Chapter 25 – Baby Steps and Bathtime

Jack had not had such a pleasant afternoon in a long time; well, aside from his shopping trip with Carter and JJ before everything hit the fan. He was currently with the little boy, lying on the floor of the VIP suite and building a tower with the ABC blocks one of the SF's had brought back on their first trip out for baby necessities. JJ gurgled with delight as Jack built the tower almost as tall as the little boy. JJ then proceeded to knock it down and chortle at the look of astonishment on his daddy's face. Yes, life didn't get much better than it was right now, Jack thought to himself.

JJ crawled over to Jack once the tower had been knocked down for the fourth time and proceeded to pull himself to a standing position using Jack as leverage. He then walked sideways, one hand holding onto Jack for stability while the other was held straight to his side for balance. Once he reached Jack's chest, Jack flopped onto his back, pulling JJ on top of him. JJ thought this was great fun and laughed his deep belly laugh that got Jack going just as strongly.

It was into this scene that Sam walked. After spending the last four hours in her lab, she was more than ready to come back and see her boys. She held the door open as Daniel followed her into the room. They had met up as she was getting ready to leave and, on the pretense of seeing Jack, he had offered to walk back with her.

"Well Jack, looks like you finally met your match. Did you at least give JJ a bit of a struggle before he pinned you to the floor?" Daniel asked with quiet humor at the scene before him.

Jack craned his head back to see Sam and Daniel entering the living room. "Cute, Space Monkey. Really cute." He then looked at Sam and shot her a grin. Turning back to JJ, he said, "Look who's here, little man!"

JJ began to bounce up and down on Jack's chest in excitement as he called out, "Mama!" The little boy continued to bounce and babble at the same time, obviously telling Sam about the afternoon he had spent with his daddy.

Sam came forward, laughing at the baby's antics. She turned to Daniel and handed him the Digital camera she had brought with her before she reached out for JJ as he held his little arms up to her. "Have you been having fun with Daddy, sweetheart?" she asked as she nuzzled his soft baby cheek against her own.

Daniel smiled at the picture they made as he made his way over to Jack and helped him off the floor. He then turned and snapped a picture of Sam with JJ. "Have fun this afternoon, Jack?" he asked once the photo had been taken.

Jack groaned as he stretched out his back. "Aside from the aching muscles from being on the floor too long, yes Daniel, I had a remarkably good afternoon. And you?"

Daniel shrugged his shoulders. "I got a lot of artifacts catalogued. I don't know if I'd call it fun, but at least now I can start examining the backlog of items other teams have brought back from their missions."

"That's the fun part, right?" Jack asked sarcastically. Before Daniel could respond, he turned to Sam. "How about you Sam? Get much done?"

"Actually I did. I was studying the EM pulses generated by…"

"Ach!" Jack held up a hand. "That was a rhetorical question. I don't need details." He turned back to Daniel. "So, where's T at?"

"EEE!" shouted JJ. They all turned to smile at the boy, not noticing that the person they had been talking about had just entered the living room.

"Greeting, Jonathon Jacob. I see you are well," Teal'c addressed the little boy with a slight bow.

"Teal'c, I really don't think he can understand you that well. Nor can he answer you," Jack stated with humor.

"It is still polite to acknowledge a greeting once you enter a room O'Neill," Teal'c admonished him.

Jack shrugged his shoulders and indicated that they should all sit down. Jack and Sam took the sofa, Daniel and Teal'c the two easy chairs. Daniel took a few more pictures of the three of them before Sam set JJ on the floor between her legs, where he stood holding to the side of the couch and looking around at the adults in the room. He looked adorable wearing his teeny little jeans and the Colorado Avalanche Hockey jersey that Jack had put on him after his nap.

"Cute outfit you picked for him, Sir," Sam stated with a smile. "Did you watch a game together this afternoon?"

"As a matter of fact, no, we did not. They don't play until tonight, which is just as well because I knew you wouldn't want to miss the game," he stated with certainty.

Sam just rolled her eyes at him and focused her attention back on JJ.

Jack grinned at her before he changed the subject. "Hammond called down a while ago. He wanted to let me know that the plane arrived in DC without incident and the prisoners have been safely transferred to NID headquarters."

"That is good news, O'Neill. I have also been informed that the polygraph tests General Hammond ordered throughout the base have been completed. There appear to be no more informants within the complex," Teal'c stated with finality.

"Thank God," Sam sighed with relief. She was hoping this meant she wouldn't need to be escorted everywhere.

As if reading her mind, Jack said, "We still need to be careful, Major. Those tests are not infallible, as you well know."

