The locker room was relatively empty; I guess SG-1 was the only incoming team that afternoon. There were a few guys milling around, but they were all coming or going from their daily activities on the base. Daniel and Teal'c were the only ones in the showers when I entered.
"How's Sam?" Daniel asked.
"She's going to be fine, no thanks to you."
"What!" He shrieked. "What do you mean no thanks to me? I went back to the 'gate, I did what you wanted me to do."
"Yes Daniel you did, but not until after we had to stop and fight over it, we could have lost Sam because of that delay. Daniel you seem so upset that all this could be clouding *my* objectivity but you haven't stopped to look and see how it's affecting your own."
"Jack, I'm just tired of all this, you're always siding with her, and frankly it's just getting to be a little annoying."
"Siding with Carter? Come on Daniel, both Carter and I make our decisions independently of each other. Sure we're both military so that makes us unique to a certain viewpoint on our team, but there have been several times over the years when she sides with you or goes with your opinion instead of mine, and yes she has done that in the last couple of months too."
"But Jack the two of you..." I noticed several people had taken up residence outside the showers, I guess it was not every day you saw not only the flagship team of the SGC, but also it's best known 'buddies' standing around fighting, wearing nothing more than soap and water.
"Daniel this is neither the time nor the place for us to be having this discussion." I stated simply, walking out of the showers as the group quickly melted into the walls.
"Jack this isn't over."
"I know that *Daniel*, we've got a briefing to get to, and don't forget that even though you're not military, I could have you reprimanded."
"What for? I haven't done anything."
"You almost got Carter killed, you were insubordinate and stopped to question an order in a life or death situation." Teal'c, who had been silent the entire time, started dressing. "Anything to add Teal'c?"
"As you stated O'Neill, this is neither the time nor the place for such comments, and I believe I made my views on the subject quite clear on Balteria Major."
"Thank you Master Teal'c." I stated, as I threw on my clothes and headed toward the briefing room.
Thankfully the three of us managed to keep it together during the briefing. Daniel went on for what seemed like hours on the subject of *his* Asgard, personally I found it all pretty boring, so I zoned out only chiming in where necessary. Doc Frasier came in finally shutting Daniel up, to give her report on Sam's condition.
"How is she Doctor?" Hammond asked, waving a dismissive hand at Daniel as he sat down in his seat heavily.
"Well we set her arm, thankfully it was a clean break, she's awake now and other than a few cuts, scrapes, and the fact that her ribs are going to be a little sore for the next few days, I'd say she'll be fine. I am going to let her go home tonight, Colonel, but you need to know that considering neither she or Terrika can do anything strenuous you're going to have to help them both out a lot for the next few days."
"Will do Doc." I stated, trying to give her a charming smile, obviously I shouldn't have wasted my facial muscles- she didn't look charmed.
"Thank you Doctor." Hammond said, before turning back to SG-1. "Jack I've got some bad news for you, well bad in light of Major Carter's condition."
"Yes General?"
"Yesterday morning the Balteri sent someone through the Stargate, Terrika has been *ordered* to return to Balteria Major tomorrow afternoon for a meeting with the High Council. Now I was going to send SG-1 with her to find out what the hell is going on, but considering their strict rules regarding negotiation teams I could not send SG-1 without Major Carter."
"So what do we do? We can't just send her alone."
"We're going to have to, unless you would like to go with her Colonel?"
"Huh? Alone?" I asked stupidly. "Uh General I don't think that would be appropriate."
"Why not Colonel?" He asked, I had to think fast for an answer.
"Because Sir, going there without my team would be in direct violation of the Air Force Regulations." I spit out triumphantly. The General just glared at me oddly, okay so this may not have been the best time to go about spouting the regs.
"I'll give you tonight to think it over Colonel, you could even ask Terrika if she would like you there, but I must have your decision by tomorrow at 1200, and Colonel, let's try not to send a seven months pregnant woman through that 'gate alone." With that he dismissed us; I didn't even take the opportunity to correct him that 27 weeks are not quite seven months.
Sam seemed to be in pretty good spirits when I entered the infirmary, she was dressed and just lying back on a bed. Her arm, I saw, was in a purple fibreglass cast.
"Thank God you're here." She said, sitting up stiffly.
"How are you?" I asked, trying to keep my voice low from the various nurses and other people milling around the infirmary.
"I feel pretty bad, can't wait to get home and go to bed."
"Doc let you go yet?" I asked, supporting her by holding her right arm.
"Yeah, I was just waiting for you to get here." She gave me a strained smile.
We decided to forgo her purse, which was in the locker room, I promised to get ii for her the next day. Sam lay down on the back seat of my truck as I drove, and by the time we reached her house she was sleeping soundly. I didn't want to wake her, but I'm not Teal'c and I knew that I couldn't get her up and into her house without causing more damage than had already been done.
"Sam," I ran my hand through her slightly mussed hair. "Sam, we're home." She opened her eyes slowly.
"Sorry Sir, I didn't mean to fall asleep."
"Sir? Sam did you hit your head and forget to tell the Doc?"
"No, sorry Jack, just wasn't completely sure where we were, or if we were alone." She said, sitting up and wincing.
"Why don't we get you inside?" I asked, helping her out of the car and once again took possession of her right arm.
It took us a while, but soon I was unlocking the door and steadying Sam as she walked over the threshold.
"You hungry?" I asked. "Or just wanna go to bed?"
"I'd like to go to bed, but first I'd like to take a shower."
"Nope, no showers for you, you wouldn't want to mess up your pretty purple cast, now would you?"
"Shut up flyboy, I may be injured but I could still take you."
"Yes ma'am." I took a good look at her. "Would you like to take a bath? I got a shower at the base."
"Is that a hint Colonel?"
"No, you just said you wanted a shower, the best I can give you is a bath."
"In that case I'd love one."
I left her in our room as I filled up the bath-tub, she told me she would prefer to stand instead of sitting to wait for me because according to her sitting killed her ribs, so I let her pick out her pyjamas while I played in the water. When she joined me again I took off her clothes, considering her one arm didn't get her very far when she tried to do it herself. After I had gotten everything off and unwrapped the bandage that was around her chest to pad her ribs, I stood back and looked at her, her beautiful body had been marred already by not only cuts and lacerations but by the bruises that had developed in the last nine hours, and I knew they were only going to get worse.
"What?" She asked innocently, at my intense gaze. "I know it's not exactly what you were hoping for tonight, if it's any consolation, it's not exactly what I was hoping for either."
"No Sam, it's not that," I took the opportunity to give her a half-assed leer. "It's just that you're the best looking woman I've ever seen after falling off a ridge with several tons of rock."
"Is that a compliment? Or an insult?" She asked.
"Compliment," I stated quickly, before turning to the tub. "Ah look, it's full!"
I helped her ease into the warm, clear water, making sure her broken arm was secure on the edge of the tub. I took a washcloth and squeezed some of the mildest soap I could find onto it, before taking it and gently rubbing it across her back.
"I guess it's a good thing that I'm not six and a half months pregnant after all." She stated, as I moved on to her chest.
"If you were I never would have let you go on that mission." I studiously tried to ignore where my hand was, the barrier of the washcloth not enough to keep away the encroaching thoughts of my sex starved brain.
"I don't think I could let you go out there without me." She stated, and it was then that the news of Terrika's immanent departure, which I had placed on the back burner, sprung back into my head.
