The Next Day
"Janet, do you want to go to lunch with me today?" Daniel asks early in the morning, standing awkwardly in the doorway to her office.
"Sure," she says with a smile.
"You know, like, maybe at my apartment," he prompts.
"Do you have food there?" Janet asks skeptically.
"Yeah, I have food," he fidgets, "But I was thinking maybe we could, ah… Cassie is going to be at school," he blurts.
Janet smiles at him, "Are you sure you're ready? We can wait as long as we need to."
He walks in and shuts the door behind him. "I love you, Janet. You make me happy, and I feel so guilty about that. But Sha're told me that she wanted me to be happy. And if I were the one that died instead of her, I would be pissed if she kept herself from happiness because of me."
Janet just nods her head.
"I'm ready," he says confidently.
"Ok, you're going to pick me up eleven-ish?"
Daniel smiles and nods his head. His hand goes so far as touching the door handle before he suddenly turns around and takes a rapid step toward her. Between the length of his legs, and the smallness of her office, he is right in front of her. He gives her a quick but romantic kiss.
-0-0-0-
Sam sits up with a start when she hears her daughter crying in the middle of the night. "I've got her," Jack says quickly, moving to get his daughter.
When he comes back into the room a few minutes later, Sam is crying. "Oh, no, what is wrong?" Jack asks quickly.
"Nothing," she says, taking the baby out of his arms and moving her shirt so she can start breastfeeding.
"Samantha, don't lie to me," he says, sitting down next to her on the bed.
"You weren't there with Ty. When he cried in the middle of the night, it was all me. I lived with my dad the first couple of months, but he didn't usually hear the baby in the middle of the night. I was all alone."
"I'm sorry," Jack says softly.
"I'm not blaming you," Sam protests.
"I know, but it's not right that you had to do this alone the first time."
"It's also not right that you missed so much time with your son," Sam says.
Jack shrugs. He knows that, but he knows Sam feels guilty about it and him agreeing won't help.
"Let's just make a deal to focus on the present and the future," Sam says, rubbing the tiny baby's back. Hannah pulls away from her mother, and lets out a giant burp, causing both of her parents to laugh.
Six Days Later
"Thank you for accompanying me to this religious festival, Samantha Carter," Teal'c says as the two of them walk into church.
"No problem. I actually petitioned you to be allowed off base by yourself. I haven't heard back on that yet though."
He nods his head.
"You have a different babysitter this week," Shelby says cheerfully as they take their place in the pew.
"This is O'Neill's wife, Samantha Carter," he replies.
"I hear you've got a new baby at home," Shelby says.
Sam grins, "She's a sweetheart."
"I assume you have pictures," Shelby gushes.
"Of course," Sam says, reaching into her purse.
-0-0-0-
As they're singing, suddenly Shelby sits down. She leans against the pew, and holds her head.
"What has happened?" Teal'c asks sitting down next to her.
Sam looks into the girl's eyes, and sees what she missed with her son. "When is the last time you ate?"
"I'm fine," Shelby says.
Samantha Carter is a mother, so she always has food on her. She pulls a granola bar out of her purse, and hands it to her.
"I'm fine," she repeats sternly.
"Eat it, honey," Sam says, moving over to the other side of the pew so she's sitting next to her.
"Are you not receiving the sustenance you require to survive?" Teal'c asks with concern.
"Look, its fine. I don't need you pity, and I don't need your food. My little sisters are still living with my mom. Mom doesn't keep around that much food. So I bring them food from my meal plan when I can. It ran out a couple of weeks ago. The new semester is starting soon and I'm going to be fine."
"Look, sweetie, I get the pride thing. And I definitely get the depriving yourself to help others thing. But I wouldn't offer you help unless I could really offer the help."
"Thanks," Shelby says, hiding the granola bar in her hand and taking furtive bites of it, much like Cassie did with a hot dog when they first found the little girl.
"Major Carter, would you be willing to loan me money? O'Neill has secured all of my income from the Air Force in one of your financial institutions."
"Of course," Sam says, at the same time that Shelby says, "I don't need nothin'."
"When I was a child, my father was dishonored and killed for failing to win an unwinnable battle. My mother and I were sent into another country without any resources. There were many times when I did not have the sustenance that is necessary to survive. When I was offered food, I did not refuse it."
