He had been pacing for about three hours now, but he was fit man, able to cover hundreds of miles in a short amount of time and Daniel had no doubt that he could keep pacing all day, all night and then some.
"Jack!"
Colonel O'Neill whipped round and glared at Daniel and the archaeologist could see from his eyes that this was one of those times to just let it go. They were all worried of course, but Jack seemed to feel it more than them and be unable to control it as well as them.
Sam didn't get hurt very often. No, not like Daniel who was always getting into scrapes and returned from almost every mission with cuts and bruises, dislocated this and broken that. No, Sam didn't get hurt very often. But when she did she always seemed to get hurt the most and she always came away with not just physical scares, but mental ones too. She had been taken over by a Goa'uld, who granted had turned out to be a Tok'ra, but whose life she now relived in flashes of someone else's memory. Then her consciousness had been trapped inside a computer and she had screamed for help, screamed to them to know she was in there. They had only just found out in time. He knew for a fact that she still had nightmares about that one and was often jolted awake from sleep screaming for them.
Now this. This was definitely the worse, with really no comparison coming close and when he thought about it he felt so sick and intense rage bubbled up in the depth of his stomach so that occasionally he would slam his fist into the wall of the waiting room causing Daniel to jump and Teal'c to look up, an eyebrow raised at what seemed to be pointless self destruction.
Of course it was his fault as well. She was under his care every time that they stepped through that shimmering event horizon and he had let her down to devastating effect. He had felt like this before of course. After all, he had seen Daniel killed countless times and even Teal'c once. Yet this was so much different and when the anger momentarily boiled away and the sickness was assuaged for half a second he couldn't help, but feel such immense grief that even he, Jack O'Neill, couldn't help tears rising up in his dark eyes and a tremble of the lip.
Why had he even wanted to go to that damn planet?
"We can get some useful recon Sir. Size up their forces, get a feel for the land. Find out which Goa'uld was in residence. Maybe even rescue some poor human slaves",
was what he'd told the General. That wasn't the reason. The reason was that he was restless, sick of looking at temples and scribbles on walls and rocks, lots of rocks. And now see what had happened all because he was so stupid! So stupid that he couldn't see the importance of ancient writings and so stupid as to allow his own feelings to endanger his team. Damn stupid! That was why all this had happened.
Well why hadn't he been able to prevent it? Why had he let it all happen around him? Why had he been so stupid? So selfish. He went over it again in his mind, for about the thousandth time, trying to pinpoint exactly what he had done wrong. Of course ignoring the first mistake of actually going through the Gate in the first place he started to replay it. They had been met by quiet which was quite strange for a Goa'uld gate. Yeah, he should have turned back then. It was too quiet. But he hadn't and they had proceeded. They had stopped at the top of a small slope surrounded by trees and laid on the ground. Whipping out binoculars they had surveyed the area. A small temple guarded by a handful of Jaffa with priests milling around looking humble and pious.
At that point for sure he should have said,
"Ok, mission accomplished, lets go home where it's safe and there are no Jaffa, no Goa'uld and no danger".
No, of course he hadn't. He had said,
"Carter, lets go in for a closer look. Try and get an idea of what's in the Temple. Daniel, Teal'c, you stay here and cover us".
So they had started off down the slope and it was about then that it had happened. Yep, just about then. About ten Jaffa had come from behind and before he knew what was going on they were surrounding him and Sam pointing staff weapons right in their faces. There wasn't much they could do, but drop their weapons and be frogmarched to the Temple with their hands in the air.
He shuddered as he thought of that Goa'uld who had been sitting in that Temple because he knew what was to come. He knew what that bastard was going to do and the sickness and rage returned in full force. A very minor Goa'uld by the looks of it. Not much finery and not many guards. Teal'c hadn't even recognised their symbols. But he still had those flashing eyes and that hatred, that sadistic nature common to all the snakeheads. The Jaffa had forced him and Carter onto their knees by sweeping the staff weapons around the back of their legs so they fell to the shiny floor with a thud.
