If Jack was a betting man, and let's face it, he'd gambled on his life in Carter's hands more times than was strictly sane. She was spooling up to admit he was Georgie's father. She'd look at him speculatively, cut her eyes to the boy then pretend nothing had happened. He could put her out of her misery but where was the fun in that?
They had worked together to decide which things should just stay at his house, what things she should say the heck with and sell and which things she'd be moving over. They had started at her house and concluded other than her baking pans to just sell her kitchen things. Pete had chosen the dishes. What kind of guy feels he needs to control what kind of dishes his wife picks? Jack had wondered. Sam felt no attachment to them. In fact, she honestly had not liked the style but had been too polite to tell him so. If Jack 'accidently' broke a few the next few days while getting meals ready that was purely speculation. Sam's bedroom set was brand new so she was bringing it with her. The boys agreed to go through their toys and games and purge ones they no longer played with and either donate or sell them depending on condition.
Jack secretly made arrangements to have her mom's piano tuned after it was moved so she could play it again. He was leaving his guitar at the house in the basement with his office set up in case he really did have to work while watching the boys. He had kind of this silly fantasy of them sitting in his den singing to the boys together. Edelweiss seemed appropriate. Jack caught himself humming it and stopped. Shook his head. He ran his fingers over the side of the oak piano. If he kept acting like this she was going to catch on to how very much in love he still was with her and then he could just forget about her wanting to be his friend he supposed.
A couple hours later they were at his house doing the same thing. Most of his things would be going into storage but there were some things he'd be leaving out like moving the office to the basement and his class A's and suits to a garment stand down there as well in case he needed something specific. He tried to talk her into getting the place painted but she'd refused, insisting it would only be for a couple years until she was back on her feet. He figured that gave him about two years to figure out how to get her to fall in love with him again, retire, push through adopting the boys… A plan began to formulate in the back of Jack's head.
Sam and Jack walked in on Hutch and the boys exploring Jack's sunny, sunken living room. "Who's this, mom?" Georgie asked her, picking up a photo of Charlie off the bookshelf where Jack had a number of photos he'd collected over the years.
Sam smiled a little sadly, not realizing Jack was as close as he was that he could read her expression. "That's yu… um, that's Charlie, Uncle Jack's little boy." She told Georgie who was looking at the photo in curiosity.
"You have a little boy too, Jack? Can I meet him?" Georgie asked innocently, unaware of the knife he'd put through his father's heart.
"I'm sorry, Georgie. He passed away a long time ago." Jack said, his voice soft and a little thick. He hadn't missed Sam's almost confession. It must be bothering her that it almost slipped out like that. He may have to just spill the beans and let her off the hook.
Georgie seemed to realize he'd made a tactical error in asking about the boy that looked like his brother Jake. He latched onto something safer and picked up an old team photo of SG-1 in their first year. It was a candid shot of the four of them and Jack's hair hadn't started going notably grey yet. "Ha-ha, your hair looks funny in this picture Jack. It's sticking out in all directions just like mine does." And then Georgie had a secret wish he'd shared only once solidify rock hard into a solid and unbreakable belief. That the man in front of him was his real father. Not just because he acted like a real dad, something the man who raised him, Pete, he would never again call Pete 'dad', again didn't do, but because he saw himself in the way this man stood, how he needed time to sort out his thoughts or they came out garbled, and yes, his matching caramel brown messy hair that never quite tamed down no matter what and he didn't help matters by sticking his hands in his hair all the time. Either of them.
On the heels of that revelation came the realization that his parents still loved each other. That with possibly a little nudge like when he'd taught Hutch, the dog Pete had told him was too stupid to learn anything, how to shake and only bark if he didn't know the person that possibly, just possibly he could nudge his parents back together. Georgie wondered if Jack was food motivated like Hutch.
"Who's this lady with Aunt Cassie?" Jake asked holding up the photo of Janet.
Jack and Sam who were currently equally tense for the exact same reason though each thought the other was tense due to something else entirely both smiled sadly. "That's Cassie's mom, Jake." Jack told her. "She was a good friend of your mom's."
"Did she die?" Jake asked in such a blunt way that neither adult could help but laugh just a little.
"Yes Jake, Janet died saving my friend Simon." Jack told the kid as he walked forward and gently took the photo out of his hands.
Sam watched him sadly from the kitchen doorway. He must feel like he loses everyone he loves some days. She thought. Georgie caught her eye and an agreement passed between them. Time to change the subject. "Jack, do you have any snacks? I'm starving." Georgie told him as he grabbed his leg and hung off it dramatically.
Jack chuckled and stumped up the short flight with a tousle haired third leg in search of snacks.
"Mama!" Jake said as he'd lost Jack's attention. "Uncle Jack has a picture of grandpa! Look!" He picked it up and shoved it at her.
"Well so he does. I'm not surprised, your grandpa and Jack were very good friends for a long time." She said with a sad smile. They were in their blues and clearly sharing a laugh over some inside joke. Probably 'deep space radar telemetry'.
"Mama?"
"Yes baby?"
"Is Jack going to live with us?"
"No sweetie, he was only making a joke."
"Oh." Jake seemed to think about it. "I was kind of hoping he wanted to be my dad since I don't have one now." Jake admitted sadly.
Sam sighed and bit her lip. She could tell him part of the truth. The part that wouldn't land her in a brig. "Jack isn't going anywhere sweetie. He promised you he'd be here for you and he means that with his whole heart. Jack O'Neill doesn't make promises he doesn't intend to keep." She told the little boy, not realizing her voice carried up to the kitchen where Jack winked at Georgie conspiratorially.
Jack leaned forward. "That's why your mom is my favorite person." He whispered and earned an ear to ear grin from the boy. Good. Let that get back to her. Jack winked again.
