ONE YEAR LATER

The cold alerted Sam to the fact that her husband wasn't in bed. She reached her arm across, thinking that he'd just rolled away. However, he seemed to have forgotten his duty as her hot water bottle and abandoned her. The bed wasn't even warm. Knowing there was only one reason he would have been gone so long, Sam pulled on her robe and followed.

Sure enough, she found Jack in the nursery. Sat in the rocking chair, he held their little girl to his chest as she greedily sucked at her bottle.

"I didn't even hear her," Sam said, wondering how long her daughter had been crying.

"You were the one out saving the world today, that's why the baby monitor was on my side of the bed… remember?"

Sam nodded. It still didn't feel right. She been so tired when she'd got back from the SGC that she'd barely been able to do anything other than fall into bed

"Once the holidays are over I will be having a word with Hank about the meaning of maternity leave," Jack went on. "You want to take over?"

Shaking her head, Sam moved to kneel down beside them. She didn't think she'd ever get tired of watching Jack with their child. Elizabeth Grace was three months old, and, naturally, she was the most beautiful baby on this or any other planet. At least Sam thought so. She had her father's big brown eyes and, if her small amount of hair was anything to go by, it would be blond.

She still remembered finding out that she was pregnant… and the subsequent conversation with Cassandra regarding use by dates. Children had been something she and Jack had both wanted and sometimes she wondered if fate hadn't taken a hand. Their joy in the new life they had created seemed to grow every day. Jack couldn't do enough for Elizabeth … even when it came down to changing the diapers. Sam had never asked, but she had the feeling that he hadn't been around for many of Charlie's formative years.

It was one of the reasons Sam wasn't going to take Elizabeth from him now.

That and the fact he hadn't bothered to put his shirt on when he got up.

Finished with her bottle, Elizabeth gave an enormous yawn followed by a belch. Jack placed her over his shoulder to burp her, and then carried her back to her crib. Together they stood and watched their precious angel as she drifted off to sleep.

"Look," Jack whispered.

He drew back the curtains a little, just enough so that Sam could see the snow falling.

'Through the years
We all will be together,
If the Fates allow
Hang a shining star upon the highest bough.
And have yourself

A merry little Christmas now,'

THE END