It was ten months since their goodbyes had been said to their friends in the other reality. Nothing had been heard from them, but Daniel said things were going well. After some wrangling, they’d managed to find out that he was in contact with Aphrael, and could actually do Styric magic. This was evidenced when he created a bunch of red roses out of thin air for Janet before asking her on a date. Blushing, she had accepted, and the two were now quite an item on the base. A few of the female staff looked a bit downcast at this. Surprisingly, Hammond won the pool on when the two would become a couple.
Jack and Sam had also become quite an item. And, the base being what it was, news spread. Hammond congratulated them, saying that no one would hear anything from him. Regulations be damned, those two cared too much for each other anyway.
Both Daniel and Teal’c won the pool, surprisingly, but probably not so, as they did have some inside information. To Sam and Jack’s surprise, no one seemed to care about their relationship, though they did primarily keep it off base. Aphrael had been right. People will turn a blind eye when their loyalty is stronger to them than something else.
Life was settling back into some form of normality, as normal as the SGC can be, anyway, when they got a bit of a surprise. Klaxons blared through the base, and the announcement “Unauthorised Offworld Activation” came over the bases PA.
Walter turned to Hammond who stood behind him. “It’s Sparhawk’s IDC, Sir.”
“Open the iris.”
The iris was opened, and a few minutes later, an interesting party stepped through. Sparhawk was there, of course, as was Danae, and a heavily pregnant Ehlana. Vanion and Sephrenia had also come along, but with three unfamiliar women and Khalad.
Sparhawk stepped down the ramp first, as the wormhole disengaged. “Hello again, my friends,” he said, shaking SG-1’s hands in turn. He then turned to General Hammond. “We hope you don’t mind, but Ehlana wanted to have her baby here. After all, it was your help that made it possible. As far as anyone knows, Ehlana’s visiting Aslade and Elys here in Demos, and isn’t to be disturbed. Lenda can handle everything anyway.”
“No, that’s fine.” General Hammond said, beaming. Everyone knew what he was like with children. “I’ll escort you to the infirmary, and Dr. Frasier can take a look over you. Let’s see how everything’s going, shall we?”
Ehlana ran up, grinning and hugged everyone. “It’s so good to see you again!” She exclaimed, hugging even Hammond. “Oh, I nearly forgot.” She said. Turning to the three women with her, she introduced them. First, was a tall woman, taller even than Teal’c, but with similarly coloured skin. “This is Mirtai. Atana Mirtai.” Mirtai inclined her head.
Next was a plump woman, Aslade, who was also introduced as Khalad’s mother, though apparently both her, and the slim woman beside her introduced as Elys, were considered his ‘mothers’. And Khalad was introduced to those that didn’t know him.
Once the introductions were made, Ehlana was whisked off to the infirmary, Aslade Elys, Sephrenia, Sparhawk and Danae trailing after her. Mirtai looked at all of them, her eyes lingering on Teal’c. “I have heard a lot about you all,” she said. Her accent was slightly musical. “I have looked forward to meeting you all.”
Vanion chuckled. “You should have heard her when we said we wanted to come here to have the baby. She seemed torn between telling Ehlana to stay, and coming to meet you.”
Mirtai shot him a cool look, and his expression changed. Khalad tried to hide a grin. “I’d rephrase that, if I were you, My Lord.” He said. “Unless you’re feeling up to a challenge.”
Mirtai looked at both of them steadily. “Speaking of challenges, I think maybe both of you need to practise your skills in combat.”
Both men squirmed. Teal’c spoke up, his eyes bright. “I would be honoured if you would spar with me. I have not had a good challenge in a while.” He added, looking slyly at O’Neill.
“I would be honoured to test my skills against yours. Where shall we go?”
With a slight smile, Teal’c gestured for her to follow him, as he left the room.
Both Vanion and Khalad sighed with relief. “I’m glad we got out of that one,” Khalad said. “Last time she decided to ‘educate’ me, it took weeks for the bruises to heal.”
“You’re getting soft, Khalad.”
“I didn’t see you coming off any better, Vanion.”
“I’m older than you.”
