"Boy, I've never seen him pine after a girl so," said Hank trying to change the subject. "That boy is crazy in love with you."

Sam began to blush.

"Oh, don't be embarrassed," he laughed. "I am far too old to be minding my tongue. Tell it like it is. So don't you be minding half the things that I say."

"I'm not embarrassed. I am just scared to death." She said with a bit of a nervous laugh. "I've just never had any luck in love. I'm afraid if I realize this is all real it'll disappear."

"Don't worry your pretty head about that another minute." He said with a big smile. "Jackie is not going anywhere, and he's as good a man as they get. Just like his Dad he is."

"I know," she said as she reached over and gave Hank a kiss on the cheek and a big hug.

"What was that for?" he asked with a huge grin on his face.

"For telling what I needed to hear," said Sam.

"Now, you're not trying to steal her from me are you Hank?" said Jack as he walked into the lodge carrying his fishing gear and a bucket with a large trout in it.

"Not that I could if I wanted to," said Hank giving Sam a wink. "Is that dinner?"

"Yasureyoubetcha!" said Jack. "When did they stock the lake?" he asked.

"Last month," replied Hank "don't worry I saved you some!" he said smartly as he took the bucket from Jack and went into the kitchen.

"Just tank him Hank. I'll catch another tomorrow so there is enough for everyone" yelled Jack after him.

"Sure thing!" they heard coming from the kitchen.

Sam walked up to Jack and gave him a long passionate kiss hello. When they parted Jack smiled. "Feeling better I see."

"Much," replied Sam. "I love this place."

"Me too," said Jack with a big grin "all of my favorite memories are here." As they walked back to their room Jack said "I'm going to take a shower. I probably smell like that trout I just gave Hank."

"No problem, I'll just hang out here," she said as she flopped down into an overstuffed chair. She looked over at the small table next to her and noticed small photograph. It was of Jack and Charlie each holding their prized catch. Of course Charlie's was the larger of the two.

Jack turned and saw Sam looking at the photo. "I miss him everyday," he said with a strained voice.

"He was a beautiful child," she said quietly.

"He would have been a great guy," said Jack with a bit of a grin now. "He had a great sense of humor and he loved to fish."

Sam put the photo gently back onto the table. Jack went into the bathroom and turned on the shower. He waltzed back out with just a towel wrapped around his waist. "Forgot my clothes," he said with a sheepish grin.

"Fine by me," said Sam as she admired him as he walked by. She was definitely starting to feel better.

A few minutes later Jack came out showered and dressed and smelling wonderful! Sam leaned over and took in his scent "Nice," she said as she started kissing his neck.

"We are feeling better aren't we?" he said as he enjoyed the much desired attention.

"Must be the mountain air," she said as she started un-tucking his shirt that he had just finished tucking in.

Jack's head started racing. He had planned to take her out on the lake before dinner. "Oh what the hell," he thought to himself. "The lake will be there after dinner."

O O O

The two came downstairs for dinner looking refreshed and happy. Sam had changed into a warm sweater and long skirt. Minnesota was still cold at night, even in late spring.

Jack had disappeared into the kitchen to help Hank so Sam was seated at the table with just Daniel and Sarah.

Sarah had been concerned about her friend. She had not been herself lately. It seemed that her run in with the animal off world had changed her a bit. She seemed to be reverting back to who she was before she and Jack got "unofficially" together. Sarah hoped Sam was not changing her mind on marrying Jack. She had never seen her so happy before. But sometimes a near death experience can change a person.

"Having a good time?" she asked Sam.

"I think this trip is just what I needed" She replied. Sarah noticed that Sam was now looking much more radiant than when they had arrived that morning. Her cheeks were a bit flushed and she looked rejuvenated.

As they were sitting there chatting and enjoying their wine, the door to the lodge opened and an older woman walked in. She was about 5'10", slender, had thick silver hair that was cut into a short bob and deep brown eyes that looked very familiar. The woman was dressed in a flowing skirt and matching shirt of light purple and blue. Her age was hard to decipher. She was physically fit and looked to be an active person.

