O'Neill and Kuryakin trudged up the road following their teammates. They were only a mile or so from the van.
"Major Carter is in difficulty, yes?" Sergey asked
"Major Carter is in labor, yes." O'Neill admitted glumly. "Luckily Daniel has experience in delivering babies." Jack suddenly stopped in his tracks, raised his head and listened intently. He then exclaimed, "Oh, crap!" and started running in the direction of the van with Sergey hot on his heels. They could hear the staccato sounds of gunfire from both the P-90 and AK-47 assault rifles.
O'Neill and Kuryakin rounded the heavy growth of trees that blocked their teammates from their view. Teal'c, still carrying Carter, was disappearing into the dense foliage of the underbrush. Daniel, running backwards, was firing his P-90 at two men who were fleeing into the woods on the far side of the narrow road away from their van. As Jack and Sergey ran forward to assist him, Daniel went down.
Jack cursed loudly as he ran to his fallen comrade. "Damn it, Daniel!" He grabbed the younger man around the waist and slung him over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. He then followed Teal'c and Carter into the shelter of the forest. Sergey continued firing, giving cover to the heavily-laden Colonel and their injured teammate.
As they joined the other two, Jack deposited Daniel on the ground next to Sam and swung his weapon up to cover Kuryakin as he crashed into the brush behind him. Teal's was also laying down fire with his weapon. Seeing things were under control for now, O'Neill lowered his rifle and turned to tend to Daniel. "What happened?" He asked, kneeling down beside his friend.
"As we approached the van, two men ran away to the tree line and began firing at us." Teal'c replied looking over his shoulder. "Danieljackson returned fire, covering us as I carried Majorcarter to safety. I was unaware he was injured."
Sergey joined the group and continued to watch the opposite side of the road as he caught his breath. Jack tore the fabric of Daniel's BDU trousers to better see the wound. He was bleeding badly from the fleshy part of outside upper thigh, too close for comfort to the large artery and groin area.
"I'm okay," Daniel gritted out through clenched teeth. "How's Sam?"
Carter was halfway sitting up, leaning back on her elbows. She nodded at Jack's inquiring look.
"She looks fine except for the fact she should be in the hospital having a baby, not here in the woods getting shot at." He replied deadpan. "Now, lay still and let me look at this. You can't bleed to death right now. She'll need you soon, and I don't want to break in a new archaeologist." Jack tore a long strip of material from the already ruined pant leg and applied it as a tourniquet above the wound. He checked his wristwatch, pulled a pen out of his vest pocket, and wrote the time on Daniel's leg. Daniel made a face at him.
"When we get to the van, I'll do a better job, but for now every fifteen minutes or so loosen that for a quick bit. You might want that leg for a while longer."
"Thanks, I think." Daniel said wryly. "Ouch! Damn it, Jack!"
"Bitch, bitch, bitch." O'Neill sat back to admire his handiwork.
"Jack," Daniel motioned him back closer. O'Neill bent back over him; Daniel plucked on O'Neill's shirtsleeve, pulling it away from where it was sticking to his arm. The shirt was a dark red against the green patch of the BDU material. "Jack, why are you bleeding?"
Jack looked down and noticed the stain. "Oh, that. No problem. Went right through the triceps. I don't feel it yet; I'll have more time tomorrow." He smiled with chagrin. "Don't worry about me, Danny. Worry about the two of them."
Daniel shook his head. "Yeah, right."
A groan from Carter took both of their attention. "Sam," Daniel looked at her thoughtfully. "How far apart?"
"How the hell do I know?" She replied hotly. "I don't even know what day it is!"
"Carter, it's Thursday and my goddaughter's birthday. Now, how far apart are the contractions?" Jack asked her evenly.
"About ten, I think...but they've started coming a lot faster now." She was relaxing again, the spasm passing.
Jack looked around again. "Shit, well, we're gonna have to go take care of some business here kids." He glanced at Teal'c and Sergey. "You two come with me. Daniel, you still got your nine mil?"
