Love, Honor and Obey - Chapter 20 - EPILOGUE

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters nor profit from their use - I merely toy with them for my own amusement.
Chapter warnings: None

'Lieutenant, if I have to order you to pack up one more time, I'm going to lose my temper.'

Does it really not say Colonel anywhere on my uniform? Jack thought grumpily. Lt. Jennifer Hailey was great, really, but she wasn't Carter, and she was worse than Daniel for getting completely wrapped up in the importance of her own work.

'Sorry sir.' Hailey said, not sounding the least bit sorry, as she begrudgingly started packing her equipment back into its protective case.

'How about Heather and Martin?' Daniel suggested. 'That's kind of similar to Hannah and Michael. Oh! Or Anna and Mitchell!'

'Nah, Sam wants to use Hannah and Michael as the middle names, now.'

'What would you have done if it had been two boys? Or two girls?'

Jack spread his hands expansively. 'We'll never know. Hailey! Before I'm old, please!'

'I'm done sir, I'm done.' Hailey said, standing up with her case.

'It might be a bit late for that anyway.' Daniel muttered, smirking.

Jack narrowed his eyes at him. 'Just for that, Teal'c gets to be godfather.'

Teal'c smiled slightly. 'I would be honored. However, Samantha has already asked us both to share the role.'

'You know, really, you're lucky it's twins. This way you get two kids straight away, and you don't have to worry about getting pregnant again for a second one in a couple of years when you're even older.' Daniel said.

'How many ways do you think you're going to come up with to call me old, today?' Jack asked, as he led his team down the grassy hill towards the stargate.

'Oh, I've only just gotten started.' Daniel teased, grinning.

'Just dial the damn gate.' Jack grouched. Daniel jogged over to the DHD and started dialling.

'So have you picked their first names yet sir?' Hailey asked.

'We figured we'd wait till they're born and then decide.' Jack said.

'A wise decision.' Teal'c said with a nod. 'A jaffa is never named until he is born. You should meet the infants first and choose names which suit them.'

The gate activated, and Daniel sent the IDC.

'Will they be 'O'Neill's or 'Carter's?' Daniel asked as the other three caught up to him at the event horizon.

'Sam still says they should be 'O'Neill's. I think we should hyphenate.' Jack answered.

He stepped through the gate.

'You know you could solve that problem if you just married her.' Daniel said as he came out of the gate a moment after him.

'What difference would that make?' Jack argued. 'There's no way she'd take my name, she's Carter.'

'Colonel!' Hammond entered the gate room at a trot. 'Infirmary – now!'

Jack's heart leapt into his throat. 'Sam?'

'She went into labour an hour ago.'

Jack took off at a run, his team hot on his heels.

The elevator took its sweet time arriving. 'Four weeks premature?' Daniel asked quietly.

'Yes.' He answered tensely.

'Twins are prone to being a little premature though, aren't they?' Said Hailey.

The elevator arrived, and they all rushed in, Jack stabbing the button for the infirmary level.

'I'm sure she's fine, Jack. If it's only been an hour then you haven't missed anything.' Daniel said, trying to reassure him.

'Why didn't Hammond recall me?'

'As we were due back soon he probably felt it unnecessary to disrupt the mission.' Teal'c offered. 'Childbirth takes many hours; as Daniel Jackson said, you won't have missed anything.'

The doors opened, and Jack jogged through the halls to the infirmary. 'Doc?' He called. 'Doc!'

Janet Fraiser poked her head out from her office with an indulgent smile. 'Room 2, Colonel. She's doing fine.'

He about faced and walked down the corridor to the private patient rooms leaving his team behind him in the infirmary, and wrenched open the door of Room 2.

'Jack!' Sam rushed towards him and he pulled her into his arms for a brief hug, before pulling back and looking at her.

'You ok?'

'I'm having two babies a month early, of course I'm not ok.'

'Janet said you're doing fine.' He said soothingly.

'I'm not supposed to be here. We had a plan. I don't even have my bag. I'm wearing a friggin' hospital gown!' Sam ranted, stressed.

'Just breathe. I'll send Daniel to the house for your bag and your things, and there's still time to go to the hospital if you want.'

Sam leaned against him suddenly, her forehead against his shoulder, gripping his arm painfully. 'Just breathe.' He repeated, rubbing her back.

'The SGC's not set up for childbirth.' She said breathlessly when the contraction had passed.

'Why didn't you just go to the hospital in the first place?' Jack asked.

'Because I was already here, and you were offworld. What if your mission had overrun, or the labour had progressed quickly? I didn't want you to miss it in the commute from here to the hospital.'

Jack smiled and kissed her forehead. 'Well I'm here now. How about we head over to the hospital?'

'Ok.' She sighed.

'She's got your mouth.' Jack commented, gazing down at his newborn daughter adoringly.

On the hospital bed, Sam was sat propped up against some pillows cradling their son. 'She's a newborn, her face is all scrunched up.' She argued.

'Nah, I can tell, she's going to have your smile.'

'Well he's got your eyes.'

'He hasn't opened his eyes yet.' Jack argued with a grin.

'Doesn't matter, I can tell.' She teased.

Jack tucked the soft pink blanket more snugly around his daughter.

'He looks a little like Michael did.' Sam commented suddenly.

Jack smiled sadly. 'He would, he's Charlie's brother. I'm pretty sure they based Michael's appearance on my memory of Charlie as a newborn.'

'Oh.' Sam said softly.

'You know,' Jack said after a long moment. 'Daniel had an excellent suggestion, just as we came back through the gate.'

'Yeah?'

'Yeah.' He smiled lopsidedly at her. 'Marry me?'

Sam gave him that megawatt smile he lived for. 'I think we did that already.'

Jack rolled his eyes. 'Carter.'

'Come here.'

He gathered up his daughter and walked over to settle next to Sam on the bed, taking the opportunity to take a long fond look at his newborn son.

Then he met her eyes.

'I love you. And yes, I'll marry you. Again.' Sam said softly, smiling.

He kissed her. She pulled back after a moment, eyes twinkling, and whispered:

'But first we should name our kids.'

END

So, that's the end. Thank you soooo much to everyone who reviewed, it meant the world to me and I appreciate every single one of them. I hope you have enjoyed my story. Apologies to those of you who reviewed who wanted me to carry on with them on Earth rather than ending here. I might still do that at some point with a sequel, there's a lot of time I could fill in between the main story and the epilogue, but it's not going to be immediately as I'm currently working on a different one, which I'll start posting sometime soon.