Two Weeks Later
Shelby knows the pattern by now. The way they are going to tilt their heads. The places of her body that Teal'c is going to run his hands over, and the way her body is going to turn to goose flesh under his touch. Shelby knows how long they will kiss before his tongue will tease his way into her mouth.
It's comfortable, and still exhilarating.
And then suddenly, it is neither.
Teal'c has eases her down on the couch, and is hovering over her. Shelby pushes a hand against his chest. Just a tiny bit, she could push as hard as she could, and she couldn't fight him off. But the tiniest touch makes him pull away.
He doesn't say anything, but just looks at her with compassion, and hopes that she will explain herself.
"We can't do this," Shelby says after a few seconds.
"I would not have embarked on a romantic encounter with you if it was not possible for the members of our two species to mate."
"Don't call it mating, and… I don't mean that we can't physically do this."
"Refusing to have romantic relationships with other species is similar to your people's recent historical reluctance to intermarry between races."
"Actually, having sex with other species is called bestiality, but if Jaffa and humans can create offspring, then they really aren't different species," Shelby says, "But I wasn't talking physically."
"Are you reluctant to engage in coatis with me, because we come from different cultures?"
"Seriously, Teal'c this is what euphamisms were invented for. And we're not going to be sleeping together because we aren't married."
"I was not attempting to sleep with you. I would not have done that without first asking your permission. I agree to your terms to wait until matrimony."
Shelby closes her eyes, "Teal'c, this doesn't mean that you and I are getting married. It's… way too early for us to know if we are ever going to get married."
Teal'c nods his head.
"We can still kiss," Shelby says cheerfully.
"Can we kiss horizontally?" Teal'c asks, leaning toward her.
Shelby answers him by pulling his body toward herself.
A Week Later
"Hey, Teal'c you came from work late," Shelby says when he enters their apartment late at night.
"I was not at work."
"Ok, where were you?"
"Tammy has a science test tomorrow."
"Tammy, as in my sister, Tammy?"
"Indeed."
"Dude, you went over to my house to help my little sister study for a test? Have you been going over there all the time?"
He nods his head. A nod so small that almost no one can see it.
"Why?"
"Your children are in need of additional attention from adults."
"But why are you the one that is giving it to them?"
"You took care of them for enough years, Shelby."
She doesn't look at him. She looks everywhere but his face.
"It's my turn, Shelby."
"They're my sisters, you shouldn't have a turn at all," Shelby protests.
"I like spending time with them."
"Really?" Shelby asks.
"Really."
Two Weeks Later
Janet stands at Daniel's door.
"Are you here for lunch or 'lunch', 'cause I haven't had the apartment since we got married, and I'm not sure sneaking off to the bed that we use acrobatically every single night is going to be as exciting."
"I just came from a doctor's appointment," she says.
He stands, "What's wrong?"
She rushes over to his side, "Oh, honey, I'm so sorry. I'm fine, and so is our baby."
"You're pregnant," he says with a grin.
"Yep, and here is the part you're not going to like. I've known for a couple of weeks."
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asks, putting a hand on her stomach.
"I told you too early last time. If I lost this kid, I wanted you never to have known about it."
"How pregnant are you?" he asks.
"Eight weeks."
"And it's ok?"
"I heard its heartbeat today. I snagged you some pictures," she says, handing him an ultrasound.
Tears run down his face.
"You're mad at me?" Janet asks, confused by the tears.
He shakes his head. He takes the sonogram, and puts it over her stomach, causing them both to laugh.
The Next Day
Janet wakes up sitting on the coach with blankets wrapped around her and the TV off. She'd like to blame her overprotective husband, but he's off-world, so this must have been her daughter.
She smiles to herself, and gets up to go to bed.
"Mom?" Cassie says when Janet hits the squeaky stair one from the top.
"Something wrong, babe?" Janet says, peeping into her daughter's room.
"You feel asleep again."
"Yeah, I've been tired lately," Janet says.
