Lt. O'Malley counted again. Seven. She checked her inventory list again. Eight. There was definitely one missing. Damn. She hated filling out all that paperwork for something so small. It wasn't like it was a controlled substance that was missing. Maybe she would check with Dr. Fraiser and Dr. Warner to see if one of them had used a test and not marked it down. Dr. Warner was just about to head home so she hurried off to check and hopefully spare herself some work.
An hour later the Lieutenant sighed as she finished filling out the forms. Neither Doctor had dispensed a pregnancy test in the last month, so one had definitely walked off. It wouldn't be the first time. The SGC was like a small town, and none of the females wanted it to get around that they were pregnant, especially if they were on an SG team and it could be a false alarm.
"Hey, Bonnie! You ready to go grab a bite to eat?" one of the other nurses called.
"Yeah. I just have to file this paperwork." Lt. O'Malley replied. "God forbid the U.S.A.F. doesn't get an accurate count of their pregnancy tests."
"Did one walk off again? I wonder who swiped it?" her friend commented as they headed for the commissary. "Hey, O'Neill and Carter just got married. Maybe she's pregnant."
By the time the two women reached the commissary, the news that Major Carter was pregnant had spread far enough that Jonas Quinn heard it as he left his lab to head to a briefing of SG1's next mission. Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter were already there, along with Teal'c, but before Jonas could say anything, General Hammond arrived and started the meeting. Oh, well. He would mention the rumor to them before they left the meeting. At least he assumed it was a rumor. He was sure that the two of them would not have kept that kind of news from their team.
Hammond started off the meeting by announcing that he had selected the temporary fifth member of the team, a Captain Stan Wilson, who was currently on SG8. He called Captain Wilson in to join the briefing and introductions were made. Then Carter started going over the MALP readings from P4X-792. This was going to be a first contact mission with a population that seemed slightly less advanced than Earth. They had communicated with them via MALP, and the representatives welcomed a visit by the SG team.
The General explained that all 5 members of the team would be going on this mission, and that on their return, Colonel O'Neill would be leaving for a week to go work with two special forces divisions that were about to head to the Middle East. During that time, Major Carter would be leading SG1.
"Pardon my asking, but is there any danger to Major Carter going through the Stargate in her condition?" Captain Wilson inquired.
Four sets of eyes swung first to the young Captain, then to Major Carter, who was staring at her new teammate in confusion.
"What condition?" Hammond finally asked.
"I'm sorry. I thought it was common knowledge. I heard that the Major was expecting a baby just before I came to the briefing," Captain Wilson stammered.
Sam opened her mouth to speak, but found that nothing would come out. At the same instant Jonas choked on the coffee he had been sipping. Teal'c tilted his head to one side and looked at his teammate with an eyebrow raised. Jack O'Neill glanced at his wife, then at Hammond, who looked like he was going to implode, then back at Sam who was still struggling to find her voice.
"Sam's *NOT* pregnant," he exclaimed, then added, almost hopefully "Are you?"
"No!" She croaked. Then after clearing her throat she stated firmly "No, I'm *NOT*!"
Jonas chimed in at that point. "Yeah. I was going to let you know about that rumor before we left the meeting."
Sam buried her face in her hands. "I think I'll just stay in here for the rest of the day," she murmured.
"I'm really sorry, Colonel, Major." Captain Wilson whispered.
"You didn't start the rumor, son," Hammond assured him. "We just need to nip it in the bud."
"Hell, we've been in this meeting for an hour. They probably have the baby shower planned," O'Neill pointed out with a chuckle, earning a glare from his wife.
At that point there was a knock on the door, and Dr. Fraiser entered when beckoned. She looked around the room and sighed. She hated being the bearer of bad news.
"It's ok, Doc. We already know about the rumor. Any ideas on how it started?" O'Neill said, letting her off the hook.
"There was a pregnancy test missing when Lt. O'Malley did inventory today," she replied. "I'm sure that the speculation started from that. Everyone just settled on you, Sam, as their top choice, and within the blink of an eye it was a confirmed fact."
"Any clue as to who the real culprit was Doctor?" Hammond asked. After all, he still might have a problem lurking out there.
"No, Sir. We asked around among the medical staff. Lt. Buckman actually confessed that she just found out that she is pregnant, but swears she didn't use the test in the infirmary. She has been trying to get pregnant for a year, and she found out from a blood test at her OBGYN's office," Fraiser announced.
"Ok, people. You're all dismissed. Go out there and try to squash this rumor. And Doctor, try to get to the bottom of this if you can," Hammond ordered.
With that they all left. Jonas and Teal'c headed for the commissary, where they figured they could find the most people to talk to at one time. Sam went straight to the labs where she assured the scientists she worked with daily that she was not going on maternity leave anytime soon. Captain Wilson went off to find his friend from SG10 who had told him the news originally in the hope of spreading the facts back through him. And O'Neill wandered around the bottom levels of the SGC, setting everyone who stopped to congratulate him straight. Janet headed back to the infirmary where she had already put a stop to the rumor, but decided to detour to the security office to ask for the infirmary security footage for the last two days. She was pretty sure that there had been eight tests in that cabinet the last time she remembered being in there, so she thought that it had to be a fairly recent disappearance. A couple of hours later she had what she needed, and went to have a private chat with Captain Anderson of SG-12.
