SG-1 had been taken off active duty until Sam's child was born. That didn't stop them from working though. Daniel was always busy translating things the other SG teams brought back, sometimes even going with them to look at ruins, and Sam had her doohickeys to look at. Jack would always come around and complain to her that she shouldn't be playing with possibly dangerous items, but she assured him she'd be fine. Teal'c continued to do whatever he pleased, spending time in the gym and recreation area, accompanying Daniel on his archeological field trips through the 'gate, visiting his family and Bra'tac, and going with other SG teams when they needed an extra man.

Sam continued looking through the files of potential new members for SG-1, wishing they could just go back to being the original team they had been, even though she didn't really mind their current situation. If she wasn't the leader of the team it'd be Jack trying to find a replacement for her.

The day finally came when Sam was officially put on maternity 'leave'. She wasn't allowed to do any work with anything potentially harmful. Instead, she sat around in her quarters and flipped through personnel files. She was almost certain who she would choose, but she didn't have to make the announcement until she returned from leave and she didn't plan to make it before then.

She had chosen to stay on base until the baby was born, letting Daniel take her car to her house so she wouldn't be tempted. She was finding the base less and less interesting the longer she stayed there; she didn't drink coffee so that there would be no chance of caffeine interfering with the baby's development, meaning that she and Daniel didn't have their usual coffee-pot conversations at random hours; she'd tried decaf, but it wasn't the same. She often got cravings that sent her team out to get the proper food items in the middle of the night, errands she was sure they were tired of.

The most painful thing was that she and Jack couldn't be close. Sam considered unplugging the cameras in her quarters, but knew that it probably wouldn't be allowed, even if she did it so that she and her CO could spend some private time together. He was suffering just as much as she was, often offering to take her out to lunch to 'get her off the base.' This was sure not to work because the press would follow them wherever they went hoping for the latest baby update. He had resorted to little things: he didn't complain nearly as much as Daniel or Teal'c when she asked him for green olives and cantaloupe at two in the morning. He would bring her a tray of food in the commissary when they were sitting together when her feet were swollen, and leave little yellow post-it notes on the back of his memos to her that said 'I love you.' If anybody noticed this they didn't say anything, and all they got from Daniel and Teal'c were little knowing smiles.

The contractions started on the busiest night the SGC had seen since SG-1 had stopped going offworld.

She was in the control room, having just finished fixing the dialing computer after a particularly violent virus had killed off all main systems. They had yet to find out where the virus had come from, or how it had gotten into the dialing computer, but it was fixed and that was all that mattered at the moment. She watched as Teal'c and Daniel stepped through the event horizon with the SG-3 marines. They were on their way to back up SG-9 on some planet where diplomatic talks had gone from tense to hell in a matter of seconds. She could finally sympathize with Jack, the anxiety they were both feeling as their friends walked into certain danger without them.

The 'gate shut off just as the first contraction came. She was standing behind Walter's chair and the dialing computer and that was what she grabbed onto. The chair was the type that adjusted to the degree at which the occupant prefers to sit, meaning that it tips back when the seated person leans back, meaning that when Sam grabbed the back of the chair Walter was suddenly sent backwards and almost fell out of the chair in surprise.

"What the..." he said, looking around for the cause of his sudden displacement.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit..." she mumbled when she realized what was happening. There was a puddle on the floor where her water had broken. She continued to curse.

"Looks like you're going into labor, Carter," Jack said casually, as he strutted over to remove her hands from Walter's chair. She glared at him from her position, doubled over behind Walter's chair.

"Thanks for noticing, sir," she said when the pain eased.

"Lets get you down to the infirmary, Walter page me if the situation changes, I'll be in the infirmary with Carter," he gave him a look that said not to page him unless Anubis was back from the dead and had a fleet of motherships ready to fire on Earth. Walter nodded in response, regaining his composure as Sam released his chair for the general's arm.

The walk to the infirmary drew many a stare, ranging from concern to excitement. However, the pair of them were completely oblivious to these looks. Jack's face was drawn out with concern for his 2IC every time she doubled over, and a falsely optimistic look every time she looked up at him. Both were silent until they were alone in the elevator.

"Are you ready for this?" Jack asked her carefully.

"I'm ready for it to be out of me, not to be a parent though," she confided. He smiled at her confidently.

"You'll be great," she was excused from answering when another contraction hit.

"This is sure coming quick," she commented after it passed and the doors dinged open. Jack only nodded his agreement and guided her out of the elevator towards the infirmary doors.

"Doc!" Jack called as they walked through the double doors, headed for the closest bed.

"What?" Doctor Cooper came running out of his office hearing the urgency in Jack's voice. He was the new CMO, having arrived a few weeks before the attack on Earth. He was no Janet but he was a nice guy.

"She's going into labor, that's what!" Jack said, as though the officer should've known that even before he left his office.

