"Jack?"
"Hmmm?"
"Wake up."
"I'm awake."
"Open your eyes and prove it..."
There was only one person that could get away with saying that and not get a dirty look, or a scowl. Jack O'Neill opened his eyes and looked up at that one person. And smiled.
"You're home already?"
"It's almost seven."
"PM?"
Sam smiled, and came around to the other side of the couch. Jack had been dozing on the sofa – along with his security blanket, who'd gotten up when Sam had arrived home and met her at the door. He was wearing loose sweats and a pair of socks, and nothing more. Around his right forearm was a swathing of bandages, and around his upper chest was a matching set, covering a couple of rows of very neat and delicate stitches. His reminder of the battle with the Ashrak a week and a half before. The gashes were fairly well healed - they itched terribly, but not much more, but Fraiser was being cautious with them.
Jack was on medical leave until the stitches came out, which was scheduled for the following Monday, and Sam privately suspected that Hammond had done that on purpose, since the base was preparing for an invasion by a camera crew, complete with orders that told everyone to pretty much be on their best behavior. Better to keep Jack from that as long as possible – especially since he'd been feeling like shit and had been fairly grumpy with anyone but Sam and Jaffer.
"How are things?" Jack asked, moving slightly, and giving Sam a chance to sit on the couch with him. Actually, once she sat down, he settled his head in her lap, and closed his eyes once more, enjoying the fact that she was running her fingers through his hair. He loved being touched by her, and she knew it.
"Oh, just peachy." She smiled, and tapped his belly with something sharp.
Jack opened his eyes and looked down, and saw it was an envelope.
"What's that?"
"An envelope."
"Yeah?"
"Mmm-hmmm."
"What kind of envelope?"
"The kind that holds your very first letter home from Shawn..."
He reached out and took it from her – only just keeping himself from grabbing it out of her hand.
"Really?" He couldn't help but smile. A letter from Shawn! They'd left the young man at the Academy that night – once he'd opened his eyes and Jack had been assured by Doctor Fraiser and Captain Reed – who was also a Doctor – that the boy was going to be fine. It wouldn't have done to take him, no matter how much Jack had wanted to, and Shawn himself had called his mother and told her she was fine. Which was a good thing, since Dotty had just about convinced the Captain of the ocean liner she and James were on to turn around and head back to Miami so she could get home. How she'd known Shawn was in danger, she wouldn't tell Jack over the phone, but she'd promised to have a talk with him when she returned home. From a slightly more extended vacation.
"Open it," Sam told him, just as curious to hear how things were going.
Jack slid the envelope open and pulled out the letter. It was written in pretty much the sloppiest handwriting Sam had ever seen – except Jack's, which was even worse. Sam wondered how Jack could even read it, and decided that he could read it because he wrote like that.
Dear Jack and Sam...
So, I'm out of the infirmary. Doctor Reed didn't really want to let me out, but I kept telling her there was nothing wrong with me, and since the tests she took – and she took a ton of them – showed her that I was right, she really had no reason to keep me. So she let me go.
"Sounds like someone I know," Sam said, smiling.
Jack couldn't help but smile, too.
"No one likes hospitals."
"Uh huh. Keep reading."
River and Ian are still there, so right now I get the room to myself. Which is actually a little lonely, but don't tell them I said that. You wouldn't believe the rumors that are running around the school! Everyone is positive that Ian, River and I finally had it out and tried to kill each other, and the teachers who know the truth aren't telling them otherwise. Of course, once they come back to the room and we get along well, they'll probably have to come up with a different rumor, but I kind of like that one. After all, I'm the first one out of the infirmary, so if there was an epic fight, I must have won, right?
Sam laughed.
Anyways, Ian's pretty pleased with himself right now, and I suppose he has a right to be. He did good, and he won't let me forget that it was Jack who told him so. He's also impressed with the fact that he figured out you're my dad when no one's really supposed to know. He loves keeping secrets, and that one's definitely one I don't want bandied about. Like everyone needs to know my real dad's a Colonel? Then I'd really have to measure up around here, huh?
