Chapter 2: The Result of the 17th Life

Disclaimer: See Chapter One.

A few hours later, the sonogram was dark, but Jack held a printout of their developing child in his hand as he waited for Daniel to wake. Eva Chance was standing by to explain the 'miracle'. Jack, however, was unsettled. Since Charlie's death, he had been wary of becoming a father again. He still felt responsible for Charlie's death and for not locking up his gun correctly. How would he handle this baby?

Daniel came around ten minutes later. He kept his eyes closed. "I just had what has to be the craziest dream I've ever had to date. I dreamt that Janet did a sonogram and we found out I was pregnant."

Jack silently handed him the sonogram printout and sank back into his chair with a heavy sigh. Now that Daniel was awake, he could handle his own reaction.

Daniel opened his eyes and looked at the picture. He paled worryingly quick and white. "My god, it wasn't a dream." He cursed in every language he knew, which was a huge amount when you took into account all the alien languages he'd come into contact with while working in the Stargate Program.

Jack put his head in his hands and sighed again. "Daniel, we need to talk about this," he said softly.

Daniel took his glasses off and scrubbed his face. He sighed. "Yeah, we do. I'm sorry Jack. I don't know how this happened, but you shouldn't have to be forced into this situation." He hesitated. "If…If you want, we can have it taken care of."

Jack's head snapped up, his expression horrified. "No!" he said, his voice giving an unmanly squeak. "Daniel, do you…not want the baby?" He stammered out the question as if he was the one going to bear the child, not Daniel.

Daniel placed a hand on his stomach. He thought about it for a moment. "I…I do actually. It's…it's part of us, of both of us. It's going to be the best of you and me. It's just that our jobs are dangerous. And then there's the whole issue about Charlie. I don't want you to think or feel that something is going to happen. I love you, Jack. This is something that affects both of us and I refuse to put you in a position you don't want to be in."

Jack's worn hand rested on top of Daniel's, and a gentle kiss graced his forehead. "We'll work something out, but you're right. Two more dangerous jobs we couldn't have." He sighed once more. "I love you, Daniel. I promise I'm going to take care you and the baby."

"Tell me the truth on this: do you actually want to or is this just something you feel responsible for? Because if it is, I don't want you to feel obligated. I can take care of both of us."

His eyes lowered to their joined hands resting protectively over their unborn child. He couldn't deny that the sound of the baby's heart had turned him cold inside, but it was the haunting memory of Charlie, not the idea of the baby itself. Jack shook his head to clear it. Charlie's death had caused him trouble long enough. This wasn't Charlie; it was Daniel's child. Daniel's and his. Where he had failed with Charlie, he would know better.

"Yes," he said, increasing the pressure of his hand just slightly for emphasis. "I want this child." Jack's eyes cleared. "I want it."

Daniel smiled. "I'm glad." He turned to Janet and Eva. "So, do we know how this is possible? And what do we need to do to keep it healthy?"

Eva Chance had turned red at the affection between the two men. There were straight couples that clearly didn't have the connection of Jack and Daniel. Blinking, she looked from one to the other before clearing her throat. "Dr. Jackson, have you heard of the Seahorse Effect?"

Daniel shook his head in the negative. He turned to Jack. "Jack?"

Jack gave Daniel and 'are you serious?' look.

Daniel shrugged and gave Eva his full attention.

Eva Chance sat on the end of the bed and rubbed the back of her head. "It's a birth defect found in roughly one in one hundred thousand men in the world population. It's not exactly hermaphrodism, but very few recognize the distinction. A man with this condition will live a completely normal life except for a …well, a kind of uterus attached to the… the rectum." Her cheeks pinked. "There are recorded cases that traced the rising occurrence of the defect. Most of the cases have been found by CAT scan, but that's not the real point! In the last few years, the occurrence of men with the symptoms of pregnancy had been noted. Men that had been…uh, the catcher of a homosexual encounter. Positive pregnancy tests, mood swings, nausea, fainting… However, none of the so-called pregnancies came to term to the knowledge of the medical community.

"This is where conjecture comes in, so bear with me," she continued quickly. "The human body is normally very resilient to change and malnutrition. However, since men aren't built for pregnancy, the system walks a razor edge. If the affected men didn't get the right nutrition, the fetus was aborted."

"So basically all we have to do is watch my diet? Seems easy enough."

"If only," said Fraiser under her breath.

"Diet, physical exertion, mental strain, stress, fatigue…" The younger woman shrugged. "The list goes on, Dr. Jackson."

"Daniel, you're taking a sabbatical until the kid's eighteen," Jack said.

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Be realistic Jack. I can't take a sabbatical, let alone for so long. The SGC needs me. There aren't many people in my department that knows everything I do."

"Daniel," Jack said sternly. "There are four or five people we can put together for the translating. Give the lazy bums some work." He smiled when Eva Chance swallowed a giggle.

"They do have work, Jack. Do you know how many translations we have to do? We're backlogged as it is, and more are pouring in with every mission. We need everyone we can get. Besides, if I don't work, I'll get bored and do something you think is 'stupid'. And most women work until close to their due date. I'll do the same. And just to set you at ease, I'll only work normal hours and take breaks when I need them. You can always check on me if you feel you need to. But you aren't moving into my office." Daniel gave him a look Jack knew well, the one that said Daniel had made up his mind and it would not be changed.

And when Daniel got that look, practically nothing could change his mind. Only once had it happened, when Jack finally got Daniel to agree to start seeing him through the use of his 'kicked puppy' look.

