AN: Another one-shot...should be more but I'm getting 'post' withdrawal so sorry about that...as ever, unedited at this stage. It's nine o'clock on a Friday night people! I should be out havin' some fun already...getting angry texts of 'What's keeping you?' from my friends ;) So I'm just going to whack this up now and be done with it...for now...
Summary: Sam whump time! Carter gets injured off-world and through her disorientation it is the Colonel's voice that she latches on to as he carries her back towards the gate. Sometime between S3 – S5, doesn't matter. Purely in character with a little affection. Sam/Jack Adventure/Friendship. Rated Kplus. One-shot with epilogue.
YOU'LL BE JUST FINE SAM.
He only ever said it when things were really bad and that was how she knew. Carter could not feel the pain and she could not see but she knew she was hurt. Jack had just called her 'Sam'. "Sir?" she asked, not knowing if she was moving or not.
"Just hang in there Sam, I've got you."
Sam felt a spike of panic rising up through you, his tone was too soft. "What's happening?"
Jack heard the heightened anxiety in her voice and responded to it by looking down at the injured Major that he had just scooped up into his arms. "You took a hit, we're heading back to the 'gate." He looked up. "Daniel and Teal'c are clearing us a straight path."
Sam could not understand his words. There were no goa'uld on this planet, it was uninhabited and when did it get to be night-time? She looked up. "Why are there no stars?" she asked, confused by the complete blanket of darkness.
O'Neill nearly dropped her out of utter shock. He had not expected the landmine to blind her as well as physically disable her.
The mine had activated just as her foot came off it causing the blast to throw her forward and impale herself on a wooden spike that had been purposely put there. The wound was a complete through and through that had caught her just under the edge of her tac vest on the left-hand side of her body. All Jack could do was hope that it had not hit anything vital and get her the hell out of there.
As soon as he arrived beside her he knew something was wrong. She was semi-conscious but not showing any signs of physical pain. Something that sudden should have had her reeling in agony. His mind voiced the words nerve damage and he did not question it, he just picked her up and ran. She had not spoken and so he called her by name. "Sam?" he had said and now she was asking about the stars even though it was the middle of the day. He set his jaw in a grim line. "Never mind that now, Major. Can you tell me what you are feeling?"
Again Carter puzzled for a moment. The Colonel's breathing was getting more laboured by the minute but they were not moving. What was it he had just said, she had taken a hit...was that it? Oh god she was paralysed, that's why she could not feel anything. How long had she been out for? It had been morning when they arrived. "Colonel, I can't feel anything." she whispered, more afraid than she had ever been.
"It's okay Sam, you'll be just fine."
And there it was again, her first name...
If she could have she would have closed her eyes, not that it would make any difference in this weird and almost unnatural darkness. Not wanting to dwell on the implications of her Colonel's obvious fears she tried to focus on what had happened. "Was it goa'uld?"
Jack hesitated, he did not want to freak her out but decided that the fact that she was asking questions was a good sign. "No. A landmine of some kind. Catapulted you forwards." He grimaced a little. "You...landed badly." he told her as vaguely as he could. "Gate is in sight now Major, almost there."
In sight? What did he mean in sight? It couldn't be...it was dark! "Colonel?" she asked slowly, a whole new fear rising in her.
"Please Sam, not now, we are almost there." Jack slowed as he came to the edge of the clearing. He wanted to wait until he was sure it was safe before he ran with her through the event horizon. The presence of that landmine might mean that there were people still here. It was certainly not goa'uld in design but that did not mean that any lingering natives would not be hostile. The blast had certainly been loud enough to attract them, his himself was still feeling the tingling effects of the concussion wave and he had been a good distance back.
Sam heard the familiar ka-thunk of the gate and her heart plummeted into her boots. Terrified beyond belief she dared not speak. Next thing she knew she could hear the gateroom sirens and the order to stand down being announce. "I can't see!" she yelled and could not stop the scream that followed. "Why can't I see?"
There were voices and urgent murmurings and something that sounded like a trolley on the ramp. "Colonel!" Sam called urgently.
"Right here Sam, I've still got you. Frasier is here too. Say something Doc."
"The Colonel is right Sam, I'm right here. You want to tell me what happened?" Sam was relieved to hear her friend's voice. "Put her on here Colonel." she heard her say.
"Why can't I see anything?" She wanted to reach out to her friend, to the Colonel. "What's happening to me?"
Janet switched over into full overdrive doctor mode as Sam's breathing became more distressed. "Major, listen to me." she ordered, knowing Sam would obey a direct command at any cost. "You have an injury in your side that is more pressing at the moment. I need you to focus on that with me. Tell me if you can feel this."
There was a moments silence and Sam became confused again.
"Anything?" the doctor asked.
"No!" Sam wailed. "I can't feel it...I can't feel anything and I can't see...Janet help me!" she begged.
"She is helping you Major." It was Jack's voice, he was still there.
"Jack?" she whispered, not even realising she had used his first name. "I'm scared." she confessed.
"I know, Sam...I know, but we're almost at the infirmary. Once we are there Janet will put you to sleep and when you wake up all this will be over...trust me."
There was so much sincerity in his voice that Sam relaxed a little. If there was one thing she could do upon request, especially from him, it was trust Jack O'Neill. "Okay Sir." She tried to calm her breathing but had no idea if she had managed it as she could not feel her chest.
"Alright, here we are. Colonel if you would like to wait here, I need to get her into pre-op straight away."
"Wait...just one moment." Fraiser nodded and shooed her crew in through the door ahead of her.
Jack moved nearer to Sam so that he could talk close to her ear...give her some sense of his proximity. "I'm holding your hand right now, Sam." With his other he cleared a few strands of hair from her face. "I know you can't feel it but I am."
"Jack." she whispered, once again frightened.
"Sshhh." he soothed, his voice closer still and Sam heard the change of breathing and then the soft drawing back of a single kiss right at the edge of her ear. "I swear I'll be right here by your side. I'll be the first thing you see when you open your eyes, okay? You'll be just fine, Sam...I promise."
EPILOGUE
Turns out Sam was just fine. Not straight away of course but when the effects of the neural-stun that was embedded in the mine did wear off Jack's was the first face she saw and for that she was eternally grateful. She was also infinitely curious as to how a landmine could have had such a dramatic effect on her brain and so from her sickbed she managed to convince the General to send a team back to extract the device for study. Daniel and Teal'c volunteered for the job.
Jack then earned himself even more of her affections by temporarily sneaking the device in to her private ward so that she could have a brief study off it without anyone knowing. It would be shipped off to area 51 before she would be recovered enough to be allowed back on duty.
Sam's ability to feel stuff again returned in tandem with her sight and along with came the massive amounts of pain from her through and through impalement but Sam was not about to complain about that. It was much better to be in constant pain than face the utterly terrifying prospect of never feeling again...of never walking...of never being able to do anything, not even so much as turn her head ever again.
Within a year she was back out in the field and on the waiting list for some hefty plastic surgery but Sam Carter could not be happier. She had been blown up and she had survived and best of all she smiled to herself as they now hid in a bunker from the passing jaffa, the Colonel was still by her side. He had kept her promise and she really was just fine.
END
AN: Sorry about the epilogue folks, been dying to share this one but don't have the time to string it out into a full story. The idea was more about the moment of her realisation than anything else. Who knows maybe in the future I'll replace the epilogue with a few more chapters...but if not...I really hope you enjoyed this little adventure into the world of Sam-whump ;)