"Mama! Mama! Dada! Dada!" Hannah called from her crib.
"Hey! What is all the noise about?" Jacob asked, walking to Hannah's crib.
"Grandpa is home!" Hannah said, bouncing in her crib.
"I've missed you too, Banana bean!" Jacob said, scooping Hannah out of the crib.
Jacob hugged Hannah, and she gave him an open mouth kiss on the cheek. He carried Hannah over to her changing table and put her in a fresh diaper. He then took her to the kitchen. Sam was finishing her cup of tea and Jack was finishing his eggs. Hannah smiled, seeing her parents were still home.
"You look very excited to see Grandpa home, sweetheart!" Sam cooed. Hannah reached for Sam. She took Hannah and Hannah gave her a kiss.
"Hey, Banana, does daddy get a kiss?" Jack asked, patting his cheek with his finger. Sam held Hannah close to Jack's face as Hannah leaned in and kissed him.
"Did you see Hannah got two more teeth while you were gone?" Sam asked, looking at Jacob.
"No, I didn't notice. That's five teeth total. You'll be eating steak soon enough!" Jacob said, smiling.
"She still has a while for that but she loves eggs and fruit!" Jack said, putting cooled off eggs on Hannah's highchair tray.
Sam put Hannah in her highchair and Jack locked the tray in place. Hannah picked up the eggs with her fingers, stuffing the eggs in her mouth. Jack put some applesauce in a bowl for Hannah. They gave Hannah a spoon to eat with, but right now at, eight months, she enjoys eating with her fingers. Jack put some apple sauce on a spoon and she opened her mouth. She chomped down on the spoon with her little teeth.
"What are you doing, ya goofy girl?" Jack said, gently tugging at the spoon.
Hannah let go when she started giggling.
"You are feeling silly today, angel?" Sam asked.
"I like to play with daddy" Hannah said, clapping her hands.
Sam and Jack smiled. They loved the sweet, silly personality their baby was developing.
"You're going to stay and play with Grandpa today, silly girl!" Jacob said, smiling.
Hannah clapped again. Jacob smiled and finished feeding Hannah the apple sauce so Jack and Sam could go get ready for work.
"Could you go pick up Phoenix and Phoebe's birthday presents for me? I'm not sure if I'll be back in time to pick them up. The store called and told me that the presents came in and the party is the day after tomorrow." Sam asked before grabbing her bag to go.
"Of course" Jacob said.
"Thank you!" Sam said, as she kissed Hannah and let Jack kissed Hannah before leaving.
"How about we play for a while and after your morning nap we'll go get your friends presents. Then we can go get a treat and keep it a secret." Jacob said, bouncing Hannah.
"Sounds good to me!" Hannah said. Jacob and Hannah communicated better than most baby and grandpa. He didn't tell Sam that he understood most of what Hannah babbled, thanks to Salmack.
"Can we go swing?" Hannah asked.
"Sure, let's get you dressed first." Jacob smiled.
Jacob took Hannah into her room.
"I want to wear my zoo shirt, please!" Hannah said.
"Looks like mommy left out your teddy bear shirt and brown pants. I think your zoo shirt is for your friends' party." Jacob said, holding up the white oneies with a large brown teddy bear on the front.
"Ok" Hannah said.
Jacob dressed Hannah and then took her out to the backyard to swing. They played for a while and then Jacob took Hannah in for her morning nap. Jacob fixed Hannah a bottle and then sat down in the rocking chair in her room with her.
"I don't want to sleep!" Hannah whined, rubbing her eyes.
"I know, sweetheart, just eat your bottle and if you're still not sleepy, you can stay up." Jacob said with a small smile as he rocked her.
"You promise?" Hannah asked as she held her bottle.
"I promise." Jacob said, nodding.
It didn't take long for Hannah to fall asleep after she finished her bottle. Jacob rocked her a few more minutes before putting her in her crib.
Jacob went and straightened up the kitchen, then sat on the couch to catch up on the newspaper and TV. Martouf came into the house not long after Jacob had turned on the TV.
"Hey, you're back early!" Jacob greeted.
"They delayed the mission, and I told the council I wanted to come back here to do missions with the SGC. General Hammond told me to report back tomorrow morning." Martouf explained.
"Well, I have to go to the toy store to get a package for Sam. Do you want to come with Hannah and me to get the package? Then I was going to get lunch?" Jacob asked.
"Sure!" Martouf said, sitting down on the couch to watch TV with Jacob.
After Hannah's nap, Jacob changed Hannah's diaper and put her in the car seat Jack had in his truck. When they got to the store, Jacob carried Hannah, and Martouf grabbed Hannah's diaper bag.
"Cool!" Hannah said as they entered the toy store.
