“Colonel, you’re not allowed in here without a pass.”
“I have sources in here who can tell you I have the highest clearance. I don’t need a pass.”
“Colonel, I’m going to have to ask you…”
“I didn’t want to have to do that, but you asked for it,” he muttered to himself as the guard fell to the ground and he made his way to the elevator. He knew exactly where he was going and why. The five men behind him, dressed in their lengthy black coats all strode up next to him. “You know what you have to do. I want it out in five minutes. That’s how long it will take to get up to their quarters. You four come with me. You’ll be taking hers, you the doctor. I’ll take his. You can watch the other one, and you can come with me. If anyone will put up a struggle it’ll be him. Let’s go, I want to be out of here ASAP.” All five men nodded. Four of them followed him into the elevator while the other found the stairs down to the main power vault.
Five minutes later, they were all standing outside their designated quarters. On the stroke, perfectly timed, the lights all went out and the alarms began to sound. Flashlights all switched on, they knocked down the doors. Entering the quarters of the man he wanted to see, at his request, he went over to his bed just as he woke.
“What the…May…” The stronger of the two grabbed his arms, holding them fast while he struggled and the other man pulled a rope around his neck with one hand and pushed a gag into his mouth with the other. The victims’ eyes wide, he slowly lost the ability to breathe. Gasping as well as was manageable, held with now two hands, the rope around his neck finally completed its task and he passed out due to lack of air. The other two men with their selected victims were waiting outside as the last of them was dragged from his quarters. The ringleader had been correct. His chosen victim had struggled the most out of the three, but he had expected that and was prepared with due efficiency. They silently left the complex without a trace of their being there at all.
~*~
In the morning there was confusion between the victims. Each in separate vans with their separate captors, they awoke, wrists and ankles tied tightly, and scanned their unusual surroundings.
“Morning Colonel. Good to see you awake. Now, I’m going to remove your gag, but you have to promise to be nice.” He frowned angrily, but his gag was removed anyway.
“Maybourne. I should have known you’d have something to do with this. What the hell is all this about?!”
“Now, now O’Neill, I did say to be nice.”
“Yeah, well that’s bullshit. What the hell are you up to?!”
“I don’t really think I should answer that, all things considered. You being so rude an all. I think I’m being rather nice about it all, and then you go off being so rude…”
“Oh for God’s sake Maybourne, shut up. What the hell are you doing, and why the hell am I here?!”
“Now, with that little outburst,” he stopped to give Jack a fierce kick in the stomach, ”I think I’m just going to have to gag you again. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to stay and chat, but you know how it is. Places to go, people to torture,” he finished with shoving the gag back in its place angrily and made a space of time to have one last bit of fun with his newly acquired punching bag and allowed his foot to make contact with him a few more times so’s his chest and face didn’t miss out on a good bruising. “Keep going!” Maybourne called to the driver and they started on their way again.
~*~
The SGC meanwhile, was in confusion.
“Teal’c, where are the rest of SG1?” The General asked as Teal’c came into his office.
“I have come with the same question of you General Hammond,” he responded.
“You mean you haven’t seen them anywhere?”
“I have not.”
“They were here last night weren’t they?”
“I believe so.”
“So where are they now…” Hammond thought aloud as a guard came into his office.
“Sir, we have video footage of a guard being knocked out down at the main entrance last night by a group of men, headed by Colonel Maybourne,” he said.
“Maybourne!? Oh great, he had to be involved. Get security to check every one of those tapes for any sign of them last night before the power went out at 01:15. I want the base on full alert. Get footage of them leaving and arriving. Track their vehicles as far as we can and then get some search teams out looking for them. I want them found and back here ASAP!”
~*~
“Here we are. Your new home. I hope it meets with your approval. Too damn bad if it doesn’t, cos it’s the only place we’ve got for now. Tomorrow we should be out of here. It’s too close to your little buddies back home for us to stay too long. White! Get around here and get him out. I want him inside before we can be spotted, these officers around here don’t waste any time.” The back doors of the van opened, and Jack was dragged out by his feet. The landing wasn’t exactly gentle or elegant as his head hit the ground with a thud. “Give him some of that stuff now so he doesn’t struggle too much,” Maybourne instructed as one of the other vans pulled up behind theirs.
In the van was the blonde Major. She moved slowly to try and see the doors of the van. Before she got a good look, the two doors were flung open and she was pulled out and onto her feet.
“Stand still,” the man told her as he untied her ankles so she could walk on her own. They moved around to the side of the van while they waited for the third. Carter looked in front of their van and saw her CO on the ground with Colonel Maybourne holding him still while another man administered an amber liquid into his arm through a syringe. He shoved it into Jack’s upper arm and pushed in the plunger quickly before taking the needle out and standing him up roughly.
A few moments later, the other van pulled up and Dr. Jackson was pulled from it, his ankles too untied and then walked over to stand with Sam while Maybourne proceeded to get his kicks – literally – out on their Colonel who by that time was on the ground. Both Sam and Daniel tried to yell through their gags, but found it useless and so chose to stand silently and watch their CO get the life beaten out of him. Finally – after several minutes – Maybourne seemed satisfied and instructed the men to bring his captors inside the shabby looking house – of sorts. The man holding the chains that were around Jack’s wrists lifted him onto his feet by them. He was however unsuccessful. Jack’s knees quavered and then buckled beneath him and he collapsed to the ground. His vision blurred as he hit the ground and then the lights went out. The drugs he’d been given were at their full potential now and from his beating, his head spun furiously. Passing out, the man didn’t seem to notice. Grabbing him by his hair, he pulled Jack to his feet again, but it was to no avail – he’d already passed out, and so fell limply back to the ground. Sam and Daniel watched on, horrified.
“Are you coming in today?!” Maybourne shouted as he strode back outside and saw his prized possession slumped on the ground. “Can he walk or not?”
“No, he passed out. The drugs.”
“Bring him in here now then. And them. It’s getting late, I didn’t realise the drive would be that long. Come on, come on, move it. Today.”
~*~
Once inside, they were each settled in a cold, dark room. Daniel and Sam were thrown in together, after their gags were removed. Although their mouths and ankles were free to move, with their wrists tied they knew it would be difficult to achieve anything useful.
“Where are we?” Daniel asked.
“I’m not sure. I got a bit of a look around while we were outside, but couldn’t really make out much. It was too dark to see if there were any traces of people being here, but in the words of the Colonel, somehow I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore,” Sam replied.
“Yeah, you got that right. And what was all that about? What’s Colonel Maybourne got against Jack? I mean, I know they’re not exactly best buddies, but I didn’t think he had any kind of score to settle.”
“Especially nothing to do with what we saw outside. He was just having fun by the look of it. He didn’t seem to have any reason to be beating him like that – if you can have a reason for doing that to anyone in the first place. He was smiling. Enjoying himself. Seemed to be satisfied that he’d knocked him out too.”
“One thing’s for sure – Jack will be waking up with one hell of a headache tomorrow morning. Way worse than the drunk, hangover kind too.”
“Yeah, but why were they giving him drugs? They didn’t give us any. And they put us in here together, why not the Colonel as well?”
“You’re thinking they want him for a specific reason?” Daniel thought aloud.
“Well it looks that way don’t you think? Why bring us at all though if they only want him…” Sam’s statement turned to puzzled as she mused over the possibilities.
“Use us as a way to get to him. If it’s information they’re after, and if it’s anything to do with Maybourne, that’s probably what it is, they can use us to make him talk. He’d know Jack well enough to know that he won’t talk, no matter what they do to him and no matter what they’re trying to find out. So why not bring along us to hurt and stuff to make him give in?”
“But they gave him those drugs, surely that was to make him drowsy and incoherent and make him talk. Why do they need us?”
“I guess they figure he’s had enough training and time in the Military to be able to fight torture and drugs, so as a last resort they can use us?”
“Oh that’s making me feel all warm inside Daniel, thanks for that.”
“Well, I’m just guessing.”
“That’s the part that scares me…I think you might just be right.”
Sam and Daniel stayed quiet for a while then. They could hear voices outside the door. Maybourne talking to Jack. Sam was worried for her Colonel. All these years of them working together and all the things they had been through together had brought her very close to him. Close enough to reveal that she cared for him extremely deeply. And her caring went deeper than the care of a friend. Even a good friend wouldn’t care quite as much as she did. She worried for him so much. Her heart sunk as she watched him helplessly on the ground being kicked by Maybourne. What he felt then – she felt. He felt the full force, but she felt it. Nothing compared to the pain he suffered, but she could feel it. Her eyes wept and her heart pounded as she watched on powerlessly in those minutes. It was in those minutes that those feelings she had been trying to hide surfaced once again and reminded her just how much she loved him. And that was what she felt for him. Love. An immense love and devotion for him. She was completely devoted to him. She loved him more than anything else in the world. Anything she could do for him, she would do without a thought. No matter what – if there was a problem – she would only think of him.
At that moment, when they heard the voices outside the door – all Sam thought of was Jack. She could only remember seeing him last when he was yanked to his feet by his hair, only to fall. The vision flashed before her eyes a countless amount of times while she tried to remain calm and controlled. Behind her eyes she could feel tears preparing to fall as the voices became louder and she heard the sound which could only be someone being punched or kicked – and she knew damn well who that would be. While to Daniel she appeared to be cool and composed – inside she was crying so hard her stomach ached.
“Alright O’Neill. Now that you’ve decided to join us in the land of the living, I have just a few simple questions to ask you. You think you can handle that?” Dazed and confused, Jack looked up at his interrogator. Vision blurred and body complaining with each breath he took, he took the opportunity no to do or say anything. Maybourne smiled, pleased to see his drugs working. “Good, good. Ok then. Some simple things. Firstly, what are the co-ordinates for the home world for that race of people who could walk through walls? Tollars did you call them?” Jack didn’t respond. He couldn’t. He didn’t know the answer, or at least that was what his mind told him. Even if he had known it, he wouldn’t have remembered, nor wanted to tell Harry Maybourne. His head hung, he felt his hands tugged tighter behind his back. It was then he realised he was tied to a chair. Each foot tied to one front leg of the chair and his hands pulled over the back of it – still chained – and held by the one he seemed to remember being called ‘White’. Well, White had a nice hold on the chains again and pulled them harder so that his arms were stretched to their limits behind him. “Well Jack? I’m waiting…and you see I have this problem with waiting. I don’t like it when people make me wait. So if you want to keep those arms, I suggest you hurry up with your answers,” Maybourne said contemptuously and nodded for White to pull on the chains again, which he did without hesitance. A pain ripped through Jack’s arms and into his right shoulder as it dislocated with the fierceness of White’s yank. He gasped and shut his eyes tightly. “Now Jack, I did warn you that things like that could happen if you made me wait didn’t I? I’ll wait a little bit longer, but then I just won’t be able to wait anymore.”
“Did you hear that?” Sam whispered. Daniel looked quizzical. “The Colonel, I heard him. And I heard those chains rattle. Daniel we have to try and get out of here to help him.”
“Sam, do you really think we’d be helping him by getting out of here? I don’t think we would. He’d probably pay for it more than us, and by the sounds of it he can’t really afford more…”
“But we can’t just let Maybourne keep doing that to him. He doesn’t even know the answer to that question. Neither do I. Well, I do, but I don’t really remember without having a computer. With all those drugs they’ve pumped into him I’d be surprised if he knew who he was.”
His shoulder and whole body aching and bruised, Jack tried to lift his head and form words. As the picture before his eyes spun around and gradually got faster, he opened his mouth to attempt speaking. All he managed was retching up his dinner from the previous night.
“Get that cleaned up White,” Maybourne instructed – indignant. Jack knew he’d heard that name – White – a lot. He must be Maybourne’s right-hand man. Throat aching and dryer than the Sahara Desert, Jack swallowed air with difficulty. White clicked at two of the other men and they left to find something to clean the floor with. “What’s wrong with him? Is he ok?” Maybourne asked White and he checked Jack’s pulse. “Well?” Harry demanded.
“He seems alright,” White lied. He could feel by Jack’s pulse that he was weak and needed to rest. He knew that if they gave him anymore drugs to make him talk he would only get worse. Knew that the next dose of drugs were a lot stronger than the first, and being so soon after the first ones it could damage his body’s every day functions. Maybourne looked pleased and assumed Jack was merely playing on his rough treatment.
“Alright then O’Neill, if this is the way you are going to be, we’ll just have to get a bit tougher on you.” Looking up, he could see the delight glinting in Maybourne’s eyes as he nodded toward White.
“What’s going on in there? It’s so quiet…God I hope the Colonel is ok, why the hell do we have to be here for this?!” Sam said shortly. Daniel noticed her sudden voiced concern for the Colonel was a little more emotional.
“Maybourne sent his men off to clean the floor, and it sounded to me like Jack threw up. Those drugs must be really getting to him,” Daniel mused.
“Well whatever they are, if they’re that strong, if they give him more before about twelve hours is up, they are nuts. It’ll kill him…” Sam choked on her own words as she said it’d kill him. She knew that he couldn’t die. She would never stop crying if he did.
“Sam, is there something going on?” Daniel interrupted her train of thought suddenly.
“What do you mean?” Sam said a little too quickly.
“With you and Jack,” he persisted.
“No, why?” she defended.
“Oh, you just seem very concerned…I mean don’t get me wrong, I am too, but you just seem to have a little bit of extra concern that I can’t have if you know what I mean?”
“No, I don’t.” Daniel looked at Sam through the minimal light and could see her face. Her statement was nothing less than that of a wife concerned for her husband. Why she denied how she felt, Daniel couldn’t understand, but he knew all he had to do was say it to her.
“You love him don’t you?” She shot her eyes up to meet his and saw the recognition in his face. He knew.
“God I can’t lose him Daniel.”
“Now O’Neill, White here is going to give you some more nice drugs that should help you to start answering my damn questions!” Maybourne began his proposition sweetly and ended yelling, followed by spitting in Jack’s face – his voice uncontrolled. White again found Jack’s upper arm and shoved in the needle. As painful as ever, the new drugs stung his insides as White emptied the syringe of its contents. He winced and White removed the syringe from his arm, giving it a good, hearty punch for good measure.
“More drugs?! You’re kidding me! That’ll be…” Sam stopped – she wouldn’t think that. She couldn’t think that way or she knew she would surely lose control. While the circumstances remained as they were, she couldn’t afford to lose control. In order to be of help to her Colonel she knew she had to remain in control, and that was what she knew she could do. She could hear her CO coughing and Maybourne yelling again – something he seemed to enjoy doing.
“I don’t want to see what he ate for dinner last night, I want to see results! Get something that is going to work, White!” he shouted as all Jack could manage was retching.
“We should leave these new drugs for about an hour, give them time to circulate his system…we should be seeing results by then,” White said smartly. Displeased, Maybourne nodded as they left the room and went outside.
~*~
“They haven’t come back for a while,” Daniel commented about a half hour later.