"Well, Hello!" said the woman in a very cheerful voice. "You must be Jackie's friends."

It took a second to register with the crowd. Daniel took on his normal roll as liaison.

"Why yes," he started. "I'm Daniel and this is Sarah and Samantha."

The woman gave each of them a polite nod and a smile. When she got to Sam she said sincerely "It is a pleasure to finally meet you all. I'm Josephine O'Neill, Jackie's mom."

Daniel was ecstatic. He couldn't wait to chat with this woman. Sam on the other hand got a bit nervous; she could feel the swarm of butterflies in her stomach getting restless.

All of a sudden the kitchen door swung open. "MOM!" yelled Jack. "What a great surprise!" He put down the dish he was carrying to give his mom a big hug. He was obviously very excited to see her.

"Have you met the crew?" he asked as he put his arm around her and led her back toward the table.

"We just go started with the introductions," she said as she gave her youngest son a kiss.

"Mom, this is a fantastic surprise," he said again. "Have you eaten yet? We were just about to put dinner on the table."

"I have not," she said. "I hope you are not making these people live on all the fish you catch?" she joked.

"No mom, I'm not," Jack sighed. "We are actually having roasted chicken this evening, fresh from old Mr. Hyman's farm."

"Oh, wonderful," said Josephine. "Now, where should I sit?"

"Hank, can you bring out another place setting? We have one more for dinner" yelled Jack at the kitchen door.

"Don't yell across a room!" scolded Josephine playfully. "My goodness, no matter how old your children get, you are never through raising them."

"Yes Ma'am," said Jack as he walked into the kitchen to retrieve the place settings.

"May I sit next to you Samantha?" asked Josephine.

"Certainly," she replied.

Josephine lightly took Sam's hands in both of hers and said "You are as lovely as Jack has always described you."

Sam blushed. "Why thank you," she said shyly. "It is a pleasure to meet you."

Jack came back out of the kitchen to see Samantha and his mother sitting next to one another. "Well aren't I the luckiest man on earth? My two favorite women together at last," said Jack as he sat on the other side of Samantha.

Hank brought out the remainder of the dinner, excited as well to see Josephine. In the presence of his mother, Jack was on his best behavior. His sarcastic whit was toned down and he became the perfect, well mannered gentleman.

Sam was tickled by the whole thing.

Dinner was fun and entertaining. Conversations varied from Daniel's theory on ancient Egypt, to Josephine's romantic tale of how she and Mr. O'Neill met and fell in love overseas and married at a little church in London, then came to settle in Illinois and Minnesota.

She was an Army nurse for 20 years and retired a Sgt. Major. She spoke fondly of her life with Mr. O'Neill, painting a vivid picture of him as the quiet intellectual type who raised his boys to be fine young men and brought home fresh cut flowers for Josephine every Friday, even during the lean years.

Josephine teared up when she spoke of her twin boys, Timothy and Patrick. They were great big brothers who made sure that little Jackie got into all the mischief a proper little boy should.

After dinner the group settled into the living room for coffee and dessert. Jack made a roaring fire in the giant center hearth. It felt wonderful on the chilly spring night. Jack and Sam settled in together on one of the sofas, Daniel and Sarah on another while Josephine and Hank settled into their favorite chairs.

When Josephine noticed that Sam seemed a bit cold, she excused herself and ran upstairs and retrieved a beautiful quilt for her. As Sam snuggled next to Jack she admired the handy-work. "Josephine, this is lovely" she said as she continued to admire the quilt.

