Author's Note: Egads but this got supper sappy. I'm sorry. Blame the watermelon I ate for lunch... Not for any particular reason but because it's the only thing I did any differently today...

"There is such a thing as too brave." Her liquid blue eyes pleaded with him through the narrowly spaced bamboo-like bars he'd wrapped his fingers around. He waited, but the expected 'sir' never followed.

"Jack," she finally said, anguished.

He could feel the fear, trepidation and regret well up in his throat, choking him with the would-have-been-should-have-beens that made up the last six years of his life.

"Carter," he forced out around the solid lump of emotion in his throat and was instantly transported back a couple of years to a time when she was the one on the wrong side of the barrier and realized as much as this hurt, that was worse. Because at least this time she would go home safe and sound.

Her eyes slipped closed at the sound of her familiar name on his lips. Her lips trembled and he watched the way her hands shook where they were grasping the bars just between the ones he held so their knuckles brushed together.

"Sam, please."

She met his eyes just as she lost the battle with her tears. Over her shoulder he could see Teal'c and Daniel standing by with grim looks on their faces.

"Teal'c," Jack called and summoned him over with a quick jerk of his head. "You've got to take her away. Don't let her watch."

"Jack," she protested, "Sir."

Teal'c wrapped his big hands around her shoulders and attempted to pull her away from the cage. She tightened her grip while simultaneously elbowing him in the solar plexus. He just grunted and refused to release her.

"Teal'c," she warned with a growl.

"Carter," Jack said sharply. "It's you or it's me and we both know exactly how this is gonna shake down. I'm gonna be useless when this is over which means it's up to you to get us home."

"I don't want you to do this for me," she said in a shaky voice that made him want to give her everything she'd ever wanted – except this, because there was no way in hell he was giving her over to the damned native peoples of P3X-996.

"You don't get to choose, Major. You're in command now and that means you're responsible for getting your people home safely."

She caught her bottom lip between her teeth and he felt his resolve threaten to crumble.

"Sam," he said more gently than before, "hey. Look at me," he prodded when she wouldn't meet his eye. "Yeah. This is gonna suck. But I'll be okay. Because you're going to get me home. You're going to get me, Teal'c and Daniel home because that's what we do. Right?"

"Yes, sir," she said weakly.

"And you're going to let Teal'c take you away. You don't have to watch this. I don't want you to watch," he rushed ahead when she started to object. "Okay?"

"Yeah," she said roughly. "Yes, sir." She spared him one last intense look he felt all the way down to his toes and then let Teal'c guide her away.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

He woke up with a groan. Everything hurt. Everything felt like it was on fire except for an inexplicably cool spot on his forehead he figured was a damp cloth. He peeled his eyes open and was greeted with Carter's worried face.

"Sir," she said in a rush. "Welcome back."

"Shhh."

Her brow furrowed. "Headache?" she asked more quietly.

"Yeah," he whispered and grimaced. A moment later he felt the tips of her fingers and chalky pills against his lips. He accepted the pills and swallowed them with a sip of water from the glass she followed them up with. "Thanks."

"You should go back to sleep," she said gently.

"How bad is it?" When she didn't answer right away he decided. "Right. Pretty bad. Where are we?"

"About fifteen klicks from the village on the way back to the gate in that hut we found."

"Daniel and Teal'c?"

"Daniel's asleep in the other room. Teal'c's standing watch outside."

"Why'd we stop?"

"It's going to take two more days to reach the gate at the speed we were moving."

"Leave me here. Get the guys back through the gate."

"No, sir."

"No, sir?"

"You left me in command of SG-1 and we don't leave our people behind."

He tried to frown, then tried to smile, in the end he just slipped back off to sleep.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The next time he woke he could feel sleeping bag around him, a rock digging into his ass, and it was Daniel sitting next to him. "Hey," he said and could tell he'd been out for a while from the unused sound of his own voice."

Daniel looked up from the book in his lap. "Jack. Hey. How're you feeling?"

"Like I could use some more of those pills Carter was pushing."

"Oh. Yeah."

Daniel fumbled around for a couple of pills and Jack took them before asking, "Where is she?"

Daniel inclined his head and Jack looked over to see her asleep next to him.

