One More Try by Betty Bokor
Sam/Daniel. Daniel has a heartbreaking secret and needs to share it with Sam.
Spoilers: All seasons, including 9 and 10.
Disclaimer: The Stargate original characters belong to MGM/Showtime, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Film Corp. This was written strictly for the purpose of entertainment. No attempt at copyright infringement has been made.

One More Try

Chapter 12

The following weeks passed slowly for Sam. Morning sickness −more appropriately all-day sickness− had a heavy toll on her daily routine. She spent most of her time in her laboratory or in the VIP room Landry had assigned to her. She felt unwilling to increase the distance between her and Daniel and unable to spend much time in a house that now felt desolate. Every day, she visited Daniel and talked to him about the pregnancy and her plans for the future of their child. She was careful to include Daniel in any scenario she painted through her words. He never showed any signs of awareness.

At the beginning of the coma, she had harbored some hope that Daniel's tumor would slowly decrease in size until it disappeared, but as many days passed and the tumor's size did not vary in any way, she began to lose hope. She started preparing herself for the inevitable death that was getting more certain with every hour. Dr Lam could only report two significant facts about her patient's condition: the uninterrupted chemical and anatomical changes of the tumor and the continuous regeneration of neurons as the swelling in the brain slowly decreased.

After almost three weeks of no variations in his state, one morning, Daniel showed symptoms of respiratory distress and had to be intubated. For Sam, Daniel's need for artificial ventilation was a clear sign of the downward path of his health. She called their closest friends and made them aware of the situation.

In the evening, Daniel's breathing improved enough for the tube to be removed from his respiratory tract. Sam was sitting by his side, talking with Teal'c, when all the monitors started beeping crazily. A nurse approached and yelled, "Code blue!" Seconds later, Carolyn and a horde of infirmary personnel pushed Sam and Teal'c away from Daniel and started working frantically on him.

Sam heard a succession of diagnosis and commands that made her dizzy. Someone started with "Respiratory arrest!" and that prompted a new intubation. While they were maneuvering with the tube, Carolyn yelled "There's heart arrest, people; start cardiac massage," and seconds later she added "Defibrillate!" Someone came closer with a cart and gave the paddles to the doctor. "Two hundred!" she said right before applying them on Daniel's chest and discharging the electric shock. She stood still for a second checking the results, and immediately followed with "Epinephrine, 1 mg."

Teal'c held Sam because she seemed about to faint. Cam entered the room running, followed closely by Hank Landry. Carolyn was still trying; "Three hundred!" she said and applied the paddles again. When nothing happened, she added, "Three hundred and sixty!" She was about to lower the device when the monitors' beeping changed rhythm and everybody seemed to relax. "We have a steady rhythm," the doctor said while listening through her stethoscope. Almost immediately Daniel raised a hand and tried to take the tube from his throat. "Wow!" Carolyn said, startled. "That has never happened before. Daniel! Listen to me. Don't touch that. You will hurt yourself. We'll help you. Take it easy."

Daniel lowered his hand and opened his eyes slowly, blinking rapidly. Sam got closer and held his hand. "Hello, sleepyhead," she told him affectionately.

Dr. Lam drew his attention and said, "Do you know where you are, Daniel?" he nodded slightly. "All right. In order for me to take this out, I need your help;" she touched the tube. "You know the drill; take a deep breath… and exhale!" she finished as she took the tube out of him.

He tried to talk, but found it difficult. He cleared his throat and tried again, "What's just happened?" he asked with a raspy voice.

"We'll talk about it soon. Fist I need everybody out. We have to run some tests on you to figure out exactly what happened," she answered. Everybody approached and said something encouraging to Daniel; then they left the room. Sam leaned and kissed his forehead, "I'll be back soon, okay?"

Daniel nodded and she left, too.

Later that day, Carolyn Lam went to talk to her father.

"So?" General Landry asked.

"As I said, the tumor is gone," his daughter answered. "We can't explain how. Without biopsies we had no means of assessing exactly what were the changes that it suffered in the last weeks. Besides, we couldn't keep Dr. Jackson inside the MRI scanner permanently. The abnormal growth seems to have been reabsorbed. That's all I can tell you."

"What about his health? Has he suffered any ill effects?"

"Not that we can detect. He appears to be in perfect health, just as before the tumor was ever there."

