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Anyway, enough of my desperate ramblings. I'm hopped up on Codral, I have two major assignments due this week that I have yet to finish, and I've been working crazy shifts... all in all, just glad this chapter somehow got written! =D
Enjoy...
Two Months Later...
-0-0-0-
Jacob Carter was not a man comfortable with cloak-and-dagger games.
In his entire career, he'd never been heavily involved in the missions that made his son-in-law a valuable SGC asset, and he'd always made a point of ensuring every person above him in the chain of command knew what was going on. So walking through the gate to Edora for secret meetings with Jack O'Neill was not exactly his cup of tea.
Unfortunately it was one of the few places in the galaxy that they both knew and trusted. Neither of their organisations had any jurisdiction on the planet, and they knew that the locals could be trusted to not say anything about the weekly meetings that were conducted at the foot of the 'gate.
Jacob Carter was also a man who was not used to seeing Jack O'Neill is his current state. The man hadn't shaved recently, his clothes were dirty and ripped and his hair had grown enough that it had lost its military appearance. All in all, Jack O'Neill was a man in serious need of running water and soap.
But what Jacob noticed most was that, with each passing week, the darkness in his eyes seemed to grow, and each new visit gave Jacob enough insight that he now knew how the humorous man he met years ago could have joined that fateful first mission to Abydos. Jack was changing with time. The longer she was out there- the more times he heard that the Tok'ra knew nothing- the more he seemed to slip into a world that Jacob knew very little about.
And it scared him because, if they ever did find Sam- a possibility that diminished more with each passing day- there might be nothing left for her to come home to.
Jack O'Neill was a changed man. There was no denying it, and there was very little that Jacob could do to stop it.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Samantha Carter, U.S Major and resident genius child of the SGC, was certain of one thing.
Rescue was not coming.
In the months since her capture she had regained most of her memories, thanks in part to a kindly middle-aged woman named Bricena who seemed to be her obstetrician or midwife. The woman had explained that the drug given to her was never intended to be permanent, and though Sam regained them faster than most, it was designed to wipe her memory for a number of weeks. Just long enough that you needed to rely on us, and hopefully long enough that your people will stop looking for you.
The woman had told her this while handing her keys to her shackles and her missing dog tags.
The tiny pieces of metal hadn't told her anything she didn't already remember. Her dreams and memories had finally started clicking into place after the first week, and with each new revelation came a new-found sense of hope.
Jack O'Neill didn't leave people behind.
But as the child inside her grew and it got closer to her due date, Sam was starting to wonder just how much longer she could be expected to wait.
She didn't remember a great deal about that first week, but there was something that stuck in her mind- there had been two men outside her cell door discussing what there were going to do with her. Their conversation, at the time, had been meaningless, but as her memories resurfaced and her mind worked to fit the pieces together, she had a feeling she now knew what they meant.
'...until the foetus is of an appropriate age to deliver'
'...we'll keep her here, then send her back after. We'll have what we need'
They wanted her child, and once they had it- her- there would be no good reason to keep Sam around. The gender of her baby had remained a mystery for a number of weeks, locked in the back of her mind, though she had dreamed of discussing with Jack whether or not to find out. In the end it had been a memory of name-picking that had clued her in.
All of their options had been girl's names, and Sam knew then that her child- her Bean- was a little girl.
And for a reason she couldn't yet understand, her captors wanted her.
-0-0-0-0-0-
"Anything?" asked Jack shortly, holstering the zat gun Jacob had given him the moment he'd gone AWOL.
"Nothing. I've got my people keeping an ear out, but so far there has been no information about a pregnant human female out there. No Tau'ri, no suspicious captives"
Jack nodded, and his lack of emotion told Jacob he was getting too used to hearing the same thing every week. He'd been traipsing the galaxy looking for clues, calling in on allies such as the Tollan and the Nox for any assistance they'd be willing to give. All he'd got so far was a handful of gate addresses, and a few more from those, and so the cycle of wandering continued with no luck. Only a few of the world's had been occupied by hostiles, and even then, Jack had managed to go relatively undetected. He'd been hoping for information from the Tok'ra, spread as they were across the galaxy, but so far Jacob and Selmak were yet to bring him any information that didn't send him to some dead-end planet. Jack knew via Jacob that Earth hadn't had any success either- he was officially operating against orders, so he hadn't been back since leaving as promised, but Jacob had been feeding him what little he knew. The only things Jack had taken with him were the clothes on his back, a gun that had since run out of ammunition and Sam's bracelet. He had taken it from the dresser in his room where she stowed it while off world, and it hung around his neck next to his wedding ring and dog-tags.
