Sam looked at herself in the mirror and frowned. Three months. She was only three months pregnant and everyone on the base knew. She'd only gained ten pounds but that was apparently all she needed for her stupid uniform not to fit. When she'd first started putting on weight her dress blues had actually began to fit better, they'd always been a little lose. But now … Her dress blues were officially too small and her BDU jacket made her too hot so she was officially walking around her base on a daily basis without the jacket, the most casually dressed base commander in the history of the freaking military. When she'd been wearing her BDU's she'd been really casual for a base commander but, hey, it worked. But no jacket meant she couldn't hide the bump. At the time she'd been okay with it because she was seriously too damn hot and her need for comfort outweighed her need to keep this quiet.
But then everyone had seen just how much weight she had gained and where all of it had gathered and they knew she was pregnant.
And worse, everybody kept smiling at her.
No, what was worse was that she was currently wearing dress blues that were clearly too big. Or would be too big if she didn't have this stupid bump. Today she was meeting with some of the leaders of the Tok'ra. They were finally willing to continue discussing their potential move and she was wearing dress blues that she'd had to order from Earth. Everything had gone to hell in a hand basket when someone had accidently opened the wrong box to find several pairs of dress blues, several pairs of maternity sized dress blues, that Janet had taken the liberty of sending to her …
Sam sighed heavily as he smoothed her already smooth hair and made sure that no loose strands had come un-tucked from the clip she'd pulled it up in before she moved to the door of her quarters. Ead'ogar was standing there, waiting for her and she smiled. After months of requesting them to call her Sam he and Mal'tec had finally started calling her Samantha on a regular basis, just over a month ago. It sometimes made her wonder if that was why Teal'c had finally started to call her Samantha behind closed doors …
"Hello Ead'ogar. How are you this morning?"
"I am well Samantha, and you?"
"Ready for another day I suppose. Do you know if the Tok'ra are here yet?"
"Your father is speaking with Colonel Tutor in the commissary. He said that the other's would be arriving shortly. They will be arriving by ship as you requested."
"Good," Sam nodded. "If things go as I expect them to I may be going off world today." Sam didn't have to look at Ead'ogar to know that he was looking at her in surprise, well as much surprise as a Jaffa can show. "If things go well I won't be gone for long," she reassured him.
"I will accompany you."
"Ead'ogar, I'll be with my father. I'll be fine if you'd like to take some time to yourself. When's the last time you visited Dakara?"
"I will accompany you."
Of course you will, Sam thought. Ever since he'd found out about her pregnancy Ead'ogar had taken over more of the 'body guard' responsibilities. Before it had always been Mal'tec leading their actions. Sam supposed it was because Ead'ogar had felt it was his place to stand in the background; Mal'tec had made the Jaffa pledge and Sam had kicked Ead'ogar's ass pretty well. The pregnancy had changed things though. Then, when he'd learned of Sam's powers, her fears and her need to protect the twins he had practically glued himself to her. "If you're sure," she concluded.
Jamie sat next to her while Ead'ogar stood behind her and Mal'tec 'guarded' the door. They'd been listening to the Tok'ra talking back and forth about the choices in planets that Sam had provided them with while answering their question's as they came along. It seemed clear to Sam that they had tentatively decided on a planet but, they were still leery of the fact that she hadn't given them the Gate address or the coordinates so that they could fly to the planets and actually check them out. It had probably taken them a month and a half to contact her again just because they were leery of her actions …
"I do not understand why we were not provided with the planet locations so that we may have explored them on our own."
Good god they had asked that question three times already, Sam sighed audibly. Lucky for her Jamie had jumped in explaining, once again, that the planets locations were kept hidden by order of their superiors.
"I would think that you would appreciate the fact that we have protected the location of these planets so well," Sam nearly barked. "I am the only person on this entire planet that knows the location of these three planets. Considering your general distrust of everyone except the Tok'ra I would think you would appreciate this discretion. The move you are proposing is not merely a temporary base like you have always used; a base that provides you with a Gate address that you may be somewhat lenient in giving to the Tau'ri because in two weeks you will merely move again. You are proposing a permanent base. I intentionally picked these three planets for you to provide you with as much security as possible and the President backed my suggestion to provide you with the security and secrecy that you have always required. Consider it a good faith effort to assure you that we are doing our best to assist you and meet the needs that you have.
