Title: Coming Home
Rating: T
Pairings: Sam/Jack
Genre: Romance/Some Angst
Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate SG-1 or anything related to it, minus my original plots and characters.
Summary: After a drunken night on the town, Sam finds herself pregnant with Jack's baby. How will he react to the news?
Author's Note: I'm very sorry to anyone who was reading this, but I've decided to discontinue it. I'm not really in the Stargate fandom anymore, so it's doubtful that it will be added to any more than the two chapters already here. Again, I'm sorry, but feel free to read what's here, even though it's not much.

Chapter One: Revelations

Major Samantha Carter could not have imagined making a worse mistake in her entire life.

She had worked with the leader of SG-1, Colonel Jack O'Neill, for several years, and they had always been close friends. Of course, almost since the beginning there had been the unknown desire between the two of them to expand their relationship into something a little more intimate, but romance was forbidden giving their differing ranks within the Stargate Program.

Sam and Jack had always followed those regulations to the letter, but there had been one little incident a few weeks ago–

Wait a minute. Who was she trying to kid? A little incident? Of course it was much more serious than that.

It had been one Friday night about a month ago when she and Jack had gone out to dinner to celebrate SG-1's 100th off-world mission. Daniel had stayed home because he wasn't feeling well and Teal'c had opted out because he was overdue for a Kal-No-Ream session. Sam and Jack had eaten, talked, joked, laughed, and toasted to a bright future for the Stargate Program.

She was ashamed to admit it, but their drinking had eventually gotten just a little out of hand. Jack had a way of putting her at ease so much that she hardly paid attention to how much alcohol she was putting into her body. Well, eventually Sam had come to herself long enough to realize she was a little out of it, and asked Jack to take her home.

He had agreed, but once they were in his truck he had asked if Sam would rather go to his house instead. Not thinking, she had agreed, and they had sat watching television for a while. Suddenly, Jack had looked over at her with a lopsided, drunken grin and planted his lips on hers. She had been surprised at first, of course, but soon got over it. In her state, she was unable to consider the ramifications that her actions might cause. Soon, without her hardly knowing it, Sam had been in bed with her commanding officer. She knew now that she certainly would never have done such a thing had she been in her right mind.

The next day Sam had woken up in her own bed with a severe hangover, remembering just enough to know what she had done the night before. She had gone back to work the next week, naturally ashamed of what she had done, but not thinking very much of it. Of course, she couldn't tell anyone at Stargate Command, even the rest of her teammates, because it was so against regulations. Jack also knew that it was wrong, and they had never spoken about it after that night. They had gone back to working as fellow officers on the same team like nothing had ever happened.

But that wasn't the worst of it.

About two weeks after the episode, Sam had started to feel ill. She would wake up in the morning feeling nauseous and would often vomit al least once before leaving for work. At first she figured it was just the flu that had been going around. She would refuse to consider the fact that it could be something else. But after these fits continued for another week, she eventually had to wonder.

Which was what brought her to where she was now: standing in front of the bathroom mirror, alone in her house, a trembling hand covering the readout on the pregnancy test she had not yet revealed to herself. Calm down, she told herself. This is only a precaution. You know that it couldn't turn out positive, so why are you so nervous?

But even as Sam chastised herself, she knew deep down that it was possible. She and Jack had been so wrapped up in what they were doing, minds and logic numbed by the alcohol they had consumed earlier, that the thought of using protection had not even entered their minds. How she wished it had now! Wait a minute! I'm thinking like I already know that I'm… She gulped, barely able to even think the word. …pregnant.

All right, Sam told herself. Either way, I've got to look at this thing. Regardless of what it says, it's not going to go away and I'll never know if I don't just look already.

Taking a deep and, she hoped, calming breath, she turned the display on the test face up and slowly moved her shaking hand away from it. And as her eyes caught sight of the answer, Sam could almost hear the traces of normalcy left in her life shatter as her answer blurred with the tears that suddenly filled her eyes.

