Birthright

"Did you see Teal'c getting it on with that Amazonian Beauty?" Jack said across the small group of gathered friends. Huddled in a small area of his back garden, Jack was talking to Sam, Daniel, Janet and Nicola whilst Teal'c was standing on the other side of the lawn being talked at by Cassie. Receiving an elbow to his gut, Jack turned to Sam. "What?"

Smiling at him, Sam merely shook her head at him. "His private life is exactly that, Jack."

"I'm just sorry I missed that particular diplomatic mission," he joked, earning himself another jab in the ribs. Things were not yet perfect with Sam, but they were on the right path. She still had her quiet, distant, distracted moments, but Jack could also see the effort she was putting in.

"What sitting outside while Sam and Nicola got to go and speak with them? You'd have made some completely inappropriate comment and probably got us all killed."

"Because you've never made that mistake, Daniel?" Nicola commented.

"Huh?" Daniel said, suddenly distracted and studying his cell phone. "Sorry guys. Sarah just sent me a message and I've got to go and see her."

"Is she still suffering a set back after her trip home?" Janet asked and Daniel nodded.

"Gotta go. Bye."

"Someone's social skills need some work." Jack then slung an arm around Sam's shoulder. "Walk with me." When they were a few steps away from Janet and Nicola, Jack paused them both and said, "This is going well, isn't it?"

"Our barbecue?" she checked and he nodded. "Yes. It's nice gathering everyone together."

"I just wish that you wouldn't make me cook for all these people when the invite ends up going around the base."

"You've got help," she nodded her head towards the food station and Jack smiled at Sasha who seemed more than happy to not take her free time off away from the house.

"I better go and help the help." Sam reached up and kissed his cheek before slowly wandering into the house, saying a few words to some people as she passed. She seemed to walk straight passed Janet without a second glance, which did concern Jack. Knowing that he did not have the time to press Sam further, he turned and made his way over to Sasha and the food station. "Are you sure you don't mind helping?"

Sasha looked up at him, smiling. "Of course not."

"It is your day off."

"Yes and I'm not with your toddler child, so I'm not working."

"You could have spent the day doing anything else other than being here. What about Andy?" She paused and a look crossed her face causing Jack to worry that he had said the wrong thing. "Sorry…" he mumbled.

"It's nothing. I've known Andy a long time and sometimes things get complicated."

Glancing at the door through which Sam had disappeared into the house through, Jack nodded. "I appreciate that. So," he said in a breezier tone, "what shall we cook first?"

SG – SG – SG

"It's a shame that he had to run off like that," Janet said to Nicola, the two of them having been abandoned by the others. A few months ago and Janet would have run screaming from the situation. Things had started to slowly change ever since Nicola's torture at Sam/Osiris' hands and they had started developing a working relationship. Janet would not call her a friend quite yet.

"Sarah's important to him."

"True," Janet agreed. "So, tell me, did you ever go and see that old commanding officer of yours?"

"Yeah, the other month."

"And? How did it go?"

Nicola shrugged. "About as well as could have been expected. He wasn't too happy to see me after all this time, but he appreciated my apology. He's still single. Never dated since… then."

"It's not your fault, Nicola."

"I know. I'm slowly learning that."

"In the meantime," Janet said, "it's good to see you socialising with us all more. I know the colonel appreciates it. I hear that you're becoming quite friendly with a certain Major Lorne…"

Blushing, Nicola forced her attention down to the ground and simply responded with, "We both enjoy swimming."

"There's nothing wrong with having friends here, Nicola. Or anything more than friends."

"One step at a time, please, Doctor."

"Speak of the devil, afternoon Major Lorne."

"Doctor Fraiser, Nicola. Please, though, call me Evan."

"Well then, I must be Janet. Sorry to dash though, I've got to go and find Sam. I just remembered something." Evan nodded and Nicola had a very slightly embarrassed look on her face as Janet fled the scene, leaving them alone. Heading into the house, Janet wanted to catch up with Sam as they had not had the time to over the past few weeks. Just inside of the kitchen was a woman clearing up a little boy's face. "Hello?"

The woman turned. "Oh, hi. I'd shake your hand, but jello went everywhere." The boy smiled a very blue, toothy grin. "I'm Karen, by the way, a friend of Jack's. Our children met in the park."

"Oh, I think my daughter may have mentioned you."

"You're Janet, Cassie's mother."

"Yes."

"Well, it is nice to meet you."

"And you. Have you seen Sam?"

"She came straight through here a while ago. Didn't say a word."

"Things are a bit odd at the moment. Don't take any offence. Excuse me." Karen nodded and Janet continued through the house and decided to head upstairs when there was no sign of Sam downstairs. The door to Sam's bedroom was the only door closed, which Janet immediately thought was odd. Janet was aware that Sam had kept her own room despite sharing the colonel's every night; it was their way of keeping things from moving too fast. Janet still tried to not get drawn into conversations with Sam regarding her relationship, but she still found it difficult to believe that either of them thought there was any way of not moving fast. They lived together and had a child together, in Janet's book as long as they did not get married in the next two months, they were moving at a decent speed. Knocking gently and quietly on the door, Janet waited a moment and when she did not hear anything, she opened the door and peered her head around it. "Sam?"

Sam was lying on her bed, on her back, facing the ceiling and her eyes closed. She almost looked as if she were simply sleeping.

"Sam?" Janet tried again, a little louder, but there was still no response. Sitting on the edge of the bed, Janet shook Sam's shoulder gently and there was still no response. Janet quickly glanced around at the bedside table, a fear that her friend had taken something to send her to sleep, but saw nothing. After checking Sam's pulse to find it slow, but perfectly normal, Janet had a quick look in the drawers, shaking Sam with one hand as she did so. Pausing in shaking her, Janet needed both hands to look at the small pouch she found in the top drawer. She knew what it was before she undid the zip, but she needed to be sure. Inside the pouch were a small needle and a few empty vials. Dropping the open pouch back into the drawer and forcing it closed with a bang, Janet shook Sam harder. Still receiving no response, Janet opened one of Sam's eyes to check her pupil activity, but suddenly Sam sat up.

"Janet? What are you doing in here?"

"I came to check on you and found you here unconscious. You seemed dead to the world." Something was not sitting right in the depths of her gut, but this was ever sensible Sam she was talking about.

Shrugging Janet's hands off of her, Sam pushed past her and stood up. "You had no right to just burst in here. Get out."

"Sam…"

"Get out!"

Doing as her friend was commanding, Janet left the bedroom determined that if her friend was going to keep secrets from her then she would run a few secretive tests of her own. There was no way that she was about to let her friend deal with her problems by turning to any sort of sleep aid, or worse, but she was also not about to accuse her with no other proof. There were some perks to being the base doctor and having access to everyone's medical records.