About an hour and a half later, Jack was sitting in his truck in the hospital’s parking lot. He had dropped Daniel and Teal’c off at the base and had intended on heading home to mull over today’s events with a beer and a hockey game. The part of his mind that was in charge of the autopilot function that usually brought him home had obviously had different plans.

As long as he was here, he might as well check to make sure that Carter didn’t need anything. As a parent himself, he knew she had no intention of heading home for the night.

He walked quietly into Paige’s hospital room, mindful that she would probably be asleep by now.

What he saw was unexpected though, and he couldn’t help but smile. Paige was wide awake and sitting up in bed. She was coloring with the paper and crayons the nurses had provided. To her left, Carter had fallen asleep with her head on her folded arms.

“Shh, Mommy’s sleeping,” Paige said, holding her index finger to her lips and then pointing to her sleeping mother.

“I see that,” Jack whispered conspiratorially. “I thought you were supposed to be sleeping too, little lady.”

“I’m not sleepy,” Paige insisted, but was betrayed by another yawn.

“Sure you’re not.” Jack walked around to the bed and approached his sleeping 2IC. After the stress of everything that had happened at work lately, today had probably exhausted her. Not just her daughter’s injury but having to explain a huge part of her life to three of her best friends while fearing their reactions. He tucked a stray lock of hair back behind her ear, allowing himself the luxury only because he knew she was sleeping deeply. “Let me put your mom to bed, then we’ll worry about you.” He pulled the curtain back that separated the two hospital beds and carefully lifted Carter from her seat. She mumbled something in her sleep but didn’t wake. He placed her gently on the empty bed, leaving the curtain pulled so she could see Paige when she woke. She stretched out a bit and then settled back into slumber.

Jack took her recently vacated seat next to Paige and started gathering up Crayons. Paige was less than pleased at this turn of events. But he distracted her with one of Charlie’s favourite bedtime stories as he slipped her drawing away from her and helped her under the covers. A story his son had made him read so many times he practically had it memorized verbatim. Before he had finished the tale she was asleep. Not long after that, so was he.

Jack woke shortly after six as the nurse was coming in to take some final readings before the day nurse came on duty.

“You look like you’ve had an uncomfortable night,” she whispered to him as he stretched, before turning back to the IV to make adjustments. “You can join your wife on the other bed if you’re still tired,” she threw over her shoulder. “We’ve got plenty of beds and won’t be needing that one.”

He paused in shock, and muttered, “I’m awake,” while glancing over at Sam’s still sleeping form. Wife? The nurse had said a quick goodbye and left before he had pulled himself together enough to correct her. He left in search of a bathroom and a cup of coffee, figuring that Sam might sleep for a while still.

Sam woke not long after his departure, and was momentarily confused by her surroundings. Where was she? She sat up and ran her fingers through her hair in an attempt to tame it, and saw her daughter sitting up in bed. Paige had never been one to sleep in, and her napping the previous day hadn’t helped.

“Morning Mommy,” she said, with a bit of a yawn. Sam echoed the sentiment, and the yawn, but was still confused as to how she had ended up in that bed. The last thing she remembered was tucking Paige in. She glanced at the chair by Paige’s bedside and was surprised to see what looked like the Colonel’s leather jacket. Huh? She distinctly remembered walking all three of her team-mates out of the hospital.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Paige’s breakfast arrived. She settled her in with her cereal, then rose from the chair she had retaken.

“I’ll be right back Paige, I’m just going to go find the bathroom.” Sam headed for the door and almost ran right into her CO as he entered.

“Whoa!” he said, juggling the coffees he had in his hands. “I didn’t expect you to be up so early.” He handed her one of the coffees, which she accepted gratefully. Then he pulled up a chair next to Paige’s bed and sat down.

“Paige woke me up.” She decided the bathroom could wait a moment and sat back down. “What are you doing here?”

