SG-1 walked to the Gate Room, clipping on the last of their gear. It was their first mission after the Christmas Holiday and none of them were ready to get back to work just yet, except for Jack O'Neill. To him the holidays were just another reminder of how alone he was. He griped to himself that this mission was going to go into his book of the most boring missions in history and they hadn't even left Earth yet. Wandering around a planet looking for rocks and ancient ruins just wasn't his cup of tea, especially after a two week stand down. He wanted action, adventure, a gunfight for crying out loud, but no. Just Gate to another planet to do something that he could just as easily do at home, take a nap!
So, now here he stood at the end of the ramp, waiting for good old Walter to open the Gate. The sideways flush of the forming event horizon never ceased to amaze him, no matter how many times he had seen it over the years.
" Okay, kids. Let's go play with some rocks." Jack said smartly before leading his team up the ramp and through the Stargate.
Dr. Janet Fraiser stood in the doorway of her office and looked out over the empty infirmary. The sight surprised her, but it was a good surprise. It meant that no one was sick or worse, injured. She preferred to be bored out of her mind than to have to watch someone suffer. Closing her eyes, she said a prayer that it would stay this way. Sadly, her answer was no. For at the moment the klaxons began blaring as the announcement of an off world activation came over the speakers. Her heart sank into the pit of her stomach; none of the teams were due back for another two days. Even before the call came for a medical team to come to the Gate Room, Janet put herself into motion gathering her team and some supplies.
Janet and her team made it to the Gate Room in time to see two frantic members of SG-1 coming through the Stargate yelling for help. Two? Then a third came through with the limp body of the fourth draped carefully over his shoulders in a fireman's carry. Before she could even issue the order, two of her nurses had a gurney parked and ready at the foot of the ramp where the tall Jaffa gently lay the unconscious Jack O'Neill. If it weren't for the blue tinge starting to appear on his lips, it would have looked like he was just taking a nap. His face looked so peaceful. Her fingers automatically went to his neck to see if there was a pulse. A weak flutter greeted her fingertips. In the few seconds that it took her to feel his pulse, he had only taken one shallow breath. Noticing this, Nurse Evans quickly put an oxygen mask on his face and turned on the life sustaining oxygen. Janet nodded to them and they raced the gurney carrying the Colonel to the infirmary.
The wait was killing her, but not as much as the horrible thoughts that assaulted her mind. They had been her constant companion since they had found Jack unconscious along a foot path through the woods on the planet. Her heart fluttered at the memory of seeing him laying there, pale and deathly still. For the millionth time since the gurney carrying Jack disappeared through the infirmary doors, Sam looked at the clock. Three hours. Three long, torturous hours without a word. God, it felt like an eternity. Every tick of the clock felt like a sledge hammer slamming into her heart. What if he died? What if she never got to tell him how much she loved him, Air Force be damned? She couldn't even begin to imagine what life would be like without him around, she didn't even want to try. The sound of the infirmary door opening made her jump to her feet and quickly scan the doctor's face for any clue as to how Jack was or what was wrong with him, but it betrayed nothing.
" Janet?" Sam and Daniel spoke at the same time.
" What is his condition Doctor?" General Hammond asked, obviously trying to keep himself calm.
" Right now he's unconscious and on total life support." Janet replied in a quiet voice.
Fresh tears sprang into Sam's eyes. " What's wrong with him?"
" I don't know. I ran all the tests known to man along with an MRI, CT Scan, and X-rays. No foreign substances in his blood or urine. No signs of internal or external trauma or head injury. No infections or disease." Janet answered in a frustrated voice. " The only thing that came up was a significant decrease in brain activity. He's not in a coma. It's almost like he has gone into a deep sleep. As near as I can tell there is no danger to anyone else."
" What do you mean by decreased brain activity? Is he brain dead?" Hammond asked, the confusion on his face rattled Sam to the core. For General Hammond to be off made the situation worse.
" No, Sir. It's almost like his brain has gone into power save mode, like a computer does when it sets idle for too long."
" Is there not anything that you can do for O'Neill?" Teal'c asked.
" Not other than give him the supportive care that he needs until he wakes up."
Daniel pushed his glasses up on his nose and looked at Janet with a hopeful expression. " When will that happen?"
" Today. Tomorrow. Next week. Maybe even never. I just don't know." Janet responded, her voice taught with frustration and emotion.
Sam sank back down into her chair feeling that the air had been knocked out of her. She wanted to run to his side, but she needed a few minutes to process what the doctor had just said. After a few minutes and deep breaths she stood up.
" Can we go and see him?" Sam asked as she wiped a few stray tears from her cheeks.
" Of course." Janet replied and motioned her hand to the isolation room where Jack was.
Sam couldn't stop the gasp that escaped her lips when her eyes fell on Jack's still form. He was nearly hidden in a tangle of tubes and wires. Between the blue breathing tube and the bright white tape that held it in place, the lower part of his face was all but covered. A tube went into his right nostril to give him nutrients while he slept. Sam sat down in a chair beside his bed and took his hand, careful not to disturb the IV that was taped to his forearm.