There were already Halloween items at the front of the store. A huge smiling blow up jack-o'-lantern greeted them. It was the clown that an older child set off that scared the crap out of Hannah. She buried her face in Jacob's chest and screamed.
"Brandon! Look what you did! You scared that baby to death!" A woman scolded a little blonde boy that was laughing.
"It's OK banana bean! I won't let anyone hurt you, baby!" Jacob soothed. He glared at the boy as he walked past.
Hannah got the hiccups.
"Look, there're the dolls. Do you want to pick out a doll or a stuff animal?" Jacob asked.
"I want to go home!" Hannah whimpered.
"I'm sorry that mean little boy scared you but we need to get your friends presents." Jacob said, patting Hannah on the back.
They walked to where people pick up online orders. There was a long line of people.
"Of course." Jacob sighed, looking at the line of people.
"I'll take Hannah and walk around with her. I'll stay away from the front." Martouf said.
"Thanks. Hannah, I'm giving you to Martouf so you can go pick out a toy." Jacob said, giving Hannah to Martouf.
Hannah snuggled into Martouf's arms and looked at Jacob, still sniffling. Martouf headed to the back of the store with Hannah. Jacob was happy that Martouf had come with them. He probably would have had to leave with Hannah if he was by himself.
"Look, little bean, they have those pop up toys you love!" Martouf said, turning on one of the aisle. Hannah turned to look at the toy. He turned her to face to toy when she reached for the toy. They stood there for several minutes while Martouf pressed the buttons for the little sea creatures to pop up. Hannah would laugh, then shut the animals back in their little boxes. Someone turned on the aisle.
"Do you want this toy?" Martouf asked softly in her ear. Hannah awkwardly pulled the toy to her chest. Martouf fixed Hannah and the toy in a more comfortable position before leaving that aisle.
They wondered around the book section.
"Can I see the book with the stars?" Hannah asked, making sure no one else was around.
It was a thick book for older children, but it had bright pictures of planets and star names. It enchanted Hannah with the colored pictures.
"This is an enjoyable book but you are a really too young for this." Martouf said, as he shut the book.
"But it has pretty pictures and I want to see where you guys travel too when you leave me." Hannah said, fussing.
"Those places aren't in this book. They are further away. One day when you are much older maybe we will take you through the Stargate." Martouf soothed.
"How about that other book with stars on the cover?" Hannah asked, pointing.
"This looks like a better book for your age." Martouf said, showing the pictures to Hannah.
"I like this one, please!" Hannah said, smiling.
Martouf tucks the book under his arm with the toy. Martouf walked around with Hannah for a little while longer, stopping to look at different toys. They came to a large stuff animal section. Hannah got excited. She loved to play with Lola's stuffed animals when she went to their house. Martouf turned down the aisle. There were tiny animals to animals five times or bigger than Hannah. Martouf smiled as Hannah's face lit up. He cared for Samantha greatly, but he never imagined caring so much for her child. He had little experience with children, especially when he became a Tor'ka. Watching Hannah being born and growing up was such a novel experience for him. Jacob said it was definitely new for him being able to understand and communicate with Hannah so well because of his symbiote.
"Can I get one?" Hannah asked, her eyes wide.
"You may have to put back one of your other toys but yes, you can pick one out." Martouf said.
They both knew she was going to get all three things because Martouf couldn't say no to the big brown-eyed girl. He sat her on the carpeted floor to adjust the other items again. There was a carrying basket station at the end of the aisle. He stepped away from her to go grab a basket. Hannah got up on her hands and knees and started crawling towards a large pink unicorn. Martouf quickly dropped the toy and book into the basket and grabbed the basket handles, then made his way to Hannah. He was letting Hannah take some animals off the bottom shelf, as long as she wasn't putting them in her mouth. Martouf sat on the floor with her. He loved to watch her learn while she played. She would take some animals and hand them to him, some she would fling down the aisle and others she would hug. A lady turned on the aisle quickly and looked shocked to see a man and baby on the floor shrouded by stuffed animals. Martouf began picking up the animals and putting them back on the shelf.
"Why would you let your child sit on this dirty floor?" The lady asked loudly.
"She was picking out a toy. I will wash her hands when we are done in here. I was also going to pick up the mess she made, but I was letting her have fun." Martouf explained.
"I'm sure her mother would have something different to say about that!" The woman said, rolling her eyes.
"Do you know her mother? She wants to keep her safe, but she is OK with her daughter exploring new things." Martouf said he was a confused.
Jacob came on the aisle pushing a cart with an enormous box sitting on the basket. Hannah crawled over to him happily, dragging the unicorn.
"Hey, sweetheart, did you pick out some toys? Your uncle can never tell you no, can he?" Jacob asked, picking Hannah up.
"That's a mean lady!" Hannah said into Jacob's ear.
