Daniel stirred as his eyes fluttered open, his vision was blurry and he tried to focus.
"Daniel Jackson, it is good to see you awake" Daniel heard Teal'c and turned his head to his left to see the big man standing by his bed and bowing his head at him.
"What happened?" he asked trying to move but having trouble with the heavy metal his right arm was immobilized with. Teal'c helped him sit upright
"You were hit with a staff weapon while we guarded the gate, I am pleased to say we were victorious, but at the cost of many injured and many dead" Teal'c's voice was low and Daniel could hear the sadness there.
As he suddenly saw Sam entering the room his eyes grew wide and he started mumbling forgetting about everything else he wanted to ask and looking straight into her eyes.
"Sam? Is that you? You're really here? What happened to you? Where have you been? Where's Jack? What is going on?" the rain of questions poured on her as she smiled waiting for a chance to explain.
"Hi Daniel how are you feeling?" she asked
"What happened to you?" he asked again his voice a little more calm though they both knew he was still distraught.
"Well it's a long, long story so for now I'll give you the short version, we were kidnapped, but I think you should get some rest and I'll tell you all about it soon okay?"
George walked down the corridor and reached Sam and Teal'c who were seating with Daniel by his bed.
"Any news?" he asked as the three looked up at him
"No Sir" Sam answered "He's still in surgery"
"Who is?" Daniel asked looking very confused then figured the only one not standing by his bed was Jack "Jack? What happened to Jack?" he asked anxious.
"Part of that long story Daniel"
"You have to tell me something" he urged her on.
"How are you feeling Dr. Jackson?" General Hammond asked the man in the bed trying to change the subject.
"I'll be fine eventually" Daniel said his voice low as he was too anxious to know Jack's condition to be worried about himself, that was one of the things that made him and Jack so much alike, both always cared and worried about everyone else with no regard to themselves.
He tried to move to a more comfortable position in the bed and flinched with pain as he accidentally moved his injured arm, the pins securing the bone were tight and the pain that coursed through him did not subside as he had hoped and when the pain was too much for him to bear he passed out causing unnecessary worry to his friends.
It was 9 hours of grueling intricate work trying to put together a shattered knee, Janet came out sweating even if she wasn't the one doing all the work, they had called in a specialist and flown him from New-York, Janet worked on Jack's shoulder wound while Dr. Satterfield worked on Jack's knee trying to reconnect arteries and veins, tendons and muscles and not to mention removing bone fragments and replacing the Patella with an artificial one.
"How is he?" Sam was the first to speak as Janet neared the group
"He'll live, as far as his knee is, we'll just have to wait and see, now, what happened to Daniel?"
"He tried to move and collapsed from the pain" Sam explained "the nurse pushed some morphine into his I.V." Janet nodded as she caught General Hammond's gaze.
"Sir, Dr. Satterfield can fill you in on exactly what he had done and what the prognosis is as soon as he will finish"
"Thank you Dr." he nodded at her
At that time Dr. Satterfield emerged from the O.R. walking beside the bed that was wheeled into place in the infirmary. Janet walked over to him with General Hammond, they could see him giving orders to the staff to reconnect the E.K.G. leads and to monitor his blood pressure and urine output very closely for the next 48 hours, he removed the cover over Jack's left leg and inspected the bandage, he seemed satisfied as he placed the blanket back over the sleeping man with care, he turned around to face George.
"General Hammond I presume" he reached his right hand to shake with the General.
He was a man of 50 years or older with white hair and a white mustache, he had clear blue gentle eyes as he looked at the people around.
"It's nice to meet you Dr. Satterfield; can you tell me how is Col. O'Neill doing?"
"Well, coming out of a surgery like that means he is a very strong man, I believe with the intense physical therapy I have in store for him he will be able to do more then he dreamed of at his age"
"What exactly do you mean by that doctor?" Hammond was confused
"Oh I'm sorry, I thought you knew"
"Knew what?" Hammond was now getting a bit impatient
"I have been working on an experimental …"
"Wait a minute" George lifted his right hand to stop the man and looked to Janet for answers.
"Sir, Dr. Satterfield has spent the last 20 years developing artificially mechanical ways to help paraplegic people walk again"
"Bur Col. O'Neill is not paraplegic" Hammond insisted
"No, but his leg was too damaged to try anything else, if we were to save his leg. Dr. Satterfield implanted an artificial knee in the Col."
