Some time later Daniel found Jack on the Bridge of the Prometheus. He was in full 'General' mode, serious, a commanding presence even just sitting – slightly slouched - in the center chair listening to several people all reporting to him at once. There was something leonine about him, Daniel decided, something lethal and alert even at his most laconic.

Jack caught Daniel's eye in a quick glance that acknowledged Daniel's presence. The Airman reporting to him final wound down and Jack stood. He strode towards a door at the side of the Bridge, motioning with his head for Daniel to follow.

"Pendergast!" He said.

"Sir!"

"I'm using your office," Jack informed him.

"Yes, sir."

The room was sparse even by military standards. But it had a desk and two chairs. Jack claimed the chair at the desk, leaving the other one for Daniel.

Daniel didn't miss the slight grimace that crossed Jack's rugged face as he sat down. His knee – or both of them – was bothering him and Daniel hoped he hadn't wrenched something during the earthquake. Jack hadn't bothered getting checked out and if, Daniel knew him, he wasn't going to get checked out for hours still.

"How is the ship?" Daniel asked.

"Minor damage, nothing structural. Some stuff that fell off tables. No injuries. The damned thing's been designed to get shot at and travel at lightspeed. It better be able to withstand some ground shaking."

Daniel stayed quiet for a moment. Jack was at about a ten on his 'annoyed scale.' It didn't get much higher. He decided to let Jack speak next…..

Which he did almost immediately.

"Jillian resting?"

Daniel frowned. "Yes. She was sleeping when I left her," he regarded Jack closely. "I suppose you've had a medic reporting to you?"

"Regularly."

"Then you know that Sam has a mild concussion and some minor bruises and they're going to let her wake up on her own?"

"Yes," Jack answered, "and I know that Jillian is fine. Anything you want to add to that?"

"Do I need to?"

"It's not like I asked for the personal details, Daniel."

"She's fine. The baby's fine. We did an ultrasound just to make sure. Thank you again for finding Alex. It went a long way to calming her down."

The Asgard beam had transported Jack and Daniel directly to the sick bay on the Prometheus and found it a hive of buzzing efficiency. Sam was being wheeled into an exam room by two medics and Daniel felt Jack take an involuntary step forward to go with her and then stop when he realized he couldn't.

Jillian was standing with Scotty's arms around her. Daniel felt a surge of mixed emotions – a slight twinge of jealousy, gratitude that she had someone comforting her and relief that she was all right. It helped that Annie was standing behind Scotty with her forehead resting on his back and her hand on his forearm. Scott let Jillian go the moment they saw Daniel and she had run to him, flung her arms around him and held tight.

It went a long way to easing the twinge of jealousy. Daniel knew that Scott loved Jillian, but only in the same way Daniel loved Sam. There had been no mistaking the undertone of panic in Scott's military-professional voice when he was outside the crumbling temple. It had matched the sound of his own voice – and Jack's – when Sam hadn't answered them.

Daniel locked eyes with Scotty across the brief distance between them and nodded a little.

"Thanks," he said, "for getting us out of there."

"Not a problem," Scotty answered and then he turned away, reaching for Annie and wrapping her up in his arms.

Jillian was shaking and Daniel started swaying a little, whispering in a mix of Dutch and English that it was okay and it was all over now.

"I need to know where my Dad is," she had begged.

Daniel hugged her, carded his fingers through into her hair and said, "Okay, but I'm not leaving you until I know you're completely all right."

"Daniel, please," Jillian insisted.

Beside him Jack spoke up, "I'll go."

Daniel looked at him in surprise. "You will?"

"Yeah. Nothing I can do here anyway. I'm sure Pendergast has it under control but I should check anyway, see what assistance we're offering. I can track down Dr. North in the process."

"Thank you, Jack," Jillian had said, softly.

Within a half an hour Jack had Alexander North speaking to his daughter over the ship's comm system. He had told them the city was largely untouched as earthquakes were common and the buildings had been designed to handle them. The epicenter had been nearly one hundred kilometers off the south shore of Mt. Hanau. It had just been a 'wrong place/wrong time' situation that had placed Daniel, Jack, Sam and Jillian in an abandoned building just as the earthquake hit.

Alexander told them that the government complex was still being checked for structural damage and advised that they should all just stay on board Prometheus for the time being.

The sound of her father's voice and her baby's heartbeat had been all Jillian needed to help her sleep.

Daniel had to admit that it was a great relief to know Alexander was all right and for the other… Well, for someone who was less than an inch big, his son sounded pretty strong.

"Good," Jack said.

"I don't think I've ever seen Jillian like that," Daniel said, softly.

There was the slightest change in Jack's demeanor. Without seeming to move at all he was somehow more alert.

"Like what?"

"That …..scared."

"Look, Daniel. Your wife is a part of a front line SGC team. You know what she's faced out there. I know you're used to getting nothing but grace under pressure from her. But everything changes when there's a baby involved, Daniel. Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"You ever remember being that scared? Ever?"

"I don't remember being scared at all," Daniel answered. "Not then, not during the earthquake. I didn't have time. I didn't get scared until right before the ultrasound. Then….. yeah, I guess I've never been so scared in my life."

Jack nodded. "Everything changes."

Daniel decided not to press Jack about that. He knew that there was only one time in Jack's life that he had been terrified out of his mind – and in that case his worst fears had come true. There was nothing Jack would ever face worse than the moments just after he'd heard a gunshot from his bedroom 9 years ago.

He started to comment that this was all happening at a time in his life when everything seemed to be changing anyway when Col. Pendergast appeared in the doorway.

"Sir?"

Jack looked up and the Colonel went on. "Sorry for the interruption, General, but you said you wanted to be notified immediately when Col. Carter woke up."

