A/N: First of all, thank you guys for reading this. I'm so proud of this story. It's has came a long way in the last 24 hours. For Andra Elizabeth, I completely agree, using Omigod for at least three times in a row is a little repetitive. For Gate seeker2 you just have to find out who is A.D. It's a mystery. Even to me, who happens to be the author. You have to wait to see how that turns out. So without further ado. On with the show!
Chapter 3: 24 hours.
The briefing room was unusually silent that late morning. Dr. Brickman, the doctor that was on duty when Sam came in with twins earlier this morning was there on the far left of Daniel and Teal'c. The doctor was the picture of calm. "Which worries me. " thought Daniel to himself. Daniel was looking nervously at Teal'c. And Teal'c had the same imperturbable expression on his face. Sam was uncharacteristically late. And Jack, was... well silent. Which was very unusual. Daniel was really troubled about Jack and Sam. When he found out about the twins this morning he nearly had a heart attack. And then we he finally took a good look at them, he could see of both Sam and Jack in the little babies. And he knew deep in his heart that the letter had been correct.
How are they gonna deal with this? They can barely deal with they're feelings for each other. And how is Sam's relationship with Pete come out with this new development. At that point of Daniel silent musings, Sam decided to grace them with her presence In her hand was the wicker basket, that Sam had found the two little infants in. Jack automatically stood up, and went to her. For the first time in a long time, Everyone could see the walls breaking down in this man. The man who tired so very hard keep them there permanently. There was wondrous expression on his face.
"If the babies are not his, it's gonna kill him. If it is the father, his life is gonna change forever. " Thought Daniel . Jack looked over and smiled at Sam, who was already engrossed in the little twins. It took them a minute to realize that whole of the room was staring at them. Sam had the nerve to blush, while Jack glowered at the table. They both took their seats. " So Doc, what do you think?" The whole table shifted their attention from the babies to Dr. Brickman. The doctor gave a small smile to Sam. He knew that Sam was anxious, and so was the General. He could cut the tension with a knife, it was so thick.
"Sir, they are in perfect health. They do have some anomalies in their DNA, which could be explain by the modifications that the Trust had performed on them." Both the General O'Neil and Col. Carter both looked relieved. And yet there was another question that was tugging at the group in the briefing that day. The one, that they have been in Pins and Needles since this whole ordeal began.
" How long will it take for the DNA tests results to be in?" asked a very taut Col. Carter. Dr. Brickman started to calculate how fast the lab could pull this off. He didn't want to be in the firing line of already angry Gen. O'Neil. "I think I can have the results in by 1600 tomorrow. " God, 24 hours to wait. For the love of God! I'm not going to get any sleep tonight." Thought Jack. " Very well, Doc." Jack could feel in the relief in waves coming from Dr. Brickman. He must of thought that I was gonna ride his ass through all this. Nah...that would be too easy thing to do, with my General status. " "Okay, we are obviously going to need some supplies, so Carter and I will go to the store and pick some things up."
" Jack, it's dangerous for just the both of you to be there out there by yourselves. At least let me or Teal'c go with you to watch your back." Said Daniel in an anxious voice. Jack rolled his eyes at Daniel. "I'm perfectly able to protect both Carter and me from the trust."
"O'Neil, DanielJackson is correct . You would be much safer if all of us go to the store with you as back up. The trust will mostly likely try to apprehend all four of you if you are alone. " added Teal'c.
" Alright, Alright. Okay we will all to the store, but Daniel we taking your Jeep Cherokee . It will fit all six of us. " replied Jack.
Daniel nodded his head in agreement.
" So now that we have that out the way,... on to the discussion that you guys are here for. It was implicated in the letter that the Trust has both Carter's and mine DNA. Which worries me, a great deal, folks. And not only because , they have countless other's DNA to make these so called "super soldiers ". If was easy for them to get two top ranking soldiers DNA then god only knows who else's DNA they have. What also worries me is that they are selling children to the highest bidder. SG1, I'm going to put you guys on stand down so this matter can investigated. " said Gen. O' Neil in a controlled voice.
