"Damn."
Sam Carter was lying on her left side on top of the covers of the double bed. She was wearing navy cargo pants, specially designed to accommodate the bulk of her belly, and a navy sweater over a white tee shirt. She had her head propped up in one hand and a pillow between her knees. Her other hand rhythmically stroked the line of taut flesh revealed by the parting of her clothing.
"What?" Janet lifted her head from the Ernest Hemingway she was half way through.
"What?" Janet laid the book in her lap, "What makes you say that?"
"Think about it, Janet. The way he behaves? He's so still - it's like we're the warders and he's scared of provoking us into hurting him. Almost the minute we apprehended him, he fell straight into a behavior pattern typical of people who have endured long spells as prisoners of war."
Janet ran with the theory, "He has been awfully cooperative, far more so than we had any right to expect."
"He's probably a bona-fide United States American war hero and here we are�" Sam covered her eyes. "Oh man."
"Look, it's been four days. If what he said about just staying for a couple of days is true he's already spent longer in the warm and dry than he expected to." Janet shrugged and came to sit on the edge of the bed, "If he keeps on cooperating with us he can expect another couple of week's hospitality."
"We're treating him the same way the enemy did, Jan. Keeping him locked up. He eats when we tell him, sleeps when we tell him." Sam's eyes were smoldering, "It's not right. We have to let him go."
"Sam�" Janet shook her head and laid a hand on her friend's hip, "We can't. Not until we leave. We can't risk�"
"I'm the one we're doing this all for. I say we should let him go."
"No." Janet shook her head.
"No?" Propelled by indignation, Sam made it to her feet before Janet who then chased her down the hall.
Daniel was sitting at the table reading. Lot sat opposite, on the floor with his back against the couch. Both men looked up from their books as Sam came storming in. She picked up Lot's backpack and threw it down in front of him.
"You can go. I'm sorry."
Lot didn't move - he just stared at her blankly.
"Uh, Sam?" Daniel cleared his throat, "What's going on?"
"We have no right to hold this man, Daniel. Give him some food and let him go."
"Okay�" Daniel narrowed his eyes, "I'll just give Jack a call."
"No! I'm the senior officer in this room, Daniel. I'm ordering you to --"
"You're ordering me?" Ire colored Daniel's voice but his tone was light.
Sam began pulling canned goods out of a wall cupboard and tossing them on the counter.
"Yes. Get up." Sam jerked her chin at Lot.
He rose slowly to his feet, his bible in one hand, and stood, his eyes shifting uncertainly between the other three.
"Sam, calm down." Janet tried to catch hold of her arm but Sam pulled away and came around the counter, her hands full of dried goods.
"Lot - Clive - what ever your name is. You can go. I'm sorry, we had no right." Sam stooped to retrieve the back pack and began stuffing food in it.
"Okay. Okay. Let's all just calm down here." Janet took the rucksack from Sam as she cast about for more stuff to fill it, "Clive - would you give us a minute?"
Lot nodded mechanically and backed away, moving down the hallway.
"Okay. Okay, Sam. Just have a seat for a minute and tell me how you think this is going to work." Janet managed to get hold of both Sam's forearms and directed her to sit on the couch.
"Who's he going to tell? We're in the middle of no where, there's no one out here for him to tell." Sam refused to meet Janet's eyes, "He just wants to go fishing."
"We have no way of knowing that he is who and what he seems to be, Sam." Daniel moved to sit on the coffee table.
"He's a Vet, Daniel. He deserves better than this."
"That's as may well be. But we can't take the chance, Sam." Janet sat next her, holding her hand in both of hers, "We have too much to lose."
"Oh, God," Sam flung herself back, "How the hell did it come to this?"
"It just did, Sam. It's not your fault." Daniel went straight to the heart of her anguish, "This is not your fault."
Sam's face crumpled and she pulled her legs up, trying to fold her self up small but she was hindered by her belly.
"Hey." Janet tugged her neck until Sam buried her face in the doctor's shoulder and slipped her arms around her.
"Here's an idea�" Daniel cleared his throat, "Why don't we tell him what's going on? I mean, not all of it obviously, that would take too long. Maybe if he understands why we can't let him go, he'll stay."
"I don't suppose it could hurt." Janet looked unconvinced.
"I'll talk to him." Daniel stood up.
"Daniel, make sure he understands that he has a choice," Sam insisted.
"Okay." Daniel bent to press a warm kiss to her damp cheek.
"Oh, hey, Daniel�" Sam caught hold of his hand, "Remember you can't mention� y'know." Sam waggled her finger in a circle.
Daniel rolled his eyes.
Sgsgsgsg
Janet and Sam were still curled up together when Daniel led Lot back to the living room. Lot sat down in the arm chair opposite the couch at Daniel's bidding while the archaeologist stood behind him with his arms folded.
"So� you an' your kid are in danger and are hiding out up here until it's time for the birth?" Lot asked cautiously.
Sam nodded, sitting up but keeping hold of Janet's hand, "Yes. I'm sorry you had to get mixed up in all this."
"Some Government types, maybe military, are looking for you all?" Lot narrowed his eyes. Every one nodded. "So when I turned up, out of the blue, you thought maybe I was trouble?" Again, synchronized nodding. "What's so special about the kid?"
"Really can't tell you that, Lot. Sorry," Daniel apologized.
"Probably genetics," Lot mused, "Hey! He's not a clone is he? Like, the first human clone?"
Janet and Sam exchanged a look, "No, Lot. He's not a clone."
"And there are more of your people out in the woods?"
"Yes, lots of them." Janet nodded.
"So, I head out of here and I'm likely to get my head blown off by some trigger happy sentry - that's if I don't run into some of the folks you're hiding out from?"
"Our people are highly trained. They wouldn't shoot you until they had no choice," Sam insisted.
"Well, Jack might shoot you if you pissed him off." Daniel smiled ruefully.
"Then, if it's all the same, I think I'll stay indoors for a while yet."
"Thank you." Sam sighed, her head heavy on Janet's shoulder.
"You okay, ma'am? You look a little peaked." Lot leaned forward.
"Sam?" Janet felt for her radial pulse.
"I'm fine. Little headache is all."
Lot stood up slowly, glancing between Janet and Daniel as if he half expected them to order him to sit. When they did not he crossed to the sink and filled a plastic beaker from the cold tap. He brought it over and held it out to Sam.
"Thanks."
Sgsgsgsg
Lot's next night time visitation was from Teal'c.
Daniel had told Jack about bringing Lot onside the next time he came in for water. Jack hadn't said a word. But his expression spoke of murder and mayhem if Sam's instincts about the Vet proved wrong. That night Teal'c bent over Lot and whispered his fate in his ear should he betray her confidence.
Not much changed. Lot would sit on the furniture now and accepted hot drinks but he was as reserved as before. When asked about the dog tags and Polaroid he simply shook his head apologetically and tucked the items into the pocket of the shirt he was wearing. He became a part of the fixtures and fittings. Except that he seemed to regard Sam with confused awe - she had been the one to set him free despite being the one with the most to lose if he turned out to be untrustworthy. When the major was not resting in the back room Lot would sit and gaze at her. Sam was too uncomfortable to notice.
At 33 weeks she was tormented with heart burn and cramp in her ribs. Her feet would swell if she so much as walked to the bathroom which was a pain as she had to pee every five minutes. Miserable was the polar opposite of Sam Carter's normal state of being and as such was so worrying to her friends that they forgave her every little moan and complaint. Daniel tried to keep out of her way as far as was possible as he seemed to be incapable of so much as breathing without upsetting her. He wondered if Jack or maybe Teal'c would like to swap places with him. He was an archaeologist - he could do the whole becoming one with nature thing. For her part, Janet was worried sick both as a doctor and a friend. Sam's symptoms were probably nothing more serious than late pregnancy blues but she wished desperately that they were back in Colorado where she could consult with Robin Giggs. Instead, she contented herself with checking Sam's blood pressure every day, listening to the baby's heart beat with the old fashioned pinard stethoscope and using the sonogram.
Sgsgsgsg
"Left," Janet said. She had been to the kitchen to chase up dinner and returned to find Sam trying to turn onto her right side.
"My left ass cheek is numb," Sam growled irritably.
"Then get up," Janet responded unsympathetically.
She knelt up on the bed to help Sam into a sitting position. They grumbled at each other throughout the process but eventually Sam was settled in a mound of pillows with another under her feet. Janet flung herself down on her back on Sam's left.
"How long have we been up here now?" Sam asked.
