Keep in mind that Sam's only had a couple of days to process this information. Add hormone levels that have recently sky-rocketed, and...well, that just ain't pretty! At first...

Sam sat on her couch, one hand inadvertently on her abdomen, thinking. She was so confused. One minute, she would assert her independence and the next, she would cling to Jack like her place was forever beside him. And if she was this confused, there was no telling how confused Jack was- the simple man that he was.

One part of her brain refused to accept that she was indeed carrying her commanding officer's child, but the other wasn't as surprised as it could have been. After all, this was SG-1. The team that had come to expect the unexpected.

Of course, since she had considered herself to be one of the guys, this scenario had never been conceived. She smiled at the bad play on words. How appropriate, she thought.

She reached for the Kleenex box as tears streamed down her face again. However irrational it was, she was angry at Jack. He had raised her hopes and expectations to include a life for them together, and had proceeded to shatter those expectations when she accepted that they were already married. He had broken her heart once she had come around when she realized that having him perennially in her life and the life of their unborn child was exactly what she wanted.

She heard a car drive up, and she wiped her eyes. She really didn't want to talk to anybody. Not Daniel, not Teal'c, not Janet, not Cassie, and certainly not Jack.

She heard her visitor ring the doorbell impatiently. "Carter!"

She closed her eyes. It was him. How could he show up at her house? She decided to just wait it out.

"Carter, I was a jerk. I know that now, and I'm sorry."

She stayed still.

"Sam, I know you're in there, and I'd like you to open the door so that I can come in and apologize the right way!"

She frowned. The right way?

"Samantha, please?" He sounded desperate and she finally took pity on him and opened the door. There she found Jack, still in his dress blues, holding a large pot of potted daisies.

She looked from him to the daisies, questioningly. He simply shrugged. "I thought we'd give Junior a headstart."

Almost instantly, she burst into tears. Jack nearly panicked. "But Carter, I thought you liked planting flowers...you know, you did tell us that you talk to your plants..."

She shook her head as she went to get the Kleenex, leaving the front door open. Jack stayed, rooted to his spot on her front step. A few moments later, she walked back into the entry, a crumpled tissue in one hand which she occasionally dabbed at her nose and eyes.

"You okay?"

She nodded. "As long as we find a way to bypass hormonal weeping next time."

Time was almost suspended for a moment as they realized what she had said.

"Well, are you coming in or not?" She asked, unsure of how to explain her earlier statement.

"Uh, yeah...sure."

"You betcha." She finished.

He walked in, smiling, and closed the door. Then, he turned back to face Sam who reached for the potted plant. He shook his head. "Let me take it."

She chuckled. "I can handle it."

"I know, but can I...at least pretend...to be a macho man?"

"Sure."

"So, where do you want me to put it?"

"Backyard," she said as she opened the back door to allow him access to her porch. "Right there, by the violets."

He set the pot down, then stood up. "Can we talk?"

"Yeah."

She invited him back into the living room. She sat in the oversized armchair, tucking her legs beneath her as she wrapped her arms around her upper body.

"You cold?"

She shrugged. "Just...I don't know."

He picked up the blanket from the basket beside the couch and wrapped it around her, then sat on the ottoman right in front of her. "Daniel has some more info for us."

"What kind of info?"

"We're supposedly going to get more...physically affectionate as time goes on. To get used to the presence of our new spouse."

Her eyes widened in confusion. "What?"

"Look, obviously, this device was for younger couples. People who hadn't had the chance to be super-independent. We're having some rough adjustments. I guess right now, we're going to have to decide whether we're going to be an 'us' or not. That way, when we go through these trying times, we're committed."

She nodded. "But how do we know that this isn't just another...triggered response?"

He looked at her. "I don't know. But one of the things that Daniel said was that the device's influence over us began with our feelings. Maybe we just need to...I don't know, get with the program."

She smiled. "Oh really? You mean, I need to get a life...with you?"

"That works too." He said, a tender look in his eyes that she hadn't exactly ever seen before. Except that one time when her alternate self had come through the Quantum mirror.

"Carter, how're you doing with this whole...twin thing?"

"You got a couple hours?"

