Chapter Three
"Broken Realms of Possibility"

Doctor Janet Fraiser stared nervously down at the file for Captain McCoy, unable to believe that particular test had come back positive. None ever had before, and Janet was never quite sure why it was even included in the work up...but here it was.

This was something she'd never had to tell anyone--atleast not while she worked at Stargate Command, anyway.

Captain McCoy was seated on the infirmary bed she'd occupied earlier, worry written across her face. Undoubtedly, she was expecting Janet to come and inform her she'd picked up some alien disease or had tested positive for some kind of cancer that had sprung up over night.

It was definitely nothing like that.

Janet approached, and Autumn sat up straight, "Doc..."

"At ease, Captain." Janet smiled comfortingly and held up her hand, "As I suspected, you're completely healthy. Physically, there's nothing wrong with you."

Autumn let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, and laughed softly, "Geez--you had me scared to death."

"Well, I apologise for that--" The short doctor laid Autumn's file down and crossed her arms over her chest, "But I said there was nothing wrong. However, there's still a...something."

Autumn frowned thoughtfully, "What kind of something?"

"Well..." Boy, Janet just didn't know how to do this. She didn't want to rip it off like a band aid, but she didn't want to ease along at a pace that would throw the worried captain into a heart attack either. The doc sighed, "One test came back positive and I'm assuming it's one you're not expecting."

Autumn shook her head in silence, waiting for Janet to continue.

"Autumn...you're pregnant."

---

The silence seemed long, and eerie, as if time stood still and had frozen her, trapped her in that one eternal, horrible moment. She didn't know what to do...did she laugh, did she cry, or did she scream?

She chose laugh, "This is a joke, right? What, did Erickson put you up to this? Does he know how unprofessional that is?"

Janet smiled softly, "I can assure you this is no joke. If you let me examine you now, knowing what I'm looking for, I can tell you how far along you are and..."

"No." Autumn cut her off, "No, you don't understand. I can't be."

"Well, sometimes, despite precautions..."

"Janet, listen to me!" Tears were streaming down her cheeks, and her stomach was in knots. She felt like she was going to throw up again, but staved it off as best she could, "I have no life outside this facility. I haven't had...relations in over a year. I am telling you, it's impossible!"

"But it's true..." The doctor shook her head, her voice quiet, "I ran the test five times. There's no denying it."

"No...." Autumn murmured, "How?" And then she choked back a sob, burying her face in her hands as the tears flowed freely and her body shook in fear, in confusion, and in utter disbelief.

---

How is this possible? The thought echoed in her head over and over, only for her to settle on the fact that is just wasn't. There was no way in Hell. She wasn't the Virgin Mary, and immaculate conception was impossible. How and why...those were her two biggest unanswered questions, and they were killing her.

She was lying on her back, her shirt raised as Doctor Fraiser poured a freezing cold gel on her stomach in order to perform and ultrasound, which would let her know how far along she was, and maybe shed some light on the mystery.

But damn it, there wasn't anything to shine a light on. She was just fucked, and that was the end of it. Tears welled up in her eyes again -- why? How? She wanted to question everything, to try and convince herself that this was all a dream, that she was still unconscious on 83L-4C2 with blood gushing from her headwound, waiting for Sanders to come out of the caves and find her.

The ultrasound was over before she realized it, and Janet was making notes on a chart silently. Autumn sat up halfway, exhausted, "Well?"

Janet shook her head, "I'll need to take a closer look, but while I do that, Captain, if you don't mind I'd like to administer a mild sedative. Just to help you relax for a bit, get some rest. Your body is still stressed from the incident earlier, after all."

Autumn gratefully allowed the injection before laying back and trying to relax, soon drifting off into a dreamless slumber. For a while atleast, she wouldn't worry.

---

Janet was thinking something, and she just didn't know what to think about what it was she was thinking.

Judging by the ultrasound she'd just performed, McCoy was right at eight weeks along, which would put the time of conception during the time she was missing offworld.

And she hadn't been missing alone.

Granted, there was no way to tell exactly what had gone on and with whom, but Janet knew to think horses-not-zebras whenever she heard hoofbeats, atleast when it came to medicine, and right now, one horse came to mind. Daniel Jackson.

"No way." Carter shook her head incredulously as she held McCoy's file in her hand. Janet had called her in to consult with her -- there were no females on McCoy's team, and Janet preferred to talk to a female who was close to both parties. Sam was of course close to Daniel, and did know McCoy fairly well due to missions their SG teams had scared. Sam laid the file down, "Daniel?"

"Come on, Sam--" Janet sighed, reaching up to rub the back of her aching neck, "I know we don't have all the facts, and we probably never will, but right now, this is the most logical deduction. Obviously, we can do tests later on, but..."

"McCoy wants to know now."

Janet nodded, "And she'll put it together the moment I tell her how far along she is."

Sam sighed, biting her lower lip nervously, "This is crazy."

"And yet, not the craziest we've seen." Janet shook her head, "Are you going to tell Daniel, or should I?"

"I will--" Sam nodded, "But he'd not gonna believe it."

---

It was like being physically slapped with words.

Being told he was the father of Captain McCoy's child was one thing -- he'd choked on his own saliva, and couldn't breath properly for a few minutes -- but not knowing how it had happened was enough to kill him.

Well, obviously, he knew how babies were made, but he didn't know the circumstances of how it had happened between himself and McCoy. If it had happened -- he knew there was a chance this was just a fluke, that he wasn't the father, but he also knew there was a bigger chance he was.

Had they been drugged? Forced at gunpoint? Threatened? If so, by whom, and why?

He swallowed hard -- had he raped her?

He knew he wasn't capable of that, but that didn't stop the fear of it. He could've been hypnotized, put under some alien drug spell...the possibilities were endless, and if that had been the case, he didn't think he could live with himself.

Sam had reassured him several times there wasn't any actual proof yet of any of this, but that didn't mean he was going to ignore it and hope it went away. He was being forced into this situation -- both he and McCoy were -- but he wasn't going to leave her alone to carry this all by herself. Whatever she decided to do, he would stand by her and support her. He'd made that decision the moment the news sannk in, despite how scared he felt, despite the fear that still coursed through him.

He sat next to her bedside, while she slept from the sedative Janet administered earlier. He thought he should be the one to tell her, and he wondered what her reaction would be -- would she hit him and hate him for ruining her life? Would she fear him, afraid he'd raped her? Would she want to kill him? None of these were reactions he wanted, but they were a few he was definitely expecting.

When she woke, he moved to sit on the edge of her bed, in order to talk to her quietly and privately. The look of shock on her face, the confusion and terror in her eyes, he all expected.

Her collapsing in his arms, sobbing and shaking and screaming apologies, he did not expect.