Thank-you for sticking with me so far. You get a bit of a hint in this chapter - and it will keep getting better.
More then nine months passed before Captain Withers second visit occurred. He was ushered into Sam's new office at the university. Sam was mildly surprised he'd returned at all.
"Ma'am, I've returned to check on your progress." The front desk had told her that he was on his way up and she had schooled her reaction to his presence. Sam kept her back to him for a few extra minutes so he'd know she wasn't pleased with his long absence.
"I'm still progressing but I'm not yet ready to return to Earth."
"Understood Ma'am. Is there any news you wish for me to carry back to Earth?"
"Not that I can think of at the moment. Do you have any messages for me?"
"No ma'am. How long do you think it will be until you can return?" Sam now turned to face the nervous young man.
"General Wilson said it would be at least a year. He told me to tell you that if you were prepared to return before then you should use the MALP to contact the SGC."
"Who's General Wilson?"
"He took over after General Landry retired."
"I see. How many teams are still functioning?"
"We still have eight exploratory teams."
"Have the research areas also experienced cuts?"
"Yes, ma'am. All technology from out galaxy is shipped to area 51. There are still a few linguists and archeologists on staff but they're mostly assigned to the exploratory teams. Most of the funding is now focused on Atlantis. They're sending through new technology almost weekly. The staff at Atlantis rotates through frequently."
"Has Dr. Jackson returned?"
"No ma'am. He's permanently stationed at Atlantis. He married a local and has no interest in returning."
"I see. I appreciate the update. I'll see you in a year or so."
"Yes ma'am." The young captain removed himself from the room and building as quickly as possible. Sam returned to her work but she couldn't shake the heartache of knowing she'd been forgotten. Sam lost herself in her work to spare herself from the pain of loss. When she didn't return for dinner Timor came looking for her. She occasionally worked too much but never so late. Timor had also heard about today's visitor and he was worried what effect this might have had on Sam. He stood in the door to her office. She was leaning over a piece of equipment too complicated for him to begin to describe. She wasn't moving and he got the feeling she wasn't really working.
"You must be starved. How about we go out to eat?" Sam turned her head and shrugged.
"I'm not really all that hungry."
"But your healing legs need nutrients even if you don't." Timor walked forward and put his hands on her shoulders. "I take it your soldier did not bring you welcomed news." Sam couldn't contain it any longer. Tears silently ran from her eyes and her shoulders trembled with the effort she expended trying to remain still.
"Let it out my love. Tell me what bothered you so." It was the first time he'd referred to her as his love and through her pain it didn't even register.
"They've forgotten me. They've all moved on."
"Then be here with us. Let us be your new life. You have many friends and if you wish it you can also have a family." His words penetrated her pain and she looked into his eyes. The soft moonlight and the dim glow from the lamp added to the suddenly romantic atmosphere.
"Timor?"
"I have been waiting for a good time but one hasn't presented itself. I would be honored if you would consider being my beloved for life." Sam opened her mouth but Timor placed a finger over her mouth. "Do not answer me now. This is a decision that requires much contemplation. Let me take you out for dinner and get you back home where you can think on my proposal for as long as you wish." Sam merely nodded. Timor pushed Sam from her office and headed towards town to find a quiet restaurant.
Sam thought about Timor's proposal for several days. She spent long hours using a modified walker to traverse the gardens around the university as she pondered what she should say to him. This is where he found her three days after making his offer. He walked up behind her and placed his arms around her waist. She leaned back against him.
"I want to be able to walk at the ceremony without the use of this damn thing." Sam tapped the top of the walker.
"Then I can take that as a yes."
"Yes."
"Then let's go home and get working on those legs. There is much to do." Sam and Timor both smiled. As Sam leaned back on her walker Timor pulled her back. He turned her face to the right and kissed her. She spun in his arms, leaning heavily against him, and deepened the kiss.
"There are some other things I can think of doing at home." Sam's eyes twinkled.
"I'm sure there are but if we have waited this long I would prefer to wait until the night of our ceremony. I am still a very old fashioned man and I want to do this right." Sam pouted slightly and then smiled again.
"So how much longer do you think it will take to get these darn legs working?"
"Three or four weeks if you really try." Sam wrapped her arms tightly around Timor's neck.
"I'm ready and I bet I know just how to bribe you to help." She kissed him again, long and slow, making his heart flutter and his stomach jump.
