Author: Eventhorizon 7
Rating: M (Mature Themes)
Categories: Angst/Drama, Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Romance
Pairing: Sam/Daniel
Content Warning: Profanity/ Adult Themes/ Sexual Situations
Spoilers: Possible seasons 1-5, but mainly concentrated around Meridian.
Summary: Jacob and Selmak attempt to heal the radiation sickness inflicted upon Daniel Jackson, but at what cost?
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters they belong to Stargate SG-1 and MGM studios etc. I am making no money from them and sadly never will. If I did own them, believe me Sam and Daniel would have had much more fun with each other.
Feedback: If you have the time please leave a review as they are like oxygen to authors and breathe life into new stories.
Author's Notes: This is my take on the question of what would have happened if Jacob hadn't stopped the healing process in the episode Meridian.
This is a work in progress and I promise I will try and get subsequent chapters out at regular intervals as real life and my muse allow.
Enjoy!
Crossing The Meridian
Chapter 1
Jacob Carter strode purposefully along the cold grey corridors of the SGC. His face grim, his mind fighting a steadily losing battle with his emotions. Inside he could feel Selmak softly trying to comfort him, the way he always did whenever Jacob was in emotional pain. However, this time he wasn't sure if his symbiote would be able to offer him the solace that he so desperately needed.
Daniel Jackson was dying.
George's words had cut through him like a knife, slicing seamlessly through the decades old military defences, to stab him painfully in the heart. At first he had thought that he had misheard him, but one look at the desolate features of Colonel O'Neill had confirmed his old friend's dire statement.
Why was it that life could be so unfair at times? Why in all the universe did fate have to deal such a savage blow to someone so undeserving of that fate as Daniel Jackson?
Jacob had not known the young archaeologist for that long, only a few years, but in that short time he had come to admire and respect him. He had been amazed at his intellectual acumen, his breadth of knowledge and his unyielding appetite to further that education. What Daniel didn't know about Earth's ancient civilizations and their Goa'uld counterparts just wasn't worth knowing in the first place.
He was also a man of honour and moral fortitude, something increasingly rare in the twenty-first century. Sometimes his stubborn insistence on doing the right thing had led to heated discussions between the two men, especially when embarked upon a deadly mission, but it hadn't gotten in the way of their burgeoning friendship.
Jacob trained his eyes upon the long corridor ahead, refusing to meet the hopeful gazes of the personnel that he passed on his way to the infirmary. Daniel was a respected and popular member of the command and it was obvious that everyone was expecting him and his Tok'ra symbiote to perform some kind of miracle.
Jacob wasn't so sure that he would be able to oblige.
"How long has it been?" Jacob broke the uncomfortable silence that had accompanied them on their journey from the gate room.
"A couple of days." Hammond glanced at his old friend, tiredness and worry deepening the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. "We've been trying to reach the Tok'ra or the Asgaard since his return from the planet."
"What's the nature of his illness?"
"It isn't an illness." O'Neill replied sourly, a hint of bitterness in his voice. "It's radiation sickness."
"Radiation sickness!?" Jacob stopped in his tracks, turning to pin the Colonel with a withering stare. "Were all of you exposed?"
"She's alright, Jacob." Hammond's voice was soft, denoting the fact that he knew that his friend's first concern would always be for his daughter. "Neither she nor the rest of SG-1 were exposed, only Doctor Jackson."
Jacob took a moment for that information to sink in, before nodding his head and resuming his march toward the infirmary.
Thank God Sam was alright.
Immediately a wave of guilt at his own selfishness descended upon him, wrapping him in a shroud of self loathing.
Didn't everyone in the command take the same risks as Sam? Didn't every member of a front line unit play Russian roulette with their lives each and every time that they stepped through the Stargate? How could he put the health and safety of his daughter before those that stood shoulder to shoulder by her side?
'Easily," Selmak's voice drifted softly across his consciousness, "because she is your daughter, Jacob. As a father you have every right to put her first, it's only human to want to protect her. Don't be so hard on yourself."
