John Doe

Chapter Forty One


Authors Note: In my last chapter, where I used ergo, I wasn't talking about the alien Urgo. "Ergo" (pronounced like 'air-go') is just another way of saying something like therefore, so the context in which I used it was correct.

XXXX

Sam wove through the hallways of the SGC sleepily, headed for her fiancé's office in order to force him to head home. It was odd, really-- it was normally Jack who had to tell her it was time to go home 'Get a life' as he had lovingly put it previously. Now that she had one, it was he whom liked to stay well after hours, and she had begun to figure out why he had always been so frustrated with her before. It wasn't fun staying so late when you didn't have to.

After knocking lightly on his door she paused for a brief moment, then entered without waiting for his reply. He almost got up to argue with whoever was coming in without approval, but then saw that it was her and sat back down in his chair, "What can I do for you, Carter?"

She sat down in one of the chairs in front of his desk, "For starters... you can take me home." His eyebrow raised in a Teal'c-like fashion and she grinned broadly, "The rest is up to you..." she continued, the grin turning suggesting. "You're the General, anyway."

Jack grinned at the nick-name she had recently picked-up, "You tired?"

This time it was her eyebrow that crooked, and she shook her head, smiling deviously, "Not in the slightest."

With a sigh he looked down at the paperwork that cluttered his desk, "I guess I can finish this in the morning..." he looked up at her and smiled. "Youngin's like you need all the sleep they can get, anyway."

Sam chuckled lightly, he had finally figured out a way to counter her old-jokes, although him calling her young was hardly something that would bother her. Especially when she, herself, was nearing the big 4-0. She smiled, getting up from her seat as he did the same, then heading for the door, pausing briefly to allow him to catch up.

They headed for the surface together, Sam slipping her hand into his and intertwining their fingers as they walked. A few passer-bys watched with interest, but their relationship had pretty much become old news. Now, her pregnancy was still considered new, and every now and then she would hear whispers about her slightly larger than normal bulge and what it meant. Few people knew that she was actually carrying twins, she figured that if they cared that much, they would ask, and unless they did, she wasn't going to share her business with the entire mountain.

He helped her into the truck, like he always did, and she found only slightly annoyed by this. It had been going on for over three months now, ever since she found out she was pregnant. Jack had become extremely cautious of her, making sure she ate every morning, not letting her drive when it wasn't necessary, and limiting her on her 'gate travel. In a little over a month he wouldn't even be letter her go through anymore, which, he could do, since he was The General. And because The General was her CO first and foremost, she could do nothing about it.

But, then again, the CO was also her fiancé, and she could talk him into almost anything when they were a safe distance away from the base. Actually, she could talk him into a great deal of things while they were still underneath Cheyenne Mountain, but it was limited then, when they weren't around the complex, he was liken to putty in her hands. Oh yeah, she so had him wrapped. And he knew it, for the most part.

The drive home was relatively silent, they talked for a few minutes about how their days went, which neither did much of anything. Sam had, of course, worked on some alien doohickey and Jack had been swarmed with paperwork and briefings. Nothing new in Stargate land. Not that that was a bad thing. Nothing new meant nothing bad, and nothing earth-threatening. That was a good thing.

As he pulled into the driveway Sam was itching to get out of the truck. Since they had gotten back from her brother's house she had been spending extra time with Pandora, having felt bad about leaving her with Daniel (who, had actually forgotten to feed her once... not to mention forgetting to eat, himself) for so long. As far as she was concerned, the man should never be allowed near an animal. He was just too absent minded.

She hurried into the house and let Pandora in from the backyard, kneeling down to give her an affectionate hug. Jack watched from the living room, amused and slightly jealous of the attention the dog was getting. He was used to it though, Pandora was Sam's baby, and she always would be-- even after the twins came. Of course, they would take priority then, but Pandora would always be high on Sam's list of favorites. Right after Jack, who would undoubtedly be pushed down two notches by his daughter and son. Another thing he didn't mind. As long as the only ones above him were his children, it was all good.

"Hey," he called from where he stood after a minute or so of watching her cuddle the dog. "I thought tonight was up to me... and what I had in mind didn't exactly include you spoiling that mutt."

Pandora looked over at him and barked happily, as if she knew he had been talking about her, joking more like it. Jack in no way thought of the dog as a mutt, and he loved her nearly as much as Sam did. Although, the dog clearly loved Sam more than she loved him... but he wasn't surprised by that, either. Sam herself let out an amused chuckle, standing up and giving the dog one last pat on the head. "Yes honey, tonight is up to you... for the most part."

"What do you mean 'for the most part'?" Jack wanted to know, as she inched closer to him, a devious look dancing in her eyes.

Sam simply shrugged, sauntering closer and closer to her husband-to-be. "I might have some ideas..."

"Oh?" he questioned. "Pray tell."

"Uh uh," she replied, shaking her head. "You'll just have to wait and see."

"Alright," he agreed, reaching out and grabbing her hips when she was within reach, pulling her close to him, "that works, too."

XXXX

The next morning Jack awoke to the sound of close, loud barking. He groaned, turning over and snaking an arm around Sam's side, hiding his face in her neck. Ignoring the animal didn't work and she jumped up onto the bed, cuddling next to him and panting in his ear. After a few more seconds of being ignored she barked again, this time succeeding in waking up her human, as well as her human's human.

"For the love of God, Jack," Sam mumbled sleepily, "take her outside already."

"Why do I have to?" he whined into her hair.

"I'm pregnant." she said without opening her eyes to look at him. "I need all the rest I can get."

Damn.

"Fine, fine," he sighed, turning around and pushing the dog so she would jump back down off of the bed. "Come on mutt, let's take you to the bathroom then."

