The Trouble with Eavesdropping Part 2
Author's Notes: Once again, I am proving to no one at all that I am able to write a
nice short little story. ROXIE THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT. I'm afraid this Barista
derivative has turned into a full-blown SG-1 adventure. Kira will indeed play a role
(eventually) but first we need a little angst, a little hurt and comfort and of course a
lot of SG-1 banter. Enjoy!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~
DANIEL'S POV
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
First I let Jack talk me into playing college boy, and now I have to find out exactly
when and where Kira's birthday is. And of course, the logical person to ask would be
one of her friends. And the only one we know well (and I mean know in the loosest
sence of the word) is Stefan.
You *so* owe me on Jack.
"Hel-lo Dr. Jackson!" Stefan says a little too lecherously for my liking as his eyes
slowly travel up and down my body. I can't believe how discombobulated a 21-year-
old boy can make me feel!
"Hey Stefan." I say trying not to appear ill at ease.
"Kira's not here ya know." He says sounding a little confused. After over a year of
coming here regularly, I pretty much know Kira's schedule- and Stefan knows it.
"Yeah about Kira… Stefan, I have a question for you."
"Por Moi?" Stefan says placing a hand against his chest and batting his eyelashes.
Great. He does Miss Piggy impressions as well? Contrary to what Jack believes, I
did occasionally have a normal childhood. Even watched The Muppet Show.
I let out a small sigh and shake my head. "Yes, for you."
"Well, why don't I make you a drink and you can tell me all about it?" Stefan says
sounding almost normal as he grabs a stainless steel pitcher of milk.
"Just a tall drip please." I say.
"Ah come on Daniel," Stefan says sounding eerily like Jack. "Let me use my god-
given talents and whip you up something yummy."
Yummy?
"Uh, ok." I guess it was too much to hope for a quick question and answer session.
Stefan doesn't try and talk over the whirl of the espresso machine and for that I'm
eternally grateful. Not only was that last mission rather muddy (in addition to being
long and cold), but the continuous wind and rain meant we had to constantly yell at
one another to make ourselves heard. The silence of the SGC after returning home
was nearly deafening!
"I said here you go Dr. Jackson." Stefan says again loudly. Oops.
"Sorry." I say a little sheepishly. Sometimes it's frustrating not being able to tell
people why you are behaving a little oddly. Or when you are right in certain
theories…
"So what brings you to my neck of the woods?" Stefan says giving me a curious look
as I pay for my drink.
"I remember Kira telling me months ago that her birthday is in December." I say in
what I hope is a casual sounding way. Again, Stefan looks at me oddly.
"Yeah, it's next weekend in fact."
"Really?" I reply taking a sip of the concoction he has made for me. I can't help but
let out a little sigh. Not only is this the first decent coffee in 4 days, but it's damn
good as well.
"See?" Stefan says smugly. "Told you you'd like it."
"This is a great drink Stefan." I say honestly. "You guys going to throw Kira a big
surprise party?" I ask steering the conversation back to her birthday.
"Nope. Kree.." He stops and looks at me sharply. I don't even twitch. Ha! See
Jack, I can handle myself just fine. Stefan shrugs and continues. "Kree has it all
planned. Dinner at Phantom Canyon for her close friends and then everyone she has
possibly met in the last two years is supposed to head on over to O'Malleys."
"O'Malleys? I ask clearly surprised. Why aren't they staying at the brewpub?
Phantom's has a banquet hall and everything! O'Malleys isn't exactly a happening
place; more of a local drinking hole for those who like a good steak. I couldn't
imagine why Kira would want to go back there. There are plenty of other good bars
that cater exclusively to the young 20-somethings of this town.
"Yeah, we found O'Malleys to be an odd choice as well. Later at work I asked her
about it and Kree just turned red and said she was there once before and had a
pretty nice time. Considering that she's just turning 21 NOW, I figure she was just
embarrassed to have been out drinking underage." I nod thoughtfully. At least it's
nice to know that my drunken ramblings didn't ruin the experience for her; Jack
kidded me for weeks after that.
"O'Malleys this Saturday night huh?" I say taking another very satisfying drink.
"Maybe I'll stop by and wish her a happy birthday." In my mind I'm doing a little
calculating. Today is Wednesday and this afternoon we have a mission briefing.
Considering that out last mission ended up going three days over, I'm sure General
Hammond will give us something light. Which means we'll leave on Thursday and
return no later than Friday. This actually might work.
"I'm sure Kira would like that Daniel." Stefan says warmly. Uh oh. I had better
watch it- I'm starting to actually like the guy.
