Chapter 21

Jack opened his eyes and breathed in a relieved breath. He wasn't stuck in a wall. The room suddenly brightened with artificial light and Jack blinked as he swore. He looked at the control room that was revealed with a sense of satisfaction; each wall had banks of monitors and controls; the layout was reminiscent of the reports from Atlantis – smooth metallic like consoles. There were a few stools and chairs. It was windowless but there was another door at the back; Jack checked it out quickly and found a small storage room filled with gadgets that no doubt would send Daniel and Carter into coos of ecstasy if they discovered them; he closed the door on the room firmly.

'Sir.' Carter's anxious radio call interrupted the moment.

'I'm here, Carter.' Jack answered. 'I'm coming back through.' He turned and closed his eyes again. This time he walked forward confidently. He made it back into the corridor unscathed.

The other three members of SG1 looked at him in relief. He gestured over his shoulder. 'You were right. There's a control room back there.'

'So how do we all go through?' Daniel asked, looking at the wall sceptically.

'I believe we should employ the Tollan method.' Teal'c suggested calmly. His gaze met Jack's and Jack glimpsed the hint of amusement in the dark depths.

'Really?' Jack made a face.

'The Tollan method?' Sam asked. Her face was pale, too pale. Jack could see she was struggling to stay with them again.

'You know,' Daniel wiggled his hand, 'holding hands.'

'Ah.' Sam smiled at Jack's evident disgust. 'I see.'

'Which is why I'm going to repeat this;' he paused dramatically, 'really?'

'We should give it a try, sir.' Sam offered her hand and he helped her to her feet. She lurched ominously and Jack reacted swiftly, picking her up.

'I'm fine.' Sam protested, even as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

'OK, I'll take Carter through and come back for you guys.' Jack said, ignoring her, his arms tightening around her.

Daniel nodded.

'I believe that would be wise.' Teal'c said.

'Sir.' Sam tried to protest again.

Jack turned back to the wall. 'You might want to close your eyes, Carter.' He closed his and stepped through again.

'Ow.' Sam's voice had him opening his eyes cautiously. She was wincing under the bright lights.

'Sorry. I forgot to warn you.' Jack said as he lowered carefully to the floor. 'I'll go get the guys.' He took a step away from her and looked back. She was looking at the consoles with glee. 'Carter?'

'Yes, sir.'

'Don't touch anything.' Jack warned. He spun on his heel and walked back through to the corridor before she could deny his charge.

'You guys ready?' Jack asked, taking in the packed rucksacks that they had slung over their shoulders.

'Indeed.' Teal'c held out his hand.

Daniel smirked and held out his.

Jack scowled. 'Fine. Let's get this over with.' He clasped their hands. 'On three. One, two, three.'

They stepped through and into the control room.

'Wow.' Daniel's head swivelled from side to side. 'This place is incredible.'

Jack let go of his companions' hands with more haste than grace. 'OK. So we're all through the wall. Now what?'

'Well, the answer to stopping this Doomsday machine has to be in here somewhere, right?' Daniel said, gesticulating at the various consoles.

'If you say so, Daniel.' Jack said rubbing a hand through his hair. 'What do we need to do?'

'You need to initialise the systems, sir.' Sam advised as she hoisted herself to her feet using the edge of one of the metal consoles. 'That way Daniel and I can work on them.'

'Daniel.' Jack corrected. 'You need to rest, Carter.'

'Sir.'

'Jack's right.' Daniel said. 'I mean, until we know which of these consoles we need, you should rest.'

'Indeed.' Teal'c lined up beside Jack.

Sam glared at them. 'I'm fine, Colonel.'

'You're not fine.' Jack shot back, deciding to ignore the rank issue. 'You have a major concussion and you need rest.'

Her defiant gaze clashed with his but he wasn't backing down. She needed rest.

'Sam,' Daniel moved forward and took her hands in his. 'We are absolutely going to need you later to understand how to stop this. If you get too tired now…' he shrugged.

'Daniel's right.' Jack said supportively. He held her disappointed gaze. 'We need you to save our butts later. Get some rest.'

Sam nodded reluctantly.

'Teal'c, why don't you help her get settled?' Jack suggested.

The Jaffa inclined his head in agreement. Jack watched for a moment as Carter grudgingly accepted help before he dragged himself back to the problem at hand. He caught Daniel's eyes and jerked his head at a far corner. The two men gathered together at a console.

Daniel looked at him, his blue eyes shining with worry. 'Sam keeps calling you Colonel, Jack.' He glanced toward her. 'I don't think she even knows she's doing it.'

'I know, Daniel.' Jack put a hand on his shoulder. 'The sooner we do this, the sooner we get her home.'

Daniel nodded.

Jack slipped into one of the bucket seats by a console. 'So what do I do? Think at it?'

'You just touch it.' Daniel said.

Jack raised his eyebrows but he laid his hands on the console. It buzzed and flickered to life. The monitor sprang up filled with data.

'Fascinating.' Daniel murmured as he scrolled through the text. 'This is some kind of log.'

'Of the Doomsday machine?' Jack checked impatiently.

'No.' Daniel shook his head. He pushed his glasses up. 'This isn't it.'

Jack wheeled the chair to the next console.

'Jack.' Daniel protested, gesticulating at the monitor wildly. 'This could be important.'

'Is it the Doomsday machine?' Jack asked again brusquely, he was already placing his hands on the second console.

'No, but…'

'But nothing, Daniel.' Jack interrupted, motioning for the archaeologist to move his butt. 'You can play around all you want once we save the world again.'

'Right.' Daniel moved back to Jack's side.