"Yes, Jack. What are you going to do?"
The three men stood and checked their weapons. Jack looked down at Carter and Daniel. "We're gonna go get the van. Then we're gonna bring it over here, load you up and drive like hell to get you both to a hospital."
Leaving their two teammates well hidden in the brush, the three men came out into the clear area by the road and went back to the van. The two men that had been there had seemingly cleared out all together.
Jack motioned Sergey into the driver's seat. When the young man turned the key nothing happened. With a curse, O'Neill opened the hood and reached in to do something.
The young Russian leaned out of the vehicle's door. "What is wrong?"
"They were trying to take the damned distributor." Jack snarled out from under the vehicle's open hood.
"They didn't get it, but it's all pulled loose. I have to reconnect it; it'll take a minute." He bent back to his task. "Ouch, damn it all to hell anyway!" He came up from the motor compartment and yelled back. "Try it again, Sergey!" This time the motor started up without problems. O'Neill didn't hear the bullet that spanged off the metal bumper over the engine's roar, but he did hear Teal'c's P-90 chatter in response and he definitely felt it when the big man pulled him to the ground and drug him to the sheltered side of the van.
The two old warrior brothers looked at each other and the same thought obviously crossed their minds. For them to get away safely, the two enemy soldiers had to die...before they did.
Jack crawled over to the vehicle's cab. Kuryakin had dropped to the floorboard to avoid the bullet and the flying glass from the window that had been shattered. "Hand me my gun, Sergey," he hissed.
"Colonel?"
"Hand me my weapon. Teal'c and I are going hunting. You take the van and get Daniel and Carter while we're keeping them busy. We'll meet you back here in thirty minutes."
When the other three men left them alone, Daniel crawled over to where Sam was laying. He could see her panting, trying to remember to do the breathing exercises she had learned from Janet. She saw him and tried gamely to smile back at him.
"How are you, Sam?"
She nodded, "I'm okay, Daniel. How's the leg?"
"It's kind of numb." He replied honestly. "I think it's the shock." He scooched over next to her side and gently laid his hand on her belly. "Jack's right, I should have been expecting this. With everything that's happened to you, it's surprising that you haven't gone into labor earlier."
Sam reached for his hand. "Daniel, they drugged me. They kept me, well, both of us, asleep for almost the entire time I've been gone. I'm worried that it might have hurt the baby."
He squeezed her hand comfortingly. "It wasn't your fault and there wasn't anything that you could have done. We saw your car, how they forced you off the road. It's a miracle you both weren't killed." He took her hand in his. "I'm surprised they put you and the baby at risk. Do you know why they took you?" He looked at her curiously.
She sighed. "This man came to my room and talked to me. He said they took me, us because they thought the baby might be a Harsesis or even have alien DNA. They didn't know who the father was; they thought it was the Colonel." Sam shook her head. "They knew that we'd both been blended, well, had symbiotes. Then, when they realized that you were the father, they thought that you were Shi'fu's father and they figured...
well, then they didn't care because they said we were both geniuses...and...." Another contraction hit her and took her breath. "Then, they were going to take her and make me work on some program for them..." She gasped again.
"Relax, Sam." Daniel spoke soothingly, trying to keep her calm. "Remember to breathe through the contractions, it's all right, it doesn't matter what happened anymore."
Her eyes widened suddenly, unable to talk through the spasm but from her expression Daniel turned to look behind where he was sitting. A man was standing, framed by the brush and trees, pointing a gun at them.
Jack and Teal'c had slipped away from the van and into the deep undergrowth. They both knew that the only way that they were going to get Daniel and Sam out of here was to get rid of their pursuers; and there was only one sure way to do that. Following the trail into the woods they found a campsite of what Teal'c identified as four men.
