Title: More Than Anyone
Category: Sam and Jack romance/angst
Spoilers/Season: Third in the "More Than" series. Set in an alternate universe which is canon until "Entity" and then spins off. This story is set in roughly early season 6.
Rating: PG13
Content Warnings: Maybe a bad word or two.
Summary: The last one ended with Sam discovering that Jack was the father of her child. How will Jack react when she tells him the truth?
Disclaimer: Stargate and SG-1 are the property of Showtime, MGM, Double Secret and Gekko and they do not belong to the author. This piece of fanfiction was created solely for entertainment purposes and no money was exchanged. No copyright infringement was intended and the original characters, situations and plots are property of the author. This piece of fanfiction must not be archived without the author's consent.
Comments: I am editing and revising this story, along with the two before it, so that I can prepare the sequels for publishing. No major plot changes have been performed with my revision, just some speech and descriptions.
Dedicated to Maria – my new little 'sister'.
Enjoy!
Copyright © Elise November 2003.
Revised June 2010.
More Than Anyone.
It was the middle of the night on P9R-78F, more commonly known as Notermah, and it was warm, as usual. Colonel Jack O'Neill was sitting out on the grass just outside of the main town, Deppousst. As usual, the colonel could not sleep. He was used to missions where one team-member remained awake and on guard, while the other three slept out under the stars. On Notermah, however, each member of the team had their own quarters. It felt too safe to Jack. He was uneasy with everyone being completely at ease. He did not like it.
That was not what was preventing Jack from sleeping yet again.
SG-1 had been on a mission to Notermah for three months now and they were half way through the mission. They had been sent by Hammond to negotiate a treaty with the peoples of the planet. Notermahens were almost technologically equal with Earth; Daniel surmised that the Notermahens possessed a very similar timeline to their own. The main difference between the two races existed in the medical and defence fields. Their defence technology was decades behind humans' because they had no need for defences or weaponry. The entire planet was as peaceful as any civilisation could be; it was the kind of peace that Jack could only ever wish for on Earth. There had never been any wars, conflicts or disagreements between any people on the planet. The Notermahens were mildly telepathic so deceit was impossible and it appeared that telepathy was the only physiological difference between the Notermahens and the humans from Earth. Maybe it was the next evolutionary step for them.
Their medical technology was the opposite. They were years ahead of humans. They could cure almost any viral or genetic disease and they had cured the tawnot, which was equivalent to human cancer. In fact their life span as individuals was nearing 200 years and it appeared to be getting longer with each generation. Daniel had surmised that this might have aided the development of their telepathy. Earth desperately wanted some of this technology because to be able to cure almost any ailment and increase the human life span was almost invaluable.
And Earth was bargaining with their defence capabilities. SG-1 was spending so long here in an attempt to alert the Notermahens to the problem of the Goa'uld and the many other hostile alien races out there. Daniel and Carpenter were also very interested in the archaeological history of the planet because, like most other planets, the Notermahens had been seeded from Earth. So far, SG-1 had found evidence that the Goa'uld had once ruled this planet, but they had not yet uncovered any evidence as to why the Goa'uld had left. The Notermahens had never had much interest in their long-forgotten history until SG-1 had arrived.
None of this explained why Jack could never sleep.
Jack had had a confusing and troublesome past year. Over a year ago, he had slept with Samantha Carter, changing their relationship forever. A series of events had led to Sam sleeping with someone else, Jack leaving Earth to live with another woman and Sam to become pregnant with the other man's child. Jack had returned to Earth eight months later, partly to restore a relationship with Sam and partly because he had left in haste and life on Edora had not been what he thought it could be. He could not try and build a new relationship with Sam upon his return when he discovered she was pregnant. The child would be about seven months old now. Jack sometimes wished that he were the father. That he could be with Sam.
