It stopped snowing early in the morning and Lucky got a little restless. He hadn't been out in a while and Jack noticed it. His wife beside him started slowly to wake up.

"Good morning sunshine!"

"Mmh, good morning. It's early, why are you awake?"

"Lucky needs to get out. We'll be quick, I know he will be, because it's freezing outside." Jack joked. "Stay in bed as long as you want, later we can drive into town, walk Lucky around a little more and have breakfast at the diner, so we can kill two birds with one stone."

"How is that?"

"Mary owns the diner and if I'll get you there for breakfast she might not drive Jeff crazy. They are good friends of mine and I can imagine she's super curious about you."

"So no pressure, huh?"

"Come on, Sam. Who doesn't ever like you? There's nothing to worry about."

"If they're that good friends they probably knew Sara, you'll always get compared to the ex-wife by friends."

"She will like you, I promise! Get some more sleep, if I don't go now Lucky might pee in here."

Jack slipped into his boots and put on his jacket. The Australian shepherd bouncing up and down beside him, eager to get out. As soon as the door was open he darted around in the snow. Jack watched him toying with the snow and got out the snow shovel to clear the path towards the car and around the cabin. In some areas Lucky has nose deep disappeared into the snow. Jeff might be right about the snow that is about to fall in the next few weeks. After a while he saw the dog running back into the cabin, heading straight towards the fireplace again.

Against his recommendation Sam was already up, having coffee ready. She saw his questioning look.

"I couldn't stay lying down anymore. I can tell that Janet is awake and doing morning sports." Sam beamed at him and he took the opportunity to make contact with his daughter, rubbing Sam's belly where a foot of his daughter was clearly visible.

"I can't wait to finally meet her."

"Me too. Can't imagine though what it's like to have my body back on my own."

"Mmh, some things will be easier then." He winked at her. "Hungry?"

"Starving! I get dressed quickly and we can go into town."

"Good. But I'm sure we'll be the only ones to go. I think Lucky won't leave his place anytime soon."

She giggled when she saw the dog look up briefly, snort and curl up comfortably again, not making any arrangements to get out again.

They drove carefully into town. There wasn't much ice on the road, but the snow made them slow down a bit. As soon as they parked someone called out "Hello Jack, long time no see, you haven't been here for a while."

The last time at the cabin was their honeymoon. They barely left the cabin, and if they did it was to go fishing for no fish in his pond or a walk around the cabin. They hadn't made it to town on that trip.

"Hi Bill, you know what it's like. Work mostly got in the way of my vacations, but now that I'm retired you'll probably see us around more often."

"Retired? Us? God Jack, what did we miss?"

Jack turned around to guide Sam towards him. "Bill, this is my wife, Sam! Sam, this is Bill, another one out of my poker round."

"Hello Bill!" She smiled and greeted him. Bill was lost for words. Married and very obviously a baby on the way. Has it really been that long since he last saw Jack?

"Oh...hm..sorry, I'm Bill! Excuse my surprise, but the last time I saw Jacky here there was no indication of a girlfriend, let alone family plans. Wait, you said her name is Sam? The Sam?"

Jack blushed. Busted.

"Jack, what does he mean by 'the Sam'?" his wife wondered.

"Yes Bill, that's the Sam. Sam, I might have talked a bit about my beautiful second in command."

"A bit?" Bill exclaimed. "Honey, that guy has got it bad about you. I'm really happy for you two that it all worked out in the end. Congratulations by the way. Jack, does Mary know about all of this? If not, you might be in trouble."

"We're just on our way over to her. I thought introducing Sam over breakfast would be a good idea."

"Then don't let me hold you back. Enjoy your dinner, and welcome to town Sam!"

While they made their way towards the Diner Sam had to ask "Is there anybody living here you don't know?"

"I sort of grew up here, I was here a lot while my grandparents were still alive and made some good friends, so there might be a few new people I don't know, but most of them I do know."

He held the door open for her to get into the warm Diner when he heard his name already.

"Jack O'Neill! You secret keeping son of..."

"Ah!" he held up one finger "Watch it Mary! Or I won't introduce you at all."

A whirlwind rushed into his arms and he swung her around. When they both were teens, way back they used to date but it didn't last long. Mary met Jeff and Jack met Sara, but they remained friends. Very good friends. After Charlie they stood by him and made sure he was not going to do something stupid as he retreated into his cabin. And now every time he made it up here the guys met for Poker and beer and one evening belonged to Jeff and Mary. So he could imagine how surprised she was when Jeff told her the news yesterday.

"Mary, please meet my wife, Sam! I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but you know how it is. Life always gets in the way."

Sam had gotten rid of her jacket while Jack was busy greeting his friend and now all attention lay on her.

"Hello Mary, please don't be too hard on him. Until yesterday I also didn't know about any of his friends around here."

Mary shook her hand "Wow, you're gorgeous. At least Jack didn't lie about that the countless times he spoke about you."

