AN: This chapter is a little angsty compared to the others, but still a nice bit of S/J ship! Please read and Review,I love hearing your opinions and it spurs me on to keep going!

Chapter 5

Jack couldn't help but smile at the baby in his arms, his daughter. He was a daddy. And that thought was more than enough for a huge smile to break out across his face. Not his patented smirk, or even his grin … but a real smile. A smile that, until a year and a half ago, came out very very rarely.

After a few moments Jack looked up to find three broad smiles staring at him; he hadn't noticed but the conversation around him had ceased moments after he picked up his daughter. "What?" he asked his friends.

"Nothing," replied Sam, who was honestly just happy to gaze at the sight before her, and the look of pure happiness on the face of her husband as he looked at their baby.

"It's just … she's barely a day old Jack and she's already got you wrapped around her little finger," Daniel responded as he crossed his arms over his body with a smirk.

Sam took in a slow breath "Yep, I think we're definitely looking at a daddy's girl." She was still grinning inanely at her husband as she spoke.

"Is there a problem with that?" Jack defiantly said, expanding his chest and straightening up, with raised brows.

"Not from where I'm standing." Again the couple got lost staring into each other's eyes, which was quite a regular occurrence these days.

After a moment Daniel, he of the 'perfect' timing interrupted, yet again. "What are you gonna call her?"

Sam tore her gaze from her husband's eyes, who, also unwillingly looked up from his wife to his best friend. He glanced back down to his wife, who gave a barely noticeable nod. They were doing that communicating without words thing that they were so good at. Jack smiled and looked back to his friend. "Alison Janet O'Neill."

Daniel smiled, but this time there was a slight hint of sadness to his features, he broke the eye contact to look down at the baby in his friend's arms. "She would like that …". His expression shifted from that of sadness to genuine happiness at the memory of their friend … their lost friend. The pain was no longer raw; after all it had been two years since her death, but it was still there … the pain of losing someone you love never really leaves, but with time … just becomes more bearable. Something the four adults in the room were all too familiar with.

The silence was broken by a small sniff coming from the bed; the three men glanced up to find Sam brushing tears from her face. When she noticed she was being watched, her face flushed slightly and she let out a small laugh. "God. I'm sorry. Hormones." She smiled at her baby and looked to her husband; she found a hint of sadness across his features but his mouth was still slightly turned up at the edges all the same, her eyes locked with his and she saw a whole array of emotions swimming behind the chocolate pools, which were usually so well guarded. Love, pride, joy, understanding, sadness and so much more.

That was all it took … a moment to look into his eyes. She swore if she looked hard enough she would be able to see right into his soul.

He took her hand in his and squeezed it lightly: silent reassurance. He was so good at that. He didn't need to say anything to make her feel better, just the knowledge that he was there, he didn't even have to touch her, just be near by. She recalled so many times over the years when he had silently comforted her, no words, he wasn't a man for words; actions. That's what he was good at. All it would take for Sam to feel better was for him to be in the same room as her, his presence, as much as she didn't want to admit it, he was able to comfort her a way in which no-one ever had before. He would stand there, silent, hands in his pockets. That's all it would take, but often he went above and beyond, he knew that sometimes it takes a little more than just that, and he knew exactly when it was needed. She often found herself in the clutches his strong arms. That made it all the better; to have him there was one thing, but to have him touch her, encompass her in his arms, fell the heat of his body so close to hers … she remembered how he had comforted her after Janet's death …

She had gone to see him, to try and tell him … well at the time she really didn't know what she was going to try and tell him … that she still cared? That she was sorry? That the moment she saw him lying there … she really had no idea what she was going to tell him, but most of all she had to see him. She didn't know whether it was for his benefit or hers, she knew he was okay, she had been there when he'd woken up, as she always was, like he was for her. But since then, with Janet and Cassandra … she hadn't seen that he was really okay, that … she just had to see him.

She had been standing outside his room for ten minutes before she worked up the nerve to actually knock. She knew it was stupid, but … she didn't know what else to do, she was all over the place. Well on the inside any way; on the out she was still being the good little soldier, strong as ever, not wavering for a second, emotions in check, nothing given away.

She had started out lightly; "We heard you were up and around … bla bla bla," the usual things one said when talking to a person who had been injured. She was okay, calm, emotions in check; that was, until he mentioned Janet. That was when she felt the first threads of her control slipping away; she couldn't look him in the eye so she suddenly found her shoes very interesting.

He took that as his queue to move on. "How's Cassie?" he asked as he moved from the bed over to the hooks where the jacket of his BDUs was hanging. Not that this was a safe subject given the circumstances, but it was better than dwelling on the fact that Janet was not there to nurse them back to health and that she had almost lost him … again.

"She's a strong kid. She survives, you know?"

"Yeah. You speakin' at the memorial?"

All Sam could was nod; she didn't trust herself to speak, her control was slipping; she could feel the beginnings of tears sting in her eyes. The whole time he was standing in front of her all that kept reeling through her mind was the image of him taking that staff blast. The way he fell back onto the ground … and in that moment, for Sam, the world around her stopped. She couldn't hear the constant sound of guns and explosions, the people around her just seemed to disappear …

It was in that brief moment when their eyes met, as he looked up from putting on his jacket, that she knew … she knew she had to tell him …

"Sir, I just wanted to say …" - it was getting harder for her to hold back the tears - "when you were lying there, I …". Her voice began to quaver as it got harder for her to fight against the stinging in her eyes. She looked down from his face to the middle of his chest and took in a shaky breath. She glanced back to his eyes but only for a moment before she had to look away and continue fighting her losing battle against her tears. She looked back at his chest, all the words she had in her giant vocabulary suddenly left her, all the things she wanted to say to him …

"I'm really glad you're okay." She met his eyes only to find he looked down. For that second, when he looked away, her entire body was flooded with fear, she didn't know why, she didn't know were it came from but for that second she was terrified, until he looked back into her eyes. All she could do, to keep what little control she had left, was look away, look anywhere but his face. She only looked back at him as he took a step forward, closing the gap between them - he was looking at her the whole time. She knew it was only a couple of seconds but it seemed like an eternity before he said that one word that gave her all the comfort in the world. It didn't make everything okay, but it sure as hell helped.

"C'mere."

And when he finally put his arms around her, the relief that flowed through her body was immeasurable. The feeling of his arms around her shoulders as he buried his face into her neck, she clasped her arms around his shoulders and held tightly in place, just to make sure he was real. That he was alive and that she hadn't lost him, she had come close, closer than she had liked but … he was there, he was real.

She met her husband's eyes again and he gave her a tiny, questioning nod. That silent communication again; she nodded back and smiled at him, telling him she was okay.

"It is in my opinion that Dr. Fraiser would be greatly honored that you have named your child after her."

Sam gave a slow nod in response to the Jaffa's comment, a smile covering her lips. "Yeah, I think she would."

"Alison? Alison, wasn't that …". Daniel's brow was furrowed as he looked over to Sam.

"Mom's name? Yeah, Jack chose it." She smiled at her husband who was lost in the face of their daughter; she was nestled in the crook of his arm and was sleeping soundly. She looked exactly like Sam, except when she opened her eyes. She had her father's eyes, deep pools of chocolate brown that seemed to go on forever. It was the only indication that under that cute Carter exterior … she was 100 O'Neill.

TBC…

AN2: For those of you who are wondering, this story will get angstyer (ooh new word!) and i will develop to show how Jack and Sam 'Came to be' (as my beta would say) but i will keep going with the fluff and add a little more angst every now and then! Please Review! xox