Previously:

Opening the front door, she groaned, saying the first thing that came to her mind.

"Oh 'fer crying out loud! Could someone just shoot me, please

Chapter 21

Turning around to see if someone was behind him, her visitor raised his eyebrows questioningly. Okay, he hadn't called and he was sure she wasn't expecting him, but the reaction he got was still … well, strange. But before he could ask what was going on, the door opened further and he found himself catching Caity, who was jumping up at him.

"Uncle Jack! Uncle Jack!"

"Hey Caity. It's good to see that at least one person is happy to see me." Jack replied smiling at the girl in his arms. He couldn't help himself, he was in love. Deeply in love.

"Mommy said you had to work till t'morrow!" Caity asked slightly confused. "You haven't been bad and got a time-out, right?" she continued concerned. She knew that happened sometimes in school, when someone did something really bad he had to go home and wasn't allowed back for a couple of days.

Chuckling, her dad forgotten for the time being, Sam stepped aside to let him enter the house.

"Hey! I'm not that bad!" Jack protested, looking accusingly at Sam. Then he looked back at Caity and continued, smiling, "No munchkin, I was really good and could leave earlier because of this!"

That said, Jack looked up at Sam triumphantly. He could play this game too!

"Oookay," Sam replied, rolling her eyes at him before leading him into the living room.

"So, Sam. What was that about … ah, you-know-what-you at the front door?" Jack asked, censoring himself when he remembered Caity on his arm.

"OH!" Sam answered, remembering just why she had reacted the way she had – and turning white as a sheet. She had completely forgotten about her dad! Who, of course, choose that moment to enter the room.

"Sam? Do you know where … ." Jacob started but stopped as soon as he saw Jack in the living room.

"Hey… DAD!" Jack said surprised, his eyebrows doing their best to reach his hair line. "Long time no see!" he added flippantly, having gotten his surprise back under control. But just to be sure, he tightened his hold onto Jacob's granddaughter. He wouldn't kill him with her on his arm, right?

"Dad?" Caity asked confused. "Is grandpa your dad too, Uncle Jack?"

"Uhm, no. Not really." Jack said looking straight back at the way too curious girl in his arm. Not that he was avoiding to look at either Carter or Jacob. No, it was just polite to look at the person you're talking with, right?

"Oh." Caity replied, trying to understand it. When she didn't, she asked another question – and a very logical one too.

"Does that mean you are marrying mommy?" And just to be sure, she added as an afterthought. "I wouldn't mind, you know."

"WHAT?" came the instantaneous and very loud reply from all three adults in the room. And Sam wasn't the only one blushing furiously ... .
Jack didn't know how to reply to that and did the first thing that came to his mind – he sat down. After all, he didn't want Caity to fall down when he had a heart attack, and with her being a Carter and the daughter of her mother that was easily possible. Only god knew what she'd say next. Sam and Jacob seemed to have thought so too, because they sat down as well.

"Are you mad at me?" she asked Jack, her lower lip trembling dangerously when she looked up at him before putting her head onto his shoulder. The yelling had scared her a bit, even though nobody looked mad.

"No, of course not!" Jack replied, kissing the top of her head and stroking her back comfortingly. "No one is mad at you. We were just surprised. But why did you think I'd marry your mom?"

"Because you called grandpa 'dad' and then you said he isn't your dad," Caity said, as if this would clearly explain everything.

"So?"

"Well, Uncle Jake calls Grandpa Mike 'dad'. And Grandpa Mike said it's okay for Uncle Jake to call him that because he married his daughter and that makes him his son too." Caity explained patiently, her head still safely tucked under Jack's chin.

"Wow. That… actually makes sense." Jack finally replied surprised. Then again, Caity was Sam's daughter so he should have expected something like that.

During the whole conversation, Sam – apart from blushing more and more brightly – tried to magically vanish into thin air. Unfortunately, she had yet to learn this ability, maybe she should visit the Nox one of these days? Or if Narim would still be alive, she'd surely be ably to get the phase-shifting technology from him and while she wouldn't be able to vanish into thin air, she could at least let herself slowly sink through the couch and floor into the basement. And just as she thought things couldn't get worse – they did.

"Caity, so you wouldn't mind if Jack marries your mom?" Jacob – or rather Selmak using Jacob's voice – asked. Selmak had listened to the conversation and very much enjoyed it, even if Jacob wasn't exactly happy about the way it went. But Selmak being Selmak and loving to cause a bit of mischief now and then, decided to take over and have a bit of fun of his own. Well, Jacob might not be easy to live with for a while, but it was definitely worth it!

