Welcome home brother lost
The usual disclaimer applies here, you know the one where I own nothing, CBS and Sci-Fi own it all except ER that belongs to NBC.
This takes place some time between the Fall in the SG universe, but before my own ' A Time to Mourn'.
I wrote this before the other two, as a matter of fact, it is sort of what inspired the whole thing, btw I have a prequel in the works explaining Vin and Ezra's siblingness, I know that I am not the first to come up with that idea either, but figured that it couldn't hurt.
I think MOG is the best, she has created, in my opinion, one of the best AU's ever, out side of the one where our gang in cascade is connected to the extension of Jack's family in LA, can't remember right off hand her name, and my Internet access is down at the moment, and I want to get this posted as soon as it starts working again.
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"Okay boy's get ready, Ezra should be giving us his signal any moment now, you in position Vin.?" Chris Larabee asked, as he and the other members of team seven got their gear ready to go, making last minute checks and the like.
"Ready when you are cowboy." Vin Tanner said, the teams sharp shooter, into his throat mike.
"Mr. Thompson, you have what I asked for, I have the money, do we have a deal?" Ezra Standish asked the target, one Harry C. Thompson.
Thompson had been selling guns to terrorist groups in and out of the country for years, but since 9/11 he had started dealing exclusively with black market WMD's, super bugs, and the like, the ATF had contacted the NSA, and they in turn had passed the information back to the ATF, and team Seven.
Team Seven had a reputation for getting the guys that they went after with what ever it was they were going to bust them with intact, which was why Ezra was standing across from Mr. Thompson at 2 in the morning, the night one of the worst series of snow storms to hit the Denver area in 50 years hit.
"Yes, we have a deal, but first let me congratulate you Mr. James, or should I call you Mr. Standish, I just realized who you are, I knew I recognized you, I dated your Mother, I remember how we use to fight, and you always coming to her rescue." Thompson said, drawing a gun, and aiming it at Ezra's head, "Now be a good boy and put the cash down, and maybe I won't kill you for setting me up."
"I'm afraid you have me mixed up with some one else Mr. Thompson, we have never met before this deal was arranged." Ezra said moving out of the way of Vin's sight line, so that the younger man could take Thompson out if need be.
"Don't move, I want to watch you when I put a bullet in your brain, you were a pain in the ass kid, and your an even bigger pain now." Thompson said, as he cocked the gun.
"Go, Go , Go!" Chris yelled into his mike, signaling the rest of team seven into action.
Vin tried to get a shot off at Thompson, but the other man was too fast and he hit Ezra, as he was running for the gun Vin had stashed for him when he had come into the warehouse hours ahead of the others.
"Chris, I didn't get Thompson, and he got Ez, I'm on my way down now." Vin said over his mike.
"We'll try to give you some cover fire, I can see Ez from here, but I'm pinned down." Nate replied.
"Where is Thompson?" Chris growled at no one in particular .
"He headed for the main door, but I think Buck and J.D. have him pinned down for now." said Josiah, as he came up behind Chris.
"We have to get to Ez, Thompson got him in the back, I'm not exactly sure where, but I wasn't even able to get a shot off at him before he shot Ez." Vin said, as he reached the ground floor.
"Chris, do you have Thompson?" Buck asked over the radio.
"No, Josiah though that you and J.D. had him pinned down by the doors, he shot Ez in the back, and his men have us pinned down."
"Okay, we have a guy out here that matches the description that Ez gave us, we'll pick him up." Said Buck from the van.
"Harry Thompson, this is the ATF, you are under arrest for the illegal position of fire arms, oh and for assaulting our man." J.D. Said, as he tackled the man.
In the commotion, the tangle of arms and legs, JD struggled with Thompson trying to wrestle the gun out of his hands.
"Give it up Thompson, there's no way out of this, you are under arrest." JD said, as he tried to get his cuffs out of his back pocket, the whole time Thompson struggled, having lost his own gun when JD had tackled him, he grabbed JD's, and shot him point blank in the stomach.
"J.D., you bastard your gonna pay for that one." Buck said, as he slammed Thompson into the wall, unaware that J.D. had removed his vest, and was starting to bleed out.
"We'll take him from here, go give your friends inside some help." Said the NSA agents that had been there to take Thompson into custody.
"Not till I check my guy out here, J.D. you okay?" buck asked his young friend.
"It doesn't hurt Buck, I'm so cold."
"That's because your laying in the snow kid, lets get you on you feet." Buck said, as he reached for J.D. to help him get his vest off, only to discover to his horror that J.D. didn't have it on.
"I can't feel my legs Buck." J.D. said, as tears started to stream down his cheeks.
"Why did you take your vest off J.D.?" Buck asked him.
"It was too hot, and too hard to get around in the van." J.D. tried to explain.
"Your gonna be okay kid, we'll get you to the hospital and they'll fix ya right up." Buck reassured J.D.
"Buck?" Chris asked over his radio, as he fired a few shots to give Vin cover to get to Ezra.
"Thompson shot J.D., Chris the damn fool kid took off his vest some time while we were waiting for everything to go down." Buck said, pain in his voice.
"Oh god, get a couple of ambulances, I don't know how bad Ez is, and at this rate we're going to need to take some of these guys in to the hospital too." Chris said, as he saw Vin jump over a crate to get to Ezra.
"Where're you hit Ez?" Vin asked his friend.
"Thompson hit my radio, I'm fine, just couldn't let you gentlemen know." Ezra winced.
"Your lucky, Thompson shot J.D., sounds like it might be bad." Vin said, as he shot one of the men trying to kill him and Ezra.
Unfortunately for Vin and Ezra, neither of them saw the guy that snuck up behind them, and he got a few shots off, hitting Vin in the gut and leg, and Ezra in the arm before either could stop him.
"Mr. Tanner, Vin, your going to be alright, I just need your line from your harness, I have to tie a tourniquet on your leg, and one on my arm." Was the next thing Vin heard.
"We have to get these guys taken care of, Josiah, take the left, Nathen, you take the right, I'm goin' to take these bastards head on." Chris said, not knowing that two of his team were now fighting for their lives.
"Vin, this is bad, but as soon as Nathen gets here, you'll be fine." Ezra told him.
"I've had worse Ez." Vin wheezed, as blood pooled in his stomach, pushing on his lungs.
"You have to stay awake Mr. Tanner, help will be here soon."
"Shit, Vin is hit, he's hit bad." Ezra said, as he talked into Vin's radio.
"Are you okay Ez?" Chris asked.
"Yes damn it, I'm fine, Thompson just hit my radio, and I took one in the arm."
"Okay, Josiah is coming from the left, Nathen from the right, I'm coming straight ahead." Said Chris.
"Where was our back-up?" Chris asked the NSA agents on the scene, as Vin and J.D. were loaded into ambulances, a short while later.
"There was a wreck they couldn't make it." the agent said.
"I have three men going to the hospital, two of them in critical condition, and all you can say is that they couldn't make it?"Chris demanded.
"We got Thompson off the streets, we'll need all of your notes and recordings pertaining to this case, we'll take it from here." said the Agent.
"That's it, my guys get shot up and you say that's it, don't you care that two of my men may die because of your incompetence, your men should have been here when we were setting up, they shouldn't have even been stopped by that wreck." Chris growled between clenched teeth, as Josiah pulled him away, before he could take a swing at the guy.
"I'm not payed to care Larabee, I'm payed for results." the Agent said, as Nathen slugged him.
