"Dad?" Pete asked astonished to finally meet Sam's father.

"Not quite yet. You have to actually marry my daughter before you can call me that." And frankly, he thinks to Selmak, he's not my first choice. Selmak tiredly tuts at him to give the boy a chance. Jake asks him if he's all right but the Tok'ra is barely hanging on and doesn't answer.

Sam smiles in amusement.

"I was just… I mean… er… ah… It's an honor to meet you, Sir." He finally gets out. "Really." He says putting out his hand. He supposed things were still okay with them if Sam was having him come to the SGC to meet her dad. "Why didn't you tell me?" He asks Sam who smiles nervously.

"I didn't want you to be nervous." Sam tells him but really it's because she wants her dad's read on the guy without him being prepared.

"Why would I? I wouldn't. I… I've been dying to meet you." Pete stammers out.

"I think it was Sam that was nervous." Jacob suggests though he's not sure why. There's something up. Sam hadn't told him either.

"How did not telling me help?" Pete asks her dumbly.

"It didn't." Sam shrugs.

Jacob looks at Pete who smiles gratingly back at him.

They pick up Grace upstairs from the NORAD daycare room and head for breakfast.

At the diner down the road from the SGC, Grace is trying to be on her best behavior. Grandpa is already mad. He doesn't like Pete either but he's pretending to mom that he does. So Grace stays quiet because she's already figured out Pete doesn't like that Grace is smarter than him. A lot smarter than him.

"So Sam tells me she's decided to wait a bit longer before she commits to marrying you." Jacob tells the other man rather pointedly. Over my dead body, he thinks and wishes Selmak would rouse herself and roll her eyes.

"She's just very busy right now with work. I'm sure once things settle down again we can revisit the idea. We're still doing some of the preliminary things like seeing a florist tomorrow." Pete says grinning. Grace rolls her eyes discreetly and Jake knows Selmak would point out while giggling helplessly that his granddaughter couldn't be more like her father if she tried.

"Well, that's up to Sam don't you think?" Jacob asks, eyes narrowed.

"Pete tells me he's put in for a transfer to Colorado Springs PD, dad."

"Oh goodie." Jacob says sarcastically and watches Grace's face twitch trying not to laugh.

"Well, I know Grace enjoys time with her dad and this way she can spend more with him." Pete gives Grace a big false smile that has Grace narrowing her eyes.

Sam had already told Jacob that Pete knows Grace's dad is part of her life but not specifically who it was. "I'm sure he'd prefer that."

"So who is this mysterious guy anyway? Grace never talks about him." Pete says ingratiatingly

Grace scowls when Sam pinches her knee under the table. "Her father prefers his privacy and I respect that." She shoots a warning look at her father to let it drop.

"Well, eventually she'll have a little brother or sister to help take care of." Pete says cheerfully.

"I don't like babies." Grace grumbled.

Pete shrugs and smiles at her but it's a mean smile. "You can always go live at your dad's for a while."

"Don't think it hasn't crossed my mind." she says mutinously.

"I don't think we need to worry about that right now." Sam said, trying to defuse the situation.

Later in the commissary Sam asks her dad why he's quiet. When her father brushes off the question she points out all he said was 'he seems nice'.

Jacob shrugs. "That's three words."

"I'm probably gonna marry him."

"I know. I just met him. What do you want me to say? I know how happy he makes you. That's all that matters to me." He tells her Selmak liked the guy but evades further questions and begs off that he's tired.

"Why did you lie to her?" Selmak asks him tiredly after, barely able to rouse himself.

"And break my little girl's heart? If she wants to marry this guy, it's not my place to judge." Jacob is relieved he's even awake.

"What about Jack?"

"What about him?

"She still loves him."

"So?"

"He still loves her."

"Yup."

"What are you going to do about that?"

"I haven't decided yet." He admits as Selmak slides back into a coma and Jacob is unable to rouse him again.

When Pete showed up on base, Jack decided Sam must have made her decision about Pete and called Kerry back. "Hey about dinner tonight… it looks like I'm free after all."

Later that night a call from Sam has him heading back to work. Sex with Kerry had been… pleasant. A nice change from his year of celibacy. He told her he wasn't looking for anything serious and she'd been fine with that. She didn't want anything serious either.

