I have added and AA at the end of the chapter...
Chapter 4
Delivery Guy
Daniel walked around the facility. An odd planet, no Goa'uld ties. It seemed that it was a place people went to escape. He had been told he could walk around. Niniane had pointed to one of the doors, saying that the occupants would be happy to take them on a tour. He walked to the door with Teal'c; Siler was too busy trying talking to some female and Reynolds was investigating the artwork. He knocked loudly. A voice inside called out.
"Could you get that? I'm still dressing Caitlyn."
"Probably just Niniane saying the cost is clear."
The door was opened. He stared into the face of one very unfamiliar Jack O'Neill. He was older, yet worry lines had disappeared from his face. He was dressed as one of the Natives and had grown himself a beard.
"Well you're not the delivery guy." he rubbed his hands over his eyes. "Sam? You should probably come here."
They heard a voice from inside. "What's wrong? I just finished dressing Caitlyn and…" Sam stopped speaking when she reached the door. "D…Daniel? Teal'c?" she seemed as if she didn't believe her eyes. "What are you doing here?"
He looked at the woman before him. Her clothes were of the native population, like Jack's. A blue crescent moon sat on he forehead and her hair was a lot longer, falling nearly to her waist. The one thing that shocked him the most, though, was the small child in her arms. She was blonde, and nearly a spitting image of Sam. However there were features, he noticed, belonging to Jack.
"Sam? I can't believe it."
"Samantha Carter. Colonel O'Neill. You are looking well."
"Carter." Jack replied.
"I beg your pardon?" Daniel asked.
"I'm not Colonel O'Neill anymore. I'm Jack Carter."
"I'm sorry, Jack Carter?" Daniel tried hard not to giggle.
"Yeah, the blood line's carried on though women here. They say it's more accurate that way. They're right too; any man could father a child. The mother is harder to forge." he looked slightly embarrassed. "Why don't you come in? There's a lot of explaining to do."
Earlier
Jack bounced Caitlyn on his knee. He still couldn't believe how lucky he was to have such a wonderful little girl like her.
"You are just like your mummy. Yes you are!" he said happily. She laughed and grabbed at his nose.
Caitlyn was the result of Beltane. Although that had scared both of them at the time, he couldn't be happier. Not only did he have the woman of his dreams, but a smiling little girl to go with it. Sam walked into the room and smiled at him. He noticed the blue mark on her head. She had only received initiation a month ago, yet she wore it like it was always hers.
"Come on. I have to get Caity into the bath." she laughed picking up her daughter.
A sound could be heard through the walls. It was the bells, letting them know that a new person was about to come through the mirror. Caitlyn started crying. Sam picked her up and tried to calm her down.
"That's odd having one again so soon. Wasn't the last time only yesterday?" she asked.
"But no one came through the mirror that time. I don't think that's happened before."
The chiming stopped, as did all noise from outside. Sam managed to make Caitlyn quiet. "I'll bathe her now." She whispered.
It wasn't long before the silence was replaced with the sound of bells letting them know to greet their new visitors.
"Well at least it isn't a dangerous Goa'uld this time." Jack called. He remembered when that had happened, nearly killing one of the guards. Luckily they managed to restrain him. He was more accepting of his life as of late.
"Are you going to greet our new brethren?" Sam called from the bathing chamber.
"No, I think I'll stay here."
"The law is for children and mothers with infants, not you."
"I'd rather keep here with you and Caity. Not everyone is happy about being stuck here."
Jack went to the kitchen and started making dinner. They could hear voices, but not quite make out what was being said. The usual clapping of welcome sounded. Sam pulled her daughter out of the bath and began drying he with a towel.
"Have you started dinner?"
"Way ahead of you." A few more minutes and a knocking could be heard at the door.
"Could you get that? I'm still dressing Caitlyn."
"Probably just Niniane saying the cost is clear."
Daniel and Teal'c walked into the house uncomfortably. It was very cosy, although rather primitive. Sam sat them on the couch while Jack walked into another room. Daniel could smell something which made his mouth water. Sam didn't say anything until Jack came back with a tray of cups.
"Have some tea. It's good." He said, placing the tray on the table in front of them. Sam immediately picked up a cup and began sipping. Daniel looked at her, then at Jack. He raised an eyebrow at his former CO.
"What? It's been four years Daniel! It's not like we thought we'd ever see you guys again."
"No one's throwing accusations, Jack."
Sam looked into her teacup. "Jack, we did say we'd explain things."
"We shouldn't have to! We moved on, simple as that."
"Who's that?" Daniel asked, changing the subject.
"Caitlyn. Our daughter, though I can tell by the look on your face that you already knew that."
"Jack!" Sam warned.
"Can I hold her?" he asked
"Yeah sure. She only just turned one a few moons ago, so please be careful." she held her out. "There you are, go to your Uncle Daniel."
Daniel laughed. "I like the sound of that." she smiled and tried to grab his nose.
"She likes you." Sam said, smiling.
"Was she before or after your...marriage?" he asked awkwardly.
"Before." "After" Sam and Jack said at the same time respectivly. They looked at each other. "Well she was born after." Jack said, glaring at Sam. Trust her to bring up technicallities.
"How?"
"How do ya think?" Jack was getting annoyed.
"Ok, dumb question. When?"
"Beltane the year before last." Sam answered.
"Oh. Oh!" He realised. This was a medieval, Pagan world. He knew all about the Beltane Fires from his research. Teal'c looked confused. "I'll explain later."
"You know, I'd prefer if we didn't go into details." Sam looked increadibly uncomfortable.
Teal'c, who had remined silent, was smiling in that knowing way of his that drove the rest of the team crazy. "Do you intend on returning to Earth with us?" he asked.
