Chapter 50 - Satisfied
They hadn't dared to let Sha're know everything that was going on, couldn't build up her hopes. Larys was once again the go-between, and when she had asked through him, Sam and Jolinar were pleased to give a positive answer. The night they finished, and even Anise signed off on the additions, they sent word—"Tomorrow"
Sha're was the only reason they had to go to the infirmary now, as they rose early the next morning and went to see her. It had been a week since her desperate request, and it showed on her face. Shifu was still being a fussy child of not even two months, and Sha're had refused all help before now. Larys gave him a final check-up, and Sam and Jolinar watched fondly as she apologized and thanked Larys for all his help, giving him word to pass onto Dorin once she returned. Larys only smiled.
"Is everything ready?" Jolinar asked, as Sha're tucked Shifu into the makeshift sling that swung across her chest.
"I have nothing else," she said with a shrug, and it was both pathetic and joyous at once.
*Has it only been two months?*
~I don't know, it feels like a year for me.~
Jolinar did not say anything directly, but Sam felt that this was something that would change with time. Lots of time, maybe. Sam didn't think that far ahead.
"We have had the Council's permission for some time, so there is nothing to wait on," said Jolinar.
"Then please, let us go," said Sha're.
Jolinar, in an impulse that might have originated in Sam, put a hand to the back of Sha're's elbow as they walked towards the gate. Sam felt the pang as they realized that Sha're, one of the background constants of their Tok'ra relationship, would move on without them. They hadn't had much time together, given everything. Maybe that could be mended in the future; strangely, they would both strive for it.
Shifu burbled from inside the sling, pressed comfortably against Sha're's chest and drooling all down it. They were almost ready to ring up to the surface when Sha're started. "Oh!"
"What is it?" asked Jolinar, brow quickly furrowing.
"I have not seen Martouf or Lantash in many days," Sha're said with a worried frown. "Would you tell them that I look forward to a next meeting?"
Jolinar's face relaxed. "Of course. Did you give your farewells to Selmak?"
"Oh yes, we spoke only yesterday," said Sha're with a nod as Jolinar activated the rings. "Jolinar—I am sorry for this."
"What do you mean?" asked Jolinar, now walking across the sands of the home-world.
"For wanting to leave like this," Sha're said, looking up to her. "I know that I will regret my haste when it is all over, but though I cannot change my feelings, I want you to know that they are not permanent."
"We did not think so," said Jolinar, and smiled openly to her.
Shan'ak was standing as always, waiting. Jolinar gave him the address of the barren planet around which the upgraded tel'tac waited. The blue wormhole flushed open, and Sha're did not look back as she walked through with Sam and Jolinar. Another push of buttons, and then they were standing in the middle of the tel'tac.
"Even with the changes, it will still be a long journey," said Jolinar as she walked to the pilot's seat. "Please, take your ease."
Sam was nervous, suddenly doubting everything they had done as she realized that Sha're and Shifu were now counting on them.
*Even if anything fails, it will only be an inconvenience,* Jolinar assured. And Sam didn't bother looking behind that faulty logic.
ooooooo
Daniel momentarily had a little surprise as he heard that he was getting an international call.
"Dr. Jackson?"
But that voice he wouldn't forget. "Mrs. Miller," he answered, smiling a little at the recall.
"Well, you beat me. Caleb and I signed the papers; we at least want to know more."
"Caleb too, really," said Daniel with a blink. That hadn't been in the plan.
"I'm not going to try to keep secrets from him, not even for your military," Jean's tone was amused but stubborn.
"No, that makes sense," said Daniel.
"So, aren't you going to use your evidence to convince me further?"
Daniel smiled to himself. "Not that I wouldn't love to reward your interest, but this isn't—well, let's just say that I think it would be better for both of us if you were here when I had this conversation."
"In Colorado." Her tone was firmly dry.
"You can still say no, but I don't think you'll forgive yourself if you don't do otherwise," said Daniel, in his most persuasive tones. He'd gotten this far, now he was invested.
