Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. This story was created for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author(s).
Jack felt her wake. She was tucked up against him, wrapped up in his arms. Her breathing changed, going from deep and steady to slow and sleepy. He knew the moment that she remembered the night before.
"Good morning." He murmured into her hair.
He loved waking up to her, her warmth, her smell.
Her response was a sleepy, yet happy, mumble.
"Time to get up?" He asked her.
She stretched, rubbing herself against him, completely innocently but none the less arousing. He was a typical male, waking up somewhat ready for action, but on the mornings that he woke up with her, he woke up saluting. The fact that she was a snuggler during the night, helped, the fact that they hadn't made love in a month and he'd awakened with her all over him, was causing his body to have thoughts of it's own. He didn't know what she was thinking, so he wasn't going to make the first move, even if it killed him.
She lifted her head to look into his eyes. Jack wasn't moving much, using his will power not to initiate a round of early morning sexcapades. She smiled slowly and leaned up to kiss him. It wasn't a simple good morning kiss, but a kiss full of passion that reflected her relief that he was there and they had straightened out a few things the night before.
"I've decided to have my way with you." She said seriously, with a smart little grin.
"Okay…I guess I can go with that." Jack replied.
"Good, as long as you don't have a problem with that.
She wiggled against him, noting that his body didn't have anything against it. He was already ahead of her, not unusual in their relationship.
She ran her hands up his chest. He sighed with her. This was her show and he was going to let her lead.
She ground her hips against his side. She had too many clothes on for either of them, so she sat up and pulled her tank top off.
His nostrils flared at the sight of her.
"Tell me what you want Samantha."
"I want you to touch me."
She leaned in to kiss him, open mouth, her tongue searching for his. There was a bit of desperation in the kiss. He responded to the desperation with equal fervor. They were both trying to make up for lost time.
He rolled them over. She straddled him and looked down into his face with hunger. He ran his fingers over her from waist to her breasts reveling in the sight and feel of her.
"I've tried for years to get rid of my tummy." She said when his long fingers stopped to investigate the area around her belly button.
"You are beautiful, Samantha. Your body is amazing."
His hands moved to her thighs. "I have always loved the way you move. You are strong and soft, in all of the right areas."
She sighed as his hands touched her, making her feel beautiful and strong. He may not talk a lot, but when he used his words, he used them well.
They made love, touching, tasting everywhere that they could reach, and finding out that they were each a little more "bendy" than the other one thought. Sam called out to him as her body flew apart. Suddenly Jack felt an explosion of pain in his head. Just as he reached his climax, Jack thought that he'd never had an orgasm that knocked him unconscious…before.
When he woke up he was fully dressed and on a cot in what he immediately recognized as quarters at the SGC. The last thing he remembered was making love with Samantha and then pain and then nothing. She must have gotten him here, to the SGC, and must be scared…he wasn't too worried, he wasn't in the infirmary and she wasn't sitting at his bedside, so he must be okay.
He stood, a little shaky, and walked over to the door. Something wasn't quite right here. He opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. Okay, this was really weird. From the numbers on the doors he was on level 19, near Carter's lab, but there were no living quarters on 19. He turned back to re-enter the room he'd woken up in, it was now Carter's lab.
"Whoa…" he was confused.
Maybe the pain in his head had been a stroke? He wasn't as young as he used to be, and making love with a beautiful young woman had killed younger men than he, hadn't it? He was definitely experiencing black outs.
First, he didn't remember getting here. He'd been naked and happy in Samantha's bed, then here.
Second, he had walked out of a living quarters and moments later they were a lab.
Third, there was a little girl sitting on a stool at the desk in Carter's lab, playing with Carter's things.
"You shouldn't be here." He said, not wanting to scare the little girl.
"She won't mind." The little girl responded. She was still playing with something and hadn't looked up.
Fourth, the place seemed abandoned except for Jack and this little girl.
"Who are you?" he asked. "Where is everybody?"
"She calls me Grace." The little girl turned towards him.
She was a beauty. Long, straight brown hair and blue eyes. She looked very familiar, especially when she smiled at him.
"As for everybody else? They aren't here."
"Do I know you Grace?"
"No, not yet... play with me?"
"What do you mean they aren't here?"
"They aren't here with us…play with me."
Jack walked farther into Carter's lab, he always thought of her as Carter when they were at work, it kept their relationship professional when it needed to be. The little girl was playing with a variety of gadgets that were sitting on the table. Jack was pretty sure that she shouldn't have been.
"Grace, I need to find the others, and you need to stop touching Carter's things."
