Disclaimer: All recognisable characters are the property of MGM/Amazon. No copyright infringement intended. I am simply taking my favourite two Gaters for a walk in an Alternate Universe.

Rating: M rated due to sexually suggestive situations (clothes on).

Episode Tags: Takes place in Season 7 after 7.16 Death Knell.

TRIGGERS: Nothing specific.

Chapter 20: Surprises

I wanted to get away, just leave and go somewhere… anywhere, but I couldn't. I still needed them. In the end, I had the cab circle the neighbourhood and drop us at the park down the road from Jack's. I watched as Grace played effortlessly with the other children while I sat on the park bench with my hands under my thighs. Before I realised it, we had been there are over two hours. Normally I would collect Grace and go home, but home wasn't home. Home was a foreign yet recognisable house with a familiar stranger instead of the loving husband and father we needed. A man who didn't want me even after making love to me.

"Is this seat taken?" A recognisable voice said. I craned my head around to find Dad standing a few steps away. My breathing sped up and tears sprung to my eyes.

"Dad!" I cried and leapt up into his arms, my anger over his handling of the Shady Grove letter all but forgotten. I pulled back and ran my hands over his face and neck, "You're here, alive, and looking… great! You look great." I cried tears of happiness. I saw tears brimming in his eyes as well. The last time I had seen him, he was sallow and grey lying in a hospital bed. I had refused to leave him in those last days, despite our differences. I still remembered his hand going limp and his final breath as his body finally gave out. I had cried in Jack's arms for almost a week after he had gone – when we were still only friends – a week that ended with Jack and I in bed together starting what turned out to be a match made in heaven.

"Oh Sammy, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He cried.

"For what?" I replied, thumbing away his tears.

"Everything, anything I ever did or didn't do that hurt you. I never told her how proud I was of her. I should have told her every day. I won't make that mistake again Sammy."

"It's OK, we made amends in the end. I never left you Dad." I confessed. "How did you find me?"

"George saw you from the road on the way to Jack's. Selmak and I got as far as the new temporary base, but I was so worried about Jack that we decided that he needed us more than the Tok'ra right now. I came back this morning. Sammy told me about you, but I never thought we'd meet."

"Mummy, I'm hungry!" A small voice said, her hand tugging on my sweater. I smiled and Dad looked shocked.

"Oh, OK Gracie. Come here." I said, picking her up and handing her a muesli bar from my pocket. "Gracie, this is your grandpa. Dad, this is Grace." I introduced. She smiled and reached a small hand out to his face tracing a bushy eyebrow and patting his bald head, then giggled.

"Hello Grandpa." She said brightly with a tilt of her head before returning to the task of unwrapping her muesli bar.

"Oh Sam, she's beautiful." He beamed taking her from my arms. "I bet you're a little charmer." I watched as Grace smiled her trademark O'Neill smile while she stuffed her face. "Well, I can see who your Daddy is – has Jack met her?" He asked. My face dropped and I looked at my feet.

"Yeah, but he doesn't want anything to do with her or me." I confessed. I looked back up to find him studying me.

"Didn't look like that was the case when I saw him, he's beside himself with worry. He'd be here right now if George hadn't ordered him to stay put."

"I'm sure that's not the case Dad. He made it pretty clear this morning where I stand… where we stand."

"Sammy, if there is one thing I know about Jack O'Neill, it is how he feels about my daughter. I was there when she… when you died. I witnessed him begging you not to leave him. The pain I felt as your father was amplified twofold in him. He loves you Sam, no matter where you are from."

I felt the emotion bubble up. He had begged me not to leave him last night as well, and what did I do? I left him, I selfishly walked out of his house even as I heard him running after me rather than give him the chance to get used to me being around.

"C'mon, I'll take you home." I felt Dad put his arm around my shoulders and guided me down the road and back to the house while Grace chattered non-stop.

I stood up for what must have been the umpteenth time, pacing along the living room floor in front of my coffee table, Hammond seated on the other side attempting to play a game of chess. Jacob had left to go to the park almost an hour ago. Sam had been gone for almost two hours before Jacob and George arrived here. I was - for lack of a better analogy - beside myself. Waking in her arms before I flipped out had been wonderful. The feeling of finally getting some peaceful sleep without any sedation was overwhelming. Of course, I had to ruin it by going off my tree and pushing her away.

"Jack, it's your turn." Hammond said after moving his piece. I flicked my eyes over the board. His King was sitting on C7 with open spaces at C8 and D7. My Bishop sat on H3 with a clear line covering both those cells.

"Knight C3 to D5 – Check…" I looked at the board again, finding that none of his pieces could block my next move or seize my Knight, "Mate."

"Dammit Jack. How do you do it?" He complained. "I didn't get a single piece of yours that time."

"Sorry Sir, spent a lot of time playing chess over the years."

