Stargazing
By
Denise
Sam lay back in the soft grass, pillowed her head in her hands and sighed contentedly. It was a beautiful summer night on P3X234. The days were a little warm, the temperature hovering in the lower 90's, but the nights were perfect. Mid 70's with a light breeze. The only time it got uncomfortable were those chill hours right before dawn. They'd adapted by rising early and taking a bit of a siesta in the afternoon.
If you had to choose a place to be marooned, this planet was better than some. Although if they didn't make contact with the SGC soon she knew the colonel was considering contacting the Tok'ra. No matter how distasteful he found the idea of asking THEM for help. She tried to tell herself that they were probably just having trouble removing the permanently welded iris on the second gate. And then it would take about a day to get the gate pried out of storage and delivered to the SGC. Another day to get it downstairs and set up, plus the time needed to wire the power supply and attach a new operable iris. She figured it would take them at least a day after that to get it up and running. That was of course, assuming it hadn't been 'lost' again. And also assuming that all the replicators had been destroyed when the Biliskner crashed and earth wasn't being over run by mechanical Lego bugs.
"Major Carter?"
She craned her head and saw the upside down image of Teal'c standing over her. Lying on the ground and looking up he appeared fifteen feet tall. "Hey Teal'c. Pull up some grass," she invited.
He obligingly sat beside her, stretching out his long legs and leaning back on his elbows. "You are star gazing?" he asked.
"Sorta. You know, if you ever want confirmation that you're half way across the galaxy just look at the constellations. They're all wrong," she said.
He raised his hand and pointed at a star. "That is Betelgeuse," he said.
"Really? So Orion is that way?" Sam followed his hand, picking out the slightly orangish star. The familiar winter constellation of Orion looked skewed from this planet, less of a rectangle, the stars closer together.
"Indeed. Chulak's star is that way." He pointed in the opposite direction.
Sam squinted but couldn't distinguish one specific twinkle of light from the others. "You're sure? I'm sorry Teal'c, I can't see it."
"It is there. I am well versed at finding Chulak no matter which part of the galaxy I am in," he stated quietly.
"The same way I know how to find Vorash and Daniel knows where Abydos is."
"There is a…comfort in knowing which star is shining down on your family. The star the Land of Light orbits is not visible from this hemisphere of the planet."
"I remember every time my dad would go on a mission I'd look up at the moon and know that he could see it too. It was…reassuring in a way. You miss them," she said, referring to his family.
"I agree that Drey'ac and Ry'ac would have a very limited life on earth. If I did not have the privilege of journeying through the stargate, I would find being confined to the SGC most onerous. And General Hammond is most generous in allowing me to visit them, however I do…miss them," he confirmed.
"You're lucky, having a family."
"You have a family."
"I have a father who's playing galactic cops and robbers and a niece and nephew who barely recognize me."
"You wish to have a family of your own?"
"It's not that easy Teal'c."
"I do not see why not. You can choose a mate and join in marriage.
"Teal'c! It's not that easy," she repeated.
"I do not see the difficulty. If you wish me to, I know of several acceptable males within the SGC," he offered. "I can speak to them on your behalf."
She slapped his leg. "Don't you dare."
"It is my understanding that human females reach the end of their child bearing years in their fortieth year. An age I believe you are approaching," he said softly.
"Thanks for reminding me."
"I do not wish to offend however I believe you would make an excellent mother. It would be most unfortunate if you missed your opportunity."
"It's probably never going to happen Teal'c. I…first of all it takes two and…even then I don't know if it will work. Jolinar," she answered to his raised eyebrow. "I have no idea if the naquadah and the protein will mess things up or effect a baby."
"You could ask Doctor Fraiser's assistance, or your father."
"If I ask Janet all that's going to get me is more tests. And frankly Teal'c, I'm sick and tired of being poked and prodded all the time."
"And your father? Surely Selmac would know if being an ex-host effects human reproduction."