"I don't know - ten, twenty years?"
Sam snorted and smacked Janet lightly on the upper arm, "I was just wondering how Cass is doing without us. I miss her."
"I'm sure she misses you too, Sam. Though not as much as her friend Lisa does."
"Huh?"
"Oh that's right! You don't know!" Janet sat up, grinning playfully.
"Know what?"
"Lisa Dearbont, Cass's best friend this semester, has a crush on you. She was fixated on Daniel for a couple of weeks but apparently, according to Cass, she's decided to be a lesbian for a while."
Janet had never seen any one go so thoroughly scarlet so quickly before. "Oh, uh, well - is she cute?"
"Depends on how you define cute. She's kinda lanky - like you. Last time I saw her she had her hair in dreadlocks and a diamond piercing." Janet was leaning back on both hands.
"A piercing, huh?" Sam pretended to be fascinated. Then she screwed up her face and shuddered, "She'll get over it."
"The piercing thing or being in love with you?"
Sam nudged Janet's elbow causing her to collapse onto the bed. Janet yelped and held her right arm across her chest, rolling away.
"Jan? Janet? Jesus - I'm sorry. Are you okay?" Janet's back was quaking and she was pressing her face into the mattress. "Janet? Oh, God. I'll get Daniel."
"I'm okay." Janet gasped rolling over and wiping tears of mirth from her face.
"You?!" Sam gaped in disbelief.
"I'm sorry�" Janet tried to catch her breath, pulling herself up onto her knees, facing Sam, "I couldn't resist. I think I might be going stir crazy or something." Sam stared at her woodenly, her chin down. "It was just a joke�" Janet's face fell as Sam turned her face aside, lifting her hand to cover her eyes. "Oh honey. I'm sorry�"
Sam grinned, "Gotcha!"
Janet's face was a picture. For a moment she just stared then a grin stole across her face and she sat back on her knees, "I think we should call it a draw."
"No way! I had you!"
"I had you first!"
"Are you two fighting again?" Daniel stood in the doorway, a long suffering expression on his face.
"No, we're playing." Sam beamed.
Encouraged by the fact that Sam did not seem inclined, in this moment, to throw something at his head, Daniel ventured into the room and sat down on the foot of the bed.
"Dinner's on. Lot is making paella."
"You got him to cook?" Sam asked, "Wow."
"I'm thinking, after we go home, we should try to get him into some kind of program."
Janet nodded, "That's a great idea, Daniel. Although we shouldn't assume that he'll want our help."
"Of course not. Do you want me to bring your dinner through here?"
"No. Samantha Carter needs to move about some more."
Sam groaned, "But my feet�"
"I know, honey." Janet rubbed her left ankle sympathetically.
"I'll call you when we're ready to serve." Daniel retreated.
"I hate feeling like this!" Sam's temper flared.
"It's only for another four or five weeks, hon." Janet grasped her wrist, "You're doing really well."
Sam's eyes flashed, "I can hardly dress myself and need a chaperone to take a shower - how is this doing well?"
"Well - I was going to say that you're coping admirably with the whole needing help thing." Janet shrugged.
Sam deflated, "Sorry."
Janet smiled fondly and cupped Sam's cheek, "You're forgiven." Sam closed her eyes and leaned her face into Janet's caress with a sigh. "You're always forgiven," Janet added on a whisper.
Sam opened her eyes and Janet caught her breath at the openness and vulnerability expressed in their ocean depths. A current shifted between them and Janet was suddenly acutely aware of Sam's breath washing over her wrist and the edge of her mouth against the mound of her thumb. She shivered as Sam lifted her hand to cover Janet's and turned her face slightly to press an open mouthed kiss into her palm. Janet shuddered as a shock raced from the tips of her toes to the top of her head.
"Oh ,God," She choked and pulled her hand free, turning away.
"Janet. I'm sorry." Sam sounded devastated.
"No. It's okay. Just give me a minute," Janet assured her, fists planted in the mattress, spine rigid, head down. "I just need a minute."
"I'm sorry. I'm being selfish. I know you don't�" Sam was crying.
"Sam. Just� give me a minute," Janet insisted.
Janet couldn't move. Every synapse in her brain seemed to be occupied with the emotions that boiled within her and the energy required to stop Sam sliding off the other side of the bed could not be spared.
"I'll leave." Sam headed for the door.
"Wait. Just wait," Janet demanded.
Sam froze. She was terrified but after a moment she did as she was bid and sat back down on the edge of the bed with her back to Janet.
"I'm scared."
Sam lifted her head and frowned.
Janet circled the bed and stood before her with her arms folded tightly across her chest. "You scare me."
"I'm sorry," Sam said simply.
"No. No� wait." Janet's dark eyes burned like banked embers, "It's not your fault. It's mine. You� we� this�" Janet waved her hand between them. "It's not anything I have any experience with and that scares me silly."
Hope flared in Sam's eyes, "This? There's a this?"
Janet closed her eyes and nodded, "I think so." She shook herself, "I mean� I have no idea how this is supposed to work, Sam. I don't think I've ever felt anything like this before in my life."
"Janet." Wonder filled Sam's expression like sunshine.
The smaller woman smiled and stepped forward so she stood between Sam's knees, lifting her arms to rest them on her shoulders, hands loosely clasped behind her head.
"You'll have to teach me," she breathed.
The space between their bodies was suddenly filled with a fiery heat.
"God, yes," Sam nodded fervently.
Standing like this, Janet was a little taller than the blonde. Sam's belly was an obstacle but Janet simply shifted so she was straddling Sam's left knee and bent her head. The kiss was soft and gentle, a simple press of lips affirming a promise. Then Sam's tongue snaked out and wet her lips. They shared a humid breath then Janet caught Sam's lower lip and groaned as she suckled hungrily on the juicy flesh. Sam's arms came up around Janet, holding her tight as their mouths battled for dominance, Janet's hands thread through Sam's hair, letting the golden strands flow between her fingers as she massaged her scalp slowly while Sam's larger hands played along the fine bones of Janet's spine and ribs.
"Are we really doing this?" Sam gasped, resting her forehead against Janet's.
Janet nodded. "Yes," she said simply, "So shut up and kiss me."
"We should talk, Janet." Sam's head fell back on her shoulders and Janet, missing her target of Sam's mouth, settled for smoothing her tongue along the line of the sinew in her neck.
"Talk later." Janet's breath scalded Sam's flesh, "Kiss now."
With an unheralded aggressiveness Janet thrust her tongue into Sam's gaping mouth and began an erotic onslaught on the warm, wet flesh therein. Sam shuddered and joined the battle, her hands moving in tandem up and down the smaller woman's torso. As Janet pressed her body closer, Sam slid her hands down and, cupping the firm curve of her backside, squeezed firmly. Janet cried out and broke off the kiss as wildfire surged like an electric blue flame along every nerve in her body.
"I want to make love to you," Sam panted.
"I know. Me too. But I don't think we should. You're in no condition --"
"We can take it slow," Sam urged. "Please�."
Janet closed her eyes and shook her head, struggling to catch her breath, "God, I want to." She wavered. Sam pressed home her argument by brushing her thigh against the humid arch of Janet's crotch. Janet mewled and tightened her grip in Sam's hair.
Sgsgsgsg
"Daniel." Jack came out of the hallway. He had come in out of the forest a few minutes earlier. When Lot had indicated that dinner was ready he had gone to fetch the women.
"Jack?" Daniel rose from his seat at the table and followed Jack out onto the porch at his unspoken bidding.
Jack was clad all in green camouflage and was wearing a full equipment vest as he had since day one. He had on his favorite baseball cap and was tugging at the peak.
"Jack?" Daniel realized he was nervous, "What's up?"
"Daniel - you really need to have a talk about closing doors."
"Huh?" Daniel frowned.
Jack just looked at him until he put two and two together.
"We're talking about something you can't talk about - right?"
"Oh, yeah," Jack exhaled noisily. "But if some one doesn't get the hang of the concept of behind closed doors�"
"Okay." Daniel placated then he grinned, "They were...?" He gestured over his shoulder with his thumb. "I thought they weren't. I mean Janet said�"
"Ah ha ha ha!" Jack stuck his fingers in his ears and glared at Daniel.
"I'll - uh- call them for dinner." Daniel hesitated on the threshold, a cloud on his face, "You're okay with this?"
"What this?" Jack asked blankly.