"Ahm... Thank you! He talked about me?" Curiosity won over her nervousness.

"Of course he did. This man is in love with you for a long time now. I think it is safe to tell you we're all relieved that you finally found the opportunity to be together. I mean, obviously you did. You look great, how far along are you?"

"She's due in a bit over three weeks." Sam told her. Wondering what else she didn't know about her husband. It looked like he had a few great friends here.

"She? A girl? Really? Oh Jack, you'll finally get your daughter. That's wonderful! I could have sworn you're about to give birth any minute. Your belly has dropped already. But I'm talking and talking and you're probably hungry. Please take a seat, I'll get you the menu."

Sam went for a table next to the window and sat down on the bench.

"What did she mean by 'you finally get your daughter'?"

"It's nothing Sam."

"It's not nothing. You blushed as she said it, it has to mean something. I won't be mad, I'm just curious what other people know about you that I don't."

Mary brought two cups of coffee with the menu. They ordered pancakes and bacon and a bowl of fruit.

"So?"

"So what?"

"What is it I don't know about you?"

"Alright, when Charlie was on the way I was sure he would be a girl. I always wanted to have a daughter, it's silly, but daughters often are a daddy's girl. Don't get me wrong, I was head over heels in love with Charlie. But my desire for a daughter never stopped."

"That's nothing to be ashamed of, I'm glad that it's me that can give you your daughter."

"Me too, Sam. Me too."

They sat for a while and talked to Mary but when the snow started falling again Jack decided to start the way home.

Two days it didn't stop snowing. Jack only went out to chop firewood and get Lucky to pee. He eyed his truck worried, it disappeared under a blanket of snow and the path towards the cabin was not passable at all. When he came back into the cabin he saw his wife clearly uncomfortable.

"Something wrong?"

"No, just those back aches are getting worse. It makes me nauseous. Thought I was done with that."

"It's late already, let us go to bed and I'll rub your back. Maybe it'll help you getting comfortable and lessen the nausea. We can listen to the radio a bit."

"That sounds good."

They laid down beside each other and Jack started massaging Sam's back. Lucky seemed restless too. The snow worried Jack and it wasn't a good sign that the dog was nervous as well.

The news came up on the radio...

/The snowstorm is getting worse, some houses are completely cut off. Please stay at home and tune in for the next news./

Jack stiffened immediately.

"You're worried." Sam recognized her husband's behavior.

"A bit. Let's sleep for a while, maybe it'll look better in the morning."

Sam was the first one drifting into sleep. Jack couldn't get himself to relax and it didn't help that Sam was restless in her sleep. She tossed and turned and wasn't getting comfortable at all. Around four o'clock her sleep was over. She ran towards the bathroom and had to throw up.

Not a second later Jack was by her side, watching her afraid.

When she tried to get up she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen and stumbled forward, getting a grip on the sink.

"Sam?" There was panic in his question and she looked at him, also worried.

"That might have been a contraction." She told him, as calmly as possible.

"No!"

"No, Jack?"

"No! Just no, Sam. That's not how this should be. We should be safe in a hospital, a doctor present and..."

"Relax, Jack."

"Relax? How can you say 'relax'? You're in labor and there's no possible way into town!"

"It was one contraction and it's a first time pregnancy. Things might take a while."

"Oh I don't believe your theories about first time pregnancies anymore. If your first theory was right we should have had at least three more weeks."

Sam made a face while he was talking, not daring to interrupt him.

"That was another one, am I right?"

Dead silence.

"Am. I. Right. Sam?"

She nodded, not sure if it was safe to say anything.

"God!" Jack groaned.

"Jack, go and try the radio. Maybe Jeff has an idea of what we could do."

When he came back he was pale, she hadn't seen her husband that worried since... Since ever.

"It's not working. We can't reach anyone and we sure can't go out there." He pointed towards the front door.

"Then we will stay here."

"Stay here? Sam, you're about to give birth. We can't stay here."

"Jack, I'm nervous as well but you don't help if you're freaking out. I need you to be clear headed for this. We can do this, but I can't do this alone."

"Sam, I... I can't."

"What?" She couldn't believe what she heard him say.

"I can't do this. I can't be responsible if something happens to this child. Not another one." He cried, overwhelmed by his feelings.

Sam grabbed his face and made him look at her.

"Jack, you're not alone. I'm with you in this. I can do this, but I will need help. There's no way back now. We went to hell and back together, we sure are able to get this baby out, safe and sound. Look at me Jack! I love you! I trust you!"

He tried to calm himself down, taking long, even breaths.

"I love you, Sam. I'm scared out of my wits, but I promise I'll do everything to keep you both safe."

"That's all I'm asking for! I think we need to clean the bathroom first."

"You don't want to get her on the bathroom floor, do you?" He joked to lighten up the mood.

"No Jack, I don't but my water just broke!"