"You could, and you will, ya know one of these days you're going to get your own command and you're going to leave me home with Samantha to worry about you." She gave a small laugh before wincing. "Sorry."
"It's okay, just my ribs." She assured before going on. "Samantha? Do you really think that's wise O'Neill?" She asked, mimicking Teal'c.
"What? According to the ultrasound we're having a girl, if you'd still like to consider boys names I'm game... ya know, I really like Samuel."
"There is no way we're naming this baby after me, or anything remotely similar to my name."
"But I love your name." I helped her out of the tub as gently as possible.
"Jack there is no way it would work, having both of us in the same house, you know you'd call her Sam, you shorten everyone's names if you haven't noticed." She tried to take the towel out of my hands as I reached to dry off her shoulders.
"Lemme do this Sam," I said, as I patted her shoulders and chest dry as gently as possible. "So, considering we're getting pretty close to d-day, what would you like to name our daughter?" I tried to keep her talking, because it was getting harder and harder to keep my mind off her naked body under my hands.
"I was actually thinking, considering Terrika is the one carrying her, that we should actually name her Terrika. Oh and Jack?"
"Yeah?"
"D-day isn't for another nine weeks." I kissed her abdomen where our baby stayed for such a short time, before I continued with my duty.
Soon, after I towel dried her hair the best I could, I re-padded her ribs and helped her into a t-shirt. For the amount of pain I know she must have been in, she was doing pretty well hiding it, the last time I had seen her in that much pain was right after the transfer on Balteria. I led her into our room and propped her up on the bed so she wouldn't be able to roll over onto her ribs while she slept.
"Are you sure you don't want anything to eat or drink? How about some of those pain meds Doc Frasier sent for you?"
"No, Janet's given me enough today to probably last for a few weeks."
"Okay, if you're sure." I stripped off my clothes and was soon as close to her as I dared get without hurting her.
"Thank you for doing this Jack," She whispered, reaching out with her good hand to take mine. "You didn't have to take care of me."
"I love you Sam, and I love our little daughter, we're going to be a family, and families take care of each other." I leant over and gently kissed her lips.
"About the baby Jack... why don't we just let Terrika choose the name? I mean the two of us will probably never decide on one name."
"That's fine with me if it's what you want, all I care about is us having a healthy baby, together." I kissed her again, before laying back and trying grab some sleep before having to tell Sam about us leaving without her.
It seemed, at this time of my life, that every time I'd woken up in immense pain, I'd always been alone in a big bed. Sure I'd been injured before, I'd bruised my ribs and just about every other part of my body, but I'll never get used to the 'morning-after' pain. The night before, I somehow had myself believing that that time was going to be different, that that one time I would come out of the injuries feeling perfectly fine, but no, my arm was still in that hideous purple cast and I still felt like I had taken a staff blast to the ribs. I tried to roll over and find some way off my bed before realising I couldn't move in either direction- I was a beached whale. So I struggled ridiculously with my one good arm before managing to dislodge one of the pillows and painfully roll out of bed. I followed my nose to my kitchen where I found both Jack and Terrika sitting at the table finishing up breakfast. Jack jumped up the moment he saw me and handed me a cup of coffee, I thanked him before getting on with my interrogation.
"What's going on guys?" I asked suspiciously. "It's been ages since we've gotten up this early, especially after a mission."
"I...um...was um... going to tell you." He stammered.
"Tell me what?" I asked. His beating around the bush, especially with the way I was feeling, was really starting to get on my nerves.
"Terrika was recalled by the Council. We're leaving in a couple of hours."
"What! When did this happen?" I asked, looking between the two of them.
"While you were away the Council sent notice that I was to meet with them today, I told your General Hammond that I could go alone, but both he and Jack were very insistent that I not go alone."
"Why isn't SG-1 going? Surely the two of you can't go alone."
"SG-1 can't go, the full team has to be there and there's no way you're going off world for a while." I wanted to hurt him; I couldn't believe he was trying to leave me behind, like some pathetic little housewife.
"You're not going alone, my arm's the only thing broken, I think that for diplomatic purposes SG-1 should go, all of us." I sat down, and grabbed a piece of toast off Jack's plate.
"But you're injured."
"It's a broken bone, not the end of the world."
"Hammond will never agree." He stated, reaching for a way to keep me from going along.
"If Janet says I'm fit for duty so will the General." I looked at him with one of those expressions I knew he couldn't resist. "This is our child Jack," I gestured loosely to Terrika's stomach. "I don't want it going through that Stargate alone."
"It won't be alone, I'll be with both her and Terrika the entire time."
"But I want to be there, I may not be carrying this child but I am still her mother." He frowned, opening and closing his mouth a few times and then he finally spoke.
"All right, if Frasier says you're okay, I'll ask Hammond if SG-1 could come along, in a diplomatic capacity." Looking in his eyes, I knew what it cost him just to give me that much, we'd compromised SG-1 when we said we wouldn't and our military minds were paying the price.
I ate breakfast alone, and then quickly downed some of the pain medicine Janet had given me, before following the sound of running water to where Jack was taking a shower.
My bathroom was all fogged up, and from the colour of the small amount of skin I could see peaking out of the shower curtain, the water had to have been scalding. I stuck my head in the dry end of the shower, watching his oblivious nudity as he rinsed the soap off his body.
"I'm sorry." I stated quietly. He turned, surprised, before shutting off the water and stepping out of the shower.
"So am I, I think that somewhere along the line these last few months I've become obsessed with keeping SG-1 SG-1, and it's not working anymore. When we decided to do the transfer, we'd already made our decision regarding our military careers." He half-heartedly grabbed a towel and started drying off. "And I think it's just now starting to sink in that we're going to be parents, and that's bigger than SG-1 or the entire SGC. We can't put the team in danger, but we also can't endanger the lives of Terrika or our daughter. I was thinking that maybe I should ask the General to reassign one of us, or all of us."
"I don't think that's an option, even with the Balteri treaty signed, the diplomatic effort is just beginning, we'd have to start from square one, and personally I feel that three months is a long time to be on an alien planet, no matter how much you enjoy it." His face changed before I realised what I had said, I had just unknowingly made a crack about his time on Eudora, it was purely accidental but from the look on his face it had obviously stung. He took a moment to think before starting another approach.
"Splitting up the team is what got us into this in the first place, the only reason Daniel agreed to keep his mouth shut was because the transfer would protect SG-1, without SG-1 Daniel will be free to tell the General or anyone else who'll listen about the transfer."
"Jack, this is Daniel we're talking about here, sure he's upset, I know I would be if I were him, but do you really think he'd do anything to endanger our child or an innocent woman?"
"If you'd have seen him yesterday you'd understand why I'm so concerned. He tried to leave you Sam, he wanted us to leave you alone while we went back through the 'gate and waited for help, he was so insistent that I had to order him to go back to the Stargate *after* he stopped to fight with me over my decision." He pulled me into his arms, whispering in my ear. "I could have lost you, hell, I almost did lose you, and I wouldn't have known if it was due to a bad command decision or because of our relationship."
"Bad things happen to us every day Jack," I took the opportunity to wrap my good arm around his slightly damp neck. "And bad things are going to continue to happen to us, that's the nature of the job and you know we couldn't do it any other way."
"It's just getting harder to do Sam." He pulled back and kissed me hesitantly. "I couldn't handle losing you." I decided against answering him. His skin was still burning from the shower as my arm moved from his neck to his back and I pressed my lips to his, the renewed contact was all the encouragement he seemed to need before I found his arms around me, pulling me closer against his naked body. "Carter," He slowly broke our kiss. "Let's not start something here that we're not going to be able to finish."