"It's…When I was growing up and…it came time for…"
"When you reached puberty and your father wished to impart knowledge and wisdom," he interrupted.
Sam laughed feeling the heat in her face. "Yeah. Anyway, he bought me this book and put it in a manila envelope and told me to read it. He'd get all embarrassed when he did the laundry and had to fold my underwear. My dad is not someone that's comfortable that way."
"Many human males are intimidated by female reproductive issues. I have observed O'Neill and Daniel Jackson exhibiting discomfort when they notice your hormonal mood changes."
"My what?"
"It is a common phenomena. Even Drey'ac was subject to her body's demands. It is known as K'ren. A time when Jaffa males must be most understanding of their mates."
"Are you telling me that you guys…keep track?" Sam asked incredulously.
"You are most fortunate that Thor did not choose last week to seek aid from Earth. I believe our 'camping trip' would not have been as pleasant then," he answered. "O'Neill has sometimes jested that if we were to plan an offensive against the goa'uld that we should plan it to take advantage of your hormonal shifts."
"He said what?" Sam demanded, sitting up and turning to face Teal'c. "I'm gonna kill him."
"What'd I do now?" They heard as Jack joined them, sitting on the ground beside Sam. She could smell the subtle odor of water and knew he'd likely just come from the small stream about a mile away from their camp. He'd spent much of their time fishing that stream and it had provided them with some meals. Which was a good thing since they were severely lacking in supplies. The bad thing of course was that both she and Teal'c were getting sick of fish for every meal.
"Nothing," Sam replied quickly, hoping to change the subject. Talking bodily functions with Teal'c was bad enough, with the colonel, a fate worse than death.
"I have informed Major Carter of your plans to coordinate an offensive against the goa'uld with the weeks of the months when her attitude is the most predatory."
"Teal'c!" She protested.
"Damn, Teal'c. There's this thing called 'guy talk'," Jack said, grimacing in the dark. He fought the urge to edge away from the major. "You know, we keep it between us guys."
"I thought you once said Major Carter was one of the guys."
"You did?" Sam asked.
"Well, yeah but…that's different."
"Different?" She demanded.
"There's guys and 'guys'. I mean…"
"Does this mean you never shared with Major Carter the rash you contracted on P5C768?" Teal'c asked.
"No. He didn't," Sam said. "I was under the impression the only thing you brought back from Edora was a tan."
"OK. Yeah. So. Lovely sky tonight," Jack said, deliberately changing the topic.
Sam chuckled and laid back down, again staring at the night sky. P3X234 had no moon so the only obstruction to the stargazing was the large nebula that filled the horizon with a riot of red, pink and purple color. It reminded Sam of an Aurora Borealis gone mad.
She heard Jack lie beside her and they were silent for a bit, each enjoying the view. It wasn't often that they got to do this, relax together. "I hope Daniel's ok," she said, her quiet voice sounding like a roar in the silence.
"I'm sure he's fine. Fraiser said there were no complications and she was going to let him go home…ooh three days ago I think. They did that knothole surgery…"
"Keyhole," Sam corrected automatically.
"Whatever. Barely leaves a scar from what I hear; though he won't let me see it. Besides, he had a date."
"Date?"
"I was not aware that Daniel Jackson was courting someone."
"He's not courting her. It's …dinner," Jack said.
"Who her?"
"On Chulak when a man procures a meal for a woman he IS courting her."
"Ooh careful, colonel. Your fishing could get you in trouble," Sam teased.
"It all depends on the bait," Jack quipped.
"That is debatable, O'Neill."
Sam laughed. "Teal'c, you've been hanging around the colonel too long. Who is Daniel taking out to dinner?" she asked abruptly.
"Nope."
"Come on, colonel. You can't drop a bomb like that then not follow through."
"There are many females in the SGC that find Daniel Jackson desirable."
