AN: Ok, so this isn't the last part. See it's all written and when I looked at it, I realized it was really, really long. So I broke it up. I'm not sure about the last piece or if it will become the last two pieces. Sorry about the miscalcuation, but some of you didn't want it to end so quickly, so consider this a reprieve! Please leave a review if you like it!

Chapter Twenty-One

It was much harder to storm into the house and slam the door with a stroller, but Carter managed it. Cheyenne's cries hadn't quieted any, which made it easy to locate Jack and also clued her in on the fact that Jack hadn't calmed down at all. She found him in the kitchen, warming up a bottle.

"Damn it, Jack, I'm not doing this again." She didn't understand how easily their tenuous balance could be upset. She hadn't even realized it was that tenuous. With the exception of two weeks, their relationship had been rock-solid nearly since the day they met.

He turned around, no hint of anger on his face. "Doing what?" His voice was even, but his eyes were icy.

"I didn't do anything to deserve this. If I could have lost him, I would have."

He went back to watching the bottle. "Do whatever you want. I don't care."

"The hell you don't." She knew he was jealous. He had to be; it was the only explanation for his behavior.

"You know, I need to go out for a little while, so can you watch the baby or do you have a date?"

She didn't know what had happened to the cuddly, flirty Jack, but she didn't like the green-eyed monster who'd taken his place. "Of course I'll take care of my daughter." Something inside her snapped and she let her temper get the better of her. "Go have your temper tantrum. Come back when you grow up." And then she froze. All of a sudden, she was well aware that she'd mouthed off to her CO. Her jaw dropped open and she backed up a step. Despite the relaxed rules, despite his request that she call him Jack, it didn't feel right to her. She expected that it didn't feel right to him either, judging by the spark of anger that flashed in his eyes. She looked at the ground and waited for the reprimand.

When he spoke, his voice was soft and drew her eyes back up to his shell-shocked face. "I'm sorry." He looked down and Carter wondered why he was so hurt; she thought he should have been angry. "I do have to go out. I'll be back later."

Carter was too stunned to say a word as he handed Cheyenne to her. The girl was still crying, making Carter's silence seem louder somehow. She wasn't sure what to do; she would have preferred a reprimand. It would have left her on solid ground - knowing what was acceptable, knowing what was not.

He only took one step before he spoke words that shocked her even more. "I know you didn't do anything, Sam, I know that. I saw you with him."

"But-"

He held up his hand to quiet her objection, but the dark heat in his eyes would have done the same thing anyway. "I didn't like it."

She didn't know what to say to that, so she said nothing as he walked away. She didn't even know what to think. It was a long time before she even realized that Cheyenne was still wailing in her arms. She looked at her daughter, whose innocent soul seemed to be making the whole world go insane. "It's ok, honey." Se couldn't be sure if things were ok or not. She wasn't even sure what had just happened.

She managed to get Cheyenne to stop crying with the help of a bottle. Carter was too distracted and irritated to get into anything important, like studying the childcare books she'd bought. Her eyes fell on the baby store catalog that was still sitting exactly where Jack had thrown it that morning. She picked it up, trying to rid herself of the anxiety and only wound up remembering they were supposed to go shopping together. Putting the catalog back down, she seriously considered changing out of her workout clothes, since she hadn't even gotten a workout, but it required more energy than she could muster up.

She hadn't done anything wrong. In her mind, the worst she'd done was not mention that she'd gone out with Michael, but she didn't see how that bit of truth would have helped the situation and he hadn't actually given her a chance to say it.

But it wasn't just the fact that they'd fought again - not even just the fact that she was sure a reprimand was eventually coming for her words. It was the fact that she'd seen Jack jealous, raw and honest and unashamed. It amazed her to know that she unleashed that in him, that he couldn't or wouldn't control it in front of her. It scared her too.

She wasn't quite prepared to see him when he came back a little while later. She wasn't sure what to expect from him either - she figured the point of him leaving was to calm down and she didn't think he'd come back until he wasn't angry anymore. At the same time, she assumed the time away would allow him to realize how rude she'd been and she didn't know how that would affect his mood when he returned.

When he came in, he sat next to her on the couch. "Hi."

She looked at him, completely off-balance by his apparent good mood. "Hi."

