Title: "Under The Influence"

Rating: PG-13

Classification: SJ UST/Romance

Season: Season 8

Spoilers: Up through Lost City part II. WARNING - Season 8 spoilers!

Summary: Sam's gotten herself into a real pickle.

Author's Notes:

I have never had Sam and Jack break the regs before in any of my fics. And Muse questioned "Why not?"

"Because it's not in character... I can only think of a few points in seven years where they might have."

"Jonah and Thera..." Muse mused.

"Been done" I pointed out.

"The missing day in Lost City I" Muse suggested.

"And then what?" I wanted to know.

"He doesn't remember it when he gets back ... or Sam gets pregnant... or ... why are you laughing?"

Oh oh.. Muse is sulking and this is never good. Now I remember why I never let her write one where Sam and Jack break the regs!

"If I let you write it will you get back to the REAL stuff we are working on?"

"Promise"

"And Sam can't go all wacko from the angst... she's one tough lady. NO breakdowns!"

"Promise!"

Big sigh... "Do it fast before I change my mind."

Consider this a commercial interruption... My apologies.

Jackie W. (And muse who still thinks this a wonderful idea and isn't apologizing for anything)

He was back. He was safe. The Asguard had once again come to his aide, and he was pretty much back to normal. In order to remove the Ancient knowledge they'd had to erase all of his memories from the time he had stuck his head into the repository, but that was only about a week's worth and SG1 could fill him in on the details. It was certainly cause to celebrate. It was too bad Janet wasn't there. If she had been maybe she would have noticed the look on Sam's face when they were told that piece of news. The look that, before it was quickly masked, indicated that she had received a blow that had felt like a punch in the gut.

She needed to think, but she was just too damned tired. Her latest little adventure with the Replicators had left her drained. The doctors didn't seem too concerned, but then they had only had her in their clutches for a few hours when The Asguard had returned the Colonel and they had been busy running a myriad of tests on the recently frozen man. So after being warned not to leave base until all of her lab work was back she had retreated to her quarters for a quick nap. That's where the other reunited members of SG1 finally found her six hours later, so sound asleep she didn't even stir when they entered.

"We should let her sleep. She's had a rough few weeks," Daniel whispered, and the three men quietly withdrew.

"So, is someone going to fill me in?" Jack asked. "I got the basics out of the de-brief. But since I'm not cleared to leave yet, how about we head down for some food and you fill me in on the finer points of my life after I made the incredibly stupid choice to put my head in that thing again," he requested.

They left a note for Sam in case she woke up, and left to update Jack with what they knew. There were gaps. Sam had already been at his house when they arrived that Saturday morning and none of them had been with him on Sunday as he'd said he had things he wanted to take care of. But for the most part he got a pretty clear picture of his gradual decline into the world of Ancient knowledge and the battle with Anubis. In addition they had filled him in on their mission to contact the Asguard and the subsequent request by Thor for them to once again deal with the Replicators. Jack had paled on hearing of Sam's torture. No wonder she had seemed a bit off to him when he'd gotten back. Still after everything was rehashed for him he had a feeling he was missing something. Something important.

Sam woke up several hours after they had stopped by. She panicked at first at seeing the time. Surely Jack couldn't still be in the infirmary. Then she spotted the note and relaxed. She wasn't sorry to be missing out on the session. She was sure they would notice something was wrong if she were there as they summarized events for Jack, and she wasn't quite ready to face telling her part of the story yet. Exactly how did one going about telling a man with no memory of the events that the two of you had gotten married?

Four weeks earlier she'd gone back to Jack's on that fateful Saturday night. They had all left late in the evening, and Sam had made it exactly three blocks away before she had turned around and gone back. She smiled even now remembering the look of surprise on Jack's face when he'd opened the door to find her standing there with a very determined look in her eye. To her credit she hadn't just jumped him then and there. But she hadn't let him turn her away either, and after an hour he was convinced that she wasn't going to regret anything that happened between them, but quite the contrary would always regret it if she left without showing him exactly how she felt about him.

By the morning neither of them had any doubts. Still, Jack surprised himself when he turned Sam in his arms to face him and looked at her seriously before blurting out the words, "Marry me."

She'd smiled and nodded, but he hadn't finished. It had been his fantasy for so long that to have it come true even for a few short days was such an amazing thought that he had to take a chance. He took her face in his hands to force her to look at him and quietly, insistently, stated again, "Marry me, today." He had waited as her eyes had widened and he heard her catch her breath. Then her smile had lit up the room and this time she had clearly answered, "Yes." He had simply swept her into a kiss and reached for the phone to get them on a plane to Las Vegas.

Eight hours later they had returned to Jack's house as husband and wife. This time is was Sam's turn to shock him by taking the condom out of his hand even though she had told him she wasn't currently on birth control because she was still on antibiotics from her run-in with the super soldier at the alpha-site. They had spent the next fifteen hours making love and trying to make a baby.

She still wasn't sure whether she was happy or sad that the pregnancy test she had taken before going off with the Asguard had been negative. She guessed under the circumstances it would have been a bit like a bad episode out of a soap opera if she had been pregnant on top of everything else. Still she was disappointed. She hadn't made the decision lightly and now that she had she couldn't stop imagining what their children would look like. She sighed. First she had to get over the hurdle of telling him they were married and dealing with the fallout. She spent five minutes freshening up and then went to find her teammates.