"I wouldn't have started it if I didn't think we could finish it." I stated, as I relinquished my hold on him to pull the sling that had been supporting my left arm over my head. He took me back into his arms, and then hesitated again.
"I don't want to hurt you Sam, you were injured less than 24 hours ago."
"I know how I feel Jack, and yes it's pretty bad, but I want this, I want *you*."
"If I hurt you, at all, tell me and I'll stop, okay?" He asked, I nodded and he helped me get my cast out of the sleeve of my t-shirt and the shirt over my head, my panties soon followed. He left the bandage around my ribs- probably a reminder that he wasn't supposed to hurt me; I wish he would have taken it off. Jack led me back into our room, locking the door to keep out any unwanted visitors, before he sat down on the bed, gently pulling me down onto his lap.
"You okay?"
"Yes."
"God I love you Sam." He said. His is voice strained from the sheer power he was exerting to keep from jostling my injuries.
"I love you too."
"Sure there's no way I can talk you into staying here while we go to Balteria?" He asked, once he was lying next to me with his arm possessively across my abdomen.
"Very sure, I want to be there... and I think I'll be just fine going, have some faith in me Jack, if I didn't honestly think I could handle it, I wouldn't be putting you in this situation."
"I know Carter, I know." He kissed my forehead before pulling himself out of our bed and towards the closet where his clothes were still hanging next to mine all nice and neat like I told him. "You need help getting dressed?"
"Of course." I said, allowing a slight note of bitterness at my injury to seep into my voice.
"So... what do you wanna wear... it should really be something that goes with your cast... you should always make a fashion statement." He gave me his Jack O'Neill smile and I melted. We finally settled on jeans and t-shirts for both of us, while Jack dressed himself, I tried to get at least my under clothes on and all I ended up doing was aggravating my already tender body before Jack grabbed the garment out of my hand and put them on me himself.
"I wonder what Terrika and the baby have gotten in to." Jack wondered aloud, as he tied my shoelaces.
"She's probably getting dressed," I answered, as we left our bedroom and headed down the hall to the living room. Terrika was sitting in front of the television, fully clothed and ready to go, the bulge that was our baby seemed to be getting bigger everyday, and it was getting more and more awkward for me to think that I was the one who was originally carrying that child.
We left together, considering the fact that I couldn't drive, and Terrika had never driven before. Terrika sat in the back while I lay back in the front seat next to Jack, and tried to rest up from our early morning love making... I guess I may have been a little worse off than I thought, but it was nothing that would keep me from going through that Stargate.
Cheyenne Mountain was its usual buzz of activity as we made our way through the concrete corridors, down the elevators, and finally into the actual SGC; even that far underground the atmosphere was still charged. It was still strange to work in a place everyday where people could disappear without a single word, people who know about the real and constant threat of alien takeover and people who have dedicated their lives to keeping that secret. It was our job, a job that I was not sure how I was going to leave behind... a job I loved, but I knew how easily it was all going to go away in only a couple short months and honestly- it scared me.
"You going to go see Doc?" Jack asked, once we had reached the elevator that would take us to the levels of the SGC.
"I guess, do you think you can explain to General Hammond alone? Or do you need all of SG-1 to back you up?"
"I can work just fine on my own, you're the only member of SG-1 who would be of any use to me anyway." He said, before heading off with Terrika on his tail. I turned and headed for the one woman who could have made me feel better a year earlier, then she just made me nervous, I always felt like I was going to slip up when I was around her.
"Sam? I ordered you to bed, I meant for you to stay there." Janet said, as I walked into her infirmary and took a look around.
"SG-1's got a mission, I need to go."
"Sam," She started to protest. "you know that I can't allow you to go through the 'gate like this."
"Come on Janet, we're going to Balteria, how much trouble can we get into there? Besides if I'm not there the whole diplomatic presence will be worthless."
"I'll examine you, but you've got to promise if I send you home that you'll go, no fight?"
"Yes, I promise, though I know I'm perfectly fit for duty." I said grudgingly, as I somehow managed to manoeuvre myself one handedly onto a bed.
"Okay Sam, your ribs are obviously sore," Janet said, taking off the padding to inspect the giant bruise. "but they look better than I thought they would."
"They *are* better." I said, as she inspected the rest of the minor injuries I sustained the day before.
"How's your arm feeling?"
"Broken." I stated, giving her a friendly smile. "It's really nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be. Just some pain when I try to use it, and a dull throb that the meds you gave me took care of."
"My advice to you is to one, not use your arm and two, take the meds like the label says..." She stopped, as if for dramatic effect or something. "and I guess you're healthy enough to go out on a routine diplomatic mission."
"Yes, thank you Janet." I gave her another smile.
"Don't thank me, I would have had no problem with sending you home." She sent me an answering smile before re-padding me and helping me into some fatigues.
After I dressed, Janet called the General and told him that I was fit for duty, he informed her that that was all he needed, the Colonel had already requested the full SG-1 for the mission to Balteria, the men were already in the gear up room.
I headed for the gear up room as fast as I could, which if you consider my injuries was a pretty good speed. When I arrived I could hear Daniel yelling at Jack through the closed door.
"I thought we worked this out yesterday Jack." Daniel was saying.
"The only thing we worked out yesterday was the fact that you almost got Carter killed and it didn't bother you one bit."
"*I* almost got Sam killed? I didn't do anything to Sam, you're the one who's making the bad command decisions around here."
"What do you know about good or bad command decisions? You're just a damned scientist Daniel, a damned scientist who got it in his head that he's a soldier out to save the planet."
"Well you know what Jack, it seems to me that I've somehow managed to surpass the legendary Colonel Jack O'Neill in my military capabilities. What will everyone think when the truth comes out that you're nothing but a liar who's been using the SGC to meet your own ends?" That was when I couldn't take it anymore, there were too many ears in the SGC for them to be fighting like that, and frankly, knowing that I was the reason for the fight bothered me a lot. I opened the door and both Daniel and Jack jumped away from each other like they'd been caught doing something they shouldn't have been, and well they were.
"Doc declare you fit for duty?" Jack asked, as I walked over toward the 'women's' gear area.
"Yes." I answered, trying to get my vest on with one good arm before Jack thankfully came over to help me.
"This is a bad idea." Daniel stated from behind us.
"Shut up about it will you Daniel, I'm getting really tired of hearing you question every little decision I make." Jack helped me with my weapons. "You've said it yourself a couple billion times how important this treaty is, and because of this treaty we've got to have the full SG-1, and if you've forgotten SG-1 includes not only Teal'c and yourself but Carter and me as well. If you've got that much of a problem with this, with us, then maybe I should have you reassigned, would that make you happy?" I looked at Teal'c to find him looking at me. His eyes had the same look in them that they had when Apophis ordered him to kill us all, there was something pleading there, something afraid, something that couldn't make a move with out help- he couldn't choose between Jack and Daniel, he just couldn't. Teal'c was loyal to both men, just as fiercely loyal as he was to me, and he couldn't choose between any of the members of SG-1, but I could. I loved Jack and he was going to be the father of our daughter, there was no contest, it was a serious conflict of interest but I would have done anything for the sake of our unborn child's future.