"Yes you do." Timor helped her get her walker back in position and they headed home to plan their joining.
It was a small ceremony with friends from the hospital and university making up most of the guests. A few members of Timor's extended family attended as well as his sister and her family. Their parents had died many years earlier. Timor whisked Sam off to a mountain top resort for a honeymoon. It was a foreign concept to Timor when Sam had first described it but it seemed like a wonderful idea. They spent the week taking short walks, since Sam's legs were still weak, and sitting on the porch. A week of rest with a fair amount of play was just what the doctor had ordered.
Sam was shocked to learn within a month of her honeymoon that she was pregnant. She hadn't expected it to happen so soon. She knew she was well past the peak age for conception and she wasn't even sure she'd be able to get pregnant. Timor had already left for the hospital when Sam got the news. She called him and arranged to have lunch at a small bakery near the hospital. She was too excited and nervous to even try to work. Timor showed up on time and found Sam nervously folding and unfolding her napkin.
"My beloved, what has your hands fluttering so?" Sam looked up into her husbands loving eyes and stilled her hands. Timor sat and waited for her news, something he had expected to hear soon.
"We're going to have a baby." Sam didn't smile and waited for his reaction. She knew he wanted children but she wasn't sure he wanted them right away.
"That is fantastic." Timor's face lit with pride and joy.
"Really?"
"Yes, don't you want children?" Timor suddenly looked concerned.
"Of course I do. I just didn't expect it to happen so soon. I mean I wasn't sure if you were going to be upset it had happened so soon."
"Why would it upset me? I knew it was possible. It's one of the side effects of being married to a healer." Timor watched as the realization spread across Sam's face. The warmth she experienced during and after making love with Timor was related to his healing abilities.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I did ask if it was what you desired. I did not want to tell you the high rate of successful conceptions among healers in case it didn't happen. I wasn't even sure if we would be able to conceive and I didn't want to get your hopes up. You've survived too many disappointments and I didn't want to create another. Are you angry with me?"
"No...no, of course not. I think part of me knew what was happening. Is this why you wanted to wait until after we bonded before making love?" Timor blushed.
"It is one of the first lessons young healers are taught. If we are not careful we would end up with more young then we could afford. I have met some healers with twenty or more children." Sam's eyes widened and her heart dropped. "Do not fear I have no interest in having so many children. Once we have our fill of children I can undergo a procedure that will render me infertile."
"I guess this cuts down on the number of healers who cheat, huh?" Timor laughed aloud at Sam's question.
"They are easily caught." Sam joined in the laughing.
"Does that also mean not all Atonians get that warm sensation that lasts for hours after making love?" Sam whispered her question.
"That is correct." Timon leaned forward. "There are some with the gift for healing who choose to not train and instead become hired lovers just because of this after effect."
"I can understand that desire." Sam smiled and clasped Timor's hand. "Any chance you could leave the hospital early today?" Timor knew by the look on Sam's face this wasn't an offer he wanted to miss.
"I'll find a way." They ate quickly and headed home, after a quick stop at the hospital.
Sam had expected the pain. It was the soul piercing joy that surprised her. Her daughter was beautiful and the mother-daughter bond happened as soon as she open her small blue eyes. She snuggled against her mother and fell asleep, exhausted from her journey into the world.
"Have you decided upon a name?" The nurse looked at Sam and Timor.
"Alexa." Sam glanced at Timor who nodded his agreement. The pain of childbirth was gone within the week, another benefit of being joined to a healer. Captain Withers arrived two weeks after Alexa's birth. Sam made it clear she was happy with her new family so Captain Withers returned through the gate and took the MALP with him. The loss of her last connection to earth combined with the hormones that mess up all new mothers resulted in a short but severe bout of depression. Sam stayed in bed for three days nursing Alexa only when Timor or the nurse brought her. Finally Timor decided he would have to force Sam to live again.
Sam heard Alexa crying. She waited for Timor or the nurse to go to her but the crying continued. Sam grew anxious and after eight minutes got up to investigate. Her daughter was in her crib crying loudly. It was past time to change and fed her so Sam gathered her into her arms and sat in the rocking chair. Alexa happily latched on and began eating. Sam watched her daughter with amazement.
"She needs you. You are the only person who can do this for her. You are her rock and she needs you to be solid." Timor stood in the doorway of the nursery watching Sam and Alexa.
