Sam glanced at the girl in her arms, only to see her stare back at her. Now what?There was no way she could hand her over to a SF or some other personnel, Sam mused. Milou seemed to accept her and her own father had entrusted her with the care of this girl… not to mention that any chances she'd have with Jack O'Neill would be gone if he were to hear about her handing over his daughter to some stranger. Shifting the child in her arms, Sam realized she couldn't do that to the girl either; she was innocent and trusted her. Secretly, Sam already had a weak spot for Milou who was a constant reminder of Jack O'Neill, she just didn't want to admit it or give in. Now, it seemed she didn't have a choice.
"Let's get your stuff," she put on a brave smile and walked into her father's quarters to grab the little backpack she'd seen earlier.
"Okay," Milou mumbled, snuggling closer and throwing her arm around her neck.
It didn't take Sam long to find the girl's stuff and after gathering everything and placing them in the pack, she walked back to her lab in silence, Milou still on her hip. Thankfully, no one seemed to pay any attention to them, because Sam didn't feel like becoming the next topic in the rumor mill. She still had a lot of work to do, so hiding in her personal quarters with the girl wasn't an option. For now, she only had one running experiment and that was the Asgard data retrieval, so it wouldn't be dangerous to keep Milou there as well, Sam figured.
Exiting the elevator, Sam made her way over to her lab and only got a few strange glances thrown her way before opening the door. "Milou?" She asked, patting the girl's side with her free hand to get her attention. The soft groan coming from her, elicited a smile from Sam. Craning, she saw Milou blink sleepily and almost got struck by a little fist as she stretched. "Easy there," Sam admonished her.
"Sowwy," Milou mumbled, leaning back to look at her. "Where's this?"
"We're in my lab, this is where I work," she replied, leaning down to place Milou on the floor. Sam had suspected Milou had been slumbering on their way over, but daren't look afraid she'd fall in love with the sleeping child, and immediately recognized the little groan and stretching as the way the then-Colonel O'Neill used to wake up off-world to change shifts. Seeing her standing there, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Sam looked the other way. If Milou kept reminding her of the General the rest of their time together she feared she wouldn't be able to get any work done.
"It's dark," Milou commented, glancing around. "Is that my owb?"
Realizing she'd forgotten to turn the lights on, Sam flicked the button and looked to where Milou was pointing. It was the sphere the General had come for; the one that he'd made light up in her hands… "Yeah, it is," she gave the girl a small smile.
"May I?"
Sam nodded, recognizing the excitement in her eyes, knowing that was the way she herself would react to new technology or other doohickeys. "Wait, careful," she mumbled, instantly grabbing it herself and handing it over to Milou, before the child would try to climb on the stool and reach for it. She didn't want anything to go wrong while babysitting, especially not something that would lead to her explaining to Jack O'Neill how exactly his daughter had ended up in the infirmary… Her thoughts all halted the moment Milou accepted the Asgard device and it lit up like nothing she'd seen before. "Wow."
Milou blinked a few times, before her eyes had adjusted to the bright light and then looked up and smiled at the woman in front of her. "Cool huh?"
Chuckling, Sam had to agree with her. That was exactly what it was! So far, of all the people that had been tested for the ATA gene General O'Neill had the strongest variant, but his daughter obviously possessed an even stronger variant! It was quite intriguing, if she was honest and her curiosity was definitely piqued. Sam leaned back against her workbench and observed the way Milou kept playing with the orb and how the color and intensity seemed to change together with her facial expressions…
"Thor gave it to me," Milou stated as she noticed Colonel Carter watching her and her orb. "He's my fwiend."
"I know, your father told me," Sam gave her a wan smile.
"You know Thor too, Kewnel Cahter?"
"Yes, Thor is a friend of mine, too," she replied, taking a seat to check on her computer and data analysis. "Why don't you call me 'Sam', Milou?"
"Sam," Milou mused aloud, frowning a little.
"It's my first name," she commented, glancing back at the child.
"It's short."
Sam shrugged and turned towards her. "It's short for Samantha."
