Title: Mis-Adventures of Jack and Sam (Seven Days)
Author: dcChic
Email: dietcokechic@hotmail.com
Notes: I actually did some research on all the medical stuff you'll read about, but considering that I have not an ounce of training, I probably got a few things wrong. The business about additional lettering with blood types is correct; the stats I give are entirely made up and who knows if I got the donor info right. For those of you living in a Celsius world, here's a quick conversion chart:
85 F= 29.4 C
88 F= 31 C
90 F= 32.5 C
94 F= 34.5 C
And everyone give a HUGE hand to Kath whose last name I shall not divulge. My Beta-reader. Mine!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 11
Day 5, P3X-677
1000 hour
A large team of medical personnel accompanied the remaining members of SG-1 and SG-3 as they promptly left the base at 6 am. No matter how hard Daniel had cajoled, he couldn't get the General to allow them to leave any earlier. After asking Daniel a barrage of questions (most of which he couldn't answer) Janet had insisted she needed 3 other nurses to accompany her off world, which meant it would be impossible to leave prior to 0500. Both she and Daniel had been quite worried about Jack's description of Sam's injury as "skewered." Janet had brought along a lot of blood and plasma for transfusions, extra clothing and blankets, and a portable generator to keep everything warm. Was she over-reacting? Perhaps. But this was SG-1 they were talking about.
Everyone was breathing hard when Major Stiles held up a hand; they had now traveled 18 miles due south.
"Everyone knows their assignments." Stiles yelled as he shrugged out of his pack. "I want 1/4 mile search areas here, here and here. " He said pointing to seemingly random bits of shrubbery.
"The moment anyone finds anything, holler or radio the information to command."
Hollering was exactly what Daniel was currently doing.
"Sam! Jack! Can you hear me? We're here guys! The radio's on and ready to receive! And I bet if you yelled just a little we'd hear you!" He knew he sounded totally pathetic but he didn't care. 100 feet to his left he heard Teal'c yelling as well.
Daniel continued to shout as the military teams swept the area. He was concentrating so hard on trying to raise them by voice that he of course didn't see the muddy hole right in front of him until it was too late. With a small "Shit!" Daniel Jackson dropped unceremoniously down the hole, landing like Jack, on his ass.
"Ooof!"
"DanielJackson!" Teal'c yelled peering down, *That guy can sure move FAST.* "Are you injured?"
"Just my pride Teal'c" Daniel yelled standing up and rubbing the small of his back.
"Are you in the same cave as Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter?" Teal'c yelled back down.
"I'm checking it out now Teal'c." Turning on his flashlight Daniel began to examine the cave in greater detail. It was quite dark and he was surprised at the fact that he couldn't make out all four sides of the walls. *Some cave. Wonder if there are any archaeological finds to be found...* Daniel shook his head and concentrated on locating his missing teammates.
"Sam?! Jack!?" He yelled heading to his right. Daniel had only taken a step forward when he froze as his flashlight illuminated a portion of the cave's floor. It wasn't mossy green like the rest of the cave. Daniel could tell that rain had washed much of it away, but it was obvious what it was. Blood. Splattered blood.
"They're down here!" Daniel yelled back up. "I haven't found them yet, but they're down here!"
"All right Dr. Jackson, we'll start rigging up the belays and get you some backup ASAP." The disembodied voice startled Daniel as he had completely forgotten about the two-way radio. *Get a grip Daniel! * He took a nervous breath as he started his search again.
"Jack?! Can you hear me?!" Silence.
In the distance Daniel could make out a large body of water and headed towards it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SG-3 was busy setting up the rappelling devices and unpacking medical supplies. Wasting no time, Doctor Frasier was the first to be outfitted with a harness and quickly lowered down the hole.
"Daniel?" She called snapping on her own flashlight. This place was big.
"I'm over at the water!" She heard a disembodied voice off to her left.
Daniel approached the water's shore with caution. He had had too many bad experiences around seemingly tranquil bodies of water not to be on his guard. He started walking along the water's edge when he suddenly tripped over something solid and most definitely not a rock.