"That felt good, that guy was getting on my nerves." Nate said, as he shook his hand in pain.
"That wasn't entirely called for Nate." said Josiah.
"Let's get to the hospital and find out how the others are." growled Chris, as he, Nate, and Josiah got into the van, following the two ambulances.
The roads were full of blowing snow, and it was slow going, as the EMT's worked to keep Vin stable, and every bump caused Ezra to wince.
"Sure you don't want anything for the pain Ez?" Asked Russ Keats, the EMT that was taking care of Vin.
"No, I'm fine, just bruised up,Mr. Sparks, can you find out how young Mr Dunne is doing?" Ezra asked the driver.
"Sure, but the weather is playing havoc with our radio signals, so it's going to be spotty." Tom Sparks said, as he tried to keep that ambulance on the road.
"What ever you can find out will be fine Mr. Sparks, thank you."
"How's J.D.?" Vin asked, as he came too.
"I am endeavoring to ascertain that now Mr. Tanner, save your strength." Ezra said.
"He's loosing a lot of blood here, can we go any faster Phil?" Asked EMT Duncan Smith.
"The roads are like sheets of ice, I'm doing the best I can just to keep it on the road." Said EMT Phil Collin, as he tried to steer around a car that was on the side of the road.
"What are his chances, he was laying in that snow for a long time?" asked Buck.
"Better then they would have been had he been inside, the cold slowed the flow of blood, and helped keep him stable, the rest is up to the Doctors, and god." Duncan said.
"Phil says that J.D. is holding his own, but that they have to get him to the trauma center soon, their starting to close a lot of them down because of the storm, we're headed to St. Mary's it's the closest one open." said Tom.
"They have the best Trauma unit in the state, I should know." said Ezra.
"Yeah, ya been in it enough." Vin said, starting to laugh, but ending in a gut wrenching cough.
"Hay take it easy there Vin, right now all that's holding you together is duct tape and glue." Russ joked, trying to put both men at ease.
By the time they were able to get to the hospital, Vin had passed out, and J.D. had lost so much blood the EMT's didn't think he would even make it up to surgery.
"We don't have any next of kin on file for these two." the nurse said, as she handed Buck the forms to fill out for Vin and J.D.
"For these two I'm down to sign anything, along with all the members of team Seven, so if you have a problem with the third man, just let me know, and I'll knock some since into him pretty lady." Buck said, as he waited at the front desk.
When Chris and the rest of team seven arrived at St. Mary's, they found Buck pacing, and Ezra dozing in a chair with an ice pack on his hip, and his right arm in a sling.
"How's Ez?" Chris asked, knowing that that was the easiest question for his friend to answer.
"Aw he's got a bruised hip, and some torn muscle tissue where the bullet hit him, I slipped a pain pill into his coffee, he'll be out another hour or so." Buck said, not taking his eyes off the swinging doors that led to the ORs where they had taken Vin and J.D.
"I'm sure J.D. is going to be fine, he fell in the snow, that held off the blood lose, and may have stopped some of the other damage that he would have normally had." said Nathen quietly.
"I'm going to go to the chapel and pray for our brothers." said Josiah, as he left.
"How long ago did they go into surgery?" Nathen asked.
"Ten minutes ago, damn it, I should have checked to make sure J.D. had his vest on, why didn't I check."
"It's not your fault Buck, Thompson is quick, he got that shot off at Ez before Vin even had a chance to fire his gun, and he was ready for him to pull something." said Chris.
"What happened to Vin, he looked like he got a gut full of bird shot?" Asked Buck.
"Don't know for sure, Ez was with him when it happened, we'll have to wait until he wakes-up to find out." Said Chris.
Team Seven was camped out in the OR waiting room, when the first of the two surgeons came out, six hours later.
"What's the word Doc, how are my men?" Chris asked.
"Mr Tanner had extensive abdominal damage, but we were able to repair it, his leg on the other hand, well, he was hit in the corotted artery, the damage was too savvier, we couldn't save the leg, I'm sorry." the doctor reported.
"What about the other man, how is he?" Buck asked.
"He's still in surgery, you can go see Mr. Tanner in a few minutes, once we have him settled in his room."
"How long until we find out anything about my other man?" Chris asked.
"The shot your other man took penetrated very close to his spinal cord, its a very delicate surgery, we'll do what we can, but I don't think he's going to walk again."
"They both live in walk-ups." Said Ezra.
"Buck listen, this isn't the doctor doing J.D.'s surgery, this is the guy that did Vin's, and he is going to walk again, there are things they can do now, come on, lets go check on Vin." Said Nathen.
A short time later, they were allowed to see Vin two at a time, Ezra opted to see Vin by himself, once the others left.
"It should have been me Mr. Tanner, I can still do my job with one leg, would have made me more reputable to the type that I have to work with." Ezra said to his sleeping friend.
"Not your fault Ez." Vin said Weakly.
"Your suppose to be sleeping." Ezra said.
"Couldn't with those mother hens brooding around here, what about J.D.?"
"We don't know for sure yet, the doctor that did your surgery said that he may never walk again."
"How's Buck taking it?"
"He blames himself."
"It wasn't his fault, J.D. is always taking his vest off when their stuck in the van for hours, hell, I should have been wearing mine for that matter, then my stomach wouldn't hurt so bad."
"Vin, they had to take your leg, the damage was too extensive." Ezra told him.
"I know, I heard Chris and Nate talking, they got me doped up pretty good, can't feel much of nothin' down there."
"They only took it from below the knee, so you still have a good chance of walking with a good prosthetic." Ezra said.
"I know, when I was in the army rangers, I saw a few guys who did the same thing and they went back on active duty." Vin said.
"I'll go see what I can find out about J.D., you get some rest, don't worry I won't tell the others your awake yet, I will tell the nurse though." Ezra said as he left.
"We were able to get most of the bullet out, but there is a small fragment that's too close to his spinal cord that we were unable to get, all in all, he should make a full recovery though." said the doctor.
"Doc, that is the best news we have heard all day, when can we see him?" Buck asked.
"In a little while, we're moving him to his room now." the doctor said as he left.
"We need to get him and Vin into the same room." Said Buck.
"I believe that Mr. Tanner would prefer if you didn't do that Bucklyn." Said Ezra.
"He's right, besides J.D. is on the nero service, while Vin is on the ostio service, they're in different wings of the hospital" said Nathen.
The first three days were hell on Vin, the only one who he could stand to have in the room with him when they got ready to show him what was left of his leg was Ezra his brother, he knew that it hurt Chris, but he also knew that the other man, his best friend, wouldn't have been able to handle it himself.
"It's healing well, we should be able to fit you for a prosthetic as soon as more of the swelling goes down, your a lucky man, if your friend here hadn't thought to tie off you leg, you would have bled out." Said the surgeon, a Dr. Benton.
"Thanks, I knew he was good for some thing other then just as a brother."said Vin, as he looked at Ez, remembering those first few moments after he was shot.
"Now, as for you Mr. Standish, I've seen the X-rays and the scans that were done of your shoulder, your going to have some perminint nerve damage, it will affect your golf and tennis games, I'm sorry." Benton said.
"Please, please don't make me laugh, it hurts to laugh."Vin said, as he looked at Ezra's face.
"I don't understand, it says in your chart that you are semi-pro in both sports." The doctor said.
"He doesn't play either sport, we just put that into his file for a joke." Vin said, tears streaming down his face, as he tried not to laugh.
