Two Days Later
Teal'c walks into the apartment, and suddenly quickens his pace up to Shelby. He takes her into his arms, and kisses her. Then Teal'c picks her up, and spins her around the room.
"Did you have a good day at work?" she giggles.
"It would have been better if you had called me with our joyous news."
"What news?" she asks.
"Did you not want me to mention it in front of your sisters," he whispers, putting his hand on her stomach.
"I'd kind of like you to mention it in front of me," she says back.
"The child which grows within you," he says.
"I'm pregnant?" she says.
"How did you not know that?" he asks.
"Well, it's not like you get a memo or something," she giggles.
"Did you not sense its heart?" he asks.
"Ah… no, you did?" she asks, with an expression he hasn't learned to read yet on her face. An expression which clearly means he's full of crap.
"Indeed."
"And do you always sense heart beats?" Shelby asks.
"Of course," he says, blinking.
"And why did you never mention this before?"
"I didn't mention the fact that I could see or hear, either," Tea'c replies.
"Yeah, well those are normal human things."
"Humans do not sense heartbeats?" he says in shock.
"No, like you feel it all the time? Like right now?"
"Your heartbeat has increased in speed."
"Yeah, well, I just found out that my husband has superpowers."
"How do you predict attacks when you cannot hear the pounding of your opponents' heart?" Teal'c asks quizzically.
"Does Jack know that you can hear heartbeats?"
"I did not realize that it was a special skill of any kind."
"Your commanding officer has to know about this. Does it work with other animals too? Is it just humans, or is it any living creature?"
"I can sense any creature with a vascular system, but it can only be done at a distance when the creature is similar to a Jaffa," Teal'c says.
"What is a Jaffa?" Tammy says. Becky Lynn kicks her sister. She knows that she has a better chance of getting new information out of her guardian when he thinks they already know what he is telling them.
"A Jaffa is someone that comes from the tribe Teal'c came from," Shelby says.
"It is not, it's the kind of alien he is," Becky Lynn says.
"What?" Shelby practically shouts at her husband in disbelief. She's pretty sure right now that her husband spilled the beans.
Teal'c gives her a look.
"I knew it!" Becky Lynn says.
"Crap," Shelby says, realizing that she is, in fact, the one who spilled the beans.
"I want it noted that I was not the person who reveled this information," Teal'c says.
"No way," Tammy says.
"Sweetie," Shelby says, reaching for the girl.
"He's human!" Tammy says.
"Yes, honey, he is human, and he's also an alien," Shelby says.
"How?" Tammy says.
"That's why his skin is a different color," Becky Lynn offers.
"I just thought he was black!" Tammy says.
"He's not black, he's brownish gold," Becky Lynn tells her sister.
"I'm not talking about his color, I'm talking about his race."
"Yeah, well his race is Jaffa," Becky Lynn says with an overdramatic eye roll.
"Teal'c, are you sure we're having a baby?" Shelby says, having forgotten the good bit of information in the confusion.
He nods his head.
Shelby grins.
"Can we name it Flower?" Becky Lynn asks.
"It's a little early to be discussing names," Shelby says, "And it could be a boy."
"If it's a boy, you could still name it Flower."*
"We will be selecting a name for my son which denotes power and strength," Teal'c says with a look of scorn.
"Ah… Teal'c, are you, like, sure about the boy thing? You can sense gender as well as heart beats?" Shelby asks.
"I am uncertain about the gender. Although male hearts tend to beat a little slower, and this heart beat is as slow as Rya'ac's was."
"I have a son," Shelby says.
"And I have an alien for a brother-in-law," Becky Lynn says with the same amount of awe and enthusiasm that her sister had about the baby.
The Next Day
"You have become ill," Teal'c says.
"Helpful," Shelby says, pulling away from the toilet.
"Who exposed you to the germs which has caused you to become ill?"
"Germs? Are you kidding? This is because of the baby!" Shelby informs her.
"The baby is ill?" Teal'c says with concern.
"No, this is just morning sickness."
"Here is another Earth term I am unfamiliar with."
"Morning sickness is like when a pregnant women throws up," Shelby says.
"Why does the child make you throw up in the morning?"
"It's not just in the morning," Shelby says, standing up and nudging her husband out of the way to get to the sink to clean her mouth.
"This is unacceptable that our baby has caused you to feel ill," he says with concern still in his voice.
"It's normal, Teal'c."
"Jaffa women do not have to endure this phenomenon."
"Yeah, well, I'm not a Jaffa," he says.
"It is possible for a human to become a Jaffa."
"Really?" she says spinning around to face him, "Sickness happens. People get colds, and the flu, and morning sickness, and they survive. And it's all ok. You don't need a nuclear solution to a tiny problem!"
"I do not wish you to be ill," Teal'c says fiercely.
"Well, I appreciate that, but illness isn't that bad."
"Does it not cause you to have discomfort?"
"Right, but it also causes you to have sick days in front of the TV. And when you've had a long sickness and you wake up, and you feel good. And you've never felt so alive in your entire life. And carrying a baby into the world is magical, even if it makes me sick."
"I do not remember these feelings from before my prim'ta."
"Being sick is part of being human," she says looking at her husband's eyes.
"I am not human," Teal'c reminds her.
The two of them look at each other for a long time.
"Do you ever wish that I was human?" Teal'c asks.
She stares at him. "Do you?"
"Sometimes I wish that I could be mortal. That we could grow old together. That I could lie beside you all night, and lose consciousness. Sometimes I wish I knew what you meant when you talked about a dream. I wish to have dreams with you in them."
Shelby starts to cry.
"Have I made you sad?" he says concerned.
"Happy tears."
"I will never understand humans."
"Do you know what I hate about you not being a human?"
"My symbiot?" he asks.
"The fact that whenever I let you hold me all night, I feel guilty that you are getting bored," she says.
"I never grow bored of you," Teal'c says, gently touching her face. "But I am sure you wish that I did not have a symbiot."
"I don't know, Junior is kind of growing on me," she says, putting her hand on his stomach.
"I am much more fond of the Junior which you are growing within you," he says, touching her stomach.
"You and me both," she giggles.
"And I am sure you do not like the way my skin has a metallic glow."
"Actually, I love it. It adds to the lovely sculpted thing that you have going on," she says running her hands over his shoulders and biceps. "Sometimes I wish that you had not lived so long before I came along."
"I wish that I could let you see though my eyes. The planets that I have seen, the solar systems that I have visited."
"I wish that too," she says.
There is a long pause, "Someday, when Ry'ac has grown, I will use my leave to show the universe to you, instead of us visiting my son," he says.
"Yeah, when Ry'ac is grown, we're still going to want to visit him. And we will have this baby, and my sisters."
"We could take them."
"You want to go traveling around the universe with three kids?" she says.
"Indeed," he says leaning forward to kiss her.
She pulls away conscious of the fact that she just threw up, "Well, I'm not sure the Air Force is going to authorize us for joy rides."
"Shelby, I forgot to do my math!" Tammy calls.
"Again? Seriously?" Shelby mutters, says heading out of the closet.
"Can you make me my tart, Teal'c?" Becky Lynn says.
"You should really teach her to make her own pop tart; it's a toaster, and she's six."
"I enjoy taking care of her," Teal'c says.
"And that is why you are the perfect man."
*I had a cousin who was five when her brother was born, and she really wanted to name him Flower. Actually when he was like twelve, she would call him that whenever he annoyed her.