So this one to me was harder to write. There is a lot of "fill in" for me, answering why Walter was not seen on the Hathor episode. I think it works.

I have also hit a bit of a writing freeze. The next episode that would start the next chapter is Antarctica, which does have a lot of SGC time and Walter hovering in the background. the problem is that episode is a hard one to write as I keep finding myself watching it. I will find time to write the chapter soon I hope, but I don't want to make a promise that I am not sure I can keep.

As always, comments are welcome, and if you see any glairing errors (like my Dr. Failure vice Dr Frasier) feel free to let me know. It is hard to catch your own mistakes when you proof as you often read what was intended, not necessarily what is written...

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It had been a rough night. Ericka had not been able to get comfortable, her back hurting regardless of what position she tried to lay in, her hips sore when she stayed in one position for too long. Walter had tried to be helpful to his very pregnant wife, but no matter what he tried, he only seemed to make matters worse.

It had been a rough night.

Add this to the fact that she was now a week past her due date. They had gone to the hospital twice now on false alarms. Until now Walter had never even heard of Braxton Hicks, but he was now convinced they were the work of Goa'uld.

The Doctor's had not seemed concerned. All of the ultra sounds and test had come back normal, and it was not unexpected for a first pregnancy to last longer than the standard of nine months. The Doctor had assured the soon to be parents that this was well within the normal expectations, giving them a handout about the false labor pains to reassure them. Walter assumed the Doctor felt that if they had a pamphlet, then it must not be new or different, but it truly did little to alleviate his concern for his uncomfortable wife.

The Doctor did promise that is she did not start labor naturally by Friday morning, they would induce labor by Friday night. Friday was still one day away.

General Hammond had placed Walter on "limited duty". This status, usually reserved for people who were medically unable to accomplish their normal duties due to injury or illness, allowed Walter do accomplish most of his tasks from home, or from the satellite station on the top floor of the mountain.

General Hammond did not want Walter to get trapped in the mountain if some SG team came back with another virus or other such alien malady which seemed to happen almost weekly for them.

This duty had him working directly with the CSS for two to three hours a day, and then he could bring home the sanitized reports and evaluations and continue working on them at his house. There were still tasks he could do from this post that still had to be kept secret, such as working to get the "delivery" they had received from an archeological dig in Mexico. The coffin (actually a sarcophagus) was coordinated to be lowered into the gate room via the service access point on the surface via the same crane that lowered in the stargate. It had been delivered and put into the gate room yesterday afternoon.

This morning he had already called into the SGC, received his daily update for duties and reports due, and been working for the last hour. He was currently working on the Good Conduct medals for the assigned Airmen who had clean records for the last three years. The medal was common and given out like pez candy, but still a function of his to complete.

"Walter!," Ericka yelled from the living room where she had sprawled out on the large couch. "Walter, it's time!"

Wanting to be excited, and yet still draggy from lack of sleep and repeated calls of "it's time", Walter took a moment to react. He calmly stacked the papers he was working on, tapping them on end to keep them straight, before he set them down in a folder and moved all the work over to one side.

"Walter!," The voice called out in a halted breathy yell. "Where are you?"

"I'm here dear," Walter called back with a sing-song voice as he moved towards the living room.

Once he entered the room, his entire prospective changed. Ericka was on her feet, bending slightly in pain with her hands gripping the arm of the couch so tightly her knuckles and fingers were white and bloodless. Her hair fell over the side of her head, hiding her face from his view, but the visible sway of her hair with each large breath she was rhythmically taking timed to the lamas breathing told him wonders.

If those were not enough for him to know it was time to move, the small puddle on the hardwood floor also told a huge story. Ericka did not allow drinks of any kind in the living room, so that was not spilled ginger ale.

"Your...Your..." Walter tried to get out, the words sticking in his throat.

As he breathing returned to normal, or at least closer to normal, Ericka finished his thought, "My Water Broke!"

Her words were all he needed to suddenly return to action.

Walter was an organized man. It was his ability to keep everything in its place, plan and anticipate for the next needed step or action, that was what had kept him so in demand from his superiors over the years. It was this he called upon now.

