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Sam stood up, tense with excitement. She heard someone at the door and then, just as the door was swinging open, realized her nakedness and grabbed two pieces of paper. Sam had just positioned them strategically when two members of an SG team rushed into the cell. They stared at her and she at them for several beats. Finally, the officer, a Captain Langetti she remembered meeting a half dozen times, said, tentatively, "Major Carter?"
Sam could understand his hesitation. She had not been nude or bald the last time he had seen her. She wanted to answer him and almost couldn't speak. In five months, she had hardly used her voice. Finally she got out, "Yes. Oh, yes, thank God. Can we please get out of here?"
The officer nodded but then said to the enlisted man who was considerably larger than he, "Sergeant, please give Major Carter your jacket."
He handed it over quickly and they both turned away as she dropped the paper and put it on. Sam wasn't short and the jacket still left part of her lower half hanging out in the breeze. She snatched up one of the pieces of paper again and said, "Uh, there's still a problem. Do you have anything else?"
Captain Langetti thought a second, set his weapon down, removed his jacket and whipped off his tee and handed it to her. "I think you can stretch the neck enough to sort of pull it down around your waist. But please hurry Major." Sam complied. As she started to exit the cell, she realized she couldn't leave her papers behind. She darted back and stuffed them inside the jacket and then followed the others out.
It was her first opportunity to see what lay outside her door. She had been knocked out when captured and awakened in the cell. She discovered a low-ceilinged corridor with recessed lights along the walls stretching off some way into in the distance.
The two airmen hurried her along to a cross corridor and then a short distance later, after turning to the right, they encountered Jack and Daniel and more SG team members. The two men had shaven heads, as she did, and were wearing the self-same tee solution around their loins. Her whole body felt lighter when she saw their faces and knew for sure, for the first time in months, that they lived. The fantasy embarrassment factor was in the back of her mind but had no room to surface when she was so consumed with pure relief. From their expressions they felt the same way about her. In the brief seconds before all three came together in a clumsy but enthusiastic group hug, she noticed that they had apparently been spending a lot of time in calisthenics just as she had because they both looked even more buff than she remembered them.
A second SG team came pounding down the corridor toward them. "Out now!" yelled the commanding officer.
Sam said urgently, "Teal'c. We have to find Teal'c."
Daniel grabbed her arm and pulled her along, saying as they ran, "Teal'c was never captured. They said he's been hiding out in the hills around here, evading them but not able to get back to the gate. He finally did just a day or two ago and brought our rescuers back. He's with the party securing our escape route and the gate.
Sam nodded, vastly relieved. Daniel dropped her arm and they ran on then, Sam clutching her makeshift clothing as they made their way outside. Immediately after exiting what was apparently an underground installation, a huge explosion ignited below them and they were momentarily knocked off their feet. The commanding officer immediately urged, "On your feet. Double time back to the gate."
It was hard running without shoes and trying to avoid the embarrassment of losing her clothes but she managed it. She would have run across burning hot coals to get off this planet and back to her real life. When they reached the gate, it was so good to see Teal'c but there was no time for greetings. The address had been dialed as the team saw them approach and they literally ran into the gate without stopping.
On the other side, there were waiting blankets for each of them since their condition had been called ahead. General Hammond was there, beaming ear to ear to see them, but clearly looking concerned as to what their treatment might have been when he saw the shaved heads. They were immediately hustled to the infirmary, Teal'c walking quickly beside them.
Dr. Janet Fraiser was not pleased with the zoo the infirmary threatened to become as half the base, it seemed, came dropping by to welcome the long lost members of SG-1. It took very little time to reassure herself that there was probably nothing wrong with Daniel and Jack other than cuts on their feet from the barefooted run. She took blood samples of course and had them go off and produce a urine specimen. They threw on some scrubs and met the well wishers out in the hall so that she could focus on Sam who, alone, reported any symptoms or problems.
