6 Months Later
His jumps as he regains consciousness. "I got out?" he asks.
"Yeah," she says, standing to be closer to him. "You okay? Janet says that you're going to make a full recovery. You've got some withdrawal from the sarcophagus ahead of you though. Do you know how many times you were in it?"
He shakes his head.
"You were only missing a few days, so it shouldn't be as bad as it was with Daniel. Do you need anything?" she asks.
"Water," he rasps.
She leaves the room to get it for her, and Daniel appears. Daniel glances into the hallway wondering if he should say anything. It's really none of his business. "You're going to be a father," Daniel says.
"Yeah, we've been working toward it for half a year now," Jack replies. He never really shared this with Daniel, and doesn't want to think about how the man knows that.
"Um… right, but she's pregnant, 'bout two months along. It's a little girl with Sam's intelligence and hair and your humor and eyes."
"How do you know this?" Jack asks.
"I sense it. Listen, I'd really love to stay, but…"
"You've got your journey, and I have mine?" Jack guesses.
"Something like that," Daniel says with a sad smile.
"Are you going to be all right?" Jack asks.
"We both are."
Sam comes back into the room, holding the water.
"Somethin' you wanta tell me, Carter?" he asks.
"What?" she says coming closer, and holding the water to his lips. He takes a long sip of it before saying, "Thanks," and looking at her stomach.
"How the heck did you know?" she asks.
He smiles at the way she sounds like a little kid with its hand caught in the cookie jar, "Daniel told me."
"Daniel?" she asks, raising her eyebrows and looking around the room.
"He's gone now," Jack tells her.
"But he was here?' she says with a raised eyebrow which clearly shows she doesn't believe him.
"Never mind. Did you know before I left?" he asks.
"No, I didn't find out until two days later."
"But you knew when you went on that rescue mission?" he says.
She nods her head.
"Unbelievable," he mutters, "You want a kid so bad. It's all you think about. Then we get one, and you go into a Ba'al torture chamber with it? Do you even know what that place was like?"
"No, can you tell me?" she asks softly.
"So help me, Carter, you are not going to be my therapist when it comes to this."
"Did Daniel happen to mention of if the baby is all right?" Sam asks.
"Some reason to think she isn't?" he asks. Daniel would have mentioned it if there was something wrong with the kid, right? Why didn't he ask?
Just then the Janet comes into the room, "I see you're awake, sir. How are you feeling?"
"Well, I just found out that Sam went to save my ass while pregnant, so not too happy."
Janet freezes.
"You haven't told Janet?" Jack asks, turning to his wife in horror.
"She would have reported it. I had to save you," Sam protests.
"Hold it, how far along are you?" the doctor asks, having unfrozen, and now looking with fury upon the woman before her.
"Nine weeks," Sam says.
"And how long have you known?" Janet asks even more angrily.
"Around a month, a few days after Jack went with the Tok'ra."
"Well, I know you can't go to another doctor because of that little protein present Jolinar left you, so I can only assume that you haven't been to a doctor, even though you were pregnant when you contracted an alien virus that we cannot cure or control. Do you know what effect that might have on a baby?"
Sam looks terrified as she mutters, "No."
"Well neither do I!" Then Janet realizes, "The ultrasound you borrowed a few weeks back. That was not for some piece of alien technology was it? No, that was for you to play doctor with. Last time I checked, you didn't have a medical degree! And then you went on a dangerous mission, through the Stargate. Even though we don't know the effects of the Stargate, or even for that matter what the Naquadah in your blood will do to that kid."
"Teal'c assures me that women have been traveling through the gates for generations while pregnant, and that former hosts have had kids before."
"And where did he get his medical degree from?" Janet asks, grabbing needles.
"Whoa! Back away from Sam!" Jack demands.
"Sir, I need to get blood work on her immediately," Janet says in a way that makes it clear that 'immediately' meant last month.
"I'm sure that's true, but you're angry right now, and I think you could get a nurse to do that," Jack says, raising half way out of his hospital bed.
Janet's professionalism returns, and she spins out of the room.
Jack wants to scold his wife, but her guilt is written all over her face. "Have you at least been taking care of yourself? Sleeping enough, eating real food?"
