Charity begins at home
Charity begins at home
by wenshar
Summary: A supposedly quiet mission set after Desperate Measures. Mostly gen with smatterings of Sam/Jack, mild angst.
Category: Action/Adventure, Drama
Episode Related: 511 Desperate Measures, 516 Summit, 517 Last Stand
Season: Season 5
Pairing: Jack/Sam
Rating: GEN
Warnings: none
Author's Notes: My thanks to Lyssie for the look-see. Feedback is welcome.
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. I have written this story for entertainment purposes only and no money whatsoever has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author(s).
Archived on: 2005-04-25
Jack O'Neill traipsed around one of the vividly green and boringly harmless meadows of P3X-472, kicking at the grass with each step in an earnest attempt to communicate the depth of his boredom to the grasshoppers of this planetary paradise. He threw a look of desperation down to where Teal'c was standing guard over Carter and Daniel as the two nerds slash scientists were following a trail of rock crumbs by the dried out river bed and heaved a loud long-suffering sigh.
He stood poised for a reaction, giving his little hopping friends a short respite. Unfortunately, nothing happened as not one of his three teammates was yet equipped with enhanced hearing abilities. Improving his tactics, he assumed a nonchalant pose, hooking his thumbs in the straps of his backpack, tapping his fingers on his chest, one finger inadvertently grazing his radio with enough pressure to push his call button while he made pumping noises with his mouth.
His radio came to life with Teal's booming voice. Bingo!
"O'Neill? Is something wrong?"
"Nope. Nothing's wrong. Absolutely nothing," he enunciated clearly. "You?"
"We are progressing according to schedule."
"Excellent!" Jack grimaced and kicked at the grass again, sending a flurry of little critters ahead of him.
When he had asked the General for a nice quiet mission, he had honestly meant it. Carter had been through a really rough time with those NID fuckers and short of forcing her into a downtime he knew she'd be spending working in her lab, he had opted for the slow-easing-back-into-things quiet mission. He wasn't ungrateful for the added resting for his arm either even though he had been his usual nagging self with Janet to get cleared for duty asap, he just didn't realize it'd be that quiet. Something always went pear-shaped even on the supposedly quiet missions! Eight hours in on this one and he still had no clue what would blow up to their noses to spice up his... err... their time. What the hell was going on?!
He flopped down as fast as his knees allowed him to and made a swift grab at a grasshopper that had been foolish enough to think it could stay safe in his company. He brought it close to his face for examination, pushing down his sunglasses to glare at it in full light.
"Hey, tell me, you wouldn't happen to be like... mildly poisonous or something? As incredible as it may sound to my very own ears, I could trade a short encounter with a penlight and needles to get away from here." A thought came unbidden to his mind. "Or better, put you near Daniel."
He watched the play of the critters' mandibles long enough to realize the thing was laughing at his face. He threw it away with a dismissive wave of his hand.
"Brutus!"
The grasshopper landed lightly on a blade of grass and hopped off immediately, knowing better this time than to stick around sour company.
**********
Teal'c put away his radio and came closer to his teammates kneeling over a sculpted rock. His extended shadow reached up along Sam's left side and she immediately roused to awareness. Realizing it was him, she relaxed somewhat, raising a questioning eyebrow toward him.
"I believe Colonel O'Neill is bored," he informed her.
Sam rewarded him with a soft smile and turned on her heels to take a look at her CO striding along the ridge above them. She shaded her eyes against the sun to make out his silhouetted form rising from a kneeling position to resume his vigil. She would have waved at him but, from what she could discern, he was turned away from them. She sighed and turned back toward Daniel, who had been muttering under his breath the whole time, his fingers running lightly over the sculpted signs and figures. She was completely letting him lead the research, there wasn't much scientific aspect to anything they had come across yet. Daniel was having a field day, she was a bit bored herself and, considering that, couldn't even begin to imagine the depths of boredom in which the Colonel was probably wallowing at the moment.
Daniel hmmmed for the umpteenth time that day then got up suddenly and strode with assurance to the next stop in their slow trek. She followed suit without much enthusiasm, hoping they'd get across something that would busy her mind away from creepy men in black, large needles and squirming symbiotes. He froze in his steps and she nearly ran into him.
"Well, that's... uh... different."
She stepped around his body to take a look at what had him stumped. Her eyes followed the direction of his gaze set on the ground a couple of feet before him.
"Oh..."
"I concur," Teal'c said from Daniel's other side.
They all looked at one another before bringing their attention back to the problem at hand who, incidentally, happened to be looking right back at them.
"Should we? Should I?" Daniel hesitated, his arms tentatively stretched out before him.
"I'm not sensing any Goa'uld presence," Sam informed him. "Teal'c?"
"I do not either," he replied, eyes scrutinizing the nearby ground. "There are no other traces here beside our own," he added.
Sam straightened up to look around and glanced toward the Colonel, who seemed to be observing them from the ridge.
Daniel rubbed his hands together. "All right then."
"Do you want me to do it?" Sam volunteered.
"No, no, it's okay, I'll do it."
He gingerly stepped forward, bent down and jerked away immediately. "Wow!! Phew!!" He waved his hand before his nose several times. "That's... appalling!"
"Indeed, the smell is most foul."
Teal'c was rewarded with a shot of two eyebrows up Daniel's hairline.
"Understatement, Teal'c!"
Sam leaned forward and pinched her nose at the overpowering stench. She frowned in worry.
"What now?"
***********
Jack O'Neill glanced down toward his teammates and stopped there. They were huddled together in a semi-circle, apparently looking at something on the ground, hidden from his view by their forms. He frowned and kept his attention there, trying to determine what they could be looking at. They weren't moving much, not taking out their guns either. Teal'c seemed interested since he was looking too. Hmmm... Odd... Teal'c generally didn't spare more than a couple of seconds to deliver an explanation of a Goa'uld symbol before he'd move back to wherever he was before being asked.
Jack brought his binoculars up just in time to see Carter turn to glance his way and he felt a tingle of excitement course through him. Could it be trouble? He tried to curb his enthusiasm. Small trouble?
He jammed his binoculars back in their holder and jerked into motion, eyeing a winding path ahead of him climbing down to the riverbed below. His radio crackled to life.
"Colonel?" Carter was turned toward him again.
"Yes, Carter!"
"You might wanna come and see, Sir."
"On my way."
Grinning like a fool, he made his way down faster than he should have for the sake of his knees. They were still standing in a semi-circle when he approached them and wedged himself between Carter and Daniel to get a first hand look at what had had them transfixed for so long.
"So, what have we got..." the words got somewhat stuck in his throat, the last one expelled on a held back breath "... here?"
He blinked furiously then frowned and then blinked some more. Fingers flailing before him, he turned a bewildered stare toward Daniel.
"A baby?"
"More like a small child," Daniel specified.
"About two years of age, we think," Carter added.
Jack's eyes whipped toward her and then back the other way with Teal'c's contribution.
"Daniel Jackson believes the appropriate term is 'toddler'."
Jack shook his head and stared again at the bundle on the ground, taking in the muddied and torn clothes, the dirty face streaked by tear lines, the fear keeping the little body taut with tension, chestnut eyebrows frowned over large chestnut eyes. His own body relaxed and his face softened visibly.
"Hey there," he greeted the frightened child in a quiet voice.
He slid his pack slowly from his back and put it on the ground beside him, not taking his eyes away from the child.
"Watch out," Daniel warned Jack as he saw him lean toward the child, "he's..."
Jack got closer to the kid with only the barest frown crossing his face at the smell.
"He's what?"
Daniel thought better of it.
"Uh... scared, he's scared."
"Why, thank you, Daniel, I couldn't see that myself!" Jack retorted, sarcastic.
He placed a comforting hand on the child's stomach, palm flat, fingers splayed to cover the most surface with the smallest pressure.
"Hey, buddy, got yourself separated from your folks, did ya?" He brought his right hand up too and pressed lightly on the child's torso and shoulders, watching the little face for reactions. "We're gonna have to find you some clean clothes, can't let you run around in smelly rags, now can we?" He moved on to check the child's arms and legs, his actions scrutinized by the child's anxious stare. "Did any of you check him already?" He asked without turning his head, rewarding the child with another reassuring smile. Met with resounding silence, he turned around to cast a pointed look at his teammates. "Well?"
"We meant to but didn't quite know how to go about it," Daniel said.
"We were concerned we might do more harm than good, Sir," Carter added.
Teal'c remained silent. Jack brought his attention toward him.
"So, what did you do? Prod him carefully from afar with a staff weapon to see if it was stinking dead or stinking alive?"
Daniel fingered his glasses nervously while Carter kept her eyes suspiciously downcast and Teal'c managed the blandest stare ever.
"Oh, for crying out loud!" Jack exclaimed. "Did you let that poor kid cry just because he was too smelly for you to hold him?!" His outburst managed just that. The child started crying. "Ah, crap!"
"We haven't let him cry!" Daniel protested.
"He wasn't crying at all, Sir," Carter said over Daniel's protest. "He was just lying there, half asleep. We were lucky not to step on him."
Jack picked up the child with no regard for his own clean clothes and looked around for a flat place higher than ground level. The child started quieting on his own as soon as he was held, too exhausted to exert himself that way for long.
"Whatever," Jack muttered.
He spotted a large rock a few steps away that could do the trick and moved over there. He lay the kid on the rock's flat surface. One hand holding him securely in place, he gestured behind him.
"Carter."
She stepped forward immediately, Daniel trailing behind her.
"Have you got any feminine stuff I could use?" He asked her without preamble.
She froze on the spot, mouth slightly open in shock.
"Well?" He insisted, with little patience for her modesty. "I was married, you know."
Carter's blush deepened but she managed to clear her throat and answer him.
"Sorry, Sir, not the right kind, I'm afraid," she swallowed hard. "Sir."
"Never mind." He frowned. "Take out your medkit and give me two compresses then get my water bottle from my pack and mix four sugar cubes into it. Real sugar, not your damn sweetener. You'll find some in the small lower left pocket of my pack. I'll also need some cotton if you have any or else more compresses. See if you have any non alcoholic cleanser that I could use, if not water will have to do for now."
Sam dropped her bag on the ground, getting hold of her medkit and handling the compresses to Daniel to pass on to the Colonel while she took care of the rest of her orders.