"So," she said reviewing everything Sam had told her, "you've had all these symptoms roughly two and a half months: nausea and vomiting, extreme tiredness, frequent urination, and sore breasts. How's your menstrual cycle been?"
Sam looked at her with dawning comprehension. "Wait a minute Janet. There is no way I could be pregnant. I didn't see anyone but my captors for 5 months and I didn't…didn't do anything with them."
"Answer my question." Janet said firmly but sympathetically.
"You know how it is when women exercise heavily. I didn't have a period for the first 9 months I was at the Air Force Academy." Janet looked impatient. "Okay, about a month after I was captured was the last time. But, Janet, come back to the main point. I'm not Mary and this isn't a case of immaculate conception."
"Exactly," Janet said. "Look, Sam, it will be very easy to do a pregnancy test. I'm going to do a pelvic exam right now. We'll know one way or the other soon. If you are, then we can figure out what they might have done during the periods when you were drugged. If you aren't, then we'll look for other explanations for your physical problems."
Sam didn't leave the infirmary until the pregnancy test had been completed. When Janet told her the news, she went very white and Janet grabbed her, thinking for a moment that she was about to fall over in a faint. When she was a little more composed, Sam asked, "So, I was obviously impregnated while I was drugged and out. Okay, let me confirm with you that I have thought of all the possibilities I could be facing." Janet nodded, encouragingly. "They could have implanted a human embryo which could be, I guess, from anywhere including one of my own eggs fertilized by any one, including," she winced, "including one of my team mates. I don't believe that our captors were human so unless there were other humans stashed somewhere, my team mates are the most likely fathers." She could hardly go on but was impelled by a sudden horrid thought to blurt out, "Could it be an alien baby Janet? A different species?"
Janet made a face. "It's possible but I don't know that you could continue to carry an alien's baby now. I would think there would have to be things they would be doing to keep the pregnancy viable."
Sam bit her lip. "God help me for feeling this way about an innocent baby anything but I am just as glad I couldn't actually become the mother of an alien baby. Okay. So much for implanting an embryo. I guess they could have artificially inseminated me. Once again the candidates are an unknown pool but most likely Daniel and Jack."
Janet sighed and said, "I think that about does it."
Sam looked at Janet absolutely stricken. "So, if I am pregnant, the highest probability is that I am carrying Daniel or Jack's child. Janet, you can't tell anyone. You just can't."
Janet took her hand. "Sam I don't want to make things difficult for you but I have to report this to General Hammond. Look, we'll be able to do amniocentesis by 16 weeks and look at the DNA. You may be already be that far along now. We'll do an ultrasound and measure the limbs to try to get a fix on dates. Then if you're far enough along we can do the amnio." She paused and added quietly, "Or you could decide to have an abortion at any time. It's your choice."
Sam was horrified. "I don't think I believe in abortion but even if I did, I couldn't abort Jack or Daniel's child. They've already lost so much."
Janet lowered her head and studied the floor for a moment and then looked up at Sam. "I can keep it between me and General Hammond I think until we get the test results. You do know that even if we can do amnio right away, it will be 2 to 3 weeks before we can get test results. But you are in fabulous physical condition and this is your first child. You're not going to show probably until five months. We can keep this quiet." Sam started to get up but Janet put her hand on her arm and held her back for a moment. "I'll schedule the amnio for tomorrow and be sure that it's handled discretely." She hugged Sam then. "It'll all work out somehow."
Sam just nodded and walked unsteadily from the infirmary, turning back at the last minute to ask anxiously, "I had some papers. Do you know what happened to them?"
Janet nodded and picked up a large manila envelope from her desk. "What are these anyway?"
Sam just shrugged and said, "Some things I was doodling in the cell. I guess I've developed some security blanket thing for them." She left with the envelope under her arm and was utterly shocked to find that Jack and Daniel had been waiting for her the entire time. They moved up on either side of her and each put an arm around her. "We're just famished for some of the cafeteria's food," Daniel said.
