10
She and Daniel took turns in baby sitting the Colonel, he kept giving hints that he was changing, the odd word or look, but still no overt sign until Daniel looked at his crossword puzzle and determined that he had unconsciously written the answer in.
While they were talking to Dr. Weir, he gathered together loads of things including a Naquadah generator, welding kit, and various electronic components and they travelled to the planet with the cargo ship they were going to use.
Pete had tried to contact her several times before they left, but she had no time to waste explaining to him what was happening, after all it was not only the Colonel who had a time limit, Earth did too, Anubis was on his way after all!
They were sat in the ship, she wanted to talk to him, wanted to tell him what she felt, but it wouldn't be fair to him, he had enough on his mind (literally) without her adding pressure.
He rose suddenly stating that they needed more speed and she was amazed when she followed him to see him rerouting the power to the engines with no hesitation.
The new configuration was amazing, and she just hoped she would remember it all when they next got hold of a ship!
She looked at him, across the crystal bank. "Sir, I think you should know that General Hammond authorised me to take command of the team if I deter…"
"Do it now" he interrupted her
"Sir… I don't think that's necessary"
"I trust you… I'll make it easy for you, I resign, you're in charge" he once more bent to the control panel
"Sir, at your house, just before Daniel and Teal'c showed up… what I was going to say was…" he looked up at her, straight into her eyes. She saw then that he knew, he knew everything she was feeling, and as if she could read his soul she knew he actually felt the same way!
Still the regs… but he had resigned hadn't he? She felt that if she could just lean over and kiss him…
"I know" he said softly and so tenderly.
Thoughts of Pete stopped her from doing what she wanted. No it wasn't right, but as soon as she got home she would finish it with him. And then she would be free to explore the connection she felt with her CO. She was tired of allowing the AF to dictate who she could and could not love.
This man, who had sacrificed everything not once, but over and over, who had died more than once for the people of a planet that seemed not to care, he was slowly losing himself in his own mind. She would do ANYTHING to help him! And once he was back to normal, then she would go to him and explain again how she felt.
She was sure once he got better that he would pretend not to remember the conversation they just had, or the fact that he understood it.
He brushed past her on the way to the forward hold, and she allowed her hands to brush down his arm as he did so, he turned on the threshold of the room and held out a hand to her, she took it and he gently pulled her after him, until they got to the bridge, where he dropped the connection. It was enough.
Later after he collapsed in the chair, as she looked on, she thought her heart would break, she had just decided to risk everything to be with him, and she was going to lose him before they had a chance. The hardest thing she ever had to do in her life was walk away and leave him, frozen in the Domata, and she doubted she would have been able to do it if not for Teal'c and Daniel supporting her.
0o0o0o
So, Jack had single handedly defeated Anubis, but at a terrible price, he ended up frozen, in stasis, asleep, whatever… he was almost totally overcome by the download, and still there was no sign from Thor or anyone else who may be able to help.
A research team was dispatched to the outpost, there were several inert machines in the place that could be studied, but it was not until a young Scottish doctor, who specialised in cryogenic theory and genetics arrived that a major breakthrough was discovered. The team had been trying to get a console to work and then the doctor turned up and placed his bag on the seemingly dead surface and it sprang to life! A study of his DNA and the Colonels showed a single marker in common, no one else on the team had it.
A scan of personnel at McMurdo showed one more person with the same gene and when he was brought to the outpost he too could use the chair and consoles. It was proved. The reason the Colonel had been able to use the repository and chair etc was because he had an 'ancient gene' and the machines left behind were safeguarded against people misusing them by not allowing anyone who was not an 'ancient' to access the controls.
Sam was sure that on some level the Colonel had known this, which is why he would not allow anyone else to try the download, a further test using Private Gascoigne showed that the first repository, that they believed was out of power, was no such thing, it activated as soon as the Private stepped across the circle of writing on the floor, but no one wanted to risk the young man by having him download as well.
0o0o0o
She returned to the SGC, wondering what the hell she was going to tell Cassie. It was not easy, and she hoped to God they would hear from the Asgard in the next 2 days, then everything would be back to normal, or as normal as it could get.
