A/N: Thanks to everyone who explained the zoo controversy to me (and sent me links to the zoo and to that blog article thing) - I didn't realize what I'd stumbled into on that one!

Ch 22

When they were on the road heading back towards Colorado Springs, Sam said, "I can't believe you said that about Daniel being an old soul."

"What, you don't think it's true?" he asked casually, not taking his eyes off the road.

She turned in her seat to look at Danny, in his car seat behind her. He was asleep already - he had barely made it out of the parking lot, head tilted sideways against the side of the car seat. He still had his hat on but it was crooked. His new book was open in his lap, and his stuffed dino was on top of that, held close to his body with one arm. "Yeah," she said. "I suppose you're right."

She decided not to mention that she hadn't been referring to the validity of the statement - she'd just been surprised that it came from Jack. Whether he thought about that sort of thing or not, she had no way of knowing previously. He'd briefly mentioned the Bible a couple of times before, once with just her and once with Teal'c, but like most potentially serious conversations, he'd mostly made jokes.

Then there was that really awkward moment once when he'd tried to lighten up the mood Martouf had caused by dropping in with the news 'Your dad's in hell' by claiming that he was going to end up there eventually anyway. Other than that… all things spiritual (or metaphysical, or whatever you wanted to call it) were just another item on the list of things he usually didn't talk about with, she assumed, anybody.

Sam knew, of course, like the rest of her team, Cassandra, General Hammond… and probably a lot more people than Jack would be comfortable with, that along with the whole 'Stargate that opens wormholes to other planets' thing, one of Jack's most carefully guarded secrets was his intelligence.

"What?" he demanded, making her jump a little in her seat.

Realizing she'd been staring at him while staring into space, she quickly said, "Nothing," and turned her attention out the window.

They were quiet again for a few more miles, then Jack said, "What about food? We were going to stop for a late lunch, but… I'd kind of rather not wake him up."

Sam glanced in the backseat. "Me too - he had that corndog, we can feed him dinner early if he wants. We could drive thru somewhere."

"As long as you don't report me to your little friend with the needles. Where do you want to go?"

"I don't mind - Subway is pretty healthy…" "Relatively speaking," he finished her sentence with her. She rolled her eyes and pointed to the next exit, where there was a long line of fast food restaurants.

"I hope he doesn't wake up when we stop for the drive thru. Chicken or turkey?"

"Turkey, I guess, with…"

"I know. Lettuce and cheese only, dry as a bone on wheat."

Luckily, Danny didn't wake up when they stopped to get their sandwiches, but just in case, Jack decided to save his chips for later - the loud crunching might wake him.

As he drove with one hand and ate his sandwich with the other, he gradually realized that Sam was laughing at him. She was just doing it silently, but her shoulders were actually shaking with the effort. "What's so funny?" he finally asked after swallowing a rather large mouthful.

"You're doing an impressive Danny impression over there," she laughed.

He looked down at his shirt. Half the contents of his sandwich had fallen out the back end, so that his shirt and lap were sprinkled liberally with lettuce, dressing, and even an errant olive or two. "That's why it's healthy drive thru - half of what you order ends up in your lap."

Sam laughed at the remark and handed him a few napkins.

Jack drove in silence for a while, not turning on the radio since Danny was sleeping. "So, how's the trunk going?" he finally asked.

"It's not… as far as I know. I want to try flipping it, see if there are any invisible triggers."

"Because of the upside-down writing?"

"Yeah. I figure they wouldn't do that unless the box was meant to be flipped. Maybe nobody's tried to open it from the bottom."

"And of course you called the geeks working today and suggested this?"

"Well… I mean, I'll be there tomorrow… I already told them about it being upside down, and I'm sure they have enough to do trying to translate…"

"Uh-huh, that's what I thought." He'd been thinking about the fact that this might be one of the only times they had to actually talk about the situation they were in. And, no matter how awkward it got, in all likelihood Sam wouldn't throw herself from the moving vehicle to avoid the subject they almost always avoided. Even with that security, he still felt the need to be vague. "Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you like Danny like this?"

