Thank you for all the kind wishes on the job interview! It went well and I have a third (and hopefully final) interview this Friday. Now as for this chapter...it went swiftly from 2000 odd words to 4k+ as I added in the details of the mission during the debrief. Please let me know if you think it's too much. It wasn't my intention to write it with such detail...it just happened. I know several of you have been waiting for this one, so I hope the chapter doesn't disappoint. Thanks, Lynette for the cliche warning! Removed. *Ahem*

Jack walked into the locker room still wrapped in his dark mood. He knew now that Dr. Frasier had actually noticed Sam's injuries, she would take good care of her, but it would be sometime before Jack really trusted the Doc. Logically, he knew she was an excellent doctor. Both he and Hammond had reviewed dozens of dockets, and personally interviewed several before deciding on her. Frasier came highly recommended, and Jack remembered being impressed with her after their first meeting. He knew she would be a great addition to the SGC. But right now, all he could see was her failure to help Sam.

"O'Neill."

"Hey Teal'c." Jack nodded towards the Jaffa. "Still lightning fast at showering, I see."

"I need only bathe long enough to cleanse my body, O'Neill."

"And you don't have to worry about washing your hair," Jack added with a smirk.

"Indeed." Jack couldn't say for sure, but he thought he saw a faint smile. Jack was looking forward to taking Teal'c off base one day. There was a whole lot of crazy, wonderful Earth experiences to enjoy. Idly, he wondered how Teal'c felt about hats.

"Jack!" Daniel exited the steamy shower area with a towel slung low around his waist and his hair sticking up in multiple directions. Not for the first time, Jack wondered how much trouble he'd be in if he accidently cut Jackson's hair the next time they were off world. It was just too...floppy. He could blame it on alien ninjas or something...

"How's Dr. Carter?" Daniel asked immediately, as he opened his locker and took out some clean clothes. Jack sat down on a bench facing away from Daniel and filled them in on what had happened while he slowly undressed.

Daniel had just finished pulling on his pants when he spun around to face Jack. "The new Doctor did what?" Gone was sensitive and concerned Daniel and in his place was pissed-as-hell Daniel. Jack remembered this guy. He didn't come out very often, but when he did, it was definitely a sight to behold. It's also the reason why Jack had allowed Daniel to remain on SG-1 after the first mission back to Abydos. Daniel might play, hell, be the bumbling archaeologist much of the time, but he was so damn handy to have around with all his cultural knowledge. And when the shit hit the fan, Daniel reacted exactly like Jack needed him to.

Almost always.

Jack felt a wave of affection wash over him as he held up his hands in defence. "Hey, hey! Messenger here!"

Daniel sighed as he sat down heavily on the bench and started pulling on socks. "But Sam is going to be okay now, right?"

"Physically, she's in Doc Frasier's hands," Jack began, tamping down on the anger that he felt. "But you can be sure as hell, we'll be there too." Jack finished undressing and with a towel wrapped around his waist, grabbed his shampoo and soap. "You guys go get cleared by Medical. I'll meet you in Hammond's office in 15."

Janet was appalled. Appalled at the way she had failed Captain Carter, and appalled at the level of damage inflicted on the poor woman's back. The mottled dark blue and purple bruising stood out starkly against the Captain's pale skin. The bruising was deep, and Janet made a note to order additional tests to ensure there wasn't any internal damage. The...flogging had ripped through Captain Carter's skin like tissue paper, easily separating the upper epidermis from the second skin level, the dermis. In several places, the blows had overlapped, causing subcutaneous tissue damage. Janet frowned as she irrigated a particularly nasty laceration with saline and then injected more lidocaine and epinephrine along the edge. Working carefully, Janet gently pulled the tender tissue under the dermis together with four absorbable sutures. Changing tools, she used a different needle and thread to stitch together the upper layers of the skin, thankful that she wouldn't need to do this on all of the lacerations.

Janet was so absorbed in her work that she didn't initially hear them enter. It was only after Dr. Jackson (Janet presumed) insisted on talking to 'Dr. Janet Frasier' that Janet realized she should probably brief the two worried men personally.

