The next day, Sam sat in the commissary eating her fruit loops and tuna fish sandwich. Janet smiled as she set her tray down across from Sam. "Well, if I couldn't tell earlier, I'd know you were pregnant."
Sam looked down at the fare and chuckled. "I guess it is a bit unusual."
"A bit?"
"Hey!" Sam said, raising an eyebrow. "You try being pregnant off-world. Then, tell me if you don't do the same thing. In fact, the minute Jack reminded me of fruit loops, I've been craving them."
Janet turned to her friend, her mood a little more seriously now. "How was it? I mean, if I had to give birth off-world, I would be terrified."
Sam shrugged. "I didn't remember anything beside Aeaea at that point. It was natural for me to have a midwife, and not to expect to have Jack at my side. Of course, you know how I feel about normalcy."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You're gonna laugh at this one: Jack delivered Jacob."
"Jack? As in Colonel O'Neill?" Janet asked, shocked. She knew that Daniel had learned some basic midwifery, but Jack…well, that was a little far-fetched.
"I know. Now that I think back on it, I should have been a lot more worried, but when you've got a neighboring army after you, you're not really very picky."
"An army? Hold on, Sam. I think you'd better tell me the whole story here."
She chuckled. "Okay. It all started when Daniel started to remember something about a stargate. Now, the only one of us who could remember it was Teal'c, but we figured that it would be too hard to miss for us to wait for our memories to return, so we went looking for it. The only problem was that I was eight and a half months pregnant with Jacob and Daniel insisted that I go- in case we found the stargate. That way, we could go to the SGC and have all of the modern medical miracles that the infirmary had to offer if I went into labor."
"Oh, so Daniel's got my choice for doctor of the year." Janet said, dryly.
Sam and Jack walked slowly and carefully through the forest. There was a soft breeze and the leaves were rustling with its touch.
"You know, this could be very romantic." Sam said, playfully as she held onto Jack's arm.
"Yeah. If only we weren't looking for this 'stargate.'" He replied, carefully clearing a place for his wife to walk through.
"I think I've heard others call it the Chappa'ai." She said, thoughtfully.
"Yeah, well…it isn't exactly easy to find."
"Apparently it's hard not to…" She trailed off, clutching her husband's hand.
"What?" He asked, worried.
"Nothing." She quickly replied. They felt like the pains she had heard the women of the village speak of that accompanied childbirth. But she had felt many similar pains for the last few weeks. Surely this was some sort of false alarm.
He hesitated, but decided to keep clearing the way. They reached a clearing soon afterward and Sam again felt a contraction. "Argh!" She said, almost falling to the ground with the pain. These pains were stronger than she had ever felt before. The child must be coming.
Jack turned around quickly. "Samantha, are you sure you're all right?"
"He's coming." She managed.
"What?"
"He's coming. Our baby is coming!"
There was a sound coming from the brush and Jack's eyes widened. He bent down to Sam's stomach. "Not now!" He whispered harshly.
She was about to tell him that his words wouldn't stop the inevitable, but surprisingly the contraction ended. "It stopped."
"Obedient kid." He said, taking her hand and leading her toward the brush were they could more easily hide.
About the time they had hidden, a group of warriors from the unseen distant tribe reached the clearing. Another contraction seized Samantha and she tried to keep quiet. Jack looked over and saw the pain flash across her face and placed his hand in hers. Immense pressure from Sam's hand nearly crushed his own.
When the contraction had eased, Samantha closed her eyes and tried to breathe deeply.
"You're going to be all right." Jack whispered, sweeping a loose tendril of her hair away from her face and behind her ear. She gave him a brave smile and he turned his gaze back toward the warriors. There were ten or twenty gathered thus far and there seemed to be more on the way. "If only we had more people…" He muttered.
"What is it?" She asked, worried.
"They're warriors from…"
She squirmed, clutching his forearm and effectively distracting him from the situation in the background. He felt so helpless. He moved closer to her and after the contraction ended, he helped her lie against him, his arms encircling her. Beads of sweat had begun to ornament her forehead. She felt instant comfort, and for a moment, she forgot about their quest, the warriors nearby, and her fears surrounding the delivery of her firstborn child.
"I love you," came the whisper form the lips right next to her ear
"I love you too." She whispered back, settling back into his embrace.
"The village is only a few miles away." A gruff voice called out, sounding very close to the couple. Samantha started having difficulty breathing effectively and was nearly hyperventilating from fear and shock.
"Breathe, Samantha." Her husband commanded.
She closed her eyes and tried to focus on breathing. His embrace kept her feeling safe enough to continue to breathe more normally.
"Should we not stop and look for the woman?" Another voice asked.
"If there was a woman in travail near here, we should have heard her cries." The first voice responded.
Jack's blood froze and he looked at his wife whose eyes were wide with terror. Just then, another contraction seized her. This time, it was so strong that she had to bite her lip to keep from making a sound and even then, a cry ripped from her throat.
The warriors, who had begun to leave, returned. "Search the forest. If you find her, kill her!"
Samantha practically started crying in pain and terror. Meanwhile, Jack began searching for some weapon to fight back with. He found two fully loaded P-90s; Daniel had insisted that each take a powerful firearm, and Jack was suddenly grateful. He took the weapons in hand and kissed Samantha's forehead. "I'll be right back, love."
She nodded, hugging her knees as the next contraction hit, and she tried not to yell with pain.
He crept slowly toward the nearby warriors. He pulled the trigger and managed to take out the whole division. He moved past the dead bodies and ran into another division. He managed to take them out, but as he moved on to his next target, he heard Sam's cry. He hesitated and that moment of hesitation cost him dearly. A large, burly man was towering over him. "I'm pleased to meet you, Potentate."
Jack nearly prayed for Sam to cry again so that he could use it as a distraction to take his captor by surprise. He was not disappointed; Sam's voice filled the woods. "Jack!" She cried.
The man looked up, startled, but Jack refused to make the same mistake he had made earlier. He swung his legs around, catching the man behind the legs and pulling him down to the ground. Then, he rolled and jumped up, holding his P-90 in one hand. Upon his return to the upright position, he began firing, successfully upon his attackers. After he had effectively sent the troop running, he looked behind him toward Sam's position, but headed into the clearing and shot at some trees in the other direction. This drew out a few of Sam's attackers, and he knocked them out with the P-90. Then, he crept toward Sam. He found one man standing, ready to attack him. With the rapid fire of the gun, the man fell to the ground, dead.
Sam had been surprised by the volume of the gunfire, and had winced each time he fired, but Jack smiled as he bent down to her. "I believe I have gotten all of them."
"Where are Daniel and Teal'c?" Sam asked, gritting her teeth against the next contraction. It had come quite swiftly after the last one, and each one was getting stronger.
"I don't know. If the gunfire didn't bring them here, I would imagine that they're in trouble too."
Sam closed her eyes. "I think you need to be prepared to help me bring this child forth."
Jack's eyes widened. "Oh no…that's Daniel's job."
"No, it is the job of the midwife. However, the child will come forth, and there is no one here except you and I." Samantha clarified.
Five hours later, as Daniel and Teal'c came upon the couple, there was a small campfire going, and Samantha O'Neill held a small suckling child in her arms. And Jack O'Neill sat with his arms around his wife.
"It is a son. We shall call him Jacob."
"Wow! That's some story."
"As a result of our fulfillment of the prophecy, we were elected to be rulers over the land as Circe had disappeared."