Chapter 8
Sam awoke disorientated and confused. She wasn't in the infirmary (lack of beeping
machinery) and this wasn't her bed. It wasn't Jack's bed either (he was on a flannel
sheets kick at the moment). Sam blinked in the darkness and could just make out
vague shapes against the wall. No windows… they were still on base! Well this was
a first. Sam had been in Jack's SGC room hundreds of times, but never in his bed.
Not that it was any different from the one she had down the hall, but still…
Suddenly the memories of the last 24 hours came crashing back to her, as did the
reason she had awakened so suddenly. Jack O'Neill was having a nightmare.
Jack had always been good at hiding his feelings and fears from those closest to him.
But no matter how deep he had buried them, they always found away to manifest
themselves in his nightmares. After they had been seeing each other (officially) for
a month or so, Jack had told Sam about them. He was afraid he might lash out at
her one night in his sleep and wanted her to be prepared. He used to scare Sara
sometimes and he didn't want that to happen to Sam. He still couldn't talk about his
black ops missions, but at least Sam vaguely knew what he must have done- Sara
only knew he was military. The nightmares actually hadn't been all that much of a
surprise. After nearly five years of off-world missions, Sam had witnessed her share
of Colonel O'Neill nightmares. Usually he'd wake himself up and then go for a walk.
Occasionally Daniel would go with him.
Jack still had his arms wrapped protectively around Sam's body but he was shaking
and Sam could feel heat radiating from his face and neck. "You can't have her."
Jack hissed tightening his grip around her waist. Sam felt her heart tighten and
tears instantly pooled in her eyes as she slowly turned around to face her lover.
"Jack." She said softly reaching out to lightly touch his face. Even in the dimness,
Sam could make out Jack's pained expression and see the beads of sweat covering
his face. His t-shirt was soaked with fearful sweat and his left hand was clinched
into a tight fist.
"I said LEAVE HER THE FUCK ALONE!" And with that Jack O'Neill bolted straight up
out of bed breathing heavily.
"Jack." Sam said again touching him gently on his back.
Jack suddenly became aware of Sam's presence and swiftly pulled her tightly against
himself. He took deep shuddering breaths against her hair and neck, drawing solace
from the unique scent that was Samantha Carter.
"Oh god Sam, I'm so sorry. I am so sorry baby. So very sorry." He continued to
murmur into her neck while Sam gently rubbed his back whispering her own words
of absolution.
"It wasn't your fault Jack. There is nothing to forgive. It was not your fault." They
sat wrapped in each other's arms for several minutes before Sam could feel Jack
starting to slip back to sleep. Together they took off Jack's sweaty t-shirt and lay
back on the bed. Jack instantly wrapped himself once again around Sam and within
moments was fast asleep. Sam let out a shuddering breath and held Jack's hand
securely against her chest as she too fell back asleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jack and Sam awoke the next morning somberly. Jack didn't quite remember his
nightmare but knew he must have had one. Sam on the other hand was …
General Hammond was NOT looking forward to this debriefing. His Chief Medical
Officer, Dr. Janet Frasier had come to him the night before and given him a very
watered down version of what had happened to SG-1. The general felt physically ill
at hearing of the events that had occurred on P2X-415. He drew solace from the
fact that Major Carter had not been raped by the Goa'ulds but was under the distinct
impression that more had occurred than what Dr. Frasier was telling him. He had
agreed to allow the Colonel and Major to share quarters and hoped it would be
enough to at least allow them a little rest. All four members of SG-1 would recover
physically from the mission but Dr. Frasier was very concerned about their
psychological well-being.
The General stood quietly in the doorway of the briefing room silently observing his
favorite team. Dr. Jackson, still pale and heavily bandaged had been temporarily
released from the infirmary (skin graft was scheduled at 1400 that afternoon) and
was sitting nervously next to the ever stoic Teal'c. Major Carter sat on Daniel's left
and looked like a war zone survivor, her eyes staring straight ahead but not really
seeing anything. The General could just make out a slight tremor in her hands. Jack
sat at his usual place around the table playing absently with a pencil. George could
see how worried he was about the Major and saw the way he would steal glances at
her every few seconds. It was quite obvious the Jack was worried about Sam.
