"Enter." Teal'c said from where he sat, meditating in his quarters, when he heard the knock on the door.

Sam walked into the room. "Sorry." She said, instantly recognizing his meditation set-up. "Didn't mean to interrupt."

"You have not interrupted." Teal'c said with a smile flirting with the corners of his lips. "How may I be of service?"

"Well," Sam said, taking a few more steps into the room. "Jack's training some of recruits from the Academy. He wondered since your team's off the mission list if you wouldn't mind helping him with a few training scenarios."

"I would be honored." He said, seriously.

"Great! I'll let him know."

The Jaffa nodded, sedately.

"Teal'c?"

"Yes, General Carter?"

"First of all, I think it's about time you called me Sam," she blushed. "And secondly...uh," she hesitated for a moment. "Don't tell John."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow.

"Having him on SG-1 is kind of a touchy subject for Jack right now, so..."

"I will refrain from speaking of Lieutenant Neill as well." He promised.

"Thanks, T." Sam said, gratefully.

"How is young Grace?" He asked as she turned to leave.

She paused, turning back. "She's good. Great."

"You miss spending time with your daughter," he said, perceptively.

"She and I aren't able to spend as much time together as I'd like," Sam admitted. "But we make up for it here and there."

He nodded.

"What about Rya'c?" She asked, looking over at him. "How are he and Cor'in?"

"They are well," he said with a small smile. "Thank you for asking."

"And the baby?"

Teal'c's smile grew into an ear-splitting grin. "She is strong. Like her mother and grandmother."

Sam grinned. "Good to hear it." She bit her lip after a moment. "Teal'c?"

"Yes, General Carter?"

"If you'd rather visit Rya'c than help Jack, I think he'd understand."

"Thank you," he said, nodding. "But I will aid O'Neill."

"He'd be very grateful," she said, honestly. "He misses working with the team."

"And we with him," he said, seriously.

"I'll be sure to tell him that when I get home tonight," Sam said with a small smile.

He nodded.

"Well, I should get back to work, and I should let you get back to your meditation."

"It was a pleasure to visit with you once again," Teal'c said, sincerely.

"You too, Teal'c." She said with a smile as she turned to leave.

-

She pressed the button to the elevator, waiting patiently for the steel doors to open and grant her entrance.

"Hey," a familiar voice murmured from beside her.

She turned to find Daniel, standing there with a pensive look on his face. "Hi." She said with a small smile.

He sighed softly. "Headed back to your office?"

"Yeah." She said, nodding.

They fell into silence for a few moments before the elevator doors opened, and they stepped in.

"How's Vala?" Sam asked after a moment.

"She, uh, wants nothing to do with me." He said after a moment. "Which, given the circumstances, I guess I'd feel the same way..."

"I doubt it's that bad," Sam tried to soothe.

Daniel's look told her that it really was.

"I'm sorry," she said with a small sigh.

"Hey, it's not your fault." He said, soberly. "You didn't know there was going to be a fertility ritual on that planet. Or that we'd get swept up in the festivities."

"No, but...I can sympathize with your position," she said after a moment.

He studied her for a few seconds. "Yeah, I guess you can."

"She'll come around."

"Maybe."

"It'll take some time, but I think she wants this baby as much as you do."

He nodded, silently.

Sam bit the inside of her cheek for a few moments.

"How are you and Jack doing?" Daniel asked, looking over at her.

"Uh, we're fine." She said, forcing a smile to her lips.

He raised an eyebrow, and she sighed. "We have our problems like everyone else. And...with my new job and the fact that we've been trying for the last year to get pregnant...it's a touchy subject at our house. I think he's trying to put up some defenses so that he won't get hurt if it never happens."

He nodded slowly.

"But I think the new job has been good for him. Gotten his mind off a lot of things."

"Like Neill?"

"You caught the tension there, huh?" She asked, uncomfortably, as the elevator doors opened again.

"Yeah."

"Jack's not too thrilled about it, but he recognizes that this is bigger than him. So, I don't mention it much, and I warn other people against bringing it up."

"Sounds like a good strategy." He said, stepping out of the elevator.

"Daniel?" She asked, studying him.

"Yeah?"

"How are you doing?"

He sighed. "I'm okay."

She gave him a skeptical look.

"Look, this is my first kid. And Vala doesn't even know if she really wants to keep it."