She finally tracked down Daniel in his lab. He told her that Jack had been called into Dr. Weir's office an hour ago, and Teal'c had gone to workout. She hovered for a minute and was about to head for her own lab when Jack walked in. He looked slightly stunned.

"What's the matter?" Daniel quizzed.

"I've been promoted. They want me to run the SGC. You're looking at General Jack O'Neill," he said, and suddenly started to grin.

"Jack that's fantastic. Congratulations," Daniel enthused.

Sam forced a bright smile, "I'm sure you'll do a fantastic job. You deserve it. Congratulations, Sir," she approved.

"Let's go find Teal'c and head out to celebrate," Jack said clapping his hands together. "This calls for cake!"

She trailed after them with a heavy heart. He had promised he was ready to retire. His knees were shot and he was ready to stop trying to save the world every other day. He would retire and they would have another wedding that their friends could be at. Now what? He was back to being her commanding officer. How could she ask him to pass up a chance at General? She didn't hear Daniel call her name or see Jack rush to catch her as she went down and the blackness surrounded her.

When she woke up in the infirmary a few minutes later there were three sets of worried eyes hovering on the far side of the room and Dr. Lynch was at the foot of the bed going through her labs.

"Well, other than being a bit anemic, everything seems to be normal, but I want you to stay in here overnight for observation," he insisted.

Sam began to protest, but her teammates quickly stepped in and she could see that she wasn't going to win this argument. She had scared them. After all she hadn't feinted in the seven years they had known her other than from radiation that time they had found the crystal skull. They figured something must be seriously wrong, and they wanted her to stay where the doctor's could keep an eye on her. They finally promised to save her some cake, and waited for her to drift off to sleep. Then they headed out themselves.

Daniel was there when she woke up in the morning after sleeping for another ten hours. "About time you joined the land of the living," he gently teased.

Sam smiled. "I don't think I've ever been that tired in my whole life," she admitted.

Daniel was about to ask how she was feeling when Dr. Lynch beat him to it. "Major Carter, how are we this morning," he inquired.

"We are hungry enough to challenge a couple of the marines to an eating contest, and win," she replied.

"Well, assuming everything checks out I'll let Dr. Jackson escort you down to the commissary," Dr. Lynch assured her.

"I'd prefer IHOP," Sam complained.

"Let's try the commissary and if there are no repeats of the dizzy spells and feinting once you are on your feet for a bit, then you can have someone escort you home," the doctor compromised.

Sam sighed and quietly allowed the doctor to check all of vitals while Daniel went off to tell Teal'c and Jack that Sam was going to be up and mobile. By the time she was ready to head down for food the three men were all waiting for her. A part of her was annoyed at the overprotective streak, but she knew deep down that it was just their way of showing their concern, and she couldn't be upset. She did sort of still feel off. Hopefully food would cure that.

She ate more than Teal'c that morning and she knew the three men would be teasing her for weeks.

"Jeez, Carter. When's the last time you had a decent meal?" Jack asked with a grin. "You just ate enough to feed a third world country."

Sam blushed. In truth the last good meal she could remember was breakfast at Jack's that Monday morning before they got the news Anubis was about to attack. In reply she simply shrugged. "Getting tortured takes a lot out of you," she matter-of-factly replied.

With all of them cleared to leave the base they were officially given two weeks of downtime. When they returned, Jack would be stepping into his new role and Sam would be getting command of SG1. It was implied that there would be a promotion for her too. Great she thought, she could be promoted and court marshaled at the same time.

Her game plan had been to wait until everyone left her house and then take a cab over to Jack's to try to explain the situation to him. That was thwarted when it was decided that Teal'c should stay with her for the rest of the day and Daniel would go with Jack to help him clean out the fridge and restock at his house. Plan B had been to drive over herself the next day, so in the morning she called only to get Jack's machine.

She left a message to have him call her, and set about to get some work done. She was surprised when after an hour she was feeling fatigued again. By lunchtime she was in serious need of a nap. She was sound asleep when Jack called back from the road on his way to his cabin. He had decided it would be a while before his new duties would let him get away again and hastily packed up the truck and headed out. He'd picked up her message just as he was leaving.

She didn't have a plan C. She supposed she could head up to his cabin, but she really wasn't feeling up to making the trip on her own. Maybe she would just rest up for a few days and then decide whether to go to Minnesota or wait for him to come back. In the meantime she had some serious thinking to do. She had gotten herself into a real jam and now she needed to figure a way out of it.

Two days later she knew she only had one real option. None of the others made any sense. She could request a transfer, but what chance would their relationship have if she were halfway across the country? She had briefly considered keeping the entire thing a secret and going back to the way things had been before. The thought alone had sent her racing to the bathroom where she had promptly thrown up. Obviously she couldn't cope with that idea. The only other choice was for her to resign. She spent a day crying over that choice, but once she accepted the idea it really wasn't so bad. After all, if she really wanted to have children she couldn't be out running around the universe.

In the mean time Jack O'Neill was up at his cabin trying to find the sense of peace that usually descended upon him there. For once though it wasn't working. He was antsy, and he couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing. That there was something he should be doing. He had planned on staying for a full week. On his forth day there he was mulling over heading back to Colorado early when his phone rang.

"Jack, its Daniel. You need to get back here pronto. We don't know what's going on, but Sam just resigned," he reported.

"I'm on my way," Jack replied.

He threw everything into the truck and locked up in an hour flat. A hundred scenarios were playing themselves out in his head. Was she running off with that cop from Denver? Or maybe the Replicators had done more damage then she had let on. That little niggling feeling that he was missing something important was back in full force.

