Fic: Due Process (4/4)

[melyanna]

Part I
Part II
Part III

And now, the conclusion. ;)


Since things seemed to be moving fairly slowly, Ainsley asked Cameron to come into the delivery room. She was in between contractions, but so far things didn't seem too bad. He was rather obviously not looking at the end of the bed, and frankly she was glad he wasn't.

"Where's your mom?" he asked, sitting down in the chair next to her bed.

"Dean called," she replied, smiling brightly. "He drove up here to surprise me, I guess, and then no one was at the house and he had to call to find out where I was. Mom's waiting for him downstairs."

"Dean's coming?" Cam asked. "Man, I haven't seen him in years."

Ainsley hummed. "Maybe it's for the best he couldn't surprise me."

"Yeah, I showed up unannounced and you burst into tears. A little out of character but I'll give it to you considering the situation."

She nodded and glanced at her cell phone, which was sitting on the table behind Cameron. "I keep expecting Seth to call."

"Think he's got you under surveillance or something?" Cam asked. From his tone she thought he was only half serious.

"If he had me under surveillance I'd think he would have barged in here already." Ainsley sighed. "He's going to look like an idiot if he tries to sue for custody." At Cam's frown, she explained, "He stood up in front of television cameras and accused me of adultery. He can't have it both ways."

A contraction came and Ainsley's breath caught. Cameron watched her in concern until it was over, even though he looked like he didn't have a clue as to what he could be doing to help. "You really never found out what childbirth is like?" she asked, gesturing for the cup of water next to the bed.

"Ainsley, it's not like I have a kid on some alien planet," he told her as he gave her the ice water. "There was some scuttlebutt that General O'Neill does, but I've never really believed that."

"Really?" she said. "I'm not sure I would have pegged him as the type."

"He was stuck on some planet for about three months," Cam replied. "The only time I was stuck for even half that long, I was mostly dead for a while. Wasn't really in any condition to be romancing the ladies. Plus I'm pretty sure someone would have killed me for it."

Ainsley started laughing, but that hurt and she winced. "Ain?" Cam prompted.

"I'm fine, really."

He looked unconvinced, but changed the subject. "I assume you have names picked out," he remarked.

She made a face. "We did, but..."

Her slight emphasis on the pronoun in that sentence made Cameron understand immediately. She wasn't too keen on using the names she and Seth had negotiated. "I'm not very creative, but I could maybe help you brainstorm," he suggested.

Ainsley smiled a little. "Not Melissa," she said. "Three of the women who worked for me at the White House had babies in the last two years, and all three of them had girls and named them Melissa."

He chuckled. "What about a boy?"

"I was thinking about Matthew, after my dad," she replied. "Dad's been gone a long time, but I feel like he'd be happy about that."

"He would be," Cameron assured her.

He reached for her hand and they sat there quietly for a moment. "I'm at a total loss for a girl's name," she said.

Cameron shrugged. "Mom told me once that if I'd been a girl, they would have named me Lila."

Ainsley took a moment to absorb that, and in that moment Cam got a panicked look on his face. "No, you're not naming the baby Lila."

"Why not?" Ainsley asked, smiling. "It's a sweet name."

"Because that would have been me if I'd been a girl!"

"If you'd been a girl we wouldn't be having this conversation, because we wouldn't have met," she pointed out.

"Still," he pressed. "What were you planning on for a girl's name?"

Ainsley curled her nose up. "Caroline. I finally gave up trying to convince Seth how trite it was for a North Carolina representative to name his daughter that and just started hoping for a boy. 'Andrew' seemed pretty safe from mocking."

Cam waited a moment before speaking. "Are you really going to name the baby Lila?"

"Not if it's a boy, Cam. Not if it's a boy."

He groaned.

Cameron heard Dean Hayes coming down the hall long before the man actually came into the room. Dean's light hair looked to have more grey in it than Cam's had, but otherwise he looked little altered since the last time Cam had seen him.

Dean marched into the room, to Ainsley's side, with a deeply concerned look on his face, not even noticing Cam. He just sat there, highly amused, as Dean took Ainsley's hand. "You okay, sis?" he asked.

