Author's Note: Well here is the one you guys have been waiting for. I hope you enjoy it. At present I have five chapters back from my second beta and I am waiting for the rest. Thank you to everyone who looked at this one at one time or another. This story was one of the first I started about eight months ago but it sat neglected and unfinished. I like the way it turned out in the end. I hope you guys like it too.
Sit back and enjoy the ride.
As Major Samantha Carter strode into the briefing room, she didn't look her usual perky self. There were black circles under her eyes, and they were red as though she had spent too much time crying. No one who knew her well would question why this was. Her long time CO was, for all intents and purposes, MIA. Strangely enough, they knew exactly where he was, just not how to help him. For the past two months, he had been frozen in Antarctica after he downloaded the Ancient Database into his brain. When the Asgard failed to answer their request for help, Jack knew that he was dying. So, to save himself, Jack put himself into stasis in one of the stasis pods at the Ancient outpost in Antarctica.
Sam's eyes scanned the briefing room, but found it empty. Looking through the open door at the far side of the room, she saw the person she was looking for in her office. Dr Elizabeth Weir sat behind her desk reading through a stack of papers and reports.
Sam tried to ignore the strange feeling in her stomach. It was like she had butterflies in there, but they had to be on some kind of steroids or something. She rubbed her tummy, because that seemed to calm them down. Once what ever it was had settled, she rapped her knuckles on the door and asked, "Any word from the Asgard yet?"
Weir looked up, "No, not yet. I'm beginning to get worried. It's been two months now. Maybe I should have let you take the ship," she sighed, "How long can the Colonel stay in stasis?"
Sam swallowed. This was something that she had tried hard not to think about. Her life was already bleak, but if Jack was never going to wake up, part of her wanted to just curl up and die with him, or have herself frozen, too. She knew that, rationally, neither of these were options, but they entered her thoughts none the less.
"Major?" Weir's voice broke into her thoughts, and Sam raced to collect them. For the past few months since Jack was frozen, she had found it hard to concentrate. She had put it down to the fact that she was worried about him, but now she began to wonder.
She looked up at Elizabeth, "Forever, I think, but he's needed here at the SGC. We can't leave him like that. It's cruel. I know what it would be like for him to wake up years from now and know that everyone he loved or knew was gone. We went through that."
Elizabeth held up her hand, "I know, Major. I read all of your mission files and a good chunk of the other SG-teams' reports since I have been here. I know what Hathor did to you and the others. We won't let that happen to the Colonel if we can help it. I know what he means to you and the rest of the team."
Sam turned to leave, but stopped, "I request permission to return to Antarctica and study the pod. I may be able to find some way to cure him with Daniel's help."
Shaking her head sadly, Elizabeth said, "If it were up to me, I'd allow you to go in a minute, but all the governments involved still need to agree about what will happen to the Ancient outpost. Since you were able to stop Anubis before he did any real damage to Earth, the governments involved are more afraid of the weapon than what is out there in space. Until then, no one is allowed down there. SG-1 has it's first mission tomorrow; are you ready? The last I heard from Dr. Frasier, you still haven't had your pre-mission physical."
"I'll do that now. I have been feeling a little queasy over the last few days and I just haven't found the time." She turned to leave, only to vanish in thin air.
Immediately, she rematerialized on an Asgard bridge. Sam wasn't sure, but she thought it was Thor's ship. Sam stumbled as she completed her step, started in Weir's office. Regaining her balance, Sam called out, "Thor?" When the little alien did not immediately appear, Sam wandered around, looking at things curiously.
The last time she was able to spend a lot of time on an Asgard vessel, she had promptly blown it up. This was a little different from the O'Neill. She studied the instrument panels closely to see if she could figure them out.
Once that was done, she began to head toward the exit, but stopped when she saw Jack in an Asgard pod near the door. She almost stumbled as she ran over to the device. She studied the controls and found that he was alive and breathing. His eyes were closed and he seemed to be sleeping peacefully.
Knowing that he was alive for the moment, Sam reached out and touch the glass above his face, "We just never get any breaks, do we, Jack? I've missed you." Then she slammed her other hand down on the pod in a fist. "It isn't fair, we gave so much, hoping that one day we would win and there might be a chance for us to be together. Now, you're even more lost to me, sealed away in this glass coffin. Jack, please, come back to me." Even Sam could hear the anguish in her own voice. A drop of water fell beside her hand. Sam quickly wiped away the evidence of her tears. She'd cried enough of them lately.
Brushing the rest of the tears away, she tried to rein in her emotions, but it was hard as they had been so close to the surface since they left Jack behind in Antarctica. The smallest things made her burst into tears at the stupidest moment.
Like earlier today, she had been packing for her mission tomorrow. The last time she had used her haversack had been the Antarctica mission. Inside, she found the Colonel's yoyo. Just holding that small piece of him had caused her to cry until Daniel entered her lab. She quickly wiped the tears away and shoved the yoyo in her pocket.
"Major Carter?" Thor's voice broke into her mussing; she turned to see the alien hurrying over to her. "I must apologize for not being here to greet you, but I was called away on another matter that I had to attend to." he stopped and sighed - sort of, "It seems I must also apologize for something else, as well, for another of my kind have made a horrible mistake.
Sam blinked surprised, "Uh, okay, what happened?"
"When the Asgard Council received your message, I was not available to come immediately and so they sent Freya, She is of the younger Asgard and does not have much experience with humans. The Council thought that this would be a good opportunity for her to gain this experience, but now I see that it was a grave mistake."