Sam in the meantime had decided she would wait until after she had talked to Jack to hand in her resignation. Then they could go to Teal'c and Daniel and confess before she formalized things. They had a right to not be blind-sided by this. She knew she would get an argument from Jack and he would offer to retire, but she had her case well planned out, and she was sure she could get him to see it her way. In the meantime she needed to take care of herself and get well. She still felt like her entire body was out of whack. She was sleeping more than she ever had in her life, and her appetite seemed to have totally disappeared one minute and the next it would return with a vengeance.

It was on the forth day after he had left that she looked at the calendar and stopped dead. It had been over five weeks since she and Jack had gotten married. She double-checked. Yep, thirty-seven days. She counted backwards. That made her thirteen days late. Holy Hannah. She quickly drove to the store and picked up another at-home pregnancy test. An hour later she was staring at the positive results. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry. In the end she did a little of both.

She didn't even hesitate. She typed up her resignation, drove to base, and headed straight for Dr. Weir's office. Needless to say the woman was surprised. Sam simply explained she was getting married and moving on with her life. There wasn't much that could be said to that, but still she was surprised there wasn't more of an argument. She should have known that it was too easy.

Dr. Weir was smart enough to realize that something else was going on. She immediately put in a call to Washington, and discovered that General Hammond was already on a plane home for a long five-day weekend with his family. She was patched through to him in the air and told him everything that had occurred. He promised that his first stop on landing would be Carter's house. Then she tried to get a hold of Teal'c and Dr. Jackson but ended up having to leave messages for both.

Meanwhile, Sam was at home letting the latest twist in the little melodrama sink in. It was an impossible situation, but she couldn't be upset. She wanted this. She just wondered if now that Jack had his life back he would make the same choices he had that night more than five weeks ago. Her only comfort was the fact that he had told her he'd almost resigned to give them a chance at least three other times. And even though he had paused at first thinking that it wasn't fair to conceive a child when he might not be around to see it grow up he had eventually understood that she wanted his child no matter what happened. Hopefully she could make him understand that again. It had been her decision and she didn't regret it.

She looked at herself in the mirror and tried to figure out how to start the inevitable conversation.

"So, General O'Neill, I quit because we threw the regs out the window, had sex, compounded that by getting married while we were still in the same chain of command. Oh, yeah and to just make sure we couldn't hide it we got pregnant."

Oh crap.

Sam was expecting Daniel or Teal'c. She'd called both of them, but they had been out. So when General Hammond showed up at her door later that day she was surprised, but glad to see the man. However one look at his face told her she was in trouble.

"Major, just what do you think you are doing?" he inquired in his best General voice.

"Doctor, not Major," she corrected, stepping back to let him into her house.

He stared at her for a minute as if something in her demeanor would give him a clue as to what was going on, but as usual she was in control and not giving anything away.

"Sam, why would you resign?" he backed off realizing he might have better luck speaking to her as a friend.

"I have my reasons, and eventually I will let everyone know what they are. For now they are personal," she explained.

"Dr. Weir said you were getting married," he reminded her.

"A white lie, but it's a possibility," she said.

"To that young detective?" he inquired.

"No, not Pete. We broke up," she told him, but offered no further information.

She could see he wasn't going to leave until he was satisfied she knew what she was doing. She sighed, and offered him something to drink. She took her time getting the beverages trying to think of how to explain.

"It's been a crazy six months, General," she began with a sigh. What she was about to tell him was the truth. It just wasn't the reason she was resigning. "I've lost a best friend and almost lost another. My father is so far away and out of touch I might as well have lost him too. When Fifth tortured me he took things in my mind and made a new reality for me, one where I was married to Pete and far away from here. It didn't work because it wasn't a reality I could envision myself wanting. But it did make me stop and acknowledge what I do want," she admitted.

In truth she'd known it was false because she had managed to hide her memories of her marriage to Jack from the Replicator, burying them deep and allowing the Pete memories to come to the forefront. It had been a minor victory in a battle she'd had little hope of winning.

"And you don't want to be part of the SGC anymore?" he asked incredulously. He couldn't imagine that was the case. Sam Carter lived and breathed the program. The events of the last six months had been brutal, and it was possible that it had finally been too much for her, but he doubted it.

"No, Sir. I still want to be part of it. As a matter of fact if you have any pull I happen to know a theoretical astrophysicist in need of a job. The position would need to have a good medical plan and doctors with a really high security clearance," she hinted.

"I'll see what I can do. I don't think there will be any problem getting you hired back as a civilian, as long as that's what you are sure you want. But if you are going to stay there why resign?" he wondered.

Even as he voiced the question a possible answer came to him and he stopped and stared at Sam. She saw the look and correctly interpreted it. Not wanting to give anything away just yet she gave him her best innocent look back. His eyes narrowed. Yep, he was on to her. Then to her surprise he relaxed and smiled.

"I'll suggest to Dr. Weir that she get you on the payroll as soon as possible before you get other offers and we can't afford you," was all he said letting his previous question drop.

"Thank you, Sir," she replied. And she knew it was a done deal.

She breathed a sigh of relief at his departure. That was one load off of her mind. If everything else went to hell she could at least support herself and her child. Jack's child. Oh, that thought made her knees weak. And thinking of her husband (damn she had to learn to hide the grin that thought brought for at least a bit) she still needed to call him. Before she could reach for the phone her doorbell rang again and she opened it to find Daniel and Teal'c. She really didn't want to lie to them and she hoped they would understand without her having to make up anything.

