John Doe

Chapter Fifty Four

XXXX

Five days later, Sam and Jack returned back to their house, happy to be home. They had, of course, enjoyed their honeymoon, but with the nature of their work, being away for any period of time left both feeling uneasy. Who knew what kind of trouble they had gotten into without them for a week? Especially Sam, Jack said, Lord only knew how Siler was dealing with any 'gate malfunctions there may be.

Nearly halfway through her pregnancy, Sam wasn't able to do most of the things she would have before. Her contact with alien devices was minimal, she had ceased going off-world, even on no-risk missions, and most of her time was spent in front of her laptop, running diagnostics and coming up with new programs to aide SG teams, but more than that, occupy her time. Aside from spending hours in front of her laptop, Samantha Carter-O'Neill could normally be found in one of three places, Daniel's office, Jack's office, or Teal'c's quarters.

For months after their wedding, Sam and Jack spent as much time together as they could. During the work, lunch breaks and before briefings, things of that nature. All the while, Sam's pregnancy, and the fact she was carrying twins, became more and more obvious. By her seventh month, she was at the size of a full-term pregnancy, and there was little she could do. It was a chore to sit in front of her laptop for more than an hour at a time, with interruptions coming in the form of kicks, hunger cravings, and nature calls.

After discussing things with her husband, they came to the conclusion that when she reached the point of seven and a half months, she would cease working. For the next two weeks, then, she would be tying up loose ends and preparing for being homebound. True, it meant less time with Jack, but it was getting to the point where her being at the SGC was becoming more of a hindrance than anything else.

They had finally agreed on the twins names. Their son would be Nathaniel Jacob, and their daughter's name would be Grace Lynne. A new bet had come into play over the months. This time, instead of the sex of the child, or in their case, children, it was which would be born first; the Nathan or Grace.

Sam's guess, which most agreed with, was that Grace would be the first born, and Nathaniel would follow after. Jack thought differently, but Sam wasn't sure if that was only for the sake of an argument, or if he was genuine in his protest. Daniel, Teal'c, her father and her brother and sister-in-law all agreed with her, but Cassie and General Hammond went with Jack's point of view.

From her last ultrasound they found that Nathan was already a bit bigger than his sister, only by an ounce, but the Doctor Murray informed them his growth would more likely than not be progressively greater than Grace's, to the point when at birth he may be a pound heavier. Jack had seemed proud about that fact, why Sam wasn't sure. All she understood was that her son was hogging up all the food.

"He's a boy, Sam," Jack had told her. "Of course he'll weigh more, males tend to be heavier than females."

At that point in time, the twins had been fighting or something, and the last thing she was doing was paying attention to anything he had to say. She had simply nodded, gritting her teeth through the pain, and leaning back against the sofa. "Jack, shut up and go make me a peanut butter and fluff sandwich."

He laughed, like he always did when she got cranky, and nodded. "Sure dear, would you like something to drink as well?"

After throwing him a dirty look, she replied with "water". He had left the living room for a few minutes, obviously making her sandwich, and returned with the snack. Most of their nights continued in that manner.

However, one night, a week away from her eighth month of pregnancy, Jack came home to find Sam asleep on the sofa. He sat down next to her, running a hand through her hair and calling out her name to wake her up, which she did after a few seconds. She explained, after sitting up on the couch, that she hadn't been feeling all that well that day. When she had woken, it was to the pain of the babies moving, something that hadn't been doing as much lately. She had done some walking, because her doctor had repeated over and over how important exercise was, but only lasted ten minutes before she had to retreat home. It was then, after her shower and breakfast, that she had sat down on the couch, and turned on the TV. According to her, she lasted no more than fifteen minutes before she had fallen asleep.

"Sam," he told her with a grin, "it's after 1800 hours... you've been asleep all this time?"

She colored and nodded sheepishly, "I guess so. I was a bit worn out."

His gaze flickered to the end of the couch, where Pandora lay, still snoring, "Looks like you weren't the only one."

Reaching over him, she ran her hands through the dogs silky hair, "'Dora..." she called out softly, "wake up puppy."

"She's hardly a puppy anymore, Sam," he reminded her.

"She'll always be my puppy, Jack," she replied, as the dog lifted her head to look at her master. "That's my girl, you wanna go outside?"

Pandora licked her hand in response.

"I'll take that as a yes," Sam said with a smile. "Come on girl," she continued, as she got off of the couch. "You coming with?" she questioned towards Jack. He nodded and followed her into the back yard. It was a bit chilly outside, but that was perfect weather for the Husky. As Pandora ran around the backyard, sniffing at the bare trees and marking her territory, Jack and Sam stood on the porch, his arms wrapped around her body, as she leaned up against him, sharing body heat.

