Time

A/N: I know this chapter might turn many of you off, but I hope you'll stick with me. This is undoubtedly very dark, but where there is darkness there is light too, right? So, give it a chance!

Enjoy!

They never saw it coming. If they had, everything would be different.

Sam pressed her forehead against the cold stone wall, unable to force her gaze to the other side of the room. She could hear Daniel moaning somewhere to her left, but the coldness that had slowly been filling her every fiber didn't leave any space for her to care. A jagged edge in the wall was cutting into her skin and she felt a thin trickle of blood seeping down, skirting the edge of her eye and barely kissing the corner of her mouth.

She rested there, eyes unblinking, and jaw loose. Had anyone been there to see her they would surely think she was as dead as the man at her feet. Daniel cried out harshly and she felt the barest of clenching in her muscles. She wanted to help him…no. That was a lie. She felt like she should be obligated to help him, but it didn't matter. He was too far gone anyway. She imagined the young man in her mind's eye, slumped against the prison cell, blood covering every inch of him as his wounds seeped. He was bleeding out and she knew she couldn't reach him if she tried. The chain around her wrists and ankles prevented her from moving more than a few inches.

Sam heard one last shuddering gasp and knew without a doubt that she was it. She was the only one left. Her team…her family…gone. And she was the one left to bear the loneliness. Sam felt something wet slip down her cheek, but she couldn't tell if it was blood or a long sought after tear. Since this whole mess she hadn't been able to cry.

When Teal'c had disappeared in a cloud of blood and dust she had been unable to help, unable to move. She had grieved in her heart, but her body had been needed elsewhere. When Jack's hand had gone slack in her own, she'd felt her heart break into a thousand pieces, but her mind refused to believe it and she had not shed any tears. Daniel's pain caused her pain, but after everything she couldn't bring herself to feel anything for any of them. She saw their pain, but it wasn't hers. Her pain was watching them suffer, and their suffering was simply too great for her to bear.

They never saw it coming.

…..

"Come on, Carter. Perk up, this is a routine thing." Jack nudged her shoulder and grinned down at her. Sam smiled back, her eyes softening when he winked at her, but she couldn't shake the heavy feeling that had come to rest on her chest. They'd been on this planet for more than a day and nothing had happened to warrant this foreboding.

Still, she couldn't get rid of it. It fell like a weight across her entire body, making her feel slow and stupid. An aerial survey showed a small town about six clicks from the gate and SG-3 had gone ahead to see if it was inhabited or not. This was technically SG-3's mission, SG-1 was here to provide back up in case of an emergency, but Daniel didn't think this culture was hostile. He'd found several pillars with writing, welcoming visitors.

Even the colonel, notoriously the most distrusting member of the team, seemed completely at ease on the planet; joking and teasing the rest of the team. But when Sam caught him looking warily off into the trees, her sense of dread increased tenfold. He was putting on a good act, but he felt it too.

Something was off.

Sam woke with a start, a cold sweat breaking out on her brow. She reached for her gun and silently clambered from her sleeping bag. Though she couldn't hear anything now, she knew a sound had woken her. Bile rose in her throat and she had to fight the nausea that was quickly filling her abdomen, spreading sickly tendrils to her limbs, making her fingers and toes tingle. Something was horribly, dreadfully wrong.

A quick glance down told her that her colonel was not in the tent. Could the noise have been him? No, she didn't think so. She trusted her gut and the nervous, roiling dance her stomach was currently doing did not point to anything other than danger. An intruder.

As soon as the word entered her mind, her body reacted automatically. Dropping into a crawl, Sam used the barrel of her P-90 to push the tent's flap aside and, careful not to make a sound, she crept into the campsite. The dying embers of their fire sent thin tendrils of smoke into the night air and cast disconcerting shadows onto the surrounding trees. She didn't see the colonel as she made her way quickly to the adjacent tent.

Checking her surroundings quickly, Sam ducked her head into the tent, blood running cold when both bags were empty. Where was her team? A heavy hand on her shoulder caused Sam to bite her tongue in order not to cry out. A sharp elbow jab had the hand releasing her and Sam whipped around, weapon raised.

"Easy, Carter." The familiar voice almost caused her to sob with relief. Her colonel was alive, he was safe, he was there.

"Sir!" Sam involuntarily grabbed his vest, partly to assure herself he was real and partly because now that she had him back she didn't want to let go, lest he disappear again. "What's the situation?"

Jack's eyes were bright and alert, but his jaw was tense as his gaze roved over her face, debating how much to tell her. "SG-3 has been neutralized." Sam's stomach clenched. "Hostiles have made our position, but they're waiting for something."

"Daniel, Teal'c?" She whispered around the lump forming in her throat.