"I'm okay, Dean," she replied. Cam glanced at the other end of the room to see Agatha watching her children fondly. "As unlikely as it may seem, I'm okay."

Dean smoothed back his sister's hair, and finally he looked across the bed. "Hi, I don't think I -" He stopped abruptly and looked to Ainsley and then back. "Cam?"

He started moving around the bed while Cameron got out of his chair. "Good to see you, buddy," Cam said, pulling him into a brief hug instead of going for a handshake. "It's been what, fifteen, sixteen years?"

"Man, of all the people I expected to see today," Dean replied, pulling away. "What in the world are you doing here? I thought you were stationed in Colorado or something."

"I am," Cam said, nodding. "Been assigned to Stargate Command for a few years now. I mouthed off to my boss a week ago and got sent out here for a temporary duty assignment."

"You mouthed off to Admiral Harper?" Ainsley said, drawing their attention. "You didn't tell me that part."

"Yeah, see, we were off-world last week at a paleontological dig -"

"That's dinosaurs," Dean interrupted.

"I was getting to that," Cam replied, grinning. "Long story short, a baby dinosaur wandered up to Vala and wanted to play fetch."

Ainsley started giggling, but like before she winced when she did. "No more making me laugh, Cam, please?"

"I can only promise so much," he teased. "Anyway, as a joke I decided to ask my CO if we could keep him."

Dean just shook his head, while Ainsley sighed. "I only know Kate Harper by reputation," she said, "but I can tell you that was pretty dumb."

Cam opened his mouth to respond, but then Ainsley let out a little whimper and squeezed her eyes shut. It was just as well, because what he was about to say would have been hopelessly sappy.

The doctor and a nurse came in while the contraction was still going on, and Doctor Holt said, "Ainsley, how are you doing?"

"This kind of isn't a good time," Ainsley said, panting.

"I know the last time I saw you, you weren't too keen on the idea of not delivering the baby naturally, but I really think we need to consider it," she said gently.

"You want to do a C-section?" Ainsley asked, in the small voice Cam had always associated with her losing her nerve.

Holt nodded. "You're a very small woman, Ainsley," she said. "With the baby's head measurement, I'm... concerned. It's safer for you and for the baby. Your recovery time will be longer, but in the long run I think this is the right decision."

Ainsley looked worriedly at her mother for a few moments, and then she nodded. "Okay."

She reached blindly for Cam's hand because he was nearest. He squeezed back because it was the least he could do.

Agatha asked if she could go with Ainsley and then had to go change into surgical garb. There were consent forms to be signed, and then Dean and Cam decided to walk with Ainsley as the orderlies rolled her down to the surgery prep area.

At a big set of double doors, a nurse stopped them. "I'm sorry, gentlemen," she said to Dean and Cam, "but you can't come further."

"All right," Dean replied, and then he turned to Ainsley. Cam turned away while Dean spoke a few encouraging words to his sister, and then it was his turn.

"You're going to be fine," he said, somewhat inanely, "and so is the baby."

"I didn't want to do it this way," she confessed softly. "I'm a little scared."

He leaned over the bed a little. "Do you trust your doctor?" She nodded, so he continued, "Then there's nothing to worry about."

Dean had turned away just as he had a few moments earlier, and Cam laid his hand on her stomach one last time. Then, on impulse, he kissed her forehead and smoothed her hair from her face. "Dean and I will be waiting, okay?" he said. "You'll probably have to mediate a fight over who gets to hold the baby first."

That got her to smile just for a moment, and Cam stood up again. The orderlies started moving, and Cam and Dean watched as Ainsley was taken down the hall and the big doors closed.

They wandered around to find the waiting room, and then they sat around catching up on old times. Cam told Dean about his current team at the SGC, and Dean told Cam about his job and his wife and children. Cam got the feeling that they both thought they had maybe missed out on something that the other had.

"So," Dean said, when they'd been talking for more than half an hour, "you and my sister."

Cameron sighed. "Dean, she's -"

"She's never been like a sister to you," Dean interrupted. "Maybe like a little kid to you, but not like a sister."