“They went outside. I heard the door. Daniel, turn around and look at what they’ve got our hands tied up with, see if you can undo mine,” Sam instructed. Daniel did as he was told and saw the rope holding Sam’s wrists together. “What is it?”
“Just rope.”
“Can you untie it?”
“I don’t know…maybe. Hold on,” he said as he turned so his back was facing Sam’s. He moved his hands with difficulty to meet Sam’s and fiddled with the rope. “It’s tied really weird…oh wait, almost got it…oh god my arms are hurting…just got to…yes! Done!” he exclaimed and Sam moved her arms in front of her. They ached from being tied behind her back for so long, but she was grateful she could finally move them freely.
“Great,” she said – pleased. She untied Daniel’s hands and he winged about how his arms ached while he moved them about. “Shut up Daniel, they’ll hear us. Do you remember if that door’s locked?”
“Umm…I don’t remember them locking it.”
“Ok, well there’s only one way to find out,” Sam said quietly as she got up and took hold of the door handle as silently as she could. Moving it down, she heard it click, and she knew it was open. Daniel got up and stood behind her quietly. She opened the door ever so slightly, just enough to see through the smallest gap. They couldn’t see anyone through the dim light, but as Sam’s eyes scanned as far as they could to the left, she saw the chair her Colonel was tied to. She saw his head bowed and the dark bruises appearing on his arm and chest. “Oh Colonel…” she gasped and ran from the room over to him.
“Sam!” Daniel exclaimed in a hushed tone as he exited the room carefully and looked around in case some of them were still inside.
“Colonel, Colonel can you hear me?” Sam asked quietly as she knelt before him and looked up to see his face. “Oh look what they’ve done to him Daniel, we’ve gotta get out of here…Colonel, can you hear me? It’s Carter…it’s Sam…Colonel?” She said, lifting his head up by his chin gently. He pried his eyes open and saw there was a figure kneeling on the ground before him. His vision distorted, he didn’t know who or what it was. It could have been Julius Caesar, Apophis or a giraffe for all he knew. All he did know was that he knew that voice. It definitely wasn’t the voice of Apophis or Julius Caesar. And in the unlikely event of a giraffe having a voice, it didn’t sound much like that. It sounded vaguely familiar, though he couldn’t tell anyone why. His throat ached while he tried to form words. Nothing materialized, but he felt as though someone were scraping his mouth of its little contents with a chisel. “Colonel, do you know who I am? Do you know it’s me, Sam?” She wanted to cry by seeing his face. He looked so confused. His eyes rolled strangely and then his eyelids fell shut. “Colonel, Colonel stay with me…say something. Talk to me Colonel, don’t close your eyes, Colonel!” Sam exclaimed as he made his eyes open again.
“Oh God, umm…Sam…” Daniel managed to stammer as he saw Jack’s shoulder. Sam looked over at him and saw his statement.
“What’s wrong?” she queried and he nodded towards what his eyes refused to leave. “Oh God…oh, uhh…oh God…Colonel, can you feel this?” Sam asked as she pushed her finger softly on his shoulder. He showed no reaction so she assumed the drugs had something to do with it. “Just knock it back into position,” she told Daniel. He looked at her, shocked.
“What? You…you want me to?”
“Don’t worry, it’s not hard. Done it to myself before once, it hurts. But he shouldn’t feel it – I hope. Just do it Daniel. Colonel, Daniel’s going to knock your shoulder back into place, ok? Colonel, can you hear me?” Sam asked him, voice shadowed with concerned. His eyes lifted to meet with hers, but she could see no recognition of what she’d said in them. “Do it now Daniel,” she said, while with both hands she held Jack’s face. He flinched as Daniel gently as he could hit his shoulder and heard it click back in place.
“Ok?”
“Yes, perfect. See what you can do about those chains huh?”
“Yeah ok.”
“Colonel, do you feel hot? God, look at him Daniel, he looks hot doesn’t he?”
“Yeah, but I bet that’s the drugs isn’t it?”
“Probably. He just looks hot. I bet he feels so cold. Do you feel hot Colonel? Jack, look at me for a minute. That’s it…do you know who I am?” Sam asked gently as he frowned in the kind of concentration that can only be described as minimal but as best as he could manage. Searching his mind as best he could, he tried to recall where that voice came from. Blinking several times didn’t improve the state of his distorted vision, so he focused on the voice. Opening his mouth, he tried to talk. Although successful for the first time, barely a whisper was all he managed.
“Say…again.”
“Say what again sir? Do you know who I am?”
“Name…s-say my n-name…again.”
“Jack? You want me to say Jack?” The way she said his name…he knew who it was. He knew that voice. She didn’t say his name very often, but when she did it was different from everyone else. She said his name in a different way to anyone. His head felt heavy. He closed his eyes involuntarily. “No, no sir, don’t close your eyes. Stay with me Colonel, open you eyes. Colonel, don’t close your eyes.” Forcing them open once again, he saw the face before him clearly for a moment. Saw blue eyes looking at him. They were worried. He knew those eyes. He knew who this person was. And yet his mind seemed to have buried her name somewhere so he couldn’t find it. He thought deeply until it flashed before him just once.
“C-Carter…?”
“Yes sir. Good, at least you know who I am. Do you know who you are sir? You know your name don’t you?” He managed to dip his head enough to make Sam believe he was nodding. “How are you going with those chains Daniel?”
“There’s no way I can get them off, need the key. How about Jack, he ok?”
“Not really. I’m pretty certain he knows who he is, and he knows who I am…that’s something at least. But look at this, what the hell have they been doing to him?” Daniel came back to the front of the chair and saw what Sam was talking about. Ghastly bruises covered his face and chest. His arm was nearly black around the area where ‘White’ had been shoving his needles.
“Having a bit of fun by the looks of him. What can we do though? We can’t exactly escape carrying a chair can we?”
“I know…oh Colonel, what can we do? We can’t get out of here.” Daniel meandered over to a table against the wall and saw the case full of syringes. Reading the label was impossible; majority of it was washed off or smudged. Sam placed her hands gently back on the bruised face of her Colonel. His eyes full of confusion and pain, he looked at her. As she got closer to his face, he could see her clearer. See her face full of concern – for him. He trembled from the cold and tried to speak to her. “Shh…it’s ok. You’ll be ok. We’ll get out of here, I promise you that Colonel. We will. Shhh, you’re gonna be ok…” Sam sniffed and started to cry as she spoke so reassuringly to her Colonel. In his eyes, past the confusion and pain, she could see he trusted her. He trusted the words she spoke to him so caringly. That was what made her cry. He trusted her so completely, and yet she didn’t even trust herself. She had no right to promise him anything. They had no way of getting out, and yet she promised him she would get him out and he would be ok. Inside she was screaming. How could she have lied to him like that? Just to make him feel better? If it was that, then it was partly worth lying to him just in the hope that it gave him some hope to survive on. She still felt guilty for promising him something she had no hope of achieving, no matter how much she wanted to. Her mouth pushed out in sadness as she looked at him, she moved closer to him and kissed him softly. Although the drugs had turned his brain to virtual mush, he was initially surprised at her actions. It hadn’t really been what he’d expected, if he could manage to expect anything. Moving back from him slowly, her eyes found his once again. In them she saw the surprise he felt, but she also saw that he didn’t resent her for doing what she had. She smiled slightly and moved a hand to his forehead. Without hesitance she kissed him again, only to be interrupted by the return of Maybourne and his crew.
“Well, well, looks like you’ve been busy,” he sniggered, as though he’d expected them to. Daniel and Sam were quickly surrounded by one or more of Maybourne’s minions and had their wrists tied again only this time they copped chains much the same as Jack’s. “Obviously being away for an hour stimulated your mind enough to have a bit of fun with your Major I see Jack, so I guess all your behavior is just a stunt huh? Suppose you’d be good at that by now with all your training and what not. Well, if all you’re going to do is fuck around with me, I suppose I’ll just have to do the same with you.”
“He didn’t do anything you moron!” Sam shouted before receiving a nice jab in the back which she knew damn well was a shot gun.
“Shut it,” was hissed in her ear by the man holding her.
“No, it’s ok Ashfield, let the blonde talk. Let’s hear what she has to say. What was it you were saying Major?” Maybourne sneered.
“I said he didn’t do anything. And I said you are a moron. That’s pretty common knowledge though. How about I ask some questions now then? Why the hell are we here? And why are you asking Jack so many questions?” Sam said harshly.
“It’s Jack now is it? I bet your superiors wouldn’t be too impressed if they found out about you two having a little smooch then would they?”
“Oh Maybourne you’re full of shit. My superiors wouldn’t give a rats about your bullshit.”
“Oh, looks like I hit a bit of a nerve there didn’t I? Well, this is a nice little development. Makes for some fun on my part anyway. Two little lovers here…bet you don’t like what you’re seeing then do you Major? No, well that’s good. To my advantage. Ashfield, Davies, sit down our two little escapees and let them have a bit of good viewing, since the Major here is so interested in our Colonel. White, what is that other stuff you said you have?”
“This?”
“Yes, let’s give him some of that.”
“This hasn’t been tested on anything yet sir, its effects aren’t proven…”
“I don’t care White, just give it to him,” Maybourne instructed and White did as he was told, shoving yet another needle in Jack’s upper arm – adding another bruise.
“We really should let him sleep Sir, surely he won’t last long with this one without some…”
“Preston, did I ask for your opinion? I didn’t think so! Shut up. It’s late anyway. I’m not staying up half the night for him. Leave him there. Chain them to those two chairs; make sure they can’t get loose again. Brenner, make some kind of food – I’m starving.”
“What about us?” Daniel asked stupidly.
“What about you? I couldn’t care less. You’ll live a few more days without food. We’re moving tomorrow anyway. White; check on him every so often. Preston, get them some water; I don’t really want them dead. Let’s get to the back of the place, its safer there. Especially if their mates decide to do a bit of search and rescue tonight,” Maybourne muttered his way down the hallway towards the back half of the house, which was almost completely separate from where Sam, Jack and Daniel were. White stood next to Jack for a moment while waiting for Maybourne and his troops to leave and then took another of the syringes’ full of untested liquid.
“What’re you doing?!” Sam shouted.
“Shut up or you’ll be next!” he barked, before shoving the needle in and pushing the plunger down until it was empty. Pulling it out harshly, a few spurts of blood shot out from the hole where the needle had gone. Punching it, White wiped the blood away from his hand and waited for a moment while some blood trickled down Jack’s arm. Satisfied, he smiled and threw the empty syringe out the front window.
“Say anything and you’ll regret it,” he said in a low tone to Sam and Daniel before leaving.
Shortly after, ‘Preston’ returned with a glass of water. Hardly enough for one of them, but they shared it equally.
“What about…”
“Shut up. Don’t say anything,” he cut Sam off without force and then produced another glass from behind the sofa. Taking it over to Jack, he helped him slowly sip some of it. It only made him cough, but some water was better than none. As Preston left Sam called him over.
“Thankyou,” she said softly. He raised his eyebrows for a moment and cocked his head as if to indicate he wasn’t like the rest of them. Sam smiled mildly and he left with the two empty glasses.
~*~
It took eight hours, but the video surveillance tapes were eventually recovered and viewed.
“General, we’ve traced them as far as Colorado Springs, but after that we lose them.”
“Why? They can’t just disappear into thin air! Find them!”
“We’re trying Sir. So far we’ve got three gray vans as their transport, and it doesn’t look like they’ve gone any further.”
“So they haven’t used a plane or helicopter?”
“No Sir, it doesn’t appear so. We’re trying to track their whereabouts now.”
“Get search teams out there in helicopters. I want people out there. I want them found Sergeant, and I want them found now!”
“Yes Sir, we’re doing the best we can.”
~*~
“Colonel. Colonel wake up. Don’t go to sleep sir. Daniel, we have to do something. Jack! Wake up!” Sam exclaimed softly. His head jerked suddenly and even from the distance Sam and Daniel were, they could see his body convulsing. “Jack? That shouldn’t be happening Daniel. Hey! Hey, someone come in here! Maybourne! Someone! HEY!” Sam shouted as she watched her Colonel’s body shaking uncontrollably. “HEY! SOMEONE!”
“Alright, alright, what’s your problem?” Maybourne said indignantly as he strutted into the room.
“Look what you’ve done to him!” Sam yelled. Maybourne looked over and saw what Sam was yelling about.
“Oh great. White! Get in here!” he called and then his cell phone starting ringing. “Great, just what I need…” he muttered as he fished for it in his pocket and held it to his ear while White came into the room with a smile on his face. “Maybourne. What? Now? How many?! Get the helicopter down here now then. I don’t care! Is it ready? No?! Well get it ready! I don’t care how long it takes – get it ready! What do you mean it won’t dial? Then fix the damn thing! Good. I want the helicopter down here within the hour. You know the spot. No, just past. Center. Yes. Good. Yes, they’re all here. What about the sarcophagus, is it there? Tomorrow!? You’re kidding. Fine. As long as we get it. No, tell her I don’t care. I want it there by tomorrow at the latest – looks like he’s gonna need it sooner than we expected. Well make sure it is then! Yes. They’re fine. Fine,” he ended and put his phone back in his pocket. “Well White, what is it?”
“Not sure sir – seems to have reacted badly to this one.”
“Doesn’t matter. The sarcophagus is arriving tomorrow. We’ll be there tonight. He should last that long shouldn’t he?”
“Definitely. I can keep him sustained with this.”
“Give it to him then. I wanted to have more answers before then, but oh well. Can’t have everything I suppose. The copter is going to be here within the hour. Get them ready. I haven’t even finished my dinner yet.”
~*~
About forty-five minutes later, outside landed a helicopter. It was a rather precarious landing and time for a helicopter to be picking up people in virtually the middle of nowhere, so they were loaded into it quickly.
“White, get him unchained and in there last. Come on you two, let’s go,” Maybourne instructed and left with the other four men and Sam and Daniel. White unchained Jack’s ankles and wrists and stood him up roughly. His legs protested against the sudden movement and collapsed beneath him. White grabbed him and, throwing Jack’s arm over his shoulder, practically dragged him out to the helicopter and threw him in.
“You can be a little gentler with him White, I don’t want to completely destroy him,” Maybourne said, shocking Daniel and Sam with the sincerity of his comment. Sam sat by Jack and held his hand. Getting Daniel to help her, they pulled him up so he lent against the wall of the helicopter. Kissing his bruised cheek, Sam gently coaxed his head on her shoulder and listened to him breathing through the noise of the helicopter. White pushed on the arm he’d shoved all his needles in and Jack winced. White smiled. Sam saw him do it and eyed him evilly. A minute or so later he pretended to fall when the copter moved suddenly and he landed heavily against Jack. He gasped. Sam knew he’d done it purposely and wondered why he seemed so intent on hurting Jack.
