A/N : I wanted to thank one of my attentive reviewers for pointing out a bit of creative license I took in a previous chapter. I laughed when I read the review, because, as I was writing the section in question, I had a twinge of guilt for not staying true to science. But, then I figured, who would notice? Shame on me for underestimating my readers! LOL!

It is true that the levels of pregnancy hormone, hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin), vary significantly from woman to woman in early pregnancy – especially with twins – so Doctor Brightman's estimate of Sam's conception date would have been pretty much a guess. (The levels for a woman who is 6 weeks pregnant could be anywhere from 1,080 - 56,500 mIU/ml. Obviously quite a spread.) The "beta hCG" test (which quantifies the levels of hCG) is usually taken three times, each spaced several days apart, to ensure the numbers double, because this is a sign of a healthy pregnancy. However, I figured you would forgive me this small liberty. The ultrasound would have confirmed the conception date, anyway.

I hope it hasn't detracted from the believability of the story too much. As someone who has had WAAAAAAY too much firsthand experience with the particulars of human fertility, early pregnancy, and the distinct joy of carrying twins, I didn't want to bore you with the details. But thanks, Kris, for reading closely enough to notice! If the rest of the story is believable enough that the small details stick out, then I guess I'm not doing half-bad!

And now, back to the show….

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Chapter 8

Sam wasn't the type to take solace in a bottle. And, given her present condition, she wasn't about to start tonight. However, had she not been pregnant, Sam was pretty sure she'd be drunk.

Settling instead for a cup of herbal tea, Sam sank onto her sofa, clicking on the television. A hot bath would have been nice, but the doctor had recommended avoiding anything that could raise her body temperature during the first trimester.

No baths, no alcohol and now, no work either. This pregnancy had effectively taken all her stress relief outlets and chucked them out the window. Depending on how long it took the military to decide her fate, she just might take Teal'c up on his offer to teach her deep breathing exercises.

She was flipping through the channels, disgusted with the total absence of quality programs, when a knock sounded at her door. Sam couldn't imagine who would be showing up at her door unannounced this late in the day. Unless… No, they wouldn't… Not after everything that had happened today.

She peeked through the front door window.

It appeared she was wrong. They most definitely would.

Smiling in spite of herself, Sam opened the door. There, on the front steps stood Daniel, Teal'c and Jack. The three were dressed casually, and had clearly been drinking. Well, Daniel and Jack had clearly been drinking. Teal'c, as usual, looked sober.

"Hi Sam!" Daniel waved. "We were out, just trying to relax, when we realized we were missing someone." He swayed slightly as he talked, though his speech was still remarkably crisp. "I mean, how often is it that we all have a night off together?" Daniel paused and rubbed his forehead. Turning to Jack, he muttered, "Probably shouldn't mention that whole 'night off' thing, huh?"

Teal'c subtly rolled his eyes. "Samantha, we did not wish to exclude you. However, your business appeared to take longer than our own, so we decided to wait until you were finished. It was O'Neill's decision to wait at a bar." Teal'c sighed. "I opted to drink only non-alcoholic beverages, as someone had to drive the car."

Sam's eyes bulged. "You drove? Teal'c, do you even have a driver's license?"

He looked at Sam without blinking. "I have flown shuttlecraft across skies filled with enemy weapons' fire. I am capable of driving a car." Looking at the two unsteady men standing beside him on the porch, he continued. "I am certainly more capable than either of them right now."

Sam couldn't argue. Seeing that either Daniel, or Jack – or both – were about to fall over, she quickly opened the door and gestured for them to come inside. Daniel nearly tripped as he entered, and Sam quickly grabbed him by the arm. Glancing at Teal'c, she noticed he was performing a similar routine with Jack. "He's awfully quiet," she noted, nodding her head at Teal'c's unsteady partner. "Is he upset, or just too drunk to talk?"

Teal'c opened his mouth to reply, but O'Neill interrupted. "Yes," he said forcefully.

Sam bit her lip to keep from laughing. She allowed Daniel to collapse on the sofa before turning to help Teal'c maneuver Jack to the love seat. Shaking her head, she looked at the large Jaffa with amusement. "You probably should have stopped them after the first five or six drinks. They're going to be hurting tomorrow."