Jack said, "They will never again experience appreciation like they're about to get from us."
Daniel objected, "What about that time we were caught in that temporal loop and you had to eat Fruit Loops day after day?"
Jack laughed and said, "I didn't say never before did I? I said never again because I'm personally not ever going to allow myself to be forced to eat the same anything two days in a row EVER again."
Sam could tell from little side long glances that they were worried about her but had apparently decided the best way to handle it was to act as if nothing was wrong. Their fake heartiness continued all the way to the cafeteria. The men loaded their trays to the breaking point. Sam's tray would have been almost empty if they hadn't kept insisting that she had to try this or that.
When at last they sat down, Sam briefly told them her experience, editing only detail about her physical problems. She talked about the unadorned cell where the lights never went out unless she was about to be drugged, the paper, being kept naked. They nodded throughout her narrative having experienced all of the same conditions. Jack said at last, "That's pretty much our story except we were together."
Sam looked at them surprised. She simply hadn't realized that they had been kept captive in the same cell. "What was that like? Did you get on each other's nerves?" she asked, thinking to herself that they surely drove each other batshit.
Jack said, "It got that way. By about the third month we were arguing about everything. We actually had a couple of fist fights. But then, we worked past that."
Daniel continued, "You live 24-7 with another guy in one small room and you are either going to kill each other or come to the point where the other person is well," he paused and looked at Jack searching for a way to say it, "almost like the other half of you, I guess."
Jack noticed then that Sam's tray was almost in the same condition it had been when they sat down. "Sam, you've got to eat." He picked up a fork and loaded it with some chocolate cream pie he had stuck on her tray earlier. "Open up. Come on."
Sam couldn't help but react like a crazy woman. Her eyes bugged out of her head and she pushed his hand with the fork away from her so abruptly that the morsel of pudding and whipped cream flew off the fork and it plopped in the center of the adjoining table. He couldn't know that one of her fantasies had had them feeding each other chocolate cream pie just like this while wearing considerably less clothing. "I'm not hungry," she said mortified and unable to avoid sounding like a virago. She got up abruptly and said, "I'll see you tomorrow," before fleeing the cafeteria.
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS Daniel and Jack sat, stupefied, watching her leave. "Should we go after her do you think?" Jack asked.
"I think she needs to be left alone for awhile. Reentry is going to be hard on all of us. I've read stuff about recovered POWs in Viet Nam and concentration camp victims liberated at Buchenwald. We're going to have to reintegrate into our own lives. You don't just walk back in and resume everything as if you never left."
He paused for a breath and before he could go on Jack raised a hand and said, "It's started." This was their code for whe Daniel started to run on and on and Jack really didn't want hear any more. Daniel immediately stopped without any hard feelings.
Daniel took a bite of his own chocolate cream pie and closed his eyes in ecstasy for a moment. Jack laughed at his expression and asked, "So, what do you think was in the envelope?"
Daniel shrugged and said, "I dunno. Some test results maybe from Janet? So, not to change the subject but have you called Sara yet?" From the expression on his face, it was clear what he expected the answer to be.
Jack said, smugly, "You think I didn't but buckaroo, we made a pact for what we would do if we ever got out of there. I keep MY word. When I left you waiting for Sam so I could take care of a couple of things, that was one of the things."
Daniel flinched. He hadn't acted on his part of the pact yet and Jack knew it. They'd had a lot of time to contemplate what would happen if they never left the cell. It hade taken almost the full five months but Jack had admitted to Daniel that he still loved Sara, almost 8 years after their divorce. He had found Sam very attractive and sensed something from her but, in addition to the severe career fallout, there were his unresolved feelings for Sara, the woman he had loved since his teens. He swore that if he survived, he would make an effort to win her back.
Daniel smiled widely. "And?" he prompted.
