A/N: So..er…I goofed guys. I totally left Teal'c out of the last chapter. I needed to at
*least* mention the poor guy! Which means that I took several hours and rewrote large
bits of the previous chapter and several little bits of earlier chapters. Sigh. I'll be
reposting the earlier chapters in the next week or so, but chapter 11 I uploaded just now,
so I recommend going back and reading that one first. Sorry for any confusion!!
This chapter really moves the story along and continues to have some truly classic Jack
and Daniel scenes. I *dare* you not to laugh at the 'moving Daniel' line. You'll
recognize it when you come to it…*G*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 12
Thursday, 0100 Hours
"Jack, you've had some pretty crazy ideas, but this seriously takes the cake." Daniel
whispered staring up at Jack's chin.
He needed to shave.
"Mmm- cake." Jack said in his best Homer impression."
"Jack!" Daniel hissed.
"Ssshhh. We're being stealthy remember? Keep your head down."
"I'm lying on a hospital gurney at 1 o'clock in the morning, my head is down." Daniel
whispered up at Jack. He hated being wheeled around lying on his back. But
unfortunately he really wasn't up to sitting up yet, so a wheelchair was out. And in order
for Jack's plan to work, Daniel needed to go see Sam.
"We're going to get caught Jack." Daniel whispered trying not to look up at the ceiling
tiles; they always made him nauseous.
"We might be seen Daniel, but that isn't the same as 'getting caught'."
"Semantics." Daniel muttered tiredly. "A professional soldier is arguing semantics with
me…"
"Shhh! We're almost there." Daniel resisted the urge to role his eyes and concentrated
on how good it would be to see Sam. A few hours earlier, Jacob had paid both men a
visit and after remarking how happy he was that Teal'c was not present, and updated
them on her condition. Sam was still sleeping but according to the latest MRI and
catscan, everything still appeared normal and Sam should regain consciousness within
the next 12 hours. Hopefully.
"What about Jacob?" Daniel whispered keeping his eyes firmly closed.
"Daniel didn't you listen to *anything* I said earlier?" Jack said slowing down slightly as
he rounded a corner.
"Well gee Jack- would that have been after you sweet-talked the night nurse into leaving
you alone with me or before the rather painful relocation into this taxi-bed of yours?"
"I said I was sorry." Jack said apologetically. "How was I to know they still had you
hooked up to a catheter..?"
"Can we not talk about this now?" Daniel said trying not to wince at the memory. Janet
was going to kill him for sure. If Jack didn't beat her to it…
"You're the one who brought it up." Jack said holding up a hand for silence. "Stay put,
I'll be right back."
"Right. I'll just stay right here Jack." Daniel muttered. "As if I have any other place to
be."
"She's here." Jack said appearing again out of nowhere. "Let's get this over with before
the goons return."
"Nurses, Jack."
"Whatever."
Jack skillfully maneuvered Daniel into the second wing of the infirmary and pulled his
bed right up next to Sam's.
"Help me up Jack, I want to see her."
"Daniel.."
"Come on Jack! The least you can do after talking me into this idea of yours is let me
take a look at Sam."
"Fine." Jack said grudgingly. "But don't you dare pull anything or Doc will seriously
injure me."
"As tempted as I am to see what Janet would do for you Jack, I'll try not to cause myself
bodily pain." Muttering under his breath, Jack threw a pillow at the person standing in
the corner. "Place these behind Mr. Smart Mouth's back when I tell you, ok?"
"Yes Sir." The disembodied voice replied. Idly Daniel wondered just who Jack had
roped into carrying out this harebrained scheme of his.
"You ready Daniel?" Jack asked seriously as his hands slipped under Daniel's waist and
splayed across his back.
"Ready." Daniel said knowing full well this would hurt. He probably should have
accepted that Tylenol with codeine from Jack before they disconnected his IV.
"Here we go." Jack said lifting Daniel up and nodding to the airman in the corner to get
ready with the pillows. Daniel gritted his teeth and counted to 5 in Sanskrit as his body
protested at the movement. He could feel pillows being shoved under his back and neck
and bit back a moan as a hand accidentally brushed against his bandaged abdomen.
"That was probably a bad idea." Jack said softly as he patted Daniel's shaking hand.
"All done Daniel."
"Piece of cake." Daniel said exhaling loudly and opening his eyes.
"Right."
Elevated, Daniel was now able to see both Sam and a slight young woman standing
rigidly in the corner. Making a mental note to not forget about the girl, Daniel focused his
attention on Sam. Logically he knew she had greatly improved since the last time he
had seen her, but at least then she had been conscious. A little mad perhaps, but
conscious. Now she lay silent, head wrapped in a tight, clean bandage. Her breathing
seemed to be deep and even and Daniel was relieved to see that she was only hooked
up to a couple machines; the ubiquitous heart rate/oxygen level monitor and the ever so
lovely catheter. Not that Daniel actually saw where the tubing went, but he had a fairly
good idea.
