Spoilers: none specifically
A/N: The beta chick is currently offline being upgraded. (Armband so she reads real quick Ya Know!) So all of the mistakes are mine. Flames will be met with public humiliation ! MWHAHAHAHAHAHA! You have been warned.
Seriously I love reviews I try to write back to anyone who emails so you got any questions drop me a line.One last point. Sorry guys, I can't go any faster; I have a job, 3 cats (Mine is called Jack, 'Smirk!') 2 kids (one with an autistic condition) and a house full to the brim with ironing. You people out there whose significant others think they are an sg1 widow/er will know where I am coming from. Will try to make it quality when it does come though that's a fair trade off isn't it?
Chapter 11
Sam blinked wearily and then her tired brain registered that the phone in her quarters was ringing. She threw off the blankets and staggered unsteadily towards the phone, her mind still fogged by lack of sleep.
One mass effort of coordination later she snatched up the receiver, "Carter," she began in a surprisingly croaky whisper.
"Sam?" Doctor Frasier enquired, concern evident in her voice.
Major Carter cleared her throat, and turned her face back to the receiver.
"Yeah Janet, I'm fine. Just not quite awake yet. What time is it?" She paused to glance about for the location of her watch, finding it momentarily still fastened on her wrist.
"O O Early," said her friend sarcastically as the major read seven fifteen on the display.
"Lack of sleep sure makes you a happy person to chat to, Doctor," Sam replied in a passable imitation of her friend's earlier tone.
"Yeah, well. She's awake," Janet's voice muted and she could identify the dulcet tones of her newly discovered daughter screaming even through the steel door, that her friend had obviously held the receiver towards.
"I could do with a hand here Sam." Janet began her extreme exasperation evident in her voice. "Teal'c and Jonas are on the way but I can't seem to raise the colonel."
"No, he's off the base, " Sam interrupted, "He had to go and take care of something, said it couldn't be avoided."
"Hmmm, I can't see what could possibly take precedence over this, but …"
"I will be there in Five, Jan." Sam cut her friend off before she could establish her stride, replacing the receiver and scrubbing her hands through her hair with a sigh. 'A shower will have to wait' she thought sadly.
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Exiting the elevator she had expected to hear the child in full song but instead there was an eerie silence. Quickening her pace she began to jog towards the isolation room, fear clutching at her insides. She was diverted by the SF at the door; who informed her that Doctor Frasier had requested her attendance in the observation room.
Doctor Frasier met her with a tense smile and nodded towards the two-way mirror. Below her in the isolation room, the child was out of bed and standing flattened against the wall. Teal'c was standing in the middle of the room; his arms folded behind his back an indulgent smile gracing his normally impassive features.
Sam shot an inquiring glance in the direction of her friend, who shrugged her shoulders.
"The only intelligible phrase of goa'uld I could make out was 'Kree Jaffa', so against my better judgement I let Teal'c go in," she glanced at Sam and half smiled apologetically. Sam smiled back in acquiescence; they all trusted Teal'c implicitly.
"She stopped screaming a moment ago as he arrived and they have been standing like this ever since."
At precisely that moment, as though sensing Major Carter's arrival Teal'c executed a small bow, his eyes never leaving the terrified child's face.
"Tec'ma'te"(Hello)
The child's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Tal'mac Teal'c"(My name is Teal'c)
There was a brief silence then the little girl seemed to relax slightly and in a quiet voice said, "Tal'mac Hannah."
"Well I never," Janet exclaimed looking in astonishment at Sam.
"Hannah," Carter repeated carefully as though testing the name on her tongue.
"Who?" Her father said appearing beside her, his brow furrowed as he struggled to put a face to the name.
"Hannah," his daughter reiterated and gestured towards the glass and the pyjama clad figure within.
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Hannah sat down on the edge of the bed as the imposing jaffa had suggested but she was far from happy, her head hurt, her arm hurt where the red haired woman had jabbed her with the sharp silver things and she wanted to go home. She didn't want to talk to anyone but they weren't going to leave her alone and she figured this jaffa was the best chance she had of getting some answers. At least answers she could understand.
"Where am I?" She scowled at the jaffa.
"You are amongst the Tau'ri ;on the planet known as Earth." She raised her eyebrows at that, recalling the slave woman who had called her 'Tau'ri scum'.