"It was a joke when you put it in my file a year ago, now your just hurting your self Mr. Tanner." Ezra said, as he felt for his brother, as he moaned in pain.
"Easy, or you'll pull out all of my nice embroidery work." Benton said, as he helped Vin ease back down to a lying position.
"Sorry about that Doc, but I needed the laugh." Vin said hoarsely.
"You need rest Mr. Tanner, I'm sure your brother won't stay too long now will he."
"No of course not, I want him well rested and healed when I enact my revenge for this one." Ezra said, a sparkle in his eye, and a grin to match.
"When am I getting out of here, I'm goin' stir crazy Buck." J.D. said, as he paced around his hospital room.
"You need to sit down J.D., your goin' to pull your stitches, then you'll be here for another couple of days for sure."
"Mr Dunn, I have a bone to pick with you, as Mr. Tanner is still too ill, you are going to be the center of my indignation." Ezra said, as he came in the room.
"Uh Oh." J.D. said as he scampered back to bed.
"What did you two do now, put a naked girl screen saver on his computer again?" Buck asked.
"No, they got into my medical records and said that I was semi-pro in golf and tennis, when the doctor told me I wasn't going to be able to play again, Vin nearly pulled out his stitches he was laughing so hard."
"When did they do that?" Josiah asked.
"Last year when he came in for that hernia surgery, I guess I forgot it was there." J.D said as innocently as he could.
"Get it out of my records, I have never played Tennis in my life, and I only play golf when the occasion calls for it, on the job." Ezra said, as he stalked out of the room.
It took a lot of cajoling on team Seven's part, but as soon as the roads were clear, they took their injured friends, and went to spend the rest of the time out at Chris's ranch, since it had wood heat and a generator, since everyone else was without power due to the storms.
"Boy, I'm glad Chris came out here first, the road to the house is a mess as it is, no wonder he needed Nate and Josiah to help him clear it." said J.D., as he looked at the downed trees and power lines.
"Lucky we were able to get extra fuel for the generator too, these twenty gallons should help keep us in light and hot water for a while at least." Said Buck.
"You sure Ezra is okay to drive in this stuff?" J.D. asked, as he turned to look out the back window.
"Well, Vin can't do it, and we have to get more fuel for the generator and food out to the ranch, the weather says that we need to expect another storm in a day or two."
"You should see Vin's face from here, it looks like he's white knuckling it all the way."
"Yeah, well he just has to live with it a while longer, then we'll be at the ranch, hey look isn't that smoke at old Harry's Cabin, wonder who would be up there this time of year?"
"Maybe it's Mac and the boys." said J.D.
"Maybe, once we get you and Vin settled, I'll call and find out, or maybe Chris knows."
When they got to the ranch the place was a shambles, and the fence was down in Thunders paddock.
"Don't tell me, we have to go to Harry's and get Diablo." said Buck, when he saw Chris.
"Sorry, I checked the fence twice last night, but this morning, I found this," Chris said, motioning toward the downed fence, " a tree came down took out the fence, and as usual, I woke-up and Diablo was gone."
"There's smoke at the Cabin, we saw it when we came over the ridge." Vin said, as he tried to keep his footing on the icy ground.
"Yeah, Jack's there with Mac and the boys and Jim, they have another guy there too, Jim said that it would shock the hell out of us, their going to come over later for some cards." Chris told them, as he started to saddle a couple of horses.
"Wait up there cowboy, some one needs to keep an eye on these two." said Buck.
"Ezra can handle those two for a couple of hours." Said Chris.
"There is no way in hell you are leaving me with him for two more hours, the drive up here was crazy, he has no idea how to drive on this stuff." Vin said, looking pale.
"Fine, I'll stay, but the rest of you better go get Diablo, ever since Daniel died, no one has been able to bring him back single handed except me." Chris said, as he followed the three arguing young men into the house.
It took them a couple of hours, but they found Diablo right where they expected, and they also found Daniel, near exhaustion as Jim was pushing him, Blair, and Sam through to the ranch house.
"Jim, you should know better, when Daniel says he doesn't feel well, he means he needs a doctor." Said Jack, when they got back to the cabin with Buck and the others.
"I forgot, it's been a a while okay." said Jim.
"Well, you boys should come stay at the ranch, we have a sick ward there, Vin, Ezra and J.D. were hurt on our last case, we have the generator up and running, and could use a few extra hands to help out with repairs." said Buck.
"How bad is it in town?" Asked Jim.
"Most of us have no power, everyone except Vin, he lost his leg on that last case, so he can't even get to his place yet." Buck explained.
"Damn." said Jim, Vin had been under him in the Rangers.
"Sorry Jim, I know he's a friend." said Josiah.
"He's alive though, those Tanner's live long lives without limbs, Harry knew one back when all of this was still being trapped, said the guy had lost an arm in the great war, ww1, but the guy got along fine, died of a heart attach right here in this cabin." said Mac.
"How long ago was that?" asked Josiah.
"About ten years after world war 2, I never said they lived with bad hearts, just lost limbs." Mac said.
"Come on, lets load our gear into the SUV's and go over, at least there's more room there, besides, this way if someone gets stranded in the weather, they can use the cabin, and they won't feel they're putting some one out." Said Blair.
"Don't bother you none Chief." Said Jim, as he headed to the kitchen to gather up some of the food they had brought.
"That's because I wasn't raised with those kinds of inhibitions." Blair yelled after him.
"We should call Chris, he may not want extra guests." Sam said.
"Hell, you boys ain't guests, yer family, and we always got room for family." Buck said.
Once they loaded the SUV's, they discovered that Diablo and Daniel were gone.
"You don't think Daniel decided to ride over on his own, it'll scare the hell out of Chris and the others." said Buck.
"Any thing's possible with him, I mean he came back from the dead." said Jim.
"Chris said that you told him that Daniel was on the verge of a burn out, although he doesn't know it's Daniel, what's wrong?" Josiah asked Mac, as the loaded the last of the gear.
"I think it's his soul, he and Sam both had it rough when they were kids, you know that." Jack explained.
"Call Janet, and let her know that your moving over to the ranch, if I know her as well as I think I do, she's likely to show up here out of the blue." said Buck.
"Your right, that would be just like her, or she'll send Carter up here to check on Daniel." Jack said, as he went and got some paper to leave a note.
Meanwhile, Daniel was riding Diablo, when he passed out, and fell off the horse's back into a snowbank. Diablo wouldn't leave, this was his other human, the young one that liked to give him apples in spring, and sugar cubes in the winter, the one that the others had said was dead, but Diablo had known better, he had seen him, his spirit, up at old Harry's Cabin when Jack was there with the others. Diablo didn't like the others much, but he still went there when he got lose, hoping to find his other human, and now that he had him he wasn't going to let him leave again.
Diablo knew that Buck and the Boys would come this way to get to the Ranch, because the road was too full of trees that the storm had knocked down, so he just stood and waited for them to come.
"What the hell, it's Diablo, but there's no sign of Daniel." Said Buck, as he grabbed the horses lead.
Diablo pawed at the ground, trying to show them where Daniel was.
"Oh my god, get a shovel out of the truck, Daniel is buried in the snow bank, that's why Diablo stayed here." Said Nathen, as he caught sight of a bit of cloth in the snow that Diablo was pawing at.
"We have to get him warmed up, put him in the jeep, we can go faster then the truck in this snow." Jack said, as he directed them to put the young man in the back, as Sam turned the heat up to full blast.