"Yes sir," Sam sighed again. She looked down at the little boy standing between her legs and smiled. He had copied her and echoed a sigh of his own, then grinned up at her when he caught sight of her smile. Sam took the teddy bear that sat between her and Jack and tickled JJ's face with it, which caused more laughter to emanate from the little boy. "You sure are a character, little guy," she said, her eyes alight with amusement.

"I keep telling you, he takes after his daddy," Daniel quipped.

Jack tossed a pillow at him, causing Daniel to duck down. JJ then copied Jack's actions and threw his teddy bear Daniel's way. Of course, his throw wasn't very strong and the bear landed less than a foot in front of him. JJ plopped onto the floor and crawled after the bear, picked it up and proceeded to crawl all the way over to Daniel. JJ then pulled himself up on Daniel's legs and threw the bear in his lap, offering a squeal of "Da-ee!" in the process.

"Ah, a chip off the old block," Jack said as he laughed at the expression on Daniel's face.

"I think we should all head down for some dinner, before the rest of the toys start flying around the room," Sam said with a grin. "Come here JJ, let's go get some dinner."

She held her arms out, expecting JJ to plop to the floor once again and crawl back over to her.

To their utter and complete surprise, JJ turned his body around, still holding to Daniel's leg. Instead of getting on hands and knees, he looked at Sam with determination in his eyes, let go of Daniel's leg, and took two hesitant steps across the floor before falling unceremoniously to his well-padded bottom. There was surprised silence all around for a few seconds before Sam said, "Did you see that? He walked!"

"Way to go Little Man!"

"It was indeed an impressive feat for one so small."

JJ looked around in surprise at the adults cheering him on. He wasn't quite sure what he had done but was certainly pleased with the results and more than willing to give it another try.

"Help him up, Daniel," Sam instructed as she got to her knees in front of the couch. When JJ was being held upright once more, she held out her arms and talked encouragingly to him. "Come on, little man, you can do it. Come over to Mama." Though usually Sam was uncomfortable referring to herself as his mother, she was so caught up in the excitement of JJ's first steps that it just slipped out.

Daniel tossed the camera to Jack before he let go of the little boy. Jack snapped a few pictures as JJ began to walk forward once again. This time, he took four steps across the floor before losing his balance. Sam was there to catch him before he landed on the floor; her eyes alight with almost as much excitement at the accomplishment as JJ's. She stood up and swung him around in her arms saying, "What a smart boy you are! Not even a year old and you're walking! That's my big boy!"

The three men exchanged smiles of their own; more for the excitement that Sam was showing than by the first steps of the baby. They so very rarely saw this side of her that it was an extremely pleasant surprise for all of them.

Jack stood up and came over to her. "Ok, Mom, that's enough swinging the little guy around. You don't want him sick before he even eats his dinner, do you?"

Sam turned to him, her eyes still glowing. "Did you see that Jack? He took his first steps!"

"Yeah Carter, we were all here, remember?" he teased her.

Sam flushed a bit in embarrassment at how she was carrying on, but she brushed it aside. She was very proud of the little boy and more than a little pleased that, even though she would not have JJ with her for much longer, she would always have the memory of his first steps to warm her heart.

-

After a relaxing dinner, where they celebrated JJ's accomplishment with chocolate cake and ice cream, Sam and Jack found themselves once again alone in the suite with JJ. The oversized bib had done little to prevent JJ from getting peas, mashed potatoes, cake and ice cream on his clothes and in his hair. Sam held the messy boy out to Jack. "I think it's your turn to give him a bath, Jack."

"My turn? Carter, did I not spend the entire afternoon watching him? I even changed his diapers not once, but twice! While you played in your lab all afternoon, I might add. I definitely think it's your turn to give him a bath and get him all cleaned up. I have to get us ready to watch a hockey game, remember?" he asked with all the innocence he could muster.

"Fine, fine. You get all comfortable while I get all wet trying to hold a squirming baby in the bathtub," Sam answered. She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Maybe I'll just join him in the bathtub; that might be easier," she said, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Jack's eyes widened at the thought of Sam taking a bath in the room right next to him. Like he'd be able to concentrate on the pre-game show if she did that! On the other hand… "Maybe I should come in and help after all. I could wash his back while you hold him perhaps?" he asked, wagging his eyebrows at her.

"Yeah, right! Nice try, but I don't think so. But you could grab his sleeper and a fresh diaper while I run the bath water."

"I never get to do the fun stuff," he grumbled good-naturedly as he walked to Sam's room to retrieve JJ's things.