There was no sound but nods of understanding that was rippled through that briefing room. " Sir, I will go ahead contact Agent Barrette at the NID and see if they have any leads on this. " replied Carter. "Okay, Carter. Just be careful, I don't trust the NID as far as I can throw them. " It seemed that everytime that Stargate Command came across the NID it always seemed to Jack they were cleaning up the mess
" Carter, I want you to stay on the base, for awhile. If you happen to have a need to go off base, don't go by yourself. It's too dangerous. Most likely they will try to either take you or the babies. Or both. Take either Teal'c, or Daniel with you. She nodded in agreement.
"Daniel, I need you to play babysitter again, for a while. I need to contact my old friend. He might have a resource that we can use in putting a stop to the trust." " Okay, Jack. " It was always comforting that Jack trusted him so much, that also he trusted him enough to look after the infants twins, which could be possibly be Jack's own children.
" Okay, so now that we have that settled. Carter, let's play house for awhile." A look came across Sam's face that she probably used to chastise her subordinates. " Yes sir." She replied through gritted teeth. " Okay, Doc I will see at tomorrow at 1600. .Dismissed." The briefing room steady cleared out. Sam handed the babies over to Daniel with a look of hesitation that only a mother can pull off. Teal'c being the protector that he was, followed right behind her. And Daniel looked stricken with babies. He hadn't baby sat since he was a teenager, but he was willing to do anything that he could to help. Jack smiled at him encouragement. " Coming, Jack?" Jack's small grin grew intill an ear to ear grin. " Yeah spacemonkey, right behind you."
" Jack, for the last time, don't call me spacemonkey."
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
This is weird, all of us plying in the Daniel's jeep thought Sam. to herself. It was almost surreal. Jack was driving, while Sam was across from him. Teal'c and Daniel were in the back. The twins in the middle of the teammates. They have been sleep for most of the morning. The babies were still very quiet. Only once or twice they were giving poor Daniel a run for his money. They headed to the nearest store in Colorado Springs. The Wal-Mart on off the old highway 38.
It was lightly crowded. For it being noon. The team plus two babies got a variety of strange looks as they walked through the many isles of the Wal-Mart. Daniel got distracted around the book section. And took some dragging by Jack to get Daniel back on track. Yet the funniest thing was Teal'c around the male accessories section of the store. He was looking at the hats with great concentration. It took them ten minutes to get him to pull away from the isle. Jack himself seemed to be trying to control himself from going into the sporting good section. To Sam it seemed that she gained three extra kids.
Yesh! This will teach me to never to go into a store with a man ever!
They finally managed to get to the children's section. And she picked up the two king sized packages of pampers. Jack wanted to get the twins these matching hockey jersey. Sam had to reframe from rolling her eyes at him. Teal'c was mesmerized by the GI Joe doll on the next shelf over. And Daniel was watching miserably as Sam was going through the baby clothes. Sam finally picked up to finally picked up two T-shirts one that was so cute she just had to buy. It said " if you think I'm cute just look at my daddy " she bought one in blue and in pink. Another Jumper with a little pink flowers on them. For the little boy she bought a dark blue jumper with little stars all over them. She also spotted the most adorable little jackets. She could almost hear Daniel groaning in disgust.
Almost an hour later and half later. They were back at the SGC. Sam with two babies, and at least 300 worth of merchandise. Usually she wasn't a huge shopper. Yet today she could have bought out the whole children's department. If it wasn't for the General, she probably would have. They also had to swing by her's and the General's place to pick up a few things. The General ordered her and the babies to move in to the VIP room intill the threat was removed or at least intill they could remove the faction of the trust that was responsible for this whole situation. It was logical for her to move in VIP room, but maybe what rattled her even further was the fact that he was moving in with her. God, knows what the rumor mill will do with this! She also had to call Pete down here tomorrow as soon as the babies DNA test was in. She didn't want him to know about the babies intill both her and the General knew if for sure these babies were theirs. Sam said a little prayer to God, asking him to make this all turn out alright. And to leave both her and the General's sanity in one piece when this was over. We need all the help we can get.
