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Selmak is a bit of a gambler. You wouldn’t expect that from an alien who’s never been to Vegas but Selmak enjoys being right, and they frequently rub it in Jacob’s face. They’ll be in the middle of a conversation with a human and the human will confirm something Selmak had already claimed. Jacob will roll his eyes at the ' I told you so,' he hears in their shared brain and the human will think he’s mocking them.
“Oh, no, sorry George. I was rolling my eyes at Selmak.”
George smiles, chuckles a little, “Oh yeah? What’d old Selmak say?”
“Just that they already guessed about the Naquada.”
“Ah. He do that often?”
“Yeah, they’re a real shit sometimes.” Selmak’s laughter echoes through their head. They don’t bother to take over the body and speak to George. Usually, on earth Selmak and Jacob have an unspoken (and unthought) agreement that he’s driving. He’s been missing Sam lately, Selmak is the one who volunteered them for this mission, knowing Jacob has it too ingrained in him to try to seem detached. They do that sometimes. Notice something Jacob isn’t even aware he’s feeling and make decisions based on it.
The blend is really not as much of a hardship as some of the folks at the SGC made it sound before Jacob agreed. It was really more of an ‘at least it’s better than cancer’ deal. They made it sound like Jacob wouldn’t get a say in anything, but Selmak is always looking out for the emotions they both feel. Jacob’s learned a lot from them. Not just things about planetary alliances and various galactic historical fun facts, but Jacob’s learning a lot about interpersonal relationships. And about the relationship one has with themself.
Selmak’s a stubborn bastard, though Jacob’s sure they’d say the same about him. Selmak doesn’t let Jacob ignore his own feelings. And while it’s certainly annoying, it’s also kind of nice. It’s like having an older sibling or a friend that’s kind of adopted you as a mentee and won’t leave you alone. He can’t hide things from Selmak but he doesn’t ever find himself wanting to. It might be something about living for centuries but Selmak is very good at being understanding and tolerant of what Selmak would call ‘immature ideology.’ They playfully insult each other and they both are fluent in a style of sarcasm that sometimes makes them laugh out loud on accident. (A behavior that doesn’t raise any eyebrows amongst the Tok’ra who all understand and sometimes do the same but frequently confuses the tau’ri they visit.)
Anyway, recently they’ve started betting each other experiences. Things like food usually. Like ‘if I’m right we eat some such and such and if you’re right we eat some this and that.’ One particular time this happens that makes Jacob feel a little stupid in retrospect is when Selmak thinks, ‘Your daughter is in love.’
‘Are you kidding? She’s always complaining that work keeps her from dating whenever I ask about her love life.’
‘Maybe, she gets to see this person at work.’
‘You think she and Jack are more than colleagues? Because I see the way he looks at her.’
‘Yes, I’ve felt you want to punch him. She’s not a little girl anymore, Jacob.’
‘He’s a decade and a half older than her.’
‘She’s old enough to make that decision for herself.’
‘You don’t know who she’s in love with but you’re sure of it aren’t you.’ Jacob can feel Selmak’s confidence.
He can feel that Sam is in love just as Selmak does, but he feels a little stupid for not noticing it himself so when Selmak says/thinks ‘I’ll bet you a Jello cup,’
Jacob just thinks back ‘sure but your taste for human food can use some work,’ and doesn’t admit that he already knows Selmak is right. Selmak can feel it anyway, and Jacob can feel their smugness. He rolls their eyes.
Sam is maintaining some pretty intense eye contact with Dr. Fraiser. Selmak takes control of their body for a moment to move their eyes over to where the two women are smiling at each other. Selmak mentally raises their eyebrows. As if to say ‘does that seem suspicious to you?’ Jacob jerks their eyes back away and pretends he didn’t just catch them grinning at each other like idiots. He doesn’t pretend to know much about female friendships but Selmak thinks there’s something going on and Selmak is usually right about these things.
Jacob has wondered about his daughter's sexuality before. He of course tries not to think about his little girl having any sex at all thank you very much but sometimes she’ll do things that make him wonder. He’s also always worried that maybe he's stereotyping his daughter. He knows plenty of straight women in the Air Force but then again, DADT keeps them from telling him otherwise doesn’t it? He takes a moment to wonder how many of his former colleagues are gay and haven’t told him. He thinks of a few examples of men and women who didn’t ever talk about a spouse or girlfriend/boyfriend. Selmak gives his own theories and insights but also isn’t sure about Sam. Something they’re both sure of though is that Sam’s expression when she looks at Janet reminds them of pictures he’s seen of himself looking at Debra. The kind of dopey smile you don’t realize you’re doing unless someone snaps a photo of you to show it to you. One picture in particular of them at their wedding comes to mind.
Another thing that’s a little weird about being a host to a Tok’ra symbiote, is recognizing things your daughter does that are new but remind you of an old friend you didn’t even know. Jacob will be noticing a strange behavior he thinks Sam picked up when he didn’t notice, Selmak will chime in with, ‘That’s Jolinar,’ and they’ll both remember various missions Jolinar and Selmak went on together. Jacob wasn’t there but he can feel it like he was and he mourns their friend while being happy he can still see them in his daughter. It’s kind of hard to explain.
Sometimes when Jacob sees Sam and Dr. Fraiser, all he can think of is the way Jolinar’s various hosts used to interact with Lantash’s. He sees the way Lantash and Martouf look at his daughter and sometimes gets that same urge he does with Jack. To punch these old men for looking at his little girl. Selmak tells him that’s irrational and he’s inclined to agree but he never outright thinks it. The little shit would totally gloat for the rest of their shared life. He never gets the urge to punch Dr. Fraiser. Even when he catches her giving his daughter what he can only describe as bedroom eyes. It makes him uncomfortable but it doesn’t make him angry. Maybe that’s misogyny on his part. He’ll have to ask Sam sometime. Keep up on his feminism.
“Dad, I wanted to talk to you about something.”
“Go ahead, Sam.” He’s been waiting for this conversation.
“Well you know um… you know Dr. Fraiser, right?” Selmak smiles in their brain. Jacob smirks a little.
“Yeah? What about her, Sammy?” Jacob is careful to keep his expression soft and he hopes, understanding.
“You haven’t called me that in years,” Sam smiles a little, looking at her shoes.
“You’re my little girl and I have a feeling you need a dad right now.”
Sam sighs, “You totally know where this is going, don’t you? How long have you suspected?”
“Depends on what you’re asking I suspected about but to be honest it’s likely it’s Selmak that noticed.” He almost rolls their eyes again at Selmak’s smugness.
“Oh. Well uh… yeah so…” Sam is floundering now, clearly not knowing if she needs to actually outright say it.
“When are you going to invite me to dinner with my grandchild and daughter-in-law?” Jacob raises an eyebrow.
Sam blushes brightly, possibly at the implication that she essentially has a wife and daughter, “Oh um I’d have to ask Jan, but whenever you happen to be on earth I’m sure we can make the time.”
Jacob puts his hand on her shoulder and waits for her to look up and meet his eyes, “I love you, Kiddo. Don’t forget that.” His beautiful daughter smiles, he loves it when she smiles.
“I won’t, Dad, thank you.”
“And I know there’s a bunch of jerks writing some of the military regulations but I want you to know I think it’s stupid.” He shakes his head a little. Closed-minded assholes . (Selmak reminds him that sometimes he has trouble keeping an open mind too but Jacob would rather not be compared to homophobes.)
“Thanks, Dad. That means a lot,” And his little girl smiles the way she used to a lot more before her mother died. It warms his heart and he makes a mental note to buy something nice for Dr. Janet Fraiser.