"I might be out of town though." I say quickly. "So if you could not say anything to
Kira, that would probably be for the best."
"Sure." Stefan says amicably. Wow. This was a lot easier than I thought.
"Thanks Stefan!" I say as I grab a lid for my drink and head out the door. "And
whatever this concoction is that you made- it's damn good!"
"It's all in the wrist Dr. Jackson." Stefan says grinning widely. Impulsively I head
back and drop $5 into the tip jar. "Damn good."
I am almost out the door when I hear Stefan chuckle. "Now I know why Kira likes
you so much!"
~~~~~~~~
JACK'S POV
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hurry up Daniel, or we're going to be late!" I grouse at our wayward archaeologist
as he gathers up more papers.
"I'm coming, I'm coming." Daniel says as he tucks the papers under one arm and
grabs a cup of coffee with the other. Speaking of coffee..
"You talk to that fruity kid yet?" I ask conversationally.
"God Jack! Can you be any more un-pc?" Daniel says irritably as he storms out of
his office and down the hall.
"Sorry." I say somewhat so. Mostly I make fun of Stefan because it bugs Daniel.
I'd never actually tell Daniel this however.
"Yeah, I talked with him. Her birthday is this Saturday. There's going to be a big
group dinner for her close friends at 6:30 and then everyone is to meet at O'Malleys
at 9."
"O'Malleys?" I ask a little confused stopping for a moment to look at Daniel.
"O'Malleys isn't exactly known as a hang out bar for kids."
"Yeah, I know." Daniel says giving me a small smile. "Seems Kira insisted on
O'Malleys. Stefan didn't get all the details from Kira, but apparently she just blushed
and said she had good memories of the place.
"You did play the touchy-feely patron Daniel." I say causing Daniel to turn beet
red.
"Gee, thanks for reminding me Jack." Daniel says sarcastically. When did Daniel
become so sarcastic?
"Yeah, I know. I apologized profusely the next day."
"I'm sure Kira didn't mind Daniel." I say giving him my best Teal'c impression as I
try to raise only one eyebrow. Judging from the look Daniel is giving me, my
attempt at humor hasn't met with a roaring success.
"Can we change the subject please?" Daniel asks plaintively as we walk into the
briefing room.
"You're in luck Daniel," I say eyeing Carter, Teal'c and the General. "Looks like the
gangs all here.
"Sorry we're late General." I say in explanation as I make a small motion towards
Daniel. Luckily the General is well aware of Daniel's work habits and gives him and
the rest of SG-1 a hell of a lot of leeway. More than we probably deserve.
"You're here now Colonel." The General says as he motions for me to sit down.
"Let's begin."
Mission assignments are passed out and as usual, SG-1 takes a few moments to eye
them over before the General fills us in on the details. I notice Carter's eyes
suddenly go wide and then Daniel frowns as he reads something on the preliminary
report. Confused, I glance down at the mission I have already been briefed on. It's
nothing we haven't done before guys; meet and greet, three-days… oh. Oh.
"Err, General?" I say somewhat awkwardly. Damn- I agreed to this mission last
week! How am I going to get us out of it?
"Yes Colonel?" General Hammond asks clearly confused. He sees that both Carter
and Daniel are uncomfortable. Hell, Danny is already fidgeting in his seat!
"Sir, I know I already agreed that SG-1 should complete this mission, and I still think
we should.." I pause and meet Daniel's worried gaze. "But if it's all right with you
Sir, could we save this mission for next week, and take the P2X-646 mission
tomorrow?"
"The 24 hour recon?" The General asks more than a little confused.
"Yes Sir." Maybe I'll get lucky and he won't need further explanation.
"May I ask why Colonel?"
Damn.
Before I can say anything more, Daniel speaks up. "It's my fault Sir." He says
hastily. "I sort of made plans for this Saturday and really need to keep them Sir."
I can see the General mulling this over. Daniel seldom, hell- Daniel has *never*
asked the General for anything personal. Not that I am aware of anyhow. By saying
he needs Saturday off, he's asking for a favor. And I know for a fact that the
General will oblige.
"Very well. SG-1 you have a go for P2X-646 tomorrow morning. You leave at 0800
and Colonel O'Neill will brief you on the particulars at 1500 this afternoon."
"Thank you Sir." Daniel says sincerely. Carter and I both stand up as the General
nods and then leaves the room. He obviously doesn't quite understand what
happened, but he trusts me enough to fill him in if needed.
"Thanks Jack." Daniel says pushing himself away from the table and standing up.
"Hey, if you hadn't spoken up, I would have Daniel." I say simply.
