I have read many fabulous stories where Sam goes to Area 51 at the same time or immediately after Jack goes to DC. What if Sam's transfer actually happened prior to his transfer and was precipitated by a totally none related event? Here is one such event that could explain such a scenario. Warning, not a happy story, but J/S all the way. Oh yeah, probably need to be marked AU as Janet is alive in my SG world and are a few curse words as we are dealing with Jack here. Set after end of season 8, but before start of season 9.
Thank you to everyone kind enough to provide me feedback on my last piece. For those of you asking for the third scenario to continue, I am playing with it but this one needed to come out first. So, keep your fingers crossed!
Disclaimers: The following is a work of fan fiction based on the television series Stargate SG-1. It is in no way intended to infringe on the copyrights of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/US, Double Secret Productions, Gekko Productions or anyone else who may have legal rights to the characters and settings. I claim no ownership of the characters. Only using them for a short time and will return them in relatively the same shape as when borrowed.
"SG Command to SG-One-Niner, WHAT IS YOUR STATUS?!" General Jack O'Neill snapped into the radio in his hand, his eyes never leaving the blue shimmer of the open wormhole in front of him. Around him, medical personnel valiantly attempted to stabilize patients while defense teams tried to maintain lines of fire that would not put the base personnel in jeopardy of friendly fire.
Anxious eyes flickered between the General and the event horizon. Everyone knew there would be a time soon when he would have no choice but to shut down the connection or raise the iris. Either one could spell death to the one military person left on the planet.
"She was right behind you?" he tossed over his shoulder at the remaining members of the base's flagship team.
"She said she would be right through. Jack, let Teal'c and me go back," Doctor Daniel Jackson urged, gripping the arm of his friend to emphasize his point. "Something must of happened. Let us get her."
Shaking off the impeding hand, Jack raised the radio again. "SG Command to SG-one-niner. Carter, report!" he urged, unconsciously taking several steps closer to the ramp. With each passing minute, the dread in O'Neill's soul grew. No matter how much he wanted to grant Jackson's request, he couldn't justify sending anyone into the civil war waging on the other side without some indication that his second in command was still alive.
"Coming up on eight minutes, sir," a voice called out from the control room above him.
Wincing, O'Neill silently thanked whatever power that be that no enemy fire had come through the wormhole due to it being left open. As it was, he was going to have answer some serious questions about why he had not followed procedure and shut it down long before now. "CARTER!" O'Neill yelled into the radio again, trying unsuccessfully to keep his building desperation from showing.
An energy bolt lancing through the air and striking the back wall forced all personnel to drop to the floor. Simultaneously, "we're taking fire" was broadcasted through the room as protocol dictated. "Sonofabitch," Jack snarled, shuffling behind a shield while trying to assess if anyone had been injured.
"Carter, dig in until you can contact us," Jack ordered keying the radio. "Walter, shut it..." Jack was stopped by the sight of his second darting through the wormhole, hunched over, her arms wrapped in front of her upper body. She had barely cleared the horizon before she fell to her knees, and two more rounds of weapon fire followed her through.
"SHUT IT DOWN," Jack roared as the energy bursts bounced off the walls. Ignoring the potential of being hit, he yelled "DOC!" as his feet hit the ramp and the wormhole disengaged.
"Carter," he called dropping beside her. Blood smears on her arms, hands and shoulder told him she was injured somewhere. Unsure of where he could touch without causing pain, he wrapped one arm around her back to steady her incase she fell.
"Sam," the base chief medical officer Janet Fraiser called, kneeling in front of the injured solder. "Let me see," she urged trying to peer under her chin and pulling gently on her arms in an attempt to move them.
"Janet," Sam whispered, her head rising. "I can't get him to breath," she added, thrusting a tiny bloody infant into the doctor's hands.