"You're a strange salesman, playing hard to get like that," Jean answered. "Why again should I do that?"
"Time of a lifetime, Mrs. Miller. Don't ever forget that," said Daniel.
He heard her sigh. "I'll get back to you later."
"Hope to see you soon," Daniel finished. "Oh, and Mrs. Miller? Thank you for giving me a chance."
"You're welcome, but we'll see, you know."
"I do," said Daniel, nodding even though she couldn't see. The phone disconnected, and he felt satisfied.
ooooooo
Sam watched all the controls with careful study as they flew through hyperspace. Sha're was mostly quiet, bouncing Shifu and humming to him when he moaned and fussed, but not holding herself as one desperate. Jolinar found calm through marking each change in the diagnostics that Anise had made sure were front and center. An addition here, a rise there, a dissipation here and there, the actions meant nothing but held their attention.
Hours later, Shifu hiccouphed through a tear-stained face as he slept, and Sha're's eyes were wearily shut as well, her head leaned back against the chair. Jolinar saw the beginnings of wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, and suddenly Sam was overwhelmed with the grief for short lives. Even if Sha're would be revived by being where she belonged, it would not be enough. Jolinar kept people far away from her because of this, but not this time, and it would hurt.
Only a few hours remained until the ship would drop out of hyperspace and immediately, hopefully, cloak. Sam joined Jolinar and watched the numbers rise and fall in miniscule increments, willing them to stay constant for as long as was necessary.
As the time grew less, Jolinar started running over the plan in her head. Sam started visualizing Earth, the SGC, and Jolinar started working out just how she could get to the surface most quickly. There was a moment when Jolinar wondered if she would be able to rely on daylight, and Sam noticed for the first time that her internal clock was not anywhere near set on her home-planet. She couldn't have guessed what time it was on Earth, even if her life depended on it.
The minutes started to count down until it was time, and Sha're woke, refreshed and ready as she could be. She held Shifu cradled in the sling, his breaths no longer shaky from fussy tears. She rocked a little in the seat, and no one spoke, because it would be best if he stayed asleep.
"Sa'm," Sha're finally said in a voice low enough to be termed a whisper.
Sam turned from the screen, switching with Jolinar almost with a blink.
"I know that I asked for this, but could you please tell me what you expect," Sha're said, one hand curved beneath Shifu and the other resting gently on his chest. "What will happen to us?"
Sam swallowed, thinking back. "They won't stun you with Shifu, I'm positive," she said, finding that the concepts of Earth security were a bit rusty. "But there will be guards. With guns. They'll escort you to a holding cell, most likely, and then you'll be searched for any dangerous items. But then Janet will run an MRI, and after that, I can't imagine that they wouldn't believe you." Even Jolinar couldn't go so far as to imagine that.
Sha're nodded, closing her eyes for a second. "Will Shifu be tested again?"
Sam bit her lip. "I don't know, Sha're. But they're good people, even if they're paranoid, and Daniel will be there for you. I know it won't matter to him what the danger might be; all he ever wanted was to have you back."
"I am not truly worried, Sa'm," Sha're said with a small smile. "I am just thinking and preparing."
Jolinar's idea of thinking was a little more to the point, less speculative about emotions, and Sam decided to retreat to it when Sha're had no more words. She was taking Sha're to Sam's home, and though Jolinar strove to keep emotions free of the plan—any moment might bring back those hopes and dreams of long ago. Over three months, and it felt like so much longer.
"Sa'm?"
She looked up and saw a frown on Sha're's face.
"I will vouch for you, do you understand?" Sha're said, looking her in the eye. "If I have any weight at all, be it only with Daniel, I will not forget the reason that I was able to return."
"If we succeed at all," Sam said, letting the words slip before realizing what they were and biting her lip. "No, we'll succeed at this, I know. It's just—who knows what will happen afterwards."
*Fifteen minutes,* said Jolinar, still marking the time.
"Okay, Sha're, we need to get ready," said Sa'm, taking one last look at the numbers on the screen. "As soon as we drop out of hyperspace, Jolinar is going to fly us right down to the SGC itself. We're going to ring you and Shifu right outside the above-ground entrance, okay?"