George sighed as he walked through the doorway. Jack instantly stood up and Sam
was just shifting her chair back to do the same when the General motioned for them
to remain seated.
"As you were people." He sat down at the head of the table and picked up a single
piece of paper.
"As you know, Dr. Frasier spoke with me last night and I have been given a
rudimentary briefing on what occurred on P2X-415. I want you all to know that I
only need Colonel O'Neill to submit a summary report. The Pentagon and other
government officials don't need to know every last detail of what occurred on that
planet." George could see Sam visibly relax with that statement. "That said, I'm
afraid I need to know the whole story." He said this in a softer voice before putting
down the paper and looking at Colonel O'Neill.
Jack cleared his throat to start but it was Teal'c who began to speak.
"The planet appeared exactly as it did in the MALP images GeneralHammond.
According to MajorCarter, a significant amount of naquada was approximately 8
miles due west of the gate and we began our walk in that direction. The planet is a
desert and the rolling hills made our progress was slow.
We had been walking for nearly three hours when we came across a man made
structure nearly hidden amongst the sands."
Daniel cleared his throat. "Both Sam and Teal'c felt there was something wrong with
the planet General."
Hammond looked at Major Carter curiously. "Explain Major."
"I can't explain it Sir," Sam said meeting General Hammond's concerned eyes. "The
whole planet just felt off somehow. Teal'c felt it too. It wasn't as if I felt the need to
leave the planet or something—it just felt wrong."
"I concur with MajorCarter's observations."
Hammond nodded. "Continue."
Daniel took over the narrative. "We came across a half-buried entrance to a tomb or
something. Jack had Teal'c guard the entrance as he and Sam took up right and left
side of the structure. I was left to check out the room itself." Daniel paused to take
a sip of water.
"It didn't feel unsafe to me but both Sam and Teal'c felt very uncomfortable inside
the building. So much so that Jack ordered all of us to leave. Unfortunately we
weren't fast enough. The walls actually had opened up on three sides of the room.
Within seconds we were totally surrounded by a dozen or so Goa'ulds."
"Old Asian guys actually." Jack said with a grimace.
"They all carried weapons GeneralHammond." Teal'c explained. "They were quite
silent in their approach and nothing we could have done would have made any
difference."
"Except maybe not have GONE INTO the room." Jack piped in.
"Jack, there was no way we could have walked out of there after they had us
surrounded." Daniel looked at the General. "There really wasn't General. We might
have been able to take out the majority of them with our weapons. But all 11? Jack
made the right call and had us lower our weapons."
"Right call, my ass." Jack said under his breath.
"Colonel that will be enough."
"Sorry Sir."
Daniel continued. "Our weapons and packs were taken from us and we were led to a
large chamber. The Goa'ulds called themselves Khans and as it turned out- these
guys had been banished by Apophis and some of the other System Lords over 200
years ago."
Sam spoke up for the first time. "Something was done to their bodies that
prevented them from traveling to another world via the Stargate Sir. In fact, they
told us they couldn't take a new host and were doomed to live out the remainder of
their lives in one single body."
"Major, do you feel the source of the naquada came from these Goa'uld?"
"Not entirely Sir." Sam said. She felt much more comfortable talking about the
failed scientific mission than the actual events of the mission. "The readings I was
getting were way too large to be coming from just the Goa'ulds. I believe there was
a rather large concentration of raw naquada somewhere on the premises."
"Interesting." Hammond said taking a few notes. He nodded at Dr. Jackson to
continue.
Daniel licked his lips. He was rapidly approaching the part he didn't like. "The
Goa'ulds had built a throne of sorts on one side of the room and eight or so of the
guys were up there staring at us. I remember seeing two guards behind us. They
told us their history and while we were talking amongst ourselves one of them began
honing in on Sam."
"They were intrigued that MajorCarter was a female warrior." Teal'c added.
"Right." Daniel didn't know if he could go explain any further.
"Dr. Jackson?" Hammond encouraged.