Prior to Sam going into labour, they had shared a kiss. Jack had realised that he was still in love with his ex-junior officer. It was impossible now that she had a child with someone else. Not that she was with Brad, the child's father, but it would still be impossible. She was his junior officer again now or at least she was for every other mission, anyway. They had finally managed a semblance of normality and a very new and hesitant friendship had been developing before SG-1 had been sent to Notermah for their six month mission.
And something behind the events of the past year was preventing Jack from sleeping. Maybe it was the fact that life was returning to normal and he had returned to Earth with no intention of his previous normal life. Maybe it was because of all the changes that had occurred, none of them had gone in Jack's favour. Once upon a time he had been happy enough to be friends with Sam and now it did not seem like enough. Unable to banish his thoughts or do anything about them, Jack was doomed to sleepless nights forever.
X X X X X
Doctor Daniel Jackson crossed the room and stared out of his window. From here he could see out across the horizon to where the sun was slowly setting. Off to his right was the neighbouring city, Bervofree. Just outside of the city, Daniel could see a lone figure sitting on the grass. It was Jack and he was watching the sun setting, as he did every evening. Daniel had no idea at what time Jack would go to bed because he always fell asleep before Jack made any move to return to town. Jack was up at the same time as everyone else in the mornings and he never seemed overly tired. In fact, during the day Jack seemed perfectly normal and no one would know that there was something on his mind. The only way that Daniel knew that something was wrong was Jack's nightly sky gazing and his avoidance of discussing Sam Carter in any way, shape or form.
There was a knock on the door and Daniel turned. "Come in." Teal'c entered the room and Daniel smiled a greeting. "Evening, Teal'c."
Teal'c bowed his head slightly. "Evening, Daniel Jackson. How did the afternoon proceed?"
Daniel turned back to staring out of the window. "We're getting closer." The Notermahens had large underground ruins but none of them could transcribe what was written. Daniel recognised the language as being akin to Latin, but it was taking some time to translate everything. "It should only take a few more afternoons." The team spent their mornings in negotiations and their afternoons just spending time with the Notermahens. Daniel and Lieutenant Nicola Carpenter spent the afternoons and most of the evening working in the ruins with two Notermahen scientists. He was unsure what Teal'c and Jack did. They could see from the inscriptions that there was information regarding the Stargate and a previous Goa'uld occupation, but they would need to identify the language fully before they could learn any details surrounding that aspect of the planet's history.
Daniel's stomach rumbled loudly. He turned to Teal'c and saw one of the Jaffa's eyebrows raised. "I'm starving. Nicola better hurry up with that food."
Teal'c nodded in reply.
Daniel glanced back out of the window briefly. It was almost dark now, but it was still pleasantly warm. This planet was warm all of the time. He had been told that they did experience winter, but it lasted only a few months and was not very harsh. Jack was still sitting in his usual spot. Daniel quickly drew the curtains, turning his back on his friend. "Teal'c, how do you think Jack is?"
"I am unsure of what you mean."
"Does he seem ... distant to you at all? I mean he spends every evening out there. Who knows what time he goes to bed? It wouldn't surprise me if he isn't getting any sleep."
"His work is satisfactory."
"I know, but that doesn't mean that he's alright. There's something on his mind."
"I, too, have noticed. Colonel O'Neill no longer spends any recreation time with us."
"I think it's about Sam."
"Daniel Jackson, you once informed me that something had occurred between Major Carter and Colonel O'Neill. Do you believe O'Neill's preoccupation to be concerning that?"
Daniel considered this a moment and then nodded. He had believed at the time that it best to inform Teal'c of their team-mates' relationship, but he had not disclosed what had happened. Their sex-life was *theirs* after all. "You wouldn't believe how complicated it is, Teal'c."
"Is Major Carter's child Colonel O'Neill's?"
Daniel was taken aback by Teal'c's blunt question. "What?"
"Have you forgotten, Daniel Jackson, that it was I present during the Zatarc incident when they both admitted to caring more than they were allowed? I am fully aware of feelings existing between them, as are most base personnel. It is not difficult to calculate that O'Neill left Earth and nine months later, Major Carter gave birth to Daniella."