"Well, well", came the resonant growl of the Goa'uld. "I appear to have the infamous SG-1 at my feet. The System Lords will be most, pleased. I'm sure a generous reward will be afforded to me for your capture. Sad it is indeed that Lord Apophis cannot have you! But you will fetch a fair price nonetheless. Jaffa cris! Take them to a holding cell. Bring them before me in my chamber in one hour".
And with that he had swept out of the room.
Right about there was the next mistake. He should have attempted escape right about then. With only a few Jaffa, he could have done it right? No problem. Instead and hour later they were brought into a large chamber with a couch, a bed and a table and chairs. The private boudoir of a minor Goa'uld. The Goa'uld, Lintar, entered and ordered the Jaffa to do something in Goa'uld so Jack didn't know what it was, but next minute he felt a huge needle being injected into his spine and looked over to see the same being done to Carter. He tried to wriggle free, but realised with shock and fear that he couldn't move at all. Not even his head as the potent liquid coursed through him.
The Goa'uld approached him and bent down so that his mouth was next to Jack's ear.
"If you close your eyes for one second, I will kill her. Do you understand? Nod if you do. Oh, wait, you can't".
Lintar smiled with a twinkle in his eye which could be pure evil or just the usual glowy eye thing of the Goa'uld, but Jack reckoned it was both. The Goa'uld approached Sam and with no effort at all lifted her limp body onto the bed. There was no struggle, Sam was as immobile as he was. He looked in her eyes and saw fear like that he had never seen in her before, but also a defiance he was well acquainted with. He feared he knew what was coming.
Lintar smiled and bent down to Sam to kiss her on the lips, gently at first and then harder. She couldn't move, but she could feel and that was the worst of it. Oh, but to feel nothing! Jack looked, helpless in horror, unable even to close his eyes. The Goa'uld drew back and looked at his prize hungrily, tracing his fingers down her face and neck. Jack couldn't bear to think of the rest and sat down on the plastic chair in the waiting room, his head in his hands.
Sam was the bravest person he knew, even over himself he was sure. But after that one, just one, solitary tear travelled down her cheek. The Goa'uld had laughed that hoarse, mechanical laugh and pulled her own knife which she was unable to use and traced the tear down her face and neck with the blade, leaving a thin and precise line of blood where the tear had been. Then he had beaten her. Her whole body was covered in bruises, blood flowed from numerous places and Jack was sure that he had heard, actually heard bones breaking at the touch of that monster.
When he next inhaled a choke caught in his throat and Daniel looked around at him with tears springing in his own eyes. He had some small notion of what had happened to Sam because he had seen her when he and SGs 2-9 had stormed into the Temple and seen her lying, beaten and bruised on the bed, but if whatever it was was bad enough to make Jack cry, then he didn't want to know anymore. Daniel reached out to comfort Jack, but the Colonel recoiled from the touch and stood up to pace again.
It had gone on like that for days as back on earth Daniel had convinced the General that there were so few Jaffa there that a few SG teams could bring the whole place down in a matter of hours and rescue his errant team-mates. Each time Jack had been forced to watch, never touched himself, not even beaten, nothing. Just that same needle in the spine and forced to watch. How long was it that they were held there? It seemed like months and years, but he thought he could remember Daniel telling him it had been under a week as he had been escorted back to the Gate. He hadn't been really listening though, he was too busy keeping an eye on the stretcher that had been carrying Major Carter. She was unconscious by that stage with no dues given to injections or drugs of any kind.
They had come through the Gate to find Dr. Frasier already standing there looking nervous as to what she was going to find. But in no way prepared for what she did. Sam had been rushed to the infirmary with all of them running behind, but as soon as they entered Jack had collapsed, from a number of things, exhaustion, physical and mental, malnutrition and immense emotional pain no doubt. When he had come round some little doctor had tried to keep him in bed, but he had stormed out of there and found Daniel and Teal'c in the waiting room. Daniel had told him that Sam was in surgery and Dr. Frasier hadn't had time to really explain what was going on. They had been waiting for three hours already and that was three hours ago.