"No one is leaving SG-1, not you Daniel, and not me." I interrupted. "There are more important things out there than our personal feelings and military ranks, we were friends once, and I hope that one day we will all be friends again, without one of us having to die first." Fully geared up I left to find Terrika, I had a good idea of where she'd be, it was just a matter of getting there with only one good arm.
I found Terrika just where I thought I would. The briefing room has, by far, the most comfortable chairs in the mountain, and since she was very pregnant Terrika had been having more and more trouble getting comfortable.
"Ah Samantha, you are well?"
"Yes." I sat down next to her and she grabbed my right hand, placing it on her stomach.
"Feel, she moves." I loved feeling my daughter kick. Somehow she reminded me of Jack when she did it- very impatient, always bored with just sitting still, I knew all babies did it, but there was something magical about knowing that that was my baby moving in there. I looked up to see General Hammond smiling at us from his office window and I realised that the base was not the best place to be fawning over my unborn child. I patted Terrika's belly before quickly pulling my hand away.
"So, are you happy to be going home?" I asked lamely.
"Of course. It will be nice to see Treevin again, and my family, my sister was to have a child, he should have been born by now." She looked up, catching my thoughts. "Do not be sorry I missed these things Samantha, I made the decision to come here." Hammond stepped into the room. "Besides, Treevin and I have no room for a child in our lives."
"Major," The General addressed me. "Where's the rest of your team? You ship out in five minutes."
"They're on their way Sir, probably just taking the scenic route from the gear up room." He left then, down to the control room, muttering something about Colonel O'Neill's sense of humour rubbing off on his second in command.
"I guess we'd better get down to the 'gate room." I said helping Terrika up as best I could with one arm.
The rest of SG-1 arrived in the 'gate room the same time we did. Coming from opposite doors, we joined up in the middle of the room to watch the wormhole engage. Once the General had given us a go Teal'c took Terrika's arm and the five of us went through the Stargate as we always had.
Treevin was waiting for us on the other side, he immediately took his wife into his arms before greeting the rest of us. It was saddening to know that they hadn't seen each other in almost six months. I couldn't imagine going that long without Jack, but I guess the fact that they'd been married for 15 years gave their relationship a certain maturity that Jack and I didn't have.
We were led to the city, a place that we all considered home for a while, the place Jack and I conceived a child- then the place seemed too quiet, too deserted.
"You're going to be late for the Council." Treevin informed us as we entered the Council Building and headed down the hall as fast as the six of us could go.
"We're sorry Treevin, we didn't even know SG-1 was supposed to be meeting with the council until yesterday."
"Oh it is not SG-1 who is supposed to meet with the council, but only Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter, that is of course after Terrika meets with them privately." I caught Jack's eye and I could tell that he was feeling the weird 'vibes' around Balteria too, especially when we knew this all had to do with Terrika, him, and me.
Both Terrika and Treevin went into the Main Council Chambers, leaving us to sit and wait and wonder.
"Anyone else notice the city seems a little... oh I don't know, empty?" Jack asked from beside me.
"Yes O'Neill, there were no people going about their business as usual." Teal'c answered, before sitting down next to the rest of us on the benches that had been provided for people like us who had to wait for their audience with the council.
"Balteria City is a pretty big city, but did anyone notice that there were absolutely no people out... the entire way here the only one I saw was Treevin."
"Yeah, me too." I answered, before looking around the usually crowed halls of the Council Building.
"Wonder what's going on." Jack leaned back against the wall.
"I don't know... but I bet it has something to do with why we're all here... and they're not."
It was 45 minutes before they finally called for Jack and me, we nervously left Daniel and Teal'c in the hall and went into the massive room we once felt so comfortable in. The entire Council was there; I'd never seen the room so packed, even when the President was there. The group looked expectantly at us and we were pointed to two chairs recently placed in the middle of the room, feeling small and over powered I sat next to Jack in front of this huge group who knew our biggest secret.
"You have been asked here today because of an unforeseen consequence of our treaty with the people of Earth." Lauprezin stated almost sadly. "The Balteri are going to have to break off all contact with your people. We're sorry to have wasted your time and the time of your leaders with the preparations for this treaty. But our survival comes before diplomatic relations, I'm sure you and your people understand."
"Aren't you guys supposed to be advanced or something? What kind of consequences could there be for you to have a treaty with such a primitive race as our selves?"
"We are an Asgard protectorate, but as you know the Asgard can not protect our people all the time, and at this moment, the situation with the Replicators being what it is, it is especially important for us to be cautious."
"Come on, there's cautious and then there's paranoid. We need this alliance."
"Our time for caution is over. The Goa'uld are on their way and the Asgard will not be here for another three days... we expect the Goa'uld sooner, we are evacuating before they have the chance to arrive."
"Just because you guys are moving doesn't mean we can't still be friends, we can pick up right where we left off." Jack grabbed for straws.
"The reason the Goa'uld are intent on our extermination is because of our treaty with you- it seems the Tau'ri are not well liked amongst the System Lords." At that Jack gave one of his cocky puppy dog looks to the entire room.
"They want to wipe out your entire people because you made contact with us?" I asked incredulously.
"The System Lords believe they are gods, you are taking some of their most loyal followers and turning them against the Goa'uld, undermining their authority. The Balteri have never been under Goa'uld rule, but we have not always lived as we do now, and our situation now is what makes us vulnerable, I'm sorry but there is nothing more to be done, we must leave as soon as possible."
"What about Terrika and our daughter? Where do they come into all of this?" I asked suddenly, causing Jack to whip around to stare at me in horror.
"Terrika will have to come with us of course, and if at some point in the coming months or years we are able to safely smuggle your child to you without the knowledge of the Goa'uld we will do that. You can have the satisfaction of knowing that she will be treated as all Balteri children are, and knowledge that she is of the Tau'ri will be a closely guarded secret."
"Woah, wait a minute. You can *not* take our child... months or years are a very long time, especially when you're a child. This is important to us, we'll do whatever it takes to be able to keep Terrika with us until the baby's born." Thankfully Jack spoke, I was struck dumb at the finality of Lauprezin's words.
"We are sorry, but there is no other option." Lauprezin stood. "You are going to have to go now."
"Where's Terrika?" Jack asked as several Balteri *assisted* us on our way out. "Let us talk to her, let her make her own decision."
"I am sorry." Is all Lauprezin said before we were shoved into the hall and joined by Teal'c and Daniel and several more Balteri.
"What's going on?" Daniel asked as we were roughly pulled through the city and towards the Stargate.
"We're being sent home." Jack said. "The treaty's off and they'll try to smuggle our child to us in a few months or years- whenever the Goa'uld will no longer be a threat, but don't worry, they'll treat her like their own and not tell the Goa'uld about her parentage." He struggled against the men who were pushing us up towards the base of their Stargate ramp. One started dialling Earth's address and Daniel automatically sent the GDO code. "Looks like you're going to get what you wanted all along Danny, you get SG-1 back with no children or alien secrets." My heart was on the verge of breaking when I heard the words from Lauprezin, but seeing the grief in Jack's eyes and hearing it in his tone of voice made a couple of tears escape my eyes.
"You must leave." A man imitated Lauprezin as he gently shoved us towards the open wormhole.
"Go on," Jack ordered Daniel and Teal'c. "We'll be right behind you." They quickly jumped through the gate and I knew that they were probably already at home. Jack turned to me and cupped my face in his hands, wiping away the tears that had escaped. "We'll get her back, I promise." He said, before kissing me gently.
