So this chapter is set about 3 months after Dan intially finds Jack

Anyway...

Jack, Callum and Dan would regularly do things together. Jack and Dan found that they had the same sarcastic personality and enjoyed spendin time together. Jack was alarmed when he found out Dan had only watched a handful of Simpson's episodes and set about to rectify the situation.

When Sam came back off her honeymoon she was surprised to see how happy her son was and how much he'd changed. He was more confident within himself and his sarcasm was much more prominent, he reminded her so much of his dad. "See it didn't matter we were away for that extra two weeks it doesn't look like he missed us much." Her new husband had said and although she hated to admit it, it seemed that he was right. Dan had settled in well at school and already had a close group of friends.

Jack had a day off of work and had to look after Nick and Adam for Daniel whilst he and Janet were at work. He'd already taken them to the cinema but they had another hour left, "Ok then boys how about some ice cream?" He was met by voices of approval and was dragged into the nearest café.

They sat down in a corner booth at the back of the shop Jack flagged over a waitress, "Can I have a coffee and then a banana milkshake and a chocolate milkshake and 2 ice cream sundaes please." Unknown to Jack on the other side of the shop Sam had just walked in and had sat on one of the small tables on the opposite wall. Jack had not spoken to Sam in all the time with Dan, he knew it was wrong but he couldn't face it she'd hurt him more than he thought possible. He was past the anger, now he was just left with a dull ache whenever he looked at Dan or photos of Sam and that also hurt him because no man should feel that for his child.

When Sam heard Jacks unmistakable voice her headshot up and she stared at the table at the back of the room. Jack was sat with his back to her his hair was totally silver now but he seemed the same. He had two small boys with him the eldest couldn't have been more than 7 or 8. One had blonde hair that was slightly longer than Jack's and the other had longer brown hair a lot like Daniels before he had it cut and wore glasses. It looked as if they were getting a treat as a waitress brought in two of the largest sundaes Sam had ever seen.

"Ok boys now you know why we're here."

"Yes" the blonde haired boy said.

"Nick?"

"Yes" the other boy replied sulkily

"No more being bad for Daniel and your sister, they've had enough and you know what your mom does when she finds out and then I get told off for it when it's your fault. He's had enough and even though I don't see what you're doing is too bad but he seems to think it is and me pushing him in the pool was wrong you should never have copied me...twice. So you understand right?"

"Suppose so"

"Good, now eat your ice cream or I may just have to do it for you and then we have to go and pick your sister up from that party" Seeing Jack with the small boys brought back memories of when Dan was small and what a good father Jack could have been to him. At least he had found someone to be happy with and had the family he so desperately deserved.

"I'm tired," the smaller boy said

"Well I think we should go then. Your sister'll be wondering where we are and so will your mom and I really don't want her in a bad mood I got a medical coming up soon." Jack got up and scooped up the boy. "Come on Nicky". As Jack looked up his eyes met Sam's, she hadn't even realised she'd been staring at him. She saw his eyes darken and his brow furrow, "Carter?"

"Hi Jack, long time no see."

"Well whose fault is that then?" He said callously, she had always been able to read Jack but his expressions seemed closly guared and somewhat wary of her.

"I'm sorry Jack, it was nice to see you again. I'll see you around." Sam said getting up.

"Wait I'm sorry it was just a bit of a shock I thought you were living on the other side of the country." Jack had decided to see where Sam went with this

"I moved, got a better paid job; I only came back about 3 months ago. I see you've been busy." She said gesturing toward the now sleeping boy in Jacks arm and the other waiting next to him. "Blonde?"

"Well yer Daniel had blonde hair when he was smaller."

"How do you know?" Sam asked shocked, Jack grinned inwardly glad to see her suffer.

"He showed me the photos and it runs in the family."

"When?"

"A couple of years ago"

"You've known him that long?"

"Yes" Jack answered feigning puzzlement, "You may have been gone a long time Sam but you can't have forgotten Daniel can you? You know brown hair, glasses, real annoying."

"Oh so they're Daniel's kids." She asked relieved

"Obviously, who did you think I was talking about?" He knew this shouldn't be fun but after what she'd done to him it felt really good.

"No one. So Daniel got married?" changing the subject.

"Yes. We're late in picking up their sister so we better go. It's been nice to see you again Carter." Jack said walking away letting her make the next move.

"Sir, wait...are you busy tonight maybe we could get together and talk about old times." She said hopefully.