Two days later, her fellow members of SG-1 met Sam in a briefing room deep inside Cheyenne Mountain like usual. Except that today, unlike usual, she was twenty minutes late.

"Carter!" Jack said when saw her approaching. "You're—" He looked at his wristwatch. "—twenty-five minutes late."

Any other day, she would have teased him about his watch being off, but today it was all she could do to crack a sullen smile. "I'm sorry, sir," she said. "I was sick over the weekend, forgot to set my alarm, and only woke up half an hour ago."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Daniel said, friendly concern shining through his voice. "You're better now, though?" Jack cocked his head curiously, as if in agreement to the question, and Teal'c just stood there silently as usual.

Sam nodded, and suddenly looked around the briefing room, noticing for the first time that someone was missing. "Where's General Hammond?" she asked.

"Sick," Jack told her, "which means…"

"Our mission for today has been scrubbed," Sam finished for him. She couldn't say that that disappointed her; she had been feeling nauseous all morning and the sensation showed no sign of letting up anytime soon. It would be better to lounge around in her lab all day feeling sorry for herself than being ill on another planet and doing who knew what.

"Ding, ding, ding!" Jack cried. "We have a winner!"

"O'Neill," Teal'c inquired, "does that not leave us on base for the remainder of the day with nothing to do?"

"Ah," said Jack, "that, my friend is where you'd be wrong." Here he switched into a singsong voice and feigned excitement. "We have reports to file from last weeks mission to P4X885!"

"Oh, boy," Daniel quipped, "slime world. I can hardly wait."

Sam almost smiled. Almost. Yes, last week's mission had definitely been a little more…unique than most.

"Well, kids, you'd better get moving," Jack instructed, ushering the three of them toward the door. "We've got lots of work to do." He glanced at his watch for a moment, then back up at them. "We'll rendezvous in the commissary at 1300 hours. Until then, my brave comrades." He threw the rest of his team a mock salute as they began to dismally troop toward their offices and mission reports waiting to be written.

Sam hung back in the briefing room, hoping to catch Jack alone. When her commanding officer started to follow the others, she called hesitantly, "Um, Colonel…can I talk to you for a minute, sir?" As Daniel and Teal'c turned back to look as her curiously, Sam tried to think of a polite way to lose them. "Alone, please?"

"Sure thing," Daniel said, but he raised a questioning eyebrow at her before turning to head for his office, Teal'c following obediently behind.

"So, what's happenin', Carter?" Jack asked as he reentered the room and plopped into a chair at the briefing table.

Sam quietly closed the door before seating herself across from the Colonel. She opened her mouth to speak – but suddenly found that she couldn't. Was this really such a good idea? Maybe she wasn't quite ready to tell him what had happened.

"Carter?" he asked, apparently seeing her discomfort. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, sire." Of course she wasn't fine! At long last, Sam made a decision. This man was the father of her child and he deserved to know that. "Listen, sir, there's something we really need to talk about."

Jack cocked his head to one side but didn't say anything, inviting her to continue.

Sam suddenly found herself stalling. "Well, sir…ah, there's something really important that I have to tell you." What's this? she demanded of herself. I made the decision to tell him, and I'm going to do it right now! "Well, sir, I guess there's no easy way to say this, but…" She had to take the plunge now, before she backed out of it for real. "I'm pregnant, Jack."

His eyebrows raised, but a several long moments he said nothing. Then, only, "Is that so?" Apparently her revelation had surprised him enough that Sam's superior officer didn't notice her accidental breach of etiquette in calling him by his first name. "Congratulations," he said finally. "Who's the father?"

That made her angry. Surely he wasn't – Sam dared not call him stupid – naïve enough to not recall what he had done with her such a short time ago. "Jack!" She couldn't bear to call him "Colonel" or even "sir" given the current situation and what he had just said to her. "Don't you remember the night of our one-hundredth mission? We went out, had too many drinks, then went back to your house and…You are my baby's father, Jack."

