Chapter 20 – Never Stop

"Do you want me to stay Major?" Chloe asked Sam at seventeen hundred.

"You don't have to. The contractions are still ten minutes apart. It could be a while." Sam told her and winced when another started.

"What time does SG-1 get back tomorrow?"

"Late morning thankfully." Sam said as she screwed up her face in annoyance at the sensation of having a band wrap around her middle and tighten.

"I can stay the night and keep you company if you want. It's not like I have anything to go home to other than a frozen dinner and reruns of Happy Days."

Sam chuckled. "Ok, if you're sure, I'll buy you dinner."

"Oh yah, only the best from our commissary."

"I think they have real food in the officers' lounge." Sam said laughing. They usually ate in the common room because it was open twenty four, which the officers' room was not and Daniel could snag them seats ahead of time. "Let's try there first."

"They let civilians in there?" she asked Sam, surprised.

"You're with an annoyed pregnant officer. Who's going to stop you exactly?" Sam pointedly asked her.

"Oh well good point." She said grinning.

Sam sat with a pained look on her face.

"Another one?" Chloe asked her.

"Yah. They don't seem to be getting closer together though. It's going to be a long night."

"Long night or just hoping your birthing coach gets back before you dilate much more?" Jack had wandered into the lab more than once to make Sam go to her birthing classes on time which was why Chloe assumed Sam had picked her boss in the first place.

"Some of both?" Sam asked as she toyed with her Jello.

"When my sister Angie had her first baby, her husband was in Germany. She yelled at him over the phone for two hours while my mom acted as stand-in birthing coach." Chloe told Sam conversationally.

"I really don't think that's an option in this case." Sam told her but smiled a little in appreciation. Chloe was trying to take her mind off her discomfort and she appreciated it.

"Probably not but it's still fun to imagine. Are you going to go back on SG-1 after they clear you medically?"

"I think so. I don't see any real reason not to. I've already changed all my paperwork so if something happens to me, it's handled."

Chloe nodded. "Janet told me you'd talked to the nanny she had for Cassie."

"Yah. SGC helped find her originally because of Janet's hours and she had sufficient clearance so she was an obvious first choice for uh… me too." Sam almost said 'us' and hoped Chloe hadn't noticed.

"Lucky she was available then."

"Not really. I think Colonel O'Neill bribed her." Sam admitted with a chuckle.

Chloe chuckled. "He's pretty invested. So are Daniel and Teal'c. I'm glad you have really good friends in your team and Janet. I don't know what I'd do if the same thing happened to me." All of Sam's team had gone out of their way to make sure she ate, went home at night on time, made her medical appointments, and felt like part of the team she wasn't currently on.

"It was a pretty hard decision, but the guys being supportive was a big part of why I decided to go through with the pregnancy. It might help the Asgard in the end, and I don't mind being a single mom really, I just wish Loki would have asked first instead of just assuming I'd be ok with the idea." Sam told her and rolled her eyes in annoyance as her hand fisted.

Chloe checked her watch. "Still ten minutes apart." She told her. "So did they ever tell you who the father is?"

"Yes but if I told you I'd have to kill you." Sam said with a smirk.

"You're kidding, right? Sam, you are kidding?" Chloe said wide eyed which made Sam smirk.

"It's classified but yes, they told us."

"And it's… human?" She leaned forward and nearly whispered which made Sam chuckle as no one else was in the lounge but the two of them.

"Yes Chloe, he's very, very human. A little puerile but definitely human." Sam said with a chuckle.

"Wait, you know him?" She asked Sam, shocked. She expected it to be some random person but how would Sam know he was someone who was childish unless she knew who it was personally. "Was it Dr. Jackson? It wasn't Dr. Felger, was it?" Chloe asked in horrified fascination.

Sam laughed and shook her head. "No Chloe, it wasn't Daniel or Jay."

"Well, that's a relief." She said. "I mean, they are both great choices but wouldn't that make your friendship with them a little uncomfortable?"

Sam shook her head grinning. Felger, yes, because he was nice enough but he followed her like an eager puppy and Sam could only take so much of that. Eighteen years of him as a co-parent would force her to contemplate homicide. She imagined all of this would be much easier if it had been Daniel because then her feelings for her baby's father wouldn't be all mixed up in this nonsense. She could have happily co-parented with Daniel and not once worried about how it looked or struggled with a physical attraction to him.