Jack stopped pacing for a moment and ran his hand over his rugged face, feeling the stubble of a week out in the field. He pushed his fingers through his grey hair and sat down again in utter dismay. What would he do if she didn't make it? What would he do if she did? She was strong, yes, but was she strong enough to get over this? He stood up in a flurry and pounded his fist into the wall again, harder this time so that he let out a shout at the pain and some plaster crumbled away from the concrete beneath. How the hell was he going to write a report on all this? How the hell was he going to tell the General?
The door opened and he turned around with hope glinting in his narrow eyes. Dr. Frasier stepped inside. She looked dishevelled and shocked and her eyes were red from crying and Jack feared the worse. He sat down again involuntarily and looked up at her like a child, innocent and helpless.
"She's going to be ok", whispered the doctor, her voice breaking halfway through. "physically she's going to be ok, but for a few scars and bruises". She looked over at the Colonel with what looked suspiciously like sympathy in her eyes before she turned to Daniel and Teal'c, "but emotionally, mentally, I don't know. She's told me what happened and that is more than most people could take. But Sam is strong and she has good friends. We're all going to have a part to play in her recovery. You too Colonel", Janet knew what Colonel O'Neill must be feeling right now and deemed to the best thing to do was to give him a function, an important role in her recovery. "You most importantly".
He nodded and looked down at his feet. His heart was actually aching. Not just the cliché, he could actually feel the pain swelling in his chest, about to explode into uncontainable grief.
"Can we see her?"
The doctor paused and then looked up and nodded slowly. "Try not to be shocked. It doesn't look good I have to tell you. There was a lot of injury to repair, you know as well as I do that we were in surgery for over five hours. There are a lot of tubes as you would expect, and needles", she said involuntarily looking over at the Colonel. "She looks", she paused again and swallowed away a tear "very small. So don't be shocked when you see her".
She led them all into the infirmary and drew back the curtain around Sam's bed. She did she look bad. Her face was swollen and puffy and on the arm that was over the blankets was a huge cast with pins protruding from it. Bruises seemed to cover every inch of what was visible and that delicate cut still slid down her face. Jack slowly approached the bed and sat next to her, taking her hand that wasn't in the cast and holding it in his own. She wasn't looking at him, she was too embarrassed, or too scared of the memories. But he held her chin and turned her head around to face him. He looked into those blue eyes and saw everything there that he didn't want to see, and everything there that he did. For behind the grief and the pain and the sorrow there was forgiveness, friendship and love.
He kissed her hand gently and placed it carefully back on the bed as the sedatives took effect and she drifted back to sleep. She was going to be ok. And as long as she was ok, so was he.
'A Tender Touch'
Part II
For the first few days Jack had been stuck in the infirmary as well. The first sign that he was ill was his propensity to suddenly faint, sorry, collapse. Big men like the Colonel don't faint (as Dr. Frasier discovered to her peril!). The second sign was the huge, purple bruise which ran up his spine where the injections had been repeatedly and roughly given. So for the first few days he had slept in the infirmary too. Although of course most of him was yearning to get out, a part of him was glad for two reasons, the first was that who doesn't like a bit of TLC every now and then? The second was that he wanted to be near to Sam.
On the first evening the doctor had ordered Teal'c and Daniel to leave the infirmary and get some sleep. Teal'c had, of course, immediately obeyed and returned to his quarters for some kel-no-ream. However Daniel had sat still in the chair between the two beds.
"I don't take orders Doctor".
Although the comment had been said in jest, Dr. Frasier had understood the reason and allowed him to stay providing that he didn't disturb her two most important patients. So he had sat there all night, watching two of his best friends with concern and hurt, his own anguish at the slowness of their rescue. And when Sam tossed and turned all night, when she awoke with tears coursing down her cheeks and sobs choking her, he had been there, embracing her in a platonic hug and holding her as she cried into his shoulder, stroking her hair and whispering soothing words into her ear until finally she had drifted back to sleep. And when Jack had awoken a few hours later with sweat pouring down his face and with his fists clenched so hard that his knuckles where whiter than his face, Daniel had silently reached out and taken the man's hand in his own, squeezing it gently and applying a cool flannel to the Colonel's brow.