He glanced about for a moment, not meeting her eyes. “After I dropped the boys off at the base I stopped back here to make sure there wasn’t anything you needed. I found you asleep, and Paige wide awake and creating an artistic masterpiece. That chair is not a comfortable place to sleep, I can tell you now from experience, so I moved you to the empty bed.” That sounded innocent enough, right?

Now Sam blushed. She had fallen asleep before Paige had, and he had carried her? “Wait. You slept here?”

“Not intentionally.” He hadn’t actually left either, but that was beside the point. “But since I’m here anyway at least I can help you two get checked out.”

“Thanks.” She couldn’t help but be touched by his thoughtfulness. “I actually need to do some grocery shopping on the way home. I though we were going to be away for at least a day or two so I have no adult food in the fridge. I’m not as big a fan of peanut butter and jelly as Paige is.”

“Why don’t I take Paige home then and hang out a bit while you pick something up?” There was nothing wrong with helping out a friend. He remembered what grocery shopping was like when Charlie was three.

Sam’s first instinct was to say no. But she couldn’t help remembering the last time Paige was in the grocery store. It wasn’t as bad as when she had been younger, and used to throw things from the cart. Instead she wanted to walk beside the cart like a “big girl” and pick out food herself. Unfortunately the types of foods she thought were healthy and the foods Paige thought were tasty differed greatly. Paige was bound to still be a little off balance from her injury and the pain meds. The last thing she needed was an all out melt-down in the middle of the grocery store. “Are you sure?” she asked hesitantly.

“We’ll have fun, won’t we Paige?” He turned to the little girl who was nodding fiercely.

“I’ll go home with Jack,” she said with a mouth full of cheerios.

“We’re home,” Jack said with enthusiasm as he pulled up in front of Carter’s house.

Paige had chattered away happily all the way home. She had even been very patient as he had put her car seat in his truck and then fastened her into the seat’s five point restraint. Had it been that complicated when Charlie was little? They sure didn’t make these things like they used to.

He lifted Paige out of her seat and picked her up so she wouldn’t have to navigate the front steps one-handed. He was fumbling with his keychain looking for the one Carter had given him that went to her house when the door opened.

“Jack? What are you doing here?” Jacob Carter asked in surprise.

“Umm…” Out of all the situations he had been trained for, he had no idea how to handle this one. Did fight or flight even apply? “Just visiting Carter with my…niece.” That was plausible, wasn’t it?

“She’s not home, as I’m sure you know or you wouldn’t have been letting yourself in.” Jacob continued to stare at Jack suspiciously, and didn’t move aside to let them in.

“I just spoke to her on her cell and she said she was getting some groceries and that we should let ourselves in. I have keys to the houses of all my team members.” He hoped he didn’t sound too defensive as he squeezed past Jacob. He did have keys to their homes. Granted he had never actually been further inside Carter’s house than her front hall let alone actually used the key. They tended to gather at his house because it was the closest to base and the largest, and Daniel just had an apartment. For that matter Carter had had an apartment up until a little while ago when her father had gone off-world and had given her his house. Jacob still looked wary as Jack let Paige down and she wandered off into the house, probably to her bedroom. “Don’t go far,” he called after her, trying to keep up appearances.

“What happened to her arm?” Jacob asked as he walked into the kitchen and grabbed his juice from his late breakfast. He was definitely suspicious of Jack’s being here. Anise had explained briefly what had happened during the Tok’ra/Earth treaty signing, and Selmak had helped him fill in the blanks. Admitting that they “cared” was one thing. They weren’t acting on it though, were they?

“Paige had a mishap on the playground and broke it yesterday. She’s doing fine now though.” Sam would have to give details later.

“I didn’t know you had any siblings?” Jacob still wasn’t buying it. Something was off.

“I don’t actually.” Think Jack! Think! “She’s the daughter of a close friend, and I’ve sort of become an Uncle to her.” Where was Sam anyway?