Daniel approached cautiously, peering at the scriptures running over the flat surface under the child's body.
"Huh, Jack..."
"What, Daniel?!" Jack snapped.
Daniel pursed his lips, his gaze hovering longingly over the alien signs.
"Ah... nothing."
He placed the compresses on the sculpted artefact and moved to step back.
"Hey, don't run away!" Jack told him. "I need a clean t-shirt."
"Uh, okay," Daniel stammered and moved toward Jack's pack in which Sam was presently fishing for sugar cubes.
"Where ya goin'?" Jack stopped him.
Daniel pointed his thumb toward Jack's pack.
"To get a t-shirt."
"Oh no, no no, get one from your pack."
Daniel stood poised in indecision for a moment then gingerly slid the straps of his pack off his shoulders to put his pack on the ground. He knelt beside it and started looking for a t-shirt. They had packed particularly light for this short and presumably quiet mission, he didn't have a wealth of spare clothes. He came across his sole spare t-shirt, a black one that he was particularly fond of and held it pensively in his hands.
"Did you mean, clean clean?" He asked Jack, who was now attempting to remove the dirty clothes from the child without ripping them more than they already were. Thankfully for him, the child wasn't totally uncooperative.
"No, I only meant clean as in 'not yet dirty enough for deep space laundry'," Jack retorted then turned his attention toward Daniel. "Of course, I meant clean!! Don't you think the poor kid has been in enough dirt already?"
Daniel got up, coming to stand near Sam, who was shaking Jack's water bottle to mix the sugar cubes. He held the t-shirt bunched up in his hands.
"What are you going to do with it?"
"Ruin it," came the curt reply as Jack concentrated on removing the last layers.
Daniel's face fell.
"Okay, people, change of pronouns, we have a girl," Jack announced. One hand holding the child now only covered with a sheer formerly white shirt and the tattered remains of a cloth diaper, he surveyed the array of products Carter had placed on the surface near him. He raised a questioning eyebrow to Daniel who was still fingering his t-shirt, loathe to relinquish it to a fateful future.
"What's your problem, Daniel?"
"Well, it's just that...," Daniel glanced at the filthy clothes laying on the ground near the sculpted stone. "I mean, if you need a big amount of clothes material, you might wanna ask Teal'c for a t-shirt, you know?"
"Don't worry about Teal'c," Jack replied, his gaze sliding to the Jaffa standing a good six feet away, "since he's pretending so well not to be disturbed by the smell, he'll be in charge of waste disposal." He spotted the faintest frown on Teal'c's face and smirked. He glanced back at Daniel and gestured toward the t-shirt. "So? May I?"
Faced with Daniel's answering inaction, Jack couldn't help himself.
"What?! It's got your mojo in it?" He riled him. "Are you going to tell us that without it no married woman on another planet is ever going to throw herself at you anymore? Is that t-shirt the secret of your irresistible charms?"
Daniel pursed his lips, unwilling to let Jack realize he wasn't that far off the mark.
"Just think of it as a donation to a worthy cause and get on with it!" Jack snatched the t-shirt from Daniel's hands. "Now, come near and hold her while I get everything ready."
Daniel moved forward and placed two hesitant hands on the child's arms, the cleanest places he could see.
"Teal'c!" Jack yelled over his shoulder. "Come over here."
The Jaffa moved forward without haste to stand a foot behind him.
Jack held the t-shirt, turning it until he had both hands on either side of one sewed side then ripped it briskly right along the sewing, from bottom to armpit. Daniel cringed. Jack flipped the t-shirt and ripped the other seam to obtain a short-armed cross of cloth. Daniel turned his head the other way.
"Neat," Sam blurted out, unaware of the possible misinterpretation until she realized she had three pairs of male eyes now turned toward her. "I mean," she fixed Daniel, making a conscious effort not to look at her CO, "you could wash it and sew it back if you really care about it."
Daniel shot her a dark look.
Jack placed the ripped t-shirt on the surface on one side of the child and doubled it around the middle to cover the hole from the neck. He placed the two compresses a little under the fold. Moving Daniel's hands away, he got hold of one small ankle.
"Okay, now," he addressed the child, "I know baby girls aren't as bad as baby boys but if you could just refrain from peeing on me, I'd appreciate."
The baby girl answered him with a brown-eyed frown that he chose to consider as assent.
He lifted her ankle and took hold of the tattered cloth diaper, removing it slowly as he tried to take away the worst of the malodorous mixture covering her buttocks and inner thighs, rolling it inward so he wouldn't dirty his own hands too badly.
"You'd think they teach you everything in Black Ops but having a baby is what truly trained me for extended apnea," he muttered through tight lips as he grabbed the child's other ankle to scrape the other side. He proceeded with care and concentration. "Teal'c," he finally called, holding out the package blindly behind him.
Teal'c, lips pressed tightly, took it between his thumb and forefinger.
"You can also get rid of the clothes on the ground," Jack added.
Teal'c bent down to pick up the bundle of dirty clothes, folding them over the stinking diaper before moving away in search of a dumping ground, preferably very close, his arm extended before him.
Jack grabbed a wet compress nearby and attempted to clean the rest of the caked grime as best he could. The child started squirming and protesting the treatment.
"I know, I'm sorry, sweetie," Jack soothed her, eyebrows frowned at the sight of the angry red welts on her skin, " but I've really got to clean you up or else it's gonna get worse." He dumped the dirtied compress on the ground by his feet and took a fresh wet one. Trying to ignore the child's protests, he applied himself to his task under Carter and Daniel's scrutiny. "It's okay, darling, it's okay," he reassured her in a quiet voice, "we're nearly done. Nearly done." He stopped and surveyed his handiwork. "Not perfect, but that'll do until we can give you a bath."
He dumped the dirtied compress then sliding one hand under the child's head and the other under her knees, he lifted her and moved her over on the t-shirt, buttocks resting on the strategically placed compresses. He made swift work of the t-shirt, expertly folding it several times over shoulders, between thighs and around waist, tying the whole with the sleeves until most of the child's body was covered in a warm cocoon. He lifted her on her feet. Leaving his hands on her sides to keep her steady, he smiled at her and his remarkable achievement.
"Hey! Look at you! All dressed in black! You must be the hippest baby in the universe." He looked around him for support. "Right?"
Teal'c merely sighed and bent down to retrieve the dirtied compresses on the ground. Daniel scrunched up his face with a tight smile in a half-hearted attempt to be nice to an innocent child. Sam's smile was genuine and she gave the little girl a light caress on the arm.
"You know, Daniel, that t-shirt may actually look better on that little girl than it did on you," she said, trying to both humour the Colonel and lighten Daniel's mood.
"You wouldn't be saying that kind of thing if Jack had ripped your beloved black leather jacket to make the hippest baby in the universe!" Daniel shot back through gritted teeth.
Sam's face flushed red at the vivid images his words brought forth.
"What?" Jack asked Daniel, unable to have heard his words as he had been noisily blowing air against the child's stomach to make her laugh.
Daniel just pressed his lips together. Jack shrugged and grabbed the water bottle with the sugar in it. Sam turned away, using the moment to breathe deep and hide her discomfort.
"What do you suggest we do now, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked, giving everyone a respite.
Drawing soothing patterns on the back of the exhausted child as she leaned against his chest, Jack frowned and glanced at the sun already set low on the horizon.
"See any signs of company nearby?" He asked Teal'c.
"No."
He turned to Daniel.
"Dwellings?"
"The nearest ones we know of are a good three hour walk from here."
He glanced at Carter.
"Camp?"
"Six clicks to the West."
Jack thought it over as he coaxed the little girl into sipping some of the rehydrating beverage.
"We keep the camp emplacement as planned, we need the water source the river will provide. It's no use looking for her folks now unless they're looking for her and cross our path. We'll get to the nearest village in the morning and see if anyone recognizes her."
Satisfied that the child had drunk enough for now, he recapped the bottle and lifted her in his arms.
"Let's get going."
****************
Jack squinted his eyes to the distant shimmer of the river ahead of them where they were planning to camp and shifted the body in his arms, feeling the strain of the heavy mass of the sleeping child on his wounded arm, her complete inertia tripling her weight in his arms. Had the little girl been alert, he would have carried her on his shoulders, using the top of his pack as a larger seating but the child had been too exhausted for that and no matter how much he moved her around to get a more comfortable hold, he doubted she'd wake up at the moment.
Carter had taken point, moving at a brisk pace to reach the emplacement with plenty of time to set camp before nightfall. Daniel was sulking on the side, between the t-shirt 'incident' and his refusal to stop on the way for rock studying, the archaeologist had retreated into a sullen silence.
"Would you like me to carry her?" Teal'c asked, appearing suddenly on his right side, somewhat startling him.
Jack wiped the pain off his face with a forced smirk.
"Nope. No diaper changing, no baby cuddling," he retorted.
Teal'c didn't insist, falling quietly behind him, leaving Jack to brood on his own.
He couldn't help feeling disappointed in Teal'c for not having shown more care for the child before his arrival. He didn't expect parental behaviour from Daniel or Carter, even though both had shown fierce protectiveness toward a child before, but Teal'c was a father and should have acted accordingly. He knew he was being irrational in his reasoning, it didn't take parental experience to be able to comfort an unknown child and he doubted that Jaffa warriors showed more than wooden affection toward their own children, they were educating future warriors, not spoiling them rotten but still, he had thought Teal'c would be more... like him. Stupid, eh?
He frowned and shifted the child again.
***************
"My, my, aren't you a cute little girl!" Jack said with a smile as he wiped the little girl's face with a cloth dipped in hot water with a squirt of the shower gel he had borrowed from Carter on it. Too bad the damn bottle had its ingredients written out for a chemist, he would have loved to find out what exactly made the perfume of that shower gel. At least the shampoo bottle had the decency to spell out chamomile as laymen know it but he knew that one already.
She was indeed a rather pretty thing with well-defined features, curly dark brown hair falling over large chestnut eyes, pert nose and rosy mouth over a mat complexion. Her body was thin but not alarmingly so. He doubted she had been on her own for more than a couple of days and before that, she seemed to have been well taken care of. The scratches on her body were superficial and her bruises fresh, probably all suffered during her time alone.
He turned her sideways to wash her back and frowned.
"Daniel?"
Daniel looked up from where he was finishing pitching his tent. "What?"
