When Sam came home Jack was already there. She knew, because she had four missed calls on her phone. She opened the door and hung the key in the key box on the wall right beside the entry. While placing the stack of books on the shelf she slipped out of her boots and walked barefoot down the hallway. Jack was nowhere to be seen. On the way out to the backyard she stopped in the kitchen to grab herself a glass of water. She opened the cabinet and took a glass, holding it under the water tap to fill it, she looked out through the small window into their backyard and saw her husband. He had changed his dress blues for some worn out jeans and was doing garden work. The white shirt he had obviously worn at some point was stuffed in his back pockets hanging loosely out of it.

He looked good, his bare chest tanned from the sun and despite his desk job he was still trained. His body still in perfect shape. She had never expected that Jack O'Neill loved gardening so much, but she found out very soon in their relationship that as fidgety as he was gardening was his way of winding down and relaxing. Next to fishing of course. His sweat was dripping down his spine and she was about to give up being mad at him. But only almost. Grabbing another glass she filled it and took them both outside to go and face her husband.

Jack heard the door open and looked up to see his wife walking towards him. The sun was at its highest point and shone down on her from behind. She looked beautiful, with her bare feet on the green grass and the sunlight played around her baby bump in just the right light. He still couldn't believe that this woman was his wife, and he knew he would do anything to make up for his mistake.

"Hey!" He greeted her strangely shy, not daring to kiss her although this was what he wanted the most at this moment. Kiss her and wrap his arms around her and never let her go.

"Hi!" She answered him. "Have you been home long?"

He stood up and took the glass and downed the drink in one gulp. "Thank you. No, about half an hour tops. Where have you been?"

"I had to pick up Cassie's book at the bookstore. She needs it for her studies and couldn't get it anywhere near her."

"Ah!" Slightly nervous, not knowing where to start he tried his best and motioned Sam to take a seat in the lounge chairs nearby. "Look, Sam, about yesterday…."

"Jack, I saw you… yesterday." She told him, releasing her breath she didn't recognize she was holding. Jack was visibly stunned.

"What? Where?"

"In that restaurant. I wanted to grab some lunch after my appointment and as I was about to enter I saw you. Why have you been lying to me? How long have you been lying to me, Jack?" her voice obviously shaking.

"What do you mean with 'you saw me'?"

"Exactly what I'm saying. I saw you, in our favorite restaurant, very cozy with another woman while you couldn't make it to our doctor's appointment. How long has this been going on?"

"Sam, what are you accusing me of? There's nothing going on, I swear. That woman, that was…"

"Kerry! Yeah, I know. I'm not stupid. I recognized her."

"She was one of the meetings I had. The CIA brought her back from Europe and she's working with the SGC again. So I have to see her occasionally."

"And because of your happy reunion you forgot about our baby and to tell me about her? I don't believe you Jack. I know I'm not looking exactly like I used to, but that's because I carry your child. It didn't take you long to replace me with no one less than your ex girlfriend!" Her voice became louder as she spoke.

"No, I mean, I don't know why I haven't told you that I have to work with her sometimes, maybe it wasn't worth mentioning for me. But I thought I'd mentioned it. I'd never betray you Sam, what do you think of me? We just went to have lunch together because we had to eat something and the things we were discussing weren't classified. I would never do something so stupid and betray you! Not when I'm so madly in love with you! I would have been with you if I've had the chance. I was looking forward to that ultrasound too. Seeing our son is so special to me, but when the President of the United States orders you to all those meetings you have to attend."

She stayed silent for a long time and it was almost unbearable for Jack, so he spoke again.

"I was so tired and worn out yesterday evening, I'm sorry I forgot about it and didn't ask you. It wasn't intentional, I simply forgot due to exhaustion. You can't imagine how nerve racking the top brass can be. If it hadn't been for Kerry I would have gone insane and probably been fired. She's engaged by the way, happily!" He tried to mend some fences, afraid he wouldn't be able to do so. Sam took his sight in, he looked afraid and a bit older than he usually did.

"I know."

"You know? You know what?"

"That she's engaged."

"You know?"

"Yeah, I ran into her today...why haven't you told me? I wouldn't have had to be suspicious if I'd known from the start. You can't imagine what scenarios my mind made up. I thought I have to raise our son alone, shared custody and all. Don't do this again. Don't hide things from me, you don't have to."

"I'm sorry, Sam! So sorry. Really, it wasn't intentional. When I'm home I'm so happy to be with you and to forget about work, here you are all I'm thinking about, both of you."

"I like her, you know?"

"You do?" Jack was surprised. That was clearly something new.

"Yes, after the first shock of running into her in the mall she was able to talk me into having coffee with her. I never thought of having coffee with your ex girlfriend. But she's a really nice person. I can understand what you saw in her."

" 'saw' being the operative word here." He wanted to clarify.

"Apparently she knows a lot about me and our life. Some General seems quite unable to stop talking about his wife. She told me she's never seen someone so obviously in love!" Sam told him, smiling at him. Relieved he leaned forward to finally kiss her. He pushed a strand of her golden blond hair back behind her ear, rested his hand on her neck and drew her closer to deepen the kiss.

