See part 0 for notes/disclaimer/summary
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He'd rather face a platoon of angry Jaffa then admit it, but Jack was nervous. He'd checked that the velvet ring box was in his pocket at least a dozen times on the flight from DC, and now sitting next to Sam as she drove him away from Peterson it was all he could do to keep himself from checking his pocket again. He was distracted enough that he didn't even notice that Sam was glancing at him every five minutes or so and giving a little sigh.
Sam noticed that Jack was distracted and that didn't bode well for the conversation she wanted to have with him. She knew they had discussed the whole kids thing weeks ago, and she thought she's been fine with the decision. Now though she wanted to bring up the topic again. Maybe now that it wasn't such a surprise Jack might be more willing to consider it. She couldn't help but think about what a great father he would be. She gave another sigh as she saw him fidgeting in the seat next to her. She hoped he just needed to blow off some steam after the long flight. Because anything she had to say was obviously going to have to wait until he had settled down. She smiled despite herself, thinking of a few ways they could accomplish that. With that purpose in mind she casually reached over and dropped her right hand into his lap.
Well that got his attention.
It wasn't the first time they didn't even make it to the bedroom before they were naked and moaning each other's names. But it was highly unusual for them to still be vertical and in the front hallway as first Sam screamed in pleasure and then Jack gave a sound between a groan and a growl that seemed to last for minutes as spasm after spasm racked his body.
As consciousness returned, Jack realized that Sam was smashed against the wall, with her legs wrapped tightly around his hips. One of his hands was under her shapely behind supporting her while the other was splayed against the wall for support. He could feel tremors occasionally still coursing through Sam's body and she raised dazed eyes to his.
"Wow," she whispered.
"Wow indeed," he chuckled. It wasn't like the two of them hadn't had amazing sex before, but this had been incredible. Suddenly all of his nerves were gone. "Marry me."
Sam's dazed looked increased. "What?"
"Damn it, this isn't how I wanted to do this," Jack complained. As he slowly lowered Sam into a standing position and he looked around for his pants. "I have a ring."
When he stepped away from her Sam shivered at the sudden loss of heat but it served to wake her up from her trance. "Ok," she agreed. Then she watched Jack as he reached down for his pants.
"Jack what are you doing?" She asked grinning wildly. The man of her dreams was bending over showing off his very fine ass, and she had just agreed to marry him. So far this day was going better than she'd hoped.
"I'm getting the ring," he told her as he snagged the pants and pulled out the ring box.
"I meant 'Ok, I'll marry you', but let's see it," she laughed.
Jack froze. "You will?"
Sam put one hand to his waist and one around his neck and pulled him to her until their bodies were touching again. Much better. "I'd be a fool not to," she smiled. "I can't risk never having sex that good again."
Before she could even catch her breath Jack had swooped in for a knee-melting kiss. Before things could get too heated however, they parted and Jack grabbed Sam's left hand so he could get the darn ring on her finger. "I think I need a few minutes to recover after that first round," he admitted.
Sam nodded as she admired the simple ring on her finger. The stone glinted brightly back at her and she caught herself grinning madly again. "I love it," she acknowledged, and then sobered. "But we do have some things to discuss, and it probably would be easier with clothes on."
"But not as much fun," Jack huffed good-naturedly.
Ten minutes later they were sitting down with a couple of drinks. They hadn't bothered with shoes or socks, and Sam's bra had not actually been found yet, but for the most part they were dressed. Sam figured it was up to her to start the conversation so she was more than a bit surprised when Jack jumped in the moment she opened her mouth.
"Let me start, Sam. I need to apologize. It wasn't really fair of me to shut down the idea of having kids so quickly or definitively. I can only say that the topic blindsided me, and I let all of my old insecurities on the subject keep me from letting you tell me what you wanted. So now let me ask you the same question you asked me. Do you ever think about having kids?"
Sam was only silent for a moment before she took a deep breath and admitted, "Yeah, I do. More and more lately. They call it a biological clock for a reason, and mine has kicked in big time."
"So you want a baby," Jack confirmed.
"Only if it's yours, but yes, very much," Sam confessed. "But how do you feel about it? You were pretty much against it when we discussed it last time."
"Yeah, well I can be an idiot sometimes Sam. I need you to call me on that occasionally. I'm not saying I'm jumping up and down at the idea yet. My last attempt at being a dad was a disaster," he reminded her.
"No, you were a great dad. I know because I can hear it in your voice whenever you mention Charlie. The amount of time spent with your kids doesn't make you a good parent, it's the quality of the time. My dad was gone a lot when I was little, but I still loved him and every moment we spent together. It was only after my Mom died that we couldn't seem to be together without fighting, even though he was around more. Then he joined with Selmak and he was gone a lot again. But our relationship improved tremendously. So don't think for a moment you were a bad father. You loved Charlie with all your heart and that's what really matters," Sam told him.
Jack looked at the amazing woman sitting next to him, and little glimmer of hope began to grow. "I always said that you were way smarter than me. So you think we could do it? Get married and have a kid or two and still do our jobs?" he asked. "Because I still think all of the reasons we listed that were against the wholeidea are still valid."
"Well, I think some things will have to change. This long distancesituation is going to have to stop. But I should have no problem getting a position at the Pentagon. There is a lot of work going on there related to not only the SGC but other space travel. They have been bugging me to try to integrate some of the alien tech into satellites for years but I haven't had the time," she explained.
"How do you know that a year from now you won't be bored and regretting leaving the SGC?" Jack asked, doubt still written all over his features.
"You see that's the problem with regrets. You never know what you are going to regret the most when you look back years later. But I've come to a fork in the road. And when I think of my life ten years from now, I am pretty sure I would regret not marrying you and having children more than I would regret leaving the SGC again. I was fine in Nevada the six months I was there. I'm sure I'll be fine in DC. As long as I have a lab," she assured him.
Jack was looking thoughtful but she could tell he still wasn't convinced.
"Look, if everyone only ever used logic to decide to have children the human race would die out. I finally managed to ignore all that and concentrate on what I wanted deep down. If I can ignore logic you certainly can. Imagine I was to come to you tomorrow and tell you I might be pregnant. You'd be full of doubts and fears, but you'd sit with me while we waited for the test results. So pretend we are sitting here and the little plastic test applicator is sitting in the bathroom. I walk in there to get the results and come out with the test in my hand," As she said this she got up and moved to the bathroom and came back with something in her hand. "What are you hoping for deep in your heart, positive or negative?"
Jack was skeptical at first but when she walked towards him he let himself get caught up in the scenario. And suddenly he could barely breathe. He knew beyond a doubt what he wanted.
"Positive," he whispered. "Let it be positive."
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TBC