Jack insisted that they stop by one of the 'baby' stores before going home. "Just for ideas…" He said, at her protests.

He led her inside, and they walked down the aisles. "Oh my gosh, I had no idea how many things they make for babies!" She said, her eyes wide with surprise.

He chuckled and tried to lead her over to the crib/nursery decoration section of the store, but she stopped at the clothing. "They're so tiny!" She said with awe.

"They are babies…" He reasoned.

"No, she's right." One of the sales associates said, nearby. "You're in the premie section. These clothes are specifically designed for infants that are born premature. They're quite a bit smaller than the regular newborn clothes."

She looked up and smiled. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. If you need any help, just holler."

"No, we're just looking today." She said, her smile dimming a little. Then she brightened, placing her hand on her very slightly rounded belly. "We've still got quite a bit of time left."

"Well, congratulations. When are you due?"

"We find out tomorrow." Sam said, barely able to contain the excitement in her voice.

"But it's always exhilarating to see the clothes that the baby you're carrying is going to wear, isn't it?"

She nodded.

"Well, if I can help you, let me know, okay?"

Jack nodded, placing one hand on Sam's back, protectively. "Thank you."

She looked at him, questioningly, and he shrugged. He almost took his hand away, accepting her look as a protest, but the minute that he lessened the pressure, she took his hand and wrapped it around her waist, placing her own around his waist. He looked at her, and she shrugged. He returned the shrug and they walked together toward the nursery area.

She looked at all of the cribs and she nearly cried at how carefully each had been crafted. Jack just led her head to his shoulder, and she felt comforted instantly.

"So, do you like the wood look, the colored/plastic look, or the painted wood look?"

"The wood look." She responded after a moment of comparing the regular finished wood with the painted wood."

"Me too." He said, looking over at her. He couldn't help but place a tender kiss on her forehead.

She smiled up at him. "So, what kind of theme should we have?"

"Oh, I don't know…"

"Space?" She asked. "I mean, we do work in…deep space radar telemetry."

Pain etched his features, and she pulled away to look at him more closely. "What? I didn't mean to…"

"No." He said, shaking his head. "It wasn't you."

"Then what?"

"Uh…never mind."

She pulled completely out of his embrace and stood before him. "What?"

He took a deep breath. "Charlie…had stars on his ceiling and…well, he liked…space."

"Oh my gosh." She said, walking closer to him. "I didn't know. I'm so sorry. I…we don't have to…"

"Sam, you're right. I mean, this kid is probably going to be starstruck."

She giggled at his double-meaning.

"Hey! No giggling." He said, his playful demeanor returning.

She cuddled up to him again. "Are you sure?" She asked.

"What?"

"Come on…for what it's worth, I'm not your second-in-command right now. Why can't I giggle?"

He looked at her, and she returned a look that seemed to be pouty. "You pout?"

"Sometimes."

He laughed. "I see…well, I'll just have to watch out for your pout."

She looked at him, feigning indignation. "Oh, please…like you don't have your own irresistible charms."

"Like?"

"Your sarcasm, your…"

"My what?"

"Your grin." She said, somewhat embarrassed.

"My grin?" He asked, giving her the full-tilt grin.

Her knees went weak, and she sighed. "Yes…"

When she recovered, and saw his amused smile, she glared at him. "That's not fair, and you know it!"

He smiled as he led her down the aisle toward the entrance of the store. "So…Junior ready for lunch yet?"

She thought for a moment, grateful to be in his arms. "Yeah, actually…"

"What's he in the mood for?"

"He?" She asked.

"Or she." He corrected.

She bit the inside of her cheek as she tried to inventory what sounded good to her. However, as the smell of Mexican wafted toward her, she knew exactly what she was NOT interested in.

"Uh…let's just say, I know Junior doesn't want Mexican."

