A/N – Happy Holidays everybody:D Hope you like this final chapter…I couldn't really think of a smash bang ending so I made it soppy and adorable.

Chapter 10: Informatics, New Life

"Sir, that's not possible!" Jack could feel a sort of panic rising in his veins, the kind that meant something was horribly, terribly wrong. "We were gone for almost a year..."

Hammond's scowl deepened. "Briefing room, both of you. Now."

"Sir, I need to get to the infirmary," Sam said, her fingers still clutching tightly to Jack's arm.

"Very well," Hammond nodded. "But you, Colonel, I want to talk to."

Jack was about to protest, but Sam shook her head, giving him a reassuring nod as an airman stepped forward to escort her to the infirmary. Jack sighed and, brushing sand from the folds of his loose clothing, followed Hammond up to the briefing room.

Jack barely had time to get through the first quarter of his story before Dr. Werner came striding in, looking baffled. Hammond looked up as he entered.

"Doctor?"

"Sir…Major Carter is about six months pregnant," Werner said, his eyes widening slightly. "Which she most definitely wasn't during her pre-mission exam."

Jack grinned sheepishly as both pairs of eyes turned towards him. "Yeah…that would be my fault."

"Colonel!" Hammond barked.

"General, if you'd just let me finish my story…?"

Grumbling something about frat regs, Hammond folded his hands and glowered at Jack.

Sam joined them a little while later, having taken a quick shower and changed into clean clothes. From the looks of it she'd had to take a shirt that was a few sizes too big to fit over her stomach, and as she slipped into the chair next to Jack she murmured that she'd have to get a maternity uniform now.

"Major." Hammond nodded at her. "I see Dr. Werner wasn't lying…" Now that she was out of the flowing desert robes, the bulge of Sam's stomach was quite apparent.

"Do you believe us now?" Jack asked.

"I suppose I have to," Hammond said, sighing. "But I don't understand it. How is this possible?"

"Well…I have a theory…" Sam said slowly. "The planet could have its own, possibly naturally occurring time dilation field." Leaning forward somewhat awkwardly, she made a circular gesture with her hands. "The magma in a planet's mantel is always rotating, creating magnetic fields over the surface of the planet. Now the rocks that marked where the Shiftings occurred had great amounts of naquadah in them. If that was combined with some other elements it could, basically, create huge magnetic disturbances that quite literally disrupt the flow of time."

"That's my girl." Jack said, chuckling and shaking his head. "Would you mind repeating that in English, Sam?"

"Magnets." Sam said, grinning.

"Right." Jack leaned back in his chair. "Well, General, there you have it."

"Mhmm." Hammond nodded, his eyes flicking between the two. "Now I think we've got quite a big problem on our hands, here."

"Very big," Jack agreed, shooting Sam a playful look. "No way the guys in Washington are gonna buy this one."

"We'll just have to explain it to them the best we can. Now, I'm sure the both of you are ready for some downtime. We won't be sending SG-1 out again until Dr. Jackson gets better and we find a replacement for Major Carter." Hammond said. He nodded to them both. "Dismissed."

Jack got to his feet, then helped Sam up. Arm in arm they headed down to the infirmary to say hi to Daniel, whom they found sitting up in bed, slightly woozy from the drugs.

"Hey guys, you're back." Daniel then squinted at Sam, looking surprised and more then a little confused. "Sam…how'd you get so…"

"Fat?" Jack supplied, and Sam punched him in the arm. "Ow. She's pregnant, Danny."

"Pregnant…?" The archaeologist blinked at them. "Er…congratulations. That was fast…"

"Not really." Sam said, sitting in a chair that one of the nurses had brought over for her. "We were on that planet for about eight months or so. Time dilation field."

"No kidding…"

"Yeah." Jack stuck his hands in his pockets. "Something to do with magnets. It wasn't all that bad though, we met some really nice folks, learned some new ways of life…"

Daniel was staring at them through half lidded eyes. "So who's the father?"

"That would be me."

"Wow. What'd Hammond say about that?"

Jack shrugged. "Not much he could say, or do. He's gonna talk to the people in Washington so I don't get court martialled for getting my 2IC preggers."

Daniel chuckled. "Jack…" he shook his head.

"Whaaaat?!" Jack pouted slightly. "I was stuck on a desert planet with a gorgeous blond. Honestly, what did you expect me to do?"

"Jack, you've been stuck places with Sam before."

"Antarctica doesn't count. I was near death."

"Still."

Jack shrugged, then reached over to ruffle Daniel's hair. "Ok, Danny-boy, we'll let you get some sleep now. I think you need it."

Daniel mumbled something incoherently, snuggling down under his covers some more.

Later that night Jack and Sam had driven to Jack's house and sat curled up on the couch together.

"This is so weird." Jack said, running his fingers through Sam's hair. "We've been gone for ages and yet everyone is acting like we were only gone for a couple days. You're pregnant and we haven't gotten ready…Jesus, we're not even married!"

