Previously:

"What's wrong?" Jack asked gently. "Can't sleep?"

"Uh huh."

"Wanna watch some TV?" Jack probed quietly, receiving only a shake of her head as reply. Switching the TV of, Jack got up and walked over to her. Seeing Sam rubbing her arms, he moved closer and continued just as gently, "You look cold, why don't you go back to bed?"

Jack was just wondering what else to say when Sam finally spoke up, though she was talking so quietly that he could barely hear her.

"Come with me?"

Chapter 37

Stopping mid-motion in surprise for a second, Jack quickly recovered and moved to hug Sam. As soon as he had his arms around her, he could hear Sam sniffling and rather felt than saw her burying her face in his shoulder.

Kissing the top of her head while rubbing her back, he just held her for a couple of minutes before he started to speak again.

"You see the pictures that this stupid snake put in your head as soon as you close your eyes." Jack probed gently.

Though Sam didn't reply with words Jack could feel her nod against his shoulder.

"You hate that this is making you feel helpless?"

Nod.

"You hate bursting into tears because of this?"

Nod. Sniff.

"You're afraid I'll consider you weak after the last couple of days?"

Nod.

"Even though I'd never do anything like that. You know that, right?"

Nothing.

"Sam?"

Sigh. Nod.

"You're wondering how can I possibly know all of this?"

Nod.

"And now you are so impressed that you want to write all my future mission reports."

No- Punch.

"Hey!"

Sniff. Giggle.

"Ahh. What did I say about giggling?" Jack said mock-seriously before adding gently, "Feeling better?"

"Thanks," Sam answered nodding, finally lifting her head off of Jack's shoulder and looking at him.

"Good," Jack replied, using his thumbs to remove the last tears from her cheeks. And while his hands cupped her head, he decided to not waste this and kissed Sam softly on the lips. "Come on, we better get some sleep before the munchkin decides it's time to get up."

Turning, Jack kept one of his arms around Sam's waist and slowly guided her towards her bedroom. When he felt her hesitating in front of Caity's room, Jack simply stopped, carefully opened the door to Caity's room and moved inside. The girl in question was oblivious of her surroundings, sleeping peacefully, the polar bear Fluffy – her favourite soft toy – securely tugged under her arm.

Hearing Sam sigh softly, Jack tightened his grip on her waist slightly and gently led her out of her daughter's room and towards Sam's bedroom.

Whoa! Sam's bedroom! In any other situation his blood would happily abandon his brain and rush down south by just thinking of that room. But as much as he would like to agree with this way of action, tonight was simply not the right time for that. All he wanted right now – and luckily his whole body agreed with him – was to hold Sam and help her sleep without nightmares.

So Jack was quite pleased that as soon as they got into her – rather comfortable and big – bed, Sam didn't hesitate to curl up against him and that the moment she seemed to have found a comfortable spot she was fast asleep.

Unfortunately, the nightmares weren't thinking of Sam's well-being all that much. While the night before Jack had managed to calm Sam without her ever waking up, it wasn't meant to be this time. So when she woke up shaking and crying Jack tried his best to sooth her. Even though Sam seemed to calm down fast, she couldn't go back to sleep again. She was about to get up and let at least Jack get some rest, when he interrupted her and moved away from her.

"Trust me. I'll be right back, okay?" Jack whispered and without even switching the light on – which resulted in a bruised shin and a sympathetic wince from Sam – Jack left the room. Only to come back a few minutes later with a sleeping Caity in his arms.

"Move over," he whispered as not to wake Caity.

As soon as he put her down, Caity instantly moved towards the body heat of her mom, curling up against her and with a sigh settled in a particularly comfortable place for some more sleep. Walking around the bed, Jack spooned up behind Sam, holding her to his chest and effectively sandwiching her between himself and Caity.

Sighing deeply and relaxing completely for the first time that night, Sam entangled her fingers with Jack's loosely on her hip resting hand and fell asleep almost immediately.