Daniel smiled and nodded and went inside. Jack stood staring into the trees, his P90 held in a casual, comfortable embrace. Eventually he relaxed and went back indoors. He hesitated just inside the door. Janet and Sam were seated across from each other and, except for a blush staining their cheeks, looked exactly like they always looked. Sam, noticing his immobility, stopped the fork on its way to her mouth.
"This is pretty good, colonel. You should grab some."
Jack nodded and, unclipping his weapon from its harness and laying it across his lap, sat down to eat.
Sgsgsgsg
"Maybe we shouldn't let Lot cook again," Sam groaned.
Janet and Daniel had an arm each and were helping her from the bathroom, where she had vomited up her dinner.
"I don't think it's what you ate, Sam." Janet smoothed hair from her face as they sat her on the edge of the bed. Daniel helped her swing her legs up and under the covers then stood back as Janet tucked her in and grasped her wrist, "I want you to lie quiet, now. I'll check your blood pressure in a few minutes, once you're settled." Janet soothed.
"I'm okay," Sam lied. Then, seeing that Janet knew she was lying, she amended; "Well� I have a little headache." She also had a hand pressed to the pain under her ribs.
Alarm flared in Janet's expressive eyes for an instant before she masked it with professional detachment.
"Okay, sweetie. Daniel, could we maybe get a wash basin and a towel?"
"Sure." Daniel, tension in the set of his shoulders, left the room.
"It's nothing, Janet, maybe just a little too much excitement." Sam teased. When guilt tore Janet's apparent indifference aside Sam caught hold of her hand, "I didn't mean that. We didn't do anything, Jan�" Sam shut up as Daniel returned.
"Thanks, Daniel." Janet's doctor face was back in place as she directed him to put the enamel basin on the top of the drawers and doused the wash cloth in the warm water he had half filled it with. Efficiently, Janet washed Sam's face, making sure to catch the smear of toothpaste caught in the corner of her mouth before dabbing it dry with the soft hand towel Daniel passed her. Janet smiled warmly as Sam's eyes tracked hers, worriedly. "It's okay," she said softly. Sam sighed and relaxed, closing her eyes.
Daniel went out to reassure Lot that he had not made Sam ill and when he returned a few minutes later, Janet was just finishing up taking her blood pressure. Sam appeared to be asleep.
"Jan?" Daniel laid a hand on the doctor's arm and drew her out of the room as she looked at him with trepidation in her eyes.
"Her BP is up, Daniel. It's not dangerous but�."
"You're worried anyway."
Janet nodded, "Taken by itself it's not unusual but if you take into account the headaches, heartburn and vomiting."
"You think it might be something?"
Janet wrapped her arms around her middle and nodded, "I'm worried about the possibility of pre-eclampsia."
"Oh." Daniel's eyebrows shot up, "What? That's�"
"Potentially life threatening." Janet got a hold of herself, "I'm probably just panicking, Daniel. But if she exhibits any other signs or symptoms we may have to get her to a hospital quickly."
"I'll talk to Jack."
"I'll check on the baby."
Sgsgsgsg
A storm was coming. For a couple of hours the heat was oppressive but Sam slept through that. She opened her eyes as the temperature dropped.
"It's going to rain," she said quietly then yawned.
Janet was lying on her side beside her with her head propped up on one hand while she rubbed her knuckles gently against Sam's distended stomach. She nodded.
"How do you feel?"
"Better." Sam caught hold of Janet's hand and threaded their fingers together, "Janet, I don't think I can let the Tok'ra take him."
"I know." Janet shifted to lay her head on Sam's shoulder, "It's okay."
"But he'll never be safe on Earth."
They were silent for a long time then Janet raised her head and looked Sam in the eye and said firmly, "Then we'll go wherever we have to go to keep him safe."
"What about Cass?" Sam's voice was tremulous.
"We'll talk to Cass. She's old enough to make her own decisions." Janet pressed a kiss to Sam's temple and smiled, "Its okay, Sam. We'll be okay."
Sam sighed and nodded, relaxing, "Okay."
"Okay?" Janet checked.
Sam nodded again them smiled impishly, "Oh yeah. Wanna make out?"
Janet laughed and buried her face in Sam's shoulder, shaking her head, "No. I want to try to keep your blood pressure down."
"I'll just lay here. You can do all the work." Sam waggled her eyebrows suggestively.
"Then what about my blood pressure?" Janet demanded in mock outrage.
"I know how to relieve your pressure, baby." Sam purred and guided Janet's head down so she could catch her mouth in a teasing kiss.
For a moment Janet sank into the promise. Then she yanked her head up, "I can see I'm going to have to develop a healthy knack for self denial."
"Or not." Sam raised her head, trying to recapture Janet's mouth.
Janet gave in to the temptation, sinking into the heat and sweetness that drew a cocoon about them as awareness of all but the meshing of their mouths and the press of their bodies evaporated from their reality. Then she pulled back into her own skin and sighed, pressing a fond, chaste kiss to the corner of Sam's mouth.
"Easy, easy, sweetheart," she chided softly.
"I love you, Janet," Sam whispered, her voice thick.
"I know." A gentle smile curved Janet's lips against Sam's jaw, "I love you too."
Sam let out a breath as if she had feared another response. Then she began to cry softly. Janet moved so she could cradle her lover's head against her breast and soothed her into sleep.
Sgsgsgsg
They came with the storm - an hour before dawn.
A strike force of six, they rappelled out of a Black Hawk and scattered, each taking a different approach to the cabin. Teal'c killed the first with a single blow to the throat while Jack knocked the second into the middle of next week with a vicious blow to the back of his balaclava clad head.
Daniel burst into the back bedroom, "Jack just called. We've got about three minutes."
Janet was up in a heartbeat and joined Daniel in dragging the heavy wardrobe in front of the window.
"What can I do?" Lot stepped into the back room.
"They'll probably ignore you, Lot, as long as you don't try to get in the way."
Sam's voice was muffled as she pulled on the navy sweater. She checked the chamber of a Beretta and tucked it in the back of her waistband. She got out of the way as Daniel and Janet bent, grabbed the underneath of the iron bedstead and flipped it up onto its side. As Lot ducked in to help Daniel maneuver it over to the doorway, Janet began pulling on fatigues over the tee shirt and shorts she had been sleeping in. She took the hand gun Sam passed her out of the top drawer of the nightstand and stuffed a spare clip in her pocket.
"What can I do?" Lot insisted. Suddenly he looked less like a lost soul adrift on the wasteland of his damaged life and more like the Navy man he had once been.
"You understand the risk?" Daniel asked tersely. When Lot nodded he shrugged out of the shoulder holster and pushed it into Lot's steady hands, "I assume you know how to use this."
"I think I remember." Lot smiled wolfishly, "I'll cover the front door."
"I've got the hallway, then." Daniel fetched another Beretta from the nightstand. "Here." He handed the radio to Sam, "I guess� I'll see you in a while." Sam hugged him quickly and nodded.
The two men went out into the hallway and helped drag the bed over the doorway. Sam and Janet reaching through the narrowing gap to clasp Daniel's arm and hand tightly. Then the gap closed and the two women regarded each other solemnly.
Sgsgsgsg
An hour passed.
Sam was seated in the elderly armchair, shivering. Janet was sitting on the arm beside her. She draped a blanket around the blonde's narrow shoulders and rubbed her upper arms briskly.
"This is taking too long." Sam's teeth chattered.
Janet nodded and clicked the transmit button on the radio twice. The other end would hiss quietly as the airwaves opened and closed in a near silent request for conversation. There was no response. Not even a single click ordering radio silence.
Sam groaned, "It's no good. Some thing should have happened by now."
"I'm hoping no news is good news," Janet said with fake cheer.
The radio crackled suddenly and Sam grinned and snatched it from Janet's loose grasp. Her expression froze, though, when a strange voice came over the air waves.
"You in the cabin, you have two minutes to come out." A male voice, Middle American, dispassionate. This was just another day in the office.
"That's a negative," Sam responded tersely. "Identify yourself."
"That's need to know, Major Carter. I will tell you that I am not alone out here. The cabin is surrounded and your guard dogs have been subdued."
"He's lying," Janet said quickly.
Sam looked unconvinced. "Thank you for the information," she responded coolly, "You should be aware that there are others on their way."
"I don't think so, major. You now have ninety seconds to come out. If you do not come out we will extract you, by force if necessary."
"On whose orders?"
"Also need to know, major." There was a moment's silence then, "My men are Special Ops trained, major. Your pet archaeologist and that cute little doctor are no match for us. They don't have to die, major. Their lives are in your hands."