"That wasn't what I was going to say," Cameron said.

"Cam, I'm not going to guess what's ever gone on between you and my little sister," he replied, and Cam couldn't help but notice how Dean kept emphasizing the fact that Ainsley was his sister. "I also don't care where it goes from here. I just want you to be careful with her right now."

Cameron fought the urge to squirm. He was a grown man. He didn't need to feel pressured by his friend's brother just because he might have kissed said friend. And possibly had a couple of highly inappropriate fantasies about her. It wasn't any of Dean's business.

Thankfully, he was spared having to respond to any of it when a nurse came in and asked for them. Both men stood up and joined him in the hallway. "Ms. Hayes' mother wanted me to update you," he said. "The surgery went well. Ms. Hayes has been moved to the recovery room. The baby and Mrs. Hayes are with her."

Cam couldn't stop grinning, but Dean got down to business. "Well, what is it? Boy or girl?"

The nurse shook his head. "I was sworn to secrecy."

"How long till we can see them?" Cam asked.

"She'll be in the recovery room for about two hours," he explained.

They thanked the nurse and let him get back to work, and the two men looked at each other. "Hey, I bet your mother has Ainsley's phone with her. It was still on," Cam remarked.

"If Ainsley wants to tell us what the baby is in person," Dean said, "she's going to tell us in person. Mom's not going to spill the beans."

"No," Cam replied, "but if we've got some time, we can stumble around the area for a while and find some real food to sneak up to her. You know Ainsley's going to be hungry once the morphine starts to wear off."

Ainsley was, in fact, starving by the time she got more lucid, and no amount of hospital Jell-o was enough to stave off her hunger. When Cam and Dean showed up with food she nearly cried for joy. Dean seemed a bit alarmed by this, but Cam just laughed at her.

The surgery was kind of a blur already. It seemed like they'd barely started when she heard her baby screaming as a doctor held it up to show her and then took it away. They'd just gotten her finished up when the baby was brought back to her, and for a good ten minutes all she could do was hold her baby and cry.

The idea of being a mother, of bringing a life into the world, was daunting enough to begin with. Now Ainsley was actually more than a little worried about it. She was doing this on her own now - as long as she could help it, Seth's name wasn't going anywhere on the birth records. That had brought a note of bitterness in the recovery room when she sat there with her mother and her child. It should have been Seth, if Seth had been the man she'd loved.

But right now, she had her family, her dear friend, and a contraband milkshake. She wasn't really going to be doing this alone.

She was lying in bed, partly elevated, and holding Dean's hand when one of the nurses came in. "Ainsley, can we bring the baby in?"

Ainsley smiled brightly and nodded, and the nurse stepped out for a moment to wheel in a cart that had what looked like a Rubbermaid bin mounted on top. Dean and their mother moved out of the way as the nurse lifted the tiny bundle and laid it in Ainsley's arms. As the nurse left the room, Ainsley pulled the blanket down from the baby's face and said, "Dean, Cameron, come meet Lila."

She expected a groan or more teasing from Cameron, but instead there was a soft look on his face as he looked down on the tiny baby. "She's beautiful, Ainsley," he said, and Dean concurred.

Lila seemed to be dozing in very short spurts, or her eyes weren't adjusted to the way the world was lit. Every once in a while she would open her eyes, or sometimes only one eye, to the amusement of both Dean and Cam, and then close them again. "Hi, sweetheart," Ainsley said, hefting the baby a little higher to get more comfortable. The incision starting to get sore.

Lila made a tiny little noise and closed her eyes again. Dean reached over and touched her hand, and her fist closed around his finger. "Hey there, little lady," he said. "You've got quite a grip."

Ainsley smiled and let Dean lift Lila from her arms. Lila fussed a bit but Dean, having three children of his own, was quick to soothe her. "I just remembered," he said. "I brought my camera in."

Cameron picked up Dean's bag and fished out the camera. He took a couple pictures of Lila before turning the camera on Ainsley. "Hey," she said, as he took a picture, "I look terrible, Cam."