Daniel could not help but stand there with his eyes wide open in shock. He exhaled slowly. "Believe me, Teal'c, I jumped to the same conclusion. Sam is adamant that Brad is the father of her child." He may as well tell Teal'c everything, Daniel decided. "However, Jack and Sam did have ... relations." Daniel's brow furrowed at the word 'relations'. He did not like using that word. "And as far as I'm concerned, they both still have very deep feelings for each other."
"But the military regulations imposed upon them prevent them from acting upon their feelings?" Teal'c asked.
"Not completely. They also prevent themselves from acting." Teal'c raised his eyebrow in confusion. "I know, Teal'c, confusing."
Just then the door opened and in walked Lieutenant Nicola Carpenter with a tray full of food - it was their evening meal. Teal'c bowed his head and excused himself. "I will allow you to consume your meals in peace."
Nicola entered the room further and placed the tray on the edge of Daniel's bed. The room was not fully furnished and it contained only a bed and a wardrobe. Each and every night since the mission had begun, Nicola and Daniel would eat their evening meal on his bed, both leaning on the pillows and discussing their daily findings.
As they began eating, Nicola began that evening's discussion. "So from the text that we got through today there's still one paragraph that we can't decipher?"
"Correct. I wish that we had more of my books." Daniel took a mouthful of his drink and swallowed it. It was a water based drink, but very sweet. From his rough knowledge of chemistry and what a Notermahen scientist had told him, however, the liquid contained no molecule anything like sugar.
"Can't we ask General Hammond to send someone through with them?"
Daniel paused for a moment, a plan hatching in his brain. "We could."
"What?" Nicola asked.
"What?" Daniel repeated.
"You have that sneaky look in your eyes, Doctor."
"It's nothing. I'll get on that tomorrow afternoon. You can head down to the ruins and I'll catch up with you."
"Okay," Nicola said through a mouthful of the Notermahen equivalent of pizza.
"At least everything doesn't taste of chicken here."
Nicola smiled at his comment. "So, Doctor, are you going to miss me on SG-1's next mission?" Nicola was the joint fourth member of SG-1 with Major Carter and they took it in turns to go off-world.
"Of course I am, Nicola. No offence to Sam, but she never agrees with me as much as you do."
"Oh, so you only want me as someone who always agrees with you, huh?"
Daniel grinned. "Of course not. In the perfect world, I'd love both you and Sam to be off-world with the rest of us guys."
"I'd like that, too, Daniel," she replied softly. Whenever she was teasing him, she called him 'Doctor' and he liked it. "It'll never happen though. Carter would never give this up."
Daniel doubted that slightly after the past year's events. It was over a year now though, he realised, it had already been a year and a half since Jack and Sam had changed everything. "She might do now that she has Daniella."
"I wouldn't." They fell into a comfortable silence as they continued their meal.
X X X X X
The following afternoon, SG-1 left the large hall where they spent five mornings out of seven. On the other two mornings, they were allowed to do whatever they wished. Daniel normally spent more time working on the ruins or being shown the planet. Maybe that was when Jack caught up on his sleep, Daniel considered. The four of them paused as they always did. They had formed a routine now that seemed like normal daily practice.
Daniel turned to Nicola. "I'll meet you down in the ruins in about half an hour."
Nicola nodded. "See you later. Have a fun afternoon, sir, Teal'c." She then turned and left the three men alone.
"Where are you off to, Daniel?" Jack asked. He had become quite lax about keeping track of his team on this mission. He knew that when Daniel uncovered something amazing, he would hear the yelps of excitement from miles away.
"I'm off to the Stargate to ask General Hammond to send me some books that I need."
Jack nodded. "I'll walk with you for security reasons. Teal'c, what have you got planned?"
"Nothing."
"Well, have fun with that, won't you?"
"Indeed."