“Shhh, it’s ok. I’m here with you Jack. We’re gonna be ok,” Sam whispered softly in his ear. Her voice came through muffled from the noise of the helicopter, but as it reached Jack’s ears he managed a nice thought. She was there with him. She was holding his hand. Although the simple of thought of moving was painful, he turned his head and looked at her through blurred vision. She smiled, he saw that much. Her eyes filled with tears as she looked at him. The last lot of drugs were slowly starting to take effect and Jack didn’t know what was happening. He could have been sitting on the moon or the top of the Eiffel Tower for all he knew. His vision became so distorted that he couldn’t even see a hand in front of him. And even though he could hear, the voices he heard could have been anything to him. He no longer knew when Sam was talking to him. He didn’t know what anyone was saying to him. The helicopter was no longer the prominent noise – it was everything. Every sound around him mixed together to form what could only be described as a traffic jam of noises. He wanted to scream for it all to go away. Even when there were no sounds to hear, his traffic jam never stopped. It was slowly sending him insane. After a few more minutes of suffering through the traffic jam, he passed out.
~*~
An hour later, they arrived at a large complex – shed looking. It looked alike to a plane hangar. The helicopter landed on the helipad outside the building and they were all bundled out then inside the complex. Once inside, they saw why it was such a big shed. That was all it was, a big shed. Empty excluding a Stargate and dialing computer. And that was the reason they were there. For the Stargate. They were being transported to another planet. It was definitely an upside for Maybourne. The SGC had no hope of finding them if they didn’t even know they were on another planet. So Maybourne wasn’t quite as stupid as he looked, but he still wasn’t the brightest crayon in the box.
“You’re taking us to another planet?”
“So it’s true Major, you are as smart as you look. Yes, I am. You’re little friends back at Cheyenne Mountain won’t have a hope of finding you if you’re not even on Earth. Let’s get moving people. Davies, dial it up. White, you keep him quiet. Brenner, Ashfield and Preston, make sure those two don’t get up to anything. I’m going through first. I want them through in a half hour. I want to check in with, well, you-know-who, before they arrive. Especially him. I think she’ll be very pleased to see him,” Maybourne explained before setting off through the gate.
“Who are we going to see?” Sam asked Preston, who was holding the chains around hers and Daniel’s wrists very loosely. They were locked, so he didn’t really need to be holding them at all.
“Her,” he said softly so the others didn’t look at him.
“Who is her?” Sam whispered.
“I shouldn’t say.”
“Come on.”
“You’ve met her before. Apparently she had a thing for your Colonel there, she seemed very interested in seeing him again once Maybourne found her.”
“Someone who had a thing for the Colonel…Daniel, who have we met who had a bit of a thing for Jack?” Sam asked Daniel quietly. He thought a moment, and then frowned. “Well? Who?”
“I can’t believe you don’t remember,” he replied.
“Why should I?”
“She had a bit of a thing with me, and a thing for Jack.”
“Oh God, you don’t mean…” Sam stopped.
“Who else?” Daniel questioned logically.
“But I saw…”
“I know. Well, I guess it’s possible she came back somehow.”
“But how?”
“I don’t know. Someone got her into a sarcophagus obviously. I heard Maybourne mention one when he was on the phone before.”
“Yeah, so did I. He said Jack was probably going to need it. Oh Daniel, you don’t think…”
“What?”
“That they’re going to torture him to…to death, and then revive him and do it all over again?”
“God…they wouldn’t – would they?”
“They would,” Preston said quietly, confirming Sam’s theory. Her heart sank. She couldn’t sit and watch him die once – let alone more than once. It would kill her.
Once the half hour was up, the three of them were taken through the Stargate to a rather bare planet of which they would soon learn to hate.
“They’re here,” a guard came and told Maybourne, who smiled and waited for them to arrive.
“Oh it’s so nice to see you all again. It’s been so long. How are we all?”
“We are tired of waiting!” A horribly familiar voice hollered. They all looked up and saw her as she walked into the room.
Hathor.
“Finally they have arrived. We have been delayed sufficiently. Our love, how it pleases us to see your face once again. It has been so long. Do you not remember the intimacy we shared?”
“Oh I really try not to,” Daniel replied.
“Such a shame. And the female. We have been informed you have interests in our beloved?” Hathor told Sam rather than asking her. She lifted her chin defiantly.
“And so what if I do? It’s not like you’d stand a chance,” she retorted. Hathor snarled.
“You disappoint us beloved,” she said while walking to Jack. “Why is it you have chosen one such as this female? We are much more equipped than this one.”
“Don’t like yourself much do you?” Sam quipped while she had the chance, although regretting she had after it was done.
“The female, still voicing her opinion we see.”
“I’ve got a name you know.”
“Guards! Take them. We have no desire for them to remain.” The guards did as they were told and took all three of them away to another room equal in size to the one they had just left. In the middle of the back wall placed nicely as a center piece, large and prominent as it was sat a sarcophagus. The complex itself was obviously an abandoned – for whatever reason – Goa’uld hideaway that had clearly been vacated for some time. Some of the walls were damaged and the floor had more than a few cracks in it. Aside from its slightly warn down appearance, it had obviously been a steal for the newly grouped evils. A few cracks was hardly about to deter them when they had no where else secure they could go.
~*~
After a few hours alone in their new chamber of death, Hathor reappeared – much to their dismay. Her intentions well set inside her mind – however snake controlled it was – she knew precisely who she wanted and what she wanted to do to them. It was unfortunate that her return had come so soon, but it wouldn’t have mattered how long she’d been away for her three prisoners. If she’d been gone for a few centuries, it still wouldn’t have been long enough for them.
“Ahh how it pleases us to see you all once again,” she commented upon entering the room.
“Yeah, so you’ve mentioned,” Daniel interrupted. She smiled at him with devils eyes and continued.
“We have questions that we need answered. We have reason to believe you know the answers. All three of you. It pleases us however, that if you fail to co-operate with us, we can use various methods of torture until you relent to us. As we are sure you have seen, the sarcophagus here is relatively untouched. We trust you understand where this leads us?”
“Up the garden path?” Sam said lightly.
“This leads us to the inevitable conclusion. We can perhaps kill you if necessary, and the simple task of placing you in the sarcophagus will revive you for us to interrogate further. This pleases us.”
“Oh I’m sure it would,” Daniel mumbled.
“We have other intentions for our love however. It is our beloved we wish to begin with.”
“What is it you all have against the Colonel? I mean, there are three of us, and yet he is the only one who is barely alive. I really don’t get that, can you explain it to me, cos personally I think it really sucks,” Sam said resolutely. Hathor looked at her, almost as though she expected her to ask and yet didn’t know the answer.
“It is our beloved who killed us, have you no memory of this?” Hathor answered.
“Yes, I was there to cheer him on when he did it after you nearly killed him with your stupid Goa’uld. That’s not the point, sure he killed you, but you’re back and still calling him ‘your beloved’ an all that crap, so why the cruel treatment for him and not us?” Sam pointed out logically.
“He is still our beloved, even although he has betrayed us by attempting to kill us. It is our only form of retribution to allow him to experience more pain than ever before. It is our right to take this retribution and with it comes added pleasure that you – his friends – have to watch him experience this pain. It pleases us you have asked this,” Hathor smiled as her eyes glowed and she called for something in Goa’uld.
“What’s that?” Sam asked Daniel as Hathor awaited her whatever it was. Daniel had to think a moment about the word she had said, but after a moment it came to him.
“Oh she was asking for her hand-device,” he replied as the guard returned with it and held it while Hathor slid her hand inside and smiled. She indicated for Jack to be moved into a large chair against the wall opposite the sarcophagus. As though he were a black and blue bag of bones, the guard lifted him slightly and dragged his limp body over to the chair. Raising him just high enough, the guard dropped him onto the chair so he looked like a boneless body slumped half over on it. Sam found it hard to watch or even look at him while he was in the state he was. While they moved him about as though he weren’t even alive. Although she could see how they might mistake him for being dead, she knew better, and felt hurt they were treating him the way they were. However, it was Hathor and Colonel Maybourne they were dealing with, and they weren’t exactly widely known for being good Samaritans. Sam and Daniel looked on as Hathor focused and raised her hand so it was level with Jack’s head. As the glow of the hand device brightened, Sam watched on as her Colonel’s forehead slowly raised to be dead even with it. His eyes opened slowly and were drawn to the light of the hand device. Like a magnet drawn to metal, his gaze – although his vision still distorted – couldn’t leave the device. Try as he might, the brightness of the hand device kept his eyes focused on it and at no time allowed him to deviate away from it. Hathor smiled and laughed as she could feel his last drops of energy being pulled – torn away – from his mind. She could feel his very last breaths through the hand device and seemed to laugh louder as it stole them away from him and gave them to her.
Sam’s cries of sadness were the last things he heard as his final iota of life was extracted through Hathor’s hand device.
~*~
A heavenly glow encompassed him inside the sarcophagus until it began to open. His eyes opened without effort and he blinked to make sure he wasn’t imagining things. His vision was clearer than he ever imagined it being as he looked up and saw the ceiling. It was an unknown ceiling. He knew it definitely wasn’t the Infirmary. He knew that place well enough to know what it’s ceiling looked like. He moved his eyes from side to side and found that wherever he looked, it was through crystal clear vision. No more blur. He seemed to remember having extremely blurred vision. And though he hadn’t a clue at that moment why he remembered having blurry vision, he knew that not long ago he had. Moving his fingers and toes didn’t hurt like it had before and he felt significantly healthier than the last time he recalled being conscious. Opening both palms onto the hard surface beneath them, he pushed as hard as he could and tried to sit up. That exercise didn’t work as well as the others had. He didn’t seem able to push himself up hard enough. His arms shook slightly and he knew that meant he obviously wasn’t strong enough. Not strong enough to sit up though, he thought. It seemed odd, and so he tried again. After being unsuccessful twice he figured it wasn’t worth trying again, he obviously couldn’t do it. Still puzzled as to why he couldn’t and where he was, he heard voices. Voices that he knew. They were clear. Not muffled or traffic jam-like as they had once been. That he remembered too. Remembered his hearing being just as distorted as his vision. The voices he heard, stopped, until he had Hathor peering over the side of the sarcophagus at him and smiling to see he was awake.
“Our beloved, how it pleases us to see you awake once again,” she said, helping him sit.
“Again?” he queried, slightly confused.
“This is correct beloved, you have been in the sarcophagus for some time now. It took longer than we first thought to revive you.” Frowning in confusion, Jack looked around the room, unfamiliar with his surroundings. Scanning it, he knew from the markings all over the walls that it had to be Goa’uld. And against the back wall he saw his friends. Sam and Daniel, but why were they gagged? His mind blurred, he looked to Hathor.
“Why are they tied up?” he asked.
“They are prisoners just like yourself. Jaffa, kree. Tel shak, bring to me Colonel Maybourne.”
“Maybourne? What’s he doing here?” as he asked the question, the answers all scrawled themselves through his memory in a blinding flash. Closing his eyes, he watched the events each flash past his memory.
Getting ready to finally go to bed…taking off jacket and T-shirt…lights going out…Maybourne barging into his room…rope, tight, around his neck, not being able to breathe…waking up in a van, Maybourne still there, giving him a talking to…kicking him and being dragged out of the van…falling on his head, being given some drugs…Maybourne laying into him again and then waking up tied to a chair inside a strange house…being asked questions, something about the Tollan…being given more drugs…shoulder being dislocated…throwing up…Sam and Daniel coming out and trying to help him…shoulder being put back in place…talking to Sam…Sam kissing him and then Maybourne coming back inside and giving him more drugs…throwing up more…having some kind of a trembling fit and then being dragged out and thrown into a helicopter…everything sounding and looking worse than ever before…Sam holding him and then waking up again on this planet in this place with Hathor…a hand device…dying…dying?!
The last part of the memory seemed wrong. Dying? How could he have died? It didn’t seem to make sense.
“I died…didn’t I?” he said, opening his eyes. “You killed me.”
“This is correct beloved. We are pleased your memories of the events have returned.”
“You called? Oh Jack, good to see you back in the land of living. How’d it feel to die and come back to life? Always wondered,” Maybourne commented smugly as he strutted into the room.
“The dying part could be arranged,” Jack retorted. Maybourne laughed and stopped next to Hathor.
“Bring us the knife,” she whispered softly to him, but loud enough so that Jack could hear. He looked to his friends and saw the worry and pain in their eyes. The worry he knew had to be for him. He’d died. Why else would they be looking at him that way? There was no other logical explanation to it, it had to be because he had been dead. And they had watched it. Watched him die before them. Watched him breathe his last breath. How hard it must have been for them, he thought. He couldn’t nearly begin to understand how it must have felt for them. They would have felt a different pain to his. His was the pain of no longer being able to breathe. The pain that is feeling the life being sucked from your very veins. The pain that only one person can feel – that being the person who is suffering. Feeling their life draining away from them, while they are powerless to stop it. Feeling their heart beating slower and slower, until it has no more air and can no longer go on beating. Feeling their blood stop flowing. Seeing their very last thing. Hearing their very last voice. Taking their very last breath.
“I wanna talk to them,” Jack said suddenly. Hathor looked amused that he dare make a request.
“We haven’t the time for this,” she said simply, turning away from him and receiving her knife.
“That wasn’t a request, I said, I wanna talk to them.”
“We have heard what our beloved has spoken, but we are uninterested.”
“Let me talk to them.”
“They shall have nothing worth speaking. Take him back there,” Hathor instructed and within a moment, two guards came and began to move him.
“Hey! I can move myself!” he protested, not recalling how but a few minutes before he hadn’t the strength to sit on his own. It didn’t matter how he disputed, the guards took no noticed and proceeded to, between the two of them, drag him back to the chair he’d previously died in. As he looked back to Sam and Daniel he noticed their eyes following him with the same sadness in them. “Dammit, let go and let me talk to them!” he exclaimed as the guards dropped him onto the chair and tied his wrists to the arms of it and his ankles to the front legs. “Are you going to let me talk to them or not?” The guards looked to Hathor for her final decision. She nodded and the guards went to Sam and Daniel. Taking their gags and untying their ankles and wrists, they were walked slowly over to where Jack sat. Hathor saw them grouping and meandered her way out of the room and left only the guards at each entrance there to watch them.
“Oh Colonel,” Sam sighed and hugged her arms around him, pleased to see him full of life once more. “You don’t know how hard it was.”
“We watched you die Jack,” Daniel added.
“I know.”
“And now you’re here. Alive. It’s…I don’t know how to put it in words,” Sam said and stood back once again.
“I know.”
“Have you watched one of your closest friends die before?” Daniel asked.
“Yeah, quite a few,” Jack replied reasonably.
“Oh. Well, I bet none of them have been alive again a few hours later, as though they’d never been dead at all?”
“I’ll give you that much. Although Skaara…”
“I get the point. Still, you don’t know quite how it feels.” Daniel and Sam looked at one another, Jack could see they were deciding on whether or not to do or say something to him. He could tell.
“What?” he queried. Daniel nodded at Sam and she shook her head slowly.
