A short one tonight folks. Thank yo so much to my lovely reviewers Your comments are so touch.
This was the third time Daniel had tried to call her so she finally just shut off her phone. She'd avoided the first two calls but now the constant ringing was getting to her. She knew Daniel was just checking up on her but she really couldn't deal with him right now.
Immediately after her confrontation with Jack she'd hopped in her car and headed out. She couldn't stay at the hotel, knowing that he was there. She knew it was foolish to drive when she was so tired, in the dead of night, but at this point she didn't really care.
For the first hour she simply cried, letting the tears drip down her face. She finally pulled over at an all night truck stop, knowing that it was too dangerous for her to continue. She sat in a booth and nursed a cup of coffee and for the next hour she cursed one Jack O'Neill, calling him every name in the book and wishing she'd never set eyes on him. The next hour after that was quiet, as she tried to figure out what to do next. She was pretty sure the waitress was totally freaked out by her but at this point she couldn't care less. She felt like there was a hole in her heart which she had no idea how to fix.
As soon as the sun was up she'd drive to Minneapolis and the airport, drop off her car and then get on the first flight to Colorado. If she had to she'd fly to Denver and take a bus home. All she knew was that she had to get home and away from Minnesota.
It was as she was on her fourth cup of coffee that she remembered her cell phone. She figured she'd better turn it back on, even though she was officially on vacation. Daniel was probably having a conniption, which really wasn't fair to the poor man. He was simply trying to support her and she knew she should at least respond.
She turned on the phone and then saw that she had a whole bunch of messages. She frowned, wondering at his persistence but shrugged and played the first message.
"Sam, call me right away. It's important."
What could this be about? She hoped there wasn't some crisis at the SGC although if that had been the case she was sure someone would have called from there. She played the second message.
"Sam, come on, it's important. Please call me back."
Okay, this was sounding serious. She hesitated but decided it was better to call him then to listen to the rest of the saved messages, although she noticed that one at least was from General Hammond. Now she was worried.
She hit speed dial to call Daniel's cell. It had barely rung once when he answered.
"Hi – Sam? God, where have you been?" He sounded frantic and suddenly she was really worried.
"I'm sorry Daniel, I had my phone turned off. What is it?"
"It's Jack. He's been in a car accident."
"What?" she asked, thoroughly confused. "That's impossible Daniel."
"No it's not. Sam, I've been trying to call you for hours. The police called me since I'm his emergency contact. His car was blindsided and was thrown into the ditch."
"Daniel, there's no way it was Jack – the Colonel. I just saw him and he was fine."
There was silence on the other end of the phone. "Uh – when did you see him?" Daniel asked, clearly puzzled.
"It was about", she looked at her watch, "about four hours ago."
"Sam, the police said the accident happened just after 10:00 pm. That would have been just under four hours ago."
What? She looked at the phone as if it was an alien being. Her brain felt like total sludge. What was Daniel saying? She'd left Jack, totally safe, in a Howard Johnson hotel. There was no way he could have been in an accident. They must have gotten the wrong man.
"Sam", Daniel said insistently. "They called from a town called Bemidji. They said Jack's truck turned over just outside the town. I checked a map and that's a couple of hours from his cabin."
Oh God, oh God, oh God. She dropped the phone and covered her mouth with her hand, feeling like she was going to be sick. That was the town where he'd been staying. It must be him. But what was he doing in his truck? She'd left him in his room. The only way he could have been in an accident is if he –
"Oh God", she said, this time out loud. If the accident had happened almost four hours ago he must have been coming after her.
"Sam!" Daniel's faint voice could be heard from her cell phone.
With shaking hands she picked it up. "Daniel – how is he?" She was shaking so badly she could barely hold on to the phone. She just knew it was going to be bad.
"I don't know. They won't give me any information over the phone as I'm not listed as next of kin. The General has been trying to find out something but all they've said is he's alive. Janet is away on a school trip with Cassie and we can't reach her either. They won't give out any more information until they've confirmed that Hammond has a right to know. Teal'c and I are getting a flight out there. General Hammond has arranged for a transport and we're just waiting to board. We should be there in a couple of hours. Are you anywhere near the hospital?"
