Sorry about the long delay between chapters, everybody! Hopefully I'll be back to more regular updates. Enjoy!
As the team emerged from the gate, Nick looked around him, his brown eyes wide. "Toto, I think we're not in Kansas anymore..." he whispered.
Daniel and Jack exchanged amused glances as Teal'c scanned the perimeter.
"O'Neill." he said.
They all turned in time to see the same young man creep forward from the underbrush. He looked at them with interest, especially Nick.
"Hi." Jack said, waving to him.
"Yak." the boy replied, mimicking the movement.
Nick and Daniel snorted in amusement as Jack gave them both a look of death.
"Okay, okay, you ingrates that's enough."
Motioning to the others, Jack pointed to Daniel next. "Daniel." he stated firmly.
"Dan'el." came the quick reply.
"Good!" Jack beamed. He was about to say "Nick" when the man in question spoke up for himself.
"Nicholas." he said.
The boy's face screwed up in concentration before he finally said, "Nick'las."
Nick grinned him at before the young man turned his attention back to Jack.
"Where woman?" he asked, slowly and hesitantly.
The three men gaped at him while Teal'c regarded the lad with his usual calm, but his eyebrow was slightly raised.
"She's...at home." Jack replied.
The boy nodded. "She with child." he said wisely.
"How did you know that?" the colonel demanded.
"My mother...how say...midwife of village...have sense for birth. I have too...I never wrong."
"You talk?" Daniel asked finally, able to find his voice again.
"Not speak since 6 seasons old..." the boy replied.
Standing up straight and proud, he pointed to himself, much the same way Jack had done when he'd fist encountered SG1. "Kinsah." he said.
"That's your name? Kinsah?" Nick asked.
"Yes...what you do here?" the young man asked curiously. "You not here when others come last."
"We called him because we thought you didn't talk...he's a dancer." Daniel explained.
Kinsah's face lit up and he dashed forward, grabbing Nick by the hand. "You come! All come and see village! We have feast, much music, much dance..."
Looking over his shoulder at an amused Jack and Daniel, along with a more than slightly puzzled Teal'c, Nick allowed Kinsah to pull him along while wondering what kinds of things he would be expected to eat at this "feast"!
As soon as the men were through the gate, Sam turned to Lena and crossed her arms. "Okay Lena, I know that you aren't just staying here to keep me company...what's going on?"
Lena fidgeted slightly and finally said, "Let's just say that Jack isn't the only impending father around here..."
It took a moment for her words to sink in.
"Oh wow! You're pregnant too!" Sam asked.
The dancer smiled. "Yep!"
"Have you told Nick yet?"
They began to walk out of the gate room and head down to the infirmary. "Not yet...he's so consumed with figuring this out, plus just when I'm getting ready to tell him, a certain anthropologist comes barging in!"
Sam chuckled. "Oh, Daniel and his impeccable timing!"
"If you want to call it that!" Lena replied wryly.
That night, SG1 was treated to the hospitality of Kinsah's village. Many of them were distressed when Teal'c arrived, but through Kinsah, they were able to reassure the people that he was really an okay guy. The people didn't talk when they first arrived, but gradually they became more vocal as time went on.
Dinner was, much to Nick greatful surprise, much like any dinner you'd eat in the country on earth. After the meal, there was a lot of singing and dancing around a big bonfire which Daniel recorded with his video camera. Both he and Jack were vey amused when Nick was set upon by a group of young girls and pulled into one of the dances, but he picked it up quickly and by the end, looked like he'd been dancing that way his entire life.
Teal'c was handed the video camera when Jack and Daniel were drawn into the drum circle that was keeping beat for the dancers. Daniel noted with some suspicion that Jack knew the correct way to hold the drum and even the right way to hold his hands. He made mental note of it and decided to Jack about it later. A little more blackmail never hurt...
Once the initial round of dancing was done, other instruments were pulled out and the more advanced dancers came out. There were instruments that looked like trumpets and various other forms of brass intruments. There were people playing drums in time together, like a drum set broken down into its inidividual parts, and there was even an early piano that was pulled out!
The people wanted Nick to dance for them and after explaining to Kinsah what sort of song he wanted, he proceeded to dance a solo Cha Cha that had them cheering for him. No one was more surprised than Jack and Teal'c when Daniel started to sing a melody line in Spanish and soon, some of the younger people had joined him for this improptu sing a long.
