Sam sat comfortably on the couch waiting for Jack to return from showing his parents to the guest room. She put her feet up on the edge of the coffee table, placing a pillow behind her back. She didn't know her back was ever going to hurt this bad. It could have been the stress of meeting Jack's family all this week, but she wouldn't know. She was glad at least Jack knew what he was doing.

"How're they doin'?" she asked as he walked into the room. He sat down next to her, swinging her feet into his lap.

"They went to bed. Dad's feelin' a little tired out." Jack rested his head back and closed his eyes as he rubbed Sam's feet. He knew they would be hurting her after being out and about all day.

"So, what's all that tension between you and your dad?"

"It's kinda always been there. High school didn't help matters much either," he replied vaguely.

"What happened?"

"I got caught covering for Seamus when he snuck out one night. They found out we'd been covering for each other since our sophomore year," Jack shrugged.

"There's more to the story," Sam scolded him. She was sick of being left out of her beloved's life. He already knew everything about her. Part of it was his job, being her former CO, the other part was just how open she felt around him since she'd come back.

"We both enlisted after graduation. Dad's always maintained that I convinced Sea to follow me in."

"Still more." She eyeballed him, knowing she'd have to get the full story out of him sometime. Otherwise having the entire family under one roof would be too awkward.

"Sea had a special visitor at graduation from boot camp. His girlfriend came up. Turned out the last time I'd covered for him, he'd gone and gotten her pregnant. The two of them were ecstatic, but Dad saw it as my fault. It just drove the wedge deeper. When I met Sara and got married, it brought us together for a little bit, not much, but after Charlie..." Jack trailed of quietly.

"God, Jack, no wonder you were suicidal. You had your own parent blaming you for the death of your son?" Sam dropped her feet to the floor and leaned as close to him as she could to hug him. She couldn't understand what they had gone through, and she probably never would, but she could hold him and be there for him whenever he needed it.

"Yeah, well, after I met you, my life started changing. Mom tended to notice the depression lifting. She convinced the two of us to talk one night. I guess we sort of worked some of it out, but we're still a little hesitant around each other." Jack leaned back with Sam in his arms. He ran his fingers through her hair and sighed.

"So what's Seamus like?" She turned her eyes to him. He could tell this was going to be the night of the inquisition. She'd put up just fine with his parents, so he'd better let her know about all the family before they descended upon them.

"Completely opposite. He's everything I'm not, including one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. He's got three kids, Sean, Jenny, and Tommy."

"What about Karen?"

"She's just Karen. Daddy's little girl," Jack laughed. He and Seamus had never really been jealous of her status with their father. When they found out she was a girl, they'd sort of expected it. "She's married, two kids, Dean and Kelly, Accountant. She's just normal. Her husband is an Actuary, so they're pretty much rollin' in the dough."

"So who exactly is staying with us?" Sam asked nervously. There were so many people. She knew her father was due in tomorrow and he would obviously be staying with them.

"My parents, your dad, and Seamus and Tommy. Everyone else said they'd stay at the hotel. I don't think Mark wants to be staying under the same roof as me." Jack gave a sad smile, knowing their rift would be hard on Sam. For what it was worth, he really did want to get along with her brother. They were so much alike he couldn't help but like the guy to some extent.

"It's not that bad. He likes you more than any of the other guys I ever dated." Her fingers started playing up and down his arm, rubbing through the light hair found there. "Why aren't Sean and Jenny staying with us?" It had bothered her slightly, not really knowing how old Jack's niece and nephew were, that they wouldn't be staying with them.

"I talked to Sean last night. He and Jenny decided it would be too many people descending on us when we're trying to get ready for our wedding. And between Jerod and Tommy, Jenny thought it would be too loud here," he explained.

"You did tell them two more people wouldn't be that bad, right?" She couldn't believe him. He was letting his niece and nephew go to a hotel when they had plenty of room right in the house? What type of an uncle was he?

Jack laughed back in response. He loved how caring she was, even of people she hadn't met yet. "It's not just two, Sam. There's seven of them. Sean and his family, and Jenny and her family." He looked over to see her expression with a smile on his face. She was thinking, again. He loved how he could tell just how deep in thought she was just by looking at her.