"What the hell?" In his hand Daniel held a boot. Jack's boot.
"Jack?!" Daniel yelled even louder. He had to be around here someplace. Daniel frantically waved the beam of light up and down the water's shore when he saw something. A pile of emergency blankets and a sleeping bag lay in heap just inches from the water's edge.
"Janet!! Come quick!" Daniel cried as he ran towards Jack and Sam. He could see the back of Jack's head and a tuff of blonde hair. Sam!
*Oh god. They're dead.* Daniel thought to himself as he crouched down next to them. Jack's face was barely recognizable through his blood-matted hair. He had sustained a head wound near his temple and although he or Sam had tried to stop the bleeding, it obviously hadn't been enough. The crimson bandage was saturated in blood and dry patches of it could be seen all over Jack's face and neck.
Although securely wrapped in blankets, the pair appeared frozen in a lovers embrace; Sam pressed tightly against Jack's back, one arm cradled close to her body and the other wrapped protectively across Jack's waist. Her face was nearly hidden against Jack's neck. Daniel lifted a section of the blanket further down and cried out at the amount of blood covering their mostly bare bodies. So much blood! Daniel couldn't tell whom it had come from but hoped it was actually both, as one person couldn't possibly lose that much blood and still be alive.
Were they alive? The appeared to be dead; so thin and pale. Had it really only been 5 days? With shaking hands Daniel reached out and felt Sam's neck for a pulse. He slowly counted to 5 and then jerked back as if electrocuted. She didn't have one! Sam didn't have a pulse! They were too late. Oh my God..
*they're dead they're dead they're dead they're dead they're dead..*
"Daniel!" Janet was shouting his name. "Daniel!"
Janet Frasier had heard his cries and arrived to find him staring at Jack and Sam in utter anguish.
"Daniel!" Janet said grabbing his arm and forcing him to look at her. His eyes were wild with shock and grief.
"No one is dead until they are warm and dead, remember that!" Janet took out her stethoscope and gently placed it on Sam's back. It was too damn faint for comfort, but it was there. Sam had a heartbeat.
"Daniel, Sam's alive. Help me separate them, ok?" With some difficulty the two managed to pull them apart. A bloody piece of cloth fell away as the pair separated. Daniel looked away as Sam's bare, blood covered chest came into sight. He concentrated on Jack.
Not even bothering to search for a pulse in the neck, Daniel leaned down and pressed his ear to the older man's chest. The sound he heard wasn't like a normal heart beat, strong and resounding, but it was beating, which meant Jack too was alive. He exhaled the breath he didn't know he had been holding. Both were alive.
"Jack's alive." Janet nodded absently as she focused on Sam.
Samantha Carter looked like hell. Janet now knew what skewered looked like and wished she didn't. The ragged wound started on one side of Sam's hip and crossed diagonally across her torso, apparently becoming deeper as it did so. Sam had lost a lot of blood and it was difficult to see the entire area due to dried blood and bandages. Hold on! Were those stitches?!
"Dammit!" Janet mumbled as she removed a blood-soaked cloth from the upper part of Sam's chest. This was bad. Really, really bad. She looked at her friend's pale face and blue-tinged lips. Extreme blood loss, dehydration, infection.. Janet ticked off each symptom and quickly assessed what needed to be done first. Sam was going to need a small miracle to get through this one.
Janet shot a furtive glance over at Jack and Daniel. Daniel was examining the Colonel for other external injuries.
"I think he has a couple busted ribs Janet, but otherwise, it just seems to be the head wound and hypothermia. Maybe dehydration as well." Of course there could be massive internal bleeding, but outside of the swollen skin around his ribs, everything else looked and felt normal. All members of SG-1 were very up to date on emergency field medicine.
Janet turned back towards Sam and now that she knew there was a heartbeat, she needed to know how to proceed. If her body temperature was below a certain level, they couldn't use drugs. The thermometer in her hand beeped. Damn. 85° F.
