"EEE!" Charlie shouts.
Right, that's exactly what they need, Jack thinks to himself. Because the sound of a crying baby isn't already the most aversive sound in the universe, what it really needs is the sound of an angry toddler thrown in.
He walks into the bedroom, and sees Sam holding the baby and rubbing Charlie's back.
"Charlie, it's ok."
"Babee," he scolds, covering his ears.
"I know she's loud, but that's just what babies do," Sam says.
Jack flinches. That particular choice in words probably isn't going to make Charlie stop hating his sister.
She is his sister, right? Sam doesn't want to get rid of her, does she? Her face does not look happy. Then again, there is a whining toddler, a crying baby, and the middle of the night to consider. His face probably looks a bit less than cheerful as well.
He really thought this would make Sam happy. He wants to make her happy.
"Come on, little man," Jack says, hoisting his son out of the crib and taking the boy to Jack's bedroom.
Charlie falls asleep easy, and Jack heads into the bedroom to put his son in the crib. Sam's in there again, and she's rubbing Cassie's back as the girl makes the last fight at wakefulness.
He smiles at her as he lays the baby down. His experience allows him to lay the baby down seamlessly.
"You're good at that," she says with a smile.
"Hey, yours went down first."
"Yeah, but I had warm milk working in my favor."
He smiles at her.
She doesn't smile back.
"Jack, this isn't working," she says.
It's like one of those cartoons where someone just walking, whistling, and suddenly a piano falls on their head.
He stands there, stunned, for a long second. "Right. Ah… the baby or us?" Either way, he might not recover. Actually, Sam leaving might be better. Because if she wants to get rid of his daughter, he's going to hate her. And if she's leaving, she might at least leave the baby behind. One loss is better than two. But he's not sure that even one loss is going to be survivable for him.
"What on Ne'tu are you talking about?" she asks, stepping out into the hallway so they don't wake the baby up.
"What specifically isn't working, Samantha?" he says with a voice that sounds eerily dead.
She shares at him, "Oh Ra, Jack, no, that's not what I meant. Oh, I'm so sorry for scaring you," she says, trying to hug him.
He pushes her away, still not processing what's going on.
"Jack," she says, demanding his attention. His eyes focus on her.
"I meant having the kids in the same room. It's not working. He's going keep hating her as long as she keeps waking him up five times a night."
He looks at her, stunned, "Sam, do you want me to call Walter?"
"No, Jack, listen to me, I don't want to leave. I'm not leaving you."
"Cassandra?" he asks, eyes getting wet.
"Horas*, Jack! You think I wanted to get rid of our daughter?"
"Cassie stays?" he asks.
"Yeah, Cassie stays," she says, holding out her arms.
He sort of falls into them, and she wraps her arms around him. She lets out a giggle in relief. "Jack, it's ok. You're not losing us. No way. We're staying forever."
He nods his head, still a little bit numb, "So what were you saying, before I freaked out?"
"I think their kids need their own rooms," she repeats.
"We only have three rooms."
"Right, but I don't think I need mine," she says with a nervous smile.
He bursts out laughing, and laughs for a really long time.
"What exactly is my asking to share your bedroom do you find so hilarious?" she asks with a raised eyebrow.
"Don't be offended, it's not that. It's… well, I was thinking you wanted to leave me, and you actually wanted to sleep with me."
"I'd say communication is the area of our marriage that needs the most work," she says, catching his smile.
"Yeah," he smiles.
"So, yes on the room?" she asks.
He looks at her for a long silent moment. He shakes his head.
"Right, no big deal," she says, trying to make a retreat to her own room before the tears start.
"Sam, wait," he says, touching her shoulder.
"Jack, I'm going to recover, but you have got to give me some time."
"Sam, please let me explain to you why," he sounds so desperate that she turns to him.
No words come.
She takes a step away.
"It can't be because newborns are loud," he says.
"What?" she asks.
"When we sleep together. It's not going to be because newborns are loud. It's going to be because we've absolutely stopped functioning because we can think about nothing but each other, when the you can cut the sexual tension with a knife, and we're taking showers with ice, that's when we're going to start sharing a bedroom."
"That sounds both horrible and amazing."