'Yes! Life is great,' was Jack's last thought before he joined Sam and Caity in the land of slumber.

xoxoxoxoxo

Next morning found a very comfortable but rather confused Caity waking up first in Sam's bedroom. She was lying halfway across her mummy's chest, head tucked safely under her chin and her body securely held in place by her mom's arm. That wasn't new to her though, as whenever she slept in the same bed as her mom she seemed to end up in just that position.

The thing was, she usually could remember falling asleep in her mom's arms or her at least her bed. But she could – even though only barely – remember falling asleep in the living room and Jack and her mommy tucking her in into her own bed. So how come she ended up here? Not that she minded, far from it, but it was still strange. But being a 7 year old girl, she didn't really see the need to ponder on it for long, instead she curiously watched her Uncle Jack sleeping just as peacefully as her mom.

She knew he had slept in their house before, in fact, he had fallen asleep in her room and the next morning they had lots of fun making breakfast while her mommy and her grandpa were still sleeping. Then there was this time, just after David's funeral, when her mommy went to Uncle Jack's house. After that he often came to visit them and stayed for dinner and stuff. And she really liked that. Maybe he could move in with them?

Furrowing her forehead in concentration, resting her chin on her folded forearms in a way she could watch both her mommy and Uncle Jack, Caity thought as hard as she could about all the 'grown-up stuff' she could remember being involved in living together.

Feeling himself being watched once again, Jack tried to decide whether to open his eyes or not. Being watched wasn't usually a good thing, then again, his head was resting next to Sam's, his body pressed to her side and her right hand entangled with his. So how could being watched be something bad right now? In the end his curiosity – though he'd always insist on it being his instinct on avoiding dangerous situations – won out and he opened his eyes to stare into Sam's.

Well, into eyes very similar to Sam's that is.

"Hey," he whispered, trying not to wake Sam.

"Hi," Caity replied just as quietly. "Mommy is still sleeping!"

"I know. Why don't you go back to sleep too? It's still early, you know," Jack tried to convince her.

"No-o! Not tired anymore!" Caity replied, shaking her head slightly.

"Are you sure?" Jack tried again.

"Uh huh!" Caity answered, grinning mischievously at Jack.

"Really?" Jack asked, wriggling his eye-brows.

"Yep," Caity replied giggling.

"Morning yet?" a groggy voice interrupted their little banter suddenly.

"Ops?" both Jack and Caity exclaimed, giggling. Well, Caity did all the giggling, Jack just got on his elbow, resting his head in his hand so he could actually look at Sam.

"Good morning," Jack whispered, bending down to kiss Sam.

"Good morning, mommy!" Caity added, copying Jack's gesture and never stopping her giggling.

"Urgh, it's too early," Sam mumbled, though Jack's kiss did help a lot in waking her body up, even if her mind was still half-asleep.

"Nope!" Caity exclaimed, jumping up and rushing to the window, opening the curtains to let the morning sun stream in. "See, the sun is shining already!" she continued, while climbing back into Sam's bed, squeezing herself in between the two adults.

"Nope, can't see no sun," Sam replied, eyes still closed.

"Cause your eyes are closed!" Caity replied exaggerated. And as her mommy didn't make any move to change that, Caity took matters in her own hands, prying her mommy's eyes open.

"Oy, that's bright," Sam winced, before looking into her daughter's laughing eyes. "Morning sunshine," she added, smiling one of those brilliant smiles Jack loved so much.

"Morning mommy," Caity repeated her earlier statement before shocking both adults with her next question.

"Is Uncle Jack going to live with us now?"

A/N: Sorry about the shortness, but the evil voices (also known as 'Muse') made me stop here. But don't worry, I'm actually writing the next one already which will see the return of the other characters as well. Also, a big 'Thank you' for all those lovely reviews which really, really help and for your comments on the room temperature. Funny how you can adapt to everything, even a 14-15°C room. LOL.