After hearing her dad voicing this questions, Sam's head shot up and she looked incredulously at him – mouth gaping open in shock. Had he lost his mind or something? How could he ask this question?

"Nope."

"Why?" Selmak still playing 'being Jacob' asked curiously – and leaving both Sam and Jack speechless.

"'Cause I like him. And mommy cooks way better than him, so he gets to eat healthy food and isn't becoming fat," Caity replied seriously.

"Hey!" Jack replied indignantly. "I'm right here! And I'm not getting fat."

"Uh huh." Caity replied while moving to look up at him. "Auntie Janet said so!"

Caity knew her Auntie Janet wouldn't lie to her, and she was a doctor too! So she would know things like this, right? And as Caity really liked her Uncle Jack because he was funny and played with her and made her mommy smile, Caity often invited him for dinner or asked her mommy if they could do so. She didn't want him all fat and getting sick because he couldn't take care of himself. Of course, he also couldn't play with her when he was sick…

By now Sam had given up trying to vanish into thin air and after deciding she wouldn't die of embarrassment – at least not immediately – she started to watch Caity interacting with her CO. Even though she didn't feel the smile that crept into her face, her dad did. He should have been worried, but he suddenly realised that it was the first true smile he saw – and he forgave Selmak for taking over his body. Well, almost anyway. He was making sure to get a least several cups of coffee – something Selmak didn't like at all – out of this. But for now, he would lean back and enjoy the little play in front of him.

"She said I'm getting fat?"

"Yep."

"Did she say I can't cook?"

"Uh huh. She said you can only burn meat on your barbeque. And that's not healthy." Caity replied seriously.

"Bah. She just doesn't know what's good for me," Jack replied hurt.

"But she's a doctor!" Caity exclaimed.

"So?" Jack asked stubbornly.

"Doctors learn this stuff, silly!" Caity answered patiently, patting Jack's cheek sympathetically. Sometimes adults were just weird.

"Silly? Did you just call me silly?" Jack asked, his eyes twinkling.

"Of course not!" Caity replied indignantly, before continuing - and trying to suppress the giggles that wanted to escape. "Must be all that unhealthy food getting to your ears!"

After his eyebrows had an interesting meeting with his hair line, he finally replied. "Smart-ass!"

"Uh oh. Bad word." Caity replied wide-eyed.

"So?" Jack answered grinning.

"No dessert." Caity replied, this time giving in into the giggles. She knew how much he loved dessert after all! And she couldn't blame him, because it was her favourite meal too!

"That's just mean!" Jack said, before starting to tickle her sides. "That calls for retaliation!"

Soon enough, Caity was laughing heartily while trying to get away from Jack. Which of course didn't work as he obviously had a couple of pounds on her. Letting them be for the time being, Jacob moved next to his daughter on the couch.

"Hey," Jacob started, distracting her from watching the other two. "Jack is really good with her."

"Yeah, Jack has been a great help." Sam replied, still smiling at the two without realising it.

Jacob was just about to reply, when he was interrupted by Caity.

"Mommy! Grandpa! Help! Please save me from the tickle monster!" she pleaded, still laughing hard.

Shaking her head, Sam stood up and went over to where Jack and Caity were sitting, pealing Caity off of Jack.

"Mommy, I'm hungry!" Caity, safely nestled against her mom, announced once she had calmed down a bit.

"Oh right, dinner! I forgot about that," Sam answered guiltily. Well, she was going to cook, but the arrival of her CO had kinda interrupted her plans.

"Don't worry. I can help you," Caity offered generously. "But we have to make enough for grandpa and Uncle Jack, right?" she continued pleading.

"Riiight…" Sam answered, not being able to resist The Look from her daughter. Then again, her daughter also gave her the perfect excuse to leave the room – and the two men inside – behind.

"We are going to make dinner. Have fun!" And with that she was gone. And fast at that – leaving the two perplexed men alone.

xoxoxoxoxo

"So, I've heard you've been sleeping with my daughter?" Jacob said after Sam had left them. Well, Selmak already had his fun, now it was his turn.

"What?" Jack all but … squeaked.

"Caity told me you slept with her mom – my daughter – … and didn't even have any decent breakfast around," Jacob continued, enjoying himself tremendously. Who would have thought that Jack could actually squeak? Too bad he didn't have any camera around to tape it.

