AN: and now for the exciting conclusion to our story.. or is it?

Chapter 10 – Line Drive

Jack changed and put away his dress blues before heading to base. He still had some loose ends to tie up but the hardest part was done. He hoped. He drove back to base tapping his fingers on the steering wheel of his truck. He was pretty sure she'd agree with him that this was the best direction to go in but he wasn't entirely positive and that made him anxious. Not a feeling he was familiar with or particularly liked. He was used to feeling in control of himself. He also wasn't entirely sure what he was going to do if her answer was no. It was possible she might not see thing in the same light and decided their child was better off if they didn't get married. He started spooling off possible ways to change her mind if that was her decision. Until he had the paperwork in his hands he was going to sit on the decision and just feel her out on being proposed to. This was going to be a hell of a week.

He didn't quite avoid her but he didn't seek her out past letting her know he was back and that he was waiting on some paperwork. Three days later an envelope with the presidential seal and CONFIDENTIAL stamped in red on it showed up addressed to him. He checked the contents to make sure everything was in order then read the note addressed to "Jack" in very familiar handwriting and grinned ear to ear. Well how do you like that he thought.

He found her in her lab shortly after and stood at the door watching her. She was frowning at something she was typing while glancing at a pile paperwork periodically. "Got a minuet?" She looked up and gave him a hesitant smile. He was sure she thought he was avoiding her which he was but not for the reasons she probably thought.

"Sure. Sir." She sat up straighter and set down the pen she'd been making notes with. He sat on the stool opposite her at her table and just looked at her for a minuet. "Sir?" she finally prompted him.

"Oh, yah. Sorry." He waved a hand absently. "So, I got the paperwork back that I requested earlier this week." He picked up her pen and started disassembling it.

"Good news sir?"

"Yup." And he grinned. "Very good news."

"I'm glad to hear it. Will you be sharing this good news with me sir?" her lip twitched.

"All in due time Carter. All in due time." He put her pen back together and discreetly took a folded piece of paper out of his pocket that he handed to her with her pen, his fingers lingered on hers a moment longer than necessary. "Good talk Carter. See you at lunch?"

"Yes sir. Wouldn't miss it."

"Cool." He bobbed his head, got up and left her lab without another word.

After he walked out she unfolded his note. "2100" she didn't even need to guess what he meant. Most of their notes were a single word or number. Nothing anyone could make any guesses about with any accuracy if someone else got their hands on them. She smiled, a little mystified. He'd been passively avoiding her by catching up on paperwork he could easily have let slide. If they weren't on such firm ground emotionally she'd have feel paranoid at least. Right now though she just felt curious. He was clearly up to something and she hadn't been able to figure it out. She knew part of why he was avoiding her was because he knew how well she could read him.

She showed up at the officers commissary at 1100 hours which was their usual time. Teal'c Daniel and Jonas were already there. She smiled as she took her usual seat.

"Hey Sam!" Jonas almost shouted as he jumped out of his seat to envelop her in a hug. She patted his arm.

"Hey Jonas. What's with the hug?"

He whispered loudly "I wasn't sure if I could tell you congratulations yet or not."

She shook her head and chuckled. "Kind of not yet. I haven't made any official announcements about it."

"Are you excited?"

"A little, yah." She picked at her food "kind of scared too."

"We'll be here for you Sam. No matter what." Daniel told her.

"Thanks guys. I appreciate it." She said to all of them.

"Well, I was thinking it might be long distance for me for a while. Kelowna has been bugging me about finishing up this assignment and since it looks like SG1 might be on hiatus for a year now might be a good time to get some things done at home." Jonas looked contrite.

"Jonas you were only on loan right now anyway. Please don't feel bad that you have to go home. We enjoy having you but we all understand having other obligations."

Daniel and Teal'c both nodded. "Indeed Jonas Quinn I too may be going home for a short time. The free Jaffa need my assistance building our government and now might be an excellent time to take advantage of my free time." Teal'c told the younger man.

"Can anyone join this party?" Jack asked as he sat in his usual spot next to Sam.

"Good afternoon sir."

"Hey Jack."

"O'Neill."

"General."