"Uh – yes", she looked around, trying to remember where she was. "Yeah, I'm only an hour or so away."
"Can you go to the hospital and find out what's going on? Tell them you're his wife, or fiancé or something – they'll tell you then. We'll be there soon." Daniel gave her the name and address of the hospital.
"Okay", she answered, still in shock, although she managed to take down the information.
"Sam, are you okay?"
"I'm – yes, I'm fine Daniel. I'll call you back when I've found out something."
"Okay and you drive carefully okay? The last thing we need is two people hurt!"
She paid her bill, much to the relief of the waitress who was happy to see her go, and headed out the door. With all the caffeine she'd just had she was feeling pretty buzzed, although she still felt exhausted. It was an unpleasant combination.
She tried to drive carefully, knowing she wasn't at her best, but what she really wanted was to put her foot to the floor and fly to the hospital.
She parked the car and raced inside. There was no one on the main desk so she quickly made her way to the emergency department. It must have been a quiet night as she didn't see a single soul in the emergency waiting room. There was, however, a nurse on duty.
"Can I help you?" the woman asked.
"I was told my husband was in an accident and was brought in." She stumbled slightly over the lie but the nurse didn't seem to catch it – or else she thought it was simply a result of her being upset.
"And your husband's name", she asked gently.
"O'Neill, Jack ur Jonathon O'Neill."
"Oh yes", the nurse answered with sympathy, not even having to look up the records. "Just have a seat and I'll have someone come and take you to him right away."
"How – how is he?" she asked, terrified of the answer.
"I'm sorry Ma'am, I don't know. I just came on duty and wasn't here when he was brought in. I just saw his name on the admittance form."
"Thank you", Sam moved towards a chair and sat down, her stomach churning. It was only a couple of minutes later when another nurse came through the doors into the emergency ward.
"Mrs O'Neill? Please come with me." She turned and walked briskly away and Sam practically had to run to keep up. "You can go in", here escort held open the door labeled 'Trauma B' and stepped back.
She took a deep breath, said a silent prayer and walked in.
The tapping was driving him crazy. He wanted to ask whoever was doing it to please stop, but he decided that that would just take too much energy. Instead he groaned. All that did, of course, was wake him up, something which he kind of figured he'd been avoiding.
Still, as he slowly began to regain his senses the knocking continued. It was soon accompanied by a voice.
"Hey man, you okay in there?"
He managed to open his eyes and turn his head. Yup, there was the tapping culprit – a young pimply- faced kid who couldn't have been more than 15 or 16 years old. What did he want and why did he keep tapping on his window?
Something was strange, he realized. He looked around and then it hit him – although later on he was to wonder why it had taken him so long. He was hanging upside down.
Now, there had been a few times in his life when he'd been captured and had been suspended this way. It was usually when he was with Daniel, who insisted that the natives were friendly. He didn't think that was one of these times, however, but he still couldn't figure out why he was hanging upside down.
That damn kid! He turned and glared at him, at which time he had the audacity to wave and grin.
"You okay in there man?" he asked.
Okay? Yeah sure, I like hanging upside down. He looked around, still unsure what was happening, but it quickly began to sink in. He was in his truck and he was hanging by his seat belt. The vehicle had flipped over. Why that was he had no idea although he was beginning to suspect the kid did know.
He thought about reaching down and undoing the belt but fortunately something stopped him in time. He had a picture of landing on his head which he was pretty sure wouldn't feel good at all. Instead he decided to just sit and wait. Maybe some other solution would come to him.
And it did … in the form of a police car and paramedics. It took quite a bit of work, but eventually he was freed – and the nice officers made sure he didn't land on his head. Instead they put him on a gurney and began to wheel him towards the ambulance.
He was half-way there when he told them to stop. There was something he had to do, something important. "Gotta go find Sam", he told the paramedic.
"Don't worry Sir, I'm sure Sam will come and see you. We're just going to take you to the hospital to get checked out."
"Oh", he thought about that for a few moments but then he looked at his truck. "Damn", he said softly. There was no way he'd follow Sam in that.
"What happened?" he finally asked the paramedic as they loaded him into the back of the ambulance.
"Some teenagers out for a joy ride", the man said. "They blind-sided you. You're lucky to be alive."