"Katherine," Janet called softly to an awaiting nurse. "Can you finish cleaning these two lacerations across Captain Carter's lower back and apply a light dressing?" Janet removed her gloves and took a deep breath as she prepared to face the righteous anger and concern of two worried teammates. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Dr. Jackson and Teal'c I presume?" Janet said with a small smile as she walked purposefully towards the two men. They were both seated on adjacent beds, Daniel with a blood pressure cuff on his right arm, and Teal'c with a thermometer in his mouth. Janet was glad she had seen a photo of Teal'c before meeting him. The man was intimidating! She was proud of the way her eyes only paused for a brief moment on the golden tattoo on his forehead.

"Dr. Frasier," Daniel said, trying to not show his anger. "How's Sam?"

"Captain Carter is still unconscious..." Janet held up a hand before Daniel could interrupt. "She is also heavily medicated. I do not expect her to wake before morning."

"Heavily medicated..?" Daniel asked uncertainly.

"With the 'good stuff' Dr. Jackson," Janet said with a reassuring smile. "I promise you, she is not in any pain." Janet watched as Daniel's shoulders visibly lowered in relief.

"Will she be okay?" Janet translated the question into 'Will she fully recover'?

"It's still too early to say, Dr. Jackson," Janet began, "but we are giving Captain Carter very powerful antibiotics to fight infection. While it is true that some of her...lacerations are deep, she should make a full recovery."

"May we see Captain Carter?" The large ex-Jaffa warrior asked Janet. Janet was surprised by the level of concern she heard in his deep voice.

"I'm afraid not," Janet said apologetically. "Captain Carter is still being treated, and as I mentioned, unconscious. She would not even know you're there."

"It's not for Carter, Doc," a new voice said from the doorway.

"Colonel O'Neill," Janet said surprised. "I didn't expect you back so fast." Jack shrugged. He could give Teal'c a run for his money on showering efficiency.

"It's been a rough mission, Doc," Jack said in explanation. "We'd kinda like to see for ourselves that Sam is being taken care of."

The colonel didn't particularly stress taken care of, but the implication was there. Seeing how Janet had let both Captain Carter and the colonel down earlier, the least she could do is give the men of SG-1 a few moments with the captain.

"Finish your post-mission physicals, and I'll allow you a minute," Janet said finally. She quickly turned on her heels and headed back towards Captain Carter.

Janet had just finished bandaging Sam's back when a nurse informed her that SG-1 was done with their medical check-ins. Janet glanced at her watch and saw they had a little over 5 minutes remaining before General Hammond expected all of them in the debriefing room. Janet hurried out of Intensive Care and into the main medical bay. Jack immediately caught her eye and stood up .

"You ready for us?" Instantly, Daniel and Teal'c were on their feet as well, looking at the diminutive doctor expectantly.

"Only a minute," Janet reminded them, as she led the trio into a dimly lit room.

It was eerily quiet in the room, with the only noise coming from the soft whirr and beeps of medical equipment. Sam lay peacefully on her stomach, with her arms loosely at her side and only the edges of pristine white bandages visible under a light blanket. Multiple wires could be seen snaking out from under her chest, but her face appeared relaxed and devoid of pain. For this, Jack was very, very thankful.

"So doing okay, then?" Janet nodded.

"Doing okay, sir." Janet looked like she was about to say something else when the phone rang. A nurse answered, listened for a few moments and then replied with a brief, "Yes, sir. I'll tell them" before hanging up. Four sets of eyes looked at the nurse expectantly.

"General Hammond is ready for you."

Janet went first.

"Captain Carter is responding positively to treatment General," Janet said without preamble. "She is still unconscious, but at this point, it's medically induced. We have repaired the damage to her back and are closely monitoring her vitals in order to keep on top of infection and ensure we properly manage her pain." Janet paused as she shuffled the papers in front of her.

"Sir," Janet began. "I must let you know that when Captain Carter came to me..."

"Carter is going to be fine, sir," Jack said interrupting, before Janet could fall on her own sword. As much as he was still royally pissed that Frasier hadn't caught the extent of Sam's injuries the moment she walked through the door, Carter had shown a remarkable ability to both withhold information and mask fairly excruciating pain. Obviously, Sam needed a refresher course in the importance of keeping others apprised of medical conditions received in the field. During the walk back to the gate, Jack had oscillated between acute worry for his Captain and anger that she hadn't been more forthright with him. He had mentally dressed her down several times in his head and was very thankful he'd have the opportunity to do it in person at a later date.

