A/N: I forgot to post a chapter last week! Sorry!! Life got in the way. To make it up to you, I'll post another chapter later this week.

Chapter 6

Teal'c found his teammate, Samatha Carter, sitting alone on the infirmary bed, staring at the wall. She looked defeated, he observed, a frown forming on his face.

He had come by hours before only to find her bed empty and a note indicating her desire for a walk left behind. Understanding her need to move in order to think, he had lingered, telling anyone who stopped to check on her that Samantha Carter had gone to relieve herself in the base's facilities. When he had eventually heard her soft footsteps approaching, Teal'c had slipped away, not wanting to damage any progress she might have made during her solitary walk.

But now it was 0600 and he, once again, felt the need to check on her.

"Good morning, Colonel Carter," he said from the doorway, maintaining a respectful distance.

"Hi, Teal'c," she smiled in greeting; however, it was not one of her usual bright smiles. This one was subdued as was her spirit.

"May I come in?" He asked, not wanting to be the cause of any distress. He understood how she might not want visitors given what had happened.

"Of course," she waved him forward and patted the side of the bed. "Sit down, take a load off. No one else has stopped by," she frowned as if distressed by that observation.

"General Hammond ordered O'Neill off the base at Dr. Brightman's insistence," Teal'c informed her quickly, realizing his error in judgment at leaving her alone this long. "Daniel Jackson and I agreed that one of us should go with him while the other would stay with you. I have been close by all night."

"Oh," Sam said softly, having assumed that Jack and the others had been avoiding her. Not that she would blame them if they did.

"O'Neill argued quite vehemently against this order," Teal'c watched her closely. "General Hammond could have charged him with insubordination had he chosen to do so."

Sam smiled a little at that. Jack hadn't willingly left; at least that was something. It still hurt that he hadn't stopped by before heading home, but all things considered, a small part of her was afraid to see him anyway. Her eyes welled with tears for the thousandth time.

"Colonel Carter, are you all right?" Teal'c touched her blanket covered leg.

"What am I going to do, Teal'c?" Sam looked at him helplessly.

"What do you want to do?"

The question was so simple and yet so complex. What did she want? She should want to go back to the way things were; to forget any of this had ever happened. But deep inside there was a small spark of something she refused to acknowledge.

"This entire situation is so screwed up," she growled, purposely not answering his question. "I didn't ask for this. For any of this!"

"You did not," Teal'c confirmed, anger rolling through him again at what had been done to her.

"And yet," Sam's voice softened and she shook her head as if to banish a thought.

Teal'c studied her. He knew she was enraged at what had been done to her and O'Neill, but if he was not mistaken, he saw the beginnings of something else. Something he had not expected to be there.

He was aware of the fondness Samantha Carter and O'Neill had for each other from the start. He had also been present four years ago when they both had been forced to voice their feelings aloud. He had also assumed Samantha Carter's feelings had shifted, as she had moved on and became engaged to another man; however, suddenly, he was not so sure. There was a particular longing in her eyes, but he kept that observation to himself.

"Samantha," he said, using her given name for the first time in eight years, "you are allowed to want this child."

"What?!" Sam's eyes snapped to his, both due to his use of her name and his words. "I don't–" she shook her head in confusion. "I shouldn't ." Her face scrunched up as tears began to fall onto her cheeks.

"And yet, you can," Teal'c said, placing a heavy hand on her shoulder.

Sam's entire world lurched as Teal'c's words gave voice to the spark deep inside her. A decision she'd already begun to make in her heart. She was still appalled at what had been done to her, angry beyond all comprehension. But this was Jack's baby. It was a piece of him and a piece of her, and maybe it didn't matter how it had happened. It had happened. A sudden fear gripped her heart.

"What if he doesn't feel the same way?" She whispered to herself.

Teal'c watched her closely. She had not outright confirmed his suspicion, but her question, so softly spoken, told him everything he needed to know.

"O'Neill will support whatever decision you make."

Sam nodded, wiping her eyes. Teal'c was right. Jack had already told her as much, but she'd known he'd been talking about her choosing to terminate the pregnancy. If she was pregnant, and she already knew in her heart that she was, would he object to her keeping it?