Lately it had been the only thing keeping him sane, if that was the description you'd use for his current state.
"We'll find her, Jack"
"You know, Jake, every week you say that and every week we don't. How's about you spare me the optimism"
"Sam's strong. She'll find a way"
"And if she's dead?"
Jacob sucked in a breath and frowned. Judging by Jack's tone and his unapologetic expression he'd been believing the possibility longer than he'd let on, and given their lack of success, Jacob was almost starting to believe it himself. After all, why would hostiles keep her alive this long?
"You don't know that"
"Well, I'm starting to believe it"
Jacob didn't have an answer, so he turned back to the Stargate and dialled the Tok'ra home world, knowing that the moment he left Jack would dial to yet another planet. He only hoped it didn't get to the point where Jack dialled Earth, and stepped through without keying in his expired code.
"Just... don't do something you'll regret, Jack"
Jack looked up to where Jacob was standing, poised to step through, and for a moment the wall of resistance fell, letting Jacob know that under that honed and hardened shell there was still the man he knew.
"I'll regret not finding her"
-0-0-0-0-0-
Bricena entered Sam's cell with a smile on her face and a tray full of food. The room had been made more comfortable since her arrival. The stone bench now had several blankets and a pillow on it for sleeping, the leak in the roof had been sealed up and the floor had been covered with a straw mat to make the space a little less ominous.
It was just like home.
"Good morning, Sam. How are you?"
"Well, thank you", she answered shortly. Bricena had so far proven to be a friendly ally, but she was still working with the people who kidnapped her and Sam was reluctant to trust her, lest it be the very thing they were counting on.
"I brought you breakfast"
"Thank you"
"Well, you have to keep up your strength for the little one", she answered sweetly.
Sam watched as the older woman busied herself in setting up their breakfast. Shared meals had become commonplace between them, and Sam was reluctant to break what little human connection she was afforded, but there was a much more important matter that needed addressing.
"What do you want with my baby?" whispered Sam, her hand across her stomach.
Bricena stalled in her movements, her smile faltering slightly, before she continued what she was doing. "I don't know what you're talking about"
"I'm not a fool, Bricena. I heard the men talking outside my door the night they brought me here-"
"You weren't supposed to hear that", muttered the other woman quietly, poring tea.
"They want my baby and then they're going to let me go. Now, I'll ask one more time... What do you want with her?"
Bricena turned to Sam with a smile, and Sam suddenly got the impression that despite the woman's sickly sweetness, she may be a few fries short of a Happy Meal.
"A girl?"
"What do they want with my baby?" screamed Sam, her eyes cold and fierce, her hands in fists over her stomach.
For a moment Bricena looked as though she was going to dodge the question, or high-tail out of there, but when she didn't Sam knew that this bonding between them had not been one-sided. Bricena sighed and sat on the stone bench, her hands in her lap.
"I'm not sure"
"Don't you dare lie to me", hissed Sam.
"I honestly don't know, Samantha. I don't. I was brought here to keep an eye on you- to make sure your child was healthy. That's my job, nothing more"
"You know more", said Sam angrily, her patience wearing thin. She wanted answers and she wanted them now. Too long she'd been sitting helpless in this little room, relying on the mercy of her captors for survival. Bricena sighed and looked down at her lap, apparently contemplating whether or not she should risk her life to help this woman. Reluctantly she answered.
"Only because I too overheard a conversation"
"What were they saying?"
"I... I... can't say"
"Bricena... please"
Something in Sam's tone must have convinced her, or perhaps it was her knowledge that there were people who were waiting for Sam back home, who loved her and her child. Either way, she seemed to concede defeat and shuffled closer to Sam along the bench.
"I don't know much, Samantha. Honestly, I don't- I was never really told"
"But?"
"As far as I can tell, they need your child, and once they have... her... they are more than willing to let you go"
"What do they want with her?" asked Sam, her hand unconsciously moving to cradle her stomach.