Jack smiled a Cheshire grin at them all. "How's everyone doing?" he started plowing into his meal which was as suspiciously void of any foods with overt smells as everyone else at the table. Daniel had said something to Jack about Sam's reaction to his innocent bag of nuts and Jack had explained one of the less nice side effects of pregnancy was an aversion to smelly things. Even things you usually liked. Daniel had proceeded to tell the rest of the team to take care ordering meals around her until they knew what smells besides nuts made her feel ill.

"Jonas Quinn and I were just discussing the probability of being off-world soon for some time. Kelowna requests his presence and the Free Jaffa request mine."

Jack nodded chewing thoughtfully. "I could take SG1 off the roster for a while. Daniel can you find something to do with about a year's worth of free time?" He knew the answer but he wanted Daniel to tell everyone not him.

"Well," the younger man started, "I've been asked to join Atlantis for a while." He said ducking his head. He felt like he was abandoning Sam.

"Daniel that's wonderful. What a great opportunity for you." Sam told him smiling.

"I don't know if I should take it though Sam. It leaves you here alone when you might need us."

"Gee thanks." Jack mumbled into his sandwich.

"I don't mean it that way Jack. It's just we told Sam we'd be here for her and now all of us will be gone even you."

Jack swallowed, sighed and looked around the table. "I wasn't going to say anything until later but George is giving me another year here."

"But I thought he was…" but Jack put up a hand to stop him.

"Nope, I got a note today that I'd be doing this for another year."

"Oh. Ok. Did he say why?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"It's confidential."

"How confidential?"

"Like we aren't talking about it here confidential. Drop it." Jack said finally pointing a finger at him.

"Ok ok."

Sam was smirking into her sandwich. "Should you be eating that?" Jack asked her.

"What? Oh, yah, it's actual turkey not lunch meat."

"Good."

"What does that matter?" Daniel asked.

"I'm not supposed to eat things with nitrates." Sam explained.

"How do you keep all this straight?" Daniel asked her.

"Oddly it helps that I was researching all this a couple months ago when I switched birth controls." She said blandly hoping to change the subject. "Why are you..?" She looked at Jack. "You told them didn't you." She said accusingly though she wasn't mad at him or Daniel and Teal'c chortling together.

"It might have come up." Jack said trying not to laugh himself. She poked him in the ribs under the table. "Ow!" but he grinned when he saw she was grinning at him instead of being mad.

"Yah yah… laugh it up. Pick on the pregnant lady." She said in mock exasperation.

"Sam, why is everyone laughing?" Jonas asked with a confused smile.

"She went scorched earth on her pills because she was mad." Daniel told him giggling.

"Mad about what?" Jonas asked still confused.

Jack shook his head "We'll tell you later buddy." He polished off his sandwich and started in on his cake. He watched Sam out of the corner of his eye. She was starting to droop a little. He saw Daniel's look of concern and decided he'd have to have a long talk with him about normal pregnancy symptoms or he was going to annoy the crap out of Sam until he left for Atlantis. Seeing everyone was nearly done eating anyway he moved his chair back to get up. "All right campers, time to get back to work. Carter, I don't care if you use the cot in your lab or borrow my quarters here but go lie down for thirty minuets at least. That's an order."

"That bad huh?" she sagged as she toyed with her Jello.

"Exhaustion is a perfectly normal symptom. Your work will be there when you get back to it."

She shrugged. "Yes sir." She replied tiredly, smiled at all of them and took her tray to the trash can, dumping its contents including her half eaten Jello. An action not one of them missed. After trying unsuccessfully to stifle a yawn she left the commissary.

"Is she all right?" Daniel asked.

"She is Daniel Jackson. Extreme fatigue and lack of apatite is perfectly normal for the first few months of pregnancy." Teal'c smiled softly. "Drey'auc also struggled with fatigue when first pregnant with Rya'c. I found she especially appreciated being brought special treats she enjoyed during this time." He gave O'Neill a pointed look. Jack nodded in agreement. Sam definitely needed some pampering.

"Ok. She's just usually much more chipper."

"She'll be back to her old self in no time." Jack told him. "She might also have really rapid mood swings for a while. Which means random crying for no reason you can figure out." Teal'c nodded in agreement.

"Indeed, pregnancy is extremely difficult on the female body." Teal'c agreed. "It often makes women lascivious as well." He told the other men making Jack choke on the sip of coffee he'd just taken.

"Ok, you guys are the ones with experience so I'll take you at your word." Daniel said slowly as though he realized this wasn't at all a topic he wanted to discus in regards to Sam in particular.

