Sam stalked off into the trees careful to keep the small fire in view. She could easily get lost and didn't want Daniel and Teal'c looking for her. She sat down on a fallen tree and put her head in her hands. She ran over the conversation in her head, shocked that her and Daniel actually started shouting at each other. What had gotten into them? They were all turning into firecrackers just waiting to go off. First Jack, then her, and now Daniel. After allowing herself some time to wallow in unhappiness, she schooled her face into a neutral expression, and started walking slowly back to the fire.

Teal'c had gone to Jack's tent to find the man attempting to get up. He had rolled over onto his stomach, and managed to turn around and crawl to the tent flap. Teal'c was listening to O'Neill making his argument to be allowed up and about, when he heard Sam and Daniel arguing by the fire. Jack was so intent on getting up that he didn't hear, but Teal'c could hear most of what was being said. He quickly assisted O'Neill to his feet and out of the tent. As they approached the fire Teal'c watched Major Carter walk into the trees. He knew that she would not go far and didn't go after her. He helped O'Neill sit down and placed himself next to him. Daniel handled the logs roughly as he tried to get the fire to start. Teal'c took over as Daniel dropped a larger log than the fire needed and put it out. Jack watched with interest and looked around for Sam.

"Where's Sam?"

"She went for a walk." Daniel answered shortly.

"Danny. Hello. It's me, Jack."

"Sorry Jack. It's great to see you up. You hungry?"

"Starving. Feel like I haven't eaten in, oh, 5 days."

Daniel smiled a little. Jack looked at Teal'c. What was going on? Teal'c just shook his head ever so slightly. Not now. Jack shrugged and sat back, enjoying the fresh air. As Daniel was finishing the meal, Sam returned, walking slowly from the trees. Jack looked at her and got a weak smile in return. She grabbed bowls for the dinner and handed them to Daniel. He accepted them with a nod and Sam looked sheepishly at him. They both knew they would have to talk soon, but now was not the time. Over dinner, they kept conversation light and animated and avoided any comments or questions that could cause any disagreement.

The following morning, Jack was up with the sun. He would've bounded out of the tent had he been able. As it was, he slowly crept out to avoid waking Teal'c, who was still sleeping next to him. He made straight for the FRED and changed his clothes. Yesterday he hadn't even thought about it, and now, after remembering it had been several days, couldn't wait to change. He started a small fire and put a pot of water on. He heard a zipper as the fire started crackling. Carter's head poked out of her tent. He grinned and waved at her. She joined him as he started breakfast.

"Sir, what's the water for?"

"Carter, I've been asleep for 5 days. I need to wash."

"Oh. Sorry, didn't even think of that."

"Neither did I until this morning."

"How are you feeling?"

"Hungry. You?"

Sam almost squirmed under his scrutinizing gaze. She wondered if he had overheard the conversation between her and Daniel, the night before.

"Me too. Uh, Sir?"

"Yes."

"I need to check your wounds."

"I thought you said they were getting better."

"We think they are, but I still need to check them."

Teal'c had dressed them the night before, but as O'Neill was now awake, Sam was worried that having them covered would hinder the healing process. She stood behind him and gingerly lifted his shirt. She peeled back the tape and gauze covering the wounds and inspected them.

"How's it lookin?"

"Good."

"Carter.."

"Ok. They're still red, irritated and swollen but not as bad as yesterday. It will take time for these to heal."

"How long?"

"I don't know. More than a few days." Sam looked at the gauze pads. Some were clean and dry, others had blood on them. She pulled out the first aid kit and started applying new dressings and noticed the skin on his back appeared taut and dry. She assumed it was part of the healing process.

"So we just keep checking them?"

"Yes. There's not much else we can do." Jack took a deep breath in as she placed the first gauze pad on his back.

"Ouch."

"How bad did that hurt?"

"Oh, I've had worse."

"Sir I need to know."

"Felt like you were stabbing me. Was that one of the holes in my back?"

"No. That was the area surrounding the wound. I'm sorry, didn't realise it was so tender."

"No worries. Just get it over with."

Sam finished as quickly as she could as she could tell Jack was in a good deal of pain. When she was done, he stayed sitting with his head in his knees. Concerned, Sam reached around him and felt for a pulse. It was racing and she could hear him breathing loudly.