"Come here for a sec."
Daniel dropped his tools and came to crouch beside Jack.
"Look at that," Jack said, pointing his finger at the base of the child's neck, directing Daniel's gaze to a design painted there like a henna tattoo.
"Interesting," Daniel whispered, pushing his glasses up his nose for a better view. "I saw that design a couple of times earlier today on the oldest sculpted stones alongside Goa'uld references." He ran his finger over the stylised circle containing a raging fire. He smiled reassuringly at the little girl, her head turned over her shoulder, her eyebrows frowned as she tried to see what they were looking at. "Teal'c said it was a protection sign. Makes sense they'd put it right where the symbiotes enter the body."
"Teal'c!" Jack called over his shoulder. "Nobody mentioned Goa'uld presence on this planet at the briefing," he whined to Daniel.
"Because they have no reason to come back," Daniel replied.
"Which experience has taught us is total bullshit," Jack retorted.
"The people on this planet die when implanted with a symbiote. They can't be used as hosts," Teal'c explained calmly.
"And the planet itself holds no interest for Goa'uld technology," Daniel finished.
"Yeah, right. Say that again and we'll see a horde of angry Jaffas pouring out of the Gate." He pointed at the protective tattoo. "The very people of this planet aren't so damned confident."
Daniel shrugged. "Some myths are hard to kill."
Jack rolled his eyes and finished washing the child before she got cold, standing naked and unmoving. He dried her quickly and wrapped her back in her makeshift black ensemble.
"Dinner time!" He exclaimed with forced enthusiasm.
Trailing the little girl behind him, he joined the others sitting around the fire and examined his MRE.
"Anyone got something with rice or mashed potatoes?" He asked around, unable to recognize the food in his portion.
"I do, O'Neill," Teal'c replied, handing over his own MRE.
"Cool, it should be easier on her stomach."
Jack swapped rations with him. He sat down on a large log and settled the child on his thigh.
"Is she old enough to talk?" Daniel queried.
"Well, she should be able to say some words, short sentences too maybe," Jack mused, "but so far, she hasn't piped up."
"Would she know her name?" Sam asked.
"Know and react to it yes, be able to supply it on demand, doubtful," Jack replied. "I did ask her though."
"So, what are we going to call her? Little girl?"
"How about Janet?" Daniel contributed. "She kinda looks like a miniature Janet."
"I believe Doctor Fraiser to already be of petite stature," Teal'c remarked.
"Well, yes," Daniel admitted, "but..."
"Mini Jan? Janey? Janetitta?" Jack listed, looking at the child for a reaction. She just stared back at him, mouth open for the next supply of food.
"How about Annie?" Sam offered.
"Might be a bad omen, hopefully she still has parents somewhere."
"Dorothy, maybe?"
Jack frowned.
"Nah, she doesn't look like a Dorothy."
"I guess we're stuck with sweetie, darling, pumpkin and the likes then?" Daniel sighed.
"Well, she reacts to them!" Jack retorted.
"She reacts to noise, Jack!" Daniel shot back.
Jack shrugged. "As long as it works." He pointed his fork at Daniel, earning himself a protest from the child. "Hey! The linguist in you should be proud of me for using a varied vocabulary!"
The little girl made a grab at the ration pack he was holding. Jack swept it out of her reach and surveyed its remains.
"I think you've had enough, sweetie, don't wanna make you sick by feeding you too much after a fast. The rest will be mine to eat." He scrutinized the child's face again as she frowned back at him in reproach. "She does look like Janet, though," he admitted.
Sam nodded at his side. "Yep."
"I'd love to be a fly on the wall when Janet gets to read your report and finds out how you came to change, bathe and feed her," Daniel quipped, mouth quirking in mirth. "Not mentioning sleep with her too!"
"Better get ready for larger needles, Sir," Sam piped up.
"Yeah, you know, I think that just ruled out the name," Jack retorted. "Anyway," he sighed, "I'm gonna take first watch, Carter you're second, Teal'c third and Daniel last."
*************
Sam jerked awake, fighting the tight cocoon of her sleeping bag tangled all around her body. She freed her arms and checked her wristwatch. It was twenty minutes past the time for the second watch. She frowned and swiftly made her way out of her sleeping bag, boots still tied on, to exit her tent.
The colonel was sitting by a waning fire and glanced her way as he heard her approach.
"Sir, why didn't you come get me?" She asked in a low voice, not wishing to wake up the child.
He nodded toward the little girl, snuggled in his arms and wide awake. "She won't sleep."
"Oh." She sat down beside him. "Any idea why?"
He shrugged. "Anxiety, sleeping pattern gone haywire, bad case of teething, I don't know really. She's clean, not really hungry or thirsty, doesn't seem to be running a fever or anything. I've tried all my tricks with little result."
"All your tricks, Sir?"
"Well, yeah, you know, the usual pacing about, ordering around, telling stories, singing lullabies, that sort of things," he mumbled.
Sam smiled. "She must be as stubborn as her namesake."
He smiled back at her. "I thought we ruled out that one."
She grinned. "The resemblance is uncanny, Sir."
He shook his head. "I knew something was bound to go pear-shaped on this mission."
Sam chuckled and observed the little girl who was absently munching on the Colonel's dog tags. He had removed them from his neck and surrendered them to her. He had also taken off his shirt to wrap her in it, wearing only his t-shirt and vest. Not that either of them would get cold, the night temperature was mild; Sam had even been too warm, tossing and turning in her sleeping bag earlier as she had tried to fall asleep.
The child was sitting sideways on the Colonel's lap, feet tucked against his right thigh, dark brown curls on one side of her head flattened against his chest, right over his heart. Sam took in the way his arms cradled the child, right hand curled around her head, thumb drawing soothing patterns on her temple, left hand wrapped around her thigh, thumb repeating the same pattern close to her knee.
She wondered if it was possible for a woman in her mid-thirties with a PhD in astrophysics, travelling through the stars on a daily basis and saving the world every other day, sometimes the universe too, to be insanely jealous of a two-year-old girl.
Conscious of Sam's scrutiny, the little girl smiled at her. Sam started to smile back then frowned. Had that been a smile or a smirk? She narrowed her eyes. Watch out, little Janet, I know where you keep that not so secret chocolate stash of yours at the base.
The little girl stretched then yawned and inclined her head further into the Colonel's chest. He bent down to press a light kiss on the top of her head. She heaved a contented sigh.
Oooh, you slut. So going to steal that chocolate now. Right before the Colonel's next physical.
Speaking of which, she raised her gaze to him and felt a sharp pang of sadness at the wistful expression on his face. She wondered if moments like this made it easier or harder for him to deal with his son's death. He seemed as drawn to children of any age as they were to him, boys and girls alike. He often behaved like a big child himself, yet was ever protective of others. She had seen the pictures of Charlie he kept in his house, had filed away to memory the odd times he had mentioned his son but had never known how to react to any of it beside silent respect.
She gathered up her courage, eyes locked on his pensive profile and took a deep breath.
"Don't," he interrupted before she had a chance to utter her first word.
She faltered, taken aback by his unexpected prescience.
"I... I just meant to..."
"Just don't," he whispered, looking in the distance.
She closed her eyes in defeat. "Sorry, Sir."
He sighed softly. "Not your fault, Carter."
She stared at her hands folded tightly in her lap, struck dumb by the crash against his raised defences.
He leaned forward and stood up, not letting the awkward silence stretch for long.
"I'm gonna try and see if the sight of a sleeping bag inspires her."
Sam nodded. "Goodnight, Sir," she replied with a tight throat.
She felt him stop before her and glanced up fleetingly. His features, no longer lit by the waning fire, were unreadable. He shuffled a bit and his hand came down to give a light comforting squeeze on her shoulder.
"Goodnight, Carter."
She rewarded him with a small smile and waited until he was far enough to watch him go. Mere seconds after he had entered his tent, his flashlight went off and she was left on her own and not looking forward to it at all.
An hour later, she was roused from mindless mathematics calculations by soft muttering and the light coming up in his tent.
She got to her feet and approached the tent quietly.
"Sir?" She whispered.
The entrance flapped open and the scent of vomit wafted out.
"She threw up," he replied flatly, coming out with the child looking disoriented and weak in his arms.
"Anything I can do, Sir?"
"Grab the sleeping bag and bring it along to the river. I've gotta clean it right away."
She entered the tent and gathered the sleeping bag, making sure she wasn't spreading the vomit anymore than it already was. Flashlight in hand, she walked down to the riverside where the Colonel was cleaning the child's face and clothes and washed off the vomit from the bag, trying not to wet too much of it in the process.
She followed them back to the fire and spread opened the sleeping bag on the ground to let it dry out. She glanced toward the Colonel who was comforting the distressed child.
"Is she sick?"
He frowned. "I don't think so. It's probably just her stomach not agreeing with our food." He scrubbed his face with one hand, glancing thoughtfully at his tent.
"You can use my sleeping bag if you want, Sir," Sam offered.
He narrowed his eyes, considering her idea. "And where will you sleep, Major?"
"I can use Teal'c's when he takes his watch and he'll borrow Daniel's later on."
He shook his head, apparently dismissing the proposition. "Does it look to you like it's gonna rain during the night?"
She looked up at the clear starry sky. "Not really, Sir."
He waved tiredly at the bag spread near the fire. "Fine. We'll just lie there. Temperatures are warm enough."
He went to retrieve the rest of the rehydrating beverage in his tent, gave some to the child to drink then tugged the sleeping bag a safe distance away from the fire and landed on it effectively if not gracefully, lying on his back, upside down to avoid the wet spot, one arm over his eyes and the other over one of the child's leg to make sure she wouldn't run away without his noticing, all in twenty seconds flat by Sam's reckoning.
He sighed deeply. "Night, Carter."
Sam couldn't help a smile. "Night, Sir."
***************
Sam's thoughts had considerably lightened by the time she went to get Teal'c, greatly helped by the presence of the Colonel's light snore as background noise. And yet, when she considered going back to her tent, she wasn't feeling so great anymore.
With Teal'c bunking with Daniel to give the Colonel his own tent, she found herself with a tent next to an empty tent on one side and empty ground on the other. Changing her sleeping arrangements was only likely to raise questions she didn't want to answer at the moment.
