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Jack was bored. He had been pacing his house for the last two hours with nothing to do. Sam had gone to a 'chick flick' with Janet and Cassie and he was lonely.
In the past couple of months, he had gotten so used to Sam living with him, that her absence, even for only a few hours, made his house feel so empty.
"Damn it, Sam, hurry up and get your ass back here," Jack muttered to himself as he continued his route through his house. Jack had wandered back to the bedrooms and then turned around and headed back.
Just as he was approaching his kitchen for the umpteenth time, he heard a loud knock on the door. Quickly turning around, he walked to the door, happy about the interruption.
"Yes, can I help you?" Jack asked after opening the door to a complete stranger. The man was slightly stocky with dark hair and a goofy look on his face.
"Hi, I was told that Samantha Carter was staying here," the man answered, smiling goofily at Jack.
"Uh, yeah, who are you?" Jack asked using his colonel tone to try and scare the man.
"I'm Pete Shanahan," he replied, as if Jack was supposed to know the name.
Jack raised his eyebrows in a questioning look.
"I'm a friend of her brother's. He gave me this address and told me to come look her up while I was in town."
Jack looked irritatingly at the man and crossed his arms across his chest. "Why?" he asked glaring down at the man.
"Uh, well, I-I guess he thought we might hit it off," Pete answered, starting to feel intimidated by Jack.
"Hit it off?" Jack asked with an incredulous look. "You are aware that Sam is pregnant with MY child aren't you?"
"Uh, well, I wasn't aware it was yours exactly. Her brother told me she was pregnant, but, wasn't with the father. I just assumed she was single. You….you two are together?" Pete asked from his position on the bottom step of Jack's porch.
"Yes," Jack replied in a calm voice while still glaring at the younger man. Okay, so, it wasn't exactly true, but it was, in a way, and Jack was not going into specifics. He just wanted this man out of his yard and as far away from Sam as possible.
"I-I'm sorry. Mark really wanted us to meet. Uh, I guess I'll be going," he stuttered out, but continued to stand on Jack's step, not appearing to be moving.
"Okay, well then, good-bye," Jack said, turning around and walking back into his house, shutting the door and locking it behind him.
He didn't want this man staying around any longer! After locking the door, Jack leaned back against it in an attempt to slow his heart rate back down. The whole confrontation had his heart pumping madly in anger. 'What the hell was Sam's brother thinking, sending that dweeb to MY house?' Jack screamed in his head. 'Like my Sam would ever be interested in a dork like that,' he thought as his heart started to beat normally again. Apparently, bad-talking 'Pete' was good for his heart.
Deciding that staying in his house any longer without Sam was going to drive him crazy, he grabbed his truck keys and headed off to Daniel's.
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After two beers and a couple hours of listening to Daniel go on about something or other (he really wasn't listening), Jack decided Sam had to be back by now and headed home.
He walked into his house and hung his keys back on the key rack, noticing Sam's were there too. He quietly made his way through the house looking for her. Before he reached the den, he could hear her voice coming from it. From the sound of it, she was talking on the phone.
Not wanting to eavesdrop, Jack was about to make noise so Sam knew he was there, when he heard her say, "Mark". Immediately remembering the man on the front porch earlier, Jack went into stealth mode and leaned against the wall next to the entrance to the den, perking up his ears to hear Sam's end of the conversation.
"Mark, you're not listening, I don't want to meet him………….I AM happy!……Yes……..You don't know what you're talking about…….Mark, I understand, but you can't just expect me to have dinner with some guy when I'm pregnant and living with the father of my baby………….Yes, I do, very much………Yes, I think so…….Well, it's not like he's ever just come out and said it……..I just do!……Mark!…..Mark, you're doing it again. You're not listening to me.…………………..Alright, listen, I will meet him for a drink. But, just as friends and only because he doesn't know anyone in town…..NO!……..Look, a drink or nothing. Ok, tell him to meet me tomorrow at 1900 at the coffee shop on Twelfth Street……..Yes, coffee…….No, I'm not, I'm pregnant!………Coffee or nothing, Mark……….1900 is 7pm, Mark…….Because I AM military!……….Yes………Mark, please don't start……I'm very happy with my life…….Mark, it's getting late, I've got to go…..Ok, tomorrow, 1900, 7pm, coffee shop on Twelfth St……Love you too, bye."
When Jack heard Sam say, "bye," he quickly, yet stealthily ran back to the front door. "Sam, you home?" he called in as calm a voice as he could pull off.