“Well…Sam wanted to talk to you about something,” Daniel spat out quickly before Sam could stop him. She sent a look of daggers for a moment before Jack questioned her.
“Yeah?” Sam stared at Daniel to indicate he go further away than he was – like it was important he not hear. He did as he was instructed through Sam’s gaze, he knew what it meant well enough. “Well?”
“Sir…well…it’s kinda like…well you see…uhh…”
“Oh for God’s sake Sam, spit it out.” Drumming up the courage to speak, she looked into his eyes, and in them she found the strength she needed to tell him what she had already waited too long to tell him.
“I’m in love with you Jack.”
The moments following her admission seemed to move slower than she’d expected them to. Looking at his statement, she could see that he was more than a little surprised by her sudden revelation, but it wasn’t the kind of surprised she needed to worry about. It wasn’t the kind of surprise you might see in someone’s face when a gun had just been held to their neck – no. It was closer to the surprise that is pleasant. Equal in part to that statement of a surprise birthday party commencing with a loud chorus of “surprise”. The person, who is the ‘surprise-ee’ so to speak, wears that statement of surprise, but it is a happily surprised statement. This was the statement Jack’s face held. His statement – although of nothing but clear and utter surprise – was closer to being a smile than Sam could have ever expected it to be. He looked shocked, but pleased. If nothing else, it was a Kodak moment.
Sam waited a moment before begging for a response.
“Colonel?”
“Yeah?” he replied calmly – as though he hadn’t been present when Sam informed him that she loved him. Sam was puzzled. Was he serious or was he just kidding around?
“Did you hear what I just said?” He raised his eyebrows comically.
“Oh? Oh that! Yeah. Yeah I heard ya.” Sam was disheartened.
“Oh, and?”
“What? Oh, you want me to say something?! Well, I mean I’m in love with you too, but ya know…” Sam smiled as her heart leapt. Her eyes twinkling, she hugged him so hard she crushed the breath from him.
“Oh Colonel,” she sighed again. Leaning to kiss him, he turned his cheek. “What?” Sam asked worriedly.
“What’d you call me?” Jack reprimanded. Sam smiled.
“Jack?”
“That’s more like it.” Now both smiling, they kissed. Daniel huffed and puffed behind them, making more noise than a jet plane.
“Shut up Daniel!” Sam exclaimed and it was then the door opened and Hathor and Maybourne strode back into the room.
“Up to it again! Nothing stops you two does it?!” Maybourne hollered upon seeing Jack and Sam kissing for a second time. “Or is it that whole, tie him down and drug him up sort of scene you like, is it Major?” His final sentence enraged Sam. She turned around and with hate in her eyes lunged for Maybourne, her fist clenched.
Throwing her weight on him, pinning him to the ground and punching him she screamed at him,
“How dare you! You are an idiot everyday of the week Maybourne! Couldn’t you just take one day off?!” she’d said it once, now she’d said it again, “I can’t believe how much of an idiot one man can be, but I’ve just figured out…hey, get off!” Sam bellowed at the guards as they crowded around them and four of them pried her off Maybourne. Clutching his face where she had punched him, he slowly staggered to his feet.
“You little blonde bitch!” he spat out at her and hit her across the face while the guards held her still.
“Go on, hit me you gutless bastard! I never realised just how pathetic one man could be either, before I met you that is,” Sam jeered. This infuriated Maybourne further. He whacked her again and she laughed.
“You son of a bitch. All you can do to shut me up is hit me?!”
Aggravated to the point of destruction, Maybourne grabbed a Zat gun off one of the guards and shot Sam with it, sending her body limp in the guards’ grasp.
“Dump her somewhere so I can’t see her. And make sure she shuts up this time! I don’t want to hear her voice again!” He commanded while padding his fingers gently on his punch wound. Anyone would have thought he’d been close to death the way he was carrying on about a simple punch, but the fact that he’d been hurt was enough for him to put on a turn of the nasties. “Give me that knife!” he shouted, unaware he was yelling at Hathor who was now in possession of the implement.
“How dare you speak to us with such hostility!” she screeched. Maybourne instantly regretted not looking before he spoke for once, but he needn’t have. Hathor was merely using her loud Goa’uld-esc voice to make herself sound bigger and more important than she was. She wasn’t intending on acting upon her initial voiced anger. Stepping away from the crowd of people, she strode over to where Jack sat silently. He hadn’t involved himself in the brawl. After all, he was the one tied to a chair, he was hardly in the position to make threats against them or say anything of great value to Sam. So instead of causing her potentially more trouble than she needed or was in the position to contend with, he kept his mouth shut and said nothing. It was hard for him, as he wanted to help her by saying something or more importantly doing something, but the doing part was near impossible and the saying wouldn’t have done any good – he knew that. Daniel had wisely kept out of it as well. He could have easily done something, but excluding the fact he wasn’t game enough to, he didn’t see him raging into the broil like a trogon horse making any great difference to Sam’s situation. Aside from him being injured and probably causing Sam more harm than good, it wouldn’t have achieved anything.
Though Daniel had the perfect opportunity to escape while all the guards were too busy dealing with Sam and Maybourne’s little battle to notice him there or not – he didn’t. He wasn’t about to leave his friends behind. Even though he knew he may be able to help them by getting back to Earth – after he revaluated the whole situation, he figured that the SGC wouldn’t let him through the Stargate without his GDO signal anyway, and even on the remote chance that they might and he took that chance, he didn’t have the faintest idea where they were or the address of the planet. In the long run, he concluded that the open opportunity of escape wasn’t worth taking and he’d made the right choice by staying with his friends.
~*~
After the scuffle between Maybourne and Sam – Daniel, Jack and her all got a longer break than expected. Hathor and Maybourne left the room – probably to discuss ways of anger management they all decided. Although Maybourne had made clear he didn’t want to hear or see Sam, no one had bothered to gag her. Daniel and her had been tied back up of course, but that was the extent of it.
“What was all that about?” Jack asked from the confines of his chair.
“What was what about?” Sam replied, her head – slightly throbbing – down resting on her raised knees.
“All that crap with Maybourne!”
“I can’t stand him. Just wanted to let him know, that’s all.”
“Ok I’m sorry Sam, but that’s bullshit,” Daniel intervened with his own opinion. Jack unfortunately agreed with him.
“Whatever.”
“You wanna know what I think? Probably not, but I’m gonna tell you anyway. I think you didn’t like what he said to you and so you got angry about it and took the opportunity to let him know about it without the worry of regs there in your way. And if we don’t end up dying here you won’t get in trouble…”
“We are not going to die here Daniel!” Sam shouted angrily, lifting her head from her knees. Daniel was more than a little surprised. He struggled to find words.
“Well…I mean, I…I was just saying…you know, that cos we’re here…you wouldn’t…you know, get Court-Martialled for punching the one who…”
“I know what you meant Daniel, but don’t ever say we are going to die here. We are not going to die here. We’re gonna get out of here, and we’re not gonna die. Got it?” He nodded simply, feeling no words were necessary.
They all sat silently together for what felt like a few hours longer than it was. Although they hoped beyond hope that maybe Maybourne and Hathor weren’t coming back, their hopes were shattered when they returned little under two hours later. Hathor was instructing to give Sam and Daniel drugs, according to him. He listened to what she was saying to them in Goa’uld and told Sam what he thought she’d said (he’d missed words here and there). When a guard came over to them holding two syringes, they assumed his interpretation had been right. Hathor slowly made her way over to her newly acquired pin-cushion and smiled deviously. Holding the same knife as she’d requested before, she raised and ran her fingers over it as though it were alive. Still sliding the blade along each of her fingers and over her palm, she stopped in front of the chair Jack was tied to. Smile never leaving her lips; she gradually lowered the knife until the point rested just below his left shoulder.
“Being knighted am I? Didn’t know,” he paused to wince as Hathor added pressure and the tip of the knife broke through his skin, “I’d done anything, worth that.”
“You would be wiser not to speak beloved, for the pain will slowly worsen,” Hathor suggested, while slowly pushing the blade further into his shoulder. Taking her advice, Jack voted for not speaking any further. Once she was satisfied, she pulled the knife out quickly and moved to the other shoulder to repeat the same action.
After completing the task – leaving two fair sized wounds bleeding steadily – she slowly dragged the dagger’s blade in a oblique line from the upper left wound, down to point diagonally opposite it. Again she repeated the same action, but this time from the upper right to the opposite point. Standing back to admire her artwork while leaving the handle of the knife protruding from Jack’s stomach. She had basically drawn an X – much like that of the Goa’uld pouch – the full size of his chest and stomach and with two circles at each of the upper apexes. More than four times the size of a regular Goa’uld pouch, but an X none the less. She seemed pleased. She hadn’t made it just scrape the surface of his skin either. It went deep under the surface and blood found its way there easily. And although painful, Jack refused to voice his pain. Not once did he make known the pain he was suffering. This enraged Hathor although she was satisfied with her artwork. She wanted to hear cries of agony, him begging her to stop the pain. He knew that was exactly what she wanted, and that too gave him strength and determination not to do that one thing she wanted him to. He knew, however, that he would die again. He knew that was what she wanted. She would get simple enjoyment from his facial expressions. That was something he found harder to stop. Though he could force himself not to voice pain, it was incredibly difficult not to make his face show it. He knew she enjoyed that. And in that, knew she would let him die again. Not even let, she would kill him again. She loved to be able to do it. And he was powerless to stop her. Sitting there tied to a chair while his friends watched, he couldn’t do anything but be strong as he could.
Hathor seemed displeased he was still conscious, and eager to render it she grasped her dagger tight in her grasp. Malicious intentions shining in her evil eyes, she used Jack’s chest as her canvas. More though she held a paintbrush within her hand, she painted patterns, lines and deep gashes into and on his skin until his skin was no longer visible. Her paintbrush had painted him red, and before long he found air no longer reaching his lungs.
~*~
Shock and confusion stirring through his mind, he opened his eyes. Within the confines of the sarcophagus, this time his memory hadn’t allowed him to forget where he was and what had happened. To an extent he had the memories up until his first death. Following that was hazy. Uncertain. The brawl between Carter and Maybourne was clear, and that was where the certainty ended. His second death had happened a lot quicker than the first. Although that may have been a good thing – aside from the fact that dying wasn’t something many people had the privilege of experiencing more than once – he felt uneasy about not remembering it well. His mind told him he had done what he’d wanted to. Been brave and not allowed himself to give in to Hathor’s torture. But that was only what his psyche was allowing him to see. Whether it was a protective front for his own benefit he knew not. He saw Hathor with her dagger giving him the pleasure of being an artists canvas, but that in itself told him nothing useful. Raising his hands and resting his fingers lightly on his chest, he felt nothing unusual. He sighed. Had that been all she’d done? Had she only used him as an implement? That much he didn’t know. Moving his fingers and toes to make sure they were all still in working order and where they were supposed to be, he wasn’t disappointed. Air entering and leaving his lungs easily and not in rasped breaths he knew was a good sign.
Had he imagined himself dying for a second time? He knew the answer to his own question. No, he hadn’t imagined it, for he had no memory of how he’d died this time. If he’d died slowly or quickly he didn’t know. If he’d died from loss of blood or something else, he didn’t know. His cause of death to him was a mystery. Again he questioned whether or not this was his psyche covering the truth from him until he gave up wondering. He thought his own mind would know him better. He’d not give up until he knew, no matter how shameful. Closing his eyes and beginning to search his mind, the sarcophagus began to open and he lost his chance of quiet thought.
This time it was Maybourne’s unpleasant features that greeted him from the side of the sarcophagus.
“Good to see you again Jack. I trust you’re feeling better?” He snorted, not the least bit interested. Not looking for an answer to begin with, he nodded to the guards beside the sarcophagus and grabbing Jack by the shoulders, they dragged him back to the chair and dropped him on it. He knew this wasn’t to be his last death. They planned on killing him a few more times yet. He was certain of it.
Before he was tied to the chair he tried to stand. Legs shaking, they collapsed beneath him and he fell to his knees. The bastard, he thought. They’d revived him alright. Yes, certainly they had. But they’d made sure to revive him only just to the barest state. Allowed him the minutest strength – not even enough to allow him to stand on his own. To keep him alive was one thing, but this hardly passed as alive. This kind of alive was the kind you would see in a dying hospital patient who was only able to talk and move their limbs about on their own. Walking or anything else past sitting up wasn’t able. Jack was below even this standard. He couldn’t even sit up from laying down. Needed assistance. Sam and Daniel cursed their captors for making them suffer through seeing him that way, then cursed them further for making him suffer the way they were.
The guards saw him on his knees and were about to drop him back onto his death chair when Maybourne noticed his weakness while on the ground.
“Leave him there,” he made the order closer to a remark – pointing out the fact he could see easily Jack’s lack of strength and stability. Maybourne was pleased by the sorry state of his prisoner. He had been tied up, restrained or drugged any previous times he’d had the pleasure of taking his revenge, but the one time Jack was on the floor before him and he was vulnerable. He hadn’t the strength to protect himself or get up and walk away let alone make a real fight of it like he normally would. He could only lay down and try as best he could to curl up in a ball to resist maximum internal damage. This was his only defense against Maybourne and whatever he may chose to do. They’d killed him twice and revived him, only to be left in this sorry state. Surely being cut up by Hathor and her artistry had been enough punishment? What more could they possibly have in store for him?
That question was the one that should never have thought to be asked.
~*~
Upon scaling all points of reference, the SGC search teams had come up with little evidence to go on the whereabouts of Jack, Sam and Daniel’s captors. The mere fact they knew Colonel Maybourne was involved was enough to put a hole in anyone’s balloon. But despite their limited knowledge of the crime, they followed their video surveillance as far as they could – tracking them to a small house north of Colorado Springs out into the open land. After finding no evidence inside the house, they searched the outside. They found the empty syringe White had emptied into Jack after already giving him one just minutes before. It told them little – closer to nothing. If nothing at all, it proved that the house had had inhabitants not so long ago. Using their initiative, they checked for any plane or helicopter sightings nearby that area on all the nights following the teams’ disappearance. Fortune enough to have ties within all the beneficial establishments of the area and in fact the world, they tracked the landing and take off of the only departure from that site in as many days.
It led them to the shed-like complex holding the Stargate used to transport the team and their captors away to an unknown destination. Uncertain of the action to take upon reaching this site, they sent two back to the SGC to inform General Hammond of their find.
~*~
Hathor was unimpressed to see the state of her prisoner when she returned to see him, once Maybourne had finished with him. Sharing in a screaming contest first, she proceeded to call her guards to rid Maybourne of the room so she could continue her own tortuous methods without his interrupting her. As much as he wanted to be in on the action, she refused to relent to her initial decision of him being banished from the room and so he left sulking. Calling her guards to return her possession to her, she had organized new accommodations for him. Sauntering over to the empty, golden wall space beside the sarcophagus, the red-haired goddess eyed the cuffs and chains on the wall. Smiling with delight, she nodded for the guards to use the cuffs for their sole purpose.