It turned out that Louise Anderson was indeed pregnant. Single and using the SGC provided shots as birth control, she had figured that her symptoms were just the flu. But a couple of hours before she was scheduled to head off-world, she had decided to check just to ease her mind. When the test had come back positive, she had prudently decided to tell her CO she was too ill to go through the gate, not knowing whether gate travel would be harmful to the baby. She had since told her boyfriend the news, and was now ready for Dr. Fraiser to do a full work-up. The blood test confirmed the results of the initial test.
"How can that be? I had my last shot right on schedule, and I haven't been on any meds that would have interfered with the Depro-Provera," she lamented.
"Well, it is only 99.7% reliable, I'm sorry to say Captain," Dr. Fraiser commiserated.
So Anderson went off to let her CO know she was pulled from active duty, and Dr. Fraiser went to report to Hammond that the mystery was solved. By the end of the day the news of the two confirmed pregnancies had made it's way through all of the SGC.
The next morning, the SGC was totally abuzz , when Tech Sergeant Wallace, who had been off the day before and had missed all of the excitement, chose that morning to announce to her friends that she was expecting her second child.
"It's got to be something in the water," O'Neill quipped as SG1 geared up to head out on their mission.
"What could be in the water that would cause pregnancy, O'Neill?" Teal'c inquired.
"It's just a saying, Teal'c. It seems like we are having an epidemic of pregnancies, and many epidemics are spread through contaminated water, so –" Carter tried to explain.
"Ok! Enough of the history lesson! Let's get a move on campers," O'Neill interrupted.
Over the next few days, as SG1 was touring P4X-782, known to the inhabitants as Gideon, three of Sam Carter's four teammates noticed that she was unusually quiet when she was not directly interacting with their hosts. Eventually, both Teal'c and Jonas asked O'Neill if anything was wrong. The Colonel didn't have a clue. Finally on the third day, he decided to corner her as they were heading to the dining hall to meet with some of Gideon's leaders for dinner.
"Carter, wait up," he requested.
"What's the problem, Sir?" she responded, softening the habitual title with a small smile.
"That's what I was wondering. You've been a bit quiet. Is anything the matter, Sam?" he questioned.
"No, not really. Just thinking," Sam muttered.
"Come on Sam. You aren't mad because I cut you off when you were trying to explain the whole water/epidemic thing to Teal'c are you?" he asked, hoping it wasn't that or something else stupid he had done.
"No, of course not. I was just thinking that Hammond has his hands full back at the SGC," she said with a shrug.
"Yeah – hey maybe he'll start a daycare!" Jack joked getting the desired roll of the eyes from his wife. "Is that it? Worried about Hammond's staffing woes?" he continued.
Sam was silent. He could see she was doing that little chewing her lip thing she did when she was seriously considering her next words. Then it dawned on him. Damn! He could be really slow sometimes.
"Sam, are you sorry that *you're* not pregnant?" he hesitantly inquired.
"No! Yes. I don't know. Maybe," she blustered. "I mean, we've only been married five weeks, and I don't know if I'm quite ready for it yet, but yes. I suddenly was very envious of Sgt. Wallace and Lt. Buckman. Maybe not so much of Captain Anderson, as she is having a tough time dealing with it. But I think I am jealous," she explained.
"Me, too," Jack admitted. "I don't necessarily think this would be the best timing, but I do want kids when you are ready, Sam," he admitted.
"I think this made me realize just how much I do want children. I always thought of having kids as something way off in my future. But I don't think I want to wait too much longer, Jack," she confessed.
O'Neill looked around and seeing that they were secluded from prying eyes, took Sam into his arms.
"So we wait a few months, and when it feels right we start trying for those four kids," he whispered in her ear.
She pulled back a bit and pretended to look shocked. "Four?"
She took his hand and they set off to catch up with their teammates.
"Maybe we had better talk to Hammond about setting up that daycare!" she said with a huge smile.
The end?
Story Notes: Email: jackiesfic@aol.com
Season: Season 6, Somewhere between Memento and Full Circle Sequel to 'Momentum'
Spoilers: None
Archive: SJD, yes. Anyone else, please just ask.
Author's Notes: I know, I know. I said there would be no sequel. But people begged, and my Muse pouted and refused to work on anything else. So here it is!
As always feed back craved!
Season: Season 6, Somewhere between Memento and Full Circle Sequel to 'Momentum'
Spoilers: None
Archive: SJD, yes. Anyone else, please just ask.
Author's Notes: I know, I know. I said there would be no sequel. But people begged, and my Muse pouted and refused to work on anything else. So here it is!
As always feed back craved!
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters, settings, etc, are the property of their respective owners. Any original characters and plots are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended. ... [ read more ]