Chapter ten

Sam had finally gotten to sleep that night, but not until after hours and hours of tossing and turning, during which time she decided what she was going to do about her predicament.

Only three hours later her alarm went gone off. And while she was in the shower trying to wake up, her cell phone rang. Sam turned off the water and hurried into the bedroom to answer it, noting that it was the number of the SGC.

"Carter!"

"Sam, this is Dr. Lam. I was wondering if you could stop by and see me first thing this morning."

"Of course! Is there something wrong?" Sam wondered if she'd picked up some sort of bug in the alternate universe. She felt fine, but she knew that wasn't really an adequate measure of wellness.

"No, nothing's wrong exactly, but I made need to run some tests again," Caroline said mysteriously.

Suddenly Sam thought about the baby. IOh, oh! But they don't routinely check for pregnancy, do they?/I

Not wanting to discuss the matter over the phone, Sam agreed to be in Caroline's office in forty-five minutes. When she arrived in the infirmary, she was told to wait in Dr. Lam's office. Sam only had to wait a few minutes before Caroline came in carrying a cup of coffee.

"Sorry to drink this in front of you, but I had an early emergency and no time for breakfast. Would you like something to drink?" she asked politely.

"No, thank you. I'm fine." Sam hadn't eaten anything for breakfast either, but she didn't feel hungry or thirsty. Right now the only thing she felt was anxious.

"Sam, the reason I called you in is because I found something surprising in your test results." Sam didn't say anything, and so Caroline continued.

"Sam, I hate to have to ask you this, but are you aware that you're pregnant?" Caroline asked.

"Yes, I am. I'm sorry I didn't report it."

"Sam, were you raped?"

"NO! No, the truth is I was made to submit to testing in their genetics lab. I was impregnated by artificial means. But I'd really appreciate it if you wouldn't tell anyone."

"Sam, you know I can't do that."

"But why not?"

"First of all, because I'll have to remove you from SG-1. You know as well as I do that pregnant women are not allowed to travel through the gate."

"I know that, but…."

"There can be no exceptions, Sam. Under no circumstances will I allow you to continue working on SG-1."

"Okay, I agree with that, but can't you keep the reason between us? I mean no one else has to know I'm pregnant yet, not till I'm ready to tell them. Right?"

"I'm sorry, Sam, but I'll have to tell my father and Colonel Mitchell the reason for your removal from the team. You're an integral part of SG-1, and they'll both demand to know why they're losing you. They have a right to know, Sam," Caroline stated reasonably.

Sam knew that what Caroline was saying was true, and so she simply nodded.

Nothing about this was going to be easy, but she had to hope that things would get better once Jack had gone back to his job in DC. She had decided not to tell him that he was the father of her baby. Sure, she realized he'd find out she was pregnant some day, but by then her story would have become accepted fact. She thought it would be easy to make up a story about some guy she had briefly dated. She'd tell everyone that he was the father of her child. There was no reason for anyone to question her, and no reason for Jack to know the truth. Only Cameron Mitchell and General Landry would know the real way in which she had conceived, but even they would not know who the baby's father was.

Jack would never need to feel responsible or obligated to her, or to the baby. And after what she'd witnessed last night, she was certain that if he knew the truth, his reaction would be based on obligation to the child and not love for her. He obviously wanted a life, just not with her. And she didn't want to interfere in that life, or make him feel guilty in any way, and so this was what she had chosen to do. She was convinced that this was for the best, for all three of them.

After her meeting with Dr. Lam, Sam went to work in her lab, breathing a little easier. She knew there would still be the obligatory conversations with Cam and with General Landry, but she thought she was prepared to handle them. She planned to tell them that she was okay with what had happened, that she intended to raise the child by herself, and that the baby wouldn't interfere with her work. Then she'd ask them to keep her position on SG-1 open for her, if at all possible.

Jack sat facing Dr. Lam's desk, tenting his fingers together as he sat waiting for her. She had phoned him that morning to tell him she needed to talk to him about the time he'd spent in the other reality. He thought he had put everything of any importance in his report, and since he really wanted to go and talk to Sam, he was getting impatient. Finally, after ten minutes, the pretty young doctor swept into the room and sat down facing him.

Caroline wasn't looking forward to this meeting. When her father ordered her to inform General O'Neill of Sam's pregnancy, she had protested, telling him that Sam asked her not to discuss the matter with anyone. But her father had insisted she tell General O'Neill, and then find out if he knew anything more about the genetics experiments that were being conducted in the other reality. Her Dad didn't have to say it; she knew that he was worried about what had been done to the baby that Sam was carrying.