Sam walked out of the den and into the front hall. "Yeah, I've been back for awhile. I got your message on the machine that you went to Daniel's. Did you have fun?" she asked, smiling up at him, knowing he probably was bored stiff at Daniel's.
"Uh, yeah, well no, not really. I had a couple beers to drown out his voice, that's all," he replied, matching her grin.
"Really? It only took two this time? You must be getting soft," she joked.
Jack laughed at her comment. "You had a visitor today," he announced in a serious tone.
"Oh, no! Tell me it wasn't someone named Pete," Sam groaned, burying her face in her hands.
"Sorry, it was, do you know him?" Jack asked, trying to sound nonchalant.
"No, he's a friend of my brother's. I guess he's a detective in Denver. He told my brother he was coming down here for a case and my brother insisted he look me up and take me to dinner," Sam managed to croak out through her hands.
"Dinner? Really? Sounds nice," Jack answered in a controlled, quiet voice.
"Well, I won't find out. I agreed to coffee, tomorrow night as friends and that's it," Sam announced, taking her hands away from her face and looking up at Jack.
Sam thought she saw relief cross Jack's face for a brief second. 'Was he really worried?' She wondered to herself. "Uh, you're welcome to come if you want," Sam said, looking, doe-eyed, at Jack.
"Oh, thanks, Carter. But, that's ok. I met him earlier. I really don't think we have a lot in common," Jack replied, trying to hide the emotions rampaging in his heart.
"That bad, huh?" Sam asked, with a regretting look on her face. She really was not looking forward to this.
"Well," Jack started, grinning at her now. "I don't want to influence your first impression of him, so I'm pleading the fifth." Jack grinned again, and then, headed into the kitchen for some food.
"Great," Sam muttered to herself. 'Well, maybe I'll get called into an emergency at the base,' she thought as she followed Jack into the kitchen. She was hungry, too.
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"Hey, is anyone home?" Cassie's voice yelled through the house as she shut the front door and started walking around.
"Yeah, I'm in the den," Jack's voice yelled out just as Cassie approached the den entrance.
"Whatcha doin'?" she asked him curiously.
"Uh, dusting?" Jack replied, waving the feather-duster in the air so Cassie could see it.
"Dusting?" Cassie repeated, looking at Jack with a suspicious look. "The whole house or just the den with Sam's stuff in it?" she asked, setting the catalogues in her hands down and crossing her arms across her chest. An intimidating posture she learned from Jack.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Jack squawked, imitating Cassie's posture.
"Oh, please, you were snooping," she accused him, trying hard to suppress her grin and hold her serious face.
"I DO NOT SNOOP," Jack screeched, trying, unsuccessfully, to sound serious.
"I know Sam's having coffee with her brother's friend……You're jealous!" Cassie said, trying to suppress the laugh that wanted to come out.
"Why would I be jealous of a dork?" Jack asked, getting irritated at Cassie's accusations.
"Because you love her and you're scared she's actually going to like this guy," Cassie stated.
She waited for him to deny her accusation and then, possibly crack a joke. Instead, Cassie witnessed the saddest look of fear cross over Jack's face. "What if she does like him, Cass?" he asked in almost a whisper.
"Jack, she might like him as a friend, but you know she will never love him like she loves you," Cassie replied, her heart breaking at the desperate look on Jack's face.
"I can't lose her Cass," he confessed sadly. Cassie's heart broke even more. "Not, now, not after all this. I can't go back to the way we were. I…I can't live without her here with me anymore, Cassie."
Cassie felt tears pricking the back of her eyes, wanting to fall. "Jack, Sam loves you more than anything. You won't lose her."
"You don't know that! She cares for me, she's never admitted anything more," Jack sadly said, raising his voice. He was getting angry with himself for appearing so weak in front of Cassie.
Cassie looked at him sadly. 'How could he not know how much Sam loved him.' "Alright, look, I'm probably breaking some silent woman ethic code or something here, but, I can honestly say that I know for a fact that Sam loves you with all her heart."
"How do you know that, Cass?" Jack asked quietly, taking a seat in Sam's chair and looking down at his hands in his lap.
"Just because she never admitted it to you, doesn't mean she's never admitted it, Jack."
Jack looked up at Cassie, his expression revealing the emotional wreck that he was at the moment. "What are you saying, she's told you she loves me?" he asked, in a sad, desperate voice.
Cassie hated betraying Sam by ratting out her secrets to Jack, but she was really, truly worried about Jack. She had never seen him look this devastated before. "Yes, she has. In fact, she admits it quite frequently. She has loved you for a long time, Jack."
"When?" was his simple question.
