The Fast Track

By Rose Stetson

Story Format: It's an AU story, set after "The Tok'ra" in Season 2, and it's a Sam and Jack story.

Spoilers: "Brief Candle"- Season 1, "There But for the Grace of God"- Season 1, "The Tok'ra"- Season 2

Disclaimer: I do NOT own these characters, just the story, although Jack O'Neill is a delicious character (Yummy!) and who wouldn't love to be Samantha Carter (she's like the coolest woman EVER!).

It's updated! There were a couple of mistakes that I had noticed when I saw it online that I hadn't noticed before! SORRY! Oh, and thanks for all the beautiful comments! If you have any criticism for it, (positive or negative) PLEASE review! I also added a few more sections to it!

Samantha O'Neill awoke beside her husband. Her heart fluttered in amazement! This was her husband, Colonel Jack O'Neill. She ran her fingers through his short, graying hair.

He didn't move, still slumbering peacefully. It amazed her how different he was away from the SGC. For one, he was a bit more romantic, and she had also noticed that he slept a lot more peacefully than when they were on missions together.

Her heart ached for a brief moment. Unfortunately, their missions together were less frequent than before because she had finally retired from the Air Force and returned to the SGC as the head of the scientific research department. Of course, that had also allowed her to have a significant relationship with Jack. To her, the sacrifice was worth it. Of course, it was an added bonus that she was going to be able to go through the gate every once in a while for research. She was also going to be around her friends, Daniel and Teal'c almost as often as she had been as a member of SG-1.

Jack groaned and stirred, placing his arm around her. She snuggled in closer, overwhelmed with a feeling of love.

Just as she was getting settled, her stomach began turning, making her feel an intense feeling of nausea. She left Jack's side quickly, running to the bathroom just in time to empty the contents of her stomach into the toilet.

She assumed that the nausea would pass as quickly as it had come upon her, but she found herself retching several more times until she was dry heaving.

"Samantha, are you all right?"

Jack walked into the bathroom as she had another episode of dry heaving. She smiled at him weakly afterwards. "I think I have the stomach flu."

SG-1

Jack walked into Daniel Jackson's office. The archaeologist/anthropologist/linguist was sitting at his cluttered desk, studying an ancient dialect and writing copious amounts of notes.

"Hey, Danny boy!"

Daniel squinted up at Jack, his glasses nearly falling off his face. He pushed them back up to their proper place. "Hi, Jack."

Jack chuckled, "Daniel, when are you going to consider contacts?"

"When the cow jumps over the moon. What do you need, Jack?"

"The scheduled mission is postponed. Sam was scheduled to come with us, but she's got the flu, and the General doesn't want to take that active germ to the Argosians."

"Is she okay?"

"Oh, yeah, she'll be fine. She's just miserable right now."

Teal'c entered and Jack went to give him a high-five. The Jaffa grabbed the Colonel's wrist and pinned his arm behind his back.

"Teal'c, it was just a high-five!"

"You were preparing to strike me, O'Neill."

"No, I wasn't. Teal'c let me go!"

Teal'c released his grasp and Jack clutched his throbbing wrist. "Man, Teal'c! That hurt! Danny, help me demonstrate a high-five so that doesn't happen again."

They proceeded to do so, and Jack turned to his not-so-young pupil. "Teal'c it's a way that we have of greeting and congratulating people here on earth."

"I was unaware of such a custom, O'Neill."

Jack nodded, still rubbing his sore wrist.

"You had sent for me, O'Neill."

"Yeah, Teal'c, the mission has been postponed until we are adequately aware of how many of us on the base have the flu like Sam."

Teal'c nodded at Daniel's explanation.

"We're just going to have to keep one ear to the ground to find out about when we leave. So, SG-1 is staying on-base."

They nodded, and Jack left to find General Hammond who had called for a meeting with him.

SG-1

The next morning, Samantha awoke to the same nauseating feeling. She had noticed other signs of discomfort: her breasts hurt and she was craving some strange combinations of food.

Yesterday afternoon, her appetite had picked up. She wandered downstairs and looked through the cupboards and decided to eat pickles and Oreos.

Jack came home to see the family health nut sitting down to eat her meal.

"So, when the cat's away, the mouse will play." He joked. "No wonder you're not feeling well."

She looked up at him. "And you're talking?"

"What do you mean? You're the one eating Oreos and pickles."

"Hey, Jack," she said, taking a bite of her Oreo. "Do we have any salami or crackers?"

He looked at her with wonder and amazement. "I guess this means you're feeling better."

She nodded, "Quite a bit, actually. Besides, this just sounded good."

Just then, she felt light-headed and passed out. Jack caught her quickly.

Jack was coming into their room with an offering of saltine crackers. "Feeling any better?"

She shook her head, miserably. He sat beside her on the bed. "I called Dr. Fraser. You're coming to work with me today."

"Jack, it's probably just the thirty-six hour bug. By tomorrow, I'll be fine. Besides, I don't want to impede anyone else's mission."

She finally won with that argument.

"But, if I see you dining on the same fare as you were last night, I'm taking you in to get your head checked."

She smiled. "I'm not going to kiss you, but have a good day at work."

"My day always goes better when you kiss me," he said.

"Not when I have the flu."

SG-1

The next morning went similarly, and Jack finally put his foot down.

