Despite the hours that had passed, Sam could not shake her internal embarrassment. Nothing had been said to her about her actions on their most recent mission to P2X-005 and how she had handled things, but she still felt as if she had done something wrong. It was not really like her and she had to admit that she been slightly distracted. Typical really, Sam mused, as she had been allowed on the mission with SG-1 purely for her astrophysics background. Even with Jonas Quinn in tow, helping her try and fix the alien ship, Sam had still been caught off guard. Thankfully, even despite Corso's charming words, she had not been fully blinded by him and the moment she had been knocked over the head and tied up had nothing to do with him, but one of his crew. Glancing over at Jack slightly, Sam could not help but wonder if he thought she had made any errors in judgement during their mission. He had not said anything whilst still at work and she doubted that he now would at home. Nothing on his face revealed any shame at her actions.
Sighing deeply, Sam knew that it was all in her imagination and accepting a few flirtatious words from a man had not led to any of their problems off world. Something just was not sitting right with her, however.
"You okay?"
Sam looked at Jack again, smiling in reassurance. "Yeah, just, thinking." It was not just the thought that, as her colonel, he could think less of her, but also as Jack. Was he aware of the mild flirtation? It was harmless; would have been even if the criminals had been telling the truth. They held such an odd relationship that Sam was not sure if she had done wrong by it. In an attempt to take her mind off of her complicated thoughts, Sam glanced at her watch. "Time for someone's bath, I think." Sitting forward on the easy-chair, Sam smiled down at Daniella and held her hands out. "Come on then, Dani, bath time." Being so used to bathing Daniella with no one else at home, Sam was well practiced with the logistics of keeping Daniella amused and safe whilst trying to prepare a bath, find night time clothes, cream and new diapers. Now at the stage where she was able to crawl at an incredible speed, Sam waited the few brief moments before Daniella made it to her feet and then sat by watching carefully as the toddler pulled herself up to a standing position. "Good girl," Sam congratulated before picking her up and then standing up just as Jack copied her.
Looking at him curiously, Jack answered her eyes. "Thought I could help?"
"Sure, thanks." Ever since Jack had admitted to her that he did not always necessarily know what to do with their child, both of them had worked a lot harder at trying to be involved when they were able to. Sam knew that she had it easier because she did not go off-world as often as he did anymore. She was not about to give up what precious time she had with her daughter no matter how much she loved her job. Whenever she was needed, she stepped up to the plate and performed her duty, however it was no longer the most important thing in her life; Daniella was.
A short while later, Jack was sitting next to the bath tub and peering over the edge to where Daniella was happily playing with little yellow rubber duckies, pink dolphins and inflatable green frogs as Sam re-entered the room. Kneeling down next to him, Sam made sure that her sleeves were rolled up and then put her hands in the warm water. Whilst Jack had started the bathing, Sam had got together everything they could possibly need after Daniella got out and inevitably got the entire room soaking wet. "Is she trying to drink the water again?"
Jack nodded, splashing Daniella and causing her to giggle loudly. Their daughter now had four teeth in total; two on the bottom and two on the top - all of them at the front. It made for a very toothy grin now. "Yeah, and just chewing on all the soft toys." She concentrated on trying to wash the toddler as Jack continued splashing and playing. "I'm sure it's harmless. I have vague memories of Charlie doing that."
Sam nodded, trying to not let the fact that he rarely mentioned his first child affect her ability to wash Daniella. The child squirmed away a bit, sliding down the bath and closer to Jack, out of Sam's reach and she smiled at her daughter's cheekiness. Daniella then proceeded to put her hands high up on the side of the bath and start to try and stand up. At a little over a year old, Daniella was confident enough at pulling herself up to stand on normal flooring and could manage to seat herself back down. It was a different matter on the slippery enamel of the bathtub, however, and Sam worried whenever Daniella attempted it. Immediately, Sam wanted to reach over and put her hands ready for if Daniella fell or slipped. Unfortunately, Jack was sitting in the way and he seemed a lot more laid back over his daughter's attempts to stand. Daniella was described as a toddler for a reason - she toddled. Whilst she could pull herself up to stand and then sit back down again, there was always a shaky element to it. Jack, however, did not seem to think there was a potential danger as he leaned forward to half hide behind the side of the bath and grin at his daughter who was slowly reaching his eye level. As soon as she was up, Daniella used both hands to steady herself on the white enamel and she laughed at her father's attempt to play peek-a-boo. Very slowly, Daniella then began to lean forward with her head as she angled her forehead towards Jack. As their foreheads touched, Daniella then took one hand off of the bathtub and placed it on her father's cheek. After pulling back slightly, Daniella's wet hand moved to Jack's forehead as she continued to apparently pat him on the face.
Her worries of Daniella falling over were lost in that moment as the child did her version of kissing - her leaning head was how she cuddled and kissed others at the moment and it made Sam smile. With a splash, Daniella thudded back down and hit her arms up and down repeatedly, showering everywhere with water. "Thanks, Dani," Jack smiled. He glanced at Sam. "Mummy and Daddy are soaking wet now." Daniella giggled and splashed some more, drawing Jack's attention back to her. Sam's gaze was fixed on Jack and she felt that odd feeling again.
SG – SG – SG
Jack leant backwards, leaning on his straightened arms as he watched Sam pick Dani up out of the bath-tub. Bathing his daughter was not the easiest of tasks for Jack; his damaged knees protested at more and more these days. He knew that he could do it should he need to and if he was alone with Dani, but with someone else present, Jack preferred to sit back with less interaction rather than kneel up and perhaps play with her a bit more. There was also the fact that the tiled floor was hard on his ageing kneecaps. After towelling off Dani, Sam stood up with the toddler in her arms.
"I'll go and get her dressed for bed. Did you want to read her a bedtime story?"
Nodding in an overly enthusiastic manner partly because Dani was watching him and smiling, Jack smiled at both of them and then watched them as they left the room. The few minutes afforded him the time to reflect on his most recent mission. Sam was supposed to be on fewer SG-1 missions, however, due to the astronomical nature of the mission she had been assigned by General Hammond. After the discovery of the Severus and the ship's damage, Sam had returned with Daniel and Reynard to Earth before returning with Jonas Quinn to help fix the ship. In the short time before Jack had headed out on the planet to find who he thought was an enemy, it had not passed his attention that Corso kept looking at Sam. He had never put her in the Captain Kirk bracket before, but there had been something about Corso. It had still surprised him when, as they had all approached the Stargate, he had overheard Sam and Jonas discussing her apparent flirting with the alien.
There had not been time since for Jack to consider this. It had been she who had mentioned previously about either of them moving on. Before her words on the matter, it had never occurred to Jack as he had no intention of altering his life. He had no idea what was going on with his relationship with Sam or where it could possibly go one day, but he had been happy to wait and see. Something worried him now. Carefully standing up, Jack popped into his own bedroom, moving towards the bedside cabinet. He looked at the pile of random papers, usually receipts, next to the lamp and then rummaged through it to find the small piece of card he had received a few weeks ago in the play-park. He had never intended on calling the woman, but as he stood there staring at the digits Jack's intentions were changing.
"Jack," Sam called across the house, "Dani's ready." Pocketing the card, Jack made his way to Dani's room focussing on what stories he would read her.
Author's Notes: After their mission to P2X-005, Sam is worrying about her flirtatious conversations with Corso, whilst Jack considers their relationship.
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