"It's the first time I have implanted the artificial knee, General Hammond but I have done many other implants that have had great success"
"You are talking about something so far fetched it's straight out of the Steve Austin 6 million dollar man T.V. show" Hammond sounded frustrated.
"Actually that show gave me the idea" Satterfield confessed.
"Sir, you are the last person I expected this reaction from considering what we do here" Janet said in a low voice, but was still overheard by Satterfield
"What DO you do here?" he asked curious
"That's classified Doctor" Hammond answered
"Oh I understand, top secret government stuff hah?" George did not answer, he turned to face Janet
"Let me know when either Dr. Jackson or Col. O'Neill regains consciousness.
"Yes Sir" Janet nodded as Hammond left the infirmary.
□□□□
Anubis has conquered Earth? He thought to himself as he was sitting in his bed, the remote control still clenched in his hand, the T.V. screen black after he had turned it off.
"It can't be true, it just can't, and Hammond would have never allowed it to happen" he said the last words out loud
"He died trying" he looked up to see young Dr. Haze standing by the door to his room his hand still on the door knob
"You know what happened to him?" Jack asked
"Yeah, I looked it up, not much information remains after such a long lime not to mention the fact that Anubis destroyed most of everything"
"Tell me please?" he pleaded
"They struck the SGC first and gained control of the Stargate then they attacked Washington D.C. and every other powerful nation on Earth. After that it was easy, not to mention the fact that when people learned of the Stargate program and that it has been both the cause and the secret kept from them, things kinda blew up. General Hammond died defending Cheyenne Mountain on the first strike"
Jack was looking down his hand, his fingers still holding on to the remote control
"I'm sorry you had to find out this way Daniel, but I think you'd better get some rest now" he smiled softly and nodded at him as he quietly closed the door, leaving Jack alone once again. To sit there and wonder about what he had just heard.
Jack's palm was itchy as he looked down at it he suddenly smiled.
"I should have known" he said as he laid-back on his pillows and closed his eyes.
□□□□
'Damn my leg is killing me, how can they say I have a cord injury and still feel so much pain' he thought to himself, he couldn't stop flinching, it was suddenly cold and a shiver went through his body, he could hear voices around him but he couldn't make out any words, he felt someone touch him and the chills ran throughout his entire body, he couldn't decide if the touch was pleasant or not, he wanted who ever it was to stop and he tried to lift his arm but found he couldn't move, he tried to open his eyes but felt them too heavy. All of a sudden he felt his body relax and his mind drifted into darkness, he breathed out a sigh, the pain was gone.
The next morning.
Sam entered the infirmary at 4am to relieve Teal'c. They had pulled guard duty on their two teammates; they knew the infirmary was safe from attack but still they needed to watch over each other especially when in the infirmary.
"Teal'c? Any change?" Teal'c rose to his feet from the chair he has been occupying the last few hours after relieving Carter.
"O'Neill was restless, the nurse gave him more sedatives, Daniel Jackson did not wake" he informed her in a low voice as she reclaimed the chair and Teal'c went to his quarters to get some rest.
At around 6am Daniel started stirring slightly; Sam leaned into him and whispered into his ear
"Everything is fine Daniel; try to get some more sleep" but as soothing as she made her voice sound his eyelids fluttered open and his irises shrunk as a reaction to the bright light of the infirmary.
"Sam?" he asked feeling somewhat confused
"Yes Daniel, it's me, you're okay, don't worry" she said
"I'm okay, help me up" he was already pulling himself up using his left hand; Sam helped him by tucking some pillows behind his back for him to lean on.
"How is Jack?" he asked as he was trying to find a comfortable position
Before Sam could answer Janet came near
"Let me check your hand Daniel" She said as she immediately began to look over the huge construction holding his arm together, she placed a thermometer in his mouth but he insisted on repeating his question in a muffled voice
"How is Jack?"
Janet looked into his eyes and after a few seconds of silence she answered
"He's fighting an infection, we're giving him massive doses of antibiotics and sedating him, all we can do is wait it out"
Sam could see how worried she really was as Janet took the thermometer from Daniel's mouth and inspected it.
"You are running a high fever too Daniel, I'm going to start you on antibiotics too" he simply nodded not really knowing what to say now. They all fell silent until the alarms sounded over at Jack's bed and Janet sprinted there like a wild cat on the hunt.
Sam and Daniel heard the commotion and the all too familiar defibrillator with the sound of one single continuous beep.
TBC
How are things going so far? Please let me know…………. REVIEW.MHhhh