"It was my wedding quilt, made for me by my mother and grandmother. It's a family heirloom. Each time someone is born or there is a happy occasion we add to it. I hope to be adding to it one day soon." said Josephine smiling over at Sam and Jack. She then picked up the corner to show Samantha the embroidered writing. It read "Sean and Josephine O'Neill, May 1, 1946." She then pointed to another spot which read "Timothy Sean O'Neill and Patrick Ryan O'Neill, October 16, 1952, Jonathan Scott O'Neill, July 14, 1957, Charles Sean O'Neill, April 7, 1990." Each name was beautifully crafted on a separate piece of patchwork.

"I had three miscarriages before Tim and Pat. I had to stay in bed the entire 8 months and I still delivered them a month early. They were my little miracles. Jackie was a fighter. I was only on bed rest for the final month and he came out a hefty 9 lbs. 10 oz, screaming and red as a beet. The doctor didn't even have to spank him to get him to cry. And my goodness what a little piggy, he would have nursed 10 hours a day if I let him. What a roley poley!"

Jack pretended to cover Sam's ears. "Mom, I have to work with these people you know!"

"Oh, shush boy," said Josephine. "It's not like I wouldn't tell Samantha eventually."

Sam thought it was funny how boyish Jack acted around his mother. Sam loved Josephine already. She was so warm and kind, but you could tell she was a force to be reckoned with.

The group found themselves talking until very late. Sam actually fell asleep on Jack and Daniel on Sarah. Sam was exhausted, but Daniel just couldn't hold his wine. He began to snore loudly and everyone lost it, erupting in laughter.

"Well, we had all better call it a night," said Jack. He roused Sam with a whisper and a light kiss. Sarah was having a difficult time rousing Daniel. Jack's solution was to throw a pillow at him yelling, "Hey you get up!"

"What, what?" moaned Daniel.

"Go to bed," laughed Jack. "You're making breakfast in the morning. Hey, and never make fun of my snoring again, you have me beat hands down!"

O O O

The next morning everyone was up and dressed early for breakfast. You could hear Daniel and Sarah in the kitchen.

"No Daniel, don't touch that" cautioned Sarah. Suddenly you heard a loud crash and Daniel yell "Jack, where are the band-aids?"

Luckily Sarah was a decent cook and talked Daniel through most of it.

After a hearty breakfast, the group headed out for a hike. "It's nice to be going at a leisurely pace and not carrying a 20 pound ALICE pack" joked Daniel.

"Yah and the only snakes around here are hiding under rocks, not in people's heads" added Jack.

They made it back to the lodge in time for lunch. This time it was Sam's turn. Luckily Josephine insisted on helping her. Sam was definitely not as proficient in the kitchen as she was in the lab.

"It is so wonderful to finally meet you," she said to Sam. "I have to Confess," she admitted "when Jackie called me the other day to let me know you were all coming up I went ahead and switched my volunteer shift with a girlfriend at the hospital. The way he talks about you I wanted to make sure you were real. And when he told me that you would be married, well the curiosity was just killing me."

"Really?" asked Sam. "Jack doesn't seem the type, he's pretty reserved around us."

Josephine looked at Sam with surprise. "Now that is something I didn't expect to hear."

"Well, at least about personal things," added Sam.

"We had worked so hard at keeping our relationship platonic for so long and until recently we had to keep a secret. We really hadn't shared many personal details about ourselves. It's strange, I've worked with Jack for over 8 years and I've learned more about him over the past few months than any time before."

Josephine then added "Well Jackie was always a talkative young man he used to get into trouble at school. He was too smart for his own good. They named him the class clown as well as Valedictorian."

Sam burst out laughing. "It is just so hard to picture Jack as a boy. Hasn't he always been in the military?"

"See these grey hairs," chuckled Josephine "he and his brothers put them there!"

This time they both burst out laughing. Josephine then started telling Sam a story about Jack as a boy. Sam was in a fit of giggles. Picturing Jack in a choir robe setting little Elizabeth Smith's hair on fire by accident with the alter candles. Sam couldn't help it "are they sure it was an accident?" she asked.