"Now," she offered as she looked around the table at the various Tok'ra. "If you want to continue with this endeavor this is how we will proceed," she continued making it clear that this was exactly how everything would happen. "I'm assuming you have picked one of the three planets?" No one answered but the small smile on Jacob's face had Sam pushing forward. "Good, then this is exactly what's going to happen. In the ship that you brought I will show you the planet that you have picked. I will only show you that one planet. This will ensure the security of your permanent base should you choose to settle on this planet. It will also secure the location of the other two planets if you choose not to settle on this planet. If the planet you have chosen is not to your liking then I will provide you with information on another set of planets and we'll go through this process all over again, understood?"
"We understand Samantha," Selmak agreed and Sam smiled back.
"Alright. One last point for us to cover then. Ead'ogar has expressed his desire to accompany us today; I would like to know if you have any objection to him coming along?"
"Would not his presence risk the security of the planet's location," Ma'lok asked.
"I will remain in the cargo bay," Ead'ogar offered as he stepped closer to Sam. "However, I insist on accompanying Samantha to the planet's surface. Would you not agree that it is in her best interest to be provided with assistance at all times considering her condition?"
"Yes," one of the other Tok'ra began. "But it was not so long ago that you were assisting Ba'al in torturing Samantha."
"I serve her now," Ead'ogar growled as he took another step forward.
Sam jumped out of her seat and placed a hand on his arm. Ead'ogar did not look away from the Tok'ra but he moved back just enough so that he stood directly beside her. "Let's not start throwing around insults. I could name a few times that the Tok'ra did things that the Tau'ri disagreed with." Sam squeezed Ead'ogar's arm in a reassuring manner before she released her hold on him. "I understand your reluctance to accept Ead'ogar's presence on this trip. So let's find a compromise. How about Teal'c accompanies me? You all know that he will wait patiently in the cargo bay and on the off chance that he discovers the location of the planet he will not divulge that to anyone."
There was a moment where the Tok'ra all shared a look with one another before Selmak nodded at her. "Now that that is settled I'd like to make something clear. I do understand your distrust of the Jaffa. I also understand their distrust of you. As a matter of fact the Tau'ri aren't quick to trust either of you however, I find myself in the unique position of having both of you trusting me. I don't believe in blind trust because there are a number of you that I do not trust.
"For example I do not trust Anise and Freya of the Tok'ra the way that I trust Ead'ogar. I also do not trust Ho'sept of the Jaffa the way I trust Selmak. Trust is something earned by the individual, not given to the group. But if you all don't start operating on good faith or providing each other with the opportunity to earn such trust then one of these days things are going to go rather sour for the two of you. What in the world will you do if I'm not around to help mediate such situations for you? You barely accepted Colonel Tutor in mediating one of your previous meetings with the Jaffa in my absence.
"You people have got to learn to work together! I won't be around forever and in the very near future I will be out of commission due to the birth of my baby," Sam offered while she consciously made certain not to spill the beans about the twins. "If nothing else maybe you can make the effort to use your time wisely; learn to work with the Jaffa so that I don't end up taking care of grown adults as if you were my own children!" Sam stared at all the Tok'ra and found herself pleased at the fact that they all had the decency to look a bit put out by her words. Well, except for her Dad. She was sure that he had control and that he was smirking at her. "Now, if you don't mind Colonel Tutor and I have a few things to take care of. I will meet you at your ship in an hour." With that Sam walked out of the conference room without another word to the others.
"Are you well Samantha?"
Sam forced herself to smile before she closed her eyes tightly. "I don't think the twins like spaceships," she mumbled as she gently placed her hand to her stomach. So far she had only experienced actual morning sickness a handful of times but, it seemed that her nausea hadn't dissipated in the slightest as her pregnancy had progressed. Still, flying through space made her want to vomit in a way she couldn't remember. "I need to get out of here … now …"
"Come with me." As Teal'c said the words she felt him place one arm around her shoulders and the other on her arm. She heard the Tok'ra as he moved her through the ship but she tried to block it out as she counted her breathing and kept her eyes shut tightly. The minute she felt the hot breeze hit her face Sam doubled over and promptly vomited.
