Secret Skills
Daniel Jackson, badass archeologist, linguist, Goa'uld hunter, and… accidental midwife? Episode tag for Secrets, season 2 episode 9.
"Well, this is quite the rager," Jack muttered sarcastically, taking a long drink from his nth bottle of beer. He'd lost count a while ago.
They'd debriefed quickly following the return from Abydos. Teal'c had done all the talking, Daniel staring a silent hole in the middle of the debriefing room table, and they'd finished in under an hour. Daniel hadn't said a word since they'd got back to base beyond that which was required. Sam had been quiet, too, and Jack hadn't felt too chatty himself after the events of the day. You knew it had been a rough one when Teal'c was the most garrulous of the group. Now, here they were, all four of them, drinking heavily around an empty pizza box in Jack's living room.
"There is indeed much to be enraged about, O'Neill." Teal'c's misunderstanding of the word rager drew half a smirk from Sam, who was now being just as silent as Daniel, curled up on the opposite end of the couch, zoning out at the fireplace. Both of the science twins looked shrunken, somehow, as if weighed down by unspoken grief. Daniel's situation, he knew. Sam's, however…
"Not exactly what I meant, but yeah… I guess so." Jack looked over at the youngest members of his team. Daniel was staring at his hands in his lap as if willing them to be holding something, his expression far off and unfocused in a way Jack knew had nothing to do with the copious amount of alcohol they'd all imbibed. Jack winced.
"Daniel?" The younger man jumped, startled back into reality and crossed his empty arms over his chest, blinking determinedly and clenching his jaw with a shake of his head.
"I wasn't there when Charlie was born, you know," Jack sighed, futzing with the now empty beer bottle, gaze averted. He heard Daniel let out a low breath from his corner of the couch and half considered changing the subject, but remained on course.
"I was away on a mission. Got a bit banged up and I didn't make it home until he was already a month or so old. Sarah was a bit angry about it, to put it mildly." Sam's smirk was back. Jack couldn't tell if Daniel was crying or not.
"I, too, was not present for the birth of Rya'c. It is not customary for Jaffa women to give birth in the presence of men. There were midwives on Chu'lak who accompanied Drey'auc throughout her labor and assisted with the delivery. Until today, I did not know the steps to the birthing process, Daniel Jackson. You are most knowledgeable about many topics." Teal'c's words seemed to pull Sam all the way back from wherever she was and she shifted on the couch, uncurling and turning towards Daniel.
"Yeah, Daniel, how exactly did you know what to do? Birth isn't really a topic covered in the whole field medicine training." Daniel let out a sad laugh and shrugged, shaking his head.
"I, uh… well… It wasn't exactly the first time." Daniel ran a hand through his hair, staggering to his feet and grabbing another bottle from the kitchen. Teal'c's eyebrow rose.
"What? You mean to tell me that somewhere in all those degrees, you're some sort of midwife?" Jack called. Sam let out a laugh.
"Well, not exactly, no… Maybe an accidental one," Daniel mumbled, returning to his corner of the couch. Sam grinned.
"An accidental midwife? Only you, Daniel." For the first time that evening, a ghost of a smile returned to Daniel's face. Jack echoed the grin and shook his head.
"Do tell." Daniel smirked, rolling the bottle back and forth in his hands.
"Well, uh… I guess the first time was in college, actually. I, uh, took a summer gig on a dig in Costa Rica. I was there for a few months, all of summer-break, really. One of the women in charge was quite heavily pregnant at the time, um, but, uh… well, one day we were out, just the two of us, quite a ways from everyone else and she rather suddenly went into labor. It all happened really fast. One minute, we were discussing the specifics of our findings and the next thing, she was crowning. I had no idea what to do, but she was really calm about it. I helped her lie down. She… uh… took off her shorts and, well… there was the baby. A little girl." Daniel was blushing, but his eyes had the spark they'd missed since he'd left for Abydos. Sam was grinning ear to ear and if he squinted, Jack thought he could make out a smile on Teal'c's face, too.
"You said first? There were other times?" Daniel took a drink from his bottle and nodded.
"Mmhmm, that happened a couple times on a couple digs, actually. Once, I happened to be working near a little village where a woman was having a really hard time. Her older daughter was frantic and broke all sorts of customs to come and get me. I think seeing as I was an American, she thought maybe I'd be able to do something. Everyone else had pretty much given up. The woman was of an age in that village where death in childbirth was common and they'd sort of figured that was what was going to happen. Anyway, I, uh, knew more about things by that point and I helped her daughter help her into more of a crouching position, which helped things along. The baby ended up coming out feet first, but both of them were fine. He was a boy. I delivered a couple babies on Abydos, too." Daniel's smile faded as he mumbled the last few words, his hands, which had been rolling the bottle back and forth as he talked, stilling.