They played, sang, and danced late into the night before they were shown to a small cave where the young men slept. They cheerfully made room for the newcomers and all of them fell asleep, Nick last of all.
Lena couldn't sleep that night for worrying about Nick and dragged herself into the cafeteria the next morning looking slightly worse for wear.
"Bad night?" a voice asked from behind her. It was Sam, looking about like she did.
"Yes...I'm used to always being with him..." she said.
"I hear you...even when Jack is on a mission, I'm with him...I don't know how I'm going to survive months of this." Sam replied frankly.
"No offense, but I don't envy you one bit as far as that's concerned!"
Sam laughed a bit and the two women turned to talk of other subjects.
SG1 rose late that morning and told Kinsah they needed to go back to their world. Jack asked him if he would like to come see it, and Kinsah jumped at the chance. He was always at Nick's side and seemed to have a particular liking for the older man.
As they came through the gate, Lena and Sam were waiting for them. Lena kissed him quickly on the cheek and like the day before, Nick felt as though something was missing but shook the feeling off and introduced her to Kinsah.
General Hammond was especially interested in the young man after he was told that Kinsah's people could speak if they chose to, and invited the boy to the debriefing.
Kinsah proved to be a valuable resource, explaining that their planet had been a target of the Goa'uld off an on for many years. About 3 generations before him, the people decided that vocal communication was too dangerous, so they devised the dance code. The young children were still taught to speak and were allowed to talk until about age 6, long enough for them to gain basic language acquisition, then they were told the reason for the "great silence" as Kinsah called it.
Once the meeting was over, Kinsah was taken to the cafeteria by Nick and shown all of the food there. There were hardly any seats, but a nice young man not too much older than Kinsah motioned them over to his table, where he was eating alone.
"Thanks for letting us sit with you...Nick Kosovich." the dancer said, extending his hand. The younger man took it and shook it heartily. "Lt. Liam Harris. Nice to meet you, Nick."
Copying Nick, Kinsah put his hand forward and said his name. Liam shook his hand as well and the three of them had an joyable lunch together. Nick learned that Liam served on SG9 and was very much into music, most particularly percussion. Kinsah offered to teach Liam some of the rhythms from his world and the young man was quite pleased at this and chuckled when Kinsah called him "Leem" because he couldn't quite say "Liam".
Liam had to leave, but wished Kinsah and Nick a good day. As they watched him leave, Kinsah turned to Nick. "Leem nice." he pronounced.
"That he is, Kinsah, that he is."
Lena and Sam walked into the cafeteria to find Nick trying to convince Kinsah to try some blue jello, but the other worlder was having none of it!
"Come on Kinsah, it's good...I promise!" Nick coaxed.
"Not eat that! It...unnatural." Kinsah replied with a shudder.
Both of the women laughed, and Nick turned to see who was behind him.
"Hello, ladies! I'm trying to convince Kinsah that blue jello is not evil, but he doesn't seem to believe me..." Nick said cheekily.
Sam reached out a hand and Nick handed the cup to her along with a spoon. She then proceeded to eat the blue jello with Kinsah watching her with an expression of horrified fascination on his face.
"See? Good." she said, setting the cup and spoon down.
Kinsah still looked very doubtful about this, but consented to finally try some and was surprised to find that it was indeed good! He tried the red jello next and told them that he preferred that to the blue.
"Ah Kinsah! The blue is the best kind!" Sam teased.
He smiled at her and replied, "You like strange thing...blue jello, Jack..."
Sam tossed some popcorn at him and and he chuckled.
"You're a cheeky one, Kinsah...you'd better be good or I'm going to have our doctor stick you with some VERY big needles!" she threatened.
Everyone laughed when he gave her a look of mock fright and even she couldn't keep a straight face anymore.
"I think Nick could use a big needle himself." Lena remarked.
Her husband merely grinned at her. "Yes, and if she touches me, Cassie would have a fit." he replied, looking extremely pleased with himself.
"Well, he is right on that one...Cassie would be VERY mad if Janet went after her precious Nick with a needle." Sam ribbed.
Nick blushed while the others laughed at his obvious discomfort.
"Hey, it's not easy being the object of female lust!" he protested.
As the women groaned and threw popcorn, Nick winked at the Kinsah and the boy threw his head back and laughed. These earth people were crazy!