Reaching into the closet by the door, Walter was able to grab the "go bag" he had packed for the hospital. Turning to the table by the door, his keys and wallet were already in his pockets before he could register the actions. He had the door opened, closed, and locked in the span of seconds as he moved to his car. Popping the trunk, the go bag was dropped inside, ready for him to retrieve it when it would be needed. Walter then jumped inside the car, turned the engine, put it in reverse, and began to back down the drive way.

He turned to look at his wife, ensure her that everything would be ok and was suddenly stuck with a very real problem.

Ericka was not in the car!

Walter threw the car back into park and jumped out with the engine still running. Getting one step from the car, Walter was forced to reach back inside and shut off the engine to grab his keys as he recalled he had locked the front door.

Back inside, Ericka was still moving slowly, now almost to the door herself.

"Forgot something," she said with a small grin, "Didn't cha'"

Walter gave her a small, child like smile, as he then focused solely on her. Now with his wife safely in the car, the front door locked, and engine running again, Walter pulled out and drove to the hospital.

It took then fifteen minutes to reach the hospital, or four contractions.

Walter had never before been aware of how hard it was to drive a car safely when your right arm was being crushed by a vise and your ears were bleeding due to barely controlled screams; His, not hers.

Once at the hospital, the nurses and doctors took over. They ambulatory team got Ericka from the car just as another contraction hit, and Walter secretly winced and laughed as the poor orderly was the new focus of Ericka's hulk like grip.

The team took Ericka into a room, female orderlies and nurses helping her to strip down into a gown as Walter was put on paperwork duty. This was at least something he knew he could control and accomplish while the hospital staff were helping his wife.

The entire ordeal took only a few minutes, despite the addition of another contraction towards the end.

Four and half hours later, and exhausted Ericka, and slightly crippled Walter, were the proud parents of a beautiful baby boy.

Walter knew he should call into the SGC, keep General Hammond apprised of the newest member of the Command, but he could not yet tear himself away from his wife laying beside his chair, or the precious nugget in the hospital bassinet, both of them sleeping soundly.

Finally pulling free, Walter found the nurse's station and asked for their phone. The nurses on this floor were all very use to the new father's wanting to call the world, and gave him a phone and some privacy to let friends and family know of their newest relative.

The first number he called went unanswered. The second also. The first number was the Control Room, the second was General Hammond's personal line. Neither number usually made it past the second ring. Concerned, yet knowing there was nothing he could do, Walter thanked the nurses and returned to Ericka and the baby, whom they had agreed to name Seth Davis Harriman.

Walter hadn't realized it, but he had fallen asleep at his wife's side. The nurses had at some point entered and taken Seth to the nursery. Looking at his watch, it was close to midnight, but he felt the need to reach out again to the mountain. Going again to the nurse's station, getting some weird looks when he asked to use the phone, Walter was able to dial into the SGC Control room.

"Command," the voice on the other end stated.

"This is MSgt Harriman checking in," Walter stated.

"Walter?," the voice asked, "Where have you been?"

Recognizing the voice as that of Siler, Walter gave him a very brief rundown of his day, and his newest family member. Walter then gave him a very vanilla version of their day.

It seems there was an original owner of the item delivered now two days ago. This owner was also interested in travel opportunities, and wanted some travel companions. She somehow was able to get all the men to agree, but Capt Carter and Dr. Frasier were able to force some sense into the men, but not until after the visitor was able to take her leave to Teal'c home land.

Walter was not able to follow all of the story, but did get just enough to realize he was glad he wasn't there for the excitement, and was positive his place for right now was here by his wife's side.

Two weeks went by quickly, and Walter's "daddy leave" was now up. The General had given him the option to extend and take some of his personal days, but his in-laws were now in town and he felt like the fifth wheel in the house between Marty and Gina, the in-laws, and Ericka and Seth. It also made sense for him to start building up more leave so they could take the trip to Florida to see his family later in the year when Seth would better able to travel.

While he was working pure admin duty during his "baby watch" time, SG-7 had been dispatched to P8X-987, a planet by the name of Hanka. SG-1 had made contact three months ago, but SG-7 was the current team assigned. This planet was once a Goa'uld stronghold, but had spent generation outside of their control. As seemed to be the norm at this point, they were far behind Earth in technology and had little to offer in ways of defense, however their planet was in a position to help scientifically.

