"Sam, I'm alone. Open up," Jack shouts through the door.

Sam was really hoping she would have time to change out the bloody dress before he got back. But instead she fed Cassie, and comforted Charlie, wiped a bloody stillborn baby down, and checked on a Janet five times.

"Jack, you're back," she says.

"Yeah, I need to see Janet, is she… dressed?"

"Yeah," Sam says carefully.

Jack moves past her into the master bedroom where Sam has set Janet up. Since Jack is with Janet, Sam decides this would be a good time to quickly change her dress. She moves to the dresser that migrated into Jack's room one day a few weeks after she'd made the migration herself.

"Janet, how come you never told me what an ass your husband was?" Jack asks.

"I told you about… bread mold and my labels."

"Right, but you didn't tell me he beat you, and made sex so bad you cried every time," Jack says plainly.

Any idea Sam had to escaping and leaving them alone for this conversation is gone.

"It just… you didn't need to know," Janet whispers.

"Janet, I would have bought you a long time ago, had I known," Jack says.

"Hold it, you bought her?" Sam says in shock.

Janet stares at Jack with a mix of relief and horror.

"Ok, calm down, this isn't what you think it is. Janet, I don't actually want to marry you," Jack says.

"But you are married to her, just to clarify," Sam points out.

"Yeah, we are. But my plan is to move Cassie into our room, and give you that room. I won't be visiting your bedroom, Janet. You can go about resistance business. I'll make no wifely demands on you at all. If you want to do a little child care when you're not too busy, we'd appreciate it, but it's not necessary," Jack says.

Sam grabs a clean dress, and makes her way to the bathroom. She needs to talk to Jack privately. She doesn't want her friend to hear the things that she is going to say to him. And if she stays in this room much longer she is going to scream at Jack.

"Do I get to negotiate any of these terms, or do you just own me?" Janet asks.

"I don't want you to feel like I own you."

"But you do, you do own me, Jack."

"Tell me what you want out of this marriage, and we'll talk about it," Jack says.

"I want to be a mother," Janet says directly.

"Janet, Sam and I… Ne'tu, I'm not going to have sex with you."

"That's great, I hate sex. I mean I want to be a mother to your kids. You know, change diapers, feed them, teach them things, make decisions about their lives."

"I'd have to talk to Sam, they're her kids, too."

"Of course," Janet says.

"I can guarantee that I will never hit you or sell you to anyone you don't want to be sold to."

"So this is temporary?"

"Only if you want it to be."

"'Cause I trust you, Jack. I don't trust most men. So I want to know if this is a temporary haven or a permanent salvation."

"Janet, if you leave, it's going to be because you found something better. You will never go from here to something worse."

"Jack, I can't thank you enough. I'm going to find a way to pay you back."

"Please, Janet, you've saved my life enough times to cover a bride price," he laughs. He sees the baby still clutched to her chest. "I'm sorry about your baby, Janet," he says sincerely.

She just stares at him. It's a look he's only seen before in the mirror, right after Sara died.

"I'm going to need him, though," Jack says.

"What?" Janet asks.

"It's part of a standard marriage contract," Jack says.

"No," Janet says, clutching the baby closer to her chest, "He does not get my baby."

"Janet, that's not really your son, your son is gone. That is just a body."

"He does not get him!" Janet exclaims.

"Ok, I'll go renegotiate, tell him that he's dead or whatever, but he needs to be… buried, Janet. You can't just hold him."

Janet nods her head, and passes the baby to him softly, never breaking eye contact.

-0-0-0-

"Daddy," Charlie says, reaching up from the crib as his father walks by.

"Hey, Bud," Jack says, scooping him up.

"Screams," Charlie says.

Jack's eyebrows shoot up. The kid looks traumatized. "Was Janet screaming?"

The boy nods his head, and buries it into his father's shoulder.

"Hey, it's ok, Charlie," Jack assures, him rubbing his back softly. "Janet had a baby, and it hurts, but she's ok now."

"Bad baby," Charlie moans.

"No sweetie, all babies hurt their mommies when they're born."

"Where baby?" he asks with his eyebrows close together.

Jack takes a sharp breath. He hates the world for making him explain this to a tiny baby. "The baby died."

"Where?" Charlie asks.

"He's gone."

"Ja'et no 'ead?" the boy asks.

"No, she's fine."

"'Ere?" the boy asks.

"Yes, she's still here."

"'iss 'etter," Charlie demands.

"Well, sweetie, how about you let me ask if she want you to kiss it better?" he says.