"Temp Daniel." Janet said tersely throwing the thermometer in his direction.
"88°"
Janet let out a worried sigh. Moving them was going to be a problem. Cardiac arrhythmia, fluid imbalance..so many things could go wrong before these two were even back at the SGC.
Janet keyed on her radio.
"We found them, but they're in bad shape. Everything you guys have up there, we need down here. We can't move them until their body temperatures increase. I want everyone down here stat." For this mission Janet had total authority.
Dimly Daniel was aware of orders flying fast and furious above his head but kept his eyes glued to Jack and Sam.
"Can I at least wipe off some of this blood Janet?" Daniel asked in a small voice looking at both of their faces.
"Sure Daniel." Janet replied gently. It was never easy seeing your friends injured. "Just stay away from the obvious source of blood loss. If it's clotted, we don't want to mess with it until I can get some more blood in them."
With shaking hands, Daniel reached into his pack and pulled out his thermos. He had wanted to put coffee in it, but didn't have time this morning to make any. He could almost hear Jack's voice in disbelief. "No time?! Danny-boy, you're losing it!" He had ended up with just hot water. After 4 hours the luke warm water would be perfect.
Using his clean bandana, Daniel began to gently wipe away the dried blood from Jack's face and shoulders. "Fight it Jack." Daniel whispered. "You come back to us, ok?"
He glanced over at Janet and Sam. Janet had draped something over Sam's breasts and was busy lifting up bloody bandages and murmuring into the radio her findings to her staff.
Daniel rinsed out the bloody handkerchief as best as he could and then poured more warm water on it and started cleaning off Sam's pale face.
"She doesn't look good Janet." Daniel said trying to fight the overwhelming feeling of nausea and fear.
He had never seen Sam look so small. He often forgot that she was a woman. No, he never forgot that she was a vibrant member of the opposite sex, (specific descriptions he'd leave to Jack) but Sam was only a few inches shorter than Daniel's 6'0 and could kick his ass any day of the week. But right now, Sam looked like a small little girl and Daniel was afraid his heart would break in two. They had to be all right!
Janet was startled and turned towards Daniel as two additional nurses came running over. Daniel took a step backwards to make space. He had done all he could.
1100 hours
Additional doctors and nurses arrived to work on the pair as machines and generators hummed to life around him. Electrodes were attached and their vitals were displayed on portable monitors. Daniel heard snippets of conversations but made sure he kept out of their way. At least they had been conscious when they found them in Antarctica...
"No! They're still too cold for that." Janet barked as a nurse tried to fit Jack with an oxygen mask.
"Warm O2 only and be careful with those blankets. We can't warm them up too fast."
"Is the plasma warm enough yet?" Janet asked while putting the last of the clean bandages on Sam. A clean white cloth was draped across her breasts and heated blankets covered the areas not injured. Janet just wanted to control the bleeding, and get Sam's BP back up. Surgery would have to wait until they got back to Earth.
"Just about. We'll be ready in just another minute."
"Temperature?" Janet asked
"88°"
*Shit. She wasn't responding. They wanted them to warm up slow, but not that slow. Jack was already above 90°
Janet took a breath and thought for a moment. Yeah. That should work.
"Give that plasma to Colonel O'Neill. I have another plan for Major Carter." Janet turned around searching the room for Daniel. She found him standing against the back wall looking lost and worried. She gave him a quick smile and beckoned him over.
"Meyers, you're with me." Janet said as Daniel approached. "We need some IV tubing, two gauge 3 needles and some orange juice." Daniel looked at her not understanding.
"Daniel, it's time for you to save a life."
For a long time now Janet had been aware that two members of the SGC, members of the same team in fact, had a very rare blood type. Janet had learned in medical school, that there were other types of blood besides the normal A, B, AB and O combinations. Genetic traits could add additional letters to one's type. And that's exactly what both Daniel and Sam had. AB-: Vel. Janet was certain they both shared a strange Nordic ancestor (outrageously tall and with blue eyes of course) that caused the rarity. The irony was that a person with an AB blood type could actually receive blood from just about anyone. Universal receiver. But not in this case. Only 1:20,000 people would have this exact blood make-up. And a strange twist of fate had put both of these people under her care. Thank God.