"Great. Glad we had this talk Spacemonkey." Jack said and patted his shoulder.

Daniel glared at him. "Would you stop that." He said but he laughed a little, running his false attempt at anger.

She hated that he was right but Sam was ready to drop and she knew it. She thought about heading down to her lab but Jack's room was closer and he did offer. She let herself in and flopped on his bed, not even bothering to cover up. Her last thought was noticing a photo of herself on the shelf behind the bed. Aw, that's sweet she thought and promptly dozed off.

An hour and a half later when he didn't find her in her lab Jack checked his room and found her drooling face down on his pillow. He chuckled and shook her shoulder. "Hey sleepyhead. Time to get up."

"Five more minuets dad." She mumbled.

Jack chuckled again and sat on the side of the bed. "Sorry beautiful. If you want to find out what I got in the mail later you have to get up and do some work." He brushed his fingers gently through her hair.

"Hmm... that's nice" she said softly." Her eyes opened sleepily as she turned into his hand.

He took his hand away, not really trusting himself and shook her shoulder again gently. "Comon Carter. You've been out an hour and a half."

"Huh? Oh crap." She said suddenly fully awake. "Crap. Crap. Crap."

He laughed. "Relax. I'm not mad. I just figured you would never get out of here and have time to eat if I didn't wake you up soon."

"Ok. I'm up." And she proved it by swinging her legs over the side of the bed.

"That's the spirit." He said in amusement. "There's a comb on the shelf if you need it."

"How long has that been there." She pointed at the shelf.

"I always keep a comb there."

"The photo sir."

He looked down and away "Um, a while" he hedged. "All right well, I have stuff to do and so do you. See you later?" He had a hopeful tone to his voice.

"Yup." Was all she needed to say.

"Cool." He grinned and left the room.

She giggled.

"No giggling Carter" she heard him say through the closed door.

"Yes sir!" she said still laughing.

Sam got out of her office late but in time to grab a salad at a local deli and eat what she could of it before heading to Jack's house at 2100. She was about ten minuets early but the late time was leaving her worn out again. The nap had helped. Falling asleep surrounded by the smell of him had helped considerably more. She chuckled again about him keeping a photo of her in his base quarters. She really wanted to know how long that had been there. She hadn't noticed it in the past which meant not long but his quick subject change suggested he put it away when he thought he'd have company not that it wasn't usually there. She looked pretty young in it too come to think of it. Might be something fun to needle him about on their down time. First things first though.

She knocked on his door oddly and unexpectedly nervous. It swung open while her hand was still up and startled her. "Your early." He said grinning.

"Not much but um, traffic was light." He nodded and took her arm to gently tug her into the house and shut the door. The sun was nearly set. She stood just looking at him for a long moment. Knowing what her plan was but unable to speak suddenly.

"Come'r" he said softly and they were in each others arms just holding each other. "We should do this more often." He joked into her hair. She looked up at him with a smile about to make a joke back when she saw the look in his eyes a moment too late. His mouth covered hers in a slow kiss that deepened with each breath. One of them moaned, neither knew which and the kiss grew frantic as they pulled at each others clothing, leaving a trail of discarded garments leading to his bedroom.

They reached the bed together but before he knew it she was straddling him, driving him hard and fast over the edge. "Wait, slow down I'm about to" before he could finish his sentence she was shaking with release and crying out his name, her hands dug into his shoulders as she rode out the intense orgasm that ripped through her. They went over the edge together. His hands that had been on her hips pulled her tight against him as his body bucked involuntarily, burying him deep inside her before they both lay limp on the bed, her draped across him, her head tucked into his neck.

"Well." He said hoarsely but with humor. "I forgot about that part."

"Hmm, which part?"

"Pregnancy induced insatiable sex drive." He grinned and stroked her bare back. "I'm definitely not complaining. It's not like I can get you more pregnant than you already are."

She chuckled and half heartedly punched his shoulder. "Good thing." And started doing clever things with her tongue to his ear that made him twitch in more places than one.

"As much as I'd love to be ready for round two I might need a few minuets Sam." But he said it stroking her sides and cupped one breast to rub his deft fingers over her now overly sensitive nipple.

She gasped "I hate to say it but do that really gently ok?"

"Oops. Forgot that part too." He eased up his ministrations on her breast. "We really should get up." He said patting her bottom. "I have desert and I want you to look at something and tell me what you think."

