It was two weeks later when it all hit the fan.

Jack should have seen it coming. Really. Other than the issues they'd had in her first week back from the planet and the day she'd freaked out on Daniel, there had been no major emotional upheaval, just… acceptance. She had weathered it all with grace – as Carter usually did.

Okay, the pregnant, hormonal mood swings didn't count.

And the screaming infant when he opened the front door wasn't really a clue. Babies cried – that was life. It was the tight, anxious look on Daniel's face and the way Teal'c didn't quite meet his eye that told him something was wrong.

"It's not been a good day," Daniel told him.

"Jack?"

The soft female voice that was clearly not Sam's sent him spinning on his heel. "Sara," he greeted, the tension from his teammates leaking into his own voice. "It might be a good thing you're here."

"Something wrong?" Sara had been a near daily presence since the baby was born, but things had been going well – up till then.

"The child has slept and eaten appropriately, yet will not ease," Teal'c told her.

"I… see." To her credit, Sara had never once commented on the man's odd mannerisms or the symbol on his forehead. "Well, let's go help, huh?"

The pained wails drew both O'Neill's to the living room where Sam paced in frustration. She held the infant in front of her, their heads merely inches apart as the baby screamed in her mother's face and Sam demanded back, "Why won't you be quiet? I don't know what you want!"

Tears streamed down both tight, screwed up faces, one chubby and red, the other pale and gaunt. Jack knew the scene well – this day came for every parent, one way or the other. A baby's screams were the most grating, painful sound on the planet. Biology made sure of it.

"I remember these days," Sara said softly.

"Yeah. They sucked." Five quick steps took him to his 2IC, though he could hear Sara calling his name, and he touched her shoulders. "Carter."

Red, teary eyes lifted to his. "She won't stop. I don't know what to do," she cried. "She's been like this for hours."

"Okay. Take a breath. It's gonna be okay." A quick check of the baby's forehead told him there was no fever – little Aimee was just frustrated with life. It happened. "Can I give it a shot?"

"Go for it, sir." Thrusting the infant at him with a bit more enthusiasm than necessary, she took advantage of her free hands to scrub at the tears on her face before retreating to the couch.

"Hey, Little Bit," Jack soothed, lifting Aimee gently to his shoulder to rub her back. The tiny child's entire torso was smaller than his hand. "What's the deal, huh? Screaming at Mommy isn't very nice, you know."

The words were unimportant, the tone soothing as he held the baby tightly, nearly surrounding her in his large, muscled hands. His warmth and soft rocking eventually won out, and the screams slowly faded to whimpers, then silence as the exhausted child gave up fighting altogether and closed her eyes.

But when he glanced up at Carter to offer Aimee back to her, he realized his mistake. Making the crying stop hadn't made her feel better – it had just made matters worse as he handily solved the problem she couldn't. With her own child. Her face was buried in her hands, shoulders heaving badly with quiet sobs.

"Aww, Carter…"

She sprung off the sofa as he sat down and rocketed toward the steps, her physical pain all but forgotten. He started to follow, but his ex-wife's stern words stopped him. "Sit your ass back down."

Daniel, of course, was the next to go for the steps, but a strong hand held him back, too. "Stop. Everybody stop," the older woman ordered before turning her glare back to the man on the couch. "That wasn't the dumbest thing you've ever done, but it's damn close."

Sufficiently chided, Jack didn't even try to respond before his ex-wife rushed up the steps to comfort the woman that – as a woman – she knew better than all of them.