"Jack. Can you hear me?"

"Sam, what's wrong?"

"I'm not sure. I changed his dressings and he was in some pain. He's conscious but not responding."

"Jack."

Daniel called his name and gently shook him. Teal'c joined them after hearing Daniel ask Sam what was wrong. He was a few feet away as the ground convulsed violently. The force shook Teal'c to his knees and propelled Jack forward towards the fire. Sam grabbed him and pulled him backwards, as Daniel fell sideways. The ground continued to shake for a minute and not a word was spoken. The earthquake ceased but not before disrupting the fire pit. Bits of wood, with flames licking them eagerly, rolled over the ground starting new fires. Daniel jumped up and grabbed the the pot that Jack had put water in, and started putting out the flames. Teal'c rushed to the FRED and grabbed one of the water jugs and assisted Daniel. Sam realised she was practically hugging her CO and removed her arms from his waist. He was conscious, breathing hard, and white as a sheet.

"Sir, how bad is the pain?"

Jacks eyes rolled back in response. The flames put out, Teal'c and Daniel rushed over to her.

"Come on Jack." Daniel lightly tapped Jack's face and his eyes snapped into focus.

"Daniel, " he gasped.

"Jack. Stay with me. What hurts?"

Jacks eyes became white again as his eyes rolled back, and he passed out. Teal'c checked him for new wounds and found several small scorch marks on the front of his shirt. He promptly removed the shirt so Sam could check for burns. As they sat him up, Daniel noticed blood soaking through the gauze on his back. Sam didn't see any burn marks on his chest and turned to the blood on his back.

"Major Carter. I suggest we place O'Neill on his front. This position will not be comfortable for him when he wakes."

"Ok. Daniel you grab his legs, Teal'c, we'll have to pick him up carefully."

"Why don't we just take him into the tent?"

"There's more room out here, and I don't want to try to get him into there without knowing what's causing this blood."

"Let me go grab a sleeping bag first. That way his head won't be face down in the dirt."

Daniel laid the sleeping bag, open, on the ground. He remembered how they moved Jack the night he and Teal'c had returned from the temple. They moved Jack onto the bag, face turned so he could breathe. Teal'c crouched ready in case O'Neill repeated previous events and kicked out. Sam slowly peeled the now blood soaked gauze of his back. Daniel turned his head away. Sam delicately cleaned the blood and revealed the cause of the blood.

"Sam, what the hell happened?"

"It looks like the skin surrounding the wounds cracked."

"Cracked?"

"Split. I'm not sure how deep as they're still bleeding."

"How?"

"I don't know Daniel. I'm not a doctor."

Daniel backed off when he heard the exasperation in her voice. He hadn't intended to sound so demanding, but she had obviously taken it that way. Teal'c raised an eyebrow and reminded them of their patient.

"I noticed that the skin looked dry and taut this morning. I assumed it was part of the healing process."

"Apparently not."

"Yes Daniel. I was wrong."

"Major Carter, what must we do?"

"The only thing I can think of is to clean the wounds with hot water, and dress them again."

"When he wakes up we should not allow him to move quickly."

Daniel nodded that he understood and restarted the fire. Sam continued to wipe the blood away until the water was hot enough. She cleaned the wounds and dressed them again. Jack came to just as she finished taping the last piece of gauze. He moaned and tried to move.

"O'Neill you must not move just yet."

"Daniel, hold his legs down. I don't want him stretching the skin on his back."

"What's happenin?" Jack slurred.

"Sir, you've torn the skin on your back. Don't move as you'll make it worse."

"Hurts."

"Teal'c, grab the first aid kit from the FRED. There's some morphine in there."

"Why haven't you used that before Sam?"

"I didn't know if it would react with the paste we gave him. Had we given him morphine and he had a reaction, because he was so weak, it probably would've killed him."

Teal'c returned and Sam injected him with a small amount of morphine. To hear the Colonel admit to pain meant that it was truly unbearable. Jack relaxed as he passed back into unconsciousness. Daniel and Teal'c wrapped him in the sleeping bag and returned him to the tent. Teal'c stayed with O'Neill as Daniel returned to Sam. She was sitting by the fire, her back rigid. He could almost see her aura of anger.

"Sam."

"Daniel."