"Come on, Danny-boy."
Daniel said goodbye to Teal'c and then jogged to catch up with Jack. Once he did, Daniel fell into pace with the colonel. They walked along in silence. The team did not have much to talk about with each other on this mission. Daniel and Nicola talked a lot. She was relatively new to the team and Daniel wanted to get to know the lieutenant. The only thing to discuss with Jack was the latest discovery from the ruins. After a ten-minute walk, they were halfway to the Stargate and Daniel had finally plucked up the courage to say something to Jack. "Jack, are you okay?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"You spend a lot of time sitting out at night."
"Been spying?"
"No." There was a long pause. "I know that you told me not to ask-"
"Then don't."
"Did you tell Sam that you loved her?" Jack did not reply and silence fell over the two friends. "Jack?"
"No!" Jack shouted, coming to a dead stop. Daniel stopped walking, too. "I was about to. Tactful me decided to do this straight after she had given birth. What happens just as I'm about to declare my love? Her boyfriend walks in."
"He's not her boyfriend," Daniel objected.
"I know that," Jack bit back. "I can't believe I was ever going to follow your advice." He began walking towards the Gate again. After a while, Jack said, "What the Hell were you thinking?"
This time it was Daniel's turn to get angry and he stopped moving. "What the Hell was *I* thinking? I don't know maybe I was just following your lead of making bad decisions."
Jack stopped in his tracks and turned back to Daniel. "And what is that supposed to mean?"
"Hmm, let me see. Sleeping with your junior officer, does that ring a bell?"
"Are you trying to piss me off?" Jack shouted. There was an angry glint in his eyes, but that did not deter Daniel. The stresses of the past year and constant upheaval to the team had finally gotten to everyone. Daniel might have been able to cope with all the problems the team had suffered if his two friends had happily resolved everything, but they were still in a state of misery.
"No, I'm trying to make you see sense. In your own way, you've been depressed the past three months. There's been something wrong with you for longer than that. The only thing I can think of is it's because you love Sam and think there's no hope."
"That's because there isn't any." Both men were still shouting very loudly. "What hope can there be when she's the mother of someone else's child, for cryin' out loud?"
"That doesn't matter."
"Of course it matters, Daniel." Jack's voice softened slightly now, but the angry look in his eyes was still there.
"No it doesn't. Plenty of people are step-parents, you know."
"She's my junior officer again. I missed my only chance." All the anger left his eyes to be replaced by sadness and regret. "I had my chance that day, when she wasn't my 2IC. I blew it, Daniel."
"It doesn't matter."
"Yes, it does," Jack replied, the anger creeping back into his voice.
"Jack, all that matters is that you two love each other."
Jack laughed sarcastically. "Well, isn't that the main problem."
"What?"
"She doesn't love me."
"God, Jack! You are impossible sometimes." Jack looked at Daniel in curiosity. "Of course she loves you."
"Don't be stupid, Daniel."
"I'm not. She told me. She asked me not to tell you, but frankly I'm sick of the two of you. You keep avoiding things, putting obstacles in the way and this team is suffering. Stupid regulations state that nothing can happen between the two of you because of military procedure and how it could affect how you work. I've got news for the damn Air Force, Jack, your feelings for each other *are* affecting procedure!"
"No more than they would have done before, Daniel. Why do you think I'm staying away?"
"Not because of regulations, that's for sure."
"Why then?" he demanded. "If you know me so damn well?"
"Because you're scared of loving her, you're scared of taking that next step and most of all, you're scared of being rejected which trust me is not an issue."
"If she loved me, why hasn't she told me?"
"Why haven't you told her? Jack, she thinks that you're still with Laira. You led her to believe that you were still with Laira. What woman is going to admit their love to a guy involved with someone else?"
Jack sighed. "There's nothing I can do about it now." Daniel groaned in annoyance. "And not for the next three months, while we're here." Daniel smiled, copying Jack's actions. "I'm not promising anything. It isn't as simple as just her and I. There is her child, our careers and the team."