"I am one of these Tau'ri?" She enquired with more than a hint of deductive reasoning. The child's eyes lit up as she worked out the answers to the question herself and Teal'c was instantly reminded of the sharp intelligence of her mother seated nearby on the other side of the glass.
"Indeed you are Hannah O'Neill," he stated with a smile and a slight bow of his head.
"Tal mal'tiak mal we'ai."(I am honoured.)
With this innocuous statement she laughed slightly, her eyes sparkling, then as though some other more pertinent thought had pulled her back to the present she frowned.
"Why did you call me 'Hannah O'Neill?"
"It is entirely appropriate as that is your name." Teal'c responded carefully taking note of her reactions. Seeing confusion deepening he added smoothly.
"Amongst the Tau'ri, children can have several names but always end with the family name of their father. As your father's family name is O'Neill that name will also belong to you now, as is your right."
"Hannah O'Neill," she mused momentarily before her thoughts returned unbidden to her situation.
'What's a father? Maybe it's a like Master, or host or slave. Perhaps I do belong to someone. Maybe I won't be sold to the mines like that slave said if I was caught running away again. I don't want to work in a mine. I wonder what a mine is. I like him better now he isn't yelling at me. I hope they won't hurt me with the tiny knives again. I want to go home.'
"Do you require sustenance, Hannah O'Neill?" The Jaffa enquired breaking into her thoughts once more.
"No, I am instructed if I fall into the hands of the enemy to refuse, if the master was to rescue me well fed he would be extremely displeased." She offered him a small smile of regret, lay down and turned her back on him.
"You may leave now, Jaffa." She reasoned that as he had been so nice she couldn't very well address him as 'shol'va' but equally she no longer wished to talk to him. She closed her eyes as pain and fatigue washed over her once more and before he had left the room, she was asleep.
Sliding back the heavy metal door, Teal'c was greeted by the anxious faces of his teammates and Doctor Frasier, the base CMO.
"Hannah O'Neill is asleep once more." The tall warrior informed them all, with a slight bow.
"What was that about Baal? I was able to make out the goa'uld for 'Master' but nothing else," Jonas enquired his eyes alight with interest.
Teal'c's face morphed into a grimace of considerable distaste.
"The child does not wish us to supply her with sustenance. She chooses to cling to the hope that the 'False god' will attempt to redeem her. She would choose death rather than live as the prisoner of his enemies." He finished with a flourish and a poignantly raised eyebrow.
The colour drained from Major Carter's features, "What?" she enquired incredulously turning to her friend.
"She hasn't eaten for two days she must be starving. Janet you've got to do something or she'll.." concern for the child filled her voice and was etched onto her features.
"My experience of the young has been that they will eat when they desire to do so." Teal'c reassured her.
"We must simply wait until her desire becomes great enough."
Janet smiled at the imposing jaffa and nodded in agreement, "Let's leave her sleeping for now, the sedative is still wearing off and the alternative treatment I prescribed will not take full effect for several hours. You aren't waiting for a god Sam so you need breakfast even if she doesn't"
"Ok," Sam nodded to Jonas who had just arrived and was already reaching for the door, his coffee, a banana and a sheaf of papers in his hand. He stepped through the doorway, and settled into a chair near the door ready to ensure a familiar face greeted her when she awakened..
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"So what's this alternative treatment you've prescribed for Hannah, Janet?" Sam enquired replacing her coffee cup on the table they had taken in the commissary.
"Well, you know I decided to filter her blood through a dialysis machine yesterday?" the doctor began by way of introduction.
"It appears judging by the blood work from last night that it was very successful and some of the naquadah was removed, probably that which was being caused by the nano tech devices breaking down within her. Mostly what remains is that which she inherited as her genetic makeup with some minor excess, which will be diluted in her system as she grows." She paused and took a slurp of her coffee.
"So she will have lower levels of naquadah than me by the time she reaches maturity?" Sam asked hopefully conscious of the difficulties her unique physiology caused her.
"Probably not, by the time you factor in her levels remaining significantly higher even now, but I guess we will see." Sam's friend replied, knowing that as her mother feared, Hannah would probably spend all her life under the medical care of the SGC.