"Hey Sam." Daniel said softly reaching out to lightly brush his fingertips across her
hand. "You wake up soon, ok? Jack's driving me nuts without you to run interference."
"What sort of interference?" Jack asked raising an eyebrow.
Ignoring Jack, Daniel continued. "I don't know if this is really the best idea Sam, but I
don't think it will do any hard, and I know how much you want this house." Daniel
paused as if waiting for Sam to answer.
"I don't like it when Sam's quiet Jack."
"Me neither Danny. Me neither." Jack held up a hand and waved two fingers at the
lieutenant standing patiently in the corner. "Did you bring it?" Jack asked.
"Yes Sir." Lieutenant Reed replied taking a few steps towards the Colonel and Dr.
Jackson. Briskly she removed from her bag an already filled out document, an inkpad
and a rubber stamp.
"Let's get this show on the road." Jack said lifting up Sam's left hand and quickly
removing the heart rate/ oxygen monitor from her index finger and placing it on his pinky.
He looked up at the monitor and breathed a sigh of relief as it accepted the surrogate
data. Hmm. Heart rate was a steady 60 beats per minute and his O2 levels were at
99%. Ha! Take that Fraiser!
"Jack!" Daniel hissed.
"Right." Jack said motioning for Lt. Reed to come closer. She opened the inkpad on the
table and handed it to Colonel. Carefully Jack rolled Sam's index finger across the
inkpad and then onto the paper. "That's one down." He murmured as he passed the
paper back to the Lieutenant. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a little
alcohol wipe packet and proceeded to clean Sam's fingertip as much as possible.
Satisfied that it was as good as it was going to get, Jack smoothly took the finger monitor
back off his pinky and placed it back onto Sam's index finger.
"Ha!" He declared triumphantly. "Can barely see a thing!" Jack declared holding up
Sam's hand for inspection. "Your turn Daniel." Using Sam's chart, Jack took back the
newly fingerprinted document and had Daniel sign his name. It was slightly above the
line, but Jack wasn't going to make a big deal out of it, what with Daniel not really able to
see what he was signing and all… With a flourish Jack signed above his name as well
and then gleefully handed the document back to Lt. Reed.
"Are you sure I won't get into trouble for this Sir?" Reed asked as she carefully signed
her name (centered evenly on the line).
"Absolutely Lieutenant." Jack said wanting the young woman to just stamp the damn
thing and be done with it. "You are a certified notary and we're just having you notarize
a little document here. You did indeed witness Major Carter's fingerprint and then Dr.
Jackson's and my signatures."
"Yes Sir." Reed said slowly inking her stamp. "But I didn't actually witness Major Carter
saying she wanted this home loan."
"Trust me Lt., see really does." Jack said plaintively. Reed looked at the commanding
officer of SG-1 and nodded. "I trust you Sir."
With that she stamped the document. Before the ink had even begun to dry, she
gathered up her stamp and inkpad and literally ran out of the room.
"Way to scare the recruits Jack." Daniel grunted as his stomach muscles told him he
needed to become horizontal as soon as humanly possible.
"Reed isn't a recruit." Jack answered as he carefully removed Daniel's pillows and
lowered him back to the bed.
"She's a lighting technician working nights Jack."
"Not for long Daniel." Jack said with a smile holding up the document that would get
Carter her house.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thursday, 0700
"Jack."
"Hmmph." Jack answered not bothering to remove his face from his forearms.
"Wake up."
"I'm awake." Jack replied still not moving.
"I can see that." Jake replied sardonically. "Think you can drool in the privacy of your
own quarters instead of on my daughter's covers?" Jacob said with humor.
"What..?" Jack said whipping his head straight upwards. He blinked owlishly several
times before focusing his eyes on Jacob. "Hey Jacob."
"Good morning." Jacob said with a grin. "Sleep well?"
"Never better." Jack said standing up and stretching. He tried not to grimace as his
back muscles protested against the harsh sleeping arrangement of the night before. He
quickly glanced back at Sam and found her still sleeping soundly.
"Go get some real rest Jack, I'll watch Sammy for awhile."
Jack nodded although he had no intention of going back to bed. Catching three or four
hours of sleep by Carter's side was all her really needed. "Give me a call if there's any
change."
"Will do." Jacob said taking a seat in Jack's relinquished chair.
Jack glanced at his watch. 0700. He had just enough time to shower and change.
Jacob watched the tired colonel leave and shook his head. "Sammy, that's one
dedicated commanding officer you have." Jacob said taking a hold of Sam's hand. He
glanced down at her fingertips and frowned.
Was her index finger slightly black or was that just the lighting?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well? Did you like??? ONE more chapter to go! (If it's two, I might shoot myself, so
let's just hope it's one, ok?)