"That's easy for you to say, Sel."Jacob admonished his symbiote. "You haven't been a hard ass military officer for forty years. It hasn't been driven into you to put country before self and family."
"No, my friend," Selmak's tone became patient, like that of a teacher imparting important knowledge to a recalcitrant pupil. "but I have been an observer of your kind for countless centuries and it is in observing this tenacious tendency of humankind to protect their own, that will one day rid us all of the Goa'uld."
Suitably chastised, Jacob grunted softly under his breath as he stepped through the doorway of the infirmary.
Eyes from every corner of the room seemed to gravitate toward him. Patients sat straighter in their beds and scrutinized him as he walked past them. Nurses and doctors interrupted their rounds to stare at him, some softly whispering their hope that the ex General and Tok'ra freedom fighter might somehow be able to pull off the impossible.
He just wished to God that they didn't have such high expectations of him.
Silently he followed George and Colonel O'Neill toward the isolation room situated at the other end of the infirmary. As he crossed the threshold, he took a deep breath and was immediately assaulted by the rancid odour of necrotising flesh. He strode further into the room, biting back the gagging reflex that constricted his throat, threatening the return of his last meal.
As though some sixth sense had informed her of her father's arrival, Sam turned around to face him. Jacob had to stifle a gasp, shocked by her appearance. She looked fragile, much thinner than he had remembered seeing her before, as though she had gone days without proper food. Her complexion was waxen, her soft blue eyes red rimmed and puffy from crying and deep dark circles underscored them from lack of sleep.
Jacob had not seen her look so forlorn since the day that he had told her of her mother's death. It made his heart clench painfully in his chest to see her look that way again now. He crossed to her and wrapped his arms around her slender body in a hug.
"Hey, Sam." He pulled her further against him. "I'm so sorry."
She pulled away from him, brandishing something toward him as she did so. He felt a warm metallic object pushed into his hands.
"I tried this, but it didn't work."
Jacob looked down at the Goa'uld healing device now cradled in his hands. He could feel his own body reacting to the nacquada within it, feel its power coursing through his blood like a narcotic. He could feel Selmak's now heightened state of alertness as his symbiote became aware of the device in his hand. He pushed his fingers through the hand hold and clenched them around its circumference, turning it around so that he could look at it and judge whether it had been damaged.
It seemed in good working order.
"We'll do our best." He gave Sam a soft comforting smile before turning away from her, toward the bed that housed her mortally injured friend.
Daniel lay motionless, his body wrapped from head to toe in white gauze bandages. Yellow puss and blood flecked some of the dressings and the stench of his body's rapid decay filled the ex General's nostrils. In a sad irony, Daniel looked like one of the ancient Egyptian mummies that he had studied so meticulously.
Jacob glanced across the bed, only to be met with the anxious brown eyes of Janet Fraiser. She looked away from him, toward the healing device in his hand, with a mixture of undisguised scepticism and desperate hope.
Taking a deep breath, he concentrated his mind upon the healing device, narrowing his field of consciousness. Immediately he felt the connection establish itself , the soft electrical vibrations coursing down his nerve endings and into his fingers. Vaguely he could feel Selmak's presence in his mind, opening him up to the formidable knowledge of Tok'ra healing practices that his symbiote had stored in his memory. The device began to glow and Jacob centred it over Daniel's inert body.
A shaft of warm amber light caressed Daniel's abdomen, pressing into his damaged tissues, coursing through his injured organs and depleted blood cells. Through his link with his symbiote Jacob could visualise the extent of the damage done to the young archaeologist's body, could almost feel the struggle between life and death that was taking place within.
His symbiote was appalled by the extent of the young man's injuries and Jacob had to wonder what the hell had happened to Daniel for him to wind up like this? The light from the healing device slowly faded away.
"His condition is grave." Through Jacob's eyes Selmak saw Dr Fraiser flinch slightly before sweeping her gaze forlornly across Daniel's body. "I do not know if I can save him," the symbiote hesitated briefly, considering his next words, "and even if I can, I do not believe I can restore his full healthy state."