"I know." I tried to assure him before he turned and headed through the 'gate. I followed, wondering if we were going to be able to live up to our promise, or if our little girl was going to grow up on some alien planet never knowing why she was different from everyone around her.
"How's Sam?" Daniel asked.
"She's going to be fine, no thanks to you."
"What!" He shrieked. "What do you mean no thanks to me? I went back to the 'gate, I did what you wanted me to do."
"Yes Daniel you did, but not until after we had to stop and fight over it, we could have lost Sam because of that delay. Daniel you seem so upset that all this could be clouding *my* objectivity but you haven't stopped to look and see how it's affecting your own."
"Jack, I'm just tired of all this, you're always siding with her, and frankly it's just getting to be a little annoying."
"Siding with Carter? Come on Daniel, both Carter and I make our decisions independently of each other. Sure we're both military so that makes us unique to a certain viewpoint on our team, but there have been several times over the years when she sides with you or goes with your opinion instead of mine, and yes she has done that in the last couple of months too."
"But Jack the two of you..." I noticed several people had taken up residence outside the showers, I guess it was not every day you saw not only the flagship team of the SGC, but also it's best known 'buddies' standing around fighting, wearing nothing more than soap and water.
"Daniel this is neither the time nor the place for us to be having this discussion." I stated simply, walking out of the showers as the group quickly melted into the walls.
"Jack this isn't over."
"I know that *Daniel*, we've got a briefing to get to, and don't forget that even though you're not military, I could have you reprimanded."
"What for? I haven't done anything."
"You almost got Carter killed, you were insubordinate and stopped to question an order in a life or death situation." Teal'c, who had been silent the entire time, started dressing. "Anything to add Teal'c?"
"As you stated O'Neill, this is neither the time nor the place for such comments, and I believe I made my views on the subject quite clear on Balteria Major."
"Thank you Master Teal'c." I stated, as I threw on my clothes and headed toward the briefing room.
Thankfully the three of us managed to keep it together during the briefing. Daniel went on for what seemed like hours on the subject of *his* Asgard, personally I found it all pretty boring, so I zoned out only chiming in where necessary. Doc Frasier came in finally shutting Daniel up, to give her report on Sam's condition.
"How is she Doctor?" Hammond asked, waving a dismissive hand at Daniel as he sat down in his seat heavily.
"Well we set her arm, thankfully it was a clean break, she's awake now and other than a few cuts, scrapes, and the fact that her ribs are going to be a little sore for the next few days, I'd say she'll be fine. I am going to let her go home tonight, Colonel, but you need to know that considering neither she or Terrika can do anything strenuous you're going to have to help them both out a lot for the next few days."
"Will do Doc." I stated, trying to give her a charming smile, obviously I shouldn't have wasted my facial muscles- she didn't look charmed.
"Thank you Doctor." Hammond said, before turning back to SG-1. "Jack I've got some bad news for you, well bad in light of Major Carter's condition."
"Yes General?"
"Yesterday morning the Balteri sent someone through the Stargate, Terrika has been *ordered* to return to Balteria Major tomorrow afternoon for a meeting with the High Council. Now I was going to send SG-1 with her to find out what the hell is going on, but considering their strict rules regarding negotiation teams I could not send SG-1 without Major Carter."
"So what do we do? We can't just send her alone."
"We're going to have to, unless you would like to go with her Colonel?"
"Huh? Alone?" I asked stupidly. "Uh General I don't think that would be appropriate."
"Why not Colonel?" He asked, I had to think fast for an answer.
"Because Sir, going there without my team would be in direct violation of the Air Force Regulations." I spit out triumphantly. The General just glared at me oddly, okay so this may not have been the best time to go about spouting the regs.
"I'll give you tonight to think it over Colonel, you could even ask Terrika if she would like you there, but I must have your decision by tomorrow at 1200, and Colonel, let's try not to send a seven months pregnant woman through that 'gate alone." With that he dismissed us; I didn't even take the opportunity to correct him that 27 weeks are not quite seven months.
Sam seemed to be in pretty good spirits when I entered the infirmary, she was dressed and just lying back on a bed. Her arm, I saw, was in a purple fibreglass cast.
"Thank God you're here." She said, sitting up stiffly.
"How are you?" I asked, trying to keep my voice low from the various nurses and other people milling around the infirmary.
"I feel pretty bad, can't wait to get home and go to bed."
"Doc let you go yet?" I asked, supporting her by holding her right arm.
"Yeah, I was just waiting for you to get here." She gave me a strained smile.
We decided to forgo her purse, which was in the locker room, I promised to get ii for her the next day. Sam lay down on the back seat of my truck as I drove, and by the time we reached her house she was sleeping soundly. I didn't want to wake her, but I'm not Teal'c and I knew that I couldn't get her up and into her house without causing more damage than had already been done.
"Sam," I ran my hand through her slightly mussed hair. "Sam, we're home." She opened her eyes slowly.
"Sorry Sir, I didn't mean to fall asleep."
"Sir? Sam did you hit your head and forget to tell the Doc?"
"No, sorry Jack, just wasn't completely sure where we were, or if we were alone." She said, sitting up and wincing.
"Why don't we get you inside?" I asked, helping her out of the car and once again took possession of her right arm.
It took us a while, but soon I was unlocking the door and steadying Sam as she walked over the threshold.
"You hungry?" I asked. "Or just wanna go to bed?"
"I'd like to go to bed, but first I'd like to take a shower."
"Nope, no showers for you, you wouldn't want to mess up your pretty purple cast, now would you?"
"Shut up flyboy, I may be injured but I could still take you."
"Yes ma'am." I took a good look at her. "Would you like to take a bath? I got a shower at the base."
"Is that a hint Colonel?"
"No, you just said you wanted a shower, the best I can give you is a bath."
"In that case I'd love one."
I left her in our room as I filled up the bath-tub, she told me she would prefer to stand instead of sitting to wait for me because according to her sitting killed her ribs, so I let her pick out her pyjamas while I played in the water. When she joined me again I took off her clothes, considering her one arm didn't get her very far when she tried to do it herself. After I had gotten everything off and unwrapped the bandage that was around her chest to pad her ribs, I stood back and looked at her, her beautiful body had been marred already by not only cuts and lacerations but by the bruises that had developed in the last nine hours, and I knew they were only going to get worse.
"What?" She asked innocently, at my intense gaze. "I know it's not exactly what you were hoping for tonight, if it's any consolation, it's not exactly what I was hoping for either."
"No Sam, it's not that," I took the opportunity to give her a half-assed leer. "It's just that you're the best looking woman I've ever seen after falling off a ridge with several tons of rock."
"Is that a compliment? Or an insult?" She asked.
"Compliment," I stated quickly, before turning to the tub. "Ah look, it's full!"
I helped her ease into the warm, clear water, making sure her broken arm was secure on the edge of the tub. I took a washcloth and squeezed some of the mildest soap I could find onto it, before taking it and gently rubbing it across her back.
"I guess it's a good thing that I'm not six and a half months pregnant after all." She stated, as I moved on to her chest.
"If you were I never would have let you go on that mission." I studiously tried to ignore where my hand was, the barrier of the washcloth not enough to keep away the encroaching thoughts of my sex starved brain.
"I don't think I could let you go out there without me." She stated, and it was then that the news of Terrika's immanent departure, which I had placed on the back burner, sprung back into my head.
"You could, and you will, ya know one of these days you're going to get your own command and you're going to leave me home with Samantha to worry about you." She gave a small laugh before wincing. "Sorry."