"In position, waiting for an attack."

"Why wasn't I notified, sir?" Sam couldn't hold back the anger in her voice. She was a valuable asset to this team—at least, she had thought she was.

"I…" He trailed, backed into a corner. She saw the fear in his expression. "I wanted you safe, Carter."

"Asleep, alone in a tent is safe?" She inadvertently yanked on his vest, pulling him closer to her, nose brushing nose.

"You are my mission right now. They want you, Carter." Sam stopped breathing. His expression was so afraid, so determined…she couldn't think straight. Before she could question him, a piercing shriek echoed through the woods and Sam felt the hair on her neck raise.

A battlecry.

"O'Neill!" Teal'c shouted somewhere off to their right.

Before Sam could react, Jack had grabbed her by the vest and yanked her to her feet. They ran full tilt away from the campsite and into the trees, heading in the direction of the gate. Sam's short gasps burned her lungs as they ran, dodging trees and uncaring of the noise they made. "What about Daniel and Teal'c?" She forced out, the very effort setting her lungs on fire. Why was breathing becoming so difficult?

"They should be right behind us." He answered, breathing hard. "Plan B, get the hell out of dodge."

"Why didn't we run before?"

"We had less than five minutes notice. You weren't waking up."

"I wasn't…?" Sam choked on the words as her lungs protested.

"We fanned out, ready to defend your position."

Sam tripped over her own foot and went down hard, palms breaking her fall but getting skinned in the process. Only sips of air were getting in now and Sam squeezed her eyes shut, willing air into her lungs. "Carter!" Jack dropped to his knees in front of her and shook her shoulders. "Come on, I need you to focus."

"Jack!" Daniel's shout barely registered with her as he and Teal'c came to a crashing halt behind them. "Jack, we got to go!"

"Can't…breathe." Sam managed to gasp, wide eyes finding her commanding officer's.

"O'Neill!" Teal'c's panicked voice filled Sam's ears and suddenly her heart was racing too fast. A sharp tug in her side nearly had her collapsing, hands digging into the dirt and dead leaves to stay upright. "Major Carter has been drugged."

"We need to get her up!" Jack yelled, arms reaching to wrap around her waist.

"No, Jack!" Daniel launched himself between the two officers, shoving Jack back. "We can't move her! The faster her blood is pumping, the faster the poison moves."

'I've been shot?' Sam wondered sluggishly. 'I don't remember feeling anything.' But Jack's words came floating back to her, "You weren't waking up." She hadn't woken up because she had been drugged. It must have worn off enough for her to awaken, but not enough not to spread.

"Then what the hell am I supposed to do Daniel?" Jack shoved back, fingers gripping Sam's chin tightly. "Carter? Sam! Can you hear me?" Sam willed her head to move, but nothing happened. She heaved and foamy saliva dripped to the ground. "Goddammit, Carter, you stay with me!" Sam's fingers slipped on the now slick leaves and she started to fall forwards, head cocked at an awkward angle.

Her eyes focused on Teal'c and then on the man behind him. She tried to call out, to warn them, but it was too late. The warm night air was rent by an explosion, blood and dirt spraying everywhere. She heard Daniel scream, but she could only see the spot where Teal'c had been. Only scorched, blood-soaked earth remained.

Then her eyes rolled back in her head and blackness overtook her.

…

Sam woke to a finger gently stroking her cheek. Her eyes felt gritty and for a second she thought she was back in the tent and had overslept breakfast. Blinking rapidly, she opened her eyes, struggling to see in the dim light. "Colonel?"

"Hey." Jack smiled.

Sam's first thought was that the whole world had tilted on its side and her second was that the colonel looked much too pale. Then she realized that the world was in fact, not tilted, she was lying on her side. Then she felt warm stickiness pooling around her knees and her heart sank. She tried to push herself up, so she could see where he was hurt, but Jack pushed her back down, eyes locking onto hers. "Don't."

"Sir…" Sam whispered, voice breaking. She couldn't see the blood, but instinctively knew there was too much. He was so pale…

"It—it doesn't even hurt, Carter." He smiled crookedly and Sam's heart broke.

"Jack." She whispered, not even realizing her slip. They were lying so close, but she could feel no heat coming from his body. She brought her forehead close to his, and rested against him, squeezing her eyes shut. Jack gathered her fingers in his chilled ones and squeezed softly. "We'll get out of this."

"Sam, I wish…" His quiet voice trailed and Sam pulled back, panic coursing through her. His eyes were still open and staring at her, but Sam didn't see anything beyond his gaze. Then his fingers slipped through hers and landed with a wet sounding thud.

The trouble is, you think you have time.

TBC

A/N: Dark, dark, dark…hopefully you guys don't totally hate me right now.