*least* mention the poor guy! Which means that I took several hours and rewrote large
bits of the previous chapter and several little bits of earlier chapters. Sigh. I'll be
reposting the earlier chapters in the next week or so, but chapter 11 I uploaded just now,
so I recommend going back and reading that one first. Sorry for any confusion!!
This chapter really moves the story along and continues to have some truly classic Jack
and Daniel scenes. I *dare* you not to laugh at the 'moving Daniel' line. You'll
recognize it when you come to it…*G*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 12
Thursday, 0100 Hours
"Jack, you've had some pretty crazy ideas, but this seriously takes the cake." Daniel
whispered staring up at Jack's chin.
He needed to shave.
"Mmm- cake." Jack said in his best Homer impression."
"Jack!" Daniel hissed.
"Ssshhh. We're being stealthy remember? Keep your head down."
"I'm lying on a hospital gurney at 1 o'clock in the morning, my head is down." Daniel
whispered up at Jack. He hated being wheeled around lying on his back. But
unfortunately he really wasn't up to sitting up yet, so a wheelchair was out. And in order
for Jack's plan to work, Daniel needed to go see Sam.
"We're going to get caught Jack." Daniel whispered trying not to look up at the ceiling
tiles; they always made him nauseous.
"We might be seen Daniel, but that isn't the same as 'getting caught'."
"Semantics." Daniel muttered tiredly. "A professional soldier is arguing semantics with
me…"
"Shhh! We're almost there." Daniel resisted the urge to role his eyes and concentrated
on how good it would be to see Sam. A few hours earlier, Jacob had paid both men a
visit and after remarking how happy he was that Teal'c was not present, and updated
them on her condition. Sam was still sleeping but according to the latest MRI and
catscan, everything still appeared normal and Sam should regain consciousness within
the next 12 hours. Hopefully.
"What about Jacob?" Daniel whispered keeping his eyes firmly closed.
"Daniel didn't you listen to *anything* I said earlier?" Jack said slowing down slightly as
he rounded a corner.
"Well gee Jack- would that have been after you sweet-talked the night nurse into leaving
you alone with me or before the rather painful relocation into this taxi-bed of yours?"
"I said I was sorry." Jack said apologetically. "How was I to know they still had you
hooked up to a catheter..?"
"Can we not talk about this now?" Daniel said trying not to wince at the memory. Janet
was going to kill him for sure. If Jack didn't beat her to it…
"You're the one who brought it up." Jack said holding up a hand for silence. "Stay put,
I'll be right back."
"Right. I'll just stay right here Jack." Daniel muttered. "As if I have any other place to
be."
"She's here." Jack said appearing again out of nowhere. "Let's get this over with before
the goons return."
"Nurses, Jack."
"Whatever."
Jack skillfully maneuvered Daniel into the second wing of the infirmary and pulled his
bed right up next to Sam's.
"Help me up Jack, I want to see her."
"Daniel.."
"Come on Jack! The least you can do after talking me into this idea of yours is let me
take a look at Sam."
"Fine." Jack said grudgingly. "But don't you dare pull anything or Doc will seriously
injure me."
"As tempted as I am to see what Janet would do for you Jack, I'll try not to cause myself
bodily pain." Muttering under his breath, Jack threw a pillow at the person standing in
the corner. "Place these behind Mr. Smart Mouth's back when I tell you, ok?"
"Yes Sir." The disembodied voice replied. Idly Daniel wondered just who Jack had
roped into carrying out this harebrained scheme of his.
"You ready Daniel?" Jack asked seriously as his hands slipped under Daniel's waist and
splayed across his back.
"Ready." Daniel said knowing full well this would hurt. He probably should have
accepted that Tylenol with codeine from Jack before they disconnected his IV.
"Here we go." Jack said lifting Daniel up and nodding to the airman in the corner to get
ready with the pillows. Daniel gritted his teeth and counted to 5 in Sanskrit as his body
protested at the movement. He could feel pillows being shoved under his back and neck
and bit back a moan as a hand accidentally brushed against his bandaged abdomen.
"That was probably a bad idea." Jack said softly as he patted Daniel's shaking hand.
"All done Daniel."
"Piece of cake." Daniel said exhaling loudly and opening his eyes.
"Right."
Elevated, Daniel was now able to see both Sam and a slight young woman standing
rigidly in the corner. Making a mental note to not forget about the girl, Daniel focused his
attention on Sam. Logically he knew she had greatly improved since the last time he
had seen her, but at least then she had been conscious. A little mad perhaps, but
conscious. Now she lay silent, head wrapped in a tight, clean bandage. Her breathing
seemed to be deep and even and Daniel was relieved to see that she was only hooked
up to a couple machines; the ubiquitous heart rate/oxygen level monitor and the ever so
lovely catheter. Not that Daniel actually saw where the tubing went, but he had a fairly
good idea.