"She won't mind and you won't find the others, they aren't here. Look at what this one does!"
She held up a piece of technology that Jack didn't recognize. It started to light up, and that could be bad. He moved quickly and took it from the little girl. Putting it on the desk he gave her his "Command" look.
"Grace, some of these things can be very dangerous." The glowing light had dimmed on the thingy she'd been playing with. "You can't play with this stuff."
"Yes I can. I know what these things do. I won't get hurt, silly."
She smiled at him and picked up another gizmo. This one started to hum.
"Grace!" Jack took it out of her hands, and then picked the child up and moved her off the stool.
She grabbed him around the neck and wouldn't let go. She was smiling and quietly laughing.
"Play with me."
"Grace, where are we?"
"We're here…we need to play with the globe."
She pointed at a small golden ball on the table. She let go of Jack with one hand and reached for it. He shifted trying not to drop her.
She looked at him and became very serious. Her eyes were the eyes of a very old, wise woman, boring straight into him.
"We need to find out what the globe can tell us. It has the answers. You need the answers. The Ori won't wait forever."
Jack was asleep and crushing her. Sam poked at him and whispered his name. He didn't move.
"Jack?" She said a little louder. Still nothing.
"JACK!" She barked and pushed at him.
He flopped off of her onto his back on the bed. Then she screamed. He was unconscious and there was a smear of blood under his nose. His breathing was shallow and she jumped on him to find a pulse. It was there, barely. Grabbing her shorts and tank top she got dressed as she looked for the phone. Dialing 911 she waited.
"911, what is the nature of your emergency?" The bored voice said.
"I need an ambulance! My…the General is unconscious. He needs a doctor." Sam slipped into Colonel Mode. She'd been in life and death situations more often the she'd wanted to and knew that there was no time to panic.
"Yes ma'am." The voice was no longer bored. "We're dispatching one to your residence."
Thank God for enhanced 911, they hadn't needed her address.
"He needs to be taken to the Academy Hospital." Sam said.
The voice paused for a moment. "Your address is closer to the Colorado Springs Memorial…"
"Yes, but he's an Air Force General, he needs to go there." That and the fact that he had a few past issues that a "regular" hospital couldn't know about.
"Ma'am is he breathing?"
"Yes, please hurry."
"Okay ma'am, the paramedics should be there soon."
Sam answered a few questions but soon she heard a door slam. They were here. She hung up and ran to the door.
Jack looked at the little girl in his arms. The light bulb in his head went off.
"Grace, how do you know about the Ori?"
"They are coming; we don't have time to wait."
"Yes they are coming, but how do you know about them?"
"I know things, like how to make the toys work, like how to stop the Ori. You have to listen to me. She did, and I helped her."
"Carter? You know Carter?"
"Yes, when she was on the ship, she needed my help. She listened and she came home. Now you need to listen."
Jack had read the file on Carter's accident on the Prometheus… two, two and a half years ago. He had also talked to her about it since. She'd explained about the little girl and the visits from Daniel, Teal'C, Jacob and him…she'd explained that it had been then that she'd decided to try to let him go. It had been one of the times in the past that they had really talked. Jack knew that the little girl had given Carter the idea about the space bubble that had eventually rescued her, and the crew.
"Grace, who are you?"
"Not now, we need to play with the globe." The little girl wasn't telling him anything.
Jack had an idea that this child might be an Ancient. For some reason they were reaching out to him and he figured that he should reach back.
"Okay kiddo, let see what this globe does."
Grace took it from the desk. Jack placed her back on the stool, but she crawled down and sat on the floor. He stood there, looking at her, until she tugged on his pants and gestured for him to join her. His knees weren't going to appreciate this.
He sat down with her and watched as her little fingers played with the globe. She turned it over and over in her hands, a look of concentration on her face that reminded him of a certain Colonel. The thought left him though as she squeaked in surprise. The globe had opened like a flower and was sending out a visual.
It was a star map. There were points of reference written in a language that he couldn't understand, but it was a map. The light show from the little globe blinked above their heads and Grace clapped in happiness.
"What is this Grace?"
"It's the answer to the questions. Look." She pointed. "There and there."
Jack couldn't understand the writing. He looked at it, but wasn't sure what he was seeing. The Ancients should have grabbed Daniel.
Another light bulb went off in Jack's head. Why were the Ancients doing this? They wouldn't meddle in the affairs of the lower beings, right? They would have left the lower beings die at the hands of Anubis, a threat that they had created themselves, so why help them defeat another group of ascended beings?
