So here is the last chapter. It's been fun publishing again. Will be checking my computer to see if I have more. Enjoy the ending.
Jack practically bolted for the infirmary and arrived breathless at Sam's bed, only to find her fast asleep with the rest of SG1 protecting her.
Both Daniel and Teal'c looked up sharply at his arrival, "Jack! Are you ok?" Daniel asked.
"Yeah…yeah I'm fine…is she ok?" He pointed to the sleeping patient.
Daniel followed Jack's finger and looked at Sam. "She's fine….she was quite upset….Janet sedated her."
Jack almost immediately deflated. He had needed to talk to her straight away before he lost his nerve and now he had to wait until she woke up.
Daniel could see Jack's emotions pass across his face, he was a little surprised as Jack was usually closed off. "What did General Hammond say?" He asked with trepidation.
Jack looked at both his friends to try and decide whether to share his news with them. They both looked eager to hear what had happened, it wasn't surprising that Daniel was obvious in his desire to know but the fact that the big guy was using enough facial expression that Jack could read showed how much he cared about the outcome of the conversation.
"He temporarily removed her from SG1, until she fully recovers." Jack handed the piece of paper in his hand to Daniel.
"Ok" He read over the brief letter from Hammond and looked worried "….it is just temporary yes….I mean she's not being punished for hallucinating….is she?"
Jack pulled himself from looking at Sam. "No…it's Hammond's way of letting us talk….no regs…she isn't in my direct chain of command anymore."
"But she will be back in it?" Daniel tried to clarify.
Jack finally gave Daniel his full attention, "Well spacemonkey, that is the $64,000 question. And Hammond has left it up to us to answer it." He gave Daniel and Teal'c a dazzling, unnerving for them, smile. "So if you will excuse me, I'm going back to my nap on the bed over there as everything else is between me and Carter." Jack sauntered to the bed he had jumped off only an hour before and made himself comfortable.
"Jack, do you not think Janet might need the bed?" Daniel asked.
Jack opened his eyes and made a dramatic effort at looking at the empty infirmary. "Daniel, most SG teams were working flat out to get Prometheus found. They all came back and got two days leave and unlike you, they left. There is no-one off world, the doc has more than enough beds if Siler drops a wrench and there is no way in the whole of Ne'tu that I am leaving before I speak to her." He pointed to Carter who had slept through his raised voice.
Daniel smiled at Jack who had laid back down again. "Ok Jack, we'll see you later."
"You may leave Daniel Jackson, I shall remain. Our teammates deserve our protection."
Jack had to smile, way to go Teal'c, for someone who barely spoke he was always the one keen on hearing the gossip.
"Oh…well I have some translations to do…you'll call me when…."
"Yes Daniel I'll call you." Jack said from under his arm which was blocking the light. "Now if you wouldn't mind hitting the light switch on your way out."
Jack didn't open his eyes but again smiled when the light dimmed and left the three of them in a darker room.
Several hours must have passed because when he woke up, Jack felt quite refreshed. He looked over to Sam's bed and for a moment wondered if his wish in Hammond's office had come true, had he actually gone back in time, or dreamt the whole thing.
"She has not yet awoken again O'Neill." Jack turned towards the voice to see Teal'c still standing in the infirmary doorway. "Doctor Frasier has checked her regularly and is unconcerned. She was not pleased you were occupying one of her beds but chose to let you sleep at my insistence."
Jack sat up on the bed, his legs dangling over the edge facing Sam. "Thanks T, appreciate it."
Sam began to stir in the bed and gradually opened her eyes. Jack stood up. "Go grab the doc Teal'c, she'll want to check her over."
As Teal'c moved away, Jack moved to Sam's side. "Hey Carter, you with us?"
"Sir…Jack…." She closed her eyes again. "Oh no…Grace…"
"Relax Carter. Take a minute, the doc will want to check you're ok."
"But Sir….you were taken away by the General."
"Yes I was…"
Janet approached the bed. "Nice to have you back with us Major. I'll not be giving you another sedative. I would like to assess you and then consider observation for 24 hours and then home. The General informs me you are on medical leave for at least a week."
"A week! What! Janet I'm fine." Sam barked.
"We'll see but you are on leave for a week. Look, most people on that ship have been given at least two days leave, you just have five more."
Janet turned to the men. "Now if you two would like to leave us, I'll assess Major Carter and then you can sit with her for a little while."
Teal'c moved from the room to the corridor but Jack made no move. "Colonel" she turned to eyeball Jack " I understand from the General that you have to have a conversation with Major Carter, but that will not take place until I have assessed her concussion. The quicker you leave, the quicker you can come back."
Jack humphed, rocked on his heels, looked to Sam and smiled the brightest smile she had ever seen from him and turned on his heel and left.
"Janet" Sam asked warily, "What's going on?"
Janet moved around the bed, briefly assessing Sam as she began to speak. "Do you remember when you awoke the last time?"
Sam's face flushed. "I told everyone about Grace, about our daughter, didn't I?"
"You did, you told us all about her, how she looked like you and the Colonel. She was smart like you, but liked to play." Janet took her pulse, checked her eyes, her reflexes but didn't add more.
"She was so real"
"But you know she wasn't, right?"
"I don't know Janet, she…..helped me….I wouldn't have got the ship out of there without her."
"Do you think you were perhaps giving yourself help?"
"Maybe…the guys were all there….acting….mostly like I would imagine them in that situation. Dad was there too. He wanted me to be happy."