Jack cringed. Damn, Daniel could be so stubborn... Then again, Jack had been known to overreact when it came to the nerd. He sat quietly for a moment, his thumb gently stroking over Daniel's knuckles in a manner that was both absent and soothing. He remembered Sara's pregnancy with Charlie, how ill she had been and his presence had seemed to calm the ever-kicking Charlie. Something niggled in his mind, something surfacing slowly out of the depths of his past, and his thumb stilled. Sara had been the same way when she was pregnant. Stubborn with a strong desire to work, wanting something to do while the baby was incubating. Admittedly, Daniel was in a more dangerous position than Jack's ex-wife, but, he knew he would be just as stubborn.

"Okay, Danny-boy," Jack conceded. "But going off world is off-limits. How many times have you been hurt or killed on a mission?"

"Killed sixteen times," said Eva Chance without looking up from her computer screen. "We've lost count how many times he's ended up in here."

"Not counting when his appendix ruptured," added Frasier.

Daniel closed his eyes. He could believe that they had counted how many times he'd died, but honestly did NOT believe that he'd been in the infirmary more times than could be counted. "I'm not that bad on missions. And I'm not going to stop going off world, Jack. I'll stop doing first contact missions, but I'm not going to be chained to my desk or the SGC. There are several safe planets I can go to: the Nox home world, places like that. Besides, I might be needed for diplomatic reasons."

His look dared Jack to try to force him off active duty altogether.

Jack dared.

He turned his attention to the attending physicians and asked, "Can you get him medical leave from off world missions? Or at least any that might be dangerous." In his hand, he felt his fingers get slick with sweat against the glossy back of the ultrasound print-out. He felt his heart beat through his thumb. One. Two. Three. Maybe he was being irrational after all. There was no guarantee that Daniel would be harmed if he went off world. There were plenty of times where nothing had happened to him.

Weren't there?

Eva Chance, who had been handed Daniel's care after the pregnancy was discovered (it was more her area of expertise), shook her head slowly. "Not until Dr. Jackson is officially classified as high-risk or near-term. It appeared to me that the fetus was approximately one to two months gestational age. While his risk of sudden termination is higher due to his gender, he is perhaps in the safest window for activity off world. Though I do warn you, Dr. Jackson, that you're going to get more weird looks than usual."

Daniel shrugged. "I get enough weird looks just for walking out of the Stargate onto a new world. There are still worlds that think we're gods because we use it. And I'm used to people talking behind my back; the academic community did shun me and my theory. I'm STILL considered an academic pariah and it's been several years since that fateful presentation I met Catherine at." He turned to Jack. "I'll be alright Jack. I'll make a list of 'safe' planets and give it to the General."

He knew he wasn't going to win, not without medical back-up. So Jack relented begrudgingly. He looked up at Dr. Pratt and said, "I'd like all the information you have on the... on Daniel's condition."

Eva Chance shook her head. "I'm afraid there isn't much. Just... well, just what I've told you. I'll dig through my files and get hard copies for you if I can. Or," she added with a smirk, "you could read my doctoral thesis?"

"Think you could get me a SparkNotes version?" Jack asked, looking dazed at the idea. It wasn't that he wasn't interested (after all, his Daniel was pregnant with their child), but he didn't relish the idea of picking out the meaning of medico-scientific mumbo-jumbo. "Kind of a 'What To Expect When Your Boyfriend is Expecting'."

Daniel couldn't help but face-palm. "Honestly Jack." He looked at Eva. "I'll read it and give him the highlights if you'll give me a copy. I doubt he'd understand the 'spark notes' you give him."

"I'll try, but I suggest you rest for a while, Dr. Jackson. Morning sickness is unpredictable enough with a female pregnancy. Of what I've seen of yours... it's going to be even worse." She glanced at the kidney-shaped bowl at the side of Daniel's bed.

Daniel groaned. "This is not going to be pleasant." He glared at Jack. "I'm going to blame you for all that I'm going to go through. You do know that you're going to have to deal with me and all my possible cravings, don't you? All the midnight runs to the store or the kitchen for the oddest and most disgusting combinations of things. The running about looking for the texts and artifacts I want. I'm going to drive you absolutely bonkers."

"I know," Jack said. "It's not my first kid." Immediately after the words left his mouth, he regretted them. He didn't need to be reminded of Charlie and Sara, not when Daniel was his life now. Daniel and their baby. He sat on the edge of the bed and looked at the IV line Fraiser had put in Daniel's arm to help replenish his fluids after being so sick. He traced a line from the silver needle down the archaeologist's forearm to his hand. Their fingers entwined. "I'll spoil you, Danny Boy."

Daniel squeezed Jack's hand. "I know it's not your first kid, Jack. And you don't need to feel guilty. Everything's going to work out. Besides, I don't want you to spoil me. Just love us, that's all I ask."

"Why? I've been doing that for years."

Daniel's blue eyes rolled. "And I've been telling you not to for years. There's nothing in this world I want that I don't already have. Love is the only important thing."

Jack shook his head, smiling. Daniel had been saying the same thing since they got together, and he hadn't listened to a word. He never would. The Space Monkey had a habit of getting himself into positions where spoiling him was just too damned easy. Laid up after nearly dying, laid up after his appendectomy, laid up…. well, after just about anything. He didn't like seeing Daniel in the infirmary, but Jack had gotten used to the fact that he was more accident prone than a monkey with matches.

Leaning over, Jack kissed his boyfriend on the cheek and ruffled his hair softly. "How you feel, Space Monkey?"

Daniel shrugged. "Not so nauseous anymore. Still a little in shock, but," he smiled tenderly at Jack. "But happy."