"Don't you dare." Janet forestalled Sam before she even considered the option.
"The colonel and Teal'c must be disabled, Janet. It's been too long."
"That's all the more reason for us not to let them take you, then." Janet's fury was burning magnesium hot.
"I don't want any one else to get hurt." Sam's voice caught in her throat.
"Time's a wasting Major Carter."
Janet ignored the voice on the radio, throwing her hands up in the air, "Then why have we bothered doing any of this?" she raged, "If you were just going to go quietly, like a lamb to slaughter, you could have said so weeks ago and saved us the trouble of hiding out up here for all this time!"
"Janet!" Sam recoiled as if she had been slapped hard across the face, "You don't mean that?"
"No. Of course I don't. But neither do you." Janet quelled the storm in her eyes for a moment, "They are not going to take you, Samantha Carter." Janet rummaged in the drawer for a second then pressed a grenade into Sam's unwilling hands, "They cannot be allowed to get a hold of your baby."
"Janet�" Sam stared at the grenade and shook her head, "We'd all be killed."
Janet grinned like a shark, "If you have to pull the pin, honey, we're already dead."
After a moment Sam nodded, "I hate it when you're right�" She lifted the radio and opened the frequency, "Come and get us." She tossed the radio aside and drew her weapon. The two women stood side by side, gun arms outstretched and pointed unwaveringly at the door.
All hell broke loose. Someone was kicking at the bedroom window, the sound of glass shattering turning into wood smashing. Janet let off a volley of shots through the shuddering wardrobe and was rewarded by the sound of a heavy body falling down the outer wall. Gun fire cracked out front as someone came hurtling through the window. Booted feet pounded the door open. Guttural cries rent the air as the assault team met Lot, carrying past him by sheer weight, throwing up his gun arm as he fired at them wildly. Then, Daniel screaming obscenities in Abydonian - punctuated by the distinctive snap of rounds from his weapon. Some one else went down but Daniel's Beretta fell silent as the attacker's subdued him with a skull cracking blow.
"Here they come," Janet murmured. "Pop the pin, hon."
Sam nodded and flicked the pin of the grenade across the room, clutching the trigger hard in her left hand.
The bed frame juddered and scraped across the floor as two large men bulldozed it aside and burst into the room. They were all in black and armed with MP5s, slung across their backs, and standard issue Berettas. The shorter of the two held up a clenched fist as he realized what Carter had in her hand. His subordinate froze with his bead on Janet's throat.
"Give it up, Major Carter. No one else has to die here today."
Sam shook her head. She and Janet still stood close together, each in classic cop pose, minimizing the target they presented by turning their bodies side on to their attackers. Unfortunately, this also had the effect of making Sam's belly an issue.
The talker frowned, "Jesus. You look about ready to pop, lady."
"Shut the fuck up!" Sam spat. "Get out!"
"I'll drop the doctor, major." The leader fixed his aim on Janet, holding his side arm in a two handed grip, "And I'll just bet I can get that grenade off you before it goes bang."
There was a moment of crystal clear clarity. Four sets of eyes stared in total comprehension of what was about to happen as Sam pressed the grenade to her heart and started to release her hold on the trigger.
The ceiling came down in a racket of breaking timber and exploding plaster board and Jack O'Neill, bleeding heavily from a chest wound, tumbled inelegantly from the heavens above dragging both of the intruders to the ground. Janet leapt into the tangle of limbs and pistol whipped any skull that presented itself as Jack wrestled with the two men, holding onto them with the determination of a bull mastiff. Teal'c appeared out of nowhere; one eye closed by a massive haematoma and his right arm hanging awkwardly, and cuffed the talker into unconsciousness with a brutal fist. Jack rolled off the last one as he succumbed to Janet's vicious blows.
"Well�" he drawled, lying flat on his back, "That was fun."
"Okay." Janet was standing over the immobile bodies, looking stunned, "Okay." She stepped back and turned to check on Sam.
The major still had the grenade pressed into her flesh but was gripping it with both hands. Her face was white and she was shaking. She was also sweating.
"Sam. It's okay. It's all over."
"Okay." Sam nodded, staring fixedly at a point beyond Teal'c, "Janet?"
"Yeah?" Janet scouted the floor for the pin.
"I can't see."
A heart beat stretched for an eon before Janet calmly took the grenade from Sam and disarmed it with its pin. She tossed it smoothly to Jack, not noticing that he caught it awkwardly, his right elbow pressing against the wound in his ribs, and guided Sam into sitting in the chair. She crouched before her.
"What do you mean, you can't see?" Doctor Fraiser was in the house now.
"Everything's blurry, Janet. I can't make anything out." Sam was preternaturally calm.
"Doc?" Jack wheezed, sliding slowly down the wall.
"With you in a minute, colonel."
Janet glanced over her shoulder. Teal'c had disappeared, hopefully to secure the prisoners and the perimeter. As she turned back to Sam - already checking her pulse - Daniel staggered into the room. She was aware of him falling to his knees beside Jack and routing through the colonel's pockets for a field dressing.
"What is it, Janet? Why can't I see properly?" Sam was still too calm.
"I think you may be developing pre - eclampsia, Sam. I need for you to be still and quiet for me. Can you do that?" Janet flicked her pen light in Sam's eyes and was gratified when her pupils reacted.
Sam nodded, "The guys? Are they okay? What happened?"
"We're fine, Sam. A little beat up but nothing to worry about." Daniel reassured from where he was pressing sterile wadding into the colonel's sucking chest wound.
"Yeah, fine," O'Neill grumbled, swatting at Daniel's insistent hands.
Janet retrieved her sphyg and the pinard from the night stand, keeping her hand in contact with Sam all the while. No one said anything as she worked. Sam was a statue carved from the palest marble - all smooth curves and cut edges. She was barely breathing and still stared blindly over Janet's head.
"Blood pressure is way too high," Janet muttered. "Would you lay back for me, honey?" She prompted Sam, "I'm just going to listen to the baby, okay?"
Sam nodded.
"Doc?" Jack was breathing a little easier now that Daniel had stopped the bleeding.
"We need to get to Cedar City, colonel. Now." Janet straightened from pressing her ear to the pinard stethoscope, "Sam. The baby is fine but his heart rate is a little slow. I'd feel better if you were in an actual medical facility so we're going to get you in the van and go. Okay?"
Sam nodded. She was biting her lip.
"Uh, doctor - we may have a small problem," Jack said reluctantly.
"What's that?" Janet crouched before him and poked at Daniel's efficient bandaging of his wound.
"You're going to have to drive. I'd love to but�" He blanched as trying to move his right arm reopened his wound, "And I'm pretty sure Danny boy has a concussion."
"M'okay." Daniel blinked owlishly. His glasses were broken, one lens fractured in a spider web pattern. The side of his face was already swelling and purpling from where he had been struck with a rifle butt. He winced as the light in Janet's hand stabbed at his sensitive eyes.
Jack shook his head, "Teal'c might be a quick healer but even he can't drive with one arm busted." He shrugged apologetically, immediately regretting the movement.
Teal'c stepped back into the room, "If you were to set my arm, doctor, I believe I could manage to drive the vehicle." As Janet straightened up and considered her four charges he stooped to bind the wrists and ankles of their prisoners.
"No offence, Teal'c but its not quite that easy. Stay here." Janet hurried from the room.
Lot was sitting on the couch staring at the bible which he held in shaking hands. His face was bathed in blood.
"Lot, look at me." Janet sat on the coffee table and grasped his chin to tip his head back. He stared at her blankly as she prodded at the scalp laceration that was bleeding so profusely, "Were you knocked out?" Lot stared at her with eyes wide and wild. He was terrified into immobility, "Lot!" Janet urged, "I'm a doctor. Are you hurt anywhere else?"
"N- n-n-no." Lot shuddered and pulled away from her ministering hands.
"Lot! Snap out of it. We need you here. Come on." Janet grasped his shoulders, "Can you drive?"
Lot blinked, "W-what?"
"The van out back - can you drive it? We need to get to a hospital."
Lot nodded, the confusion clearing from his eyes as he was presented with a clear task.
"Good. The keys are in the kitchen drawer. Get the van started then come help me get our people situated."
"Yes ma'am."
Janet watched him for a moment until he retrieved the keys and left the cabin.
"Doc!" Jack called, falling into a fit of agonized coughing.
She flew back to the bedroom. Jack and Daniel were still propped up next to each other but Sam was on all fours on the floor, Teal'c crouching at her side. She was vomiting profusely, her spine arching with each expulsion. Janet was on her knees in a heartbeat, one arm around her.
