Not much more to go now, just one more chapter after this, and a shippy one it is too for all you Jack/Sam shippers out there. Thanks as always for your wonderful reviews.
Valuable Assets.
By Lingren.
Previously:
She watched his eyelids flicker once more before closing fully when his eyes rolled back into his head as he was dragged back down into oblivion again.
Chapter 7 – The Waiting Game
As soon as the helicopter landed, Janet and her team rushed towards it dragging a gurney behind them and hanging onto the blankets and equipment against the downdraught from the rotor. They soon lifted Jack onto the gurney and hurried away as the Helicopter lifted off again, sweeping away from the mountain, leaving them all windswept and breathless.
Janet pressed the dressings into the wounds, and started inserting an IV needle. An oxygen mask was placed over his face and a blood-pressure cuff wrapped round his arm. Nurses were already reading off his vitals to Janet as they rushed headlong towards the elevator that would take them down to the infirmary. Jack's blood-pressure was very low, and Janet grimaced, hoping they weren't too late, and that the blood and fluids she would soon have pumping into him would be enough to save him.
For Sam, Teal'c and Jonas, waiting to travel down into the mountain, it was like waiting to have a tooth pulled. There wasn't room for all of them on the first trip. Janet and her patient and staff obviously taking priority over them, but the torture of those few minutes spent waiting for the car to return, and then their agonisingly slow descent, felt like hours. Sam was almost climbing the walls by the time they stepped out near the infirmary.
General Hammond joined them in the long vigil outside in the corridor as they waited for news. Jonas had related everything to them, about how the Colonel had offered himself as a hostage to save those held back in the Bank. Then had saved his life again by pushing him out of the way of a bullet. An action which he knew had almost cost Jack his own life. He shook his head, unable to figure why Jack would do such a thing for him.
"I don't understand it," Jonas sighed with a shrug. "Why would he do that for me? I mean I don't think he likes me very much. He certainly doesn't appear to trust me. He didn't even want me on the team, but I just happened to be a better option than working with a Russian on SG-1." Jonas shook his head once more, amazed at such a selfless act, and yet full of puzzlement about the Colonel's behaviour. He just couldn't work it out.
Sam placed her arm round his shoulder, and spoke softly almost reverently.
"That's where you're wrong Jonas. If the Colonel didn't trust you, then there's no way you'd be on SG-1. And he did it because, well, that's who he is. There was no way he would be able to stand by and watch anyone get hurt or killed. Just as Daniel reacted in the same way in order to save your world from being destroyed. It's what the Colonel does best." Sam surreptitiously wiped a tear from her cheek, and the General silently nodded to Jonas in total agreement with Sam's rationalization.
"Colonel O'Neill has done this countless times son. That's why he's the best this country has to offer, and just one of the reasons why he's the leader of the flagship team."
Janet's sudden appearance put an end to their deliberations and they all looked to her for an appraisal of Jack's condition. She approached them with a grim smile on her weary face.
"Doctor Frasier...what's your prognosis?" The General's question overruling the others desperate need to find out how he was doing.
"Well, he's stable for now. I've removed both of the bullets, but the original one from when he was shot inside the bank had become infected and unfortunately his temperature is climbing quite high. I'm pumping him full of antibiotics right now, as well as fluids. He'd lost a lot of blood and I've set up extra units to prevent him from going into shock. The next 24 hours will be the most critical. And if in that time he doesn't develop any problems, then I see no reason why he won't recover given time Sir. I've put him in ISO room 2 for now."
"Keep me posted Doctor." He then turned to Jonas. "Do you feel up to telling me all about it now son? I need to inform the Police about what happened."
"Yes, I am General. I'm okay, really."
"Good. We'll use my office. Major Carter, Teal'c...get something to eat and then rest... That's an order."
"Yes Sir!" they both replied. General Hammond turned on his heel and led Jonas down the corridor, while Sam took a last lingering look towards the ISO room where Jack was now sleeping off the effects of the anaesthetic, before turning to look at Teal'c. He laid a hand on her shoulder, and bowed his head towards her.
"I am certain that O'Neill will be fine Major Carter, and that he will heal very quickly."
"Yeah. I'm sure he will Teal'c, but it still doesn't stop me worrying about him."
"Then I believe a cup of coffee would be most beneficial for you Major Carter. Therefore, I will accompany you to the commissary."
"Thank you Teal'c," she grinned, patting him on the arm in response. They walked side by side towards the elevator. "You're right, I could murder a cup of coffee and a bite to eat, now I know he's safe."