Teal'c regarded her with a serious expression. "I have learned two valuable lessons since coming to your world, Colonel Carter. The first is, never underestimate the Tauri. The second is, never come between O'Neill and an alcoholic beverage. The results of ignoring either lesson are not pretty."

Carter laughed. "Fair enough," she replied. Then, looking at Jack to gauge his reaction, she grew alarmed at the pasty cast to his features. "Ah, Teal'c, I think maybe you'd better get him to the bathroom." Sam had thus far been successful in making it to the toilet with every bout of her morning sickness. She'd be damned if, after all that effort, she was going to end up cleaning Jack's mess.

Immediately understanding Sam's concern, Teal'c practically picked Jack up and propelled him toward the restroom. Moments after hearing the bathroom door open, Sam heard retching coming from that direction. Turning her attention to Daniel, she was relieved to see him lying on the couch, snoring softly.

Sighing, Sam shook her head. So much for a quiet evening at home. Truthfully, however, she wasn't all that annoyed. Mostly, she was just glad to have some company on this grim, uncertain evening.

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Morning light filtered through the mini-blinds on Sam's bedroom windows. She tried moving silently as she grabbed her deodorant and jewelry from the dressing table, but she evidently wasn't successful. A sharp intake of breath alerted her that the "patient" in her bed had finally woken up.

A low groan confirmed her predictions of a major hangover. "Somebody shoot me." Jack's voice was muffled, as he pulled a pillow over his head.

Sam smiled. "Sorry for waking you sir," she said softly. "Just needed a few things. I'll be out of your way in a second."

"Carter," he said, gingerly lifting the pillow and blinking the haze from his vision. "This is the second time I've woken up naked in your bed with no recollection of how I got there." He reached up and gently rubbed one of his temples. "I've gotta stop doing that."

Despite her desire to stay quiet, Sam couldn't suppress a giggle. "Well, sir, look on the bright side. You're not completely naked. We just had to take off your shirt because you threw up on it." She grinned. "And at least this time, you don't have company in there with you."

Jack examined her blearily. "That's the bright side? The fact that I threw up on myself and I'm not naked in bed with a beautiful woman?" He raised an eyebrow. "Carter, you've really got a funny way of looking at things."

Sam felt herself begin to blush. Holding up her hands, she started backing out of the room. "I think I'll just go downstairs now." She was glad to see that Jack hadn't lost his sense of humor. "The shower up here is free. Teal'c and I have both used it, but if you hurry, you can get in there before Daniel. I'm guessing that whoever gets the last shower is going to run out of hot water halfway through." That seemed to be motivation enough, because as she left, closing the door behind her, she saw Jack starting to sit up.

Walking slowly down the hallway, Sam shook her head. Jack O'Neill professed himself to be a simple guy. Any casual observer would have agreed wholeheartedly. And, she supposed, in many ways they would be right. But, for some reason, she could not get a handle on certain aspects of his personality – specifically, his feelings for her. It was obvious he cared strongly about her. It was also obvious that he was going to avoid acting on those feelings if at all humanly possible. However, what was not obvious was why. Was it his career? Was it fear of destroying their perfect friendship? Or was it just a lack of desire for anything more than what they already had together? Sam had no idea. And, until she got more insight, she was reluctant to push the issue.

Heading downstairs, she smiled as she heard Teal'c trying to rouse Daniel from the sofa. Once again, she was profoundly glad to have such amazing friends. She had not wanted to face this first morning of her disciplinary leave alone. Hearing Daniel's muffled groan of pain, she hurried into the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. In a few hours, with a few aspirin, her adopted family would be right as rain. Sam just hoped that after the hangovers wore off, there would be time to bond with each other again. Things had not been right since the trip to P6Y-441. She missed the easy, carefree camaraderie between them. Perhaps now that everything was out in the open, some of the awkwardness would recede.

As she finished preparing the coffee, Sam began humming a happy tune under her breath. She may be facing a tough road, but she was surrounded by people who cared about her. All in all, she felt like she was finally starting to get ahead in the game.