He looked at her with kind of a confused look. "Uh...okay."

"No, sir. That was the answer."

"Oh...yeah..."

"Good night, sir."

"Yeah, good night...Major."

She mentally kicked herself. The seeds for their mutual attraction had been planted seven years ago with their first briefing, but the seeds of their growing feelings for one another had first been noticed after her near-death experience with Jolinar. And it had taken an alien device to force her to admit it. Well, actually, two alien devices. But unlike the last time, this one's effects would be MUCH more permanent.

"I didn't leave because I'd rather die myself than lose Carter."

"Why?"

"Because I care about her. A lot more than I'm supposed to."

He had been so much more open than she had been to their budding romance, and now she wanted to shoot herself for not seeing it sooner.

"I guess we got a second chance, huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"We- I- didn't really encourage a relationship when we were determined to be za'tarcs."

He shrugged. "LTS."

"LTS?"

"Yeah, life's too short."

She nodded. "You've got that right."

"So...what now?"

She took a deep breath, not really believing that she was actually going to suggest this. "We elope."

"Carter?"

"We're already married. Why not just get the legalities out of the way?" She asked. "I hate to admit it, but once I have a piece of paper and a ring that tell me I'm yours, I'm not going to be as...vehement about my independence."

He chuckled. "Ah. So, we wait for your dad?"

She took a deep breath. "I almost don't want to. I mean, I know he'd like to be there, but..."

"But?"

She smiled, tenderly. "Jack, I've waited this long to admit this. I'm almost afraid that the Fates are conspiring against us."

"What? Those alternate realities finally getting to you?"

"Yeah, actually..."

He was silent for a moment, then looked at her. "It's more than that, isn't it?"

She turned her head. It was more than just wondering if the Fates would preliminarily end their life together. She wanted to experience the comfort of having his arms around her without feeling like it was going to end. Without wondering what other life he had put on hold to do so.

"Yeah." She said, softly. Tears were coming back. For someone who didn't cry, she was certainly financing the Kleenex tissue company.

"What?"

"I don't want you to hold me just to go away tonight. I want to feel your arms around me when I wake up in the morning. Ironically, as I experience my first-wave of nausea, I want you to be there to tell me that it's not going to last forever. And when I'm eight months pregnant, I want to hear you say that I'm not fat, even though I think I am, and not worry about what other women you could be spending time with."

He gathered her frame into his arms and held her as she cried. Time passed slowly, but neither of them were concerned about it. They simply held each other.

A few minutes later, Sam retracted from his embrace, wiping her eyes. "Thank you."

"No need to thank me, Samantha."

She smiled at his use of her full given name.

"But I think we need to rethink eloping."

"I don't want the fuss of a big wedding." She said, locking her gaze into his eyes.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded. "Jack, that would take time, and...let's face it. By the time we've got everything planned, I'll be too tired to enjoy it."

"Okay...but can we at least rethink not having your father at the wedding?"

"Maybe."

"Sam, if you want, I'll move in so that I am there for everything. But waiting a couple of days to get married probably will make things go a great deal more smoothly with your father. Not to mention that Cassie and Janet are going to kill us if they don't get to come to at least one of the weddings." He said, grinning slightly.

"Okay, you got a point."

"See, she would think that it's my fault and that I would require some BIG needles for my next physical."

"And my father would probably do worse things to you...if he thought it was your fault."

He looked very uncomfortable- almost in pain. "Oh, I know...please don't elaborate."

She chuckled. "So...I'm four weeks pregnant. We've got some planning to do."

"I think we have some time. What do you want to do? We could go to the zoo, watch hockey, or the Simpsons...any variety of things."

She thought for a minute. "I'm interested in going out today. But there isn't a zoo in Colorado Springs."

Jack just looked at her. "What? There's no zoo in Colorado Springs? There's one on the top of Cheyenne Mountain, for cryin' out loud!"

"What? Why doesn't anybody tell me these things?"

He chuckled. "Because you never ask for them."

"That was a rhetorical question."

"Oops. What does rhetorical mean?" He asked, grinning.

Anyone who can tell me who I got "LTS" from, gets a virtual gold star!