They were both in silence, meditating on the events of the precedent weeks, when Sergeant Harriman entered the room right after knocking.

"I'm sorry, sir," he said, "but you asked me to tell you when everything was ready."

"Well, is it ready?"

"Yes, sir. As soon as General O'Neill gets here we can start the party."

"When is Jack going to arrive?" Landry asked then.

"He's on his way from the airport, sir."

"Where are Jackson and Carter?"

"With Dr. Brightman," Carolyn answered this time. "They believe Colonel Mitchell is going to drive them home afterwards."

"Great!" Landry exclaimed with a content smile. "As long as they don't suspect anything... Did anyone help you, Walter? Organizing a celebration like this in less than a day seems like a heavy task."

"Oh, don't worry, general. I had more helpers than necessary. Everybody wanted to participate. Dr. Jackson has helped too many people around here and, besides that, he has always been respectful and considerate with everyone. We believe he deserves this," Harriman finished.

"That's good. Go ahead and do what you have to do. I don't want everything to fall to pieces because I kept you here," Landry said with a smile.

"That won't happen, sir. Colonel Ferretti has everything under control." He smiled to the general and the doctor and left the room.

In a small room in the Infirmary, Sam waited for Dr. Brightman to come back. Instead, Daniel opened the door. "Hey," he said getting closer to kiss her forehead. "They let me go," he smiled, "after they had poked so many holes on me that you could use me as a watering can."

"It doesn't matter. As long as you're here −and healthy−, they can poke you as much as they want." She said. He sat by her side, still smiling, and she got serious. "You didn't tell me anything, before you did… that," she hesitated.

"I didn't know if it was going to work, Sam. As I told Dr. Lam, I wasn't capable of healing myself while conscious. I had the hope that the memories were there, but I needed to be in a different state of consciousness. I can't really explain much more."

"It doesn't matter either. As long as you're here…" she repeated. "I'm only going to ask one more thing. I need you to do something with me."

"Oh, and what's that?" he asked lovingly.

"I'd like you to go to church with me this Sunday. Only this one time," she added when she saw doubt in his face. "I haven't been there much myself in many years," she confessed. "With all the things we've seen −and done− since this program started, I got used to rely only in my skills as a soldier and a scientist, and on those of the team as well. These weeks, when I had no hope of having you back, I remembered all the prayers my mother taught me. It was like having the baby inside me made me feel her closer to me. I have prayed so much for a miracle, Daniel, more than when we couldn't get pregnant. I got both miracles. I don't know how, but here you are and here's the baby," she touched her belly and he put his hand on top of hers. "I just want to say thank you."

Daniel smiled and said, "I'll be there, anywhere, whenever you need me."

Sam smiled, too, and hugged him. "Dr. Brightman is coming soon. She's going to do a sonogram to check on the baby," she told him.

"I know; that's why they let me out early. I had a shower and I came running."

Right then their doctor came in and started preparing Sam for the procedure. Daniel held Sam's hand.

"Okay, now that we're ready, let's look at this," she said pointing to the screen. "4D Ultrasound is the latest technology available for this," she commented.

"4D?" Daniel asked. "Four-dimensional?"

"Yes. It's a three-dimensional image plus a fourth dimension, time," Dr. Brightman explained.

"How does it work?" Sam asked this time.

"The 3-D image is constantly updated and it gives you the impression of 'live action'. It's just one image after the other in very rapid succession." As she was talking a golden image appeared in the screen. "Oh. This is interesting…" She seemed lost in the images and Sam started to get nervous.

"Is there anything wrong? It's so small that I don't understand the image," Sam said with a small voice. Daniel was closer to the screen, but he had not released her hand. He tightened his grip encouragingly.

"No," the doctor said with a big smile. "There's nothing wrong. Actually… Remember that talk we had about the risks of using fertility drugs to help you, Sam?"

"About multiple pregnancies?" She suddenly realized the implications of what she was being told, but Daniel beat her to the point.

"Don't tell me we're having twins," he exclaimed full of hope and with a big grin.

"No, you're not having twins," Brightman said, and rapidly added, with an ever bigger smile, "just triplets."

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Any comments? Please, take a minute and give your opinion. It is very important for me to know what the readers think in order to decide how to continue a story or write the next one, or, if there is no interest, stop posting it here.