Daniel cleared his throat again and cursed not allowing Janet to give him more drugs
before the debriefing. "The eldest khan, Oghul, wanted to see a little more of Sam
than he currently did. He actually asked if.. um.."
"He wanted to see Tauri mating." Teal'c once again supplied. Sam sank lower into
her seat and closed her eyes.
"Right." Daniel said pointing at Teal'c. "Naturally Jack said no and that's when I was
zatted."
Teal'c knew how difficult this was for his friends and continued in the narration.
"DanielJackson was indeed shot by an older version of the zat'nik'atel and that is
when O'Neill requested that DanielJackson and myself leave the room. His choices
were to have all of us stay and be shot, or to agree to the Goa'ulds demands. He
made the correct decision." Teal'c looked straight at Jack when he said this. "We
were escorted outside and placed under a canopy of some sort. We were given back
two of our packs but none of our weapons. We remained there for approximately 90
minutes before O'Neill and MajorCarter came out of the main chamber. All four of us
were allowed to leave and head back to the Stargate without further incident."
"Colonel, do you have anything to add?"
"Nothing you need to know." Jack said peevishly. "Nothing pertinent I mean Sir."
"Jack, I'm sorry to have to ask, but the Goa'ulds or Khans as they called themselves
were just content to watch you and Major Cater?" The General couldn't keep the
level of disbelief out of his voice. Why didn't the Goa'ulds kill them?
Jack sighed and stole a glance at Sam. She had slunk lower in her chair and was
holding her hands tightly on her lap. She hadn't made eye contact with Jack since
they had walked into the room. All in all, Sam was handling this about as well as
could be expected.
"At first the khans were satisfied with our little show, but later they wanted a little
something more. It wasn't comfortable for either the Major or myself but neither
one of us were physically assaulted." He and Sam had agreed that this was what he
was going to say but Jack couldn't help but notice how Sam cringed at the words
'physically assaulted.' He just wanted to assure the General and his friends that
Sam was definitely not raped.
"Colonel," General Hammond said with a little more anger than he intended. "I have
seen your medical reports. Both you and the major suffered physical blows at the
hands of theses Goa'uld; that's physical assault son."
"What the Colonel is trying to say is that we weren't raped Sir." Sam said speaking
up for the first time in several minutes. She sat up straighter and took a sip of water
hoping it would be enough to hold back the nausea that was threatening to
overwhelm her.
"Some of the Khans tried to get a little fresh with me Sir and Colonel O'Neill
attempted to get them to stop. This is when he received his injuries." General
Hammond just nodded. "I tried to not react to some of the things one of the Khans
was doing to me but I'm afraid I also lashed out."
"She kneed the guy." Jack said with a grim smile.
"The Khan didn't take too kindly to that Sir and that's when I received my injuries."
Sam couldn't help but look into the General's eyes and beg him not to ask her to say
any more. The General nodded once and stood up.
"I think that's all I need to know. You all are on downtime for the next week. I
recommend using that time to actually leave the base." The General received the
usual "Yes, Sirs" and "Thank you General" as the group stood up to leave.
"Colonel? Can I have an additional word with you and the Major please?" Both Jack
and Sam turned back towards the General with apprehension.
"I know you two have been through a hellacious ordeal and I want you to know that
if you need more time, you just let me know."
"Thank you Sir." Jack said resisting the urge to take Sam's hand.
"I am also ordering the two of you to talk to someone."
"Sir?" Sam asked puzzled.
"I don't care if it's McKenzie or Frasier or a priest or a friend but both of you need to
talk about what happened. And talking to each other does NOT do it for me; do I
make myself understood?"
"Yes Sir." Jack and Sam said morosely. Both knew the General was right but
neither one of them looked forward to reliving the event.
"Now go on home kids and get some rest. That's also an order." Jack gave the
General a small smile and lightly placed his hand on the small of Sam's back as he
ushered her out of the office. There would be plenty of time to talk with others in
the upcoming days, for now Jack and Sam were heading home.
Tbc. We're getting there folks. Words of encouragement WILL make my type faster.
