Jacob/Selmac sat next to Sam, holding her hand. Janet was standing near the frequency emitter. She nodded to the medical technician who then turned the emitter on.

Samantha had one hand on her stomach. For the first few minutes, nothing felt different from the state of rapid growth that she had been experiencing before. Suddenly, she felt movement that she hadn't before. Her eyes widened.

"Janet! I think . . ."

Samantha passed out, the strain growing too intense, and Janet motioned urgently for the technician to turn off the machine.

"Turn off the frequency!"

The young technician was startled, and changed the frequency instead of turning the machine off. Samantha's heart rate increased.

"I said turn it off!"

Finally, the technician managed to follow the urgent command. Janet began checking Samantha's vital signs. Her eyes widened in horror just as Samantha's had done.

Jacob looked at Janet. "What's wrong?"

Janet swallowed. "We've increased the growth rate of the fetus."

Jacob gasped. "By how much?"

Janet turned to him, her mind still struggling to contemplate the ramifications of this action. "Sir, we've tripled it."

Jacob turned to the young technician who stood, gaping at the latest revelation. "Bring Colonel O'Neill in here, now! And bring the General."

SG-1

Jack, Daniel and Teal'c were in Daniel's office, anxiously awaiting any news. Jack was pacing around the room, his hands behind his back, just like he had when Charlie had died. Though Jack wasn't sure if he really believed in a god, he was willing to do anything to help Sam.

God, he silently prayed. If you're there, you know how much I need your help. I've finally found a woman who understands me, and I don't want to- no, I can't- lose her. God, do anything you want to me, but please, leave her and our baby alone!

"Colonel, Dr. Fraser needs you."

Jack's heart nearly stopped. He hurried over to the young technician. "What's going on?"

The technician swallowed, "Sir, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to explain it even if I knew what was going on. I really don't understand any of this."

Jack hurried out of the room.

"None of us do," snapped Daniel, as he followed his friend into the corridor to hear the news of Samantha's condition.

As Jack raced into the infirmary, he saw Janet and her team putting Samantha on an IV. "Dr. Fraser, what's going on?"

Janet looked up and walked over. "Colonel, I'm sorry. We ended up tripling the already intense growth of the fetus. Right now, we're doing everything we can artificially to help Sam succeed."

Hammond walked in. "Dr. Fraser, what is it?"

"Sir, we've made the situation worse."

The General swore loudly. "Jacob, is there anything that the Tok'ra can do?"

He shook his head, regretfully.

"General Hammond, sir, can we call the Asguard? They might be able to help us."

He nodded to Janet. "I'll have SG-5 suited, briefed and ready to go in thirty minutes."

"And the mission to Argos?"

"SG-11 left twenty minutes ago, Colonel. They're scheduled for a return at 2300 hours tonight."

"Ugh, what happened?" Sam asked, groggily.

"Carter, you . . ."

She put up one finger to silence her husband. "That's O'Neill to you, Sir."

He smiled, "Sorry. Old habits die hard."

Janet, who had been examining Samantha's vital signs once more, started writing something on a chart. "Sam, when we emitted that frequency, we ended up increasing the growth rate of the fetus."

The color drained from her face. "By how much?"

"Sam, we tripled it."

Her eyes widened in terror. Already, she felt the effects of the increased growth rate, She could feel her heart beating intensely as it tried to keep up with the mind-boggling pace of her baby's growth.

"Samantha needs a little bit of space." Selmac concluded, a note of authority breaking the awkward silence.

Janet nodded in agreement with the Tok'ra's assessment. "I'll be back in about an hour to do another sonogram. In the mean time, I'll try to find you a good obstetrician."

Sam gave her a grateful smile as she continued to shoo people from the room.

Jack began to leave alongside his friends, only hesitating slightly to glance back at his beautiful bride.

"Jack!"

He turned around again, "Yeah?"

"Will you stay with me?"

Jack looked over at Janet who smiled her approval. "Hey, Dr. Fraser, do you think I can take Sam to the surface?"

Sam gasped. Had she accidentally whispered that desire in his presence? She wanted to taste the fresh air of the mountain so badly that it was worse than any other craving she had ever had.

Janet looked at Samantha hesitantly. She saw the yearning in her eyes, and finally complied. "But only for a few moments."

They unhooked her from her IV and Jack put his strong arms around her, about to carry her up, but she stopped him. "Can I get dressed first?"

Jack shook his head, half-amused at her self-consciousness.

"Uh, Sam, you might want me to get you some BDUs that are bigger than you're used to." Janet said, smiling.

They all looked at Sam's rapidly expanding abdomen, and Sam blushed. "You're probably right," she conceded.

As Janet left to find the BDUs, Sam sat up and turned to face Jack, her legs dangling off the side of the bed. She grabbed Jack's arm. "Help me up."

As he did so, she nearly fell back onto the bed. He tried to catch her, but she steadied herself in time.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Jack asked, questioning the feasibility of the feat.

"Jack, I'm a little unsteady because of the pregnancy. It's normal."

She hoped she sounded sure, but in reality, she was as ignorant in such "womanly things" as he was, and probably even more. She laughed inwardly. Almost every time SG-1 encountered a pregnant woman in labor, or a small child, the men in the group turned to her. Often times, she just shrugged and said, "Don't look at me." It was at those times that Daniel would come out of hiding and share his knowledge with the group. She chuckled, who'd have thought that Daniel was a midwife?

Suddenly, she placed a hand on her stomach.

"Sam, is anything wrong?"

She shook her head, a glazed look on her face. She placed his hand on her stomach. His eyes widened in amazement. "Jack, that's our baby."

His mind wandered back in time to another time that a woman had said that to him. Sarah had been so excited every time she felt Charlie move within her. Unfortunately, that chapter of his life had ended tragically.

"Jack?" Sam asked, bringing his thoughts to the present.

"Yeah?"

She smiled, sadly. "You're thinking about Sarah and Charlie, aren't you?"

He contemplated denying this, but he couldn't bring himself to do so. "Yeah, how could you tell?"

"Nothing else brings that much pain to your eyes."

He nodded, and looked deeply into her sparkling blue eyes. "Sam, do you have any idea how scared I am to lose you? I mean, it's taken us so long to be together that I would feel cheated out of a life with you."

She pulled him close to her and rested her head on his shoulder. "Jack, I'm scared to death about the whole thing."

She looked up into his eyes. " But I can do this if you're here with me."

"Who would have thought that two people who routinely save the world are most frightened of having a baby?"

She laughed; the tears that had fallen earlier were glistening in the glow of the light shining down on them from the fluorescent light bulbs. She was so beautiful.

He placed a finger under her chin and brought her lips up to his. "I'm not going to make the same mistake with you."

TBC