Work Text:
CALLING…
by Bethany
“T, you ok?” O’Neill broke the ice. He was walking down an SGC corridor with the Jaffa warrior, preparing for their mission to The Land Of Light, where Teal’c’s wife and children now lived, and had been living for many years, since the events which followed Apophis kidnapping of Teal’c’s eldest son.
“I am well, O’Neill…” Teal’c responded typically.
“But are you ok?” Jack furthered.
“I have not seen Sha’nauc in six months, O’Neill.” His warrior friend replied.
“Ah.” Said O’Neill, not sure which way his friend had meant those words. “But she’s ok with that, right?”
“Would you be, if your spouse had left you for such a time?” Teal’c asked frankly.
“But we’re not talking about me, T. Sha’nauc knows what it’s like to be out there… She knows what it’s like to have to fight the good fight.” He paused. “And she knows what it’s like to have your life ruled by the snakeheads… She had Tanneth inside her belly for a long while.”
“Until he betrayed her.” Teal’c said coldly.
“Yeah, well… But she survived, didn’t she? A larvae was found, and you walked in on that, that…” Jack paused.
“Bastard!” Teal’c filled in.
“And killed him before he could kill her…” Jack finished.
“I broke the host’s neck, waited until he slithered out of the corpse, and tore his head off.” Teal’c explained more fully.
“That you did, big guy.” Jack patted his friend on the shoulder, and carried on walking with him side by side.
“I could not let him walk free. All the years he nestled inside, using my wife as an incubator. He even let her carry my sons, didn’t make a move to expel them, gained her trust until she thought of him as another son…”
“Tanneth was a sick, sick worm, my friend…” Jack agreed.
In the gateroom, Daniel Jackson, Major Samantha Carter, and Dr. Janet Frasier, who was attending this mission to perform a medical check up on Teal’c wife, Sha’nauc, stood waiting on the floor at the bottom of the ramp.
“Hey, gang!” O’Neill announced cheerily as he entered the room.
“Hey, Jack!” Daniel replied for them all.
“Mr. T is quite anxious to be on his way…” Jack informed the group quietly. As he finished his sentence, he turned his head as he heard Teal’c enter the room also. “Where ya been, T?”
“General Hammond stopped me to say good luck…” Teal’c rumbled.
“You won’t need it, Teal’c, you’ll be fine…” Janet Frasier assured her friend. She released his hand, which she had been holding to somehow emphasise her words.
Jack looked at the two of them. “The lady’s right, Teal’c. Now, care to lead the expedition?” He gestured for Teal’c to be the first to journey through the gate. The five colleagues stepped through, followed by a medical team of Dr. Frasier’s, who shuffled medical gadgetry and machinery.
Teal’c felt the Light in this Land, the home of his family, the moment the shimmering pool of the wormhole released him. He went to the edge of the platform of this world’s gate, looked down and saw an entourage, his family, heading toward him.
O’Neill smiled to see a smile cross the stoic warrior’s face, and felt a pang of sympathy for the worries that must be troubling his friend. “Carter, Daniel, Doctor…” He said, heading down onto the steps that were part of the gate. “Let’s give them a few minutes, shall we?” He pointed at Teal’c, who had gone on further to greet his family. Jack went down a little further from the steps, and sat down on the floor. He stretched out, lay down, and began to sunbathe. “Boy, am I glad they decided to move the gate… I’d never have been lucky enough to find a spot like this back in the forest. Of course, still not sure about those guys back at the garrison in there, checkin for snakes in the grass… But I guess it makes sense to be able to see whose coming through your front door… Ahh, sunshine!”
“Make yourself at home, Jack.” Daniel said teasingly. He then sat on the grass beside his prone friend, and pulled out a wipe to clean his glasses. “Thank god there aren’t any flowers around here.”
“I second that…” Frasier smiled, and sat beside the Archaeologist. She beckoned to her fellow medics, “Sit down for a bit.”
“He won’t go off without us, will he?” Sam Carter asked reasonably, sheltering her eyes with her hand, and peering at Teal’c, a few paces away.
“I taught him the green-cross code.” Jack muttered.
“Teal’c!” Sha’nauc, who had been standing back, allowing her four children to warmly welcome their father, flung her arms around her husband as far as she could reach. Her belly, swollen with the near-time coming of their fifth child, the first who would be born free from the clutches of the Goa’uld, made the gesture slightly awkward.
“How are you, wife?” Teal’c said, beaming a smile so broad and rarely seen.
“Your daughter,” she paused to pat her bump, “and I are wonderful,” She paused again, playfully, “especially now that you are with us!”
“How do you know that we are to expect a daughter?” Teal’c said, touching the stomach which held his child.
“This one feels a little different,” Sha’nauc explained, “and,” She hesitated “you may remember that I can talk to my col’ma within…”
“You have been having visions?” Teal’c was concerned.
“It is alright, my husband.” She soothed, caressing his cheek. “Not exactly. Just feelings.”
“Congratulations, Teal’c!” Jack O’Neill said warmly, slapping his friend on the shoulder, and taking a pitcher of moonshine.