"Fine but I'm not done with you yet." Her tone was wicked as she propped herself on her elbows and nibbled on his jaw.

"Hmm.. me either but first, desert." And before she could respond he'd flipped their positions, pinning her between his legs and giving her a quick kiss he didn't give her a chance to deepen. "The food kind."

"Aw. But I wanted to eat you."

Jack sputtered. "Later. Like… in an hour. Otherwise you might kill me. And I'd die happy mind you but I kind of want to meet this little guy before I do that." His hand trailed down her belly to the small swell below her belly button that he knew soon would be the center of their lives. "Let's put some cloths on so I can focus and go eat the desert I bought us."

Sam huffed. "Spoilsport."

Jack's only safe response was to get off the bed and hunt down his boxers on the floor. Figuring that was close enough he went downstairs to make coffee and get out the cannoli he'd bought at her favorite Italian place. He'd considered having her over for dinner originally but he didn't think his heart could take the rejection if he'd gone with a big production of a candle lit dinner and dancing.

She followed behind him. The first thing she'd found was the t-shirt he'd had on when she arrived so she pulled it over her head and pretended she wasn't sniffing it appreciatively. It barely skimmed the tops of her thighs.

Done making coffee he turned and gave a low whistle. "While I enjoy the view would you mind putting something on under that." He waved a hand generally at her hips. "It's distracting."

She grinned. "When I find them I will." But she made no move to search for her discarded panties.

Yup. This would defiantly be his end. He tried to glower but a sloppy grin kept creeping into his scowl. There were far worse ways to go than an insatiable Samantha Carter. "Would you like coffee with your desert? Wait, how many have you had today and how much did Lam tell you that you could have." He knew most of her tricks and liked to close up loopholes ahead of the game.

"I had exactly one cup of coffee this morning." She scowled at how well he knew her. "So yes I can have another one." Her lip twitched though in humor.

"Just checking." He said and handed her a cannoli on a small plate with her mug.

'This beats the salad I had for dinner." She said smiling appreciatively.

"I figured you might want something nice after you abandoned your Jello today at lunch." He brushed his fingers on the back of her hand to let her know he totally understood. "I have something for you but before you read it I want to say something first."

She looked at him while she nibbled at the cannoli and nodded. "ok."

"I love you Sam. I'll love you no matter what you decide tonight and I'll always be here for you and our child." And his eyes told her every word was true. "Any decision you make is entirely up to you. I don't want you to feel pressured, but I thought it was best to give us as many possible options as I could manage so you could pick the one that works best for you." He winced inwardly at rambling then handed her the large envelope he'd received from Hayes.

She took it and slid out the documents, noting the folded letter with familiar handwriting on it. She started to read through the paperwork first in confused surprise then in some soft inscrutable emotion he couldn't put a finger on but was making her tear up. "This is.." she trailed off, her voice soft and full of awe.

"Yup. I didn't know if he'd agree to my terms so I didn't want to say anything about it until I knew I had it in the bag first." He swallowed as she picked up the letter and opened it.

Jack,

I hope this finds you well. We discussed my retirement recently and I was planning on retiring at the end of this summer. In light of your current circumstances I'm putting my retirement on hold for a year. Please note COC for SG1 is officially transferred. Henry's involvement is now purely procedural. Whichever you decide, please use this time to take care of Sam and make sure she takes good care of herself and the baby.

Best wishes,

George

PS, Tell Sam congratulations for me. I'll have a gift ready for her in about a month as it's on special order.

PPS, Henry and I would very much like some photos of the wedding should she agree to marry you though I can't for the life of me figure out why she would want to.

Sam put the letter down and a teardrop plipped onto the paperwork in front of her. He scooted it away before it got ruined and came around the table to wrap her in a hug. Sam sniffled. "You went all the way to Washington to ask the president to let you marry me?"

"Well, I knew I couldn't ask you unless I cleared the channels and I figured it was easier just to go right to the top of the chain instead of writing requisitions. You know how I hate paper work."

She sniffled again and chuckled a little. "I think that's about the sweetest thing you have ever done Jack." And hugged him tightly.

"Is that a yes?" he asked her hopefully.

She nodded mutely against his chest.

2ndAN: there will be a follow up epilog if anyone is into that sort of thing. If however you like the movie ending...

Nahye