"Elizabeth swears it wasn't, to this day she still won't talk to him. If you ask me, my Jackie had a bit of a boyhood crush on her and got so nervous around her that he forgot he was holding the candle. Christmas service has never been the same. None of the children's choirs have held candles since."

By this time Sam was doubled over laughing.

Jack came in "Hey you two, people are starving out here!" he huffed.

"Sorry," said Sam while wiping the tears from her eyes. "We'll be out in a few minutes."

As soon as Jack left the kitchen, Sam and Josephine burst out laughing again. Jack was certainly happy that they were getting along so well, but he was worried about what Sam was learning about him.

That night Jack lit the candles at the dinner table. Sam and Josephine just looked at each other over their second glasses of wine and burst out into fits of hysterics.

"Mom, you didn't tell Samantha that Elizabeth Smith story did you?" he asked almost pleading with her.

This just caused them to laugh even harder. "It was an accident, I swear it was!" insisted Jack.

He then relayed his version of the story to the urging of Daniel and Sarah. Of course he was now the victim of a mislaid aisle rug which caused him to trip and bump into poor Elizabeth, who was wearing so much hair spray that of course her hair went up pretty fast. The next day the poor girl went to school with a very short hairstyle and a permanent vendetta against Jack O'Neill.

Later, Jack and Hank went over to the fishing cabin with Daniel and Sarah for some late night trout fishing. Sam elected to stay with Josephine and was under strict orders not to listen to anything she said about Jack's youth.

Sam had a great time looking at pictures of Jack growing up. "He was quite a handsome young man," said Josephine fondly.

"He still is," smiled Sam.

Josephine put her arm around Sam and gave her a light squeeze. "He had quite the following of young ladies you know. They would call night and day."

"There were a few women on base who were always trying to get his attention as well," added Sam. "Needless to say, they don't like me much."

"It must be hard," asked Josephine. "Jack tells me you are the highest ranking female on base."

"It's not easy," agreed Sam. "It's still a boys club. Your son even gave me a hard time at first. He's not too fond of scientists. At our first meeting he gave me a pretty hard time about being a woman."

"So he's changed his tune about scientists?" asked Josephine.

"Not really," laughed Sam "just certain one's I think. He still gives Daniel a hard time – though they are best friends. He still even gets frustrated with me if I start to get too technical with my explanations."

"Just the facts Ma'am," said Josephine.

"Exactly!" laughed Sam.

The two women polished off a bottle of wine and headed off to bed. When the fishermen got home hours later Jack went to go check on his mom. She was still awake and was up in bed reading.

"So, what do you think?" he asked as he climbed up and sat down on the bed next to her.

"Shoes off dear," she said with a smile, then added "I think she is a wonderful girl and you two are perfect for each other. She balances you out."

"I am glad you finally decided to ask her to marry you. The ring looks beautiful on her. I can tell she loves it. I caught her staring at it a few times when she thought no one was looking, very sweet."

Jack just sat there and looked at his mother and said "Ok, I know you're dying to, just get it over with and say it."

"Well," she said with a big grin "now aren't you glad I sent it to you! If I hadn't it would probably still be sitting here in the safe collecting dust."

"Yes, Mom thank you."

"Just think instead of being here with a woman you are obviously head over heels in love with, you could be sitting out in that little fishing cabin of yours pretending to catch fish."

"I know Mom, I know, I owe you a lot"

"Do you remember getting upset with me for sending it? You got very fresh with your old mum, calling me a wishey washy romantic. I want to know right here and now how you proposed and we'll see who is calling who a romantic. Trust me that small fortune you dropped at Tiffany's is just the beginning of my proof that you are the wishey washiest of us all."

"Mom, I owe you the world. What would you like to me to do to repay you… Rub your feet, wash your car?" asked Jack with a smile.

"I want grandchildren! Now! No waiting you know, you and Samantha are not spring chickens!"

"Already working on it Mom," said Jack as he put his head on her shoulder and grinned up at her. "If I have my way you will be attending a christening shortly after the wedding."