"Grace, I don't understand this."
"You will…when you get back." The little girl looked at him.
"We need to see what else she has that can help. Come." The little girl jumped up and began scanning Carter's collection. She grabbed his hand and tugged him along with her.
Caroline Lam came out of the exam room. She walked over to where Sam and General Landry were sitting, waiting. Sam looked like hell.
"It's not a stroke." Was the first thing she said.
Sam sobbed in relief. "Is he awake, can I see him?"
"No, he's not awake. You can go in and see him, but we're moving him, to the SGC."
Sam's sharp gaze narrowed in on the doctor.
"Why?"
"I looked at the MRI that they took when he got here. There is no evidence of a stroke, but…there is something."
Landry spoke up. "What is it Caroline?"
"It isn't a good idea to discuss it here. I need to get him ready to move. Sam, go see him, but prepare yourself. He's still unconscious, he has tubes and drips…he's a sick man."
Carter looked at the woman, not the doctor. They didn't know each other as well as she and Janet had, but they were becoming friends. Caroline was trying to warn her that Jack may not survive this, but the good doctor didn't know their track record. Sam had seen Jack in really bad shape and this was no different. There was hope now, the funny thing was, that with them, when they didn't know what was killing them, they usually survived.
"Grace? What are you looking for?" Jack asked the little girl.
"It should be here…it was with the Globe."
"If I knew what we were looking for, I could help."
"If you knew what we were looking for, I wouldn't have had to come here."
She was quick, he'd give her that. The little girl was searching through things Jack had no idea about. He watched as she discarded everything in her path. She wasn't finding it.
"Grace, if it was with the Globe, maybe Daniel has it?"
She was on a mission. He'd seen that look of concentration before and he knew she wouldn't stop until she found whatever it was that she was looking for.
"He doesn't have it, I'm sure. She would have kept it here."
Grace had a tendency not to use names, Jack wondered why. She had never even called him by name.
He watched her root around for what seemed like hours. At one point he started to help, picking things up and showing her with a 'is this it?' look. Grace just shook her head sadly at everything he picked up.
Jack was getting tired of the game and finally he said so.
"Grace, this isn't working. What are we looking for?"
The little girl sighed, resigned. "It's not here. It is necessary to find the answers."
"Can you tell me, show me what it looks like? Daniel and Carter can go look for it if they know what it looks like."
"I can give you the memory…you can tell the others when you go back."
She lifted her arms to him like any child who wanted to be picked up. Jack felt a strange sense of rightness gathering the child in his arms. She reached for his face, running those sweet little fingers over his features. She was smiling at him.
Finally she found the spot she wanted and Jack felt pain and heat grind through his head. He fought against it, desperately trying not to fall to his knees and drop her. The pain increased and he grinded his teeth to keep from screaming.
"Doctor Lam!" Carter yelled. "Caroline? Something's happening."
They were in the infirmary and Jack's EEG had spiked. This was the first change they'd seen in him in a day.
Lam and her people crowded Sam out of the way. They were looking at the monitors and checking Jack's pulse and heart rate. Both had skyrocketed.
Daniel came running into the room. Landry had called him to tell him about Jack. The General knew the bond of the original SG1 players.
"Sam, what happened?"
"Daniel? You're here?"
"Yes. What the hell happened to Jack?"
She was about to answer when the klaxon's started screaming. Someone was returning through the Gate. She looked at her friend, warring with herself as to stay with the man she loved or go and see who was knocking at the door.
The lights and sirens stopped, it must have been a friendly.
"Friday, Jack surprised me by showing up at my place. He didn't look good, but he said it was because he hadn't slept."
The group of people heard a noise at the door and all eyes turned. Teal'C stood there in full Jaffa robes. He too had been alerted to Jack's condition.
"What is O'Neill's condition?" he asked.
"Sam was just getting there." Daniel replied.
"Anyway, yesterday morning, we were…uh well, Jack passed out. I called 911 and went with him to the Academy hospital. Caroline met us there and then moved him here. They took an MRI and he hasn't had a stroke, but…"
Sam sighed trying to get a look at what they were currently doing to Jack.
"Caroline compared the MRI they took yesterday to ones Jack has had taken in the past. It matched a couple of them."
She paused and the men who were like her brothers looked at her with concern.
"The MRI matched the ones from the time he'd had the Ancient database downloaded into his brain."
The pain subsided and Jack realized that Grace had been right. He'd seen pictures of all of the artifacts that SG1 had brought back recently and the device that they were looking for wasn't among them. Whatever Grace had done to him, Jack felt that his mind was clearer, he realized that the Globe had come from Arthur's stash at Camelot. They would need to go back to find the missing piece.
