Maternal Instinct 1

More Reason Than Ever Before

by Bethany

URL: http://www.stargateslash.com/asb/bethany7/morereas.php
Summary: Jack and Daniel come home with a surprise in tow!

"So, it is true??" Daniel stared at the monitor.

Jack was speechless.

Daniel gestured at the scan. "How??"

"They decreed it..." Jack said, his voice hushed.

"It would seem so..." Janet replied, her eyes fixed to the scan she was conducting.

***

Daniel eventually answered the door of his quarters, allowing Jack in quietly.

Jack managed to look at Daniel, somehow.

"This isn't easy for me either, Jack!" Daniel shouted, but tried to keep his tone down for fear of someone hearing through the Military walls!

"I do know that, Daniel!" Jack answered him heatedly.

"If you start looking at me with pity, I'll lose it..!" Daniel warned. "What is it they say?" He paused. "A man has to be strong for his woman!"

"You're not my woman, Daniel!" Jack answered quickly.

"Thanks for noticing!" Daniel stated angrily. He spun around from where he was pacing the floor. "But I might as well be, Jack! I'm carrying your child!!"

That thought still took Jack's breath away, but in the next beat he said. "Ours!"

"Yeah, all because the 'Masters'," Daniel bitterly, sarcastically labelled them that, "at Keb decreed it, as you pointed out..!" Daniel sat down heavily on the floor, and glared at Jack when Jack moved to help him, but didn't stop Jack from sitting on the floor beside him. "I certainly didn't expect this when I lobbied to go see them!" He sighed.

"Me either..." Jack replied truthfully.

"Why?" Daniel asked. "What do they know about our child's future? About us? What's going to happen to me after this bit is over with?" Then, he added. "What's going to happen?"

"Maybe someone who is a combination of you and me can come up with some fantabulous plan to save the world one day!" Jack suggested. He didn't know what else he could say... And he knew Daniel knew that.

"Or maybe we won't be around, so someone who is both of us has to be..!" Daniel panicked, thinking of his own status as orphan.

Jack noticed, and, of course, his own tragedy swam through his head.

Both men winced, and fought hard to take a breath, as they sat beside one another. Then, they looked straight at one another.

"We'll keep the child safe..." Jack vowed.

"If we're allowed to..." Daniel fought tears. "There are some that our bound to see this baby as a threat, some who won't trust those we found at Keb or us even! I'm not even sure I do, trust them, or me...!!" Daniel admitted, as he tried to still trust Jack...

Jack touched Daniel's knee ever so briefly. "The scans and tests have been done. This child is genetically ours, however it happened..! You're the conscience of this whole place, Daniel...Our baby has to inherit that from you, because it's the truth, no matter how many doubts you have about yourself!"

Daniel smiled thankfully, but ironically. "Ditto!" He announced, curling his fingers around Jack's, still resting on his knee.

"Whatever happens, I'm going to keep this child safe..." Jack promised, in a reflective and choked whisper.

"Me, too." Daniel vowed. "Even from above if, God forbid, I ever have to!" Daniel had always, throughout his extraordinary life experiences, for whatever reason, tried to maintain a belief in God, if not a faith... This was more reason than ever before... And, as he sat on the floor, holding Jack's hand, in spite of himself, and somehow unashamedly, Daniel prayed...

The End

Next: A Christmas Gift