The doctor patiently got Sam to put on a hospital gown and sit as comfortably as possible on one of the beds. All that they could do was wait for her to dilate enough, until then she and Jack sat in relative silence and wished that there were no security cameras. As it was, Jack was sitting carefully back on his chair, which was pulled as close to the bed as physically possible, but he refrained from grabbing her hand until a contraction hit. He would promptly put the hand back at her side and return his to his lap as soon as the contraction passed.

This is ridiculous, a friend would be allowed to hold her hand... he assured himself, though he didn't want to risk it.

"Doc!" He called again, the contractions were coming every two minutes and, though he didn't want to check, he was pretty sure she was fully dilated.

"Okay, Colonel, you're ready to go... on the next contraction I want you to push..."

"You want me to what!"

"Push, Carter, it's what women do to get babies out," she glared at him.

"In any other situation that would be funny, sir, but you're not the one being asked to push," the last word was strained as she began pushing.

Jack was on his feet, holding her hand at once, ignoring any question of regulations or friendship. This was Sam and she was having a baby- his baby, and he wasn't going to not hold her hand.

"Okay, colonel, you should breath," Cooper reminded her. She hadn't realized that she'd stopped breathing. She felt much better when she started again, Jack's worried grin didn't help much. "Now push!"

She did as she was told, ever the good soldier. It was painful, but she'd survived worse. At least this time she had some pain medication and she wouldn't be thrown into a Goa'uld jail cell as soon the pain passed.

UNSCHEDULED OFFWORLD ACTIVATION

The call came over the loudspeaker followed by, "GENERAL O'NEILL TO THE CONTROL ROOM."

Jack looked down at Sam, torn. "You should go, sir."

"Sam..."

"It could be Daniel and Teal'c."

Or Dad... he gulped, squeezing her hand before sprinting to the control room, taking the stairs over the elevator for the fact that he could jump from landing to landing in his haste.

"What is it, Walter," he asked gruffly.

"SG-3 and 9 are coming in under fire."

"You had to call me down here for that!"

"Yes, sir, it's protocol..."

"I don't care if its protocol! Carter's having a baby and she's got nobody up there with her right now! Open the iris," he said in exasperation. Walter didn't dare do otherwise, and opened the iris to allow the teams through.

"What took you so long!" Daniel yelled, keeping his right arm close to his body. It was bleeding from a spot where a staff blast had grazed him near the elbow. Teal'c was looking annoyed, though unharmed. The rest of them seemed to be fine, if a little worse for wear. It's always Daniel... He thought before snapping back to reality.

"Sam's in labor!" He yelled into the microphone. He turned on his heel and ran back up the stairs for the infirmary. Daniel and Teal'c did similarly from the 'gateroom, causing people to leap to the walls; not many had seen the Jaffa running full tilt and now they knew why he was such a valuable member of the SGC.

Jack was holding her hand again when the pair of them clattered into the room, dropping weapons carelessly at the door and ignoring the doctor's protests as they came to stand on Sam's other side.

"Hi guys," she winced, still pushing.

"I've got the head!" Doctor Cooper alerted them almost a half an hour later.

"Took you long enough!" Sam scolded, thankful that it was almost over. Nurses tried to tend to Daniel's arm but he shooed them away, a glare from Teal'c helped.

Claire Elizabeth Carter was born in the next hour.

The team had discussed possible names for the child endlessly. They had come up with a number of names for both girls and boys because Sam had refused to find out the sex. Starting with Homer and Marge, they had worked their way through all the family names on both sides of the family and still found none satisfactory. They had considered many namesakes but had eventually decided on Claire or Cordell for no real reason. Daniel informed them that Claire meant 'bright', or 'famous', and Cordell meant 'binding.' Jack had wondered why it mattered. So Claire was the name of choice, and the Elizabeth followed because it was Sam's mother's name, in the same way that the baby's middle name would've been James after Jack's father had it been a boy.

Claire's first cry was a bold declaration to the world that she was not happy. She wanted back where it was warm and cozy and not nearly as bright. "I know, I know, little girl... but you're gonna like it out here too..." Jack cooed in his most un-Jack-like voice. Sam had collapsed back when she heard her daughter's cry, breathing heavily. Jack brought the little girl around to visit her mother as soon as the doctor finished with her.

Sam was exhausted she'd never felt more like sleeping in her life, but the sight of Jack holding their child brought tears to her eyes, driving away most of the exhaustion. Claire had quieted down significantly at the sound of her father's voice, but she settled down even more when she was in her mother's arms.

Doctor Cooper pulled the curtain around them after he had finished cleaning Sam up, promising to come back soon. As soon as the curtain closed around them, successfully blocking the view of the security cameras, Jack leaned down and kissed her. It was the most intimate contact they'd had since Sam had started staying at the SGC. The tears that had come to her eyes began falling in earnest. Daniel and Teal'c looked on with pity for a moment, as the little family celebrated the short time they'd have together before the curtain would have to come back down and the adults would be forced to act as though they were just friends, if that. They slipped out shortly after to get Daniel's arm looked at while Teal'c brought the weapons back to the armory, where Siler was having a fit over the missing weapons.

