OK, here it is...I am updating as fast as I can which is VERY tiring but fun. Nearly there but Dena, you're going to have to wait a little bit to find out what happens with Sam's baby. I've been planning my ending carefully...mwah ah ah ah. It's a little short but don't let my ramblings keep you waiting...

Chapter 10

Sam ran a hand over her stomach trying to push down her rising panic. The rate her pregnancy had progressed and the size of her bump, now more of a mountain, was enough to tell her that she wasn't far off. She was hoping it wouldn't be today but, if it wasn't today then it would certainly be tomorrow. She eased her aching back into a more comfortable position and that's when it happened. It was painful, it was short and it was a contraction. She had been in a lot of dangerous and painful situations before but this was a peculiar feeling and she was more scared than she had ever been in her life. She could only hope that it would be a while before anything serious happened.

However grave her situation, it was a lot better than her friends. After her baby had been taken away Eve had sunk into a severe depression. Being in a room full of pregnant women wasn't helping to improve her condition either. Sam felt guilty every time she went nearer because Eve's eyes always travelled to her bulge before her face. She refused to communicate or eat and had begun to look worse than ever. Her skin was pale, her eyes bloodshot and dusky shadows underneath. Eventually Talia had asked Sam for help regarding the poor woman's condition. Gradually she had started eating and regained a little colour. But Sam's careful work was wasted when Eve was taken away and impregnated again.

Right now she was extremely sick. She was still uncommunicative and what little she did eat usually didn't stay down. Sam watched as Eve sat unresponsive with tears rolling from her sad green eyes. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep with worrying chewing her insides because, in no time at all, that would be her.

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Reuben pointed at the structure with a kind of wild excitement repeating over and over "Sekhmet, Sekhmet." Even though it was obvious that this was the temple without Reuben's enthusiasm the old man looked so pleased with himself that they let him rant. It was carved out of a cliff face with a gaping entrance situated in between two statues.

"This is definitely the place. Those statues are images of Sekhmet. She's represented by a lioness and she's known for her healing powers as well as her destructiveness. In fact she nearly wiped out humanity for not worshipping Ra properly." Daniel said letting his internal monologue run out of his mouth. Jack looked at the towering idols with awe and fear, the latter of which he hid away neatly.

Each was in a seated position, straight backed and rigid with hands in laps. Each was midnight black and prominent against the sun bleached cliff face. The bodies were those of humans but the heads were in the form of lionesses. The Goddess was depicted with long, straight hair that had been coloured blood red. Around her neck an intricate piece of jewellery had been carved, it covered the skin of the statue like a bib and was painted in a vivid array of colours. Behind the heads rose golden suns but it was the eyes that Jack found unnerving. Yellow slits with vertical pupils that bore into you.

"So, what's the plan?" Jonathan asked with a voice full of nerves.

"We storm this place, you stay here with Alex." Rick told him for what seemed to be the fiftieth time.. Jonathan's response was snorted laughter.

"Good. With your plan you can't possibly fail." He scuffed his feet in the sand sulkily before brightening. "I'm so glad I'm not involved." He said with a satisfied sigh. Jack had to admit that the man had a point. Hours of planning had brought them all round to hoping that brute force would do it. After seeing the extent of the Magi forces even Teal'c thought it would work, and that was a good thing...right? And so, while the Magi forces went into battle with the forces of the Hellish Goddess Jack, Daniel, Teal'c, Rick, Evie and Ahdeth would slip in the main entrance. It was so simple it could not fail.

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Sam stirred and blinked, she could hear something. A roar, from outside. One of the women ran to the window and yelled in surprise and fear. Sam rolled gingerly out of bed and waddled as fast as she could to the woman's side. A seething mass of black was rushing forward towards the temple. A matching clash of black stood along the perimeter. And then, with a bestial scream, Sekhmet's forces ran to meet the Magi. The women watched in terrified silence as the rivals met. The war cries trailed off, morphing into the sounds of a full scale battle. Sam smiled herself, they would finally be rescued. The smile died on her lips as another contraction rolled in and something trickled down her leg.

Thank you for reading. Review if you feel like it.

Coffee Bean

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