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Jack stood beneath the pounding water, feeling like… well… like he'd had way too much to drink the night before. Go figure.

He was mostly mortified for behaving so poorly. His memories were very sketchy, but he had no trouble believing Sam's report of him throwing up. It had been a long time since he'd gotten that drunk. He supposed, considering all that had been brewing over the last few months, he was about due for it. He just wished he hadn't ended up on Carter's doorstep at the conclusion of his binge.

Jack was pretty sure it had been Daniel's idea to visit Sam. He was also pretty sure he hadn't argued against the idea. She was becoming his favorite controlled substance these days. He knew he should be avoiding any personal contact with her that didn't concern the pregnancy. But knowing that and actually doing that were two very different things. And he was apparently not very good at taking his own advice.

For a brief moment this morning, after he'd woken up surrounded by the light, breezy scent of her, Jack had imagined he'd find her in bed beside him. And, instead of the surprise and dread that he'd expected, all he'd felt was a warm, happy satisfaction. His subconscious mind hadn't even blinked at the thought. Once the moment passed, and he realized Sam had not spent the night with him, disappointment had sliced through him like a knife.

Those brief flashes of emotion had really knocked him for a loop. Evidently, somewhere deep inside himself, something had woken up and was not going to go away. It was as if the years of suppressed feelings had suddenly taken on a life of their own. They sensed the barriers being lifted, and they were clawing to get out.

Jack clenched his jaw. He had to get a grip on things. This was absolutely not the time to start acting on those feelings. First of all, he felt a mountain of guilt for what was inevitably going to happen to Sam's career. He had no doubt that the Air Force would require either a resignation or a reassignment for at least one of them. He knew Sam well enough to realize she'd resign her commission before leaving the SGC, and she'd do both before she'd let his career fail. As Hammond had pointed out, disaster would likely befall the SGC if Jack resigned. And so, much as it killed him to think of the sacrifices Sam would have to make, he knew it was all but decided. There was just no other way out.

Jack also knew he could easily use the situation to push himself closer to Sam. On the surface, it looked so simple. Two people who cared about each other were having twin babies. What could be more straightforward than that? Unfortunately, Jack knew otherwise. The night of passion that had conceived their babies was nothing less than a mistake. Neither he nor Sam would have ever acted so rashly in a clear-headed state. Unfortunately, that fact didn't change the consequences of their actions. Though they hadn't spoken of it, he knew Sam had lost a deeply important relationship with Pete as a result of their night together. And she was also facing the ruin of her career. All this, plus the shock of having two children suddenly thrust upon her, made Sam's current position in life rather hellish. Jack knew he could ride in and sweep her off her feet, because she'd be more than happy for any bright spot. But how long would the happiness last before she began feeling resentment toward the man who had gotten her into the whole mess? Jack knew he'd rather keep her at arm's length, no matter how painful it might be, rather than have her for a brief moment and lose her.

He wasn't very good at losing things that he loved.

Pushing that thought from his mind, O'Neill shut off the shower and toweled himself dry. He dressed himself in the jeans he'd been wearing the night before. They weren't exactly clean, but they beat walking around in a towel.

Jack left the bathroom and headed down the steps. "Hey, Daniel," he called out, "the shower's all yours."

"Thanks Jack." Daniel called back from the kitchen. "I'm just going to finish my coffee."

Coffee. Jack smelled the pleasing aroma drifting into the living room. He was just about to follow his nose into the kitchen when the doorbell rang. He heard Sam curse softly through the doorway.

"Jack, could you get that? I'm in the middle of making omelets. If I leave them now, they'll burn." She paused, and Jack heard the scrape of a spatula on a frying pan. "Just tell whoever it is I'll be right there."

Shrugging, O'Neill walked over to the front door and opened it.

Jacob Carter, retired two-star general of the United States Air Force, and host to the Tok'ra symbiote, Selmak, stood on Sam's front porch. He looked at Jack, taking in the damp, fresh-from-the-shower hair, bare chest, and rumpled jeans, and proceeded to do what any father might do in the same situation.

Jack never saw the punch. He had a vague impression of the ground rushing up to meet him, as the rest of the world faded into blackness.