She hated the hold her former captors still had over her, especially now that she was out of their hands. She had been scared during her capture but had been able to work toward her release, fighting them nail and tooth, never giving up. Now she kept looking behind her in the streets, her house, her lab even, and out here, millions of light years away, she still couldn't help feeling spied upon and had given up on her hope to catch some decent sleep.
She made a show of stretching and looking at her tent in blatant consideration then cocked her head at Teal'c, who had taken his seat by the fire.
"You know, I'm not really sleepy," she said in what she hoped sounded like a light tone, "mind if I stay here and keep you company for a while?"
"Not at all, Major Carter," he replied amiably and left it at that.
Sometimes she really was grateful for Teal'c's presence on the team.
She sat on the ground, knees drawn to her chest, back firmly pressed against the large log she had been sitting on earlier, secure with Teal'c looming protectively over her, and fixed the fire ahead of her.
In what felt like two minutes later, her shoulder started shaking on its own.
"Major Carter, you will hurt your neck sleeping like that."
Or not.
She straightened groggily, feeling the wetness on her leg where she had drooled with profusion, head smashed against her knees, and cursed at the pain coursing through her back.
"Argh."
"You should lie down properly."
She scrubbed her face with both hands and shot a desperate look toward her tent surrounded by emptiness. She hung her head, massaging her neck, delaying her leave from the warmth of the fire and the others' presence.
His hand, warm and strong, came to rest on hers, stilling her movements. "You can stay here," he murmured, "there is plenty of room on that sleeping bag."
She glanced at him.
"You need rest," he added, steadily holding her tired gaze.
If her back hadn't been screaming in agony, she'd have stood up and hugged him right there. Instead, she crawled gratefully to the edge of the sleeping bag, lying on her side at a proper distance from her CO, with the added propriety of a two-year old chaperone lying between them and fell back asleep in an instant.
*************
Jack stirred out with reluctance, Daniel's voice droning on faintly in the distance waking him from the little rest he had managed to scrape out of a sleepless night that had left him with a buzzing headache and two pounds of sand in his eyes. He hadn't felt so tired and wound up since the time when Charlie was a small baby and Sara had been scared to the bones that he might suffer sudden death syndrome following the death of a neighbour's baby. She had passed her anxiety on to him and he had spent his nights holding in his own breathing, perking his ears to listen to his child's breath, unable to rest while the baby slept like a log and woke up alive and kicking. He had been so tired after a few weeks that he had shamelessly welcomed his next mission, knowing that the little sleep he'd grab there would at least bring him some rest.
He breathed deeply, getting in a mixed faded scent of chamomile and vomit, soft hair tickling his face. He moved his hand upward from where it stood on a small bone to cradle the child in his arms, trying to grab his last precious seconds of rest. His fingers closed on something firm and round... something nicely firm and round... fitting just perfectly inside his palm... like...
His eyes shot open into short blond hair. Realization went straight to his lower brain presently connected to other firm and round feminine parts. He jerked away as if burnt by fire, scooting on hands and feet a good distance away from what had felt way too good, grateful for his shirt, which, swept along in his haste, had landed on his hips.
"Gosh, Major! This planet is nowhere near as cold as Antarctica!" He shot all Colonel like at his Second in command, roughly wakened up by his abrupt movements. He steeled himself against the immediate look of guilt on her face.
"Sorry, Sir," Carter apologized in a whisper.
He looked away, unable to bear her forlorn gaze.
"Actually, Jack," Daniel butted in from afar, "you're the one who rolled over when I picked up the child."
Knowing that attack was the best defence, Jack directed his anger toward him.
"Do you have another t-shirt you'd like to donate, Daniel?"
He fixed Daniel with a dark stare, spotting the little girl sitting by the fire with him, relieved to see she had not wandered off on her own while he had been indulging in against-regulations snuggling.
Daniel merely scowled back at him, head cocked, lips pursed in reproach.
"Zack!" The little girl exclaimed happily, pointing her arm, soggy cracker in hand, at Jack.
Daniel's features lit up immediately.
"Yes! He's Jack! Very good!" He congratulated her. He pointed toward Sam, who was quietly making her way into her tent. "And who's that?"
"Sam," she replied in a serious tone, earning herself a swift glance from Sam. She pointed her arm at Teal'c, coming back from the river with a pot of fresh water. "Teek."
"Yes, very good!"
Daniel pointed his finger at his own chest, eyebrows raised in a questioning expression.
"Aniel," she pronounced with care, watching his lips unconsciously mouth the name.
"And you are?" He encouraged her, poking his finger at her chest.
The child frowned in earnest concentration.
"Baby," she replied with a smile, proud of her achievements.
"I see you've managed to get her to say her name," Jack smirked, though somewhat jealous of the connection Daniel had developed with the child. She had barely uttered a word to him.
"Jack?"
"Daniel?"
"Jack."
"Daniel."
They entered a friendly though slightly exasperated war of stares and smirks until Jack's eye caught a glint of light that made his blood run cold.
"No!!"
He didn't yell but his strong forbidding tone left the child frozen in place, tears immediately filling her eyes. Jack was on her in three strides and wrenched Daniel's gun from her hands, the empty holster lying discarded on the ground near her.
"What the hell were you thinking leaving it out there like that?" He yelled at Daniel. "They make a grab for everything at that age!" He shoved the gun into Daniel's chest with such force it was bound to leave a gun-shaped bruise.
Seeking protection from his sudden wrath, the child flew toward Sam, who had come running out of her tent at the unexpected shouts, and wrapped her arms tight around her legs. At a loss regarding the whole situation, Sam awkwardly patted the little head buried in her legs, her attention focused on the two men by the fire.
"Jack, I'm really sorry, I didn't realize..." Daniel started to babble, both hands on the gun in a gesture of supplication, not having moved the weapon from where Jack had smashed it into his chest. "I had it beside me during the watch and forgot to strap it on when I went to pick her up. I never thought..." His eyes shone with genuine distress. He bit his lip, shaking his head in defeat. "Jack, I don't know what to say..." He opened his hands and held up the gun in between them as if offering a sacrificial weapon to the executioner. "I'm really sorry, I..." He faltered, at a loss for words.
Jack just stood there, staring at him, eyes blazing.
Sam had rarely seen him this angry, features contorted in a painful grimace, fists shaking from the boiling rage inside, and she couldn't tell whether he was going to smash Daniel's head or burst out crying. She had a 'Colonel' stuck in her dry throat, afraid that speaking up would do more harm than good. She shot a desperate look toward Teal'c and saw him poised for action, one hand closed over his Zat should it come to that. Please, no, she silently prayed.
"Pack up. We're leaving in 15," Jack growled, voice barely controlled.
He stalked off toward a nearby clump of trees, leaving them hurt and confused behind him.
***********
Sam threw yet another appraising look at Daniel. He was trudging along, keeping up with the forbidding pace set by the Colonel for well over an hour now, not voicing any complaints about the total overseeing of valuable artifacts along the way, too guilt-ridden about the morning incident to dare to even speak up about anything.
They had swiftly packed the camp after the Colonel's brusque departure, including his own pack, and then had stood waiting in a row with his pack lying on the ground before their feet, the child standing between her and Teal'c, clutching her hand tightly. Sam had used a couple spare minutes from packing to feed her with some more crackers. The Colonel had come back exactly fifteen minutes after he had left, picked up his pack and taken point, barely sparing them a glance, much less a word. Daniel had followed hesitantly in his footsteps, head bent down. Teal'c had lifted the little girl as if she weighted no more than a feather and settled her comfortably in his arms for the long walk ahead of them. Sam had taken the rear with a heavy heart, concerned by the unusual emotional and geographical distance for their close-knit team.
She had a clear line of sight into the Colonel's body as they couldn't even bring themselves to walk in an efficient single line through the knee-high grass with Daniel adrift on her left and Teal'c balancing him out on her right, and from the rigid set of his shoulders and neck, she didn't expect the strenuous pace to lessen one bit even if he ended up killing his knees for good, especially through the rolling hills ahead of them. The man could be stubborn in the most stupid ways sometimes. Yet she couldn't quite blame him for his present mood, the morning had been one disaster upon another.
It was her fault. She had had an unannounced moment of weakness, which had taken him off guard. They both knew the only way to maintain their professional relationship was for only one of them to feel weak at any one time. They didn't always get to choose who got there first and the other just had to adjust. Advanced warning was preferred though and she had foregone that condition last night. In spite of the apparent reality of his own blunder, Daniel had mostly been on the receiving end of that first incident.
Perhaps she could just trip and pretend to have twisted her ankle. That should slow them down. However, the Colonel would probably see through it and bite her head off over it, she didn't have enough history of physical clumsiness to pull it off properly. He knew her better than that. Bathroom stop would have him keep going and her running after them to catch up. There was always the trump card of the 'feminine trouble' but that was one she had sworn herself from age 17 not to use unless she was actually dying of it and still she'd probably lie through her teeth about the truth of it, she'd fought too hard to get dumped back into the 'weaker sex' category over one incident and the Colonel wouldn't be the last person to do it to her.
The Colonel...
Even in her own mind, he had to be The Colonel. She stared malevolently at her army boots, shining from the morning dew in the grass, and whispered under her breath. Jack Jack Jack Jack Jack Jack Jack Jack Jack Jack Jack
There! She certainly felt better, but she still hadn't solved the problem at hand. She looked at the rest of her team and could almost see the tension lines between them all. Think, Sam! She urged herself. This can't go on much longer.
Sudden wails roused her from her inner musings. She looked over at Teal'c and saw that he had stopped with the child crying in his arms. Daniel stopped as well and so did Jac-- the Colonel after a few paces, both staying where they were.
Sam closed the distance with Teal'c as he attempted to soothe the child but to no avail. She raised a questioning eyebrow toward him, he held her gaze without blinking and the cries only got stronger, prompting the Colonel to finally come over and see what was going on.
"What is it, Teal'c?" He asked curtly.
"I don't know, O'Neill," Teal'c replied flatly, somewhat rocking the child. "She started crying for no reason."
And at that, the fit of crying turned into full blown misery with fat tears rolling on the child's cheeks. The Colonel's cold expression melted into concern and he raised a hand to caress the child's back gently. She wrenched her upper body from Teal'c's strong hold to put her arms out toward him. In spite of his current foul mood, Sam knew there was no way he'd turn her down.
