Jim rushed home as fast as he could. Sarah had had her followup appointment today following the small procedure to expose one of the locks of red hair on her head two weeks ago. However a robbery at one of the stores in town had required his urgent attention. He felt terrible for missing her appointment but she had told him it would be alright and that she'd tell him how it went at home. Things had been perfect between them for the past two weeks and he was concerned his absence might have jeopardized things but she had promised him it wouldn't.

He pushed open the door to their house and called out to her. "Sarah? I'm home."

"In here," she called from the kitchen.

He quickly went there. "How did the appointment go?" he asked as he walked towards her and put his arms around her for a hug.

She hugged him tightly and said nothing for a moment.

He wondered if something was wrong and remained holding her close to him.

She felt his worry and pulled back from him. She forced a smile to calm him.

"What happened at the appointment?" he wondered what had been said to make her this quiet.

"They want me to have surgery," she told him faintly. "They want to cut all the tendrils off to expose the hair."

He smiled. "Surely that's a good thing?" he asked.

She nodded. "It'll be a long surgery and they said the recovery would be painful," she added dully.

He frowned and remained quiet for a moment, looking at her pained expression. "This isn't like you," he didn't need to be a telepath to sense that.

"I guess I had gotten used to these. I'd never thought I'd get my real hair back and now there is a chance. It's a little scarey. So much has happened since I was that redhead. I thought she was gone."

"She hasn't gone," Jim promised her. "She's been here all the time."

She paused and looked away for a moment before returning to his eyes. "It's like I was this woman... this redhead... a ghost... a son of Korhal... I put my hair in that red ponytail for years and I wore that grey suit. Then I was infested... and everything changed." She paused.

Jim didn't understand what she was trying to say.

"I can't undo it," she said sadly. "Those things happened. I can't look in the mirror and see that same redhead. If I have the surgery, I'll look in the mirror and I won't know who is looking back at me."

Jim held his hands against her back and gently moved them up and down to soothe her. "You won't be the same redhead," he said with a smile. "You're a wife and a mother now."

She smiled. She liked being those words.

He looked at her seriously. "This," he said as he picked up one of her tendrils, "doesn't tell you who you are." He placed the tendril back down and moved his hand to her heart, "this tells you who you are."

She nodded to show she agreed.

"If you don't want to go through with the surgery because of the pain and discomfort, then I can understand that," his voice was slow and comforting. "But you know those things are ready to come out. Your real hair is ready to come back."

She nodded again and let out a deep sigh. "You and Karol need me," she added. "I can't have surgery and expect you to look after me as well as her."

Jim laughed. "I'll cope. Remember that time you got the flu about two years ago?"

It was Sarah's turn to laugh. "I remember," she thought back to how amazing Jim had been; waiting on her hand and foot. Then she had given him the same flu and realized that 'the male strain was much more aggressive'... or so Jim had tried to tell her and spent a week nursing him back to health. She also remembered the time he had spent beside her bed after her deinfestation - both times. She trusted him to look after her, but now she had to think about Karol. "But we didn't have a seven month old baby then."

Jim smirked. "So I'll have help looking after you this time," he joked. He looked at her seriously. "I can manage this. You knew there would come a time where you'd have to trust me again, and this is it," he reassured her.

"Jim, I didn't mean to imply," he interrupted her before she could finish.

"It's ok," he said softly.

"I do trust you," she promised. She looked deeply into her eyes and slowly said, "what if something goes wrong? With the surgery. What if I go to sleep and I never see you or Karol again."

Jim saw the pain in her eyes and brought a hand up to stroke her face. "Did the doctors say there was that possibility?" he asked curiously.

She nodded. "The anesthetic..."

Jim smiled to push her worries away, "they always say that."

"But I'm not entirely human," she added sadly.

"I'd have thought that would have made your chances better?" he probed.

She placed her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. "I wish that artifact could have brought me all the way back," she said in a voice full of regret.

He held her tightly. "You are enough back to make me the happiest man alive."

She smiled against him.

"Hey, if you go back to being a redhead, maybe I should think about dying all this grey out of my hair," he mused to lighten the tone.

She opened her eyes and quickly lifted her head. "Don't you even think about it," she said happily as she used the fingertips on one of her hands to stroke a patch of grey in his beard. "It makes you look distinguished."

"Distinguished?" he laughed. "First time anyone has ever called me that."

"It's true," she said softly as she lent in to kiss him. His beard gently tickled her face as their lips meant.

The kiss was short but loving. As Sarah pulled away from him he smelt something. "Is that something burning?" he asked quickly as he recognized the smell.

"Huh?" she asked before she smelt it. "Damn," she whispered as she pulled away from him and rushed over to one of the saucepans. She lifted it up and inspected it's contents. "Well, that's dead," she said with a pained expression.

"What was it?" he asked out of curiosity.

"Framberry sauce," she put the burnt remains into the sink and turned on the water. "For the steak."

"Steak?" he asked with keen interest.

"I thought we both deserved a little treat." She frowned, "I guess without the sauce now."

Jim couldn't help but feel relieved that the horrid little berries were burnt to a crisp.

Sarah cocked an eyebrow as she sensed his thoughts. "Since when did you hate Framberries?"