A/N : I'm borrowing the part where they have to share the VIP room from another story. It's called a mother's love. It would be wrong for me not to acknowledge her genius.
Later in his office. After he made the call to Gen. Hammond and the president to both, to brief them on this on the situation. Gen. O'Neil was a little nervous about the next call that he to make. The call that he had him both nervous and excited. He had to call to his old friend Col. Kelly in Pensacola . It's been almost 10 years since he had seen him last. And that was in Baghdad. He had just turned Colonel then. And now that his life had changed completely in the last seven years. He was different from that man he became underneath the strain of black ops. And now he was uneasy. He stuffed down that feeling. And grabbed the bright red phone and dialed the number of his old friend's office in Florida. The phone was picked up by a young girlish voice that sounded like she was around the same age of his adopted niece. Cassandra.
" Col. Kelly's office. How may help you?"
" Yes, this Jack O'Neil, may I speak to Colonel?
" Let me check if he is in." And she put him on hold. The music was light classical. He was humming to the second movement when the receptionist got back on the line.
" You're in luck. He's in. I will go ahead and patch you through."
" Thanks you."
There was a short pause. And he heard a voice he hadn't heard in 10 years.
" Hey Jack, how's it going?"
" Great."
" I heard you retired some time back. How is civilian life treating ya?"
" Actually, I wouldn't actually know. I went back to active duty seven years ago. And they promoted me six months ago to General."
" Oh really? That's great! I'm happy for you. You deserve it. I never met a man who deserved a promotion more than you. Personally I like where I am now. So I wouldn't take it, but I'm proud of you buddy! And I knew that retirement wouldn't last long. I know you, you couldn't stay away from the action, more I could have."
How true that was. thought Jack.
"Well, the reason I'm calling is because I heard about that guy that helped one , of the people under your command put a stop to McPherson, and his illegal alien smuggling. And I'm going to need his expertise, because of a situation that arisen similar under my command God job, jack
" You mean Jarod Malone?"
"Yeah! That's him, do think you can get in touch with him?"
" I think so, let me see what I can do."
"Thanks, Kelly. I appreciate it."
" No problem."
" And Jack?..."
" Yeah?"
" It's nice hearing from you, after ten years. Let's not wait another ten years to talk. Maybe you can come down for some prime fishing. "
" Yeah I would like that. talk to you later."
" Bye."
"Bye."
Jack sat in his chair, trying to calm his thoughts. They were running a mile a minute. It didn't help that it seem like there was a steady stream of curious people coming by trying to get some answers that he wasn't ready to divulge to the whole SGC. He had finally calmed down his brain, and about to go through the stack of paper work, when another knock came across his door.
Oh for love of god! "Come." The doors open and it revealed his slightly exhausted 2IC. " Oh, hey Carter." She smiled weakly replied a slurred hello.
Sam was tired, exhausted even Those twins were so active that she couldn't get any work done. She spent most of the time watching them before thankfully Teal'c took them to his quarters for a little quality time with good ole Uncle Teal'c. God bless that man! So the rest of the evening she was working on the final modifications to the naquarda reactor. I finally finished it! Of course, I won't be able to do the presentation on the reactor, maybe I can get one of the other scientist to do the presentation for me.
" So Carter how are the twins?" he was staring into her eyes seeing the exhaustion itched in her eyes.
" Fine, sir. Teal'c took them, so I can finish the adjustments on reactor. "
" Okay, so did you have any leads from Agent Barrette. " She smiled at him weakly. He could see the answer in her eyes.
" Nothing sir. He hasn't heard anything, about this latest operation, the Trust was concerning themsleves with. "
" So we are still at square one. Well, not completely at square one."
" Sir?"