The thick metal cuffs wrapped easily around his wrists, and he heard one lock shut as the other guard moved to lock the opposite cuff. Standing with the support of the wall while facing it, Jack heard Hathor as she paced before his turned back – sorting through the all important implements in her head and making the difficult decision of which to torture him with first. Malevolent smile reaching her lips, she laughed with the added evil of the goa’uld within her. She moved away from him, paused, and then left the room quickly.
Upon her return, Jack wished he’d died while she were gone. He could hear a burning flame. Much like that of a flame torch. Closing his eyes, he felt her warm hands resting softly on the bare skin of his back. Her breath sweeping past his neck as she whispered in his ear,
“For killing us, your torture shall be far worse.” Smirk at the corner of her mouth, she raised the flame to meet his neck and he inhaled sharply at the burning feel of it. For hours – or so it felt – the heat of the flame met the most part of flesh open to attack. The smell of searing skin sending his stomach into a knot, Sam and Daniel looked on shocked. They had thought the torture of being drugged was bad enough, but they now realised just what Hathor and Maybourne were capable of. Anything. Anything and everything possible and with the added bonus of being able to go even further than that. Sam wanted to scream out for Hathor to stop. It was hard enough having to smell the burning flesh, but far worse having to see it. See it – in parts – hanging loosely from the bone. Seeing it singed off Jack’s arms, shoulders and back. The smell sickening and stomach churning. Once the skin of his back was completely burned, Hathor turned him to face her and went over his front like a fine tooth comb. Not one inch of skin left as it should be. It seemed to please her, though Jack couldn’t know why. His eyes barely open to see what state his body were in he struggled to breathe naturally. Cutting like the blade of a knife, he felt the flame break through the tissue of his upper chest just before the pain left him.
~*~
The SGC technicians were sent to the shed where the Stargate and dialing computer were. Deciding on their method of attack, they searched through the dialing computer. Encoded and encrypted files were nearly all they found. Previous addresses in computer coding. It took them four master computers and six technicians between them to MacGyver their way to success and they found out the address of the last activation to that Stargate.
Sending word to General Hammond and Teal’c who were waiting to hear of their triumph, they stayed put at the shed while waiting to hear back from them. Less than half an hour later they received a message that Teal’c was on his way down and to be ready to go in fifteen minutes.
~*~
Again waking in the confines of the sarcophagus, it was this time that Jack couldn’t remember his death. At which point of his barbequing he gave in and relented to Hathor’s persistence at burning him, he remembered not. His memory hiding his shame away in a secluded space in his mind which was inaccessible to him at that time. Blinking slowly, he found breathing more difficult than it had ever been before. Streaming through his mouth, the air stung as it passed through his throat. Coughing softly as he could, he tried clearing the stinging away from his throat but it seemed only to worsen. Looking down as far as he could to see if he was still in one piece, he saw burns still remaining on his chest and stomach were Hathor had held her flame torch to him for hours on end. Lifting his arms slightly, he saw the picture staring back at him there also. Obviously they’d been really slack with reviving him this time. They’d left him in the sarcophagus for less time than all the others. Confusion consuming his psyche enough to daze his senses for a moment, he didn’t notice the sarcophagus opening above his head. Suddenly Maybourne’s unattractive face was looking in at him, and he nodded to the guard beside him. Grabbing Jack by the very most hair he could clutch at the top of his head, he pulled him from the sarcophagus and dropped him at Maybourne’s feet. Swallowing the most he could to stop the aching in his throat caused by breathing, he closed his eyes and prayed Maybourne didn’t have a flame torch.
“So, Jack…how’s life? I mean, you must be feeling pretty proud of yourself by now huh? With all that pathetic begging performance, I mean really! I never pictured you that way, but I guess when you’re as pathetic as you are, anything’s possible really, isn’t it?” Maybourne jeered. Jack looked up at him and swallowed hard again, remembering the display he’d put on before dying the last time. Mind relaying the scene back to him, he saw himself begging pathetically, just as Maybourne had said he’d done. Cowering away from the will to be strong and relenting to the incredible pain Hathor was inflicting on him with the flame burning the flesh away from his bones, he’d begged her to stop. Cries of pain had left him in a desperate plea for the hurting to end. His voice had ripped from his throat in a hoarse appeal to the fiery haired goddess. Evil intent remained printed in her eyes and she’d smiled at the sound of his painful pleas. She’d laughed in his face while continuing to sere the skin away from him.
How could he have been so weak? How could he have broken down like that and resorted to begging?! That was precisely what Hathor wanted to hear. She wanted to hear him begging with her to stop, to make the pain go away. He’d played right into her hands and given her just what she’d wanted. Cursing himself shamefully, he bowed his head low and closed his eyes. He felt shame encompassing him and his reason floated away with the air he exhaled. He’d lost all coherence with the realization of his wretched behaviour. Inside, to him, his performance had been as disgraceful as they came. He felt ashamed of himself, and wished his useless form could disappear with the wind, leaving only the memory of his existence in the minds of those who chose to keep it. Maybourne watched him closely while finding the whole scenario rather amusing.
“Well, quite frankly I think it’s funny. I mean, who would of thought that you, Jack O’Neill, would ever be so pathetic!” he sniped, laughing wretchedly while continuing to dampen any spirits that might be left remaining in the friends of his pitiful pin cushion. Pathetic seemed to be Maybourne’s new discovery of a word to use as an insult and so he chose to say it as often as possible. “As I said, pathetic is the only word I can find to describe you O’Neill. Pathetic!”
Not long after, Hathor proceeding into the room with an odd looking device. Maybourne seemed interested in the object she held delicately in the hand free of her Hand Device.
“What’s that?” Maybourne queried – seemingly intrigued.
“A Ziertel,” she responded with reason.
“What’s it do?” he asked eagerly.
“It will immobilize its’ victim with a single beam, damaging the victims’ internal organs with each use. It can be used an unlimited amount of times. You shall have this in case of an emergency,” Hathor explained. Maybourne looked disappointed he didn’t get the chance the use the Ziertel but was pleased to have a weapon of some kind. The Zat was good enough for him.
Preston – the guard that had been kind to Sam, Daniel and Jack while they were on Earth – silently slipped into the room. Kneeling by Sam and Daniel, he took their gags from their mouths.
“Shh,” he said quietly. They nodded and watched as he quickly untied their ankles and wrists.
“Thank y…”
“Shh. You’re welcome, just stay put,” he cut Sam off and told them shortly. They nodded and Sam mouthed her thank you to him before he stood up to leave. Before he had the chance, Daniel sneezed loudly. Sam’s eyes wide, she stared at him. He shrugged apologetically, but it was too late. Hathor and Maybourne both turned to see Preston standing by them.
“Preston!” Maybourne shouted, and Hathor lifted her right hand. Aiming it directly at the perpetrator, she focused all the energy from it out in one large blast. Hitting him square in the stomach, he was flung into the wall behind them, sliding down and hitting the ground with a thud.
Jack took the opportunity of Hathor’s and Maybourne’s diverted attention to move away from them as fast as he could. He’d been revived only to the barest limit, and he crawled across the floor away from the sarcophagus as fast as he was able to. Maybourne turned back to see him moving away. Raising his Zat angrily, he shot it towards Jack. Missing him by scarcely an inch, it hit the sarcophagus. The blue energy from the blast circled around the golden revival coffin and disabled its’ function. The power within it drained away with a descending, low groan. Hathor turned to Maybourne – infuriated.
“Insolence!” she yelled angrily, moving her hand around to face him. With all the anger building inside her, she used it to force a powerful blast from the Hand Device, sending Maybourne flying into the furthest wall. Turning her attention away from him as he hit the ground heavily, she saw Jack. Crunching her eyebrows in rage, she growled and lifted her hand to his level while with great strides she walked to him. Without words, she stopped but a meter from where he lay. Bellowing her voice out over him, she used the fury with which she’d used only in part for Preston and Maybourne, to let rip a magnificent blast from her Hand Device. The sheer force of it hurled Jack high into the air like a rag doll and into the wall behind him. Crushing the section inwards where he’d hit, he plunged to the floor and landing with a thud. Laughing in delight, Hathor raised the Ziertel to be equal with him. Pushing in the small button on it’s left side; it released a red beam that extended out until it hit Jack. Circling around his body, sending electric shocks through his skin, he reacted to its energy much that same way as from a Zat blast. Temporarily immobilized, Jack lay still. His head throbbing and body trembling from the force of hitting the wall, breathing seemed even harder than before.
Hathor looked him over from where she stood. She knew he wouldn’t be able to move for a few minutes, and knew that from the use of the Ziertel his body’s internal functions would soon begin to deteriorate. She smiled, pleased with herself. Anger then renewed its’ force as she recalled the insolence of her so-called ‘partner’ and his employee. Turning to where Maybourne lay, she decided against further impairing him. Having fun with him wasn’t nearly as rewarding as watching her previous assassin suffer as much as she could possibly make him. Sam and Daniel – still a little on the slow side from their drugs – were preparing to make some sort of plan of attack.
“Daniel, what’re we going to do?” Sam asked suddenly, she could no longer watch her Colonel suffer.
“Why are you asking me? I don’t know,” he replied, a little louder than he should have. Sam gave him daggers but as they waited for Hathor to do something, they were pleasantly surprised to see she clearly hadn’t noticed. Either that or she just didn’t care. Both sighing with relief, Sam continued.
“We’ve got to get out of here while he have the chance. Those guards are going, see,” she pointed as the two guards at the door opposite them left the room. “There’s only that one, and he’s too busy with Maybourne to care about us, we’ve got to do something.”
“Yeah, agreed. But what exactly do you plan on doing? Saying, ‘oh, excuse us Hathor, we’re just gonna take Jack and go now, ok? Sorry about that, prior engagements, you know how it is’?” Daniel said sarcastically. Sam didn’t appreciate his addition to the conversation.
“Thanks Daniel, I needed to hear that. No, I mean, we just have to figure something out. We can’t just sit here while she does that to him…I mean, we’re not even tied up or anything…we have to do something,” she mused, but stopped as tears welled in her eyes. The sarcophagus was useless to anyone now. Hathor had undoubtedly planned more to torture Jack with, and if they weren’t going to be rescued – which looked suspiciously close to the truth – he couldn’t possibly survive what she had in store for him. As that horrifying situation hit Sam head on, she found her eyes filled with tears and no means to stop them flowing freely down her cheeks. Daniel knew what she was thinking, and could unfortunately provide her with no positive aspect to it all. Wrapping his arm around her shoulders was the only thing he felt comfortable doing without making it all seem worse.
Hathor had contemplated all her options longer than she’d first intended and now wreaked her full revenge upon Jack – her helpless victim. Body still trembling uncontrollably and prior burns beginning to bleed again, he could hear her approaching him.
“Beloved, we would have had no reason to wish this upon you if you hadn’t been rid of us,” she spoke kindly, almost caring. Jack knew better of it. Knew it wouldn’t last. He moved his head around to see her through slightly blurred vision.
“I’d…d-do it all…again,” he struggled to speak. Finding his voice as though he’d been without it for years. What he chose to say wasn’t the most sensible of things, but he meant every hoarse word of it. Enraged by his words, Hathor took the opportunity to use the Ziertel again. Aiming it square with his forehead, she fired it at him from her close proximity and the red beam again encompassed his body, causing him to tremble further. Sam sniffed while choking on her own tears. Why did this have to be happening to him? Launching into a coughing fit, she buried her head in Daniel’s shoulder. Hathor paid them no attention. She concentrated on the task at hand – and it was literally in the palm of her hand.
Remaining strong for his final death sentence, Jack managed to lift his chin in defiance. Telling her without words that this time he would not be made cower away from being strong and weakening to her torture. Telling her, that this time, he would be the stronger of the two of them. He would prove to her that even in the face of death – and this time would be certain death, without the power of the sarcophagus – he would only be made stronger. This simple fact enraged her even further. For Jack was stronger than her. And she knew all too well that he was. He was stronger than her by far. Her strength was only in her power and weapons. And she used her power to create her idolized strength with her followers. It was this simple fact of her lack of strength that added only further to her revulsion of Jack. Inside, although very little of her own self was alive to talk to her through her mind, she knew very well how weak she was. Weaker than a child. Jack overshadowed her and her lack of strength. His valor was something she hated him for. And it was this that encouraged her to be rid of him. For while he lived, she had only the knowledge that someone far stronger than her existed. While he lay helpless and weak on the ground before her, she could only find more rage and prerequisite with which to force pain upon him. Growling with resentment, she fired the Ziertel at him again. She found her satisfaction in it, for while she held it in her hand, she too held the strength he once held within him. While firing the weapon at him, she held his strength in her hand and squeezed it from him. Slowly taking his strength and anything else he held as his own, she too slowly ripped him of his life. With each and every time she fired the Ziertel at him from the short distance she stood, she tore away more and more of his life. She found his life hanging by a thread before her. Barely able to breathe, he still remained untouched by her weapon. Life draining away from his eyes and his body, he still managed to show his strength. Sam and Daniel refused to watch on as Hathor’s Hand Device slowly pulled the remainder of his life from him.
~*~
Teal’c and SG11 had found the complex almost instantaneous with their arrival. It had been difficult to miss. Standing large and prominent on the hill-side, they ran quickly to it, weapons at the ready.
Upon reaching the entrance, they were surprised to find no guards on the in or outside. Taking it as a blessing in disguise, they entered swiftly to find a corridor with a series of chambers extending from it. SG11 began to search their way down the corridor, when Teal’c heard voices and directed them to the last of the chambers. Giving hand signals to one another, the burst into the room as a group and saw the inhabitants of it displeasing.
“Get down!” Major Turling called to Sam and Daniel as he and the rest of the team began to fire at the other residents of the room. Hathor screeched her anger and fired her hand device as one large blast toward where the team stood. Two of them were hit by it and both fell back but remained unhurt. Teal’c came from behind her with his Zat in hand. Knocking the Ziertel from her hand and grabbing the other, he shot her with his Zat twice. Falling to the ground slowly, her body convulsed and then was limp. Taking a moment to look at the fallen Goddess, he shot the Zat at her once more – disintegrating her. This time, she wouldn’t be coming back.
Sam ran to Jack on her unsteady legs. Falling to the ground by his side, she searched his neck for a pulse. Finding a faint beat beneath her fingers, she knew he didn’t have long. Broken ribs, collapsed lung and internal bleeding was only the beginning of his over all injuries. Adding to it further his broken ankle and wrist, dislocated shoulder and several broken fingers – he was in urgent need of medical attention.
“Jack? Can you hear me?” Sam’s voice quivered as she spoke and she turned him over. Earlier, she hadn’t noticed the remaining burns on his back and front alike. Tears falling uncontrollably from her eyes and face, she rested a hand on Jack’s pale cheek. “Come on! Jack, come on! You can’t give up now! You just can’t!” she cried.