"I do not understand O'Neill." Teal'c says sounding completely Teal'c like. "Why are
we not going to P2X-928 tomorrow?"
"Long story Teal'c." I say motioning him to follow me. "How about I fill you in over
lunch?"
~~~~~~~~~
TEAL'C'S POV
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
O'Neill has explained to me why he changed our three-day mission into a 24 hour
one, but I am still perplexed by his actions. Could not the Taur'i authorities be
informed of KiraMeyer's situation? I know O'Neill is a man of great honor, but why
does he feel the need to protect this child when there are surely others who can do
so? Although I have lived among the Taur'i for nearly two years now, their actions
continue to puzzle me.
O'Neill and the rest of SG-1 are behind me as I take the lead on our way back to the
Chapp'ai. We traveled over 10 miles yesterday and did not encounter any civilization
to speak of; DanielJackson was most disappointed. CaptainCarter did ascertain that
there is indeed naquada in the soil on this world and it has been our finding that
where there is naquada, there are usually humans. Unfortunately, where there are
humans, there are more than often than not Goa'uld. My thoughts are abruptly
interrupted by the squawk of the radio.
"Teal'c do you copy?"
"I am here O'Neill."
"I think I heard something back here." He whispers urgently. I can picture him
stopping the team and motioning for everyone to take cover.
"We're definitely being followed Sir." CaptainCarter adds.
"T- double back and meet up with us. But be careful!" He orders switching his radio
off. I inhale deeply as I absorb his words. O'Neill is a great leader, but sometimes I
wish he would remember that I am nearly twice his age and not unfamiliar with my
duties as a warrior.
I quickly retrace my steps and am nearly to their position when I hear it- the
unmistakable sound of weapons fire. The sound is reminiscent of zat'nik'atels but I
do not believe it is. What is most troubling is that I do not hear the retort of Taur'i
weapons firing in return. I hide myself and listen.
There are voices. They are not speaking English or one of the dozen or so languages
I would recognize as Taur'i. I exhale slowly- it is also not Goa'uld. I am certain
DanielJackson would be able to make sense of it, but I however cannot. I need to
gain a better position so I can see what has befallen my teammates.
I had just begun to move when I hear a small sound. The alien voices stop talking
and I hear movement among the trees. The sound returns and I recognize it as a
soft moan; whatever has transpired against SG-1, at least one is regaining
consciousness.
Without warning CaptainCarter makes her move and from the sounds I hear, is
fighting without the aid of her P-90. I quickly move to go to her aid and am
dismayed to see dozens of tall pale humans surrounding her. Dr. Jackson and O'Neill
are unconscious on the group beside her and CaptainCarter is trying in vain to get
her weapon to fire.
"Bastards aren't playing fair are you?" She says attempting to shoot them with a
zat'nik'atel and finding the weapon inoperable. She throws it behind her and takes a
step backwards closer to her fallen comrades. She picks up O'Neill's P-90 and
attempts to shoot, but is again unsuccessful. Whatever weapon was used to render
Jackson and O'Neill unconscious, it must also be preventing SG-1's weapons from
functioning properly.
I lie silently in the underbrush watching the scene unfold. As much as I want to go
to CaptainCarter's aid, I know I should not. If I were to do so, there is a very good
chance my staff weapon would be rendered inoperable as well and I too would be
captured. No, I need to remain hidden and see what they plan to do with my fallen
comrades.
I watch with pride as CaptainCarter incapacitates several warriors using the non-
functioning P-90 as a staff and her arms and legs as weapons. Both O'Neill and I
have worked with her on her unarmed combat and she is nearly as skilled as a Jaffa
in her fighting.
Unfortunately it is not enough. They fire their energy weapons several times at her,
and although I can see she is weakened, she stoically fights on. One being hits her
savagely across her face and she drops to the ground stunned. Before she can get
back up another kicks her in the side and then steps heavily on her prone arm.
Samantha Carter screams in pain and I wince as I hear the bones break. Mercifully
she passes out.
My grip on my staff weapon is tight as I watch as all three are dragged away; silently
I follow.
~~~~~~~
SAM'S POV
~~~~~~~~~~~
Come on guys- wake up already!
We have been in this room/cell for nearly an hour now and neither the Colonel nor
Daniel has given me any inclination that they want to wake up. Luckily, I am pretty
certain they will soon. After all, I did didn't I?
Fat lot of good it did me…
I'm sitting next to Daniel against a cold stone wall and wishing like crazy they'd left
us our packs; heck, I'd settle for just one flack jacket full of all sorts of comforting
little drugs.