At this, both Sam and Jack stared at him.
"T, in case you haven't noticed, the D.H.D. Is in more pieces than I care to count." Jack muttered.
"Twelve are there, but parts are missing." Sam said dejectedly.
"Yeah, we noticed on the M.A.L.P."
"Wait a minute, if you saw that there was no D.H.D. Why did you bother coming...unless...unless you had a way to get back!" Realisation dawned on Sam's face.
"We developed a Portable D.H.D. A few months ago and have only just finished testing it." Teal'c answered the unspoken question.
"Why didn't you say that 4 years ago?"
"Jack, even if we had one we didn't know which planet you were on or even if you were still alive!"
He began to ramble about the statistics of finding them on an unknown planet. "Daniel, shut up!" He snapped his mouth shut. Whatever happened, he still considered Jack his CO. "We don't want to leave."
"You don't?"
"You have to understand this! We have a life here. A home, a daughter. It's not going to be that easy to give up." Sam took Caitlyn off Teal'c, who had seized her from Daniel and was now ignoring the surrounding conversation. He looked somewhat dissapointed.
"You can hold her later." Jack said, absentmindedly.
"Don't you at least want to see everyone again? Janet? General Hammond? Your Father?" He glared directly at Sam.
Tears sprang to her eyes causing Jack to hold her tightly. This didn't go unnoticed from the other two. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to sound that way." He tried to apologise.
"Are you staying the night?" Jack asked harshly.
"What?"
"You can stay the night if you want. Maybe you should come down for Beltane. Big festival."
"Daniel, we'll consider coming for a visit. Nothing more, not yet." Sam managed to choke out.
"Ok. I can understand that."
"Glad we got that settled." He cheered up a little. "Now, spill, who replaced us?"
Later, after SG:1 had retired for the night, presumably to make arrangements for Jack and Sam to return for a visit, Sam was in Jacks arms. They weren't doing anything special, just lying there. It was Jack who managed to bring up a conversation.
"Siler and Reynolds?"
"It's not that bad Jack. They had to wait for us to be M.I.A. To get close!"
"But really?"
"They're trained soldiers, but I think he was deperate." This brought a smile to Jack's lips.
"You know, the second we step through that Mirror..."
"I know. Esspecially after we see my Father."
"I don't know that I want to see him!"
"Come on Jack, it wont be that bad."
"Yeah sure. 'Hi Jacob! Just like you to know that during the four years we were M.I.A. I got your daughter pregnant during a Pagan festival, then married her. Don't worry, she kept her name, customs are different here'. I'm sure that will go down well." He said, laughing.
"He'll melt as soon as he sees Caitlyn. She had quite a hold over Daniel and Teal'c. Esspecially Teal'c!"
"Yeah, just like her mother to steal the mens' gaze!"
She nudged him playfully. "I'm a bit worried about taking her through the mirror though. Who knows what effects it will have on infants."
"She'll be fine. It's her mother I worry about. If she doesn't get some sleep she'll be a zombie when we see our friends again!"
"Speek for yourself mister! I am looking forward to seeing Janet again."
"Should we try to set her and Spacemonkey up again?"
"If they're not together after 4 years, you have to wonder about things." She laughed, turned and kissed him. "You're right, we should sleep."
He hugged her and closed his eyes, drifting into a silent slumber.
"Recieving an IDC, Sir. It's SG:1."
"Open the Iris." General Hammond commanded. The portal of blue sweapt into existance. It was followed by a bouncing, literally, Daniel Jackson.
"Janet!" he yelled. "Someone get her, quick! Wow it was, it was really them!" He ran off the 'gate ramp. "We found them!"
Teal'c stepped though, the biggest grin on his face imaginable. Siler and Reynolds were happy as well, though not nearly in the bouncing mood as Daniel. It wasn't long before Janet rushed into the room. Daniel ran over to her and through his arms around her neck.
"Janet it was, it's them! We found them!" he said, grabbing onto her shoulders.
"Daniel slow down. Found who?"
"Sam! Jack! They were on that planet!" She stared at him dumbfounded. "They're coming back tomorrow!"
"I'll see Sam tomorrow?"
"Yes! They're not dead, we found them!"
Janet let out a whoop, quieting the room. She jumped up and threw her arms around Daniels neck happily, both close to dancing with joy.
Beltane Fires: A pagan ritual on the first of May. Fires would be lit, and there would be dancing and drinking. Towards the end of the night the participants had a choice. They either stayed at the fire and eventually slept, or they would "pair off". Beltane resulted in a lot of pregnancies, some which they didn't know who the father was. With this in mind, probably a good idea to pass the blood from woman to woman.
StarGazer89: I've done a few chapters ahead. I wasn't gonna post this one til next week, but couldn't resist!
Spaz: As you can see, a lot happened!
Kelycia: Glad to know people read the A/N's. I could leave it, but it's too big a jump. I wanna know what happens in all that time! It was just too much for this particular fic.
Dana-Carter: Thank you, thank you! bows
kitty1216cat: Ah, the art of cliffhangers. This one isn't so bad though.
Sci Fi Fan Gillian: Thanks, keep reviewing!
GateSeeker2: I hope this meets your satisfactions. You know I couldn't go four years without at least one kid!
Authors Alert!!!!!!!
Attention, loyal readers... hm, too dramatic maybe? I am currently experiencing some technical difficulties. Namely that the computer with all the fics on it is doooooooooooooooooooooooown!!! I am terribly sorry but I won't be able to update for a while. It's really annoying 'cause I wanted to post the next chap! I'm like up to chap 7!!! Anyway, I'll post the next segment ASAP, I'l just have to find some cash to get someone to fix the comp. Hope you'll all stay interested.