Jack snorted. "Many? He's got himself a regular fan club. Did you know the nurses want us, or really him, to get hurt so they can lay their hands on him?"
"Captain McDaniels," Sam said suddenly.
"Who?"
"Daniel's date."
"Not even close," Jack said.
Sam turned her gaze back to the stars and frowned, trying to solve the mystery of Daniel's mystery woman.
"That behavior is most odd, anticipating an injury," Teal'c said.
"They don't want him really hurt, Teal'c," Sam explained. "They just…"
"Want to get their hands on him," Jack finished.
"Not just him, sir. The nurses love it when Teal'c's in the infirmary as well. In fact, if I remember right, there used to be quite the market for surveillance tapes of the gym."
"Really?" Jack asked, his interest piqued.
"Yes, sir. They used to have this gathering in the security room whenever Teal'c exercised."
"Ooh."
Sam smiled, hearing the disappointment in her CO's voice. She was being cruel she knew, but it was just so easy. "Lieutenant Rodgers?"
"No. And I'm going to have a little talk with Hammond about improper use of government property," he said, petulantly crossing his arms across his chest.
"Then should we not also inform General Hammond of the recent request for the installation of a putting green on Level 13?"
"Damn it Teal'c. How can the former First Prime of Apophis have such a big mouth," Jack complained.
Sam wiped the tears from her eyes. "It's too bad that Daniel missed this," she laughed.
"Me being humiliated or playing shoot em up with Borg bugs?"
"This. Just relaxing. Maybe it'd take his mind off the baby and Nick."
"Daniel Jackson would benefit from a leave from his duties."
"Colonel, what do you think are the chances of us coming back here. With supplies of course."
Jack shrugged. "I dunno. Do you think saving the planet could get us some downtime? I mean a parade and some fanfare would be nice but…"
"Assuming we…did save the planet," Sam said, regretting the words as soon as they left her mouth.
"Carter," Jack warned.
"Major Carter has a valid point, O'Neill. You are assuming all the replicators were destroyed when the Biliskner crashed."
"Aah. Stop it you two. The bugs died. End of story," Jack said, quashing the image that their words generated. Replicators loose on Earth would make the 'Cockroach that ate Cincinnati' look like a B movie. Jack sighed and turned his attention to the sky. If and it was a big if, some replicators managed to survive, Earth was a big planet. Carter has said the ship was gonna crash into the ocean. Maybe they'd drowned. He hoped they'd drowned. "So, what other secrets were you two gossiping about?" he asked, deliberately changing the subject.
If Carter was right, it would take at least one more day, maybe two for the SGC to get the gate up and running. Which means, even if any of the bugs had survived, there wasn't a damned thing he could do about it. Earth would just have to take care of herself. Of course, that didn't mean they couldn't try the gate in the morning.
"We were just stargazing, sir," Sam said. "Orion's over there." She pointed it out.
"Are you sure? Looks more like a munchkin than a hunter to me."
"The pygmy hunters on Kepla are a most formidable foe. We call that one Masrana," Teal'c said, pointing out a series of stars.
"That's Cassiopeia," Jack corrected, recognizing it even if it was a bit skewed.
"How about that one?" Sam asked.
Teal'c lay down on the grass, stretching out beside her so he could better follow her arm. "That is She'sana, the water nymph."
"Doesn't look very nymphy to me," Jack said. "How about that one?"
"That's the Big Dipper, sir."
"I know. What is it in Jaffa?"
"It is gra'lotak. The large scoop," Teal'c explained.
"You mean the Big Dipper," Sam said, laughing.
"Is that not what I said?"
"Major Carney?"
"Carter, for cryin out loud, will you stop? I am not going to tell you who Daniel's taking out."
"Indeed, Major Carter. O'Neill respects the privacy of Daniel Jackson and Doctor Fraiser too much to reveal to anyone that they are courting."
"TEAL'C! I am so gonna kick your ass!"
Fin