"Okay, sweetheart, okay." She pressed her palm to Sam's forehead, leaving her hand there as she knelt up, "Teal'c? Lot is bringing the van around. Would you help Daniel and the colonel out then come back to help me with Sam?"
"As you wish, Doctor Fraiser."
Teal'c moved smoothly to do her bidding. With his left hand he hauled Jack O'Neill up off the floor as if he weighed no more than a child. The clinical part of the doctor's mind noted that the colonel hardly protested - an indicator of just how bad he was feeling. Daniel pushed himself up the wall, staggering back into its support as he abortively tried to make his way from the room under his own steam.
"I'll just wait� for Teal'c," he muttered.
Sam groaned, and wrapping her arms tight around her ribs, slumped over onto her side.
"Sam? Sweetheart? Are you having any contractions?" Janet palpated her abdomen, "Are you getting any pains?"
"No. No." Sam squeezed her eyes tight shut, "Just my head and my stomach. I feel like I've been on a three day bender."
"Okay, sweetie, as soon as we get in the van I'll put you on a glucose drip. That should help. Can you see any better?" Janet shifted so she could cradle Sam's head in her lap.
"Oh, yeah, like a migraine."
Teal'c came back and slung Daniel's arm over his shoulders, "Doctor Fraiser, Colonel O'Neill suggested that we check these men for a cell phone."
"Yeah, once we get out of the shadow of the mountain we might get a signal." Sam nodded then winced as the daggers in her brain stabbed at the inside of her skull.
"Okay." Reluctantly, Janet left Sam curled on her side and went to the two men lying on their faces with their hands bound behind their backs. Both were still unconscious. Janet felt a moment's pang of conscience as she noted the blood matting the hair over the smaller man's ear - she had done that damage. Her guilt evaporated as she remembered how close they had come to causing all their deaths. She searched the taller man first and found nothing on him but a pack of chewing gum and spare ammunition. She found the cell 'phone in the talker's pocket. She checked the charge and was gratified to find it full. There was no signal, though.
Sgsgsgsg
The morphine shot she had given Jack made him loquacious. He was flat on the bench seat in the back of the van, burbling - occasionally breaking into song - Wagner she suspected. Sam was on her side on the bunk, bundled in blankets with her head in Daniel's lap. Her eyes were closed tightly, her face chalk white and her mouth pressed tight together in a stubborn defense against the nausea that roiled in her stomach. An IV line snaked to her right wrist. The archaeologist's head lolled as he struggled to obey Janet's order to stay awake and keep the IV bag aloft. Teal'c was up front beside Lot, his eye was already much less swollen and he held his right arm across his chest. Janet was on her feet, mostly, hanging onto any hand hold that presented itself as the camper lurched down the mountain trail. The rain had turned parts of the track into quagmire and a couple of times her heart was in her mouth as Lot nursed the skittish vehicle through the mud. At one point she and Teal'c had to get out and push, lifting the back end of the bus out of the ruts it had made. A few minutes later they were on the black top and Lot gunned the engine, crashed the gears, floored the gas and hung onto the steering wheel for dear life as the game little van took off.
"Sam, I want to check the baby. Okay?"
"Try the 'phone," Sam shook her head.
"I need to check�"
"There's nothing you can do, Janet." Sam's eyes were smoky gray, her voice gravelly.
"Sam? Honey?" Janet fell to her knees as the van bounced round a bend.
"I'm bleeding, Jan," Sam said quietly.
Janet's face crumpled and she reached to embrace Sam tightly. "Okay. Okay." She composed herself, "Okay. Everything's going to be fine. Okay?" She grasped Sam's hand to her breastbone and rubbed her fingers briskly.
Sam nodded and closed her eyes. She kept a tight hold of Janet's hand as the doctor fished the purloined phone out of her pocket. She was relieved to find a signal and quickly dialed the Cheyenne Mountain exchange.
"This is Doctor Janet Fraiser. I need to speak with General Hammond right away."
"I'm sorry, ma'am. The general is off base and unreachable at the moment. However, we have been instructed to treat any order from yourself or the members of SG1 as if they had come from the general himself."
Janet briefly wondered what was going on in Colorado but she ignored her curiosity in favor of dealing with the matter at hand.
"Very well, I need you to call the emergency department of Cedar City Hospital and warn them that I'm about forty minutes out with a sucking chest wound, a head trauma and a possible pre-eclampsia case with a vaginal bleed. I then need you to page Doctor Robin Giggs at the Air Force Hospital in the Springs and have her flown to Cedar City. Tell her that Major Carter may be in labor. That's Cedar City, Utah. Got all that?"
"Cedar City Hospital; inbound with casualties. Doctor Giggs to your location," the operator paraphrased.
"Excellent. Do you have this number?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Okay." Janet ended the call.
Sgsgsgsg
By the time General Hammond made it to the Fraiser residence it was all over. As his car came to a halt, his adjutant out and opening the rear door before the handbrake was applied, Hammond noted the neighbors being held back by a couple of civilian police officers whilst another unfurled yellow "Police Line" tape. An ambulance was parked at the curb and as Hammond pounded up the path a gurney was rushed out of the house.
"Go with Sergeant Jones," Hammond ordered his assistant tersely. Jimmy J Jones was too still and too pale, a paramedic pumping air into his lungs with an ambu-bag. As Lieutenant Esposito complied with his order, Hammond continued onto the house.
The front door was hanging off the hinges and the smell of cordite hung heavy in the air. He had to step over a black clad body to get inside.
"This is a crime scene! Hold it right there!" A plain clothes police officer, who Hammond did not recognize, yelled at him irately. He came stalking out of the gloom of the unlit house - no doubt the power had been cut - with his latexed hands up.
"Major General George Hammond, sir. This house belongs to my CMO."
"Air Force," the cop groaned.
"Yes. Doctor Fraiser's daughter has been staying here under the care�"
"Sir!" Lieutenant Hailey came barging past the bulk of the cop. She was holding her left arm awkwardly and there was blood all over her shirt and the thighs of her light colored jeans.
"Lieutenant, I'm glad to see you're all right. Is Cass�?"
"I'm fine, sir." Cassandra Fraiser came down the stairs, stepping over the body as if it were someone's luggage. She had evidently just washed up.
"I'm glad. Does someone want to tell me what happened?"
"I've been asking that question for the last ten minutes, Major General," The cop said acidly. "I was about to haul every one's asses down to the station."
"That won't be necessary, officer�?"
"Buchosky. Lieutenant. Detective."
"You can leave now, detective. This is Air Force business."
Buchosky turned beetroot and began to shake visibly, "Begging your pardon, sir." He bit the words out, "This is not Air Force property�"
Cass had moved to take Hailey's arm and was doing a passable imitation of her mother, moving the patient to sit on the couch before she fell down. Hammond noted absently that the coffee table was shattered as if something heavy had fallen on it. The patio doors were smashed in, curtain net blowing in the breeze and catching on the shards of glass.
"Sir," Sergeant Luke Faraday, his normally ruddy complexion ashen, came in from the kitchen, "Major Castleman asked me to tell you that we're secure, sir."
"Very good, airman, go get your self checked out by a medic."
"Yes sir."
"And well done son," Hammond added as Luke went to pass him.
Luke hesitated and met the general's eyes, "My partner is in pretty bad shape, sir."
"I know, son. Go take care of him."
"This is a crime scene and he is a witness if not a suspect!" Buchosky exploded. "Nobody goes anywhere without my say so!"
Hammond sighed. He really didn't have the energy to deal with a jurisdictional dispute.
"Lieutenant, I'm in charge here. Not you. Now, I can call my boss and have him call your boss and have you removed from this house. Or you can accept my invitation to listen to what my people have to say about all this." Buchosky trembled some more, like a volcano preparing to blow. Then he made a visible effort to calm himself. "If, after hearing their stories, you still think there's a crime here - the Air Force will fully cooperate with your investigation." Hammond added in a conciliatory tone.
The detective nodded tersely.
"Lieutenant Hailey?"
There was a feverish glint in the over wide eyes of the small figure bundled in the corner of the couch. Her elfin face was white but twin spots of color burned on her cheeks. Cass was sitting next to her, feeling the pulse in her injured wrist - she remembered her mother doing that with a neighbor when his wife had come to the doctor's house in a panic - the girl seemed perfectly calm. Hammond supposed that being the sole survivor of the massacre of an entire planet would make you kind of blas� about a little murder and mayhem in the home.