It seems they were in a quasi close proximity to a black hole, close enough that it could almost be seen with a powerful enough telescope. There was also a predictable solar eclipse about to happen which would give them an unobstructed view for a short window. With the planet elder's permission, the SGC had begun to transport and construct an observatory for the event. The people were scared, concerned that it was a harbinger of doom and death, but the teams had assured them there was nothing to be concerned with.

SG-1 was scheduled to depart in thirty minutes to join the team already in place.

Getting everything in order, smiling at all the "congratulations" he received from his coworkers, Walter was happy to be back. The thirty minutes passed quickly, and Walter only awaited the order to dial up P8X-987 for SG-1.

With a nod from the General, Walter started and finished the dialing sequence, calling "Chevron seven locked" as the gate connected, the wormhole causing the extended then retracting visual, the "Whooshing", and finally the rippled water looking event horizon waiting for the travelers to cross through.

From Walter's position, he watched as SG-1 began their ascent up the ramp ignoring their conversation as he focused on the power output on his monitors when Dr. Jackson suddenly stopping and looked at Col O'Neill behind him with an amazed and stupefied expression on his face.

"You didn't think the Colonel had a telescope on his roof just to look at the neighbors did you, "Capt Carter asked Dr. Jackson, the astonished look still on his face.

Walter, now paying attention to the people on the ramp, heard the Colonel mutter to Teal'c after letting out a sigh, "Not initially." as they joined the first two members already in transit to Hanka.

Thirty minutes later all hell broke loose. SG-1 dialed in and radioed there was some form of biological event on the planet. They would not return to the SGC until cleared by Dr. Frasier out of fear of spreading yet another virus to Earth.

Dr. Frasier's experience with the CDC fit this event perfectly. It took her less than an hour to organize her team to go through the gate. A large number of isolation room and biological decontamination gear purchased and place on standby as a result of the "touched" virus a few months back. There were also plenty of decon suits for members to wear out to the planet for safety and for retuning members to wear in transport to an isolation chamber if needed.

At the Doctor's order, Walter reconnected the gate to P8X-987, and her large team of orderlies and technicians departed with all the gear to identify, isolate, and contain the biological event and return SG-1 and the remains of SG-7 if possible.

Dr. Frasier had determined it was a bacterial infection and not viral or airborne, but likely a contaminate in their food and water sources. Further they found only a single survivor, a young female, who seemed to have traces of naquada in her blood, but was not a Goa'uld host. It was determined that she would be returned to the SGC, escorted by Capt Carter and Dr. Frasier.

To make it more interesting, Col O'Neill and Teal'c elected to stay to complete the experiment, getting the photos and video of the black hole to better help us understand the dynamics of how it all worked.

Once back, Capt Carter and the young woman seemed to have bonded, Capt Carter unwilling to leave her. Additionally, Dr. Frasier and Dr. Jackson were called to brief the General on what had happened on the planet. Dr. Frasier theorized that a usually harmless strain of bacteria from Earth had been transported to the planet and mutated causing the plague and the deaths of the 1432 residents of the planet. Walter, from his station , heard every word and was unable to imagine the death they had just been witness's to.

Walter was about to leave for the day when a code blue was called over the intercom. From the hallway, he saw some of the medical staff take off from the decon area on their way to the infirmary. Ten minutes later, still standing by, he heard one of the nurses say that Dr. Frasier had discovered something unusual inside of Cassandra, the young lady.

Predicting the next request, Walter put out a call to the Peterson AFB hospital to have Dr Warner report to the General. Since Dr. Warner was the chief surgeon, and had originally performed the failed surgery on Maj Kowalski to remove the Goa'uld, he already had both the knowledge and the clearance to help.

It did not take long for him to arrive. After a quick brief with the General and Dr. Frasier, an exploratory surgery was deemed necessary. The doctors proceeded to surgery room one, Walter having already coordinated to have it prepped and the assisting doctors and nurses to standby.

So much for going home.

Four hours later, the surgery was complete, little Cassandra having coded and recovered on the table. The doctors had an idea of the make-up of the strange mechanical growth, but not the cause. Additionally, it had enough awareness to be able to stop the young ladies heart if messed with.