Sam had the tub full and JJ down to his diaper when she handed him off to Jack for a moment. "Can you hold him for a second? I have to get my things as well. Don't want to come out wearing only a towel, you know."

"Hey, I wouldn't mind," Jack answered sincerely.

"But I think General Hammond would," she indicated the camera.

"Oh yeah. Forgot about that," he said with mock disappointment.

Sam just smiled as she went to retrieve the clothing she wore last night. She enjoyed their bantering and, she had to admit, the flirting that was going on. It had been a long time since they had engaged in anything of that sort.

Jack was right; he couldn't concentrate on the pre-game show at all. He heard JJ and Sam clearly thought the walls. Sam was constantly talking to him and singing to him and JJ responded with happy babbling and squeals of delight. It was heart warming to hear her with the baby; even when she was with Cassie, Sam held herself in check just a bit. But not with JJ.

Not only that, but hearing the splashes and movement in the tub was doing wonders for his imagination at the moment. He knew he wasn't paying attention to the television when he misheard the announcer. Something about getting annihilated turned into getting naked.

To clear his head, Jack got up off the couch and went into his own room to change into more comfortable clothing. It didn't help much, as he could hear them just as well from his bedroom as from the living room. He stopped outside the bathroom door and said, a little more gruffly than he intended, "You almost done in there? I don't want him turning into a prune, you know!"

He heard her giggle before she called back, "We're almost done. I may need your help in a second, though."

Jack's ears perked up at that and a smile returned to his face. He heard more splashing as Sam obviously got out of the bathtub. She wrapped a big, fluffy towel around herself then reached down and plucked JJ out of the water. She wrapped him in a towel as well and opened the door but didn't step out of the bathroom. Hiding her smile at the expression on his face, Sam handed Jack the baby. "Can you dry him off and get him into his pajamas? There's not enough room in here for me to do it."

Finding his voice, Jack stammered, "Uh, sure. I can do that." He really hadn't expected her to open the door wearing nothing but a towel, for crying out loud! He had hoped, maybe, but not expected it and he had found himself a bit tongue tied. Granted, the towel was large and didn't show anything, but still!

Sam couldn't hold back her grin any more as she turned back to get JJ's things, then hand them to Jack. It took him a moment to accept them from her as he was still a bit discombobulated. "Uh, Jack?" she asked as he stood there staring at her. "The baby's getting a bit cold."

"Huh? Oh, right," Jack answered as he returned to his senses. He recalled a similar feeling when he had found Sam on Hathor's ship that one time and all she had been wrapped up in was a blanket. Jack grinned sheepishly at her before turning away and taking JJ into the living room to get him dressed.

Sam grin was full blown as she closed the bathroom door to get dressed herself.

-

The evening passed quietly after that. JJ played contentedly on the floor while Jack watched the hockey game and kept up a running commentary for both Sam and JJ. Sam sat cross-legged on the couch, her laptop resting on her legs while she tried to get some work done. She kept one eye on the computer and the other on JJ, barely listening to Jack as he detailed the movements of the players up and down the ice.

JJ crawled over to Sam and pulled himself up, reaching out his hand and calling "BA!" Sam smiled at him and handed him his Bart doll. JJ then turned and eyed Jack on the chair a few steps away. His face serious, he let go of Sam's leg and began to take tentative steps over to Jack.

"Jack, look at JJ," Sam whispered, not wanting to startle the little boy.

Jack looked over and smiled as he saw JJ tottering towards him. He leaned forward in his chair and said quietly, "That's it little man. You can make it." When JJ was within two steps, he began to wobble so Jack reached out and scooped him up, setting him on his lap. "That's my boy! You made it all the way over here on your own."

JJ smiled up at Jack, then patted him in the chest. With all the seriousness of a one year old, he stated, "BA!" as he once again patted Jack's chest. Jack frowned. Why was JJ calling him Bart? Jack's frown deepened when he looked over at Sam and heard her snort with laughter. "Just what is so funny, Carter?"

Trying to control her laughter, Sam pointed at his shirt and said, "Look what you're wearing! A T-shirt with a huge picture of Bart Simpson! JJ must know that you love old Bart just as much as he does."

As if he understood, JJ patted Jack's shirt once more, placed his Bart doll in his daddy's lap, and said, "Dada. BA!"

Sam fell over sideways on the couch, holding her sides as she laughed. When a pillow came flying through the air and hit her on the head, she just laughed all the louder.

-

A/N: Thanks again for all of your wonderful reviews so far!Seems like a lot of you enjoy these light-hearted chapters...I sure enjoy writing them!Things wll get a bit more serious soon!