"Hey Sam." Daniel said softly reaching out to lightly brush his fingertips across her
hand. "You wake up soon, ok? Jack's driving me nuts without you to run interference."
"What sort of interference?" Jack asked raising an eyebrow.
Ignoring Jack, Daniel continued. "I don't know if this is really the best idea Sam, but I
don't think it will do any hard, and I know how much you want this house." Daniel
paused as if waiting for Sam to answer.
"I don't like it when Sam's quiet Jack."
"Me neither Danny. Me neither." Jack held up a hand and waved two fingers at the
lieutenant standing patiently in the corner. "Did you bring it?" Jack asked.
"Yes Sir." Lieutenant Reed replied taking a few steps towards the Colonel and Dr.
Jackson. Briskly she removed from her bag an already filled out document, an inkpad
and a rubber stamp.
"Let's get this show on the road." Jack said lifting up Sam's left hand and quickly
removing the heart rate/ oxygen monitor from her index finger and placing it on his pinky.
He looked up at the monitor and breathed a sigh of relief as it accepted the surrogate
data. Hmm. Heart rate was a steady 60 beats per minute and his O2 levels were at
99%. Ha! Take that Fraiser!
"Jack!" Daniel hissed.
"Right." Jack said motioning for Lt. Reed to come closer. She opened the inkpad on the
table and handed it to Colonel. Carefully Jack rolled Sam's index finger across the
inkpad and then onto the paper. "That's one down." He murmured as he passed the
paper back to the Lieutenant. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a little
alcohol wipe packet and proceeded to clean Sam's fingertip as much as possible.
Satisfied that it was as good as it was going to get, Jack smoothly took the finger monitor
back off his pinky and placed it back onto Sam's index finger.
"Ha!" He declared triumphantly. "Can barely see a thing!" Jack declared holding up
Sam's hand for inspection. "Your turn Daniel." Using Sam's chart, Jack took back the
newly fingerprinted document and had Daniel sign his name. It was slightly above the
line, but Jack wasn't going to make a big deal out of it, what with Daniel not really able to
see what he was signing and all… With a flourish Jack signed above his name as well
and then gleefully handed the document back to Lt. Reed.
"Are you sure I won't get into trouble for this Sir?" Reed asked as she carefully signed
her name (centered evenly on the line).
"Absolutely Lieutenant." Jack said wanting the young woman to just stamp the damn
thing and be done with it. "You are a certified notary and we're just having you notarize
a little document here. You did indeed witness Major Carter's fingerprint and then Dr.
Jackson's and my signatures."
"Yes Sir." Reed said slowly inking her stamp. "But I didn't actually witness Major Carter
saying she wanted this home loan."
"Trust me Lt., see really does." Jack said plaintively. Reed looked at the commanding
officer of SG-1 and nodded. "I trust you Sir."
With that she stamped the document. Before the ink had even begun to dry, she
gathered up her stamp and inkpad and literally ran out of the room.
"Way to scare the recruits Jack." Daniel grunted as his stomach muscles told him he
needed to become horizontal as soon as humanly possible.
"Reed isn't a recruit." Jack answered as he carefully removed Daniel's pillows and
lowered him back to the bed.
"She's a lighting technician working nights Jack."
"Not for long Daniel." Jack said with a smile holding up the document that would get
Carter her house.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thursday, 0700
"Jack."
"Hmmph." Jack answered not bothering to remove his face from his forearms.
"Wake up."
"I'm awake." Jack replied still not moving.
"I can see that." Jake replied sardonically. "Think you can drool in the privacy of your
own quarters instead of on my daughter's covers?" Jacob said with humor.
"What..?" Jack said whipping his head straight upwards. He blinked owlishly several
times before focusing his eyes on Jacob. "Hey Jacob."
"Good morning." Jacob said with a grin. "Sleep well?"
"Never better." Jack said standing up and stretching. He tried not to grimace as his
back muscles protested against the harsh sleeping arrangement of the night before. He
quickly glanced back at Sam and found her still sleeping soundly.
"Go get some real rest Jack, I'll watch Sammy for awhile."
Jack nodded although he had no intention of going back to bed. Catching three or four
hours of sleep by Carter's side was all her really needed. "Give me a call if there's any
change."
"Will do." Jacob said taking a seat in Jack's relinquished chair.
Jack glanced at his watch. 0700. He had just enough time to shower and change.
Jacob watched the tired colonel leave and shook his head. "Sammy, that's one
dedicated commanding officer you have." Jacob said taking a hold of Sam's hand. He
glanced down at her fingertips and frowned.
Was her index finger slightly black or was that just the lighting?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well? Did you like??? ONE more chapter to go! (If it's two, I might shoot myself, so
let's just hope it's one, ok?)