"You really don't," he told her. Ainsley met his eyes and for a long moment they just stared at each other. There was a lot they hadn't talked about, maybe going back years, and they were things they needed to discuss, but for now Ainsley would just take his compliment.

After a couple more pictures of the baby, he put the camera away. "Okay, Dean, time's up," he said. "Hand over the baby and no one gets hurt."

He winked at Ainsley; she rolled her eyes. Then he took the baby from Dean, and Ainsley just watched him. "Hi there, Tinkerbell," he said as she sneezed. "It's been a big day, hasn't it?"

Cameron wasn't kidding. It was early evening, and just that morning she'd been sitting in the judge's chambers asking for her divorce records to be sealed. There had also been the bra incident that morning, but at least she'd been prepared for nursing the baby when she reached the hospital.

They stayed there together with the baby long into the evening, until Ainsley yawned hugely, and her mother declared that it was time she got some sleep. Dean and Cameron both wished her good night, but when Cameron leaned down to kiss her cheek, he also whispered, "You had to go and name her that?"

"Think of it as a compliment to your parents," she told him. "And - and thank you."

She blurted out the last part rather quietly, but she meant it wholeheartedly. Cameron had done so much for her in the last week, so much that she would always feel indebted to him. But he didn't seem to see it as a debt at all. "Anything you need, Ainsley," he replied, brushing his knuckles against her cheek.

Lila caught hold of his finger somehow, and Cameron leaned over to kiss her tiny hand. "We'll see you two in the morning."

That night, after everyone was gone and Lila had been taken back to the nursery, Ainsley quietly cried herself to sleep. It wasn't the first time it had happened in the last week and she was sure it wouldn't be the last, but this time it wasn't just because of the events of recent days. She had a beautiful little daughter now, and that alone was enough to make her cry in happiness too.

The next morning Cameron had to sit in on a conference call, and since he didn't know how long it was going to take, he told Agatha and Dean to go on to the hospital without him. The call went on for hours, and it was nearly lunchtime before he made it up to see Ainsley.

When he approached her room, all he heard was singing. After a few moments he realized it was a musical on the television. The privacy curtain was pulled across the end of the bed, and he knocked on the wall as he came in. "Ainsley?"

"Oh, come in, Cam," Ainsley replied. "No, wait -"

It was too late. Cameron came around the curtain and saw she was nursing Lila. He couldn't see much, but it was still more than he'd ever seen of Ainsley before, and he stepped back almost instinctively. There was some light rustling, and then Ainsley told him he could come around again.

He did so warily. She'd covered herself up a little more with a light blanket, though the baby's face was still unobstructed. Cameron just did his best not to look. He knew this was as natural as breathing, but right this minute he really, really did not need to be able to see Ainsley not fully clothed, even in the least sexual of contexts.

Instead, when he sat down in the chair next to her he turned his attention to the television. "So, musicals?"

"There's very little on television that's worth watching," she said. "Mom turned it over here and I just didn't bother changing the channel."

"Speaking of which," Cam began, "where'd your mom and brother go?"

"They're down in the cafeteria," Ainsley replied. "They just gave up on waiting for you to arrive."

"I grabbed something to eat before I left the house."

A big musical number was starting - Cameron couldn't be sure, but he thought this was Seven Brides for Seven Brothers judging by the number of men running around - and neither he nor Ainsley said anything for a while. Then suddenly Ainsley laughed softly. Cam looked over to see her stroking under Lila's chin. "She fell asleep while she was eating," Ainsley explained.

"Back home I used to have to feed the calves occasionally," Cam replied. "They'd do that too. Mom always told me that was normal."

Ainsley looked at him like he was crazy. "Thank you, Cameron, for comparing my baby to a cow."

"Well, some of those calves were awfully pretty," he told her, grinning.

Lila woke up long enough to be burped, and at that point someone came in with Ainsley's lunch. She passed the baby over to Cameron and turned the television off before starting into her lunch.

"She's tiny, isn't she?" Cam said.

"She's about average," Ainsley replied. "Except for her head, of course."

"Just means she'll be extra-smart like her momma," he remarked, winking at Ainsley as Lila wiggled a bit.