“Sam, Sam we have to get out of here now, while we can,” Daniel told her.
“No! I have to know if he’s going to wake up Daniel…we can’t leave yet. We just can’t.”
“Major Carter, I believe we must return to the SGC for O’Neill to receive medical attention,” Teal’c added. Daniel nodded. They all watched Jack for a moment, hoping for a miracle.
Opening his eyes slowly, he saw the three figures gathered around him. The figured obscured by his blurred vision – all he knew was that they were people. People had been around while Hathor sucked his life away from him. It had to be them, trying to revive him. Sam, Daniel and Teal’c watched him as what can only be described as pure fear shone in his eyes.
“No!” his voice was closer to being exhaled breath with minute sounds circling inside it, but it came from his mouth with as much force as he could manage as he pushed them away and tried to back away. Sam’s eyes filled further with tears as she watched him – pushing away from them, his friends – while his mind was so obscured, even enough to confuse him into not knowing his own friends were there to try to help him. She allowed tears to fall from her eyes and streak down her face as she saw the outstanding fear shining in his eyes. Like a bright light, it shone out at them, scaring them all into silence for a moment.
“O’Neill, it is us your friends,” Teal’c attempted to reason, squatting next to Daniel who had just discovered his voice.
“Jack, it’s us. It’s me, Daniel. And Sam and Teal’c,” he added. “We have to get home.” Sam reached forward with her hand to touch Jack’s hand. She made brief contact with him, but he shied away – frightened. Sam wanted to cry so much more than she already was. It seemed not enough. The sight of him, with such fear in his eyes – SG1 had never seen Jack O’Neill this way. In fact, no one had. Through tears and quivering voice, Sam had to speak to him.
“Jack…it’s, it’s Sam. I’m…I’m not going to hurt you. Daniel, what’re…Jack?” eyes never leaving her Colonel, Sam noticed as his eyes closed while his head slowly dipped until it rested on the ground. Feeling for a pulse, Sam found nothing. Moving her fingers all round his neck, she choked on her own breath.
“Sam?” Daniel queried.
“I…I can’t…I can’t find a pulse,” she stammered. Changing positions of her fingers quickly from one spot to another, finally she held her breath briefly. “Wait…it’s there. Come on, we’re got to go,” she instructed, standing up slowly. Taking Jack’s limp body in his arms, Teal’c walked between his friends as they left to meet SG11 at the gate. Their limbs aching from sitting tied up so long, Daniel and Sam walked slower than usual.
When they reached the gate it was dialed and SG11 were waiting to leave, GDO signal sent through already minutes before. Leaving through the gate all at once, they silently fare welled the planet that had killed their CO and deprived them of four days of their lives.
Upon their arrival back at the SGC they were greeted by Dr. Fraiser and a team of nurses who quickly completed the task of taking Jack, Sam and Daniel to the Infirmary to be thoroughly checked over – and in Jack’s case, rushed off to the OR.
Dr. Warner and Dr. Mackenzie checked over Sam, Daniel, Teal’c and SG11 while the remnants of SG1 nervously and anxiously scanned the Infirmary for any sign of Janet and or her nurses. They were unfortunate enough to not be blessed by sightings any of the above. Dr. Mackenzie instructed Sam and Daniel that they were to remain in the Infirmary for at least a week whilst recovering from various cuts, abrasions, dehydration and very slight malnutrition.
Those four days that they’d been without food had given them a hankering for anything that even resembled food. A new outlook on the glory of nourishment dawning on them, they ate all the food that the Infirmary could give them. Once they’d devoured all their food and dwindled the supplies down to half its usual amount, they also found the comfort of the bed more reassuring than their own lives. Laying in them with minds briefly relaxed and away from the torment of those four days, Carter and Jackson slept. They slept for nearly a whole twenty-four hours. And if it weren’t for the heart-stopping nightmares they both experienced that night, they surely would have slept on for another twenty-four hours. But their minds, both, eluded them of that dream. For the dreams they did see were in fact the nightmarish kind. Reliving the days of watching their Colonel die in agony so many times. Both waking simultaneously early the next morning, they called for a doctor.
“Where’s Dr. Fraiser?” Sam asked urgently. The nurse that had come to them shook her head.
“In the ICU with Colonel O’Neill still I think. Hold on and I’ll check for you,” she replied. Daniel and Sam nodded while watching her go.
“God I hope he’s ok Daniel. I mean, I’ve seen Janet do some pretty amazing things before, but no one has ever been as bad as what Jack was…and I mean what if…”
“Don’t do that Sam. Let’s just hear what that nurse says. Don’t go all ‘what if’ and all that,” Daniel interrupted and told her sternly. She nodded, knowing he was right but not being fully rid of the overwhelming fear of losing her Colonel. A few minutes later that same nurse returned with positivity written on her face. Daniel smiled optimistically as she approached them.
“Dr. Fraiser is confident. She told me to tell you both not to worry too much,” she reported, then left them alone with their thoughts of how to achieve Janet’s message.
“Confident, what does that mean?” Sam said aloud to no one in particular.
“I think it’s a good thing, I mean if it wasn’t she…”
“Wouldn’t have told us anyway. Face it Daniel, it wouldn’t matter what the situation, Janet would have told us the best sounding story so to make sure we wouldn’t worry too much – just like she said. Anything to make us worry less, she would tell us. Even if he’s…he didn’t…” she suffocated on her words and stopped. Daniel knew where she was leading but didn’t agree with what she was saying.
“I don’t think so Sam. If there was something really wrong, the nurse would have had a hard time lying about it. She seemed genuinely confident with what Janet had told her. I don’t think there’s anything to worry about. And I think you know that too, somewhere inside,” he explained.
Sam contemplated his words for the remainder of the day.
~*~
The next day, after Jackson and Carter had slept the night away with a minimal amount of troubled dreams, Fraiser finally arrived back in the Infirmary. When the two members of SG1 woke in the late morning, they both instantly asked after her and she went to them.
“Janet, how’s the Colonel?” Sam asked, sleepily rubbing her eyes.
“He’s not too good at the moment, but he’ll be fine in a few of months. His insides took a real beating, so he won’t be back to work for at least two months, but I will advise longer. He’s lost a lot of blood, but after a few blood transfusions that’ll sort itself out. Collapsed lung didn’t help that much. His ribs weren’t too good, but that won’t take too long to heal I shouldn’t think. Of course his wrist and ankle are just your normal fractures – no problems there. His fingers are in the same boat there. His shoulder is fine, I put that back where it’s meant to be, and unless he does any martial arts practice in the next few weeks that should be fine. He’s in a light coma, but I really don’t believe that’s anything to worry seriously about at the moment. If he’s not awake within a week my opinion on that will have changed dramatically, but for now it’s nothing serious, he should pull out of it within a few days. I don’t know how he is psychologically though. I’ve no idea how he’ll be thinking when he wakes up. We’ll have to wait and see about that part. I take it – from the way he came back – that it wasn’t too pleasant where you all were then?”
“That’s putting it lightly,” Daniel remarked.
“When I say the name ‘Hathor’ what comes to mind?” Sam said.
“Ooh, nasty stuff. Why, was she there?” Janet queried almost knowing her answer before either of them spoke. Instead they nodded. “Oh dear. I take it the Colonel was her main source of entertainment then?”
“He looked worse,” Sam mumbled.
“Worse? There’s worse than that? What in heaven’s name did she do?”
“Everything you can think of and then some,” Daniel replied.
“I’m surprised he’s still alive then. Surely…”
“He wasn’t,” Sam interrupted softly, but enough to make the doctor stop mid-sentence. Confused statement, she stared at her.
“I’m sorry?” she asked.
“He wasn’t alive. Hathor killed him.”
“But then…”
“She had and used a sarcophagus,” Daniel added. It was then that a vague visualization of the scenario appeared in Fraiser’s mind.
“So, he died…how many times?”
“Enough,” Sam said sharply. The doctor nodded.
“Psychologically then, I don’t think he’s going to be in the best condition. Does he recollect his death?” Janet thought aloud.
“Deaths,” Carter stressed. The doctor nodded solemnly.
“We’re not sure, we didn’t really get much of a chance to talk to him. We did him when he woke up and he looked confused the first time. After that he seemed to know what was going on. I think he remembers them all,” Daniel explained. Fraiser mused inwardly for a moment, brow furrowed in concentration and deep thought. “When can we see him?”
“Some time today if you like. It’s really up to you two from now on. I’m releasing you both today. A quick check over of you both, and you’re clear. You’re both feeling alright to go aren’t you?”
“Feeling fine,” Daniel responded. Janet looked to Sam.
“Sam?”
“Nightmares,” she said softly.
“Nightmares? Both of you?” Daniel nodded.
“I’ve been having them too.”
“How bad?”
“Terrible. So real. Seeing him in pain. Hathor was so pleased. Watching him die…over and over, oh god,” Sam struggled to hold her words together and then fell in a heap of tears. The tears she’d been trying to conceal while in the Infirmary. Trying to keep them away until she could lay on her bed in her quarters and cry herself to sleep. But with those memories suddenly present in her mind, so real inside her head, those tears she’d hidden so well thus far could no longer resist flowing from her eyes. Janet’s heart went out to her friend and she hugged her arms around her shoulders whilst she cried.
“Come on Sam, lets go and see Jack,” Daniel coaxed. She shook her head and the tears poured from her eyes.
“I’ll only cry Daniel.”
“No, I think Daniel’s right Sam. Go and see him. He might not look that great, but I think he’ll appreciate your being there. I’m going to go now Sam, but I’d really like you to think about going to see Colonel O’Neill today ok? Yes, I’ll take that as a yes. When you’re ready, just ask the nurse to take you there, ok? Oh and by the way, General Hammond wants to see you later today as well. Just wants to see how you both are I think, probably won’t take long. He said to go up to his office when you’re ready,” Janet said. Daniel nodded for bother of them. Fraiser smiled and left them.
“Come on Sam, let’s go,” Daniel told her softly and took her arm under his. She looked up – teared eyes – and he smiled. “Come on.” Slowly getting up, they found a nurse and she took them to Jack.
As soon as she arrived with Daniel, Sam wanted to leave. She saw the man she loved so much laying before her under white sheets and with a respirator machine hooked up to him – she wished this were another nightmare. The horrifying truth was ever-present in her mind and it told her that this picture before her was the reality of their stay on the address of that unknown planet. Daniel indicated for her to sit down and she did but when she turned around he was gone. Managing an internal smile of gratitude, she turned back to the man laying in the hospital bed. Her mind a maze of directions, she listened to each individual voice.
‘Talk to him Sam, he’ll hear you’
‘Just sit here and watch him, think over everything that’s happened’
‘Say what you are feeling, tell him’
‘Stay here and hold his hand, let him know you’re here and worrying for him’
‘This is Jack in front of you Sam. This is the man you love. He’s in a coma; do you think he knows you’re sitting here? If yes, then don’t you think you should talk to him? Tell him whatever you haven’t been able to over the past week. Think about what it is you want and tell him. Look over what you feel right now and talk to him about it, pretend he is awake. Talk to him normally, as you would if you two were together. Don’t hide anything from him. Pretend he’s yours’
It was the final voice that Sam concentrated on. This was her logical self talking to her, and she tended to listen closer to it. In this instance it was the best move she could make. With this voice, she would talk to him. She would tell him how she was feeling now and how she had felt all the time before telling him how she felt. She would stay with him until he woke up and even then continue to tell him just everything that was on her mind. And this was now her game plan. To stay there in the ICU ward as long as she needed to. This man was the one and only thing in her life at that time that meant anything so deep to her, and with him being in the state he was, she knew he needed her to be there for him. Without her, he had no one to be there to care for and about him. Not like the way she did. Her caring was different from any other person in his life, and she knew how important it was for her to be with him. She knew how important it was for her, and equally for him. With her being so close to him, she was sure her love and caring would rebound from her to him and give him the reassurance of her presence. Her presence was all she had to provide, and with nothing else to do with it, she was more than willing to share it with him.
Later that day, Daniel returned to the ICU to collect Sam. With reluctance – in regard to her earlier resolution – she left the comatose man to see General Hammond with Daniel.
“Come,” Hammond called from within his office in response to a knock at the door. Opening the door, walking in and closing it behind them they stood before his desk. “Ahh, Major Carter, Dr. Jackson. Dr. Fraiser passed on my message then I see. Well, have a seat, both of you,” he said with a smile. Silently they sat and waited to be addressed for whatever reason he had called on them. “I called you both here to talk about the events of the past week. Now I realise this is probably not really what either of you want to be talking about just yet, but Dr. Fraiser and I both agreed that its best to do this now, while everything is fresh in your minds. I hope you don’t mind, but I would like you to talk to Dr. Fraiser about what happened on P7G 931?” Puzzled glances, they said nothing. “I’m sorry, you probably didn’t know that, but that’s the destination you were at when SG11 rescued you. Come in Doctors,” he called and Dr. Fraiser came into the room with a comforting smile, followed by Dr. Mackenzie. “You can decide between yourselves who you would like to speak to, but I would like this done by 20:00 hours.” Exchanging frowns of pain at the thought of talking through what happened on the newly discovered destination of P7G 931, Sam and Daniel sighed deeply.
“Sam, I thought it might be better if we go through this together in my office, is that ok?” Janet queried her friend quietly. She nodded and they left. Daniel and Dr. Mackenzie moved into the de-briefing room which was free for the entirety of that day.
“We can go through this slowly if you like, it’s completely up to you,” Mackenzie assured Daniel and he nodded.
“Yeah.”
“Ok, how about I start by asking what happened the night you…left.” Taking a breath, Daniel looked into the depths of his mind and it all appeared before him again just as if it were happening all over again.
“Uhh, well we’d just finished our de-briefing, the one from PJ2 774. We’d just got back from that and I was reading some papers of information we’d gotten from the ruins we’d seen…”
“If I could really stretch the friendship, can I ask that you be quite detailed in your descriptions of the events,” Mackenzie interrupted to add as politely as he could. Daniel nodded, finding it difficult to see how it would make any difference.
“I walked to my quarters and unlocked the door,”
“It’s ok, I would assume smaller things like that.”
“Alright. After I took off my boots, I sat on my bed and read through all the information on some ancient artifacts I found on our mission.” Mackenzie nodded in concentration while typing on his lap-top. “I was about to go to bed when the lights went out and the alarms went off. I thought there was just a power break or something, so I sat and waiting for the lights to come back on. Then I heard my door open and before I knew it there was a rope around my neck. I didn’t see who came in because it was dark, but whoever it was, they were strong, I must have passed out not long after because after that all I remember is waking up next morning in a van.”
~*~
“Ok, let’s start from the beginning – always a good place to start. I won’t push you at all ok? You just take your time, go as slow as your like Sam, there’s no rush. No pressure at all, let’s start with what happened the night you, Daniel and Colonel O’Neill went missing?” Deeply inhaling, Sam remembered the night as well as if it had happened but minutes ago. Shuddering to herself, she began the description.