That certainly caught him off guard. Jack's mouth worked for a full minute, as if he were so dumbfounded that he couldn't string three words together to form a sentence. Finally, he said, "O course I remember, Carter, but…You're sure?"

That was when Sam really exploded. How could he not believe her? Why would she lie about something like this? Did he think she slept around or something? She was close friends with Jack, and if she had had a boyfriend or anything of the sort, she would have told him. "Of course I'm sure! We were drunk, made the mistake of getting into bed together, and I ended up pregnant with your child." She was aware of a sarcastic twang entering her voice, but she didn't care. "I can assure you that I haven't 'done the deed' since that night." Sam glared at her superior officer, silently daring him to challenge her again.

And that was when the Blank Look set in on his face, the one full of shock and confusion that clearly said, "I'm lost, and I have no idea what to do." And the one Jack O'Neill got so rarely that it worried his teammates when he did. But this time Sam felt no pity for him. If he wasn't going to trust her, believe what she told him, then she wasn't about to go easy on him.

When at last Jack spoke again, his voice sounded different. It was quiet, hollow, and self-conscious, definitely not the way Colonel O'Neill normally spoke. Slowly, he said, "Gee, I'm really sorry about that, Carter." He looked at his watch, obviously avoiding meeting her eyes. "I've gotta go. I'll get back to you on that." And that he promptly stood and strode quickly away."

Staring at his retreating back, Sam's only thought was, That could have gone so much better.

Sam could think of only one other person she wanted to talk to right now, someone who would really listen to her and not flee the room upon hearing her surprising news: her best friend on base – and probably off base as well – the one and only Dr. Janet Fraiser.

As she headed for the infirmary, Sam mentally went over her encounter with Jack and sighed. She doubted the possibility that it could have gone worse.

In Sam's eyes, she had done everything wrong. She had made a promise to herself to be straightforward with Jack, to answer any questions he might have, and above all to remain calm. She had done all right answering his questions, she supposed, but had utterly failed at her other two missions. Initially, she had shied away from telling Jack the news and then she had totally blown up at his disbelief and denial, without even a thought as to how she would have felt had the situation been reversed.

Of course, Sam hadn't liked the way he had talked to her, suggesting that she had lied about not having sex with anyone since their meeting a month ago, but he still didn't deserve the way she had treated him. She would apologize to him later, before they left home for the night, and after both of them had had a change to calm down a bit and were ready to talk rationally.

After a few more moments, Sam reached the infirmary. Seeing Janet nowhere, she stepped to a desk occupied by a young female assistant and asked, "Could you please tell me where Dr. Fraiser is?"

The assistant, seeing that Sam wasn't injured or severely ill, squinted at her nameplate before replying, "I'm sorry, Major Carter, Dr. Fraiser isn't here right now, but if you come back later I can – "

At that moment, the major heard a door swing open and closed behind her. "Sam!" a voice exalted, and she turned at the sound of her name to see Janet moving toward her. In spite of herself, Sam couldn't help but smile at this friend who – except in dire situations – was always so cheerful.

As the doctor stopped in front of her, Sam stepped forward to her a friendly embrace. Moving back, Sam said, "It's great to see you again, Janet."

"And you, too, Sam; it's been awhile." Janet rested her hands on her hips casually before continuing. "So, what brings you to the infirmary today? Everything's well, I hope."

"Yeah, mostly," Sam replied absently, as she glanced around the room to be sure no one was listening. She was ashamed of herself for keeping her pregnancy such a big secret, but she just wasn't ready to have to whole base know about it. Sam turned back to her friend and asked softly, "Is there someplace private we can talk?"

Janet looked at her curiously, much as Daniel had done when Sam had asked to speak to Jack, but the doctor turned to the assistant behind the desk and said, "Kirstin, reserve Room Q3 for Major Carter and myself, please."