" Jack? We're all here waiting for you to wake up." Sam spoke quietly, rubbing her thumb across the back of his hand. " Jack, please wake up."
A month later, Janet had made the decision to have Jack transferred to a better equipped long term care facility were he could get the around the clock care that he needed. Sam stayed with him through the transfer. She sat in the waiting room while they took Jack into surgery to insert a feeding tube into his stomach and a tracheotomy in his neck when it became apparent that Jack would need assistance breathing longer than he could safely have the ET tube. Her heart ached when she watched as they shifted his position in the bed and tended to his personal needs. It all seemed so surreal. He never moved, never flinched, and never made a sound.
By December it had been eleven months since Jack had gone into his "sleep" and still showed no signs of waking up. His body was showing the signs of months of disuse and inactivity. He had lost a lot of weight and even though the therapists moved his limbs every day, his arms legs were curled in a spastic way. Jack looked like a shadow of the strong imposing figure that he had been.
Janet had asked some of her colleagues to look Jack over and give their opinion on anything that could be done for him. They all said the same thing, that if Jack hadn't woken by now that he wasn't going to. It was a blow to everyone that knew and loved him. Despite the bad news, they didn't give up on him. They came to see him every day and talked to him like he was awake. Cassie had decorated his room for Christmas, placing a small decorated tree on his bedside table and even hanging a sprig of mistletoe above his bed. Streams of garland and Christmas lights hung from the walls. The pile of gifts for Jack under the tree was growing every day to the point where the nurses brought in a cart to put them on. The hope was that he would wake up and open them.
On Christmas Eve after everyone else had left, Sam sat by Jack's bed and held his hand while the ventilator played its melody. She rubbed his hand while she looked at the now gaunt features of his face. Christmas is to be the season of miracles, yet they still waited for the most important miracle and that was for Jack to wake up.
Sam stood up and walked over to her bag to get out her copy of " The Night Before Christmas" to read to Jack. After wrapping up in a fleece blanket, she grabbed a hold of his hand and began to read. Every now and then she would look up at his face, hoping to see his eyes open and looking at her. Each time her heart broke to see his eyes still closed. When she was done reading him the story, she scooted her chair closer to his bed and curled up in her blanket. She didn't want to bother going to the cot that had been set up for her, she wanted to be close to him. With one final kiss on his forehead and a whispered good night, she fell asleep.
The bright morning sun shone through the window and into Sam's face waking her from her light sleep. She sat straight up in the chair despite the stiffness and looked hopefully at Jack, only to see that he was still unconscious.
" Jack, you need to wake up. It's Christmas morning." Sam said then began to run her fingers lovingly through his hair. " I love you, Jack O'Neill! Please wake up. I need you. I want to be with you for the rest of my life. Jack, please come back to me."
That did it, she laid her head on his shoulder and let the tears flow. Up until now she had kept them in, but with it being Christmas the despair had caught up to her. When she lifted her head to dry her eyes she saw the mistletoe hanging above his bed.
" Look, Jack there's mistletoe." Se said cheerfully, standing up and leaning over to give him a kiss right on his lips.
When their lips touched, Sam felt a tingling that started in her lips and then made its way through the rest of her body. The air in the room changed. She pulled back to see Jack's chocolate brown eyes looking right at her. The sleeping giant had awoken and it was a true Christmas miracle!
It had been a week since Jack had woke up and he was still trying to come to grips with the fact that he had been asleep for eleven months. Janet had removed the tracheotomy tube from his neck and the feeding tube from his stomach. He could breathe and eat on his own, but he had to be fed since he was still very weak from laying around for so long. The only time he didn't mind being fed like a baby was when Sam was the one doing it. Seeing her face was the best part of waking up and hearing her say that she loved him made it all the more better.
He laid in his bed and looked with joy at his friends sitting around him. It felt good being surrounded by such love and care.
" Jack, do you remember what happened to you?" General Hammond asked.
" I was walking along the path and looking around. All of a sudden this little elf guy walked up to me. He just stood there and stared at me for a few minutes. I asked him if there was something that I could help him with." Jack paused and scratched his head with a smile on his face. " He looked at me and said, ' You are hiding love for someone and that love needs to be shone. Love is too precious of a thing to be put in a cage. You must learn a lesson.' The next thing I knew I was on the ground and I could hear him say, ' Only the kiss of your love can wake you. If that love does not kiss you within one of your years, you will die without ever experiencing a love beyond the boundaries of any universe.' I was like ' Gee, thanks for telling me that. How the hell am I supposed to tell anyone?'"
" So, if Sam hadn't kissed you, you would have died?" Daniel asked causing both Sam and Jack to blush.
" Seems that way, Danny-boy." Jack replied as e picked at an invisible fuzz on his blanket.
" Well, I'm going to talk to the President about making an exception to the regulations. Under the circumstances, I think that he'll agree to it." General Hammond added, a big smile gracing his face.
" Thank you, Sir." Jack said then turned his head to smile at Sam, his Sam.
" It's a mistletoe miracle. Good thing I hung it up." Cassie said with a grin.
The smile on Sam's lips widen, she began to speak without taking her eyes off of Jack. " Yes, it is. Thank you."
The end!