~#~ (Chapter 56)
Teal'c grabbed his radio and quickly depressed the button twice in quick succession and after receiving a quiet "go ahead" in reply, briefly apprised Colonel O'Neill as to their current situation. He explained that Osiris had been temporarily neutralised and that the System Lord, along with Sarah Gardner, was presently on his way back to Earth, safe in the arms of Major Templeton.
Jack was glad to hear that the tranquiliser darts had done their job and proceeded to tell the large Jaffa what his team had been doing since they last spoke. Liang Quon had already told Teal'c that SR-2 had reached the Jaffa quarters safely but the gentle warrior was most pleased to discover that Major Carter and Colonel Ferretti had been found alive and, at least relatively, well.
Once Jack had finished his report Teal'c quickly brought the Colonel up to speed on the 'Lord An' situation and advised him to maintain his position until Teal'c could reach his location. To save any accidents he asked Jack to alert his team that both himself and Major Griff would be joining them shortly to which Jack replied that the other members of the rescue team had heard the conversation and that everyone was ready and waiting.
As soon as he'd released the button on his radio for the final time Teal'c straightened himself and motioned to Griff to follow him. He then turned on his heel and set off down the corridor at a fast pace forcing the much shorter legged Air Force Major to trot in his wake.
~#~
While they were waiting for Teal'c both Jack and Lou fussed over Sam. She briefly tried to object until Lou told Jack that she'd all but passed out on him just after they'd been locked in the small room and this flipped Jack completely into mother-hen mode. Once Jack had his overprotective head on Sam knew there was no stopping him so surrendered herself to his ministrations.
Lou quietly explained that the cut under Sam's chin had come from the finger of Osiris's ribbon device and apologised profusely for not realising that Sam was bleeding so badly until the blood loss made her faint.
Jack watched the other Colonel intently as his comrade spoke and knew in his heart exactly how Lou was feeling. He'd had men under his command injured plenty of times in the past and knew that, unfortunately, circumstances didn't always allow for adequate medical attention to be given the instant that it became necessary. Seeing the guilt on Lou's face he bit back the sarcastic jibe that he had originally prepared to use on Ferretti - the one about how he was going to kick Lou's butt for not looking after Sam properly.
Instead he allowed Lou to get some more water into Sam, and was impressed when this was followed by a few small bites of powerbar. Jack meanwhile gently cleaned most of the blood from her chin and neck. Patting her front gently he grimaced at the stickiness of the congealed blood. He knew that psychologically Sam would feel better in clean clothes but due to the fact that the rescue teams had packed everything they could carry into their vests no-one had any clothing other than what they were wearing. The rest of their equipment was with SG-15 at the gate and neither Sam nor Lou's packs were anywhere to be seen so there was nothing Jack, or anyone else, could do about the current clothing situation.
Once the two fussing Colonel's could find nothing else to do with Sam, Lou slipped off the cot. Jack sat down in Lou's original position at the head of the cot and rested his back against the wall. Once he was settled he pulled Sam gently towards him and snuggled her closely to his chest.
Lou stretched, scrubbed his hands over his face and slowly wandered to the door where Reynolds and the others were waiting.
Reynolds reached out an arm as he approached and laid a hand on Lou's shoulder. "It's good to see you Lou," he told his long-time friend. "How're you holding up?"
Before he answered Lou looked back at Jack and Sam who were quietly murmuring to one another. "I'm OK now…" he paused as a shudder ran through him. "Must admit though, I was…more than a bit worried for a while before you lot kicked your way in here. It's not like Sam to take a nose dive like that and she's been pretty out of it since she dropped."
Reynolds followed his gaze with a soft expression on his face. "She seems more with it now, doesn't she." He gently squeezed Lou's shoulder, "You did the best you could with what little supplies you had available, Lou. Major Carter may be a bit banged up but she's here to tell the tale, that's the main thing. You done good, Lou."
Lou looked sadly downwards and kicked at the floor with the toe of his boot. "My best wasn't good enough though was it? Not really," he said quietly. "Not good enough for Sam, not good enough for Sergeant Davies and certainly not good enough for Jimmy Sands."
There was nothing Reynolds could say in reply to that. He knew that the kind-hearted Italian Colonel would feel responsible for the death of his team-mate on this botched mission for a long time to come. He settled for a comradely silence but left his hand on Lou's shoulder to remind the other Colonel that he wasn't alone.