~grin~
Sam awoke disorientated and confused. She wasn't in the infirmary (lack of beeping
machinery) and this wasn't her bed. It wasn't Jack's bed either (he was on a flannel
sheets kick at the moment). Sam blinked in the darkness and could just make out
vague shapes against the wall. No windows… they were still on base! Well this was
a first. Sam had been in Jack's SGC room hundreds of times, but never in his bed.
Not that it was any different from the one she had down the hall, but still…
Suddenly the memories of the last 24 hours came crashing back to her, as did the
reason she had awakened so suddenly. Jack O'Neill was having a nightmare.
Jack had always been good at hiding his feelings and fears from those closest to him.
But no matter how deep he had buried them, they always found away to manifest
themselves in his nightmares. After they had been seeing each other (officially) for
a month or so, Jack had told Sam about them. He was afraid he might lash out at
her one night in his sleep and wanted her to be prepared. He used to scare Sara
sometimes and he didn't want that to happen to Sam. He still couldn't talk about his
black ops missions, but at least Sam vaguely knew what he must have done- Sara
only knew he was military. The nightmares actually hadn't been all that much of a
surprise. After nearly five years of off-world missions, Sam had witnessed her share
of Colonel O'Neill nightmares. Usually he'd wake himself up and then go for a walk.
Occasionally Daniel would go with him.
Jack still had his arms wrapped protectively around Sam's body but he was shaking
and Sam could feel heat radiating from his face and neck. "You can't have her."
Jack hissed tightening his grip around her waist. Sam felt her heart tighten and
tears instantly pooled in her eyes as she slowly turned around to face her lover.
"Jack." She said softly reaching out to lightly touch his face. Even in the dimness,
Sam could make out Jack's pained expression and see the beads of sweat covering
his face. His t-shirt was soaked with fearful sweat and his left hand was clinched
into a tight fist.
"I said LEAVE HER THE FUCK ALONE!" And with that Jack O'Neill bolted straight up
out of bed breathing heavily.
"Jack." Sam said again touching him gently on his back.
Jack suddenly became aware of Sam's presence and swiftly pulled her tightly against
himself. He took deep shuddering breaths against her hair and neck, drawing solace
from the unique scent that was Samantha Carter.
"Oh god Sam, I'm so sorry. I am so sorry baby. So very sorry." He continued to
murmur into her neck while Sam gently rubbed his back whispering her own words
of absolution.
"It wasn't your fault Jack. There is nothing to forgive. It was not your fault." They
sat wrapped in each other's arms for several minutes before Sam could feel Jack
starting to slip back to sleep. Together they took off Jack's sweaty t-shirt and lay
back on the bed. Jack instantly wrapped himself once again around Sam and within
moments was fast asleep. Sam let out a shuddering breath and held Jack's hand
securely against her chest as she too fell back asleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jack and Sam awoke the next morning somberly. Jack didn't quite remember his
nightmare but knew he must have had one. Sam on the other hand was …
General Hammond was NOT looking forward to this debriefing. His Chief Medical
Officer, Dr. Janet Frasier had come to him the night before and given him a very
watered down version of what had happened to SG-1. The general felt physically ill
at hearing of the events that had occurred on P2X-415. He drew solace from the
fact that Major Carter had not been raped by the Goa'ulds but was under the distinct
impression that more had occurred than what Dr. Frasier was telling him. He had
agreed to allow the Colonel and Major to share quarters and hoped it would be
enough to at least allow them a little rest. All four members of SG-1 would recover
physically from the mission but Dr. Frasier was very concerned about their
psychological well-being.
The General stood quietly in the doorway of the briefing room silently observing his
favorite team. Dr. Jackson, still pale and heavily bandaged had been temporarily
released from the infirmary (skin graft was scheduled at 1400 that afternoon) and
was sitting nervously next to the ever stoic Teal'c. Major Carter sat on Daniel's left
and looked like a war zone survivor, her eyes staring straight ahead but not really
seeing anything. The General could just make out a slight tremor in her hands. Jack
sat at his usual place around the table playing absently with a pencil. George could
see how worried he was about the Major and saw the way he would steal glances at
her every few seconds. It was quite obvious the Jack was worried about Sam.