Jack caught her meaning, and they hurried away from the offending smell. Only a few minutes later, they were sitting just outside Panda Express and Sam was eating sweet and sour chicken, fried rice, and strawberry ice cream. "Jack, this is really great. You should really try it." She said, dipping her egg roll into the ice cream.

"No thanks. I think I'll stick to the tried and true beef and broccoli meal that came entirely from Panda Express." He said, trying to forget the combination of foods sitting in front of him.

She looked at his plate for a moment. "Do you mind?" She asked.

"Do I mind what?" He asked.

She smiled and speared one of his pieces of broccoli. "I knew you wouldn't."

"You're welcome." He said, puzzled and somewhat afraid of what was going to happen to that poor piece of broccoli. Sure enough it was subjected to the same torture that the sweet and sour chicken and egg roll had been subjected to. It was blended with strawberry ice cream.

"Good?"

She nodded, contentedly crunching on the piece of broccoli. "Um-hm…"

"I'm glad."

She swallowed and looked Jack in the eyes. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For everything. I mean…I don't think I've been able to really let my hair down like this since…" She stopped, somewhat surprised. "Well, honestly since my mom died. My dad always had so many opinions about what should happen, and…quite honestly, I've been a little weary of men because of that. I mean, my dad has THE Type-A personality of the century. And my brother Mark, well…that's a COMPLETELY different story…"

"Really?"

She gave a snort of derision. "Trust me. There aren't family reunions in my family. Mark hates everything even remotely connected to the military, most of all my father, and my father tries to control my life, so…we just don't do family time."

"That's too bad."

She looked at him, and could see his genuinely sympathetic look.

"No, I mean…it's the way things have always been…"

"Since your mom was alive you mean?"

She nodded, finding the napkin on her lap very interesting as tears silently fell down her cheeks. "Yeah." She admitted.

"It's okay to care about it." He said, watching her get emotional and feeling so immensely helpless that he regretted ever talking 'feelings' with her.

She looked up, biting the flesh on the inside of her cheek as she tried to stop the tears from falling. "Really?"

He stood up and walked to the other side of the table where he sat next to her, placed his arm around her shoulder and guided her head to his shoulder. "C'mere."

She felt so safe and loved in his embrace. It was strange to realize that she had only met him six months before. It was as if she had known him for her entire life. As if she had waited for him to find her so that she could finally have some glimmering ray of sunshine.

I love you, she thought to herself, wanting desperately to say those words aloud. She stopped herself. It was too early to know what love was, wasn't it? It was too early to know that he was the one that she wanted to wake up to every morning, that she wanted to see her children playing with at the park…the man that she would gladly bear many children for.

She took a deep breath. And yet, there was a very intense feeling that all was right in the world when she was in his arms. There was nothing that she wouldn't have given to have felt like that with Jonas or any of the other men that she had been involved with.

Finally, she had to admit it to herself. I love him.

Besides, any man who would watch her eat Chinese food dipped in strawberry ice cream was a keeper. She couldn't help but laugh and Jack looked at her, quizzically.

"What?"

She chuckled. "I'm sorry, I was just thinking, and…I realized that you must be worth something if you can stomach watching me eat this." She said, motioning to the display in front of her.

He grinned. "Yes, well, there's that."

Suddenly, she felt the urge to kiss him, and she just allowed her body to carry out its wish. There were still a lot of inhibitions in her way of admitting to him that she loved him, but…those could be worked on. Right now, she just wanted to kiss him…and she wanted to remember it.

He was surprised, but despite his initial reluctance, he allowed her to deepen the kiss, and she felt that tingling sensation all over her body. When they broke, they looked at one another intently, and Sam smiled. "Is that enough of a thank you for today?"

"Today's not over." He said, surprised at how much he had really enjoyed not only the day with her, but also that kiss. He hadn't thought that kind of feeling was ever possible. Honestly, he wasn't even sure he had ever felt that way with Sara. But somehow, while that exhilarated him, he was also scared. He had thought it was great with Sara, but now…if it was even better with Sam, there was so much more that could go wrong.