"Mrs. O'Neill," a voice beckoned her from her slumber. "Mrs. O'Neill, you have a visitor."

Sam opened her eyes somewhat reluctantly to find a nurse standing over her. "Who is it?" She asked though her mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton balls. Had she been drugged? Where was she being held?

"General," Dr. Lam greeted with a smile from beside her in the isolation room. "It's all right. You're here at the SGC. You're in the infirmary."

"What happened?" She asked, almost afraid to hear about what had occurred to put her here.

"It's all right," Lam soothed. "You went into labor. That's all."

"Where's my baby?" She asked, instantly. "Where's Jack?"

"I'm right here," Jack said, appearing in the doorway. "As for Junior..."

Sam's brow furrowed. There was something wrong with this picture. Something horribly wrong with the way that Jack was looking at her.

His eyes glowed. "He was very helpful in saving me from my heart attack."

The dizzying memory of a goa'uld being pulled from her stomach terrified her as she tried to wrestle away from the nurse and doctor, who had instantly attempted to restrain her.

"She has filled her purpose," the goa'uld in her husband announced in a gravelly voice. "Kill her."

She screamed as she shot up, breathing heavily.

Jack shot up beside her. "Whoa, whoa, whoa," he murmured, instantly at her side as Cassandra hurried in from the kitchen.

"What's going on?" She asked, a wooden spoon in one hand.

"You are never calling our baby "Junior" ever again," she managed as she looked into the face of her concerned husband.

His brow furrowed as she inhaled, trying to calm herself down.

"Can I get you anything?" Cassandra asked, studying her closely.

She nodded as she tried to recover from the shock of her dream. "Glass of water. Th-that'd be good."

"Sure thing," Cassandra said, slipping out of the bedroom.

"What's going on, Sam? You've never screamed like that...not even after you got back from Fifth..."

She shuddered involuntarily at the memory of her capture. "I had given birth. But not to a human baby - to a goa'uld." She began. "And you came in, but you weren't you...the goa'uld had been the one thing that could save you from your heart attack."

His face became instantly more sober as he wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. "That's awful," he murmured, soothingly. "You okay?"

"I'll get there," she managed, breathing deeply.

"Here's your water," Cassandra said, bringing back a glass of the clear liquid.

"Thank you," Sam said, gratefully.

"Mom?" Grace asked, poking her head in the master bedroom as Doc followed.

"Grace, honey," Sam murmured as she swallowed her sip of water. "How was your day at school?"

"Fine," she said with a shrug. "Are you okay? I thought I heard you scream."

Sam cursed herself internally before she shook her head. "I'm fine, angel. Just a bad dream."

Grace nodded in understanding as Sam patted the bed beside her. "Come on, kiddo. Up here. What happened at school today?"

Grace climbed onto her parents' king-sized bed as Doc hopped up and snuggled into the covers. "Nothing much," she shrugged. "We did our Astronomy lesson again today." She shook her head as if she was almost in a state of disbelief. "Man, I wish I could see those people's faces when they find out what REALLY happens in space!"

Sam and Jack raised their eyebrows.

"What?" She asked, defensively. "I'm not going to tell anyone anything. I just really, really, REALLY want to be there when they realize that my parents are the ones who started exploring the galaxy when the Stargate was opened!" Her enthusiasm made both of her parents smile. "Then, they'd know that even Dad knows more about the universe than Mrs. James."

"Grace, she is your teacher," Sam admonished with an amused chuckle.

"I know that," she said with an exasperated sigh. "But she doesn't know anything about astronomy. I mean, she calls asterisms "constellations", for cryin' out loud."

"So do a lot of other people, angel," Sam said with an understanding smile.

"What?" Jack asked, confused. "I don't get it...what's the difference?"

Sam looked over at her husband. "When you look up at the night sky, and you see Orion's Belt, you're looking at an asterism. The actual image in the sky. The Big Dipper, Cassieopeia...all of those configurations are asterisms."

"Then, what's a constellation?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That's the actual section of the heavenly sphere that asterism belongs to," she said with a shrug.

"See?" Grace asked, seriously, before her dad could offer even a sarcastic "ah". "It's easy!"

Sam tried to stifle a smile as she could see the confusion clouded in her husband's eyes. "Not exactly." Sam bit her lip as she thought of a way she could try to explain it to her husband. "Look, try to imagine that you have a pie."

"I like pie." He said as his ears perked up.

Sam laughed softly. "I know, but that's beside the point..." She set her hands in the air in front of her as she pretended to outline the circular pie with her hands. "Now, imagine that I've cut this pie into eight slices. But each slice has an image cut into it."

Jack nodded slowly.

"Saying that an asterism is a constellation is like saying that the picture of a cherry that's cut into one of the slices is the slice itself." She studied him as she waited for some sign of his comprehension. "Got it?"

"I think so," he said, still somewhat confused.

"Each of these slices," she continued. "Each of these constellations...has an asterism, or a picture, carved into it."

"Ah." He said as each piece of the analogy finally clicked in his head.

"You need to explain that to my teacher." Grace said, shaking her head, seriously.

"You should take pie." Jack said, looking over at his daughter with only a marginally teasing smile on his lips. "Everything makes more sense with pie."

