Season 10 Episode 1 – Flesh and Blood
Episode summary: Having failed to find the Sangraal amongst the treasures at Camelot, SG-1 are immediately launched into battle when the Ori supergate is discovered. Sam attempts to dial out before they can dial in, but fails, and she is stranded floating free in space in a spacesuit as the gate activates and the Ori ships come through. Daniel and Mitchell are aboard the Korelev, which is destroyed in the ensuing battle. Mitchell escapes in an F302, and Daniel escapes using the rings, ending up on an Ori ship. Teal'c is on a Lucian Alliance ship, which survives the battle but is then in a scuffle for control of the ship with the Lucian Alliance, who blame the Tau'ri for their own losses in the fight with the Ori and challenge them to give up the Odyssey. Mitchell recovers Sam from space. Bra'tac arrives with a ship, and the Lucian Alliance destroy their damaged ship. Teal'c is beamed aboard the Odyssey. Bra'tac, Teal'c, Mitchell and Carter follow the Ori ships to Chulak aboard Bra'tac's mothership. They attempt to destroy one of them by ringing a bomb aboard, but it fails, so Bra'tac plots a collision course. They are beamed away onto the Odyssey just before impact. Meanwhile, Vala has had her baby, who is declared the Orici. The girl, who Vala names Adria after her step-mother, starts growing very quickly, reaching teenage years by the time they reach Chulak. Daniel is aboard the same ship as Vala, having ringed there from the Korelev during the battle, and they attempt to stun Adria and kidnap her, but are interrupted and Vala is shot. Adria begins to heal Vala, and Daniel uses the distraction to stun Adria, and as he is beamed away by the Odyssey he grabs Vala to bring her with him.
The debriefing had been long, and painful. They'd lost a lot of allies, a lot of friends, in the Ori incursion, and they were lucky that any of SG-1 had survived, never mind all four of them plus Vala.
At the conclusion of the debriefing Jack had followed General Landry into his office for a wrap-up meeting, Sam and Cameron standing when the Generals had out of training and respect, and SG-1 looked at each other tiredly.
"I'm going home." Cameron announced. "You all should get some sleep."
"I'm gonna go check on Vala." Daniel said, and the two of them left.
Sam sank back into her seat. She'd been awake for nearly forty-eight hours, and was too exhausted to think.
"Would you like me to drive you home, Colonel Carter?" Teal'c asked gently.
Sam gave him a tired smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Thanks for the offer, but no, I'll just crash in base quarters. You should go and rest."
"Very well." He inclined his head to her, rose and left.
She closed her eyes briefly. Really, she'd rather wait for Jack and then go home with him, but she had no idea how long his meeting with Landry would last. If she went to base quarters, there was a chance she might not see him again before he headed back to Washington. Maybe she should have accepted Teal'c's offer …
The sound of a door opening had her jumping to her feet, realising she'd started to fall into a doze right there in her chair.
"Go home, Colonel." General Landry ordered from his doorway, and she nodded.
"Yes sir."
Jack approached her, and she tried to read his expression, utterly failing. Wow, I must be tired.
"Come on Carter, I'll drive you." He said quietly. She sagged a little in relief and followed him out. They parted ways in the elevator when she got out at the locker room level to change, and fifteen minutes later she was sitting in the passenger seat of her own car as he drove them home. She'd protested half-heartedly about the potential issues of him being stuck without a car of his own to drive, but he waved her off with a perfectly reasonable explanation that she didn't quite have the energy to follow.
In the house, she flopped immediately into bed, barely aware of Jack setting himself up beside her with a cell phone and a laptop, and slept for eight hours straight.
Sam woke to the sound of the front door banging shut, and she sat straight up in bed with her heart pounding. Jack wasn't beside her anymore … was it him? Or an intruder?
She got up carefully and quietly, but relaxed when she heard Jack's distinctive rumbling mutter.
"Hey." She said, exiting the bedroom in her pyjamas.
"Good morning sunshine." He said teasingly. "Or should I say afternoon?"
"What?"
"Although in all fairness, it was about, oh, 0700 when you went to bed, so maybe I'll let you off for sleeping the day away."
"If it's the middle of the day, what are you doing here?" She asked, confused.
He pressed a cup of take-away coffee into her hands. "Lunch break."
She glanced at her clock. "It's 1500 hours."
"Late lunch break. We're all working on odd hours today, I was up all night and slept a little this morning with you."
She nodded. "Any news?"
"The Odyssey has landed at Area 51 for a refit and repairs. No sightings of the Ori ships again yet, but you can bet they'll turn up again soon."
"How's Vala?"
"Annoying the hell out of the nurses, apparently. She'll be fine, apparently the kid had mostly healed the wound already when Daniel shot her with the stunner."
Sam shivered. The way the Ori had used Vala to smuggle one of their own into the galaxy had horrified her, and she couldn't imagine what the other woman must be feeling right now. She'd also been more than a little chilled at Daniel's casual remark that he should have killed the child when he'd had the chance.
"Hey, are you ok?" Jack said, noticing her shudder. He took the coffee back out of her hands and put it down, drawing her close for a hug.
"I'm fine." She assured him, but accepted the embrace gladly. "I'm glad we all got back in one piece."
"Me too." He agreed fervently, kissing her temple. "Nice job."
She pulled back and kissed him, and then he released her and moved away with a smile, setting out some plates for their 'lunch'.
"You were right, by the way." He said suddenly.
"About what?"
He smirked wryly at her. "She does look a hell of a lot like Serena."
She grinned. "I told you."
"Daniel was with her when I stopped by earlier. I got the impression he's been hovering a bit. Maybe there is something there."
"We shouldn't push them." Sam said warningly. "She's been through a lot, and Daniel's not exactly in the best place right now either."
"Do I look like cupid to you?"
"I'm just saying."
He passed her a sandwich, and she tucked in hungrily.
"So …" Jack said, after a few minutes of eating.
"So?"
"Should we talk about a certain phone call you made to me just before you left?"
Sam swallowed a bite and put the sandwich down. "You mean the one when I told you I wanted to start trying for a baby?"
"That would be the one." He said with a lightly teasing tone.
"I meant it." She said.
"I thought you probably did."
"I know we don't know exactly when Beth was born, but … it's 2006. We've got 28 years until 2034, and if I had to make a guess at Beth's age, I'd say she was between 26 and 28. That doesn't give us a huge amount of time."
"You realise that making a decision about when to have a baby based on how old that baby appeared in the future is kinda trippy?"
"Says the man who bought my engagement ring way earlier than was appropriate just because he happened to see in a jewellery shop the ring he'd seen in the future."
Jack frowned at her, trying to follow that statement. "Yes?"
Sam grinned. "There's also the consideration of my age."
"You're healthier than most women in their twenties."
"That doesn't matter – I'm almost forty, and at some point I'm going to run out of eggs, and the older I get the greater the risk of complications in pregnancy. That's just the way it works."
"I still say we shouldn't freak out about this stuff. We know it's going to work out."
"I'm not freaking out about it, I'm just saying … we have to make the decision to start trying at some point. I think that should be now."
"And as I said on the phone … let's do it."
"Ok." She said, tapping the table. "So … we're officially trying to get pregnant."
"Yes we are." Jack said. "Wanna start right now?"
Sam grinned.