Chapter four
The next few months were very busy for Jack, who had been sent on several undercover operations...all out of the country...and all involving the Goa'uld Baal and his attempts to gain a foothold on Earth. But every time Jack thought he had him, he would get away, and Jack would come home sullen and mean-tempered...until one day Sam couldn't take his bad mood anymore!
"Jack, this has got to stop!" she yelled at him, slamming her hand down on the counter, her eyes shining with tears. They were at home in their kitchen, and Kelly was in her room playing. Sam had just offered to fix Jack a sandwich for lunch, but he had turned her down, saying he wasn't hungry. He hadn't eaten breakfast either, and Sam could see that he was losing weight.
"What?" he asked, his forehead wrinkled in a frown...a frown that had been in place for weeks now.
"This angry sulking! You don't eat...you don't sleep...and you're always so damned quiet! I feel like I'm living with a stranger!" she yelled, as she absently massaged one hand with the other. Jack noticed and reached out to take her hands in his, surrounding them with his much larger ones. And then her tears began to fall, and her body shook.
"Oh, God, Sam, I'm sorry. I really am! I didn't realize what this is doing to you." He stepped closer to her, closing the space between them as much as was possible, considering she was in her thirty-second week and expecting twins!
"I guess I've been a bitch to live with," he said, as he raised one hand to her hair and the other to her face...his long fingers tracing her jaw, catching her tears as he fell. "I love you, you know? I never meant for this to hurt you in any way, and if I could catch this bastard today, I would!"
"You might not be able to catch him for years, Jack! But even if you do get Baal, when will it end? There will be other bad guys out there, and you will be thrown in the midst of things again and again...until you are willing to give it up...or until you get yourself killed. I won't put Kelly and myself through any more of this!"
"What are you saying, Sam?" he asked her, his hands falling to his sides. Jack felt defeated...even more so than when he failed to catch that bastard Baal. My God, he thought, did Sam intend to leave him? After all they'd been through together, had he finally pushed her too far...expected too much of her?
He watched as she shut her eyes and took a deep breath, her hands coming to rest on her belly. Jack thought she was trying to compose herself...trying not to cry even harder. He knew how much she hated breaking down in front of him. Even now, years after her stint in the military, she still tried to keep a stiff upper lip, as it were. But of course there had been many times lately when she'd failed miserably. 'Hormones' she had said.
He waited patiently for her answer, expecting the worst. But what happened next was not at all what he'd been expecting!
"Jack...my water just broke," she said, and then she looked down at her feet. Jack's eyes followed hers, and he saw the puddle forming on the floor. Like a man possessed, Jack scooped her up in his arms and carried her to their bedroom, where he gently laid her on the bed. Then he dashed to the linen cabinet and pulled out several towels. Sam lifted her hips so he could place them under her, and then he sat down next to her.
"What do we do now, Sam?" he asked, as he spread his hands over her belly protectively. She covered his hands with her much smaller ones and smiled at him.
"We notify Caroline," she told him, but Jack already had his cell phone in his hand and was dialing the base infirmary. "...and Daniel and Vala! Ask them to come over here and take care of Kelly. And then I think you should take me to the base," she said, as she felt the beginning of a contraction. While Jack talked to Caroline, Sam squeezed his hand until the contraction subsided. It was only a mild one, she said, and he relayed the news to Dr. Lam. He spoke to her for only another few seconds, asking about Daniel's whereabouts, and then he ended the call.
"She wants you down there asap. And she hasn't seen Daniel today," he told her as he dialed Daniel's cell phone number. He picked up on the second ring.
"Oh, Daniel, I'm glad I found you! It's Sam; she's in labor!"
"Oh, ma gosh! We're at the Native American art festival in Pueblo, but we'll come right back! Are you at the base?"
"No, Daniel, we're at home. But I'm going to take Sam to the base right now. Meet us there! Okay?"
"Okay, will do! And Jack...good luck!"
"Thanks, Daniel," Jack replied and then he snapped the phone shut. "They're in Pueblo at an art festival," Jack said to Sam's curious stare. "Now where did you put that suitcase?" he asked her, suddenly remembering the bag she had packed for just this purpose.
While Sam managed to change into some dry clothing, Jack got Kelly ready to go. Then he walked Sam out to the car...her leaning on his arm, while Kelly held her other hand, chattering away animatedly about what she was going to do with the babies when they got home from the hospital.
Two hours later Jack was sitting on a chair by Sam's empty bed, wondering what was going on in the surgery. Things hadn't gone quite as planned. He'd known that much just as soon as Sam had gone into labor! It wasn't that early deliveries were unusual with twins, Caroline had explained. It was just that the longer the birth could be delayed, the better chance the babies had. But these babies had other plans, and apparently nothing was going to prevent them from being born today...except maybe their mother's blood pressure, which had risen dangerously about twenty minutes ago. That was when Caroline had decided to take the babies by C-section.
"Jack," Daniel said quietly, as he handed Jack a cup of coffee. "I don't suppose there's any news yet?"
"No, Daniel. Where are Kelly and Vala?" Jack asked as he accepted the Styrofoam cup. He didn't drink. He just held the cup, allowing the warmth to penetrate his cold hands. He had felt chilled to the bone ever since they'd gotten there. Whether the chilled feeling he had was from anxiety, or from the actual cold of the underground base, Jack wasn't certain.
"Vala took Kelly to see Dr. Lee. He's working with some really interesting bugs that SG-14 brought back with them last week. You should see 'em, Jack! They're big...about the size and shape of a small cantaloupe that's been cut in half. And they glow in the dark!"
"That's great, Daniel," Jack said, but his voice was monotone and lacking enthusiasm.
