It took them a couple of days to get to the gate. They'd explained to their friends in the village that they wanted to return to their own home for a brief visit. Alex had agreed to look after their animals so they'd left knowing everything would be fine until they returned.
They packed enough provisions for at least a week, although they told the villagers they might be away for longer. On the journey to the gate they discussed where they should go and who to contact.
"I say the Asgard," Sam said. "Thor will know what's going on."
"True, but he's been told to let Earth know if he finds us."
"You think he will?"
Jack shrugged. "He might not, although it's putting him in a difficult situation, especially if there are other Asgard present."
"The Tokra?"
Jack sighed. "I trust them less than the Asgard. They'll turn us in in a second if they think they'll get something out of it for themselves. I don't like the Tokra."
"My father?"
"Okay, he's an exception and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't turn us in, but there's no guarantee we'll find him. He's always off on some mission and we have no idea where he is."
"So who do we contact?"
"I was thinkin' – the Salish?"
Sam knew that Jack had liked the Salish people and Tonané especially. Raised in a small town in rural Minnesota and having spent his summers at his grandfather's cabin, he had developed a love and a respect for nature. The philosophy of the Salish people and their care for the Earth had appealed to him. And he'd liked Tonané's sense of humor.
"You don't think the NID will think of them?" Sam asked.
"I doubt it. I expect they think we'll go somewhere with more advanced technology. And anyway," he grinned, "the Great Spirits should protect us."
"I hope so," she said, thinking about the alien beings who had protected the Salish. "Let's go then. I'm anxious to find out what's going on on Earth."
They dialed the Salish planet – fortunately Jack's Ancient download pretty much meant he remembered every gate address, an ability that Sam didn't even want to imagine.
"Here goes!" Jack said. He reached out his hand and together they walked through the event horizon.
"Incoming wormhole Sir," Walter announced to the General as he walked into the Control Room.
"Do we know who it is son?"
Walter grinned. "It's P5K GT6, Colonel Hubbard Sir."
"Well, open the iris – I guess." Fortunately the last two words were spoken quietly, although loud enough for a smirk to appear on Walter's face.
They two men waited a moment until five figures slowly made their way out of the event horizon.
"Welcome back Colonel," Hammond said into the mike.
Hubbard's face turned up to him and the General almost wanted to laugh. The man's face was totally green. He then looked and saw that none of the soldiers were standing straight. In fact one of the Marines was bent over the side of the ramp, puking his guts out.
Some of the others looked panic-stricken and began to walk strangely down the ramp. Hammond couldn't figure out what was going on until Hubbard actually grabbed his backside. Oh God – diarrhea –
"Walter, call the Infirmary – and tell Janet we have an infectious situation here. And I suggest – you hurry. I think the men need to get to the uh – latrine, rather quickly."
For the next few minutes there was chaos as medical personnel, dressed in hazmat suits, appeared. The returning men were put under portable containment units and taken to the Infirmary, where they were put in isolation until their symptoms left. From experience Hammond knew it would be at least three or four days before any of them were feeling well enough to even stand up, let alone leave the Infirmary.
He sighed and looked down at Walter, who was directing the clean up from the Control Room. "I expect we'll hear about this."
"Yes Sir – although their decision to go to P5K GT6 was their own Sir. We had nothing to do with it."
"No, but we did – ah hell," Hammond grinned. "Whatever happens, it was worth it." He would never forget the look on Hubbard's face as he crapped his pants in the Gate Room. He couldn't wait to tell Jack.
At the thought of the Colonel his face fell. He wondered what and hell had happened to O'Neill and Carter. He just prayed they were okay.
They were, in fact, doing just fine. The Salish had put on a huge banquet in their honor and they were enjoying the company of some of their favorite aliens. Sam watched as Jack and Tonané teased one another mercilessly. It reminded her a bit of the interplay she'd often watched between Daniel and Jack and suddenly, she was missing home with an ache she hadn't felt in months.
"Hey, what's up?" Jack asked, noticing her expression.
"Nothing," she said with a lopsided smile. "Just missing Daniel and Teal'c."
"Yeah," Jack sighed. "I was thinkin' about Daniel tonight and was kind of missing the Space Monkey myself."