In fact, as Dr. Frasier watched it all from the window of her office where she sat, equally unable to sleep for fear of the well being of her best friends, she decided that Daniel would have made a great nurse and maybe he had learnt something from all his time in the infirmary, even if it wasn't to keep safe himself. Or maybe he was just like that all of the time. Maybe he was just a natural. Eventually she drifted off to sleep in her chair and Daniel silently entered and carefully wrapped a blanket around her, tenderly making sure she was all tucked in and comfortable.
Finally it was General Hammond who visited the infirmary as dawn broke over the horizon so far above them that he was caught off guard, asleep in the chair, his glasses slightly wonky and his hair ruffled from the nervous habit and running his fingers through it all night. The General had checked with one of the nurses who was quietly putting away some of the needles and bandages used the day before to check that they were all okay and on receiving the affirmative had left again to coordinate another day from the depths of Cheyenne Mountain.
Daniel awoke slowly to hear someone whispering his name. He opened his eyes and reached for his glasses before realising that a) he wasn't in his bed and b) he was wearing his glasses, just about. Jack was leaning over him and shaking him gently awake.
"How's she doing?" asked the Colonel, nodding his head in Sam's direction.
"Oh- she woke up a few times- in the night- but, she's okay".
Jack looked at his friend and nodded,
"Hey, Danny, about, last night..."
"Yeah, I know". They smiled at each other before Daniel stood up, "now you get back to bed and I'll go and wake up Dr. Frasier".
He slipped quietly into the doctor's office and called her name. She woke immediately though he had only said it softly and jumped out the chair,
"Sam?- Yes? What? Who's? Is there an emergency?"
"No, no. It's just me doctor. It's morning".
She blinked a couple of times and rubbed the bridge of her nose before noticing the blanket on the floor and looked up to smile at Daniel.
"I guess I must have- thanks Daniel"
"Anytime Doc".
When they re-entered the infirmary they both stopped in the doorway a moment to observe. Jack was sitting in Daniel's seat, holding Sam's hand and brushing away a stray strand of blonde hair from her face. He jumped almost unnoticeably as they came in and stood up,
"Yep, I know. Back to bed", he sighed as he climbed back beneath the covers of his own little corner of the infirmary. "Can I go soon Doc?"
The answer wasn't entirely good. Whatever it was that they had injected him with it was very powerful and some residual traces were still in his blood. That meant that he would keep fainti- collapsing until it had all degraded and she didn't know how long that would take. Even when that was done there could still be some lasting damage and she reckoned he would need some physiotherapy, especially in his arms where the damage seemed to be worse (probably because it was his arms he had tried to move the most). In fact, with two members of SG-1 down, General Hammond decided to decommission the whole team, temporarily of course, and SG-2 became the flagship of the SGC.
Daniel became the backbone of the team for sure. Teal'c was reassigned to the pentagon while he wasn't needed on the base to be an advisor regarding some of the Goa'uld technology that was being kept there. It was a golden opportunity for him to add his unique input. So, in a strange twist of fate, Daniel became the only member of SG-1 to be on the base and be completely well. He took to sleeping in the day for a few hours and returning in the evening to sit with his team-mates during the night. Sam hated to be alone and he was more than willing to provide the comfort she needed. And though he would never admit it, Jack liked knowing Danny was there too.
After about a week Jack was allowed to leave the infirmary and the General ordered him to take some time off. Of course Jack hardly ever left the base anyway, he was too worried about Sam and he hovered in the infirmary during the day, annoying Dr. Frasier to hell, before Daniel came over at night. Almost as if it was a shift system. But it was definitely Daniel who held them all together. Every morning at about 7 o'clock he would return to his quarters and get about 6 hours sleep before he went off to the infirmary and collected Jack, literally dragging him to the mess to eat. Then they would return to the infirmary together in time for the sedatives to wear off, the doctor always administered them about the same time, when Daniel left each morning.
