for her friend to take and squeeze. "So, any ideas what you're going to call it? For some insane reason, I have a gut feeling it's going to be a girl. Call it women's intuition if you will, had the same thing happen with Peanut, I knew instinctively she would be a girl. And, since I'm hardly ever wrong, I was thinking that maybe-"
"No!"
"No!"
Jack and Sam were adamant about their answer, and in unison as Sam suddenly groaned deeply and grabbed for her husband again.
"Alright, Sam. You're fully dilated, now would be a good time to start pushing." Lam smiled at her patient as she finished her underwater exam. Sam panted jerkily, nodded once to show she had heard.
"No heroics this time Carter. Just push it out." Jack added with a teasing grin.
"You were passed out drunk on the couch, Sir. I had to drive myself to the hospital last time, it's a wonder I didn't give birth in the car!" Sam growled, her words hitching at the end as another pain hit her.
"Speaking of last time, where is she?" Jack glanced up at Vala, who pointed to the doors where Daniel was holding up a three year old to the windows. Jack waved and smiled, then nodded once to Daniel. Seconds later, they were gone.
"Do you think it's wise to have her out there? She needs to see this, Jack. Let her see what Mommies go through, I don't want her not knowing as she grows up." Sam winced, then shifted positions uncomfortably. Jack slipped his shoes off and rolled up his pant legs, then slid behind Vala to get to Sam's head. Gently easing her forward, he sat on the edge of the tank and pulled Sam back against him. "Let her alone. She can see the next one. She's only three, it might scare her. Course, Daniel lets her watch Jason X when she visits, so for Ella this might be a little tame. But right now, I think it's best if she stays in the waiting room." He murmured.
"And as for me being passed out drunk, Ella was almost two weeks early. You said it would be fine, so long as I didn't make a fool of myself, remember?" he continued.
"You made a fool out of yourself that night Jack."
"I did not. I was in perfect control of my faculties."
"You were playing the piano, Jack!" Sam argued angrily, pausing to grip his hand in the throes of agony.
"So?"
"You can't play the piano!"
"Says who?"
"'Specially not with your elbows, while drinking yet another beer, I've got it on video, no use trying to deny it. I'll hold this over your head for…well, forever." Lam looked up at them and smiled, her job was almost done. "This should do it, Sam. Rest as long as you can, but with the next contraction, bear down hard. After that, the baby's practically going to walk out on it's own steam. Then we can call Ella and Daniel in." she told the group. Sam nodded and took a deep breath. Halfway through, she squeezed Jack's hand again, pushing with everything she had.
"So, how's that woman's intuition?" Daniel asked twenty minutes later as he watched Jack and Sam cuddle their baby in their VIP Maternity Suite in the infirmary.
"All I have to say is, he's the most beautiful baby boy I've ever had the pleasure of seeing. Are they sure it's a boy?" Vala asked, looking up at Daniel now holding their little one.
"Positive."
"Goody. We'll have to get them together quite often if we want them to have babies later on."
"Vala!"
"Oh, Daniel, you and I both know you don't have to be married in order to enjoy the finer aspects of a relationship, having sex, cuddling, driving lessons, and so on and so forth, you and I didn't make any type of long term commitment to one another and we've been going strong for quite a few years now. All I'm saying is that if one day Peanut decides to have a sleepover with him while we're away, I will be happy for her. Congratulate her, yes, ask her why she didn't do it sooner, perhaps, but get angry, no. If she wants to fall for the little O'Neill boy, that's perfectly fine with me."
Daniel sighed, looked down at his drowsy eyed daughter.
"Never listen to Mommy. Understand? She's just talking off the top of her head, she's excited and tends to do that. Like the time she told me she had taken her birth control. She was so happy to see me, she lied. I'm cool with that now, being as that's what brought you into our lives, but when she tells you it's okay to have co-ed sleepovers, you remember Daddy knows how to shoot a lot of really big guns. Also, that you have an Uncle Teal'c that hasn't eaten anyone in a very long time, and therefore needs to be fed. God help you if you fall for the little O'Neill boy. Conflict of interest there. Daddy can't shoot him as he's Uncle Jack's son, and Uncle Jack can't call you mean names because you're my little girl." he soothed, gently rocking her when she suddenly grinned up at him.
"Did you guys pick a name yet?" Vala asked when Jack waved them inside.
"Yeah. Sam and I agreed that if it was another girl, she could name it. If it was a boy, I would name it. I had already picked out the name before he was born. Carter Jacob Johnathan O'Neill." Jack told them softly. Three year old Ella was busily brushing her new baby brother's hair to lie flat on his scalp "wike Daddy's" when Daniel bumped her nose with his knuckle teasingly.
"How will you keep him from getting mixed up with Sam? You calling her Carter still isn't going to help matters." Vala announced.
"Thought of that. We're calling him CJ. Or, in the words of Queen Ella Herself, 'Yee-Yay'." Sam grinned happily.
Daniel leaned down to show Peanut the baby, Vala beginning her spiel on getting the two together quickly.
"Alright, we have a tempermental Jaffa here that wants a turn at holding the baby. Make a hole." Jack called out as Teal'c entered the doorway and gave one of his barely there smiles. Vala moved to the side, giving Teal'c room at Sam's head.
"Everyone's had a chance to hold her, Teal'c. Jack wants a picture of 'the guys' as he keeps saying, and refuses to have a photo taken of himself with the baby until you arrived. Now that you're here, you can get him in the frame. Vala, can you use the camera?" Sam asked, holding the camera to her friend.
"Love to." Vala took the digital camera and lined up the shot of the two men flanking the new father. It was a ritual of sorts, Vala decided as the flash lit the room. Then Daniel was moving her away as Teal'c took the baby carefully from O'Neill. The warrior simply stared down at the sleeping baby, then, slowly, reached to touch the tiny face.
"He will be welcomed with honor on my homeworld at any time, O'Neill. As will Queen Ella Herself, and PeanutJackson-MalDoran. In any case, I will congratulate you both on a beautiful son. May he grow into a wise warrior and make you both proud." He intoned gravely.
"Just so you know, when he says that, what he really means is, "welcome to the world CJ." Vala popped up at Teal'c's elbow to translate, amidst much laughter.
A/N 2: I toyed with the idea of making Peanut have the two last names, then finally decided to keep it that way. Then I couldn't figure out how I wanted them arranged, until I saw my cousin's baby. He was named with two lasts, his father's first, then his mother's. And that's how Peanut got her last name. Sort of an homage to the characters, almost, knowing that Daniel would let Vala have that victory as well. Toodles! VMD-J