“Not since Bhelliom stepped in.”
“Older’s older, Khalad.”
“You know, Kalten says the same thing. Are you sure the two of you aren’t more alike than you think?”
Vanion winced. “Please don’t ever say that again. The thought makes me shudder.”
“Why? There’s nothing wrong with him.”
“Just that he’s as dense as a brick.”
“He brought Sephrenia back around. He’s not as dense as everyone thinks.”
The rest of SG-1 stood watching this exchange with slight smiles. It reminded them of how much they had missed these people.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It turned out that Ehlana was not too far from giving birth, a few days at most. Apparently, her body was showing signs of labour. All they had to do was wait.
It was a few days later when Ehlana went into labour. Sitting on a bed in the infirmary, with various monitors on her, both for her and the baby, she was attended to by Sephrenia, Aslade and Elys, as well as Dr. Frasier. Sparhawk paced the whole time in her room. Mirtai stood guard.
After what seemed to everyone waiting outside to be forever, a baby’s cry could be heard. Everyone jumped to their feet. However, there was more to come. Within minutes, a second cry could be heard.
“Twins!” Daniel, Jack and Sam cried out in unison. Vanion was beaming. Even Teal’c was smiling. Khalad was wiping tears from his face. Mirtai came out to say they could all come in.
Ehlana was sitting on her bed, holding two little girls. Both had a smattering of dark hair, and, surprisingly, grey eyes.
Dr. Frasier walked towards them. “I’m proud to announce Queen Ehlana has given birth to twin girls. Identical.” Her eyes were misty. Daniel put his arm around her shoulders and looked at the rest of his team. His family.
He turned to the other family present. They were clustered around Ehlana, smiling, crying, and hugging her and both little girls. Aphrael suddenly burst into song, her voice sounding like pipes. It was a song of joy. All present were transfixed by it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was much later. Ehlana had fed both her girls, and had rested after giving birth. She smiled as SG-1 came into the infirmary. Her bed was surrounded by flowers, most gifts from the members of the SGC, and the smell of them permeated through the whole infirmary. Some people had even given her helium balloons, which had fascinated Ehlana, until it had been explained. But she still loved how they floated in the air.
“We named the girls.” Ehlana said softly, looking at the crib where her girls slept. “The one with the purple band on her wrist is Samantha. We named her after you, as you made this possible through the use of your technology. The other, with the pink band, we named Sephrenia.”
Sam’s eyes welled with tears. “Thank you. I’m honoured.”
“Thank you. You made this possible. Danae is bouncing around quite happily. She’s excited to have siblings again.”
Sam stepped forward and hugged the Queen. “I have a lot to thank you for. Most notably, Jack. And the opportunity for us to be together.”
Ehlana smiled. “Then I guess we should just thank each other.”
“I think that works.”
Both women laughed. And both knew that they would be friends for a very long time, even though their visits may be hard to arrange.
And all because of a rift that made something that should not have been, reality. Sam had been interested to know what had caused the rift, but after some thinking, decided some mystery was worth it. After all, some things just need that element of magic to them. And this… this was magic.
Her and Jack. Daniel and Janet. Ehlana, Sparhawk, Danae, the twins, Vanion, Sephrenia, Tora, Kalten, Alean, Khalad, Mirtai… all of it was magic.
At least to her.
Please visit my sci-fi, fantasy and anime forum: http://the-phoenix-lair.lefora.com/
Author's Notes: The final chapter is here. If you have enjoyed reading this story, have any criticisms, comments, advice, feel free to use the little box at the bottom. I love reviews of any kind. And remember, if you want to flame me... I'm a smoker ;P
I also wish to dedicate this chapter to two friends of mine, Nova and Soul. And to their two unborn daughters. Hopefully, they arrive soon :)
I also wish to dedicate this chapter to two friends of mine, Nova and Soul. And to their two unborn daughters. Hopefully, they arrive soon :)
End Notes: Well, here it all is.
And just remember, every time you read a story... Every story has a life all of its own. Just how it lives is up to you.
And just remember, every time you read a story... Every story has a life all of its own. Just how it lives is up to you.
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 ]