George sighed as he walked through the doorway. Jack instantly stood up and Sam
was just shifting her chair back to do the same when the General motioned for them
to remain seated.
"As you were people." He sat down at the head of the table and picked up a single
piece of paper.
"As you know, Dr. Frasier spoke with me last night and I have been given a
rudimentary briefing on what occurred on P2X-415. I want you all to know that I
only need Colonel O'Neill to submit a summary report. The Pentagon and other
government officials don't need to know every last detail of what occurred on that
planet." George could see Sam visibly relax with that statement. "That said, I'm
afraid I need to know the whole story." He said this in a softer voice before putting
down the paper and looking at Colonel O'Neill.
Jack cleared his throat to start but it was Teal'c who began to speak.
"The planet appeared exactly as it did in the MALP images GeneralHammond.
According to MajorCarter, a significant amount of naquada was approximately 8
miles due west of the gate and we began our walk in that direction. The planet is a
desert and the rolling hills made our progress was slow.
We had been walking for nearly three hours when we came across a man made
structure nearly hidden amongst the sands."
Daniel cleared his throat. "Both Sam and Teal'c felt there was something wrong with
the planet General."
Hammond looked at Major Carter curiously. "Explain Major."
"I can't explain it Sir," Sam said meeting General Hammond's concerned eyes. "The
whole planet just felt off somehow. Teal'c felt it too. It wasn't as if I felt the need to
leave the planet or something—it just felt wrong."
"I concur with MajorCarter's observations."
Hammond nodded. "Continue."
Daniel took over the narrative. "We came across a half-buried entrance to a tomb or
something. Jack had Teal'c guard the entrance as he and Sam took up right and left
side of the structure. I was left to check out the room itself." Daniel paused to take
a sip of water.
"It didn't feel unsafe to me but both Sam and Teal'c felt very uncomfortable inside
the building. So much so that Jack ordered all of us to leave. Unfortunately we
weren't fast enough. The walls actually had opened up on three sides of the room.
Within seconds we were totally surrounded by a dozen or so Goa'ulds."
"Old Asian guys actually." Jack said with a grimace.
"They all carried weapons GeneralHammond." Teal'c explained. "They were quite
silent in their approach and nothing we could have done would have made any
difference."
"Except maybe not have GONE INTO the room." Jack piped in.
"Jack, there was no way we could have walked out of there after they had us
surrounded." Daniel looked at the General. "There really wasn't General. We might
have been able to take out the majority of them with our weapons. But all 11? Jack
made the right call and had us lower our weapons."
"Right call, my ass." Jack said under his breath.
"Colonel that will be enough."
"Sorry Sir."
Daniel continued. "Our weapons and packs were taken from us and we were led to a
large chamber. The Goa'ulds called themselves Khans and as it turned out- these
guys had been banished by Apophis and some of the other System Lords over 200
years ago."
Sam spoke up for the first time. "Something was done to their bodies that
prevented them from traveling to another world via the Stargate Sir. In fact, they
told us they couldn't take a new host and were doomed to live out the remainder of
their lives in one single body."
"Major, do you feel the source of the naquada came from these Goa'uld?"
"Not entirely Sir." Sam said. She felt much more comfortable talking about the
failed scientific mission than the actual events of the mission. "The readings I was
getting were way too large to be coming from just the Goa'ulds. I believe there was
a rather large concentration of raw naquada somewhere on the premises."
"Interesting." Hammond said taking a few notes. He nodded at Dr. Jackson to
continue.
Daniel licked his lips. He was rapidly approaching the part he didn't like. "The
Goa'ulds had built a throne of sorts on one side of the room and eight or so of the
guys were up there staring at us. I remember seeing two guards behind us. They
told us their history and while we were talking amongst ourselves one of them began
honing in on Sam."
"They were intrigued that MajorCarter was a female warrior." Teal'c added.
"Right." Daniel didn't know if he could go explain any further.
"Dr. Jackson?" Hammond encouraged.