"Yeah", he nodded, knowing that it could have been much worse. In fact, he was beginning to recall what had happened and he clearly remembered thinking he was going to die. As it was, he figured he was pretty much okay. He felt sore but figured most of that was from his former wounds. "The kids okay?" He hoped that they were, as he didn't want to think he had any part in their deaths.
"Looks like you've already been in an accident", the paramedic said as he continued to monitor Jack's vital signs.
"Yeah", he answered again, not really interested in speaking. Now that he was remembering, and the shock was wearing off, he thought about what he'd been doing when he'd been hit. He'd wanted to tell Sam how he felt, that she was right and he had to take the chance, to let his fear go. He just prayed it wasn't too late.
"So, we're almost done here Mr. O'Neill", the doctor said. He'd been sent for x-rays, had his blood taken and been thoroughly checked over. He was ready to scream.
He noticed the door being pushed open and looked up directly into the eyes of the woman he adored – who was looking starkly terrified.
"Sam?" he said, trying to figure out what she was doing here.
"Oh God Jack – are you okay? Where are you hurt?" She rushed in and took his hand, looking him over carefully.
"Is this your wife?", the doctor asked.
Before Jack had a chance to say anything Sam had answered, although not how Jack had expected.
"Yes, I'm his wife. How is he?"
"He's just fine", the doctor answered. "He was very lucky. The combination of wearing his seatbelt and driving a heavy duty truck saved his life. All he has is some bruising from the seatbelt and that should go away in a few days. I'd like to keep him in for observation over night but then he can go home." The doctor turned to Jack. "You do have to take it easy though Mr. O'Neill. You're still recuperating from your former injuries. I'll give you something for pain – so no alcohol – and other than that take it easy."
"Okay, thanks Doc", he answered softly, his eyes still on Sam. He was really worried she was going to faint or something. When the doctor had said he was going to be okay she'd looked like all the blood had left her face. "Sam? Are you okay?" he reached out and clasped her cold hands in his one good hand.
"You're alright", she said. "I thought they were going to tell me you were dead."
Jack suddenly pushed himself to a seated position, groaning slightly as he felt the new bruising. Still, Sam looked like she was going into shock and he had to do something. "C'mere", he said, and pulled her to him. "I'm okay Sam – I'm sorry you were worried. Didn't they tell you I was fine?"
"No – they would only tell us you were alive."
"Us?"
"They called Daniel. He and Teal'c are flying out right now."
"Damn – I didn't want this to be such a big thing."
"A big thing! Jack, you almost died."
"No I didn't. I was barely even hurt."
"I didn't know that. All I knew was that you had been in an accident. I expected to walk in and find you -" She couldn't continue, but instead broke down into tears.
Jack held her for what felt like the longest time, although he didn't mind. Holding Carter was always a good thing. He felt terrible that she'd gotten such a scare, although he was curious as to how she'd found out. He'd intentionally told the hospital not to bother calling anyone as he didn't want to worry his friends when he was fine.
"How did you find out?" he asked softly, into her hair. She had stopped crying but she still clung to him tightly.
"They called Daniel. He'd listed as your emergency contact. They wouldn't tell him how you were though."
"So if they called Daniel – uh why are you here then? Not that it's not nice – I just wondered."
"Daniel called me. God, I had my cell turned off. What if you had died?"
"I don't think your cell phone would have made much difference if I had", he answered.
"No – I mean Daniel couldn't get in touch with me for a long time. I came as soon as I heard."
He leaned down and kissed her on the lips. She was startled at first so he kept it gentle. The moment she responded however, he deepened the kiss.
When he was done he pulled back but continued to hold her close. He was never going to let her go.
"Jack?" she asked tentatively.
"Hmmm?" he replied, sounding half asleep.
"I thought you didn't want this? I thought you said you couldn't bear to lose me?"
"Mmmm", he murmured. She wondered briefly if he had received a concussion.
"What happened Jack?"
He sighed as if put out that she continued to ask questions. "What happened?" he repeated. "What happened is I realized something."
"What?"
"That I was being an idiot!"
HA! You all thought I'd done my usual and whumped him again. Tsk Tsk!