"I'm not leaving the SGC, at least I hope not. I just am going to concentrate on other things. I'm sorry if you feel like I'm abandoning you, but I really needed to make this change. I've had enough guys," she confessed.

Teal'c bowed his head in acceptance of her decision. He probably understood better than Daniel why she was doing this although he didn't know the latest details. His unspoken blessing meant the world to her. Daniel wanted to argue, but Sam looked so tired he didn't have the heart to. He thought of everything they had all been through lately, Besides losing Janet and fighting Anubis Sam had had the added stress of the her mission on the Prometheus, being stalked by that Supersoldier, and tortured by Fifth. God no wonder she looked so exhausted he thought. Sam always just bounced back from everything and he had come to think of her as indestructible. Obviously she wasn't.

To her relief they were satisfied with that explanation. She gave them each a hug to show her appreciation. She knew that when she told them the whole story they would be happy for her and she could count on their support. It was wonderful to have friends that cared that much. So that was three down. Still, the hardest yet to come. And according to Daniel he was on his way. She went to bed that night expecting not to be able to sleep worrying about the confrontation, but her body overruled her active mind this time and she slept soundly. Pregnancy was good for something.

Jack arrived back in Colorado in the wee hours of the morning. Too exhausted to think straight he knew he needed a few hours of sleep before he saw Sam. He barely managed to undress before he was out like a light. Four hours later he awoke at his normal time, and decided to shower, shave and make himself presentable to pass the time until it was late enough to head to Carter's. He was hunting around for his wallet, which he had tossed haphazardly onto his dresser the night before when he spotted something. A man's wedding ring. He'd never seen it before, but somehow he knew it was his. Sure enough he slid it on and it fit perfectly. He removed it and looked inside.

There was a simple inscription: 'Forever Yours - S'

He stood contemplating the thing for several long minutes, then he slipped it into his pocket and headed to the one place he figured he would get some answers. Carter had some explaining to do.

She was waiting nervously. She'd been up showered and dressed for over an hour. Food was out of the question. Makeup had been carefully applied, and she'd made sure to pick a flattering outfit. The flowered skirt showed a good amount of leg and the figure hugging pale blue top showed off a bit of cleavage as well as the belly button piercing he'd liked so much. She figured it wouldn't hurt to remind him of a few of the reasons he'd married her. She'd been wearing her wedding ring at home and after a quick debate had left it on. She would just keep it out of sight until she was ready.

The slightly stunned look on his face when she opened the door told her she had succeeded in her goal of looking her best. Another perk of not being in the military anymore. She could dress like a girl again.

She finally broke the silence that had grown lengthy. "Hey, come on in," she offered.

He tried to gather his wits as he walked to her living room. He'd had a whole line of questions prepared. Somehow they had all fled from his head the moment he'd laid eyes on her. So he asked the first thing that came to mind.

"Care to explain this?" he asked pulling the ring out of his pocket.

He saw her pale slightly, but when she met his eyes they were full of nothing but love. She silently stepped forward and took the ring from him. Reaching for his left hand she gently pushed the ring onto his finger using her own left-hand so that her matching ring ended up on display next to his.

"I wish you could remember," she whispered.

He knew it must have happened that weekend after he stuck his head in the Ancient gizmo. The rest of the details she could fill in later. Right now he needed to know two things.

"When were you planning on telling me?" he asked keeping his feelings locked up tightly for the moment.

"As soon as I could get a moment alone with you," she pointed out.

"Is this why you resigned?" he wanted to know. She couldn't just throw her career away like that.

"It was one factor," she confessed. "There were others."

"Because you don't need to. We can figure this out without you resigning. We could keep it quiet," he offered.

She sighed in relief. No mention of undoing it. That told her everything he was trying not to let out. She shook her head and walked over to him raising her arms up around his neck.

"There is no way I am hiding how I feel about you ever again General O'Neill," she told him before she closed in for a kiss.

That was all he needed to open the floodgates. He might not remember marrying her, but he didn't doubt it for a single second. He lifted his wife in his arms and carried her off to the bedroom.

Later as they lay in bed she recounted their first night together, the quick trip to Vegas, their wedding night. She contemplated when to drop the other bombshell on him. Maybe after lunch she mused. She'd just have to play it by ear.

"So we need to have another wedding. One our friends can be at and that I will remember," Jack suggested.

"Yeah, we were planning on doing that anyway," Sam agreed.

"And nobody but us will know the difference," he offered.

"That was the plan," she acknowledged.

Jack let that sink in. "That would only have worked if one of us had quit. So you were planning on this before?" he asked.

She couldn't lie to him. "Um, you were going to retire," she confessed. "But this works out better."

Now he was upset. "How do you figure that?" he demanded.

"Because we want kids right away," she explained.

"We do?" Jack asked starting to relax again. Damn Thor. He was grateful to the little guy but he wanted his memories back.

"Well I do," Sam said uncertainly.

"Oh, me too, " he assured her. "How many? Did we decide?"

"No, but at my age I'm thinking two," she suggested.

"Let's start today and maybe we can go for three," he grinned beginning to kiss her neck as his hands started to roam. "What kind of birth control are you on?"

"None," she whispered and waited.

He leaned back and looked are her with wide eyes. "So we could have made a baby this morning?" he asked in awe.

"Um, no. We took care of that five weeks ago," she told him.

