Author's Note: Sorry! I tried to get it out to you all yesterday, but the site wasn't working!

~*~

Jack O'Neill had never been a guy who was able to wake up quickly. Oh, it was one thing to wake up quickly if someone was shooting at you. That didn't count. But when he was home, on a Saturday, or Sunday morning, and there was no reason to get up early, he normally didn't. He liked to give himself as much time as he needed to wake up, and he had to admit that nothing was nicer than slowly coming into the day. Especially since he knew the alternative, which was abrupt waking with bullets or staff weapons. That was no fun at all.

So when he felt himself starting to come awake in the huge bed in the Stephen's lodge on Saturday morning, Jack had every intention of doing it slowly. Maybe a little stretching, just to get the blood flowing, a little extra napping, a little playing with his pillow to get his head just right, and then maybe he'd open his eyes and see about beginning his day.

With this in mind, it wasn't entirely Jack's fault that he didn't notice immediately what was going on around him. He was only vaguely aware of the warm body next to him, and the fact that his hand was resting comfortably on it. He was also only distantly aware of the odd noises that had been invading his sleep for most of the night. Noises that weren't so uncommon that they concerned him while he slept, but now that he was beginning to wake up, they were beginning to be noticeable.

He moved his hand slightly, absently thinking that it must be Sam next to him, but then his sleepy mind began noticing differences. Big differences. For one thing, Sam was smooth, and soft, and curvy. And the body next to him wasn't any of those. Just as this was growing on him that something might be going on, and it might be worth opening his eyes to see what it was, Jack felt something nuzzle his hand, and then a small mouth caught hold of his pinky and began suckling on it.

THAT got his attention. His eyes snapped open and he looked beside him, fearing the worst, but not sure what even the worst could be. What he didn't expect was what he saw. Sometime during the night Shadow had joined him on his bed. Then she'd apparently decided he needed even more company, because there was an entire row of puppies snuggled against her side, each of them eagerly enjoying their breakfast, except for the one who'd mistaken Jack's finger as a milk source. This one was still trying to get breakfast, but wasn't having any luck and was being very vocal about its unhappiness and disappointment.

He grinned, despite himself, and gently pulled his finger out of the puppy's mouth, and guided its little black head to its mother's belly where it, too, could have breakfast. Ten puppies, he counted. Eight buff colored puppies and two little black ones. Jack had seen puppies before, of course, but never such young ones. These didn't even have their eyes opened, yet. Which at least gave the little black one an excuse for its mistake. He watched them for a moment longer, and then decided that he'd better go tell someone.

Slipping out of his bed carefully to avoid disturbing Shadow and her new brood, Jack walked to the already partially opened door and out into the hallway. The place was quiet, which told him that it was probably pretty early. He couldn't even hear noise coming from the boys' room as he walked down the stairs, his bare feet making no noise. He saw a light on in the kitchen and walked that way, and found Jenny there with Micah, who was looking fussy.

Jenny smiled at him when she saw him walking in. He looked like he just woke up, especially since all he was wearing was his sweats, with his dog tags and the ever-present arrowhead necklace hanging against his bare chest.

"Good morning, Jack. You're up early."

"Morning, Jenny. I really didn't have much choice," he said, smiling.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Apparently I have the softest bed around, because Shadow decided to load it up with puppies sometime in the middle of the night."

"She didn't!"

"Oh, she did."

Jenny smiled broadly, and scooped up Micah.

"Can we go see them?" She asked.

"Hey, I'm not the proud father," Jack said, still smiling. "But I'm sure someone should see this."

He turned and led her back to his room, and held the door open for her. Jenny went straight to the bed, where Shadow thumped her tail happily to see her.

"Oh, little girl! What did you do?" Jenny asked, cooing at the dog as she sat carefully on the edge of the bed.

"Hold him, Jack, would you?" She asked, handing Micah over to the rumpled looking Colonel. Jack looked at the boy as he looked at Jack, and one little hand reached for the shiny dog tags hanging from Jack's neck. He would accept being held by Jack as long as there was something for him to play with, apparently.

Jenny picked up one of the puppies, who squealed unhappily to be pulled away from its breakfast, but quieted when she cuddled him.

"Oh, he's soooo cute!"

"Who's cute?" A voice asked from the doorway. They looked over and saw Scott at the door, and Jenny held up the puppy in her hand.

"Shadow left Jack a present in his bed last night."

"Ten of them," Jack confirmed as Scott walked into the room to get a better look. He reached for the puppy that his wife handed him.

"I should go wake up Andrew," He said, snuggling the puppy.

"I can do it," Jack offered.

"No," Jenny said. "Let's get a picture first. They were born in Jack's bed, I want to save the moment." She put the puppy back down next to her mother and hurried quietly out of the room.

"Quite a thing to wake up, to, huh?" Scott said, grinning at Jack.

"Especially since this one was trying to nurse my finger." Jack agreed, pointing at the black puppy that was ignoring everything else in favor of his breakfast with one hand, and holding Micah easily in the other. The toddler was more interested in Jack's dog tags than he was puppies, which was just as well.

Scott laughed. "I'll bet that woke you up in a hurry."

"Yeah."

Jenny returned, and took the puppy from her husband and put it back against Shadow's side. Then she handed a digital camera to Scott, and took Micah from Jack, after a battle for the dog tags which Jack conceded and slipped them off his head.

"Get on the bed next to Shadow, Jack."

"Let me get a shirt-"

"No, just do it like you were when you found them." Jenny instructed, smiling. "It's going to be a great picture."

Jack didn't bother to argue. He got on the bed, stretching out like she told him to. He was glad Shadow was a good natured dog, because Jenny took forever to get Jack into the position she wanted him in for the 'perfect' picture, and Jack couldn't imagine any other new mother so willing to let someone she barely knew so close to her puppies.

"These are going to be perfect, Jack," Jenny said, smiling as she started clicking away with the camera.