Chapter 2

Major Carter had been badly wounded by a staff blast but was able to pull the unconscious Colonel to a small cave. The fire fight had stopped and she hoped Teal'c and Daniel had made it through the gate but she was in no shape to go back out to check. She could hear the Jaffa teams stomping passed while she leaned against the very far end of the cave wall holding her CO against her torso hoping he didn't make any noise. Luckily the Jaffa continued on their way so she laid her CO on his back, removed her backpack which held the first aid kit and began assessing his wounds. She had to tear away part of his trousers to get to a blast wound on his right knee which she cleaned and dressed with no reaction from the man. Then she noticed a blast he took to his lower abdomen so she pulled his shirt up and unbuckled his belt and unbuttoned his pants to pull them low enough to see the wound and she repeated the same treatment she had done to his leg. She saw blood on the back of his head but figured that was from his fall which probably caused a concussion, knocking him out. She cleaned the blood and knew she should wake him up but was now in so much pain herself she thought she needed to attend her own wound.

The pain she now felt was incredible so she took off her jacket and pulled her right arm out of the sleeve of her shirt and set the shirt on her shoulder before pulling up her bra. She tried to fight through the pain and clean the wound but it stung so badly she whimpered and gritted her teeth. A moment later, she heard the Colonel stirring and half glossy eyed looking up at her. She didn't realize her position gave him a view of her exposed breast until she heard a soft noise.

"Uh, Carter?" she heard. "Yes sir?" she responded. "A couple questions here… first is, why am I laying down with my pants undone while you are doing a strip tease?" He smirked and looked away from his now blushing 2nd in command. "And second, where the hell are we?" He knew he was injured and she must have dressed his wound but he had to make light of the situation. "Sorry sir!" and she dropped her shirt over her body.

The Colonel wanted to sit up so Carter helped him sit back against the wall while her own pain brought tears to her eyes. He couldn't stand seeing Carter in pain, "Let me see your wound" he asked honestly and half awake. The Major froze thinking to herself, surely he doesn't know where my wound is or he would NOT be asking! She responded to her CO, "That's ok sir. I can take care of it." She blushed again and moved away a little into the darkness and began trying to bravely treat her wound without wincing too much for her CO to see and while leaving her shirt on properly.

He tried to give her the courtesy of her request to do it alone but he could see she was not able to clean the wound properly and it wouldn't stop bleeding. The staff blast wound was just along the side of her right breast and travelled across her rib cage. The Colonel blinked a bit trying to stay awake and as alert as possible. "C'mere" he said softly shaking his head. "Let me do that for you." She could tell he was very serious. "Sir?" she knew it was an embarrassing situation for both of them.

"What? Are we not both mature adults here?" he asked and paused as she shot him a questioning look. He smirked "Ok, so maybe MATURE is the wrong word. But you need another set of hands." She chuckled at his joke but could tell he was serious and she just paused. "Please let me help you Carter… looks like it may need some stitches and you can't do that yourself."

The Major accepted so she removed her bra and did her best to hold her shirt over her chest with her left arm exposing only what she had to, while she tried to hold her right arm up and out of the way for her CO to clean the wound. He was holding the flashlight in his mouth for light and hated seeing her flinch each time he had to pinch and put a stitch into her skin so he kept apologizing and making his own wincing faces. She just closed her eyes and grit her teeth until he was done. He smiled at her, "See, nothing to it!", he said while he pulled her arm down which dropped the shirt back over her exposed breast. "Thank you sir." She said as she painfully put her right arm back through the sleeve. "No problem, just repaying a debt for you always having to treat my wounds." He smiled back at her and made no more comments on the situation..

Just then, they heard the clanking metal of Jaffa armor going by very slowly. The Colonel held his finger to his mouth to be sure his 2IC also heard it and would be quiet. The Jaffa moved away slowly from the cave entrance but they seemed to have set up a camp nearby, they figured near the gate.

Both injured SGC Officers were still very weak from their wounds and with night falling, the cave was dark and cold. The Colonel saw his 2IC shivering next to him so he gently pulled her over to him "c'mere", he whispered softly. She did as she was asked and she put her head on his shoulder. He put his arm around her pulling her in a bit tighter to let her know it was ok. Feeling much warmer and secure laying against her CO, she fell asleep after an hour or so.

The Colonel couldn't do much about his 2IC sleeping, it was all he had to fight his own exhaustion in order to keep watch of the cave. After a couple hours and with both of them shivering from their wounds and the cold, he moved his 2IC onto his lap to lay against his body; her head was on his chest and he could cover both of them with his oversized BDU jacket. He couldn't help but wonder why it always seemed to be him and Carter trapped and injured alone somewhere but then he figured he'd rather be stranded with Carter than Daniel. Not only was she better company, but this way he could protect her and not worry where she was.

A day went by since the two SGC Officers had been trapped. They were both so weak and the Jaffa were still close by, but it was time to begin figuring out how to get out or they may never.