"It's okay, just my ribs." She assured before going on. "Samantha? Do you really think that's wise O'Neill?" She asked, mimicking Teal'c.
"What? According to the ultrasound we're having a girl, if you'd still like to consider boys names I'm game... ya know, I really like Samuel."
"There is no way we're naming this baby after me, or anything remotely similar to my name."
"But I love your name." I helped her out of the tub as gently as possible.
"Jack there is no way it would work, having both of us in the same house, you know you'd call her Sam, you shorten everyone's names if you haven't noticed." She tried to take the towel out of my hands as I reached to dry off her shoulders.
"Lemme do this Sam," I said, as I patted her shoulders and chest dry as gently as possible. "So, considering we're getting pretty close to d-day, what would you like to name our daughter?" I tried to keep her talking, because it was getting harder and harder to keep my mind off her naked body under my hands.
"I was actually thinking, considering Terrika is the one carrying her, that we should actually name her Terrika. Oh and Jack?"
"Yeah?"
"D-day isn't for another nine weeks." I kissed her abdomen where our baby stayed for such a short time, before I continued with my duty.
Soon, after I towel dried her hair the best I could, I re-padded her ribs and helped her into a t-shirt. For the amount of pain I know she must have been in, she was doing pretty well hiding it, the last time I had seen her in that much pain was right after the transfer on Balteria. I led her into our room and propped her up on the bed so she wouldn't be able to roll over onto her ribs while she slept.
"Are you sure you don't want anything to eat or drink? How about some of those pain meds Doc Frasier sent for you?"
"No, Janet's given me enough today to probably last for a few weeks."
"Okay, if you're sure." I stripped off my clothes and was soon as close to her as I dared get without hurting her.
"Thank you for doing this Jack," She whispered, reaching out with her good hand to take mine. "You didn't have to take care of me."
"I love you Sam, and I love our little daughter, we're going to be a family, and families take care of each other." I leant over and gently kissed her lips.
"About the baby Jack... why don't we just let Terrika choose the name? I mean the two of us will probably never decide on one name."
"That's fine with me if it's what you want, all I care about is us having a healthy baby, together." I kissed her again, before laying back and trying grab some sleep before having to tell Sam about us leaving without her.
It seemed, at this time of my life, that every time I'd woken up in immense pain, I'd always been alone in a big bed. Sure I'd been injured before, I'd bruised my ribs and just about every other part of my body, but I'll never get used to the 'morning-after' pain. The night before, I somehow had myself believing that that time was going to be different, that that one time I would come out of the injuries feeling perfectly fine, but no, my arm was still in that hideous purple cast and I still felt like I had taken a staff blast to the ribs. I tried to roll over and find some way off my bed before realising I couldn't move in either direction- I was a beached whale. So I struggled ridiculously with my one good arm before managing to dislodge one of the pillows and painfully roll out of bed. I followed my nose to my kitchen where I found both Jack and Terrika sitting at the table finishing up breakfast. Jack jumped up the moment he saw me and handed me a cup of coffee, I thanked him before getting on with my interrogation.
"What's going on guys?" I asked suspiciously. "It's been ages since we've gotten up this early, especially after a mission."
"I...um...was um... going to tell you." He stammered.
"Tell me what?" I asked. His beating around the bush, especially with the way I was feeling, was really starting to get on my nerves.
"Terrika was recalled by the Council. We're leaving in a couple of hours."
"What! When did this happen?" I asked, looking between the two of them.
"While you were away the Council sent notice that I was to meet with them today, I told your General Hammond that I could go alone, but both he and Jack were very insistent that I not go alone."
"Why isn't SG-1 going? Surely the two of you can't go alone."
"SG-1 can't go, the full team has to be there and there's no way you're going off world for a while." I wanted to hurt him; I couldn't believe he was trying to leave me behind, like some pathetic little housewife.
"You're not going alone, my arm's the only thing broken, I think that for diplomatic purposes SG-1 should go, all of us." I sat down, and grabbed a piece of toast off Jack's plate.
"But you're injured."
"It's a broken bone, not the end of the world."
"Hammond will never agree." He stated, reaching for a way to keep me from going along.
"If Janet says I'm fit for duty so will the General." I looked at him with one of those expressions I knew he couldn't resist. "This is our child Jack," I gestured loosely to Terrika's stomach. "I don't want it going through that Stargate alone."
"It won't be alone, I'll be with both her and Terrika the entire time."
"But I want to be there, I may not be carrying this child but I am still her mother." He frowned, opening and closing his mouth a few times and then he finally spoke.
"All right, if Frasier says you're okay, I'll ask Hammond if SG-1 could come along, in a diplomatic capacity." Looking in his eyes, I knew what it cost him just to give me that much, we'd compromised SG-1 when we said we wouldn't and our military minds were paying the price.
I ate breakfast alone, and then quickly downed some of the pain medicine Janet had given me, before following the sound of running water to where Jack was taking a shower.
My bathroom was all fogged up, and from the colour of the small amount of skin I could see peaking out of the shower curtain, the water had to have been scalding. I stuck my head in the dry end of the shower, watching his oblivious nudity as he rinsed the soap off his body.
"I'm sorry." I stated quietly. He turned, surprised, before shutting off the water and stepping out of the shower.
"So am I, I think that somewhere along the line these last few months I've become obsessed with keeping SG-1 SG-1, and it's not working anymore. When we decided to do the transfer, we'd already made our decision regarding our military careers." He half-heartedly grabbed a towel and started drying off. "And I think it's just now starting to sink in that we're going to be parents, and that's bigger than SG-1 or the entire SGC. We can't put the team in danger, but we also can't endanger the lives of Terrika or our daughter. I was thinking that maybe I should ask the General to reassign one of us, or all of us."
"I don't think that's an option, even with the Balteri treaty signed, the diplomatic effort is just beginning, we'd have to start from square one, and personally I feel that three months is a long time to be on an alien planet, no matter how much you enjoy it." His face changed before I realised what I had said, I had just unknowingly made a crack about his time on Eudora, it was purely accidental but from the look on his face it had obviously stung. He took a moment to think before starting another approach.
"Splitting up the team is what got us into this in the first place, the only reason Daniel agreed to keep his mouth shut was because the transfer would protect SG-1, without SG-1 Daniel will be free to tell the General or anyone else who'll listen about the transfer."
"Jack, this is Daniel we're talking about here, sure he's upset, I know I would be if I were him, but do you really think he'd do anything to endanger our child or an innocent woman?"
"If you'd have seen him yesterday you'd understand why I'm so concerned. He tried to leave you Sam, he wanted us to leave you alone while we went back through the 'gate and waited for help, he was so insistent that I had to order him to go back to the Stargate *after* he stopped to fight with me over my decision." He pulled me into his arms, whispering in my ear. "I could have lost you, hell, I almost did lose you, and I wouldn't have known if it was due to a bad command decision or because of our relationship."
"Bad things happen to us every day Jack," I took the opportunity to wrap my good arm around his slightly damp neck. "And bad things are going to continue to happen to us, that's the nature of the job and you know we couldn't do it any other way."
"It's just getting harder to do Sam." He pulled back and kissed me hesitantly. "I couldn't handle losing you." I decided against answering him. His skin was still burning from the shower as my arm moved from his neck to his back and I pressed my lips to his, the renewed contact was all the encouragement he seemed to need before I found his arms around me, pulling me closer against his naked body. "Carter," He slowly broke our kiss. "Let's not start something here that we're not going to be able to finish."