Teal'c relinquished his hold and the Colonel brought the child up against his chest, enfolding her in the warm cocoon of his arms, murmuring nonsensical soothing words. The effect was immediate; she quieted down as fast as the crisis had started. He kept up the gentle rubbing on her back and she sniffled for a couple more minutes, fists tucked against her mouth, eyebrows frowned over eyes that looked full of reproach.
"I'll carry her from here," he simply said, turning around to take point again.
"As you wish, O'Neill."
Their trek resumed at a slower pace now that the Colonel was carrying the child. Within five minutes, he had hoisted her up on his shoulders to the child's delighted giggles, her small bottom firmly seated on the top of his backpack, her feet held securely in his hands.
Sam's gaze went from the light bounce in the Colonel's steps to Daniel's recovering stamina to Teal'c's inscrutable face, all in a smaller geographical space, and she heaved a sigh of relief, loud enough apparently for Teal'c to turn his head toward her and make a minute nod.
"Thank you," she murmured.
He slightly bowed his head in acknowledgment. She was about to fall back to the rear when he actually spoke up, sad eyes gazing in the Colonel's direction.
"It's not easy for him."
She followed the direction of his gaze, remembering the awkward conversation of the night before.
"No, it's not."
************
Jack was starting to feel his age when they finally came into view of a small village, his knees were killing him and his shoulders felt cramped. He sure hoped someone there would claim the child as he wasn't looking forward to more trekking through tall grass with a 25-pound child on top of his pack, no matter how cute and sweet said child was. Right now he was ready to barter his gun for a cross-country stroller. If only he could find anyone to barter anything with actually, the central square was empty of human presence and looked abandoned.
"Isn't this place supposed to be inhabited?" He frowned, walking around the deserted place.
"That's what our reports seemed to indicate," Daniel replied in a quiet voice.
"Raya!" They heard someone shout from behind them and turned to see a grey-haired woman hasten toward them, long skirts held up to avoid tripping in her haste.
"Mina!" The little girl exclaimed happily and started squirming in excitement on Jack's shoulders.
He lifted her from his shoulders to put her on the ground. She immediately ran to meet the woman.
"Raya!" The woman cried out as she gathered the little girl in her arms for a tight hug of evident relief.
Jack allowed himself a small smile of relief as well, discreetly rolling his shoulders to ease the strain from the child's weight, and looked around him long enough to spot a similar sentiment on his teammates' faces.
Still clutching the child in her arms, the woman approached them with a barrage of questions.
"Who are you? Where did you find Raya? Did you see her parents? Why are you bearing weapons?"
Jack raised placating hands to keep her from raining more questions down on them.
"I'm Jack, this is Daniel, Teal'c and Carter," Jack replied, pointing at each of them in turn, "we came through the Stargate, the big round circle of stone," he specified in answer to her blank look.
She nodded her understanding.
"We're explorers and we carry weapons to protect ourselves."
"Raya?"
"We found her about... a five-hour walk away this way," he explained, turning to point in the general direction from which they'd come. "She was alone and we didn't see any traces of other people there."
A deepening frown of worry creased the woman's face at his words.
"This direction, you said?" She asked him, pointing her arm where he had pointed just a few seconds ago.
"More or less. Carter?"
"Pretty accurate, Sir."
He grinned and earned himself a feel-good grin in return.
"We were following a dried-out river bed then with sculpted stones on the riverside," Daniel informed the woman.
The woman nodded at the description. "The Jalawen river."
"We'll take your word for it," Jack quipped.
"You mentioned her parents," Carter inquired. "Were they with her?"
"Yes, they were," the woman replied, the lines of worry growing all over her features, making her look older than she probably was in spite of the greying hair. "My daughter and her husband left together with Raya three days ago for a short trip, they were supposed to be back before nightfall the same day. There isn't too much danger around here, we thought they might have been delayed for some simple reason but when they still weren't back by midday the following day, we started to worry and sent out a search party." The woman pressed her lips together. "What I don't understand is how you could have found Raya by the Jalawen River, that's not where they had planned to go. They had meant to check on the herds of wild cohars in the Valley of the two-headed Fork." She added, pointing her arm to show them. "Over there."
Jack followed the direction of her arm and frowned. The indicated direction was a good sixty degrees off their own vector.
"Oh."
"There's no one left to check your area," the woman despaired. "We're a small community and all those who could be spared from field work have gone out today to help in the search."
Jack scratched his head and looked at Teal'c, who nodded back.
"Listen," Jack said to the woman, "Teal'c here is very good at tracking people and if we can help find Raya's mom and dad, we'll be happy to oblige."
Raya perked up at his words.
"Mama?" She queried, looking around her as if the reality of being back home had finally sunk in.
Her grandmother caressed her hair softly. "Your mama hasn't come back yet, love."
Raya frowned then extended her arms toward Jack and her grandmother let her go as he scooped her up, letting the little girl cuddle against his chest, her arms thrown loosely around his neck.
"She really likes you," her grandmother remarked with the first smile on her face since their encounter. She studied his face with interest. "Do you have children or grandchildren of your own?"
Jack swallowed the unintended stab of pain. That's your karma kicking you in the butt for having been such an ass this morning, O'Neill.
"No I don't," he replied quietly, eyes skirting her earnest gaze.
Carter let out a small cough, prompting Jack to frown at her. She was looking at the other woman though.
"Could you show us some map of the areas mentioned so we can find our bearings more easily during our search?" She asked her.
"Yes, yes, of course," the woman nodded. "Follow me."
They shuffled in silence behind her and were about to enter a simple thatched cottage-like house on the edge of the village when shouts rang out in the distance.
"Mina! Mina! Mina!"
A teenage boy came running wildly in their direction. He skidded to a stop before the woman, hands on his knees, breathing with difficulties.
"They found them!" He panted.
"Are they alright?" She asked him with a trembling voice.
"Finona is badly injured," he expelled shakily, trying to steady his rapid breathing.
"And Amisi?"
The boy's gaze dropped to the ground and he moved his head in a sharp shake.
The woman choked on a sob. Jack tightened his arms around Raya. The boy licked his dry lips and warily gazed back up.
"They sent me ahead to fetch Heliya."
The woman nodded in understanding. "She's in the South field," she mumbled through the hands hiding her face.
The boy nodded wearily and with a great gulp of air resumed his frantic running.
The woman wobbled on her legs, visibly distraught. She brought her hands down and waved toward her house. "I need to..." she faltered and then just rushed inside, leaving them on their own.
They all stood there in uncomfortable silence for several minutes, listening to the noisy bustle and crying going on inside, not quite knowing what to do or say, until Teal'c lightly nudged Jack's arm.
"O'Neill," He warned him, gazing off in the distance.
Jack followed the direction of Teal'c's gaze and made out the group of men just passing the crest of a small hill, carrying two stretchers in their midst. He entered the house and placed a hesitant hand on the woman's shoulder, stopping her in her tracks.
"Mina?" He said softly. "They're arriving."
She immediately went outside to take a look. She threw a quick glance to Raya still held securely in his arms and moved toward the advancing group of men.
In a matter of minutes, the place was overly crowded. The adolescent had returned with an elderly woman, two teenage girls following suit, carrying a large bucket of water between them. The three women had entered the house, leaving the boy outside. More women and young children had come from the same direction and by the time the group of men reached the house, it felt as if the whole village was there, sparing the foreigners with just a passing glance, ranging from indifferent to guarded.
The stretcher carrying the bloodied form of a young woman was brought into the house. The other one, a cover draped over the still human form, was sent to another house, accompanied by a sobbing older couple. Raya was squirming in Jack's arms, fast getting upset at the unusual activity and grim looks, not to mention the sight of her injured mother and Jack got frustrated at his growing helplessness. He lightly poked the shoulder next to his and nodded toward the open door before them.
"Carter, see what you can do."
"Yes, Sir."
She entered the house and he followed suit, ready to support her medical interference even if the villagers didn't want it. He doubted their medical skills were any higher than Carter's basic knowledge and they didn't look like they had the kind of medicine the SGC provided them with for their offworld trips.
He shouldn't have worried about strangers accepting Carter's help though. She rarely got turned down anyway what with her easy smiles and good manners. He dropped his pack on the floor in a corner of the large central room and sat on it, watching her as she introduced herself to the woman named Heliya, probably the village's healer, and set down her own pack to fish out her medkit. And while people whispered and bustled around her injured mother, he whispered into Raya's ear words of explanation and comfort that he doubted she understood completely but that wasn't the point anyway. It probably wasn't the best idea to keep her there with her injured mother not far away but her grandmother was busy and she was clinging to him, refusing to be held by others. He just made sure that she couldn't see the worst of it from where they sat. Nervous exhaustion soon wore her out and she fell asleep on his lap.
An hour later, he scooted to the side of his pack to leave some room for Carter to sit by him.
"So?" He whispered.
"The injuries aren't life threatening," she whispered back. "I gave Finona some morphine before we treated her dislocated shoulder and broken leg. Heliya did a really good job, much better than I would have." She paused, apparently expecting him to comment but he just raised an expectant eyebrow. She blinked and resumed her report, absentmindedly starting to caress the sleeping child's hair. "As far as we can tell, she doesn't have any internal bleeding. Her high fever and infection are more problematic though." She heaved a sigh of worry. "I've given her the strongest medication I could for both, I hope she'll react favourably. Heliya has a couple concoctions of her own that should help as well but the next twenty-four hours will be pretty much touch and go."
He nodded at her assessment, mulling over his options.
"She's not in a condition stable enough for transportation," Carter added, as if reading his thoughts. "The first trip already weakened her quite a lot."
"I see," he murmured, gazing at the ground.
She looked at his face in concern. "Sir?"
He sighed. "I left a message for Hammond on the MALP before we went through the hills and lost radio contact. He knows about our change of plans. The SGC doesn't expect us back until 1400 tomorrow and they won't start sending the cavalry well before we have time to contact them again." He finally turned toward her. "We'll stay here for the night, see how she's doing tomorrow around this time and go from there."
"Very well, Sir."
He shifted a bit in his seat. "Hold her for me a moment," he murmured, sliding the sleeping child onto her lap.
He felt her gaze on him as he stood up wearily and massaged his thighs and knees before making his way out of the house.