"Well, most of the time, she would admit it during her and mom's tequila nights. You wouldn't believe some of the things they admit by the time they get to their third drink," Cassie laughed, trying to break the depressive atmosphere.
"So, she's only said she loves me when she's wasted," Jack retorted, his voice raising slightly in anger.
"NO! She hasn't ONLY admitted it drunk. Jesus, Jack! Stop being so negative. She loves you. She doesn't say it a lot because for so long it was forbidden and you KNOW that! And, it's not just in words. Anyone who spends any time with the two of you can tell you two love each other," Cassie replied in a loud voice, close to actually yelling.
Jack looked at the young woman for a few seconds. Cassie could still see his emotions playing across his face. He normally hid them so well, and the fact that he didn't even seem to be trying to hide them from her, scared her more than she realized.
"Sorry, Cass. I didn't mean to throw all of this on you," he replied as a look of remorse crossed his face.
"You have to believe me that she does love you, Jack," Cassie replied, not feeling like Jack was truly believing her.
"I Know, Cass," he said softly. Then, he stood up and ran his hands through his disheveled hair. "What are you doing here, anyways?" he asked, realizing for the first time that he wasn't expecting her.
"Oh! Sam asked me to pick up these catalogues from the 'Baby Emporium' for her. I just got out of work, so I thought I'd drop them off," Cassie answered, picking up the catalogues and handing them to Jack.
"What are they for?" he asked, thumbing through one.
"The baby's room."
"Oh, really? Cool," he remarked, back to his old self again. He grinned at Cassie and then sat down so they could both look through the catalogues of baby room decorations.
After a few pages, they came across a picture of a room decorated with a space theme. "Sweet!" Jack exclaimed. Reading the description on the page.
"I should have known," Cassie laughed. "That's the room Sam really likes, too. They have a few of the decorations in the store, but most of them have to be ordered on line. That's why I picked up the catalogues."
"Well, let's get what we need ordered and get this show on the road," Jack exclaimed, turning Sam's chair so he could access her computer.
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Sam had a nice time with Pete at the coffee shop. They talked about how devoted they were to their respective careers and how Pete and Mark had met. Pete was a really nice guy and Sam felt like he could be a good friend.
He was funny and open, and although he wasn't ruggedly handsome like Jack, he was cute in a puppy-dog sort of way. After a little over an hour, Sam started to feel tired and told Pete it was time for her to go. She took his cell phone number and agreed to call him if she wanted to hang out again while he was in town.
Sam was surprised when she returned home to an empty house. "Huh, I wonder where he went?" she muttered to herself, putting her keys up and heading further into the dark house.
Walking into the living room, Sam saw the answering machine blinking, and assumed it was Jack letting her know where he ran off to. Hitting the play button, Sam was surprised when a woman's voice came over the machine.
"Hey, Jack. It's Sara. I got your message. I'm on my way home now, but you'll probably get there before me. The spare key is in the same spot it's always been, let yourself in. I'll be there shortly. I guess I'll try your cell, in case you've already left. Bye."
The answering machine beeped as the message ended. Sam quickly reached up and hit the button to keep it as new, then in a daze, she turned around and plopped herself in Jack's chair. 'Oh my God! He's seeing his ex-wife! Why? Oh my God, OhmyGod, OhmyGod!'
Sam's eyes were pouring out tears. She was crushed! 'How could he do this to me? Why would he go to his ex-wife now? We were getting so close!'
Sam was furiously batting the tears from her eyes, but it was making no difference, more just kept coming at an increasing rate. 'Oh my God! He's going to leave me and go back to Sara! Oh, God, he's going to kill me! I can't take this! NOT NOW! Oh God, why NOW!'
Sam was hysterical. Her heart was breaking! She didn't know what to do. She wanted to throw stuff, to hit stuff. Not just any stuff, JACK'S STUFF! But, she didn't. She sat and cried and cried, until she couldn't cry anymore. All of her fears were coming true! It was too much. She couldn't handle it.
Thoughts of her dropping Grace off at Jack and Sara's house for the weekend popped in her head. She would have to see them together all the time. Grace would probably even call Sara mom. Oh God! What if Sara was a better mom to Grace than Sam? Oh, No! Sam started crying harder.
After what seemed like forever, Sam's cell phone started ringing. Wiping away the tears that were still running down her face, Sam composed herself the best she could and answered the phone.
"C-Carter," she croaked into the phone. 'Damn it!' she scolded herself for her broken voice.
"Major Carter, this is the SGC. The dialing computer is on the fritz again and the technicians don't seem to be able to fix it. SG-5 is due out at 0700."
