Ch 26
Jordan had been moved to Sam and Jack's "quarters" on Thor's ship, in a more comfortable bed. She was still hooked up to Janet's monitor and the IV was back in her arm, because Janet had been able to do enough tests to get an exact idea of just how out of balance all of her electrolyte levels and everything else was. Thor and Janet both agreed that all of the Ancient knowledge had safely been removed from her brain, and that she was recovering wonderfully, her body just sleeping to catch up on much needed rest and heal itself.
But Jack and Sam, and everyone else, just wanted Jordan to wake up and tell them she was fine, in English, for herself.
Janet and Sam had cleaned Jordan from head to toe, changed Jordan out of her now quite dirty nightgown into one of Sam's black tee-shirts, which came past the little girl's knees, and she was now resting peacefully under several blankets, her Homer doll tucked into her side. The room had been crowded most of the time, but at the moment Jack and Sam were alone in the room with Jordan, sitting on the other bed in the room, just watching her. Both still felt as though if they let her out of their sight, they'd turn around and she'd be gone again.
Sam thought it would probably be a long time before she completely quit feeling that way, even though she knew in her mind that Jordan was safe now.
Daniel knocked quietly on the open doorframe, asking if it was okay to come in by the look in his eyes and the position of his eyebrows. Jack waved him in. Teal'c followed. Daniel sat down on the floor, his back against the side of the bed Sam and Jack were on. Teal'c stood against the wall near the head of Jordan's bed, arms crossed behind his back. Sam smiled at both of them.
"Thor says we will be back in Earth's orbit in approximately three hours," Teal'c informed them. "He will then beam us all down to Stargate Command."
"Thanks, T," Jack said.
"I spoke with Thor and Jormungand," Daniel said quietly. "He pretty much confirmed everything we had guessed. He was trying to push her slowly to the point of ascension so he could watch the process and try to copy it. And Thor confirmed that the Asgard don't have anything like the death penalty. I had to explain the concept to him, actually. So as long as Jormungand's in their custody, the Asgard are bound by their own laws to try to figure out a way to transfer his consciousness – Goa'uld included – to a new body when the time comes. His backup plan worked."
After several moments, Sam took a deep breath and said, "Well, what really matters is that his first plan didn't."
Jack nodded in agreement.
There was another beat of silence before Teal'c said, in a tone that showed he had been dying to ask for sometime, "O'Neill, if you are having twins, may I suggest the names 'Luke' and 'Leia?'"
Jack stared at him for a moment before Sam, next to him, burst out laughing. Once she started, she realized it had been so long since she'd laughed properly that she couldn't stop. Daniel started laughing too, then even Jack let out a few chuckles, and they all sat there smiling and laughing for a long time.
When the laughter finally died down, Sam wiped her eyes absently, still smiling.
Then a familiar, wonderful little voice said, "Mommy? Daddy?"
xxxxx
Everyone was crowded around her bed before Jordan had even propped herself up on her elbows and looked at them properly. Her mom and dad immediately pulled her into a tight hug. As her dad kissed the side of her head, her mom asked, "How do you feel, sweetie?"
"Good." They let go of her enough so they could see her face, and she could see theirs. They were both smiling hugely at her. Her mom was crying, but they were clearly happy tears.
"Really?"
Jordan nodded, struggling to find the right words to explain how she felt. "I… I feel better now. It was scary. I couldn't hear. It was like being underwater, inside my brain. There was all this stuff zooming around that wasn't supposed to be in there and I kept on trying hard to think about home but it kept getting harder and harder and I was scared and alone, and Jormungand said you weren't coming for me and he showed me scary things and said you never wanted me and Thor made you have me and…" once she started, she found it hard to stop.
"Whoa, breathe," her dad instructed, his hand at the back of her head. "Slow down. You know that's not true. You know how much we love you, Jordan."
"I know but he showed me movies of you fighting," Jordan tried to explain.
"We'll talk about that in a little while, if you want, buddy," her mom promised, hugging her again. "For now, just push it aside because it's not true at all. We love you and we have tried so hard to find you, Jordan."
Jordan nodded, then remembered something. "The babies – they're okay?"
"You remember that?" her mom asked, surprised.
Jordan nodded. "I remember… kind of. What I was saying before about feeling underwater… I feel like that was a long time ago, and then it got worse and I don't remember a lot of it. But I remember when you saved me, daddy, then mommy was gone and the babies were gone but I got 'em back… but I wasn't sure if it was real or not. It… this is real, right?" she asked, suddenly scared.