"Jack, don't worry so much! Sam is in good hands, and babies are delivered by C-section every day! Have been for years!"
"I know that, Daniel. But what about Sam's blood pressure? What if it doesn't come down? What if..."
But before he could finish, a nurse hurried into the room carrying a paper gown and a mask. She helped Jack put them on, and then he followed her to the surgery. Caroline was similarly dressed, as were the three nurses who were assisting her.
"I'm about to lift out one of the babies now, General, and I thought you might like to watch," Caroline said, glancing up at Jack, before returning her eyes back to her patients.
Jack didn't answer verbally, but he did move closer to the operating table, where Sam was laying with several wires and tubes attached to various parts of her body. He stood there feeling suddenly paralyzed. Sam's eyes were closed, but thanks to the monitor he could see and hear her heart beating regularly.
"I've given Sam a light sedative. Her pressure has already fallen into the acceptable range, Jack. Come on...look what I've found in here! It's a baby girl! Have you two chosen names for them yet?" she asked, as she lifted one tiny, messy infant from Sam's belly. A nurse was waiting with a clean towel, onto which Caroline placed the baby, who immediately began to cry quite loudly, her entire little body quivering with fear and shock. The nurse stepped around Sam's legs and handed the screaming infant to Jack.
"Eh...no, not yet," was all Jack could manage to say, as he took the lighter-than-air bundle and held her on his left arm.
"Number two coming right up...just as soon as I cut the umbilical," Caroline told everyone, and the nurse who had taken the first baby prepared to accept the second one. Jack looked down at his daughter's miniature face, her features somewhat hidden by blood and distorted by her fright, and his heart went out to her. But then his attention was drawn to Caroline again, as she announced, "And this one's a boy!"
She gently lifted the second infant and put it in the nurse's waiting arms. The baby did not cry, and Jack watched anxiously as the nurse hurried over to the other side of the small room with him. He didn't know what she was doing to the baby, and it seemed like hours before he finally heard his son's first cry.
"Don't worry, Jack," Caroline said, as she guided him over to the counter where he could see his son. "Some babies don't mind being born so much, while others hate the experience," she explained, tucking the towel closer around Jack's squalling daughter. "Hold her closer to your chest Jack, and keep her wrapped snugly. This one's gonna need a little more reassurance and swaddling...if you ever want to get any sleep, that is!"
Jack did as she instructed, and the baby girl did seem to quiet down a bit. The boy, on the other hand, had stopped crying completely, and actually seemed to be enjoying what was going on. The nurse was gently soaping his dark hair, and Jack could see now that he was much larger than his sister. However, both of them combined couldn't weigh more than eight or nine pounds, he thought with amazement.
Jack stood by and watched every move the nurse made and every reaction of his son, still a little dismayed by the baby's relaxed attitude. As soon as the boy was bathed, the nurse weighed him and put a shirt and diaper on him. After placing him in an Isolette, she took Jack's new daughter and gave her a bath too. Unlike her brother, the girl continued to cry the entire time. Caroline, who had left to stitch up Sam's incision, arrived just in time to see both infants lying in their little beds.
The tiny girl, who was dressed in a pink, wrap-around shirt and a disposable diaper with pink and yellow ponies on it, had strawberry-blonde hair and a pale complexion, while her brother was darker over all. Caroline thought they looked like miniatures of their parents, and she wondered if Jack had noticed.
She pulled her stethoscope out of her pocket and warmed it between her hands before placing it on both their little chests. After she was satisfied that their lungs were clear and their hearts were beating strongly, she touched Jack's arm.
"Sam will be asleep for a little while yet, but she's doing just fine now. Did you know I had these special little beds flown in from Dallas just for your babies? They're the latest thing in infant care, Jack. I wasn't sure what precautions we might need to take. But I think it's safe to say that these two, while they are a tad early, are very mature physically. Your son weighed in at four pounds, eight ounces, and his sister weighs three pounds and twelve ounces. That's really quite good for thirty-two weeks, Jack."
"Really? So they're okay?"
"Yes, I'd say they're VERY okay! Of course we'll keep a close eye on them. We'll be attaching a heart monitor to both infants, so don't be shocked when you see it," she informed him. Jack nodded, his ability to talk, let alone think, almost gone. He was mentally and physically exhausted, as he let a nurse remove the paper gown and mask he wore. Then she ushered him back down the hall to the infirmary, where Daniel was waiting.
"Jack! What happened? Are the baby's here yet? Are they okay?"
"Yes," Jack said as he practically fell into the chair where he'd been sitting earlier.
"Yes? Yes! Is that all you can say! So tell me about them! For God's sake man, snap out of it!" Daniel yelled.
"I have a son and a daughter, Daniel, and they're about the size of my hand," he said, holding his hand out, palm up, to indicate their size.
"But they're okay, right? And Sam...how is she?"
"They're all fine...at least I think they are. I mean Caroline said they were, but..."
"Here's Daddy," Vala cried out, as she and Kelly came skipping into the infirmary.
"Daddy, Daddy! Are my babies borned yet?" Kelly asked, jumping up onto Jack's knee.
"Yes, honey, they are." Jack seemed to snap out of his shock when he heard his daughter's voice. He hugged her and began to tell her all about the babies being born...or at least as much as a three-year-old child needed to hear.
Vala and Daniel stood over them, and Daniel had his arm around Vala's waist. Every now and then she would gaze up at Daniel and smile, and he would give her a little squeeze in return.
"You know something? I'm suddenly starving, guys! Does anyone want to go and grab a bite to eat with me?" Jack asked. They all agreed that a celebratory meal or snack would be appropriate, and so they headed to the commissary to see what the cook had made that day.
TBC