Sam walked through the corridors of the Pentagon with nervous butterflies in her stomach as she looked for her husband's office.
She finally reached it, and opened the door with a little trepidation.
"Colonel Carter!" Lt. Marcie Johnson greeted warmly.
Sam smiled nervously at Jack's assistant's greeting. "Is he in there?"
"Yes, but he's on a call right now. Shall I tell him that you're here?"
"Please." She said, nodding as she sat.
She slipped into the second room within the office, and Sam waved as she caught Jack's eye.
He looked utterly surprised to find her there. He quickly went through the motions of ending the phone call before he motioned for her to enter.
"Colonel..." Johnson said, turning to her.
"I saw, Lieutenant." Sam said with a small smile as she slipped into the office.
"What's the occasion?" Jack asked, looking up at his wife.
"They called us back."
He raised an eyebrow. "Hm?"
"We have a court hearing about whether or not we can adopt Grace."
"Great!" He said with a grin.
She had a troubled look on her face, and he raised his eyebrow. "Not great?"
"This wasn't supposed to happen...they said we weren't good prospects."
"Sometimes, people change their minds." Jack said, pulling on his jacket.
"But, Jack..."
"Maybe they decided to give our one "legitimate" reference a try."
She raised an eyebrow. "I highly doubt..."
"Who cares how it happened?" Jack asked, kissing her forehead, gently. "It just is happening."
She finally allowed herself a wide grin. "Yeah. It is."
"Lunch?" He asked, motioning to the door.
"I'd love some." She nodded, agreeably.
"Excellent. I'm starving." He said, following her out the door. "And there's nothing like an IOA to make you lose your appetite..."
Her brow furrowed.
"That's what's scheduled after lunch. So if I don't catch it now..."
"You give it up." She said, nodding. "Gotcha."
"Besides, we have something to celebrate." He grinned.
"That we do, Jack." She said, reaching over for his hand. "That we do."
-
Two weeks later:
Sam studied the judge in front of her, somewhat worriedly, as she reviewed the evidence before her. Their whole lives were sitting there in a file folder on her desk.
Jack reached over and squeezed her hand, gently, and she turned a nervous smile to him. Everything was going so fast...
The judge inhaled before looking up.
Sam sat up in her chair, scooting forward, as if she was at attention.
"Is Grace Taylor here?"
"Yes, your Honor."
"I'd like to have a few words with her in my chambers." She said, motioning for Suzanne to bring her forward.
Sam swallowed, sitting back again. This waiting was killing her.
"Breathe," Jack murmured to her gently.
She managed a silent chuckle as she looked over at him.
"This is actually a good sign." The lawyer said, looking over at them. "She didn't just throw you out because of your file."
Sam tried to smile encouragingly, but she looked almost sick with nervousness.
It was several minutes before the judge appeared again as Grace was led back into the room. She turned a triumphant grin to Sam and Jack who tried to return them. The judge cleared her throat, causing all of the adults to look at her.
"I've reviewed all of the facts in this case, and quite frankly, I'm surprised it's taken this long to put Grace into their adoptive custody."
Sam's eyes widened in surprise as the judge turned to the couple. "Take her home. You belong together."
A slow grin began to spread on Sam's features as she shared a disbelieving look with her husband before Grace ran and flung herself into her new mother's arms. Sam hugged her tightly. "You knew," she whispered.
"Yes, I did...Mommy..."
-
"I can't believe that the judge wanted us to take her home today." Sam murmured to her husband as they drove from the courthouse.
"You heard her. We belong together."
Sam turned a grin to her new daughter who smiled, widely. Then, she turned back to her husband. "The house isn't ready for her..."
"Not much to do. Just fix up one of the rooms for her. We can have that done by the end of the week."
Sam bit her lip as the mention of time came up. "Jack, I'm...I'm leaving in two weeks..."
"No, Sam, you're not."
Her eyes widened. "What?"
"You know that application you turned in when we were considering adopting Grace? The one for adoption leave?"
"Yeah."
"It came through. And I have it on good authority that you'll probably be reassigned this time."
She grinned. "They found a new commander?"
"Yeah. Cam Mitchell, actually."
"No way!"
He laughed. "Yeah."
"How long is my leave?"
"Another three months."
She shook her head in surprise. "Well...then, I guess a trip to the mall is in order." She looked back at Grace and winked. "We've got a little girl's room to put together."
Grace grinned.
-
By the time they'd gotten home, Grace had picked out a white wooden bedroom set with a twin-sized bed, a three-drawer dresser and mirror combination set, a desk, a small bookcase, and a chest which could rest at the foot of her bed. With new pink and purple sheets for the bed, some clothes for the closet, and a few other items to make the room a little more homey, Grace was on top of the world.
And Sam was more than a little excited herself to have a little girl in the house. Yes, she may have played with Major Matt Mason as a kid, but part of her was excited to do the mommy-daughter manicures and tea parties of which Grace seemed so fond.
"How about pizza, kiddo?" Jack asked, walking into the house a little after six that evening.
"Okay." She said with a smile.
"You wanna see your room?" Sam asked, taking off her coat. "I mean, it won't have your new things in it until they deliver it tomorrow, but..."
"Sure!" She cried, enthusiastically.
Sam grinned as she reached for her hand. "Come on, I'll show you."
They walked to the bedroom, and Grace stopped just outside the door.
"Something wrong?" Sam asked, looking over at the little girl.
"Are you going to still read to my class?" She asked with eyes wide.
"Sure. If you want me to."
"I do." She said, nodding soberly.
"All right then." Sam grinned.
"Will Daddy come and read to my class?"
"He has to work when you're in school, but maybe he can read to you at home."
"Okay." She said, nodding agreeably.
"You wanna come in and look at the room?"
"Okay." She said, stepping in. She looked at the double bed which had two nightstands on either side and a dresser along the wall closest to the door. Two large windows were opposite the entry with a walk-in closet in the left-hand corner opposite the door. "It's so big!" She murmured, looking up.
Sam chuckled. "Well, this was a guest room, but starting tomorrow, we'll get this looking like your room, okay?"
"Okay."
"You like pepperoni, little miss?" Jack asked, poking his head in the room.
"Yep." Grace grinned.
He chuckled. "All right, then. One large pepperoni for us, and one small veggie for Mommy." He said, leaning in and kissing Sam's nose affectionately.
"Wouldn't hurt either of you to have some of my veggie," she teased.
"On pizza?" Grace asked, turning a disgusted look to her new mother.
Jack laughed as he shared a high-five with the little girl. "I'm with you, kid."
Sam shook her head with a gentle smile. "Okay, okay...father-daughter bonding over pepperoni pizza...I'll allow it."
Jack and Grace turned matching grins to her, and Sam felt her heart swell with pride. This was what life was supposed to be like. This was what she'd always felt like she was missing out on.
-
Apologies for the rush on the adoption stuff and the vagueness of it all. There wasn't much that I could find about the actual legal part of the adoption process, and so I had to write this chapter with the limited knowledge I had of my parents' adoption of my sister. It may seem fast, but for kids that are over the age of 2 in the foster care system, it usually goes pretty fast. In fact, the "take her home" response happened to my parents when they adopted my sister about 8 1/2 years ago.
