Sam's first thought as her feet touched the familiar metal landing was how nice it felt going through a wormhole with a fever. She estimated that her temperature had dropped by at least two degrees. She made an idle note to talk to one of the scientists about this later.

"Carter," Jack asked, placing a hand lightly on her hip instead of her back, "you okay?" He could see that she was still looking unfocused.

"Fine, Sir." In typical Sam Carter fashion, this meant she was either really okay or just moments away from passing out.

Before Jack could ask a follow up question, a booming voice called out, "Welcome home, SG-1!" General George Hammond was waiting for them at the base of the ramp. He liked to personally welcome home each off-world team whenever possible.

"Good to be back, Sir!" Jack replied with a forced joviality he didn't exactly feel. He turned briefly towards Sam, and Daniel gave him a small nod as if to say 'I have her'. Jack turned back towards the General and began walking down the ramp.

General Hammond watched as Dr. Jackson and Captain Carter slowly followed Jack down, with Teal'c behind them, eyes focused on Captain Carter. George frowned. He could clearly see something was off with the young Captain, but it was only after all four were standing in front of him that it became clear that something wasn't just 'off', but rather terribly wrong. He had known Sam Carter nearly her entire life and her intelligence and wit had always radiated from her in everything she did. Except it didn't. Not today.

Sam stood uncomfortably in front of General Hammond as his eyes grazed over her worriedly. He took in her flushed face and ill-fitting t-shirt. He immediately saw she wasn't carrying her backpack - or her weapon. George glanced to his left and was grateful to see it was secure in Dr. Jackson's hands. His frown deepened. Daniel never carried a P90. He was pretty sure Daniel wasn't authorized to carry a P90.

"Colonel...?" Hammond began, looking at his second in command for an explanation.

"We ran into a bit of trouble off-world, General," Jack began. "I'd love to tell you all about it, but right now Captain Carter needs to visit the infirmary." Sam wanted to insist she was fine and could wait until after the briefing, but that of course was a lie. The euphoria of having made it home was rapidly fading, and Sam felt like she might fall over at any moment. She really would rather not do that in the gate room.

"Of course," Hammond said, looking worriedly again at the feverish Captain. "Captain, you are dismissed."

"Thank you, sir." Sam hoped her voice sounded stronger than it felt. Focusing on putting one foot in front of the other, she began to move towards the doorway. She hadn't gotten very far before three voices rang out at once:

"Sam, would you like some help?"

"Carter, you need any help?"

"Captain Carter, do you require assistance?"

Sam sighed softly, as she turned to face her team, eyes shimmering with unshed tears at their concern. "Thanks guys," Sam said softly, "but I know the way. I'll see you later, okay?" Unable to face their worried faces any longer, Sam turned back around and carefully walked out of the gate room.

If General Hammond was concerned before, he was doubly so now. What in the hell had happened to Samantha Carter on that mission!

"Go get cleaned up, SG-1 and then report to medical for your post mission physicals," Hammond ordered. "Debriefing in 30." He watched as the men of SG-1 unbuckled straps and handed over their weapons to the awaiting security team.

"Colonel, a word..?" Jack frowned slightly, as he turned back towards General Hammond. Not that he was particularly surprised, what with all of SG-1 pretty much wearing their hearts on their sleeves with Carter a few moments ago. Jack sighed and took off his cap. All he wanted to do was follow Carter to the Infirmary and make sure she was taken care of.

"Yes, sir?"

"Jack, obviously something happened to Captain Carter," General Hammond said without preamble. "I'd appreciate a brief recap of events prior to the debriefing." He indicated that they should have this conversation in his office.

"Of course, sir." Jack really hoped they could keep this conversation brief. He needed to check on Carter.


The elevator doors to Level 21 opened and Sam existed, moving on auto pilot towards the main medical bay. She stopped just outside the open doorway. Now that she was here, she wasn't entirely sure how to start the conversation. Somehow, "Hi, I just returned from off world and ran into a spot of bother," wasn't going to cut it.

"Why hello, there!" Sam was shaken out of her musings by a chipper voice that she did not recognize. Almost immediately the voice changed to one of concern.

"Captain, are you all right?" Sam could only shake her head, as she allowed herself to be led into the medical bay proper.

Dr. Janet Frasier frowned, as she visually examined the young Captain's physical appearance. Janet knew that this must be Captain Samantha Carter, although they hadn't had the chance to meet before now. There weren't a lot of female officers at the SGC, so Janet had done her homework after she accepted the post and knew by name each woman on the base. She knew that Captain Carter was on SG-1 and they were due to return today.