As they quickly searched the camp, a crack of wood drew their attention. They turned in the direction of the noise, and weapons fire commenced from a small steep ravine. O'Neill and Teal'c both hit the ground and rolled, splitting up and finding cover for themselves. Teal'c escaped unharmed, but Jack had managed to land on his injured arm. He ignored the sharp pain and signaled for Teal'c to head for the opposite side of the small ravine, effectively surrounding it. Working their way closer in, both of them took care of their targets in a short, deadly firefight. A quick inspection showed two men wearing uniforms from the Research Lab. Leaving the two bodies where they fell, they quickly proceeded on following the trail of the two remaining gunmen.
Teal'c stopped and looked back at O'Neill, "Their direction of travel changes here." He said worriedly. "they are going towards the clearing. We should return to the others as quickly as possible."
Jack nodded, "I've screwed this up from the start. Let's go and hope it's not too late." Teal'c, being the faster runner, took the lead, O'Neill following as quickly as he could, cradling his injured arm. They followed the road to where the van had been parked. They could see where the young Russian had moved it closer to the spot where the young couple was hiding. When they reached it, Sergey was not with it.
"Where the hell....?" Jack has a quick flash of distrust towards the young man, but there was nothing here to suggest betrayal. Sergey had probably...
More weapons fire from the brush. A P-90, an AK-47, and Daniel's 9 millimeter pistol. The shit had hit the fan again.
Jack and Teal'c plunged into the wooded area that surrounded Daniel and Sam's hiding place. As they found the little clearing again, they could see their two teammates, still on the ground where they had left them. Except now Daniel was sitting down between Carter's out spread legs, with one hand on her belly and the other adjusting the position of her pelvis on the hard ground. He was talking, slowly and calmly to her as she strained in a major contraction.
Sergey was dragging a body out of the clearing and out into the woods. As he returned to the clearing he saw the other two members of the team arrive. Jack immediately went to Carter's side, knelt down and took her hand.
"Hey, kids...how's it going?" He asked flippantly, but he was watching Daniel's intent expression as the younger man continued on his with his efforts. The younger man was biting his lip and beginning to sweat a little. Jack couldn't tell if it was nervousness or shock.
Daniel glanced up at him, flashed him a grin, then returned his concentration to what he was doing. "Pretty good, Jack. I think she's a little anxious to come though."
O'Neill nodded, and smiled down at Carter. "Hey."
"Hey, Sir." She managed to breathe out. "You made it." Sam had tears in her eyes, and he could tell she was hurting, but she hadn't made a sound.
"Wouldn't miss this for the world, you know that." He glanced around then over to where Sergey and Teal'c were talking quietly. Jack made a circling motion with his hand and the two men split up and started to check the perimeter.
Sam looked up at him with concern. Jack just shook his head. "No, I don't think there's anyone else out there, but after the day we've had, I just want to be perfectly sure there are no more surprises."
"Good." Daniel grunted at him, not raising his eyes this time. "I don't need anymore right now. The baby... she's definitely in a hurry."
Jack looked back at Sam and indicated the direction that Sergey had dragged the body off into. "So you want to tell me what happened?" he asked conversationally.
She was able to muster a giggle, "He was annoying us, and so Daniel shot him." She gasped again. "Daniel!"
"You're doing great, Sam. Just hang on for me," He dashed a hand across his face, wiping sweat out of his eyes. "I'm going to tell you to start pushing at the next contraction...okay?"
Sam managed a nod, and gripped Jack's hand hard. He smiled down at her. "That's it. You're doing good, Carter." He looked over at Daniel trying to gauge the younger man's state of mind. All he could see was Daniel's concentration on the task at hand. But O'Neill knew that he'd have to deal with the shooting later.
"Jack, I don't want to put the baby down when she comes, I need you here." Daniel's tone of voice brooked no argument.
"Oookay," He looked from Daniel to Sam to Teal'c. The Jaffa and the young Russian had finished their perimeter walk and were standing together. "Come here, Teal'c. I need you to take over for me on this end." Jack looked at Kuryakin. "Sergey, keep an eagle eye out, or a bear eye, or whatever."
"No one shall get through, Colonel." The young man assured him. "I will make certain you are not disturbed."