"Sure," Sam said easily. "It would be impossible not to, he's absolutely adorable. I still want our good old Daniel back though."

"Oh me too. I just meant, um… he really likes you, you know."

"I guess."

"I mean, you're really, really good with him. You don't seem to get that yet." She shrugged. He took a deep breath. This wasn't easy to say, for about a million reasons. "You could do this, you know."

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean… if you ever wanted to have kids… the rest of us would understand, you know? You could probably be off combat duty and just stay on the base… which granted is still dangerous some of the time… but Teal'c and Daniel and I… we wouldn't think of it like you abandoning the team or anything. We'd miss you being on SG-1 like crazy but… we'd be okay."

She looked at her hands for a long time. Finally, she said, "I appreciate that. A lot. But I really don't think I'll be having kids anytime soon."

"You're good at it though."

She raised an eyebrow.

He actually turned a little pink and said quickly, "I didn't mean the 'having' part as in… any of the steps that entails."

"I would hope not," she said dryly.

"It's just… I don't know, I guess it surprises me that it's not something you want… eventually."

"To be honest it's not something I've thought about much before being with Danny. I mean, I suppose when I was younger I had the idea that eventually, maybe, when all the ducks were in a row… but my ducks have… multiplied like bunnies." He raised an eyebrow at her jumbled metaphor. She shrugged. "Give me a break, I'm tired."

"Understood. If you change your mind though, and you want the ducks and bunnies and… whatnot. Just, you know, let us know. Don't feel guilty for wanting more."

"Thank you," she said quietly, smiling down at her hands. "But I think for the time being I'm actually pretty happy with the way things are."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Well that's good."

They lapsed into introspective silence for several moments. When Jack took another deep breath, Sam assumed he'd be changing the topic of conversation completely - they had ended on a pretty good note without having to get too close to anything too personal or USAF regulations-related.

"I guess I see your point. And… if I had ever thought about it before this week, that's probably what I'd guess you'd say. But I don't know, it's just kind of different now, actually seeing you and Danny."

Apparently he wasn't ready to change the topic.

She glanced back at Danny, still sleeping peacefully, and smiled at him. "It's a nice idea, to think someday, maybe. But, I mean, aside from… other issues, we're in the middle of a long-term battle with the Goa'uld. That and having children are both serious commitments, and I wouldn't feel comfortable trying to split my focus between the two anytime soon. I wouldn't do a good enough job at either if I tried to do them both at the same time. And besides, if and when we ever do get rid of the Goa'uld I'll probably be too old to start a family anyway."

Apparently she wasn't finished either. She hadn't expected all that to tumble out, it had just sort of happened. She waited a few moments and asked, "What about you?"

"Me? I'm probably too old now."

She laughed. "Oh please. Men can have children decades longer than women… not that… I didn't mean you're that old, just… you've got plenty of time. If you wanted to. Did you ever think… it's okay if you don't want to answer, but… did you ever think about having more kids?"

He shrugged. "For a long time, no. But since we started on SG-1 we've run into so many kids, it's hard not to after those kinds of encounters, you know? Especially the lasting ones: Ryac, Cassie, Danny now too. Especially Danny. Let me put it this way. I would never say I definitely never wanted to have kids again. But I highly doubt the opportunity will come around a second time. If it did though… there are a hell of a lot of things I'd do differently."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"I started this conversation, it's okay. I don't talk about that part of my life very much… or at all, really. I don't think about it as much as I used to anymore either. I mean, I think about Charlie every day, but… it's hard to explain. I'm not obsessed with it like I was. With the regret part. It's… I guess it's just normal grief now. I don't know how to say what I mean. I still think about Charlie, but it's more in feelings now, I guess. But anyway, I just… I don't talk about it, but it doesn't bother me if you bring it up - or if it comes up. You don't have to walk on eggshells around the subject, worrying about me blowing up."

"It just seems like I keep accidentally…"

"It's the situation, not you. But I'd rather talk about Charlie with you than anybody, so it's okay."