"Captain Carter, I presume?" Janet asked softly, as she guided Sam to an examining area. Sam looked up slightly startled.

"Yes," Sam replied, looking at Janet for the first time, recognition quickly dawning. "You must be our new CMO."

"I am indeed," Janet replied with a smile. "Dr. Janet Frasier."

"Samantha Carter," Sam said with a small smile in return. "My friends call me Sam."

"So Sam," Janet said, motioning for the Captain to sit down, "how are you feeling?" Janet had already diagnosed half a dozen concerns. She could see that Sam had an obvious fever and although her hands were grasped firmly together, Janet could tell they were shaking. Sam had a large developing bruise on the right side of her face, and her eyes didn't appear to be fully tracking her environment. Overall, her movements were sluggish and appeared painful. It concerned Janet that she couldn't see the source for any of this (outside of the bruise) and needed to get Sam into a gown ASAP. Thinking about clothing made Janet aware that Sam also didn't seem to be wearing her own t-shirt. That surely could not be good.

"I've been better," Sam replied honestly, as she bit her lip in an attempt to control her emotions. She had made it. She was here! So why couldn't she just relax and ask for help?

"Why don't you hop up on the bed, and we'll check you out, okay?" Janet said kindly. Sam glanced at the bed, situated 3 feet off the ground and slowly shook her head as her eyes filled with tears.

"Captain?" Dr. Frasier asked, reaching out an arm in concern.

"I can't, " Sam whispered as her shoulders began to shake.


"You left her alone?" Hammond shouted, causing Jack to wince. Not that he didn't think he deserved his Commanding Officer's fury, but did he have to shout quite so loud?

"It was a mistake, Sir. And one I hold myself responsible for," Jack said bitterly. "But General," he continued "You gotta understand, at this point there was absolutely no indication of danger. The Shavadai were a patriarchal people, so we... I figured Carter could just hang back with the ladies while the rest of us checked out trade opportunities. " Jack paused as he felt Hammond's anger radiating off of him like a physical blow.

"General," Jack continued, finding his voice. "It was a very unusual situation, and Carter would most certainly not have been harmed in any way if this kid, Abu, hadn't felt like she was the only way to help his girlfriend." Jack took a quick breath and continued.

"In their society, 'exotic' women are treated like commodities. Carter was kidnapped, so that she could be used to buy the freedom of a 16 year old girl." Jack paused, as he saw understanding skirt across General Hammond's face. "See, this girl's father," Jack spat out the word with obvious hatred, "was about to trade her to some chieftain three times her age, and this poor Abu kid just wanted to stop it."

"He loved her sir," Jack said with a shrug.

"That still doesn't explain what happened to Captain Carter." Jack sighed and continued, choosing his words with care.

"Carter did not appreciate being used as trader fodder, and tried to escape."

"But she was caught..." Hammond said, filling in the blanks.

"Yep. And beaten." Hammond looked at Jack expectantly.

"Was that all?" It was said in a quiet voice, but both men knew what was being asked.

"Thank God, yes." Hammond gave a curt nod and let Jack continue.

"The beating...the whipping was bad, General," Jack explained. "And because of this super ointement of theirs, Carter didn't actually realize how bad it was until 24 hours later." Hammond blanched at the news.

"24 hours?" Jack nodded. He knew he needed to explain everything that had happened in that 24 hours, but he really hoped he could do that later. He needed to check on Carter, now.

"There was infection."

General Hammond had heard enough. Although he needed a more detailed accounting, now wasn't the time. He nodded towards his CO.

"Go check on your people, Colonel." Jack gave a thankful nod and immediately stood up to leave.

"I expect to see you back here in 25 minutes for a fuller accounting, Colonel."

"Of course, sir. Thank you, sir." And with that Jack, left.


Jack didn't run through the halls of the SGC, but he did walk quite briskly. He punched the up button for the elevator and bounced manically from his heels to the balls of his feet waiting for it to arrive. Before the doors were even fully opened, he leapt inside and stabbed the button for Level 21. The seven flights up seemed to take forever. As soon as the elevator doors opened, Jack raced around the corner and nearly ran straight into the diminutive new head doctor.

"Colonel O'Neill!" Janet Frasier said in surprise. "I was just going to call you..."

"Is Carter here?" Jack asked without preamble.

"Yes," Janet said frowning, "Captain Carter arrived about 5 minutes ago. I just finished sending down a couple of orderlies to assist her into a gown..."