"In that case, Colonel," Hammond said, snapping Jack back to the present. "Why don't you tell me exactly what happened."

"It's my fault, General Hammond...," Daniel began, as he prepared to accept full responsibility for advising Dr. Carter to dress like a local woman. That's really how it all began.

"Oh for crying out loud, Daniel!" Jack interrupted, turning towards the concerned younger man.

"First, the General was asking me for the information. I'm the Colonel, remember? My team, my debrief. Second, it was not even remotely your fault, so don't you dare try to take the blame on this!" Jack was getting angrier by the moment.

"But..."

"Dr. Jackson," Hammond interrupted before Jack had an aneurism. "I will of course want to hear your input as well, but Colonel O'Neill will be leading this debriefing." Daniel looked like he wanted to argue, but very few people argued with General George Hammond, and he was not on that incredibly short list.

"Sorry, General." Daniel looked both apologetic and guilty.

"As I was about to say," Jack continued, shooting Daniel death rays with his eyes, "we arrived on P2X..." Jack paused as he tried to remember the planet designation. Normally, he'd turn to Carter for help, and Jack's shoulders slouched slightly as he remembered where she was.

"219." Daniel saw the momentary flash of something in Jack's eyes and immediately filled in the missing number. "P2X-219." Jack gave a slight nod of thanks and continued.

"We arrived on P2X-219 and were almost immediately greeted by the sounds of wild dogs. They were chasing this kid, maybe 16 or 17 years old. We scared off the dogs and the kid introduced himself. Said his name was Abu and that he was 'of the Shavadai'.

"Jack, you remembered!" Daniel blurted out.

"Doctor Jackson!"

"Sorry, General."

"Anyhow," Jack continued (again), "Daniel does his whole 'we come in peace' thing and introduces us. The kid was seriously freaked out by the fact Carter was a woman. Before we could work out exactly what that was all about, several other guys on horseback come galloping towards us." Jack paused and looked the General in the eye. "Here's where I made the first mistake."

"We," Daniel muttered under his breath. "We made the first mistake." Hammond didn't chastise Jackson this time for the comment.

"Continue, Colonel."

"Abu was a bit panicked when he caught sight of who was on the horses. He urged us to 'take the girl and go'." Jack remembered the scene with technicolor clarity. "Daniel worked out that the folks were of Mongol descent and again they notice that Carter is a woman. One of the surly looking guys immediately gets off his horse and makes a beeline towards Carter." Jack looked at Daniel.

"That's when Daniel stepped up and said we'd leave. He said we'd take Carter and go." Jack scrubbed a hand across his hair in frustration as he recalled roads not taken.

"I take it you didn't leave, Colonel."

"No, sir." Jack fidgeted slightly and looked at General Hammond with sad eyes. "I wish like hell we had, but we didn't."

"Now Abu's father showed up, and as he was the leader of these people, he pretty much told everyone to stand down. Said we were guests and not to be harmed. He invited us back to his camp."

"Sam didn't want to go," Daniel said quietly. "She thought it might be better if we head home."

"Carter had reservations sir," Jack continued, "But as Moughal, that's the name of the tribe's leader, guaranteed us safety, I concluded that it would be okay for us to check out their village." Hammond nodded.

"As it turned out, there was something to be gained from visiting. Daniel had kittens over a people that appeared to have stepped out of Mongol town circa 900 AD, and Earth got a sample of some nifty magic cream that apparently has some really powerful anesthetic properties." Hammond shot a puzzled look at Dr. Frasier.

"We haven't had a chance to test the sample yet, General." Hammond motioned Jack to continue.

"We saw it applied to a guy with a badly burned shoulder. He should have been in excruciating pain, but wasn't." Jack exhaled and shrugged. "I sure hope that stuff is worth the cost of bringing it back."

"What happened next, Colonel?"

"We learned a bit more about their culture and how women were generally separated from the men. Carter was apparently making folks uncomfortable in her 'men's clothing', so while she received a makeover from the ladies, Daniel, Teal'c and I got a tour of the village from the men. We checked in with Carter after she changed, and everything was fine." Jack felt a ghost of a smile pass his lips as he remembered Sam's discomfort at wearing such a... costume.

