"So, how are things going?" Daniel set his tray on the table across from Jack and sat down.
"Fine", his friend answered briefly as he tried to skewer a lone piece of carrot. "Where do you think these things come from?" he asked staring at the orange piece on the end of his fork. "They can't be real. They don't taste real."
Daniel shrugged, unconcerned about Air Force Commissary food. "I don't know. They probably make them at Area 51."
Jack raised his eyes and looked at Daniel and then down at his carrot. With a shrug of his own he ate it. "So you're saying it's alien?"
"What? Jack, why are you so worried about a carrot?"
"Carrot? You think that's what it – okay, okay", he set his fork down and this time looked at the younger man. "Hello Daniel. What is it you wanted to talk to me about?"
"Nothing – just – not vegetables, okay?"
"Fine – no vegetables. Is protein alright?"
"Jack!"
Jack grinned and took another bite of lunch. "So, what's up Space Monkey? I haven't seen you around much lately."
"No – I've been working with David Matthews on a translation of some Goa'uld writings that Sg7 found on their last mission. It's really quiet interesting! It talks about the history of the -"
"So Daniel – how about that broccoli!"
Daniel stopped and stared at the Colonel, a frown on his face. "You don't want to talk about my translations?"
"Not unless you also want to continue our discussion on Area 51 vegetables."
"Okay, okay – I get it – although you did ask."
"Yeah", Jack shook his head. "I must be getting sick."
"How's Sam?"
At this the Colonel grinned and opened his mouth.
"No, I don't want to know. Just tell me she's fine and leave it at that." Daniel looked over in disgust at his friend. He and Sam were like two teenagers with raging hormones. He wasn't surprised at Jack – he was a man after all – but he had to admit to some surprise at how Sam was acting. It was – disturbing.
"She's fine", Jack said agreeably, although with a definite twinkle in his eyes. "She says to say hi."
"No she doesn't", Daniel shook his head. "I'm pretty sure she can barely remember who I am. As far as I can tell she thinks only about you and the baby."
"Hey –that's not true Daniel", Jack said with a frown. "Sam is way more mature than me. She occasionally thinks about other things." He got a silly grin on his face and began to try and capture a loan pea that had gotten away on his plate.
Daniel just shook his head. He was incredibly happy for his friends, he could just hardly wait until they settled down a bit and became like an old married couple – comfortable with one another but not needing to be all over each other all the time.
Although to be fair, they really did try and act professionally while on base. Daniel knew he was being overly sensitive because he was feeling a teeny bit jealous and left out. He sighed. He really needed to find a woman and get rid of this frustration.
"So – other than translating obscure Goa'uld writings, what have you been up to Daniel?"
"Well – I was over at Janet's the other day." It was actually the opening he'd been waiting for and he watched his friend carefully. "Saeena was there."
"Yeah", Jack didn't look up from his plate. "I know. Where else would she be."
"Have you talked to her?"
"Of course I've talked to her Daniel", he snapped. "What do you think?"
"How recently?"
That stopped him cold. Jack decided that that single pea was just going to have to stay on his plate and with a sigh he looked up. "A few weeks ago", he admitted. "I went over to Janet's to see her. It didn't – go too well."
"Why not?" Daniel asked. "She's a sweet girl."
"Is she?" Jack shook his head. "Maybe she is – but she resents me and that comes across as – hell, I don't know – anger, irritation, bitterness. Whatever it is she would barely speak to me."
"Maybe she's frightened of you."
"Why would she be? I haven't done anything to hurt her Daniel. I've been as kind as I know how to be."
"Yeah – but you're the father of the baby she's carrying. That has to be weird for her."
"For her? Daniel, how the hell do you think I feel about the whole thing? Damn it. They also took me and – and – God, you know what they did. I didn't have any say in the matter. I didn't do this to her, those damned aliens did."
"I know, I know – it's just – time is moving on and I think you and Sam need to deal with this."
Jack sighed again and slammed his fork down. "I know – don't you think I don't know that. She's carrying our child – Sam's and mine – at the same time Sam is carrying my child. I'm having enough trouble dealing with one child, let alone two – and then there are the rest of the embryos which are just sitting there, waiting for us to decide what to do with them." He rubbed his hands over his eyes. "It's just – I don't know what you want from me Daniel. I've tried to talk with her and she wants no part of me. Sam is terrified to even see the woman – and she's pregnant and doesn't need the stress. What do you think we should do?"
Daniel bit his lip, knowing how hard this had to be on his friends. He was also conscious of how difficult this was for poor Saeena. She was all alone on an alien planet, no family or friends around, and she was carrying someone else's child. "I don't know Jack", he finally admitted, "except I think you have to talk to her and figure this out. You can't let it go on too much longer or else you're going to run into more problems."
