Mirror Images
Part Eighteen: Revelations [One month later]

"Ugh." Ella moaned as she rolled over. She felt like her stomach had gone on an intergalactic revolt and its first target was her. It was the fourth time in as many days and it was really beginning to piss her off. She figured it was just some kind of bug, though it didn't make any sense because Kolgar was supposed to keep her healthy.

Speaking of her symbiote Ella recalled that she hadn't heard a peep from him since they had gotten back from her only and last --thanks to the Tok'ra high council—mission. 'Kolgar?' Ella sighed, knowing full well that he wasn't going to answer, but yet she tried again. 'Kolgar!'

With no answer from the normally outspoken symbiote Ella decide that something had to be wrong, at least wrong enough to warrant a visit to her uncle. With her sudden decision Ella tried to get up, only to be back on her back by a sudden wave of nausea. 'One more hour won't hurt.' Ella though wearily as she lay back, closing her eyes and waiting for the feeling of normalcy to come back to her.

Finally feeling somewhat more grounded Ella rose and ventured out. The one person she could trust to ask was her uncle, so she went in search of him and found him finally in his office going over reports like very other Tok'ra on the base.

"Hey Bella, what can I do for you?" Jacob asked as he saw her enter, setting the report down and leaning back in his chair. Ella smiled and entered. No other Tok'ra would tilt in their chair like her uncle would, and it sort of made her feel a bit more at home.

"Um," Ella hesitated as she took a seat across from him. "Kolgar isn't talking to me."

Jacob gave her an amused smile, "What set him off this time?" Ella was confused for a moment before she remembered that Kolgar would often ignore her when she'd said something particularly ignorant.

"Nothing," She sighed and placed her elbows on the table in front of her, resting her chin in her hands. "I mean it's been over a month now. It's almost like he's not there anymore."

Jacobs eyes widened in alarm, "When exactly did this start?"

Ella blushed and looked down, "Um, about a month, since my last mission anyway. For a while I just thought he was mad at me, but it's been too long." She sighed again as Jacob nodded and stood, motioning for Ella to follow.

"Come with me. We should run a series of tests to make sure you're both okay."

Ella nodded and followed him to what she called the infirmary, really though it was just a small inlet that held a few diagnostic tools. There was no onsite doctor and many of the Tok'ra could run and read the machines on their own and because Ella also had her own medical degree there really was no need for a specialist.
Ella sat down on one of the beds and watched as her uncle collected various devices of which she had no idea as t what they did. It was times like these that she really wished Kolgar would respond to her as there was still so much she didn't know.

"Why do you believe he'd be mad at you?" Jacob asked as he selected the first device. He instructed Ella to hold her arm out, palm up as he pressed one end against the crease of her elbow.

"Ow." she complained as the thing drew a bit of blood from her arm.

"Sorry," Jacob said, an apology for not warning her. "Ella?"

Another sigh as he removed the device. "We had another disagreement. Only this time I ignored him, and I assumed he was mad about that. Goodness knows it wouldn't be the first time." Ella wished in hindsight that she had listened to Kolgar, not because of the rules but because nothing had changed between herself and Martouf. It was like nothing had happened and it hurt. To Ella it meant a lot, but apparently nothing to him.

Martouf avoided her even more now; to a point here Ella would go for days before catching even a glimpse. Mind you she wasn't looking; he'd broken her heart, and as melodramatic as that sounded she knew that it was probably the best that they avoided each other. At least for the time being.

Jacob nodded to himself and selected another device which looked like a mashed up version of a helmet. Ella gulped and edged a bit farther back. "Um," Her eyes widened a bit as he got closer. What is that?"

He chucked and placed it on her head, "Crude I know, but it will take every kind of scan on your head and the base so we can get a good look your symbiote."
Ella eyes it like it would fry her brain but kept it on. It was a few sizes too large and wiggled around slightly when she moved her head. Catching sight of this thing on her head in the reflection of a nearby instrument made a smile come to her face as she wiggled about. A cough and a stern look from Jacob caused her to still.

"Is he sick?" she asked as the idea suddenly popped into her head. Tok'ra died from old age, she'd read that somewhere, and although it wasn't common what was stopping them from getting the occasional cold?

"I don't believe so," Jacob answered. "He's probably not dying either because he would have technically sacrificed himself to save you."

"I don't understand."

"Well," Jacob sighed and hopped up n the bed beside his niece. "A symbiote releases a deadly toxin when they die, but Tok'ra have a way of preventing the host from dying when they do. Something else is going on here." Ella just sat in silence, waiting for the results to appear on the screen. HE uncle in the meantime hopped down from beside her and put the used instruments away. A few moments later the results appeared, and the findings made Ella's eyes widen.

"I can't be-"

"Yep, pregnant." Jacob confirmed. Ella was suddenly very, very angry. How in the world was she supposed to get over Martouf when she was carrying his child? A kind of shock came over her. She was pregnant, there was a tiny being growing in her right at that moment on a planet she didn't even know the name of that was constantly under the threat of destruction and that was probably also light-years away from Earth. What was she going to do?

Fear and sadness consumed her as she dropped her head in her hands and tried to make herself as small as she possibly could. She knew the universe for what it was an amazing place full of wonder but also filled with so much pain and death. Would a child even survive in this life? Would she even be aloud to have her child?

"Ella?" She looked up at her uncle as tears began to run freely down her face. She'd made such a huge mistake, and no matter what happened she was going to pay for it.
Jacob pulled her into a hug and asked another fairly obvious question, "Who's the father?"

"What's going to happen?" A question for a question. Jacob frowned, sighed then sat with his niece again while keeping an arm around her shoulder.

"I'll have to discuss this with the High Council; they'll converse and come out with the best solution." He squeezed her shoulders lightly as Ella stared ahead in shock, a million thoughts and scenarios running through her mind but the most prominent one being, 'Why me?'

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A/N: Okay, uh hi again ^-^ Anyway I'm just here to say that chapters 18, 19 & 20 have been previously written. So after typing and editing they'll be up fairly quick but... well after 20 is another question. As far as I know, I'm toast after 20... I'm sorry guys, but unless I get a major muse [or plot] Mirror Images is done in 2 more chapters. The ultimate cliffhanger, eh? xD