He blushed. "Remember I told you about that time Nova kissed me? She must have just drank some Framberry Juice or something... tasted completely of them... ever since then I haven't wanted Framberries anywhere near me," he pulled a disgusted face.

Sarah laughed as she went to the oven and pulled out the steak. "No more framberries it is then," she stated with a smile. "The meat looks fine," she said as she surveyed the steak.

"It sure does," Jim said as he brought his eyes down to Sarah's behind.

She felt her cheeks blush and she gave him a brief glance with a smile. "I'm still incredibly flattered you chose me," she added, "over Nova."

"Seriously?" he laughed.

"That butt..." Sarah added. "If I fancied women, I'd be tempted."

Jim laughed again. "Promise me, if you ever fancy women, you'll let me watch."

Sarah laughed too although she tried to hide it with shock. "James Raynor! You pig!" she proclaimed in a mock expression of offense.

"Surely you aren't still surprised by my thoughts 'bout you," he laughed.

She smirked. She wasn't going to admit to liking his sexualised thoughts about her but she wasn't going to tell him to stop either. She went back to serving up the food before she looked back at him, "do me a favor and check on Karol?"

"Will do," he said happily.

"She's in the living room," she added.

He made his way there and caught sight of her in her playpen. He was happy to see she wasn't dressed in a onesie and was in a little pink t-shirt and skirt, one of the new outfits Sarah had picked up a few days ago. "Hey sweetheart," he called to her as he knelt down beside the playpen. He noticed she had some multicoloured blocks in front of her with different letters of the alphabet.

Karol stared at him with a smile as she picked up one of the blocks and tried giving it to him through the bars.

Jim took the block with one hand and used his other one to hold her now empty hand. "What's this?" he asked her playfully. He pretended to balance it on his nose; which Karol laughed at. He put the block back inside the playpen and knelt up slightly so he could reach his arms inside and scoop Karol out and into his arms. "Has daddy's little girl been good today?" he asked her as he gave her a kiss on the forehead.

Karol ignored the kiss as she found the shiny star attached to her daddy's jacket and started to play with it.

Jim let her play with it and carried her towards the kitchen. "Let's watch mommy cook," he told Karol they entered the kitchen. "She doesn't realize she's getting very good at this."

Sarah cast her gaze to Jim and Karol and smiled at Jim's words. "Except when mommy burns stuff," she said to Karol. Sarah knew she was no great chef, but she was happy enough that Jim liked some of the things she could make.

"Because daddy distracts her," Jim added. He looked at Karol again, "did mommy feed you already?"

"We just had some mashed carrot and peas concoction, didn't we, sweetie?" Sarah said as she began putting things onto plates. "In fact, it was the yummiest one we've had so far, wasn't it?"

Jim laughed. "Did mommy eat all your dinner?" he joked. "Well, if mommy doesn't have room for all of her steak, I will promise to help her eat it."

Sarah smiled as she brought the plates to the dinner table. "Shall we sit her at the table with us or put her back in her pen?"

"She can sit with us, can't she? If she looks fussed we can always change it up," he said confidently as he placed her in her baby chair. He ensured she was secure and took his usual seat beside Karol, opposite Sarah's place. He noticed a small pink plush elephant on the table and picked it up. He smiled and walked it across the table to Karol's chair.

Karol giggled and reached her hand out to take the elephant.

Sarah removed her apron and hung it beside the oven before sitting down opposite Jim. She pushed a stray tendril behind her ear and smiled at Jim who was anxiously waiting for her to get comfy so they could start.

"This looks amazing," he told her as he reached out to take her hand in his.

"I hope it tastes that way too," she said, un-confident of her skills. She took his hand and smiled.

He looked at her for a moment before speaking, "you take care of us so well. You need to let us take care of you sometimes, too."

She glanced down out of embarrassment before returning to his gaze.

"I know you don't like being not in control," he smiled, "trust me again to be in control."

She forced a smile again and held his hand tighter.

"I don't want to put any pressure on you," he stated. "Just know me and Karol will be ok without you for a little while."

Sarah smiled and looked at Karol, noticing her beautiful red hair as she played with the toy elephant. She wasn't sure how she'd cope being apart from Karol. Or Jim. She looked back to Jim and smiled. "The food will get cold," she said softly as she unhooked her hand from Jim's.

He let the matter drop and began to eat. He cut off a large piece of steak and popped it into his mouth.

Sarah waited anxiously to see his reaction and began smiling to herself when she sensed he liked it.

"Just the way I like it," he told her happily before he took another bite.

She said nothing and contently began her own meal.

The evening went smoothly as they finished their meals and caught up with the day's happenings. Jim had eaten the last little bit of Sarah's steak and he placed the cutlery down on the plate. "Delicious," he stated.

"Yeah?" she asked softly.

He smiled at his wife and extended his foot to stroke her leg beneath the table. "Anything for dessert?"

She blushed and look at Karol who had started to nod off. "I think it's time for our little girl to go to bed," she said with the hint of a smile on her lips.

Jim continued to stroke Sarah's leg. He was wondering if it was their time to go to bed, too, but he didn't want to say so in front of Karol.

Sarah turned to him without giving anything away, "I'm going to put her to bed. In the mean time, you need a shower."

He mentally sighed.