Chapter 7

(one month later)

Janet looked up at the cacophony of noise that erupted outside her office, she was already on her way out when a fraught nurse appeared at her door.

"She's woken again, doctor. That's only been two hours and we gave her enough sedative for another six. We can't possibly give her any more painkillers without risking damage." Janet nodded, following her back out into the infirmary.

In the pale sheets of the infirmary beds, Sam Carter almost disappeared. Her face was white, devoid of colour. Her hair lay limp and dank at her sides. Her breathing was shallow as she struggled to draw breath through the restriction that covered her chest and she thrashed in her bed, trying to find a position that didn't bring her pain, a fruitless task in her current state. Janet growled at the results reading off the chart. Nothing looked good. She only hoped Jack would soon finish his meeting with General Hammond, and come back with an affirmative answer, allowing them to take Sam through the gate back to the planet where they had spent the last two years and seek assistance from those that he done this to them.

It had been a plan that Janet had viciously opposed when Jack had first suggested it, Sam along with her when she had still been coherent enough to give her opinion. But now it seemed it was Sam's only hope. She could only hope she lasted long enough for the answer to come through.

Jack awoke in the infirmary, his mind woolly with sleep. Rolling onto one side he looked out over the adjacent beds, smiling as his team was revealed to him. Teal'c in the far bed seemed too large for the average-sized infirmary bed, as though he would topple it at any minute. Daniel, one bed closer to him, seemed to long, his feet brushing the foot-board as he slept. Lieutenant Hailey on the other hand, looked much too small. Delicate almost, though he'd never risk his life to tell her. He checked them all for signs of injury, gratified to see there was none, and then set his mind on remembering why they had ended up in the infirmary.

He shot up in bed when he remembered what their mission had been. The moment it had been authorised they had sent the message to the infirmary to have Sam ready for transport as soon as possible. The look on Janet's face had told them quite clearly that this was Sam's only hope, there was nothing more that she could do. They had taken the gurney to the gateroom, lifting her onto a stretcher for transport through the gate. Her hands had been shaking sporadically and Janet had warned that this was the lead up to a full-blown seizure which could kill her in her weakened state. The warning had got through, Jack's hands beginning to shake. The co-ordinates for PX6-666 had to be re-entered into the computer as they had been locked out after their previous mission, but it took only seconds and then they were ready to go...

What had happened? They had definitely gone through the gate, but beyond that he remembered nothing. And Sam wasn't in the room with them. Leaping out of the bed, and nearly falling as his feet touched the icy cold floor, Jack raced for Janet's office.

"Janet." He called as he spotted her in her chair. "Where's Sam?" She looked up, her face pale.

"She didn't follow you back, Jack. She's still out there." Jack fell into an empty chair.

"Why?"

"I don't know, maybe they're treating her and it takes longer than the three days. Maybe they're going to keep her back again. I just don't know."

"Why her and not me or why not keep us all there while they help her?"

"Why just you two in the first place Jack? We don't know their motives in this and we can't predict what we don't know. I'm sorry, we're just going to have to wait."

Sam awoke, aware that something had changed but unsure what it was; her mind foggy with the effects of the drugs. As her mind cleared she found that the pain she was expecting to arrive shortly after the recession of the drug's affects was absent. She sat up cautiously, amazed to find that she was able to do so without the agonising pain she had come to associate with any movement.

Looking around herself she found that she was sat on a bed in the infirmary, which was pretty much empty. She could just about see Janet on the phone through the door of her office. Trying to listen in on what she was saying, Sam jumped as a low laugh sounded in the doorway. She turned to find Jack walking towards her bed.

"Jack!" She called, accepting his embrace.

"Nice to see you up." He replied.

"What happened?"

"We took you back, to ask for help. Daniel, Teal'c, Hailey and I all got thrown back three days later, like before. You didn't come back for another three days. I thought they were going to keep you again." He pulled her into another tight hug. "Don't do that again in a hurry, OK?"

"I'm all for that. But what happened. Did they fix the machine?"

"Not only that." Sam looked up as Janet appeared out of her office. "They removed it."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What's real anymore, and how can you tell? Do you know?