"Sam!" Janet said, passing her friend in the hallway.
"Janet!"
"How are you feeling today?"
"Would everyone just stop treating me like I'm pregnant? I'm NOT pregnant!" She said, somewhat exasperated. First Jack, then her father, then Daniel and Teal'c…and now, Janet! What was wrong with everyone? She would know if she was pregnant, after all, she had known when she had been pregnant with her other two children.
"Okay." Janet said, cautiously. "When did I say anything about you being pregnant? I was just asking how you are today."
Sam took a deep breath and looked apologetically at her friend. "Sorry. Jack, Dad, Daniel and Teal'c all think that I'm pregnant."
"Are you?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Janet…"
"Look, would it really be such a bad thing if you were?"
She shook her head. "Janet, it's not a question about it being a good or a bad thing. It's just that I don't want people not taking me seriously because I've been 'labeled.' It's kind of like some guy coming up to you and saying that you must be PMS-ing, because you're a little irritable."
"I can give you a check-up, if you want." She said, not deterred by Sam's defensive position.
"Janet, do you know something that I don't?" She asked, somewhat frustrated.
"No. But, if you are pregnant, I know you'll want to start taking better care of yourself. And if you're not, what better way to shut the guys up than to know for sure?"
Sam chewed the flesh on the inside of her lip, looking at Janet, thoughtfully. "Okay, when do you have the time?"
"Right now, and I'll have the results before lunch."
--
"Sam?" Janet asked, entering the lab a few hours later.
"Yeah?" She answered, studying some of the technologies in her lab.
"I have the results."
She looked up.
"You're pregnant."
Sam's eyes widened. "I am?"
"Yep. I double-checked my results to be sure."
"Wow."
"You had no idea?"
She shook her head. "So much for woman's intuition."
"Well, I did have an idea, but…I didn't want to say anything until you came to me."
"But, Janet, you're a doctor. You're trained to see changes in people's health at a moment's notice."
"This had nothing to do with that." She stated honestly.
"What do you mean?"
"Sam, you tend to have…less patience when you're pregnant. And you have mood swings…"
"How bad?" Sam asked, almost afraid to hear the verdict.
"Pretty bad." She answered, vaguely. "But on the flip side, you get more maternal…"
She closed her eyes in recognition. "Yeah, I told Daniel not to forget to say please and thank you at Aunt Janet's house." She said, an embarrassed smile on her face.
"You did?"
"Well, I have you or Cassie watch the kids so often that I feel like that's the only thing I say to the kids when I'm home."
"How did he react?"
"He looked at me, somewhat confused and said: yes, mom."
Janet laughed.
"Okay…on to the hard part. How do I tell Jack?"
Janet looked at her friend with a quizzical eye. "Isn't he happy about the prospect of having another child?"
"Oh…yeah. That's not what I meant. I meant…I don't know what I mean." She said, sitting on the chair near her desk.
"Oh, you meant the extravagance of the official announcement."
She nodded.
"Sam, just tell him. You spend so much time worrying about making it perfect, and he really just wants to know."
She looked at her friend and nodded. "Okay. Thanks."
"No problem."
--
Sam came home a little early to find her father outside with the kids. "Dad!"
"You're home early."
She shrugged. "Nothing for me to do. Jack's tied up in negotiations with Daniel, Teal'c went off-world with SG-9, and the Asgard scanner was shipped to Area 51 this morning. I decided I'd come home and see what you and the kids were up to."
"Oh, just playing in the yard, as you can see."
She smiled. "Grace! Jack!"
Both came running. "Mommy!" They squealed.
"Grampa made a new friend!" Grace said, excitedly as she led Sam onto the porch swing in the backyard.
"Dad?" She asked. Her father had not been one to "make friends" before. That had been her mother's job and he tagged along for the ride.
"What? Your neighbor, Mrs. Watley, stopped by, and I merely made polite conversation with her."
She raised an eyebrow as she sat on the swing and lifted the four-year-old onto her lap. "When do you make polite conversation with anybody? Has Selmak been rubbing off on you?"
"It not Se'mak, Mommy!" Jack, Jr. insisted. "It Grampa!"
"Oh, by the way, you, Jack, and I are invited to Maria's house for dinner on Wednesday night. I wasn't sure if you'd be able to make it, but…"
"A double date, Dad?"
"No. Just a group of people dining together in a friend's home."
"Grampa said that Danny or T might come and stay wif us while you go." Grace said, knowledgably.