Sam tensed. "I see."

He sighed before shrugging. "You need to get back to work, and I need to get back to the translations I've been working on."

"If you need to talk..."

"I know." He interrupted.

She managed a sad smile as he walked off. Even with his idiosyncrasies, she was grateful for Jack. Through all their good times and their bad times, she always knew that he had her back. And that not solving something was never an option.

She bit the inside of her cheek as she walked back up to her office. "Walter?"

"Yes, ma'am?" He asked, appearing just outside her door almost instantly.

"Call Colonel Mitchell. I'm leaving the Mountain for a couple of hours."

"Ma'am?"

"I need to visit the Academy."

"Yes, ma'am." He said, stepping out again with an understanding smile.

-

Jack leaned back in his chair, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"Something wrong, sir?" His wife asked from where she leaned against the doorway to his office.

He looked up in surprise. "Hi."

"Hi." She said with a grin.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, sitting up again.

"Bringing you lunch." She said, revealing a couple of cups of jello - red for him and blue for her.

"I think I love you," he said with a teasing wink.

"What would your wife say?" She teased back as she walked in.

"She's an understanding woman," he laughed.

"I see." She said, shaking her head in amusement as she retrieved a couple of ham and cheese sandwich from a small bag she'd brought with her.

"I thought you were an Air Force general with enormous responsibility," Jack joked as he accepted the bottle of water she offered him.

She threw him an amused smile. "Can't "the man" get a few hours off to see her husband?"

Jack choked on his water at her statement.

Sam grinned, clearly proud of herself.

Jack coughed once more as he tried to brush off the water which he'd accidentally spat onto his button-down shirt.

"Come on, Jack, are you the only one who can make grand gestures like this?" She asked, innocently.

"I'm supervising the training of a dozen cadets who are being considered for the Program," he murmured, raising an eyebrow. "It's considerably different than actually running the Program."

"And I'm having lunch to discuss the training of those cadets," she said with a wide smile.

"So, I'm just a business meeting..." He teased.

"My most attractive one of the day," she said, turning on her full mega-watt smile.

"I missed that," he said after a moment.

"Missed what?" She asked, taking a bite of her sandwich.

"That smile. You haven't grinned like that since...DC. What's going on?"

She looked at him more seriously. "I guess I just realized how lucky I am to have you."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Daniel and Vala...it doesn't look pretty right now."

"Ah." He said with sudden understanding.

"She doesn't want to have anything to do with Daniel right now."

"I see."

"You never did that to me." She said, managing a grateful smile. "Even with the miscarriage."

"You tried to push me away," he said after a moment.

She looked down, somewhat ashamed. "I know."

"I mean, I understood where you were coming from. More than almost anyone else I know..."

"And I'm grateful for that," she said, sincerely.

"I'm here, Sam." He said, soberly. "No matter what the future holds. I'm not going anywhere."

"I know." She said, softly. "And...I know this won't cover even a tenth of what I owe you for that, but...it's a start right?"

"Hey, you brought me the right colored jello," he said, more lightheartedly. "I'm good."

She laughed softly before looking back at him. "I love you, Jack. I don't say it enough."

"I love you too," he said, seriously.

"And if you...if you need to stop trying for a baby, I accept that."

He looked up. "What?"

"Jack, I saw the look on your face when you and I last talked about that...when you were trying to tell me that with my job I didn't need to feel obligated."

"Oh." He said with a small sigh.

"I don't want this to get between us, Jack. It can break some marriages, and I don't want ours to be one of..."

He raised a hand to silence her, and she stopped speaking. He pulled out a calendar, and handed it to her.

She swallowed as she noticed the circled date.

"Two years," she murmured softly.

He nodded.

"Two years since that night..." She whispered, vulnerably.

"I wanted you to know that if it didn't happen or if you'd changed your mind, that I'd be okay."

She managed a small smile. "Thank you."

"But if you don't want to change your mind, then I think we should keep trying." He said with a small wink.

She chuckled softly. "Maybe we could...go away. Just the two of us sometime."

"Sounds like it would be a good idea." He said with a small smile.

"I had to work on our anniversary," she said, shrugging. "We could...make that up..."

"You tell me when you can get leave, and I'll be there." He said, nodding.

She nodded. "Okay."

"Sam?" He asked a moment later.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for lunch." He said tenderly.

"You're welcome, Jack." She said softly.