"Did she tell you what happened," Jack interrupted before Janet could finish.

"Not in so many words," Janet began, "but I can see has a fever and there is obviously something wrong. I promise you we'll take good care of her..."

"Doc," Jack said looking Janet straight in the eye. "I know you don't know me that well, but believe me when I tell you that you need to go back to Sam right now and give her some of the strongest pain medication you've got. Her last dose of four extra strength Tylenol was almost three hours ago and I know it did very little for her pain. She needs morphine or oxycodone or..."

"Colonel O'Neill!" Janet said sharply. "You are not a medical doctor, and I will not have you telling me how to treat my patients!"

"You don't understand, Doc!" Jack was frustrated at his inability to make her understand. "Sam was beaten." He looked at Janet with worried brown eyes. "Very, very bad."

In an instant, Janet recalled Sam's demeanor and her inability to get on the examination table. Janet's only instructions to the orderlies were to help Sam with her clothing. What if...Janet immediately turned away from O'Neill and began to head back to the examining room. Jack followed.

They were less than 20 feet away when Sam's scream shattered the air.

"OhmygodI'msorry," an orderly stammered, as he supported the now unconscious Captain Samantha Carter with an arm wrapped around her waist and another splayed across her back.

"Don't touch her back!" Jack shouted angrily, as he shoved the orderly out of the way, and took hold of Sam under the neck and knees. With great care, he lifted her up to the bed and with the help of Dr. Frasier, placed Sam on her side. Jack was furious that this could happen. They had made it back, dammit. Carter was supposed to be drugged to the gills and taken care of!

Janet felt sick to her stomach. Her first day of work and this happened? Colonel O'Neill looked beside himself, and Janet didn't fault him in the slightest. She had messed up. She needed to fix it.

"You didn't know, Lawrence," Janet said briskly to the orderly. "We'll talk about this later, okay?" She turned to a young nurse and ordered her to start an IV on Captain Carter. "And check her chart," Janet ordered. "I don't believe she has any allergies, but we need to make sure." Janet turned back towards Jack.

"Her back, you said?" Jack nodded. Janet motioned him forward another foot and then drew the privacy curtain around them and with Jack's help, rolled Sam over to her front.

"What am I going to see?" Janet asked briskly, as she cut away Sam's t-shirt.

"Seven deep lacerations," Jack began. "She was repeatedly flogged with a tasseled whip." Janet blanched at the information, but continued working. "I cleaned them up best I could and applied antibiotic cream over the bandages, but there's already infection." Janet nodded as she pulled the shirt apart and began to work on removing the gauze bandages. The nurse finished inserting the IV just as Janet removed the first bandage. She sucked in a breath as she took in the damage inflicted upon the poor Captain. The small areas of seepage that Jack had seen earlier had increased. An area right below her right shoulder blade was sodden with blood, while another area closer to the center of her back oozed thick discolored pus.

"No allergies, ma'am," a nurse called out from a nearby computer. Janet nodded absently in thanks.

"You were right, Colonel O'Neill," Janet said softly. "The very first thing Captain Carter should have received is pain medication. We'll give that too her right now. " While they had been talking, another nurse had wheeled a medical tray beside them. With a quick glance, Janet selected a needle and a vial of morphine. She carefully measured out a dose and administered it directly into Sam's IV. She then picked up a second vial and injected broad spectrum antibiotics. It was a start.

Jack watched darkly, as Janet began removing all of his hastily applied bandages. He didn't think Sam's back could look any worse than it did three hours ago, but he was wrong.

Janet looked up from her ministrations, having momentarily forgotten that O'Neill was still there.

"She'll be out the entire time I work on her back, Colonel," Janet said quietly. "Why don't you take a shower and then come back with Teal'c and Dr. Jackson for your post mission physicals? I promise to keep you apprised if anything changes here."

With one final look at Sam, Jack stood up and left.


A/N Poor Sam! But I promise, that's it for (major) Sam whumping. It's happy juice and blue jello for the good astrophysicist from here on out. :) I know I've spoiled y'all rotten with nearly daily updates, but I'm afraid frequency is going to be reduced as I focus on R/L for a bit. It's kinda appalling how much I've let slip in the past week as I rediscovered fanfic writing. I also have a job interview coming up (a lunch interview, what's with that?) and I really want to impress these folks. I sure miss the days when all you had to do to get a new job was fill out a form.

I can't promise I'll post faster if you review, but it sure makes me want to!