Teal'c moved in and knelt behind Carter's head. He took both of her hands in his. "I have you Majorcarter, you may squeeze as hard as you can, you will not hurt me." He smiled gently down at her.
Sam nodded, biting her lower lip, not to cry out. They didn't know what or who was out there in the woods, and she was determined not to give their position away.
Jack, sitting there at Carter's hip, could watch the expression of absorption on Daniel's face as the younger man continued to talk softly to Sam. He then realized he needed something to wrap the baby in to protect it from the ground's dirt. He quickly unfastened his vest and dropped it behind him.
Then he slipped off his BDU shirt and opened it up to serve as swaddling. Jack, not sure what would be needed, pulled his K-bar survival knife out of it's sheath, and the canteen with it's clean water and laid them out within easy reach of Daddy Danny. He also quickly went through his vest pockets and found two clean handkerchiefs stuck in its back pocket. He folded one of them into a rectangle and passed it up to Teal'c who offered it to Carter to bite down on. She couldn't talk but nodded her thanks.
"Sam, she's crowning...push, I need you to push NOW!"
The pain hit her with a jolt. Sam felt like she was being split in two pieces. She could vaguely feel Daniel's hand pressing down on her abdomen and then a slight relief when he took the pressure off, but he wasn't through with her yet. "Again, Sam, push again!" She panted and pushed again...anything to get her ordeal over with.
"Okay, Sam, her head's out...next the shoulders, but they won't be as hard...next contraction I'll say push again, okay."
She nodded breathlessly. Sam looked up and saw Teal'c's looking down at her. He nodded and stroked her face, brushing the perspiration from her with his hand.
Jack watched Daniel, marveling at the calmness in his voice. Here he was, a trained commander and all he could do was hold out a sort of clean shirt for the baby's first blanket.
Sam grunted, biting down on the cloth between her teeth, Teal'c took both of her hands like his very life depended on it. Sergey was busily looking elsewhere with only a glance or two their direction, but he steadfastly guarded their safety and their privacy. Jack's attention was pulled back by a strangled cry from Carter. She had her eyes tightly closed again, strain reflected in her whole being.
"Sam, again! Push again!"
Carter arched back into Teal'c's hands, in a spasm of pain, her eyes closed.
Then, a soft matching sound from Daniel. Looking up at him, O'Neill caught the first glimpse of the baby, the little girl that they had all been thinking, hoping and waiting for. Her diligent father matter- of-factly held her close to his body, cleaned her mouth with his finger, and patted her on the back expectantly. Finally, there was a soft answer to his attentions. And with a little more encouragement, her wail sounded in the clearing.
"Jack?"
"Yeah, Danny, what do ya need?"
He looked at O'Neill, saw the knife and nodded. "Uh, cut the umbilical cord."
Jack got it. He picked the knife up, and at Daniel's nod, he ripped two narrow strips off the second handkerchief. He tied the cord off in two places and cut the tissue between them.
Daniel handed the baby to Jack who took her tenderly in his hands and laid her in his BDU shirt. He took what was left of the second clean handkerchief, tipped a little clean canteen water on it and began to clean the baby.
Daniel finished his midwife duties with speed and efficiency, now that the baby was breathing normally, he could sit back and relax for a moment. As they waited for the after birth to pass, Jack handed the baby to her mother who showed her to Teal'c. The big man smiled fondly at the pair, reaching down to caress the baby's soft skin.
Jack then shifted his attention to Daniel. He removed the tourniquet from the younger man's leg and taking the knife, slit his BDU pant leg further to reveal the bullet wound. He smiled wolfishly up at his friend's pained expression. "You lucked out again, Danny boy. Over any further, you would have bled to death and I couldn't have done a damned thing to stop it." Jack brought out his first aid kit, applied a sterile gauze pad and a pressure bandage, taping it tightly to keep the wound from starting to bleed again. Then he tightened the strip of material and noted the new time. Jack then looked in his medical kit and pulled out a small pre-prepared syringe.
Daniel looked at him questioningly.