"Oh, that." Jack finally managed to say. He remembered that day all too well, and though he had to admit that it was actually nice to have Sam sleeping on his side, he'd never forget just why she had been there with him. And he'd give up everything if there was only the slightest chance it'd prevented Sam of having to go through her son's death.

Seeing the emotions crossing Jack's face, which was a rare event in itself, Jacob sobered quickly. He suddenly knew there wasn't anything fun involved in that story, that there was no reason to tease neither Jack nor Sam with this. With Selmak's help everything fell into place quite nicely. Jacob knew Jack had lost a son – as had Sam. And suddenly he needed to know everything. Caity only told him that her big brother vanished before she was born and was with her parents now, watching over her and her mommy, and then she had asked him innocently if he thought that her grandma was there too. Soon after, Jack had turned up and he somehow forgot the whole thing – after all, it was much easier to do that than to think of what his daughter had to go through in all those years. Without him. But now, everything came back full force and he needed to know more. How had Caity called her brother? Right.

"David?"

"Yeah," Jack replied quietly.

"What happened?" Jacob asked, and seeing Jack's questioning look he continued, "Caity showed me her room. And her photos. She told me about her parents – a concept I really don't understand either – and then she showed me a picture of her brother. God, he looked just like Sam when she was his age."

Jack tried to contemplate what to do. Sam clearly needed to talk to her dad, but he also understood how hard everything was on her. Then again, judging by the pleading look Jacob gave him, he needed to get answers too. Now. You could practically see how he was beating himself up for not knowing about what his daughter was going through all those years. Still… it was something Sam had to do.

"Jacob," Jack started hesitantly.

"Jack, don't. Just tell me what happened to my grandson. Please!" Jacob all but pleaded.

Looking at Jacob for a long time, seeing the pain behind his eyes, he finally decided to tell Jacob the basic story.

Sighing deeply, tiredly rubbing a hand over his face, he finally started, "A couple of weeks ago I found Sam on my roof, spotting something in her eyes I hoped I'd never have to see again…"

Once more, Jacob was glad to have Selmak, as he was giving him the silent support he needed, while Jack told him how he found Sam on his roof on the day of David's funeral. He had never felt that helpless in his life, but was also glad when he learned about his son's big part in helping Sam through everything, knowing about the special bond those two shared since Sam was born on Jake's sixth birthday. It had hurt to see that relationship go downhill after Jake left his family, but as Jacob was in too much pain at that time himself, he couldn't do anything about it. Nevertheless, after all what he had learned today and even though his son was still not talking to him, he was more than proud of him. And maybe, just maybe, Jake would finally give him another chance.

"Thanks." Jacob said seriously once Jack had finished. And it wasn't just for talking to him.

Jacob still had a lot of questions – Jack had only scratched the surface after all – and he knew Jack could at least answer some of them, but he also understood his reluctance to do just that. It was something he had to talk to Sam about. Thinking back over the days events, he suddenly remembered the sad look George gave him, even though he thought he'd just imagined it until now. Also, he realised that he hadn't just imagined Sam's weight loss or that Sam's pale complexion had nothing to do with her being underground too much. No, these things all mirrored the emotional roller coaster she must have been on over those last few weeks. And once more, he was glad that Jack's antics with Caity had made Sam smile. Because that was surely something she hadn't done a lot in the recent past.

Looking over at Jack, Jacob saw that he was deep in thought as well. Now, that Sam wasn't in the room and he apparently didn't feel the need of schooling his expression, Jacob could also see the signs of concern clearly written all over Jack's face. Wondering if there was more to it, but not really wanting to think about it right now, Jacob allowed his focus to drift again and he concentrated on the muffled voices coming from the kitchen instead. Smiling when he mainly heard Caity's excited voice, even though he couldn't understand what it was exactly that she was saying, Jacob allowed his thoughts to go to his newly discovered granddaughter.

She was definitely … cheeky! She remembered him so much of Sam when she was her age, it was almost scary – especially as living with a 7-year old Sam was nothing but … interesting! Add her getting along with Jack O'Neill into the mix, and this called for nothing but mischief and trouble. Mischief, he already got a glimpse of today – and this was even more scary than her reminding him so much of his own mischievous little daughter. Because the trouble had just doubled. And judging by Selmak's chuckling, he wasn't the only one to think so. When he looked back over at Jack, seeing the smile gracing his lips while he looked into the general direction of the kitchen, Jacob could tell that he too was thinking about the two persons in the kitchen.

"You love her," Jacob stated, after observing him for a couple of more minutes.

"Yeah, well. I mean, have you seen those eyes? It's hard, if not impossible, to resist them." Jack answered.