"I'm fairly certain there's no correlation between IQ and hat size," she said dryly. "But yeah, she does seem little."

Cameron would have been happy just to sit there with Lila for as long as he could, but soon he noticed that Ainsley was picking at her food. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"You're not going to believe me if I say I'm not hungry, are you?"

He leaned over and looked at the food. "I might. That food looks pretty bad."

She set her fork down with a sigh. "I'm starving, actually. But I need to talk to you about something, and it might be difficult to find another moment alone now that Mom and Dean are both here."

Cameron sat back and met her eyes cautiously. "You want to talk about the other night."

Ainsley nodded. "We sort of talked about it Saturday morning, but..."

She didn't need to finish her sentence. He knew they hadn't really finished the conversation. He wasn't really sure where to start, but something came out of his mouth anyway. "Do you feel guilty about it?" he asked.

Ainsley was quiet for a moment. "Do you?"

"I don't know. I know I should." He looked down at Lila. "Good guys don't kiss other men's wives."

"What would you do if I weren't married?"

Her question was barely above a whisper, and Cam could understand. It wasn't exactly a hypothetical, and a friendship that had lasted more than half their lives could be dramatically affected by how he answered.

He took his time answering, even though he knew Ainsley was growing more nervous as the moments passed by silently. "I'm not good at talking," he began.

"So you're just not going to?"

There was a note of tension in her voice, like she was trying to suppress something. "That's not what I meant, Ainsley," he said gently. He didn't like seeing her awkward around him after all this time. "I meant I might not say this right."

She subsided and he continued, looking down at Lila, who'd fallen asleep again. "I think I'd regret it if I left in a few days and didn't talk to you again for a year," he said. "Every time I've regretted that, but this time..." Cam lifted his head. "How bad am I doing?"

Ainsley shrugged. "I don't know." There was another long pause, in which she stared at her food, and Cameron began to wonder if the conversation had died. Eventually, though, Ainsley said, "I don't feel guilty."

"What?"

"You asked if I felt guilty about it," she clarified. "I know I ought to, but I don't."

She didn't have to say anything else. Had it not been for Lila, Cameron might have moved to the edge of her bed and kissed her till they both forgot all the problems of the last eight days. He wanted to taste her mouth again. He wanted to feel her body pressed against his. He wanted to hear her whimper his name as he found every sweet spot from her jaw to her collarbone.

But it wasn't just Lila's presence that stopped him. Her very existence held him back too. Ainsley's life was more complicated now. Lila needed her mother, and Cam knew Ainsley needed the space to adjust to that.

Besides, he desperately didn't want to be the one Ainsley turned to for comfort, and left when the hard times were past.

"So maybe," Ainsley began, "when this is over..."

She left that hanging there and looked at Cam. He nodded minutely. "Yeah," he replied, a tremendous amount of hope in his voice. "Maybe."

Dean had to go back to Chapel Hill a couple days after the baby was born, and he left with the assurance that he'd be back with his family soon, maybe at Christmas. As Ainsley and Lila were both doing well, they went home on time. Cameron drove them away from the hospital slowly and cautiously, a sharp contrast to how he'd driven Ainsley there. Lila slept the whole way.

Days went by and her friends and former coworkers stopped by to see the baby. Ostensibly they were there to visit her as well, but Ainsley knew the truth and Cam liked to tease her about that.

She was glad, frankly, that Cameron seemed as confused as she did about their relationship and where it was going. She got the sense from him that he didn't want to mess things up, and Ainsley had a horrible feeling that things could get messed up so easily. Though she knew the breakup of her marriage had very little to do with her own decisions, she was still feeling shaken by this, like she'd walked into a war zone. The initial shock had worn off, but she knew there were still battles to be fought. The idea of pursuing whatever this was with Cam right now was a little too daunting to consider.

Yet at the same time, she felt a growing reluctance to see him leave, even though she knew he had to get back to his own life.

When Lila was a week old, Cameron and her mom had had pictures of Lila printed somewhere, and they were sitting at the kitchen table putting them into frames when the doorbell rang. Being closest to the door, Ainsley got up to answer it. On the other side was Donna Moss, but with her were somber-looking men in black.