Janet was busy searching for a decent vein in Sam as Daniel was prepped for blood donation. He used to give blood quite a bit when he had been a field archaeologist and understood how it worked. For some reason, Janet always insisted that he and Sam give blood every 2 months. Hmm. He'd have to ask her about that sometime. Actually he was a damn good donor- 4 minutes flat was his record for a pint. Good veins. And best of all, Janet didn't know this. She had not once taken his blood. Well, not for the purpose of donation that is.
"Beautiful veins Dr. Jackson." Lt. Melinda Meyers said as she easily inserted a needle into his arm.
"Daniel, Sam doesn't have time for your blood to be bagged first and we need it as warm as possible. I would like you to give her about 2 pints. You have at least 10, so while 2 pints will make you nauseous and a little woozy, you should be ok. Unfortunately, there's no sure way to accurately measure the volume when we go from person to person but on average it takes 8 minutes to draw a pint. So we're going to keep you two hooked together for 15, ok?"
Daniel nodded. And didn't mention his quick donation time. Good. With 15 he should be able to give Sam at least 3 pints. Maybe more. Daniel knew this was stupid. But HE could always take the blood substitute. Sam couldn't.
"What about Jack?" Daniel asked as he began opening and closing his fist, stimulating the blood flow.
"It's just like you saw Daniel. Jack looks like he recently received a nasty head injury. You know how those are- very bloody, but usually not life threatening. So far, he has responded positively to all our tests, although we'll know more when he wakes up. He HAS lost more blood than I would have liked, he isn't as hypothermic as Sam. We can use the bagged blood we brought from home. I don't think Jack is in as much danger of crashing as he warms up. Sam on the other hand..." Janet bit he lip. This was going to be close.
"Jack also has a cracked rib or two which I'm not certain he didn't receive via CPR." Daniel's eyes widened at that comment. Sam's injuries were severe. And at least 4 days old. How could she have possibly...?
"In the meantime we'll treat him for severe dehydration, hypothermia and the head wound. Plus we'll pump him so full of calories he'll be his own weight again before you know it." Janet smiled and touched Daniel's arm sympathetically.
"And Sam? Will she be alright?"
Janet sighed. "I'm not going to lie to you Daniel, We need to get Sam back the SGC as quickly as possible. We don't want to put more pressure on her heart than necessary, as there is a pretty significant danger that she'll go into cardiac arrest if we don't do everything exactly right. I really can't tell you anything more than that Daniel. Until she is warm and breathing on her own again she is still in danger.
Daniel wanted to ask more questions but was already beginning to feel light headed and didn't want to give Janet an opportunity to notice. He nodded to her and she returned to working on Sam.
20 minutes later Daniel was decanted. He hadn't actually been aware that he was done until the nurse told him to stop squeezing. She wrapped his arm in a bright pink bandage and told him to drink lots of fluids for 24 hours. She then ran over to where the rest of the medical team was converging. They were about to move Jack and Sam out of here. Daniel tried to stand up and promptly sat back down.
"Are you unwell DanielJackson?" Teal'c asked from out of nowhere. 'How does he do that?' Daniel wondered to himself. It was becoming quite difficult to keep his eyes open, but Daniel knew he couldn't show any weakness until Sam had been taken back.
"No, I'm fine Teal'c." Daniel said taking slow shallow breaths. "Just need to take a moment to get my sense of balance back."
Teal'c questioned the wisdom of this statement, but knew that everyone was busy with Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter. Teal'c would make certain DanielJackson got home safely.
Daniel was vaguely aware of voices in the background. Good, Jack and Sam were on their way back to Earth. Daniel hoped he had given Sam enough blood to make it there. He also hoped that he kept enough for himself. With that last thought, Daniel closed his eyes and promptly passed out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You realize of course that this is my last cliffhanger, right? The next chapter will be the last. You'll miss me when I'm gone. Remember that.
