"So, how's the baby?" Shawn asked as they reached his room.

Sam smiled, her hand going automatically to her lower abdomen, protectively.

"He's fine."

"He?" Shawn asked, smiling. "You know what it is already?"

Sam shook her head.

"No, it's way too early to find out, but Jack and everyone else are so sure it's going to be a girl, and I'm thinking it's going to be a boy."

"He's already had a son..." Shawn said. It was a lot easier to bring up Charlie with Sam than it was with Jack. "What makes you so sure he's going to make another?"

"He's had two sons," Sam reminded Shawn with a smile as she closed the door behind them. "And I don't think it matters. I'll have to research that, I suppose... but I'm sure it's a boy."

"It doesn't matter, Sam," Shawn said, sitting down on River's bed. If Sam didn't think it was awkward discussing her pregnancy with him, then he figured he might as well let her know the facts. "I've been taking Genetics with the... um... with Thor, you know? We've already covered all that. That kid you're carrying has as good a chance of being a boy as it does of being a girl. But the odds say he's going to have Jack's hair and eyes."

"And his sunny personality?" She asked, taking everything he'd just told her at face value. She knew that if he was telling her this, then it was probably true, and she wouldn't go look it up to see if he was right; because she was sure he was.

Shawn shrugged.

"We haven't covered that, yet."

"So I have to go by what I've seen," Sam told him, a twinkle in her blue eyes as she hopped lightly up to sit on Ian's bed. "So... if it's a genetic thing, and the boy's going to have Jack's eyes and hair color, and you have Jack's eyes and hair color, then logically I can assume that he's going to be a lot like you, right?"

"I don't know..." Shawn admitted, rubbing Jaffer's ears when the black lab came over to join him on River's bed – Ian's was too high for him to jump to.

"Well, if he is, then I'm going to be the mother of a wonderful little kid," Sam said. "After all, I'm already the stepmother of a great young man."

Shawn blushed brilliantly, and Sam grinned. She rarely had a chance to embarrass him anymore.

"Thanks, Sam..."

"You're welcomed."

She looked around his room, more to give him a chance to get his heated cheeks cooled off a little, and smiled at the picture of her, Jack, Jaffer and Shawn that was sitting on the desk by the bed.

"What are you going to name him? Junior?"

She shook her head.

"Jack says we can't name him after him – if we have a boy."

"Well, you can't name it after Jack if it's a girl."

"He's already come up with a million names for little girls," she assured him. "He's had help, after all. The latest I've heard is Rebecca and Mallory."

"Rebecca is okay, I suppose. Mallory sounds like a duck."

"Both would be bad names for a little boy, though."

"Well, since Jack has help coming up with girl names, I'll help you come up with boy names, okay?"

"Like...?"

"Oh... Billy Bob... Joe Bob... Jim Bo-"

"He can't have the middle name 'Bob'," Sam said, laughing. "Nothing Bob O'Neill, okay?"

"I'll have River and Ian help me think of some, and we'll keep a list of all the good ones." Shawn promised. "What's the point of having roommates if they're not going to be good for something, right?"

"Just out of curiosity, why are you guys still three to a room?" She asked. "I thought that was just a temporary thing?" A punishment was what she'd heard, but she didn't mention that.

"It was but no one wants to be Ian's roommate, and we're used to him, so we asked to stay together and they let us."

"It's not too crowded?"

He smiled and shook his head.

"It's a lot better than I could have imagined. Those two crack me up."

"I'm sure you're learning lots of colorful phrases from them," Sam drawled, remembering that Ian Brooks had quite a mouth on him when he wasn't paying attention to what he was saying. She was sure River wasn't too much different.

Shawn gave her that same innocent look – and she couldn't help but wonder if her baby would be able to do that look as well.

"Not me, Sam... I'm sweet and innocent, remember?"

She laughed, and Shawn stood up and reached into his wardrobe for a fresh uniform to replace his grass-stained one.

"Uh huh..."

"No," Shawn told her half-seriously, "The last person I swore at was the crazy lady in my dream... other than that, I've been pretty good about keeping my mouth clean. I figure Ian and River get me into enough trouble; I don't need to make more for myself. Besides, I don't want to get into the habit of saying words I'd need to censor for any visit home."

"Very sensible," Sam told him, grinning. "Why are you cussing out crazy ladies in your dreams?"

Shawn shrugged, looking sheepish.

"I'm not sure, really. I can't even remember what the dream was about. Just some kooky woman, I guess..." He headed for the door, carrying his uniform. "I'll be right back, okay?"

Stepmother or not; friend or not; there was no way Shawn was going to change clothes in front of Sam.

"Okay."

She watched as he left, closing the door behind him, and then looked around the room from her perch high up on the top bunk. What she didn't notice, however, was the odd look in Jaffer's fathomless brown eyes as the black lab stared at the door the boy had just vanished through.