"Jack, you don't give yourself enough credit." He said as he set the board up again, spinning it so that the black pieces were on my side. "You are the finest tactician and strategist I have ever had the honour of serving with."

"Thank you, Sir." I replied. The sound of a little girl chattering pulled my attention away from the General. I may have only just met her, but I knew Grace's voice as sure as I had known Charlie's voice. It was animated and equal parts serious and light-hearted. Her giggles shot ribbons of happiness through my body – it was Sam's giggle – the one I had spent seven years ordering her not to do because of the effect it had on me.

The door opened, and I had to tell myself to breathe. Then I saw Jacob carrying Grace and my heart leapt. She was smiling as she talked to him about the stuffed toy in her hands – a tatty lion – I recognised it immediately as the same one that Charlie had owned. The same one that sat on his bed at the Winter Park home, the same one that was in a sealed vacuum bag in my attic.

"Now Gracie, you probably just dreamed that Charlie said you could have Leo." Jacob was saying as they walked through the dining and into the kitchen.

"Pfft! No Grandpa, Charlie visits me. He's special just like Daddy." She admonished. I felt a smile crack, then the door closed. I looked up to see Sam staring at me, sorrow lacing her beautiful face.

"Samantha." I heard Hammond say from behind me. "I have some great news."

"Oh." She replied, lacing her fingers together in front of her. I wanted to rush up to take her into my arms, but I didn't move. I knew I had hurt her. Instead, I retook my seat on the couch opposite Hammond.

"So, it seems that on your first visit when the President agreed for you to stay, that all necessary paperwork to create an identity for a Doctor Samantha O'Neill was lodged, but not cancelled." He said producing a thick envelope. "In here, I have a driver's licence, passport, birth certificate, social security number, bank account details, an employment contract for the science department at the SGC and a copy of your W4 for your tax payments. You can contact Leigh James in Accounts on Level 3 to assist with completing the necessary tax lodgements since 1999. You might need to sit down for the next part." She nodded and squeezed past me and took a seat, the brush of her legs against mine causing tingles despite our jeans.

"Apparently, the Air Force payroll department is more efficient that I thought, having loaded your contract into the system immediately. This is your latest bank statement." He said handing her the wad of pages. She looked down and drew in a strangled breath, her hand grabbing and squeezing mine as the pages shook in her hand. I glanced over to see a six-figure balance.

"Whoa." I said, squeezing her hand back and laying my other hand over hers.

"What about Grace?" Samantha asked, I could see the worry on her face. I squeezed her hand again trying to convey that I was here for her, assuming she still wanted anything from me after the way I had treated her.

"She will be a bit harder. Without a birth certificate, we can-" Hammond started.

"I have it!" She interrupted, standing up quickly and rushing to her room. She returned moments later with a bundle of loose documents. "Jack and I kept everything together." She said hurried, flipping through them quickly, causing several to fall to the floor. "Here it is!" She said and handed it to Hammond. I leaned over to pick up the ones she had dropped. Turning over the top one, I recognised it immediately. Their – no, our – marriage certificate, and there signed in my own handwriting was my name and the date – 9th July 1998. I looked up to find them both staring at me.

I coughed. "You'll probably need this one as well." I said, handing it to Hammond.

A shocked look and eyes brimming with tears met mine. "You don't have to; I mean I don't expect…"

"I know."

"I'm not her, Jack. I don't want you to do something that you'll regret. I have enough to…" She gestured to my door.

"No! Please… don't go." I replied with a frantic edge to my voice. I leaned forward to take her hand and pulled her toward me.

"You really want to be married to me?" She said from her standing position in front of me.

"I do, on one condition." I said as I looked up at her. "That I get to kiss my bride."

The smile she gave me melted my heart. Oh yeah, I was gone. I loved her. She dropped the rest of her papers and moved like lightning, straddling me on the couch, devouring my lips with hers. I wrapped my arms around her, kissing her back for all I was worth.

"I love you, Jack." She mumbled into my mouth, her hands running up and over my shoulders before tangling in the hair on my neck. I groaned and pulled her face closer deepened our kiss.

"I love you too Sam, I'm sorry for being a bear." I responded before drawing her lips back to mine. I missed this; I missed her. I would never forget my own Sam just as I knew Samantha would never forget her Jack. I ran my hands up her back and stared into her beautiful eyes. "Thank you."

"What for?"

"For being patient with me. You persevered when I didn't deserve it. For giving me strength to hold on." I pulled my hand back and delved into the pocket of my jacket, withdrawing a very dogeared and creased photograph of their wedding day. "This gave me hope, I carried it always. When we were separated, I would stare at it for hours." I told her primarily about the Prometheus, but also about when I was stranded with Maybourne, in the cockpit of the X301 and the whole time I was away from her on Edora and my undercover mission. I could see the tears in her eyes as I shared my memories. "I hope one day you will forgive me." Her fingers moved from the back of my neck up into my hair, massaging my scalp. I could not help but to close my eyes and lean into her revelling in the feel of her against me. I had a brief flash of my golden hued Sam smiling.