Author: dcChic
Email: dietcokechic@hotmail.com
Notes: I actually did some research on all the medical stuff you'll read about, but considering that I have not an ounce of training, I probably got a few things wrong. The business about additional lettering with blood types is correct; the stats I give are entirely made up and who knows if I got the donor info right. For those of you living in a Celsius world, here's a quick conversion chart:
85 F= 29.4 C
88 F= 31 C
90 F= 32.5 C
94 F= 34.5 C
And everyone give a HUGE hand to Kath whose last name I shall not divulge. My Beta-reader. Mine!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 11
Day 5, P3X-677
1000 hour
A large team of medical personnel accompanied the remaining members of SG-1 and SG-3 as they promptly left the base at 6 am. No matter how hard Daniel had cajoled, he couldn't get the General to allow them to leave any earlier. After asking Daniel a barrage of questions (most of which he couldn't answer) Janet had insisted she needed 3 other nurses to accompany her off world, which meant it would be impossible to leave prior to 0500. Both she and Daniel had been quite worried about Jack's description of Sam's injury as "skewered." Janet had brought along a lot of blood and plasma for transfusions, extra clothing and blankets, and a portable generator to keep everything warm. Was she over-reacting? Perhaps. But this was SG-1 they were talking about.
Everyone was breathing hard when Major Stiles held up a hand; they had now traveled 18 miles due south.
"Everyone knows their assignments." Stiles yelled as he shrugged out of his pack. "I want 1/4 mile search areas here, here and here. " He said pointing to seemingly random bits of shrubbery.
"The moment anyone finds anything, holler or radio the information to command."
Hollering was exactly what Daniel was currently doing.
"Sam! Jack! Can you hear me? We're here guys! The radio's on and ready to receive! And I bet if you yelled just a little we'd hear you!" He knew he sounded totally pathetic but he didn't care. 100 feet to his left he heard Teal'c yelling as well.
Daniel continued to shout as the military teams swept the area. He was concentrating so hard on trying to raise them by voice that he of course didn't see the muddy hole right in front of him until it was too late. With a small "Shit!" Daniel Jackson dropped unceremoniously down the hole, landing like Jack, on his ass.
"Ooof!"
"DanielJackson!" Teal'c yelled peering down, *That guy can sure move FAST.* "Are you injured?"
"Just my pride Teal'c" Daniel yelled standing up and rubbing the small of his back.
"Are you in the same cave as Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter?" Teal'c yelled back down.
"I'm checking it out now Teal'c." Turning on his flashlight Daniel began to examine the cave in greater detail. It was quite dark and he was surprised at the fact that he couldn't make out all four sides of the walls. *Some cave. Wonder if there are any archaeological finds to be found...* Daniel shook his head and concentrated on locating his missing teammates.
"Sam?! Jack!?" He yelled heading to his right. Daniel had only taken a step forward when he froze as his flashlight illuminated a portion of the cave's floor. It wasn't mossy green like the rest of the cave. Daniel could tell that rain had washed much of it away, but it was obvious what it was. Blood. Splattered blood.
"They're down here!" Daniel yelled back up. "I haven't found them yet, but they're down here!"
"All right Dr. Jackson, we'll start rigging up the belays and get you some backup ASAP." The disembodied voice startled Daniel as he had completely forgotten about the two-way radio. *Get a grip Daniel! * He took a nervous breath as he started his search again.
"Jack?! Can you hear me?!" Silence.
In the distance Daniel could make out a large body of water and headed towards it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SG-3 was busy setting up the rappelling devices and unpacking medical supplies. Wasting no time, Doctor Frasier was the first to be outfitted with a harness and quickly lowered down the hole.
"Daniel?" She called snapping on her own flashlight. This place was big.
"I'm over at the water!" She heard a disembodied voice off to her left.
Daniel approached the water's shore with caution. He had had too many bad experiences around seemingly tranquil bodies of water not to be on his guard. He started walking along the water's edge when he suddenly tripped over something solid and most definitely not a rock.
