Chapter 2 - Not quite the Virgin Mary
She's pregnant.
She has no idea how that happened. Well, she has some idea of how it should happen but hasn't happened to her in years.
Sam blinks as Jack stares at her, pain, and a hint of betrayal written in his eyes. Daniel's eyes show confusion, a bit of hurt. The way he steals a glance towards Jack speaks to Sam of disappointment.
Janet looks at her with a confused frown. She can hear Janet's thoughts. 'Really, Sam? You have a one-night stand and get knocked up?' she knows it's just her imagination. Janet would be the first to say that her screwed up body chemistry could've affected the contraception she's been using, even after all this time, as if she wants Sam not to feel guilty. Sam notices an ounce of pain in her friend's eyes.
Way back since the Hathor days, Janet had become her confidant. Janet tells her about her few flings and how it's hard to find someone when she has Cassie to worry about. In turn, Sam had confessed how much of sex life she is lacking. They trust in each other for that kind of support, both being women in this 'men's army.' So, Sam understands the pain she sees coming from Janet, thinking she had some hot date at some point and didn't let her best friend know.
The reality is that Sam hasn't had a date since the one that failed miserably with that chubby cop friend her brother insisted she met. That hadn't gone well at all—Janet knows all about it. The last update she gave to Janet about her sex life happened years ago. It's still the last time she had sex with another person. She doesn't tell Janet about desperate nights exploring herself, with forbidden thoughts fueling her fingers—Janet knows all about the forbidden thoughts. During the second year of the Stargate program, Sam had sought comfort in a stranger. Janet also knows that she had felt utterly awkward when she called the guy a wrong name. A name so off-limits it should never enter her mind, while her body seeks release, but it happens much too often. So, Sam hadn't had a one-night stand in years, not even if her body requested one, and especially not since that energy field. Since that moment, every single flirt with someone other than the Colonel seemed like a betrayal, so she didn't. She just couldn't.
"I guess congratulations are in order," Janet lets out and smiles, but Sam notices quickly that the smile doesn't reach her eyes. She also sees that, behind Janet, the guys exchange an uncomfortable glance.
"Yeah, congratulations, Carter."
"Children are a blessing, Sam, and you told me you always wanted to be a mommy," Daniel adds.
Still, this is nothing like how she had imagined being a mommy! God! There wasn't even sex. And somehow they say she is pregnant!
Sam huffs, she doesn't even try to get out a thank you to them, too frustrated by the situation. It's then that Janet ushers the guys out of her infirmary, after announcing she is keeping Sam for observation, mostly to keep an eye on her because of the symptoms she is presenting.
"What about?" Jack trails waving in the air, and Sam frowns.
"I'm reporting it when Sam can be there," Janet says.
The petite doctor doesn't need to be a genius to know her friend is going to complain about it. She is petrified when she notices that Sam doesn't even voice a protest against it. There's yet another worried glance, this time; the guys include the doctor in their exchange. Janet nods in understanding, but there's nothing she can do about it. It's a pregnancy, and she has to report it.
"I'm sure you have plenty of stuff to do, so off you go," Janet waves them out. They look at Sam, and with a sigh, they finally leave the room.
"Janet, there must be a mistake," Sam says, stopping her friend from leaving. "I can't… my chemistry… you said…" she tries, but she can form a coherent thought, mostly because her mind keeps providing her with facts about how improbable or downright impossible is becoming pregnant out of the blue without having any contact from the male sex.
"Sam, trust me. I'll be the last one to judge if you needed to have a fling. I'm surprised you didn't tell me about it. Even more astounded that you are pregnant, body chemistry changed and all. Not to mention, why didn't you use a condom? You of all people are smarter than that."
"That's the thing, Janet. There's no one. I haven't…" she trails off as Siler enters the room, blood pouring from his forehead. Janet sighs.
"The only thing I can do is rerun those tests," she sighs. Sam knows Janet is hurt, thinking she doesn't have the faith to trust her with this. That there's some mystery man responsible for Sam's baby.
Hours later, when the infirmary is once again empty, the second batch of tests turns out the same results. Sam keeps trying to convince Janet that something must be wrong, that something must have happened.
"Honey, if you keep insisting you haven't had sex, we won't be able to tell how far along you are," Janet says in a motherly tone.
"I haven't had sex!" Sam hisses.
"FINE!" Janet says, rolling her eyes, "I'll say it's two or three weeks then. You'll need an ultrasound in a few weeks, and then we can confirm the dates with the evolution of the embryo," she scribbles something in her file and then she adds. "We need to get you to the briefing room, how are you feeling now?"