"I'll come with you, the extra body heat will help." Nathen said, passing his horses reigns over to Josiah, and getting in the jeep.
Even with the extra heat of Nathen, it wasn't until the saw they lights of the ranch house that Daniel started to shiver.
"Open up Chris, we have a half frozen archaeologist out here, get the hot water running in the tub, and get what ever extra blankets we have in the dryer to warm up, Come on Jack, we have to get his cloths off him and get him warmed up." Nathen yelled, as they came in the door both carrying an unconscious Daniel.
"That can not be who it looks like, he's suppose to be dead." Said Ezra, as he got up from the sofa.
"Oh, it is, he was riding Diablo back from the Cabin, it looked like he fell off, we would have never found him if it hadn't been for Diablo, he wouldn't leave, and Daniel was buried in the snow, Damnedest thing I ever saw, he was pawing at the ground to show us where he was." Said Nathen, as they went through to the bathroom in the front.
"What happened?" Asked Vin, who woke-up moments later, missing Daniel entirely.
"Well, your big brother is still alive, or back from the dead, I'm not sure which, but he may yet get himself killed, he fell off of Diablo trying to bring him back here from the cabin, landed in a snowbank and was on his way to freezing to death when Nathen and the others came across him." Ezra explained.
Vin and Daniel went back to foster care, they had been in the same group home for a lot of years, but had lost track of each other, it wasn't until Jack brought Daniel up to the cabin to recuperate after a bad fire fight where Daniel had been temporarily paralyzed, and found Vin floating face up in the lake.
"Is he gonna be okay?" Vin asked, as he started to get up.
"Yeah, once they find out why he fell off Diablo in the first place, that's not like him."
"Janet is to hear of none of this, she'll kill us all if we let Daniel catch Pneumonia." said Sam, as he came back in the room.
"What can we do?" Asked Vin.
"Not much, all we can do is wait for now, he is sort of accident prone according to Uncle Jack." Sam said.
"He's been that way since we were kids, he has the worst luck."
"I wouldn't say that, look at the friends and family he has, that was pretty lucky." Ezra said.
"True, but you weren't there when he was 13 and I was 10, we got caught in the Museum under the arch after closing in St. Louis, we were there on a field trip and got separated, because Daniel was looking at the artifacts from an Egyptian tomb that his folks had excavated, he was showing me their blood on the artifacts."
"Oh god." said Sam.
"Anyway, by the time we left the display the place was closed up tight, until the next Monday, and nobody was getting out of there until then, that was when there was all that flooding along the Missouri and the Mississippi rivers, and the arch is right in the flood plain.
"We only had enough money to get a few things from the snack machines, and then the power went out, by the time they found us, we we're back in the Egyptian room floating on some of the artifacts, that was the last time we were aloud to go on an over night field trip."
"One question, why do you have a Texas accent, and he don't?" asked J.D.
"He picks up accents like Ezra, languages too, that's why he went into archeology, it helps if you can talk to the workers on the sight."
"Sounds like you two got into a lot of trouble when you were growing up." Said Ezra.
"Yeah, but we had a lot of fun too, some times I think that was all that got the two of us through to adult hood." Vin said wistfully, just as Buck came in followed by Blair, Jim, Mac, and Josiah, all five loaded down with food and supplies.
"How you doing Tanner, sorry to hear about your leg." Said Jim.
"As good as can be expected Sarge, although from what I hear I don't envy you one bit, your the one that broke Daniel." Vin said, as he started to stand.
"At ease, we aren't in the service any more, how is said Archaeologist any way?" Jim asked.
"If I know him, he is getting ready to throw Jack and Nathen out of the bathroom, and say he's fine, when he really isn't." Said Vin.
Seconds later, Vin's prediction came true, and Jack came out of the bathroom laughing at a soaking wet Nathen.
"Daniel threw one of the buckets we were using to warm his hands with, I ducked, Nate didn't." Jack explained, as Nate went to get some dry cloths for he and Daniel.
Half an hour later, a dry and slightly refreshed Daniel joined the others, as they sat in the living room.
"Here Daniel, you look like hell warmed over, no pun intended." Vin said, getting up on his crutches and giving Daniel his spot next to the fire.
"Vin, what happened?" Daniel asked seeing his friend's missing leg.
"Lost it a couple of weeks ago, in a fire fight, got hit in the gut too, but that's okay, I want to know why we all thought you were dead for a year?" Vin asked.
"It's a very long and very classified story, sufficed to say, I was dead, now I'm not." Daniel replied.
"Most of these guys have clearance, we had to have it to go to your funereal, the only one that didn't pass was Ez, and we cleared that up a while ago, so talk." Said Chris.
So Daniel did, the hours that he had suffered from the radiation poisoning, the offer that Omma had given him to join his wife's son, his good-bye to Jack, the that the next thing he knew he woke-up naked on a planet. It had taken him time to remember his death, and he still couldn't remember a lot of things from his childhood, luckily one of the things he had lost was the death of his parents, that no longer lingered in the back of his mind.
"You know if you guys have the clearance, maybe you should come by the SGC and see if they will let you join up, it can't hurt to try." Daniel said.
"We could try that, but first things first, we have to get these guys and you better." said Nathen, as he saw the dark circles under Daniel's eyes.
"Okay, Daniel, Ez, Jack, and Vin will go in Ez's room, it's the largest out side of my room, Sam, Mac and Josiah in Josiah's room, Jim and Blair will bunk in Nate's room, Nate, Buck and J.D. will be in Buck's room." Said Chris.
"That leaves two empty rooms Chris." Said Buck.
"I know, Vin's and JD's, I left them open just in case."
"Chris, please tell me you didn't call Janet?" asked Buck.
"I didn't, I called Samantha, she's on her way."
"She's gonna call Janet, and then I'm going to get into trouble because I didn't call her when JD, Vin, and Ezra were shot." Buck said.
"She would if you haven't called her yet." said Jack.
"I called her last week, I forgot to tell her about the case, and that these three were hurt."
"You forgot to tell her that Vin lost his leg, and that JD has a piece of a bullet too close to his spine for them to operate, and poor Ez is never going to play tennis or golf again." said Chris.
"You realize that no matter how you try to spin this, you are in the doghouse big time Buck." Said Jack.
"But at least I won't be alone, JD wasn't wearing his vest, if he had been, he wouldn't have gotten hurt as bad as he did." Buck said, "That plus none of the rest of us called her either."
"None of the rest of us are going out with her Buck." Said Chris.
"I am so dead, she is going to kill me." Buck said Glumly, as he started to help JD get up, so he could shuffle the younger man off to bed.
"You should have called her Buck, she is going to hear it from Carter now." said JD.
"Say good night JD."
"Good night."
"I'm not going to get any sleep tonight, JD's gonna talk all night, even in his sleep." Said Nate as he trailed behind the other two.
"We better all head to bed, Carter is libel to have us all up with the sun." Said Jack.
"General Hammond, I need a few days off, I just got a call from Chris Larabee, there's been a bad storm up in the mountains, they can use all the help they can get for the clean-up."
"Of course, take all the time you need, we don't have anything pressing right now, the cornel took Daniel up to his cabin, I think he is hoping that being up there will help him relax." Hammond said.
"Do you need Janet, from what Chris told me, they could use her too, a couple of their guys were hurt on their last case, their staying a Chris's he has heat and a generator, I guess that the roads up there are pretty bad." Sam said.