Teal'c gently rubbed her back while she vomited and offered her word of comfort as she began to dry heave. "Sammie?"
"I believe Samantha needs water. There are several bottles in my pack."
"I'll be right back Sammie."
By the time her father came back with a bottle of water she was leaning against the ship, taking slow deep breaths with her eyes closed. "Here Sam, here's some water." Sam smiled lightly at her father before she took the water and took a few small sips.
"Thanks," Sam whispered. She took her time in getting her bearings back but watched as the Tok'ra glanced at her before moving further from the ship. "I'm sure they loved that."
"Don't worry Sammie. A lot of them are quite interested in your pregnancy."
"Why?"
"Very few Tok'ra have had hosts that have experienced pregnancy first hand. Selmak is over 2oo years old and she's never had a host that had children before. I think that you're going to have a number of visitors with this move."
"You think that you'll move here," She asked truly interested yet still wanting to change the subject.
"I think it's as good as done," Jacob smiled. "They don't want to go through this again and despite harping on it they are actually very thankful for the secrecy of the planets location. They actually wanted me to ask who else knows the planet's location."
Sam smiled as she moved away from the ship and looped her arm through her fathers, letting him lead her across the valley. "Just me," she smiled. "This little planet is truly hidden."
"How's that possible Sam?"
"When we were looking for a planet for our Alpha Site the President ordered me to hide the address of all of the suitable planets for such a site. There's a list of all potential planets that is kept quiet. I'm one of the very few people that know about it. When I forwarded your proposal to the President with my recommendations one of those recommendations was that I be allowed to provide you with potential planets, no one else."
"And he agreed to that," Jacob asked.
"Apparently General's Amos and Schwartz managed to find out about the deal I have with the Tok'ra."
"You mean they know that we've been intrusting you with the planet addresses when we move," Jacob questioned in surprise.
"During my last downtime they hinted at it, said that they heard a rumor to the effect. I told them that rumors were a fickle thing," she said as she smiled up at him. "I've never said more than that but, they must have thought there was some merit to it because no one even batted an eye at my suggestion."
"So you're really the only person that knows about this planet?"
"Yup. I picked three planets off the list that I thought would be suitable and presented them to you. I never even told General Hammond which planets I had picked. We've agreed that once the Tok'ra picked a planet I would erase it from the list of 'hidden' planets. Of the people that know of the list I promise you I'm the only one that has memorized all of the planets and their addresses. Removing it from the list will ensure the Tok'ra security until your base is secure and that we don't travel here mistakenly."
"How many planets are on this list," Teal'c asked.
"Several," Sam offered with a smile as Ma'lok walked up to them. "Ma'lok, what do you think?"
"The leader's are impressed and approve of the planet Colonel Carter."
"I'm glad," Sam smiled. "I was just explaining to my father how hidden this planet is. It should provide you with enough security while you're moving. I was thinking that once you're base is established we could install an iris on your Gate. It won't protect you from an aerial attack of course but it's something."
"And you can ensure the secrecy of this planet?"
"The address for this particular planet came from the Asgard so it's highly likely that its location is outside of Goa'uld knowledge. But, there's no guarantee beyond that." Ma'lok nodded his understanding before he moved back to the council leaders, leaving the trio alone again. "If I'm not needed anymore I think I'll head back to Eleftheria. Everyone gets a little antsy when I'm off world."
"Indeed," Teal'c nodded.
"Give me a minute to check with them," Jacob offered.
As he moved towards the other Tok'ra Sam turned towards Teal'c and sighed. "We're taking the Stargate this time. I don't think I can survive another flight."
"I will gather my things now."
"Thank you Teal'c." Sam smiled as she watched him head back to the ship and knew that he had gotten her meaning. She had thanked him for being him, for being here and understanding, and for bringing a pack with saltine's and bottled water.