Sam was taking her time deciding what he was going to do to make up for missing their anniversary, and he was getting nervous.
He'd fought countless Goa'ulds, and presided over peace treaties with aliens, and had never broken a sweat.
He saved Earth and many other planets from enslavement and destruction almost on a daily basis; not once had he lost his grace under pressure.
But now, facing his irritable and emotional wife, he was running scared with no idea what to do.
It had been two days since their anniversary and Sam was acting as if nothing was wrong, as if he hadn't just missed their first anniversary. She was acting like she wasn't even upset anymore.
She was up to something.
It was one thing he was sure of. It was something big; something deviously clever. She just wanted to see him sweat first.
And sweat he did.
For the past two days he had done everything he could think of to make things up to her.
He'd cleaned the house, fixed the bedside table that had been wobbling for the past two months, made Sam's favorite dinner (ok, so he hadn't actually made it, but he had ordered it) done the laundry, and even detailed her car.
Currently Sam and Jack were at the mall, his oh so favorite place in the world, shopping for baby supplies. They had been shopping for two hours and thirty-five minutes. Jack checked his watch, thirty-six minutes.
This was so not where he wanted to be on his first day off in months.
Jack sent a silent plea to Thor for help. What he wouldn't give to be whisked away by the Asgard right now.
"What do you think of this Jack?" Sam asked, pulling him away from his thoughts. She was holding a dark green baby blanket in her hands and looking expectantly at him.
"I think it's great. We should definitely get that one." Jack looked closely at the blanket and noticed that it was exactly like the previous three they had just looked at.
Sam smiled, pretending to consider the blanket for a minute.
Jack had been especially attentive for the past two days, doing everything for her, and Sam was enjoying every minute of it.
She shook her head slowly, placing the baby blanket back on the shelf. "I think I liked the first one we looked at better."
"Oh, for cryin out loud," Jack muttered, rolling his eyes.
"What?" Sam asked sweetly.
"I said I'll go get it for you."
"Thank you honey," She called as he turned to go get the blanket. She continued browsing in the baby department, her hand resting on her stomach as she looked at the baby cribs.
Sometimes it was still hard for her to believe that she was going to be a mother. She had pulled the world back from the brink of destruction on many occasions, fought many battles on many worlds; she held her own in any situation that was thrown at her. And yet now, faced with the tiny life growing inside her, she was scared senseless.
Jack had been great at reassuring her. "You'll be terrific Carter," He'd said, his voice taking the official Colonel tone he used whenever he gave her a pep talk. "You went to hell and survived, being a mother couldn't be that much different," He told her teasingly. "Seriously Sam," he said taking a softer tone, "no child could ask for a better mother."
Jack came back several minutes later, a grim look on his face, the blanket he'd gone to get nowhere in sight.
"I just got off the phone with the SGC," Jack informed her, his cell phone still clutched in his hand.
"What happened Jack? What's wrong?" Sam questioned, noting the concerned look on her husbands face.
"Daniels missing."