"I'm not entirely sure, but I believe it has something to do with operating technology"
Sam sat back, her brow furrowed. Technology?
"What do you mean 'operate technology'? What technology?"
"Well, I can't be certain, but I believe these people salvage goa'uld technology from abandoned planets and bring it back here. I saw a storage locker once full of goa'uld weapons"
The woman sounded far too comfortable, and a little cold saying the word, but Sam wouldn't it notice until later.
"Goa'uld? But... I can operate goa'uld technology. Can't they use me?"
Bricena looked down at her hands that were folded in her lap, flinching at the desperation she heard in the other woman's voice.
"Bricena?" questioned Sam reluctantly, fearfully.
"I have lied to you"
"What about?"
"When you first came to know me, I assured you that nothing had been done to you. I lied. Before you regained consciousness that first day, they ran tests on you"
"They WHAT?"
"I'm sorry"
"What kind of tests, Bricena?"
"Nothing dangerous to you or the child"
"What. Kind. Of. Tests?"
"A blood test"
"What for?"
"To determine if the child also carries the marker that would allow it to use goa'uld technology"
Sam sat back, stunned and hurt and definitely pissed.
"Why would they want that? Why not just use the mother?" asked Sam, holding in tears, trying desperately to see this as a scientist in order to distance herself from the situation.
"It could prove to be a valuable asset, they said, to raise a child with that ability"
"My child, Bricena. My child, not theirs"
"Yes. I know"
Sam scoffed and looked away, rubbing her stomach. Her head shot back around when Bricena spoke again.
"But that is not the only reason"
Sam rolled her eyes in an effort not to break down. Anger serves me well. Don't let them see my weakness. "What else?"
"Your child also possesses a blood anomaly that they have not seen before"
Sam looked down to her stomach, confusion written all over her face. If they knew how to detect that she had once been host to a goa'uld, surely the accompanying blood anomalies would be accounted for. What, then, could be in her child's blood that would be so valuable, and more importantly, how did it get there?
"Samantha, I hate to say this, but it would seem that your child is very valuable to these people"
Sam was about to make a snide retort, before she noticed that her 'friend' had shifted, and suddenly turned serious. In place of the sweet and innocent woman sat a fighter- someone who had seen things and done things that she was not proud of, and had only just made a decision to end the sick cycle.
"If you are going to make your escape, I would suggest you wait until the child is born. You will be stronger then, and if the child possesses abilities they wish to harness, they will keep it in good health in the upper levels of this facility"
Sam listened intently to every word, knowing that this woman was risking something very important to subtly feed her this information.
"Why are you telling me this?"
Bricena sighed, and suddenly Sam saw not the cheerful woman or the warrior, but instead a weary prisoner caught in a trap just like her.
"I was a mother once, Samantha", she answered. Her voice held an unnerving detachment that made Sam's blood run cold. "My child died on my home planet along with everyone else, and I believed them when they told me they were my friends. They have always taken care of me. I've never been given reason to question. I was midwife to their people, and I was accepted and loved. But now... well... if I was in your shoes- sitting where you are sitting- I believe I too would want to take my baby far away from this place, regardless of how well they would treat her"
She looked around Sam's small, dark room and sighed, kneading the blanket under her hand as though seeking comfort.
"This is no home", she whispered.
Sam placed her hand over Bricena's, stilling her movement and prompting her to meet her gaze.
"I have a home", said Sam, the tears finally falling. "I have a husband and friends and family, and I have a job that is very important, and this is my baby. She wasn't planned, but she's mine, and I have a right to take her from this place and raise her back home where we belong"
"I know"
"Then help me!" she cried desperately.
"When the time comes... when you a strong enough... I will do what I can"
Bricena stood and walked towards the door. She turned when she reached it.
"But you will have to be the one to fight, Samantha. Nobody has ever broken out of this facility, and if anyone can do it, I know it's you, but you will have to fight for your child. I don't know hard it will be, but I do know that they have high hopes for her, and when these people want something so badly, they will stop at nothing to ensure they have it"
Something told Sam that this woman had experience this determination first hand. Her face turned fierce and hard, and Bricena knew that, when the time came, this woman would prove to be stronger that her captors ever gave her credit.
"Well, I hope they know how to deal with disappointment"
And because she truly liked the woman's spunk, Bricena smiled.
The door closed with a clunk.