Sha're nodded, as understanding as she could be.
"I don't know how long it will take, and Jolinar and I will need to be adjusting things the whole way, so you have to be ready before it happens," said Sam. "Can you do that?"
Sha're nodded, swallowing.
Sam stood up, walked to the back of the tel'tac, and waited for Sha're to rise. Shifu still slept, but fitfully now, and Sha're bobbed back and forth as Sam positioned her right in the center of the rings. She looked up at Sam, brown eyes wide and excited.
"Thank you, Sa'm," she said brokenly, her smile nervous and twisted.
Sam almost bit her lip, but then Jolinar pushed her without words, and she reached out to give Sha're a warm hug. "You be safe, okay?"
Sha're laughed, and wiped at the corner of one eye. "And you as well, both of you."
As Jolinar encouraged the sentimental mood, Sam put out one hand to gently squeeze Shifu's.
"Do you have any words for—" Sha're broke off, leaving the words to be spoken in her eyes.
Jolinar held back, not making a move. Sam took a breath, about to say something. Then she looked Sha're in the eye, and sighed, ruffling Shifu's fuzzy dark hair one last time. "Tell them what you saw," she said quietly.
Sha're nodded, bowing her head a little.
The ship beeped to remind them that time was drawing short. Sam let Jolinar take over, and started to embrace the rush of adrenaline starting to course through them. All the planning, all the waiting, for this one moment. Sam didn't doubt that it would work, but even so, the slight gamble gave her an exhilarating feeling.
At last, the timer finally ran down. Jolinar stretched her hands, ran the plan through her mind in lightning fast pictures, and then placed her hands on the controls. Stars replaced the blue-purple streaks, and suddenly Sam saw it. Earth. They were between it and the sun, and she saw her home country lit perfectly by its light. Jolinar flicked her fingers, and Sam watched the shimmer of the cloak envelop them. So far so good.
Jolinar started diving towards the planet. She knew exactly what velocity and angle, not least from the safeguards on the ship, but also with Sam's implicit understanding of flight and this planet in particular. The United States started looming up toward them in a matter of minutes. Sam suddenly worried what the atmosphere might do to them.
ooooooo
Daniel took his lunch alone as usual, and this time he didn't even know where his teammates were. Well, except that Jack and Dixon were due back later from some mission. There were a few other people in the lunchroom, but it was a quiet day at the SGC. Even though their schedule was still active, it wasn't busy like it had been. For all the wonders they were supposed to be exploring, it felt like the humdrum of old reality.
And that reminded him, he should probably get permission for the Millers to get a tour, once they showed up. Hammond knew nothing of the situation yet. He rose, taking his pita sandwich in one hand and his empty coffee mug in the other.
Just a couple steps down the corridor, though, and paperwork vanished from his mind as he saw Mckay dart down a hall. Even in crises, the man didn't dart. Picking up his pace, Daniel followed him.
"What is it?" he called, as Mckay turned to enter a lab. Daniel heard the sounds of excited chatters from within.
"Jackson?" Mckay asked, turning back for a second and giving time for Daniel to catch up the last few steps, before turning into the room.
"Something up?" Daniel asked, curious.
"Oh, something's up," said Dr. Felger, as Daniel and Mckay walked into the lab. It was the satellite monitors stationed in orbit around Earth, sending information to the computers in here to be analyzed.
"You know, just when you think you have to go out of our system to find anything interesting..." said Dr. Lee.
"Move over," said Mckay, taking a seat by one of the screens. "There was a strange anomaly near the Sun about ten minutes ago," he said, in the general direction of Daniel.
Daniel's eyebrows perked up, and he moved to look over Mckay's shoulder as he started to zoom in on the footage. "Oh."
"And then something in the atmosphere, that we couldn't quite place," said Mckay, "a few minutes after that."
"Does the general know?" Daniel asked, a little more worried than curious for the moment.