“We’d just finished our debriefing from PJ2 774. Was late, so we all headed off to our quarters to get some sleep. I took the long way back because I wanted to stop off at the Lab to drop off some papers. So when I got back to my quarters…”
“I’m sorry to interrupt when you’re going so well, but I’ve been asked specifically to make sure you are very detailed in your descriptions of everything. You don’t have to tell me that you opened a door or anything small like that, but I need details. I’m sorry,” Janet interrupted and Sam nodded.
“Ok, well when I got back to my quarters I took off my boots and jacket and sat down on my bed and set my alarm for the morning to make sure I didn’t over sleep. I had almost finished and then the lights went out. Really startled me. I thought it might be some kind of drill with testing the lights and alarms and everything, so I just sat and waited. I figured they’d come back on pretty soon and then I heard my door open. I called out to see who was there – I thought it might be Daniel or someone like that – but they didn’t answer. I called again but then I had some kind of rope pulled around my neck. He told me not to make any noise – I could tell it was a man’s voice – and then I must of passed out.” She stopped. The memories of being bumped around in the back of the van shook her mind into a brief silence.
“Sam? You alright? You can stop for a while if you’d like,” Janet said caringly. Sam shook her head.
“No. I’m fine. Just something made me think, that’s all,” she said, determination to continue glistening in her eyes. Fraiser nodded and Sam continued. “When I woke up, I was in the back of a van with a gag, my wrists tied up behind my back and my ankles tied too. It was moving along pretty steadily and it was a bumpy road, I remember that. We drove along a fair way – ten or fifteen minutes, I’m sure really – and then we stopped.”
“Where were Daniel and Colonel O’Neill?”
“I didn’t know then. I just thought I was alone. When they pulled me out of the van and took the rope off my ankles, we walked around to the side. Then I saw Colonel O’Neill…”
“Yes, and?”
“He was…well, uhh…he was on the ground,” Sam stammered.
“Someone holding him down?” Janet inquired.
“No. No, Maybourne was kicking him. He didn’t need to be held down, there’s no way he could of done anything.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Then another van pulled up and Daniel came around and stood with me. They made us watch for a little while. I looked around to see if I knew where we were, but I couldn’t tell much, it was getting dark and there weren’t any signs around the place. Maybourne went inside and told his men to bring us in but the one with Jack was horrible. He just pulled him up. He must have been given drugs before we arrived though – he couldn’t even stand. He just fell and Maybourne came back out to tell, ‘White’ he called him, to bring him inside. We were dumped in a dark room and left there.”
*
“So how long before you heard any sound outside the room?” Mackenzie asked.
“No idea. A while. Then we heard Maybourne talking to Jack and asking him a question,” Daniel responded.
“Which was?”
“He was asking him about the co-ordinates for the Tollan home world. Jack wouldn’t know that. Hell, I don’t know. Sam said she didn’t either. It was a really dumb question to ask; none of us would know that. Only if we had the base computer in front of us to look it up on. We heard the chains rattling,”
“Which chains?”
“The ones that were wrapped around Jack’s wrists and ankles. We couldn’t understand that either. Why he had chains and we only had rope. Still, we heard Maybourne’s voice getting angrier and then I heard a crack…”
“Crack? Like what? Snapping something?”
“No, more like a bone. Being forced out of joint. Later on when we heard Maybourne go outside with his troops we went out to see how Jack was doing. He wasn’t in good shape. He was tied to a chair with the chains and he looked terrible. The noise I heard was his shoulder dislocating, don’t know how it happened but it did. Was sticking out through…” Daniel blinked away the image of Jack’s shoulder bone protruding horribly and swallowed hard.
“Take your time Dr. Jackson, I’m sure this is incredibly hard but you are doing extremely well,” Dr. Mackenzie reassured supportively and Daniel nodded – brow creased. “Whenever you’re ready.”
*
“Daniel tried to get the chains off and I checked him over to see how he was psychologically. He was so drugged. It was so horrible Janet. He didn’t look like the same man. His eyes were consumed by confusion. He looked like he was lost inside himself. Oh God it was awful. I tried to make him talk to me. Just to make sure he knew who I was. Probably a bit extreme, but I had to make sure they hadn’t done anything else to him. He told me to say his name. I could see how hard it was for him. He struggled just to talk to me. But he knew who I was, and obviously knew who he was, so I was pleased with that much. I knew I shouldn’t have, but I needed to feel that he was ok. I mean it was the worst possible time to be doing that, well with the circumstances and everything…but I just had to Janet, you understand what I mean don’t you?”
“I haven’t got a clue what you’re talking about Sam, you need to slow down. It’s ok, we have plenty of time, you don’t need to rush. Go as slow as you like, there’s no deadline for this. It’s not a mission report Sam, you can take your time. Now, what did you have to do?” Janet explained slowly and Sam breathed deeply for a moment. Slowing her breathing to a regular speed, she nodded to herself to convince herself she could go on.
“I kissed him. I know it was probably the stupidest thing to do, especially then, but I’ve wanted to for so long and more so for him – and for me too – I thought that might be comforting somehow. I don’t know – it’s stupid. I just, well…you know, it was one of those things that I just had to do then and there. It wasn’t something I could wait to do later, or tomorrow, or next week, I just had to then. Anyway, Maybourne came back in and saw and had his two cents worth, as he always does. We ended up tied up on the sofa in that room and this one guy, Preston, brought us some water and some for Jack too. He was the only one of them that was nice. Well, when I say he was nice I don’t really know about that much, but I do know that he talked to us like we were humans and not prisoners, and he tried to stick up for Jack. He seemed alright. Better than the rest of them anyway.”
Sam and Daniel completed their descriptions of the events past with difficulty. Both Doctors became stricter on their detail approaching the stage of meeting up with Hathor on P7G 931 and Jack’s many deaths and revivals. Dr. Fraiser was particularly firm with Sam when she recalled her CO’s final assault from Hathor. She delved deep into Sam’s mind and asked after the smallest details. Sam’s heart took a beating from reliving the death of her Colonel, watching him suffer through so much pain. Her eyes filled with tears and she broke down. Janet didn’t make her go on any further than Hathor’s barbequing. It was going over that that broke Sam until she could no longer speak about the proceedings. Daniel managed to cover everything without missing out on details or breaking down. His mind though had suffered by reliving those days of torture for both him and Sam as well as their Colonel.
The night had half passed by the time they’d finished and they were both grateful to just find their quarters and go to bed.
~*~
Early the next morning Sam woke from her troubled sleep to find she needed desperately to see her Colonel. Loosely throwing on her clothes she walked through the dimly lit SGC corridors toward the ICU. When she reached the horribly silent ward, she noticed the lack of activity around the general space of the SGC. At that time of the morning majority of personnel would be either away on missions or in bed. A small percentage would be roaming the mountain going about their various duties on the 02:00 shift. She thought that small percentage were the unlucky ones – having the 02:00 shift. It was 02:09 and Sam felt quite alone within the confines of the hushed ICU ward. The cleanliness of it was almost inhuman and the lack of movement within it made her feel as though she were in a dream. Fortunate on one side of the coin, and unfortunate on the other – she wasn’t dreaming. She found the section that held the bed of the man she’d grown so close to. His form still and in the same exterior as she had left the previous day, she sat down on the chair beside the bed. Opting to keep the ward silent as she had come into it, she sat without words. Moving the chair close to the bed as it could go, she held his hand in hers. The feel of life within that hand she held was more than enough to keep her awake for the hours she sat in that chair beside the bed. No words were needed for what she could feel in holding his hand. Articulate hands. Strong, firm, and yet with that came the kindness he held so pure within his heart and the love Sam had felt when she’d kissed him. Through that, so much of his inner self had surfaced and only she could feel it through the touch of their lips. Strength inside him she too could feel and yet knew she would never hold that in her hands. Even while holding his hand and knowing the will power he possessed, she still knew true to herself that she would never be that strong. In herself she knew, yes, she too was strong willed and held great power within her – she too could resist torture and pain for the sake of her lover or too the sake of her home planet – and yet that strength she held was exceeded by her CO. Only by a minimal margin, and she wouldn’t dream of disliking him for it, but that in itself was enough to tell her in something louder than words that he was one of the most wonderful people she’d ever met. And ever hope to meet. But along with admiring him, she also loved him in something deeper than a love she’d ever experienced. Perhaps it had taken a time overdue for them to become both aware of their deep feelings for one another, but now that it had become known Sam wanted to act on her revelation and his compliance with it. They both had waited this long, and yet these days of waiting for him to awaken seemed longer than the years of waiting they had both suffered through. Strange as it seemed, these thoughts alone had eventually made Sam succumb to her true tiredness and she fell asleep in the chair beside the bed.
More than six hours later, Sam woke up and the bustle of the SGC had returned in its daily ritual. Rubbing her fingers over her eyes and around her temples, she yawned.
“Good to see you awake Sam, how long have you been here?” A familiar voice gradually approached her. She turned and saw Janet standing beside her, a smile covering her face. Sam shrugged.
“I don’t know. Woke up early and came down here, I guess I must of fallen asleep. What time is it?” She replied. Janet chuckled.
“What time is it?” she repeated with another chuckle, “Sam you worry me. I think you need more life and less work. And it’s 08:35 just so you know.” Sam rolled her eyes at her friends’ mockery of her but raised her eyebrows and yawned again. “Are you sure you slept? You look beat.”
“Still feel tired. Oh well,” she said within another yawn, “I’ll try again tonight.” Janet nodded reasonably.
“Alright then, but make sure you do. Last thing I need is you back at the Infirmary again. His vitals are all good. Looking promising. Another day maybe. I’ll come back later and have another look; meantime you can come and tell me if you think there’s anything suspicious. Shouldn’t think anything will happen though. Everything looks in order,” Fraiser explained before returning to her usual duties for the day. Sam turned back to the bed and sighed.
“Everything’s a mess Jack. I love you and you’re in a coma. I’m tired and I want to sleep but when I do all I see is everything that happened on P7G 931 and have nightmares about you being tortured by Hathor and I wake up either crying or screaming and it’s just not worth trying to sleep with that. I want to see you awake, but I’m scared of how you will be feeling about generally everything but I can’t sit here and see you this way. I miss you Jack – I need you. I need you back here with me. I can’t go on like this without you,” Sam poured out her feelings to him and with that, his eyes opened. “Jack,” she stated simply and kissed the top of his hand. “Did you hear what I said? Hold on, I’ll get Janet to do something about that respirator.”
Moments later she returned with Dr. Fraiser who smiled to her patient awake.
“Well welcome back Colonel, we’ve missed you, haven’t we Sam?” She nodded. “Now this is going to sting, but it will only be second,” Janet said softly and pulled the respirator tube out from his throat. “There, now your throat will be sore for a few days, but drink a lot and it will pass. How do you feel Colonel? Would you like some water first?”
“Please,” he said quietly, voice hoarse and dry. Janet nodded.
“Nurse, some water please,” she called to a passing nurse who left and quickly returned with a small plastic cup of water. Succeeding finishing the small cup of water, Fraiser threw in a few questions. “Ok Colonel, now I’ll just do the usual check ups.”
“Usual check ups?”
“Yes, there is a series of questions required to be asked of all coma patients. Deep or mild coma, they have to be asked. Ok, number one do you know who you are?” Jack nodded. “I’m going to need you to tell me. Pretend I don’t know you.”
“Janet if he says he knows who he is…”
“Jack O’Neill, Colonel of the US Air Force, need any more than that?” he cut Sam off unnoticeably without the usual strength of his voice. Janet shook head.
“No, that’s fine. How about us? You know who we are?” She asked. He nodded.
“Samantha Carter, Major of the US Air Force, second in command of SG1. Dr. Janet Fraiser – Doc.” They smiled. He definitely knew them. It was then that Daniel came sprinting into the ward and stopped, puffing, next to Sam who stared at him, puzzled.
“I came as soon as I heard, hey Jack,” he managed to stumble out.
“What about this disaster?” Janet smiled. Daniel looked humorously indignant.
“Dr. Daniel Jackson – Danny. Archaeologist and fully qualified geek.” Aside from the fact that his voice sounded terrible, was scarcely audible and caused him enormous pain to use, he managed his usual sarcasm and wit. They all laughed.
“Thanks Jack!” Daniel exclaimed jokingly. Janet linked his arm with hers and led him away, leaving Sam and Jack alone. She sat down again and smiled at him.
“Did you hear me? When I was talking to you before you woke up? Could you hear?” she asked.
“Yeah, I heard you,” he told her and she could see it hurt for him to talk. Sides of her mouth curled up slightly she looked intently into his eyes.
“Do you have any idea how much I’ve missed you? I can’t sleep Jack. I’ve tried. I just can’t. And when I think everything is good – I’m sleeping fine with nothing horrible, something horrible comes. It’s a nightmare – literally. I don’t know what to do. Daniel’s been having them too.” Eyes still fixed with his, they went blank. Few concentration lines on his forehead remained and yet his eyes lost all their focus with Sam’s. Blankness covered them and Sam was confused by it. Whether or not he was thinking she couldn’t tell – there was no sign of anything in his eyes. They were empty of a sign. “Jack? You ok?” she asked concernedly, and although he nodded slightly, she could see he wasn’t really paying a great deal of attention to her question – or anything else for that matter. “Are you sure? Look at me,” Sam requested for reassurance, but his eyes didn’t deviate from their blankness. Shadowed by nothingness, he looked lost within his own mind. “Jack? Jack look at me. Listen to me, Jack!” Sam exclaimed and with a sudden urge she placed a fierce grip on his chin and turned his head to her almost angrily. “Listen!” she demanded. His hand swiftly and reflexively moved to meet her wrist and quickly released her grip of his chin. Moving back away from her as best he could, the same fear that had met them upon their rescue on P7G 931 was present shining in his eyes. Naked fear once again staring Sam in the face, she was stunned into silence. How should she react to this fear inside him? How could she? What could she do? With no suggestions slapping her in the face, she left quickly to find Janet.
“Come and look at him Janet. See his eyes. He looks scared. I’ve never seen him scared before. Nothing like this. This is scary Janet – it’s complete fear. I don’t know what to do. Come and see,” Sam explained as best she could upon finding her friend checking over another of her ICU patients. The doctor nodded and followed her back to where Jack was. “You go in there alone, I won’t.”
“Sam,”
“No, I can’t. I’ll just wait around here.” Fraiser sighed as her friend walked away. Parting the curtain circling around the bed, she went in and sat down on the chair beside the bed.
“Colonel, how you doing?” she asked casually.
“Fine,” he answered simply. The doctor nodded.
“Are you sure about that? I don’t mean just physically. I’m a doctor Colonel, when I ask that question I mean both physically and psychologically. So now I’ll ask again, how are you doing?” she said.
“Fine,” sticking to his story, Jack looked away.