Charlie nods his head, pretty confident that no one is going to say no to this offer. Jack pokes his head in the door, and can see that Janet certainly isn't going to say no to this.

"Be gentle with her, especially around her stomach," Jack warns as he sits his son down on the bed.

"Owie?" he asks Janet.

"Yeah, sorry I scared you, little man."

"'ere owie?" Charlie asks.

Uh-oh, Jack hadn't thought of that. His son is definitely not going to kiss Sam's sewing job.

"Right here," Janet says, pointing to her still larger than normal stomach.

Charlie leans forward and smacks her dress with a big slobbery kiss.

"Thank you," Janet says with genuine appreciation. "Can you do something else to make me feel better?"

The kid nods eagerly.

"Can you cuddle me for a while?" Janet asks Charlie, giving Jack a smile.

It's a genius move, because the kid does need comfort. And Janet needs a kid around her right now.

Jack moves out to the kitchen. Sam is feeding Cassie. "Sam, I need to go out…"

"No," she says, and he is surprised to see fury behind her eyes.

"I was just going to tell work that Janet's address has changed in case there is an emergency."

"An emergency? Are you kidding me? She can't deal with an emergency right now! You know what… we're having an emergency, in case you didn't notice. I did surgery today, Jack. And then you came, and just left!"

"To save her!" he says.

"To marry her!"

"Yes, to marry her, so her abusive husband wouldn't come batter someone's brains in."

Sam crumbles, "You married her."

"Oh, Ra, Sam! I didn't really marry her. Separate bedrooms, and…"

"A bunch of other things you said when we got married."

"Sam…"

"Jack, we're going to have this fight when one of us is not holding a baby. But I have news for you. Work can wait for tomorrow. I need you here. You have to bury a baby."

"We can't do that yet, technically it's her husband's baby."

"What?" Sam says in horror.

"Can I go fix that, or do you need me to do something else?" he asks softly, humbly. When he was married to Sara, he told her she could make decisions in the marriage. Sam actually took him up on the offer. She probably would have done that even if he hadn't offered.

She was a strong one, this wife of his, but she had been dealing with things that were way out of her experience range all day. She needs his help right now, and he should have noticed that.

"You can go, but make it quick."

He leans forward to give her a kiss. "I'm not going to fall in love with Janet."

She believes him suddenly, when his lips were close to her ear. "Don't you dare give that ass Janet's baby."

"Not happening," he promises.

"And don't sleep with her," Sam adds.

"I promise you," he says, looking into Sam's eyes.

-0-0-0-

Sam looks in Janet's room to find two sleeping forms. She gently lifts up Charlie to carry him back to his room. Janet's eyes open, "I'm sorry, Sam."

"What are you talking about?" Sam asks.

"You didn't want a sister wife," Janet says plainly.

"It's not like… it's not a real marriage," Sam says, hoping that Janet believes this. If she doesn't, if she doesn't want this, then she is royally screwed. Sam had made the marriage real even though Jack didn't want it. Janet would certainly be capable of doing the same thing.

"I know, but it's still… sharing your house, your kitchen, your children."

"Children?" Sam asks.

"Ah, Jack didn't get a chance to talk to you about that yet," Janet says awkwardly.

"He agreed to give you our kids?" Sam says in horror.

"He didn't give them to me. I want to co-parent with you. I'll take extra diaper duty."

Sam remembers that this is how it started with her. At first, she was just going to be Charlie's mother.

"I love him," Sam confesses.

"Charlie."

"Him, too."

Janet smiles at her, "Honey, I'm honestly trying not to steal your husband."

"He's your husband, too," Sam says with tears brimming in her eyes.

"Sam, I hate men. Jack, he's a good one. One I can actually imagine myself being a friend with. But I don't want anything romantic. I have been burned by the romance."

"But after you recover…" Sam hedges.

"I'm pretty sure this isn't the sort of thing you recover from. But if I do recover, it won't be with the man you love. I wouldn't do that to you."

Sam trusts her. This is going to be ok.

"But if you don't want me to have a hand in raising your kids…"

"No, if it's really just being a parent, I want it. I mean, we have a lot of really young children, I'd be a fool not to accept help. Jack grew up in polygamy, you know, and he talked about how good it is to have more than two adults to raise your kids. Only…"

Janet raise her eyebrows.

"It's not really fair to you," Sam says softly.

"Sam, the chances of me being a mother are small. You giving me the chance at being a parent… that is a wonderful gift. I'm not getting cheated out of anything."