"What's wrong."

"Nothing."

"Seriously, Sam. What's bothering you?"

"Nothing Daniel. Drop it."

"Please talk to me Sam. Why are you upset?"

"I'm not upset."

"Yes you are. You have been all day. You've bitten my head off at least twice."

Daniel knew that she needed to let out whatever was bothering her but wasn't prepared for her passionate response.

"I bit your head off! You're the one who jumped down my throat every time I answered one of your never ending questions!"

"What!"

"Remember last night? You asked me if I'd told Jack about the gate. You almost shit your pants when I said I'd told him the truth."

"Sam, I didn't mean that. I was tired and so were you." Daniel felt bad about how he had reacted the night before. He hadn't realised it would blow up like that. He wasn't in the mood to argue now, only to mend their friendship, which had taken a new turn in the past few days.

"That's no excuse."

"I know. I'm sorry about that."

"Do you expect me to fix the gate?"

"Huh?"

"I'm not repeating myself."

"Sam, none of us expects you to fix the gate. We are hoping you can though."

"And what if I can't?"

"Then we find another way home."

"How? Have good ol'Carter throw something together to get us out of this mess?"

"Sam, what's this all about?"

"If I can't get us out of this mess, then what? It's all my fault!"

Sam looked to be on the verge of tears. Daniel could see her fighting it. Whatever was bothering her had been brewing for a while. He wanted her to get it out now if she would. He moved closer to her as she paced around the fire. As she walked towards him, he grabbed her in a hug.

"Sam, we don't expect you to fix the gate, we don't expect you to get us out of this, and we certainly won't blame you for that."

"Daniel, you don't understand..."

"I think I do. You're frustrated because you can't fix all this. There's nothing you can do right now. Stuck here, in a potentially volatile situation, Jack recovering, you're still recovering, we're just surviving."

Sam didn't respond but he could feel her relax a tad in his arms.

"Sam, I'm really sorry about last night. I don't know what came over us."

"Stress", she mumbled from his shoulder.

"Yeah. None of that here."

He heard Sam chuckle and knew that the anger was dissipating. Now he wanted to talk rationally and figure this mess out before they blew up again. He sat down on a long log, near the fire, and pulled her down next to him.

"What did I do today that irritated you today."

"This morning. You didn't want me to go to look for water and when you kept asking questions about Jack's wounds. You didn't let up, and seemed to think I knew the answer but for some reason wasn't telling you."

"I didn't mean to come across that way. I just wanted to know what was going on."

"But sometimes you don't stop asking. I needed to think and you kept asking questions demanding to know what was happening when I didn't even know the answers."

Daniel couldn't think of a response. He recalled the discussion from the morning and hesitated to mention it.

"This morning, I only thought you needed a break."

"If I needed to rest I would tell you."

"Would you? You don't listen to us, any of us, at the base. We're always telling you to rest, relax, take some time for yourself, and you rarely do."

"I don't need to a babysitter Daniel. I can take care of myself." He could hear her defenses going back up and hastened to bring them down again.

"We're just concerned about you, same as you are for us. What's all this about fixing the gate?"

"That's just it Daniel. I really don't think I can. We'd need more manpower to pull it out. We could build something like a crane, or pulley system to help us do it, but I don't have the materials."

"You think we'll blame you for that?"

"That doesn't sound like I meant it to sound. Not blame me. umm. I dunno. I feel like you guys are so used to me solving the problems we find ourselves in, that you almost rely on my to fix them all the time. What happens when I can't fix the problem, like now. How will you react?"

"Sam, we all know that you can't do everything. You've done some amazing things in the years I've known you, but you can't fix everything. We don't expect you to."

"Daniel, I feel like an idiot. I'm sorry for overreacting."

"Don't mention it. We're all under a mound of stress, we were bound to blow up at each other sooner rather than later."

"Yeah. I guess so."

Daniel gave Sam another hug, which this time, she returned. Sam stood up and went to go check on Jack as Daniel replayed the conversation in his head. He didn't feel like they'd solved the original problem, but now she wasn't upset, so he'd accomplished something.

Teal'c smiled to himself. He had heard most of the conversation and was glad his two friends had talked things over. Now they had to get O'Neill to inform them of what had been bothering him. He had a feeling that wouldn't be very easy.