A cough and a giggle interrupted us. We both looked toward the source of the noise. "Well, I guess they sorted things out hey Gracie?" Jacob said to our daughter. She giggled again.

"Yep!" She replied, popping the 'p' and held up her little hand. Jacob responded with a smirk and a high-five. I couldn't help but smile. I looked into the gorgeous blue eyes of Sam and for the first time in what felt like ages, I knew that I right where I should be, instead of wallowing in self-pity and alcohol.

"You are so beautiful." I whispered, running my hand through her chin length bangs. I should have told her how amazing and wonderful she was every day for seven years instead of just the three blissful weeks we had together. "I like your hair this way." She closed her eyes and made a noise that went straight to my libido.

"Jack, if you don't stop, Uncle George will get a show." She mumbled. I grinned when I saw 'Uncle George' stand up abruptly.

"Well Jack. It's good to have you back. Take the rest of the week and report back on Monday. Don't bother getting up, I'll see myself out." Sam giggled, then gasped when she felt my reaction. Oh yeah, I loved that sound.

"Yes Sir." I responded as the door closed behind him. "How about we call the guys and invite them over tonight for an SG-1 team night."

"Jack. I'm not on SG-1." She replied.

"Not anymore, but you were." I said, leaning in to kiss her cheek, "For seven" – kiss – "long" – kiss – "years." I said kissing her soundly, tugging her hips towards mine and thrusting up.

"Tomorrow." She moaned while I teased the sensitive spot beyond her earlobe.

"Jack. I'm still here you know." Jacob admonished from the dining room, Gracie sitting on the breakfast bar blowing bubbles into some chocolate milk he had made her.

"Hey, where's my chocolate milk Dad?" Sam huffed.

"Well Sammy, I'd have made you one if you weren't making out with your husband. You're good at multitasking, just not that good." He teased.

"Ahk, really! I'll have you know Dad, that I am very talented with my mouth." She replied then threw me a sideways smile. Oh my. She was a tease.

"I really did not need to know that about my daughter Sammy. Now get over here and get your milk." Jacob replied. I could hear the smirk in his tone.

She started to get up, but I grabbed her. I wasn't in any condition for her to be getting up, not after having her squirm in my lap for the last nearly ten minutes. She smirked and stood up, dragging me to my feet. When she turned to walk away, I wrapped my arms around her and walked with her. A giggle erupted from her as we went.

"Sam, if you keep doing that, I am not going to be responsible for my actions." I murmured while nuzzling the back of her neck. She giggled again and placed her hands over mine clinging to her hips, the sounds of Grace blowing bubbles in her milk and Jacob telling her that her parents needed a room filling my heart with a joy I had forgotten I could feel.

I stood listening to Jack tell a story to Grace before bedtime. He was a far cry from the man that I cradled and week and a half ago on the Alpha site.

"Hey Dad. How's he going?" Sam asked while I listened to the inflections in Jack's voice.

"He wanted to be sure that Big Nutbrown Hare was listening. 'Guess how much I love you.' He said. 'Oh, I don't think I could guess that,' said Big Nutbrown Hare."

"Amazing Sammy. He's amazing." I replied, watching Grace's rapt attention.

"Yeah, he really is. I wished I could have known him when Charlie was still around." She replied. I glanced at the wistful look on my daughter's face. Love really did transcend everything, even universal barriers. "You really didn't like him on the other side."

"Really?" I replied. That shocked me. Actually, no it didn't. I remembered viewing him as nothing but an arrogant Colonel who wanted to compromise my daughter. "OK, well maybe I didn't always like him, but I guess that's because of the way he looked at her."

"What way?"

"The way a CO should not be looking at a subordinate who is 16 years younger than him." I replied.

"Seriously? That right there, Dad is one of the reasons why we argued over the military. They divide people." She tutted. "They should not have had to choose between honour and duty, and love. The military expects those two things to be mutually exclusive but didn't seem to have a problem with you pulling strings to get Sam into NASA." I gaped at her. Sam had told her about that.

"That's different Sammy."

"Is it Dad? Really? He can't love her and command her because of favouritism, but you can actively engage in favouritism without a problem. It's double standards as far as I am concerned." I looked at her and found I agreed. It was favouritism, and I did use my position as a Major General to get her a place in NASA. Though at the time, I never even considered that doing so was breaching the regulations. I focussed back on Jack and Grace. "And as for the 16 years thing, it is nothing but a arbitrary number. How much older than Mum were you again?" She asked pointedly. Sighing, I conceded her point, Debra had been 12 years my junior.

