I'm lovin' all your reviews guys, keep it comin'! It makes me post quicker! Here's the next part, and sorry but a little bit more angst before the fluffy bit comes along. Stay with me on this because it will be worth it. I guarantee it! BTW - I am known for my angsty fics, but I am also a shipper so take heart and be patient, 'cause all good things come to those who wait.
Thanks to Revvie-S; Sci Fi Fan Gillian; Birchy; Froggy0319; debcole; Natters; and ichargrl - Ha! love your comments. LOL! Just hang on a little longer.
On to the last bit of real angst...
Harbinger of Sorrow...Herald of Joy.
By Lingren.
Previously:
It dawned on him then that if he continued to push her like this, then she might well lose the baby and change the future altogether. Hadn't it changed already? How was she supposed to feel that much love for him? Right now they were falling apart from each other with the gap between them widening with every word spoken in anger.
Chapter 6
"Take 20 kids,"Jack said softening a bit, and dropping wearily to the ground to join the others. He surreptitiously watched Sam's every move from below long eyelashes that were hidden behind his sunglasses. She took a few sips from her canteen, swallowing down a couple of tablets. What they were he had no idea, but hoped they wouldn't harm the baby. She never touched a bite to eat and while the others chewed on energy bars she stuck with plain ol'water.
After 20 minutes, of feeling remorseful, he stood up again, relieved to see some colour had crept back into her cheeks again.
"Carter? Feeling better?" he enquired, a little kinder than his last words had been spoken.
"I'm just fine Sir," she answered coldly, her look saying...'with no thanks to you'.
"Good. Take point."
She looked at him then, her expression bordering on insubordinate, but Jack ignored it. Giving her the lead meant she could set her own pace. "I'll cover our sixes," he added, wanting to put as much distance as possible between them.
They started off in silence. Teal'c and Jonas just glanced at each other, knowing something had happened between the two officers to cause the tension crackling in the air around them.
Onwards they marched, much slower than before. Jack hardly noticed the landscape as the miles passed, his thoughts were filled with Sam and how things were rapidly changing between them. He was glad to see that Teal'c and Jonas were at least concentrating on the task of keeping a look out while his mind wandered.
After another two hours of trekking through the unknown wilderness, they arrived at the structure they were seeking. It wasn't exactly a temple, nor was it an ordinary building. It was an unusual edifice to say the least, with towers and arches, surrounding a large crumbling dome to one side.
Jack peered round the doorway, poking his P90 through it, and followed it cautiously into the darkness staying close to the walls. The device they were seeking was sitting in the middle of the room, a glowing aura and slight crackling emanating from it. He swept his flashlight round the darkened room, and perceived no danger to anyone.
"Okay...It looks safe enough. I don't think this place is gonna fall down on us."
Sam entered the room, holding her little palm gadget out towards the glowing device and confirmed it was emitting a powerful force field around it.
She approached it carefully.
"It is surrounded by an energy force field Sir. These readings are off the scale." she reported, swallowing her emotions and trying to sound as neutral and professional as possible.
Jack wandered closer, but heedful of his prior warning from the future, he stayed back, away from it.
"That's close enough Carter," he warned.
"I have a job to do Sir. I need to get closer," she snapped back.
He knew that if she got much closer and anything happened to her, then even Jackie would cease to exist. He had to think of the consequences. He stepped forward, nearer to the device, and snatched the meter from her surprised hands.
"Then I'll do it," he snapped, holding the gadget up towards the device. It didn't matter any more. Sam obviously hated him, therefore she wouldn't get into such a stew if he died.
Sam was furious of course.
"Sir. I'm perfectly capable of doing my job, thank you. " She went to snatch it back again, but he held it away from her, ever nearer to the force field.
"I do not understand your behaviour O'Neill. Major Carter should be allowed to carry out her survey. Have you acquired an understanding of the science required to interpret it's readings?"
"No...I haven't, Teal'c, but..." Sam snatched the gadget from his fingers as he turned to face the Jaffa. She stepped forward away from him again, probing the air, walking ever closer. Jack heard the whine of the force field as it began to build up it's charge. He leapt into action, grabbing the gadget from her fingers and pushing her away with all his might, shouting a warning to her.
"Sam NO...the baby..." Sam was shoved roughly away from the device, landing ungracefully onto her butt on the ground, shock evident on her face at his words and man-handling of her. She gaped in horror at the sight now playing out in front of her.
The static beam of energy seemed to leap from the device towards him, zapping the gadget in his hand. Jack fairly sizzled as he writhed and yelled in agony, caught up in the grip of it's awesome power as it flowed through his body. The powerful charge stopped just as suddenly as it had started and he dropped to the floor like a stone to lay unmoving and still in the silence that followed.
Teal'c hurried forward to remove Jack's smoking backpack and turn him over onto his back, feeling for a pulse. Sam looked on mortified, not only by his unconscious state and his charred hand, but because of his last words to her. She placed a hand to her stomach and realised he knew something she hadn't and the whole idea of her actually being pregnant sank into place. The nausea...so much more than normal; the tiredness; the emotions running wild. She was carrying his child...and he knew about it? How? Who? Jackie? Teal'c's next words knocked her for six. All her previous anger at him dissipated like a summer mist into thin air.
"There is no pulse Major Carter."
"Noooooo," she screamed, unable to contemplate the harsh reality as it lay before her. "No! Teal'c he can't be dead. He can't be. I can't let him die." She scrambled to her feet, with help from Jonas, and rushed over to him.
Jonas picked up the gadget, tossing it from hand to hand as it was still hot, commenting, somewhat tactlessly, that it had been fried, along with their CO.
Sam tore away Jack's P90, and yanked open the vest and jacket, desperately starting CPR on him. The others watched helplessly as she worked to try and get his heart started again. Her hands fused together, pushing down on his chest while she counted off, then stopped. Breathing now into his mouth in order to get air into his lungs. Teal'c took over the compressions for her while she continued to breath life into him.
Seemingly endless minutes passed; the air around them punctuated by grunts from their efforts to revive him.
"Please Jack...breathe...damnit! You can't...die on...me. Come on...breathe...do it...for me," she sobbed in between the overwhelming struggle to bring him back to life again. "Don't you...leave me...now...do you...hear me?...Not now...Jack."
They had almost given up hope when she felt him shudder beneath her as he took his first hesitant breath. It was shallow, but it brought tears of joyous relief to her eyes. His pulse was weak, and it beat erratically beneath her fingers. She sat back on her heels and cried, wiping the sweat from her brow before issuing orders that they needed to get him home again quickly.
OoOoOoOoOoO
Janet had spent the afternoon chatting with Jackie. She didn't need to be told anything about the facts, she could see them for herself. She could see it, in the likenesses between her and Jack and Sam to realise just who this young woman was, after seeing the closeness between them as they talked together earlier. And Jack had made no secret of her identity when he introduced her to Janet.
Suddenly Jackie staggered against the desk and Janet quickly grabbed hold of her, preventing her from falling. Janet eased her down into the nearest chair, and took her trembling hands in her own as Jackie looked up, tears rapidly filling her eyes.
"I didn't stop him. It's too late," she sobbed, shaking her head. "I warned him to be careful, but it's too late now. He's dead."
TBC
