(Untitled)

[gate_expert]

Ever since Jack and Sam found William wandering around New Atlantis with no sign of Vala or Daniel, things had been just one long blur. As far as Sam could tell, they'd just disappeared, the way people did here. Sam had seen so many people come and go that were part of the Stargate program, and knew there were others before she got here, but she

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[has_2ls]

Jack had been a dad before and he'd spent plenty of time with kids on the island but this was different. Losing Vala and Daniel was hard, harder than he'd ever anticipated, and he'd been trying to hold it together for William's sake.

When he couldn't find Sam or William back at the hut, he tried the beach, grinning when he saw them kneeling in the sand.

"That's a cool little shell, buddy."

[gate_expert]

"Mama shell," William said, solemnly holding out the shell for Jack to see.

Sam looked away for a second to compose herself, and then turned to William and Jack again. "I think he wants to save it for her," she said quietly to Jack.

[has_2ls]

"You can save it for her," Jack promised quietly, his heart breaking at the sound of William's voice. "She'll love it. Do you wanna pick a shell out for Aunt Sam? She likes pretty things too, you know."

Maybe he could distract him away from thinking about Vala, at least for a little bit.

[gate_expert]

"O-kay." William thrust the shell at Sam to put in the bucket, and when she did that, he took Jack's hand. Sam was really thankful that most of the time, it was easy to redirect William into something else and he didn't often seem to get upset.

Before they could start walking though, William let go of their hands and grabbed his hat, holding it up to Jack. "Unca Jack hat," he said. "Fish!"

[has_2ls]

"That's right," Jack said, taking the hat and unable to keep from beaming that the kid had recognized the same style of floppy hat that Jack usually wore while fishing.

"You gonna be my fishing partner, little buddy? I need someone who's good, though."

[gate_expert]

"I good," William said, and took Jack's hand again so they could go looking for shells. "I fish."

It tugged at Sam's heart to see the way Jack beamed at William, the way he grinned at him when he said something cute. They'd talked, after it was clear Vala and Daniel were gone for good and they'd discussed raising William, and decided to give up on their plans to start a family of their own. This was mostly so they could give William all the attention he would need, but Sam also had a troubling feeling that the same thing could happen to her and Jack that had happened to Vala and Daniel and how could they leave another child behind like William?

[has_2ls]

"Sam, are you coming? Can't go looking for shells without our official shell inspector."

He squeezed William's hand and thought about how everything had changed in such a short period of time. He'd wanted another kid, yeah, but not at the expense of losing Vala and Daniel.

[gate_expert]

"Of course, I'm coming," she said, and took William's other hand so that he was walking between them. She carried his little wooden bucket in her other hand, with the purple shell William wanted to keep carefully laid inside, and just left the rest of their stuff on the beach for now. They'd come back and get it later. William still had the short, stubby legs of a toddler, and Sam adjusted her step so it was easier for him to keep up.

[has_2ls]

"I think William is the best shell finder on the whole island," Jack said, grinning down at the little boy and getting a shy smile in response. Charlie had never been shy like this and it was an adjustment.

"What do you think, Aunt Sam?"

[gate_expert]

"I think so too," she said. "He's really good at finding the colorful ones."

There was a little patch of seaweed lying across the sand ahead, just in their path. "Uh oh," Sam said, "we're going to have to swing you over the slimy weeds. Ready? Here we go!"

[has_2ls]

Jack helped swing William over the little patch of seaweed and got a grin and a giggle for his troubles, though he wasn't sure if it was William or Sam who'd done the giggling.

"You're a brave little guy, William. Did you know that?"

[gate_expert]

It was Sam that had giggled; William was still being quiet and a little shy, though he didn't balk at being swung over the seaweed. He didn't answer Jack's question, just shook his head, and Sam wondered if he knew what Jack meant.

Another shell caught William's eye and he stopped and let go of their hands so he could pick it up. "Aunt Sam," he said, showing it to her.

"Oh, that's really nice," she said, and brushed off as much sand as possible. "Want to know a secret? If you hold it up to your ear you can hear the ocean. Want to try?" It wasn't really the ocean you could hear in it, of course; the resonant cavity of the shell produced a form of pink noise from the surrounding background ambience, but she didn't think he was quite ready for a technical explanation yet. Sam held it up to his ear and his eyes went round and he grabbed it to look in it. Maybe he was looking for the ocean, but whatever it was, it made Sam giggle.

[has_2ls]

Kids could find beauty in the weirdest things and seeing William excited over the shell brought a grin to Jack's face. He thought that he and Sam would do okay with a kid, especially this little guy, and he was glad they had all their love to devote to him.

"That's a keeper, William."

[gate_expert]

"Keep," he said. He pulled the shell to his ear again and smiled at the sound. "I keep it."

"Of course you can keep it," Sam said. "That way you can listen to the ocean any time you want."

[has_2ls]

"Anything you want, buddy." There weren't many things on the island that Jack would deny William and shells weren't among them. If he wanted to decorate the whole house with them, he wasn't going to tell him no.

"And we can come looking for shells any time you want, too."