Sam eyed the row of Easter Eggs before her, taking in the various brands and attempting to connect them to each member of the family. Even gate travel and motherhood had neglected to prepare her for her family's different preferences. And all that time spent filing it away in her mind would be wasted the following day, when the children (including Jack) would devour them without a moment's hesitation.

Too easy... Just too easy, she thought to herself, as a grin crept up on her. Then the thought struck her. An egg hunt. An egg hunt will be just perfect.

"And...twenty," the Airforce General smiled, placing the last Easter egg in hiding. She waded back through the long grass behind the family home calling as she went. "Jack! Alyssia! Tara! Cameron!"

"Hey, how come I'm last?" a tiny voice emanated from the glass doors before her. An equally-sized body joined it, racing up to her and wrapping its arms around her leg.

"Sorry, Cam. You're just as important to me," she beamed and swept the child up into her arms. "Where's Daddy?"

"He's in the living room. He told me to one and get you. What you doing?" Cameron Carter eyed his mother, and she caught a glimpse of his father within him. Meanwhile, the two eldest her children came running out into the yard.

"I actually have a surprise for you all," she winked at him, before placing him back on the ground as she joined her children on their father.

Alyssia O'Neill, at 8 years old, was the joint-eldest of the pack, and her hair had adopted a soft, light caramel colour to her hair and the promising beginnings to her mother's immense intelligence.

Her twin, who was born only minutes later, donned a rich brown that led people to assume Sam had either had an affair or the two of them were from a previous marriage. Tara was the family's little racer - they'd even had the scientists at the base create a little racing car for her seventh birthday.

Last, but certainly not least, there was Cameron Carter, the only one of three to take on Sam's surname. Four months after the girls' second birthday, Sam had realised she'd become pregnant again. The conversation had gone something like this:

"This one's going to be a Carter. It might escape my family curse."

"Your family has a curse?"

"Of course, Sam. It's called stupidity."

And it must have succeeded, because Cam was curious about everything. About spies, about guns, about secrets. The two sometimes wondered if their son would be curious about the Stargate...

"What's this I hear about a surprise, General Carter?" Jack asked, trying to imitate her usual firm, authoritative tone, but found that it was hindered by the irresistible urge to smirk. "And where's the chocolate? Have you any idea how much I was looking forward to the only weekend when there's an all-you-can-eat that's purely chocolate?"

"Don't worry, the Easter bunny didn't forget to bring them," she laughed. "In fact, Easter Bunny left me a note when I got up really early this morning. Do you want to read it, Lyss?"

"Sure, Mummy," she smiled, and took the small slip of paper from her mother's hand. "Dear Alyssia, Tara, and Cameron-"

"-Gee, I'm last again-"

"-you've been so good this year that I decided to give you a little game to play. I left twenty Easter eggs scattered around your land. Find them and they're yours! Love from the Easter Bunny! We're going on an egg hunt!" Alyssia's face was a picture of glee.

"Yep," Sam nodded, pride flourishing inside her at her little scheme's success. She then bent down and whispered to all three youngsters. "And I think he left some baskets for you under the kitchen table."

"Wow," Jack muttered as they sped off indoors. "Must've taken ages. Speaking of long periods of time, I've suffered too long without my morning kiss. C'mere," he beckoned her closer, and placed a gentle yet passionate kiss on her lips. When he pulled back, his heart jumped at the sight of her smile. Even after nearly ten years of marriage, their touch still sparked a cascade of emotion in their other half.

"Come on, we've got eggs to hunt!" Tara yelled into the morning, zipping past them and towards the unused woods that laid behind their home. Jack and Sam exchanged a sideways glance, then set out to follow her, rest of the family in tow. It could, quite possibly, be the most interesting Easter they'd ever had.