Just then he heard the door open and heard Sam call for Paige. She came into the kitchen and set down the groceries, and turned around just in time to scoop up the little girl who had come into the kitchen yelling, “Mommy!”

As Sam turned to Jack she gasped, seeing her father in the kitchen as well. “Dad! What are you doing here?”

“I came through the gate last night and had an airman drive me here. The Tok’ra are gathering for a summit of sorts and it will be a few days until the last arrive, so I though I’d come visit. Hammond was already at home and the airman in charge said that you were taking a few days personal leave.” He was starting to raise his voice. “Then I get here and you’re not home all night. I’m having breakfast when Jack and a little girl show up. A little girl—I might add—that calls you ‘mom’? Why is Jack’s niece calling you ‘mom’?” She tried to interrupt but he was on a roll. “I thought there might have been something between you two when I first saw you two together in D.C. And Anise confirmed it a couple of weeks ago. But what are you doing!?”

“Stop!” Sam yelled, putting her hand up. She turned to the Colonel. “Sir, do you mind taking Paige to her room for a couple of minutes?” He nodded, and took the now confused and slightly upset girl into his arms. As they left down the hall Sam turned to her father. “I know I have a lot of explaining to do, but I need you listen to what I have to say before you go jumping to conclusions. The wrong conclusions I might add.” She got herself a glass of water and tried to calm her heart. Finding her father standing in her kitchen with the Colonel had been quite a shock, and her father had started yelling before she could recover. Taking a deep breath, she turned to face her father. He was staring into space and she assumed he was having a conversation with Selmak. Hopefully Selmak was calming him down.

“Dad, the Colonel and I aren’t in any relationship other than that of CO and 2IC.” He looked like he was going to interrupt so she held up her hand. “Paige is my daughter, and he didn’t even know I had a daughter until twenty-four hours ago.” That certainly got a reaction.

“You have a daughter?” How was this possible? “Adopted, like that little girl Cassandra you told me about?” Although she certainly looked a lot like Sam.

She sighed. This was going to be difficult. “No. She’s mine. Paige Elisabeth Carter is going to be four in a little over three months.”

Now he just looked hurt. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Up until recently the two of us were far from close. We practically never spoke at all!” She led him over to the couch so they could sit. “She’s Jonas Hanson’s, my ex-fiancé.” The look of recognition in her father’s eyes wasn’t a happy one. “My dead ex-fiancé,” she amended.

“He was the one who—“ he started only to be interrupted.

“Yes. He’s the one you hated.” There was no reason to let her father get into specifics. Jacob had met few of her boyfriends, which was intentional. He had unfortunately met Jonas, which had been unavoidable once the two were engaged, and she had never heard the end of it. “The last thing I needed was to hear from you about how you had been right, I wrong. Or worse, you would have made him take responsibility as the father.” She practically cringed at the thought. Jonas would not have taken news of her pregnancy well from her father. “I didn’t want him to have anything to do with raising her, so I never told him.”

“But—“ he interrupted again, only to have her cut him off.

“You can ask questions when I’m done. Let me explain everything first.” Then she proceeded to repeat everything she had explained to the guys just the day before. At least she would have plenty of practice when the time came to tell her brother. When she finally finished, she paused in anticipation of her father’s questions. He, however, remained silent.

Jacob was trying his best to stay angry with Selmak demanding he just forgive her and go meet his new granddaughter. He probably hadn’t made the best of first impressions in the little girl’s eyes. It was the guilt at that which pushed him over the edge. With a sign of defeat, he said, “It’s going to take some getting used to, but I’ll be okay.” She couldn’t help but smile in relief. “So can I meet this little girl? Paige, you said her name was?”

“Paige Elisabeth.”

He smiled at that, his first real smile since Jack had arrived. “Your mother would love that.”

Sam couldn’t help getting a little teary eyed at that, knowing that she finally had her father’s approval. She stood and led her father down the hall to Paige’s room.