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"Well, Major," Hammond began once Thor had beamed himself back to his ship. "In light of recent events, I see no other choice but to remove you permanently from SG-1."
"Yes, sir," Sam responded.
"Sir, permanently? Is that really necessary?" Jack began, but was cut off by the general.
"Yes, Colonel. Itis necessary," he retorted. Your second-in-command is pregnant withyour child! Regardless of how that came about, air force regulations still apply. I can not allow the two of you to continue working on the same team."
"I understand, sir," Sam responded, obedient as normal.
"Sir," Jack tried arguing again.
"Jack!" The general growled. "Major Carter is going to be reassigned to the labs for the duration of her pregnancy. After the baby is born, Major Carter will decide when and if she wants to return to a field unit. Understood?"
"Yes, sir," Jack replied, lowering his eyes in defeat.
"Good! DISMISSED," the general announced as he stood up waiting for the group to leave his office.
"Sir," Sam turned to Jack after they had left Hammond's office. "I appreciate what you were trying to do in there, but I really am okay about being taken off of SG-1."
"But…Why, Carter? You love being on SG-1. We need you!….We could fight this, y'know. The five of us could give Hammond a good run for his money."
"I know, thank you, sir, but, it isn't necessary. I'm….. not going to be returning to a field unit," Sam stated, adjusting her gaze from Jack to an unknown spot over his shoulder.
"WHAT? Carter, but, why?" Jack stuttered in disbelief.
"Sir," she said, looking at him again. "I know what it's like to lose a mother at a young age." Sam, averted her gaze to that spot over his shoulder again. "I…don't want my baby…..our baby, ever having to know that pain, sir."
"Carter," Jack said in a lower voice. He could tell Sam was sad at the thought of her mother's death and wanted to comfort her, but, unfortunately, Jack was never very good at comforting people. Instead, he stood there, shifting from foot-to-foot, trying to think of something to say.
"It's okay, sir. I'm okay. Thank you," Sam saved him from his discomfort. "Uh, I think I'm going to go and get something to eat…..Care to join me?" Sam motioned with her hands towards the elevators.
Jack stared at Sam like he wanted to say something important to her. Instead, he shook the look off his face and replied, "Yeah, sounds good. Let's go."
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"So," Jack started, looking up at Sam, who was finishing off his chocolate cake. "Now that we know how you got pregnant with my child, we should probably….talk."
"What do you want to talk about?" Sam responded. She knew, but was trying to put this conversation off for as long as she could.
"You know," was his only response as he caught Sam's gaze and held it to confirm his seriousness. "We need to figure this….out. The sooner, the better."
"Well, sir, you heard my intentions. I'm keeping this baby. What are yours?" she quickly asked, maintaining eye-contact. She didn't want to miss any looks that crossed his face. It was important that she knew exactly where he stood in this whole mess.
"Uh, let's see," Jack smirked. "I guess my intentions are to……marry you, move you into my house, raise our child, buy you a mini-van…"
Sam started choking on cake.
"Okay, so that might be rushing things a little," Jack laughed as he handed Sam a napkin.
"Sir?" Sam asked.
"Carter, I have every intention in sticking with you through this whole thing," Jack stated seriously looking deep into Carter's eyes. "I plan on being there for you and our baby, always."
"Thank you, sir," was all Sam could get out. She was trying desperately to hold the tears back that she could feel building in her eyes. 'Damn hormones!'
"You okay?" Jack asked, noticing the look on Sam's face.
"I'm fine," she replied wiping away the tear that had slipped out and was running down her cheek.
"So," Jack asked smiling, trying to lighten the mood, once again. He rubbed his hands together and leaned back slightly in his chair. "When are we going baby shopping?"
At this, Sam smiled. She knew her life now was never going to be the same. Being on SG-1 had been the center of her life for almost 7 years now and she knew she would miss it desperately. However, rubbing her stomach and looking over at Jack, who was trying to keep from falling over in his chair, as he had leaned back too far and was losing his balance, Sam had a sudden premonition that her life was going to be getting a whole lot better.