When Sam awake for a few precious hours they would talk about nothing, play cards, chess, drafts, anything to pass the time. Sam was still in a lot of pain. After all, she had had some major surgery there. Every time she moved pain flashed across her features. When she sat up it hurt her stomach, where she had a huge scar running almost all the way round where the doctor had had to open her up to stop the internal bleeding. She had five broken ribs and all of her internal organs were bruised. Her arm was still in the cast and probably would be for some time.
Every night she would wake up crying. Daniel didn't tell Jack this because it would only cause him even more pain. Every night she would look up at him through a veil of tears and he would hold her in his arms and sooth her back to sleep. He found that she slept better if he held her hand and so he did. Holding her with one hand while flicking through a book with the other, reading by the light of the machines she was hooked to that bleeped softly every few minutes. She became so subconsciously dependent on him that one night, when he was engrossed in some paper work in his office and forgot to go to the infirmary, Dr. Frasier had to ring him up from the infirmary because Sam was tossing and turning so much that she was pulling the drip out of her arm and that she was disconnecting herself from the machines.
After a month she could finally go home. Teal'c returned to help take all her stuff, she practically took her whole office with her, and they all crowded into her small apartment, hanging "welcome home" banners and laying out cakes and ice cream in the living room before she returned. Daniel bought some fresh flowers and put them in a vase in her room and was just smoothing out the bedcover carefully as Jack came in.
The Colonel approached and silently embraced him in rare act of affection. Daniel hugged his friend tightly, what would he have done to take away just a small fraction of that pain? To share it out so that they didn't have quite so much and he had a little more. But for now all he could do was be there for them. And he would be, always.
'A Tender Touch'
Part III
She woke up with a jolt and sat up. The soft caress of sunrise was trickling through the curtains and she thanked God for releasing her from the terror and horror of her dreams. Daniel was sitting in the armchair next to her wardrobe, a book open on his lap and a finger placed outstretched on a particular word he had been puzzling out no doubt. She knew what it was like to be so engrossed in a book that you stayed up all night, but she didn't know what it was like to sit in the same chair all night, every night for over a week now. Dear sweet Daniel, not only had he sat with her every night while she had been in the infirmary, but since she had come home he had stayed every night and sat in that chair.
Somehow it was a comfort to her to know that he was there. When her dreams invaded her consciousness and Lintar drew in closer to her, when she could feel his breath on her neck, or his hand on her face, when he struck her with such force that she felt would fall through the bed into an abyss of darkness, pain and fear, something, even in her dreams told her that he was there, her link to a reality that was painful, but so much better than the terror of her dreams.
She winced as she carefully swung her legs over the side of the bed to go to the kitchen and get a glass of water. Now that she didn't have the constant flow of painkillers that she had had in the infirmary, the pain was worse, but it was a small price to pay to be home at last. A month of seeing those same, green walls closing in on her was enough for sure and she relished every moment at home, in her apartment, in her bed. She stood up slowly, holding her arm, still in the cast, with her other hand, carefully making sure that the pins didn't snag her nightdress. She smiled when she thought of Daniel's embarrassment at seeing her in her nightdress, to her he was like a little brother and she didn't mind in the slightest, but he always shuffled that little bit more when she got out of bed.
She entered the kitchen and checked the time on the clock that was hung on the wall, 5.30. That wasn't bad, usually she woke up at about 4 in the morning as the painkillers wore off, that meant that she must be getting better. She made herself a cup of coffee and popped those little pink pills into her mouth, careful not to drop one as she had done the morning before and had to spend nearly ten minutes bending low enough to pick it up. She took the mug over to her laptop and flipped open the lid. A message sprawled across the screen,
"If you're seeing this message then you are
Disobeying a direct order. Get some rest Major!!"
Jack. That is... Colonel O'Neill. After the initial smile she could only frown. It wasn't that she was angry at him, that wasn't entirely true. On the surface she knew that she couldn't be angry at him, but somewhere deeper she was. Not because of what he did or didn't do that time over a month ago now, but because whenever she saw him now, she didn't see the strong Colonel, the... the hero who could always protect her form everything... the man that she quietly loved. Every time she saw him now she saw the helpless man, staring up at her with tears in his eyes, anguish in his clenched jaw and horror in his face. Whenever she saw him now, it was only a few seconds before she remembered, in much too much detail... everything. And it wasn't his fault and that, more than anything else in the world, made her angry. When would it be that she could see the man she loved again? She was annoyed at herself for allowing her mind to work that way, she had thought she was stronger than this.
