Title: Awakening

Category: Angst, humor

Rating: PG

Summary: A few more frightening days before we can party! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------

SGC



*The Infirmary*





A week had passed and there had still been no improvement in CJ's condition. The debriefing had been a very short one in which Jack had apologized to Dr. Fraiser for his blooper in the infirmary. Either Janet or a member of SG-1 had always occupied the chair next to the teenager's bed.





Carter was back on her feet and enjoyed every moment of not being stuck in that damn wheelchair. She was on her way to the infirmary to claim her seat but bumped into Daniel on her way in.

"Hey Sam, coming to claim your seat?"

"Yes. You too?" The young man nodded sadly. They both moved on and were surprised to find Jack and Teal'c in the room too.

"Hey guys!" Jack looked up at his kids. He noticed their sad faces and decided keeping his mouth shut was the best he could do right now.

About an hour later Dr. Fraiser joined them. Jack gave up his seat and placed himself against the wall. The only thing they could do, was wait for a sign either positive or negative.

*CJ's Mind*

It was still black around CJ. She didn't feel bad but she didn't feel good either. She was overlooking something important but she couldn't figure out what.

"Why can't I leave this place? Mom! You said to hold on to the voice but how am I supposed to that?" Silence. Not a breeze of wind or another voice came out of no where. Suddenly a warm feeling engulfed CJ's body and she was lifted into the air, higher and higher or at least that's how it felt.

*The Infirmary*

The people in the small room were either dozing off or fiddling with their fingers. But suddenly Daniel flew up scaring the hell out everyone present.

"She moved! Her fingers moved!"

"Daniel please, calm down!" Jack pushed the young man back to the wall.

"No Sir, Daniel's right! CJ just moved!" Sam felt the girls grip around her hand grew tighter.

"CJ, honey, can you hear me?" Janet pressed the alarm and soon a bunch of nurses entered the room and ushered SG-1 out of it. "Come on, CJ! Open those pretty green eyes of yours!" It took the girl a few minutes to get to the point of opening her eyes.

- I found the way out! I hung on to the voice! -

CJ opened her eyes slowly but closed them almost immediately when she was met with too much bright light. The moment her eyes had adjusted to the light, the first thing she saw was the dark ceiling. It took her a moment to realize where she was before she tried to turn her head towards the soft voice that was calling out for her. CJ tried to speak but a tube in her throat prevented her from talking.

"Shut, you don't have to talk! You're ok, I know!" CJ closed her eyes again but opened them almost immediately when SG-1 was aloud to come back in.

"Hey kiddo, glad to see you're awake!" Jack smiled and touched her hand for a second. Teal'c nodded his head and CJ nodded back or at least tried to nod back.

"Jack, Teal'c ... I think we should go, you know, give CJ some time to recover before she can tell us about her time in prison." Janet noticed how CJ flinched as the word 'prison' came out of Daniel's mouth. Sam had noticed it too and realized that it wasn't going to be easy to get over that horrible experience.

"Hey, you feeling alright?" Sam had retaken her place next to the bed and was once again holding CJ's hand. She shrugged her shoulders but squeezed Sam's hand anyway. She didn't want them to worry over her. "Get some rest, okay!" CJ nodded and closed her eyes to get some serious sleep.

One week later

*The Infirmary*

The lights had been dimmed and it was very calm. CJ was fast asleep or so it seemed. - Big Nubian guy comes closer and closer. I can't stop him! He'll hurt me over and over again! I need to fight back but I'm paralyzed. No, don't hit me! -

"Noooooooo!" CJ woke up with a scream, covered in sweat. She tried hard to get her hart-rate down but it wouldn't ease. She looked around and realized she was still in that stupid infirmary. She wanted to leave this place and go home but that was probably not an option. But right now she didn't want to stay there either and before she truly realized what she was doing she had already pulled the IV-line out and was sitting on the edge of the bed waiting for the nausea to pass. She jumped off the bed and started to wander around with no real goal in mind.

*The Storage Room*

It surprised her that it took them almost an hour before they discovered her empty bed and the alarm was pressed. Because CJ didn't feel like going back there she hid herself in some storage room. Soon the entire base was looking for her and she could hear the occasional SF coming by the room and talking about the missing kid.

"Where did she go?" CJ could now hear her aunt talk to Sam right outside the storage room. "Why did she run away from the infirmary?"

"Maybe because that's a horrible place to be?" Jack had joined the conversation.

"Maybe it has something to do with these nightmares she is having?" - Shit, how does Teal'c know about my nightmares? -

"What nightmares?" - Damn it! There goes the best-kept secret in the universe! - "Teal'c, what are you talking about?"