Sam nods. "After church, I am going to take you out to eat, and then we are going to go grocery shopping."
"But there is no reason for you to feel sorry for me," Shelby says out of the corner of her eyes.
"Why would I feel sorry for someone who demonstrates such strength, courage, and compassion?" Teal'c asks.
"Oh, you talk so good," Shelby says with a sultry smile as the church service begins.
-0-0-0-
"You are supposed to take off your hat when you eat," Shelby says.
"I have been instructed never to take off my hat when I am in public," Teal'c replies.
"Man, they have you on a pretty short leash," Shelby says.
"No-one has bound me," Teal'c says, looking at her with a confused expression on his face.
Shelby laughs before she says, "No, man, that's like a figure of speech. It means that they don't let you do many things."
"I have applied for asylum in your country. I feel fortunate that they have allowed me to leave the base. It was a year before I earned that privilege."
"A year, they kept you in prison for a year? Dude, seriously, what did you do?"
"It was not prison, and I was a warrior for their enemy," Teal'c replies.
"What enemy? The cold war is over, and we're not at war with anyone."*
"I have been instructed not to lie to you, and yet there are many things which I am not at liberty to disclose to you."
"Gotcha, you can just stay silent instead of lying, you're really good at staying silent."
"That he is," Sam interjects with a giggle. She's been silent for much of the discussion, trying to be the least intrusive chaperone that she can be.
"So I take it you were involved in fighting some war, probably in Africa, that America is involved in, but doesn't claim to be involved in," Shelby says.
Teal'c nods his head.
"Sudan," Shelby guesses.
"I believed that warriors of that renown could only exist in legend."
"The Sodan? Warriors of renown? They force children to rape and murder their family members!" Shelby hisses with horror.
Teal'c pauses, "We apparently speak of different warriors."
"I should hope so," Shelby says, crossing her arms before her. Just then, the waitress brings up two giant plates of food, and a reasonable-sized salad. Sam digs into her salad while Teal'c and Shelby start shoveling food into their mouths.
A Week Later
When Sam picks up Ty from Emma's house one night, she sees him pouting.
"Honey, what's wrong?" she asks as she buckles him into his car seat.
"Mommy, am I stupid?"
"Of course not. Who said that?"
"No-one, but when you are four years old you are supposed to go to preschool. Emma is going to preschool, and a lot of other kids have left day care, or are going to day care once in a while. But I've been four for a couple of months, and I'm not in day care yet."
"Honey, that's not because you're stupid, it's because you're so smart that you don't need preschool," Sam says quickly, closing the door and going back to her seat of the car.
"Mommy, I'm still not going to get to see Emma very much," Ty says mournfully.
"I'm sorry, kid," Sam says, looking into the mirror and seeing the face that she knows is going to be hard to deny.
"Can't I go to preschool even if I don't need it?" Ty asks.
Sam wasn't planning on sending her son to preschool. It was, after all, optional. And she figured it would be a little bit longer before she had to deal with strangers caring for her son without video cameras involved.
"Dad and I are going to talk about it," she promises.
-0-0-0-
"Jack, your son wants to go to preschool," Sam says carefully later that night.
"Ok, and how to you feel about it?" Jack asks carefully.
"I don't trust them, I don't trust anyone with him but family," Sam says.
"That's not true, we've left him off at Boyd's house."
"I know," she says softly.
"And next year he's going to have to go to school."
"We could homeschool him?" Sam asks hopefully.
"We're not going to make that decision based on your fear. If that's what is best for Ty, fine; otherwise, no," he says.
"He deserves to go to school," Sam says softly.
Jack pulls her into a tight hug. "I'll make sure they have background checks."
She smiles at him.
"Maybe we can get him to wear a wire," Jack teases.
Sam glares at him.
"I promise, it is going to be ok."
"Let's see if we can get him into the same preschool that Emma goes to. Those two act like they are attached at the hip."
"Do you think that that is where Ty gets his frilly dress obsession from?" Jack asks.
"Oh, yeah, one of them is the exact same," Sam says.
"What do you think the chances are that Ty will outgrow the cross-dressing phase before he enters preschool?" Jack asks hopefully.
"Not very good," she says with a smile.
*This was before September 11, and the resulting wars.