“Alright then Jack, if that’s the way you want to be. You and I both know you’re not fine, but if you won’t tell me anything then I can’t help you. This might sound like the old cop trick of ‘if you don’t say anything we can’t help you’ but in this case I’m afraid it’s true. I’m not going to hire a detective to find out the evidence here, because there isn’t any unless you talk to me. And if you don’t want to talk to me, that’s fine, but you need to talk to someone you feel comfortable with. I’m not trying to make you feel incompetent, but I need to tell you this so that you know how important it is for you to talk about how you’re feeling. I’m not trying to make it sound easy either, because I know for certain it will be one of the worst things you will have to do, but I also know that if you don’t, your life will be one of the worst things. Just think about that Jack and maybe you’ll reconsider being fine.”
~*~
That night was unlike any other night of that week in the ICU ward. Deep within the folds of sleep, Jack relived the torture Hathor had implemented on him while they were present on P7G 931. His incredibly painful deaths and the things he’d endured while Hathor reveled in her own supposed talents. Hearing his own pained cries and seeing the very hand of death reach out and pull him into its black hole was enough to send him insane in his own nightmare. What he couldn’t see or hear was his actions on the outer of his mind while sleeping.
Whilst unhappy with the decision, Janet had switched shifts with Dr. Mackenzie and taken on the night shift of the ICU for this particular night. Catching up on overdue paper work, she could hear a petrified voice emitting from the inner of the ward and left the office to investigate. Opening the curtain around Jack’s bed she saw the stricken statement on his sleeping face. Intent to hear his words, she listened briefly. If the nightmare was enough to make a solid minded soldier like Jack react this way, Fraiser wanted to know why. Hearing his cried for a few minutes told the doctor enough to know his reasons and she gave him a sedative in hopes it would allow him some peaceful sleep.
Next morning Sam found her position in the ICU was somewhere she’d rather steer clear from for some time, so she went in search of her friend.
“Sam, hey. What’s wrong? How come you’re not with Jack?” She sighed.
“I’m just having some time away – that’s all. What have you been up to?” Looking over his desk, Daniel shrugged.
“Not much. Trying to clean up this mess – finding it a bit hard. Looking for those notes from that mission to PJ2 774 before this…uhh, but I can’t find them. I was sure I left them on here somewhere but I just can’t…”
“I saw it again Daniel,” Sam cut him and stated blankly.
“You saw what?” he queried, genuinely confused.
“That look – in his eyes. Like before we left. You remember. I saw it again,” she explained vaguely but Daniel knew exactly what she was talking about and remembered the scene with a shudder.
“When?” he said simply.
“Yesterday. God it scares me when I see him like that Daniel. This is Jack we’re talking about here. It’s not just anyone. It’s Jack. And to see fear like that in his eyes makes me scared. I hate seeing that, but the worst part is not knowing why he is like that. I mean I know all that stuff he went through must have really gotten to him on a deep level, but I just don’t understand where that fear is coming from.”
“It could be so many things Sam.”
“I know, I just wish I could talk to him about it.”
“You can. Nothing’s stopping you from trying.”
“Yes there is. I don’t know what to say to him Daniel. I don’t know how to talk to him about it. All I know is that he’s obviously going through some pretty heavy stuff at the moment and basically I’m too scared to say anything to him about it. I don’t know how he would react. I wouldn’t know how to talk to him about it in a way so…God I don’t know what I’m talking about. I can’t talk to him Daniel. I don’t know how to while he’s like that – I don’t how to handle all this.”
“Do you want me to talk to him?”
“What would you say that would be any different from what I’d say?”
“Nothing. I just thought maybe if you think someone should talk to him I’ll give it a go. I don’t know what I’d say to him either, but I’m willing to give it a try.”
“I think that would be a very good idea Dr. Jackson.” They heard a voice approach them and when they turned, they were faced with their friend and Doctor.
“Janet, hi,” Sam said with relief. She inclined her head forward as a gesture of recognition but said nothing more of greetings.
“What you were saying Daniel, I think you really need to. I’ve tried talking to him but I think it could be better for him to talk to a friend rather than a doctor. I know we’re all friends, but a closer friend, and someone who isn’t his doctor could perhaps be a better option than me trying to get through to him.”
“What did you say to him?” Daniel queried.
“I asked him how he was doing – simple I know, but I thought it would be the best way to go about it. He kept it simple, one word answer – same word ‘fine’. I told him that he an I both knew he wasn’t fine and that he really needed to talk to someone if he was going to get help but he seemed so consumed within his own thoughts or rather a way of getting rid of them that he didn’t seem to take anything in that I said. He must have been having terrible nightmares last night though. I gave him a sedative to calm him and hopefully give him some peaceful sleep. I’m not sure if it worked well, but he did stop,”
“Nightmares? Was he, well…you know…”
“Making a lot of noise? Yes, that’s how I knew.”
“Can I talk to you for a minute, Janet?” Sam’s eyes found Daniel quickly and he understood.
“I’ll go look for those papers,” he said and left. Sam looked back to Janet with worry hooding her gaze.
“What was he saying? In his nightmare?” she asked urgently and Janet explained with haste and detail. Sam nodded knowingly. “I was thinking that could be it. I need to go talk to him now, see you later,” she said and left for the ICU.
~*~
“Jack, I need to talk to you about some things, ok? You might not like what I have to say, but quite frankly I don’t care. You need to hear this stuff, and if I don’t talk to you about it no one will. Just listen for a while, and then you can tell me how you’re my CO and I shouldn’t be telling you this stuff. Ok?” Briefly speechless due Sam’s firmness, he nodded with blank statement. She nodded after him. “Ok, good. Janet told me…well, she said last night you were having a nightmare. I’m sure it was something similar to what me and Daniel have been having, and for that part I understand how you feel. They’re horrible, especially when you wake up crying or screaming. Not pleasant, I know. Anyway, that’s beside the point. You need to know this. You don’t have to feel ashamed Jack – do you hear me? I can’t stress this to you enough; you have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. What you were going through was more than enough torture for one person and you wouldn’t find anyone to tell you that you should be ashamed. Do you understand what I’m saying or am I not making it clear enough?”
“That’s ok for you Carter, you’re not the one who…”
“No Sir, I’m sorry I won’t let you say it. I may not have gone through what you did, but I went through watching it. Now I know that’s not the same thing, but from where I was sitting I saw perfect reason for it. I know it’s completely like you to be like this about something like that, but its really not necessary. You’re the only one you have to answer to here. No one else is condemning you. Only you are. It’s all inside your military head, and you need to stop it. Close off the soldier part of your mind if that’s possible for you to do and look at what you are doing to yourself. If you can do that, you’ll see how unnecessary it is. I’m not about to be the doctor on you and give you medical reasons for it all, because quite frankly I don’t have any medical terminology for what you are doing apart from the fact you don’t need to be doing it. Sir, I told you not so long ago that I love you – and I meant every word. You said to me that you loved me as well. I’m sure you remember that, and I’m not going to pretend you don’t. When I told you that, it was the most releasing feeling. It’s something that I should have told you long ago and didn’t, so telling you released a lot of tension for me. I don’t want to know what you think of me now, but what I think of you is only that I love you and that I want you to see what you are doing to yourself. You’re putting all this pressure on yourself for something that you don’t need to even think about ever again in your life. None of that experience is worth remembering. None of it except – for me – hearing you say that you love me. And I don’t know about you, but for me that was the single most wonderful thing I’ve ever heard anyone say to me in my life. There’s a huge part of me that wants none of that to have ever happened, and I’m sure that part is bigger for you, but part of me thinks that I would be willing to go through it all again just to know that you love me. Or at least hear you say it. Just think about that Jack. It was a horrible experience, and yet I would still be willing to go through it all again just to hear three little words being said by you. Doesn’t that tell you something? I’ll leave you alone for a while to think about that.”
“Did you talk to him?” Daniel asked as Sam approached him.
“Yes, and I told him exactly what he didn’t want to hear,” she responded resolutely. Daniel looked at her with a confused face.
“You what?” he queried in puzzlement.
“I told him what he didn’t want to hear. I know he didn’t want me to tell him what I did, but it was for his own good. He can Court-Martial me later, but right now he needs to think about what I told him. It was all the truth,” Sam explained and Daniel nodded slowly and emphatically – pretending to understand. To him, Sam sounded more like a mother chastising a child about selfish he or she was being in wanting all the candy for themselves. Along with that he was certain what Sam had told Jack had nothing to do with candy – but the thought was there.
“Do you think it helped?”
“I’m not sure. I just kind of blurted it all out, told him to think about it all and left. I’ll go back soon and see how he’s doing.”
“What did you talk to Janet about before?”
“I asked her what he’d said in his nightmares.”
“And?”
“She said he said things like telling Hathor to stop the pain and the like. That’s how I knew what was bothering him. Its that fear that I don’t understand. Hopefully I will talk to him about that soon – if what I said got through to him. I’ll go to see him now actually. See you later Daniel,” Sam said, leaving with a ambitious smile.
“Sam, I wouldn’t bother him just yet.” Dr. Fraiser’s voice stopped Sam in her tracks towards Jack’s bed. She frowned.
“Why not?” she asked.
“He’s been very quiet.” Raising her eyebrows Sam inclined her head while waiting for further information.
“That’s it?”
“Well you talked to him didn’t you? I thought he must be thinking it all over – what you said I mean. Wrong?”
“No, not entirely. You could be right, but he’s been quiet the whole times he’s been here, I don’t really think that’s anything to go by.”
“Probably not. Alright, go in and see what you can get out of him, because believe me, I’ve tried and he’s barely said two words. Maybe less.”
“I’ll do my best. I hope he’s alright,” Sam said with worried undertone. Leaving the company of her friend, she went inside the curtain surrounding the bed inside it. Standing at the foot of the bed for a moment, she waited to see if he was going to say anything to her. His mind elsewhere, Jack didn’t even notice Sam at the foot of his bed. Moving to the chair, Sam sat down. “How you doing Colonel?” she asked simply. He looked to her and said nothing. They sat in an awkward silence for a few minutes before a voice broke the quiet.
“I’ve been military for years and never once – no matter what the circumstances – resorted to begging. Never. Hearing my own voice, willing begging with her to make the pain go away, makes me ashamed to say that I’m a soldier,” Jack explained slowly and Sam listened.
“You shouldn’t feel that way Colonel. What she was doing to you – you would have to be stronger than Superman not to react to that. You have nothing to be ashamed of,” she said reasonably. He shook his head.
“You don’t understand,” he responded lowly. Sam shook her head.
“No, you’re right. I don’t understand. But I know something you don’t.” Again silence reigned. “Aren’t you going to ask what it is?” Sam prompted.
“Why?”
“Because…I don’t know. Just ask.”
“Ok, what?”
“I know that I love you,”
“I already know that.”
“I haven’t finished. I know that I love you, and that whatever you do – to me – is perfect. I know that might sound ridiculous and corny, but it’s the truth. I love you with all my heart Jack, and nothing you do will ever change that. I don’t care about anything except you. Stuff the SGC if it has to come to that. I know I’m a by-the-book girl, but for you I would do anything. I hope you understand what you do to me. You make me a better person. You keep me alive. I don’t know about you, but if you ever leave – I don’t know what I’d do. You’re probably sick of hearing it, but I love you – and wherever you go, whatever you do, I want to be with you. No one else. And it doesn’t matter what you have done, that you don’t like, because I don’t see it. I see you, and I love you for who you are and everything that makes you, you,” Sam leaned forward resting her chin on her folded arms on the side of the bed, “And what makes you, is a loving heart, a strong will, a deeply devoted soul and caring eyes that I get lost in every day. That’s all you. And that’s what I love about you. I don’t want to cry on you, but with what you are feeling, I feel as though I have to justify my feelings for you. I don’t have a reason for loving you – I just do. The day I met you I knew I loved you. I remember all of that day you know. I was so determined to prove I was just as good a soldier as you. Big tough woman. When all the time I was thinking about you. How…well, I’ll spare the gory details, but I couldn’t stop thinking about you that day. And now look at me. Four years later and I’m finally admitting to it,” she exhaled with a smile of remembrance then looked up into the intense chocolate brown gaze that could only be the eyes of her Colonel, “I think I’ve said enough now. I must have been talking for hours – it feels like it. I’m sorry; you must feel like falling asleep. I just…well…I needed to tell you. I guess I’ll leave you alone now.” Before she had finished standing she was called back.
“Sam.” She turned her head.
“Yeah?”
“You don’t…you don’t have to go.” Sam smiled and sat down. “You know I feel the same about you, don’t you?”
“I do now.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
Story Notes: Author's Note :
All the usual stuff, comments are yummy and appreciated. No flames of course though thanks. I thought I should let people know I only do these mean things to Jack because I love him so much and cos he’s so gorgeous, and well…I don’t really know how to explain it. People out there that understand where I’m coming from (the smart ones!) good for them, but for those of you who don’t have an effing clue what I’m rambling on about, build a bridge and get over it. Just read the fic, if you don’t like it…yeah, and if you do, cool. Write me your comments – I love ‘em.
Season/sequel info :
Have to be Season 4 I’m thinkin’.
Spoilers :
“Children Of The Gods”, “Hathor”, “Enigma” – Season 1. “Out of Mind” – Season 2. “Into The Fire”, “Foothold”, “Pretense” – Season 3. Also a reference to a character from “Children Of The Gods” – Season 1.
All the usual stuff, comments are yummy and appreciated. No flames of course though thanks. I thought I should let people know I only do these mean things to Jack because I love him so much and cos he’s so gorgeous, and well…I don’t really know how to explain it. People out there that understand where I’m coming from (the smart ones!) good for them, but for those of you who don’t have an effing clue what I’m rambling on about, build a bridge and get over it. Just read the fic, if you don’t like it…yeah, and if you do, cool. Write me your comments – I love ‘em.
Season/sequel info :
Have to be Season 4 I’m thinkin’.
Spoilers :
“Children Of The Gods”, “Hathor”, “Enigma” – Season 1. “Out of Mind” – Season 2. “Into The Fire”, “Foothold”, “Pretense” – Season 3. Also a reference to a character from “Children Of The Gods” – Season 1.
End Notes: §pÝ®ô¿
Sequel will be submitted soon – not sure when, whenever I get my lazy ass into gear and get it done most likely. Don’t know when that will be, so stick around and look for my name on fics, next one you see by my well probably be the sequel to this. Please don’t forget to send comments to me, big fan o’ those, love ‘em. Don’t hold back – tell me everything. No flames tho thanks.
Sequel will be submitted soon – not sure when, whenever I get my lazy ass into gear and get it done most likely. Don’t know when that will be, so stick around and look for my name on fics, next one you see by my well probably be the sequel to this. Please don’t forget to send comments to me, big fan o’ those, love ‘em. Don’t hold back – tell me everything. No flames tho thanks.
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters, settings, etc, are the property of their respective owners. Any original characters and plots are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended. ... [ read more ]