" I contacted my old friend who is in the Marine Corps. He might have somebody who can help us. It's a long shot, but I have to wait intill tomorrow for the information on locating him.
" Sir, who may I ask is this guy?"
" For some reason I can't remember his name. It must be another sign of old age, eh?"
" I don't think so sir."
" Really?"
" If you are old, then you must be the most lively old man I ever met."
He chuckled at her. " Thanks, Carter. I think."
She tried to hold in the laughter, but the look he gave her made it too much to bear.
" Hey! No giggling."
She smiled at him. Trying to hold in the laughter.
" Yes sir."
" So let's go and pick up the kids."
He came across from the desk grabbed his BDU coat and stirred Carter out of the door.
" Let's go and be mommy and daddy."
She looked at him. And she could tell that he was excited to spend some time with them. At least one of her worries was relieved, but before she could truly relax she found another worry began to nag. What if these kids are ours? Then what?
This was nice. It was almost out of scene of a movie. They were in the VIP room. The room itself was a two bed room suite. Each bed room had they're own small bathroom. It also had a living room, that was made of two large sectional sofa's. And a glass coffee table. The room which General O'Neil had only been in once. And he was enjoying the privileges of the room. Yet the once neat VIP room was now over flown with toys, bottles, a huge bassinet , and an exhausted Col. Sam was laid out on the sofa with the girl baby on her chest, with her little fingers stuck in her mouth. The scene squeezed at his heart. Both of them were so beautiful laying like that. So vulnerable. Without the walls she put up to protect herself. She almost looked like a kid herself.
While he, was holding this little guy in his arms. The warmth of his small body was felt even through the layers of his BDU's. This little man that could possibly be his son. The love that he thought had died with Charlie was now back. And in full force. He swiped a piece of the honey brown hair out the way. And smiled. The little guy had finally gone to sleep. God, I can't call this baby " little guy forever." Carter and I are diffently going to have to think up some names for these two. He could feel himself falling asleep. So he got up, and put the little guy in the bassinet .And carefully took the little girl out of Carter's arms and settled her in with her brother. Flicked on the baby monitor that was here in result of Carter's and his shopping spree this afternoon. He didn't want to wake her, but he knew if she didn't go to bed she would have a back ache as large as Texas.
So he lifted her up into his arms carefully. And packed her in the second bedroom where her clothes were stored hurriedly this afternoon and placed her on the bed. She almost looked like an Angel. He put the covers over her. And smiled. If I had already known that I was in love with her, I would have just realized it now. He moved towards the door, and heard her mumble something in her sleep. And turned around to take in one last look at her angelic face. He smiled at her. Then closed the door behind him as he headed off to the bed room with the baby monitor stationed on nightstand. He needed to sleep. He was also so very exhausted. Yet he also knew that sleep would be in a very long time coming.
Carter woke up unexpected peace the engulfed her. She hadn't felt this at peace with world since...well ever. She got up and took around the sight of the bedroom. She didn't recognize the bedroom. I must have slept over at Daniel's again. And then it hit her just then. The memory of yesterday's events. She felt that she needed to sit down for a second. So thought about what the day would bring. She had already fell in love with the babies. Ever since she first saw them there in the basket in her lab. And she also came to a major decision while she was holding the little girl. She was going to keep them whenever they are her biological children or not. In the very short time that she had these children, they wormed themselves into her heart. And she knew that she was never gonna let them go.
Sam picked up her BDU's that she was gonna wear for the day, her shower kit, and headed off to the bathroom. She took a longer shower than usual. Trying to wash away the stress that accumulated in her body. She quickly dressed and stopped when she saw the scene that was played out in front of her. Teal'c, Daniel, and Jack. Together, with the babies. Teal'c was shaking a rattle at the girl baby and Jack was playing peek-a-boo with the boy baby. And she knew without a doubt that she would treasure the moment for the rest of her life.