Signing the report he just finished, Jack blew out a loud breath trying to quell the frustration and worry eating at him. It had been a hellavu day that was for sure. A routine exploration and archeological dig had blown into a full scale civil war, trapping base personnel in the middle of it. Four injured in the initial attack and SG1 and 3 had gone in to retrieve them. More injuries during the rescue. So far no SG personnel had died, but there were severe physical injuries to several of them.
Shuddering, Jack mentally thanked the heavens that Carter had not been one of the personnel seriously injured. It seemed that most of the blood had not been hers. She had a few cuts, bruises and scrapes, but nothing serious. He had been notified she had been released and that Daniel and Teal'c were taking her home as he had postponed the debrief until more of the personnel were able to attend it.
Then they would have to deal with the psychological toll of the mission. That was going to take longer than the physical damage to heal.
Feeling the vibration of his cell phone, he snagged it from his pocket and pressed the send.
"Sam didn't want to go home, so we brought her to your house," Daniel informed him, not waiting for Jack to say anything.
"How is she?" O'Neill asked quietly.
"She's...," Daniel broke off, looking for the right word. After a few moments of silence, he continued. "Broken."
Drawing in a sharp hiss, Jack closed his eyes. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he forced air into his lungs. "SG17 is scheduled to be back by eighteen hundred. I'll be there as soon as I can after that," he added.
Hanging up, Jack looked at this watch to confirm how much time he had before he could leave. Picking up the telephone, he called Walter. "Unless SG17 comes back hot, I'm going to push back their debrief until tomorrow afternoon. What else is there?"
Working through the few obstacles in his schedule, Jack hung up the phone and looked at his watch again. Grimacing he grabbed the paper work waiting for him to kill the hour that remained.
Closing the door to his house, Jack listened for some indication of where the current occupants were. Hearing the sounds of dishes rattling in the kitchen he headed there. Finding only Daniel in the dimly lit room, he greeting him while shrugging off his coat. "Hey," he said quietly dropping the coat on the back of a barstool. "Where's Carter?"
Nodding toward his sunken sitting room, Daniel pulled another cup out of the cabinet and poured coffee in it. "Finally got her to agree to drink something," Daniel explained, his voice low.
"She tell you what happened?" Seeing a negative indication, Jack added, "Say anything else?"
Sighing, Daniel looked down at his hand on the counter. "Only that she can't do it anymore." When silence met his statement, he looked up and saw his own sorrow and pain mirrored on Jack's face.
Catching the younger man's eyes, O'Neill let out the breath he had been holding and nodded to him. Picking up the two coffee cups before him, he turned and headed toward the sitting room.
Stepping into the darkened space, Jack paused to allow his eyes to adjust to the minimal lighting given off from the kitchen and from the moonlight shining in from the outside. After a few seconds, he saw Teal'c rise from one of the chairs and approach him.
"O'Neill," Teal'c said acknowledging the silent greeting he received before pausing beside him. Grabbing the younger man's arm, he stopped his friend from advancing. "It will not help SamanthaCarter to speak to GeneralO'Neill tonight," he said quietly so his voice would not carry to anyone else. "ColonelCarter may wish to speak to him tomorrow."
Clenching his jaw, Jack knew the big man was right. Sam didn't need a superior officer right now. Looking toward Teal'c, he gave him a barely perceptible nod before moving farther into the room.
Sitting down on the small couch next to Carter, O'Neill held out a cup toward her. "Hey," he said softly to draw her attention. "Daniel said you wanted this."
Taking it reluctantly, Sam gave him a half shrug. "Not really," she breathed, setting it down on the table in front of her.
Watching her as she eased backward, he watched as she again drew back inside herself. Giving her a few minutes, he sipped the coffee before setting it down next to hers. "You okay?" he asked gently, after it appeared she was not going to be the one to start any conversation.
A hitched breath followed his words before a faint "Not really," pierced the darkness as she leaned forward to rest her arms on her legs.
Resting a hand on her back, Jack could feel the tremors of repressed tears pass through her body. Rubbing his thumb back and forth to comfort her, he waited. It took several minutes before she continued.