"She has your eyes," Sam whispered, looking down at her daughter as he hovered over them. It was true, the little girl had dark blond fluff on her head and dark chocolate brown eyes that Sam had been one of the first things Sam had fallen for.

"Hopefully she'll have you're brains..." Jack smiled, kissing her again.

Jack and Sam's moment of bliss slipped away more quickly than either would've liked. Halfway through the preferred length of their kiss, Claire started crying. Sam tended to her while Jack looked on with adoration clear in his eyes. Dr. Cooper interrupted this moment to check on them and Jack was glad that his back was to the man. When he turned there was no sign of the adoration, only friendly excitement.

Sam wasn't allowed out of the infirmary for another two full days, even though she was desperate to walk around after just one. Every person on base came and visited, bringing flowers and gifts (which she was very thankful for due to the fact that she hadn't thought to bring any of the stuff she'd bought for the nursery at home- continually denying that her due-date was as close as it really was). Sam was moved to a bed at the far end of the infirmary so that the gifts could spread out slightly.

There were no cribs in the SGC, so Claire mostly stayed with Sam. When the new mother needed to sleep one of her friends would take her for a walk around the hallways or, if the tiny girl were sleeping too, a bed would be pulled close and pillows would be stacked around to keep her in place. Naps were often cut short by unscheduled offworld activations, something Sam soon detested even more than she had when she had to respond immediately to them.

It took her an hour to make it down to her quarters. Well wishers filled the hallways, cooing over the child and remarking at her beautiful dark eyes. Sam could only hope that nobody would notice that there was a man on base who's eyes matched the child's shade exactly.

Her quarters had been turned into a nursery. One side of her queen-sized bed was mostly pillows and rolls of blankets that would keep Claire from rolling too close to the edge, and it was all baby-proof even though the girl couldn't even support her own head yet. Sam smiled when she saw the plastic covers on the electric outlets, and the assortment of baby toys stacked neatly on the floor.

UNSCHEDULED OFFWORLD ACTIVATION

The voice rang through the halls of the SGC for about the twentieth time that day. "You get this one, Teal'c. I need to grab some coffee," Jack made sure his daughter was safe in his friend's arms before heading to the coffee maker.

It had been a little more than a month since Claire was born and she was still perfectly healthy. She was able to hold her own head up most of the time, and she seemed to recognize the four people who she was always safe with. She even had a gummy O'Neill smirk that she'd give them when they came to get her after a nap.

Sam had yet to leave the base, therefore the base was all the little girl knew of the world. She was starting to feel bad about it, plenty of other people had children who stayed with grandparents, spouses, or at a daycare, but her daughter was living with her at the SGC. And a military base is no place for a child. Yet it seemed that the baby was destined to stay there, every time Sam came close to bringing her home something would come up that required immediate attention. The virus that had given them trouble before reappeared in the dialing computer and Sam had to kill it off again, this time going through to the source and making sure it couldn't come back. After this project she'd been exhausted and needed another day to get herself in the proper mind set for bringing a child home. Jack wasn't exactly eager for them to leave either, and kept coming up with reasons for them to stay.

Teal'c repositioned the girl, dwarfed by his huge arms, and walked down the stairs to the control room. Personnel ran into the 'gateroom and took their positions and the iris spun into position over the event horizon.

"It's the Tok'ra IDC, sir," Walter told him, looking to Teal'c for approval in Jack's place. It was odd seeing the huge man holding something so carefully as he was holding Claire, he was taking this godfather thing really seriously.

"Open the iris," Teal'c instructed. Jacob Carter walked through the 'gate carrying bag and looking tired, Teal'c went to receive their guest without a second thought.

"It is good to see you again, JacobCarter."

"Hi Teal'c, where's Jack?"

"He is getting coffee."

"Ah, coffee: the blood of the SGC. Who's this?" Jacob motioned to the baby in Teal'c's arms and Teal'c glanced down as though he had forgotten the little girl's presence, or as though he'd hoped Jacob wouldn't notice; you could never tell with Teal'c. Jacob walked over, peering at the baby in Teal'c's arms and his breath caught in his throat. This was his daughter's child. There was no mistaking the jaw-line, or the shape of the nose; all Carter children were born with a few distinct features. Then Claire opened her eyes; her father's dark brown eyes.

"Hey Dad!" Jack's voice came from the doorway as these thoughts flashed through Jacob's mind.

"I'm gonna kill you, you sonofabitch!" Jacob's bag was on the floor and he dashed at Jack, who reacted with years of reflex. They were quite a sight, Jack running down the halls, trying not to spill his cup of coffee, closely followed by the former Tok'ra. None of the personnel questioned it, most actually chuckled after they'd run past. It was all part of working at the SGC.

Sorry about the extreme wait in between updates! I handed the computer over and they had to completely erase microsoft word! now i'm using wordperfect or something, it's not the same :( anyways, i hope you've enjoyed this latest installment! there's still more to come, i promise, but it's almost 1am and i kind of have classes and stuff tomorrow...