"Yeah, it will be."
"Ok, then Cassie's bunking with me."
"No."
"Jack, we can't do this to Charlie. He needs to sleep. He matters, too."
"I know that he matters, too; he's my kid."
"Right, but I just want to do what's right. And there is plenty of room for a crib in my bedroom."
"There's even more in my bedroom," he says softly.
"No, Jack, I want to have her closer. It would save time."
"Right, just what everyone wants; a screaming baby in their ear."
"Jack, I really want a screaming baby in my ear," she says seriously.
He looks at her for a while, "Yeah, you do. We'll move the crib tomorrow."
"And about the ice and knives, I think we're close."
He smiles at her, and leans forward so that she is sure it's going to be their first kiss. But instead, the two of them just hover in silence.
"You're evil," she whispers.
"That has been mentioned," he says, spinning away from her.
"Tell me by who, and I'll kick their butts," she says.
"Oh, Samantha, you're not ready to go fight system lords on your own," he teases back.
They are about to divide at the end of the hallway.
Impulsively she leans forward and kisses his cheek. She pulls away and searches his eyes uncertainly trying to figure out if that was ok. He searches her eyes, and takes his own risk. A risk which, for him, is much bigger than the one that she took, "I love you, Sam."
Her eyes grow wide, "I love you, too."
"So, yeah, see you in a couple of hours," he grins.
"It's usually three," she agrees.
"We're crazy for loving this whole parenting thing this much, aren't we?"
"Yeah, well, you are. I don't work. I take naps."
"Naps?"
"Yep, lots of naps."
"Yeah, I am a little jealous."
-0-0-0-
"Hi, dad, I'm glad you could make it," Sam says, giving him a hug as he enters the house.
"Well, I had to see this new granddaughter of mine. Granddaughter, right?" Jacob said, clearly befuddled by this crazy message he'd been brought by a messenger. 'We acquired a baby girl.'
"Yeah, she is," Jack assures him.
"So you guys are both in this, right? Like, you both adopted this baby?" Jacob says.
"Yeah," Sam says.
"Together?" Jacob asks.
The both nod.
"Ok," Jacob says, in one instant totally accepting the crazy situation.
"I'll get the baby," Sam says.
"How are you doing?" Jacob asks, getting down on the floor next to Charlie.
Jacob has been gone for a couple of weeks, or translated into toddler, years, a significant portion of a lifetime. So Charlie scoots backward on his bum.
"Say hi to your grandpa," Jack prompts.
It's not a word that Charlie knows, so it only affects Jacob, making his heart swell. He likes that Jack thinks of his son as Sam's.
"Here she is," Sam says, handing the baby gently over to his grandfather.
"Wow," he whispers.
Her parents grin in glee; it's the sort of reaction that parents dream of.
"She looks just like Sammy did," he says without looking up. Jack glances at Sam to see how she processes this. Sam glances at Jack to see what he thinks.
And Jacob looks up just in time to see both glances.
-0-0-0-
He watches them set the table. They don't use any words, nor do they need to. They are passing kids and plates back and forth. Their hands linger at every touch. They giggle, and lock eyes with each other all the time.
Jacob is over the moon thrilled that his daughter managed to find love in a world that seems so antagonistic to it.
But he's also more than a little scared that she'll get hurt. She needs to be protected, sheltered. He tried to do that all the time she was growing up. Did it too well. She never grew the thick skin which served his wife so well.
And then Sam reaches for a pot without a pot holder. A very Sam move. A thing she's done enough that her fingers have the insensitive can't-be-hurt skin that her soul lacks**. Jack stops her just in time, pulling her hand away from the danger with one hand, and throwing a pot holder at her with the other.
And Jacob can't protect her anymore. But Jack can. And he's better at it than Jacob ever was. Because when Jack protects her he does it by making her stronger. He keeps her safe by gluing feathers on her wings for a fast get away, instead of clipping them to keep her safe.
*He's Ra's son, so he's the Jesus curse in this universe.
**'Cause if not electrical burns, why not ones from cooking? Sam does receive an electrical burn to her hand abnormally often. She's like a female Siler. It's mostly that blasted anti-retou hand scanner. Redesign people, redesign.