The late February wind was stinging at her bare feet, and it wasn't long before both opted to go inside and let the dog enjoy the winter weather by herself. Pandora did mind, anyway, when she was ready to come back inside she would simply lay in front of the door, and one of her humans would notice and let her in.

While Sam went back into the living room to watch TV, Jack made his way into the kitchen to make something for dinner. He opened the fridge and peaked inside, "Sam, it's not the 24th yet, is it?"

"Nope," she called from the living room, "it's the 20th."

He nodded to himself and pulled the milk out of the fridge, along with a few eggs and some cheddar cheese. "Is eggs and toast alright with you?" he asked.

"That's fine." she told him, switching the to the TV guide channel to see what was on TV. "Hey, look, Macgyver is on."

As he got a frying pan from the cabinet, Jack made a face, "You like that show?"

"Sure. Why? You don't?"

"It was never that believable to me, I guess..." he said, shrugging his shoulders. "That, and I never thought Harrison Ford was that great at the character."

"You don't like Harrison Ford?"

"Sure I do. Probably not as much as Danny boy," he smiled, "or Teal'c, but he's a good actor. I just don't think that he was the right person for the part, is all." He got a bowl out, to scrabble the eggs in, and continued with making dinner. "What else is on?"

"Mmm," she replied, searching through the stations, "a bunch of reality TV shows, CSI, Lost, cartoons... Ooh, The Mummy is on sci-fi."

"Ack," Jack replied, "another one of Spacemonkey's heros."

She laughed and continued to search through the stations, "Oh... here's a good one, A Few Good Men just started."

"Sounds good to me," he replied, glancing behind him when he heard a noise at the back door. Sure enough, Pandora was laying in front of the sliding glass door, ready to come back inside. He abandoned his eggs for a second to let her in, and she made a beeline to join Sam in the living room. "Don't think you're keeping that spot," he told her, as she cuddled up next to her owner. "I'm almost done with dinner."

Sam smiled and rubbed the dog's ears, as she settled down to watch the movie. As promised, a few minutes later Jack came into the living room, two plates in his hands, each with a good portion of eggs and two pieces of buttered toast. He went back into the kitchen, and came back out with some orange juice. "You do realize," she told him, as he forced the dog to scoot over, "that this is breakfast food."

He shrugged, "Who says you can't have breakfast for dinner?"

"Nobody, I guess..." she turned her attention to her dinner, and the movie, and they sat in silence for awhile. "He's got a very particular vocabulary, doesn't he?" Sam asked, as Colonel Jessep released another string of curses.

"He's a marine, baby," Jack replied with a shrug, as if that explained it all. Because, in his mind, it did.

Sam sighed and shook her head. No matter how good at their jobs the marines of the SGC were, Jack would never get over his opinion of the branch of service. But then again, with everything Makepeace had done, she didn't blame him altogether. In Jack's opinion, they were good soldiers, not so good people. That also might have to do with their cocky sense of behavior, though. Sam had yet to meet a marine who wasn't one hundred percent sure of himself. It was quite possibly their greatest downfall. As Demi Moore had said in the movie, marines were fanatical about being marines. And that was true no matter where they were stationed.

It was only half after 2000 hours when the movie went off, and even though she had been asleep almost the entire day, Sam was one again exhausted. "I guess it's because I'm getting so far into my pregnancy, and the fact I'm carrying twins," she told her husband, when he expressed his concern for her about the subject. "Besides," she continued with a shrug of her shoulders, "I'm home alone all day, what else am I going to do?"

Jack frowned, feeling badly that she was stuck homebound already, "Alright then," he told her, "I've got to wake up early in the morning anyway. I guess going to bed early isn't such a bad idea."

Sam smiled in triumph, struggling to get off of the couch, and ending up having to wait for Jack to help her. "This not being able to stand this is getting on my nerves," she groaned, as he helped her into their bedroom. "Not to mention the fact that it takes me an hour to shave my legs."

"It's winter, babe," he replied, "why do you need to shave your legs?"

"Oh yeah," she mumbled, "that's really attractive. 'Gee honey, you're legs are more prickly than my beard.'"

"Well, if it will make you feel better, I'll stop shaving and that won't be true."

She threw him a look and climbed into the bed, "I think I'll manage."

"Okay then," he replied, getting into bed, as well. In true O'Neill fashion, he ran a hand over one of her legs, and gasped, "Ooh... gee honey, you're legs are more prickly than my beard."