"You've been sick for a long time," Cassie says. Her mother looks into her eyes, and sees the terrified kid that lost two parents not long ago
"Honey, I'm fine. I'm having a baby."
Relief flows over Cassie's face. "I really get to be a sister."
"Yeah."
Cassie squeals just like she did when she found out that her parents were getting married.
Two Days Later
"Hey, Janet, did SG-1 get back yet? Jack told me he was going to be home hours ago," Sam asks, walking into the infirmary.
Janet closes her eyes, "My husband is a coward. He said he was going to tell you."
"What's wrong?" Sam's stomach sinks.
"There was a meteor shower; Jack didn't make it through the gate."
"He's dead?" Sam asks, her knees starting to collapse.
"No, honey," Janet says, rushing to give her support by the shoulder, "He's just stranded."
"Well, I need to get to the gate room. We have to go get him."
"We've dialed the address a bunch of times, Sam, they can't make a lock."
"I'll find a way," she says, pushing past her friend.
The Next Day
Daniel brings a plate of dry toast into his bedroom.
"Sweet thought, babe, but smell," Janet says, waving it away.
He gets rid of the toast, and then comes to sit next to her, "I'm going to call work and tell them that you are not coming in."
"I swear I'm getting up. Just give me an hour."
"You're growing a person, take the day."
She nods.
"I'm sorry you're so sick. I should have had the kid, like Jack. Then you wouldn't have to be sick."
"Honey, I want to have your baby. I want to carry it within me. And the very hormones that are making me so sick are the ones that show that the baby is doing fine. Go to work, I'm fine."
He bends over and gives his wife a kiss before he walks out of the room.
Six Days Later
"Sammy," Jacob says gently, standing at the door of his daughter's office.
"Who vouched you onto base?" Sam asks without looking up at her father.
"George, he's just about as worried about you as I am."
"Who has the kids?"
"I'm surprised you would care about that," her father says with sarcasm.
"They are my children, dad, of course I care about them."
"Right, just not enough to actually spend any time with them," Jacob says.
"I'm trying to get their father back."
"Honey, your kids are already missing a father, they don't need to be missing a mother as well."
"They will get their mother back as soon as I rescue Jack."
"They need you now, babe," he says softly, "And you need to sleep."
"So what? I'm just supposed to go home, and spend a couple hours with my kids and sleep. That would halve the hours I spend working on Jack, and double the amount of time it would take to get him home. He can't be gone for that long."
"Sammy, I know that you're scared. You were a single mom for a long time, and you don't want to have to do it again. But you can. I mean, you did. Of course, then it was only one instead of three. But you're a good mother, Sam."
She turns to her father with a look of confusion on her face, "You think I'm copping out of being a parent? Seriously?"
He realizes how wrong he is in a flash. "I'm sorry, Sammy."
"I'll take the kids to the park on Saturday. Until then, you have to let me work."
"Ok," her father says. He is almost out of the room before he turns back to his daughter, and says, "Bring him home, Sweetie."
Two Weeks Later
Jacob wakes up in the middle of the night, and does his rounds on his grandchildren. Hannah is laying in her crib with her butt far in the air. Emma's room is empty, but that doesn't worry Jacob. He walks into his grandson's room, and he sees both Ty an Emma in one bed. There is a giant stuffed elephant between the two of them, and they each have an arm wrapped around it.
He's about to head to bed when he hears Emma's tiny voice. "Grandpa."
"What do you need, sweetie?"
"They're not coming back, are they?"
"They are," Jacob says with more certainty than he feels. He knows that his son-in-law is abandoned on another planet, and may never come back. He also knows that his daughter might never accept that fact.
"If they don't come back?" Emma asks, only half a question, because that is all she can manage.
"They're going to come back. But if anything happened with them, I would take care of you. We signed papers and everything."
"My Daddy signed papers to give me to Jack and Sam."
"Yes, Emma, somebody will always be there to take care of you."
"Is it bad that sometimes I wish it was it was the same someone all the time?"
"No, little sprout, that isn't bad at all. I wish your first Daddy was still here. Jack and Sam are coming home, too."