"Right away, Doctor," the assistant replied. She tapped a few keys on her computer before turning back to say, "There you are, ma'am."

Janet thanked her before leading Sam down to a corridor where the half dozen on-base quarantine rooms were located. They entered the second one on the right, and Janet closed and latched the door behind them before seating herself on a chair. Sam sat on the bed.

The doctor swiveled her chair to face her friend, then asked, "So, Sam, what's so important that you couldn't tell me until we were in here?" There was curiosity on her face, and she disguised the hint of a smile, as if she thought this may all be some big joke.

"Well, Janet," Sam began, more confident now that she was talking to her best friend instead of the leader of her team and father of her child, "I've got some big news that I'd like to share with you."

"And?" Janet asked, cutting right to the point.

Sam had to smile at her friend's directness, at the same time hoping that it would be somewhat easier to spill the news for the second time. She decided that it would probably be best if she was just straightforward with it and didn't beat around the bush like she had with Jack. "I'm pregnant, Janet."

Of course, the announcement surprised her friend just as much as it had the colonel. Janet pondered the news for moment before replying, "Is that so, Sam? I didn't know you had a boyfriend."

Sam sighed. "I don't. My baby's father is Colonel Jack O'Neill."

The doctor's eyebrows shot up upon hearing that, and when she spoke she sounded like someone who had been left out on a secret. "So you two are–"

"No," Sam told her, "and that's the problem."

Janet looked confused, and her voice mirrored her face. "If you aren't, than how—"

Sam tried to wave away the question with her hand. "It's a long story that involved lots of poor decisions and large amounts of alcohol, and I just don't want to talk about it right now."

Now that Sam had explained part of the situation, Janet sat back in her chair and blew out a low whistle. "That's not good, Sam," she said finally. "Does he know?"

"Yeah," she replied. "He was the first one I told."

"And you should have," Janet said. She nodded, as if agreeing with herself. Voice bursting with curiosity, she asked, "What did he say?"

"Oh, Janet," Sam wailed. "He was horrified."

"Well," the doctor replied matter-of-factly, "Wouldn't you have been, have your rolls been reversed."

Sam nodded miserably. "Yeah, I guess, but at first he didn't even believe me when I told him that he was the father of my child! Can you believe that?"

Janet nodded. "I can see how he would initially be in denial, yes."

Sam rolled her eyes. "At times you are far too analytical, you know that?"

"That's my job, Sammy," her friend replied, eyes twinkling.

"Right."

"So," Janet continued. "What are you going to do?"

Sam sighed. "I don't really know. Jack said he would talk to me later, and a lot hinges on what he decides, whether he's going to help me out or not."

"Sam," Janet said softly, half reprimand and half comforting, "Jack's a good man, and he's not just going to abandon you. Remember, this is his baby too."

"I know, but I still worry." Sam sighed as she let her thoughts drift, wishing she could right this mess by simply thinking it. "You know, I really wish this wasn't happening. I had hoped that when I started a family, I would be in a better situation than this and that my first child would be intentional." She continued, thinking out loud. "Sometimes I think that it would be easiest just to get an abortion and have it done with."

"Sam!" Janet's voice cut through the air as sharply as any knife. Startled, Sam looked up at her friend. The doctor stood there blinking for a moment, surprise evident on her face as if she hadn't intended to let loose with that outburst. "I'm sorry, Sam," she said finally. "I don't know what came over me."

But Sam knew that that wasn't true. Janet had always been pro-life, and Sam knew that, but this reaction had seemed much more genuine than an expression of her opinion. And looking at her friend, she could see that Janet whole demeanor had changed. Suddenly she seemed ill at ease, and her eyes had turned dark and stormy. "Janet?" Sam asked in concern. "Are you all right?"