"Seems like the feelings are mutual."

"You think?" Jack replied, a grin starting to spread over his face.

"No. But Selmak does." Jacob replied, sighing deeply.

"Oh…"

Interestingly enough, non of them dared to ask who exactly each of them was talking about at that moment. Luckily, both were saved from said thoughts by Caity arriving in the room.

"Dinner is ready!" she called cheerfully.

"Great!" both men replied enthusiastically, although not because they were hungry – well, maybe they were – but mainly because Caity just saved them from an awkward silence.

"Hey! Watcha think you're doing?" Caity asked sternly, hands firmly placed on her hips, when both men headed straight for the already set table.

"Huh?"

"Didn't your mom teach you to wash your hands before eating?" Caity asked, rolling her eyes at both of them.

"Did she just…" Jacob said incredulously, looking at Jack for conformation.

"Yep." Jack replied flippantly, before heading for the bathroom, mumbling, "And here comes another Napoleonic powermonger!"

Dinner was a fairly interesting occasion, though Jacob still couldn't quite understand how Caity managed to eat heartily and still maintain a constant chatter. Once dinner was finished, Jack offered to do the dishes but Sam declined. She needed some time to collect her thoughts, to prepare for the things to come. Understanding her completely, Jack asked Caity if she was going to show him her finished room soon or if he would have to die of curiosity. Laughing at that, Caity took his hand and pulled him towards her room, leaving Jacob alone.

After all the dishes were done and the kitchen spotless once again, Sam had no choice but to join her dad in the living room. She knew Jack would keep Caity occupied and was once again grateful for all the things he had done for her in the past. But this conversation was something he couldn't do for her, so taking a deep breath, she finally entered the room.

"Dad, I… " she started, but couldn't finish as tears somehow found the way into her eyes. Damn, she really didn't need them right now, she thought angrily, trying to blink them away. But apparently, they had a mind of their own and started flowing freely now.

Seeing Sam loosing the fight against her tears, Jacob went to her, wordlessly pulling her into a tight hug. Slowly moving them over to the couch, he once again wished could take all her pain away.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Sam managed to choke out in between sobs.

"Ssh, it's okay. Everything will be okay," Jacob repeated over and over again, stroking her back comfortingly. And somehow both knew, that this was the truth.

When Sam finally calmed down, she was surprised how good she felt – despite the crying fit she just experienced. And still being in her father's arms, she also felt safe – and so she started to tell him about his grandkids, what they loved, what the hated – and how his grandson died.

Hours later, she was both mentally and physically exhausted, but felt like a big weight had been finally taken off her shoulder. Until now, she hadn't realised just how much guilt she felt about not telling her dad about her kids, no matter the reasons behind it. And she was glad that he wasn't mad at her, something she would have understood – and truth be told, also had expected. Instead, they were sitting in silence, drawing comfort from each other. When Sam finally look at her watch for the first time, it was well past midnight.

"Oh! It's way past Caity's bedtime!" Sam exclaimed guiltily.

"Relax, Sam. I'm sure Jack made sure she was in bed on time." Jacob tried to reassure her, though he didn't want to think about just what let him be so sure. "Why don't we go and see for ourselves?"

When they entered Caity's room, Sam couldn't help but smile – and neither could Jacob. Caity was safely tucked in bed, her beloved polar bear in one arm, and she was sleeping peacefully. And Jack, well, he was sprawled out onto the cushions below Caity's loft-bed, his head framed by various soft toys, and he was snoring lightly. Looking at her dad, Sam motioned for him to follow her outside, where she grabbed a blanket to spread over her CO. Once she finished, she carefully closed the door to her daughters room, grabbed another blanket and pillow and followed her dad downstairs again.

"So, I guess I get the couch?"

"Yeah, well, sorry about that. I was going to turn the spare room into a guest room, but haven't quite managed to get all the boxes moved out of it yet." Sam started to apologise.

"Hey, don't worry. Selmak and I have slept on much worse places. We'll be fine."

"Sure?"

"Absolutely." Jacob replied smiling.

"Okay, well, good night then," Sam said hesitantly.

"Come here," Jacob said, pulling his daughter into another hug. "I love you."

"Thanks. I love you too."

"Good. Now go to bed." Jacob ordered Sam, though the smile betrayed his tone.

"Yes, sir!" Sam replied smiling, before heading to her bedroom to catch some quality sleep.

A/N: Once again, Muse got carried away a bit. I hope you still like it though! That said, don't forget to review, please! Thanks!