Life Goes On
Part 7: Complications and Implications

"There has to be an easier way of doing this." Sheppard complained as he struggled to move parts of the crashed Jumper away from the steps so it could be lifted up into the overhead bay.

"Get everyone else to leave the room." Clark looked round.

"What?" The Air Force officer asked, then saw the look in the other mans eyes and nodded, "Ok guys; take five. Go get a coffee or something."

The confused tech's and soldiers looked at him, but his expression invited no questions, and he was second in command of the entire expedition. They slowly filed out of the room, leaving Clark and Sheppard alone.

"What you got planed farm-boy?" Sheppard asked, crossing his arms.

Clark just smiled as he gripped the front of the disabled Jumper tightly and lifted it up like it was made of paper. Stringing only slightly, he pushed it back into the middle of the room, the screeching of metal against metal like fingers down a chalkboard to the stunned Sheppard. There was a loud thud as he dropped the stricken craft in the middle of the room, just below the iris leading up to the Jumper bay.

"You ever want to go to the Academy; I'll write you a really nice reference." Sheppard shook his head in awe, "Any more tricks up your sleeves?"

"A few, but none I'm going to show you." Clark almost blushed, "I'm really not supposed to show too many people my abilities: I've been keeping them a secret for more than five years, since they first started to develop."

"That I can understand." Sheppard grabbed his radio, "McKay, time to open the iris so we can get this thing squared away."

There was a low grinding noise as the portal to the Jumper bay opened, and a powerful lifting rig was lowered into place. Clark and Sheppard attached the clamps to the disabled ship and stood clear as it was lifted up into the other room.

"Ok, we've got it." McKay's voice came over the radio, "Zelenka and I are going to see if it can be salvaged, or at least what parts we can use to repair others."

"Good idea, for once." Sheppard smiled, "Clark and I are going to go to the infirmary and see what Carson has to say about Sam and Chloe."

"Let me know how they're doing, ok?" McKay answered, "I guess I feel a little guilty about what happened."

"Don't; I saw the tapes, and it would have taken me hours to decipher the controls." Clark shook his head, "And that was time we didn't have."

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"They're both pregnant." Becket looked up from his clipboard, "Literally a matter of hours, but the scanners we have here are much, much more advanced than anything on Earth."

"Pregnant?" Weir looked at her CMO to make sure she had heard him right, "How did it happen?"

"Not by any natural methods, if that's what you're asking." The MD flipped through a few pages, looking for the right test results, "As far as we can tell from what little Mr Kent translated from the video, the device they were caught in was part of some kind of genetics lab. I'm not sure exactly what they were looking into, but it was certainly very advanced."

"And the foetuses?" Weir asked, almost dreading the answer.

"100-percent human; it was the first thing I checked." Becket reassured the project leader, "The second was a complete DNA scan to see just what we're dealing with. The results were, amazing."

"Carson, we deal with the amazing on an almost daily basis." Weir sighed, thankful that one possible danger seemed to have been adverted, "What did you find?"

"The DNA of the two foetuses is identical; under other circumstances, they'd be identical twins." Becket handed over the clipboard, "That's when I checked their DNA against our records, and found out who the parents are."

"Samantha Carter and Chloe Sullivan?" Weir looked up, "I don't understand; who's the father?"

"There isn't one: the device took their DNA and exchanged it with the others." Becket looked round as the door opened to admit Clark and Sheppard, "It then merged their DNA into a single fertilised egg in each of them. I've heard of some experimental research on this type of thing back on Earth, but it's mainly theoretical."

"So what you are saying is that Dr Carter and Miss Sullivan are both mother and father?" Weir looked dumbfounded.

"Sam and Chloe are pregnant?" Clark looked equally shocked, "Are you sure?"

"Sure as I can be of anything in this job." Becket nodded, "And I can tell you this; due to the lack of any Y-chromosomes, both foetuses will eventually become female."

"Okay." Sheppard blinked, playing catch-up, "That sounds, about as strange as anything else I've heard since meeting General O'Neill for the first time."

"How are they doing physically?" Weir asked, looking at the two sleeping women, "Any other, complications?"

"None at all," Becket shook his head as he walked over to his two patients, "in fact, they seem to be just sleeping. I could wake them up, but given their condition, I think it's best if we let them get as much rest as they can. God only knows how I'm going to explain this to them."

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"Rodney," Weir passed the Canadian physicist as she made her way to her office, "Please tell me you have some good news."

"I'm afraid it's the proverbial 'good news, bad news' situation." McKay fell into step behind her, "Which do you want first?"

"I'll take the bad news." Weir sat behind her desk, "That way I've at least got something to look forward to."

"The Puddle Jumper's a write-off: Zelenka and I have gone over it, and there's no way we can make it airworthy again." McKay sat in one of the other chairs, "He's taking it apart of spares as we speak."

"Ok, that's the bad news; what's the good news?"

"The Zed-PM Clark recovered is approximately 50-percent depleted, which means it still has more energy in it than anything we've seen before."

"That's excellent news! What does that mean in real terms?"

"Well, we could use it in conjunction with the one we already have to help power the city. Or, we could use it to replace the one we already have, and put the old one back in the Daedalus."

"That would certainly cut the travel rime between here and Earth, at least for a while."

"That was my thinking, and if my calculations are correct, as long as they don't draw the maximum amount of power from it all the time, it should last long enough for several dozen trips."

"That is the best news I've had for some time."

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Sam woke slowly, her mouth dry. It took her a moment to remember what had happened, then she sat bolt upright, almost pulling the drip from her arm.

"Sam!" Clark was at her side in an instant, "It's ok; you're in the infirmary in Atlantis."

"What happened?" Sam asked, looking round, "Where's Chloe?"

"She's fine; she still sleeping." The young Kryptonian did his best to reassure the physicist, "Dr Becket will be back soon; he'll be able to explain everything."

"Explain what?" Sam asked as she pulled the drip from her arm and swung her legs over the side of the bed, "What happened?"

"It's a little complicated: we ran into a Brain-IAC, but I was able to destroy it." Clark blushed slightly, "I also blew up the outpost and the planet it was on at the same time..."

"Join the club." Sam grabbed a nearby robe and put it on before walking over to Chloe's bed, "What about Chloe and I? The last thing I remember is a bright light."

"That's the really complicated part." Clark looked round, hoping that Becket had returned, "Maybe you should wait for..."

"I want to know what happened, and I want to know now." Sam stood next to Chloe's bed, holding her sleeping girlfriends hand.

"Okay." Clark took a deep breath, "I don't understand the how just yet, but you're carrying Chloe's baby, and she's carrying yours."

To Be Continued...

If you didn't like it, then so be it: it was my story to write and time to waste, not yours.

Bobboky: hope that answers your question ;)