"She found out I was missing. I think it got her thinking about missed opportunities. Anyway, she not only didn't hang up on me, she agreed to go out to dinner with me. This may be easier than I thought," Jack finished, smiling pretty widely himself. He looked challengingly at Daniel. "When are you going to make your move?"
Daniel grimaced. "Well I could hardly talk to her when she was closeted in the infirmary, behind closed doors, right? I'm planning on trying a dinner invitation out myself tomorrow."
"You know I'm going to be checking for a progress report," Jack warned.
"You're going to be a real pain in the butt about this, aren't you?" Daniel observed without irritation. He leaned forward and rested his head on his hands, suddenly feeling very tired. "What sort of condition do you think our houses are in? They told us they've been keeping my rent payments up but I wonder if there's five months layer of dust inside. Mold spores." He shuddered for effect.
"Little allergy bombs waiting to strafe you," Jack observed sympathetically. "I was wondering the same thing but all my stuff is at my house including my uniforms." He looked down at the scrubs. "I look like Dr. Jeff Weber from General Hospital."
Daniel didn't say "before my time" because during their hours of conversation Jack had shared his unnatural knowledge of 70's era General Hospital gained during a few months of recovery from a very serious wound. They had pretty much been scraping the bottom of the barrel for subjects at that point. Daniel puffed his cheeks out and then released the air slowly. "I guess, but how do we get home? We don't even have cars here."
Jack pulled a key out of his pocket. "I already took care of it. Motor pool. You live farther. You drop me off and go on home and then come by and get me in the morning, okay?"
They went with that plan and two hours later after a warm shower, Daniel lay in bed having more problems than he would ever have believed with being alone in a dark room. Finally he got up and turned the lights on. That made him feel a bit more comfortable but he still was tense. The noises bothered him. All he was used to was the sound of another person breathing, not cars driving by and the neighbor's dog barking. As predicted, his allergies were protesting. He lay in his bed for two hours, tense as a board, and dealing with bouts of sneezing. He realized how much he wanted to talk to Jack. He looked at the clock. In their prison it would be the middle of the night now but here it was only 10:00. You could call people at 10:00, right?
"O'Neill," Jack answered instantly sounding fully alert. Daniel was relieved. He didn't sound like he had been awakened from anything.
"Jack, It's Daniel," Daniel said, unnecessarily, and then went into a fit of sneezing.
"You've having trouble sleeping," Jack observed matter-of-factly.
"Yeah. How are you doing?"
"Not sleeping," Jack admitted.
"Look, Jack, I can't sleep here. I've got to hire a cleaning service or something," Daniel said, afraid that dealing with the allergies would only be half the problem but knowing he had to start somewhere. "I want to go back and get a bunk at the Mountain but I've got our car. If you're up anyway, would you mind if I picked you up and you went to the Mountain with me so you could get the car?"
"Actually, I think I would rather sleep at the Mountain myself," Jack said. "My house is not right somehow. Come on by and get me. I'll be ready."
Before midnight they were back at the Mountain and had gotten a couple of bunks in one of the rooms of four bunks that were available for personnel as needed. They left the lights on and as each closed his eyes and heard nothing but the sounds of familiar breathing, dropped off to sleep immediately.
The next morning after breakfast which was still an incredibly sensual delight to Daniel, he headed for the infirmary. As he walked he speculated on why he wasn't having any problems at all enjoying real food again but was having so much difficulty with other aspects of his life. It was a puzzle he still hadn't solved when he reached the infirmary and, to his delight, found Janet in her small office at the back. She looked up, very glad to see him, and it gave him courage. "Janet," he asked hesitantly. "Would you have a moment to talk?"
"Sure, Daniel," she replied, smiling warmly up at him and indicating a chair.
Daniel made a couple of false starts at a sentence and finally said, "You know, Janet, when you aren't sure if you're going to get out of a situation, you start thinking about missed opportunities."
"That makes sense," Janet agreed.
