Atlantis Season 4 Episode 16 – Trio
Episode summary: On a mission to convince a colony of people to relocate from a volatile area with frequent seismic disturbances and an unsafe atmosphere, McKay, Keller and Carter fall into an old mining facility. They try many things to try and get out, two of which end in Sam falling from a great height – the second time, she breaks her leg. When a tremor tilts the room, Keller falls out of the door into the abyss, and is saved when she grabs onto a rope that Rodney is holding. She spots an exit tunnel, and Rodney manages to lower her until she can swing into it. His hands are bloody from the friction of the rope. They fashion a seat for Sam and Rodney lowers her too. Then Rodney lowers himself. He gets into the tunnel seconds before the entire building they were in plummets into the abyss.
The first thing Sam became aware of as she drifted back to consciousness, was a throbbing pain in her leg.
The second thing was McKay bickering.
"Some of us are trying to sleep here, Rodney." She griped hoarsely, opening her eyes in a squint against the bright lights of the infirmary.
"Hey, you're awake." McKay said, peering at her from her bedside.
"How are you feeling?" Sheppard asked from her other side.
"Like I broke my leg." She said with a grimace. "What happened?"
"You passed out while we were pulling you up out of that mine exit tunnel." McKay said. "Then I ran to the gate to call for backup, and Sheppard came to pick us up in a puddle jumper."
"Dr Keller says it was a clean break." Sheppard added. "You've got a shiny new cast, and you'll be on crutches for a few weeks, but you'll be fine."
Sam nodded and gave him a thumbs-up with a tight, pained smile, before closing her eyes again tiredly.
"Rodney, are you and Jennifer ok?" Sam asked after a few moments.
"Yeah, yeah, we're fine." McKay said with a dismissive wave. "Well – my hands are ripped to shreds, and I'm probably not going to be able to move my arms tomorrow when all the pulled muscles really start complaining, but … I'm not dead at the bottom of a mine, so there's that."
"You're surprisingly chipper." Sam commented, squinting at him.
"He thinks Keller's into him." Sheppard said, with blatant scepticism.
Sam raised her eyebrows but didn't comment. McKay and Keller? Well, she supposed stranger things had happened.
The good doctor herself checked on Sam later on. Sam was pleased to see she didn't look any the worse for wear.
"Hey." Sam greeted her.
"How are you doing?" Keller asked.
"I'm great." Sam said with a grin, pointing at her IV. "Morphine drip."
Keller winced, and moved to the IV in question. "Yeah, about that …"
She removed the IV. Sam stared at her.
"You can't have any more of that." Keller said carefully.
"Why?" Sam asked. If she wasn't slightly loopy from the morphine, she might have been embarrassed about how plaintive she sounded.
"We ran a full set of blood and urine tests – as you fell twice onto ancient and rotting wood, I was worried about you having picked up something nasty."
At Sam's alarmed look, Keller held up a conciliatory hand. "You're fine." Keller assured her. "But the tests did turn up something else."
Keller gave her a pointed look, but didn't continue.
Sam raised her eyebrows at the doctor. "What?"
Keller smiled softly. "You're pregnant."
Sam's mouth dropped open. "Seriously?" She breathed.
"Yeah. You didn't know?"
"No. I had no idea." Sam looked up at the ceiling, thinking. It must have happened when she went back for her impromptu IOA debriefing five weeks ago.
It suddenly hit her that she'd put her body through a hell of a lot in the last twenty four hours.
"Is it … I mean, with everything that's just happened, is the baby ok?" She asked, a hand drifting to her stomach.
"I'm going to take you for a scan now." Keller said. "But there hasn't been any bleeding, which is a good sign."
Sam nodded, feeling utterly shell-shocked. She laced her fingers over her abdomen, looking down at herself. Jake's in there.
Dr Keller confirmed Sam's suspicion about how far along she was, although the official medical way of counting these things meant she was medically considered to be eight weeks pregnant, rather than the five she'd counted since the conception. Her mishaps in the mine didn't seem to have caused any harm.
Sam asked Keller to keep it to herself, at least until she'd had a chance to tell Jack, and the doctor reluctantly agreed. Technically the pregnancy should be reported to General Casey, but Sam didn't want Jack finding out like that. She was less than six weeks away from going home for good. She wanted to tell him in person.
It was weird, she thought as she lay in bed on her first night in her quarters since being released from the infirmary. A year ago she'd been obsessing over her inability to get pregnant, and she'd been actively trying with every chance she got. But since Beth came along, and her posting to Atlantis, she'd barely even thought about it, figuring there was no point until she got home again for good. Maybe the universe had a sense of humour after all, having her fall pregnant just as she stopped trying.
She ran a hand lightly over her belly, thinking of Vala, and the almost six-months-along swell she'd had when Sam had last seen her, and of Teyla, who was showing more every day. Perhaps it was silly, but she felt pleased to be a part of that club, even if it was only privately, for now.