"Yes, yes," said Mckay, shaking his good hand at Daniel. "Now look, look at this!"
"My god," Lee breathed out, eyes like saucers, as the information Mckay was pulling from the image fed into his monitor.
Daniel squinted a little, not seeing more than a fuzzy bit on the screen. "Is it—something?
Mckay's fingers paused over the keyboard. "No, I'm playing around with a figment of my imagination."
Daniel wasn't in the mood to respond to his, admittedly somewhat deserved, snark.
"Okay, this is not helping much," muttered Mckay as he tried to enhance the image.
"Oh!" exclaimed Felger from a different computer. "Rodney, Rodney, look! One of the security feeds from outside the SGC picked up a flash of something in the sky that immediately vanished."
"What the..." Mckay trailed off, frowning. He pushed his chair to the right, Felger quickly getting out of his way as Mckay looked at the new screen. "Good god—someone ring the alarm, now!"
Daniel didn't know who did it, but he had other things on his mind. Because he might not discern fuzz well, but that outline was Goa'uld if he ever saw one, and his heart started picking up to a rapid pace. His hand was on the phone before he knew it. "Get me Hammond," he insisted.
ooooooo
~Damn!~ swore Sam, speaking for them both. They were a couple miles off, but that was it.
Jolinar had the cloak back in a matter of seconds, and Sha're didn't seem to notice from where she stood, waiting. Gritting her teeth for a second, Jolinar curved a tight angle with the ship, dipping down closer and closer to the mountain. Sam's memories were all that she needed, and they were so close.
"Are you ready?" Jolinar called back, as the mountain leered up at them. Sam might have flinched at the speed, but she could feel every decision Jolinar was making, and she trusted in her and this ship both.
"Good fortune to you!" called Sha're, bracing herself as Jolinar cast a quick glance back.
They paid Shifu's cry upon waking no attention. Jolinar's fingers flicked at the steering device, and the invisible ship swung around and suddenly hovered. Lowering it just a little more, Sam saw the sun-lit outer entrance of Cheyenne Mountain through the windshield.
A couple seconds more, and then Jolinar's finger was on the button. "Good fortune to you, Sha're," she called back.
Sha're and Shifu were gone in a flash of light. There was no time, even if they had needed it. Jolinar's hands were firmly at the controls again, and they were flying high in the sky. The cloak flickered again, but if there had been any defense it would have been activated by now, and the only thing they could do was get out of range.
The atmosphere did away with the cloak altogether, and before the thrill of success could start rising in them, the cloud of hyperspace sucked them in. Sam had kept her word to Sha're, and now she and Jolinar were on their way home.
ooooooo
Daniel and Mckay had run down to the control room as soon as Hammond heard the news. Marines were already being sent up to the surface, and everyone was preparing for the worst. But before they saw what was on screen, suddenly the marine commander's radio fed through the loudspeaker.
"You've got to be kidding me!"
Daniel looked down at the screen, and the picture sunk into his head at the same moment as the muffled words over the radio. "Hold your fire!" For Sha're.
"Dear god in heaven," murmured Hammond, as they all stared at the footage.
"Sir?" They needed an order up there.
"Hold your fire," Hammond said. "But keep your weapons trained."
"Is this some kind of trap?" Mckay wondered, breathless with the excitement and exertion to get up here.
"Take this and explain yourself," said the marine commander, and Daniel watched him toss a radio to Sha're.
Sha're. His wife. And what was that in her arms? How was he seeing her? She took the radio and spoke into it. He saw her mouth move, and heard her voice crackle over the loudspeaker. "Is my Dan'yel there? And Sa'm's general?"
"Sha're?" Daniel asked, impulsively reaching for the radio himself.
"Dan'yel." Her voice came to life. "Dan'yel, you may tell them that I come in peace. Everything will be explained, I promise you. I have no weapons. I carry only this child. There is no danger, I promise. The ship is gone."
"Are we supposed to trust her?" Hammond asked.
"What possible attack would use this plan?" asked Mckay, eyebrows firmly skeptical. "We'd be dead if this was a distraction."
