"This is my family. I found it, all on my own.

It's little, and broken, but still good.

Yeah, still good."

-Lilo and Stitch

Jack was staring to think that he had all of his memories back. Then, last night, a few memories came back to him in a dream. Nothing earth-shattering, to be sure, but it was disconcerting to find things that you hadn't realized you'd lost.

He wakes up to the sound of his name, but it's not spoken by Sam's voice. He's not used to anyone else waking him up. He realizes that really, until the accident he wasn't used to anyone waking him up.

"Daniel?" he says squinting at the man hovering over his bed.

"Finally, I was about to have to start shaking, and we all know that sometimes brings back a black ops move." Daniel freezes in horror as he realizes that Jack probably couldn't pull off many of his black ops moves anymore.

"What are you doing in my bedroom?" Jack asks.

"Sam told me about the fight."

Jack blinks. It had been a hell of a lot more than a fight, but that still didn't explain anything. "What are you doing in my bedroom?"

Daniel laughs. It's that comforting laugh that people do when he does something exactly like they would expect him too. Apparently he is playing the role of the angry Colonel very well right now. "Jack, she just wanted to make sure you could get ready for the day ok."

"I'm fine, Daniel, I don't need her," he says.

"Right well, that's not even close to true. I'm here more to deal with the physical needs than the emotional ones. Although, I'm a good listener," he says.

"If I remember right, you are much more of a talker," Jack says.

Daniel grins, "Well, that's true, so where do we begin with this whole business?" Daniel surveys his friends body with a bit of awkward practicality.

"I can take care of myself," Jack insists.

"I know, but Sam thought you'd sleep late after the fight, and she doesn't want you to be late for therapy. I want to help, Jack. I wanted to help from the very beginning." Daniel pulls of the pants, and after a glance at the clock, Jack doesn't object. He is going to be late for therapy if he doesn't let Daniel to the lion's share of getting him ready. "I was against her lying. I thought that she, T and I should have all taken shifts. Stayed here one day out of three."

"I never would have let you do that," Jack says, as he sits up and pulls of his own pajama shirt.

"That's exactly what she said you'd say about it. That's why she did what she did."

"So she weaseled her way into being my nurse by pretending she loved me?" Jack says.

Daniel's brow furrows looking at his friend, "She was never pretending that she loved you ,Jack. She was just pretending that you guys had acted on your mutual love." Daniel lifts his nearly-naked friend into the wheelchair. It strikes Jack that this should feel more awkward than it is. But when you really need something, and you have someone around who really doesn't mind giving it to you, it's never awkward. In fact, it's sort of beautiful, after its own fashion.

"Do you need a new one?" Daniel asks, gesturing toward the adult diaper. Even that isn't awkward.

"No, but I don't wear them during the day," Jack tells him, pointing to his underwear drawer.

It should be much stranger to have a friend dress him. But once you've been through war with someone, nothing is out of bounds. Not even awkward questions. "Daniel, I'm working with limited memory here, so you've got to be honest with me. Do you really think she loves me?"

Daniel stops pushing Jack into the bathroom to come around in front of the wheelchair and look his friend in the eye, "I know she loves you, Jack."

"Then what was with Pete?"

"Pete was a filler. She couldn't have you. Not until one of you was ready to give up their place on SG-1. She never really wanted Pete. When you got hurt… when it looked like it was permanent, I was crushed. I knew that you wouldn't like it. I mean, no-one would like it, but you would like it less than other people. But there was also a tiny part of me that was glad. This meant that the two of you could be together. That you had a chance, possibly your only chance, of being really happy. Now, if you're going to be injured and miserable, well, that really bites."

Jack is quiet, and Daniel resumes getting his friend ready for therapy. After a few seconds, he stops, "Don't you love her, Jack? I only ask because my job relies on me being good at reading things, and if you're not in love with Samantha Carter, I am really bad at it. Bad enough to be putting the whole world at risk."

Jack smiles, "I love her."

"Ok, good; then you'll call her up, and all this silliness will end."

"She deserves better than me, Daniel."

"Why, because of the chair?" Daniel asks, annoyed. When Jack nods, Daniel shuts the bathroom door with a lot more force than necessary, "How would you feel if she pulled that crap on you? How would you feel if she was hurt, and alone, and she pushed you away, because she thought you'd be happier without her?"

Jack knows that his heart would break. Still, she could do better than him, even if she doesn't realize it.

"Just make sure that you and T watch over her, too. She might not physically need the help, but…" Jack says.

Daniel's face falls in a way that lets Jack know he was more right than he'd like to be. "Teal'c is over there right now."

For the first time since Mark's phone call, Jack has no idea what the right thing to do would be.

-0-

"If you need a break, feel free to sit down," the therapist urges.

Jack would tell the women that he was fine, but not only would that be a waste of breath he can't spare right now, but his panting would prove it untrue.

He's walking. Yes, it's with a walker, and only across the room at this point, but it's walking all the same.

He smiles as he reaches out and touches the wall.

Three times across the room in an hour, not bad at all. As he catches himself thinking this thought, he can't help but laugh.

-0-

He has been sitting here with the phone on his lap for almost half an hour. Every time he brings it up to his ear he thinks of some excuse – perhaps she's still at work, or in the gym, or he just needs a few more minutes to form an apology. The worst of all was the deadly fear that she was already with Pete. He would have no-one but himself to blame if she ended up with the consolation prize.

He finally sucks it up, and makes the call.

"Sam?" he asks, his voice sounding all strange.

"Are you ok? Did you fall? Do you need me to come over? Do you need an ambulance?"

"Wow, calm down, I'm fine," he says. There is silence on the line, and he can tell that she doesn't quite believe him, "I'd like you to come over, though."

Warmth bubbles up in her chest. "Ok."