"She'd been up for a day and a half but I couldn't get her to leave you. Eventually I talked her into a nap by telling her she could lie right there and I'd sit here with you in case you woke up. Technically I'm supposed to be waking her up right now, but I think we'll just keep this between us, okay?"

Jack tried to nod but settled for agreeing. "Let her sleep."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

He came to while being jostled. He opened his eyes to a bright blue sky, a worm's eye view of the back of Teal'c's head and the slight shimmer of the Stargate in his peripheral vision. He grunted when he was jostled once more. Beside him he heard Carter's voice at the moment he realized she was gripping his hand. "It's okay, sir, we'll be home in a moment." He closed his eyes and waited for the unmistakable pull of his molecules being disassembled.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

His eyes opened to the comforting sight of the infirmary ceiling. His left leg felt heavy and he looked down his slightly inclined body to see a walking cast hugging his leg. A cursory glance over the rest of his anatomy revealed a plaster cast on his left forearm and an IV in his right hand.

And Carter's head on the bed next to him.

The rest of her was awkwardly contorted in a green plastic chair and her fingers looked odd as if they'd probably been tangled with his before she'd drifted off to sleep.

He opened his mouth but found himself too exhausted to talk. So he harnessed the last bit of energy he had to lift his hand to the back of her head and sink his fingers into her silky hair.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

A week later he was released to the comfort of his own home but he found it difficult enough to maneuver that rather than bask in the relative comforts of some much needed alone time he welcomed two thirds of the rest of his team into his living room more for the help than the company.

"You're looking better, Jack," Daniel said and headed straight towards the kitchen to set down an armload of Chinese food and beer.

"Did you bring my prescriptions?"

"Sam's got them. Janet couldn't fill them all and Sam's the only one on the list at the local pharmacy. You should really do something about that so she's doesn't have to drop everything anytime you need something off… Oh. Never mind." Daniel looked uncomfortable with his revelation for only a moment and then grinned at Jack's obvious discomfort at being discovered.

"Shut up," Jack said preemptively.

"I didn't say a thing."

"You thought it real damn loud," Jack groused.

Then a knock on the front door interrupted the men, but before either could get there or call out to answer, the door was pushed open and Sam's voice filtered through into the kitchen. "Sir?"

"In here," he called and took the opportunity to shoot Daniel one last dirty look that the younger man only shrugged off with a smirk.

She held up a bag from the pharmacy as she rounded the corner. "Here you go. And they said not to take the pain killers with the hot and sour soup again. You remember what happened last time."

"They said?"

She blushed and ducked her head. "Okay, maybe that directive was from me. But you barely made it to the bathroom in time and you're not moving very quickly right now."

He snatched the bag from her but grinned. "Sure, fine. But Danny's the one who brought the soup so you'll have to take it up with him."

Daniel pulled a plastic quart container from one of the paper bags with a shrug. "Won-ton. I guess we're safe."

It wasn't too much later when the food had been eaten, Sam was clearing up and Daniel stood up with a stretch and a yawn. "I'm going. You two need anything?"

Sam stopped in her tracks. "I'm going too. As soon as I finish picking up from dinner."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Okay." He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "Call me if you need me. See you tomorrow."

In the quiet of Jack's living room that followed Daniel's departure, Jack and Sam stood locked in an intense and silent conversation. "He only thinks he knows what's going on," Jack finally said.

"We're going to have to be more careful."

"Sam, I was just beaten to within six inches of my life. I don't think there's any hiding anything anymore."

"You can't keep risking your life for me."

"I can. I will."

"It nearly killed me watching them take you away."

"And what they did to me would have killed you for sure. I'm not apologizing for what I did. One day I want this to be something we can do more than talk about. That's not going to be possible if I let you die somewhere along the way."

She stepped toward him, raised a hand she didn't use to touch him, poured her emotions into her eyes and then into the miles-wide inches of space between them. "Just try not to be too brave, okay? I want 'one day' with you, too, and you damn well better not die trying to keep me alive."

"I'll try."

"You promise."

"I can't," he said solemnly. "But I really will try."

"Good. Because one day I'll tell you I love you."

He shrugged, tried to smile. "That's worth waiting around for."

"Okay then." She dropped her hand, took a step back, collected her purse and turned to go.

She was halfway out the door when he stopped her. "Sam? One day I'll tell you I love you, too." She smiled at him before she left and that smile, that look in her eyes, well, he figured, those were worth being brave for any day.