"A couple?" Sam was still smiling, caught up in the joy of the happy birth stories and missing the shift in the mood. Daniel clenched his teeth and sighed.
"Yeah. One of Sha're's cousins had twins." Daniel was back to staring a hole, this time in the floor. Something else was going on. There was something else beyond the events of the day bugging Daniel.
"Just the twins? No other moments of midwife heroism?" Jack regretted pushing him the moment he heard Daniel's reply.
"Uh… well… Sha're and I, well… She really wanted children. On Abydos, it's assumed that newly weds will have their first child or at least become pregnant within the first year of marriage or else they're considered cursed and, well, we… we tried. She… she got pregnant, um… The labor came early, too… too early, much, much too early. We were, uh… There wasn't anyone close by to help and, um… It would have been a girl." Jack closed his eyes and sighed, images of Charlie flashing past unrequested like a kick in the gut.
"Oh, Daniel, I'm so sorry. I had no idea."
"I am sorry, too, Daniel Jackson."
When he opened his eyes, Sam had her arm on Daniel's shoulder. He wasn't crying, but the stone expression on his face spoke of a careful control of his emotions.
"When I saw her on Abydos," a pained smile flashed across Daniel's face, "she had never gotten that pregnant with… she had never been that big when… I thought maybe, maybe it could have been mine. I know it's ridiculous, it's been a year, but I hoped for a second that maybe she'd been pregnant when she'd been taken and we hadn't known it yet and somehow the implantation had slowed or lengthened the gestation and…" Daniel shook his head, draining his drink.
"I have never known a host to be pregnant during implantation, Daniel Jackson. I do not doubt that becoming a host would cause a pregnancy to be terminated." Daniel nodded, running a shaking hand through his hair. Sam rubbed a comforting circle on his back.
"Yeah, I uh… I caught that," Daniel muttered, searching his bottle for another drop. Jack dragged himself to his feet, grabbing the empties off the table.
"Another round?" he called, grabbing the rest of the beer from the fridge without waiting for a reply.
When he returned to the living room, it was immediately obvious that he'd missed something. Daniel now had his arm around Sam, who was wiping her own tears away from her face. He pretended not to notice, distributing drinks and trying to connect the dots.
"She died in a car accident when we were kids and he hasn't talked to him since. Now, he's got a few months. I'm not sure what to do. If he dies and he doesn't know… What do I even say to him? Should I even call him? I haven't talked to him in years." Jack took a long drink, still unsure about exactly what his 21C was saying. They'd seen her father in Washington. Clearly, something was going on between them, that much had been immediately apparent and he'd excused himself to let them have it out back in DC. He knew about her mother. He'd read her file. She had a brother in California or something… Mark?
"If the positions were reversed, Captain Carter, would you not want to know?" Daniel was nodding, agreeing with Teal'c.
"He's got a point, Sam. I certainly would have wanted to know. I think you're right to at least give Mark the chance to make the choice about reaching out to your father." Sam was nodding. Jack was pretty sure he'd caught on all the way, but figured he'd ask just to be clear.
"Your father…?" Sam sighed, avoiding eye contact.
"Lymphoma. He's got a few months, sir." Jack nodded and sighed. Sam sniffed and nursed her drink, seeming done with the topic. Daniel resumed staring morosely at the floor.
"Like I said, definitely a rager. Teal'c, you got anything to be upset about? Looks like it's one of those nights, days, weeks, years…" he trailed off. Teal'c inclined his head.
"Indeed. Until the Goa'uld are no more and my people are free, there will always be something to rage about, O'Neill." Jack nodded, raising his beer.
"To the end of the Goa'uld, then." SG1 raised their drinks in a solemn toast.
"To kicking cancer's ass… sir," Sam added. Jack smiled and raised his beer.
"I'll drink to that."
"To a happier reunion of Sha're and Daniel Jackson," Teal'c entoned. Daniel smiled thankfully at him and finished his drink.
"Not to circle back on a topic we've moved on from, Daniel, but have you mentioned your secret midwife skills to ol' doc Fraiser? Seems like you might be a helpful pair of hands if we're ever in an alien baby situation." Daniel and Sam both let out a chortle.
"Sure, Jack, I'll be sure to let her know before the next alien baby incursion." Jack grinned. It had been a hell of a day and to say his team was hurting was an understatement, but they were going to be okay.