AN: Jon and Sammy get talked about instead of being in this chapter. Don't worry. Next week They will be back.

Contrasts

Jack carried Gracie in on his shoulder, a soft smile played about his mouth as he turned his face to appreciate the familiar sweet smell of baby combined with the whiff of Sam's own scent that Jack wasn't sure if Gracie picked up being cuddled by her mom or if she had such similar body chemistry that she smelled nearly the same but it was by far the most comforting smell in Jack's memories. Only the smell of his grandma's rose skin lotion gave him a stronger sense of comfort.

"Do you think we should give her a bath?"

"Nah. She's out like a light. Let's just put her to bed and I'll give her a bath in the morning after you leave for base."

Sam smiled at him and nodded. Her heart melted every time she watched him with their daughter. "I'll meet you in the bedroom." Sam told him. Usually they would lie there reading or talking for a couple hours; at least she didn't have a mission tomorrow so she didn't have to be on base at the crack of dawn.

Sam took a quick shower and threw on a worn pair of Jack's basic training sweatpants that she'd cut off when he finally wore holes in the knees then outright stolen while pregnant. As he kept swiping her machining tools for her bikes to work on his, he didn't have room to talk.

Jack came in while she was shrugging on a tank top and grinned at her half dressed state. "You don't have to put that on." He told her with a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows.

Sam chuckled. "You've been looking at my nude body for over a decade."

"Yah, and it's still hot." He crossed the room and gently tugged her into his arms. "This makes me feel bad for the minis." He told her as he claimed he mouth slowly, pulling her close enough to feel how desirable he found her.

When he eased back from his perusal of her mouth, she asked him "How so?"

"Last time I got a beer with Wil – he told me that he and Mary put their collective feet down about them going too far sexually."

Sam snorted. "She's still thirteen for two more months."

"Physically and legally." He agreed. "I bet he thinks I did that as a warped joke."

Sam grinned. "It is your style." She agreed. "How did he take it?"

"Sammy doesn't know Will knows she started it with the heavy petting."

Sam snorted and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "If I hadn't showed up at your house that night we would have spent years dancing around our feelings for each other and pretending we cared about the regulations."

"I care about the regulations."

Sam laughed and nuzzled his neck. "Sure you do." She told him and he groaned.

"Oh yah. Lots of them are really important. Just not… hmm... that one." His voice shook.

Sam would have given him crap about it but her mouth was busy for several minutes instead with other things. Mostly her husband's tongue.

"I have to work tomorrow." She told him softly.

Jack's mouth canted to the left. "You're just going to leave me like this?" He asked her waving at the front of his pants.

Sam smirked. "I was telling you that it's going to have to be quick and dirty."

"Supply closet. Got it." He said with a hard nod of his head and swept her up and they fell on the bed together laughing.

An hour later they snuggled against each other.

"Did we do the right thing?" Sam finally asks Jack.

"About which thing?" Jack asked her, mystified.

"The minis." Having picked up his nickname for their clones.

Jack shrugged. "I wasn't given a choice. We could have waited a couple more years with her but who knows how much that would have affected the outcome.'

"How bad was he getting?"

Jack thought a long moment. "Worse than he was letting on. Which reminds me, I need to talk to Danny about how he's handling this whole thing."

Sam looked up into his eyes, a clear question in hers.

"He's hurting the kid's feelings." Jack looked off into the middle distance a moment. "To Danny, the kid isn't me so it's a non-issue but to the kid…"

"He's a separate you but still fundamentally you who has most of your memories and is still in love with me etcetera." Sam supplied.

"Exactly." He told her.

"Have Vala shame him about it." Sam suggested.

"Is that really a good idea? She has a warped sense of humor."

Sam gave him a long look until he went from the pretense of confusion to an abashed smile. "Has he figured out he's in love with her yet?"

Sam shrugged. "She's figured it out but she's afraid to tell him."

Jack sighed. "Something else I need to get on him about."

"Did that ever work when he did it to you?"

Jack sighed thoughtfully. "No but he's got it coming after all the times he got on my ass about my feelings for you." Jack grinned a little. "Plus, I know he loved Sha're, but he's told me himself that after she died, she told him it was ok to let her go. I think it's time he did so. You don't have to forget someone you love to love someone else."

Sam kissed his jaw, knowing he was thinking of Cassie and Grace and the kids for that matter. "I bet it's nice to grow up kind of normal."

Jack chuckled. "Our childhoods weren't all bad."

"No."

"But I agree. It's probably nice just to go to high school like normal kids and not have anything more stressful to worry about than if your math teacher has it in for you."

"Sammy says there's a group of girls that have given her friend Lynn crap over the years who have latched on to hassling Sammy now too."

"I can't imagine that going at all well… for those other girls."

Sam giggled. "All the enthusiasm of youth and all the irritation of middle age."

"You think you're irritated now. Try being my age." Jack told her with amusement and tucked her in tighter against his side.

Sam stretched and slides her arms languidly over his bare chest until she crosses them above and behind his head. "We should get some sleep." She tells him with a dimpled grin.