Jack blinked several times at the difference in luminosity between the dark interior of the house and the shining sun outside. He rubbed his face and looked around with squinted eyes. He spotted Daniel slouched against a nearby wall, throwing pebbles before him under Teal'c's stoic gaze. Daniel got up and dusted the seat of his pants as he saw him approach.
"We're gonna stay here for the night, see if there's anything more we can do in the next hours," Jack informed them.
He shoved his hands in his pockets and chewed his lips, alternately shuffling and rocking on his heels as he stared at them both.
"In the meantime," he said before the moment turned really awkward, "why don't you two take a look around and see if you find any interesting rocks or cultural information, you know, something that would turn out to be useful to the SGC? How about we don't make this mission a complete waste of time, hmmm?"
Daniel dropped his gaze and shook his head. "Jack..."
"It's okay, Daniel," Jack interrupted him in a quiet voice.
Daniel gazed back up to meet his serious stare. Jack brought his fist up against Daniel's shoulder and offered him a small smile.
"Just get to work." He gently pressed his fist in encouragement and then turned and made his way back to the house.
**************
Eyes wide awake, Jack stared at the ceiling of the small barn adjoining Mina's house they had been welcomed to use for the night. He was physically and emotionally numb, too numb and tired actually to find sleep.
He had spent most of the afternoon with Raya sitting on his lap, waiting for her mother to wake up, his heart clenching every time she greeted a new person entering the house with a hopeful "Dada?"
He had handed her over to her grandmother as soon as possible. Her other grandparents had stayed away grieving their son and no man had come forward presenting himself as Raya's other grandfather so he supposed Mina was a widow. He would have kept on babysitting her if asked, yet it was better that way, he wasn't going to be a permanent fixture in her life anyway.
Jack brought his hands behind his head, propping himself up a bit and trying to work out the kinks in his neck and shoulders. He glanced sideways at Teal'c, sitting in an apparent state of Kel No Reem, put his feet in a V to spot Daniel, sleeping on the ground by the door, away from the wheat that had caused his earlier sneezing fits and turned his head to find himself gazing into another pair of wakeful eyes.
He rolled on his side to face her. She held his gaze for a few seconds then closed her eyes. His own eyes fell on her pack lying between them. At least this time, if he awoke with his hand on something round and firm, it might just be her canteen. He slowly closed his eyes.
*************
Sam removed the beeping thermometer from Finona's right ear and checked the reading.
"Good," she reassured the ailing woman with a smile, earning herself a general sigh of relief from all the people assembled around the bed. "You've reacted well to the meds and your fever has gone down. It's likely to rise again later though but still, this is a good sign."
"Thank you," the woman whispered, her left hand idly caressing Raya's head, snuggled against her uninjured side. She turned her eyes to encompass the three men sitting in a nearby row. "Thank you for taking care of Raya."
"Anytime," the Colonel answered with a light wave of his hand, dismissing the need for thanks.
"Can you tell us what happened?" the older man who had been introduced as Finona's father-in-law some minutes ago asked from the other side of the bed. His wife, face red and puffy, was sitting by him in a grief-stricken silence.
Finona nodded slowly, eyes closed, trying to gather her thoughts and some much needed strength. Her mother took a seat by her side, next to Raya. Sam quietly finished repacking her medkit, leaving her thermometer in Heliya's eager hands as she had promised she would the night before when Heliya hadn't been able to hide the interest shining in her eyes for that useful tool. She left the last remaining seat to her as well and simply leaned against one wall, facing the rest of her team.
"We went to the Valley of the two-headed Fork as planned..." Finona started with a rasp in her voice, "to watch the herds." She paused to lick her dry lips and her mother immediately fetched a nearby goblet of water, supporting her head as she drank. She let out a grateful sigh and resumed her tale. "There wasn't anything unusual going on really but then a small group of eight cohars split from one of the herds and went on its own, led by Old Stinky. The sun was still high in the sky so Amisi and I decided to follow them for a while, see where they were headed."
Finona paused again, eyes lost somewhere on the wall in front of her. Sam quietly shuffled her feet, not wishing to disturb the heavy silence in the room.
"When the time came to return to the village, we decided instead to continue following them. We had enough food to last the next two days and the weather didn't look threatening. We knew it was still early in the season but we thought maybe they were already on to something. Especially with Old Stinky there."
Sam supposed the nickname held some special meaning around here as the natives in the room nodded knowingly to it. She caught the Colonel's small hand gesture to stop Daniel from asking about it.
"Not... not long before nightfall," Finona continued with difficulty, stopping her caresses of Raya's hair, prompting the child to raise her head and look at her mother's face in frowned concern, "we reached the Garain woods." She closed her eyes. "There the cohars became really agitated, digging the ground furiously," she recounted with a voice muffled by mounting tears. "We got closer to them but suddenly they took off at a run for the shallow pass upstream on the Garain river, for the other side of the woods. We... we couldn't lose their track so close to the goal." She bit her lower lip, letting the tears roll freely from the corners of her closed eyes. "We crossed the old stone bridge."
Sam swallowed the lump slowly forming in her throat. She knew already that the story didn't end well but still couldn't help feeling the woman's pain.
"We thought it would be safer to cross separately," Finona continued, bringing a trembling hand to her mouth to stifle a snort of bitter irony. "I ran to the edge after the bridge collapsed, Amisi was lying on the ground beneath with blood pooling around him and he was still moving." Fat tears sprang from her eyes. "I... I had to help him, I had to stop the bleeding. I thought I could use the vines alongside the bank to reach him but they snapped and I fell too."
Sam snuck a look across. The Colonel's head was bowed and his features were etched with sorrow. Tiredness too. She knew he had hardly slept the night before; he had been awake the two times Heliya had come to fetch her when Finona's state had worsened.
Finona took a deep breath, attempting to stop her tears. "It's a miracle Raya didn't get hurt." She turned to look at her daughter and shook her head. "My baby. I should never have left her on her own. I'll never be able to thank you enough," she said as she fiercely grabbed the Colonel's hand.
He fidgeted with clear discomfort, though managing to squeeze her hand back. Raya swivelled around to look at him as well. "Dada boom," she informed him with earnestness.
"I know, honey," he whispered back, voice audibly hoarse. Sam had to look away from the pain in his eyes.
Finona's mother-in-law burst into tears, her whimpering cries muffled in her husband's chest.
"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry," Finona pleaded out to them. "I... we didn't... we... we thought we could have bought a horse, maybe even two, from Servyn, in exchange of one early-season nipia." She raised her good arm, trying to reach out toward the grieving couple. "I'm sorry... it's been so bad lately..."
Jack stood up brusquely, motioning at the rest of his team to do the same and leave the room.
"May I... May I ask what nipias are exactly?" Daniel asked around, oblivious of Jack's dark stare suddenly boring holes into his skull.
"Daniel!" Jack grabbed the back of Daniel's shirt and hauled him to his feet to force him to leave.
"But I've seen that name mentioned on several stone writings around the village and it seemed important!" Daniel protested mildly to his treatment.
"Not now," Jack growled, propelling him forward.
"You're right, nipias are important," Heliya answered Daniel as she followed the four of them outside, leaving the grieving family behind.
They all somehow shuffled into a circle just a few feet from the entrance, eyes blinking several times at the harsh light outside after so much time spent in the dark interior of the small house.
"So, what are they exactly?" Daniel asked again as he readjusted his shirt, all rumpled from Jack's angry grip.
"They are brown-coloured, about this size," Heliya said, showing them her closed fist. "They grow beneath trees, near the trunks, usually in forested areas. Their aroma can be quite potent and attracts the cohars, who are very good at digging them out. We usually manage to find them by following the cohars' search and then try to drive the cohars away so we can dig them out ourselves."
"Right. Sorta like pigs and truffles!" Jack contributed and was rewarded with an incredulous look from Daniel. "What?!" He shrugged. "You know me, I like food."
Daniel frowned. "Fine foods?"
"Sure," he countered. "You think I only live on beer and pizza?" he asked, somewhat offended by Teal'c's steadily climbing left eyebrow.
"That is what you always offer us at your house, O'Neill," Teal'c replied.
"And here I thought you came for my wit and repartee!" Jack replied with a wounded look that wouldn't have fooled a blind.
Sam made no effort to stifle her snort. Daniel just shook his head in disbelief and brought his attention back to Heliya.
"Why are they so important? The writings weren't too clear."
Heliya eyed them all carefully before answering.
"There is an ancient belief about the nipias' protective power against the Devil of the Flashing Eyes."
"Err... Goa'uld," Jack interrupted, "there's more than one, unfortunately, and they call themselves Goa'uld. A pain to pronounce but real shorter than Devil of the Flashing Eyes. Time is of the essence on the battlefield."
"What kind of protection?" Daniel slipped in, trying to get the explanation back on track.
"Well, it is said that whoever eats nipias, particularly the early-season nipias whose power is even more potent, will be able to fight off the devil's attempt to steal his soul."
"It gives your brain a bad taste or what?" Jack asked, confused.
"I don't know exactly. It is said also that when the devil--"
"Goa'uld,' Jack insisted, nodding in encouragement.
"Goa'uld," Heliya repeated the alien name dutifully. "When the... Goa'uld has entered, if the person eats a nipia, it will kill it."
"Ooh, that's why there were mentions of poison along with the nipias. But doesn't the person die as well?" Daniel asked.
"Generally, yes but..." Heliya took a moment to collect her thoughts, "not if the nipia is used right after the Goa'uld's intrusion. At least, that's what the elders passed on from generation to generation, I've never seen a Goa'uld in my lifetime."
"The nipia is not a poison to yourself?" Sam asked.
"It is. However, people start eating small amounts almost from birth, the nipia is dried out and the powder is mixed with the rest of the food."
"To build an immunity," Sam murmured, nodding in understanding.
"Yes."
"So...?" Jack inquired around.
"The nipias are poison to a Goa'uld symbiote," Teal'c summed up.
"Crap! How's Junior feeling?"
"I only had MREs, O'Neill."
Jack clapped Teal'c on the shoulder. "Good call."
"How do you manage to protect the whole population if the nipias are so difficult to find?" Daniel asked. "I mean, I'm guessing they're of really high value because of Finona's story and so probably rare."
Heliya's features darkened visibly. Jack straightened up in reaction, goofiness gone from his stance. He shot a look of warning at both Teal'c and Carter, who had caught his movement.
