Putting the baby down had become Jack's ritual – it allowed Sam time to prepare for bed herself, which was a little more involved than Jack stripping down to his boxers and climbing beneath the covers. If he'd noticed that she was uncomfortable with the idea of him seeing her naked, he hadn't said anything – he'd probably just chalked it up to her discomfort with the new scar and the post-baby flab.

She wasn't going to correct him.

As usual, she was already comfortably beneath the covers when the bedroom door opened. Unlike any other time, though, his entrance was accompanied by a very familiar gurgling sound.

Twisting her head, her suspicions were confirmed – Aimee was still in Jack's arms. "Wide awake," Jack told her, "and looking around for you, I think."

"Really?"

Pulling the blankets down a little, Jack settled the baby on the middle of the mattress and stretched out on the other side of her. Sure enough, the second Sam leaned over, the little girl threw her arms wide with a grin. "I love you, too, Little Bit," she beamed, moving close to kiss the tiny nose. "Is that your nose?" she babbled, kissing her way down the baby's face until she hit the spot on her neck that made the little girl squeal for joy.

Across the bed, Jack watched the pair with ever-growing affection. The two women beside him had moved into a place in his heart he'd thought long dead.

"She's learning so fast," Sam murmured.

"Does that surprise you? Of course she's brilliant," he insisted.

She ran one long finger gently from the girl's hairline down to the tip of her nose, watching her smile and try to cross her eyes. "I never thought I could feel this way."

"I understand."

Two surprised blue eyes met his. "I'm sorry, I didn't think about that."

"Don't apologize. This is a gift." Abruptly, he scooped the baby up and climbed off the bed. "And Miss Gift is going to have to content herself with her mobile, because Mommy and Daddy have other things to do."

She was so momentarily awed by him referring to himself that way that she failed to notice the rest of that sentence until he returned and stopped in the door frame, silently appraising her. Long, confident strides carried him to the bed, his shirt and jeans disappearing along the way, and he slid easily beneath the sheets.

"Jack, I, um..."

"Yeah?"

"I don't have medical clearance yet," she managed, the anxiety in her gut rising to choke her.

"Okay." Soft lips met hers tenderly, tasting, suckling, and she reluctantly granted his tongue entrance. He pulled back. "You don't... seem very into this."

"I just don't want to get carried away and hurt myself," she said softly. "And if we start..."

She didn't think he bought it – she couldn't blame him – but he settled back and pulled her gently against his chest. "Are you okay?" he whispered in her ear.

"Yeah."

"You know you can talk to me about anything."

The way she stiffened had to give her away. "Yeah."

He sighed heavily into her hair. "I love you."

~/~

It was a familiar voice down the corridor that drew Daniel off his path to the chow hall.

A familiar, loud voice.

An angry voice.

Jack.

He found his team leader in the process of giving some poor, quaking airman the dress-down of his life around the corner. "Jack?"

The colonel didn't even hesitate at the sound of his name, continuing to verbally trash the poor young man over... something. Daniel couldn't quite figure out what, as the words pouring out of his friend's mouth all seemed to be futuristic threats about how the kid would have no future and Jack would see to it that he got shipped off to Siberia for the rest of his career.

"Jack!"

"Shut up, Daniel!" the man snapped before returning promptly to his threats.

"Jack, whatever he did can't be that bad." But he winced as his friend turned on him, eyes blazing; he fully expected to become the new target of his friend's rage. He sent up a silent prayer of thanks as the anger slowly faded.

"Go," he grumbled at the young man who'd probably just been in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the airman practically sprinted out of sight.

"What's going on, Jack?" Daniel asked conversationally.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Daniel." Anger carried him down the corridor so fast the younger man had to practically jog to keep up.

"Well, for the last two months, you've had this oddly contented thing going on. I suppose it only stands to reason that it has to balance out somehow. It is that Sam's back at work? 'Cause that could be stressful, you know, having her at work and at home."

"It's fine, Daniel."

"Okay... I'm sure putting Aimee in child care can't be easy, either."

"I said it's fine, Daniel," he spat.

"Jack." The archaeologist came to a dead halt in the middle of a main corridor and was almost surprised when his friend actually stopped to look at him. "I can help."

"No, you can't," the colonel said softly. "Not this time."