The day was wonderfully hectic. Half the day the General took the babies and babysat, so she can have sometimes work. Lunch time was filled with people stopping by they're corner table to get a look at the twins. Even Ferritti and Makepeace dropped by the already crowed table. The rest of the afternoon she was being a mom. Looking after the duo. Being a mom was more difficult than she thought. And she now had a new respect for her mother. And mother's everywhere. The day passed so quickly that she didn't realize it was 1620 hrs, intill the General knocked on her door to tell her that the results were in. She felt her self gulp. The moment of truth was here. She gathered the babies and headed for the infirmary.
" So what's the Verdict?" asked a very uncharacteristically timid Jack. The doctor gave him a small smile and asked both Carter and him to sit in his "office" which happened to be a cubical. " Well sir, the results show that both you and Colonel Carter are indeed the both of the twin's parents." A look of shock and relief came across both of the high ranking officers face. " Are sure?" replied a dumbfounded Jack. The Doctor shook his head in confirmation. " Yes sir. The DNA test is 99.99 accurate." Carter who silent the whole time politely smiled at the doctor. " Thank you so much, Doctor Brickman." The doctor smiled at her and went to do his rounds.
Both Sam and Jack walked back to the VIP room in total shock. They were parents. For Sam, it was what she wanted. Today just happened to make it more real. Sam could only think of what the General was thinking.
She looked up from her thoughts and noticed that they were at they're temporary home. She smiled timidly at him. Our whole world had just been shaken upside down, and he looks more calmer than I am. And now I have to tell Pete. Which I happen to not look forward to telling him. The General swiped the security card, and open the door for her. They both slumped in to sofa and stared at each other. " I think it's best that we have a good talk." Sam could feel herself gulp again.
It was 1900 hrs and Jack felt like he was emotionally depleted. Not only did the telling Pete was difficult enough. The poor man was stumped. And Jack didn't blame him, if he was in his shoes he wouldn't have took it well either. Sam was so close to tears during the episode. It wasn't Pete who brought it to that. No it was the fact that the trust had did that to her. He would bet his whole paycheck that she was holding her emotions back intill that moment. When Pete saw her distress, he took her in his arms. Jack had to literally step out the room, before the jealously over took him and he made a fool out of himself. Pete was summoned to Denver to go to court over a case he finally put to bed a year ago. So he would be out town for the rest of the week. Which Jack was eternally grateful for that. He didn't have to put with him butting into this situation.
Right now, Jack was surrounded by most of his family. Teal'c, Daniel, and Sam. Cassie couldn't come down from college because of her end of term exams, but she said she would come down as soon as she could. The twins, who were since yesterday was now the center of this family's universe. Daniel was making fun of them about the lack of names that babies didn't have. Sam smiled at him. They both knew that this afternoon's talk they had decided on the names of two most important people's in their lives. " Actually Daniel, Sam and I decided on their names." Daniel 's head shot up from the book he was concentrating on. Teal'c gave an eyebrow look. Which could mean anything. Sam just chuckled at their reactions. " C"MON JACK! Out with it! " yelled Daniel impatiently. Jack shook his head at this younger man that he thought of him as a brother.
" Sam do you want to tell them or should I?" She shook her head at him. " I think I better do the honors, sir." He laughed at her. She didn't think that he could be subtle. " Okay, Colonel . Go ahead and tell them. "
She smiled at her teammates. She picked up the baby boy. " Both the General and I decided to name the this little guy. Jordan Jacob Carter O'Neil. " A look of approval and something close to approval came across both of the men's face. At that point jack decided to take over this part. it was important for him to not at least break the news to Daniel himself. " And we decided to name this one." he said as he picked up the baby girl from bassinet . " Jacquelyn Sha're Carter O'Neil ." Tears seemed to simmer in the young man's eyes. I can't believe they named they're baby after Sha're. Thought Daniel to himself. " "Thank you Sam...Jack. I think Sha're would of loved that." Sam handed the Jordan to Teal'c and embraced this man who she loved like a brother. " We wouldn't want to have her name any other way."