Silence descended upon the room, broken only by the soft beeping of the hospital machinery that monitored Daniel's vital signs. Jacob looked at the faces around him, noting their anguished stares. Looking back toward his daughter, his was met with her determined blue eyes.
"Do what you can."
They exchanged stares for a long moment, Jacob wondering whether she truly grasped the full extent of the severity of the situation. Her tear filled eyes continued to plead with him, begging him to do whatever he could to try and save the life of her best friend.
Turning back toward the bed, Jacob relaxed his mind and allowed the healing properties of the device to flow through his body. The amber light returned, its hue more intense this time as it concentrated on healing rather than diagnosis.
In his mind's eye Jacob saw the damaged organs slowly begin to heal themselves, their liquefying state gradually solidifying once again into their truest forms. Damaged blood cells restored themselves, grotesque looking lesions slowly began to disappear and depleted nerve endings started to fire again as all traces of necrotising began to gradually fade away.
"Jacob?" O'Neill's soft voice drifted across the room, breaking the Tok'ra from his concentration. "Stop."
"Are you serious?" Jacob turned his head toward the Colonel, wondering at the reason behind his sudden halting of the healing process. All that he could make out was a sense of puzzlement flickering across Jack's brown eyes, as though the Colonel himself was having trouble reconciling his last statement. Jack frowned, his eyes narrowing into small slits, his head tilting slightly as though he were listening to an inner voice. The internal struggle continued for a long moment before he finally shook his head and focused once again upon Jacob.
"Never mind. Keep doing what you're doing."
"Are you sure, Jack, because for a minute there…" Jacob's voice mirrored the Colonel's earlier puzzlement.
"Yeah, I'm sure." He looked away from the ex-General toward the motionless body lying upon the bed. "Do what you have to do to bring him back."
"Anyone else want to tell me what to do?" Jacob looked around the faces of all those standing around the bedside. Dr Fraiser looked at him briefly before sliding her eyes away from him back toward Daniel. George and Teal'c stood stoically as though prepared to accept whatever decision won out. Lastly Jacob turned toward Sam, whose tear streaked face and piercing blue eyes told him everything that he needed to know.
Sighing softly to himself, he returned his attention to the bed. The amber light intensified as he once again focused his concentration on the briefly interrupted healing process.
Long minutes passed in silence, the soft humming of the device ebbing and flowing as Jacob continued his slow movements along the length of Daniel's body. He could feel sweat beading his brow, his forehead furrowing into ever deepening lines of concentration. From time to time Daniel's torso would arch toward the light as though drawn to it like a paperclip to a magnet, soft inarticulate moans slipping from his chafed lips.
After thirty minutes the amber light softened and faded away. Jacob swayed on his feet unsteadily before taking a deep cleansing breath and wiped the perspiration from his brow with a sweep of his hand.
"The initial healing process is complete." Selmak's voice sounded weary and strained as though the efforts of the past half an hour had depleted his energy resources. "The most life threatening of his injuries have been temporarily stabilized, but the process will need to be repeated over the next twenty four hours before his body returns to a stable state."
"Thank you, Selmak." Sam's voice sounded brittle in the silent confines of the room.
"Do not thank me yet, Samantha." Selmak's tone was clinical, devoid of any emotion. "As you say in your culture, 'he is not out of the woods yet.'"
"But he's better…right?" Jack's words had an edge to them. His concerned stare drifting from Jacob to Daniel and back again. "He's going to be okay?"
Jacob lowered his head in the telltale sign that when he spoke, he would once again become the General and not the Tok'ra resistance fighter.
"Jack, his injuries are severe. I don't know what the hell happened on that planet, I don't think I want to know, but right now all we've accomplished is to stabilise him. It's gonna need a lot more work and as Selmak said earlier there is no guarantee that the Daniel you get back will be the same one that you had before."
"Oh my God!" Sam's hand went to her mouth, her eyes widening alarmingly as she realised the implication of her father's words. "You're talking about brain damage, aren't you?"