Sam tries to stand up and notices she finally can remain up without the world spinning on her. "Well, I don't feel dizzy any more. I'm still exhausted and a bit lightheaded," Sam explains. Janet nods tightly, adds some notes to the folder in her hands, and together they stroll to the briefing room.
She takes her seat, it's not like there are designated spots, but everyone knows she sits there at every briefing. Janet goes to find the other people that will need to be there.
Sam sees as her team, her friends... her family, sit around the table. Looking at her in a way she never wanted to experience, but she knows all too well from her youth. The disappointment is clearly present and reminds her of her father's stern eyes way back when.
Hammond joins the crew, takes a seat, and Janet sighs. Sam understands it is her friend under the coolish facade of Doctor Fraiser, the one who sighed. Doctor Frasier, per se, would never sigh on a case she can't control, and definitively not when it's something as simple as an unplanned pregnancy.
"Great, we are all here, as you requested, Doctor Fraiser. What is that you wanted to discuss?" Hammond says, looking around the table. His eyes fall on Sam's figure, and he frowns, seeing how ill at ease she seems to be.
"Sir, I requested the meeting because I think that what I have to inform you about, it is better to be done in person and since it affects SG1 future…" Janet trails, the boys flinch, and Teal'c turns his ever-watchful eyes towards Sam.
Janet takes a deep breath that makes the hairs in the nape of Hammond's neck stand. The way everyone is looking at Sam tells him it has to do with her, and her demeanor isn't quite hopeful. Sam cringes but nods at her friend for her to continue.
Sam can't bring herself to tell Hammond the news because she still has not processed how it happened. She, after all, still doubts the medical report.
"Major Carter is… " Janet stops herself, wondering how she could break this to him, but she shakes her head, deciding that wording doesn't matter in this situation. "Major Carter is pregnant, sir."
Hammond's head snaps towards Sam, his eyes are wide, and disbelief covers his expression. "Is this true?" He asks Sam, but she doesn't answer.
"Yes, sir. We did two sets of tests at different times. Both came back positive. There are no other indicators that it could be something else," Janet explains, closing a folder she brought with her and pushing it forward into Hammond's hand.
Sam lowers her head, feeling utterly ashamed, and she doesn't quite know why. She is pregnant, it seems, but she isn't overjoyed, not even when she knows this is probably her only chance at being a mother.
But she knows too well that Janet is mad, Daniel is furious, Teal'c (who still hadn't said a word about it) is upset. General Hammond is dismayed... but Jack, her Jack, is deeply hurt. Above all, the shared feeling of disappointment ( that for some reason, she too shares) is overwhelming.
Sam can feel the stares, and she knows she has five pairs of questioning eyes, hoping for an explanation she doesn't quite know how to word. (There's none she can give!) Sam shakes her head and straightens a bit on her seat, but not even that can prepare her for the next blow.
"Major Carter, you are removed from SG-1 effective immediately," Hammond's stern words feel like a slap as she absorbs the meaning of them.
"Sir?" She manages to say, disbelief etched in her features.
"Rules, Major. Now that I've been informed about this, hmm, pregnancy of yours, I need to remove you from the front lines," Hammond says and wonders how exactly the brightest of them seem to be so blinded by the effects of her pregnancy causes. Not that he doesn't know how pregnancy happens, it's the way she is acting about it, when she knows all the rules in the book by heart, what surprises him.
"Oh," Sam whispers, her heart races wildly in her chest, her face flushes, and her hands quickly find her mouth before she rushes out of the room in search of the nearest bathroom without even thinking about asking permission to leave the room.
As her body shakes with uncontrollable force, and she heaves into the cold white porcelain, she figures no one would believe her. No one could imagine that she hasn't had sex for the past six years. (And only three one-night-stands since she broke her engagement with Hanson.)
She might have been living celibate for a while, but she is not quite the Virgin Mary after all.
Orilla
Weeks earlier
"What you are proposing is preposterous, Loki!" Freyja says.
"There's a reason why you were called the Goddess of love, fertility and magic, Freyja."
"Loki, you know that experiments on humans aren't allowed, especially not with people from the Tau'ri."
"It's not an experiment, Freyja."
"How is it not?"
"It's only a collection of several approved gifts we know will work."
"Oh, tell me more."
"It's a combination of several gifts that gave you your name. All of those you've once bestowed to help star-crossed lovers."