There was more he needed to say, but the finds it harder than he thought. It is much harder than it was when he practiced. "I'm sorry, Sam."

"I never should have lied to you," she says. She still isn't sure what this is. If he wants her to return as a friend, or a nurse, or a girlfriend. If he wants a movie night, or to reach something on a high shelf, or to continue their relationship.

"I didn't know that…" he pauses, trying to find the words he wants to say. The words that he hopes are true, even though he doesn't know, "I didn't know that you'd choose me. I thought this accident, and everything… made you leave him, and end up with me. I didn't want you like that."

"I chose you," she assures him, sensing the uncertainty in his voice. "I would have chosen you a long time ago, if it weren't for the rules."

"Good," he says, his confidence restored.

"Should I pack before I come?" she asks uncertainly.

"Yes. Come home, Carter."

-0-

He's sitting on his front porch when she pulls up. He's literally on the porch. No chair in sight, just his walker out in front of him.

"Jack?" she says with a great deal of surprise, and no small amount of worry.

He stands up, and the process seems so long and painful that Sam tries to run over to help him. He waves her away, and does it by himself, even if it takes a while. Then he goes over to her step by step. She waits for him, knowing that even one step in his direction would be offensive to him right now. When he reaches her, she starts hugging and kissing him.

"Too much," he says, out of breath.

"Jack, I'm so sorry! Let's get you in the house."

"Yeah, on the couch, and we can do more of that," he jokes, though the words come out in pants because of the physical exertion.

By the time they make it up the steps, Sam is wishing that Jack never showed of his new skill. Jack is, too, but he's not about to admit it. He's eaten enough crow for the day, thank you very much.

Sam helps him into the couch. She waits patiently for him to catch his breath. He reaches a hand up to her face. "Why did you choose me?"

Her eyes sparkle, but an answer doesn't come for a long time. Finally her shoulders shrug. "I don't know? Why do I want to go into space? Maybe it's biology or maybe it's psychology, or maybe it's just who I am."

He kisses her, long and hard, and before long that isn't the only thing that's long and hard.

She doesn't notice.

He think it would be rude to bring it up. On the other hand, he figures that she probably worried about it as much as he did.

"Fully functional," he whispers.

She looks down, and smirks as she pulls him into another kiss.

-Epilogue-

She's stuck at work again. Its days like this that he wishes he hadn't quite retired. Oh, the Air Force was out, even with his increased mobility. There were plenty of things that he could have done, though.

He's glad that he didn't when she's at home. He wouldn't want to miss a second with her. Even when she's on regular work hours, he doesn't mind it. He gets to be lazy, and have a bit of a bachelor life. Then his wife comes home, and he still gets to have her.

It's these extended absences that make him feel like maybe, maybe there should be just a little bit more in his life.

The door pops open, and he turns to her, surprised. He figured she'd call when the quarantine was lifted.

He doesn't use words to ask his question. They rarely have to use words anymore.

"Turns out we didn't bring some rare infectious disease through the gate," she says with a shrug of her shoulders.

"You were all throwing up," he protests, coming over to feel her forehead with worry.

"Well, actually just Daniel and I threw up."

"Right, but Teal'c? It takes an awful lot to make a stomach like that queasy," Jack protests.

"I'm pretty sure Daniel's problem was a reaction to mine."

"That still doesn't solve the problem of why you got sick, Sam," he says.

She smiles at him.

He raises his eyebrows.

She nods.

He hugs her until he lifts her off the ground, and she squeals.

They'd never really tried to get pregnant, not seriously. She was thirty eight by the time they'd gotten married, and he was fifty-two. They'd had a long talk about Charlie, and the reproductive limits of the human species, and Sam's job, and the fact that even though Jack could walk pretty good with a cane he'd never be able to catch a running toddler. Most of all they'd talked about how much it would hurt if it never happened.

Then Sam had gone off her birth control, and they'd gotten a dog, and they'd never mentioned it again. That was over a year ago now.

"So… what's the plan?" he asks, ushering her over to the couch. To an untrained observer, it might look like he's babying her, but that's not what's happening. His legs can still only support his weight for so long, and they were just supporting hers as well.

Pressing her so quickly after she found out might annoy some women. But he knows that she has a plan, and a few more in her pocket if the first one doesn't work. His Samantha always has a whole alphabet of plans.

"I'm going to work in the science division until the baby comes. They offered me area 51, but I didn't want to move away from our family."

He knows that she doesn't mean people that are related to them by blood. He means the people who used to come on Thursday nights when Sam didn't feel comfortable leaving him alone with his walker when she went shopping with Cassie. The same people that still come around on Thursday nights, even though there is no pretense of him needing help taking care of himself now. Daniel and Teal'c might make a strange extended family, but they also make a strong one.

He nods his head, agreeing to her plan.

"After the baby comes… I don't know," she hedges, looking at him.

He blinks, having no idea what she is asking.

"You're fine with staying with it, right?" she asks.

It takes him a minute to process the words. The answer seems so obvious that he doesn't even bother to answer it, even after he understands.

"Are you going to be fine being a stay-at-home dad? I mean, if you're not, we can put the kid in daycare or something. I just don't like the idea of dropping the kid off at daycare, and then going to do something dangerous."

"Sam, I stay home all day anyway," he says.

"I know," she says looking in his face.

"Why wouldn't I take care of our kid?" Then a sad idea occurs to him, "Unless you don't trust your old crippled husband with a baby."

She snuggles against him, not bothering to correct his self insults. She's done it so many times, and she knows that he doesn't really believe them. "I want you to take care of it. I just didn't want to force you."

His listlessness is gone. He has something important to do for the first time since his injury. Something more important perhaps than when he was back on SG-1. He places a hand on her belly, and the family sits still together.

Consciousness slips.