Janet took a deep breath and launched into the next phase of her explanation, " So, to countermand the remainder of the naquadah and hopefully minimise her violent outbursts I injected her with a low dose of Ritalin."
"Ritalin? Don't they give that to hyperactive kids?" Carter enquired carefully.
"Yes, but mainly to dial down the more impulsive tendencies of attention deficit disorders." Janet replied in a matter of fact tone.
"The drug gained a lot of bad press due to it's high profile over prescription in recent years but in this instance I believe it may be the short to medium term solution to getting you in the front door so to speak with your daughter, Sam." The doctor in Janet spoke earnestly to the parent in her friend.
Sam stared into her coffee, and silently wished that Jack had been here with her. He at least had some experience with kids. She nodded at her friend, hoping that the colonel would see things in the same light, and her mind wandered back to the isolation room and the sleeping child.
Janet turned to answer a question for the jaffa across the table and Sam's mind subconsciously travelled back to the images on the screen she had witnessed the previous night. With a little shiver she recalled the icy voice of the goa'uld, Baal and suddenly Sam knew without a doubt that whatever the colonel had reported; the torture he had endured whilst in the alien's custody had been horrific. Carter gave herself a mental shake and refocused her attention on the diminutive woman across from her, realising the discussion had turned to the child's immediate future she smiled.
"General Hammond is contacting the president today about the 'Hannah situation' and providing the colonel returns early enough we should be able to work out a short term plan today, Janet."
"I don't want you to get your hopes up yet Sam," Doctor Frasier said with a slight frown. "She's got a way to go before anyone can take her home."
"Indeed," Her jaffa friend said with a slight smile, "Indeed."
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After leaving his daughter and her co-workers in the hallway, Jacob had walked smartly to his old friend, General Hammond's office and knocked on the door. He wondered if he should even be there, guiltily he opened the door before he was asked and peeked around the door.
"Yes Sir, I will sir. I'll get it there right away." The base commander waved him in and gestured towards an empty chair while he finished his call.
"Thank you Sir, yes, Good bye sir." He replaced the receiver of the red phone and sighed wearily before raising his eyes to the Tok'ra, reclining in his office chair.
"The president," George stated in response to Jacob's raised eyebrow."
"Of the U S of A? Gee!" His friend retorted sarcastically, no longer intimidated by the office after the preceding few years of his interstellar travels.
General Hammond chuckled and shook his head in despair.
"Jacob, what do you want?" He enquired good-humouredly, and then frowned in a mirrored response to his friend's.
"It's about Sam," He said and paused dramatically, "And Jack."
"Jac…" His friend began rising from his seat.
"The child needs two parents and they need one another George." Jacob interrupted waving the startled General back down.
"You know it, I know it! Hell! The whole damn base knows it." He gestured expansively his frustration showing in his tense movements.
"Jacob," Hammond began again, more forcefully.
"God damn it, George! The Goa'uld know it! Do you think he wouldn't have used the kid to get at them?"
"JACOB, IF I could just finish." The tok'ra sat in his chair again wincing at the General's tone, inwardly Selmak was laughing.
'Jacob, she chided, you really need to develop those listening skills, you're going to give him a heart attack.'
"I'm working on something, you just need to trust me." Hammond began carefully.
"OK." The tok'ra smiled and waited clearly expecting his friend to elaborate but before the general could add words to his expansive hand gesture towards the door that had signalled Jacob's exit, a brilliant white light demanded their attention and Thor materialised in the office.
"Ah, Thor." The General stated clearly taken unawares, his features draining of their colour.
"General Hammond," The grey alien fixed the two men in his flat unblinking gaze.
"I received a message requesting my assistance. What can the Asgard High Council assist you with?"
The general turned and looked at the tok'ra, who simply folded his arms and settled back into his chair, clearly going nowhere.
Sighing General Hammond filled the Asgard Commander in about the events of the preceding few days. The intelligent alien had nodded his head and asked a few pertinent questions.
"So in fact, this child is the product of the combined DNA of Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter and you believe she was genetically engineered by the goa'uld Baal?"
"Yes." Hammond replied evenly.
"Colonel O'Neill is not within this facility presently." Thor stated knowledgeably, reminding Jacob inadvertently that the Asgard were a vastly more developed race. General Hammond simply nodded and frowned.