Sam grinned as she shook her head. "Grace, I think you're just going to have to suffer in silence," she laughed.

"Grace!" Cassandra called. "Dinner!"

"YES!" Grace called, running out to the kitchen.

"What do you think it is?" Jack asked, looking over at his wife.

"If my nose serves me correctly, and it usually does these days," she began, sniffing the air. "Chicken teriyaki, fried rice, and steamed green beans."

"Chicken teriyaki!" Cassandra announced as she brought the couple their plates.

"You're so good," Jack said, shaking his head, as he saw every predicted item on the plate which Cassandra offered him.

Sam grinned as the other woman's brow furrowed. "What's going on?"

"I just predicted dinner," Sam laughed. "Thank you, heightened pregnancy smell! Hasn't served me well until now."

Cassandra laughed softly as Jack snorted, both in amusement.

"Eat your dinner," the future doctor ordered as she shook her head and closed the door.

"This smells so good," Jack admitted as he instantly dug into the plate of food. "Do you know how long it's been since I had any semblance of Asian food?"

"Since the heart attack," she said, knowingly. She sat back against her pillows as she began to push the food on her plate around. "So, you really didn't know about the difference between asterisms and constellations?" She asked, surprised.

"Hey, I'm just a closet star observer. I don't read books about them or anything."

"I just figured that with all you knew about singularities..." Sam said, pointedly.

"Hey, you had just explained that to me when I came to you with the report in an absolute stupor," he reminded her.

She grinned in amusement. "That's right. You used to come to my lab at least once a day with a new question about the science behind the program. What's a wormhole? What happens when we open the Gate? Why does the Gate spin?"

He shrugged. "Hey, I can't help that you're so darned attractive when you explain things to me in terms that I can understand."

"So, that's why you did it?" She asked in amusement.

"Yeah." He said, nodding.

"Unbelievable," she laughed softly.

He grinned.

There was a knock on the door. "Come in," the couple called in unison.

"Can we eat with you?" Grace asked, poking her head in again.

Sam grinned as Cassandra follwed. "Sure. We'll have a picnic on the bed."

"How was your day, kiddo?" Jack asked as he took a bite of the chicken.

"Good." Grace said with a grin. "I got a hundred percent on my spelling test."

"Did you?" Sam asked, enthusiastically. "That's great!"

She grinned. "I was the only one too!"

"Well, that's fantastic, angel!" Sam said with a proud smile of her own.

Grace chattered away about her day, but Sam found her attention slowly being diverted to the silent Cassandra who was slowly picking at her food.

Sam shared a concerned look with her husband, who stood almost instantly. "Come on, Grace, I think I could go for some air hockey, and you're the reigning champion, so I'm playin' you."

"Okay," Grace said, climbing down off the bed. "Can I take my plate?"

"Sure. As long as you eat the rest of your dinner before bed." Jack said as he led her from the room with Doc trailing behind them.

Cassandra reached for her plate and stood. "Well, I guess we'll let you rest," she said, giving Sam a worn smile.

"Not yet," Sam said, softly. "Have a seat."

Cassandra sighed softly before she did as she'd been bidden.

"We haven't gotten a chance to talk yet." Sam explained, gently. "How are you?"

"Fine," she quipped quickly as she looked down at the bedspread on the king sized bed.

"Cass," she prodded.

Cassandra looked up with a small sigh. "Keeping busy around here helps." She admitted.

"I know how that goes," Sam confessed.

Cassandra bit her lip before she looked back up at Sam. "How can something that wasn't working hurt you so badly when it's finally over?"
Sam shrugged. "That's the sixty-four million dollar question, and if you figure it out, let me know. It would make half of my adult life make sense."

Cassandra managed a small smile.

"But I'm living proof that if you hold out for the right guy, he'll come even when you least expect it."

Cassandra nodded slowly.

"Hey, have you thought about how you're going to get a residency at the Academy hospital?"

Cassandra nodded. "Yeah. I filled out an application for a transfer to Colorado Springs upon graduation."

"Great." Sam said, excitedly.

Cassandra managed a more light-hearted smile. "You just want me close by."

Sam grinned. "You've got me figured out, kid." She sobered. "Cass, I'm about to offer to do something that I almost killed my father for doing..."

"You're going to offer to help me get what I want," she said, keenly.

"Only if you want it." Sam explained. "Unlike my father, I'm not going to cram it down your throat."

Cassandra smiled appreciatively before she nodded. "I'd appreciate the help."

"I'll make some calls," she said, nodding supportively.

"That would be great."

"Cass, we really appreciate your willingness to come and help out," she said, soberly.

"Hey, didn't you drop everything and come down to help me once?"

Sam smiled softly as she remembered the few months she'd lived in the Las Vegas area and worked at Area 51 while sharing a home with Cassandra, and on the weekends, Jack. "It worked out pretty well for me," Sam said with a fond chuckle.

Cassandra smiled a sad smile before she reached for the dishes.

"Cass?"

"I think I'm tired from the long day. Maybe I'll do the dishes, take a bubble bath, watch a sappy movie, and go to bed."

Once again, Sam noticed the weariness in the young woman's eyes, and it was more than a physical sensation. "Get some good rest, okay?"

Cassandra nodded as she tried to muster a strong smile. "Will do."