He was silent for long minutes. Finally he realized Sam was starting to look a bit concerned by his reaction. In reality he was searching his mind for any memory of the events. He couldn't believe he was never going to remember marrying her and conceiving their first child. Typical Jack O'Neill bad luck. He admitted as much to her and she nodded in understanding.

"On the other hand, if that's the price I have to pay for being here with you now, and getting to see this child be born and grow up, I guess I'll take it," he told her.

She smiled in relief. "If its any consolation this morning was a pretty good recreation of events," she suggested with a satisfied grin.

The news was really starting to sink in. They were going to have a baby. He couldn't stop smiling. "When did you find out?"

"Yesterday, although I still haven't seen a doctor. I figured that was sort of out of the question unless I wanted everyone to know. So I resigned. As soon as I'm officially rehired I'll go to the infirmary for an exam. Since I'm a civilian now Dr. Lynch won't have to report the results to anyone except maybe you, so we can keep it quiet for a bit," she said.

"Eventually everyone is going to do the math," he warned.

"I know. I'll cope," she assured him. "Half the base thinks we've been doing it for years anyway. The people that count will know the truth and be happy for us," she pointed out pragmatically.

"I hope I've said this before. I love you," he told her leaning down to kiss her.

"You have, but I'll never get tired of hearing it. I love you too, Jack," she replied with a sigh. Before things could get too heated again her stomach growled and she laughed. "I was too nervous to eat this morning," she confessed.

"Well let's get you some food. You need to keep your strength up," he insisted hauling himself up out of bed.

He stood there naked and reached out a hand to her. She was tempted to pull him back down but another loud complaint from her stomach had her up and grabbing his shirt to throw on. No sense getting totally dressed she thought as she admired his rear-end when he bent down for his pants. As soon as she had refueled she was planning on getting him right back into bed

As it was they didn't make it out of the kitchen. As they cleaned away the dishes Jack had backed her against the counter for a kiss. As it deepened he lifted her up onto the counter and she wrapped her legs around him after unzipping his jeans and sliding them down around his ankles. A few heated minutes later they finally were just coming back down to Earth when they heard the front door open and a familiar voice call out Sam's name.

To his credit all of Jack's training allowed him to recover quickly and jump into action. He just barely had enough time to pull up his pants and move to block the intruder's view of Sam who was trying to pull together the shirt he had recently unbuttoned before their visitor was upon them. He looked behind him to see a stunned Jacob Carter standing staring at them.

"Jacob, long time no see," he calmly greeted the man. Sam's face had buried itself in his shoulder but now she raised it peer over his shoulder to look at her father.

"Hey, Dad. We can explain," she began.

Selmac's voice responded. "I am currently trying to calm Jacob, Samantha. Might I suggest you go find appropriate attire before I give him control back?"

Jack leaned away just enough to assist Sam in buttoning up and to quickly zip his pants, then he helped Sam scoot down and they both headed towards her bedroom. They were totally silent as they dressed until Jack finally started laughing.

"What?" Sam asked in confusion.

"In the last six hours I've discovered I'm married, going to be a father, and I've been caught having sex with the daughter of a man who could easily break me in two. And the day's only half over!" he exclaimed.

"Is that what we were doing, just having sex?" Sam asked slightly annoyed.

"In general? No. This particular time? We totally jumped each other," he pointed out amused.

She blushed. "Yes we did," she admitted with grin.

"And it was unbelievably mind-blowing right up to the point where your Dad walked in," he said pulling her into his arms for a kiss. "But now we need to face the music. See if I can actually survive this day," he commented.

"You'd better. I'm not done with you yet," she said with a gleam in her eye.

Jack thought of the wild coupling they had just completed on top of this morning's activities. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news babe, but your plans will have to wait unless you have a stash of Viagra in the house. Twice in a day is a lot for an old man like me," he pointed out as he put his shoes on.

"Don't sell yourself short flyboy. On our wedding night it just might have been on the fourth attempt that we conceived baby O'Neill," Sam chuckled and led her stunned husband out to face their doom.

Now facing the man you love and explaining how you came to be married to each other and pregnant while still under his command is one thing. After all it had been as much his doing as yours. Telling your father is a whole different ball of wax. By mutual agreement, they agreed not to bring up the baby part.

When they joined Jacob in the living room where he was seated they could tell by his stillness that Selmac was still in control.

"Thank you for keeping him calm Selmac, but I think you had better let us talk to him," Sam told the Tok'ra.

"Very well, Samantha," came the reply and suddenly Jacob was on his feet and taking a threatening step towards Jack.

"Stop right there Dad!" Sam demanded loudly. To her relief the shouted command caused him to pause. "You had better think very carefully about your next move, because I am not above calling for SF's to have you removed," she told him firmly.

Jacob stiffened and pulled himself to his full height. "You wouldn't dare. Besides being your father I still outrank you," he reminded her.

"You're retired. Jack is an active General with a direct line to the president. And besides being over the age of consent, I also happen to be a civilian. You have no authority here other than what we afford you," Sam informed him. "So why don't you sit down and talk to us as a member of our family," she suggested.

Jack had seen her face Jaffa and Goa'uld, but he'd never been prouder of her than at that moment. She could easily have resorted to screaming at her father, but instead she was calmly controlling the situation. He could see the wheels turning as Jacob tried to process everything she had just said.

"Civilian?" was the part that finally caught his attention. "You threw away your career for him?" he demanded.