Without answering, the doctor stood and turned her back to Sam, putting a hand on her face. Sam wondered what had just happened. A moment ago, Janet had been just fine. Just mentioning the word abortion was usually enough to get the doctor up on her soapbox, but it had never made her somber and silent like this before.

"I'm sorry, Sam," Janet said at last, voice muffled through her hand. "I just…" Her voice trailed off as she turned back to face her friend, and Sam was shocked to see tears on Janet's face as she moved her hand back to her side.

Sam's concern flared up several more notches, and she asked, "Janet, what's wrong?"

"Oh, Sam," she said, tears brimming in her voice. "I need to tell you something, too."

Sam wondered what it could possibly be. She dismissed from her mind a dozen less than pleasant possibilities before saying, "You can tell me anything, Janet. You know that."

A sad smiled flitted over the doctor's face as returned to her seat. "I hope so, but this is something very personal that not many people know."

Sam listened carefully, still wondering what this revelation would hold.

"You know that I've always hated the very thought of having an abortion, but my feelings aren't for just the obvious reasons. You see, I have a very personal connection to the issue, and you're probably wondering about my reaction just now. I'm sorry if I startled you, and I guess I surprised myself too, but I don't want to see you make my same mistakes."

Things were starting to fall into place in Sam's mind. "You mean – "

But Janet cut her off. "Please let me finish. As I was saying, I have a closer connection to this abortion thing than a lot of people do. You see, I…" She hesitated, then apparently decided to just get it over with. "I had an abortion once, Sam, and I wouldn't want you to have to go through that too."

Sam couldn't control her surprise. "You what?"

Janet shrugged as if she couldn't deny it. "Yes, I had an abortion a long time ago, when I was a junior in high school." She sighed. "My boyfriend and I did a lot of things we shouldn't have, and we could only be lucky for so long. Eventually I found out that I was pregnant. When I told him, he dumped me immediately. I never heard from him again. Anyway, I was only seventeen years old; I knew I couldn't handle raising a baby and my parents agreed. They paid for the procedure and it was done in a couple of days, ease, safe, and no strings attached. Yeah right." Sam was surprised by the sudden bitterness in her friend's voice, but more so by the sorrow that followed it. With conviction, Janet said, "What I wouldn't give to have that baby back now. Sometimes I don't know how I managed to go through with it, why I couldn't see how wrong it was." She shook her had as if not knowing what else to say.

Sam knew what that felt like. At the moment, her mind throbbed with curiosity. Why had they never talked about this before? She could understand how it wasn't something Janet liked to talk about, but what a think for a best friend not to know! "Well…" Sam had no idea what to say.

"I'm sorry," Janet apologized yet again. "I guess you're wondering why I never told you before, but like I said, it's a thing I really regret doing and don't like to share with people. I hope you understand."

"It's all right," Sam said, but she wasn't really sure. Was it okay? This sudden revelation made her wonder how well she really knew Janet. What else might her friend be hiding from her? She tried to dismiss that thought though, and decided to think about it later. There was no sense in getting into an argument now and making Janet feel worse than she already did. "I understand why that's something you wouldn't want to share with a lot of people."

The doctor looked relieved. "Good. But anyway," she continued, obviously trying to lighten up and change the subject, "I just don't want you to make a hasty decision that you're going to regret. Friend to friend, please promise me that you and Jack will talk long and hard before you decide anything, okay?"

"Okay, Janet," Sam said. "I promise." And of course she meant it. Sam had never really considered killing her baby; it had just been a split-second consideration that she had let slip past her lips before fully contemplating it. But she would have to mull over later what she had learned from that little mistake.

So what did you think? It's my first Stargate story so please go easy on me with your reviewing.

And, oh, one more thing. I'd be ever so grateful if someone could tell me what season this story would be set it. It would have to be shortly after the 100th mission/episode, Janet's still alive, the team is still the original four… And also if I have Sam's rank wrong, tell me that too. Thanks in advance to any kind souls who are willing to help me.