"I bet he's measuring up just fine..."
Jack nodded his agreement, but was already reading on.
Congratulations on the baby. Mom told me, so I hope it wasn't supposed to be a secret. River and Ian both know, and Captain Reed overheard me telling them, so if Doctor Fraiser doesn't know, she probably will.
Jack's free hand went sliding up Sam's leg and to her lower abdomen. There wasn't and swelling there, yet, to give away Sam's condition, and she hadn't had any morning sickness – or evening or afternoon or middle of the night sickness, for that matter, so no one suspected – except Janet, who'd given Sam a complete physical the moment she'd take a home pregnancy test and it had come back positive – only the day after the Ashrak battle. Sam herself had suspected she was pregnant before then, but she wanted to wait, since she hadn't felt sick, and hadn't wanted to get Jack's hopes up. To her relief, Janet's physical had proven the embryo had attached itself into a proper spot in Sam's uterus, and there'd be no repeat of the tubular pregnancy that might have killed her so many years before.
Sam put her hand over Jack's, smiling.
"Keep reading."
"It's almost done."
Don't forget, Jack, that I get to baby-sit her or him when the time comes.
It's almost lights out, so I'm going to have to cut this short, but I'll send you another one soon, and don't forget to write back. I'm not homesick but I do miss you guys – and Jaffer. River and Ian say hi, and say for you two not to worry about me. They're taking good care of me. (Yeah, right. River can't get out of bed without hitting his head on the bunk and knocking himself out – I think I'm going to trade beds with him – and Ian's tripped on his crutches three times already, and broke his right arm in one of the tumbles. Which is why he's still in the infirmary.
I love you! Give Sam a kiss for me, Jack, and tell Jaffer I'll see him soon.
Yours,
Shawn.
PS: I found a chest hair the other day! But River yanked it out and told me he was going to send it to my mom, so you don't get to see it. God only knows how long it's going to take me to grow another one.
Sam smiled, and took the letter from Jack when he handed it to her.
"We could put it on the Wall," she suggested.
"Nah. There's going to be quite a few of these – there'd better be, at least. We'd fill up the wall fairly quickly, and then there won't be any room for pictures. I'll go buy an album or two; we can keep them in that. Someday he might want to show them to his kids."
"Good idea."
"I'm full of good ideas."
"You're full of something..."
Jack smiled, and reached for her hand.
"Did you eat?"
"Nope."
"Hungry?"
"Starved."
"You relax and I'll make dinner."
Sam nodded, and slid out from under him. She would have turned and headed for the bedroom to change, but Jack caught her hand, holding her in place.
"So? Where does our kid go? Air Force Academy or Annapolis?"
"Not West Point?" Sam asked him, smiling.
"The Army? Are you kidding?"
She leaned over and kissed him softly.
"We'll worry about that when the times comes. First, we'll get him or her out of diapers, then we'll decide his future. Okay?"
"Whatever you say..."
Uh huh. Sam kissed him again, and then headed down the hall to change. She was looking forward to a quiet weekend, with nothing to do but sit with Jack and Jaffer and talk about nothing, and everything. Shawn was doing fine, and was adjusting well to his older classmates, and Jack was healing nicely. There was a baby on the way – no time soon, but she wasn't in any hurry to rush through her first pregnancy. Of course, first they had to get through this whole camera thing coming up, but it was just camera crews and a reporter whose name she couldn't remember off the top of her head. How bad could that be?
The End
Okay! The End! Another story developing, of course, since I wouldn't mention the camera stuff and not do a story about it, but it's another story and not this one. What did you all think of this one? Liked it? Hated it? Favorite line? Not enough action? I know it had a lot of swearing, but young men swear a great deal around each other and I wanted to be authentic. River and Ian are neither one perfect angels. (Shawn, of course, is, lol)