Sgsgsgsg
The entire staff of the ER department of Cedar City Hospital had been waiting. Janet had stood on the rear step of the camper van like a general marshalling her troops. For a second it had looked as if the waiting medics were not going to take her orders but, in spite of her deceptively tiny stature, Janet looked ready to wrestle with any one who questioned her authority. That she plainly knew what she was talking about helped. Within minutes O'Neill had been whisked off to surgery, Daniel was under close observation, Teal'c had declined any kind of assistance and Lot had gone to park the van. Sam was in an examination room with a team from the hospital's OBGYN department.
"Hey." Janet stroked a fall of damp hair from Sam's forehead as she groaned and shifted, her eyes rolling as she struggled back to consciousness. She moved her lips but nothing came out. She was the color of skimmed milk. "Relax, honey," Janet soothed. She was leaning on the edge of the exam couch and held Sam's hand to her heart, "You have pre-eclampsia, Sam. We have to deliver the baby right away or you could go into convulsions."
"Safe?" Sam wheezed.
"We have no choice. Robin and a team from the Air Force hospital are on their way but we can't wait."
"Wait. Not secure." Sam fought to keep her eyes open.
"No. The risks to you are too great if we wait." Janet shook her head.
"�don't matter." Sam's eyes fluttered closed.
"Yes!" Janet hissed angrily, "You do matter. More than any damn security issues and more than the Air Force's plausible deniability!"
A grin half hitched one corner of Sam's mouth up. "�order you."
"Yeah, right," Janet chuffed, her temper evaporating.
"Ma'am? Doctor Fraiser? They're ready in surgery. If you want to observe you'll need to gown up."
Janet nodded and made to leave, brought up short as Sam held onto her hand tightly
"Sam? It's okay, sweetie." Janet pushed her fingers through thick blonde hair.
"Promised." Sam reminded her.
"I know. I'll be right there."
Sgsgsgsg
The elective C section rapidly turned into an emergency as Sam's blood pressure began to fluctuate wildly as the surgery commenced. Janet - whose presence had only been permitted by the gynecologist wielding the scalpel if she was there as a birth partner, not a doctor - abandoned her stool at Sam's head as the situation turned ugly.
"BP is all over the place, John. If we're not quick I think she'll bottom out." The anesthetist cautioned in a slow drawl.
"Almost there." The surgeon, barely an inch taller than Janet, looked as if he were up to his elbows in Sam's belly as he wrestled with her recalcitrant body for possession of her fragile cargo.
"Jan�" Sam rasped her throat sand paper dry.
"It's okay. It's almost done," Janet reassured her, her voice thick.
"Here we go." The surgeon straightened suddenly, his hands full of a slick, bloody, unmoving burden which he pushed quickly into a towel in the waiting hands of a pediatrics nurse.
"Jan�"
"He's here, Sam. He's here." Janet's face was wet but her eyes were troubled. The infant had made no sound and the pediatrics team seemed to be working on him frantically.
"�want to see�" Sam breathed.
"Okay. I'll go see if he's ready." Janet stooped to press a warm kiss to Sam's temple, "You did really well, honey."
The baby was lying on a chest high, heated table, under a strong light. He was on his back, limbs splayed laxly on the white towel. His skin was a dark congested purple and he was not moving. The nurse was using a suction bulb to clear his nose and mouth while the pediatrician listened intently to his heart and lungs with a stethoscope. He was frowning.
"What the hell?"
"Doctor, there are things you don't know about this child, things which for reasons of national security I can not tell you. But - please - treat him exactly as you would a normal infant." Janet spoke with a calmness that belied the shrieking terror that was echoing in her head.
The pediatrician, who could have been a twin of Teal'c, stared at her gravely for a long moment then nodded and began bagging the silent, lifeless babe.
Janet crossed her arms tightly, her jaw clenched as she fought the urge to elbow her way to the table and take over. This was not her field of expertise. These people were best placed to help the child - all she had to do was let them.
"Janet?" Sam's voice was still high and thin but she sounded a little stronger.
"Just a minute, sweetie," Janet called brightly, not turning so that she didn't have to look into Sam's eyes.
The tension that threatened to tear her apart evaporated as the infant convulsed suddenly, his limbs thrashing as he inhaled his first breath. He let it out in a cry of rage.
"There we go." The pediatrician grinned over his shoulder, "He's pinking up nicely."
"Can he make a quick visit?" Janet asked, thumbing over her shoulder.
"Ten seconds then we have an incubator waiting with his name on."
The nurse swaddled the tiny boy in a fresh towel and tugged a miniscule white cap on his head before handing him to Janet.
"Doe he have a name?" The nurse asked, taking Janet's elbow and guiding her back to the operating table.
"I'll ask. Sam?" Janet's eyes were awash and she could not help the stupid grin that was plastered across her face.
She stooped and tucked the towel aside as Sam craned her neck and tried to focus her blurry gaze on her son. Janet held him close to her face.
"He's beautiful, Sam."
"Is he okay?" Sam was transfixed.
"He's fine. He's a little small so he's going to special care for a little while." The nurse supplied, hovering.
"Do you have a name for him, Sam?"
"Nathaniel." Janet held him closer so Sam could press warm kisses to his little screwed up face. He whined his disapproval which only made his mother weep with happiness. "Thank God he's okay."
"I have to take him now�" The nurse snagged the bundle expertly and hurried away.
"Go with him, Janet," Sam urged, sinking down.
"What?"
"Please. He's not secure."
"Okay." Janet held Sam's face in both hands and kissed her soundly on the mouth, "See you soon."
Sgsgsgsg
"You look exhausted, Janet." Daniel was slumped in the vinyl easy chair in the corner of Sam's room.
She nodded and rubbed at her neck. She had spent the last four hours standing vigil besides Nathaniel Carter's incubator in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit as he had succumbed to jaundice and breathing difficulties. Unable to tell the staff caring for him anything about the peculiarities on his chest x rays she had simply insisted that they treat him as a normal premature baby which meant putting him on oxygen. When Robin Giggs and a team from the Air Force hospital in Colorado Springs, including a pediatrician, had arrived she had been content to leave them arguing jurisdiction over the patients. When she had left Giggs had been invoking national security and threatening to have the entire hospital placed under martial control if she was not given carte blanche.
"Has she been awake at all?" Still wearing blue scrubs, Janet nodded to Sam who was lying prone under the covers.
"Just for a minute or two, about an hour ago, she was crying, Janet. I think she must have been dreaming."
Daniel's posture was exhausted and Janet knew from the line bisecting his brow and the tension around his mouth that he was also in pain.
"Jack's in recovery. His lung collapsed but they've patched him up. He should be fine." Janet had checked on her way here, "You should get some sleep."
"Pot. Kettle." Daniel stood up slowly; bearing the weight of his head on his shoulders like it was a load he needed to balance carefully, "The cavalry are here. Teal'c is liaising with Tim Castleman. We're well and truly sealed up on this floor."
"Good."
"Lot left. I tried to give him money but he wouldn't accept it. He said he didn't have any use for it. I told him to keep the van, though."
"Okay.
"There's something else, Janet." Daniel rested the first two fingers of his left hand on her arm, "The house was attacked. They tried to get to Cassandra." Shock and fear coursed through Janet's small frame. "It's okay. They failed. Cass is fine. Hailey's arm is broken and the house is a mess but everything's fine."
"Thank god." Janet pressed her face into his shoulder, "Where is she now?"
"VIP quarters at the mountain."
Janet nodded then frowned at Daniel, "There's something else?"
"Sergeant Jones died. He was badly injured in the attack and died in surgery. I'm sorry."
Shock and sorrow conspired to shadow Janet's eyes and carve lines of grief in her face, "He was a good man."
"Yes," Daniel agreed. "He was."
Sgsgsgsg
Samantha Carter had never planned on being a mother. Oh, sure, she had the urge now and again - usually right after her sister in law delivered another beautiful grand child or a friend reproduced. She was as susceptible to other women's babies as any average single woman in her mid thirties. Her orientation did not excuse her from the demands of her hormones but the occasional bouts of broodiness always passed and she never gave serious consideration to actually conceiving a child. Cassandra had been a different matter - for a start she wasn't a baby and for seconds, despite the obvious attachment between the two, Sam had never had any illusions that she was meant to be the girl's primary care giver. She had enough trouble keeping her increasingly neglected house plants alive.