"I think we can spare her, Dr. Becket can cover for her if some thing comes up." Hammond said, "I'm surprised that she hasn't asked her self."
"She doesn't know, Buck forgot to tell her, and I think once she does know, he's going to be in the dog house for a while." Sam said, smiling.
"Tell her to take what ever she needs, or thinks she might need, the last time that all of those men got together, we ended up having to evacuate them from the cabin by helicopter because of that flood." Hammond said.
"That was last year Sir, but with the way the weather is going, we may not get out of there until spring."
"None of you have had a break since Daniel died last year, I can not in good conscious make you stay here, besides, those boy's are family, and we take care of family."
"Yes Sir, thank you Sir."
"Your Dad is due in any minute now, why don't you see if he wants to go with, that is if the Tok'ra can spare him, Teal'c could use the rest too."
"I'll see if they want to go, thank you Sir."
"Not a problem Major, besides, the sooner we get Daniel's memories back the better, have a good vacation."
"Janet, I have some thing to tell you." Sam said, as she came into Janet's office.
"Is Daniel hurt?" Janet asked.
"Not as far as I know, but you need to come with me to Chris's there was a bust that went bad, Buck is fine, but JD, Ezra, and Vin were hurt, pretty bad from what Chris said."
"What about Buck, is he okay, when I talked to him last night he seemed fine."
"He's fine, Janet I think he was so focused on letting you know he was fine that he forgot to tell you about the others, anyway, there's been a really bad storm system up there, and I'm going up to help with the clean-up, and Vin lost his left leg from just below the knee."
"Great, and no one called me, I'm his Doctor, his system is just as touchy as Daniel's, I hope he's not in too much pain." Janet said, as she started packing what she knew she would need for the trip from the supply closet in her office, then headed out the door to the med bay.
"Janet, I'm sure that Nathen has it under control, besides Ezra and Chris are there taking care of him too." Sam said.
"Who else is there?"
"The whole bunch of them, Mac, Blair, Jim, Sam, Jack, Daniel, Chris, Josiah, Buck, JD, Ezra, Nathen, Vin, everybody, I'm taking you, Teal'c, Cassy, and Dad if he can spare a little time, Chris and Buck haven't seen him in years."
"How are we going to get there, a bus?"
"I haven't figured that out yet, most of the roads up there are out, we could borrow a Snow Cat from somebody." Sam said, as the alarm went off announcing her father's arrival, "That's Dad, maybe he'll know of a way we can get up there."
"Dad, boy am I glad your here." Sam said, as she hugged her father.
"Sam, what's wrong?" her father asked,
"Buck and Chris."
"I haven't seen them in years, how are they?"
"Their fine, Buck's dating Janet, but they are stuck up at Chris's place, Janet and I are trying to figure out how to get there, they work for the ATF now, and three of their team members were hurt on their last case, they got out to the ranch just before the last run of storms hit, now their sort of stuck there, with Cornel O'Neil, Daniel, and the Cornel's cousin Mac's family, it's a real mess Dad, we could use your help, plus it would give you a chance to meet the rest of these guys, they are like family to all of us here."
"I might be able to help, but how are you Sam, with Daniel back, it must be nice."
"It's nice, but he doesn't remember a whole lot, the Cornel took him up to the Cabin, hoping that would jog his memory, Vin, one of the men on Chris's team, is Daniel's foster brother, they were really close when they were kids."
"Sam honey their's some thing else going on, what is it?"
"When Daniel was ascended, he came to help Teal'c and the Cornel, he never came to me, just them, I guess I'm sort of jealous."
"Isn't it possible that he came to them because they were in trouble and needed him to keep going?"
"Yes, but it still hurts some, he's one of my best friends, when he died, I just didn't know what I was going to do." Sam said.
"Maybe he thought that you were the strong one, you didn't need him as much because you have Jack and Teal'c, maybe that was why he went to them, because he knew that you needed them."
"Your probably right Dad."
"I think I know someone that can help, where is Chris's place?" asked Jacob.
"It's up in the mountains, about half an hour outside of Denver." Sam said.
"I can spare a few days, but the Tok'ra will need me back."
"Great, I haven't found Teal'c yet, but I suspect that he'll want to go too." Sam said, as she went to help Janet.
"Your in for a lot going up there." said General Hammond.
"I remember Chris and Buck from when they were with the seals, the others can't be too much worse." Jacob said.
"Well, you know how Daniel is accident prone, well multiply that times five, and that's just the younger ones." General Hammond said.
"I can just imagine, can't be worse then Buck when he was young." Jacob laughed.
"From what I hear they had time to lay in supplies before the last round of storms hit, I'm going to call Chris and see if they forgot anything." Sam said, as she and the others headed out, later that night.
"In my experience, Captain Larabee would not forget anything." said Teal'c.
"This is going be fun, playing in the snow, getting Buck to take me for a horse back ride." said Cassy.
"I hope I brought enough antibiotics, I spoke with Nathen before we left, he said that Daniel might have pneumonia, and that Vin has wet to dry dressings on his leg, and that Ezra is just being a pain, complaining about how much his hip hurts, but refusing to take anything." Janet said.
"Didn't he also get hit in the arm too?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, but I guess that it was just a scratch, and I don't even want to think about JD's back." Janet said.
"They'll be fine until we get there, besides they have Nathen watching over them for now."
"I can not believe that Buck forgot to tell me about all this, we've been talking every other day since that bust, he is a dead man when I get a hold of him." Janet fumed.
"I think he was more concerned about you and Cassy with the weather the way it's been, the power has been on and off in the area for the last two weeks." Sam said, as she drove the van that they had borrowed from the motor pool, as one of their own people was in trouble, and it was the only vehicle that was large enough to carry all of them to Chris's ranch.
"Why did we have to leave Jack at home?" Cassy asked, missing her dog.
"Because you know very well that Chris has several dogs at the ranch, and he will be happier here then stuck in the house with us for how ever long these storms last." Janet said.
"Will it be safe for the Tok'ra to pick me up there?" asked Jacob.
"Yeah, all the guys passed the background check, and the Ranch house is far enough out of the way that even if the entire Tok'ra fleet landed, no one would know." Sam said.
"I heard that Chris lost his wife and son in a car bombing a few years back." Jacob said.
"Yeah, Buck says that he spent the year drunk, then he was asked to head the ATF's special team, they handle the guys that are too rough for the regular teams, they've been shot up plenty." Sam said.
"Don't I know it, that was how I first met Buck, Vin was shot, and needed immediant surgery, it was chaotic to say the least." Janet said.
"Vin goes back with Daniel, they grew-up together, then there's Ezra, he's Vin's half brother, and Blair, he was Daniel's room mate in collage, and is Jack's cousin Mac's oldest son, then there is his room mate and Partner, Jim, they work for the Cascade Police department, then there's Sam, he's Mac's youngest, then there's JD, he shares a place with Buck, kind of his kid brother or some thing, Nathen is the team medic, and then there's Josiah, he's sort of the team shrink, and profiler, he's got a real rough past, did a couple of tours in Vietnam, was a monk for a while after that, and then became a Profiler for the ATF, at Chris's request." Sam explained.
"Sounds like a good group to have at your back in a fire fight." said Jacob.
"They are, but trust Vin to get hurt the worst when they get into one, he almost died last year when he went chasing after one of their targets, got shot and nearly drown, he's team 7 sniper." Janet said.
"And all of these guys have clearance?" Jacob asked.
