Chapter 4

Janet arrived back quickly with a nurse and another trolley stacked with equipment. She started a little seeing Sam and Jack curled together so intimately, the nurse accidentally bumped the other bed into her back.

'What...' but her gaze soon fell on the sleeping couple and she felt the same shock that stirred her to stillness. 'Wow. I knew you said... but...'

'Keep this professional. They're under alien influence.' Janet said moving into the room and over to the sleeping pair. 'Sam.' she said softly resting her hand on her sheet covered shoulder.

Sam breathed in deeply as she woke, pressing her back further into Jack's chest and waking him in turn. Jack sounded the softest of grunts and hugged her tighter to him.

'Hi Janet.' Sam said softly her eyes still closed.

'Doc.' Jack murmured.

'I need to do a few tests.'

'We can't be apart.' Sam whispered.

Janet winced. 'With your permission that's exactly what I want to try.'

'No.' Jack said firmly.

'Sir, your reactions when you separated before... I need to know if its physical or psychological. I need to know more to help you.'

At that moment he wasn't so sure he wanted any help if it meant being parted from Sam in any way.

Sam shivered against him at the mere idea.

There was a clatter from across the room as the nurse attached restraints to the other bed.

'How... how long for?' Jack stammered, holding Sam as tightly as he dared.

'As long as is think is safe.' Janet responded softly.

The nurse drew over to his bed and attached another set of restraints.

'Okay.' Sam whispered.

Jack nodded very slightly.

They cowered together ahead of their looming torture as the Janet and the nurse set to work attaching them to heart monitors and array of other sensors. His right hand gripped her left tightly as the restraints were attached to their opposite wrists.

Jack could feel his body already shivering apprehensively.

'Are you ready?' Janet said waiting to restrain Sam's left hand, the nurse ready to do the same with Jack's right.

'Let's get this over with.' Jack murmured squeezing Sam's hand once more before letting it go.

The change was instantaneous, it felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over him and the electrodes of a car battery pressed to his chest. He grunted and offered up his clenched fist for restraint.

'Hurry.' he growled.

Again, it was not his own pain that made him want to gnaw his own arms off, it was the tiniest little whimpers issued from the woman tied to the bed on the other side of the room.

A cacophony of beeps and alarms sounded all around him but all he could hear was her.

He rode it out, his body shivering and his eyes shut tight but the pain continued to increase and his strength began to ebb.

'Jack.'

The sound of her voice whispering his name in such pain drove him insane. In a last fit of strength his whole body convulsed against bed and his restraints.

He roared loudly the pain shuddering through his body getting almost too much to bare. Sam's scream echoed with his cry.

His mind and body very quickly became exhausted and consciousness threatened to slip from his grasp. He was vaguely aware of the other two bodies in the room busying around them but he turned his heavy head towards Sam, gasping for breath as his vision began to fade.

The next thing he knew was Sam's hand was in his. Her left hand had been freed and their beds pushed together. Janet soon set Sam's other hand free and an instant later Sam was straddled atop his prone body, shakily pulling at the cuff on his right hand as the nurse worked to free his left.

'Sam.' he whispered his body still shivering in pain despite her proximity.

It would take more than her body against his to restore what was their new normality.

She nodded and blinked, tears slipping down her cheeks.

Sam lowered her head towards his tentatively, achingly slowly.

His lips parted and he breathed deeply hoping to pull her closer.

Her mouth hovered millimetres above his. Not a single inch of his skin was pressed to hers and yet, warmth was already starting to curl through his body at the mere thought of what was going to happen.

Their intense gazes were separated by closing eyelids as their lips touched.

Everything seemed to stop.

He couldn't breathe.

He couldn't even hear the monitors, he didn't know if his heart was beating and neither did he care.

It felt like a dream. A vivid, colourful, intense dream.

As she hummed lightly, the dream became a reality.

Hands that were suddenly to be free of their shackles spread over her almost entirely naked back, pulling at her hips until they settled flush against his causing him to groan loudly. He tilted his head slightly, his right hand smoothing up her back and into her hair as he sucked lightly on her lower lip.