The lady was still staring at them.
"Can I help you?" Jacob asked the lady.
"Do you not care the baby was on the floor?" The lady asked Jacob.
"It's not the best idea with cold season starting, but she gets wiggly, and I know her uncle will take good care of her, so no need for concern," Jacob explained.
The woman rolled her eyes and stomped off.
"I'm sorry, Jacob." Martouf said. He never wanted to put Hannah in danger.
"It's fine! She was having fun! We'll wash her hands real good. She will be fine. You do an amazing job keeping her happy," Jacob assured.
It was the day of the twins' jungle party. Sam was going to put Hannah in her shirt from the zoo that had animals on it, but Sam had found an outfit. For Hannah, she liked better when she was running errands after work. The out fit was a leopard print leotard with a black tutu. Sam knew Hannah's eyes would stand out with the brown from the spots. It even came with a leopard eared headband.
"You look so cute, my little leopard!" Sam cooed, as she slipped the headband on Hanna's head.
Hannah grinned at herself in the mirror.
"OK, wild one, let's go party!" Jack said.
They were one of the first ones to arrive at the twins' party.
"Welcome to the Wild Ones, jungle!" Teddy said, greeting them at the door.
Their house had green streamers all around and there was a big jungle animal cut out with a lion, giraffe, monkey and elephant faces cut out so kids or adults could put their face in the hole so they would look like the animal for a picture. There was a ride in toy safari jeep sitting by the cut out also for pictures. A plastic jungle backdrop hung up behind the jeep.
"This is the photo area! Hope will be back. She wanted to take pictures of the older kids getting their faces painted." Teddy explained.
"Oh, my goodness! My three girls are wearing the same leopard outfit!" Hope said, walking up smiling.
"It was too cute to pass by and the baby manikin reminded me of Hannah, so I couldn't say no!" Sam said, smiling as Hope hugged her.
"This beautiful girl doesn't even look like the same baby I took pictures of last year," Hope said, as Hannah laid her head on Sam's shoulder.
Hannah gave Hope a huge smile.
"This is our Hannah! It really is amazing how much she has grown!" Sam said, grinning.
"Come here, sweetheart. I want to take some photos of you in that cute outfit. How old is she now?" Hope asked, reaching for Hannah. Hannah went to Hope willingly.
"She's eight months, now!" Jack said.
Hope put Hannah down in front of the cutout and had Jack and Sam stand behind the cutout. Hannah giggled and reached for her parents as they talked to her through the holes. Hope took some pictures. They then walked into the backyard that had games set up and little snack stations. That looked like huts and outpost.
"Hey Jack and Sam!" Ryder said, waving to them from a little hut.
"Hey Ry guy!" Jack greeted.
"You want to be an elephant?" Ryder asked as he handed Jack a mask made from felt. Jack put the mask on.
"Sure, I'll be an elephant! What about Sam?" Jack asked. Ryder reached into the bag he was holding and pulled out a zebra mask.
"You are a zebra!" Ryder said, handing Sam the mask. Sam put the felt mask on.
"Hey, guys! So glad you could make it!" Missy greeted, smiling as she hugged them.
Missy led them to where Phoebe and Phoenix were playing in a child's pool filled with plastic balls.
For the rest of the party, Hannah had a blast playing with her friends and she got to try a cake pop.
A month later.
Cam was watching Lola and Devlin play happily at Tucker's tenth costume birthday party. Even though his birthday was three weeks until Halloween, Tucker always liked to have a costume party. Tucker's aunt Reese was an artist and agreed to paint faces for Tucker's party. She had painted Josh's face to have realistic looking snake scales. She was painting Lola's face to look like a butterfly. Devlin was trying to decide what he wanted painted on his face.
"Dad, what do you think I should get?" Devlin asked, bringing over a book of pictures with the designs.
"Well, you are dressed as a firefighter. Maybe you should have her paint you as a dalmatian." Cam said.
"You don't think it's for babies?" Devlin asked.
"Do you want it and like it?" Cam asked, seriously.
"I think it will be cool looking!" Devlin nodded.
"Then don't worry about what others think. If you like it, that's all that matters." Cam said.
"Did you figure out want design you want, Devlin?" Tucker asked, walking up to them.
"Yeah, I want to look like a dalmatian," Devlin said, showing the design.
"That's going to look outstanding!" Tucker said, as they both headed for the tent it was painting in.
Lola came out of the tent a few minutes later. It was a surprise how calm that Lola sat still while Reese painted tiny and large dots plus swirls of pinks and purples that matched her wings on Lola's face.
"You look beautiful, Lola cat!" Cam smiled.
Before Lola could answer, Cam's phone rang. He quickly answered his phone and then hung up.
"I've got to go. Mommy needs to go to the hospital!" Cam said, urgently.