"Yes, this is real, Jordan," her mom promised, kissing her forehead. "And you were so very, very brave. You scared us all very badly when you saved the babies and me, because you were very sick. But you're fine now, and we're all going to be okay. All of us."
Jordan smiled, reassured. Hugging her mom again, she saw Teal'c over her mom's shoulder and then spotted Daniel too. "Uncle Teal'c! Uncle Daniel!"
"Hi Jordan," Daniel said quietly, grinning at her.
"Greetings, Jordan O'Neill. It is good to see you so healthy."
"Uncle T, I did it! I did kel-no-reem SOOOO many times when I first got all that stuff put in my head and it worked for a long time I think but then it got too hard and I couldn't do it anymore. But for a long time I did it, so next time we spar I shouldn't have to, right?"
Teal'c smiled and let out a chuckle. "Very well, Jordan. Next time we spar you will not have to perform kel-no-reem afterwards."
She held out her arms to him, and her mom moved aside, sitting next to her on the bed, so Teal'c could hug her. He scooped her up into a big hug, then settled her in one arm so they were face to face. She smiled at him again, noticing how his dark eyes were twinkling.
"You have fought a worthy battle, and you have brought honor to your name, little one. You have saved your unborn siblings, and your mother as well. I am most proud of you." He hugged her to him again, until Daniel objected that it was his turn, at which point he passed her to the shorter man reluctantly.
She hugged Daniel round the neck tightly too, and leaned back to smile at him. Seeing his glasses up close reminded her… "Uncle Danny, did you bring Harry Potter to read to me? When I was really scared I tried to be brave like Harry Potter, because even though he's not real you're real and you were brave when you were little like me! And I sang all those songs you taught me that Mommy doesn't like, you know, when I was bored and scared, and there was this puzzle that you would've liked to see…"
"I don't have the book with me right now, Jordan. But we'll be back at the SGC soon and I'll get it then. In the meantime I can tell you a story from memory in a little while, if you want. I'm glad I could help you a little bit, not to be scared. You were very brave." He kissed her on the cheek and handed her back to her dad, who held her sideways in his lap, holding onto her with one arm, with the other one around her mom, who leaned over to kiss her again.
"Yes, you were. You were so brave," she said.
"I tried to be smart too! I took a lot of ob-ob-observations about the ship and I gathered a lot of intel!" Jordan told her parents proudly.
Her dad laughed and said, "Well, you'll have to report all of that to General Hammond with the rest of us when we get home, Jo. Good work."
Jordan bit her lip for a moment, then confessed in a whisper, "I said a LOT of bad words too."
Her dad just laughed and said, "I think we can let that slide this time, don't you, Mom?"
Her mom was crying and laughing again. "Definitely," she agreed happily. Then she stopped and asked, "Jordan?"
"Yes, Mommy?"
"Auntie said you were asking her about babies last time you saw her, and looking back on it, it explains a lot about some of your more curious behavior the past several weeks. But how did you know I was going to have a baby before the rest of us did?"
Jordan thought hard for a few moments, then shrugged. "I dunno. I just knew."
"But how?" Daniel prompted, unable to stop his own curiosity.
Jordan thought hard and said, "I dunno exactly. It's kinda like… I have a feeling in my tummy around Mommy and Uncle Teal'c because of our special blood, you know? But then there's another feeling when I'm around Daddy… same as that guy that came over one time, with the sticky up hair? Remember, Mommy, he came over with Dr. Elizabeth that time, when I was in your lab at work with you?"
"Colonel Sheppard?" Sam reminded/guessed.
"Yeah! The funny guy! Anyway, same feeling from him and from Daddy… kinda tingly at the back of my neck. Anyway, I started to get BOTH those feelings combined from Mommy a while ago, coming from her tummy, so I knew there was a baby in there, that's all. I didn't know it was two babies at first though. Not till… um, I guess not till just now, when I was bringing them back."
"I didn't know you could sense the ATA gene," her mom said in amazement, looking to her dad, who shrugged.
"I've never felt anything like that. Don't think anyone on Atlantis has either."
"Perhaps it is because of the activity in her young mind that Dr. Fraiser has been monitoring," Teal'c suggested.
"Maybe," Daniel mused.
Jordan, unconcerned with the how or the why, turned to her dad hopefully and asked, "Did you bring snacks?"
xxxxx
"Don't tell the doc," Jack insisted, breaking off a piece of a chocolate bar from the MRE Sam had been forcing down earlier and handing it to her. She took it happily.
Sam cleared her throat, movement in the doorway catching her eye, and said, "Speaking of Auntie…"
Jordan twisted to see the doorway too, and exclaimed, "Auntie! Grampa!"