"Uumm...it'll have to be at my place, I'm babysitting tonight but they should be asleep buy 7, come around at about half 7." Sam nodded, "well I guess I'll see you tonight then. See ya Carter"

By the time he got home Jack was terrified he'd not thought this through at all. By 7 o'clock Jack had removed any trace of Dan from his house. Dan was a frequent visitor and had slept over on a number of occasions. He had some things in CJ's room. So Jack had thrown all of his things into there, hoping that Sam would think they were CJ's. Dan's school photo and a number of photos of him and Dan, him and his sons and Callum and Dan had been taken down and been replaced with those of his family.

Jack was looking after Hazel and Toby for Jonas, who had gone on his first off-world mission since losing Amy, both children were so used to Jack looking after them that they didn't mind. Hazel was playing with her toys in her playpen whilst Jack was putting Toby to bed after his feed. By seven- thirty both children were asleep. Jack had had no time to prepare dinner and hoped Sam didn't mind take away. Callum was in the den watching TV and talking to Dan on the phone, both were waiting to see what was about to happen, he was also there incase things between Jack and Sam got out of hand.

Jack hoped that Sam would tell him tonight about Dan but then he wasn't sure what he was going to do. It hadn't been as bad seeing Sam as he had thought it would be but he wasn't sure if he could ever trust her again, he'd try though for Dan's sake. When he heard the doorbell Jack suddenly got butterflies in his stomach, Jack opened the door and Sam was on the other side.

Her hair was loosely framing her shoulders, the blonde highlighted with silver. She had a few new wrinkles around her eyes but she still looked beautiful. It was at that moment that Jack realised he still loved her it would always be between them that she took his son away but he thought they had a chance to fix it only a small chance, but a chance no the less.

As Sam stared into his chocolate eyes she found herself wondering how she could ever have forgotten how easy it was to get lost in them. She felt something long dead rise from within her and take its rightful place in her heart. "Hey," she said almost shyly, "I brought some Chinese, I figured if you were babysitting then you wouldn't get much time to cook. I hope you don't mind."

Jack grinned, "Thanks, they've only just gone to bed. As long as Toby doesn't wake her Hazel should sleep right through, but I dunno about Toby he's missing his dad, Jonas usually puts him to bed or at least says good night. Anyway come in." Once Jack had taken Sam's coat and got plate for the food they sat talking. At first they stayed on easy topics such as Daniel and Janet. Jack showed Sam photos of their wedding and kids.

They spoke of Cassie and her upcoming wedding, "she's fallen for her commanding officer and he's fallen for her pretty damn hard. I had to laugh when they came in my office to tell me, the look when I asked if I could give away the bride was priceless. They were so sure I was going to court-martial them; I swear Cassie almost fainted. She said it was scarier telling me than it was telling Janet which I take some pride in. " Jack became serious, "So Sam why did you leave?"

Sam took a long moment to think this over, she could tell him the truth and lose him forever or she could lie, risk him finding out some other way and then lose him forever. "Well I was-"she was cut off by a cry from the baby monitor. "I'll be back in a minute." Jack said getting up and jogging up the stairs. Pacey was at the top of the stairs, blocked from coming down by the stair gate. Jack got through and scratched the dog behind the ear, "I'm sorry buddy but you don't do new people, you can come down when she's gone." Toby was sitting whimpering in his crib, which had been moved into Jack's room for the three nights Jonas would be away for. When he saw Jack he held out his hand to be picked up. "Well buddy it doesn't look like you'll be going back to sleep any time soon does it?" He said to the little boy who was desperately clinging onto Jack.

Jack walked downstairs with Toby in his arms, not noticing that the gate was already open. As he walked into the den he saw Sam sitting on his couch with Pacey's head in her lap having his ear tickled. "So this is the dangerous Pacey you've spoke about." She mocked

"He doesn't usually like strangers, he can probably smell me on you. And this is Toby he's my youngest lodger." Jack said smiling proudly.

"So he lives here?"

"Yep, his mom died when she was having him and they already had a toddler, I didn't think his dad could cope with losing his girlfriend and having to look after two small kids with no other help. Jonas isn't exactly from around here if you know what I mean and I had this big place so they moved in and the rest as they say is history. They haven't got a mom but they have two substitutes, three dedicated uncles and an amazing 14 year-old cousin slash big brother. Well two dedicated uncles and one that would be but he hardly ever sees them, but he's working for the greater good so that's ok."

"I thought Daniel and Janet's oldest boy was 8?"