"I'm sorry about earlier, Carter. I was out of line and I promise you that it won't happen again."

Her first instinct was to shrug off his apology and offer her own. But she thought his words were accurate. He was the one who'd flown off the handle, even if she'd been rude as well. She nodded and found herself saying exactly what she'd decided against telling him. "I went out with him once." She saw his eyes narrow the slightest bit, but he didn't erupt and she didn't give him another chance. "But it was only once and it was five years ago and I had a horrible time and I haven't seen him since."

His mouth quirked up the slightest bit, unable to suppress the happiness the truth brought. "You don't have to tell me about every man you've ever dated and, honestly, I don't want you to." He looked down at his hands. "I know you said no when I asked you to marry me and I think I understand why, but the lines started to blur on me with being here all the time and I forgot for a minute that I had no right to react like a jealous boyfriend."

She smiled at him, already having forgiven him. "There was nothing to be jealous of."

"Not even that mega-watt smile of his?"

Carter grinned. "I like yours better." She watched as he took in her words, understood that she was actually flirting first. She watched as the involuntary smile spread across his face, showing her what she wanted to see. She watched as he blushed a deep crimson. "So, are you taking me shopping or what?"

"As long as you promise you won't embarrass me."

She giggled as she stood up. "I can promise no such thing."

Jack stood up, retrieving the car seat from the hallway. "Fine, I'll take you shopping under duress with the threat of public humiliation hanging over my head, but only because of those dimples." He winked and she giggled again. Her dimples had come in handy over the years, but never more than right then.

Carter had been to Baby World several times in her life. She knew a lot of people who had babies and she was quite familiar with the process of parking in the giant lot, hiking a mile to the door while dodging the runaway carts of the women who let go of them while chasing their runaway toddlers, walking immediately up to the computer kiosk, keying in the name of her friend, and printing out the registry. The next step was to find the first person in the silly red vest who would grab her the first couple of items on the list that totaled the dollar figure she had previously determined she would spend. Occasionally, and only if she were substantially under budget, she would stop by the bins of small stuffed toys and pick out one in an androgynous color. The whole process took a little less time than the rest of her regular errands and it was a necessary evil. Even though she was usually attempting to achieve the purchase while on a stolen hour break from the base while the world was facing annihilation, she always figured it was a good idea to expect that the world wasn't actually going to end and that she would be expected to send a gift in lieu of her actual presence at the baby shower.

Baby World, however, was an entirely different animal when one wasn't armed with a detailed list of what to buy. Especially when there was a baby and a back pack that doubled as a diaper bag and a man who, once he spied the assorted stuffed animals in the bins, suddenly began to resemble one of those runaway toddlers in the parking lot.

"Look! It's a rhinoceros!" He thrust the pink animal in her face as though to make sure she really did look.

She pulled back enough so that her eyes could focus on it. "It's pink."

He frowned and picked up another one. "What about this one?"

"It's yellow."

He narrowed his eyes and she knew he was trying to recall the conversation they'd had two weeks earlier. "So that's better, right?"

"If we buy her a hippopotamus, is she going to grow up thinking that we think she's fat?" She waited for Jack to look thoroughly horrified. Then she grinned. "Let's splurge."

"We can get one?"

"Get them both. She loves that pink rattle. Although I imagine at some point we're going to have to tell her she's not supposed to try to eat it."

"Really? Both? Can we?"

She cracked up right in his face. "Jack, I'm her mother. Not yours. You can buy whatever the hell you want."

He grinned and tossed both animals in the cart. A minute later, he grabbed several others and threw them in too. Then he shrugged at her. "This way she can pick the one she likes."

Overwhelmed by the sheer number of decisions they confronted, Carter deferred to Jack's guidance on most things. But every once in a while, she couldn't help but eye the things he put in the cart and wonder.

"Jack, do we really need that many t-shirts?"

He looked at her, then at Cheyenne who was drooling down her shirt again, and then back at Carter. "Yes."

Carter looked at the baby and shrugged. "Ok."

The one thing Carter insisted on was checking up and down every aisle in case Jack or Daniel had forgotten something. They wandered into the area with the baby monitors and Jack actually consulted her about which she thought would work better. She felt proud that she could feel useful once again. And then her eyes fell on the cameras, nanny-cams as they were called, specially designed to spy on whoever was caring for the baby. Carter saw one particularly tiny one, specifically designed to be concealed inside a stuffed animal.