"Most of them had it before, but when Daniel died, and we had the memorial, they were checked out again, and with two exceptions they all passed." Sam explained.
"And the two that didn't pass?" asked Jacob.
"Ezra and Blair, we cleared that up, Blair's problem was that he seemed to falsify his Theseus, and Ezra was framed by some dirty FBI agents." Sam continued.
"So you trust these guys?" Jacob asked Teal'c.
"They are all honorable men, General Carter." said Teal'c.
As everyone drifted off to bed, Daniel found himself sitting up with Vin and Ezra.
"Your looking good for some one that's supposed to be dead." Vin said.
"Yeah, I don't really remember it all that well, don't remember much about my life before joining the SGC, Jack and the others have filled me in on most of that." Daniel said.
"That's one good thing about loosing your memory, you can forget the past and start fresh." Ezra said.
"Do you remember growing up?" Vin asked.
"Not really, Jack hasn't said much about it, just that my parents died when I was about 6 or 7, and that one of my grandfathers raised me for a time, that's all." Daniel said.
"He raised you until you were 8, then they said he went crazy and put you in foster care, that's where we met, I was 4 or 5 at the time, I don't really remember myself." Vin said.
"I thought that you two were brothers?" Daniel asked.
"We're half brothers, my mother raised me, and I didn't know about Vin until a couple of years ago." Ezra said.
"Okay, and what about Blair, Jack said he was my room mate at collage, but from what I can remember I didn't meet him until we were up here at the cabin, when we fished you out of the lake." Daniel said.
"You went off to Collage and I ran away from the foster home, found my maternal grandfather and lived with him until I was 18 then I joined the army, I was a Ranger and knew Jim, he was my Sargent." Vin explained.
"Was it that bad in the foster home, I mean you would think that they would screen those people better." Daniel said.
"They do now, but back then they took just about any one, and the people that were our foster parents were just in it for the money, they use to beat us , and there were several times we almost died from punishments that they gave us."
"I've had strange dreams, about a little kid, he was hurt bad, and I was trying to get him help, but no one would listen to me, then when they finally did in my dream it was too late, the kid died." Daniel confided.
"That was me, you had been at the home for about a year, and after one of my beatings, my appendix became infected, you begged them to take me to the hospital, it wasn't until two days later that they finally took me, and by then my Appendix had already bust, I was in the hospital for weeks, first because of infection, then because I had a bad reaction to the drugs they used on me, I almost died, you would sneak into my room every chance you got, making sure that I was okay, and that the Doctors were taking care of me." Vin explained.
Ezra was horrified at the things he heard Vin tell Daniel, the stories of beatings that Daniel had taken instead of Vin, and the times they were locked in the basement on weekends so that he foster parents could go on trips.
"We lived through all of that?" Daniel asked.
"Yeah, and we both serve for the better good, helping people." Vin said, as he grew quiet.
"I thought I had it rough, I got a few beatings from my Mother's boyfriends, and a few step-fathers, but what you went through, it must have seemed like hell." Ezra said.
"We survived, that's all that matters." Vin said.
"No one knows about any of this?" Daniel asked.
"Nope, just you, me, and now Ez, and possibly Netty Wells, she was one of the social workers that helped me stay with my grandfather once I found him." Vin said.
"I can't even imagine living through that, much less ending up doing what I do for a living." Daniel said.
"You set a goal, you followed in your parents foot steps." Vin said, as he stretched out his arms and yawned.
"We had better get to bed, I can already hear Cornel O'Neill snoring, I hope that Mr. Sandberg brought his white noise machine, or Mr. Ellison isn't going to get any sleep, between O'Neill's snoring, Mr. Dunne's talking in his sleep, and the rest of us, I don't think any one will get much sleep." said Ez, as he stooped to help Vin to stand with his crutches.
"I think I'll stay here for a while, it's quiet, and I need some time to think." Daniel said.
Later that night Jim was awakened by a wheezing sound coming from the living room, when he got up to check, he found a very pale Daniel asleep sitting on the sofa, sounding like he was going to stop breathing any time, so he went and got Nathen.
"He doesn't sound good Nate, his lungs sound wet, and he smells like he has some sort of infection." Jim told Nathen.
"Let me check him out, then I'll call Janet, see if she can advise me, Daniel's system is almost as touchy as yours." Nathen said.
After Nathen did a quick examination of the sleeping Daniel, he came to the conclusion that Jim was right, that Daniel had pneumonia, and called Janet's cell, hoping to catch her before she left Colorado Springs.
"Hello?" Janet asked, looking at Sam curiously, wondering who else was awake at this late hour.
"Janet, it's Nathen, I hope you haven't left the mountain yet, or are still close enough that you can get to the base hospital, between me and Jim, we've diagnosed Daniel with pneumonia, Janet it's set in really fast, his lungs sound wet, and he can barely breath." Nathen said over the phone.
"You say his lungs sound wet, do you happen to have any lasix on hand?" Janet asked, concern in her eyes, as she looked at Sam.
"Nothing like that on hand here, should one of us run to town and get some, there's an all night Pharmacy just a couple of miles away?" asked Nathen, as Jim went to get his coat.
"No, I have some Lasix with me, I figured that was what was going on with him, that he was getting sick, he's been running himself down at work, and not eating right, and any number of things that would make him susceptible to pneumonia." Janet said, "what antibiotics do you have there?"
"We have good old penicillin, Cephlex, and cyclosporin." Nathen said.
"Okay, get me the number for that pharmacy, I'll call in a couple of prescription for one of you to pick-up, Daniel can't take any of those antibiotics, he's allergic, I'll have them give you Arithramiacin, or a Z-pack and some Lasix, give him one of those and two lasix, I'm bringing some equipment with me in case he gets worse." Janet said, "Call me in a couple of hours, we should be just outside of Denver by then, let me know how he's doing."
Nathen gave her the number, and Janet called in the prescriptions, while Jim made his way to the Pharmacy.
It wasn't until early the next morning that anyone bothered to wake Jack and let him know about Daniel's condition, knowing that the older man wouldn't sleep until the crisis was past.
"Why did you wait so long to wake me up, he's had this before, he almost died on us a couple of years ago because of it." Jack said, as he came tarring into the living room.
"I know, but I figured that we had better let you sleep, since you won't close your eyes again until he wakes-up, or Janet gets here." Nathen said, as he and Jim begin to move Daniel, "Go wake Ezra, he may pitch a fit at first, just tell him that Daniel is sick and needs his bed more then he does."
"Why Ezra's bed?" Jack asked.
"Because it's one of those adjustable ones, we can crank the head of the bed up, it'll help Daniel breath better, and he'll be more comfortable there." said Nathen.
Nathen had been right, Ez had started to put up a fight, but as soon as it was explained to him that Daniel needed the bed, he vacated it, and helped Jack move his cot closer to the larger bed.
"Is Dr. Jackson going to be all right?" Ezra asked Nathen.
"We won't know for a couple of hours yet, we have him on a couple of things to help clear his lungs up, and Janet is on her way, so hopefully he'll improve as the night goes on." Nathen said as his cell phone rang.
"Nathen, has there been any improvement?" Janet asked as soon as Nathen answered.
"Not much, but it may take a couple of hours yet, still not sure about giving him pills, he almost choked on them when I gave them to him." Nathen explained.
"I'll pick-up some IV equipment, is his head elevated?" Janet asked, as she went through the ales at the pharmacy.
"Yeah, we moved him to Ezra's bed, for a scrawny guy, he sure weights a lot." said Nathen.