She was worried too. If they had done something harmful to the child, she reasoned it would be better to know about it now, just in case there was something that could be done before the baby was born. Today there were ways of testing for many things, and in the case of some abnormalities and defects, there were many surgeries that could be performed on babies, even while they were still in the womb. There was also another matter that Caroline needed to address with Sam. She didn't like the idea much, but she felt she was obligated to inform Sam of all her options, and so she would. But right now she had to find out exactly how much General O'Neill knew.

"General O'Neill, I'm so sorry to keep you waiting. I had a few unexpected situations to contend with," she said as smooth her hair back from her face. She didn't mention the fact, but she'd also wanted time to read both his and Sam's reports before she spoke to him. What she had discovered in their reports made her think that Jack and Sam might have a surprise in store for them. Sam had been implanted with donor sperm on the same day that Jack had been taken to the genetics lab. And although Jack hadn't said exactly what happened to him there, Caroline put two and two together and came up with baby O'Neill, or maybe not, but she thought the possibility certainly existed.

"Anything I can do?" Jack asked. He liked this young woman, regardless of whether or not she was Hank Landry's daughter. She seemed to have won over the people around here too, which he figured wasn't an easy thing to do, especially when she was always poking them or prodding them with needles and such.

"No, but thank you for offering. Sgt. Siler has a fractured tibia and a minor concussion," she said, slapping a manila folder down on her desk. "And I've had to remove Colonel Carter from SG-1," she said, dropping what she thought might turn out to be a grenade with the pin removed. If he already knew about the baby, there would be barely a bang. If he didn't know, she expected a great big KABOOM!

"What? Why? I thought she came back with a clean bill of health?" he asked, sounding accusatory, his response definitely of the kaboom variety.

"Oh, she did. She's not sick. She's pregnant." Caroline paused to see what effect her words had on him. She watched as Jack's usually tan complexion turned a pasty white. So he didn't know about the pregnancy!

"And as you know, pregnant women are not assigned off-world duty at this time. That may change some day, after we've had time to do a study on the affects wormhole travel has on the fetus, but right now we have to play it safe."

"Sam's pregnant?" He knew he'd heard her correctly, but he still couldn't believe it. "How? Who?" Jack felt as though someone had just stabbed him in the heart. Sam was pregnant with someone else's baby? No wonder she had left last night without saying good-bye! She probably felt weird going out with him alone like that. He never should have taken her out to dinner, once he found out Mitchell couldn't go. Mitchell! He and Sam had been working together for a while now. Was it HIS kid?

"As for HOW, Sam told me that she was artificially inseminated against her will, while she was in the alternate reality. But as for WHO, I'm afraid I can't answer that question, General. I'm not even sure that Sam can. Oh, by the way, Colonel Carter asked me not to tell anyone that she's pregnant, so I'm sure she'd appreciate it if you keep this to yourself."

"Eh…no, of course I won't tell anyone," he managed to say, although his brain was doing summersaults, while his heart was trying to jump clear out of his chest. Sam was artificially impregnated, and he'd had his sperm taken in the same lab. So clearly HE could be the baby's father!

"I explained to her that I would, of necessity, have to tell General Landry and Colonel Mitchell about her condition and how it came about. I just got through talking to my father, and he asked me to talk to you about the matter, to see if you could shed some light on the facts surrounding the experiments that were being done. You said they were conducting some sort of genetics experiments. What were their goals? Exactly what happened to you in the lab, General? You seem to have omitted the details from your report. If I'm going to help Sam, I need to know everything."

"Yes, of course," Jack said quietly. He'd tell her everything she wanted to know, but first he wanted to talk to Sam!

Caroline studied the man in front of her, thinking that he didn't look very well all of a sudden.

"Are you feeling alright, General?" she asked, honestly concerned.

"Yah. Just a little….hungry is all. I wonder if you'd mind if I go get some breakfast now?" Actually it was just an excuse. Eating was the farthest thing from his mind.

"No, I don't mind, if you promise to come back after you've eaten, General?" she asked.

"Yes, eh…I'll see ya later," he said distractedly as he got up and left the office.

Caroline watched him go. She really hoped he and Sam had an honest talk soon, because she had a feeling those two were keeping a lot of feelings bottled up inside.

TBC