"In order to keep folks happy, Carter agreed to hang out in the women's tent while the rest of us played diplomat around a campfire." Jack fiddled with a pen for a moment before continuing. "We were with friendlies, General," Jack explained. "So while it did seem a little unusual for Carter to remain on her own, she was just a couple of hundred feet away and as we were allowed to keep our weapons, I figured it would be okay. My spidey sense was not red flagging it at all." Jack looked at Hammond with haunted eyes.

"I was wrong."

"General," Daniel said interrupting. "If I may continue? I actually was the first one in the tent the next morning." Hammond gave a nod of agreement.

"The next day, we were ready to leave and head back to the Stargate with the sample. I headed over to Dr. Carter's tent to get her... and that's when I discovered she was gone. There had been some kind of...struggle and Sam was gone. "

"Her weapons were accounted for," Jack said picking up the thread. "Just no Carter."

"Captain Carter filled me in a bit on this part, General, but you should probably hear it from her when she's feeling better." Jack paused and waited for Hammond to nod.

"Abu kidnapped Carter to be used as trade for the freedom of a girl he loved."

"Nya," Daniel added.

"Nya was the 16 year old daughter of a real sadistic SOB leader from a neighboring tribe. She was about to be traded to some desert warlord in marriage and the kid was kinda desperate to stop it." Jack paused and took a sip of water.

"In their society, 'exotic' women are highly valued and Abu hoped by trading Carter, he could 'buy' Nya's freedom. Unfortunately, the deal didn't go as planned. Turghan wouldn't release his daughter, and Abu wasn't allowed to leave with Carter. Seemed he was taken with the whole blonde hair blue eyed thing." Jack lowered his voice, visibly distressed at what had happened next.

"Abu left, and Sam remained behind. Carter said the guy wasn't particularly enamored when she talked back to him. That's when she got the bruise on her cheek." Jack once again fiddled with the pen in front of him.

"What were you doing to find her, Colonel?"

"With Mougal's help, we spent most of the day tracking them. Unfortunately, we didn't find Carter until late afternoon."

"But you found her, son. That's what matters."

"But we got to her after she was punished for trying to escape." Jack practically spit the word 'punished' out. Now they had reached the part of the mission where everything went completely off the rails, Jack was finding it hard to maintain his objectivity. Ah, who was he kidding? He wasn't objective and he knew it.

"But we did get to Sam before she was raped, Jack." Leave it to Daniel to not mince words.

"We did." Jack agreed, with a sigh. He reminded himself that this was a very important piece to remember. They had gotten there before Sam had been... They had gotten there in time.

"Carter didn't tell me much about the...whipping, sir." Just thinking about it made Jack's stomach churn. "All I know is that when another woman was about to be punished for 'allowing' Sam to escape, Sam stopped it. She offered herself up instead." Jack closed his eyes as he was assaulted by unbidden images of Carter's back.

"If I may, General?" Dr. Frasier said softly. Seeing the General nod, Janet continued.

"Captain Carter was struck seven times by a multi-corded leather whip measuring approximately 12" long." There was an uncomfortable silence as Janet's words sank in. Everyone had been aware of what had happened, but this was the first time they could really picture it.

"The blows were administered with obvious force, and caused considerable damage in places." Janet was very, very thankful for her medical training. It kept her grounded when reporting cases like this.

"In two places, I needed to repair tissue damage under Captain Carter's skin, but I anticipate it will heal fully. I also sutured three surface lacerations, but the others will heal on their own, and needed only butterfly bandages. There was also extensive bruising, but only minor blood loss. That is currently being repleted with fluids." She looked at the pale faces of Dr. Jackson, Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c.

"As I mentioned earlier, Captain Carter is currently in a medically-induced sleep, but should wake up on her own early tomorrow morning. At that time, we will work together to manage her pain. Barring complications, Captain Carter should be able to return to light duty in 2-3 weeks, and hopefully active duty in 6-8. I'll be able to give you a more accurate timetable in a few days." Janet folded her hands lightly over the paperwork in front of her. Her part was done.

Seconds ticked by in silence before General Hammond turned back towards O'Neill.

"What happened next, Colonel?" Jack let out a frustrated sigh.