"Hi, Ainsley," Donna greeted, stepping inside. "They're Secret Service agents. The First Lady and I tried to explain we were just going to see a baby, but they insisted on scoping out the place."

Ainsley looked outside to see the familiar black SUV parked in her driveway. The two agents pushed past her into the house, and she saw a couple more roaming around outside. "Wait," she said, her brain catching up. "The First Lady's here?"

Donna nodded. "Miranda asked if she could come too. I hope that's okay."

She was about to say it might have been nice if they'd called ahead - she was wearing sweatpants, for heaven's sake - but it was too late. The agents declared the house safe and Helen Santos, wearing jeans and a sweater, came up to the house with her eleven-year-old daughter. Miranda was carrying an enormous flower arrangement. "Hi, Ainsley," Helen said. "Can we come in?"

Resigned to her fate, Ainsley said, "Sure."

Ainsley had worked in the Santos White House for nearly five years, but her interaction with the First Lady had primarily been restricted to social events. Not being Abbey Bartlet, Helen rarely got herself into any kind of trouble that needed the personal attention of the White House Counsel.

Cameron jumped up from his chair immediately. Ainsley suspected her mother would have too had she not been holding Lila. "Ma'am," Ainsley said, gesturing toward the kitchen table, "my mother, Agatha Hayes, and an old friend of the family, Colonel Cameron Mitchell."

"It's nice to meet you," Helen said. "I'm Helen, and this is my daughter, Miranda."

Miranda hefted the flowers up on the table and looked at Ainsley. "We brought you flowers, Ms. Hayes," she said.

"Thank you, Miranda. They're beautiful."

"Matt wanted to come too," Helen said, "but Sam suspected he was just trying to get out of a meeting on fruit production in South America."

Ainsley laughed a little. "I'm glad he didn't. I'm embarrassed enough to have the First Lady in my house when I'm wearing sweatpants."

Helen waved her off and went around the table to look at the baby. "She's a beauty, Ainsley," she remarked. "Mrs. Hayes, did Ainsley look like this as a baby?"

Agatha picked up an old photograph that was sitting on the table. "I certainly think so," she said, handing the picture to the First Lady.

Helen was cooing over the pictures when she looked up at Cameron curiously. "Why's he still standing?" she asked Ainsley.

"Cam, you don't have to stand the entire time she's here," Ainsley told him.

He looked around at the women in the room a little sheepishly. "Some habits are hard to break, ma'am," he said to Helen. "Pilots get to be more independent than most of the military, but there's a certain amount of decorum that gets drilled into you when you're not looking."

"Pilot?" Helen repeated, perking up.

"You couldn't have left that part out?" Donna muttered.

"What'd I do?" Cam asked.

"Mrs. Santos likes pilots," Ainsley said, trying not to giggle at the look of panic on Cam's face.

"Married one, actually," Helen said. "Marine pilot, though."

Cameron scoffed.

That, of course, turned into a heated discussion of the Air Force versus Marine aviation, and Ainsley retreated to the kitchen with Donna. "Sorry about dropping in on you like this," Donna quietly said as they got glasses down and Ainsley pulled out a pitcher of iced tea from the refrigerator. "But Helen needed a break, and this is the only time of year she gets a vacation from being White House cruise director."

"Cruise director?"

"I'm not sure, but she may have stolen that from C. J. somehow," Donna remarked. "At any rate, Thanksgiving is when the press secretary has the crazy job and she gets to relax. She wanted to get out of the White House. I wanted to come see the baby. It was convenient for us if not for you."

When they brought the tea to the table, along with apple juice for both Miranda and Ainsley, Helen was holding Lila. "Don't you just wish they could stay like this forever?" Helen asked.

"Hey," said Miranda.

"Sorry, Miranda," Helen replied. "You and Peter were both much cuter as babies."

Miranda pouted, and Donna put her arm around the girl. "Someday you'll have kids and be able to say that kind of thing to them," Donna told her.

"It's what moms do," Cameron said.