Thanks to Dr. Warner ignoring Dr. Frasier, they did have a sample of the materials that made up the object. At Capt Carter's request, Walter and Siler were able to "procure" a lead lined room in the deepest section of the old nuclear fallout shelter, rig a camera, and set up two opposing robotic arms with external controls. Capt Carter then attached microscopic particles of both potassium and naquada for a test. The explosion that followed was spectacular, and the radiation was deadly, though contained.

It turns out the girl was a trap.

Dr. Jackson theorized the girl and the entire planetary catastrophe had been a set up. Walter, sitting at his station in the Control room, listened much like the brass upstairs as Dr. Jackson spun a tale of deceit and trickery from the Goa'uld. The death of the planet populace, the staging of it as if it were the fault of the SGC, the placement of the girl who was in fact a bomb sent to destroy the mountain and the threat to the Goa'uld.

General Hammond was forced to make a simple call with a horrible ending. The young Cassandra would be returned to her planet, escorted by Capt Carter and SG-4, to remove the threat to Earth and the SGC. SG-1 would be brought back. The young Cassandra would be left alone on her planet to die.

As Walter was in the control room, Capt Carter and SG-4 were ready to escort the girl through.

Walter called out to the room with each chevron set. As chevron six was spinning in, the stargate got a connection from outside.

"What the hell," Walter found himself saying.

"Close the iris," General Hammond commanded.

"No need sir," Walter replied, "We're getting an SG-1 remote signal."

Suddenly two bodies hurled through the opening, debris flying all around them. One body in a standard yellow decon suit, the other clearly Teal'c in his SGC clothing with his staff weapon in his right hand.

Col O'Neill gave a quick hand across his throat motion as he proceeded to rip his covering from his head.

"Get the girl away from the gate!," he yelled, still slightly out of breath from his mad dash.

Col O'Neill ripped the remainder of his decon suit off, the pieces falling harmlessly to the floor as he proceeded to give General Hammond a quick debrief on a Goa'uld named Nirrti and a trap previously used to destroy a stargate.

Now unsure of where to take the living bomb, Col O'Neill recommended the abandoned nuclear facility nearby and General Hammond immediately agreed, calling the Secretary of Defense to vet the plan. Walter, hearing every word, instantly got in touch to the motor pool and had a duce and a half with driver on stand-by with two soft top jeep SF escort vehicles. By the time General Hammond hung up his phone, the vehicles were already waiting at the tunnel entrance of the mountain complex.

Eyes locked on the nearest clock, Walter counted every second until the appointed detonation time. As it drew near, Walter wasn't sure if anyone would even be able to hear the explosion. The depth of the complex, and its relative distance from civilization, would keep the populace safe and likely unaware of the potential threat they had averted.

As the minute hand passed its mark, the second hand continuing to move forever in it's forward motion. Walter awaited the notification that it was over. The minute hand moved once, then again, and again. General Hammond now pacing the briefing room, each of his steps echoing into the Control room like thunder.

Finally, the phone rang. All eyes in the room snapped onto the device as if willing it to speak on its own. Walter grabbed the receiver, squeezing it as his wife had crushed his fingers just weeks before. Unable to make a sound, Walter just listened.

"This is Col O'Neill. The chicken laid an egg. The Omlet was a dud. Lisa didn't blow her saxophone."

When Walter still could not force his voice to function, he heard the Colonel holler, "Nothing happened." and then a dial tone.

Walter gave out a whoop of joy, and suddenly the entire Control room was cheering.

General Hammond, forcing himself to contain his joy, smiled and then went into his office and closed the door. The entire sub level 11 floor of the SGC ground to a momentary halt when the sound of a "Wah Hoo!" penetrated the concrete structure, the sound of pleasure, joy, happiness, rolled into those two syllables getting to the heart of how everyone felt.

Twenty six minutes later, word came down that SG-1, their escorts, and most importantly their charge, had returned to the mountain. After the long elevator ride down, Dr. Frasier doted upon young Cassandra, checking her out from the top of her hair to the bottom of her feet.

Walter proceeded to the General's office and requested permission to leave. His shift having already come and gone twice since he had originally arrived. Once permission was granted, Walter left to find his car.

He knew that after this day, he would treasure every moment he had with his wife and his young son.