Of course it didn't work out, there was no sign of the allies rushing to help and Jack was stuck in that damn machine. Sam went to pick her up at the airport, she was talking nineteen to the dozen all the way back to Sams house, where at last she realised something was wrong.
"Sam? Aren't I staying with Jack still?" she asked, Sam turned off the car engine.
"Let's get inside Cass, then we need to talk"
"Oh God! He's dead!" she almost shouted, Sam rushed around the vehicle to hold her
"No! No Cass, he isn't dead… please, let's not do this on the street" Cassie looked around, old Mrs. Rainer was there as usual, pretending the net curtains she almost hid behind made her invisible.
Cassie nodded and they went up the path and into the house. She dropped her bags in the hall, and headed straight for the living room.
"Cassie, Jack is… he…oh God how do I explain?" she asked into thin air
"Just say it, then if I don't understand anything I will ask" the girl said
"OK… you have heard of Anubis" Cassie nodded "well last week we got notice he was on his way here with a fleet" she saw the shock on the childs face, after all she had watched one planet get wiped out by a Goa'uld, she knew how dangerous they were, she raised and lowered her hands to show there was no need to panic.
"We had a clue about something that may help us, Jack… he…" she blew out an exasperated breath "do you know anything about the Asgard?" she asked
"Yeah both mom and Uncle Jack spoke of them, it was them that wiped the download from Uncle Jack all those years ago." Sam sighed in relief, though she should not have known, the fact that she did would make this easier.
"Well he got another download, and he managed to wipe Anubis and his fleet out, but this time we don't have the Asgard so he put himself into what we think is a very deep sleep, to stop the download completely overwriting his brain and killing him.
"So where is he? Can I see him?" she asked
"Sorry love, he is in Antarctica, we daren't move him, just in case we do something wrong. We don't want to kill him" she explained. Cassie nodded, and Sam hoped she understood as much as she looked like she did.
"So," she said "how long before Thor or someone turns up and revives him?" she asked, Sam lowered her head, she had no idea, no one did. Cassie got the message and tears streamed down her face.
"Look, you will be here for a while" she told the youngster "You have been accepted into the academy and will be starting soon, but hopefully we will have him back by then, I am hoping that Dr Weir will be willing to allow us to go looking for the Asgard."
"And if she won't?" Cassie voiced the one fear that had kept Sam from asking to date.
"Then… well I will have to use what the Colonel says is my natural talent, I'll threaten to refuse to work on the ship unless I can borrow it" Cassie smiled at her and rose from her seat.
"I guess I better get unpacked" she said "I've loads of washing, and I know how much you love washing Sam"
Sam threw a cushion at her retreating back, she hated anything to do with laundry. The phone rang and she looked at the caller display… Pete again, she sighed, she had put it off long enough, and now Cassie was back she didn't want him coming around.
"Hi Pete" she said as she picked up.
"Babe!" she never realised before how much she hated that word… he always used it and it put her teeth on edge. "Been trying to get you for ages" he said
"Yeah, I know, I've been busy" she told him.
"So… this weekend OK?" he asked. She thought about it, much as it would be easier to finish things over the phone she didn't think it was exactly fair, so she decided to face him.
"Look Pete, what are you doing this evening?" she asked
"Nothing much, was going to watch the game I taped from yesterday, was on a stake out and missed it"
"Can I come over?" she asked, it was only 1800, she had plenty of time to get there and back.
"Erm, well…"
"We can meet in a bar if you want, there's just something we need to talk about" she told him
"Is anything wrong?" he asked her
"Pete… please…" she said and heard him sigh.
"OK, meet at America's Bar & Grill, on East Iliff Ave, in 90 minutes?" he said, she agreed and put the phone down. She immediately dialled Daniel and asked him to come look after Cassie for the evening as she had something to do that would not wait.
He arrived in less than 10 minutes and she set off to Denver.
0o0o0o
She arrived first and ordered herself a beer, knowing that by the time they had talked she would be clear to drive. She sat and watched as people came and went from the popular meeting place. The meals looked good too, but she was sure she would not be able to eat anything, she wanted this over with… she wished he would hurry up!