39) Jack was wandering along a small pathway not very many knew about, thinking of everything that had happened over the past couple of months. The face of SG-1 was forever changed, now the most unique unit by far. They were the only unit with an alien on the team, though Teal'c had insisted he be placed with O'Neill, but now they were truly a familial unit, with Sean now his 2IC.

He certainly had a lot to think about these days. As much as he knew Sean was a competent warrior, he knew family members weren't placed under the same command for good reason. Nobody wanted to tell the living relatives they'd lost more than one family member in one operation.

He'd always feared for Charlie's life when he was little, but he'd always thought he'd have to protect him from the rest of the world, not from his own father. He'd failed Charlie all those years ago, and it ended his life. He could fail Sean in just the same way. If something happened in the field, not only could Sean die, others could as well.

He couldn't imagine losing Sean now that he knew about him. Of course that didn't make up for twenty-six missing years. He'd missed the birth of his first grandson, grandson for cryin' out loud! Man, he felt old.

He wondered if his age put doubts in Sam's mind about having children. She could certainly pick someone far greater than he. At least someone younger. He was grumpy, old, cynical and generally not the best of company.

He knew he loved her, though, and that meant more than anything. Her happiness was the only thing that mattered. He loved her enough to let her go if she found someone better than him. She could pick anyone she wanted. No man would ever turn her down.

Janet had told him that Broken Virus thing that they'd caught in the Land of Light had brought out the primitive mind. He was supposed to be flattered that Carter had jumped him in the locker room; after all, she was picking the best choice in a mate. But that had been back at the beginning of the program, before she had known the details of his life, before she knew about Sara and Charlie, and now Sean and Colin. He wouldn't blame her one bit if she decided he wasn't the one for her.

Rico's loud bark broke into his thoughts shaking him back into the present. He watched the Golden Retriever bound to his side and kneeled down to pet him.

"What's goin' on pup? I thought you weren't leaving Sam."

"He's not." Sam came around the bend in the trail and smiled at him.

"What happened to enjoying your time at the dock?" He brought her into his arms and kissed her forehead.

She squeezed him comfortingly before whispering nervously, "Colin's here." She saw him shut his eyes, trying to block out the feelings she knew were coursing through him. That and his eyes were the only part of him she could read when his body and face were blank slates.

"Okay." He didn't really know what else to say. It's not like he could be openly excited under the circumstances. Had Colin been more like Sean, he wouldn't be apprehensive at all, there wouldn't be a need to be. But he wasn't. He wasn't anything like his brother, and he hated his father.

"Hey, you okay?" Sam linked their arms together as they continued walking down the trail. She'd seen everything flit across his face in less than a second, but the emotions were definitely there. She couldn't understand why everyone thought this man was so controlled. If you took the time to pay attention to him, you'd see he had more layers than an onion. Maybe that was the problem, nobody wanted to be in the same room long enough to find out. That was all his fault. He didn't let anybody get close to him. It took her almost three years. Kids, they wormed their way in almost instantaneously.

"No, not really." Jack sighed, just barely willing himself to keep moving.

"It'll be okay," she assured him, squeezing his arm comfortingly.

They continued on in silence, a silence that meant Jack didn't believe her. Not that she could really blame him, she didn't fully believe it herself.

"Penny?" she said, breaking into the crunches of the plant-life under their feet.

"Huh?" Realization dawned on his face as soon as he spoke. "Oh, I was just thinking back to that Broken Virus thingy."

"The Broca Virus? The one that turned us into cavemen?"

"Uh, yeah, that one."

"What about it?

"I know, back then, there was that whole physical attraction, Alpha Male, team leader and all, but now you know everything about me. If you want to leave, you can go ahead." He slid his hand down to hers and locked their fingers together.

"How can you think that? After the news Selmac gave us this morning, you're willing to throw this away? What did we discuss yesterday?" Sam thoroughly scolded him, not understanding why he would be so self defacing.

"You're right, Sam, I'm sorry. I just figured that now that you know you can have kids you'd want to find someone… better to have a family with." Jack shrugged. The rough, no-nonsense Colonel was replaced with Jack, the man who up until just now had no real clue where he stood with the woman with whom he had fallen so deeply in love.

"Well, anyway, it's such a nice day and Rico's been itching to run about, so why don't we stay out here for a while." Sam flashed him a Just-for-Jack patented smile and continued walking on their way. Jack smiled back, thinking that now part of his day was perfect.