"What kind of problems?" Jack looked at him with a frown. "She's safe where she is. She gets along with Janet doesn't she?"
"Yeah –that's no problem. And she seems to have made friends with Cassie, even if they are a few years apart."
"Then what's the problem?"
"Well – Cassie told Janet something about Saeena having difficulty with the thought of giving up the baby."
"What", Jack sat up straight. "Well she damned well better not have problems. That's my kid – mine and Sam's – not hers! She has no right to even think of keeping it."
"Hey – calm down", Daniel looked around the Commissary to make sure no one was eavesdropping on their conversation. "I didn't say she was thinking of keeping it – just that's it hard for her. I mean she is carrying the child and I expect there's some – bonding – that occurs."
"Yeah – well she can be an honorary aunt or something." Jack pushed his chair back, starting to feel claustrophobic. "What the hell do you want me to do Daniel? Do you think it will help to have me talk to her about this? For some reason I don't' think so. If anything it will freak her out even more."
Daniel thought for a moment and then nodded. "Yeah, probably. But I think it might help if Sam talked to her. It will be less threatening and Sam has to understand what's she's going through – I mean with the pregnancy and all."
Jack took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Okay, I'll talk to her about it, but I can't promise anything. It's all been a lot to deal with and now – I mean, Sam's just freaking out about having two babies to look after at once."
Daniel smiled. "Twins."
"Sort of", Jack smiled too. "It's kind of weird, isn't it? You had to know that we couldn't just do this the regular way. Only Sg1 – or at least a part of it – would end up being impregnated by aliens!"
"Just look at the bright side Jack."
"There's a bright side?" he asked quizzically.
"They could have impregnated you."
Jack just stared at him, feeling a strange sense of nausea. "Oh God – do you think - ?"
"That they could do it?" Daniel shrugged. "Who knows?" Then he grinned. "But I would have loved to see you walking around pregnant with morning sickness."
"Are you kidding? I would probably have taken a P-90 and shot everyone. God – morning sickness was bad enough when Sam had it. I never want to go through that."
"So, you'll talk to Sam?" Daniel got back to the matter at hand.
"Yeah – I'll speak to her. Thanks Daniel. I guess we needed a kick in the butt."
That evening Jack sat and watched as Sam finished writing something on her computer. She was working on a report on the various uses of trinium for space travel. When she finally closed her laptop he sat beside her and lifted it out of her hands and set it on the coffee table.
"Hi", she said with surprise. "I didn't hear you."
"No – you were too mesmerized by your technobabble."
"Uh huh." She considered him seriously. "So, what's up?"
"Why does anything have to be up?" he asked in pseudo-surprise.
"Because I know you and I know that 'studied but casual look'. It means there's something important but you don't want to tell me." She suddenly sat up and frowned. "We're not in trouble are we?" she pointed to her ever growing belly. "They've decided to Court Martial us."
"No", he said, sounding disgusted. "I've already told you we're okay. No one is going to Court Martial us – for this at least. They might go after you for the energy bars."
"It was an emergency", she said confidently. "A matter of life or death."
"Right – you stole energy bars from the supply room because of a life or death situation?"
"Mmm hmm. It was either that or barf all over the biology lab. I was hungry and little Sprout O'Neill was demanding energy bars."
"But they're disgusting", her loving spouse complained.
"Well I had a craving for one – and never get in between a pregnant woman and her craving."
"One? You must have polished off twenty of the damn things."
"Not all in one day!"
"No – in two. Anyway, they're not going to Court Martial us."
"Okay, then what is it?"
Jack sighed and put his arm around her shoulders. "I had lunch with Daniel today."
"And what guilt trip did he lay on you this time?" she said, sounding exasperated.
"Well – he mentioned Saeena." At her immediate stiffening he knew Daniel had been right to prod him. "Look, all he said was that we shouldn't leave it any longer before we talk to her. We have to work things out and the longer it goes the harder it's going to be."
"Harder for what? She's not going anywhere and so what's the deal?"
"Sam – Daniel says that Saeena is having trouble with the idea of giving us the baby after it's born."
"What!" Sam screeched. "There's no way in hell she's keeping our baby!"
"That's what I said", he told her, trying to calm her down. "Daniel didn't indicate she was threatening or anything – just that she's have an emotionally hard time with it. He felt it might be good if you were to talk to her – to discuss this."
"And what about you?" she asked, sounding angry. "Am I the only one who should do this? Why? Because I'm the woman?"
"Hey!" he drew away from her. "Since when have I ever said anything like that? This isn't about you being a woman – well, okay, maybe in the sense that you can relate more to how she's feeling – but the real reason is that I freak her out. I don't know why – I haven't done anything to her at all. All I know is that every time I'm near her she looks like she wants to either run away or throw up."
Sam giggled. "Not very flattering."