"Probably yes, but it's not either of them." Sam assured the other woman.

Because Jack had been on his best behavior when visiting Sam's lab with Chloe there, she was unaware of how silly Jack's sense of humor genuinely was. She could probably pick the names of every screwball on base and not think to add his name to the list which made Sam chuckle inwardly. In reality, only her team and George really knew how big of a goofball Jack was. Outwardly he often came off as gruff and unapproachable on base. The first clue usually was the smart ass comments during briefings which she'd been introduced to on her first day giving her an oddly dissimilar experience with Jack than most of the rest of the base.

They talked about random stuff most of the rest of the night until they were both yawning uncontrollably and Chloe's hands jittered from her eighth cup of coffee.

"It's four AM." Chloe yawned checking her watch. "How are you feeling?" They had stopped actively timing Sam's contractions when they didn't seem to be speeding up any time soon.

"Last few were about eight minutes apart. I might have Walter check on the team's ETA, see if they can cut their trip short."

"The benefits of rank." Chloe yawned and waved sleepily at the head of SG-15 who wandered through.

Col. Pierce smiled fondly at Sam. "How are you feeling Major?" he asked Sam.

Sam winced as another contraction started. "This is less fun than I anticipated." She told the blond haired man who was grinning at her.

"My sister said the same thing two years ago. You'll be fine Sam. Jack should be back in about four to six hours for the birth." It was common knowledge on base that Jack was her birthing coach as Jack had been pretty excited about it and told anyone that would listen. Ben thought it was pretty cute that the older man was so excited for one of his best friend's baby. You'd think the guy was going to be a dad himself. "Try crossing your legs." He said with a chuckle.

"Not helpful Ben." She said laughing.

Ben shrugged. "My sister didn't think it was funny either." He said with a wink. "Hang in there. It will be over in a few hours and you get a baby out of it which is more than I got out of my last surgery."

Technically SG-1 had taken his team's mission, not that Ben minded considering the reasons. If one of his team was this close to birth, he wouldn't want a forward level mission either. Of course his entire team was guys so that might get a little weird. Arguably… not the weirdest thing around here. They dealt with aliens and megalomaniacal parasitic snakes daily. Major Carter being inseminated by an unknown entity was less weird than usual.

Sam chuckled at his joke. Ben's last surgery had involved removing shrapnel from his back and a chunk of his liver. Birth seemed slightly less invasive.

"Do you think they would let us borrow one of the bunk rooms to lie down for a bit?" Chloe asked Sam after Col. Pierce left with his morning coffee. "I'm beat."

Sam yawned. "Join the club," she said tiredly. "Let's go see if one of them is empty. Walter will know."

The two women tiredly headed for the command room in search of Walter who was picking up extra shifts with Sam not allowed technically to be in there in her current state.

"Ma'am, I was ordered to not let you come in here." Walter said absently from his seat.

"Are any of the berths unoccupied? Chloe and I have been up all night and we're beat."

"Why did you tell me that part? You know Colonel O'Neill is going to get it out of me." He said to her. Women that pregnant shouldn't be pulling all nighters.

Sam put a fist on the door jam and winced. "It wasn't by choice." She told him.

"Major, are you in labor?" Walter yelped.

"A little." Sam admitted. "Walter, what are you doing?" She asked as she watched him type in the dialing sequence for P3X-115.

"Recalling SG-1 ma'am."

"Walter, that really isn't necessary, I've been progressing very slowly all night." She tried to tell him.

"You've been in labor all night and you didn't tell me?" he yelped. "Colonel O'Neill is going to kill me."

"Why would he kill you? You had no way of knowing."

"Respectfully ma'am, I was strictly ordered to call them back if you went into labor."

"By who?" Sam demanded.

"By me Major. Go report to the infirmary. We'll discuss this after you give birth." George told her firmly as he came down the stairs from his office on twenty seven. "Dr. Angstrom, stay with her until Colonel O'Neill gets back, then go lie down. You have today off but I want you to rest before you attempt to drive home unless you want an airman to bring you home instead."

"No, I'm good here, thank you sir." She tugged on Sam's jacket sleeve that she'd rolled up a little to compensate for Jack's longer arms. "Come on Sam. Time to go."

"But I'm fine." Sam's voice trailed away as Chloe tugged her to the elevator bay.