Author's Note: There's an occasional odd-looking symbol coming up in my posts. It's not me doing it, it's the site, so ignore them if you can. I try to catch them, but some of them are slippery and I miss them.
OOOOOOOOOO
Sam didn't pretend to be sick the next morning. She didn't have to. When she woke up, she felt awful, and she only felt worse as she showered and dressed. Jack hovered protectively close, watching her for any sign that she needed anything – and definitely making sure she wasn't going to pass out again.
"I'm fine, Jack," Sam told him, secretly touched at how concerned he was. "Women get morning sickness†it happens all the time."
Yeah, but it'd never happened to him. Sara had never been sick when she'd been pregnant with Charlie, and of course he hadn't been around when Dotty had been pregnant with Shawn. So he hovered. And so did Jaffer, who easily picked up on Jack's own anxiety.
"You could call in"
"I'm not going to call in every day I don't feel good," she told him, pulling on a clean uniform. "I'd never get any work done."
"Maybe we should call Dotty and see if it's the Stargate that's making you sick"
"It's not the gate, Jack. It's the baby, and it's natural. And Dotty and I are going to have lunch this weekend, so I'll discuss it with her then." She was also planning on discussing going through the Stargate – something she was almost terrified to do for fear of losing the baby by going through too soon. Dotty had said a few weeks, and it'd been about that – maybe a little more – but Sam didn't want to take any chances. She wasn't going to miscarriage this time.
He didn't look convinced, but he also didn't want to nag when he already knew she wasn't feeling good. She recognized that, and she appreciated it when he stopped mentioning her calling in. Instead, he told her to sit down on the bed and put her shoes and socks on for her – since bending over triggered her nausea even more than the smell of food. Then he asked if she was ready to go.
"Aren't you going to have breakfast?"
He shook his head.
"We'll eat later – when you're feeling better." Fraiser had mentioned medications that could hold back her morning sickness and allow Sam to eat; Jack figured the infirmary would be their first stop when they got to the base.
"What about Jaffer?"
Since Sam's sense of smell had become incredibly acute with her illness, even the very faint odor of Jaffer's dog food made her feel sick, and Jack didn't want to expose her to that, either.
"He can eat when I do. He doesn't mind."
Jaffer wagged his tail as if he'd been following the conversation and agreed with Jack, and Sam smiled. Crazy guys were going to starve if she didn't get her morning sickness under control sometime soon.
"Then I'm ready to go."
"I'll drive."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Janet was in the infirmary early. Considering how late she'd been up the evening before, she was looking and feeling refreshed and happy. Her mood wasn't lost on Daniel, who was in the infirmary looking for something for his aching head.
"What happened to you?"
Daniel looked up at the sound of Jack's voice at the door, and a moment later found his hands filled with one cheerful black lab who was looking for attention.
"He had a bit too much to drink last night and apparently fell and hit his head." Janet told them, smiling a good morning to Sam and Jack as the two came into the infirmary.
"I did not," Daniel said, defensively, his hand going to the pair of butterfly bandages that covered a cut on his forehead – a cut that had been stitched at a hospital the evening before rather than bothering the people in the base infirmary. "Sally and I went ice skating and I fell and hit the edge of the wall around the rink."
Sam smiled.
"I like her version better."
"Yeah, but mine is the truth – you can call and ask."
"You don't know how to ice skate?" Jack asked, incredulously.
Daniel scowled.
"I'm learning."
"Not very well, apparently"
"How are you feeling Sam?" Daniel asked, looking over at her and changing the subject. Sam looked a little pale this morning, although she also looked like she was in a fairly good mood.
"Sick." Jack answered for her. He looked at Janet. "Didn't you mention having something that could take care of that?"
Fraiser nodded, looking over at Sam intently.
"Just ill? How did you sleep last night?"
"You mean once you finally showed up from your hot date?"
Janet blushed, slightly, and smiled.
"Yes."
"What date?" Daniel asked.
"She had a date last night." Jack said, grinning. Yeah, this was worth missing breakfast for.
"Oh? With whom?"
"Emmett Bregman," Janet said.
"Bregman?"
"Why does everyone say it like that?" Janet asked, scowling, slightly. "He's not Jack the Ripper, you know."
Jack smiled.
"Nah, he's not."
"He asked you out?" Daniel asked. Then he realized what Jack had said and looked over at the Colonel. "You like him?"
Jack scowled.
"I didn't say that."
"So you don't like him?"
"I didn't say that, either." Jack shrugged. It was hard to not at least tolerate someone who'd kept Sam from getting hurt, after all, and Jack had to admit that if Janet Fraiser had a thing for the guy – and it was obvious to someone as observant as Jack that she did – there had to be something about him that wasn't half-bad. "He's not Jack the Ripper."
Sam was looking at him with just as much surprise as Daniel was, and Janet was looking surprised as well, and also a bit gratified. If Jack O'Neill approved of Emmett – and it was obvious to Janet that he was grudgingly admitting to just that – then maybe she had found someone that was a keeper.
"See?"
Daniel smiled. At least it explained why she was in such a good mood this morning.
"Did you have fun?"
"We went dancing." Janet turned the subject from her date to Sam's stomach. "Did you get sleep last night?" She asked again.
"Yes."
"Well, it's not hyperemesis gravidarum – which is an extreme form of morning sickness – but it's something we need to control, obviously. So we'll give you a small dosage of Geradim, just to take the edge off so you can hold something down – a breakfast shake or something equally healthy and filled with vitamins. That way you won't be passing out left and right. And it won't hurt Halley."
"Whatever you think is best," Sam said, agreeably. She didn't care. She just wanted something to keep her from feeling sick.
"Halley?" Jack frowned. He didn't think much of that name.
"Haley?" Janet asked.
Jack shrugged, losing the frown.
"That one's not too bad"
"It is for a boy," Sam said, defensively. She was still the only one who thought she was going to have a boy, and was always being ganged up on by the others. "He'd get beat up all the time."