Daniel cleared his throat again and cursed not allowing Janet to give him more drugs
before the debriefing. "The eldest khan, Oghul, wanted to see a little more of Sam
than he currently did. He actually asked if.. um.."
"He wanted to see Tauri mating." Teal'c once again supplied. Sam sank lower into
her seat and closed her eyes.
"Right." Daniel said pointing at Teal'c. "Naturally Jack said no and that's when I was
zatted."
Teal'c knew how difficult this was for his friends and continued in the narration.
"DanielJackson was indeed shot by an older version of the zat'nik'atel and that is
when O'Neill requested that DanielJackson and myself leave the room. His choices
were to have all of us stay and be shot, or to agree to the Goa'ulds demands. He
made the correct decision." Teal'c looked straight at Jack when he said this. "We
were escorted outside and placed under a canopy of some sort. We were given back
two of our packs but none of our weapons. We remained there for approximately 90
minutes before O'Neill and MajorCarter came out of the main chamber. All four of us
were allowed to leave and head back to the Stargate without further incident."
"Colonel, do you have anything to add?"
"Nothing you need to know." Jack said peevishly. "Nothing pertinent I mean Sir."
"Jack, I'm sorry to have to ask, but the Goa'ulds or Khans as they called themselves
were just content to watch you and Major Cater?" The General couldn't keep the
level of disbelief out of his voice. Why didn't the Goa'ulds kill them?
Jack sighed and stole a glance at Sam. She had slunk lower in her chair and was
holding her hands tightly on her lap. She hadn't made eye contact with Jack since
they had walked into the room. All in all, Sam was handling this about as well as
could be expected.
"At first the khans were satisfied with our little show, but later they wanted a little
something more. It wasn't comfortable for either the Major or myself but neither
one of us were physically assaulted." He and Sam had agreed that this was what he
was going to say but Jack couldn't help but notice how Sam cringed at the words
'physically assaulted.' He just wanted to assure the General and his friends that
Sam was definitely not raped.
"Colonel," General Hammond said with a little more anger than he intended. "I have
seen your medical reports. Both you and the major suffered physical blows at the
hands of theses Goa'uld; that's physical assault son."
"What the Colonel is trying to say is that we weren't raped Sir." Sam said speaking
up for the first time in several minutes. She sat up straighter and took a sip of water
hoping it would be enough to hold back the nausea that was threatening to
overwhelm her.
"Some of the Khans tried to get a little fresh with me Sir and Colonel O'Neill
attempted to get them to stop. This is when he received his injuries." General
Hammond just nodded. "I tried to not react to some of the things one of the Khans
was doing to me but I'm afraid I also lashed out."
"She kneed the guy." Jack said with a grim smile.
"The Khan didn't take too kindly to that Sir and that's when I received my injuries."
Sam couldn't help but look into the General's eyes and beg him not to ask her to say
any more. The General nodded once and stood up.
"I think that's all I need to know. You all are on downtime for the next week. I
recommend using that time to actually leave the base." The General received the
usual "Yes, Sirs" and "Thank you General" as the group stood up to leave.
"Colonel? Can I have an additional word with you and the Major please?" Both Jack
and Sam turned back towards the General with apprehension.
"I know you two have been through a hellacious ordeal and I want you to know that
if you need more time, you just let me know."
"Thank you Sir." Jack said resisting the urge to take Sam's hand.
"I am also ordering the two of you to talk to someone."
"Sir?" Sam asked puzzled.
"I don't care if it's McKenzie or Frasier or a priest or a friend but both of you need to
talk about what happened. And talking to each other does NOT do it for me; do I
make myself understood?"
"Yes Sir." Jack and Sam said morosely. Both knew the General was right but
neither one of them looked forward to reliving the event.
"Now go on home kids and get some rest. That's also an order." Jack gave the
General a small smile and lightly placed his hand on the small of Sam's back as he
ushered her out of the office. There would be plenty of time to talk with others in
the upcoming days, for now Jack and Sam were heading home.
Tbc. We're getting there folks. Words of encouragement WILL make my type faster.
~grin~