They were in the briefing room the next morning when Sam's cell goes off and she winces at whoever is calling then turns off the phone with an apology that she thought she'd turned it off.

Walter comes in and tells Sam she has an urgent call. She seems embarrassed and upset by the interruption. Jack is starting to wonder what's going on.

Her behavior is odd… like she's hiding something. She puts off whoever it is like Jack can't figure it out then does something that piques his interest though he doesn't show it. She says 'yah me too'. Not 'I love you too' or 'I know' or anything sweet. It's a brush off and Jack knows a brush off when he hears one. He's given enough of his own.

She apologizes again as she returns to her seat

"Emergency?" Jack asks her in concern. It could be Marge after all.

"No, no, just a misunderstanding."

"Hey, weren't you supposed to meet Pete at the florist this morning?" Jacob asks Sam but Sam glares at her dad and Jack catches it. Why wouldn't she want him to know she was looking at flowers?

"No… dad…"

"No, I'm sure that's what you said. For the wedding." Pete had told him all about how while they were not formally engaged yet they were looking at venues and florists so they could narrow things down when she said yes. Sam had seemed very reluctant about the issue and Jacob was nearly positive it was due to her not really wanting to marry this guy.

"I know." Sam grits out. She shakes her head emphatically.

"Go ahead, Carter. It's supposed to be your day off, anyway." Jack waves her off, not realizing she'd come to work to avoid doing exactly what she'd agreed to do with Pete.

"It's okay, Sir." I really do not want to go. She thinks hard at him, hoping he'll take the hint.

Jack's Machiavellian streak takes over. If she doesn't want to be with this guy, she was going to have to screw up her courage and deal with hm. "Teal'c and Bra'tac are meeting with the Jaffa. There's nothing to do around here. Go pick flowers!" He waves her off with a wide smile, knowing what she was trying to pull and not letting her get away with it.

Sam sighs and glares at her father.

"What?" Jake asks, seemingly mystified by her behavior.

They have a pointless conversation about a cake she never intends to order. She lies and says she really is interested when what she wants to do is tell him it's over. He's so enthusiastic and sweet and teases her about the end of the world. She knows she agreed to do this stuff even though she didn't accept the ring because it was understood that it was only for now but… she didn't want this. Any of this. She pretends to be happy, even jokes back that him being a human makes him her type.

He tells her he has a surprise for her and she can't even bring herself to care.

He bought her a house... and apparently a dog? Why did he buy her a house? "Pete…"

"Look, I know things are a little up in the air but I figured, well, if we live together for a while it will help you realize what a great catch I am and Grace won't have to share a room anymore when Cassie is home for the summer though I hope she spends lots of time with her dad so we can get lots of time alone making her a little brother or sister." He says hopefully.

Sam gets a sinking feeling in her stomach. She does want another child but… not… with him.

Once she gets home and thinks she has a sudden realization… Pete was choosing everything. How they would live and where. How they would spend their time. Nothing of this was… her. She sighed sadly and got in her car. On her way over she makes a phone call she's been dreading for weeks. She should have told him at the florist.

Sam sits outside Jack's house screwing up her courage. She sighs and goes around the side of the house when she smells barbeque. "Hi sir." She says cheerfully. Her stomach fluttering nervously.

"Carter!" He greets her happily.

"Look, I'm sorry to bother you at home like this, but um…" She twines her fingers together.

"How did you know I was here?" He wonders at her.

"I saw the smoke." She points out with a little smile. Neither notices they are being watched from inside the house.

"Oh yah." He realizes and looks at the smoking grill then wipes his face of the sweat and soot.

"Look, is this okay? I mean, I could have called first." I definitely should have called; she thinks to herself. He seems distracted.

"No, yeah. I mean, it's fine. So, um… what brings you to this neck of the woods on such a fine day, in my backyard?" He asks her, wincing inwardly at how lame he sounds as per freaking usual. No wonder she moved on, you yutz.

"Well, actually, I've… ummm…" She says nervously and clears her throat. "I've been sitting in your driveway for the last ten minutes, trying to work up the nerve to come and talk to you." She admits in a rush.

Jack doesn't say anything, just looks at her with his eyebrows raised.

"The truth is, I've been trying to work up the nerve for a lot longer than that." She admits.

