Gen. Jack O'Neill

Okay, so, keeping the pregnancy a secret hadn't really been a big deal but Jack was coming up with new and creative ways to say he needed to head home to check on Sam. People were going to think he'd started taking a sudden interest in astrophysics but it was not something he figured was anyone's business but his and hers. He had some really weak tea from up at the Compound, though, and a wet cloth to hold over her forehead, if she wanted it.

"Sam? Samantha? Doing okay or should I clear out for a little longer and give you some space?"

He was trying to be respectful of her this time around and not act like he knew everything, which he didn't, and just let them find the way naturally. Kinda hard, sure, but he'd never backed down from something just because it wasn't easy.

It was no real secret that Jack was excited about having a baby and it was also no big secret that Sam was...less than excited. Still, he'd always been able to make the best of a bad situation and he and Sam had seemed a lot better that she'd had some time to think about and get used to the idea of being pregnant. He hoped, anyway. Besides, soon they were going to be married and he didn't think it'd be a good idea to start a marriage off on bad terms.

Figuring it was high time he got his ass into gear and spent the last few days as a single man wooing his fiancee, Jack woke up early and jogged up to the Compound. He usually got coffee for both of them but with the pregnancy, Sam couldn't have the caffeine, so he improvised and used a little chocolate from the storeroom to make them both cocoa. He tasted it, before walking back, and it was everything he'd dreamed of on a cold winter morning. Minus, of course, faking a cold so he didn't have to go to school.

He tried to come back inside quietly and put the cocoa down on a little table before taking off his parka and gloves. That done, he settled on the edge of the bed, nudging lightly at the Carter-shaped lump in his bed.

"Wake up, Sunshine. Big day ahead."

Jack hadn't fought with Sam very often and while he thought they were probably on good terms again, this was the longest they'd gone without you know since they'd finally, officially hooked up.

Maybe that was a stupid thing to be worried about but Jack had worried. He wasn't so good at the talking thing, especially when it came to his feelings, and it was a lot easier and a lot more genuine to express his love and admiration in a caress down Sam's neck and shoulder or a kiss that went on so long that he saw stars.

She was over in her "office" again and Jack rapped lightly at the door frame, giving her what he hoped was a charming grin.

"You busy, Sam?"

Jack had been a little quiet for the last day or so, after he and Sam fought and he tried to wrap his head around the whole pregnancy thing and approach it a little more from Sam's point of view.

It wasn't really working, given there was nothing more he wanted in the world than to have a baby with Sam and her not wanting to have a baby with him, well, it hurt. Maybe the island wasn't a good place for it, sure, but it'd happened. They'd have to live with it.

He thought about that for a while before wandering down to the clothes box for fresh t-shirts and on a lark, thought about socks for a moment. His lips twisted into a wry smirk when he pulled out a pair of mismatched baby socks.

It was kind of like them...a little mismatched, but still going together. Sort of. He tucked them in his pocket and went to find Sam, leaning in the doorway of her hut.

"Sam? You busy?"

It was hard to find places to go on dates on a deserted island and Jack was well aware it always required a lot of creativity. This morning, he woke up early and made the trek for coffee, bringing back two mugs (he drank his own in the compound kitchen) for Sam to have when she woke up. He put those close by before kneeling on the bed to kiss her awake. He always loved Sam when she first woke up in the morning and she was still hazy from sleep; Sam, in those moments, wasn't a soldier anymore. She was just Sam and had a sweetness he didn't think she could let herself have when fully aware and alert.

"Wake up. We've got plans today."

Arguing with Carter was never one of Jack's favorite activities and the fight they'd had the other day, he was seriously beginning to worry about the long-term health of their relationship. He was stubborn as hell, that was true, but Carter...Carter was afraid of everything. His life had been spent denying himself what he wanted for the good of his country and, later, the entire world. He'd moved past that on the island but Carter, apparently, had not. Still, it wasn't enough to make Jack quit trying. Short of the day when Carter told him to get out for good, he'd be trying to make it work. He loved her too much to do anything less.

She was still asleep, which was good. Jack liked to go get her coffee and bring it to her when he could, especially when they'd fought. Coffee seemed to go a long way in mending bridges between him and Carter and it'd taken him a little while to get it perfectly right. She was damned picky about it, unlike he and Daniel who'd just take whatever they could get. The hike to the compound wasn't so bad in the early morning and it never took him long to get the coffee and bring it back. Today though, there was a little something extra next to her coffee mug, a new seashell. Lame, but it was rare to find them where both shells were still there intact with the hinge not broken, and Jack's life on the island was kind of about fishing and seashell hunting.

He placed the coffee and the shell to the side, though, and climbed back in bed to try to wake her up. He smoothed her hair and whispered against her ear.

"Good morning, Samantha. Got you some coffee."

Good sex. Best sex of his life. Really great sex. Only twice since that first time, counting this time, but Jack wasn't really counting. Sometimes, Sam even slept over if they hadn't had sex and oddly that just made him happier. But she didn't stay every night and she didn't grant him access to her hut every night either and that was...while not a problem, not ideal. Jack would prefer to have 24/7 access to Carter.

Probably because he was a sap and he'd never really been wired to get up and leave after sex but he tried not to hold it against her. She'd taken some big steps, after all, and while the initial leap had been big for him it'd been easy to wait in the middle while she came to him.

Once he'd caught his breath he rolled over a little, lightly tracing a hand down the curve of her waist.

"Staying tonight?"

[Continued from here.]

"My door squeaks. You can fix that," Jack offered. It wasn't a long walk from the Compound to New Atlantis and Jack was content to make it in companionable silence, occasionally glancing at Carter to give her a grin.

"Home sweet hut," Jack said, pushing the door open. "After you?"

Jack wasn't sure how he'd ended up flirting with Carter and picking out dresses for her, but it'd managed to be kinda sweet in the end. But, as far as them going to the wedding together, that'd been a no fly zone no matter how much Jack wanted it.

But Carter had said no and Jack, both as friend and CO, had to respect that decision.

He'd spent the morning swimming and had darted back up to New Atlantis to nab a towel from his hut when he saw her. Dammit. No avoiding Carter now. He'd have to speak to her out of politeness; it wasn't like he was mad at her or anything. He just couldn't trust himself around her.

"Morning, Carter."

It'd be easier if he had on more than swim trunks, wouldn't it?

When Jack was a kid, he'd always slept like the dead. There could be a marching band heading up the stairs in his mom's house and he'd sleep right through it but that'd changed after he joined the Air Force. You only sleep through reveille one time at the Academy before you learn to never do it again and that was the worst day of Jack O'Neill's life up until that point. And it made sense, especially later when he was Special Ops and you never knew what might happen to the man you left on watch; had to be up and at 'em pretty quick.

None of which applied to life on the island, except to make his life a living hell. Something (Keller's damn cat, he assumed) had started tearing through Carter's hut and knocking books over and eliciting a pretty damn girly (and not befitting an Air Force Colonel) scream out of the occupant. Irritated, and slightly worried it might be something a little more threatening than the cat, Jack padded over to the hut next door. He didn't bother with clothes other than his boxers because he figured he'd be heading right back across to his hut to sleep anyway. All Carter'd want was to go back to her damn computer.

He leaned in the doorway, rubbing his eyes a little and squinting in the early dawn light.

"You okay in here, Carter?"