"Ok, I'll be there shortly. Find Siler and don't let him leave until I get there," Sam ordered into the phone. She washed up in the bathroom, and feeling much better, wrote a quick note to Jack telling him she was at the base. Then, she grabbed her keys and headed to her car.
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Jack had gotten home way later than he wanted to. He was worried about Sam as he had tried calling several times and just kept getting the answering machine, and she wasn't answering her cell.
'Crap!' he silently screamed. 'I should never have just run off. We have no idea what kind of a creep this Pete-guy might be. Crap! I should have left a note,' he continued to silently berate himself.
After walking in the front door, he immediately relaxed once he read the note Sam had left for him. 'Cool!' he thought to himself. 'She came home early from her date with the cop.'
He went into the living room to pick up the house phone and call Sam at work. Noticing the red light blinking, Jack hit the play button on the answering machine. "Oh, Crap!" he said out loud after Sara's voice came over the line. Jack quickly deleted the message.
'Okay, Sam must have left before Sara called. The message was still beeping,' Jack thought to himself, his heart racing, worried Sam might have heard the message.
Jack agreed with himself that Sam had not heard the message and then dialed the number for the SGC. After a few connections, Sam finally came on the line.
"Carter," She said over the line.
"Hey, working hard?" Jack asked in his soft voice.
"Sir, Hi! I didn't know it was you," Sam said into the phone, surprised that Jack was on the line and trying to act normal. "Um, the dialing computer went down and I'm attempting to fix it now."
"Ah! So, are you coming home tonight?" Jack asked. He really was missing her.
"No, this is going to take me most of the night. I'm just going to stay on base," Sam replied. She was trying very hard to hide her tumultuous emotions. Just hearing his voice was making her want to cry.
"Oh, okay. Uh, I could come and get you when you're done, if you want to come home," Jack said. He really hoped she would say ok. The thought of sleeping in his bed without her was depressing him, even if just for one night.
"No, that's okay, sir. I still have hours of work here," she replied in a sad voice over the phone.
"Well, if you change your mind, don't hesitate to call."
"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow."
"Okay, I have tomorrow off, so I'll see you when you get home. Good night, Sam," Jack said quietly into the phone.
"Good night, Jack," she replied sadly, hanging up the phone.
Since Sam wasn't coming home, Jack decided to call Cassie and get a head start on their project.
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When Sam woke the next day, she did her best to not think about Jack and Sara. But, she was having a hard time. She really felt an intense urge to go home, crawl up in Jack's lap and not let go. Of course, this only made her more depressed because she knew if Jack was going back to Sara, her days of cuddling with Jack were over.
So, when Janet arrived in Sam's lab and told her she had just talked to Cassie who was insisting that they all get together for a girl's night at Janet's, Sam was happy to go.
Cassie had called Janet and told her she had broken up with her boyfriend and desperately needed Sam and Janet to help her get through the night. Sam and Janet were equally surprised as they were unaware that Cassie even had a boyfriend and she usually wanted her friends when she broke up with a boy. So, agreeing to Cassie's demands, Sam went home with Janet.
Once Sam had arrived at Janet's, she called Jack to let him know she would be staying the night there. Instead of sounding upset that Sam wouldn't be home, Jack sounded happy about it. He claimed he ran into an old friend and was going to hang out with him.
Sam could tell he was lying. She tried desperately to keep her voice controlled as she told him to have fun with his friend. However, once she hung up, she burst into tears. Janet rushed over, asking her what happened.
"Jack's going back to his ex-wife!" Sam wailed into the doctor's shoulder.
"What? Are you sure, I can't believe it! Did he just tell you that?" Janet asked, shocked and bewildered over Sam's announcement.
Sam explained the whole situation to Janet. Of course, Janet, not dealing with a multitude of pregnant hormones, saw a lot of holes in Sam's logic and spent a good deal of the night trying to talk Sam out of her depression.
Cassie had called during the middle of Sam's 'episode' and told the women that she was 'really sorry, but her friends insisted on taking her out to help her get over her heartache and she would be home in the morning.' So, Janet was stuck dealing with an emotionally train-wrecked Sam all on her own.
The next morning, Sam and Janet were just waking up when Cassie came bouncing into the house quite excited. She met up with the women in the kitchen, desperately waiting for the coffee to finish brewing. "Mornin'! Wow, what did you two do last night? You look rough. It's almost 10:00, I can't believe you just woke up," she rambled on gleefully, taking a seat at the table. The sleep-deprived women just glared at the teenager.