She clicked past the message and as the screen loaded she could see her reflection in the monitor and it made her draw back. She stood up and went to the mirror that hung in the hallway and peered round at herself. She looked, pale, really pale. Thin and pale. There was still a little colouring around her left eye where she had been beaten repeatedly, but it was the scar which scared her. Slowly she moved her hand up to touch it, but drew away before she did, as if it was so hot that she could feel the heat from that distance. It ran right down her face and it burned when she thought about it.
Again her fingers reached out to it and this time she touched it gently. It was like a small ridge, slightly raised from the rest of her face. The very middle of it was lighter, a silvery colour, but the rim was still an angry red. She traced down her cheek and found that doing so made a tear spring into her eye. She brushed it away, annoyed. In an instant she could remember the feeling of the cold metal piercing her skin and slicing downwards. She could see the look in her tormentor's eyes as he felt her blood flow, warm and thick, onto his own hand.
She turned with a gasp at a sound behind her and saw Jack standing there, looking concerned.
"You, you gave me a key. I was, just checking you and, er, Daniel were ok".
She turned to face him and without thinking she fell into his open embrace, laid her head on his shoulder and took in everything about him, how he felt, that smell of... man, men, Jack. He enclosed his arms around her and rested his cheek against her golden hair. It wasn't like Sam to show such affection with him, his fault of course because he never did with her, much too dangerous. So he savoured it as much as her and when she pulled away, looking down and apologising hurriedly, he took her hand and she looked up.
There she saw the man she had missed for such a long time. The man she adored, the man who could make everything right, and would.
<'A Tender Touch'
Part IV
Sam had never asked what had happened to Lintar and no one had felt the need to tell her that in fact the man who had raped and beaten her was being held captive in the depths of the mountain, each day to be interrogated about the Goa'uld by SG-1 and other contingents from the Pentagon. So far Jack had been ordered by the General not to go down there, Hammond believing such an experience only to be detrimental to his friend. However finally the time had come for Colonel O'Neill to do his part in the interrogation, he had invaluable experience of the Goa'uld and had taken part in military interrogations before. Nothing could be done to prevent it, it was necessary.
That was what Jack told himself as he took the lift down to the 25th level of the base, isolation rooms and the brig being the only things on that floor. The corridor was filled with SFs, entrusted with their most important assignment, to make sure that this Goa'uld, particularly hated by the whole base, did not escape. Everyone who knew Major Carter shuddered at the thought of him, sitting in that room, so near to them, so near to her without her knowledge. Jack clenched his teeth before entering the room, this was going to be hard, but he would have to control himself.
The cell was well lit so that no surprises occurred while down there. A grand total of five SFs guarded the door alone and the Goa'uld within was restrained in a chair. He looked in rough shape. He was thinner than Jack remembered, more sallow in the face and less upright in his posture, but his eyes were exactly the same. He looked up at the Colonel and smiled, sneeringly. Jack tried desperately to ignore this and pulled over the chair to sit in, resting his elbows on the desk and holding his hands together to stop him from striking the Goa'uld.
"Colonel O'Neill", started Lintar in that sickly, thick voice, "it is a pleasure to see you again. How is your companion, Major Carter?"
Jack took a deep breath. The General had told him exactly what it was he needed to find out. Teal'c, Daniel and a Field-Marshall Bryan had discovered that this minor Goa'uld was part of a group of allied Goa'ulds, weak alone, but stronger together and rising in strength each day as they formed new agreements and treaties with other lesser Goa'ulds. Jack had to find out about this and discover the coordinates of the planets of the other Goa'ulds. No small feat.
"Tell me about The Union".
"I must say that I miss you both. Such... entertainment each afternoon. Well worth all of this", he nodded to the room around him and smiled.
"What are the coordinates to the other Union members?"
"Send Samantha my deepest regards-"
"Tell me about the other Goa'uld in your alliance."