"Says the only man in the conversation," Agatha remarked, and everyone laughed.

The rest of the visits they got weren't quite as startling as the First Lady's, but Cam figured that Ainsley would be glad when her life settled down into what was going to be normal for her. She didn't talk about Seth much, but the bitterness he'd observed before the baby was born seemed to be dissipating. She had something else to focus on, and that was definitely a good thing.

Ten days after Lila's birth, Cam got a call from Admiral Harper on his cell phone and took it out to the back porch. It was growing colder every day, but he didn't mind much. Beyond the back fence he could see horses grazing in the pasture. Ainsley had told him once that they'd bought this place so she could start riding again.

Kate's call was brief - orders often were - and Cam went back inside to talk to Ainsley. He found her in the nursery, standing at the window and swaying gently. Judging by the look on Lila's face, Ainsley had just nursed her and was probably trying to get her to sleep.

She sighed a little and looked up at him. Cameron frowned. "What's wrong?" he asked, stepping into the room cautiously.

"Just thinking," she told him. He knew by now what that meant.

He came up to them and laid one hand on Ainsley's shoulder. He stroked one finger over the back of Lila's tiny hand and then her palm, making her fingers curve around his. Ainsley smiled, but then her eyes started to water. Cameron hadn't seen her cry since the baby was born, but he thought he understood. The whole situation just wasn't fair for her or for her daughter. The only person who was likely to get what he deserved was her husband.

Cameron didn't say anything, just moved his hand from one shoulder to the other and pulling her into half an embrace. Ainsley leaned into it after a moment, and he kissed the top of her head. "I just had a call from Admiral Harper," he said softly. Lila was holding her eyes wide open, but every blink was slower and slower. "I'm going to have to go back to Colorado tomorrow."

Ainsley nodded. "Well, it's not like that wasn't predictable," she said, pulling a little bit away.

"Yeah. Harper thinks I need to do the job for which I'm paid."

She laughed, though it was just a brief huff of air. "You'll be back."

"We always say that. It never seems to happen."

His hand was gently stroking the top of Lila's head now, and Ainsley cast a significant glance down at her newborn daughter almost sleeping in her arms. "You'll be back."

"You're probably right," Cam replied, chuckling lightly. Then he met Ainsley's eyes abruptly and earnestly. "Can I hold her?"

She nodded. In the ten days Lila had been alive, they'd done this enough to figure out how best to hand off the baby, but that didn't mean Lila agreed to it. She fussed, surprisingly loud for a person with such tiny lungs, until Cameron patted her bottom and snuggled her against his chest. Lila subsided after a few moments, her head lolling against him and her eyes closing at last.

Ainsley walked over to the crib to get a blanket for Lila. As she draped it over the sleeping baby, she said, "I need to move out of here." He looked up at her, both surprised and confused, and she clarified, "That's more or less what I was thinking about when you came in."

"Oh." His gaze drifted back down to Lila. "Can't really blame you. This house is kind of big for just you and her, and I guess there's a lot of stuff in here you don't want to remember."

Ainsley nodded. "I probably can't do anything with the house until the divorce is final, but I can at least start looking."

"Think you might leave D. C.?"

"I doubt it. Depending on how the divorce works out I might actually have to go back to work somewhere."

They hadn't talked about it much, but he figured she really didn't want to do that for a while, at least. "Well, hey, if you need anything, don't hesitate to call me," he said.

Ainsley smiled. "You're coming to help when I move out of here."

Cameron chuckled. "Wouldn't miss it for the world, Ainsley."

Ainsley woke in the middle of the night, though it was not Lila who woke her. Instead, it was the sound of the front door being opened. Getting out of bed, she threw her robe on and went downstairs to investigate.

She got into the living room just in time to see Cameron come back in. He was in uniform. "I was going to wake you," he said. "My flight's been moved up. I was taking my stuff out to the car."

Ainsley just nodded, not knowing what to say. The last two and a half weeks had been so tumultuous, but she'd had Cameron there to anchor her as a huge part of her life fell apart around her. She didn't want him to leave.

"Listen," he said, "you were right last night. This time it's different. It's not going to be three years before I see you again."

