Spoilers for "Line in the Sand" "Road Not Taken" and "The Shroud"
Jack has given his wife a little bit of time. He really didn't want to burst in on her the first minute she was in the hospital. He was a General, and Generals didn't hover.
He waits until all the tests are done, and then he takes a place beside her hospital bed without making a sound. She's sleeping, and after nearly dying she needs her rest.
Her eyes open, and she looks at him, "Do you think that I am getting too old for this?"
"You're not old, Sam," he says, sensing a trap. This feel a bit too much like the 'do I look fat in this dress' question.
"It's not really about age. At least not physical age. I've been brought back from the dead enough times that age matters a lot less for me than it would for most people. Maybe tired is the right word. Do you think I'm getting a bit too tired of saving the world, risking my life, almost dying?"
Her husband sits on the end of the bed, "I think that you are the only one who could answer that question. Just know that I am going to support you whatever you decide to do."
She smiles at him, "I think I'm ready for a lab job."
"Well, as your boss, I can push that request through, provided you are really sure that is what you want to do."
"I am really sure," she tells him.
One Month Later
She was supposed to be safe. She stopped going through the gate so that she wouldn't have to risk her life anymore. Then, she disappears from her lab.
Well, she might not have disappeared so much as become invisible. It was something that had happened before, more than once actually. When he explained it all to his kids, Ty eagerly said, "Where is she? Right here in the living room?"
"Well, honey, we don't know. We don't actually know that she is out of phase," Jack says.
"Well, if she's not out of phrase that means she's what? Dead?" Hannah asks with her eyes wide and full of panic.
"I don't know sweetie. I think there are probably thousands of options: dead and out of phase are just two of them," Jack says. He finds himself really wishing that his scientist wife was here to explain it all to his kids.
"But if she's out of phase, she's all alone, right? I mean, Dr. Lee didn't go with her like he did when they invented the Merlin device right?"
Jack shakes his head.
"Well, if I was all alone, and no-one could see or hear me, I'd be pretty lonely. I figure that she would either be stuck in the room she went out of phase in, or she'd be following you around. So, if we were to go to the room that she went out of phase in we'd be sure to be where she is."
"If she's out of phase," Hannah adds.
"Right, well, if she isn't out of phase, talking to an empty room for the couple of days it takes to figure this out isn't going to hurt anything. Come on, Dad, you have to take us to base!"
Jack loves his children's faith that all of this is going to be figured out in a couple of days. He isn't so sure himself. Oh, well, he can always pull the plug on this scheme when it becomes apparent that it is futile.
Two Weeks Later
"You've got to be kidding. You guys honestly talked to an empty room for two weeks?" Sam asks her children in disbelieve.
"It was logical that you were out of phase," Ty pouts. His happiness at his mother coming home is somewhat overshadowed by the fact that his scientific theory was proven wrong.
"We're glad you are home," Jenny says, throwing her arms around her mother's neck.
One Month Later
There he is… her not-a-husband. Well, at least it is sort of Daniel. At this point, there is a lot more Merlin and Prior in him than anything else. His body is changed, his mind is changed, is there anything left in there that is actually Daniel?
Well, of course there must be. After all, he had convinced the villagers to join Origin without threatening a single life. Still, if you do the wrong thing in the right way isn't it still wrong? Her Daniel would never try to convert people to any religion. Let alone one that killed so many of its followers.
Then he starts talking, and she finds out that her daughter hit on Daniel. Great, a little incest thrown into the mix as well. Of course, Adria wasn't Daniel's daughter, she and Daniel hadn't begun a relationship until AFTER Adria, but she was still his step-daughter. Well, almost.
Anyway, it was certainly close enough to qualify as creepy.
What right had she to be distracted by petty jealousy? She should be focused on the man before her, and what horrors of danger he was in. There was no time for thinking about what her daughter had tried to do to him (thank goodness he was at least unwilling!)
She sits on his lap. She desperately needs to feel close to him. She missed him so much when she was gone. All the more, because of her pregnancy, even if he didn't know about it.
"What the hell is going on?" he demands.
"This and that, you know the usual. You'll never believe what is happening on One life to Live," she teases knowing that Daniel feels that soap operas are by the far the lowest form of entertainment ever known.
"You know, I really hate to push the issue here, but I do have a deadline," he says.
She flinches, and looks away from him. She knows that all too well. She just hopes the deadline is when he turns back into himself, and not when some person in his government pushes a button that makes him disappear.
"You believe me don't you?" he asks softly.
"I'd like to, Daniel," she says softly.
He looks away from her and takes a deep breath, all full of betrayal and gloom, "How are the kids?" he asks, looking back at her and obviously changing the subject.
"They're ok."
-0-
"This is unnecessary," Daniel says with a role of his eyes as he lays down in the infirmary bed with his arms crossed.
"Daniel, you passed out," Sam points out.
"After conquering some technology that no-one has been able to beat with your mind," Vala points out.
"Just humor us, for a couple of hours," Lam says with a smile.
Everyone files out, but Vala stays. Standing near him. He turns his head toward her and smile. He still smiles like Daniel. The Prior look is gone.
"For a second there, I thought you were on Adria's side," she says, sitting on the edge of the bed.
"I'm always on your side, babe," Daniel says.
