Jack's normally acerbic wit was turning acidic, and it didn't take Jacob a minute to note it. During the short walk from the gate room to the briefing room, Jack had already said three things he would have considered openly hostile from anyone else. One of the advantages of blending with Selmak, Jacob told himself, was that he now had the patience to let it pass.

"Sam!" Jacob kissed his daughter's cheek as he passed into the briefing room, and stood back to give her an appraising look. "What is different about you?"

"Can we save the family reunion for later, please?" Jack interrupted. Jack always suspected that Jacob could see right through him, but he knew for a fact that he could see right through his daughter. Now was not the time or place. Jacob grimaced but took his place at the table.

"I'll keep it short and sweet," Jacob began. "We've lost contact with one of our operatives in hostile territory. He may have valuable information about a new weapons technology the Goa'uld are developing. We'd like for you to stage a rescue operation."

"Why us?" Jack asked flatly.

"We've had no communication. As far as we know, his cover is still viable," Jacob explained. "If we go in and anything goes wrong, his cover is blown and he'll be killed before we can get the information. If you go in and something goes wrong, you can make it look like a kidnapping, an assassination attempt, whatever."

"I'll think it over," O'Neill snapped, and rose from his chair.

"General!" Carter said in surprise. He gave her a warning glance, but she persisted. "However strained relations may be, we are still allies with the Tok'ra, sir. And if there is a possibility of gaining intel on Goa'uld weaponry, it certainly serves our own interests as well."

"Fine, Colonel," he said coolly. "But I don't think this is the team to do it. SG-4 should take this one."

Daniel looked from Jack's face to Sam's in surprise. Sam was steaming. "Jack…" Daniel's chiding voice trailed off. He wanted to tell him he was being unfair, overprotective, but he knew better than to challenge Jack here, in front of Jacob. Not only would Jack not take kindly to it, but Daniel didn't know how much Jacob knew. He supposed Jacob knew nothing at all.

"Dismissed," Jack growled as he walked from the room, and Sam felt as though she had been.

He was expecting it, of course. The sharp rap on the door, the straight and angry posture, the look that demanded an explanation.

"Carter," Jack sighed, sinking into his chair, "it's not just about you. Okay, it is. But not in the way that you think."

Sam was somewhat disarmed by his tired and resigned tone. "Please, then. Explain," she said, more angrily than she wanted.

O'Neill rested his forehead on his palm and rubbed his temples. "I'm not good at this stuff, Carter." Sam waited for him to go on.

"Look," he said finally, catching her eye, "I'm the last person who should be talking about facing your problems, I know. I'm not very good at it. But have you thought about what you plan to do?"

"All due respect, Sir," Carter said tersely, "I don't see what that has to do with whether SG-1 takes this mission."

"It has everything to do with it. I can't send a team into a dangerous situation without being fully confident that their leader has a clear head."

Sam looked as though the General had slapped her. She stared staunchly ahead as she said, "It will be three more weeks before the chorionic villi sampling can be done to test paternity, then the DNA will take time to analyze. Until then, I really don't even know if it's human, Sir. What do you expect me to do?"

O'Neill's heart went out to her. He walked around his desk and leaned against the edge in front of her. "Carter," he continued, "don't you think I've noticed? You've been here around the clock. You haven't been home in days. You're running away."

Sam knew he was right. "This is not something I was prepared to handle, Sir. There is no training for this. I can't think my way or fight my way out of it. I'm just going to have to deal with it the best way I can."

They both sat quietly contemplating for a few moments, until Sam spoke rapidly. "Are you angry with me, Sir?"

"What?!?" Jack said, as though that was the most shockingly stupid question ever asked. "Carter, why would I be angry with you?"

"I don't know," she said, cocking her head and considering his expression. "The other day, when I told you about the first test results, I thought you were angry."

Jack knew they'd worked together entirely too long, entirely too closely. "Yes, I was angry," he said softly, "but not at you." He turned his stare to the wall, and half-whispered, "I could kill whoever did this to you."

"Thank you," she said with equal softness.

"Your team has the mission, Carter," he replied.

The man was baffling, Carter thought. "Are you sure, Sir?"

He turned to her and smiled, "You feel better after talking about it, don't you?"

She had to admit, she did.

For a time, Carter's life returned to normal. She made the decision not to tell Jacob about the pregnancy, at least until she knew more. SG-1 achieved the rescue of the Tok'ra operative by the skin of their teeth, and they all made it back without serious injury. The General kept SG-1 in the regular rotation for mission assignments with no argument.

Carter arrived at a plan that would allow her to have the DNA comparison done on the base while still preserving her privacy. She had the CVS done at an outside facility, but brought the sample to be evaluated at the SGC. She caught Tomlinson, one of the lab technicians, alone.

"Listen," Sam told Tomlinson confidentially, "there's a woman in town claiming that one of our men got her pregnant. She doesn't know his name, and her lawyer was demanding we do a line-up of all the officers matching the description she gave. To avoid the spectacle, we agreed to assist with a paternity test." The colonel leaned in closer to the young man. "If this goes through official channels, it's going to end up on some poor guy's record. I was hoping you'd do me a favor…" Carter smiled, and Tomlinson smiled back. She knew he would do the test.

She just wasn't sure she wanted the answer.

Sam didn't even notice when Daniel sat down across from her. He watched her silently for a minute, her untouched food on the commissary table. He could guess what was on her mind.

"You know," he said, suddenly snapping her out of her train of thought, "I do understand." Adding, "Sort of," with a crooked smile.

Carter didn't follow him, but she returned the smile. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"The child that Sha're had. Regardless of anything else, it was half hers."

Sam knew it gave him fresh pain to talk about Sha're, but Daniel would do anything for the sake of compassion. "It's hard, Daniel," she admitted. "I don't want to get attached to it, but how can I not? It's not as though I don't want children. Just not…" Sam couldn't finish the thought.

"Just not this way," Daniel concluded for her. "Sometimes, though, the right things happen for the wrong reasons."

Sam laughed. "I guess that's true," she said quietly.

Sam was not in her office. Jack thought he would wait a few minutes for her to return. He puttered around, picking up objects and putting them down. As he was about to leave, the door opened, but it wasn't Sam. Tomlinson arrived, carrying a manila folder.

"Sorry, Sir," Tomlinson stuttered, "I was looking for Colonel Carter."

Eyeing the folder, O'Neill asked, "Are those the test results she was waiting for?"

"Umm, no. Yes. Yes," Tomlinson said, as though just deciding.

"Well, leave them here," Jack instructed. "She'll be back any minute." Tomlinson didn't move. He just stared like a deer in headlights. "Tomlinson," O'Neill snapped.

"I…I think I ought to give them directly to Colonel Carter, Sir," Tomlinson managed to say with effort.

The General walked over and removed the folder from Tomlinson's hand, setting it down on Carter's workbench. "I will see that she gets it," he said with irritation. Tomlinson remained anchored where he stood. "Dismissed!" the General snarled.

As Tomlinson retreated, Jack picked up the folder. One look told him why the technician was hesitant to leave the file. "Get back here, Tomlinson!" O'Neill yelled. Tomlinson returned to the doorway, and not a step further.

"This is impossible. Re-run it," Jack said, extending the file towards him.

"I already did, Sir." Tomlinson said shakily. "Twice."