"We 'bought' Carter back for 500..." Jack paused as he remembered. "Er... General? We might need to repay some of that..." He shook his head.

"Anyhow, we bought her back, Carter left the ladies tent and we rode off into the sunset."

"How did Captain Carter appear, son?"

"Carter appeared fine, sir." This is where Jack felt the most frustrated with himself. Obviously Carter was not fine. He just wished he had known it earlier. "She gave absolutely no indication that anything was wrong. We were all so relieved that we had gotten there before the whole "partakence" part, that I didn't push. I figured Carter would tell me if anything untoward had happened and otherwise a full debriefing would wait until we got back home."

"General," Daniel said, interrupting again. "Jack is right. Sam truly appeared fine. She traveled by horse for a couple of hours, had dinner..."

"Although she didn't actually eat that much," Jack added. Hindsight was a bitch.

"And even participated in guard rotation that night," Daniel concluded. "Sam gave no indication at all that anything was wrong."

"Until the next day." Jack remembered that part with crystal clear accuracy.

"But even then, it wasn't until later!" Daniel was clearly agitated.

"Colonel...?" Hammond was looking confused.

"We woke up and were about to head back to the gate when Abu found us. Seemed Turghan was about to stone his daughter to death for attempting to run away." Jack had always had a soft spot for kids and it was unfathomable that someone could even think about doing something like that to his own child.

"We went back to help." Jack was leaving out a bit here, as it was Sam who had insisted, but that wasn't particularly relevant at the moment.

"And then Sam fought him!" Daniel said angrily. "Turghan I mean. She literally fought the guy who beat her!"

"And she won," Jack said in a quiet voice. Hammond was shaking his head.

"But...how? I mean if she was beaten as bad as Dr. Frasier has reported... how would it be possible for her to even move let alone fight?"

"It's that damn drug of theirs, sir," Jack said, drumming his hands on the table with nervous energy. He just wanted this debrief to be over.

"Carter said they smeared the stuff on her after the beating. It numbed the pain for a long time, General."

"Until it didn't," Daniel said softly.

"So Carter beats the crap out of Turghan and under knife point, he agrees to let Nya go, let us go and not wage war on the Shavadai." Jack smiled slightly at the memory. "Carter is a great street fighter, sir."

"So her hand-to-hand combat instructors tell me," Hammond replied.

"After that, we gathered our things, said goodbye to the Shavadai and started walking towards the gate."

"And how did Captain Carter seem then?" Hammond asked.

"Captain Carter was quiet," Teal'c said, sharing his recollection for the first time. "She was watching 'our sixes' as you say, but I could not help but notice that she was unusually quiet."

"And then she began to fall behind," Daniel added.

"So I went to walk with her," Jack finished. "And that's when it became blazingly clear that she was hurting." Jack balled his fists in anger at having taken so long to realize that.

"From there, General," Jack said in a rush, anxious to finish this up and check on Carter again. "We stopped, assessed the situation, treated Carter's back the best we could and then got her the hell home."

Hammond looked at the faces of the people before him and knew there was more that needed to be said. He also knew that now wasn't the time. Nodding slightly at a decision made, Hammond stood up. Immediately, Colonel O'Neill and Dr. Frasier did the same.

"You brought her home SG-1," Hammond said kindly. "Anytime everyone makes it home is a good day."

And with a quiet 'Dismissed' General Hammond gathered his papers and existed the room.

A/N - I think three days is quite respectable for an update, yes? And it's my longest yet, so I hope it was worth the wait. A couple notes here - First, I do not work in the medical field, so all that (hopefully) intelligent-sounding stuff Frasier is saying came from WebMD other assorted sites. If I got anything wrong, please let me know, and I'll fix. Second, I made up the planet 6-character designation, as we never actually hear it in the episode. Oh! And the line about 'alien ninjas', I wrote that as an homage to Thel's wonderful short story, "Average, Everyday." Check it out. I've got it in my Favorites.

One last thing...in case you haven't actually figured this out yet, I seem to find myself editing the HECK out of posted chapters. I must have replaced that last chapter half a dozen times. Oops. This is the problem with a) needing to post as soon as I can (it's a disease. really!) and b) not having a beta. If I end up writing again beyond this story, I'll find one again. Promise!