They walked down the aisles of Wal-Mart, Jack pushing little Danny in the cart and Sam directing Jack to where she wanted to go.

"Carter?"

"Hmmm?"

"You know what I said about navigating D.C.?"

She nodded, absently. "Uh-huh."

"That goes double for Wal-Mart."

She flashed him an amused smile. "Good thing I'm here then."

"What about you, little fella? Have a hard time navigating Wal-Mart?" He asked the little boy, seriously.

Daniel just clapped his hands. "Ma ma!"

"Siding with Carter as usual." The general grumbled.

"What was that, sir?" Sam asked, putting some bread into the cart.

"Nothing…it's just that Danny here…never mind."

"Ma ma!" Daniel squealed, reaching for Sam.

"Yes, Daniel?" She asked, bending down.

"'p. 'p."

She looked at Jack, confused. "What does he want?"

"Well, if you asked me, he wants you to pick him up."

She grinned, sheepishly. "Right."

As she picked him up, Jack heard her mutter: "A Ph.D. in Astrophysics, and I can't even figure out what a baby wants."

"Don't worry about it!" Jack assured. "You'll pick it up in no time."

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"You have doubts?" He asked, startled.

"Actually, sir, yes. I do. A lot of doubts." She said, walking over to the baby food, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Janet said we should try baby food and maybe a few solids that don't require a lot of teeth. Like bananas that we can cut into three bite-sized pieces."

She bounced the baby on her hip. "So, what'll it be, Danny?" She proceeded to name off a few different jars, placing them in the cart along with some juices.

"Might want to get a few of these." Jack said, picking up a box of teething biscuits.

She nodded as she walked toward the baby department. Jack watched her go, surprised to realize that no matter how well he knew her, Samantha Carter always managed to surprise him. However, her insecurities were among the few less than pleasant surprises that she'd thrown his way.

"Sir?" She asked, holding little Daniel and standing at the end of the aisle. "Are you coming?"

"Yeah." He said, catching up to them. "So, you don't know what a natural you are?"

"Sir, I'd rather not talk about this right now."

"What about Cassandra? Or Merrin?"

"They weren't babies!" She insisted, rather loudly.

Daniel began crying as Jack harshly reprimanded her. "Carter!"

She closed her eyes in frustration. She tried to help guide Daniel's head to a soft spot on her shoulder while she bounced and rocked him, but he would have none of it. A few minutes passed, and she became acutely aware of all of the people staring at her as they passed. She nearly started crying when Jack gently took Daniel from her arms.

"Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream! Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream!" He bounced Daniel up and down, quieting him, then tossed him up in the air at his brief interim of "And row, row, row your boat…"

Before long, Danny was giggling.

Sam just watched him. He was SO good with kids, unlike herself. Sure, she liked them, but liking kids and being good with them were two VERY different cans of worms.

"See, Carter, you just play with them. They'll forgive you like that." He said, with a snap of his fingers.

He handed young Danny back to her. "Thank you, sir." She said.

"Now, to get the basic essentials." Jack said, with a sigh as he eyed the baby department.

"Sir, I doubt we'll have to get much. A lot of the stuff we'll need, we can get from the base. I mean, we'll probably only have him like this for a couple of days."

"Come on, Carter. You're the one who thinks through every conceivable scenario. Maybe Thor won't be able to help Daniel."

She paled. "That thought never occurred to me." She admitted.

Jack smiled, nervously. "Of course Thor's going to help him. I was only kidding. Sorry, bad joke."

However, the damage was done. She began rummaging through the clothes on the display. "Sir, I'm going to need clothes, diapers, a crib, a car seat, a stroller, toys, shoes…"

"Carter!" He said, grabbing her by the shoulders, taking Daniel from her and placing him in the cart. "Rome wasn't built in a day!"

She just stared at him with a blank look on her face.

"What?"

She blinked quickly. "Nothing. I just…I've never…This is all new to me, sir."

"Well, then, this'll be good practice for when you and Pete have your own kids, won't it?"

Pain coursed through her as she nodded. "Sure."

"So, strollers, car seats or cribs first?"

They reached the check-out line with a full cart. Jack had insisted on getting Daniel a number of "classic" accessories: a teddy bear and a "blankie" to name a couple.

Daniel had again insisted on being held by Sam. She tried to help Jack get the things onto the belt, but was unsuccessful. "Sam, don't worry about it." He said.

She was caught by surprise. He rarely called her by her first name. She reached into her purse to get out her credit card, but his strong arm stopped her when he waved his own in front of her. "Don't worry about it."

The cashier watched them. "Your son is so well-behaved." She said, smiling.

Daniel just smiled back at her while Sam gave her a bewildered look.

"And to have another precious angel on the way, what a blessing! You know, you are so smart to get started on building up the nursery so soon." She said.

By now, Sam was about to protest, but Jack placed his hand on hers. "Come on, sweetheart. Let's get you and Junior to the car."

As they reached his truck and placed Daniel in his new car seat, Sam turned to Jack. "How could she think that we were Daniel's parents?" She ranted. "And how dare you pretend that you and I..."

"Well, he does call you 'ma ma.'" The general pointed out. She was genuinely startled, but rekindled the angry fire that raged inside.

"And do I LOOK pregnant to you? For that matter, do we look like the happy married couple with one kid and another on the way?"

Jack shook his head, knowing that what the cashier had said was simply the proverbial straw. "Did you hear what she said? So soon. If, and I stress IF, she thought that you were pregnant, she thought you weren't showing yet. Carter, what's gotten into you?"

She looked into his eyes for a few moments, a fatal mistake. She began sobbing.

"Carter?" He asked, gathering her into an embrace. "What's wrong?"

"I can't take care of a baby." She recovered, pulling out of his embrace. "And what the hell makes you think that I need to practice before Pete and I do or don't have kids?" She rambled.

"Carter," He said, placing his hands on her arms and then, placing one finger under her chin, forcing her to look into those deep, brown pools that were his eyes. "You CAN take care of a baby. It's only when you doubt yourself that you make a mistake. And second of all, I know you'd never settle for anyone that didn't want a family as much as you do."

She swallowed down the lump that had jumped from her heart to her throat. "What makes you think I want a family?" She whispered.

"Don't you?" He asked, softly.

"That's not the point."

"Carter, I can't imagine you settling for anything less than the joy that a child can bring you." He said, seriously. "If Pete, or anyone else, is making you think that you can't be a good enough mother, I want you to know that they are wrong."

"What if I fail?" She asked.

"Never going to happen."

"It has before."

"What?" He asked.

"Not exactly in motherhood, I mean let's face it, I'm the one with the least experience, but…I mean, you always believe that I can fix something, and…even I fail. I'm just not sure I want to take that chance with something so important as…a child's life."

His face became etched with pain. "I'll take you home, Carter."

She closed her eyes, angry with herself for her stupidity at mentioning something that could have and obviously did remind him of Charlie's untimely end. "Sir…I didn't mean…"

"Get in the car, Carter. That's an order."

She took a deep breath, the moment was gone. "Yes, sir."