"Samantha Elizabeth Carter O'Neill, you are coming, even if I have to carry you myself."

She nodded, meekly. He tried to help her get dressed, but she quickly shooed him away while she showered and dressed. As she put on her dress slacks, she had a hard time fastening the button. 'That's odd,' she thought. She decided to wear some looser-fitting pants. 'I guess I haven't been as physically active in the last few weeks as I'm used to,' she thought.

Twenty minutes later, she appeared in the doorway of the kitchen. Jack saw her and he couldn't resist but place his arms around her hips as she threw her arms around his neck. Suddenly, he felt her body go limp in his arms. He was now really worried about her. Was it possible that they had brought back an alien flu bug back through the gate? Had he given it to her?

SG-1

Jack, Daniel and Teal'c waited anxiously outside the doors of the infirmary for Dr. Fraser to finish Samantha's examination. Just then, Janet came out. "Colonel O'Neill, may I have a word with you?"

He nodded and followed her into a more private area of the infirmary.

"What is it, Doc?"

She took a deep breath. "Jack, she's pregnant."

It took a while for this information to register in his mind, but when it did, a grin slowly dominated his features. Then, he caught a glance of Janet's worried face.

"What's wrong?"

"Jack, the blood sample we took from her also revealed some of the nanosites that we found in your blood from your stay on Argos."

Jack was too stunned to reply.

"Colonel, I'm not an obstetrician, but I can tell you that Samantha's pregnancy is progressing at a faster rate than any other pregnancy on earth. She's three months pregnant, and she claims to have had her period last month. Jack, these symptoms are incredibly intense. I think it's because her body's trying to keep up with the fetus's intense growth."

"And this is because of the nanosites?"

Janet drew another deep breath. "I believe so, but for all I know, it could be a side-effect of the naquadah in her blood. On the other hand, I think it's more likely that the naquadah is affecting the fetus's growth rate by slowing it down, and making it a little safer for Samantha."

Jack was silent for a moment. "So, this is dangerous for Samantha's health?"

Janet nodded tentatively. "I believe so. The problem that this intense growth presents with Sam that it didn't with the Argosians is that Sam's growth rate is considerably slower than that of the fetus. I think if it were any faster, it would kill her."

"If we got a blood sample from the Argosians, would it be easier?"

Janet shrugged. "For all we know, they don't have anymore of the nanosites. You did have one-hundred times the amount of the devices as they did. It would take your system a lot longer to process those than it would for them."

Jack pounded his fist on the wall. "Colonel, this isn't your fault."

"Of course it's my fault!" he spat. "if I hadn't had that indiscretion with Kynthia, I wouldn't have gotten that stupid nanosite, and Samantha wouldn't be in there right now."

"And you wouldn't have helped to free the Argosians from that particular curse."

General Hammond walked through the doors to the infirmary and found Jack and Janet conversing quietly in the corner.

"Doctor, I heard that Dr. O'Neill is here. What's wrong?"

"She has some of the Argosian nanosites in her bloodstream."

"Jack, has she been experiencing some of the same symptoms that you had on Argos?"

He shook his head. "No. The difference, General, is that it's not her body that's aging."

George Hammond was quite used to unbelievable explanations for the various phenomena that permeated the SGC's operation, but this was too unbelievable even for him.

"Then just whose body is aging, Colonel?"

Janet looked at Jack and then at the General. "Sir, Dr. O'Neill is pregnant."

SG-1

Samantha's head was swimming with the revelation that she was pregnant. Was it really true that she had gone through in three days what most pregnant women went through in three months? For that matter, was it really true that she was pregnant? And how on earth had those blasted nanosites entered her bloodstream? Had Jack never fully been cleansed from the devices?

Oh, gosh! Jack! How was he handling this? Heck, her mind was short-circuiting with this information, and she was the scientist.

She placed her left hand on her stomach. She smiled at the sight of her wedding ring. She may be scared to death, but she and Jack would get through it together. Famous last words, her subconscious spat.

She moved her hand around her abdomen. It was amazing to think that nestled in her womb was a new human life: her baby.

Her heart began to pound. Oh man, she was scared to death! What was going to happen? If Janet was right, she would be a mother in about a week. Wow! She was not ready for motherhood!

Another fear tugged at her heart. How would the naquadah in her blood affect her baby's health? For that matter, how would it affect her health? These were questions that she had planned on asking Selmac later, when she and Jack consciously considered having a child.

Jack walked toward her, and she could hardly breathe. Man, oh man, was he good-looking. He was hurrying toward her, a worried look frozen in his features.

"Jack!"

He stood next to her bed, and as she reached for his hand, he withheld it.

"Jack, what's wrong?"

"We're going to Argos. We'll be back in a few hours."

"Jack," she pleaded, looking into his eyes and reaching once more for his hand. "Stay with me, please."

His heart was touched. He could feel himself regressing into an earlier place and time when she had asked the same thing of him. She had been host to the Tok'ra, Jolinar. It had been the only other time that she had begged anything from him, and he had left her alone then.

He gave her his hand. "All right, I'll see if I can get one of the other SG teams to cover it."

Suddenly, the klaxons went off. "Off-world activation!"

Jack's hand dropped Sam's and he rushed out to the gate room. Samantha wiped away a couple of tears. Stupid hormones, she thought.

TBC