"I wouldn't have started it if I didn't think we could finish it." I stated, as I relinquished my hold on him to pull the sling that had been supporting my left arm over my head. He took me back into his arms, and then hesitated again.
"I don't want to hurt you Sam, you were injured less than 24 hours ago."
"I know how I feel Jack, and yes it's pretty bad, but I want this, I want *you*."
"If I hurt you, at all, tell me and I'll stop, okay?" He asked, I nodded and he helped me get my cast out of the sleeve of my t-shirt and the shirt over my head, my panties soon followed. He left the bandage around my ribs- probably a reminder that he wasn't supposed to hurt me; I wish he would have taken it off. Jack led me back into our room, locking the door to keep out any unwanted visitors, before he sat down on the bed, gently pulling me down onto his lap.
"You okay?"
"Yes."
"God I love you Sam." He said. His is voice strained from the sheer power he was exerting to keep from jostling my injuries.
"I love you too."
"Sure there's no way I can talk you into staying here while we go to Balteria?" He asked, once he was lying next to me with his arm possessively across my abdomen.
"Very sure, I want to be there... and I think I'll be just fine going, have some faith in me Jack, if I didn't honestly think I could handle it, I wouldn't be putting you in this situation."
"I know Carter, I know." He kissed my forehead before pulling himself out of our bed and towards the closet where his clothes were still hanging next to mine all nice and neat like I told him. "You need help getting dressed?"
"Of course." I said, allowing a slight note of bitterness at my injury to seep into my voice.
"So... what do you wanna wear... it should really be something that goes with your cast... you should always make a fashion statement." He gave me his Jack O'Neill smile and I melted. We finally settled on jeans and t-shirts for both of us, while Jack dressed himself, I tried to get at least my under clothes on and all I ended up doing was aggravating my already tender body before Jack grabbed the garment out of my hand and put them on me himself.
"I wonder what Terrika and the baby have gotten in to." Jack wondered aloud, as he tied my shoelaces.
"She's probably getting dressed," I answered, as we left our bedroom and headed down the hall to the living room. Terrika was sitting in front of the television, fully clothed and ready to go, the bulge that was our baby seemed to be getting bigger everyday, and it was getting more and more awkward for me to think that I was the one who was originally carrying that child.
We left together, considering the fact that I couldn't drive, and Terrika had never driven before. Terrika sat in the back while I lay back in the front seat next to Jack, and tried to rest up from our early morning love making... I guess I may have been a little worse off than I thought, but it was nothing that would keep me from going through that Stargate.
Cheyenne Mountain was its usual buzz of activity as we made our way through the concrete corridors, down the elevators, and finally into the actual SGC; even that far underground the atmosphere was still charged. It was still strange to work in a place everyday where people could disappear without a single word, people who know about the real and constant threat of alien takeover and people who have dedicated their lives to keeping that secret. It was our job, a job that I was not sure how I was going to leave behind... a job I loved, but I knew how easily it was all going to go away in only a couple short months and honestly- it scared me.
"You going to go see Doc?" Jack asked, once we had reached the elevator that would take us to the levels of the SGC.
"I guess, do you think you can explain to General Hammond alone? Or do you need all of SG-1 to back you up?"
"I can work just fine on my own, you're the only member of SG-1 who would be of any use to me anyway." He said, before heading off with Terrika on his tail. I turned and headed for the one woman who could have made me feel better a year earlier, then she just made me nervous, I always felt like I was going to slip up when I was around her.
"Sam? I ordered you to bed, I meant for you to stay there." Janet said, as I walked into her infirmary and took a look around.
"SG-1's got a mission, I need to go."
"Sam," She started to protest. "you know that I can't allow you to go through the 'gate like this."
"Come on Janet, we're going to Balteria, how much trouble can we get into there? Besides if I'm not there the whole diplomatic presence will be worthless."
"I'll examine you, but you've got to promise if I send you home that you'll go, no fight?"
"Yes, I promise, though I know I'm perfectly fit for duty." I said grudgingly, as I somehow managed to manoeuvre myself one handedly onto a bed.
"Okay Sam, your ribs are obviously sore," Janet said, taking off the padding to inspect the giant bruise. "but they look better than I thought they would."
"They *are* better." I said, as she inspected the rest of the minor injuries I sustained the day before.
"How's your arm feeling?"
"Broken." I stated, giving her a friendly smile. "It's really nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be. Just some pain when I try to use it, and a dull throb that the meds you gave me took care of."
"My advice to you is to one, not use your arm and two, take the meds like the label says..." She stopped, as if for dramatic effect or something. "and I guess you're healthy enough to go out on a routine diplomatic mission."
"Yes, thank you Janet." I gave her another smile.
"Don't thank me, I would have had no problem with sending you home." She sent me an answering smile before re-padding me and helping me into some fatigues.
After I dressed, Janet called the General and told him that I was fit for duty, he informed her that that was all he needed, the Colonel had already requested the full SG-1 for the mission to Balteria, the men were already in the gear up room.
I headed for the gear up room as fast as I could, which if you consider my injuries was a pretty good speed. When I arrived I could hear Daniel yelling at Jack through the closed door.
"I thought we worked this out yesterday Jack." Daniel was saying.
"The only thing we worked out yesterday was the fact that you almost got Carter killed and it didn't bother you one bit."
"*I* almost got Sam killed? I didn't do anything to Sam, you're the one who's making the bad command decisions around here."
"What do you know about good or bad command decisions? You're just a damned scientist Daniel, a damned scientist who got it in his head that he's a soldier out to save the planet."
"Well you know what Jack, it seems to me that I've somehow managed to surpass the legendary Colonel Jack O'Neill in my military capabilities. What will everyone think when the truth comes out that you're nothing but a liar who's been using the SGC to meet your own ends?" That was when I couldn't take it anymore, there were too many ears in the SGC for them to be fighting like that, and frankly, knowing that I was the reason for the fight bothered me a lot. I opened the door and both Daniel and Jack jumped away from each other like they'd been caught doing something they shouldn't have been, and well they were.
"Doc declare you fit for duty?" Jack asked, as I walked over toward the 'women's' gear area.
"Yes." I answered, trying to get my vest on with one good arm before Jack thankfully came over to help me.
"This is a bad idea." Daniel stated from behind us.
"Shut up about it will you Daniel, I'm getting really tired of hearing you question every little decision I make." Jack helped me with my weapons. "You've said it yourself a couple billion times how important this treaty is, and because of this treaty we've got to have the full SG-1, and if you've forgotten SG-1 includes not only Teal'c and yourself but Carter and me as well. If you've got that much of a problem with this, with us, then maybe I should have you reassigned, would that make you happy?" I looked at Teal'c to find him looking at me. His eyes had the same look in them that they had when Apophis ordered him to kill us all, there was something pleading there, something afraid, something that couldn't make a move with out help- he couldn't choose between Jack and Daniel, he just couldn't. Teal'c was loyal to both men, just as fiercely loyal as he was to me, and he couldn't choose between any of the members of SG-1, but I could. I loved Jack and he was going to be the father of our daughter, there was no contest, it was a serious conflict of interest but I would have done anything for the sake of our unborn child's future.
"No one is leaving SG-1, not you Daniel, and not me." I interrupted. "There are more important things out there than our personal feelings and military ranks, we were friends once, and I hope that one day we will all be friends again, without one of us having to die first." Fully geared up I left to find Terrika, I had a good idea of where she'd be, it was just a matter of getting there with only one good arm.