“You are indeed expecting a daughter!” Dr. Frasier announced to the Jaffa husband and wife, Shan’auc and Teal’c, as she packed away the portable scanner and monitor on which Teal’c had just seen his only daughter for the first time.
“I was right?” Sha’nauc happily questioned.
“You were… And everything’s A-ok, no worries. Your little girl has turned, and will be ready to make an appearance in the Land of Light within the next few days.” She paused. “You’re fine, too. Your blood count, blood pressure, heart rate, and sugar levels are all great…”
Sam and Daniel, who had been standing further away from the celebratory group, strode over. Sam stooped to hug Sha’nauc, who had now sat up on the edge of her makeshift ultrasound platform, warmly. Daniel continued over to Teal’c, who raised a pitcher in recognition of Frasier’s medical team in the back of the room.
“Just don’t expect me to deliver this one…!” Daniel said, bear hugging his friend and colleague.
“Well, you’ve already had two babies named Daniel after you…” Jack stated. “Why not finish the set with a Danielle?” He grinned. “I’m sure Sha’nauc and Teal’c here would be happy to oblige.”
“My son, Daniel, is very proud of his name, Daniel Jackson. He is the only son of a Jaffa to bear the name.” Teal’c smiled. “He would not allow me to give it to anyone else.” Teal’c handed Daniel a pitcher of the same moonshine that he and Jack were drinking.
“How is my nephew?” Daniel inquired. “Not seen much of the boys since we got here.”
“Daniel and his brothers are very well. They are currently sleeping.” Teal’c stated.
“T, remind me again… How do I pronounce your children’s names’?” Jack asked, swigging at his alcohol.
“You know how to pronounce Rya’c, of course…” Teal’c began. “Then, there is Teal’c junior, our name means ‘strength’,” He continued.
“So…” Jack interrupted. “All you need now is to call this new sprog Jack, and you’ll have a full set…”
“Jack is not a very pretty name, “ Teal’c began.
“For a girl.” Daniel added.
“My fourth son has the name which you find difficult to pronounce, O’Neill… It is ‘Amijad’.
“It’s a name also used on Earth, occasionally.” Daniel added. “It’s Arabic in origin…”
“And means ‘glorious’.” Teal’c said proudly.
“Uh-hu…” Jack responded.
“Call us when you want the door left on the latch…” Jack mentioned brightly, as he turned away from his friend.
“I will, O’Neill.” Teal’c reassured.
“See you in a few days, Teal’c!” Sam Carter called from the platform of the gate. “Give my love to Sha’nauc, and tell Janet Cassandra and I will be fine. I’ve made sure I can keep an eye on her when she’s not at school…”
“My vote goes with the name Ammoni” Daniel called down from beside Carter.
“Are you ok?” Sam Carter asked her friend, Daniel Jackson, as she sat opposite him at a table in the mess-hall, sipping a varaint of her beloved blue jello, a raspberry ice-crush.
“I’m alright…” Daniel lied.
“No. You’re not.” Carter stated kindly.
“I’m just thinking about Sha’re…” Daniel admitted.
“Right.” Carter said, beginning to understand. “It’s odd, huh?” She patiently waited for him to reply.
“You’re not wrong…” He looked up, only just. “If Apophis’ son had been mine,” He began emotionally, then paused. “I could have kept my promises to the boy’s mother, my Sha’re…”
“But you did, Daniel. You stepped up to the challenge. It’s not your fault that he…” She paused.
“Is better off without me?” Daniel said, without offence.
“His world is a poorer place that it does not include you.” She said genuinely.
“Yeah, I know,” He paused, slamming his fist into his other hand. “That’s my fault, too.”
“You think it’s your fault because you returned to us?” Sam wondered aloud.
“If not mine, then whose?” Daniel pushed.
“Ours, Daniel…” She admitted. “We need you.”
“And the boy doesn’t?” Daniel genuinely inquired.
“Maybe not, Daniel…” She paused. “I’m sorry…” She softly held Daniel’s scarred and weary hands. “He is a member of Oma DeSala’s race now… He is a superbeing.”
“He told me himself that it’s best that he not live with me, with us…” Daniel whispered his words through the pain.
“His mothers’ will take care of him…” Sam assured.
“Sha’re knows how to care for people.” Daniel stated. “She devoted her life to that, to me…”
“I know…” Sam squeezed Daniel’s hand as much as she knew would not hurt him, physically. “And her son is a wise man, just as is her husband… He has his own journeys to undertake, his own responsibilities. He explained that to you, Daniel, when you met…”
“He is a true manchild.” Daniel saw the truth.
Teal’c looked down at the face of his newborn daughter, then up into the eyes of the woman who had just handed new life to him. “Thank you, Dr. Frasier…”
She smiled tearily. “How are you feeling, Sha’nauc?”
“I have never felt better, not for a single other moment…” Sha’nauc affirmed.
Teal’c leaned over, and lay his newborn daughter onto the lap of his beautiful wife. “What shall we name her?” He asked tenderly
“Ammoni.” She paused, gently picking up the fragile hand of her tiny daughter. “For I hope Dr. Jackson is right. She will remain forever hidden from those who would wish her harm…”
Teal’c smiled serenely, as he held the other hand of his daughter, Ammoni.
THE END