"Tonané?" she asked.
"He remind you of Daniel too?"
"Mmm hmm. I don't know quite why – maybe it's because he loves pulling your chain."
Jack grinned. "He does. Hey – maybe we'll see them soon," Jack said, reaching out and taking her hand.
"How can we? The NID will watch their every movement. They'll know if they try and contact us."
"Oh you of little faith Carter," Jack said. "We'll figure something out."
"So Tonané, are you still trading with Earth?" Jack asked a few minutes later.
"We are Jack. We provide a shipment of Trinium once every two moons. We will be sending another shipment at first light tomorrow. You come in good time."
"You knew!" Sam looked at him in wonder.
"Well, I guessed. I knew the shipments were pretty regular and I calculated back to the last one that went through to Earth and figured another one must be coming soon."
She just stared, realizing that it was things like these that showed he had changed, that the Ancient library had given him new abilities. "Okay," she said finally. "So what are we planning?"
"A message in a bottle?" he grinned.
"You want to send a message with the Trinium? Won't someone be suspicious?"
"Well, if I sent a note that said, "Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter are staying with the Salish, want to come and visit", then yes, that might cause suspicion."
"So, what are you going to do?"
"Tonané, do you have any more of those nifty arrow heads – you know, the Trinium ones?"
"Yes," his friend nodded. "We have many of them."
"Can you send one with the next shipment?"
"Yes, but for what purpose Jack?" Tonané frowned.
"Oh, just to send a message to the SGC that I'm here. We can't afford to say anything directly, but someone should figure it out when they see it."
"I understand. We shall do as you ask."
Jack and Sam were invited to stay in Tonané's family's longhouse. He started to lead them to two separate sleeping platforms when Jack reached out and took his friend's arm. The native man looked at him questioningly.
"Uh – Sam and I are married now."
Tonané grinned and slapped Jack on the arm. "It is about time my friend! I wondered why you were so slow!"
"Hey – we couldn't be together – not before."
"You let small things interfere in your life Jack. You and Major Carter – Sam – you are meant to be together. It is a good thing you have done. The Spirits will be happy."
"Well, I don't know about them," Jack answered with a grin, "but I'm sure happy."
"Good," Tonané laughed. "And when shall we welcome a small Jack or Sam?"
"Uh – I – that's not something -", in the end Jack just shrugged, and looked rather embarrassed. This time Sam grinned.
They were soon curled up together on the sleeping platform, which was hidden by curtains of animal skin. It was comfortable and cozy, but Sam had to admit it was a bit disconcerting to hear the sounds from all the other families that lived in the Longhouse. She knew it was their custom, and that they were good at giving privacy to one another, but she didn't know if she could even contemplate having sex when she'd be worried that everyone would know what they were doing.
"Don't worry so hard," Jack smirked. "They'll figure we're doing it anyway, even if we don't. We're newlyweds."
"Jack," she hit his arm. "That may be true, but I don't want anyone hearing us."
"Hearing us? You mean you. You're the noisy one, not me."
"Well, I haven't heard you complain," she snapped.
"Complain? Carter, I love making you scream." He grinned again and lay back on his arms, which were clasped behind his head. "So, you're sure you don't want to try making a little Jack or Sam?"
She knew he was just joking – pulling her leg – but after his comment about her screaming he deserved a little payback. She lay back beside him, her arms in the same position as his. "Oh, we don't have to try," she told him.
"No?" He turned his head to face her, a slightly surprised look on his face. "Why not?"
"Because, we've already done it."
At his silence she glanced over, to see a confused look on his face. "Carter?"
"What Sir?" she grinned.
"Uh – what do you mean?"
"I mean I'm pregnant Jack," she told him. "A little Jack or Sam is already in the oven."
It was a good thing she reached out for him, because otherwise he would have fallen off the platform and down the ten feet to the solid ground below.
"Delivery from the Salish Sir," Walter announced the next morning. "It's our usually scheduled shipment of Trinium."
"Good. Have Siler come up and transport it down to storage. I must say, the Salish have certainly kept their word."
"Yes they have Sir. I think it's because they liked Colonel O'Neill so much."