I found Terrika just where I thought I would. The briefing room has, by far, the most comfortable chairs in the mountain, and since she was very pregnant Terrika had been having more and more trouble getting comfortable.
"Ah Samantha, you are well?"
"Yes." I sat down next to her and she grabbed my right hand, placing it on her stomach.
"Feel, she moves." I loved feeling my daughter kick. Somehow she reminded me of Jack when she did it- very impatient, always bored with just sitting still, I knew all babies did it, but there was something magical about knowing that that was my baby moving in there. I looked up to see General Hammond smiling at us from his office window and I realised that the base was not the best place to be fawning over my unborn child. I patted Terrika's belly before quickly pulling my hand away.
"So, are you happy to be going home?" I asked lamely.
"Of course. It will be nice to see Treevin again, and my family, my sister was to have a child, he should have been born by now." She looked up, catching my thoughts. "Do not be sorry I missed these things Samantha, I made the decision to come here." Hammond stepped into the room. "Besides, Treevin and I have no room for a child in our lives."
"Major," The General addressed me. "Where's the rest of your team? You ship out in five minutes."
"They're on their way Sir, probably just taking the scenic route from the gear up room." He left then, down to the control room, muttering something about Colonel O'Neill's sense of humour rubbing off on his second in command.
"I guess we'd better get down to the 'gate room." I said helping Terrika up as best I could with one arm.
The rest of SG-1 arrived in the 'gate room the same time we did. Coming from opposite doors, we joined up in the middle of the room to watch the wormhole engage. Once the General had given us a go Teal'c took Terrika's arm and the five of us went through the Stargate as we always had.
Treevin was waiting for us on the other side, he immediately took his wife into his arms before greeting the rest of us. It was saddening to know that they hadn't seen each other in almost six months. I couldn't imagine going that long without Jack, but I guess the fact that they'd been married for 15 years gave their relationship a certain maturity that Jack and I didn't have.
We were led to the city, a place that we all considered home for a while, the place Jack and I conceived a child- then the place seemed too quiet, too deserted.
"You're going to be late for the Council." Treevin informed us as we entered the Council Building and headed down the hall as fast as the six of us could go.
"We're sorry Treevin, we didn't even know SG-1 was supposed to be meeting with the council until yesterday."
"Oh it is not SG-1 who is supposed to meet with the council, but only Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter, that is of course after Terrika meets with them privately." I caught Jack's eye and I could tell that he was feeling the weird 'vibes' around Balteria too, especially when we knew this all had to do with Terrika, him, and me.
Both Terrika and Treevin went into the Main Council Chambers, leaving us to sit and wait and wonder.
"Anyone else notice the city seems a little... oh I don't know, empty?" Jack asked from beside me.
"Yes O'Neill, there were no people going about their business as usual." Teal'c answered, before sitting down next to the rest of us on the benches that had been provided for people like us who had to wait for their audience with the council.
"Balteria City is a pretty big city, but did anyone notice that there were absolutely no people out... the entire way here the only one I saw was Treevin."
"Yeah, me too." I answered, before looking around the usually crowed halls of the Council Building.
"Wonder what's going on." Jack leaned back against the wall.
"I don't know... but I bet it has something to do with why we're all here... and they're not."
It was 45 minutes before they finally called for Jack and me, we nervously left Daniel and Teal'c in the hall and went into the massive room we once felt so comfortable in. The entire Council was there; I'd never seen the room so packed, even when the President was there. The group looked expectantly at us and we were pointed to two chairs recently placed in the middle of the room, feeling small and over powered I sat next to Jack in front of this huge group who knew our biggest secret.
"You have been asked here today because of an unforeseen consequence of our treaty with the people of Earth." Lauprezin stated almost sadly. "The Balteri are going to have to break off all contact with your people. We're sorry to have wasted your time and the time of your leaders with the preparations for this treaty. But our survival comes before diplomatic relations, I'm sure you and your people understand."
"Aren't you guys supposed to be advanced or something? What kind of consequences could there be for you to have a treaty with such a primitive race as our selves?"
"We are an Asgard protectorate, but as you know the Asgard can not protect our people all the time, and at this moment, the situation with the Replicators being what it is, it is especially important for us to be cautious."
"Come on, there's cautious and then there's paranoid. We need this alliance."
"Our time for caution is over. The Goa'uld are on their way and the Asgard will not be here for another three days... we expect the Goa'uld sooner, we are evacuating before they have the chance to arrive."
"Just because you guys are moving doesn't mean we can't still be friends, we can pick up right where we left off." Jack grabbed for straws.
"The reason the Goa'uld are intent on our extermination is because of our treaty with you- it seems the Tau'ri are not well liked amongst the System Lords." At that Jack gave one of his cocky puppy dog looks to the entire room.
"They want to wipe out your entire people because you made contact with us?" I asked incredulously.
"The System Lords believe they are gods, you are taking some of their most loyal followers and turning them against the Goa'uld, undermining their authority. The Balteri have never been under Goa'uld rule, but we have not always lived as we do now, and our situation now is what makes us vulnerable, I'm sorry but there is nothing more to be done, we must leave as soon as possible."
"What about Terrika and our daughter? Where do they come into all of this?" I asked suddenly, causing Jack to whip around to stare at me in horror.
"Terrika will have to come with us of course, and if at some point in the coming months or years we are able to safely smuggle your child to you without the knowledge of the Goa'uld we will do that. You can have the satisfaction of knowing that she will be treated as all Balteri children are, and knowledge that she is of the Tau'ri will be a closely guarded secret."
"Woah, wait a minute. You can *not* take our child... months or years are a very long time, especially when you're a child. This is important to us, we'll do whatever it takes to be able to keep Terrika with us until the baby's born." Thankfully Jack spoke, I was struck dumb at the finality of Lauprezin's words.
"We are sorry, but there is no other option." Lauprezin stood. "You are going to have to go now."
"Where's Terrika?" Jack asked as several Balteri *assisted* us on our way out. "Let us talk to her, let her make her own decision."
"I am sorry." Is all Lauprezin said before we were shoved into the hall and joined by Teal'c and Daniel and several more Balteri.
"What's going on?" Daniel asked as we were roughly pulled through the city and towards the Stargate.
"We're being sent home." Jack said. "The treaty's off and they'll try to smuggle our child to us in a few months or years- whenever the Goa'uld will no longer be a threat, but don't worry, they'll treat her like their own and not tell the Goa'uld about her parentage." He struggled against the men who were pushing us up towards the base of their Stargate ramp. One started dialling Earth's address and Daniel automatically sent the GDO code. "Looks like you're going to get what you wanted all along Danny, you get SG-1 back with no children or alien secrets." My heart was on the verge of breaking when I heard the words from Lauprezin, but seeing the grief in Jack's eyes and hearing it in his tone of voice made a couple of tears escape my eyes.
"You must leave." A man imitated Lauprezin as he gently shoved us towards the open wormhole.
"Go on," Jack ordered Daniel and Teal'c. "We'll be right behind you." They quickly jumped through the gate and I knew that they were probably already at home. Jack turned to me and cupped my face in his hands, wiping away the tears that had escaped. "We'll get her back, I promise." He said, before kissing me gently.
"I know." I tried to assure him before he turned and headed through the 'gate. I followed, wondering if we were going to be able to live up to our promise, or if our little girl was going to grow up on some alien planet never knowing why she was different from everyone around her.