"And that she is welcome to come down here anytime. For some fun".
Jack stood up. His fists were so clenched that his fingers ached and his nails were biting into the skin of his palms. His jaw was locked and sweat was trickling down his brow and the back of his neck. He could feel the anger rising in his throat and almost choking him. He felt sick to the depths of his stomach and would have given anything to be able to just kick that smug face in and reduce the beast to a quivering wreck on the floor. But he knew his duty. He took a deep breath and flexed his hands, loosening them from the pain he had inflicted himself upon them. He sat down again, folded his hands and continued.
"What are the names of your allies?"
Sam didn't feel so good. The pain was really acute and no amount of painkillers seemed to ward it off. Her knees buckled and she fell to the floor of her office, clutching her stomach and curling up into a ball on the concrete. She whimpered quietly to herself and tried to get up, to get to the infirmary, to get to the phone... It was too much and she couldn't do it. Her head was swimming and her vision was getting hazy around the edges. She was afraid, the pain hadn't been this bad for ages now. The tears flowed freely down her face as she blacked out just as Daniel popped his head round the door to check on her.
He started and ran in, bending down to where she was and checking for a pulse. Finding one he ran over to the phone on her desk.
"Medical emergency in Major Carter's office!" he yelled into the phone before skidding back across the floor to where Sam lay. He tried to rouse her, but found that he couldn't and, biting his thumbnail on one hand, took hers in the others.
Janet came running through the door already shouting instructions,
"Get her on a gurney! Come on, move! Get her down to the infirmary, now!"
Daniel raced after them as they ran down the corridor to the medical bay. The scene inside was immediately chaos, with nurses running around everywhere and Dr. Frasier barking out instructions from beside the gurney. Sam was being hooked up to all the machines again and Daniel swallowed slowly. What was happening? He dared not ask the doctor, she was definitely too busy and he was afraid that anything he did to distract her could endanger her life.
"Oh God", gasped Janet as she saw blood seeping into the blankets on the gurney. Daniel knew this was not good, if Janet was shocked then it had to be bad. Yet most of the chaos seemed to have subsided, Janet was feeling Sam's stomach and shaking her head in disbelief. Most of the nurses had stopped running around and everyone was strangely subdued. The next thing he knew he was being ushered out of the room by one of the nurses and no amount of protesting could stop it.
Sam woke up in the infirmary surrounded by people. Daniel was on her right, Jack and Teal'c to her left and Daniel was calling for Dr. Frasier to come over.
"She's awake!"
She closed her eyes and took a breath before opening them again as the memory of the pain flooded through her and she wondered what was wrong with her now. Dr. Frasier came over and looked down her, a smile on her lips.
"Hi there. Don't worry you're going to be fine. You-" she stopped and consulted her clipboard, looking uncomfortable and creasing her brow. "You suffered internal haemorrhage, but we managed to stop it without you needing further surgery".
Sam looked up at her friend and frowned. Something wasn't right here. Firstly, Janet was shifting from one foot to the other nervously, and secondly, how could they stop internal bleeding from the outside. She was no doctor, well, she was no medical doctor, but she had a feeling that that was a contradiction in terms. She uncreased her brow and stared at the doctor.
"Tell me the truth Janet".
Dr. Frasier turned to the men around the bed, "could you excuse us a minute?" Daniel looked uncomfortable and stumbled out of the way as Teal'c and Jack turned to leave. As he got to the door the Colonel looked round at Sam, again in that bed because of that beast. She looked up at him and he smiled faintly before leaving. Sam returned her gaze to the doctor who spoke in a tone which was full of unprofessional emotion.
"Sam, you know I just wanted to- I mean, to protect you- Sam...", she looked up with an almost pleading expression before continuing. "Sam, you had a miscarriage".
Sam looked up in shock, tears immediately springing into her eyes.