"No, I chose to resign so that I could have a life outside of the SGC. I'm thirty-seven years old Dad, and I'm running out of time to start that family I've been putting off," Sam explained still keeping her cool.

That actually shut her father up momentarily. "I didn't know you wanted kids," he complained.

"You never asked," she pointed out.

"And you picked Jack to be the father?" he asked sarcastically.

She was saved from answering by the doorbell, although Jack would have loved to have heard her answer. Instead he offered to get the door so as not to be left alone with Jacob for even a minute. He was only slightly surprised to see Daniel and Teal'c on her front step.

"Jack, thank goodness. We wanted to warn Sam that Jacob's on his way," Daniel exclaimed as the two entered.

"As usual your timing stinks, Daniel. Could have used the warning about half an hour ago though," Jack sighed as he ushered them to the living room where Jacob was still fuming.

"So how long has this been going on Sam? Cause I'm not buying that you just woke up one day and decided you wanted a family and that Jack was a good candidate for the husband/father role. And don't think you are not marrying her, because you are Jack," Jacob demanded.

"Dad!" Sam protested.

"I think we've missed something important don't you Teal'c?" Daniel asked in amusement. He'd put two and two together pretty quickly and couldn't be happier for his friends.

"Indeed. It would appear that there have been major developments since we last spoke to either O'Neill or Doctor Carter," Teal'c agreed, and Jack swore he saw the man's lips twitch as he held back a smile.

"Oh for crying out loud, Sam and I flew to Las Vegas and got married," Jack blurted out. "Sorry guys, but we were in a hurry. We figured we would have a big wedding the next time Jacob was in town. Didn't expect it to be so soon," he explained.

Teal'c was the only one of the three to not be shocked. Daniel opened and closed his mouth at least three times without making a sound. There was a look of confusion in his eyes and Jack could tell he was trying to figure out when they'd had time to go to Las Vegas. He subtly signaled that he would explain later. Jacob had gone all quiet on them again and he correctly guessed that Selmac was having a little heart-to-heart with the man.

"Dad?" Sam queried in concern.

Jacob frowned. "Sorry Sam, I was being nagged at," he explained. Then he looked from his daughter to his new son-in-law. "You never answered my question, how long has this been going on?"

Jack decided that in this matter honesty was the best policy. He didn't need to go into too much detail after all. "Five weeks," he replied meeting the man's eyes. "Before that we never acted on our feelings, Jacob. I would never do that to her," he promised.

"Why now?" Jacob asked his daughter.

"Jack was dying. He'd had the knowledge of the Ancients downloaded into his head. Feelings were admitted, and we decided that if he made it through we'd had enough. After he defeated Anubis and we finally got the Asguard to help him out we had to decide what to do," Sam explained. She also knew that the less detail her Dad had the better.

"I was apparently going to retire again. Of course the Asguard did a whiz-bang job of erasing data, and I didn't remember that part, so when I got offered the SGC post and the promotion to General I accepted. Sam decided she was taking matters into her own hands," Jack continued.

"And you let her?" Jacob challenged.

"Let me? I believe it was my decision, Dad," Sam pointed out.

Jack grinned. He'd married a woman who was almost as pig-head as he was. Life was never going to be dull, although he had a feeling she was going to get her way more often than not. "You know she had good points, Jacob. She always does," was all he said on the current situation.

Jacob finally just sighed his acceptance and stepped forward to hug his daughter. "Well I can't say I'm thrilled that you resigned, but it is your life, as Selmac keeps pointing out incessantly. I hope you are happy," he told her. Then he turned to Jack. "And if she's not I'll hold you personally responsible."

"I am happy, Dad," Sam grinned.

"And I will do everything in my power to keep her that way Jacob, I swear," Jack promised.

"Well I think this is cause for a celebration," Daniel added.

"I agree Daniel Jackson. I believe a toast to the bride and groom is customary?" Teal'c suggested.

"I'm afraid I don't have much in the house. How about we all meet up in a couple of hours at O'Malley's and we can have dinner and plan a real wedding, I don't want anything big, so hopefully we can put something together for while Dad is here. How long can you stay?" Sam asked.

"I can probably swing a week or two, but that's it kiddo," he told her. "If you want a big wedding you can always set a date and I'll promise to make it back for it," he offered.

"Dad as far as I'm concerned I'm already married. I really want this just so that you, Daniel, Teal'c, and Cassie can be there and so we have something a little more visible for the powers that be. As far as I'm concerned I just need to go buy a dress," she told him.

"So let's do this Saturday or Sunday," Jack suggested. "That gives us two days to plan and we can make sure Cassie can get home from college. You should call your brother and see if he can make it too," Jack suggested.

"Yeah, although he's pretty upset with me at the moment," Sam said with a grimace.

Mark had been livid when she broke up with Pete for no apparent reason. Pete hadn't been too happy either but he'd bowed out gracefully when she'd explained that there was someone else. She still felt bad about hurting him, but she was glad it had happened now. She didn't even want to think about what would have happened if this latest crisis hadn't given her the courage to go to Jack that night and she had continued to see Pete. She could have ended up hurting both men a lot worse than she had.

At her father's urging she did try to call Mark, and reached her sister-in-law. Sam informed her of her upcoming wedding and wasn't surprised when fifteen minutes later her brother called her back. It wasn't a pleasant call, and he refused to come even after Jacob got on and tried to calm him down. Luckily Sam was able to follow that call up with one to Cassie, which was a lot more enjoyable. After that Sam decided she needed a nap. At first Jacob was concerned, but Daniel and Teal'c explained about Sam being captured trying to contain the Replicators, and how she was still recovering from the ordeal. Jacob decided that if he was going to be around for a few days he needed some things and borrowed her car to head off to the local Walmart.

