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[gate_expert]

Sam had spent the morning working. It had been a good, fairly productive morning, and she thought that she might actually be getting somewhere instead of the futile banging her head against a wall that she'd been doing for some time now. It felt good to be working with numbers and equations and theories after a year of forced absence from anything

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[crazyspacegirl]

River always felt bad for people battling with the bookshelf. She'd been doing it herself for years, and it never got any less frustrating. She'd walked what felt like every inch of the island in an effort to get Zoe to sleep, and it almost seemed to be working, so she spoke quietly over the baby in her arms.

"I have some physics books at home. I always keep them when I find something useful, but you can borrow whatever you'd like," she offered.

[gate_expert]

Sam smiled and kept her voice quiet, seeing the drowsy baby in River's arms. the last time she'd seen them, mom and baby were a lot less calm, and Sam knew that almost-sleeping-babies were easier to set off than a line of claymores. "I might just have to take you up on that," she said. "It's not being very cooperative. How's the baby?"

[crazyspacegirl]

"'Not cooperative' is an understatement regarding that bookshelf, most of the time time. It can be really mean." Even now, she avoided looking at the titles. She didn't want to risk it giving her any more stories about horrible things that happened to babies and small children; she worried about that kind of thing enough on her own already.

"She's developing as expected." Privately, River thought her baby was exceeding expectations, but she didn't want to put any undue pressure on her. "She got a name since you met her last." River gave a soft laugh, because she knew it had taken her little family a bit longer than most people to settle on what to call their baby. "Zoe. After a friend from home, who isn't here anymore."

[gate_expert]

"Zoe's a beautiful name," said Sam. "And pretty names are even better when they mean something. Has your friend been gone long?" She still didn't quite understand the disappearing thing, and hated that she'd missed her chance to see Teal'c here--especially considering that when she'd seen him last, he was First Prime to Ba'al and not her dear friend.

[crazyspacegirl]

"She's been gone a long time." River paused to think exactly on how long, not something she tended to do, and was surprised to recall that Zoe hadn't even been been at her wedding, what felt to her like a lifetime ago. "A long time."

She shrugged with one shoulder, and immediately regretted it when baby Zoe's nearly closed eyes snapped back open. She didn't fuss, though, just made a quiet sleepy sound and settled herself, and River sighed with relief.

"I'd like her to know who she's named for, even if they never get to meet," she explained. "We'll just have to tell her all about her. Having people around is better, but stories are good, too."

[gate_expert]

Sam nodded in agreement. "They are," she said, and thought of Janet and Martouf and her father. If you remembered them, then they were never really gone.

"Hey, do you need anything?" she said, nodding toward the sleeping (hopefully really sleeping) Zoe. "I know you've got your hands kind of full."

[crazyspacegirl]

"I guess I do. Literally." River was still getting used to having an armful of baby all the time. "I'm okay, except... I don't want to be a bother, but we've been walking around for a while and I'm kind of thirsty, and if I put her down she'll wake up." River was pretty sure no one wanted that.

[gate_expert]

"Oh, God no, it's not a bother, trust me," Sam assured her. "I can go grab something for you. Do you want water or something else? I don't mind." She wouldn't have offered otherwise.

[crazyspacegirl]

"Water's fine. Or... tea?" Tea was something River was very glad they had on the island now, because nothing else was a good substitute. "But I can make it, if you want to come in the kitchen with me and hold her for a few minutes. She's not so picky about who holds her now, as long as someone's doing it."

[gate_expert]

"Oh yeah, sure, I'll be glad to," Sam said, following her into the kitchen. She didn't have a whole lot of experience with baby-holding, other than William (who was a little older and had a lot more control over his wobbly head) but she could manage, she was pretty sure.

[crazyspacegirl]

"Thank you." When they go to the kitchen, River carefully transferred Zoe to Sam, almost holding her breath in the hope that she would just continue to sleep. Successful for the moment, at least, she put water on to boil and got out two cups, and made conversation. "When I first came here, there was no tea, except for what we had with us when he crashed, which wasn't much. It was so nice when people found some growing here, and we could have it again. It seems like a place can't really be home without tea."

[gate_expert]

"Is this okay? Am I holding her all right?" Sam had never held a baby this new; she'd only had a few minutes with Teyla before Sam had had to ship back to Earth and away from Atlantis for good, and had thought she'd have time to fuss over the little guy when she got back. And she'd always been at school or on assignment somewhere when her brother's children were born. So Sam was very, very careful with little Zoe.

"I'm just glad there's coffee," Sam said in response to River's comments about tea. "If I don't get my coffee in the morning, things get... ugly." She said the last bit sheepishly; she was an addict and oh boy did she know it.

[crazyspacegirl]

River was still pretty anxious about holding Zoe properly herself, she was so small and fragile, but she had come to learn that babies were a little bit sturdier than they seemed. "She'll let you know if she's uncomfortable. Believe me. She might not be able to talk yet, but she's very clear with her opinions."

She nodded in response to the gratitude for coffee, having seen the effects of people living without it. "We didn't have coffee here for a long time. There might be a holiday commemorating the day it was found."

[gate_expert]

"She seems to be pretty happy so far," Sam said tentatively. Zoe wasn't crying, at least. Holding a baby was kind of like being in close proximity to an armed nuclear warhead, Sam thought. She could see why River might have wanted a break from holding her for a few minutes, as precious as she was--there was a lot of tension involved in holding a tiny little person even if they didn't weigh very much.

[crazyspacegirl]

"She does look content. I don't know why she objects so much to sleeping when she seems to like it once she's doing it. I guess maybe she doesn't want to miss anything." The water was boiling, so she took it off the heat and set the tea to steeping, contentedly breathing in the familiar scent of the leaves. "She's just starting to notice things besides sleeping and eating. It's shiny to watch the world being so brand new to someone."

[gate_expert]

"I bet it is." Sam hadn't realized it, but she was doing that little swaying thing that seemed to be a reflex with anyone holding a little tiny baby, that small constant motion that you prayed would keep them happy. "I wish I could remember what it was like to see everything new for the first time, to think it's all so wonderful."

Sam had gotten kind of jaded since leaving Atlantis. Sometimes she really missed that excitement and wonder she used to feel about everything.