"Did you love her?" Vala asks her voice shaking a lot more than she meant it to.
Daniel's eyes laugh, even though his mouth doesn't quite manage it, "Vala, she's my step-daughter. Well, almost. Anyway, whatever love I had for her was related to that."
"That's not what she thought," Vala says. She meant it to be question, but it comes off as more of an accusation.
He takes her hand in his, and says, "Vala, I swear I never did anything inappropriate with her. Anything I allowed her to think was just to make sure that I got home to you, and my kids."
"You were gone a long time," Vala says with tears coming to her eyes. She wonders if she is getting soft or if it's just the pregnancy hormones.
He scoots over on the bed inviting her up with him. She sits next to him, and he wraps a hand around her. "I should have got back sooner. I never should have tried to save the world on my way back, you are too important for that."
He's dead serous, and that makes her feel ridiculously selfish. "I don't always like sharing you with the universe," she says, turning toward him.
Suddenly, her belly is between them, and they are pushed together. When she's wearing baggy clothes, like she always has as of late, you can't tell that she's going to have a baby. However, it's different when you feel it.
His eyes bulge, and he glances down at her stomach before he can stop himself.
She blushes, and for a moment considers telling him the truth. No, she can get by with a couple more months before she has to leave if the lie is good enough. "It's that stomach thing. They got it figured out so I don't have to be nauseous anymore, but the pills have a side effect of weight gain. Sorry that your wife blew up like a marshmallow while you were away."
"You are a long way from marshmallow. You still lot hot. Besides, I don't like you for you looks. You could look like the aliens of P3X-949, and I'd still love you."
"Isn't that the planet with the red things with tentacles and eyes everywhere?" Vala asks.
"Yep," he says proudly.
"How would we have sex?" she asks.
"Oh, we're very creative, we'd find a way," he giggles.
"I'm glad you don't look like the aliens of P3X-949," she says. He is starting to form a wounded look on his face just when she quickly adds, "But if you did, I would love you anyway."
"Good to know," he grins.
One Month Later
Tamara goes to answer the door, but when she looks through the keyhole she sees a man that she doesn't know. She could talk through the door to figure it out, but she'd rather call in the big troops. Unfortunately, the really big troops, namely Teal'c, is at work right now. "Shel!"
Shelby peaks through the door, and sees someone who she doesn't recognize either. It probably isn't a huge deal. It's probably a salesman or something. You just can't be too careful when you work for the SGC though, it could be NID for all that she knows.
"Identify yourself," she says.
"I'm sorry, I must have the wrong place. I was looking for my daughter… Shelby Dunn."
Shelby freezes, and stares at the door.
"Did he hurt you like my dad did?" Tam asks terrified.
"No, he never did anything like that; well, at least not as far as I know, I don't even remember him. The only thing I know he ever did was leave," Shelby says staring at the door.
"He's not leaving right now," Tammy says, opening the door without Shelby really giving her any permission.
"You're Shelby?" the man says looking at the teenager before him. He knows that he's wrong, but he can't make sense of why the door would have opened otherwise.
"I'm Shelby, she's my sister," Shelby says, staring at the man in front of her.
"Half-sister," Tammy explains.
"I heard that you'd moved away from your mother," the man says.
"Yeah, when I was fourteen. Things weren't exactly great there," Shelby says.
"I know, that's why I left," Mr. Dunn says.
"Right, well if it was so bad that you left it, why didn't you think to take your baby with you?" Shelby asks with furry in her voice.
Mr. Dunn stares at his daughter, "Your mother was cheating on me with a series of losers. It didn't seem like it had anything to do with you, but I should have known that when you got old enough you would be just as annoyed with your mother cheating as I was. I just didn't think about it when I was a little kid."
"You think I left my mom because she was a slut?" Shelby says in shock.
Tammy invites the man in with a tint of his head. Mr. Dunn shut the door behind him. He looks at his daughter with concern.
"Some of those losers? They put me in the hospital with their abuse. Her dad… was a rapist," she says gesturing toward Tammy.
Tammy fidgets, and seriously debates leaving the room, but instead she comes over, and stands behind her sister. She figures her sister could use some emotional support right now.
"I didn't know," her father says slowly.
"Well you could have known! You could have come and checked on me some time in the last two and a half decades!"
"I thought you were all right!" her father responds, raising her level for level.
"Well I wasn't! I wasn't all right!" Shelby says with her voice going softer and softer.
He leans forward, and tries to hug her.
She pulls away.
"No! I raised myself. I raised two younger siblings. Well, I'm up to five kids now, but three of them I can't blame on you. You should have been there, though! You should have been there for me."
"I'm sorry," the man says.
"Mommy?" Luke says, coming down the hallway rubbing his eyes.
"It's ok, honey," Shelby says, hurrying over to pick up her son. She has worked so hard to make sure that her former life doesn't affect her children's. She would hate to throw that all away now.
"This is your kid then? I'm a grandpa?" the man asks looking at her.
"She has twins, and a step son who is a grown-up. She and her husband have also been taking care of my sister and I for many years," Tammy offers.
"I would love to get to know my family," he says, looking at Shelby.
"You don't deserve that," she says, bouncing the child on her hip. She then catches his eye, "But they do, and I don't really have family to spare."