21
Sams tests proved that though there had been damage it was possible that her liver function would return totally to normal and the damage would repair itself. Jack breathed a sigh of relief as he heard the verdict. Carolyn couldn't seem to get away from him fast enough, he could live with that.
He noticed Sams face though as the woman left, and he wasn't sure he could live with THAT. But she smiled at him and they walked out of the mountain, the security detail along for the ride as usual.
They got home before she allowed her ire to show. "What did you say to Carolyn?" she asked, her voice tight.
"What did she say?" he asked, trying to avoid admitting to anything he didn't really have to, she just looked at him and he sighed, he wasn't going to be able to avoid it, so he repeated what he had said to Carolyn and watched as Sam grew angry.
"JACK! You know she hadn't got a choice, especially when I told her specifically not to say anything!"
"You know it doesn't work like that at the SGC Sam" he said "This was a problem involving 'gate travel, and you know as well as anyone that anything that happens in there has to be reported. We could have avoided a lot of worry and pain if we had known earlier, you risked everything just to try and protect me!" he was shouting by the end, and he realised what he had said as he saw Sam blanch.
He cursed himself, he had promised he wouldn't blame her, and there he was shouting at her. She put her head into her hands and he dropped to his knees in front of her, pulling her into his arms, as she cried.
Sam almost never cried, and it always shocked him when she did. She was always so brave and… together, that when her emotions surfaced like that it was always overwhelming. Most women looked red and puffy when they cried but Sam looked beautiful, Jack kissed the tears from her cheeks, trying to apologise for what he had said.
Eventually she raised her head and sniffed, he handed her a tissue, and she dried her eyes. "I'm sorry" he said, she smiled at him
"I think that's what I should have said" Sam sniffed again "I didn't mean to hide it, I was going to tell you, but then you had your accident, and I wanted to make sure you were over that, and you healed… and I just…" he nodded, he understood her reasons, that's why he had been determined not to have a go at her.
They had dinner and went to bed early, with luck the other recruitment meetings would go as smoothly and he and Sam could settle to a regular routine, including the 'gate travel that she would need.
OoΩoO
Jack spent several hours that night concentrating his thoughts on his wife, as his large hands hovered over the area in which her liver was situated. He felt a sort of feedback at one point, and the drain of energy after it made him hope that he had had a positive effect.
He woke the next morning shattered, but at the same time happier than he had been for days. He realised he had known something was wrong, she was tired and listless at times… he had put it down to the pregnancy, he cursed himself, he should have acted on his instincts.
The trip up the mountain was quiet, the security detail ensuring that the journey was smooth, and Jack cursed when he entered his office and found his inbox overflowing. His staff were good, but they couldn't make the paperwork all disappear.
He was called to the infirmary at midday, and almost ran the whole way, only to find out that it was nothing at all to do with Sam.
Simon Wallace was there, looking over the DNA charts of several people, he had an idea, sort of like the one Jack had had. He wanted to bring in a genealogist, and trace the family trees of the people who had tested as level 3s or 4s.
Jack made notes, he wasn't sure there was anyone with high enough security clearance, but then, he had been surprised when he had found out the AF had anthropologists on the payrole as well.
Teal'c contacted him in his office to say he had spent the morning evaluating the new young lieutenant, and that in his opinion she needed a lot of work. Nothing that surprised Jack, he had thought as much, he made a note that she should not be included in the 'family class' he wasn't sure if she should be included in any as most of the others he would meet were already combat trained officers. He sighed and put the problem to one side. He needed to meet the others and see what they had first.
Juan reported that the meeting he had asked to be moved up to Friday had been arranged, so he would go to the gulf then. He arranged for a car to pick Sam up the next day as he and his sitters would be going to Peterson instead.
Jack read and sorted and signed the papers in his in box throughout the day… he had noticed that if he was not in the office that when he returned he always had a full box… but when he WAS in the office the box never emptied. He wondered what happened to the 50 odd things he 'had to deal with' when he wasn't there to deal with them?
All in all he was bored, he studied the plans for NORAD, glad to see that for once in the military things were ahead of schedule. He assigned more space to the lower classification studies from the SGC and allocated the entire floor of living quarters to the civilian staff from the labs. That freed up quarters on the SGC levels for team members.
