A/N: This is by far the shortest chapter so far, but it in sort of the tail end of the last chapter. Hopefully I'll have another chapter up before the end of the night. And I promise that one will have some j/s in it!
Neither could help but laugh when they entered. The Colonel was sitting on the floor near the end of Paige's bed holding a scantily clad Barbie doll and wearing a golden princess crown that looked too small for his head. Paige was dressed as a ballerina (as best she could be with the sling) and surrounded by odds and ends from her costume trunk. She appeared to be instructing Jack in what the doll was supposed to wear to the ball. He looked up innocently, if warily, at their entrance.
"Paige?" Sam said, and the little girl came running over and took her mother's hand. "I want you to meet someone." She turned to her father, who had made his way into the room behind her. "This is your grandfather, Jacob." Paige just stared up at him somewhat suspiciously.
"Hello Paige," Jacob said, crouching down. "I'm sorry if I scared you earlier."
"Grandpa Jacob? In the book?" she asked, but addressed the question to her mother.
"Yes," she answered, stooping down as well. "Like in your picture book." At her father's confused look she explained. "She made a picture book earlier this year of her family in pre-school. As her immediate family is a short list, we included photos of you and Mom, and Mark and his family." She turned to Paige, who was now regarding her grandfather much more warmly. "Why don't you show it to him?" Paige paused only momentarily, then took her grandfather's hand and led him down the hall. Sam leaned against the door frame and watched them go, relieved that Paige had taken to him so quickly. She could already hear Paige explaining the book—in great detail.
Meanwhile, the Colonel had divested himself of the doll, and was trying to figure out how to alert her to his presence. He had considered sneaking out while Paige and Jacob were meeting, but the Carters had been thoroughly blocking the doorway. He had briefly considered using the window, but had decided there was no way to do it surreptitiously.
"Carter?" She jumped at the sound of her name, and spun.
"Sir!" She flushed guiltily at having forgotten he was there, then smiled. "I like the tiara sir."
He froze. He'd forgotten about that. Crossing his arms over his chest he feigned self-assuredness. "Didn't you know I'm royalty?"
Sam couldn't help but laugh as she reached up and removed the crown, then fiddled with it. "Thank you for occupying her. That was a conversation she didn't need to be present for."
"Not a problem. She's a good kid." They walked down the hall towards the door, and he grabbed his coat. "I'm sure you have a lot of catching up to do, so I'll see you later." He paused at the door and called goodbye to Paige, who came running for the requisite hug, and then left.
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Jacob spent the day getting to know his granddaughter and catching up with Sam. She noticed him drifting occasionally, and called him on it after they had put Paige to bed. "What have you been thinking about?"
He took a place at the kitchen table while she put on some coffee, and took his time before answering. "You and Paige, mostly. Your brother and his family too. I've missed a lot these past few years."
She joined him and took one of his hands in hers. "Maybe. But you're here now."
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Jacob rose from his bed in the guest room and made his way into the hall without turning the lights on. He quietly got himself a glass of water in the kitchen, and then sat down on the couch in the living room.
'You are questioning the wisdom of this next mission, Jacob?' Selmak had kept her thoughts to herself for long enough, and wanted him to discuss this.
'No.' He sighed out loud, and looked out the front window at the night stars. 'I know we need to go. I just worry about whether we will return from this one, and how much I would miss on Earth if things go badly.'
'You have spent your entire life risking yourself for the sake of others. How is this different?'
'Hindsight is making me feel my mortality.' Jacob couldn't help a smile at that. With Selmak's help, he could outlive everyone currently alive on that planet. Including his newest grandchild.
'Would you rather send someone else? Could you?' Selmak knew the answer to this, but wanted to make sure he knew it too.
'No.' He might want to send someone else, but he wouldn't. In this case he couldn't. 'You are the only remaining Tok'ra with any experience fighting Olokun. And I've lived my life. This is borrowed time, which I am going to put to use as best I can. Sometimes though, I wish I had done things differently.'
'Differently? You would not have joined the Tok'ra?'
'No. I would probably still have joined the Tok'ra. I wish I had done things differently, better, with Sam and Mark.'
'I believe there is a human saying you introduced me to, involving wishes and horses—'
'True. But while you have memories of many children and many lives from your previous hosts, I only get to do this once.'
'Then we will have to make sure you have no more regrets.'
Jacob rose and deposited his glass in the kitchen, and then made his way quietly down the hall to his daughter's room. Paige had left the door open after waking with a nightmare and going to her mother. In the dim light of the crescent moon coming through her open curtains he could see Sam and Paige curled up together in slumber. Watching them sleep in peace, he felt the weight of his regrets lighten. As a father, he had been far from perfect. But in the end, he couldn't have loved his family more.