She couldn't hide the surprise in her voice. "Really?"

"Sure. Who else?"

"Daniel… when he can articulate all his consonants and form compound sentences."

"Nah. He always means well but sometimes he's just too sensitive for me. You know - he doesn't know when to stop pushing sometimes. You're good at that."

"Thank you, sir."

"You're not good at that, however."

"Habit, s…sorry, Jack."

A few minutes later, Jack pulled into his driveway. He gathered all their stuff - which he realized was actually all Daniel's stuff… diaper bag, gift shop bag, balloon, etc. While he gathered up everything, Sam got Danny, who was still fast asleep.

Jack went in front to open all the doors, since her hands were both obviously full, and they took him straight into the guest room. Sam pulled Danny's hat off and passed it to Jack, then put Danny down on top of the covers, leaning far over the bed so he wouldn't be near the edge - although he'd proved he could get onto and off of the bed on his own fairly well. She sat down next to him to take off his shoes, going extra slowly and carefully so he wouldn't wake. She covered him with his dinosaur blanket, took the hand Jack offered her to her feet, and they left the room quietly.

Jack stifled a yawn as they headed into the den. "You know, he's wearing me out too, not just himself," he commented.

"Yeah. You know, if you want to take a nap too I won't tell anybody."

"That's a pretty nice offer, Sam. Are you going to tuck me in too, or does only Danny get the special treatment?"

Rather than having to try to come up with a clever response, she went to the kitchen to get herself a glass of water. Jack followed - the yellow balloon whose string he was still holding following him as well. He started opening drawers - he seemed to have more than one 'junk drawer.'

Sam leaned against the counter with her water and watched, amused, as he rummaged through a nearby drawer. "What are you looking for?" she finally had to ask.

"I thought I had a… a-ha! I knew it was in here somewhere!" He pulled out a little grey fishing weight triumphantly and tied it to the end of the balloon string. When he let go, it sank, of course, so the balloon now bobbed four feet off the ground but wouldn't roam about the house on its own. He watched the balloon for a moment, looking at the dinosaur and the logo of the RMDRC, and squeezed Sam's shoulder lightly - something he actually used to do a lot more when they first started working together, before it had become sort of taboo to touch her at all if he could help it. "That was a great idea, Sam. I think Danny had a great day."

"Thanks." She set her glass in the sink and said, "Well, I'm going to go work for a while."

"Oh. Okay… have fun," he couldn't help but add sarcastically.

He went into the living room and stretched out on the couch - it was Sunday, there was bound to be some sort of game on.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Half an hour later, Sam passed through the living room out of curiosity - she had pretty much been expecting Jack to come bug her while she tried to work. She was having little success with the attempted translation, which was of course Daniel's thing, not hers… despite the fact that she had "borrowed" his disk that had most of his alien-language research on it while she'd been waiting for Teal'c to pack his things. The television was tuned to a basketball game that was nearly over. Jack was actually napping.

She sat down on the arm of the sofa at the end where his feet were and studied him thoughtfully. She'd never spent so much off-duty time with him before, and honestly wouldn't have expected it to be as easy as it was. Or as much fun. She decided to leave it at that for the moment, before she started thinking about the more complicated aspects of all of this, and turn her thoughts back to trying to decipher an old alien language with basically no reference point - it was probably the easier of the two anyway.

Remembering the way he'd teased her earlier about tucking him in, she had a sudden flash of evil inspiration, which, if questioned later, she was going to blame on spending too much time with Jack. Hey, she had been the source of much amusement for all of them lately, what with stepping in wet diapers and being vomited on and everything…

She grabbed the blanket that Teal'c was using, unfolded it, and covered him with it, then went to the diaper bag and grabbed Danny's stuffed triceratops. Placing it strategically in his arms, she took a picture of him and went back to work, imagining everyone's reactions later when they had the film developed. She peeked in on Danny, who hadn't moved an inch, and went back to work, absently wondering if Teal'c would be home for dinner.