He sent a memo to Hank about it, and received one back within minutes thanking him. He fielded a couple of calls from POTUS and signed out at 1800, pleased to note his desk was clear. He knew the next time he saw it it would be full again, but at least nowadays he managed to catch up sometimes!
OoΩoO
He went to Peterson the next morning, 'accidently' he had forgotten to bring his dress blues home, so he wore the BDUs he had come home in after his accident. Sam frowned at him but he saw her into her car and waved off her offer to send down his uniform.
He was well known at Peterson, and had no trouble at all sailing through the security gates, the operations briefing room looked exactly like the one at Nellis had… the military was nothing if not standardised.
As it happened out of the 14 people in the room only 1 was an AF officer, and he tested as a 3, three other 3s were all marines, which shot the 'advanced' theory out of the water in Jack's opinion, one 3 was Army and the rest were 2s. He gave the usual orders and spent the afternoon tracking down and talking to the various COs of the people he had appropriated.
OoΩoO
Thursday he OKd the inclusion of a Doctor from the university of Michigan who was a world leader in genealogy to be brought in, and he gave as much detail as he knew of the O'Neill side of the family, leaving the others to fill in the O'Brian side, Wallace had discovered that the gene was actually mitochondrial and so it was from his mothers side, which boded well as she had had only sisters, there may be quite a few more gene holders out there, and as Atlantis was a joint military and civilian operation they may be willing to employ people with the gene as specialists.
The IOA had instigated a genetic scan of all the armed forces of the international agreement, so far only the British and Russians had started scanning their databases for AGs, but there was hope that…especially in the British forces, lots more would be found. The French military were stalling, the scuttlebutt was that they didn't have a DNA database to check, the Chinese had still not decided if it was worth risking the lives of their citizens, of all the IOA members, China was the only one not to request a team for their people to go through the 'gate, content to reap the rewards while taking none of the risk. Jack wished the Russians felt the same way!
Carolyn contacted him at 1400, she had sent Sam home, as she was showing signs of fatigue, instead of rushing home as he wanted to he forced himself to finish his workload. He did sign out early, at 1600, and travelled straight home.
He found her asleep on the sofa, dark rings around her eyes told him she was having more problems than he had suspected, he had to keep reminding himself that after all she was over 42 years of age and having her first child. His mother had had all six of her children by the age of 30.
He made dinner and waited until it was almost ready before waking her, she washed her face and came to the table looking guilty. They were both silent through dinner, after he had cleared the table, ready for her turn to wash up, he took her hand.
"Sam…" he started, unsure how to say it, he decided to just be plain and come out with what he was thinking "I really think you should cut down your workload" he said, he winced, hoping she wasn't going to take it the wrong way. He saw tears gather in her eyes.
"I know" she said, lowering her head "but other women cope! In Asia…"
"We aren't in Asia Sam, and if we were you would have had 20 kids by now." He had heard the 'they have the baby at the side of the field and go back to work' line enough times from chauvinists, "how many of them women have spent almost 15 years saving the planet? How many have gone through the stresses you have?" he asked, he pulled her to her feet, and buried his face in her neck.
"Carolyn has recommended to General Landry that I be limited to three days a week, no more than 6 hours a day" she sighed, he felt relief flow through him.
"Good, look it won't be forever" he said, smoothing his hand over the now discernable bulge of her stomach, he had been thrilled when at long last she had started to show, he was sure Sarah had been bigger, earlier, but then she also hadn't had quite as active a life as Sam did.
He longed for the time he could feel the child kick… everything up to that point was really just mental, once he could feel the child react that would be when he would truly accept the new life.
"I just feel as if… I feel I should be able to do more" she said, tears at last breaking free and running down her cheeks, he could tell it was the exhaustion and hormones causing it, he swung her up into his arms, again noticing that he didn't get a single twinge from his knees or his back… not that he would have cared if he had… he carried her into their bedroom, he lay her on the bed and wrapped them both in the duvet while he held her. He intended to get up soon, to do the dishes and leave her to rest until bed time when he would wake her to get changed. He fell asleep next to her and knew nothing until the next day.
OoΩoO
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