Jacob and Janet came in and hugged her, Janet first.
"I don't recall giving the okay for solid food. Much less chocolate," Janet said, looking at Jack pointedly.
"But Auntie, chocolate is magic. It heals you, right Uncle Danny?" Jordan insisted.
Daniel stifled a laugh and said, "Um, I think that's only for dementors, Jordan."
"Oh." She thought a moment and shrugged. "Well, it makes me feel better."
Janet shook her head, but was smiling indulgently as she stepped aside to let Jacob have his turn hugging his granddaughter.
Sam released her daughter reluctantly so Jacob could pick her up out of her lap, having to remind herself that everyone was relieved she was okay, and they all wanted to see her, and Sam would have forever to hug her daughter from now on. She watched as Jacob held her out to look at her and declared, "You look more like your mommy every time I see you," before hugging her to him again.
"Grampa, did you and Selmak come in a ship?"
"As soon as we heard you were missing," he confirmed.
"And you brought Auntie – Auntie, you never go in space!" Jordan declared suddenly.
"Only for very special patients," Janet said, smiling at her and feeling her forehead cautiously. "You do need to keep resting though, sweetie. We'll be home soon, and once we're there I can do a much better checkup on you."
Jordan squirmed. "With needles?"
"I'm afraid so, sweetie. But you know what? There's someone in my infirmary who's going to be very happy to see you."
"Who?" Jordan asked in surprise.
"Can't tell. It's a surprise. You'll find out soon enough," Janet promised.
"Awwwwww…" Jordan complained.
A distraction soon presented itself, in the form of Thor. "Thor!!" Jordan squealed as the alien entered. She hurried over to him and threw her arms around him in a big hug. Nobody knew what to do for a moment. Then Thor lifted his skinny arms and attempted somewhat clumsily to hug her back, patting her on the back. They were just about the same size.
Jack muttered, "Like mother like daughter," earning funny looks from those who hadn't heard about the time Sam had hugged Thor.
Jordan finally let go of him and, smiling, said, "Thank you for bringing everyone and rescuing me, Thor. Jormungand really doesn't like you."
"The feeling is mutual. You are most welcome, Jordan. I am most glad that our mission was successful and that your health is restored. The Asgard on Jordana will be pleased to hear of our success as well."
"Can I come and see the controls you use to fly the ship again?" she asked hopefully.
"Ah," Janet interrupted pointedly. "You do need sleep, Jordan. I'm glad you're feeling so well at the moment but you're using up a lot of energy right now and you need a bit more rest until you're back to normal."
Jordan looked ready to argue, but Sam said, "I'm pretty tired too, actually. Maybe Jordan and I could rest and you guys could wake us up before we get back to the SGC."
They all agreed and took the hint, making quick excuses to vacate the room. Once the excitement of seeing everyone was over, Jordan soon found herself yawning sleepily, and not protesting at all as her mom helped her back into bed and tucked her in.
xxxxx
It seemed like no time at all had passed before Jack was waking them up. "Thor says we're almost there," Jack said quietly.
Sam sat up sleepily and started tucking her hair into place, looking over at the other bed where Jordan was napping. She had kicked the blanket down to her feet, so that the overlarge tee-shirt was all that was covering her. Skinny, bent knees pointed at them from where she was curled on her side. "Why didn't I think to bring her anything to wear?" Sam suddenly asked aloud, clearly chastising herself with the statement. Because, she answered herself honestly. You couldn't bear the thought of bringing clothes you'd packed for Jordan back to Earth unworn.
"I packed her clothes," Jack answered, going over to his pack. Jack had brought them for the opposite reason; packing them had helped cement in his mind that they wouldn't be coming home without her.
Smiling at him, Sam crossed the small room and sat down next to Jordan on the edge of the bed, rubbing her back gently. "Jordan? We're almost home, do you want to wake up or keep sleeping?"
"Home?" Jordan mumbled sleepily, rubbing her eyes and sitting up halfway.
"That's right. We'll be at the SGC in no time at all. And everyone there is going to be so happy to see you."
"Is G.G. going to be there?" she asked.
"Yes, he is."
She smiled happily. Jack handed Sam a small stack of folded clothes. "You have to be in proper uniform to present yourself to the General, young lady," Jack informed his daughter.
Jordan reached for the clothes eagerly – he had brought her little makeshift SG-1 "uniform," which she always loved to wear on base. Jordan got dressed quickly in her green cargo pants, black tee-shirt, and little boots. Her mom brushed out her tangled hair for her, while she looked to her dad hopefully.
"What?" he asked when he saw her watching him.