Jack looked at the box and kept walking. "Carter, we don't have a nanny so we don't need to spy on her."

Carter didn't move as she studied the box, more concerned that she might need to worry about her daughter's safety than at the idea that they sold spy equipment at Baby World. She looked up, feeling particularly unsettled at the thoughts rolling around in her head. "I'm going to have to go back to work eventually, Jack."

Jack looked devastated, as though such a thought had never occurred to him, or more likely, as though he'd never let such a thought occur to him. "I thought you could stay home. Consult or something."

Not only was Carter acutely aware that staying at home would bore her out of her mind eventually, but she also was irritated at the idea that she couldn't even if she wanted to. "Most women who stay home have husbands to take care of them." She put the camera in the cart and continued walking past Jack. She didn't want to get emotional and she feared the idea of leaving Cheyenne in daycare was liable to make her burst out crying in public.

Jack's hand fell on top of hers, stopping her from pushing the cart further. "I can take care of you."

Tears spilled down her cheeks so suddenly that she didn't have time to hide them, but they blinded her from seeing the shock on Jack's face. "That's not fair to you." She ducked her head, embarrassed at the raw emotion she was showing.

Jack stepped forward, pulling her into a hug and shushing her. "It's ok, Carter."

A vaguely familiar voice joined in the private conversation. "My wife was the same way for a couple months after Caitlin was born. Don't worry about it."

Carter peeked up, only to discover the man who'd accosted them in the supermarket. "I had no idea this was such a small town."

The man, once again baffled by Carter's comments, took something off a shelf and disappeared to find his wife. Jack looked back at Carter and shrugged. "I think having a baby with you is some sort of universal code for wanting random strangers' opinions."

Carter nodded, knowing that he was trying to get her to smile. She wiped at her tears. She didn't even know why she was crying. Of course she would have to work. Of course Cheyenne would go to day care. Of course they would both survive the experience. "Sorry. I just never really thought about leaving her with someone besides you."

"You trust me, right?" When she nodded, Jack smiled at her, reaching over to pick up the camera and placing it on the shelf. "We don't need this."

Jack spent the rest of the trip trying to annoy her into a better mood by picking out pink everything. Carter eventually got sucked into his good mood, taking out everything pink and demanding politely that he pick another color. Unfortunately, the reason that Daniel and Janet and Teal'c had not bought a diaper bag was apparently caused by an apparent nationwide diaper bag shortage. There were only two options - a black one with wheels that reminded Carter of a carry-on and a horrendous bright pink one with even brighter pink neon stripes. Even Jack was stunned at the utter pinkness.

He looked at Carter, horror reflecting on his face. "To think they actually must have exercised some kind of restraint is truly amazing."

"Jack, we're not buying either of those." Carter folded her arms over her chest.

He winced at the selection, desperately craning his head to see if there were others hidden somewhere else. "We need a diaper bag, Carter."

"What's wrong with the back pack?" It seemed to be working so far, but Carter was pretty sure, based on his purchases so far, that Jack didn't like anything without cartoon animals on it, which she had every intention of teasing him mercilessly about for the rest of time.

"It's a back pack. Not a diaper bag. We need a diaper bag." He scratched his head and tried to decide which one to buy.

"I swear to God, if you buy either of those bags, Jack, I'm going to start crying again."

He looked at her and grinned. "Does that mean I can hug you again?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Absolutely not." Her eyes twinkled as an idea struck her. "In fact, I'll stand here and wail like Cheyenne and not let you near me so that every single simp in this store will walk over and tell you how he comforts his irrational wife."

Alarmed at his choices, Jack turned around and immediately found himself facing an assortment of patches featuring his beloved cartoon animals. "Maybe we can sew these on the back pack."

"I don't know how to sew and if you say you do, Jack, it's going to dramatically change the way I feel about you."

"I promise I don't know how to sew." He was still looking at the patches and Carter knew she hadn't gotten the message across. "Maybe we can get someone to sew them on for us. We know a lot of people. Someone must be able to sew."

Carter shook her head, grabbed him by the shoulders and gave him a shove forward. Then she grabbed the cart and followed. "I think it's time to go, Jack."