Once the women had some caffeine in their systems, Cassie insisted they needed to take Sam home right away so she could get some more rest. They both tried arguing with Cassie, but the girl was very animate and the air force majors soon caved to the 17-year old.
Once they had arrived back at Jack's house, Cassie practically ran up the steps and into the house. Sam was muttering under her breath, and Janet was confused about Cassie's strange behavior and worrying that she might be on drugs.
Jack met the women at the door, smiling from ear-to-ear. "Good morning, ladies," he said, jubilantly.
Sam, after encountering Jack's unexpected happy demeanor, started to worry that he spent the night with Sara. Sam closed her eyes and groaned over the thought of Jack and Sara making love.
"You okay, Sam?" Jack asked, concerned.
"I'm fine, sir," Sam replied, dryly.
Jack scrutinized her for a few minutes. He knew something was wrong, but had no idea what. Instead of questioning her, he decided to show her his surprise. Taking her hand and pulling her down the hallway he said, "Come on, I've got a surprise!"
Cassie was standing in the hallway, in front of a closed door, with an enormous smile plastered on her face. Jack, who was grinning just as huge, ordered Sam to close her eyes and then opened the door and gently pulled her inside.
After hearing Janet gasp behind her, Sam opened her eyes. The plain guest room had been turned into an amazing nursery. Sam was astonished. There was a normal crib, changing table, dresser and rocking chair in the room. But, that wasn't the astonishing part. The part that amazed Sam was the entire Space theme that she had really wanted.
Sam looked around the room, taking in everything. The walls were painted a bright yellow and several space posters donned the walls. On the dresser was the sun lamp she had seen at the store, along with a model of the Prometheus, that Sam had no idea how Jack got his hands on, but was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to have it.
Everything she had seen in the store was in the room. It was amazing. But, the most amazing part was the ceiling. Fiber optic lights hung from the ceiling making it look like stars. The lights were set up to look like several familiar constellations and Sam knew Jack had a blast doing it. As Sam looked at the ceiling, a shooting star shot from one side of the room to the other. Sam and Janet both gasped.
Sam looked over at Jack, who was grinning beside her. "Jack, this is so amazing!"
"I'm glad you like it. I spent a small fortune in overnight delivery and Cassie and I spent all day and night trying to get it done before you came home."
"Huh," Janet gasped. "You set us up," She accused, mockingly glaring at Cassie, who just smiled big and shrugged.
Sam pulled Cassie into a hug and thanked her, just when she was getting ready to do the same to Jack, she saw the picture hanging over the crib.
She looked at Jack for a split-second and then walked over to the crib. Hanging in a long frame on the wall was a child's drawing of the solar system. The sun was on the left with all the planets in order from left to right, including the asteroid belt. At the bottom of the page was the child's signature: Charlie O'Neill. Next to the youthful handwriting was a school picture of Charlie.
Sam had tears falling out of her eyes as she took in the wonderful picture. She turned to Jack for an explanation.
"When Cassie and I decided to do up the baby room this way, I thought about all the pictures and projects Charlie did in the third grade about the solar system. I called up Sara and asked her if I could have one for the baby. She was more than happy to give up one for Gracie," Jack explained in a soft voice to the sobbing Sam.
"Oh, Jack! It's so perfect! I can't believe you did all this," she cried and buried herself into Jack's body.
Jack wrapped his arms around her and held her while she cried her happiness into his shoulder. After a few minutes and several tears later, Sam pulled off his shoulder and looked around at the perfect room again. "This is so great. The only problem now is, I have to come up with another theme for my house," she said, nonchalantly, grinning happily while memorizing everything in the room.
"Or not," Jack said softly, looking at Sam, all of a sudden very nervous.
Sam looked up at him with a questioning look on her face.
Jack exhaled loudly and looked deep into Sam's eyes. "I don't want you to go back to your house, Sam. I want you to live here, with me, permanently."
Sam swallowed the incredibly large lump in her throat and tried to talk, but nothing would come out.
"I can't live without you anymore, Sam. I want you here, I need you here. You and Gracie, always. Please, please say you'll stay," Jack pleaded, letting down all his walls and allowing Sam to see all of his emotions, clearly written on his face.
Sam was so overwhelmed with emotions she was still unable to talk. Her face contorted as she let out a loud sob and tears continued to run down her face. She nodded 'yes' to Jack and, letting out another sob, buried her face back into his shoulder.
Jack didn't even notice his own tears running down his face or his own sobs as he hugged her tightly, never wanting to let her go.
The other two women in the room cried softly from their spot on the other side of the room, watching the emotional scene before them.
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