"Oh?"

"Pete put a down-payment down on a house." She blurts.

"Well, that's great!" He tells her cheerfully. Hopefully, she won't notice how fake that came out.

"It's a beautiful house…" She says slowly.

"But?" Because there is definitely a 'but' he refuses to pin his hopes on.

"The… the truth is, I'm having second thoughts about the whole Pete thing."

Jack looks at her, genuinely surprised. "Why?"

"See, the thing is, the longer it goes on, the more I get the feeling that I'm making a big, huge mistake." She finally admits.

Jack glances uncomfortably at the house. "Look, Carter, I don't know what…" He starts to tell her but she doesn't let him finish.

"I'm sorry to bother you with this, but uh, see, there's actually a very good reason that I'm bothering you with this, and if I don't tell you now, I might never…"

And that's when Kerry walks out of the house towards them. "Jack, I looked everywhere, but I could not fi…" She looks at Sam who looks back at her. They smile politely. "Colonel Carter." She says politely.

Jack gestures at Kerry. "Ms. Johnson." He introduces her to Sam.

"Yeah, I... I didn't…" Sam stammers out.

Jack in a moment of wild inspiration says "We were just meeting here, in my backyard on this fine day, to discuss the state of affairs." Hoping like hell Sam wouldn't catch on that this was in fact a date. A casual one yet… still a date. And why the hell had he used the word affair? Probably because you know you're having one you asshole.

"Well, this is awkward." Kerry says.

"Yah think" Sam says sarcastically back.

"Jack didn't want anyone at the SGC to know about… us." Kerry tells Sam, knowing it made things sound like more than they were.

"No! Look, I… I…uh…I'm sorry, this is my fault, I really, I shouldn't have come by unannounced like this." Sam tells her uncomfortably and starts backing away.

"Well, you know, now that the cat's out of the bag, you're here, why don't you just stay? I'm sure there's enough charred meat on the grill for all three of us." She says with a cheerful smile. She wanted to feel this woman out. Clearly there was unresolved business which was probably why Jack had wanted only a casual thing. It was technically only their second date. Last night's sex had been rather meaningless in her book.

Jack gestures to Kerry with a burnt sausage.

"No, thank you, I um…" Sam stammers out, trying to figure out how to flee. Her phone rings and it's the SGC. She answers it. "Colonel Carter. What? When? Okay, I'm on my way." She turns to them as she switches off her phone. "I gotta go. It's my Dad" She tells them and flees around the corner of the house.

Kerry and Jack watch her for a moment before Kerry turns to him. "Go." She says.

"What?"

"If you still love her, go, before she leaves Jack."

Jack's brows furrow but he nods and follows Sam around the side of the house. "Carter… wait up." He calls to her as she starts to get in her car.

"I really do need to go sir."

"Carter… Samantha… Wait. Please." He says as he reaches her car.

Sam looks up at him and bites her lip.

"Look… That… that wasn't what it looks like. Not really anyway. We're just friends."

"Okay."

"Sam…"

Sam sighs.

"What were you going to say?"

Sam's shoulders sag. "Jack… I started dating Pete because… I thought… it doesn't matter what I thought. Anyway, well, uh…" She looks up at him and sees nothing but patience and understanding in his eyes. "I should have talked to you instead of jumping to conclusions. I'm sorry."

"Okay…?" Jack crouches next to her at the door.

"I broke up with Pete." She finally admits.

"I see."

"And I'm really, really sorry I hurt you Jack. I know that doesn't fix anything but… but I broke up with Pete because I still…" She bit her lip again.

Jack smiles gently at her. "It's okay, Sam. Go talk to your dad. I'll be there soon."

"Okay." She says, not sure really what to think of this. He hadn't admitted anything back.

He stood up with a gentle brush of his hand on her cheek before backing away.

After she pulls away Kerry finally comes around the front of the house. Jack is still standing there watching where Sam's car disappeared around the corner. "Did you guys sort things out?"

Jack shakes his head. "She dumped the fiancé."

"What will you do about that?" she asks, curious.

"Try to win her back if she'll have me."

Kerry nods. "Good. Jack, look… if you have to, retire. The SGC has been run by a civilian before. Don't waste any more time waiting."

Jack nods.