Family
Jack reached out to answer the mobile phone that was never far from him – the first thing that was going to change as soon as his retirement was finalised. He looked at the display before answering – 4 am – whoever was calling him at this time of the morning had better have a damn good reason, like the demise of the human race!
After he hung up he leaned over and gently woke his wife. "Sam, Sam. You need to wake up."
"Go away – sleeping". Jack chuckled, some of his bad habits were definitely rubbing off on her.
"C'mon Carter up and at 'em!" Jack commanded.
Sam sat bolt upright in bed and realising the dirty trick her husband had just played on her to get her to wake up, shot death glares at him. "You'd better have a damn good reason for waking me up like that General!"
Crap, she called him 'General' – never a good sign, but he figured she would forgive him when he told her who had been on the phone. "SGC just called – Samantha has gone into labour and is asking for us." Jack told her as he dropped a light kiss on her forehead and got out of bed and started dressing. He had his boxers and jeans on before he realised Sam was still sitting in bed with a shocked expression on her face.
"Sam?"
"Do you think she was serious?"
Jack looked at her – not really understanding what she was talking about, but knowing they needed to get there quickly. "Serious about what?"
"Serious about us raising the baby?"
"Sam you said it yourself – there is nowhere for them to go and there is nothing we can do for them. Put yourself in her place – if you knew you wouldn't be around for our baby who would you want to raise him or her?"
Sam looked at her ever pragmatic husband and smiled. "Another version of me I guess."
"Okay, so yes she was serious and now if we want to see our baby come into this world we need to get a move on. You get dressed and I'll go wake Cass and let her know what is going on and make sure she is okay to take care of Grace."
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Jack and Sam were directed to the isolation room when they arrived. The first thing Jack noticed was the absence of himself. Jack had a bad feeling. He knew when Sam was about to give birth to their child there would be nothing on Earth that could keep him away and he knew his counterpart would feel the same.
Samantha must have seen the look in his eyes. "He's gone." She said simply.
Sam's heart went out to the woman sitting on the bed and reached out for her hand and squeezed it. "I know it's not the same but Jack and I will be here."
Samantha smiled. "I know. Before this all gets too intense," she indicated her stomach with a wave of her hand, " I need to make sure you will raise the baby. Jack is gone so I am guessing my time here is limited – promise me you'll love her as if she were yours."
Jack and Sam looked at each other from opposite sides of Samantha's bed, both choked with emoton. Jack was the first to recover his voice. "We will. We already love Grace and we will love her baby sister just as much."
Sam felt she needed to put the other woman's mind at ease also. "You have given us the greatest gift." She gently touched her own, still flat stomach. "This may be the only baby I ever give birth to but you have made it possible for us to give our baby sisters. Thankyou. Thankyou so much."
Samantha seemed visibly relieved to hear their assurances. "Okay then let's get this show on the road!"
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Several hours later Sam and Jack were sitting on either side of Samantha and holding her hands as she tried to breath through her contractions that seemed to never end. Sam wasn't sure who was squeezing harder – her or Samantha. Sam looked at the other woman and wasn't sure she would be able to cope with this amount of constant pain when the time came for her to give birth. This looked far worse than any kind of injury she had ever received in battle.
Before she had a chance to dwell though, things suddenly seemed to happen quickly. Samantha started pushing and five minutes later a tiny pink miracle was lying on her chest and there wasn't a dry eye in the room.
Sam looked at her husband as he stroked the sweat soaked hair of Samantha's face. Sam thought she might have felt a twinge of jealousy until she noticed that he wasn't looking at the other woman with love in his eyes but the small baby.
Samantha looked down at the baby in her arms – completely oblivious to what Dr Lam was currently doing – as far as she was concerned there were only the four of them in the room. "Thankyou so much for being here." She said as she looked between Jack and Sam. But her gaze couldn't leave her daughter for long. "Jack wanted to call her Elizabeth Jane – if that is okay with you guys."
Jack smiled. "Well I guess we are going to have to come up with something else if we have a daughter – it was on my short list."
Sam looked at her husband in surprise – unaware he even had a short list of name for the baby they had only just found out she was having. "It's perfect." Sam reached down and gently stroked the soft skin of the newborn – her arms itching to hold her.
Samantha looked at the love in the other woman's eyes and knew her daughter would be in safe hands. She looked at Sam. "Do you mind if I feed her? Just this once. I really need to bond with her while I can." She hoped the other woman understood the driving need to share as much with her daughter as time allowed.
"How about we go home and get Grace and then we can introduce her to her new sister." Sam knew Samantha needed to be the mother for as long as she could.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Two hours later Sam, Jack, Grace and Cassie were exiting the lift on the medical level of the SCG.
Jack had knocked on the door to Samantha's room but when he didn't get any responsw he indicated that they should all be quiet in case she was sleeping. As they entered the room it became obvious the room was only occupied by one person – a tiny sleeping infant.
Sam allowed the tears to stream from her eyes and leaned in to the plastic bassinet to pick up the baby and cuddled her close, instinctively wanting the baby to know that while she may have just lost the mother who had given birth to her she had a mother and father who would love her forever.