Pandora barked happily, the bathroom was exactly where she needed to go. And then, after that, breakfast!

Jack slumped out of the bedroom, taking off down the hallway at snail's pace, only speeding up when Pandora began to bark loudly to once again get his attention. She must have really needed to go or something, because Jack's head was starting to feel like it would explode at the next high-pitched sound coming out of the dog's throat. "Shh, 'Dora," he ordered, sliding open the glass door. "It's too early for that kind of noise."

That meant nothing to Pandora, but as soon as the door opened she was out it like a flash of lightning. Jack watched as she ran around the backyard, getting rid of some of her early-morning energy before she did her business and came back to the door that led into the house. Now, she was ready to eat and then go back to sleep until Sam let her out before work.

He poured some food into her bowl and filled up her water before making his way back into the bedroom and crawling under the covers, "She's too much like a baby for her own good..." he mumbled as he pulled his wife-to-be closer to him, not only to cuddle but to warm up quicker. "Five o'clock is too early for her to awake."

Sam didn't hear a word of it, though, because she was already fast asleep once more.

XXXX

When the two finally made it into work, a few hours later, both were refreshed and ready for the day. Sam a little more than Jack, since he was once again delivered a mile-high stack of paperwork. "Walter and I are going to end up having a talk about all of this paper were using... it's destroying the rain-forest, you know?"

"We could always find a nice, uninhabited planet off-world... use the trees from there."

If Daniel had been there Sam would be getting hell for that last statement, and she knew it. Of course, she had only been joking in suggesting it, but still... more things than humans depended on trees to live, and Daniel would have chastised her for even thinking it. It was like he was every kind of scientist all rolled into one. Like a Dr. Science of sorts.

"Ooh..." Jack said in a sing-song tone, "I'm telling Danny."

Sam laughed, not at all surprised that Jack had been thinking the same thing she had. Everybody knew of Daniel's scientific speeches. And nobody was particularly fond of them. In fact, people tried not to get scientific missons with SG-1 because of it... probably because of her tendencies to run off at the mouth about anything physics or engineering related. But then again, Naquadah generators were much more interesting than trees. Just ask O'Neill-- he'd tell you the same.

"So what's on the agenda today?" she asked as they entered the commissary and grabbed something for breakfast, before going to their normal table where Teal'c and Daniel were already sitting.

"Um, paperwork... a debriefing with SG-3 after they return from P6R-225 and a briefing with SG-8 before they head off to P2Q something or other." he shrugged and grabbed a stale-looking breakfast pastry. "I haven't looked over the preliminary report that much..."

There was a shocker. "Oh..."

"What about you?" he knew he was getting himself into trouble before he even asked, but he had to admit, she was damn sexy when she went into technobabble mode.

"Well, SG-11 brought back some kind of self-energizing battery from P3S-866 the other week and I've been working on it for awhile... I think I'm getting close to figuring out where the electrons that the negative terminal collects go and--"

Jack was actually surprised he had managed to listen to her talk for that long before he spaced out, not really paying attention to what she was saying and what the heck a negative and positive terminal was, instead watching her hands flail about in association to what she was talking about and her lips move at an alarmingly fast rate. God, she was so hot when she did that.

After awhile he tunned back into the explanation, "...we're trying to figure out how the substance that the denizens of 866 use instead of zinc factors into the whole equation. Since the planet doesn't have the mineral at all." She took a breath, ready to continue, but Jack stopped her before she could.

"It sounds fascinating..."

Sam smiled, not believing him in the slightest. "If you didn't want to heart about it, Jack, you could have just said so."

"I was too busy watching you talk."

She blushed slightly, doing her best to hide the flush of her cheeks. "So... where is SG-8 headed again?"

XXXX

Later on that day, Jack was walking through the corridors of the SGC, whistling under his breath and doing his best to avoid Siler or anybody else he might bump into-- or, might bump into him, more correctly. As he headed for Sam's office, to see about this strange battery she had found, he met up with Teal'c, who was walking in the same direction.

"Hey, T." he greeted. "Where are you going to?"

"I am currently on my way to see Colonel Carter."

"Really? Me too." He was silent for a moment. "So... how's Ishta?"

"She is well."

"Any plans yet...?"

"None."

"Teal'c, buddy... I'm not putting you down or anything, but your own son is married now. And yet, you are still single."

"I was once married, O'Neill."

"This I know," the man replied. "But... don't you think it's time you re-married?"

"Perhaps."

Yeah, that was about as much as he would get from Teal'c about his love life. "Alright then... speaking of Ry'ac. How is he doing?"

"He is well."

Jack sighed. Of course he was. "Bra'tac?"

"Bra'tac is—"

"Yeah, yeah..." Jack cut him off, "well. I know."

Teal'c nodded and they turned a corner. "How is Mark Carter?"

He shrugged, "I dunno. You should ask Carter."

"How is the planning of the wedding between you and Colonel Carter transpiring?"

"Good... we've almost got everything done. There's only three weeks left until the ceremony."

"And what of your 'Honey Moon'?"

"Dunno, you should ask Carter."

"What of the 'reception' at the SGC?"

Jack paused for a moment, "Um... maybe you should--"

"Ask Colonel Carter?"

"Yeah."

There was a brief silence, before Jack spoke again.

"So... how's Ishta?"

XXXX

A/N: Like I have said on my page thingy, my laptop is messed up right now, so I'm currently working out of my sisters room, therefore updates might be few and far between for a bit. I'm hoping not though! I got two out today, because I had no homework and it's been raining so tennis was canceled, also... I have a feeling it will be the same for tomorrow, so I'm expecting at least another chapter out for another story. Anyway, let me know what you think about this chapter. (I myself loved the conversation between Teal'c and Jack at the end :))