Jack and Daniel both stood up as one fluid unit and headed for the door.

"I'll be in sickbay, Colonel," Jack said.

"Understood, sir."

(0)

It was unusual for the medical department of the Prometheus to work double shifts. The ship had served mostly as a shuttle and cargo transport. It was rarely used in battle and when it was, they were close to Earth and additional personnel.

This time the crew had been called on to offer humanitarian aid to the people of Haena and the surrounding lesser islands. There had been no fatalities, thankfully. The people were clearly used to earthquakes and had ridden this one out well. According to the geologists from the SGC the quake had been the equivalent of a 5.9 on the Richter.

That didn't mean the medical centers and hospitals weren't busy with injuries, some of them serious. Airman and USAFMS nurse Monica Hunter had already been on her feet for an eight hour shift when the quake hit. She had volunteered to be in the first group of personnel being sent to assist in the city. Instead of going straight to her quarters when she had finally returned to the ship, she had gone to sickbay to see if there was anything else that needed to be done.

Things were fairly quiet when she arrived, though there was someone in the private isolation room and that was odd.

"Who's in there?" She had directed the question to a fellow Airman, Craig Philips.

He seemed surprised. "You don't know?"

"Can't tell from out here," she answered, trying to peer through the window without getting caught doing so.

The figure in the bed was quite still beneath the green sheets and there was a flash of blond hair on the pillow.

"That's Colonel Carter," Philips answered, "She got caught out on the small island and a cabinet fell on her. She's been unconscious."

"Colonel Carter!" Monica gasped.

She had been on board the Prometheus since it had left Earth and Monica hadn't see Colonel Carter even once. She had been hoping for even a glimpse. The missions of SG1 were required reading for anyone who had been approved for the SGC program, even those destined to serve on Prometheus instead of traveling through the Gate. SG1, and especially Colonel Samantha Carter, had become heroes for the young Airman. But the Colonel had proved elusive; as had Dr. Jackson and his wife, Dr. North.

Like an aircraft carrier on Earth, the Prometheus was a floating city in itself. It wasn't unusual to go for weeks without one department seeing anyone from another.

"Why do you sound so surprised?" Philips asked.

Monica shrugged, craning for a better look. "She's SG1, you know? They aren't supposed to get hurt."

"You read the missions. They're human, not indestructable. They get hurt like the rest of us."

"Not in earthquakes! That seems pretty senseless. Is she going to be all right?"

"She woke up a few minutes ago. I just delivered the message to the Bridge."

"Okay, that's good." She was about to ask for more details when two men came through the main door. All the words she had ready to say died unspoken.

"Isn't that….Isn't that? Oh my god, it is," she stammered.

The tall man with the graying hair and the rugged planes and angles of a face she had only ever seen in pictures was Brigadier General Jonathan O'Neill. He was much taller than Monica had ever imagined and such a….. a presence that he seemed to charge the air just by his occupation of it. He was all trim muscle and implied strength beneath a slightly rumpled desert tan BDU. He stood with authority and he moved like Secret Service. His face was shockingly handsome, younger-looking than she knew he was, but older somehow, too, etched with experience. It was a face that could automatically convey calm strength no matter what was going on around him.

"General O'Neill," Philips said, unnecessarily, "Why? Jeezus, Hunter, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"And Dr. Jackson! That's one-half of SG1," she hissed, excitedly, "Did you ever think you'd get to see any of them in person?"

"They're not rock stars," Philips said, but Monica couldn't help but notice he was staring too.

The other man was obviously Dr. Jackson. He was turned in profile to her as he listened to Dr. Reese's report. It was a stunning profile - strong jaw and chin, slightly turned-up nose, full lips, short hair in a casual, bedroom-tousle. He was Hollywood-handsome, with something almost boyish to his chiseled symmetry. Even from the side and behind his glasses he had striking eyes, which she had never noticed before in any of the formal photos she had seen of the team.

As if he had felt her eyes, Dr. Jackson turned his head and looked casually at her. For a moment Monica felt as if sickbay had literally disappeared. Full on his eyes were not just striking, they were astonishing clear blue, crinkling around the edges with the kind of lines acquired by squinting into the sun in tropical places. There was quiet curiosity in his gaze, sharpening into something like amusement as if he had just suddenly realized something.

Slowly, Dr. Jackson cocked his head. The hint of a shy smile pulled at the corner of his mouth. It seemed to Monica that he came just short of nodding to her before turning his attention back to the General and Dr. Reese.

God, she thought, imagine being married to him…

The men spoke to the doctor for another brief moment and then moved off towards the isolation room in lock step.

The moment the General and Dr. Jackson entered the isolation room, Colonel Carter sat up. Any sign of weakness or injury were not apparent. She moved with a kind of fluid grace with her eyes riveted on her CO. General O'Neill was standing with his back to the window, but it seemed he must have spoken. Monica could see his jaw move and whatever he said made Colonel Carter's eyes widened slightly, as though what he said was enlightenment or epiphany. It caused an immediate reaction, a connection between them and a slow - and very sensual - smile spread her already lovely mouth into a shape of beauty. Samantha Carter was not just beautiful. Suddenly, in the presence of her teammates, she was luminous.

She transformed completely from patient to Colonel Carter right before Monica's eyes. Suddenly three-fourths of the legendary SG1 was right there.

She was startled out of her euphoric vision of her heroes by the gruff voice of her CO.

"Hunter!" Reese snapped.

"Sir!" She answered.

"You're asleep on your feet. Go get some rest. Everything's under control here."

"Yes, sir."

Lowly Airman Monica Hunter took one more look at the image of SG1, wished just a little bit that Teal'c had been there too and then turned to seek the quiet of her quarters.

(0)