Daniel looked up very quickly, made eye contact, and then cut his eyes away. "I knew this was going to be hard but I just, I can't do this. I'm sorry Janet." He stood up as if to leave.
Janet stood up too and walked around the desk to him. "Daniel, whatever it is, it's upsetting you. Haven't I been a good listener? You can tell me."
Daniel said ruefully, "You have absolutely no idea what I'm getting at, do you?"
Janet laughed a little, "You'd be surprised. You're talking about Sam, right? Your feelings for her?"
"My what!" Daniel sputtered. Janet was not the first person who had assumed he was carrying some sort of pathetic torch for Sam. Just a trickle of gossip from the grapevine had reached him before they were captured. Just enough to know that most of the base suspected Sam had a thing for Jack and that a fair number of them thought he was sweet on Sam with no prayer of it going anywhere. It reminded him of being a geek in high school. Of liking one of the popular girls who dated the cool guys and hearing how people snickered at him. Despite the fact that he was here to ask Janet out, her question pushed a button deep inside of him and he said in a tone of voice not likely to help advance his objective, "Actually, JANET, I came in here to ask YOU out."
Her mouth was hanging open and she was completely shocked. "You came in here to ask ME out!" she finally forced out, her tone one of complete disbelief.
He tried to moderate his tone but he was still pretty annoyed. "Just forget it. It was a stupid idea."
"Oh, no, Daniel, not stupid at all," she said, placatingly. "Please sit back down. I've actually thought about asking you over for dinner, doing something myself to see if we might be good together but I thought…" she trailed off.
Daniel lost all his remaining irritation and smiled shyly at Janet, immensely flattered. Speaking quietly, he groped for an explanation. "Look, I won't deny that I wondered at one point, once I got past losing Sha're if Sam and I might work out but it was a waste of years, Janet, just years of my life. She's attracted to military guys, her ex-fiance, Jonas, and let's face it, Jack. Maybe she's looking for someone like her father. But she sure isn't looking for someone like me. So, I sat there in that cell and thought about the need for moving on and I found myself thinking about you." He leaned forward and fixed his beautiful blue eyes on her. "So, what do you think Janet?"
For a moment she looked like she might be thinking about saying yes but then her face fell. "Daniel, there's something that has to be dealt with and it's going to take about 2 or 3 weeks. I don't mean to sound like a secret agent or something but I need to have you ask me that question again, if you still want to and only if you still want to, then." She darted a quick look to the part of the infirmary visible through the partially opened door and reassured of privacy, took his hand, squeezed it, stood on her tiptoes and leaned into him for just a second, saying softly, "Okay, Daniel?"
He looked at her warm smile just a few inches from his face, and couldn't help but be encouraged. "Okay," he returned softly.
They remained standing close to each other, looking into each other's faces for a moment longer, a moment too long. Daniel caught a movement out of the corner of his eye and wheeled to look at Sam, there in the doorway. She looked very unhappy to see him. "What are you doing here, Daniel?" she asked almost belligerently.
Daniel wanted to make allowances for everything they had been through but he couldn't help but wonder at her tone and coming on the heels of her dramatic exit from the cafeteria the night before, he was one part very concerned but also one part a little peeved. "I just wanted to visit a little with Janet. I've missed her."
Janet had quickly moved away from Daniel and back around her desk. Now she said, "Sam just needs to do a couple of follow up tests from yesterday, Daniel. If you wouldn't mind excusing us?" she added, her oddly gentle tone of voice at odds with the dismissive nature of her words.
"You okay, Sam?" Daniel asked, instantly concerned.
Janet answered rather than waiting for Sam, "It's nothing, Daniel. It's just I needed to run some slightly different tests on a woman than on a man and didn't get finished yesterday."
"Okay. Let me know if you need anything, Sam," Daniel said as he left. He knew there was something more going on than either woman was admitting. Sam was a terrific soldier but they should never use her for espionage. She was too open.