"I hope not," she said softly.

Cam walked up to her and rested his hands on her shoulders. "I know things are kind of a mess right now," he said. "But if you need someone to talk to, call me. I don't care what time it is. If it's the middle of the night and you can't sleep, call me."

"You're not the easiest person to get a hold of," she pointed out.

"Then keep calling," he replied. "And if I still don't call you back, I'm sure you can get in touch with Admiral Harper to get her to pester me about it."

Her eyes were starting to water again as she considered what he was offering. "Cam, I don't know what I would have done without you here," she said. "You've done so much for me already."

"You're my friend, Ainsley," he said gently. "You always have been, and you always will be. This was just what we're supposed to do for each other."

There was more she wanted to say, but a lump had formed in her throat and she wasn't sure she could speak without crying. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and he hugged her back so tightly that her feet were dangling off the floor. She breathed in his familiar scent, feeling safe and loved and she didn't want this moment to end.

"You take care of that baby girl," he whispered. "And you take care of yourself."

Ainsley nodded, and he set her down, though he seemed reluctant. "Come see me at Christmas?" she offered.

"I'll try," he said. "Provided saving the galaxy doesn't interfere."

It was only when the grandfather clock down the hall chimed the hour that they let go of each other. "Take care of yourself, Cam," she said.

He squeezed her hands and nodded, backing toward the door. He started to say something, but then Lila started crying upstairs. "Go on," he said. "I'll call you in the morning."

She turned and hurried up to the nursery. Lila stopped crying almost as soon as Ainsley had picked her up, and she carried the baby to the window. There she saw Cameron backing his car out of the driveway, and that was that. As abruptly as he'd reappeared in her life, he was gone again. Before this time, it had been three years since she'd seen him.

As she set Lila down to change her diaper, Ainsley hoped he wouldn't be gone so long again.

When Cameron's flight landed, he considered briefly going home, but instead he drove to the base. He had a meeting to attend early in the morning, and he figured he'd get more sleep if he just slept in the base quarters.

The next morning, he showered and brought breakfast and coffee to his office. He wasn't entirely sure what this meeting was about, so he needed to read up on it, along with getting himself a little more awake. He'd gotten used to getting up later, so he had a feeling this was going to be a rough morning.

He was just finished with his coffee and his reading when there was a light rap at the open doorway. Cam looked up to see the admiral standing there, and he got to his feet immediately. "At ease, Colonel," Admiral Harper said. "When did you get back?"

Cam settled back into his chair and started tidying his desk a bit. "Late last night," he replied. "It's about the same distance from Peterson home as it is from Peterson here, so I just stayed here last night."

Kate nodded, stepping into the room and approaching his desk slowly. "How's your friend doing?"

"Ainsley? I think she's doing all right." He glanced at the photograph of Lila now on his desk, one he'd taken the day she was born. "Though she flipped out a little the other day when the First Lady showed up to see the baby."

The admiral smiled a little. "The First Lady has a thing for pilots, as I recall."

"Don't remind me," Cam replied, groaning. "At least Lila was there to distract her."

"Is that what she named the baby?"

"Yeah."

"That's a pretty name." Kate came around his desk, something she never did, and then she smiled. "You have pictures of the baby on your desk already?"

"A picture, and I happen to think it's cute," he protested. Lila was cuddled up to Ainsley and yawning in the picture.

She reached over and picked up the frame. "That's sweet," she said. "You really weren't kidding when you said you had a thing for married, blonde Republicans."

Cameron snatched it away from her.

Kate laughed and walked away. "The briefing's in fifteen minutes," she said. "I need you to take SG-1 back to M74-289 today. It shouldn't be more than an overnight trip, if that long."

"Yes, ma'am," Cameron replied. "I'll be down in the briefing room in a few minutes."

The admiral nodded to him and left. After he set the picture of Lila back on his desk with the pictures of his family, Cam reached for the telephone and called Ainsley.

For the record, everyone, I have a sequel planned. Just not sure when I'll get to that ball of fluff. ;)

Thanks again to my enablers and readers. Hope you've all enjoyed it. :)