"He may look skinny, but it's all muscle, like Vin." Janet chuckled.
"Okay, we've done all we can until you get here, I'll pass you over to Jack now, he's glaring at me." Nathen said handing the phone to Jack, as he adjusted the head of the bed.
"Janet, it isn't good, he's pale, almost gray, his breathing is really shallow too." Jack said.
"We've been through this before Jack, he's strong, and other then the fact that he works himself too hard, he's healthy, it looks bad now, I know, but remember, he's survived a lot worse, so have you for that matter."
"I know, but this is Daniel, we just got him back, I don't think any of us could handle loosing him again." Jack said, as he got quiet, noticing for the first time that Vin was still fast asleep.
"Nate, what meds did they give Vin?" Jack asked.
"Pain med's, nothing that he hasn't had in the past, I made sure of that, and Cephlex, to help prevent infection from setting in." Nathen said.
"He's just sleeping Jack, I noticed earlier that his heart rate was high, probably the pain from his leg." Jim said.
"No one else is showing signs of being sick are they?" Janet asked, her concern for her friends getting stronger.
"No, just exhausted, get what ever you think you might need that you don't already have Janet, we have a sick ward here, and if I guess right, Jack will keep an eye on things with me until you get here, Jim too." Nathen said, having taken the phone from Jack.
"We'll be there as soon as we can Nathen, thanks for the update." Janet said, as she shut off her phone.
"Janet, how bad is it?" Sam asked, as she joined Janet in the pharmacy.
"It doesn't sound good, I think that Daniel might have Viral pneumonia, Jim said that he thought Daniel's lungs sounded wet, and when Nathen examined him, he didn't wake-up, and now from what I can tell Vin is sleeping through all of it too, has Jack on the alert, Jim is keeping an ear on both of them." Janet explained, as she paled what she needed on the counter, "Excuse me, but you wouldn't happen to have an IV fluids in the back would you?" she asked the pharmacist.
"We do, but we need a Doctor's order to distribute those, what are you ladies doing out on a night like this?"
"I'm making a house call out at the Larabee place, got quite a few sick people out there." Janet said, as she handed him her military ID and her proof of being a doctor.
"Air Force huh, coming up from the Springs?" the man asked, as he gathered up the IV fluids and the other things that Janet had asked him for.
"Yes, we have a few friends that are staying out at the ranch." Janet said.
"One of those boys was in here earlier, the cop, I could tell by the look of him, picked-up some antibiotics and lasix, that friend of yours must be real sick."
"Not too sure yet, but we wanted to cover anything, our friend is susceptible to this sort of thing." Janet said.
"There you go, hope you get there safe, the roads out that way are maintained by the county and the forestry department, they aren't too good about keeping them clear in this kind of weather, figure that everyone is staying put."
"Thank you, for the advice on the roads and these supplies." Janet said, as she and Sam gathered the bags.
"I know where the Larabee place is, if you need anything else just let me know, I train sled dogs in my spare time, comes in handy in weather like this." the Pharmacist said, knowing Larabee and his men's tendency to need medical attention, especially after what he had heard on the news earlier in the month.
As Sam got closer to the ranch, she became apprehensive about the roads.
"Dad, I can't drive in this, the road's just getting to icy." Sam said, as she pulled to the side of the road.
"Here, let me, I was driving on this stuff long before you were born, I'll get us there in one piece." Jacob said, as he took over driving.
It took them almost an hour to go the next few miles to the Ranch, and by the time they got there it was almost morning.
"You guys okay?" asked Jim, as he poked his head out, ready to help unload the van.
"Yeah, a little shook up, but none the worse for wear, Jim Ellison, meet my Father General Jacob Carter, retired." Sam said as she introduced the two men.
"How are they?" Janet asked as she rushed into the house, looking for Nathen, and finding Buck.
"Daniel is holding his own, Janet I'm sorry, I was just so worried about you and Cassy, I forgot to tell you about the others." Buck said.
"Not now Buck, Cassy is out in the van, could you please bring her in and find her a place to sleep, what room are Daniel and Vin in?"
"The second door on your right." Buck said glumly, knowing that he had a lot to answer for.
"Now there is a face that I know, how you doing Willmington?" Jacob asked, as Buck came out.
"I'm in the dog house, is Cassy awake?" He asked, as he walked out to the van.
"Yeah, boy it's cold up here, what did you boys do, piss god off so he'd freeze hell?" Jacob asked.
"No worse, I pissed Janet off." Buck said, as he scooped Cassy up and carried her into the house.
"Anybody else up Jim?" Sam asked.
"Just me, Nathen, Jack and Buck, Blair should be waking-up soon, he likes to get up early now." Jim said, as he held the door opened for Buck.
"I am beat, those roads were murder, once we got onto the county roads, we could barely see anything." Sam said.
"How's cousin Fred like it?" Jim asked, meaning Teal'c.
"I have spent many winters at Colorado Springs, how ever I have never seen weather quite like this." Teal'c said, as he began pulling bags from the back.
"They're saying that this is the storm of the century, every thing's shut down for now, called mine and Blair's captain to tell him that we're stuck here, he wasn't too happy, but he said that we couldn't do anything about mother nature." Jim said, as he helped grab a few of the bags.
"How bad is Daniel, I mean really, I know that you wouldn't have woken-up the Cornel if it wasn't life or death?" Sam asked, as they went inside.
"His lungs sound wet, like he's drowning."
"Still, hasn't the Lasix kicked in yet?"
"Nope, at least it isn't doing what Janet hoped, and Vin is getting sick too, I have to tell Janet, and I think we should keep and eye on Ezra too, he and Vin were up late talking to Daniel, and with both of them having been shot.."
"Their immune systems are already taxed, exposure to this could make them just as sick, or sicker then Daniel." Sam said, as she went out for another load.
"Where is the coffee maker Buck?" Jacob asked, once all the gear and supplies were in.
"This way Cornel, I mean General." Buck said, teasing his old CO.
"I'm retired now Buck, I work as a leason between the Tok'ra and the SGC, it saved my life." Jacob said.
"Heard that you have one of those worms in you now, saved you from Cancer."
"Selmak is any thing but a worm, she is a loving caring being, and it's because of her that I have been able to help Sam out from time to time." Jacob said.
"So she lives in you, that has to be weird, I mean I've seen junior, but he's twisted, at least that's what Teal'c thinks."
"Teal'c has a Goauld that was bread by Apophis, Selmak was bread to fight Apophis and Ra, she's actually got a really good scene of humor, if she weren't in me, I might marry her." Jacob said, as he bowed his head, allowing Selmak to talk.
"Thank you Jacob, that is the nicest thing any one has said about me in a long time, at least since my last husband." Selmak said.
"Woh, you can do that, just take control of him any time you want?" Buck asked.
"I could, but I would rather that Jacob had freewill, that is the difference between the Tok'ra and the Goauld, they take over their host, while we enjoy a symbiotic relationship with our hosts." Selmak said.
"I could sure use some advice from you my self, I got my girlfriend mad at me, I forgot to tell her that three of my team mates were hurt, and I was so worried about her and Cassie, I just don't know what to do." Buck said.
"You don't need Selmak for that one, right now Janet is in crisis mode, once she's sure Daniel and your friend Vin are okay she'll come around." Jacob said.
"Thanks General." Buck said brightening up.
"You can call me Jacob, we've known each other for too long to stand on ceremony Buck."