"His life signs were not detected amongst those of your command when we arrived." The diminutive alien explained.
"Would you like me to transport the child aboard our ship and try to determine what has been done to manipulate her at a genetic level using our medical facilities?" He continued.
"Yes, but that wasn't my primary reason for asking you here today, Commander Thor, I believe you may be able to help me with another problem." Hammond stated smiling conspiratorially towards Jacob.
"Ahh, I see, very clever, George." His retired friend smirked finally catching on.
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"Jonas, everything ok inhere?" Janet enquired looking uncertainly through the door of the isolation room with Major Carter open mouthed with shock at her side.
The sight that greeted her left her almost speechless; Jonas was sitting on the bed, his back leaning against the headrest cushioned with pillows, his boots off. Situated comfortably on his lap was the child who just before breakfast had been screaming the base down; smiling and engrossed in a large picture book, which the young kelownan held between his hands.
Jonas grinned over at them and carefully handing the book to the now darkly scowling girl, he extracted himself from his comfortable position and jogged over in his socks to the amazed officers.
"Captain Bradley from SG-9 dropped by with a box of toys and books. He said his daughters had grown out of them now, and that Hannah might like them, so when she woke up, we were introduced and now we're looking at one together."
A light blush stole across the young man's cheeks, as he became uncertain that the nature of his actions were correct. He gestured behind him towards the child, who was once more engrossed in the book.
"I know she speaks goa'uld but she understands everything that I am saying, she really is very smart," He enthused beaming widely at the now crestfallen Major. His face fell suddenly as he realised she didn't share his sentiments entirely.
"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interfere, Sam. Perhaps you should go over and talk to her and I should go." Jonas laid his hand on Sam's arm in the manner of an apology sensing her disquiet at the dramatic change in the girl in her absence.
"Why don't we both go over?" Sam suggested carefully, unsure of her reception considering the child's previous extreme reactions.
"No time like the present Sam." Doctor Frasier said smiling reassuring and gently urged her friend across the room.
Sam approached the girl slowly, smiling brightly and stopped at the end of the bed.
"Hello Hannah," She grinned as the girl failed to even look up from the book she was poring over. Sam moved around the bedstead and sat down carefully; nearby but not touching the child. The girl stiffened and looked up but didn't move away.
"Whatcha looking at?" Sam enquired curiously, leaning round to look at the cover of the picture book in the child's hands.
"Oh, one thousand and one words, very nice Hannah." The child jerked up and two pairs of curious blue eyes measured one another in the ensuing silence.
"Hannah." The girl stated confidently pointing to herself.
"Jonas," She continued; pointing to the owner of the name still standing nearby. The child turned her blue eyes back to Sam narrowing her gaze she pointed at her and waited.
Sam realising that the child wanted a name to put with her face, glanced in a panicked fashion at Janet.
"Erm," She panicked and glanced uncertainly at her friend unsure of what name to go for. Janet smiled, raised her eyebrows, and silently urged her on.
"Mommy." Carter exhaled the word rapidly then smiled. " I'm your mommy."
The huge blue eyes smiled in return and pointed again.
"Mommee?" Hannah giggled; it seemed a funny name for a pretty lady.
"Yes," Sam giggled along with the child slightly unsure of what was funny.
" Now what've we got here? Oh a tree." She said saying the word carefully and pointing at the photograph in the book. The child grinned and said an unintelligible word in goa'uld.
"Tree." Sam repeated and then pointed at the girl. "Now you, Tree."
"Tree?" The child turned to Jonas and gabbled a long sentence in goa'uld. He shook his head slightly and the child rolled her eyes at him exasperatedly and sighed.
"I figured it would be a great way for us each to learn a new language but she is much quicker than I am." Jonas admitted ruefully.
The three of them sat on the bed and looked at pictures in the book while Janet returned to the infirmary to deal with the mornings round of scheduled and unscheduled patients. Later in the morning, Sam selected a book of fairy stories and read to the little girl who couldn't understand the words but soon became immersed in the pictured of castles and dragons and princesses.