So, to find her self totally in love with a tiny scrap of humanity whose conception she abhorred and the majority of whose gestation she had railed against came as something of a shock. She was blindsided by the complete and helpless adulation she felt for the life she had had no choice in creating. Her body conspired with her heart to totally over rule her head and all she wanted to do was nurse her child.
Twenty four hours after his rushed entry to the world, Nathaniel James Carter lay in his mother's arms and suckled contentedly. He was on parole from the PICU and his UV lamp for an hour on the grounds that his mother's milk would do him a power of good.
Sam's head was bent over him. She was smiling softly and stroking his downy cheek with her fingertips. Janet was sitting up on the bed beside Sam, leaning over so she could plant feather light kisses on Nathaniel's soft spot. Sam chuffed quietly making Janet frown at her quizzically. Sam just shook her head and helped herself to a kiss. Janet gave freely for a moment then turned her attention back to the baby.
"Cass can't wait to see him." Janet stroked his head with light fingertips, "She's desperate to start being his big sister."
Sam stiffened and began to stutter, "Jan� I. I don't want to assume� I mean�" she trailed off, anxiety making her inarticulate.
"Assume what, sweetie?" Janet planted a kiss on the under side of her jaw then returned to lavishing her attention on the baby.
"That we� I. Janet � you and me� we're just getting started. This is not� I mean I was supposed to be giving him away."
Janet looked at Sam thoughtfully for a long moment, her mahogany stare deep and penetrating. Then her face softened and she reached to pull Sam's head down and drew her into a deep, wet kiss. Gasping they broke apart only for Janet to press her forehead to Sam's.
"You�" Janet said quietly, her voice grave, "You are my heart. It would be an honour and a privilege to have you and your son in my life and in my home."
"Janet," Sam gasped, overwhelmed. Tears flooded her sky blue eyes and spilled over her thick lashes. "I� yes. Yes." She cupped Janet's jaw and pressed their faces together, "But�"
"Uh oh," Janet said jokingly although she felt a thrill of fear.
"He's not my son. He's ours," Sam breathed.
Janet pulled her head back and studied Sam's countenance for a long moment. Then a slow smile unfurled across her face, "Guess that means I'll have to take a turn at diaper duty, huh?"
They laughed together and spent some more time adoring their child, until the imported Air Force pediatrician, Leo Goldman came to take him back to intensive care.
Sgsgsgsg
The Air Force had taken over a corner of the Obstetrics ward which meant Jack was confined to bed in a room a few doors away from Sam. Once he was released from observation, Daniel had taken to shuttling between the two.
"The van is still in the parking lot." Daniel frowned distractedly, "I just saw it from the kitchen window." He was nursing a coffee mug.
"Good. Maybe we can get our money back." Jack grimaced and shifted uncomfortably in the bed.
"I'll give you the money, Jack."
"I don't want your money. Did you ever think, maybe, he doesn't have any place to go?"
"Oh." Daniel blinked, "No. I never thought of that."
Jack shrugged then winced. He pushed himself up and tilted his upper body forward with a groan. Daniel moved in and rearranged the pillows at his back. With a hand on his shoulder, he urged Jack to lie back.
"Better?"
"No." Jack groused, "I need drugs. Not any of those namby pamby little white pills, either. The good stuff."
"I'll go talk to the nurse." Daniel smiled and left the room.
Sgsgsgsg
Having dispatched a nurse to tell Jack that he was not due any more medication for another two hours, Daniel made his way down to the car park.
The orange camper was parked in a corner. Daniel looked in the back then circled to look through the driver's window. The van was unoccupied. Daniel tried the driver's door and found it locked. He was surprised when the rear door opened.
"O - kay." He frowned and leaned inside.
The interior looked exactly as it had when SG1 had piled out of it the other morning. The bloody towel Jack had pressed to his side was still lying on the bench and Janet's Gladstone bad was still sitting where she had abandoned it on the floor. Daniel cocked his head as he noticed something strange. The clothes Lot had been wearing, Jack's shirt and a pair of charcoal sweatpants, were lying on the floor. They were laid out flat on the carpet for all as if Lot had lain down and then evaporated out from inside them.
"Oh, my," Daniel's eyebrows shot up. Then he leaned back and stared up at the sky.
Sgsgsgsg
"But he bled, Daniel, and he used a gun." Sam frowned.
Daniel had hesitated when he came in and found her nursing Nathaniel but a welcoming smile from Sam and Janet tugging on his arm overcame his nascent embarrassment. Now, he was sitting up on the bed, one leg swinging, Nathaniel's tiny left foot cradled in his palm.
"The monk on Kheb was killed by weapons fire. Orlin took human form." Daniel shrugged, "I'm guessing Oma Desala sent him to protect you and Nathaniel and told him to do whatever it took."
"None of the shots he fired actually hit any one." Janet added.
"You really think he was one of Oma Desala's people?" Sam looked worried.
"Well, I called the SGC and had Graham Simmons do a check on a Commander Clive Edward McIntosh of the US Navy. The only one he could find died in 1971, in Vietnam." Daniel tickled the sole of the baby's foot and grinned as he kicked his foot free.
Sam considered her son for a moment, "I won't let her take him." Janet stroked her arm supportively.
"I don't think she would try to separate a child from his mother, Sam." Daniel said with conviction, "I think its okay. I also think it was Oma who sent Aris Boch."
"Why?" Janet asked.
"The way Jack said Aris talked about the person who had 'paid' him."
The two women considered the theory for a moment then Janet shrugged and Sam looked unconvinced.
Sgsgsgsg
"You shouldn't be up!" Janet leapt up from her seat next to Sam's wheelchair. She had been taken, by an escort of three SFs, up to the PICU to feed Nathaniel his second breakfast.
Jack O'Neill was leaning heavily on his IV stand, wearing a robe loosely fastened over a hospital gown. He held his right arm protectively to his ribs. He was pale but had a goofy grin on his face.
"Hey. Doc, Sam, I had to come see the little fella."
"I couldn't keep him away." Daniel was hovering protectively. Teal'c at Jack's other elbow.
"Jack." Sam beamed at him as he maneuvered into the small space beside the incubator and leaned down to study the face pressed to Sam's breast.
"Hi there, Nathaniel, I'm your Uncle Jack. I'm the fun one. Uncle Daniel - he's the dull one�" Janet eased him down into her vacated seat as he babbled on, "Teal'c, well, Uncle Teal'c is kinda cool but no fun."
"I am not dull. I'm learned. There's a difference," Daniel bent to inform the child solemnly.
"Cool." Teal'c shaped the word silently, his eyebrow twitching infinitesimally.
"Would you like to hold him?" Sam asked.
"I would love to." Jack gestured to the thick padding under his gown, "But maybe later."
"I will!" Daniel volunteered enthusiastically.
"Are you sure that's a good idea? You know how ham fisted you can be."
"Oh, relax, Jack. I'll just pretend he's a rare artifact."
"So - you decided to keep him, huh Carter?" Jack asked lightly as Janet moved to supervise the transfer of the precious bundle from one pair of arms to the other.
"Yeah, he sorta grew on me." Carter looked a little sheepish, "I don't know how this is going to impact on work."
"Work, schmerk," Jack opined.
Sgsgsgsg
Janet was sleeping on the other bed in Sam's room. Daniel and Teal'c had been dispatched to a motel for the night. It was late. Both women were sleeping and neither stirred until the light over Sam's bed was turned on.
"Robin?" Sam woke, blinking. Her eyes went past Giggs to the Air Force pediatrician, Leo Goldman, at her elbow, "Janet�" Sam's voice wavered.
The expressions on the two visiting doctor's faces were somber. They looked defeated.
"Rob? What is it?" Janet was there, clutching Sam's hand and helping her to sit up.
"I'm very very sorry," Robin said slowly.
"What? What happened?" Sam demanded her voice rising in panic.
"Nathaniel suffered a massive bleed into his brain thirty minutes ago. I'm afraid that there's no hope of recovery," Leo Goldman said quietly.
"Janet?" Sam was shaking her head.
"What?" Janet had turned white.
"We had no warning, Doctor Fraiser, he suddenly flat-lined. We managed to resuscitate him but subsequently discovered that a large blood vessel in his brain had ruptured." Leo Goldman held Janet's elbow firmly, "I'm afraid that Nathaniel is brain dead."
"No." Janet shook her head slowly, "You have to check again. There has to be some kind of mistake."