"You bring me a hat, Daddy?" she asked, nodding to the baseball cap on his head.
"Sorry, Princess, I just brought the one," he said, pulling it off his head and plunking it down on hers instead.
Sam, who had just spent the past ten minutes brushing out the hair underneath, groaned.
Jordan pulled the hat down on her head even more, grabbed her Homer doll, and got to her feet with a big grin. "NOW I'm ready," she declared.
"Well, let's go to the bridge and watch Thor park this thing over Earth," Jack said, taking Jordan's hand. Sam took the other one and they hurried to meet everyone on the bridge.
Daniel, Teal'c, Janet, and Jacob were already standing in a line in front of Thor, and the three O'Neills just barely had time to wave at them before Thor beamed them down, presumably to the SGC.
"Well, so much for that," Jack remarked, somehow feeling that things were a bit anticlimactic as they moved into position in front of Thor. Still, all that mattered was that this time, when they went back to the base, it would be hand in hand with their daughter.
"Thor, aren't you coming to the SGC with us?" Jordan asked.
"I will remain on the ship with Jormungand until another Asgard ship arrives to take custody of him. I will visit you again before I depart for Jordana."
"Promise?" Jordan demanded very seriously.
Sounding slightly taken aback, and more than a little confused as to why this child seemed so fond of him, he nonetheless nodded solemnly and said, "I promise."
She smiled brightly at him and probably would have said something else in another moment, if he had not activated the beam once more and sent them all back to Earth.
xxxxx
If Jack had felt that things had become a bit anticlimactic on Thor's ship, the thought was all but forgotten in the events that followed as they landed on the ramp in the gateroom, in front of the Stargate.
It seemed that every member of the SGC was crammed into the gate room and control room. The SG teams who had accompanied them (in finding their daughter, Jack had all but forgotten about them) had evidently been sent back to Earth by Thor ahead of time enough to spread the word that the mission was successful and Jordan was on her way home, because there had to be over a hundred balloons decorating the gateroom. Several people were holding flowers and a menagerie of stuffed animals. Someone (Jack thought it looked like Walter's handiwork) had draped a banner under the control room window, which said "Welcome back, Jordan!" and was decorated with stars.
Jack had barely had time to take in the overwhelming sight before everyone burst into loud applause and cheering.
"Mommy?" Jack heard his daughter's small voice ask through the rest of the noise. He turned to see Jordan tugging on Sam's hand, looking a bit overwhelmed by the sight of so many people all staring and cheering at her.
"What's wrong, Jordan?" Sam asked.
"Why is everyone giving me a party?"
"They're proud of you, and glad to have you home."
"Proud of me? But I didn't do anything… all I did was wait to be found," Jordan stated matter-of-factly, still looking completely stunned at seeing the whole SGC before her.
At her remark, Jack let out a sigh of relief for something he didn't know had been worrying him until just now, when his worry went away. He looked over Jordan's head at Sam and could tell be the look on her face that she was feeling the same thing – utter relief that Jordan would be all right. Physically, they knew she would be fine. But emotionally… that was another matter. If Jordan was already summing up her entire experience as nothing beyond "waiting to be found," then surely she wouldn't be plagued by nightmares or haunted by what had happened to her. It seemed as though they had their daughter back one hundred percent, just the same as she'd always been.
She confirmed their thoughts by suddenly squealing, "G.G.!!" as she spotted General Hammond among the crowd. He was actually standing at the base of the ramp with Teal'c and Daniel, but there were so many things to look at and she had been so overwhelmed that it had taken her a while to spot him. She dropped her parents' hands and went clambering down the ramp to the General, throwing her arms around his waist in an excited hug before obviously remembering her usual routine. She then stepped back from him, snapped her heels together, stood up straight, and saluted him – although she was grinning ear to ear as he did it.
Smiling as well, eyes twinkling even more than usual, he saluted her back, then said, "At ease."
She then jumped back into his arms. Hugging her, he looked over her shoulder to the entire base personnel and said, "That goes for the rest of you too."
The silence that had descended upon the crowd when Jordan started running down the ramp broke as everyone started cheering, laughing, and talking once more, the sea of the crowd starting to shift closer towards Daniel, Teal'c, Janet, Jack, Sam… anyone who had been in on the rescue.
At the top of the ramp, Jack muttered quietly to Sam, "If we tell them about the twins now we might just make them all explode or something."
"Yeah," Sam agreed, as they started heading down the ramp. "Well, Daniel knows, Janet knows, and Jordan knows. I'd say it's even odds as to which one of them spreads it the fastest."
Chuckling, Jack had to agree that she was, as usual, right.
xxxxx