Jack shut his eyes, unable to bear what he was about to say while looking into Hammond's face. "Me… I'm the father."
"What?" Hammond roared, unable to contain his wrath that two of his top officers had done that. "When?"
Jack looked down, shame keeping him from meeting Hammond's gaze, "Right after Janet died. Never before or since. Sir."
"Please, General Hammond," Hope intervened before the situation could escalate. "You may deal with the personal relationship between Major Carter and Colonel O'Neill after we have contained Malady again."
Hammond nodded stiffly to Hope before turning back to his 2IC, "Don't think we're done with this by any means."
"Not at all, sir."
Daniel, for once in his life, was speechless. Two of his best friends had slept together – AND NO ONE TOLD HIM! That was just wrong on so many levels.
"Should you not tell us how to recreate the bonds that held Malady for so long, Hope?" Teal'c asked solemnly as ever.
Hope looked forlorn, "I do not know precisely how you will accomplish it, but we need to get a vial of blood from the child. The fetus itself should expel Malady from Major Carter's body if it's strong enough. If the child is not, there is an alternative, but I doubt some of you would like it."
"What's the vial of blood for?" Daniel asked curiously.
"When mixed with a certain type of clay and powdered naquadah, the blood creates a binding that will imprison people of my race. This is what we hope to accomplish."
"But the fetus is so small – what if we can't get that much blood from it?" Brightman pointed out pessimistically.
Hope turned to her with resolve on her face, "Do you have blood samples of Major Carter on hand?" At Dr. Brightman's affirmative, she continued, "If Colonel O'Neill were to submit, then we would take a small blood sample from each of them, mixing them as we would the blood of the child. It's a very risky choice, but it might work."
Anne nodded, "Okay, then, let's get to work."
Dr. Warner carefully inserted the needle into Major Carter's uterus, trying his best not to 'alert' Malady to his intentions. He got the scope as close to the tiny fetus as he dared then looked through, trying to determine if they could salvage enough blood.
"There's no chance in hell this is going to work," Jack said as he watched from the observation room. "The kid's too small! You'd have better luck going for the placenta."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow at O'Neill as Hope responded, "The placenta would not be effective, Colonel O'Neill – it is made up primarily of the mother's blood and tissue, not the father's. If this is going to work, the father's blood needs to be equally present in the mixture."
Dr. Warner looked up and shook his head, "The fetus is too small. If I even tried to take a few drops of blood from it, then it could result in death. We'll have to resort to plan B, General Hammond."
Jack scowled as the murderous, blood-sucking needle drew closer and closer to his unsuspecting arm. As much as he didn't want to give blood, he knew that if he didn't Sam and their kid could die.
He winced for show as the needle pierced his skin. "There, Colonel," the nurse said as she withdrew the needle, "Thank you for your contribution."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Jack hopped off the bed and walked out the door, deciding that he was going to go see how Sam was doing.
When he got there, he found Hope watching Malady and Sam sleep from the window. She turned and nodded at him when he entered. "Hello, Colonel."
He nodded, "Dr. Newman. Where's Hope?"
She smiled wearily, "She's resting. Being in control for so long was… exerting to say the least, sir."
"I can't possibly begin to understand," Jack said in his usual sarcastic manner that caused a wane smile to grace the woman's face.
"How are you holding up, sir?" Holly asked a few silent minutes later.
Jack shrugged, "Fine, I guess. I'll be a lot happier when this whole thing is over with."
Holly nodded, 'I'm not so sure I will.'
Hours later Hope was rested enough to take control of Holly's body again and begin the making of the jar. It wasn't that complicated for the being – it just looked that way to the humans that surrounded her. The clay she needed was from a planet the SGC hadn't explored yet. Thankfully it was a friendly planet and the natives were more than willing to give SG-5 some of their clay (with a fairly large naquadah ratio, of course).
"Pass me the vial of blood now. If there's any way of knowing if this is going to work, we need to test it out first." Holly's hands and arms were covered in clay-y mud up to her elbows. Hope was exhausted for having kept control as long as she had, but Holly wasn't letting her give up when they were so close to a cure for Major Carter. It didn't help matters much that they had to speed-work because the longer Malady stayed in Sam, the stronger she got and the more likely chance her virus had of spreading.
Anne handed over the vial of blood taken from Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter; "What are we going to test it on?"
"Me."
"Malady. Open your eyes, I know you're awake." Hope put her face close to Sam's and stared at her as she pretended to sleep.
Without opening her eyes, she responded, "What do you want, sister dear? To put me back in my jar? You can't – it was destroyed beyond repair."
A sneer covered Hope's face, "Did you forget? I was the one who created the jars to entrap us in the first place. Either you can go back in your jar willingly, Malady, or they will kill you."
Her eyes shot open, the blue of Sam's eyes even more piercing with the silver streaks across the orbs. "What do you mean, Hope?"
"You're host was once the host of a Goa'uld."
"So? We've had many hosts of such before."
"She is pregnant, yes?" Hope's face drew closer to her sister's. If Malady wanted to do this the hard way then Hope was more than willing to oblige. She whispered in Sam's ear, "The father of Major Carter's unborn child – the child you wish to be your Carrier – is an Ancient."
Sam's eyes went wide, the silver streaks flaring brightly as Malady raged within her. Hope pulled back as the unfortunate woman suffered through a seizure. Quickly Hope went to the red button on the wall and pushed it, knowing from her host's memory that it would call a medical team immediately.
Hope gave up control of Holly as the team came rushing through, Dr. Brightman in the lead. "Get the jars ready!" Holly cried as she ran to the cart in the back of the room where Daniel had put the jars after they were completed. Picking up the jar marked with Hope's personal symbols, Holly covered her mouth and nose with it, allowing Hope to recede back into the familiar darkness.
When Hope's essence was finally completely secured in the jar, Holly passed it to a nearby airman who put it back on the cart while Holly collapsed.
While this was all taking place, Sam was still seizing, as much as Anne tried to stop it. Jack watched in agony as each jerking motion Sam made caused a snap to ring throughout the room. Sam's chest rose off the bed slowly, as the white dust that was Malady started to appear in the air above Sam's face.
"The jar!" Jack yelled to another airman. "Get the jar!"
Soon the jar sporting the name Malady was covering the face of the SGC's best and brightest theoretical astrophysicist.
Sam's eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed as the dust exited her body and into the jar. Dr. Brightman quickly sealed it to prevent escape before checking the now stable vital signs on both her patents.
"Let's do an MRI to make sure it's gone," Anne told one of the nurses before turning back to the anxiously waiting male part of SG-1 and General Hammond. "It looks good, sirs. Their eyes have regained their normal coloring, and their breathing has cleared up."
Hammond nodded, feeling relief gush throughout his body at the news. "Thank you, Doctor. Keep us apprised. Colonel O'Neill? My office. Now."
Jack sighed, "I knew this was going to happen."
A/N: So? What do you think? Just one more chapter left!