"I am in love with you and have been for a very long time. That won't change, Sam! Never!"

A few hours before

"Please, call me Kerry!"

Tears were welling up in Sam's eyes, she could hardly hold them back. Standing here was the woman, she thought Jack was cheating with, openly talking to her. Her heart was beating faster with every breath she was taking. As the kick ass soldier that Sam was she should be able to not show any emotion. But she was also a woman, a very pregnant woman whose hormones were messing with her, that made it a lot harder to keep her face. Again it was Kerry's voice that brought her back from her thoughts.

"Sam? Is really everything alright with you? You seem a little off. Something wrong with the little guy?" Her gaze on Sam's belly made it clear that she was talking about the baby.

"You know that it's a boy?" Sam asked carefully.

"Of course I know." Kerry laughed and smiled at her. "Jack's talking about him every time, and about you of course."

That was it, she couldn't stop the single tear from falling.

"Sam, you're scaring me. Please come with me. Let's take a seat and you can tell me what's wrong." Not taking no for an answer Kerry took the books and led Sam towards a table at the nearby restaurant.

"You're a bit pale, are you low on sugar? Let's start with some juice and we'll work our way from there to coffee."

"Why are you doing this?" Sam wondered.

"Doing what?" Kerry had no idea what Sam was talking about.

"Being so nice to me?" Sam explained.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"I saw you yesterday. You and Jack. In that restaurant."

"You did?" Surprise was heard in her voice, her brown curls bouncing with the movement of her head. "Why didn't you stop and say hello?"

"Isn't that obvious?"

"Not to me, it must be that I'm missing something here?"

Sam took all her courage. "You looked very intimate, I didn't want to intrude. Honestly, I have to admit I wasn't brave enough to face this situation."

"What situation? Sam, I don't know what you're talking about, please enlighten me." She truly seemed to not know, so Sam worked up the nerve to go straight forward and ask.

"Kerry, are you sleeping with my husband?"

Kerry, who was about to drink, was now clearing her throat. "What?"

"You heard me."

"Yes, I heard you loud and clear, but I can't believe what I'm hearing. You think Jack's cheating on you? With me?"

"What other reason would he have not to tell me about you?"

"I don't know. All I know is that Jack O'Neill is terribly in love with you. I saw that years ago when we broke up and I suggest he should do something about those regs standing between you and I see it even more now that he's openly allowed to love you. This man is crazy about you and your little boy. I can't tell you why he's never mentioned working with me occasionally. Maybe he didn't want you to draw the wrong conclusions, as we see that didn't work out very well. Or this simply wasn't something he thought worth mentioning. And how I know him it was the latter, because he's a simple man. God, now I understand your strange behavior. You had no idea I was back in Washington and then you saw me having lunch with your husband."

Sam blushed, a bit ashamed that she quickly draw some wrong conclusions. "You looked very familiar with each other. I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry for, Sam. It's me who's sorry, I can imagine what it looked like. I know we we had a great time and smiled a lot, but that was only because we both had to share some very good news. Maybe I should start at the beginning, if you're willing to listen to me?"

Sam began to calm down again, Jack wasn't cheating on her. That's at least something. It doesn't explain why he didn't tell her about Kerry, but like she said… It's Jack. "Please!"

"Okay, so I was working in Europe for some time, but last year I was called back to negotiate with the SGC again. From then on I had a few meetings with the Head of homeworld security. Imagine my surprise when I found out it was Jack. He immediately told me that this was your opportunity to be together. I knew from the start that you two finally made it. There were not many meetings, but every time he talked about you. How proud he was that you made it to full bird Colonel. And when you got pregnant he was the proudest Daddy to be. You are able give him what he was missing. A family! He was devastated that he couldn't make it to your ultrasound appointment yesterday, but we were smiling because I told him that I'm engaged now. I met a wonderful man who's willing to put up with me for the rest of our lives." She beamed at the thought of her fiancé. "You would have brightened Jack's day when you had stopped by to say hello, but I understand why you didn't. And I want you to know that there's nothing going on between us. Just friendship. I learned a long time ago that you are the one he's madly in love with and ever will be. Trust me on that."

Sam gulped. "I feel so stupid right now!"

Kerry leaned forward and put her hand on Sam's arm. "You don't have to. I'd have thought exactly the same if I'd been in your shoes. If I were you, I'd make him suffer for a bit."

"Oh I'll do that, no worries." A little smile made it back to her face and she began to relax.

"So I take it every think is okay with the little one?"

Sam placed her hands lovingly on her belly. "Yes, he's doing great." She groaned as a baby's feet kicked her hard. "He's just like his father, moving a lot."

"I bet he is! If this is too awkward for you I'd understand, but I want you to know I'm not getting between you two. I always wanted an opportunity to talk to you since that day in Jack's backyard."

"I think we started off wrong and we should start again."

Kerry smiled at her. "I'd like that very much."

Sam leaned back, beckoned the waitress and ordered them two coffee. "So Kerry, tell me about that fiancé of yours."