"Then Little Nutbrown Hare had a good idea. He tumbled upside down and reached up the tree trunk with his feet. 'I love you all the way up to my toes!' he said." Jack read, making Grace giggle when he tickled her toes.

Sam giggled at her daughter's response and Jack flashed her genuine smile before returning to the book. "This is her favourite book. We had to buy a second copy for her go bag. I had a third copy stashed away in case one of them got lost."

I smiled, "Oh, I remember those days. Your mother had a duplicate of that awful green and blue giraffe that you used to drag around with you."

"She did?"

"Yep, and a good thing it was too. The day you left it at the playground was Ground Zero for hysterics. We drove back to the park, but it was gone. So, I distracted you while she hid it in the car."

"DADDY! Stop, you missed a page." Grace accused.

"No, I didn't." Jack replied.

"Yes, you did. Look!" She replied, her little hand turning a page backwards. I laughed at seeing my own ploy with an almost asleep child foiled.

"Wow. Never thought Mum would have such a military mind." Sam continued our conversation.

"Are you kidding? If she had been in the military, she would have outranked me in a heartbeat. I once saw her bring an entire birthday room of screaming children to complete silence with five words."

She laughed, "Let me guess, stop if you want cake." She replied ticking the words off with her fingers.

"Yeah."

"I remember that day. I may have used that line on Jack from time to time. Worked every time."

"So, do I have anymore grandchildren coming my way?" I asked the bold question.

She stared at me expressionless. "I don't know Dad." I studied her, but she clearly had lessons in concealing her thoughts. I hadn't told her about the Shady Grove letter. It wasn't really my place anymore.

"Then he lay down close by and whispered with a smile, 'I love you right up to the moon – and back.'" I looked over as Jack finished the book then placed it on the nightstand and kissed Grace's forehead. "Goodnight kiddo." He whispered and slid out from under her. We all shuffled back out to the lounge room quietly closing her door behind us.

We sat facing each other in the lounge. "So, um, I said Dad could stay in the spare room. I hope that was OK?" I asked belatedly, internally kicking myself that I hadn't asked first. After so long thinking of this house being mine, I found it hard to wind back to being just a visitor. This afternoon on the couch had been wonderful, but he had withdrawn into himself again. The only time he looked happy was reading Gracie her book.

"Sure. It's better than him lumping it back to base only to come back out tomorrow. I assume he's coming back tomorrow." He replied.

"That would be nice, but only if you're OK with it." I said quickly.

"Why wouldn't I be OK with it?" He replied, his fingers twirling his empty beer bottle on his thigh.

"I don't know. I guess…"

"Sam, talk to me." He interrupted; his eyes boring into mine.

"There only three rooms." I whispered, then swallowed.

"Yes, there is." He responded, his gaze still on me. I looked away.

"I can sleep on the couch."

"Oh, well if that's what you want." He faltered, "There's extra pillows and blankets in the linen press, but I guess you already knew that." He said standing up quickly and turning to go up the stairs.

"Jack?" I called. He stopped and peered over his shoulder. "Dance with me?" I asked. We had always taken time to dance with each other at least a few times a week. I wondered if he had ever done that here.

"There's no music." He replied. I reached for the sound system remote and pressed the on button.

"Please?" I asked again. He looked at me but didn't move. Slowly I edged toward him and reached out, hoping that he would reach back. When he did, I smiled. We gently swayed to the sound of Trisha Yearwood's 'How do I live?' while he wrapped the ends of my hair around his finger and released – such an appropriate song, because the truth was, we didn't know how to live without each other. The last four and a half years without Jack in my life had been a struggle. If it hadn't been for Grace, well… I didn't know where I'd be.

I looked into his eyes and saw the same pain I had lived with reflected in his brown orbs. Slowly our faces moved together until we were barely half an inch from each other. I could feel his increased breathing and elevated heart rate. Still he hesitated, so I slipped my hand from his shoulder up his neck and into his hair to bring him that last bit. Our kiss started slow and sweet, then turned deep and passionate, his hand in my hair mirroring my hold on him. Eventually we separated when the need for oxygen became too great. I saw passion ignite in his eyes, then his hands were all over me and mine on him.

"Oh God, yes… take me to bed Jack." I begged while he palmed my derriere and sucked on my neck. He growled and lifted me onto his hips, my legs wrapping around him instantly, then he turned, steadily took the steps one and a time, and carried me down the corridor.

A/N: I chose not to illustrate exactly where all of the chess pieces were on the board, only those that were pertinent to the little exchange between Hammond and Jack. Just know that any other pieces were aligned in such a manner that Jack checkmated his boss. :)

A/N: The book is "Guess How Much I Love You" by Sam McBratney. It is a much loved children's book that was read to me as a child, then gifted to my children by a friend of mine who had also read it to her children some three decades earlier. It is a timeless classic. Read it! You won't be sorry.