Milou placed the orb on the ground next to her and stood. "Daddy says 'Cahter', why?"
"Your Daddy is my boss, or more my boss' boss," she smiled. "He's supposed to call me by my rank, colonel, or just my last name when we're at work."
"That's stupid," Milou protested, as she walked over to the table.
"It's the rules," Sam mumbled, more to herself than to the child.
"Wules are stupid."
"Yeah, sometimes they are…"
Milou turned her attention back to her orb and rolled it from one hand to the other over the floor, delighted to see it light up as she touched it.
Sam's mind filled with thoughts about rules and one in particular: fraternization regulations… The General's daughter was right; sometimes rules are just stupid!Sam tried to focus on her computer, but her mind kept spinning with possibilities of what might have been had there not been those frat regs. It made her wonder if they – her and the General – would have gotten together from the start. Would they have? If there hadn't been those pesky regs, would they have gotten together over ten years ago?
If so, would they have survived all the missions and attacks? Would they still be together after ten years? She now knew for sure she really loved him and it wasn't an infatuation, but what about him? He'd had 'feelings' for her once, felt a physical attraction to her but other than that? They could have had a child by now… she glanced at Milou, who was entertaining herself in the corner and tried to imagine if their child would have looked anything like the girl. Sam was close to resigning herself to the fact she couldn't have children – her and Pete had tried, but she'd known from the start it could be difficult after Jolinar – and now started thinking again.
Perhaps, if there hadn't been those regs or if Jack O'Neill or herself hadn't been in the USAF – or the same chain of command, for that matter – they could have had a child before she had blended with Jolinar. Then again, if they hadn't been in the USAF, they probably wouldn't have met, would they? Of course, there was Dr. Carter from the other reality that had been married to her Jack O'Neill and their alternate selves that Daniel had met in another alternate reality that had been engaged… And how had they ended up? Yeah, not such a good idea, she mused, letting out a deep sigh.
She startled as she felt a hand on her knee and turning, she saw Milou was giving her an inquiring look. "What?"
Milou cocked her head to the side and looked at Grandpa Jacob's daughter and Daddy's friend, with big eyes. "Sammie sad?"
Jack stomped down the ramp as soon as he came through the 'gate on their side again, not even waiting for the marines that had accompanied him and Jacob and Selmak. To say that he'd been shocked to hear from Jacob he'd left Milou with Carter was an understatement. It wasn't that he didn't trust Carter with his daughter – he did – but he knew he felt awkward about it and couldn't even imagine what it'd be like for Carter. Carter was nice, kind and sweet with children, he knew that and thus had no worries about Milou, and that cop she'd married had kids too, so she had to know a thing or two about toddlers.
Yet, he feared she'd get caught up in that Asgard data or some other experiment and Milou would wander away or something… And perhaps he was a bit worried that Carter would be so awkward or tense that Milou would feel uncomfortable. Then again, who knew how Carter would act around her? Since he'd gotten back to Colorado Springs, it seemed like the old Samantha Carter was back and he liked it – maybe a bit too much – but he couldn't be sure of that. Of course, there was still a chance Carter wouldn't mind watching his kid; after all, she'd made her choice pretty clear after marrying Shanahan. It could be all the awkwardness about Carter and Milou were just a figment of his imagination, possibly because he wanted Carter to still have feelings for him – yeah, right, like that would happen – and thus figured there had to be some degree of awkwardness.
All he knew for sure was that he had to get over to Carter's lab to get his daughter. This hadn't been part of his plan; go into the SGC, help out Hank with the Atlantis situation and go back home. Instead, he'd been preoccupied the entire afternoon with meetings and by the time he was ready to take his girl home, he'd been hauled off to the Tok'ra because they needed help and, surprise, another meeting with him. They'd specifically asked for him, apparently now they liked him and Jacob and Selmak's help was required as well. Now, it was late in the evening and he still wasn't home!