"Maybe you won't have to wait three months, Jack." Now Daniel smiled slyly as he walked off, leaving Jack puzzled as he continued onto the Gate.
X X X X X
Daniel had contacted Earth and asked General Hammond for the required texts. He had also said that Carter knew where they were. Hammond had agreed to send Carter along with the texts. Daniel smiled to himself as he continued walking back to the ruins and Nicola. His plan was to get Carter here so that she and O'Neill could talk and sort everything out. A long time ago, Daniel had been worried about the effect a relationship change on Carter and O'Neill would have on SG-1, now Daniel was sure that nothing could make things worse. Whatever change had occurred had already changed their team and their friendships. There were only two real options. The first was to move on from it all and form new friendships and relationships between the five team-members, whatever they may all be. The other option was to try and go back to how everything had been, what seemed now like years ago. Of course, Daniel knew that the only real way to do that was to travel back in time and whilst he was not yet discounting that option, he thought the former option was the most practical.
As he rounded a corner on his way back to the ruins to meet Nicola, he stopped abruptly when he saw three Notermahens lying on the floor. Carefully, Daniel approached them. They were all dead with what looked like Staff blast weapons to their chests.
Staff blasts.
Goa'uld. And there was no sign of Nicola.
"Oh, boy," Daniel whispered. He turned back to head towards where he had left Jack and Teal'c. He only managed one step when he found himself staring into a staff weapon.
The Jaffa on the other end of the staff considered him for a moment before muttering only one word. "Tau'ri." And then he went to fire the weapon.
Not again, was all Daniel could think as he waited for the instant flash of burning pain.
X X X X X
O'Neill cursed to himself as he ducked behind the nearest tree. Teal'c was only a few feet away, firing on the enemy Jaffa. The Goa'uld mother ship had come out of nowhere and sent down a small army of Jaffa. The mother ship had then retreated and disappeared, leaving behind the Jaffa that O'Neill and Teal'c were fighting alone. The Notermahens had no weaponry of their own and they had never seen anything like this before. They were all probably hiding under their beds, O'Neill thought.
That left the four members of SG-1 to try and stay alive while keeping the entire Notermahen civilisation alive. Easy.
They were still in proximity to the Stargate, where Daniel had left O'Neill not long ago, and as soon as Carpenter and Daniel were here, they would leave. They would return with a larger amount of firepower to save their allies. Daniel had only been gone a few minutes when the mother ship had appeared, depositing the army of Jaffa. O'Neill would not leave without his team-mates. He would not leave them here for a second, even if it were to get reinforcements. Conversely, he knew that he would not hesitate at being left.
That was one of the reasons why O'Neill was cursing to himself. He had believed so readily in the peace upon this planet that he was not prepared for this and it would be hard to get SG-1 off of the planet. He had not been carrying any weaponry and the Staff weapon with which he was fighting had been procured from a fallen Jaffa. Teal'c was sensible, however, and always carried his Staff. O'Neill had often wondered if the Jaffa slept with the damned thing. Neither of them had their radios, though and therefore there was no way of contacting Daniel or Carpenter. Even if they did have their radios, the other two members of SG-1 would be too busy in underground tunnels to remember their radios or too far beneath the surface for the radio-waves to penetrate.
O'Neill could not believe that he had been so lax in his job. Especially with the fact that he had always felt as if something were wrong. He had tried to think that it was just the environment which was making him unsettled. He should have listened to his head and kept up normal mission protocol.
He shot a few more approaching Jaffa and grimaced as an enemy blast narrowly missed his face. He was about to return fire when something different caught his attention. He turned toward the Stargate to see it beginning to activate.
"For crying out loud," he mumbled. It was over now. The amount of Jaffa that could be sent through a Stargate in its thirty-eight minute window meant that there was no way SG-1 could win and there was no hope for escape.
X X X X X
End of Chapter One