AN This chapter was written by the wonderful and talented Mini_Goat (AKA, my savior)
Weeks passed and they still hadn't found the culprit. Jack wasn't getting any sleep between constantly being alert for a threat to Sam's life and her emotional state bouncing around so Sam went to Hammond. An hour later airmen were ordered to prep a VIP room and procure a co-sleep crib among other necessities. Jack had no idea this was going on until he tirely wandered into Sam's lab a bit before lunch.
"C'mon." He said absently as he stifled a yawn.
"Sir, I have something to show you first." She told him firmly as she steered him to the elevator.
"Can you make it quick Carter? I've got reports to go over after lunch."
She patted his arm consolingly. "This will only take a few minutes Sir."He regarded her with a sleepy smile on the elevator. "How are you feeling?"
Sam sighed. "By the time I explained it will have changed." She admitted.
Jack bobbed his head slowly in understanding, his hands jammed in his pockets. He understood Sam's complex feelings as they mirrored his own only more amplified as she was the one suffering the physical effects of the pregnancy.
Sam led Jack down the hall on 25 to the VIP room Hammond had assigned them. "As much as I hate to admit it, it's easier to keep the baby safe if I don't leave base. General Hammond agreed that you wouldn't get more rest if I stayed here and you went home. Janet and Daniel brought over some of our things for us." Sam bit her lip in concern that he'd take this the wrong way. She needen't have worried.
Jack looked at their things sitting in a corner of the VIP room then turned to her. "You're sure you want to do this?"
"No Jack, I'd rather be home in our own bed but have you looked in a mirror lately? I could use the bags under your eyes to grocery shop."
"Not the way you eat lately." He joked but pulled her into a hug. "Thank you." He told her simply and buried his face in her golden hair.
"It's going to cut into our love life a little but in about a week I'm going to be too big for it to be very comfortable anyway." She admitted to him.
"Oh I know all sorts of fun things we could do in the shower Carter." He said in a warm purr that raised goose bumps on her arms. Jack smirked at her physical reaction.
"So in the mean time we can keep looking for whoever put a hit out on me and you don't need to worry so much that you don't sleep."
"In case I forgot to tell you this morning Carter. I adore you." he said, smiling into her eyes.
"Good thing because you're kind of stuck now Sir." Sam joked.
"Smartass." He said laughing. "Come on, lets get some food."
Jack was frustrated with the lack of leads but at least he'd been sleeping at night with a pair of airmen guarding the door to their temporary base quarters. Before he'd been laying half awake, waiting for the next attack. If nothing else he'd hear a commotion first. He wasn't sure what woke him at first. He was curled behind and around Sam, his face buried in her neck. If he was truthful with himself this was honestly the most strangely wonderful dream he'd ever had.
He was married to his Carter who he'd loved for years now and been unable to tell her so because of the regulations. She was pregnant with his baby which… well, lets just say if you had asked Jack three years ago if he'd ever be a dad again he'd have emphatically expressed how unlikely that was.
His arm was tingling. He started to lift it when Sam winced in her sleep. Ah. So that's what woke him. Labor wasn't exactly fun so he let her sleep for now if she could. He had no idea if it helped but he gently rubbed her stomach each time his arm tingled.
About an hour later the labor pain finally hit a threshold that she moaned in her sleep and unconsciously clutched her stomach. Jack decided to try something he'd not done in weeks by mutual agreement. He closed his eyes and politely knocked on the mental door between them.
"Carter. You awake in there?"
Sam suddenly appeared before him. "Sir?"
"Really Samantha?" He asked her drolly.
"Sorry, we've been on base for so long it just kind of popped out."
He laughed though. She'd nervously called him sir on their wedding night too. It was like an adorable emotional tic he hoped she never outgrew. "Speaking of things popping out."
"What?' she appeared to think for a moment. "Holly Hannah I'm in labor aren't I?"
"So it seems according to an annoying tingle in my arm."
"You should get that checked sir." she quipped.
"Gah! Carter! Quit with the sir. It's getting weird instead of kinky right now."
"Sorry Jack." The words were contrite but she was biting her lip trying not to laugh at his traumatized expression.
"You know, we could just stay here until the baby comes." Jack suggested.
"Jack you do realize what a terrible idea that's going to turn out to be when you wake up covered in amniotic fluid and blood?" she asked pointedly.
Jack made a face. "Ew."
Sam laughed at his expression and kissed him gently. "Let's get this over with."
"What about just half the labor?" He asked her as she faded out with tinkling laughter.