AN: For those of you wondering why Jacob seems ok with all this... he's teamed up with Jack to give Sam a hard time in the show too.

Chapter 14 – Never Give Up

Jack woke up to something soft and warm cuddled against his chest. He smiled because even though he'd not taken her up on what she'd offered that morning he had very fond memories of the last time he'd woken up with Sam cuddled in his arms.

Her face was planted in his chest and her right hand was on his hip above the bandaged burn on his left leg.

If he didn't need to pee so badly, he'd have stayed cuddled against her until she woke up. Of course if he wasn't so badly injured he'd wake her up to make love to her but that wasn't happening any time soon either. Oh, and he saw the irony that the woman he loves was pregnant with his child and he'd never so much as gone further than kissing her passionately. George had told them to use discretion. He probably figured the intimacy of pregnancy and raising a child together was going to be more than their self-control could manage.

George was probably right.

Jack had a bit of a revelation while he'd lain in that infirmary though. Had the baby not been his, he'd still be acting this way towards her. He still would have been excited for and in love with that ultrasound photo. Because he knew his Carter only had eyes for him and felt nothing for the man who had inseminated her against her will had it not been Jack's child.

They had talked about Orlin and Marty and Narim after Thor's revelation and Sam had told him that while she was flattered by the attention and it was nice to be cared about that way. Orlin and Narim had her on a pedestal she'd have fallen off of eventually and Marty's love was possessive and a little warped by her having been the host of Jolinar, that regardless of what Lantash had said, it wasn't really Sam they had loved but Jolinar's memory inside Sam. She cared about them, of course, but she didn't share Jolinar's love for Lantash and Martouf the way they had hoped she would. She had liked Orlin but not loved him the way he'd hoped she would, though she admitted with time, perhaps she could have.

Jack had honestly been a bit surprised. From her later descriptions, Orlin was actually a fairly decent guy for an Alteran and Marty had clearly genuinely cared about her which was why he'd given her time to grieve for him after she'd had to kill him. Hell, he'd liked the guy and grieved with her. Narim was a bit of a weirdo but all the Tollan were. He was at least nice which was more than Jack could say for some of his buddies.

They hadn't had to say the words to each other either. All it had taken was a long look in each other's eyes again and they both knew the truth. Of course that had been before they left on this last mission without Sam and Jack had tried to get his ass shot off. A little higher and he could forget about more kids.

He hadn't talked to her about that yet but if the war was over in the next couple years, even though he knew he was getting up there for starting a second family, Jack really wanted to talk about if they would have a second child together. He figured he should talk her into marrying him first though.

In the meantime however, he really did need to pee so he slid himself carefully away from her and tried not to jostle the bed too much as she needed her rest. After he finished in the bathroom, he made his way quietly downstairs. He figured Jake would be up and he really should talk to Carter's dad about this whole thing.

"Sammy not up yet?" Jacob asked him from the kitchen table.

Jack leaned against the door jamb. "Nah. She needs some sleep. I texted George from the bathroom and he said it's fine."

"Good. She needs to take care of herself right now." Jacob said to Jack but Jake was preaching to the choir. Jack had been trying to get Sam to take care of herself for years.

"Are you ok with this dad? I know I'm not exactly your first choice for the father of Sam's kids."

Jacob Carter smiled at the man's verbal slip of saying kids. He had every intention of sticking by her side. That's all Jake had really wanted for his daughter. Someone who loved her for who she was and she clearly had that in Jack. He wasn't about to tell the man that though.

"Well, if I had my pick, I'd prefer Daniel." He admitted but his tone was teasing.

"Don't tell Sam that. She sees him as a brother and it would seriously weird her out."

Jacob chuckled. He already knew that. Danny was nice and safe and he supposed that had been his first reason for latching on to that idea. Introspection was far more fluid when the Tok'ra in your head didn't let you lie to yourself about your reasons. "But I suppose you'll do for now." Jake told the man who would be his son-in-law eventually if he was a betting man. George had a Benjamin or two on various outcomes involving a trip to Vegas or Reno. Jacob however knew she's the kind that would wait until she wasn't breaking any rules with her decision. He should try putting a couple ideas in Jack's head about that.

Jack gave the father of the woman he loved a hard look which just made Jacob laugh harder.

"Relax Jack." Jacob gave Jack crap for being too old for Sam but Sam had always preferred older men, even when she was younger she had crushed on kids several years older than herself. "I don't have any influence over her taste in guys other than a couple I think she dated out of spite." Jacob admitted.

Jack had to agree. He couldn't see her taken in by Jonas for as long as she had been other than to irk her father.

"How would you like some breakfast? Can you even sit yet?"

Jack shook his head, Even with the medication he was on for the pain, sitting was a no go. The skin on his leg had been nearly fried off. He was probably going to have a new patch of semi numb skin to contend with back there. If only it worked on his busted knee. Ba'al had done him a little bit of a favor reviving him a bunch of times, it had dialed back the damage by a few years but it was still trashed. He had a couple years of active duty left and then he was probably going to be flying a desk. He wasn't looking forward to it but it might have its perks if he could talk Sam into marrying him.

"Well, pull up a piece of wall Jack. I'll make you some breakfast." Jacob told him.

About an hour later a slightly disoriented Sam walked into the kitchen rubbing at her eyes with the back of her hand. She blinked at her dad and Jack eating breakfast together.

Jacob smiled a little to himself. Jack in a bathrobe and boxers and Sammy in sleep pants and a tank top, her belly slightly swollen with their child. She'd stopped herself from leaning in and kissing him but Jake hadn't missed her hand run discreetly down the back of Jack's arm as she moved past him.

'You miss Debra.' Selmak told him.

'She used to do the same thing when she was pregnant with Mark.'

'They are happy.' There was a smile in Selmak's voice

'Good. They deserve to be.'

"Sammy, can I get you some breakfast?" Jacob asked his daughter out loud.

"Coffee is fine." Sam said.

"Carter. Food." Jack ordered her gruffly.

Jacob chuckled at Sam's scowl.

"You need to eat Sammy. It's not good for the baby to live on coffee even if it's decaf."

"Fine." She huffed and opened the fridge door to find a yogurt and some fruit.

Jack and Jacob exchanged an amused look they quickly wiped off their faces as she turned around