It didn't take him long to reach the infirmary to get checked out because the sooner he'd be there the sooner he'd be done. This sure as hell wasn't something he'd missed after his promotion… The Doc couldn't help herself and poked and prodded him, took a few blood samples and checked for any stowaway Tok'ra or Goa'uld – which there thankfully weren't. After half an hour, she finally let him leave the infirmary, since it didn't seem like anything was wrong; the Tok'ra were their allies and everyone's story checked out. Jacob was already waiting for him in the corridor, cup of coffee in his hand.
"Something you need?" Jack asked askant.
Jacob gave him a wan smile and shook his head. "No, just figured you'd be a bit worn out after the long day."
"Thanks Dad," he smirked. "I was on my way over to Carter's lab to fetch my daughter," he made a vague gesture with his hand towards the elevator.
"I have to get back to the briefing room, General Landry is waiting for Selmak and Garshaw to report," Jacob replied, before handing Jack the cup and walking away.
Jack nodded and proceeded down the corridor as fast as he could walk, without running – a major general doesn't run – and reached the elevator the moment the doors opened to reveal Siler.
"Sir," Siler smiled sheepishly as the General stepped aside and let him pass.
"Fell of a ladder again, Siler?" Jack asked, raised eyebrows as he stepped into the car.
"Um… No, Sir, I bumped my head when I was working on the dialing computer," he pointed at the ice bag his left hand pressed against his head.
Jack shook his head, almost unable to believe the bad luck this man had and pressed the button for Carter's lab. "Ah, well, take care."
"Yes Sir."
The doors closed and before he knew it, he'd reached level 19 and got out of the car, strolling casually through the corridors, yet his step was quickening the closer he got to Carter's lab. Before he reached it, however, he instinctively looked down and patted his vest and legs, checking to see he'd given all of his weapons off to one of the SFs in the gateroom. There was no need for his daughter to see him with weapons…
The moment he reached the lab, he frowned. It was dark. Flipping the switch, the room bathed in light and yet, it was still empty of people. Jack padded over to the workbench and recognized one of his daughter's drawings and something that looked like… a puzzle perhaps? He picked up a piece and smiled as he recognized it; Carter had made a puzzle for his daughter. The discovery made his heart flutter and he silently berated himself. It didn't mean anything beside the fact that she had made a puzzle for his – probably – bored daughter.
However, he couldn't find a clue as to where the two of them had gone and he almost had a heart attack as he imagined Carter taking his daughter home with her. After all, it was almost 2200 hours and he'd told her to call it a night after 2000 hours and go home to get some sleep… He hadn't expected her to actually go this easily, which probably only proved how tired she really was. Now what? The drawing and puzzle were proof enough that Carter had watched his daughter and not dumped her with a SF or someone else on base. Still, he definitely didn't want her to take Milou home with her and have her and that cop take care of his daughter together. He quickly grabbed the phone and called topside to have them check the sign-out sheet; Carter hadn't left.
Where could they be? Normally, Carter would be in her lab or the commissary, but he doubted she'd take Milou with her to the commissary at this hour; after all, she had experience with those two stepchildren of hers. He was pretty sure nothing had happened, because he had just left the infirmary and knew someone would have told him if Milou – or Carter for that matter – had gotten hurt. Sighing, he walked back to the elevator. Time to check out the crew quarters, not that he could remember the last time Carter had actually gone to sleep there – unless there was an early or very late mission – especially since she'd been involved with Shanahan.
When the elevator finally arrived, he descended the six floors in a slow pace – too slow for Jack's liking – and he seriously considered asking Siler if he had been adjusting the elevator's mechanisms or something. He could've sworn it usually went a lot faster. If Carter and Milou weren't there, then where could they be? Perhaps she'd dropped her off at Jacob's VIP quarters? No, Jacob would have told him if that was the case… Impatiently rocking on his feet, Jack heaved an exasperated sigh as the elevator finally came to a halt.
Crossing the corridors, he found himself standing in front of Carter's quarters. There was no sign of life; there was no light coming from behind or under the door and he clenched his jaw. Should he knock or just barge in? Why weren't there any name signs around here? What if Carter had a new room, if she still had one at all?