That left Jack to be cornered by Daniel and Tealc' who were dying to hear the whole unedited story.

"So when did you guys go to Vegas, or did you just tell Jacob that to get him off your back," Daniel inquired.

Jack watched them closely for their reactions. "From what I've been told, five weeks ago. The day after Hammond came and told us he had been reassigned. Of course my life being just this side of a bad soap opera I don't remember getting married."

Neither of them seemed shocked, but he could tell the instant that the lightbulb went off in Daniel's head. "She was still under your command then," he stated the obvious.

"Gee thanks for pointing that out Daniel. We would prefer to keep that part quiet. As far as most people know we are getting married in two days for the first time, and Jacob doesn't need to know the details of the Vegas wedding," Jack instructed them. "With any luck we will both remember this one."

Per Sam's request he still didn't mention the baby. She wanted to get an exam and be a little further along before she told anyone. Even then only their best friends would know her true due date.

The rest could speculate all they wanted.

Of course Murphy dictated that it just wouldn't be that easy.

General Jack O'Neill's first day running the SGC was a busy one. There were a myriad of items that had been put on hold so that the new General could organize them the way he saw fit. However one of his more pleasant duties was formalizing the hiring of a new head of the science department, a Doctor Samantha Carter-O'Neill. One of the Doctor's first items of business after getting a warm greeting from her staff was to book a 'yearly check-up' with the OBGYN who was cleared to see the women of the SGC. By the end of the day Sam had the official results of her pregnancy test confirming she was seven weeks pregnant. Since Jack was technically her boss, the report would go no further than him and their secret was pretty safe for the time being.

They tried to settle into married life. As had been the case since the day they met, life at the SGC kept them from accomplishing that goal. While Sam was effectively grounded, Jack's new position required a lot of his time and he often felt like he was neglecting Sam. So when they did get an evening together he would try to make it up to her by taking her out to dinner or a movie. Since they hadn't really dated she enjoyed it at first. After a couple of months though she decided to let him know he didn't have to try so hard.

"Let's stay home tonight," she suggested when Jack returned home from the base and announced he would go change so they could go out.

"It's ok, Sam. I don't mind," he told her.

"Jack, it's sweet that you are 'courting' me, but I'm ready experience a quiet evening at home with my husband. I'm tired and you're exhausted. Let's order pizza and put our feet up," she urged, sweetening the offer by winding her arms around his neck and placing a kiss on his neck.

He didn't have to be asked twice. "That sounds like absolute heaven. Let me go get out of this straitjacket and I'll be down. Order whatever you want on the pizza," he told her with a grin and a kiss.

"Those are brave words when spoken to a pregnant woman, Jack O'Neill," she teased as he headed off to put some comfortable clothes on.

An hour later they were both curled up on the couch, pizza demolished. Both were in sweats and stocking feet, Jack was finishing off a beer, which Sam was looking at longingly. Taking a final sip of her diet pop, she snuggled into Jack with a contented sigh.

"Now this is married life," she commented.

"Not very exciting, is it?" he apologized.

She looked at him to see if he was kidding and realized he looked concerned and that he probably was wondering if she regretted everything she had given up. She didn't.

"It's perfect," she told him. "It's something I've been wanting for years," she admitted. When he still didn't seem convinced she sat up and took his hand in hers. "I've been alone in a lot of ways for most of my life Jack. Sitting here with the man I love and having his child gently kicking inside me has filled a hole that existed for a long time. When I was younger I was content to accomplish other goals in place of having a family, but as time went on I began to realize what I was missing out on. When you proposed I knew it was time to take the chance and not be alone anymore. I just had to trust that you would come back to me to complete that promise."

"It must have been hard when I came back and didn't remember," he sympathized.

"A bit. But you had done a very thorough job of letting me know how much you loved me that weekend, so I felt pretty confident that you wouldn't be too shocked or upset. Figuring out how to start the conversation was a bit confusing though. I was glad when you found your ring and gave me the perfect opening," she confessed.

Something else she had said finally clicked. "The baby is kicking?" he asked excitedly immediately pulling up her shirt and placing a hand on the slightly rounded spot there.

"Yes she is," she admitted moving his hand to the right spot.

"She?" he asked thrilled to feel a slight flutter under his fingers.

"This week. I think I'll alternate weeks. Next week will be a 'he' week," she grinned.

As his son or daughter once again fluttered against his palm he looked Sam in the eyes and smiled. "You're right. This is perfect," he whispered before leaning down to kiss her.

They let Daniel and Teal'c in on their secret a couple of days later, and told Cassie when they talked to her over the weekend. All three were thrilled to death for them and promised to keep it quiet for now. Sam's height and the fact that she was in a lab coat the majority of the time on base were helping to keep the pregnancy from showing, and it wasn't until she was five months along that they decided to announce it to the rest of the world. Sam blushed and admitted it was a honeymoon baby, and everyone with no knowledge of their first wedding did their own math. She never even had to lie.

Her father was a bit of a tricky issue. He came through the gate after he got their message and was equally filled with joy at the news. Of course he wanted to make sure he was back for the blessed event and that meant giving him a due date. She settled on giving telling him April. In reality she was due March 30th, but since this was a first baby she could easily be late (and she was keeping everything crossed on that one). Since Jacob thought they had gotten married a week before everyone else did if he did the math he should come up with the end of April, beginning of May. Sam assuaged her conscious by telling him they would update him as the time got closer.