"Does it matter that much?" Sam asked, yawning.

"Well, no, but it's the principle of the thing. We don't have a nursery set up, haven't picked out a name…"

Sam looked up at him, laughing quietly.

"What?!"

"It's going to be ok, Jack, stop worrying."

"Huh." Jack wrapped both arms around her. "Usually when someone tells me to stop worrying….holy crap."

"What?" Sam sat up, alarmed.

"No no…it's just…your dad doesn't know yet, does he?"

"No…but we can tell him tomorrow…" Sam said, still frowning.

Jack groaned and seemed to be melting down into the couch. "He's gonna kill me…I swear…he's gonna take a shotgun and blow my head off."

"No he won't." Sam said.

"Will too."

"Will not."

"Will too."

"Will not."

"Will Farrell."

Sam blinked a couple times in slow succession then grabbed a pillow and threw it at Jack, who collapsed against the arm of the couch in peels of laughter.

"ooooh boy, I need to go to sleep."

"Mnmm. I'd say so." Sam stood up and stretched. "I'm looking forward to a real bed that doesn't smell like hay."

Jack got up as well, nodding. "Me too." He offered an arm to Sam. "To bed then, my lady?"

"Yeah yeah." Sam linked her arm through his. She realized suddenly that she was about to sleep with Jack in his bed and it didn't seem that strange to her…how many times had she fantasized about this? Now it was actually happening and, aside from the fact that they'd been sleeping together for several months, it seemed so perfectly right…

Jacob Carter sat in one of the chairs in the briefing room, tapping his foot against the leg of the table and having an absent minded chat with Selmak. They'd gotten news that Sam had returned from her latest mission last week (Jacob himself had been off doing some Tok'ra spying) , only something wasn't quite right. That's all Hammond had left it at.

The door opened and Jack strode in, hands in his pockets. No Sam. Damnit.

"Maybe she's just busy," Selmak suggested.

Maybe.

"Jack, how are you?" Jacob said, standing up to shake Jack's hand.

"I'm great," Jack beamed a little too brightly at him, then sat down. "And how are you, Jake? Doing well, I hope. Not too stressed or...angry…"

Jacob folded his arms over his chest. "Ok, Jack, what's going on?"

"Well…funny thing…" Jack said, chuckling nervously.

"Jack…?"

"Ok, well I'm just going to come right out and tell you," Jack said, making a gesture with one hand. "Your daughter's pregnant."

"Jacob, your blood pressure!"

"Be quiet."

Jacob stared at the younger man, trying to think of something to say. "What?"

"Sam's gonna have a baby."

"And why isn't she telling me this?"

"B-because she's at home taking it easy." Jack could see the anger building in the other man and was half ready to dive for cover if need be.

"And what, exactly, does this all have to do with you?" Jacob placed both hands flat on the table, leaning forward towards Jack.

"Jacob, calm down. Deep breaths now."

"Selmak, be quiet!"

"No. You need to calm down."

"Fine."

"Well…" Jack continued, completely unaware of the running dialog between host and symbiot. "Funny story with that too…see I kinda got her pregnant."

Jacob stared at him and Jack could have sworn his eyes flashed. "I'm going to shoot you, Jack."

"Now, Jake, we want to keep Sam happy, right? SO let's try the not shooting Jack O'Neill thing."

Jacob sat down heavily, still glaring at Jack. "How? Why? When did this happen?"

With a deep breath, Jack launched into what felt like a fiftieth retelling of what had happened while on the planet.

It was just after two in the afternoon, and Daniel and Teal'c arrived at the hospital near Jack's house. Jack was sitting in the waiting room, looking quite haggard and strung out.

"Hey, Jack." Daniel said, pulling up a chair and sitting next to him. "How's Sam?"

"The doctor's just doing some final checks on her and the baby," Jack said. "They seem fine though." He ran a hand through his hair. "Give me Ba'al and Anubis at the same time and I'm sure it wouldn't be quite as horrible as that…"

Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "I am sure Major Carter suffered far more than you, O'Neill."

"Hah." Jack held out one arm that had a bandage around it. "She bit me!"

"Was it not worth it, however?" The large jaffa asked.

The corners of Jack's eyes crinkled up in a smile. "Yeah. I've got a little girl that looks just like her mom."

"Good thing too." Daniel muttered and Jack glared at him.

The doctor came out a moment later to announce that all was well and both Sam and the baby were fast asleep. The three other members of SG-1 got to their feet and tiptoed quietly into the room where Sam was laying fast asleep on the bed. A tiny baby lay sleeping in the bassinet near by, golden fuzz covering the top of her head.

Jack smiled as Teal'c and Daniel cooed over the baby. This was defiantly worth it. Worth the fighting, worth the desert, the being trapped, lectured and bitten. Worth everything they'd been through. It came from the strangest combination of circumstances, but somehow Jack O'Neill found himself with a family again.

Sam opened her eyes, smiling at her friends and child, then looking over and positively beaming at Jack.

Oh yeah. This was so worth it.