"Janet� we did all the tests three times. I'm afraid there's no doubt. He's breathing as a function of his brain stem but that will soon stop. If you like we can bring him down here�"
"Janet, my father." Sam gripped Janet's arm so tight she left marks.
Janet blinked at her for a moment then nodded and flew from the room.
"Major Carter. Please accept my sincere condolences." Goldman took her hand and pressed it between both of his, "It's a tragedy but sometimes these things just happen. There's nothing anyone can do."
"It's okay. My dad will come and everything will be okay." Sam smiled brittlely.
Goldman shook his head, a small smile of sympathy creasing his face, "Major�Sam. There is no hope."
"Don't say that. You don't know," Sam insisted vehemently.
"Sam." Robin shook her head regretfully, "He has twelve maybe twenty four hours before he stops breathing. Would you like us to bring him down here so you can be with him?"
"You just keep him breathing until my dad gets here."
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Jacob arrived at dawn. He found his daughter walled up behind a tight smile and un-naturally bright eyes. When he embraced her she was stiff and unyielding. He noticed that Janet Fraiser was gray faced and withdrawn and that although the two women were holding hands they might as well have been in different rooms.
"I can't use the healing device in front of anyone."
"I'll go fetch him." Janet nodded and left the room.
"Hey, Sammie, how are you holding up?" Jacob sat down on the edge of the bed and took hold of her hands. They were cold.
"I'm okay, Dad." Sam responded, eyes on the coverlet.
"I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner."
"It's okay. You're here now. Everything will be okay now."
"Sweetheart� I don't know�" Sam looked at him then and the despair in her eyes took his breath away, "I'll do my best."
Sam nodded and they sat in silence until the room door opened and Janet came in with the baby, swaddled in a white blanket, in her arms. Leo Goldman and a nurse were at her heels but held back at the threshold of the room. When she nodded to them they nodded and closed the door over.
"Hey�" Jacob, a proud paternal smile spread over his face, rose and held out his arms. Janet transferred the baby to him.
"He� he looks like he's just asleep." Jacob frowned.
Janet nodded, "I've seen the MRI, Jacob. The damage is extensive."
"Then let's see what I can do."
Jacob held the baby in one hand and opened the knapsack he had brought with him with the other. He sat down on the bed beside Sam as he slipped the healing device onto his right hand. He took a deep breath, exchanged a hopeful smile with his daughter, and closed his eyes. His head went back as the device began to glow and he frowned intensely, moving the device slightly closer to the bundle in his arms. Then his face went slack as the light went off. He shook his head and Selmak spoke,
"I'm sorry, Samantha. Nathaniel is gone."
"No. Try again," Sam insisted.
"Sammie," Jacob slumped, dropping the healing device on the bed at his side and caressing the baby's cheek with his freed fingers. "I'm sorry, honey. There's nothing I can do."
"No!" Sam bolted to her knees and tried to reach the healing device, "You're wrong!"
"Sweetheart," Jacob handed her the device, "You can try but there's nothing anyone can do. He's gone."
Sam saw the truth in her father's eyes and fell back, the healing device falling unheeded in her lap. "No�"
"Sam� you should take this time to say goodbye." Jacob tried to hand the baby to her but Sam refused to take him, turning onto her side and closing her eyes.
"Sam," Janet took hold of her arm as Jacob rose and walked over to the window murmuring softly to the baby in his arms. "Sweetheart, I'm so sorry." Janet rubbed her arm. Sam was staring at the wall, "Sam� I know how you feel right now�."
"You can't know," Sam breathed.
"Actually, yes I can," Janet said gravely.
Sam frowned vaguely and turned her head to meet Janet's eyes. They were deep and dark; her old pain a fathomless shadow over which the new pain moved like a storm cloud's reflection on a becalmed ocean.
Sam remembered, "Janet."
Sam rolled over into Janet's embrace, the doctor climbing up on the bed and wrapping her arms around her.
At the window, Jacob turned and watched for a moment then turned back to his reflection.
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Cassandra arrived that afternoon under the escort of George Hammond. When she entered the room Teal'c was holding her little brother in both hands. Against Teal'c's dark skin he looked like a tiny rosebud on the stem, waiting to unfurl. Teal'c had his head bent over the child and was murmuring something in his native tongue. Daniel was at Teal'c's elbow, nodding as he followed the prayer. Jack O'Neill sat in a chair in the corner, his face cut from granite, his grip white on his IV stand. Janet was standing by Sam's bed holding her hand. Both women were red eyed but calm and Sam was watching her son. Janet moved to embrace Cass as she entered.
"I'm glad you decided to come." She kissed her daughter warmly.
"I had to." Cass held up the Baby Too carrier bag in her hand, "I brought his clothes."
"Okay. Good thinking." Janet took the bag as Cass broke out of her embrace and moved to hug Sam.
"I'm so sorry, Sam. Are you okay?"
"I'll be fine." Sam nodded, trying on an ill fitting smile, "Do you want to see him?" She nodded to where Teal'c was holding the baby to his chest.
"Yeah, Nathaniel right?"
"Yes. It means Gift of God." Daniel supplied as he guided Cassandra's hands into relieving Teal'c of the unmoving child.
"But?" Cass frowned, "Mom? He's breathing?"
"Yes. It's an autonomic function, Cass. It's just� he'll just stop." Janet put her arms around Cass's shoulders, "Isn't he beautiful?"
Cass nodded, "He's so tiny."
Sgsgsgsg
Nathaniel James Carter stopped breathing three hours later.
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The funeral was six days later. Nathaniel was interred in a hermetically sealed, lead lined coffin in the same plot as Sam's mother. Teal'c bore the coffin, his mighty shoulders bowed by the burden. Sam followed behind, her father on one arm, Janet on the other. Daniel and Jack followed behind with Cass between them, each holding a hand. Hammond was there, standing with Robin Giggs. The ceremony was brief - what was there to say about a life so short? Then the funeral party adjourned to Sam's house. Her father had made all the arrangements as Sam seemed incapable of making any decisions and had been unable to participate in the planning. No one knew what to say or what to do. Hammond left first, taking Giggs home. Daniel and Teal'c helped Cass clear away the mostly untouched food and drink then took her away with them. Jack found Sam standing in the garden, arms wrapped around her self; she was chewing thoughtlessly on a thumbnail and staring blankly straight ahead.
"Hey. How are you doing?" Jack stood close behind her and rubbed his hands up and down her upper arms.
"Okay," Sam lied.
"It gets easier." Jack's voice was low and hoarse, "I promise. Not any time soon and you're going to want to die for a while but it does get better."
Sam nodded absently.
"I just wanted to tell you that." Jack squeezed her hand.
"Thanks." Sam's voice was distant.
"Well. Okay. I'll see you soon. You know where I am." Jack backed away, his eyes shadowed.
He stumbled past Janet in the kitchen, unable to speak. He just nodded to her and left the house.
"You need to eat something, Sam." Janet touched Sam's arm lightly.
"I'm okay."
"I know your father expects that you'll be staying here, Sam. But I don't think any one will comment if you want come and stay at a friend's house." She tried to take hold of Sam's fingers but Sam moved away, shaking her head.
"I think I'll stay here for a while."
"Do you want me to stay?" Janet swallowed the lump in her throat.
Sam said nothing for a moment, her back to Janet. Then she shook her head, "No, my dad is staying."
"I can sleep on the couch," Janet suggested.
"It's okay. I'll� call you."
Janet's spine stiffened and she nodded mutely. After a moment she managed to get her feet to move and she left.
Sgsgsgsg
Every one called but Sam was talking to no-one. Her father reported that she was sleeping a lot but other than that he would not comment. She refused all visitors.
SG1 was restricted to earth side duties due to Jack O'Neill's still healing lung and Hailey's cast bound wrist. Pretty much they just mooched. Jack wandered the halls or nursed coffee while ignoring the mounting pile of paper work on his desk. Daniel did what Daniel always did when the world was giving him a kicking - he buried himself in the past. Teal'c was spending a lot of time in his quarters meditating or in the gym taking on all comers in a kind of impromptu unarmed combat contest that was masquerading as a prolonged training session. Janet was all business. The infirmary was cleaner and better organized than it had ever been and every single body on the base had had its annual, quarterly and bi annual check up. Supplies for the next six months had been ordered, inventoried and stowed and the filing system reviewed and revised. Twice.
Life went on albeit in a rather subdued fashion.
Eight days after burying her child, Samantha Carter reported for duty and was promptly sent home by General Hammond to await an appointment for a full physical and psychological work up.
The next day she disappeared.
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Continues in part seven