"Grace, I need to go back. I need to tell the others where to find the answers."
"I know…but we're not quite done here."
They were sitting on the floor, side by side. Grace's little feet were twitching back and forth occasionally bumping into Jack's knee. He could forget that she was an Ancient and think of her as a little girl.
"I'm not an Ancient."
"What?"
"I'm not an Ancient, at least not how you think of them. I haven't ascended, I just have information."
"Who are you then? What are you?"
"I'm me. Just me."
"That's not an answer."
"I am me, and I have answers, to questions that no one has asked yet. I have answers to questions that were asked thousands of years ago. But I won't be giving many answers for awhile."
"Are you going somewhere?"
"No, I'm coming. You'll see."
"I don't understand, Grace."
"It's okay. You will and so will she. You are meant for each other." Those serious eyes focused on him. "This is the time and its right. Just remember that. You two are meant for each other and because of you the others will be saved."
"That's a little bit of pressure kiddo."
"You will be fine"
"How do you know?"
She giggled. "I know things, remember?"
"Who's going to win the Stanley Cup this year?"
"Not Minnesota if that's what you're thinking."
Jack was shocked and then he laughed. The little girl had a sense of humour. A slightly dry sense of humour, but Jack was impressed.
"It's time now." She said after a moment.
"Time for what?" Jack was getting sleepy. He yawned.
"Time for you to go back to the others."
"We're done here?"
"Yes."
"Will I ever see you again Grace?"
"Oh yes, you will."
"Thank you."
"No, thank you for playing with me. It was fun."
The little girl faded away as Jack drifted off to sleep. His last thought was that she was so familiar, and that in the short time he'd spent with her, he'd grown to love her.
It had been nearly a day since the spike in Jack's brain wave activity and Sam sat in the chair willing him to wake up. The spike had come and gone and he just lay there. Caroline had ordered another MRI earlier in the day and it was the same. Nothing was changing.
"Sam."
Daniel came back into the room. He hadn't gone far in the last 24 hours. Teal'C was sitting on a chair on the otherside of the bed from Sam. Mitchell and Vala had returned to the base and had wandered in and out. More in lately, they seemed to know that their team mates needed their support.
"Here. You need to eat something."
He handed her a plastic wrapped sandwich and a can of diet coke. Food was the last thing on any of their minds, but leave it to Daniel to take care of them. He tossed a sandwich to Teal'C and sat down beside Sam to eat.
Vala came in with Cam. They'd brought food as well. Setting it on the table near Jack's bed they went to grab chairs from the hallway. Caroline had placed Jack in an observation room, in honour of his rank and the need for privacy that the team required.
Everybody sat and nibbled. The food didn't have flavour, but they ate anyway. Vala kept attempting to start conversations but none of the others seemed able.
"Somebody order a picnic and forget to invite me?" The gravelly voice of the man in the bed startled everyone.
"Jack!" Sam, Daniel and Teal'C jumped up.
"General?" Cam joined them then decided to get the doctor.
"Hey?" Vala squawked as Cam and Daniel dumped half eaten sandwiches into her lap.
"How do you feel O'Neill?"
Daniel and Teal'C were leaning over him. Sam had stepped back. She didn't want him to see her crying, but for the first time, she was able to respond the way she wanted to in the infirmary, not in her car on the way home. Things were different now that they were officially official.
"Samantha?" Jack croaked.
"I'm here." She sniffed and swiped at her eyes. Pushing between the two men standing there she found Jack's eyes looking for her.
He sighed and smiled at her. There was a look of relief in his eyes.
Caroline and a bunch of medical personnel came bustling into the room, but Sam and Jack didn't notice. Sam's full concentration was focused on the man in the bed. Neither was aware of who'd reached out first but they were holding hands.
"General?" Caroline leaned over him, trying not to disturb Sam.
Jack was still looking at Sam.
"That was…exciting." He said to her.
She started crying again, mixed in with full blown laughter that started everyone else in the room laughing.
"General, how are you feeling?"
"Ready for round two." He replied looking at the doctor for the first time.
Sam blushed and squeezed his hand. She needed to let the medic look at him, but it was hard to let go.
"Well, let me be the judge of that." Caroline responded with a smile on her face. She was the only other person in the room who knew what Jack was talking about. They'd kept the circumstances of Jack's incident top secret. As far as anyone knew, he'd been having breakfast when he'd collapsed.