"Tell me about it! Although to tell the truth, that's better than if she developed a crush or something. Now that would be creepy. She's young enough to be my daughter."
"Mine too", Sam sighed. "Okay – I'll go talk to her. I'll ask Janet what she thinks – and if she'll stay with me when I talk to her. Saeena might feel better to have Janet there anyway."
"That's my girl." He leaned over and kissed her forehead. "I'll go with you if you want?"
"No – I think you're right and that I'll have more luck alone." She sighed and pushed her hair behind her ear. "I should have done this sooner. She is carrying our child and I feel like we need to – get to know it."
Jack looked at her as if she was crazy. "Uh – isn't that a little hard? I mean the baby is inside her right now. Not too easy to play with or talk to."
"No – I can talk to it. And who knows – if I do that maybe Saeena will realize that it isn't her child and find it easier to let go."
"Yeah –sure." Jack tried to be positive, but something was telling him this was going to be harder than either of them thought.
"No – you will go to your room", Janet said sternly, for the fifth time, to her daughter. "Sam and Saeena need privacy to talk about some very important things."
"Why?" Cassie whined. "I'm Saeena's best friend and she needs me. I'll sit quietly but I need to be there."
"Cassie", Janet sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I know you and Saeena are friends, but this is something very important and it's for adults."
"For adults?" Cassie practically shrieked. "Don't treat me like a baby! I get these things – I really do and Saeena relies on me. How can you tell me to go to my room? It's not fair!"
Janet sighed and for the hundredth time wished she hadn't taken in the young alien woman, Saeena. For some reason she had a hard time liking her, although she couldn't put her finger on why that was. Cassie and she spent a lot of time together – maybe that was it. Could she be jealous of her daughter's friend?
She didn't think so, although she was rather nervous about the close friendship between her daughter and the alien woman. She suddenly laughed, realizing that she no longer thought of Cassie as an alien. No, Cas was her daughter and a true citizen of Earth now.
"Cassie, please just go upstairs to your room. After they've had their discussion I'll call you down so that you can see Sam. She mentioned that she's missed you."
Cassie felt sad all of a sudden. It had been a long time since she and Sam had done anything together and she knew that was largely because she was spending all her time with Saeena. She moved to the stairs and walked up dejectedly. Being a teenaged sucked!
Sam was nervous as she walked up to Janet's front door. What was she supposed to say or do? She hadn't seen Saeena for months and things had changed drastically since then. She and Jack were together now and were happily waiting for their child – children – but poor Saeena had nobody.
Sam reached out and rang the bell, knowing she had to get this over with. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.
"Sam", Janet invited her in. "You're looking great."
"Since the last time you saw me – yesterday?" her friend asked with just a touch of sarcasm.
"Yeah", Janet giggled. She was nervous too. "Come on in. I made some cookies."
"Oh – great. Can I take some for Jack?" she asked with a grin.
"Of course. I already have a container made up." She glanced at Sam and grimaced and gestured to the living room. "Come on in. Saeena is waiting to see you."
Sam walked into the living room and immediately saw the alien woman, who was stretched out on the couch as if this was her house. I guess it is, for now, thought Sam, trying to be charitable. "Hi Saeena", she said cheerfully. "How are you doing?"
The young woman shrugged. "Okay I guess."
Off to a great start! Sam wanted to roll her eyes but was careful not to show anything of how she felt. "Uh good. You're looking well."
Another shrug.
"Do you mind if I sit down? My feet get more tired than they used to."
"I guess when you're old you have to worry about things like that."
Ouch! Sam looked at the other woman, her eyebrows raised. "I guess you do – I wouldn't know. I meant because of the pregnancy. Don't your feet bother you sometimes? Or your back?"
Shrug number 3. Sam was starting to feel irritated.
"So, tell me how you like it here."
"Here at Janet's or on Earth?" Saeena said, with little to no expression in her voice.
"Either – both."
"Janet's place is nice", she said, again showing no inflection. "She's been good to me and Cassie is great. As for Earth", another shrug. "It's okay – I wouldn't really know since I never go anywhere."
"No?" Sam glanced at Janet, to catch a strange look on her friend's face. "You haven't gone anywhere?"
"Actually", Janet jumped in, sounding slightly angry, "we've been to quite a few places, although Saeena seems to like to go shopping more than anything."
Saeena had the grace to look a little bit ashamed. "Uh – yeah – Janet's taken me to a few places. I guess I just meant I hadn't travelled very far from here. And I do like shopping."
"I guess you'll want to buy a few things to take with you when you go." There – eat them apples Saeena, thought Sam. Since the woman wasn't trying to be friendly, she figured she might as well get right to the point.
"When I go?" Saeena glanced swiftly at Janet. "I haven't heard anything about this."