He sighed lightly feeling a tear fall from her cheek to his.

Lifting his head slightly, kissing her more deeply for a few seconds and swallowing her soft moan, before dropping his head back and letting their lips part.

'Hey.' he murmured softly, his thumbs sweeping away her tears.

She blinked and smiled down at him sadly. 'Hey.'

'I really wish we didn't have an audience for that.' he said, a grin spreading across his lips. 'We'd probably still be at it.'

She sighed slightly and rested her forehead against his. 'Jack.' she breathed.

He groaned unable to help a certain part of his anatomy twitching against her pelvis, none the less he was glad that her body shielded his reaction from the other occupants of the room.

'I don't know how much more of this I can stand.' she continued in a whisper. 'I want...'

'I know.' he said smoothing his hands over her back. He'd hoped the contact would be soothing but from the way she shifted her hips against his he doubted it was anything but.

'Jez, Sam.' he grunted lightly and tightened his arms around her to hold her still. 'Please.'

'You started it.' she murmured setting down against him, tucking her head under his chin.

'God, it's just as hard to have you in my arms than to have you away from them.' he whispered and kissed her hair, rolling them on to their side.

Through out their exchange the medical professionals were torn between the extraordinary results, the captivating lights in the jar and the heart-wrenching sight of two people struggling to control their hearts desires.

'Colonel, Sam.' Janet said softly.

'We're not doing that again.' Sam said into Jack's chest. 'I can't go through that again.'

'The kiss wasn't that bad was it?' Jack said trying to lighten the mood slightly.

'I won't ask you to separate again. You both showed signs of extreme stress and pain. Physical, not just mental. Both of you were beginning to lose consciousness after just 45 seconds.'

'45 seconds?' Sam said turning to her friend. 'It can't...'

'You were apart for only 57 seconds.' Janet reiterated.

'It felt like 10 minutes at least.' Jack murmured.

'I don't think either of your hearts would hold out that long.' Janet responded seriously.

There was a long and intense pause as her words sunk in.

Jack held Sam more tightly, afraid of losing her. Never before had he wanted her quite as much as he did now. He longed to pour is very soul into hers. But he was also afraid of losing himself in her and what that might mean for them both.

'Can you tell me any more about the lights?' Janet asked lifting the jar watching the colours shift over the surface.

'They seem to reflect how we're feeling. Apparently we won't be back to normal until their entirely white.' Sam said softly. 'There were a few flashes of white before when you were out of the room.'

'Really?' Janet asked enthusiastically. 'How did you manage that?'

'We were just talking and I said "we" like we were already...'

They shivered together as another flash of white poured from the jar, issuing forth a hint of the emotions pouring through them causing Janet and the young nurse to gasp.

The light faded more slowly than it did previously, getting stronger each time it returned.

Jack pressed his lips softly to Sam's temple. 'You okay?'

She nodded, her hand resting over his heart. 'I want to go home.'

Janet coughed lightly. 'Even if...umm... you decide that's the course of action you want to take, I'm not sure I can let you leave the base. You're both still technically under the influence of alien technology. We can't be sure what you might do, who you might put in danger.'

'You're kidding right?' exclaimed Jack. 'The only thing that would be in danger are the slats on Sam's bed.'

Sam blushed furiously and curled closer to him. 'Jack.' she grumbled warningly causing him to shudder around her.

'It's true though.' he murmured.

'Even so Colonel...'

'I think you can drop the rank, Doc. I'm not sure I'll have it much longer.'

'Jack, I can't complete all of our standard post mission checks without separating the two of you either so even if that were the case I'm still not letting you off the base.'

'Fine.' he growled.

Sam coughed a little nervously. 'Jack?'

'Yeah?'

'I um... I have to use the facilities.'

'You what? Oh.' he said in sudden realisation, then quickly followed by the revelation that he'd need to go with her 'Oh!'