One foot in front of the other, that was all she had to do. Move and repeat, move and repeat. Why then did it feel so hard she complained to herself as she continued to drag herself along. Spotting a rock that seemed high enough off the ground that she'd actually stand a chance of getting back up after, Sam gently lowered herself down and took a minute to get her breath back. The past 24hrs had been some of the worst of her life which she thought was quite ironic considering what she and the rest of SG1 had been through since they became the SGC's flagship team 9 years ago. Daniel had died and come back on more than one occasion, Teal'c had pledged his allegiance to complete strangers and joined the fight against the Goa'uld. The Colonel had come back from retirement and was now General O'Neill, something that even he still couldn't quite believe. Something else she couldn't quite believe was their fledgling relationship, finally circumstances had allowed them to pursue one and they'd both grabbed it and each other, literally. She allowed herself a grin at that one, wanting someone for 9 years and then finally being allowed it meant the time they did spend together was quite often spent in a state of undress.

Checking the wound on her side, Sam hissed as she peeled away the makeshift dressing she'd made. Typically, the med kit hadn't been in her backpack so she'd had to make do with tearing up a spare t-shirt instead. Despite not taking a full hit, the damage was pretty impressive and the pain was indescribable. When she'd realized she wasn't going to make it to the gate, she'd flung herself into some thick vegetation and by some small miracle the Jaffa patrol chasing them had focused on firing at the gate, allowing her a few valuable seconds to escape. The moment she'd heard the gate shut down, she knew she was in trouble and all she could do to keep herself from collapsing right there and then was to ignore the fact she'd been left behind and concentrate on surviving. If there was one thing she could be sure of, Jack and the rest of her team would be back for her.

Jack, Daniel and Teal'c had been back at the SGC for less than a day and Jack had already managed to annoy pretty much the entire base. Even Teal'c and Daniel had heeded the Doctors advice and retired to their quarters to get some much needed rest. Usually when they returned from an off world mission and one of them was injured, Jack would remain in or near the infirmary but this time, the injured one hadn't actually returned. He remembered the moment Sam got hit like it was happening right now in front of him. They were running for the gate and she was a few meters behind him. Yelling at Daniel to dial Earth, he'd turned and watched a Jaffa fire at them. To her credit, she'd merely stumbled and somehow remained on her feet. She'd yelled at him to keep going and he'd watched her to make sure she too kept moving. Teal'c was laying down cover fire with a level of accuracy that he could only dream off. She'd continued to shout at them to keep going and for some reason, one he'd yet to comprehend, he'd done just that and he, Teal'c and Daniel went through the gate. Except she never came through, by the time he'd realised the gate had been shut down. Apparently multiple Jaffa firing through the wormhole and shooting up the gateroom wasn't appreciated. Of course, as soon as the gate shut down, he'd yelled at the control room to re-dial the planet but just to piss him off even further, they weren't able to reestablish a connection.

So 6 hours later, General Jack O'Neill had taken to pacing the corridors of the SGC in an effort to take his mind off the fact not only had he left someone behind but he'd managed to leave Sam behind, the same person he'd finally succeeded beginning a proper relationship with. Mentally berating himself for the hundredth time he kicked the corridor wall and headed towards the commissary for some much needed caffeine. Despite his status on the base, he was pretty sure if he went anywhere near the control room, he'd be ordered to leave the base. Hassling the gate technician and scientists to work harder or lose their jobs wasn't becoming of a General even if they knew he didn't really mean it.

Entering the commissary, Jack grabbed a mug of coffee and took up residence in the table tucked away in the corner, thankfully due to the fact it was late he didn't have to make small talk with anyone else. That and the fact that he'd been there long enough that people were smart enough to avoid him at times like these, everyone except Daniel who'd just shuffled in, grabbed a coffee and was heading straight for him.

"Jack"

"Daniel"

"So"

"So what?"

"Jesus Jack, are you deliberately trying to be difficult?" asked Daniel.

"Nope, I'm deliberately trying to drink my coffee in peace" They sat in silence for a few minutes before Daniel spoke again.

"You know Teal'c and I know right?"

"Know what?" replied Jack glumly, he'd run out of coffee and getting more meant Daniel was even more likely to hang around.

"About you and Sam"

"And?" said Jack, finally looking up at his increasingly annoying friend.

"Why didn't you tell us?" asked Daniel, managing to feign hurt which Jack didn't buy for one second.

"Firstly don't act offended cos I know you're not and secondly, Carter wanted to keep it low key so we did. We'd have told you when we were ready although that apparently counts for nothing around here"

"Well I'm happy for you both, about time you two got your act together" replied Daniel excitedly "and I won the betting pool so thanks!"

"Glad we could help" replied Jack sarcastically, "won't mean much if she doesn't make it back though will it?"

"We will get her back, Teal'c and I will be there with you" Daniel told him, the smile removed from his face. "We're still SG1" he told him.