The holidays came and went, and they finally did settle into married life. They squabbled joyfully over baby names, and set up a nursery. They joked about setting up a second one at the SGC. Sam found herself actually trying to learn to cook, something she'd never had an interest in before. Jack teased her that maybe there was something to that whole nesting thing.

Grace Mackenzie Carter O'Neill defied all the rules of first babies and sped into the world a week before her due date on March 23rd. Sam's water had broken as they were sitting down to dinner the evening before. Hard labor had started by the time they had turned everything off, grabbed her bag and made it to the truck. When they reached the SGC her contractions were only five minutes apart. Seven hours after labor began, Grace was giving her first hearty wail. At 7lbs 5 oz she was perfectly healthy and could in no way pass as a preemie.

To Jack's surprise, Jacob, who had arrived just as Grace was being born made no comment about the obvious discrepancy in the amount of time that had elapsed between Sam's resignation and Grace's birth. Not that Jacob hadn't been tempted, but one look at his granddaughter and the joy that lit up his little girl's face as she held her had quieted any concerns. As Selmac wisely pointed out it didn't really matter how they had gotten to this point, just that they had. He even thanked Jack for giving the baby his wife's maiden name, Mackenzie, as a middle name and keeping the Carter in there. Jack breathed a sigh of relief that Sam wasn't going to have to face her father's anger and he made a mental note to ask her if they could tell Jacob the whole story sometime in the future.

Jack wasn't naïve enough to think that would be the end of it, and when he was called to Washington when Grace was six weeks old he had no doubts as to what the meeting would be about. He took the marriage certificate from Vegas with him and a copy of his own retirement papers that just needed to be signed, prepared for anything. He knew that the President and Joint Chiefs could all add.

The meeting was in private in the oval office, so at least he didn't have to face an entire array of Generals. In addition to General Jumper and the President, Hammond was the only other person present. At least he could take comfort in the fact that the three men looked more uncomfortable than he did.

Hammond broke the silence that had settled in after the initial greetings. "I think you know what we want to discuss, Jack. I swore that the two of you had never broken the regs, but it looks like I'll have to eat those words," he stated with a sigh of disappointment.

"If it makes you feel any better, it wasn't under your command, Sir," Jack confessed causing all three men to raise their eyebrows.

Jack pulled out the marriage license and handed it to the President who noted the date in surprise and passed it around. "You have to understand I don't remember any of this, so I'm just going on what Sam told me after the Asguard got me out of stasis and patched me up," he explained. He turned to Hammond. "Remember that day you stopped by to tell us you had been relieved of command?"

When Hammond nodded Jack continued. "Well that makes one of us," he quipped. "Apparently after everyone left Sam came back." He gave a brief summary of events of the next 24 hours. "I think the game plan was for me to retire if I made it through the whole ordeal. Of course that all went out the window when I didn't remember any of it on my return and accepted the promotion to General."

"You don't remember getting married?" General Jumper asked in surprise.

"Not the first time, no Sir. The second time was as much for my benefit as for appearances," he admitted.

Hammond had been sitting quietly but now he couldn't help but comment, "I would have loved to have heard that conversation," he chuckled.

Jack grinned remembering. "It was a bit surreal," he agreed. "Poor Sam was still coping with being captured and held captive by the Replicators and then comes home to have to deal with a husband who doesn't remember marrying her."

The President had been brainstorming furiously during the entire conversation. Suddenly the answer dawned on him. "Alien influence," he exclaimed in excitement. When all eyes turned to him he smiled in triumph. "The Colonel was obviously under the influence of alien technology, proven by the fact that he can't even remember the events. We just write it up as alien influence and no disciplinary action is required," he stated firmly. He looked around at the surprised faces. "What? He doesn't even remember anything! I can sell it if I have your backing. I'm assuming neither of you actually wants to court marshal the man?"

Hammond and Jumper simultaneously shook their heads and stated emphatically "No, Sir!"

"Well then, since Doctor Carter is no longer in the Air Force, and we can explain away the General's lapse, it's settled. Now, I have yet to see any pictures of the little one that caused all of this fuss," President Hayes announced.

Five minutes later the three Generals exited the Oval office. Hammond offered to take Jack out to celebrate but wasn't surprised when the younger man declined.

"I want to get back Colorado right away if you don't mind, Sir," he told him.

"Of course, Son. Give Sam my love, and kiss that beautiful baby for me," Hammond told him.

"I will. And General, thank you," Jack said sincerely.

As he waited for transport an hour later Jack found a quiet spot and whipped open his cell phone and hit his speed dial.

"Hey. I'm on my way home, but I wanted to call because I knew you'd be worrying. They went with an 'under the influence of alien technology' defense although it makes no sense whatsoever," he told Sam.

"Why not?" Sam asked.

Jack laughed. Did the woman ever look in mirror? "Well if that's the case I guess I've been under the influence for about eight years now."

At the other end of the line Sam couldn't help but smile. "A line like that will get you far, General."

"I'll be home in four hours," he informed her.

"I'll get Cassie or Daniel to take Grace for a few hours," Sam suggested.

Jack couldn't help but whistle as he made his way onto the plane that would carry him home to the blond, blue-eyed influence he would gladly be under for the rest of his life.

THE END