"I've been neglecting her, haven't I?" A tear escaped Sam's right eye.
"Yes but now that you know you can fix it." Timor walked across the room and knelt beside Sam. He rubbed Alexa's soft hair. Her skin was getting slightly purple and her tiny ridges lay along her hairline. Her hair was blond like her mothers, which would make her a rare beauty when she grew. Her blue eyes contrasted wonderfully with the purple tint of her skin.
"I can and I will." Timor leaned forward and kissed Sam. Alexa released her hold on her mother and burped. The sound surprised the adults and resulted in laughter from both.
Sam nursed Alexa for almost two years, not only because she enjoyed sharing the closeness with her daughter but also because it was the most effective form of birth control for the spouse of a healer. Sam did want some space between children. As soon as Alexa weaned Sam was pregnant again. She had a boy this time. The delivery was difficult and if Timor hadn't been such a skilled healer Sam might not have survived. They named their some Micha. The week after his birth Timor underwent a procedure to eliminate the chances of getting Sam pregnant again. Her near death experience had frightened them both.
Micha and Alexa grew into beautiful and highly intelligent children. They learned quickly but Sam refused to let them skip grades. She wanted them to play while they were children, although she did let them come to the university with her in the summer and take a few advanced courses. Sam was surprised they grew so quickly. By the time they were young adults Sam had become a leader in the field of multonian physics, an unknown branch of physics on Earth. Alexa pursued medicine since she'd inherited her father's ability to heal. Micha became a pilot in the Atonian military, following in his mother's footsteps after years of listening to her stories about Earth. Micha ended up on one of the first units to begin exploring through the gate. Sam had been urging exploration since before the children were born and she was thrilled Micha was part of the initial project.
They'd been exploring through the stargate for several years when tragedy struck. Micha's team brought back a plague and it wasn't caught before being released to the public. Micha became ill three days after gating home. His wife and two children became ill a week later. Alexa, Timor, and the other healers worked around the clock to stop the spread of this disease but they weren't even able to stall it. Alexa became ill, as did her husband and three children. The government wisely decided not to try and send people through the gate to safety because they had no way of determining who was infected. Mortality was proving to be one hundred percent, although Timor was working himself to the bone trying to keep his family alive. Sam felt the illness beginning in her also. Timor was franticly trying to care for his family.
By eight in the morning Jack had fallen asleep with his head pillowed on his arm. He was still holding Sam's hand. Daniel had changed places with Teal'c and Colonel Mitchell had come and gone, leaving fresh coffee in his wake. Sam's fever stayed steady at 102 degrees defying everything the doctor knew about disease. She was use to the rise and fall pattern most fevers followed. This steady 102 degrees had her worried.
It was after lunch when Sam first began to stir. Jack leaned over the edge of the bed and wiped Sam's brow.
"She feels cooler." The doctor came over with a thermometer and took a reading.
"101. That's much better. Maybe she'll wake up soon." Sam moaned and stirred for forty minutes before opening her eyes.
"Hey, Sam."
"Daniel?"
"Yeah, long time no see." He smiled at her.
"You left Atlantis?" Daniel glanced over at Jack and then back towards Sam.
"I missed the ship, Sam. I didn't make it to Atlantis."
"Why are you still so young?"
"What?"
"You shouldn't be here. You'll get sick."
"I don't understand Sam."
"Where's Timor? How's Alexa? Are Ninte, Lorne, and Hasta getting any better?"
"Sam you aren't making any sense. You're in the infirmary at the SGC. You've been sick but you'll be fine. Jack's here." Sam looked behind Daniel at the gray walls that seemed like part of a distant dream before turning her head. Jack smiled at her and Sam turned back towards Daniel. Panic grew in her eyes.
"I want my husband. Where's Timor!" Daniel's eyes grew as Jack sucked in a quick breath.
"Calm down Sam. I'll look for him if you'll calm down." Daniel tried to soothe her. Sam could tell he was lying.
"You can't just come back and kidnap me when it's convenient for you. I want to go home." Sam sobbed out the last words as she gave in to the fever again. The doctor had heard enough of Sam's words to be worried about potential brain damage. Jack collapsed into his chair. Daniel saw pain and despair creep across his friends face.
"Good-bye my love." Timor's voice was followed by a kiss to her temple. "Rest well and remember us always."
Sam awoke fever free an hour later.