"What?!" Janet sat in the chair next to her friend and took her hand, but Sam withdrew it and placed it on top of her other hand which had automatically moved to her stomach. "But that would mean... I..." They both knew what it would mean and it wasn't a happy thought, considering what she had been through. Sam looked down and swallowed a sob in her throat. She had absolutely no idea of how she was going to even begin to come to terms with this. Her head was so filled with thoughts that it was empty, nothing could bring itself forward to make any sense, let alone form a coherent sentence. She looked up at Janet and then looked down again. What was she going to do?
Jack strode into the little room and flew at the smug Goa'uld sitting in there. He pounded him with his fists, he kicked him with his boot and he spat on his face with contempt. How could he get away with this? He raised his fist to pound him again, but felt a foot in his gut. He was pushed away and saw Lintar lunge at him. The fist came at him and he felt it contact the bones in his cheek before he blacked out completely.
Lintar flung the chair from his back and stormed out of the room. He pushed aside all of the SFs that came towards him. He lunged at the weapons pointed out to him and grabbed them, twisting the metal in his hands and throwing them away.
Sam was sleeping quietly in the infirmary, her dreams were filled with the usual horrors, but a new figure had entered. As she cowered under the gaze of Lintar she realised that she was holding a small baby in her arms and that she had to do everything in her power to protect it. But Lintar was coming closer and there was nothing she could do... She woke up to see the Goa'uld leaning over her and for a moment thought she was still dreaming. But this was real, much too real.
He was sneering at her and running his finger down the scar that ran down her face.
"Our memento Samantha". She cringed at his touch and he grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to him. Terror was closing in on her as she looked into those eyes again. "Now now my little one. Don't try and resist or I will have to kill you".
He pulled her up to him and kissed her violently, but she pulled away and sprang from the bed. There was no drug this time, she could fight him, and she would.
She felt the IV pull out of her arm as she dived behind him towards the phone to instigate a base-wide alert. He grabbed at her and wrapped his arms around her middle, causing intense pain in her stomach. She kicked out against him and freed herself, then turned on him with all of the anger that she had felt since that week. She punched him hard in the face and watched as he fell to the ground. She kicked out at him and felt her foot come in to contact with his collar bone. He grabbed her foot and pulled her to the ground which she hit with a thud and a crack as her right shoulder crunched against the concrete.
He rolled over on top of her and held her arms down above her head. She closed her eyes...
Jack ran into the room and the scene that met his eyes made him so angry that he just lunged at the Goa'uld and pulled him off Sam with so much force that it sent both Lintar and himself backwards and he only just kept his balance. He swung at the beast, but Lintar avoided it and Jack stumbled again, forward this time. He was almost blinded by his own anger and Lintar took advantage of this by kicking out and sending Jack down to the ground. When he turned to get up he saw a bright orange light in his eyes and felt a burning in his forehead. Lintar smiled as he held the Goa'uld hand device he had stolen from the armoury up at the Colonel. Jack could barely see through the pain, but in the corner of his eye he could see Sam lying behind Lintar in a heap, looking, if possible, paler than he had ever seen her before. Blood was seeping across the floor. However soon his vision became engulfed in the orange light and the pain was almost too much for him to bear.
Suddenly the light stopped and he fell to his knees. He looked up to see Lintar's face contorted in pain and as the great man fell he saw Carter standing behind him, twisting a knife into his back with a mixed look of fear and satisfaction. She watched as the Goa'uld hit the ground and stared at the bloody knife in her hand. She bent down and turned Lintar over so she could see his face. The Goa'uld was crying with pain and she held the knife out to him so he could see his own blood and then drew it to his face, searing through the flesh of his cheek as she traced a tear down with the cold blade. His eyes blazed once more and then faded and she dropped the knife which fell with a clang on the concrete.
Jack sat up and looked at her. She knelt beside him and he took her into his arms again, stroking her hair and absorbing her sobs into his shoulder as he swallowed the sobs that shook him. He cradled her like a child, rocking her back and forward until Daniel raced into the room, gun in hand, looking ruffled and anxious. Jack swept Sam up into his arms and carried her over to the bed, leaving a trail of blood behind them. He laid her gently down on the blankets and delicately brushed her blonde hair out of her face.
He could feel tears well in his own eyes as he looked into hers, so hungry for that tender touch, and satisfied at last.