"Heliya?" Daniel insisted with a gentle voice. "Is there a problem?"
The old woman pressed her lips together tightly then looked back up at him.
"We used to have enough for every people in every village but, in the past years, some say it started about three years from now, the finds have gone increasingly harder and the numbers dwindled."
"Any particular reason?"
Heliya again eyed them all carefully before answering. Jack put on his most open and trusting face.
"At the last village gathering, there were several fights among chiefs of different villages, accusing each other of being responsible for the diminishing numbers until they finally realized that none of them were responsible. Then they shared rumours of people coming to steal the nipias away but it would seem, people not from here."
"People from other planets?" Daniel asked.
"Possibly."
"Anybody met those people?" Jack asked.
"Not really, the sightings have been few and far between."
"Any spaceships seen?"
"Spaceships?"
"Flying machines."
"Some talked about flying machines, others didn't."
Jack pursed his lips and looked at his team. "Who do we know who would just come here and help themselves to whatever they needed?"
"The Goa'uld, of course." Teal'c replied immediately.
"The NID, ship or no ship," Carter added.
"Or... the Tok'ra," Jack finished, already feeling his usual annoyance with them rising up inside.
"Sir, the Tok'ra wouldn't--"
"Yes, they would, Carter! You know how superior they feel toward other races!"
"But not with malicious intent, Sir!" She countered.
"Whoever started plundering the fields for nipias may simply have never considered the consequences for the local population," Daniel offered as a peace settlement.
"So, what were the descriptions like?" Jack inquired. "Formidable looking warriors with marks on their foreheads," he said pointing at Teal'c, "tall, athletic and dressed in black or green," he added, hand on his own chest, "or the scrawny kind with badly cut clothes?" He finished with a smirk, waving his fingers toward Daniel.
"The scrawny kind, I think," Heliya said after lengthy consideration of her options.
"Sir, really the--"
"Look," Jack interrupted, "who had to be bribed, cajoled and threatened to give us new gate addresses?"
"The Tok'ra," Daniel supplied.
"Who told us the intel on this planet?"
"The Tok'ra," Teal'c answered.
"And who told us not to bother, there was nothing interesting so that said gate address got dumped in the really low-priority folder?"
"The Tok'ra," Carter replied, with reluctance and defensiveness, "but--"
"Carter, this is not about Jacob," Jack interrupted, with a gentler voice this time.
"I know, Sir," she replied, unconvincingly.
"Low-priority folder, really?" Daniel piped in. "But the archaeological interest is quite high!"
"Daniel, need I remind you the SGC is a military organization, not a foundation for archaeological digs?"
"Why did we come here then?"
Jack blinked and fleetingly caught Carter's gaze on him, intent and already braced for his answer. He scowled at Daniel while he silently berated his own big mouth.
"Because we, stupid humans, like to be unpredictable, that's why!" He replied smugly, aiming at levity, only to feel her gaze turn away from him instead of the expected smile. He gave himself another good mental kick and concentrated on Heliya.
"Whoever is responsible for this, we will do our best to find out for sure and figure out what can be done to stop it," he promised her. "In the meantime, we'll also provide medical assistance and protection to your world, giving you ways to contact us in time of need."
"Why would you help us like that?"
"Because we can," Daniel simply said.
Jack couldn't help the burst of pride.
"Don't get it wrong, we're not perfect and paperwork will be our downfall," he reassured Heliya. "I could give you more detailed terms on the possible trade and assistance agreement but for that it'd be better that I talk directly to the chief of your village."
"You already are," Heliya replied with a polite smile.
"Oh. In that case, I meant everything I said so far except the 'it won't cost you a thing' bit."
Heliya smiled in good spirit. Jack smiled back.
"In exchange, we'd like a sample of your mushroom, err, nipia, for analysis."
"That may prove difficult to procure right now," Heliya replied, frowning with worry, "how big a sample do you need?"
"Just a few grams," Carter replied before Jack had time to turn toward her. "The powder form is fine."
"I'll see to--" Heliya stopped as Mina exited the house, lines of worry marring her face.
"She's burning up," Mina informed her.
Jack nodded as Heliya excused herself, taking Carter in her wake.
**********
Jack dropped the hand supporting his chin to check his watch and flipped the Velcro shut with a sigh. He'd have to get Carter out of there soon. Not that he was such in a hurry to leave the people of the village but they had to at least be in radio contact range in the next four hours and Finona's untimely relapse into a sky-rocketing fever stage had put them in a difficult position to hold on to that schedule, especially considering they were cutting through terrain they hadn't gone through on the way in. They couldn't afford any surprises.
He could have gone ahead with Teal'c, leave Carter and Daniel on their own but he never much liked separating the team that way unless absolutely necessary. They had done what they could here, Carter wasn't a real doctor and Daniel or some other archaeologist could later finish studying the history of these people. That wasn't a priority at the moment.
He plopped his chin on his hand again and went back to his latest activity, watching Teal'c and Raya play hand over hand over hand on Teal'c's knee, both utterly engrossed in their game, one to place her hands, the other not to crush those hands magically reappearing from under his huge paws every other turn.
"Is there a strategy to win at this game?" Teal'c asked.
"Nope," Jack replied, "it's all about the fun and the physical coordination it requires. Victory doesn't matter."
"But when you played before, you told her she had won."
"Because she did."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow then took a look at Raya's joyous face.
"I see."
Jack perked up as Carter finally came out of Mina's house, all geared up, followed by Heliya and Mina. He saw her face lighten up at the sight of Raya and Teal'c playing together.
"Good to go, Major?" He asked her.
"Yes, Sir. She's over the worst now."
He clapped his hands together. "Off we go then, before half the SGC comes marching in."
"Daniel, time to go!" he yelled toward the archaeologist, kneeling before a wall scripture nearby, frantically writing down observations in his notebook.
No answer. He grabbed his radio.
"Daniel, if you make us late for contact, I'll tell General Hammond to deduct the cost of the rescue mission from your paycheck. Electricity bill included."
Daniel immediately snapped his notebook shut and got up.
"Well, I'll have to remember that one for our next missions," Jack observed with satisfaction.
"Indeed."
Jack slung his pack over his back, straightening out the straps as he spoke to Heliya and Mina.
"We'll send a medical team back as soon as possible, they'll be of more help to you."
"Will you come back again?" Heliya asked.
"A medical team will make its way to you as soon as possible. As for us, we're the explorer team, usually another team takes over when there's little danger for everyone involved," Daniel explained, stuffing his notebook in his pack. "But sometimes we do follow up events from certain planets and keep in touch ourselves," he amended before their disappointed expressions.
"We'll be honoured to have you back," Mina replied. "Raya would be happy about it."
Jack stared at the little girl sending worried looks around as she was starting to realize they were about to leave. She felt his stare on her and stared back at him. Jack tried not to wince in pain as he dropped one knee on the hard ground to crouch to her level.
"We can't stay, we have to go back to our homes," he said softly to her, feeling inexplicably sad before the tears filling up in her eyes and the quiver of her lower lip. He put his hands out to her. "Big hug?"
Her distraught gaze flitted over and around his face, avoiding his eyes, her body wavering with the hesitation of her mind, aware that giving in meant giving up. He stayed still, giving her time he didn't have, trying to ignore the pebble boring its way into his damaged kneecap. See, that was why he didn't want to linger. Goodbyes sucked.
"Say bye, Raya," her grandmother encouraged her, gently prodding the child forward. Raya shrugged her hand away from her shoulder, chin tucked to her chest in stubborn determination.
"It's okay," Jack relented without regret. "She doesn't have to really."
He smiled at the little girl and shifted his weight forward to get back up. Seeing him move away, she flung herself at him, nearly pitching him backward in her haste, short arms choking his neck as she hugged him tight, determined to keep him there. Jack closed his arms around the 25 pounds of fragility killing him right now. He closed his eyes too, remembering the years when Charlie had been so dependable and trusting, how incredibly scary and empowering they had been. He indulged for a moment in this sweet torture then breathed in her baby smell one last time and pressed a light kiss on the side of her neck. He let go of her and straightened up, gently loosening the hold of her arms around his neck. He kept her hands in his as he gazed at her face frowning in utter misery.
"Be good," he whispered to her, gently squeezing her hands, though what he really wanted to say was 'thank you'.
He got up for good this time, resisted the urge to massage his knee and gave a curt nod of acknowledgment to Heliya and Mina before turning around to leave. He took point, distantly hearing the rest of his team bid their goodbyes. He didn't turn around to see if Raya was waving back at them.
**********
"When can we hope to have you back, Colonel?"
"About three hours give or take, Sir."
"Very well, I'll expect your full report in four then."
"I'm working on it as we speak, General."
"I'm sure you are, Colonel." Hammond chuckled audibly over the crack of the radio.
Jack smirked. "SG-1 out, Sir."
He took off his sunglasses and fiddled with them while he looked at the peaceful scenery of grassy plains all around their little group.
"Daniel, you know the direction to the gate?"
Daniel looked up sharply, frowning at the unexpected query. "Sure."
Jack slipped his sunglasses back on. "Take point."
Daniel blinked a couple of times and then started walking again, setting a slower pace now that they had reached their goal of contact with the SGC.
Sam glanced briefly at her CO as she passed him by. It wasn't unusual for him to take the rear position in their team but she couldn't help thinking it had little to do with actually watching their six this time. She glanced at Teal'c, walking companionably next to her, and took that opportunity to steal a side glance at the silent form behind her now. His quietness unnerved her; she couldn't feel from him the level of alertness he usually possessed, she couldn't even feel his gaze resting on her, as she knew he did sometimes when he thought nobody could tell.
She sighed. For once, she had no wish to use their silent progression as a time to think about the ongoing experiments in her lab, she needed some levity, small talk to make up for the rarity of nonsensical sentences in the past two days. She looked toward Daniel, ready to stride up to him but, even from afar, she could hear him mumbling under his breath, his head nodding to whatever points he was trying to stress. She considered talking to Teal'c, though, with his understanding of small talk as short talk, it wouldn't be an easy task and he wasn't the one she really wanted to talk to either. She stole another glance backward. She didn't even have the small comfort of being able to just watch him be. She kicked at the grass in sullen resignation, sending a flurry of critters scrambling away.