At midday, they tried to coax her to eat with a sandwich, and some fruit but she stalwartly refused. Seeing that the child had reached the verge of a monster tantrum, with flushed cheeks, teary eyes and quivering lower lip, Sam decided to settle for the half glass of milk the child had consumed.
"Did you get her to eat anything?" Janet asked returning from her medical duties and she placed her hand on the now rapidly tiring child's head.
"No, she wouldn't eat anything." Jonas sighed. "That I did get; it was a definite 'Noc'" He smiled at the doctor's grimacing expression.
The child's eyes glanced away and a guilty blush rose in her pale cheeks. She knew the Tau'ri grown-up ups were talking about her refusal to eat, she felt ashamed and confused. It was gradually becoming obvious that these people who had 'stolen her' didn't intend to harm her. In fact, barring the sharp needles, no one had hurt her since her arrival; slung over the tall man's shoulder. She wondered suddenly why he hadn't been to see her and then scowled, remembering that 'he didn't want her' and so she didn't want him. 'The master will come for me' she thought stifling a huge yawn.
Strangely her next thought was that the big man who'd taken her would stop him and she felt one more knot in her stomach slowly unwind. Her eyes gently began to slide closed and she quickly jerked awake as she felt her head lean against someone else's arm.
The beautiful lady called 'Mommee' gently took the book from her and urged her to
lie down in the covers again. Stifling another huge yawn, Hannah fought to keep her eyes open but the rhythmic stoking of the lady's hand on her hair and the soothing stream of low words that she spoke soon worked their magic.
The little girl's breathing soon slowed and deepened indicating that she was sound asleep. Janet carefully took her temperature with an ear thermometer smiling as it showed a normal reading after the beep. Sam tucked the blankets around the child and kissed her gently on the forehead.
"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Janet enquired.
"The medication seems to be working, she only frowned for a minute and then she seemed fine." Sam replied smiling in some relief, her fears of immediate rejection allayed.
"There is still a healthy amount of sedative in the mix so we may hit a few problems yet. Plus we still have to figure out how to get her to eat!" The Doctor admitted gently placing her hand on Sam's arm and steering her out of the room. She nodded to the nurse in the room indicating for her to stay with the child whilst they were gone.
Sam stepped through the doorway and out in to the corridor waiting whilst Janet pulled the metal door closed to muffle the base noises and reduce the noise of any alarms. She glanced up at the sound of heavy footsteps advancing up the corridor, and smiled when she realised it was her commanding officer.
The smile swiftly faded as she noted that his face was almost white with fury, and his hands were tightly balled fists at his sides. Carter tensed automatically, silently wondering what could have happened to cause his darkened mood. The colonel strode up, his eyes flashed and she registered with shock that the most immediate source of his anger was her.
"Why?" He ground out as he grabbed her painfully by the upper arm and propelled her away from the doctor and out of earshot of the SF guard.
"Wwwhat?" Sam stuttered in shock her hand rising to grab ineffectively at the hand holding her in its bruising grip as she tried to twist out of his grasp.
"Why, Carter, Why?" He hissed desperately trying to keep his temper and the rising volume of his words under control. Speechless with fear Sam turned her pain filled eyes towards the doctor who had begun to follow.
"Colonel." Doctor Frasier barked and advanced towards the pair.
"Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant?" O'Neill shook her, her eyes widened in shock as his whispered words registered in her overloaded brain.
"What?" She simply couldn't take in the words he had spoken. 'Pregnant? When?' she thought, her confusion blazing a trail across her terrified features. She looked towards her friend silently pleading for assistance.
"Last year, when you were kidnapped." He stated quite vehemently but a little cloud of doubt had appeared on the horizon of his mind.
"Wwwwwhat?" Carter stuttered again looking at Janet in horror.
"Oh my God!" Janet whispered clamping a hand over her mouth.
Jack felt rather than saw the shudder of horror run through the woman he still firmly held against the wall, she turned her horrified eyes back to his face and fainted. The colonel caught her deftly as she slumped, all thoughts of his anger gone, his face stricken.
"Bring her to the infirmary." The diminutive doctor ordered, her face grim as she marched past him without a second glance.
"Sam, I'm sorry." He said in a strangled whisper as he lifted her into his arms. "I'm so sorry."
A/N: hope you're enjoying it so far Tee Hee. review review review.