"I see."
"Pease! Can Danny come!"
"I like T!"
"What if I ask them both to come?" Sam asked, ending the argument swiftly.
"Yay!" Came the enthusiastic response from both children.
"I see you're thinking about accepting her invitation." He said, a smile on his face.
"Only because I want to see you flirt!" She said with a mischievous gleam in her eye.
--
Jack reclined in his chair and rubbed his eyes wearily. The negotiations had been long and difficult, but in the end, Daniel had turned the arduous day into a success. "Daniel." He said to the archaeologist standing outside his door.
"Yes, Jack?"
"Take a couple of days off. You deserve them."
He anticipated the look of confusion on Daniel's face. "Daniel, I could use a few days off, and I didn't do anything except listen to you and Ambassador Ref'mar negotiate."
"You did throw in a few key points." Daniel said, helpfully.
"Daniel, you're going to take the day off tomorrow or so help me…"
"Okay."
He sat back up, and looked at the papers on his desk. There was a never-ending stack of paperwork still to be sorted, signed, etc. He let out a sigh before catching a note on his desk in Sam's handwriting. Need to talk to you. Love, Sam.
He looked back up at Daniel. "You seen Sam today?"
"No. I've spent my whole day in those negotiations with you. If you haven't seen her, I haven't seen her."
"Right."
He stood up. "Well, take the day off tomorrow, and if you're good, I'll commute your sentence to one day."
Daniel shook his head as he followed his friend out the door.
He arrived at Sam's lab to find it empty. Luckily for him, Janet passed by the door. "Doc, do you know where Sam is?"
"I think she went home. She wasn't feeling well."
"Really?"
"Either that or she didn't have anything else to do."
"Don't ever say that again, Doctor. That's what the end of the world looks like to me." He said, mockingly.
She smiled. "Good night, General."
"Good night, Doctor."
--
Jack walked into the quiet house, finding the kitchen clean, the kids in bed and only a few houselights on. He walked carefully into the master bedroom where he found Sam lying asleep in her pajamas underneath the English Rose patterned covers on the king sized bed, while one of their home videos played in the background.
He smiled at the sight. She had been working hard over the last few weeks, and deserved the extra hours of quality sleep. He turned the video off, and began undressing, preparing to go to bed himself.
"They grow up so quickly," she said, softly.
He turned. Sam hadn't been deeply asleep, and turning off the television had actually awakened her.
"Sam."
"Jack." She said, a sleepy smile on her lips.
"Who grows up so quickly?"
"Kids."
He nodded. "Yeah. But that's what they do."
She smiled. "I know."
By now, he was fully clothed in his own pajamas and walked over to his side of the bed. "I just got your message."
"I figured I'd be lucky if you'd even seen it at all." She said, with a smile.
He gave her a sarcastic smile. "What did you need to talk to me about?"
She took a deep breath, playing with her hands as she tried to word all of the feelings in her heart correctly.
"You were right." She finally said.
"About?"
"Everything."
He gave her a confused look, and she smiled. "You ready to start redecorating the nursery?"
His eyes widened. "You're really…?"
She nodded. "Yes."
"That's great!"
Tears moistened her eyes. "Yeah."
"There's something else, isn't there?"
She nodded. "You were right about my dad too."
His eyebrows shot up. "Which part?"
"He managed to get himself and us invited to dinner at Maria Watley's house for dinner on Wednesday."
"YOUR dad?"
She nodded. "The one and only."
"You're kidding!"
"Nope. He was remarkably…calm about it. Let's see what happens Wednesday night, huh?"
"Well, I'll be…"
"But Jack, I'm not sure that this is exactly a good thing."
Jack looked at her, somewhat alarmed. "Why wouldn't it be?"
"Well, think about it. Selmak would have to be completely silent through the whole evening, and if he should start dating, what happens when he has to go back to the Tok'ra? What happens if he dies 'in the line of duty?'"
"Sam, we'll figure it out."
She cuddled up to him, and nodded. "I know." Then, she looked up at him, a sheepish smile on her face. "But sometimes, I wish there was a right answer to life."
He smiled as he kissed the top of her head. "There is."
She looked up at him. "Is what?"
"A right answer to life."
She raised her eyebrows, now perfectly interested in what he had to say. "Go on."
"It's called living it. Something that we've both learned how to do."
She cuddled in closer as he turned out his lamp. "Together."