"What the hell?" In his hand Daniel held a boot. Jack's boot.
"Jack?!" Daniel yelled even louder. He had to be around here someplace. Daniel frantically waved the beam of light up and down the water's shore when he saw something. A pile of emergency blankets and a sleeping bag lay in heap just inches from the water's edge.
"Janet!! Come quick!" Daniel cried as he ran towards Jack and Sam. He could see the back of Jack's head and a tuff of blonde hair. Sam!
*Oh god. They're dead.* Daniel thought to himself as he crouched down next to them. Jack's face was barely recognizable through his blood-matted hair. He had sustained a head wound near his temple and although he or Sam had tried to stop the bleeding, it obviously hadn't been enough. The crimson bandage was saturated in blood and dry patches of it could be seen all over Jack's face and neck.
Although securely wrapped in blankets, the pair appeared frozen in a lovers embrace; Sam pressed tightly against Jack's back, one arm cradled close to her body and the other wrapped protectively across Jack's waist. Her face was nearly hidden against Jack's neck. Daniel lifted a section of the blanket further down and cried out at the amount of blood covering their mostly bare bodies. So much blood! Daniel couldn't tell whom it had come from but hoped it was actually both, as one person couldn't possibly lose that much blood and still be alive.
Were they alive? The appeared to be dead; so thin and pale. Had it really only been 5 days? With shaking hands Daniel reached out and felt Sam's neck for a pulse. He slowly counted to 5 and then jerked back as if electrocuted. She didn't have one! Sam didn't have a pulse! They were too late. Oh my God..
*they're dead they're dead they're dead they're dead they're dead..*
"Daniel!" Janet was shouting his name. "Daniel!"
Janet Frasier had heard his cries and arrived to find him staring at Jack and Sam in utter anguish.
"Daniel!" Janet said grabbing his arm and forcing him to look at her. His eyes were wild with shock and grief.
"No one is dead until they are warm and dead, remember that!" Janet took out her stethoscope and gently placed it on Sam's back. It was too damn faint for comfort, but it was there. Sam had a heartbeat.
"Daniel, Sam's alive. Help me separate them, ok?" With some difficulty the two managed to pull them apart. A bloody piece of cloth fell away as the pair separated. Daniel looked away as Sam's bare, blood covered chest came into sight. He concentrated on Jack.
Not even bothering to search for a pulse in the neck, Daniel leaned down and pressed his ear to the older man's chest. The sound he heard wasn't like a normal heart beat, strong and resounding, but it was beating, which meant Jack too was alive. He exhaled the breath he didn't know he had been holding. Both were alive.
"Jack's alive." Janet nodded absently as she focused on Sam.
Samantha Carter looked like hell. Janet now knew what skewered looked like and wished she didn't. The ragged wound started on one side of Sam's hip and crossed diagonally across her torso, apparently becoming deeper as it did so. Sam had lost a lot of blood and it was difficult to see the entire area due to dried blood and bandages. Hold on! Were those stitches?!
"Dammit!" Janet mumbled as she removed a blood-soaked cloth from the upper part of Sam's chest. This was bad. Really, really bad. She looked at her friend's pale face and blue-tinged lips. Extreme blood loss, dehydration, infection.. Janet ticked off each symptom and quickly assessed what needed to be done first. Sam was going to need a small miracle to get through this one.
Janet shot a furtive glance over at Jack and Daniel. Daniel was examining the Colonel for other external injuries.
"I think he has a couple busted ribs Janet, but otherwise, it just seems to be the head wound and hypothermia. Maybe dehydration as well." Of course there could be massive internal bleeding, but outside of the swollen skin around his ribs, everything else looked and felt normal. All members of SG-1 were very up to date on emergency field medicine.
Janet turned back towards Sam and now that she knew there was a heartbeat, she needed to know how to proceed. If her body temperature was below a certain level, they couldn't use drugs. The thermometer in her hand beeped. Damn. 85° F.
"Temp Daniel." Janet said tersely throwing the thermometer in his direction.