"Sure thing, now where did Chris hide the good coffee?" Buck said, as he rummaged through the cupboards.
"Nathen, I want to examine these two, Jim says that Vin is sleeping too deep, and that his lungs are starting to sound like Daniel's" Janet said, as she ushered Jack out, trying not to wake Ezra who had fallen asleep on the other cot.
"Has Ezra shown any signs of being sick?" Janet asked, as she finished with Daniel and moved on to Vin.
"No, just tired, Jim's been keeping an ear on him." Nathen told Janet, as they checked the three men's temps and began administering IVs as needed to Vin and Daniel.
"That's about all I can do for now, I think it's best if we check everyone out, just to make sure that none of them get sick too, especially JD." Janet said.
"He's sleeping, he's pretty much healed up, except for the fact that he has a bullet fragment close to his spine." Nathen explained, knowing that Janet would want to know everything that was going on with the injured in the house.
"How long ago were he, Ezra, and Vin injured?" she asked casually, as she and Nathen left the three sleeping men and headed for the kitchen.
"Almost three weeks ago, when the first of these storms hit." Nathen said, " Why do you ask?" he asked, as they walked into the kitchen, where a very nervous Buck sat talking to Jacob at the table.
"Because I forgot to tell her, Janet I am so sorry, with the way the weather was, I knew there was no way that you could have gotten here, and you would have tried, don't tell me you wouldn't have tried." Buck said, as he got up from the table.
"Your right Buck, but at that time, I was busy dealing with other things, Cassy got sick, and then there was Daniel's return from the dead, I had a lot on my plate too." she said, accepting his apology with her eyes.
"What's going on, do I hear Janet?" JD asked, as he came wondering blindly into the kitchen, looking for coffee.
"Yes JD, and before you get that coffee into your system I need to check you over, Daniel and Vin are both sick, and I suspect that Ezra isn't far behind." Janet said, steering the young man into a chair.
"Aw come on Janet, I don't get sick like the two of them." JD said, as she examined him.
"You have a bullet fragment very near your spine, humor me JD." Janet said.
"I'd do it if I were you, she knows where you live kid." Buck said.
As the morning wore on Janet, Buck, Nathen and the others that had been up most of the night, turned in, after checking on those in the sick ward, leaving them in Jack's some what capable hands, and Ellison's capable ears, giving way to Chris, Blair, Sam, Cassy, Josiah and Mac.
"So what's on the agenda for today?" Josiah asked, as he began cooking breakfast for the group.
"I was going to go for a ride, but Buck went to bed so late, and with Daniel and the others sick, I thought that JD and I could have a snow ball fight." Cassy said hopefully.
"No can do squirt, one strategically placed snowball, and he may not be able to walk again." Josiah said.
"I have my playstation hooked up in the living room, we could play some games while the others get some sleep." JD said between bites.
"I'm going to go check on our three younger and sicker brothers, as long as you keep the noise level down, it should be fine." Josiah said.
"You've got a nice spread here Chris, do you run anything on it?" Jacob asked, he and Teal'c were the only ones that needed little or no sleep, and Teal'c was meditating in Ezra's room, helping Jack keep a close watch on their sick friends.
"Not really, between taking care of this bunch and work, it's all I can do to take care of the horses, then there's the dog, he comes and goes as he pleases." Chris said, ruffling said dog's fur.
"If their anything like you and Buck were when you two were younger, god help you." Jacob laughed.
"Throw Daniel in, and well you see what happens." Chris said, as he sipped his coffee.
"From what I know of Daniel, or Jack for that matter, I can see your problem." Jacob said, as a smile tugged at his lips.
Just then the phone rang.
"Larabee." Chris said as he answered.
'Just calling to check up on your walking wounded.' AD Orrin Travis said on the other end of the line.
"You have phone service, last we heard the power was out in most of the city." Chris replied.
'It is, Evie and I have a generator, good thing too, Mary and Billy are here, their power is out, just like everybody else.' Travis said.
"Vin spiked a fever last night, some thing about his immune system being down because of his injury, Ez is sleeping and JD is playing video games with Buck's lady friend's daughter." Chris said.
'Tell him to keep and eye on those boys, they are going to have to rest.' Chris heard Evie say in the background.
"Tell her that we took extra precautions, we have an in house Doctor as well as Nathen." Chris said smiling at Evie's concern for the youngest team members.
'Tell him that Billy says hello.' Chris heard Mary say.
"Tell Billy that I am still planing that fishing trip in the spring, if he keeps his grades up." Chris said, "Give him a hug from me."
'Will do Chris.' Orrin said, 'I've been working from home since the weather got so bad, I put you boys in for a couple of months leave, seems that the only time you boys are off is when one of you is hurt, and to top it off you boys had a rough time of it on this last one.' Orrin said.
"Well, Vin's goin' to have rehab, Ez too for his bruised hip, and JD may have to go back in for more surgery on his back to get that last piece of bullet out." Chris said.
'Thought the Doctors said it was too close for surgery, that was why they didn't take it out last time?' Orrin asked.
"I've been checking around with a couple of Doctors that we know, and one thinks that they can get it out with out hurting his spine." Chris explained.
'So then he'll probably have to have rehab too?' Orrin asked.
"Maybe, although the Doctor that I talked to said that they could have him in and out in about a week." Chris explained.
'That's sure good news Chris, with a fragment like that JD would have had to be reassigned to a desk job in the Tech unit.' Orrin said.
"That's why I went looking around, don't know what Buck would do with out the kid around to pick on or drive nuts." Chris said.
'I had better get off of here, we have to shut down the generator from time to time, trying to conserve gas, there getting low here in town.' Orrin said.
"Take care Orrin, try to stay warm." Chris said, as he hung up the phone.
"Sounds like it's really bad in town." Jacob said.
"They keep saying that there hasn't been a storm like this since the 1800's , the historians are comparing it to a winter that hit the planes states then, whole towns starved because nothing was moving." Chris said.
"'The Long Winter', I read that book to Sam when she was little, before her Mom died, I always thought that it was exaggerated, the author was suppose to be in her teens, but I thought that she was blowing things out of proportion, you know how things seem bigger in memory then they really are ." Jacob said.
"Guess not, seems to me that storms like this happen every few years." Chris said.
"The local tribes knew what they were talking about when they warned the settlers." said Selmac.
"Woh Jacob, did your eyes just glow?" Chris asked.
"Yes, that was Selmac, she's very opinionated, especially when it comes to the way the local tribes were treated." Jacob laughed.
"Don't think I can get along with any one long enough to have them inside my head all the time." Chris said, smiling.
"Hell Cowboy, you have enough of a problem just working with others, much less living with them." Vin said, as he came hobbling out of Ezra's room.
"Your supposed to be in bed, you have the early stages of Pneumonia, besides, Janet will not like this." Chris said, guiding the younger man to a chair.
"Just needed to get some coffee." Vin said.
"This isn't any where as strong as you like it, but I think it'll do the trick for you." Chris said.
"You must be Vin, Hi I'm Jacob." he said offering Vin his hand.
"Your Samantha's dad right?" Vin said.
"Samantha, only her brother calls her that any more."
"Could get a little hard around here, what with Jack's cousin Sam." Vin replied.
"True, but there are ways around that, we could actually call Sam by his real name instead of his initials." Chris said.
"What is his first name any way?" Vin asked.
This is the first part of a much longer story, be patient and send plenty of feedback, help me out here people, tell me what you think