Looking over at O'Neill, Sam said, "He seems to be fine. The Colonel is alive, isn't he? Freya couldn't have messed things up too badly."
Thor looked over at O'Neill. "It is not him who Freya-" he stopped, "Let me explain. When her ship arrived in orbit, soon after your defeat of Anubis, O'Neill was brought aboard. Then she began to try to remove the Ancient knowledge from his mind. Freya had been instructed on how to perform the same procedure that was done to O'Neill the last time. Unfortunately, what was done last time did not work. This time she was forced to try different measures."
Not wanting to, but doing it anyway, Sam interrupted, "She? Did you say 'she'?" her voice was full of astonishment. All the Asgard they had seen were male. Daniel and Jack even had a bet that the females didn't exist. It looked like when the Colonel - if , he woke up, owed Daniel five hundred dollars.
Something like a look of annoyance crossed Thor's face, "Yes, we have females, but they are few in number. Most of them have not survived the transfer process. For every female, there are twenty males of our species. May I continue?"
Feeling sheepish, Sam apologized, "Of course, sorry."
"During the process, O'Neill died. Freya panicked, thinking she has ruined the Asgard's only hope for survival. I'm sorry, we have told them that O'Neill is not the key to solving our problems, but some of my people still refuse to believe it. They cling to the belief that he is the key, due to the fact that he carries the Ancient gene. There is a small number that believes that our answer will be provided if he fathers a child, but I now know this is not true." He sighed again as though even he had hoped it was maybe true, and Sam wondered what had happened to make it definite.
She looked over at the pod where Jack was seemingly alive. "He seems to be fine now. What did she do?"
"She brought you to her ship and implanted you with O'Neill's DNA to create an "offspring". When that was completed, she managed to stabilize him, but the knowledge was still in his mind. You were returned to Earth and Freya requested that I come as soon as possible. I only arrived a few days ago, and sent her home to face her punishment from the Council."
Standing there stunned, Sam said, "Freya did what?" Unconsciously, she touched her stomach, could there really be a child growing in there? Hers and Jack's. Part of her felt violated, but the rest of her was overwhelmed and joyous.
"You are procreating. I didn't know what she had done until I was going over her logs to see how she had tried to help O'Neill earlier. I will remove the offspring now. It should not have been created without your or O'Neill's permission." Thor came forward, holding a small device.
Sam backed away covering her womb, "No, you will not take our child, no matter where it came from. I will keep it. I don't know-" her voice was shaky as she looked over at Jack, still in the pod. "I don't know what the Colonel will want to do, but I want this baby."
Then, a thought occurred to her, "If you know what to do, why is he still asleep?"
"I needed his help. The reason I was not able to come was because I was monitoring the collapse of Halla's sun to create a black hole in order to destroy the Replicators. It seemed to be working, but a small amount of them escaped, and I need O'Neill to create a weapon from his Ancient knowledge. It may be our only hope to stop the Replicators. The Ancients had much more knowledge than even we do."
Sam looked at Thor and then back at O'Neill, "Can he do that?"
"I have downloaded his mind into my ship's computer. He has been working on it since before you arrived. He has been able to hear everything you and I have said."
Just then, a strange looking device appeared on a pedestal beside Sam. She jumped, still thinking about that fact that Jack had heard everything she had said since she had arrived.
Jack's voice interrupted her thoughts, "There you go, Thor. It's all done now. Can I have my body back?" Then, as though he was surprised to find her there, he said, "So, Carter, how are you feeling?"
Unsure what to say or where to talk to, she said, "Uh, fine, Sir. I have been a little nauseous, but that's about all." She paused and grappled for control of her emotions again, "We have a lot to talk about-" she stopped again, "Jack." she was carrying his child; she should call him by his given name at least once.
"Yes, Sam, we do." Then, much more jovially, he said, "Now, Thor, about my body?"
"Yes, O'Neill, I will do that immediately." He moved over to one of the control panels and manipulated the stones there. "But first, I need you to explain how this weapon works, and then I will revive you."
"I can't explain it, but here are the plans. Maybe you and Sam can figure it out." Both Sam and Thor moved over to the display and studied them.
"I'm not sure, but I think it interrupts the signal between the Replicator blocks." Sam said, frowning as she looked.
"I agree with Major Carter's assessment. I regret I have to leave, but I need to travel to Orilla. If you will cross over to the pod, I will revive O'Neill." he motioned to where Jack lay, still unconscious.
Moving to stand beside it, Sam waited, unsure what to do. Finally, the cover slid back and Jack sat up.
A strange smile crossed his face when the first thing he saw was Sam. Holding out his hand, he said, "Help me up, my butt is asleep."
Sam smiled back, nothing was wrong with him, he was just the same. After rising to his feet, Jack stepped out of the pod and, on shaky legs, crossed over to Thor, "Good luck with the bug swatter." he stopped and looked at Sam, "Can you send us to my living room instead of the SGC?"
Thor smiled, or, at least Sam thought he did, "Of course, O'Neill. You have given us the means to turn the tide in this war. We may soon be able to help you in your fight with the Goa'uld. Good-bye, O'Neill, Major Carter."
He moved two stones and both of them vanished once more.
Next chapter soon. It maybe Wednesday or Thursday. I have a busy week this week so we will have to see. By this time next week you I will have posted at least three chapers. That I can promise you. ~Kelleth~