"He is." Jack grinned, "I thought you were meant to be smart Carter have you not seen all the photos of my son plastered round the place." Sam looked shocked, "Really you didn't notice?"

"No I mean I saw some of you and a boy but I thought he was your relative or something."

"Well he is, he's my son. He's 14 and a half now."

"But that would mean..."

"Yeah... he turned up a couple of months after you left. You remember Edorra?" Even after all of the years Sam still wincedbut nodded. Jack was glad to see she still cared about something to do with him , "Well I knew there was a chance but... anyway she died when he was 8 months and she wanted me to raise him. Cal come here" Jack called. A noise was heard from the other room.

"Hold on a sec man, I've just been summoned." Callum wandered into the room phone in hand he was wearing a baggy hoody and combat trousers. Sam felt as if she was looking at the Jack O'Neill clone they were so similar. "What?"

"Cal this is Sam Carter." He said stressing the last syllable. "I know who she is." Sam gave him a puzzled look, "How the hell do you think I visit my half brother, go by bus?"Jack gave him a warning look, "Sorry."

"I know where I've seen you now, you're on the school hockey team" Sam said.

"How do you know that, do you like watching boys?" he sadi sarcastically, CJ had decided that he didn't like Sam because of what she'd put his dad through he'd also heard stories about her from Daniel and Dan which he didn't like.

"Callum." Jack warned, "He does have a point though."

Sam sighed "Ok but remember it was a long time ago and we were different people. I never meant for it to turn out the way it has."

"Ok then whatever it is can't be as bad as you're making out, can it?" Jack could feel his heart begin to flutter.

"Well that depends upon how you look at it. Ok I left because things were strained between us and I didn't see them getting any better."

"We could have worked that out, all you needed to do was talk to me."

"That's not the whole story, ok a few weeks after I'd left I found out I was pregnant."

"You and Andy must have been very happy."

"Well...we were...well I was but I wasn't sure who the father was." Jack looked confused, "it could have been Andy's or it could have been yours and it turned out that he was yours." Sam waited for Jack to explode with rage but instead he was silent he just passed the baby to CJ. "Did you hear me, I kept your son away from you. He doesn't know who his father is, don't you care?"

"Of course I care, what do you think I am, some kind of robot. How could you keep him away from me, did neither of us have a choice?" He was steadily getting angrier and angrier it felt good to let his anger out.

"I tried, I tried so many times to tell you, I rang you up but all I got was your answering machine and I didn't think you'd want to find out that way. I wrote you letters but I never could send them and when I finally got up enough courage you'd moved and I couldn't find you."

"Well if you couldn't with your contacts, how did our 13 year old son find me? And he'd only been looking for a few weeks." He said bitterly

"You knew? You knew but you let me go through that, you selfish son of a bitch." she screamed, Toby began to whimper.

"Sam you seem to be forgetting that I was the one that had a scared kid stand upon my doorstep and tell me that I was his dad. He used to think of me as a jerk, some guy that could screw his mom and then just leave her. Do you know how that felt, missing out on 13 years of my kid's life, 13 years I can...no...we can never get back? I only lied for three months, you lied for nearly 14 years." As Jacks voice got louder the baby started to cry. This brought him out of his rage he spoke quietly but this scared Sam more than angry Jack. "It's up to you now Sam but you can't stop me from seeing him, I know my rights." Sam sat on his couch motionless, processing the information she had gathered. "I'm gunna put Toby to bed and check on Hazel." Jack said leaving the room with the now sleeping baby in his arms.

He had left it open for Sam to leave if she wanted to but she didn't, she didn't feel ready to go back to all of the questions her husband would have about where she had been. Callum had been quiet throughout their fight when Jack had gone he put the phone to his ear, "So who do you think won? Personally I thought dad but your mom didn't take it lying down...No I don't agree...Nope he clearly won you're just saying that to get outta paying 5 bucks...Dude she looks pissed you may wanna hide when she gets home...look I better go Becky'll be trying to get though and then she'll be in a bad mood and that's not good so I'll see you tomorrow good luck little brother." Callum left to call Becky.

When Jack returned they sat in an awkward silence, each not knowing what to say. "So..." they both said at the same time, then lapsed back into that silence. "I'd better go, Pete'll be wondering where I am."

"What are you going to tell him?"

"I have no idea, he doesn't even know I was here, he thought I was working late again, he also doesn't know you still live round here. But I'll tell Daniel the truth. Well the censored truth at least, I think he deserves it."

"Secrets have a way of coming out, just remember that Sam." He warned as she left.

Another chapter done!!!
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