"Speaking of which, when is the wonderful day going to happen? I am growing older by the minute."

"We haven't set a date or a place yet. What would you suggest, as if I could stop you?"

"How about next month, here, out on the dock. I'll take care of everything, or at least as much as Sam wants me to. You just have to show up."

"We can talk about it tomorrow morning at breakfast. I think Sam would love for you to help her plan it. Her mom has been gone some time now. Well, and there is also Cassie. I think she has most of it planned already you know."

He leaned over and gave his mom a kiss goodnight and headed up to his and Sam's room.

He found her asleep curled up with a book still in her lap. He tried to lift the book without disturbing her.

"Hi," she said drowsily.

"Hi yourself," he said as he gave her a kiss hello.

"How was fishing? Did Daniel manage to keep himself out of the lake this time?"

"Actually yes, it is amazing what that boy will put up with for Sarah. He was miserable, sneezing and swatting mosquitoes the entire time. It seems they must be attracted to his cologne because the pretty much left the rest of us alone."

Sam watched as Jack stripped down to his boxer-briefs and climbed into bed. She leaned over and could smell that he was freshly showered.

"Did you plan on getting lucky tonight?" she asked.

"Oh, my mom always made me shower at my cabin before coming back into the main house. She hates the smell of fish."

"Remind me to thank her tomorrow at breakfast."

"Speaking of," smiled Jack "she wants to know when we are getting married and has insisted that we produce grandchildren ASAP. She wouldn't mind having the wedding and a christening on the same day. I think she was hoping you were already pregnant."

Jack sort of let it all come out at once. He really did want to know Sam's opinion on children, he just couldn't figure out a way to bring it up gently. He figured he would just blame it on his mom, God love her.

"Well, regarding the wedding. I really would love to have it here. There is plenty of room for everyone. I really don't want a huge affair. And anyway, if we have it out of the way some of our "out of town friends" could come without notice. I am sure Thor could manage some disguise of some type. He does a great hologram."

"Sound good to me."

"And well, regarding the children," at this Jack held his breath.

"Well, unfortunately I have been taking those shots for quite some time and it is not due to wear out for another month or so. As well, with the naqueda in my blood, I am not sure if I can get pregnant."

"I have been doing some thinking about that," said Jack with a grin. "I asked Thor if he had any thoughts on the subject."

"And what did he say?" asked Sam extremely curious about what a race That hasn't used conception in over 2000 years would say on the subject.

"Well, he said that if we did have a problem he would be the first one to step up the plate to make sure that it did happen. He actually commented that our kid could possibly hold some hope in fixing their cloning issues. The combination of our two gene pools has a lot of promise. Just think with your brains and beauty and my incredible knowledge of the Simpson's this kid could be just what the little grey guys need."

Sam actually found herself tearing up. She had secretly lost hope of ever having children. She always hoped that she could, but her knowledge of what the naqueda in her blood could do frightened her. She now had a new hope that she and Jack would be parents some day soon.

"Hey, what's that all about?" said Jack as he wiped her tears away.

"I am glad Thor wants to help. I really would like to have children. I've always pictured us as parents some day."

"You mean that you have thought about this?" he asked.

"To tell you the truth it is partially responsible for my break up with Pete. I couldn't see myself having his children. I kept on picturing you as their father, not him."

Jack didn't know what to say. He leaned over and kissed her soundly. "Well, you know what they say. Practice makes perfect."

Sam smiled beneath his kiss. "Sounds good to me," she said as she found comfort in his embrace.

She knew that the shot wouldn't wear off for another month or so. She figured it would probably take about six months to a year to get pregnant. That would be the perfect amount of time for them to enjoy married life as a couple and then get ready for a family. They have been together as "colleagues" for over eight years. Though they still had a lot to learn about each other, they could do that over time.

She knew for certain that she wanted to have children soon; for certain that she wanted to have Jack's children.