"88°"
Janet let out a worried sigh. Moving them was going to be a problem. Cardiac arrhythmia, fluid imbalance..so many things could go wrong before these two were even back at the SGC.
Janet keyed on her radio.
"We found them, but they're in bad shape. Everything you guys have up there, we need down here. We can't move them until their body temperatures increase. I want everyone down here stat." For this mission Janet had total authority.
Dimly Daniel was aware of orders flying fast and furious above his head but kept his eyes glued to Jack and Sam.
"Can I at least wipe off some of this blood Janet?" Daniel asked in a small voice looking at both of their faces.
"Sure Daniel." Janet replied gently. It was never easy seeing your friends injured. "Just stay away from the obvious source of blood loss. If it's clotted, we don't want to mess with it until I can get some more blood in them."
With shaking hands, Daniel reached into his pack and pulled out his thermos. He had wanted to put coffee in it, but didn't have time this morning to make any. He could almost hear Jack's voice in disbelief. "No time?! Danny-boy, you're losing it!" He had ended up with just hot water. After 4 hours the luke warm water would be perfect.
Using his clean bandana, Daniel began to gently wipe away the dried blood from Jack's face and shoulders. "Fight it Jack." Daniel whispered. "You come back to us, ok?"
He glanced over at Janet and Sam. Janet had draped something over Sam's breasts and was busy lifting up bloody bandages and murmuring into the radio her findings to her staff.
Daniel rinsed out the bloody handkerchief as best as he could and then poured more warm water on it and started cleaning off Sam's pale face.
"She doesn't look good Janet." Daniel said trying to fight the overwhelming feeling of nausea and fear.
He had never seen Sam look so small. He often forgot that she was a woman. No, he never forgot that she was a vibrant member of the opposite sex, (specific descriptions he'd leave to Jack) but Sam was only a few inches shorter than Daniel's 6'0 and could kick his ass any day of the week. But right now, Sam looked like a small little girl and Daniel was afraid his heart would break in two. They had to be all right!
Janet was startled and turned towards Daniel as two additional nurses came running over. Daniel took a step backwards to make space. He had done all he could.
1100 hours
Additional doctors and nurses arrived to work on the pair as machines and generators hummed to life around him. Electrodes were attached and their vitals were displayed on portable monitors. Daniel heard snippets of conversations but made sure he kept out of their way. At least they had been conscious when they found them in Antarctica...
"No! They're still too cold for that." Janet barked as a nurse tried to fit Jack with an oxygen mask.
"Warm O2 only and be careful with those blankets. We can't warm them up too fast."
"Is the plasma warm enough yet?" Janet asked while putting the last of the clean bandages on Sam. A clean white cloth was draped across her breasts and heated blankets covered the areas not injured. Janet just wanted to control the bleeding, and get Sam's BP back up. Surgery would have to wait until they got back to Earth.
"Just about. We'll be ready in just another minute."
"Temperature?" Janet asked
"88°"
*Shit. She wasn't responding. They wanted them to warm up slow, but not that slow. Jack was already above 90°
Janet took a breath and thought for a moment. Yeah. That should work.
"Give that plasma to Colonel O'Neill. I have another plan for Major Carter." Janet turned around searching the room for Daniel. She found him standing against the back wall looking lost and worried. She gave him a quick smile and beckoned him over.
"Meyers, you're with me." Janet said as Daniel approached. "We need some IV tubing, two gauge 3 needles and some orange juice." Daniel looked at her not understanding.
"Daniel, it's time for you to save a life."
For a long time now Janet had been aware that two members of the SGC, members of the same team in fact, had a very rare blood type. Janet had learned in medical school, that there were other types of blood besides the normal A, B, AB and O combinations. Genetic traits could add additional letters to one's type. And that's exactly what both Daniel and Sam had. AB-: Vel. Janet was certain they both shared a strange Nordic ancestor (outrageously tall and with blue eyes of course) that caused the rarity. The irony was that a person with an AB blood type could actually receive blood from just about anyone. Universal receiver. But not in this case. Only 1:20,000 people would have this exact blood make-up. And a strange twist of fate had put both of these people under her care. Thank God.