"Among other things." Jacob held his daughter's distraught stare for a few moments before turning to the other members of the SGC in the room. "Look, it's too early to tell anything right now. I'm tired and hungry and Sel needs to rest if he is going to be in any fit state for the next round of healing. Let's just see what happens."
"I'll arrange for some food to be brought to your quarters, Jacob." Hammond stepped away from the bedside and made his way toward the isolation room's exit. "People, let's give Doctor Jackson's body some much needed time to assimilate what has happened to it. I suggest we all get some food inside us and some long overdue rest." He looked pointedly toward Sam. "That includes you Major Carter."
"Yes sir." She looked sheepishly away, sliding her gaze toward the cold concrete floor.
"Doctor Fraiser, keep me apprised of the situation, should anything occur that needs my direct attention I will be in my office." He straightened his bulky frame as he prepared to leave the room, once again donning the comportment of the base commander. "Jacob…"
"Be right with you George."
Hammond nodded his head and left the room, the sound of his measured steps receding into the distance.
Jacob removed the healing device from his hand and placed it almost reverently upon Daniel's bed. He felt drawn and tired, the toll of the healing sapping his energy. Holding out his arms, he waited for Sam to step into his embrace, which she did almost immediately.
"Do your ole man a favour kiddo and do what George has requested." He placed a soft kiss in her hair before gently pushing her away from him so that he could get a better look at her appearance. "Don't even think about going against his orders or I'll put you on a charge myself." He smiled softly as a means of taking the edge off his rebuke. "You look like you could use a ton of sleep."
"I'll take first watch, Carter." Jack's voice floated across the room from where he remained standing at the head of Daniel's bed. He twisted his head as he looked around to locate a chair. Finding one, he snagged it with his foot and pushed it until it was nestled against the side of the bed. He sat down in it with a grateful groan. "Teal'c can take second."
"But sir…" Sam pulled away from her father's embrace, indignation hot in her voice, her blue eyes pinning her commanding officer with a piercing look.
"Ah. Ah. Ah." Jack held up a finger in mock warning. "If you are back in this room any earlier than…" he squinted down at his watch, "zero six forty-five…I will have Teal'c pick you up and carry you back to your quarters…you read me Major?"
Jacob fought valiantly to wipe the smirk from his face before Sam could see it. However, he couldn't quite get the image of the big burly Jaffa carrying his beloved daughter over his shoulder in a fireman's carry out of his head.
"Janet?" Sam's voice pleaded sympathy from her friend.
The chief medical officer put down the medical chart that she had been updating and smiled back at her.
"Don't look at me. I agree wholeheartedly with the Colonel."
Jacob watched his daughter intently, wondering if she really had the balls to go against the orders of a couple of Generals, a Colonel and a Chief Medical Officer. From the look in her eyes she certainly seemed to be contemplating it. She noticed his perusal of her, shooting him a look before switching her attention to Teal'c who just raised an amused eyebrow. Finally her gaze returned to that of her CO "I read you loud and clear sir…zero six forty-five."
"C'mon Sam, I'll walk you to your quarters." Jacob draped an arm across his daughter's shoulders.
With a last look toward Daniel's still form in the bed, Sam wearily followed him as he gently escorted her out of the room.
"Sleep tight. Don't let the bedbugs bite." O'Neill's soft amused voice followed them to the doorway.
Jacob felt Sam stiffen at his side before she spun around. He turned with her preparing himself for the rejoinder that he knew would be perched upon her lips, but it never came. Instead he watched as she took in the site of the Colonel settling in for his vigil at Daniel's bedside, all signs of his earlier levity gone, replaced once again by his overwhelming sense of anxiety.
A flurry of mixed emotions seemed to sweep across her face and for a brief moment tears filled her eyes before she determinedly blinked them away. Jacob felt her body relax, the tension leaving it incrementally. She moulded herself against his side and wrapped her arm about his waist, a tired smile lifting the corners of her mouth.
"We can go now dad." She took one more look at the scene before her then switched her attention back to her father. "Daniel's in safe hands."