"I told Teal'c as soon as I found out. He volunteered to be the father to this kid until you came back. He took his job a little too seriously," she says with a smile, "For a man who refuses to drink 'bovine lactose', he sure pushed it on me."
Jack smiles. It's good to have friends.
A nurse comes in a few minutes later, and draws blood from Sam, "I heard you're having a baby," she says with a smile.
Sam nods.
"Congratulations."
"Thanks," Sam says.
Jack feels like a heel. It took a nurse (whose name he can't even remember) to celebrate this baby.
"Doctor Fraiser will do an ultrasound after she talks to the General," the nurse says nervously, zipping out of the room.
Sam flinches.
"Carter, when the withdrawal gets bad, you take that baby out of here." She starts to object, but he lifts his hand to stop her, "There are people who can watch me."
She nods. She's put this kid at risk enough already. Besides, if her husband has a flash back, and ended up hurting his child, he would never forgive herself.
He smiles at her, "We're having a kid."
-0-
Janet is calmer when she returns to the room more than a half hour later. "If you think you're staying with him when the withdrawwithdrawal gets…" he begins.
Her friend cuts her off though, "You tell me when it's too dangerous, and I am going to leave."
Janet nods, "The General wants to see you when we are done here. Let's get a look at your baby," she says pulling the machine close.
"No heartbeat?" Jack says with panic at the silence.
"This machine isn't made for prenatal care. I can see the baby's heart beating, though," Janet assures him, touched by his panic.
"Janet, I'm sorry," Sam says touching her arm, "When I didn't tell you, I screwed up as a soldier, a mother, and a friend."
Janet's mouth pinches closed. She hadn't realized until now that part of her reaction was personal rather than professional.
"The baby looks fine. I'll let you know when the blood work comes back," she says, with no ice in her voice, but no warmth either.
"If I hurt the baby by not coming to you right away I'll never forgive myself," Sam pleads.
Janet knows that her friend needs her forgiveness. Even though she really doesn't want to offer it, she knows that she needs to. "Yes, you will. You were making sure that your baby didn't have to grow up without a father. You lost a parent, and you didn't want that to happen to him."
Sam nods.
"The General's waiting," Janet says, giving her a pat on the knee.
-0-
As soon as Sam sits down across from the General, he slides a picture across the table. "Do you know who they are?" he asks.
"They are your grandkids, Kayla and Tessa," she says.
"So let's pretend you walked in here this morning to go through the gate, and I put Kayla's hand in yours. I asked you to walk through that gate with that little girl. Take her to the hell hole where they torture people with gravity and acid. Would you have taken that little girl into that place?"
"Of course not, sir."
"Yet, that's exactly what you did. You took that little baby into a combat zone. Not to mention ignoring regulations that you need to inform your commanding officer right when you find out pregnant. I feel like letting you slip in one rule makes you feel like you can slip in them all."
"I'm sorry, sir. I felt like I needed to get the baby's father back."
"There are plenty of people that that could have got him back, Samantha."
Sam fidgets before him, "I'm sorry, sir, but can we get to the punishment part of this? I'm about to throw up."
"Morning sickness?" the Generals asks with sympathy.
"Well, that and I'm really not used to being in trouble."
The General smiles, remembering Sam at eight years old ratting out his daughters for eating extra desserts. "That's why I decided to come up with something that wouldn't ruin that perfect record of yours, but you are not going to like it. Technically I don't have to ground you from flying or guns until five months. Since I can't trust your judgment to back off when you need to, I'm grounding you from that now. I'm restricting you to fifty hours a week for now, by your third trimester it drops to forty. I don't think it needs to be said that there will be no going into combat, and you're going to need a written letter from Dr. Fraiser before I let you through the gate. I'm giving these restrictions to your husband, to Teal'c, and to the entire science team. You've got a lot of people who love you, Carter, and if you refuse to take care of the kid, I'll authorize them to."
"Sir, with all due respect, this isn't enough punishment."
The General smiles again. Eight-year-old Sam had requested more punishment, too. "The real punishment, major, is the thought of what you did to your little kid."
Sam pushes the picture of his grandkids back across the table.
"Keep it, a Grandpa always has more pictures," he grows soft with the word Grandpa. "I don't know what your plan is for when the two of you are off-world after the baby comes, but you've got a volunteer, major."
She stares at him, heart full and heavy. The cruelest thing he could ever do is be kind.