Jack gently untangled himself from her and went into the kitchen. He could tell she'd be getting hungry soon. It was only late evening and they hadn't eaten dinner yet. He thought about cooking spaghetti, but the smell would either upset her stomach or wake up his parents. "How's pizza sound?" he shouted to her from the kitchen. He pulled a beer and a soda out of the fridge and brought the drinks to the living room. He popped the top of the soda and handed it to Sam, who took it gratefully.

"Everything on it?" she asked, sipping delightfully.

"Sure, on your half." Jack smiled brightly and went to the phone. Being alone for almost six years, he had the pizza place on speed dial. Sam laughed when she saw him press the number of the memory. The conversation was greatly humorous to her as she watched his face contort in exasperation.

"Hi, no, actually I only want the usual on half, other half with everything. Thanks." He quickly hung up and sat back next to his fiancée.

"They know you too well, eh?" Sam joked. "So, while we wait you can fill me in more about your family. You already know everything there is to know about mine. Bridget and Nick even took right to you."

"Um, okay let's see. Sean and Rhiana are both twenty six, their son Jerod is ten and their daughter Stacy is five. Jenny is twenty three, her husband, um... Oh, Crap, what was his name? Kevin! yeah Kevin is twenty five, not sure if I like him yet, and their daughter is two months. She was the only good thing that happened while you were gone." Jack smiled sadly at her and took a sip of his beer.

"What is it you don't like about his Kevin guy?"

"I don't know, I've only met him twice. He and Jenny got married while I was trapped on Edora." Jack grimaced. Edora, that was a touchy subject for him. He'd hated every minute of it, and that Damn Laira woman! How could he fall for that?

"Maybe you should give him a chance," Sam suggested. She leaned over resting her head on Jack's shoulder, and placed a hand over her abdomen.

"You know, this feels awfully familiar." Jack laughed as he shifted to wrap his arm around her shoulders.

"Yeah." She tried to sound as happy about the memory as Jack was, but he caught the underlying sadness to her tone. A lot had happened after their mission being trapped as Jona and Thera, but he had loved best how he could still find her amidst the people. Of course there was also the section of the report that both had left out.

"What's wrong?"

"Just some bad memories," she responded vaguely. She had never told him then, and it seemed like it would be coming back to bite her in the butt this time.

"Care to share?" He hated seeing Sam upset. Usually when she had bad memories it had something to do with Jolinar. He figured this to be no different.

Sam knew she had to tell Jack, no matter how much it might hurt him to do so. They were getting married and it wouldn't do to keep any secrets. "Something happened after that mission, when we were back to being Major Carter and Colonel O'Neill." She fiddled with his shirt, avoiding all eye contact. "You remember about nine months ago when we had to cut our mission short to get me back to the infirmary and Janet wouldn't tell you what was wrong?"

Jack nodded, slowly, his confusion setting in.

"I'd had a miscarriage." There, she'd said it. Wait for it... It didn't come, the inevitable explosion she figured would follow.

"Why didn't you say anything?" His voice choked out, barely above a whisper.

"I tried. I immediately ran to your office as soon as I found out I was pregnant, but I got detoured to the lab. By the time I had found a chance to tell you, we were scheduled to go offworld. I miscarried on that very mission. After that I didn't really see any need to tell you that you'd lost another child." Sam looked away in shame. She'd always felt she'd done the right thing, but now she wasn't quite so sure. "I didn't want you to go through that again."

Jack turned her face up to his, his hand under her chin. "You shouldn't have had to go through that alone. We're here together now, and these boys are all that matters. We have a wedding to get ready for, and you need your rest."

The doorbell rang and Jack stood up to get the pizza. "C'mon, eat, then we'll go to bed."

A/N: Okay, sorry it's taken me so long to update, but i kinda figured i would today sort of as my bday present to all of you.lol. um, i'm not really sure when i'll update next, so thanks for waiting for me, and i really didn't mean to make you wait so long. And yes, i know the whole beneath the surface thing's been done a million times, but i put it in there a while ago, and i didn't feel like rewriting it after i decided i didn't want it in there, so it's there. Well, anyway thanks!