They were almost a third of the way around the consoles when they found it. It was inconspicuous; a small monitor on its own between two larger consoles. The monitor flickered into life. A planet appeared on the screen with a data stream of information on the right hand side.

'I think this is it.' Daniel peered at the data intently, his nose practically on top of the screen.

'You think?' Jack checked sceptically. Daniel had thought the same thing two consoles back. They had spent ten minutes with it before they had realised it was the wrong one.

'No, no, I'm sure.' Daniel nodded enthusiastically. 'This is it.'

'OK,' Jack sighed in relief. 'That's…'

'Although…' Daniel frowned.

'Daniel.' Jack said warningly.

'No, no, this is it.' Daniel nodded again. 'I'm sure.'

'You're sure?' Jack asked caustically.

'I'm sure.' Daniel said.

Jack glared at him. He pointed at the screen. 'So, how do we stop this thing?'

'I'm not sure.' Daniel said.

'You're not sure?' Jack frowned.

'I'm not sure.' Daniel pushed Jack subtly out of the way. 'This might take some time.'

Jack left Daniel to it. He stretched easing the kinks and aches from his muscles before he walked back to where Teal'c had situated Carter. She was tucked into one sleeping bag with another had been placed on the floor below her to provide extra comfort. Her head rested on a rolled up jacket.

The Jaffa rose from the floor with a fluidity that Jack envied. 'Colonel Carter is sleeping.' Teal'c said. His tone suggested that Jack would be unwise if he woke her.

'Good.' Jack responded. 'She probably needs the rest.'

'You should also rest, O'Neill.' Teal'c looked at him kindly.

Jack would have argued but he couldn't deny the tiredness that had his head pounding and his body aching.

'Sleep.' Teal'c advised. 'I will wake you when Daniel Jackson finds something to report.'

'Right.' Jack patted his friend's muscular arm. He unpacked another sleeping bag and used it to cushion the hard floor. He settled close to Carter.

He closed his eyes. He knew he could do with the rest; he was tired. He had stayed in shape when he'd been at the SGC but the regime in Washington was already beginning to take its toll. He really wasn't in good enough shape to be fighting Unas and running around Ancient cities. Maybe that was one of the reasons why he was irked at the idea of Daniel going to Atlantis – maybe he was envious. He and Daniel had started their Stargate adventure together; taken down Ra together; liberated Abydos together. Now Daniel was going to head away on his own, continue the adventure without Jack.

Jack hated the idea. The jealousy was part of it but he was also worried that he wouldn't be around to watch Daniel's back, rescue him when he got into trouble. Not that Daniel was the same naïve archaeologist that Jack had first known but Jack hated the idea that he wouldn't be around for Daniel if he needed him. But he couldn't blame the other man for wanting to go. Daniel had found the lost city of Atlantis. It was an archaeological discovery of the century – millennium even. He deserved to be the one exploring the city.

When the expedition had first set out, Jack had refused to let Daniel go because they hadn't known if the expedition would ever make it home. As much as no-one had liked to say it, the members of that first team had been expendable – even Elizabeth Weir. It was to her credit that she had moulded a team out of some of the rather odd characters that had gone to Atlantis in some difficult circumstances. With travel between Atlantis and Earth assured with the Daedalus there was no reason why Daniel couldn't fulfil his dream and Jack knew he shouldn't stand in the way of that. He was going to miss him though. At least Carter hadn't decided to go to Atlantis too…

He opened his eyes and looked at her. Her face was pale and tense, faint lines marking her skin around the corners of her lips and eyes even in sleep. Her lips were bloodless; a pale pink that worried Jack. The bruises stood out in stark relief. Her breathing was laboured and he figured her ribs must be hurting her. She had been through so much, Jack thought anxiously. He knew her head injury was worsening; the fact that she kept lapsing into calling him Colonel was a worrying sign.

Mission first, Jack told himself. They had to find a way to stop the Doomsday machine. Once they did that, they could find a way home and get Carter some medical help.

A wave of resentment ran through him. He turned over to lie on his back and stared at the ceiling. He could hear Teal'c and Daniel quietly murmuring around the Doomsday console. He closed his eyes and rested an arm over his face to block out more of the light.

He was tired of putting the mission first, Jack realised. He had been ready to retire; to move on with his life…instead he was stuck in a job he didn't want – one that needed to be done, sure – but one that kept him from spending time with the only people who mattered to him and one in particular.

Jack repressed the sigh that threatened to escape his lips. He rubbed at his chest to soothe the tightness there. He had promised Carter he would always be there for her and he hadn't meant just as her friend or her team-mate. While he stood by his original decision after her father's death to give her time, he was beginning to question why he hadn't asked her out the minute he had technically moved out of her chain of command. The idea that he simply feared changing their relationship as Teal'c had inferred seemed incredible to him but he was wondering if it wasn't true; if he hadn't used the physical distance of his new assignment to hide from his real fears about whether he was good enough for her. It was no wonder Carter was questioning whether it was too late for them.

Was it too late?

The question hit Jack squarely in the face. He lowered his arm and looked over at Carter. She was badly injured and he was scared, deep down scared that she wasn't going to survive the mission. More than that, he wasn't sure if any of them were going to survive the mission. Even if they stopped the Doomsday machine, they all still had to find a way off the planet. They would do it, Jack determined forcefully. They would complete their mission and they would all get home safely. That was the only acceptable outcome for him.

And when they did get home…well, Jack considered nervously, maybe Teal'c was right; maybe all change was not to be feared. He stretched out a hand toward Carter and curled his fingers gently around hers, careful of her bandages. He closed his eyes and slid into sleep.