Author's note: Abby's pregnant, Sam is not.

..................

"You know... you two really ought to do something..."

Jack was bored. Bored, bored, bored. His day had started well enough. He'd woken Sam with a kiss and a hot cup of coffee, then had made her breakfast while she got ready to go to the base. Not the usual way the mornings went around there, but he had nothing better to do, and it was nice to coddle the ones you loved when you could. Then Sam had left, and Jack was alone with the dogs.

This normally wouldn't be so bad. Jack loved alone time with Jaffer, and the idea of a couple days off work just hanging out with his baby was appealing. The only problem was, he wasn't alone with Jaffer. They had Abby, who was showing absolutely no sign of any interest in Jaffer besides as someone to chase around and play with. And that wasn't going to get him a puppy.

"The bedroom's empty..."

He was sitting in the living room, on the sofa, flipping through channels. The labs were stretched out on the floor in front of the fireplace, even though there wasn't a fire going. Jack yawned. He'd go somewhere, but he couldn't. He had to stay and watch Romeo and Juliet not do anything. He couldn't even really take them, since that would defeat the whole point of having them together. Or even worse, they decide while they're outside in public that... hey! And just his luck he'd be at the park with them and they'd decide to start going at it in front of a dozen little kids. Oh, wouldn't that be lovely to explain?

The phone rang, providing a much needed distraction.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Jack, it's Marissa."

He smiled.

"Hi, Marissa."

"So... how are things? How's Abby?"

"She's great." Jack told her. And he meant it. Abby was a sweetheart. Just a celibate one, apparently.

"Have they been displaying any interest in each other?"

"They like each other," he said, shrugging, even though she wasn't there to see it. "But I haven't seen them doing anything... um... physical."

Marissa laughed on the other end of the line. She could hear his discomfort about discussing doggie sex with her.

"There's plenty of time, Jack. Maybe they just need a chance to get to know each other a little."

"Yeah, probably."

"Give her a kiss for me, okay?"

"I will, Marissa." He would, too.

"Call me if you need anything."

What he needed was a distraction. A better one than a phone call.

"I will. Feel free to call anytime."

"Thanks, Jack."

She hung up, and he went back to channel surfing.

His much-needed distraction came in the form of a knock on the door about a half an hour later. Jack turned from the pistol-toting transvestite who was arguing with his mother about her four different boyfriends – one of whom was apparently her cousin – and went to answer it. Jaffer and Abby were already there, tails wagging, although Jaffer's was wagging furiously, which gave Jack a fair indication of who was on the other side.

He opened the door, and sure enough, Shawn was standing there, his bike laying in Jack's front yard where he'd dumped it, and a grin on his face.

"Shawn!" Jack's grin was just as big, but it faded immediately. "Why aren't you in school?"

"Teacher conference day, or something like that. I thought I'd come by and surprise you."

"How did you know I wasn't at the base?" Jack asked, moving so Shawn could get in past him, but holding firm to Abby's collar so she couldn't jet out the door.

"I called there, first, figuring you and I could do lunch or something, but Sam said you were at home. Wow, she's pretty!"

Abby and Jaffer had both swarmed the boy. Jaffer because he knew Shawn extremely well and liked the boy, Abby because she liked everyone and kids were definitely a favorite. Especially kids who smelled like Jack, who she'd already decided she liked, too.

"This is Abby." Jack told him, grinning at the way the boy vanished under a pile of black dog.

"Abby!" Shawn hugged her tight for a moment, and then hugged Jaffer, too, just to keep him from being jealous.

"You want something to drink?" Jack asked, heading into the kitchen. He knew it would get Jaffer off the boy, anyways, since Jaffer never missed a chance to go to the kitchen. The kitchen was Jaffer's favorite room! Sure enough, Jaffer broke off his attack, and followed Jack. Abby, on the other hand, wanted to get to know Shawn better, and she was still sniffing him. He didn't mind, of course, he loved dogs. Black labs in particular. Of course, yellow labs were great, too, so maybe it was just labs that he liked.

"A pop?"

"Sure."

Jack opened the fridge and pulled one out for the boy. He always kept a supply of them on hand, just for Shawn, since it wasn't a brand Jack liked all that much.

"Does Dotty know you're here?" He asked as he handed the soda over. Shawn took it, nodding his head, and stood up after giving Abby another affectionate pat.

"Yeah, I told her I was coming, and she said it was okay."

"Asgard lesson tonight?"

Shawn nodded.

"Andrew and I are learning gene sequencing."

Yeah, whatever that was. Jack nodded, though. He was pretty sure whatever it was, it wasn't too terrible, but he'd made a mental note to double check with Sam, just to make sure. He didn't want either boy doing something they shouldn't be, and while the Asgard had been very careful lately to keep Jack informed on what was going on with the lessons, it never hurt to double check, right?

"Oh? Thrilling stuff?"

"It's interesting," Shawn agreed, plopping down on the sofa, and watching as Jack grabbed himself another cup of coffee and sat down as well.

Jack recognized the look instantly. Shawn was happy to see him, but he wanted to talk about something else. He was probably just looking for an opening, so Jack gave him one. He was always willing to talk to Shawn about anything.

"How are things going, Shawn? Everything okay at home? At school?"

The boy smiled, knowing that Jack had asked that on purpose, and he leaned forward, slightly, his hand on Abby's head, but most of his attention on Jack.

"Actually, Jack..."

"Yes?"

"I'm your son, right?"

Jack smiled, wondering if the boy was going to ask for a kidney. Of course, Jack would have given him one, so he didn't need to look quite so hesitant. Shawn had to know by now Jack would do anything for him.

"Yes. You're my son, Shawn."

"So... if I needed to have a man to man... talk... I could come to you, right?"

"Of course."

"And if you needed to have a man to man talk... you know you could come to me, right?"

Jack wondered where this was going, but he nodded.

"Definitely."

Shawn hesitated for just a second, then shrugged, as if he'd tried to think of every way to say what he wanted to say, but couldn't come up with the way he wanted. Instead he just blurted it.

"I think you need to marry Sam."