"Two days ago, I walked passed the infirmary and heard CJ Fraiser talk in her sleep. She sounded afraid of something. Therefore it is my guess that she has nightmares about what happened on Roma." - I think I'd better show myself before they make an appointment with Dr. Mackenzie. -

"Whenever I ask her how she feels she says she's fine."

"And you believe her?" Sam mumbled something that CJ couldn't make out. She shuffled a little to the door and hit something on the way. Whatever had fallen on the ground was now broken and the noise had definitely made it outside the room.

The door from the room flew open and four worried people entered the room. Jack flipped the lights on and all CJ could do was stand there and shield her eyes from the sudden light.

"CJ?" The teenager looked like a reindeer caught in the headlights of your car.

"I'm not going back to your infirmary! I will not go back!" She felt like a trapped animal, as there was no way out of the room. The only way in was also the only way out.

"CJ, what are you doing in here anyway?" Jack looked at the kid in front of him who was shivering violently.

"Hiding ... from ... from..."

"From us?" Sam looked at the teenager and walked closer but she stepped away from the woman. CJ slumped to the floor and started crying. Dr. Fraiser was with her niece in instant and hugged her tightly.

"I'm ... scared!"

"You don't have to be afraid anymore. Everything's gonna be just fine!" General Hammond passed by the room, followed by Daniel.

"Sir, we have found her!" He stopped as he saw Jack coming out of the storage room. "I think she's in bit of a shock but overall she's ok." Hammond walked into the room and saw how the kid was shaking violently.

"Can you take her back to the infirmary?"

"She refuses to go there." Sam looked up at the General.

"I think I have a better idea." They all looked at Jack, waiting for the 'better idea' he had. "Let's take her to her room where she feels safer."

"That sounds like a good idea to me. Dr. Fraiser?" Janet looked from General Hammond to Jack and back.

"Fine by me, Sir!" Jack scooped CJ of the floor and brought her to her own quarters.

CJ soon fell asleep but it was as restless as it could be. General Hammond had posted a SF at the door just in case the girl wanted to take a walk again. SG-1 went back to bed, except for Jack who felt guilty of what had happened to his 2IC and CJ.

The SGC

The next few weeks passed by and they all got back to work to get their minds of the mission to Roma. CJ had resumed her lessons but she flinched every time someone spoke the word 'prison' or 'torture'. They had made an appointment with Dr. Mackenzie but she had refused to say one word. The entire time she had been staring at the wall. Janet had even asked Cassandra to talk with her cousin but CJ had simply refused to talk and it got worse every day that passed by.

*CJ's Lab*

CJ was sitting in her little lab studying an artifact that Daniel had given her. She didn't notice that SG-1 and Dr. Fraiser had entered and were now staring at her.

"Hey CJ!" She jumped a mile in the air when she heard Jack's voice call out for her. She noticed her audience and shot them an angry look.

"Can't you see I'm in the middle of something here?" Daniel took the artifact and placed it in a corner on the floor.

"Not anymore you are."

"What is this? The inquisition?" CJ got up from her chair and curled herself up in the one couch she had managed to get in her lab.

"No CJ, we're not the inquisition. We're just here to help you. You need to talk about what happened on Roma."

"The only way you can help me is to get the hell out of my lab!" She started staring at some invisible point on the wall, flinching slightly as Janet placed herself next to CJ on the couch.

"CJ, what happened?" It sounded more pleadingly than Janet had intended it to sound.

"Didn't Sam tell you what happened?"

"We want to hear it from you too, CJ." For a second CJ closed her eyes to think what to do next. - Maybe, if I talk about it they'll leave me alone and I can go on with my life! - She turned her gaze to the people in the room.

"Promise me that you'll never talk about it again after tonight!" A collective 'we promise' was uttered and CJ took a deep breath to begin her story about what had happened on Roma. Unlike Sam she didn't leave out the small details about her defying the Nubian guy. It had been wrong to do just that in such a bad situation. By the end of the story tears were making their way down on her face but she felt so much better now that she had told what was weighing so heavy on her heart. "I'm sorry I wasn't smart enough to know to stop challenging the guy after the first blow."

"It's okay, little one! Everything turned out okay, didn't it?" CJ nodded and smiled.

"Thank you guys for everything!"

"Your welcome, CJ!" Jack looked at his kids and suddenly a brilliant idea popped into his mind. "You know what, I buy you all a drink in this nice commissary of ours! Let's go before they run out of coffee again!" Jack opened the door and made an inviting wave. CJ started laughing, jumped out of the couch and followed her CO to the commissary.

"Come on, Ladies!" Daniel held up both his arms and guided the two Majors out of the room, followed by a smiling Teal'c.