Two hours later she was ready to throttle Daniel, if only because no one should be able to entertain themselves with scientific babbling while she was yearning for actual communication. For crying out loud, he was even waving his arms around now, complete with the head bobbing! She rolled her eyes up and exchanged a look of silent suffering with Teal'c then mentally calculated how far behind them Jack was. He may not be in a mood to talk but he was close enough to listen in. If he wanted to.
Sam curled her lip between her teeth and tilted her head at Teal'c.
"Teal'c, have you and Drey'auc ever thought about having other children?"
Teal'c's gaze slid from her face to Jack and back again, silently appraising her question. She felt a flush creep up on her face under his scrutiny.
"Never mind," she mumbled hastily, "none of my business, really." She looked away. Smooth, Sam, real smooth, she berated herself.
His gaze fell from her face but his overbearing presence still made her feel terribly self-conscious. She started to consider Daniel's babbling as a punishing escape route.
"By the time Drey'auc was pregnant with Ry'ac..."
Her head snapped up at his softly spoken words.
"...my mind and my heart were filled with doubts about Apophis' real nature. My faith had weakened. Bratac's teachings and my own experiences as first prime had opened my eyes."
She offered a frown of sympathy when he glanced at her. He nodded and stared ahead of him again as he spoke.
"We lived in better conditions than most Jaffas. We had a real house, a gift from Apophis to his first prime after the massive victory on Fetek." His features took on a sombre note. "I presented Ry'ac to Apophis myself, held him up to my God, who commended me on having provided him with another strong Jaffa warrior." He stopped and looked at her, his intense gaze pinning her to the ground. "My son was born a slave. I swore to myself that only on the day my people were free, would I consider bringing more children into this world."
"I'm sorry," she murmured.
He nodded at her and started walking again. "I have hope."
"Hope is good," she acquiesced and wished she really could offer him more than this lame support.
"What about you, Major Carter?"
"What?"
"Do you want to have your own family?" He asked with the same appraising look that had made her skin flush in embarrassment earlier.
She swallowed hard, forced her eyes to stare ahead and not back, wondering why she felt ashamed of wanting something close to normal, even if part of the fantasy was forbidden ground.
"Most people do, no?" She replied with a studied shrug, staring at her booted feet advancing of their own volition through the grass. "I'm not that different." Her lips curved in bitter irony. "Except for the fact that with all the abuse my body has gone through these past years, I'm not even sure I'd be able to have children. And then there's the father issue."
"Jacob Carter doesn't want you to have children?"
She choked in her breath. "Err, on the contrary, he's quite fond of his grandchildren and wouldn't mind more, even if he doesn't get to see them that often. It's a...." she faltered, "different... father problem," she mumbled.
"You wouldn't have that problem on Chulak," he declared with assurance.
She shot him a disbelieving look. "Excuse me?"
"There is an ancient custom called Ma'chek that was first implemented by the Goa'uld in an attempt to provide more able bodies for their young ones. They wanted to encourage Jaffas to procreate and would gather all the single adults once or twice a year to pair them off, more often than not, forcibly. The Jaffas eventually managed to gain some control over the custom."
She arched her eyebrows at his words. "I'd certainly hope you would."
He slowly shook his head at her. "Despite its compulsory nature, people didn't rebel against the Ma'chek, everyday life was difficult on Chulak, being two to bear the burden made it easier. Love mattered less than survival and sometimes grew of its own volition."
"So what changed exactly?" She asked, slightly depressed by his tale. "No forced pairing? Gather the single people but hope they find someone they want to be paired with in the group?"
"Finding a mate is rarely a problem for the young, the main concern was for the older among us, women past the child-bearing years, warriors physically too weak to fight anymore even with their symbiote's help. As you know, the Goa'uld just get rid of those they think aren't of use to them: the weak, the old, the rebellious. Master Bra'tac, and some of the elders fighting for freedom before him, decided to bring them together, through Ma'chek."
Sam blinked at his last words and tried to suppress a disrespecting snort. "So Bra'tac is some sort of yenta?"
"I do not know that word."
"A matchmaker, for people," she explained, "usually a woman. Yiddish word."
Teal'c pondered her information. "Interesting."
Sam smiled at the thought of Bra'tac playing matchmaker. The worst was, she could totally see him do that, what with that twinkle in his eye he had sometimes.
"Except for the woman part, I suppose he is."
Sam's smile widened and got Teal'c to smile in return. His gaze took a faraway look.
"He does feel strongly about it. Master Bra'tac and those before him thought the people who got spared thanks to the amended custom would provide the ground on which to build the Jaffa rebellion. They were right on many counts and I know of several families who came to be thanks to the Ma'Chek, unlikely yet strong pairings, old warriors finding mates to take care of them, unhoped-for births, people just being given a chance to a better life." His gaze turned to rest on her face. "No one is left alone on Chulak."
"That's... nice," Sam remarked, trying to muster up a little conviction, not quite sure what Teal'c expected her to say. "Really," she smiled. Though, wow, wait! Was he implying she was old?
"Oh, for crying out loud, Carter, that's pathetic!" The Colonel burst out behind them.
Sam and Teal'c turned around in shocked silence.
"Who are you trying to kid?" He ranted at her, eyes dripping with disbelief. "Do you realize that half the galaxy wants to marry you? And that's because I'm only counting the men." He stepped closer and opened his arms wide. "You have everything for you, everything! This Mache'te thing is a joke, politics in the guise of charity! You wanna get paired off with some washed-out, near senile warrior, hey, no need to go to Chulak, take - - "
He broke off suddenly with his hand halfway to his chest and stood before them, lips slightly parted, breathing hard, eyes darting from one to the other then straight ahead, his face closing off completely.
"Daniel!" He barked, barrelling through between them. "What's with the snail pace?"
Daniel's head stopped bobbing; he looked behind him, fairly disoriented by the unexpected hail.
"What?"
He watched a fuming Colonel stalk by with a look of total confusion on his face.
"What?" He asked again with concern as Sam and Teal'c caught up with him.
"Nothing," Sam sighed, gently urging him forward. She bit her lower lip, waiting until Daniel had moved some distance away before apologizing.
"Sorry about that, Teal'c."
"There is no need for you to apologize, Major Carter," he replied gently.
"I'm sure the Colonel didn't mean to be rude."
"Do not concern yourself, O'Neill is... O'Neill." He inclined his head toward her. "As you well know."
She gave him a wistful smile. He nodded and smiled benevolently at her, inadvertently making her feel small and petty then he straightened up, picking up his pace to not get outdistanced by the other two.
Sam narrowed her eyes at him. She thought she had seen a fleeting look of satisfaction cross over his face as he had turned around. What the-- ? Her step faltered with her confused thoughts.
Did he attempt to needle the Colonel on purpose? Did he think that was what she wanted to do? Which, to be honest, wouldn't have been too far off the mark, but in that case, why did he indulge her? She'd always assumed his loyalty lay with the Colonel first and the team second. Did he think he was actually doing something for Jack?
She stared hard at his retreating back and sighed in defeat. Teal'c was often a lot more subtle than people granted him with the ability to be, yet another victim of the Rambo label, warriors with no brains. But considering the vast numbers of inept Jaffas they'd met, one could hardly blame them for the clich. Even the Colonel was guilty of it, no matter how much he liked repeating he hated clichs.
Actually, nobody ever took an interest in Jaffa culture. Teal'c could be bullshitting them all the time and knowing he had a peculiar sense of humour, he just might be. He was this readily available source of Jaffa historical knowledge that gave them no incentive to go out of their way to really explore it. Whenever the need arose, just ask Teal'c. Maybe it was because the culture itself, of warriors and slaves, didn't generate much interest. But still, even Daniel, a frigging archaeologist, was guilty of non-interest, pretty much dismissing the Jaffa culture in his research!
Were they really always this snotty and callous over Jaffa cultural ways? What did Teal'c think of them? Spoiled little Tau'ri brats? And where was Daniel when you needed him? Oh, dialling the gate. Already? Where did the last miles go? Sam shook her head. Wow, she really shouldn't get so wrapped up in her thoughts offworld, even on a peaceful planet.
She climbed the steps behind the others to enter the wormhole. A hand brushed her shoulder.
"Carter."
She stopped and turned around to face her CO, who looked either constipated or about to die yet definitely uncomfortable with frowning lines all over his face. He had taken off his sunglasses in an attempt to busy his hands with something solid, eyes squinting against the setting sun.
She quirked an eyebrow. "Sir?"
He squirmed then cleared his throat noisily before letting go of his glasses to hide his hands in his pockets.
"Listen, Carter..." he started with difficulty, "what I said earlier, that was... way out of line." A hand snaked out to furiously scratch his hair while his earnest gaze met her own. "I was being an ass."
Well, that was new. And unexpected. She stared at him as if his eyes had suddenly flashed white. He shuffled under her wary gaze.
"And here I thought you'd apologize for grabbing my ass yesterday," she finally quipped.
He pressed his lips together. "Well, uh, yes, that too."
"Except it wasn't my ass really."
"Right, no, it wasn't."
"More like my right br--"
"Major!" He warned her, straightening up in authority.
OK, so maybe that first ever apologizing moment wasn't the best time to be cheeky and insubordinate. But he HAD been an ass, to her and to Teal'c, whether Teal'c had or hadn't intentionally provoked him didn't matter. He also hadn't actually said 'sorry'. She made as if to go through the waiting wormhole and suddenly swung back on her heels to unsettle him.
"So, how far do you think you are from senility, Sir?" She asked, head cocked, chin hiked up in defiance, and immediately wised up, losing any lingering thoughts of cheekiness at the hurt look that flashed across his face before his stone-cold demeanour could take over. She bowed her head, biting down hard on her lip then looked back up, eyes intent and open, trying to make him understand that she was serious and wished she didn't have to hide it all the damn time, that she didn't have to think of him by his rank to keep him at arm's length.
His mouth opened slowly and the frown creasing his forehead eased a little.
"One year..." he answered tentatively then tilted his head at her. "Two, at the most."
She nodded and gave him a watery smile, then took his budding smile with her through the wormhole.
Jack watched her disappearing form, feeling his smile linger and grow. He shook his head. That was so worth sitting through a fast approaching session of cheesy science-fiction flicks. He bounded through the wormhole with a spring in his step before Hammond had reason to wonder what the hell was keeping him behind.
THE END
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