"That's not funny," she told him, swatting his shoulder not-so-playfully.

"I'm just joking," he replied, throwing his hands up in defense. "They're smoother than Hammond's head."

"That's great, Jack, just what I want my legs to be compared to. My once boss, and not to mention my father's best friend."

"Well, I couldn't say Teal'c's." he told her simply. "Then I'd really get smacked."

She rolled her eyes, and turned around in the bed, "Goodnight Jack." she said pointedly. "I love you."

"Love you, too," he replied, laying an arm over her large belly. "Sweet dreams."

XXXX

At first, when she woke up, she wasn't sure why. First glance around the room told her that it was still very much dark outside, then when she looked at the alarm clock to her right that was confirmed greatly. It was just after two in the morning. Her first guess was that the babies had given her a swift kick, and the jolt had waken her. But, that didn't hold up all that long, because the next thing she knew she was warm, wet, and fairly sticky.

Around the time that a string of curses, enough to make a sailor blush, flew from her mouth, her husband flew from their bed.

"Holy–"

"Crap," she mumbled, throwing the blankets off of the bed, and staring down at the wet sheets, "I think this means my water broke."

"What!" he demanded. "No. No that's not possible. You're not even eight months along yet." His look on his face was panicked and worry was clearly dancing in his eyes.

"It's alright," she told him, as she attempted to get out of bed. He saw her struggle and was immediately at her side, helping her up, and out of her wet clothes.

"I don't see how you having our babies more than a month early is a good thing, Samantha." he replied, as he grabbed her a pair of pants and a t-shirt to wear. "Right now, it's just terrifying."

"I never said it was a good thing, Jack," she told him. "I just said that it was alright. And it is."

"Exactly how is that?" he questioned, helping her into her shirt.

"Twins are normally a little early," she assured him, "it's normal."

He snorted, pulling a shirt over his head as well. "Do you have a bag or anything packed?"

She shook her head, "No... but when we get to the hospital, you can call Daniel and have him get me some things. But, we should probably get heading that way, huh?" She tried to smile, hoping it would make him feel better, but at the same time, a wave of pain shot through her stomach. "Ooh, buddy..." she sighed, "we should go."

"Okay... okay..." he said, looking around the room. "Shoes. We need shoes."

"Just grab flip-flops," she told him. "I won't be wearing them long."

"Right. Okay."

A few seconds later, they were heading out of the bedroom, and he was grabbing his keys and wallet from the counter. Soon after that, they were in his truck, speeding down the road towards the hospital. It was 0220 hours. "Guess it's a good thing we went to bed early," she said with a small grin.

He reached out with one of his hands and grasped hers, "Yeah."

For the rest of the way, the cab was silent. His hand never left hers, and his eyes never left the road. He was determined to get there as fast as possible, and in his defense, he did cut the time by five minutes. They entered the ER at 0230, and informed the woman at the desk that her water had broken, and she was only around thirty one weeks along. The clerk assured them that all would be well, and paged the OBGYN doctor on staff. Within minutes a tall, thin woman wearing a white lab-like coat met them, pushing a wheel chair for Sam. "I'm doctor Monroe," she told them. "How long ago did your water break?"

"About twenty minutes," Sam replied, "give or take five minutes."

She nodded, "And you're how far along?"

"Almost eight months."

"Twins?"

Sam nodded.

"He's the father?" Monroe questioned, glancing over at Jack.

Feeling a bit territorial, Jack answered, "Yes, I'm the father– her husband."

"Of course," she replied. "I was simply making sure." She helped Sam into the chair, and Jack took over to push it as she led them to the delivery wing of the hospital.

"We're going to get her ready now," Dr. Monroe told Jack as they entered her hospital room. "Around now is the time when most father's call anybody that they want here, would you like to go do that?"

Weary of leaving her side for more than five minutes, he turned to his wife. Sam nodded, telling him it was alright to go.

"Call Daniel first," she told him, reminding him about her need for clothes. He nodded and headed out the door, "Tell him to feed Pandora."

Jack smiled as he left the room, shaking his head slightly. It figures, just like Sam to be worried about the dog while she was in labor. Hopefully though, Daniel wouldn't be in too much of a rush to forget to do what she asked.

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A/N: Whew! Long chapter, yay! Babies on the way, double yay! Anyway, let me know (in other words, review!)
Oh... and I don't have anything against the marines. My father is a marine, my grandfather was a marine, and I have a bunch of great-grandfathers who were marines... So, yeah, nothing but loves for marines.