Janet was busy searching for a decent vein in Sam as Daniel was prepped for blood donation. He used to give blood quite a bit when he had been a field archaeologist and understood how it worked. For some reason, Janet always insisted that he and Sam give blood every 2 months. Hmm. He'd have to ask her about that sometime. Actually he was a damn good donor- 4 minutes flat was his record for a pint. Good veins. And best of all, Janet didn't know this. She had not once taken his blood. Well, not for the purpose of donation that is.
"Beautiful veins Dr. Jackson." Lt. Melinda Meyers said as she easily inserted a needle into his arm.
"Daniel, Sam doesn't have time for your blood to be bagged first and we need it as warm as possible. I would like you to give her about 2 pints. You have at least 10, so while 2 pints will make you nauseous and a little woozy, you should be ok. Unfortunately, there's no sure way to accurately measure the volume when we go from person to person but on average it takes 8 minutes to draw a pint. So we're going to keep you two hooked together for 15, ok?"
Daniel nodded. And didn't mention his quick donation time. Good. With 15 he should be able to give Sam at least 3 pints. Maybe more. Daniel knew this was stupid. But HE could always take the blood substitute. Sam couldn't.
"What about Jack?" Daniel asked as he began opening and closing his fist, stimulating the blood flow.
"It's just like you saw Daniel. Jack looks like he recently received a nasty head injury. You know how those are- very bloody, but usually not life threatening. So far, he has responded positively to all our tests, although we'll know more when he wakes up. He HAS lost more blood than I would have liked, he isn't as hypothermic as Sam. We can use the bagged blood we brought from home. I don't think Jack is in as much danger of crashing as he warms up. Sam on the other hand..." Janet bit he lip. This was going to be close.
"Jack also has a cracked rib or two which I'm not certain he didn't receive via CPR." Daniel's eyes widened at that comment. Sam's injuries were severe. And at least 4 days old. How could she have possibly...?
"In the meantime we'll treat him for severe dehydration, hypothermia and the head wound. Plus we'll pump him so full of calories he'll be his own weight again before you know it." Janet smiled and touched Daniel's arm sympathetically.
"And Sam? Will she be alright?"
Janet sighed. "I'm not going to lie to you Daniel, We need to get Sam back the SGC as quickly as possible. We don't want to put more pressure on her heart than necessary, as there is a pretty significant danger that she'll go into cardiac arrest if we don't do everything exactly right. I really can't tell you anything more than that Daniel. Until she is warm and breathing on her own again she is still in danger.
Daniel wanted to ask more questions but was already beginning to feel light headed and didn't want to give Janet an opportunity to notice. He nodded to her and she returned to working on Sam.
20 minutes later Daniel was decanted. He hadn't actually been aware that he was done until the nurse told him to stop squeezing. She wrapped his arm in a bright pink bandage and told him to drink lots of fluids for 24 hours. She then ran over to where the rest of the medical team was converging. They were about to move Jack and Sam out of here. Daniel tried to stand up and promptly sat back down.
"Are you unwell DanielJackson?" Teal'c asked from out of nowhere. 'How does he do that?' Daniel wondered to himself. It was becoming quite difficult to keep his eyes open, but Daniel knew he couldn't show any weakness until Sam had been taken back.
"No, I'm fine Teal'c." Daniel said taking slow shallow breaths. "Just need to take a moment to get my sense of balance back."
Teal'c questioned the wisdom of this statement, but knew that everyone was busy with Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter. Teal'c would make certain DanielJackson got home safely.
Daniel was vaguely aware of voices in the background. Good, Jack and Sam were on their way back to Earth. Daniel hoped he had given Sam enough blood to make it there. He also hoped that he kept enough for himself. With that last thought, Daniel closed his eyes and promptly passed out.
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You realize of course that this is my last cliffhanger, right? The next chapter will be the last. You'll miss me when I'm gone. Remember that.