"Indeed."
OoOoOoOoOoO
The three team-members spent the next day or two in taking turns to sit beside the bed on which Jack lay fighting off the effects of the infection which had taken hold of him. It raged through his body like an inferno, bathing him in sweat one minute and turning his body to ice the next.
During her turn of the vigil, Sam stood there, mopping his brow with a cool damp cloth, or when she sitting quietly with him, she'd had plenty of time to think. Too much time to think, she confessed to herself. Could she go on like this? Her emotions were up and down like she was on a roller coaster. She loved Jack. He meant everything to her, but just lately they'd had no end of heartache and misery.
Jack had been missing for a month stuck on that moon with Maybourne, and she'd actually broken down, not wanting to lose him so soon after what had happened to Daniel. She didn't want to face the future without him. Then if that wasn't enough, she herself had come so close to dying too, and it was his turn to go through the torment of perhaps losing her. Now here she was once again.
Yes, Janet said he was going to be okay, but it didn't help ease the pain which had filled her heart on seeing him suffering so much. Did she want to carry on as they were? Could she put a stop to it? Did she even want to stop loving him? "No" the answer hit her, right between the eyes. She couldn't stop loving him, and neither did she want to. She wasn't even going to try. No way!
She was so totally in love with him, her heart finally forced her to admit. Heartache, bad jokes, sarcasm, warts and all. God help her, she just couldn't help it. It was her fate. She looked down at him now, beads of sweat were glistening across his brow, so she wrung the cool water from the cloth and dabbed it gently over his face, bringing with it what little relief she could offer him as he slept fretfully in a world of feverish dreams and nightmares.
Teal'c took over from Sam just before dawn, and before Janet could get really cross with her for staying up too long. The Doctor was quite happy for Sam, Teal'c and Jonas to sit with her patient, it actually took the pressure off her staff, but she wouldn't allow Sam to become over tired, and not for the first time, Janet had ordered her to bed for a rest or to take a break for something to eat in the commissary.
Jonas shared the duty willingly as well, although this level of camaraderie was entirely new to him. Team bonding was one thing, but he'd never nursed a sick person before and to see both Sam and Teal'c tenderly caring for their CO was something he'd never envisaged and was almost beyond his comprehension. He didn't baulk at the task though because he believed it was the least he could do in exchange for his life which Jack had saved not so many days ago.
Gradually Jack's temperature returned to something nearer normal and he woke for longer periods too, managing at least to hold a reasonable conversation before he fell asleep again. He discovered that Joe and Bobby were both dead by the time the Police arrived on the scene, and which Jack assured everyone present that their deaths were no great loss to society. Tom and Jimmy had been apprehended soon after Jonas has informed them of the Licence plate numbers, and that all the money had been rounded up, accounted for and had been returned to the Bank.
Jack made his usual quick recovery and had the nurses grumbling about letting him go home just as much as he was eager to leave the infirmary. Janet had tolerated him just long enough to be sure he wouldn't cause any damage to himself. On condition that the others would keep an eye on him. Then and only then would she release him to convalesce at home. And as soon as the day was arranged, he became a model patient, making Janet wonder if he really was fit enough to go home, or sickening with something else.
OoOoOoOoOoO
The long awaited day came, and Sam settled Jack into the truck, taking care not to let him fall or jar himself, and then she jogged round to climb up behind the wheel, pulling the door shut behind her. She had been surprised at just how weak he actually was, she was so used to him being strong and independent, it was difficult for her to see him like that, as much as it was difficult for Jack to allow her to know this for a fact. He was only human. Now though, he couldn't help but appear feeble and somewhat vulnerable, just getting to the truck had seemed to wear him out. As Sam started the engine, Jack laid his hand over hers.
"Let's go up to the heights. I want to taste the freedom and the fresh air. I just need to... I don't want to go home just yet. It'll only be for a little while. Just the two of us," he pleaded, looking into her eyes with a raw earnestness that startled her. She was so used to him hiding his emotions away or using his own brand of humour to deflect people away from seeing the real Jack O'Neill.
Sam looked into his hooded, but sparkling brown eyes and smiled. She saw the longing reflected in them and although she knew she should really take him straight home, somehow she just had to do anything he wanted when he looked at her like that. How could she deny him his request when he been confined to the base's infirmary for two solid weeks and some? She smiled back at him, relenting with a small shake of her head in resignation.
"Okay. If that's what you really want. Though if Janet found out, she'll probably kill me. You're supposed to go straight home to rest, not up to the Heights for a hike."
TBC
