A/N : This story is a Secret Santa present for Cairistiona who said that her favorite song that reminds her of Jack and Sam is Bonfire Heart by James Blunt. Go...listen to it on YT...see, she is so right! Merry Shipmas!
Not one part of this series has been beta'd. All mistakes are my own.
Days like these lead to...
Nights like this lead to
Love like ours.
You light the spark in my bonfire heart.
People like us, we don't
Need that much, just someone that starts,
Starts the spark in our bonfire hearts
Chapter 1
Anything But Solitude
He could feel the softness of the mattress beneath him and the blankets that covered him, but even as his body informed him that he should feel lucky to be able to feel anything at all, he shivered, his teeth began to chatter, and he awoke with the feeling that he would never be warm again.
"Colonel?"
He turned toward the voice of Janet Fraiser, the new CMO of the SGC, and slowly let his eyes open and adjust to the harsh white light of what he first thought was the infirmary. "Doc?" His voice was rough from disuse and the question was but a whisper.
"Hey. We've been wondering when you might join us again." She gently grabbed his wrist and began to check his vital signs as she talked. "How are you feeling?"
"Really? C'mon Doc. How do you think?"
"Mac truck?"
"Sounds about right." The scratchiness of his throat made him cough and Janet grabbed the cup of water from the table next to her and raised the back of the bed so that Jack was almost sitting up.
"Here, drink, slowly."
He did as he was told and cleared his throat when he was finished. "Thanks." Now fully awake, Jack took in his surroundings. "Uh, Doc? I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, are we?"
"No. McMurdo."
"Antarctica? How the hell did we get here?"
"It's a long story, Colonel. And I can tell it to you later. Now, why don't you get some more..."
He sat up, immediately regretting the quick action and grabbing his side. "Doc!" he wheezed, "Where's Carter?" The anxiety and slight panic in his question was unmistakable.
She gently pushed him back down to the bed. "She's fine. She's in the room next door. She was slightly hypothermic, tore a ligament in her knee, and has some cuts and bruises, but she is going to be fine. She's sleeping, and I suggest you do the same." She injected what was no doubt a sedative into his IV and slowly lowered the bed back down to a horizontal position.
Jack tried to protest, but the sedative worked quickly and he drifted off before he could say anything more.
It was several hours later when he awoke again with a feeling of warmth that only body-to-body contact could bring. He slowly fought the haziness brought on by the painkillers and opened his eyes. He had to blink several times before he cleared the haze and was able to believe what his eyes revealed. There, lying next to him in his bed was his 2IC. She was curled on her side with her bad leg laying over his good one. He could hear a slight wheezing noise as she breathed and see a sheen of sweat that covered her lip and brow. The doc had said she had some cuts and bruises, but she hadn't said that she was so pale, or feverish. He could feel the heat radiating off of her, no wonder he felt so warm. Jack moved to tuck her hair back behind her ear. It was damp.
"Sam?"
She stirred slightly and her brow crinkled as she whispered, "Colonel?"
"Not that I'm not happy to see you Captain, but whatcha doin'?" He kept his tone light as she struggled awake. "Carter? You okay?"
"Sir?" She was truly having a problem getting herself to wake up and focus on what he was saying. "Sir, whysit so cold?"
He pulled his blankets over her and pressed the call button. When the nurse appeared in the doorway, he immediately asked for her to send for Doctor Fraiser, and it only took a few minutes before Janet hurried into the room. She stopped for a moment as she reached Jack's bed and saw that Sam was lying there with him. "Colonel?"
"I dunno, Doc. I woke up and she was here. She doesn't look so good and when she was awake a minute ago, she was complaining about the cold but she's burning up."
Janet looked closely at her sleeping friend noting her pallor as well as the dampness of her face and hair. She lay her hand on Sam's forehead and almost pulled it back; she didn't need a thermometer to tell her that Sam was running a fever. She frowned as she checked her breathing and reached for the call button herself.
"Doc?"
"She's running a fever and there's a crackle in her lungs. Probably pneumonia setting in. Not surprising considering the condition the two of you were found in." The duty nurse appeared again and Janet gave her instructions to restart an IV with additional antibiotics and put Sam on oxygen until her next assessment.
The nurse stood for a moment looking slightly perplexed. "Do you want me to call a orderly to help get Captain Carter back to her room, Ma'am?"
Janet smiled. "Not necessary. She can stay where she is. It will save us the time and effort of trying to keep her in her own bed again."
The nurse left to gather the supplies. Jack looked up at Janet who was still smiling. "You sure this is a good idea, Doc? Not that it's not a bad arrangement, but don't you think she'd be more comfortable in her own bed?"
"Normally, I'd agree, but this is the third time we've found her in here in the last 8 hours. It's a natural reaction to trauma, Colonel. After the days like these last few have been for the two of you, you've formed quite a bond. She's missing you and unless you're physically uncomfortable, I for one and willing to exploit that bond if it's going to keep both of my patients happy and help with their recovery. We'll keep a close eye on her symptoms and you let us know if anything else seems amiss, deal?"
Jack had no comeback. No smart retort. In fact, if he wasn't confined to his bed because of his broken bones, he'd reach out and hug the woman.
When the nurse had gotten Sam situated and made sure that both Jack and Sam were comfortable, he found he could stop staring at the blonde beauty next to him. He hadn't realized how much he needed to be close to her after they'd been brought back, but something had just seemed wrong since he woke up. He'd felt like something was missing. He knew now that what he had been missing was this. As he closed his eyes and let the feeling of contentment wash over him, as Sam snuggled close to his side, he chose to ignore the faint alarm that had started to go off in the back of his brain. That warning was something he could pay attention to some other day when he wasn't lucky to be alive and laying next to a beautiful woman. For now, he was going to enjoy this as much as he could and hope that there might be more nights like this in his future.