"Sir, remember the last time we saw her," Daniel said, his mind overwhelmed but still able to think of something. "Sam—and Jolinar—but maybe we were wrong."
Hammond frowned. "Dr. Jackson, I don't think even you know what point you're trying to make at the moment. But either way, this is not taking place under these circumstances." He leaned over the intercom. "Bring her down, but watch her carefully."
Mckay, now that there was no interesting anomaly nor a frightening Goa'uld attack, was emotionally non-descript. He did, however, follow Daniel as he headed for the elevator where they would be bringing Sha're.
Daniel didn't know what he thought, or was supposed to think, or anything. His wife was here. Here. She sounded like herself, carried a child in her arms, and had come in a manner almost believably like this strange Sam that he hadn't been thinking about. What was going on and what would happen, he didn't know, but he doubted anyone else did either.
They stood waiting, even more marines with weapons at the ready. The elevator doors opened, and Daniel was hit with the image before him. Her hair curled just the same way, her face curving like he remembered, eyes bright, even if he could see the worn look of her skin. And that noise—the sound of a babe from the sling in her arms. She was in a simple brown robe, and with the white cloth sling added he couldn't see any possible trap.
"Dan'yel," she whispered, looking just as overcome as he.
"Sha're," he answered, wishing with all his might to run forward past the guns.
"I'm sorry, but we need to search her first and foremost," said Hammond.
Sha're nodded, standing still while the marines hesitantly gave her a once over. Daniel was itching, aching, to say or do something. He saw Mckay standing next to him, arms crossed loosely, looking vaguely curious.
"No weapons that we can tell, sir," the marine commander said. "She's clean, unless there's something more sinister."
"Why would I bring my child if I was only to trap you?" Sha're asked, looking from Daniel to Hammond.
"Your child?" Hammond asked, and Daniel felt the words begin to weigh on him.
"Please, there is much to explain," Sha're asked. "May I not be freed to see my husband?"
Hammond eyed her closely, but Sha're didn't budge, her eyes still wide open. "Get me Dr. Frasier at once," he ordered to the marine standing next to him. Then he turned, and gave a curt nod to Daniel.
"Sha're," Daniel murmured, stepping forward.
With a joyous laugh, she took the few steps between them, and then she was in his arms. Warm, secure, smelling just how he remembered, and he buried his face in her hair and forgot about the guards standing round with raised weapons. For a moment he just held her, and then began to comprehend the child he was almost squashing between them. Letting go just a few inches, he looked down into her face, raising a hand to wipe a tear from her bright eye, and drinking in her smile.
He glanced down, and the baby in her arms moaned and wriggled, and he saw a round pink face with a golden glow, and big dark eyes beneath an even darker fringe. "Who is this?" he whispered, overwhelmed and almost in awe.
"It is my child, rescued from Apophis' plans," Sha're said, and he looked back at her and saw old hurt and new joy mingling in her eyes. "I hope that—"
"That he will be ours?" Daniel asked, a smile escaping his happy confusion. Sha're's own smile broadened, and he squeezed her closer. "I didn't think you would ever come back to me," he said quietly.
They stood a few seconds more, and then a slight cough had Daniel turning back. He remembered the audience, and saw Hammond. "Dr. Jackson, your wife needs to be taken to the infirmary at once, for an MRI among other things."
Daniel nodded, but couldn't bring himself to let go. "Go ahead," he said with a nod to the marines, who looked hesitant. With one arm around his wife, he started walking down with them to the infirmary. For some reason all his worry was gone. He wanted to know the whole story—but he felt that there would be all the time in the world for them to understand it.
Sha're was back. He was not a failure. And maybe none of the troubling past months had been in vain if they had led to this.
—
Author's Note: Thank you for the feedback! I should be able to reply to each review individually from now on.
One note, the Tok'ra are not invested in the faster hyperdrive because so little of what they do is with ships. And they'd only be ready to accept the chameleon device if it was foolproof, although close to that might be worth it in a situation where they absolutely needed it.