"Sounds like something he might say?"
"No at least not for most of my life….he wanted me to have a life, have a relationship. My dad has never spoken to me like that."
Janet smiled sadly, sitting down on the edge of the bed, knowing how much her friend wanted a different relationship with her father. "Is it how you wish he would be?"
Sam met her eye and shrugged. "Maybe…a little less military…more personal."
"And the guys. What did they say?"
Sam smiled remembering. "Daniel he was all for talking to the cloud. Teal'c he wanted to blow it up."
"So they were also trying to help you, give you ideas? Maybe from your own mind?"
"I suppose…."
"What about the Colonel?" Janet asked quietly.
"He didn't really try to help, we talked about…..other things."
"About other things like making a daughter?"
Sam smiled at Janet's comment. "No…I only made the connection when I woke up here. But….other things."
Jack cleared his throat at the door, he'd seen that Janet was finished and he really wanted to talk to Carter.
"Ah Colonel" Janet stood from the bed where she had been sitting and faced Jack. "She's all yours. Probably in more ways than one." Janet breezed past him with that comment leaving both Sam and Jack blushing.
"Hi." Sam spoke quietly, fidgeting with the bed covers nervously.
"Hey…." He moved to her side. "So… you had lots of help out there eh?"
Sam looked down, away from his gaze briefly. "Yeah. Janet reckons it was my own mind providing answers."
"Maybe…or maybe some wishful thinking?" he asked and her eyes shot to meet his.
He cleared his throat and rocked back and forth again. "Look Carter, I am really bad at this, but I'm gonna be blunt. Is the idea of having a kid….our kid…something you wish for?"
Sam was shocked that he had actually come out and asked and clearly was silent for too long as Jack backed away from the bed.
"Nevermind…its been a long day…week..I'll just…"
"Yes." Sam's short high pitched reply finally made it out of her throat.
Jack took a step forward instead of back. "Really? Are you sure?"
Sam mentally shook herself and spoke carefully. "If I was given free choice in my life….it would be top of my list."
Jack smiled, "Not traveling to space with NASA?"
Sam guffawed, "What's NASA when you have travelled a galaxy in a space ship you designed yourself?"
"True. So you would be open to a plan that might allow for a kid…a daughter?"
"Would either of us be giving up our careers?" Sam asked remembering the question she had asked him on the ship.
"Maybe a little, not you, I promise….but me. Hammond reckons I could run this place as a civilian. Retire and be asked back. There would be no chain of command."
"Wow…was that all decided today?"
"Hammond and the President have been working on it for a bit I think."
"Is….this….am I…something you would want?" Sam asked quietly.
Jack took her hand and perched on the side of the bed. "Carter…..Sam….I don't deserve you but I'm not a complex guy. I've wanted you and that potential kid for years. I just didn't know I could have it."
"Why are we talking like this here, will we not be in trouble?"
"Hammond put you on medical leave, you are temporarily not under my command. He told me to talk to you, ordered me actually."
"Oh….wow."
"Look Sam, I'm not going anywhere. You need to get well and then we can talk, once you are out of the doc's clutches. There's just one thing I need to say first…." He leaned forward as if to tell her a secret. "I love you and if you feel that way too then I will do anything to make us happen."
Sam smiled brightly, "I love you too, and I really want this to happen."
Jack hopped off the bed, only to be accosted by a bubbling archaeologist and beaming Jaffa who seemed to appear from nowhere. "Guys that was just beautiful!" Daniel gushed through his tears causing Jack to squirm out of his grasp.
"Many congratulations Major Carter, Colonel O'Neill." Teal'c shook Jack's arm and then Sam's.
"Ok guys relax," Jack tried to calm his teammates. "We don't really want the whole base to know."
The PA system sprang to life. "Attention all personnel," Jack groaned hearing Walter's voice "Regarding the most important bet in the pool. We have a winner. Sergeant Siler please visit the briefing room to collect the payment."
"For crying out loud." Jack groused.
"What are they talking about?" Sam asked genuinely unsure.
"Us Carter, the entire place has been betting on us for years. Apparently Siler just won and I suspect our CO is the one spreading the gossip. And only because Teal'c hasn't had time to get to the control room."
"Did they all think…." Sam curled up a little in embarrassment.
Janet, who had arrived at the announcement was the first to reassure her. "No Sam, we could all see the possibilities but the reason its been won today is because we all knew you had done nothing about your feelings. Till….what…two minutes ago." She looked towards Jack who nodded in confirmation.
Jack cleared his throat, "Carter…I'm gonna go and let you get better with the doc. You think she will be ready to go tomorrow?" He addressed Janet.
"I'd say so Sir."
"Good, then I'll pick you up in the morning, we can head out for the day and talk, somewhere where the walls don't have ears. That ok?" This time he spoke directly to Sam.
"That's ok S..Jack."
"Good, oh and there was talk of a party to celebrate you getting Prometheus back. There's gonna be cake."
Sam lay back and smiled. "Sounds great, I can't wait."
Jack moved to the door and Janet shooed the other two in the same direction. He was a bit amazed at the developments of the day. He stopped just outside the door and looked back at Sam who had her eyes closed and was smiling. Grace, he thought, yeah he could cope with a girl named Grace.
Sam closed her eyes as music played in her mind. Twinkle Twinkle little star. She smiled. Grace, that was a great name for a little girl.