Feedback is totally fine in whatever depth, onlist or off.
SPOILER WARNING: SEASON 7&8.
Author's notes: This is kind of backward, future fluff. An A/U future, w/ Hammond as general, still. This story is kind of rough, but I couldn't stop writing till it was done and then I had to come up with the ending. Darn, I hate muses that abandon me at the end!
Timeframe: 2 years after Season 8
Title: A Harry Situation
Author: Lynda
Jack sat in the hospital holding his baby and breathed for the first time all day. Since early morning, he hadn't been able to catch his breath. Unlike SOME people, who actually got to sleep in a BED. As opposed to him, marooned to his chair. Of course, he really didn't care about that.
This baby boy came into his life after two years of marriage to Sam. They'd debated their love for a while, but after nine years of denial, they'd both retired and were now living off a combined total of eighteen years' hazard pay they'd never been on Earth long enough to spend...until their retirements.
She'd roused him from sleep at 2 AM and now it was 11 PM... he couldn't believe it was the same day. His wife had worked hard to deliver their son; almost three hours of active pushing and Ian was born at 8 PM. At 9, General Hammond, Daniel, and Teal'c had shown up. Shortly thereafter, Cassie arrived from college, where she was a junior, now. When Sam started snoring fifteen minutes ago, the cast of visitors had taken their cue to leave.
The baby, swaddled tightly, didn't move as Jack adjusted in the chair. He looked down into Ian's face, tracing the outline with his right index finger. He skipped down to where the feet were bundled, just to feel the outline and remind himself that all ten toes were there.
Jack stood, about to return Ian to his bassinet, when he heard a noise. He thought it was someone outside Sam's door. If a nurse was going to come in, they didn't have to be overly quiet. It was a hospital, after all.
With his free hand, Jack opened the door to the room. "Oh, crap."
"What's the matter, Jack, you didn't think I'd show up?"
Jack took a breath and finished his earlier task of returning Ian to the bassinet, next to Sam. Then he grabbed the intruder by the arms and forced him from the room.
"You rat bastard! What right do you think you have to be here?" Jack tried to keep his tone hushed. He did NOT want Sam to know who was there. Jack patted the other man down and found no weapons.
"Hey, it's just Harry. You can trust me. I heard about your uh, situation the last time the SGC checked on me. You'd love to meet some of the locals...come visit, sometime." Maybourne gave Jack his trademark, goofy smile.
"In case you haven't checked...I've GOT the only woman I'm interested in. I'm only going to say this once, Maybourne, get out of here. I don't want you anywhere near my wife and son."
"Relax, Jack. You're retired now, and I live offworld. I only came to offer good wishes to your family. Hammond wouldn't have let me come back, otherwise."
Jack looked up and down the hallway, but saw no one, not even a janitor. "He also wouldn't have let you come back without a guard, so what gives?"
"I didn't hurt anyone. I just . . . gave them the slip. Never assign me to newbie SF's, Jack. I'll lose them every time."
"Oy."
"Fine looking boy, though. Favors Sam more, I think."
"Once, Harry, I said it once . . . "
"Okay, I'm going." Maybourne stepped down the hall, giving Jack a backward glance.
Jack went back into Sam's room and sat in the corner chair, his legs weak. After the day he'd had, that confrontation was the last straw. He closed his eyes and was out like a light.
---------------
The next morning, 10 AM
"Jack. Jack."
He woke up, his legs jumping. Sam was holding the baby and looking at him. He cleared his head and said, "Good morning."
She narrowed her eyes at him, "Is something wrong?"
"Uh, no, everything's fine."
"Was someone in here after the gang left last night? I remember waking up for a moment, but I was so exhausted . . . "
"Hey, if anyone deserved sleep last night, you did. It was probably just the night nurse." No matter what, he didn't want to tell her Maybourne had been there. Maybe after the baby was home, but not now.
"I thought the plan was for you to go home and come back this morning. Are you sure something's not up?"
He shrugged. "I changed my mind. I didn't want to be away from you."
"That's cute. I'll have it out of you, yet, Jack O'Neill."
"I'll enjoy letting you, eventually."
"Hey, how about some breakfast in here? I mean, real food, not the junk they brought me an hour ago."
Jack stood, slowly, stretching his limbs after a night out cold in a chair not designed for sleep. "I'll be back soon."
With a kiss on her forehead, he was out the door, making a mental note to hurry back to his wife and son as soon as possible. Then he made another mental note to mention that thing about the SF's to Hammond.
The End