Jack started counting down the number of days that were left at his job the second that he got off paternity leave. He couldn't stand the thought of leaving his three babies each day to go off to work, and when he had to go off world things were even more unbearable.

Once his mother moved in things got a whole lot better. With two adults at home with the babies all day he felt a lot less like he was abandoning his children, and his wife was a whole lot less stressed when he came home at the end of the night.

He still missed them though. It was hard to believe people who were so small, and whose skills pretty much consisted of eating, sleeping, and pooping, could have such a pull on a human heart.

It wasn't until his very last day of work that he really started to realize how much he was going to miss his job. It was bittersweet to clean out his office at the very end of his workhours, and walk out of the SGC for what he knew would be the last time.

Later that night, as his wife sleeps (preparing for her first day back after her extended maternity leave) and he and his mother sit side by side feeding babies, she asks, "Jack, are you sure that you really want to leave your job to take care of babies?"

"I really am, Mom," he says.

She shakes her head as if she can still not believe it, "It's just not something that a man would have done in my day."

"Well, mom, thinks have changed a lot since you were young."

"I just find a hard time believing that you are going to be happy with this decision."

"It feels pretty good right now," he says lifting a baby up on his shoulder to give it a burping.

"Well, of course. But is it going to last? You might be happy with a break for a while, but before long you are going to want to be back."

"I don't know about that. Do you regret all the years that you stayed home and raised babies?" he asks.

"Of course not," she says quickly looking at him with a guilty look which easily reveals her answer to be a lie.

"Don't lie to me mom, just because you think that's what I want to hear. I won't be offended in the least if you tell me that there were times you wished you could have talked to other adults or did something that gave your mind a bit of a challenge."

"There were times. You know when one of you asked to have the same book read to you the millionth time, or when you came in from outside and you were covered in mud, and tracked it across the floor right after I'd mopped, and I couldn't even mop again right then because you needed a bath first before you went on to destroy the house. There were so many times when I felt like all I did was clean, or when I felt like I was just covered in bodily fluids, and I wondered what it was all for."

"So, you are just trying to protect me from regretting staying home like you did," Jack says.

"No, I don't regret it. Now, with all sorts of years behind me I know what all of it was for. It wasn't easy, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world."

"I think it is going to be the most important adventure that I've ever been on, and I don't think that I am going to regret it at all either.

-0-

"So, what exactly do you want to do with our first ever date night?" Jack asks as soon as Sam returns home from work. He finds himself really hoping that the face she is wearing is related to work, and will wear off as the night continues. They had planned to have date night every day since the babies were born, but it got delayed one day after the other, after the other. Now their children are more than two months old, they have live in help with the kids, and date night has still not arrived.

"You're going to hate me but…" Sam begins.

"No, I'm not going to hate you. But we are going to get out of the house. We are going to have some time in which we don't think about babies. At all, even a little bit."

"Jack, you know what I really want? I want to go to the gym."

"Okay, that sounds like a fun date night," he says grinning at her.

"No. I want to go alone," at the sight of her face falling she rushes on, "I love you. You know that, but the two of us go to the gym together, and we're going to spar. That's fun when it's like a prequal to sex, but I really still don't feel like having sex with you."

"Sam, date night does not equal sex night," he interrupts.

"I know, but I have lost 0 pounds since the kids were born. In fact, I actually gained a pound."

"Are you kidding me, Sam? You are the most beautiful woman in the world. A little extra weight has done nothing to change that."

"It's not a little extra weight, Jack, at this point I'm not even sure I could pass my physical."

"Which is why they air force doesn't make you take the physical for a while after you've had kids. If you feel like you need an extension after that I can talk to Hammond…"

She puts her hand on his arm, "Jack, I don't feel like myself anymore. I know that Cassie is coming over to help your mom with the kids so we can be together. I feel like an awful person, but I would just rather spend tonight at the gym working out."

He giggles, "Honestly, I would love a couple hours where another human being does not touch me."

"Oh my God, I know I shouldn't say they are clingy, because they are babies, and babies are supposed to cling, but…" Sam says with an eye roll.

"I know, always with the touching, and the holding," he says. "I think I might go on the roof and look at the starts for a few hours. Mmm…or take a nap."

"You're not mad about this? I mean, I really don't want our relationships to be one of those that goes down the tubes, because we didn't take time for ourselves in the midst of the babies."

"I think the fact that we were able to have this conversation means that we're not in trouble in the communication area," he says with a smile.

"Okay, and next week on the day we have Cassie coming over we are going to have date night for real. I am going to start working out over my lunch break at work. I've sort of given up ever really getting caught up on the things I missed when I was on my maternity leave. There is always more work. I'm pretty sure it's reproducing behind my back."

"Well, and on the days that you don't get a chance to go over lunch you can just do it after work and come home a little later. Guilt free, Sam. You get to be a person even with babies."

"Deal, as long as you start going over to Daniel's house when you watch the Simpsons, so you don't end up feeding or changing someone while watching."

"Oh my God, that sounds amazing," he says forgetting his exhaustion with physical contact long enough to give her kiss.