Jack shook his head. "Daniel, when the excitement wears off, that leg is gonna hurt like hell. If you let me give you something now, by the time you come down off your adrenaline high, it'll already be at work."
Daniel looked at him for a minute, then finally nodded. "Yes, well, I just want to be awake long enough to finish this."
"I'd say, you've done just fine, Danny." Jack smiled gently at the younger man, as he pushed the sleeve up on his friend's arm, and quickly gave him the morphine injection.
Daniel smiled back at him then looked over at Sam and his daughter. His medical care completed, Daniel was able to return his concentration to Sam. She soon passed the afterbirth without any complications. He then wrapped it in a mylar space blanket and handed it off to O'Neill. Jack nodded, and then carried it some distance from their spot and, using his knife again, dug a hole two feet deep and buried it, covering it with dirt, which he stamped down, and then rolled a large rock over the area. He didn't want another search team from the research lab discovering the placenta and using it for experimentation.
Daniel looked at Sam carefully, she was obviously tired and relaxing with her head on Teal'c's lap and appeared to be almost asleep. She had delivered perfectly and showed no immediate problems. Teal'c was sitting there, holding the newborn infant with a very mellow expression on his face. He looked up at Jack who now approached their little band. Sergey followed him in, carefully staying on the sidelines of the group and keeping an alert eye on their immediate area . When Jack got to them, Teal'c handed the baby to him. The hard-ass Colonel took her carefully from him and was soon completely fascinated with her, cuddling her and making soft, little noises at her.
After fifteen minutes of domestic bliss, Jack looked up from the baby and said regretfully. "Well, kids. I think we need to get Carter and the princess here back to civilization." He looked over at Sergey. "Did the van run all right when you drove it over here?"
The young Russian soldier came a little closer. "Yes, Colonel O'Neill. I will go check it to see if the wires are properly seated, but it started and ran with no problems for the short distance here."
Jack nodded, looking from Carter to Daniel, who nodded. Jack wrapped the baby securely in his shirt and handed her to her father. "How's the leg feel, Daniel?"
Daniel looked up at him and nodded. "It's not bad; I think the bleeding's stopped already."
Jack shook his head, "Good. You were so damned lucky..." He left off at the thought of it.
The younger man nodded. "Yes, I know what you mean." He smiled up at jack and his infant daughter in his friend's arms. "I need to be around for eighteen years or so."
Jack climbed to his feet, careful not to jostle the baby, and reached a hand down to Daniel. "Do you think you can walk to the van?"
"Yes, I think so, but you'll have to carry her though." He reached down and hoisted a vest to his shoulder. "If I fall on one of these it won't matter."
Jack nodded, "Teal'c, can you manage Carter?"
Teal'c nodded. "With no difficulty, O'Neill."
Sam pulled herself up out of his arms to a sitting position. "I can walk, Sir."
Jack watched Daniel as he bent to pick up the rest of his gear. He then looked at her. "I know, but it'll make Teal'c feel better if you let him carry you." She rolled her eyes at him and Jack smiled back. "Won't it, T?"
"Of course, Majorcarter, I would be most gratified to carry you to the van." He helped her to her feet, then picked her up in his arms. "I assure you, it is no bother."
She chuckled into his neck. "Okay, if you insist."
Sergey had returned to the group, "The van is good, Colonel. We can go whenever you are ready."
O'Neill nodded. Daniel had his weapons and vest, Sergey had Teal'c's rifle and his pack, Teal'c had mom and he had the baby. Jack motioned for Sergey to take point and he brought up the rear with his own P-90 in hand.
Once at the vehicle, they arranged the packs and their bedrolls that had been left in the van into a comfortable bed for Carter and the baby. Sergey said he would drive, Teal'c took the shotgun seat and Daniel and Jack settled in the back on the floor with mother and child. Jack reached over and loosened the touniquet again and checking on his friend. The bleeding had finally stopped with the bandage in place. Within a short time, Daniel was asleep on Jack's shoulder.
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What Do You Do When Bad Things Always Happen To The Good Guys? (15/End)
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