"It was suppose to get easier now," Sam began, her words low and harsh. "We beat the Gou'ld and the Replicators. Hell, we even took out an ascended Ancient. It wasn't suppose to be like this anymore."
"Like this?" Jack questioned, more to keep her talking than needing any clarification.
"Fighting, war, death. Innocents," she stopped, her voice choking on the word.
Jack felt her shudder several times and draw a deep shaky breath before she could continue.
"I was heading to the gate. Colonel Reynolds had already been hit, so I ordered everyone through. It was chaos, bombs exploding, gunfire, buildings imploding, people screaming and crying. Dead bodies were laying everywhere," she reported, her voice low and harsh. "I was almost there when I heard it. In the middle of this chaos, I heard a baby crying." She shook her head slowly, still not quite believing what she had experienced. "I finally figured out it was coming from the rubble of the building I was passing. I couldn't believe that anyone could still be alive in there but there was that sound," Sam paused, her breath labored. "I knew I had to get back but I couldn't leave that baby there," she croaked out in desperation.
Nodding, Jack moved his hand up to her shoulder and squeezed it slightly to let her know he understood before continuing his earlier circular repetition.
"I just started throwing bricks and chunks of wood away from where I thought he was. I heard you calling but I couldn't chance taking the time to respond to you," Sam confessed, throwing a glance back at him. Looking back at her hands, she added, "His cries were getting weaker."
Silence descended for a few minutes, before Sam continued. "When I found them, she begged me to take him, keep him safe. His mom," she clarified sadly. "He wasn't crying anymore but she begged me. She grabbed my arms and made me promise. Said his name was Bree'dan and that I had to save him."
"Gawd," Sam hissed as sobs began to escape her, rubbing her hands over her face before covering it and fighting for control. After a few minutes, she moved her hands far enough away so she could be understood. "When I was a little girl, I would play house and I always pretended I was a mom and that I had a little boy named Braydan," her voice choked, thick with tears.
"Sam," Jack breathed in anguish, her pain overwhelming him at the obvious similarities of the two names.
"And then he wasn't breathing," Sam sobbed. "I tried, Jack, God, I tried."
Pulling her towards him, Jack wrapped her against his chest. "I know," he whispered, rubbing her back as she wept against him. "I know."
Jack wasn't sure how long they stayed like that. At some point, he knew Teal'c and Daniel had stepped into the room to see if they could do anything. Seeing there was not beside grabbing some paper towels from the kitchen for Sam to use later, they quietly slipped back out. As the sounds of Sam's muffled crying began to diminish, Jack began to ease his grip, but not enough that she would feel like she had to move away from him.
Waiting until her breathing had settled some, Jack nudged her face upwards so that he could wipe her tears and give her a towel to blow her nose. Fatigue and sorrow was evident in her features. "What do you need, Sam?" he asked gently, his fingers lingering on her skin.
"I'm tired," she whispered, leaning into his hand. "I can't do it anymore. I can't go out there again. Not now anyway," she added, her eyes slipping closed in defeat.
"Okay," Jack acknowledged softly, nudging her to lay her head on his shoulder. "Not until you're ready."
After a few minutes, her rough voice broke the quiet. "They won't let me resign will they?"
Jack laid his head against hers and ran his hand slowly up and down her back, trying to find some way to ease the pain his words would bring. "Probably not, at least not totally out of the program." Sighing, he pressed his lips to her hair before continuing. "Maybe a transfer to area 51 or another research facility for awhile, but even then, I don't know for how long before they pull you back."
He felt a shudder run through her as she buried her face in his neck to hide from the meaning of his words. "I'm sorry," he whispered in her ear. "What do you want me to do? Just tell me and I'll do everything I can to make it happen for you."
Feeling the wetness of tears on his neck and soaking his shirt, he had to strain to hear her muffled words.
"Hold me."
end pt 1