"She just means after you have the baby Saeena", Janet explained. "You remember we talked about that? We'll take you home them. I'm sure you'll want to see your family and friends again – and start your life on your own world."
"No – I don't want to go back there. I have nothing there."
"But your family?" Janet reminded her gently.
"They sold me like a slave. Why would I wish to go back to them?"
"But – didn't you have a young man waiting for you?"
"He will no longer want me, not when I have born another man's son. He will consider me unclean. And anyway – they view women as possessions there. I do not want to belong to anyone."
Neither Sam nor Janet disagreed with that, and so there was little more they could say about Saeena's home world. "Uh – there are some other great places you can go", Sam offered. "I could make a list and you could think about it."
"Why should I go anywhere", she asked. "Why can I not stay on Earth?"
"Well – it's because our government doesn't really want aliens staying here. Only a very few people know about space and aliens and they don't want to upset people."
"Has Cassie upset people?" she asked bluntly. "And what about Teal'c? Is he not alien? In fact, he is more alien than I am and yet he remains here."
Sam wanted to groan. Saeena was smart and determined and wasn't going to let this go. "Well, I think you'll have to take this up with General Hammond. Ultimately it'll be the people in power who decide and they'll tell the General. In the meantime, tell me about your pregnancy."
Saeena looked as if she was going to refuse to speak but finally she took a breath and opened her mouth. "Why do you want to know about that?" she asked angrily. "You are pregnant – you know what it is like."
That did it. Sam was not putting up with this rude little girl anymore. "I'm asking because you are carrying my child – my child and that of the man I love. I want to know how everything is going because I want to know my baby is okay. So – how is your pregnancy going?"
Saeena glared at her but then dropped her eyes. "It is fine", she answered clearly but sullenly. "Janice says I am doing well. The baby is growing at the correct rate and everything looks good. Would you like to see the ultrasound pictures?" This last was said sarcastically, but Sam refused to let it get to her any more than it had. It also gave her the opening she needed.
"Yes, I would. In fact, I'd like a copy so that I can show Jack. I'm sure he'll want to see his child."
Janet made a small sound, but when Sam looked at her she was staring at a spot on the rug. Poor Janet – she really didn't deserve to be caught up in all of this. Sam sighed and regarded Saeena again. "I'll wait if you want to get me that picture."
With a huff Saeena stood and stomped out of the room and up the stairs. Sam watched her go, feeling regretful that it had to come to this.
"She's quite a little brat, isn't she?" Janet said softly. "I've wanted to turn her over my knee a few times."
"Yes, I can certainly see why. God – I didn't think it would be this bad. I'm rather worried about this."
"I think it'll be okay Sam", Janet said reassuringly. "She's young and frightened. But she is taking really good care of herself and therefore of the baby. I think we just need to reassure her that we'll help her and not abandon her. It has to have been hard to have her family sell her like that."
"Yeah, you're right Janet. I guess – I just – I feel strange knowing that she's carrying my child and yet I don't know anything about her and – I want to."
"Give it some time", Janet recommended. "I'm sure she'll come around."
A few minutes later Saeena stomped down the stairs, this time holding something in her hand. "Here", she held it out to Sam. "You can have it."
Sam took the ultrasound picture and couldn't help but stare at her child. She had another one at home – but for some reason, as emotional as she had been to see that one, this was even more so. She wasn't actually carrying this child so this was the first contact she had with this son or daughter. She traced the picture with her finger and could feel the tears gather in her eyes. She had to show Jack. This was her child. She placed her hand on her belly. And the two of them were brothers, or sisters, or brother and sister. She hiccupped a laugh/cry and looked up at Saeena. "Thank you", she said softly.
The other woman frowned. "For what?"
"For looking after my baby so well", Sam told her. "It's a wonderful – and a very difficult – think you are doing, so thank you."
Saeena stared at her for a few seconds and then gave a short nod. "You're welcome", she said softly. "Everything was good at the last ultrasound", she explained. "Did you want to know the sex of the baby?"
"Do you?" Sam asked.
"No", Saeena shook her head. "I thought – it was best to know as little as possible."
Sam nodded – she understood. "Here", she held out the picture. "You'll probably want this."
"No – no, it is yours. You must show your – show Colonel O'Neill. He will be very pleased to see your child."
"Thank you", Sam smiled. "I should probably go now. It was lovely seeing you Saeena. We should meet regularly. I want to get to know you – and my baby."
Saeena didn't answer, but at least now she didn't look angry. It was a tiny first step, Sam knew – but at least it was a step – and a step forward. With a smile and a few quick words to Janet and a shout-out to Cassie, she left and got into her car to drive home.
Life really was complicated when you are part of Sg1 – or when you're involved with Jack O'Neill, she decided. Touching her belly again, Sam smiled as she drove to Jack's. She could hardly wait.