"He certainly does have a way of making friends, doesn't he?" Hammond thought of the man in the Infirmary and sighed. "And enemies."
A few minutes later a wooden crate came through the wormhole. A moment later Siler entered the Gate room and made his way up to the crate, a small, electric hoist by his side. He leaned over to position the hoist so it could lift the incredibly heavy box, when he frowned. There was something sticking out of the crate.
He reached over and pulled – and the object popped out and clattered to the ramp.
"What is it Sergeant," Hammond spoke into the mike.
"I don't know Sir," Siler answered. He reached over and picked up the metal object and held it up. "It looks like an arrowhead Sir."
Hammond stared at it for a moment and then took off down the stairs into the Gate room. "Let me see that." He reached out and took it – and suddenly smiled. "Thank you Sergeant. You can take the shipment now and uh please don't say anything –"
"About what Sir?" Siler asked, straight-faced. "I didn't see anything Sir, nothing at all."
Hammond smiled. "Good man." He watched as Siler got the crate and headed out of the room. With that he turned and headed up the stairs to his office, passing Walter on the way. "Get Dr. Jackson and Teal'c up to my office immediately."
"What is it Sir?" Daniel asked a few moments later when he and Teal'c had been invited into the General's office. "Hubbard make a complaint yet?"
"No, I'm afraid Colonel Hubbard is still too sick to complain about much of anything."
"Dr. Frasier informs me that she had to put the Colonel on IV liquids. He has vomited so often that he grew dehydrated."
Hammond grimaced, for the first time feeling guilty. If anyone realized what they'd done he could be in big trouble. "He's not in danger is he?"
"No. The Doctor informed me that the only consequence will be that the Colonel will lose a few pounds."
"Good. Well that's not why I brought you here." He looked up to see Daniel staring at the arrowhead on his desk. The young archaeologist slowly raised his eyes, a smile beginning on his face.
"Jack?"
"I believe so," the General nodded. "It came with the latest shipment of Trinium from the Salish."
"Of course," Daniel said, slapping his thigh. "Jack and Tonané got to be good friends. When can we go?"
"We have to be careful son," Hammond said warningly. "We don't want to give anything away."
"I know and we don't have to go right to the Salish planet, but we do have to go find them."
"I know Doctor. What I propose is that we send a thank you note through to the Salish – and give a time and date where we will meet Colonel O'Neill. If we go too soon after receiving the shipment it will be discovered and we don't want Tonané's people to get involved in this. I don't trust the NID."
Daniel snorted. "That's the understatement of the world. Okay – so we send a note. What do we say?"
"P2R 3N9," Teal'c stated.
"What?" Daniel looked at him, his eyes wide.
"P2R 3N9. It was the planet that O'Neill indicated reminded him of Hawaii. He said he would like to vacation there."
"Oh right. There was nothing else there of interest and he wanted to set up a resort for SGC personnel," Daniel grinned. "I think he proposed having a casino."
"He also wanted to make it clothing optional," Teal'c replied.
Daniel laughed. "Right. He'll love that we picked this one. Do you think that would be okay Sir?"
"Are there any indigenous people on the planet?" Hammond asked, pleased to see how happy both Dr. Jackson and Teal'c appeared.
"No, it was deserted. It looked like it may have been a Goa'uld outpost at one time, but there were no minerals of interest and I don't think the Goa'uld were that into the beach life. It looks as if they deserted it many years ago."
"Well, it sounds like as good a spot as any. When do we go?"
"I suggest we wait a week and then send you on a visit to one of our allied planets. From there you can take a detour and end up on – uh -"
"P2R 3N9" Teal'c intoned.
"Right. I'll arrange for Walter to send a thank you note through to the Salish. Dismissed Gentlemen."
The two men thanked the General and made their way out of his office. Daniel looked at Teal'c and simply grinned.
"I believe we must be cautious Daniel Jackson, the Jaffa said quietly. "We must not give anything away."
"Right." Daniel immediately frowned, but inside he continued to smile.
That afternoon a box came through the Stargate. Tonané picked it up and opened it. Inside was a letter. He grinned and made his way back to his village.
"Jack," he called out. "There is a message for you."