"I don't think I can do this." Samantha said worriedly as she looked at her sleeping daughter.

Jack walked over and placed a hand on each of her shoulders and gently turned her to face him. "Yes you can." He told her firmly.

"What if she needs me?"

"She has me."

"But you're not her mother." Samantha argued.

"Noooo, I am her father though."

Just then, two month old Emily opened her eyes and saw both her parents and smiled.

"Oh God how can I even think about leaving her, she's still so little." Samantha put down her bag indicating she was going nowhere.

"Samantha you are not running off to a galaxy far, far away, you are going to college approximately a twenty minute drive away. I promise if she really, really needs you I will call. Now will you get your ass out of here and go teach those professors a thing or two!"

Samantha smiled. Jack always knew how to make her feel better. "So what exactly are you two planning to do today?" She asked as she bent to pick up her daughter for a cuddle before she left for the day.

"Well I thought we might head over to Mac's and I could teach her how to fly the Mustang."

Samantha had been busy nuzzling her daughters neck and committing her sweet baby smell to memory. "What!?" She said when she finally realised what Jack had said. "Jack promise me you will not take her anywhere near the Mustang!"

Jack laughed at the expression on his wife's face. "Just checking you were paying attention" He grinned cheekily. "We are planning to head over to Mac's though. There are a few jobs that need doing that the old reprobate is too stubborn to ask for help with, so I thought if I took the princess with me and told him I needed a break from her, he could to the granddaddy thing and I could fix a few things up."

Samantha listened to her husband and fell in love with him all over again, she had never known a man with a bigger heart. "So what happens when Mac's place is all fixed up?"

"I have a few plans…." He hedged.

"Such as?" She prompted.

"I got the letter yesterday, I start search and rescue training in May, and come summer I thought it might be fun to train a little league team…. you know, just stuff."

"Stuff?"

"Fine! I have been thinking about starting a program for teens like Annie and Oliver, you know life skills, guidance, support, stuff like that." Jack finally confessed, having had ideas running around in his head for a few months, but with the baby, Thanksgiving and Christmas he really hadn't had a chance to sit down and work out a comprehensive program.

Samantha looked at her husband and finally accepted that this was the right plan for them. She did need to be intellectually challenged and even though going back to first year college may not be the biggest challenge at least she was on her way. Jack needed this. Jack needed to help others, it was what he did. Between helping troubled teens and search and recue she knew he would be fulfilled the same way science fulfilled her.

"You worked out how you are going to fund this grand plan of yours?" She asked with a smile.

"Ummm nope, still go to sit down and work out exactly what it is I want to achieve, who I'm aiming it at yadda yadda yadda."

"Well I think I might want to take up the offer I had for my e-learning business so I can fund your project." She smiled at her husband.

"Someone made you an offer?"

"Yep a huge offer, plus they want to keep Oliver on. In fact I think he may be switching majors to business."

"How big and offer Mrs Neil?" Jack asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Big enough that we don't have to worry about money. Ever."

Jack laughed. "You really just can't help being a genius can you?"

….

Samantha took one last look at the photo and smiled before sliding it into the envelope. She quickly posted it before she could change her mind. If Jack knew what she had done he would have accused her of being sentimental and interfering but she knew she needed to show the other version of herself that she could have everything.

….

Colonel Samantha Carter walked in her front door for the first time in four days. The first thing she noticed was the flashing light on her answering machine. She sighed, knowing exactly who the messages were from and what they would want. Pete. Wanting her to call as soon as she got home, each meassage more demanding than the last and each message causing her irritation levels to rise. She never stopped to question whether hearing the sound of her fiancés voice asking to see her being irritating was a sign.

She deleted the messages and decided to call him later, after a hot shower and a glass of wine. She turned her attention to the four days worth of mail that had collected in her mail box. The usual bills, a bank statement, it was the one addressed to her in her own writing that made her stop dead.

She had violated their 'no contact' agreement several times, why shouldn't her younger version do the same. In fact she knew that her younger self would only make contact if it were really important so she carefully opened the envelope and pulled out a photograph.

The photograph was of, possibly the most beautifu,l baby she had ever seen and then she realised that is must be the baby Samantha had been pregnant with the last time they had seen each other. Genetically this was the baby of General O'Neill and herself. Her breath caught as she looked at the baby and traced her finger down the cheek of the child wondering if it was as soft as it looked. She peered inside the envelope to see if there was a note but it was empty, it was then she noticed writing on the back of the photo.

He is the one – don't settle for less than this.

Sam read the message over and over. Was she settling for Pete? This last couple of days, working closely with the General while they we on Maybourne's planet it was almost like old times. Were those old feelings for the General still there, just buried so deep she had been able to ignore them? And what about the General? Surely he didn't still have feelings for her?

Sam Carter was confused as she headed to bed that night, not having remembered to call her fiancé and let him know she was home.

…..

"You can still have everything you want." Jacob Carter told his daughter from his deathbed.

Sam looked at him once again reassuring him that she was happy and she did have everything she wanted. She spent the rest of the day in a bit of a daze, her father's words playing on her mind. She thought of the house that Pete had bought without even consulting her, the dog he intended to get without even asking if she wanted one and the feeling that she was making a big, huge mistake finally overwhelmed her. She sank to the floor in her lab and cried for the father she was losing and the fact that she had lost any chance of ever having a relationship with the general.

Once she finished crying she took some deep breaths and made same hard decisions. She knew what she needed to do but her first priority was spending what little time her father had left, together.

Thirty minutes later, as she watched the Tok'ra saying goodbye to her father, General O'Neill slipped quietly into the observation room and wrapped her in an embrace. He wanted nothing from her other than to be there for her, he made no demands and Sam realised this was what she needed in a relationship and knew her earlier decision had been the right one. Pete was not the man for her. The man for her currently had his arm around her shoulders, gently stroking her cheek and promising to be there for her always.