I'd kill for an aspirin. Well maybe not kill, but definitely maim. And since I'm
wishing here- could you make it Tylenol with codeine? Or perhaps some morphine?
Yeah, a syringe of morphine would be really, really nice about now.
A sound shakes me out of my self-pitying mood and I hear the Colonel groan as he
attempts to sit up. He doesn't get very far before he falls back to the cold ground
with a gentle thud.
"Uggh."
"How do you feel Sir?" I ask pretty much already aware of his answer. Although I
had managed to shake off the effects of their weapons rather quickly, I know his
nerve synapses are hypersensitive at the moment and he won't be able to move too
well until it wears off. Won't be able to see that well either.
"Didn't know I could possibly feel every single muscle in my body Carter." He says
groaning as he attempts to sit up again. "So what hit us and how long have we been
here?"
"About an hour Sir." I say trying to keep it short. "I think they hit us with a
modified electrical current. It wasn't exactly a zat, but the immediate effect was the
same." The Colonel has suddenly stopped listening to me as he raises a hand in
front on his face and waves it a few times in front of his eyes. He frowns slightly as
he does it once again.
"So what's wrong with my eyes?" He asks trying to sound nonchalant.
"The weapon effected our cortical synapses as well Sir. Don't worry it's temporary."
Even from across the room, I can see him processing that statement. He looks in
my general direction and squints.
"How do *you* know Carter?"
Time to face the music. "I know Sir, because the effect has already worn off with
me."
"Their ray guns only effect men?!" I want to laugh but don't knowing it would hurt
like hell.
"No, Sir. I think it has something to do with the naquada in my bloodstream. I
initially went down just like you and Daniel did, but the effect was only for a minute
or two."
"Then what happened Carter?"
I sigh quietly. Sometimes being in the military sucks. I really wish I could lie to my
commanding officer. "Then Sir, I fought. Our weapons were also rendered
ineffective so I resorted to one on one fighting."
"There was only one?"
"More like one on twenty Sir." I say sounding tired. I *am* tired.
"Ouch." He says grimacing before looking concerned. "'You ok?" He asks trying
very hard to focus on me from across the room.
"Fine Sir." I say putting all my energy into sounding positive.
"Uh huh." The Colonel says clearly not believing me. "Daniel around here some
place?" He asks looking ineffectually around our prison.
"He's about 20 feet to your left Sir, he should be fine once he wakes up." The
Colonel looks to the left, doesn't really see anything and then fixes his gaze back
towards me.
"Well then, since you're perfectly fine, you won't mind if I come over there and have
a look, right?" He doesn't even wait for my response before attempting to stand up.
He doesn't get very far before his legs give out and he slumps unceremoniously back
to the ground.
"Carter! This is really annoying here!" The Colonel says sounding quite irritated.
I resist getting up and walking over to him as I know it will hurt like hell to do so.
"Again, it's temporary Sir. You should be back to normal soon."
"Are you able to walk?" He asks seriously; it doesn't go unnoticed that I wasn't at
his side the moment he woke up.
"Yes Sir." Would prefer not to though.
"Well in that case Carter, I need for you to come on over so I can see for myself that
you're ok."
"Really Sir, I'm fine." I say lying through my teeth.
"Then you won't mind humoring an old man, will you?"
"You're not that old." I say grumbling as I gingerly ease myself up using the stone
wall for leverage. I crunch my eyes tightly against the pain the movement causes,
but can't help the nearly inaudible moan that escapes through my lips. Naturally the
Colonel hears it.
"I heard that Carter." Damn. He doesn't sound happy. Well you know what Sir?
I'm not exactly thrilled either.
I carefully walk the 20 feet or so towards him and ease myself back into a sitting
position panting audibly. That hurt! The Colonel shifts his body forward another few
feet until he's less than an arm's length away from me and proceeds to squint in an
attempt to get a better look at me.
"Whoa! That's some shiner you have there Sam." He says reaching out and gingerly
touching the corner of my left eye. I can't help but let out a small grunt in pain.
Briefly I close my eyes as I attempt to get my feelings under control. I hate the fact
that at the moment I just want to burst into tears. Shock; I'm sure its just shock.
And pain. Let's not forget that all this really doesn't feel too good.
"Broken cheekbone?" He asks as he ever so gently wipes away a stray tear from my
right eye.
"Probably just badly bruised." I say quietly; I hate being the injured one. Not that I
would ever wish it on any of my teammates, but I'm so much better at taking care of
them than I am of myself. I watch as the Colonel continues to look me over. Of
course he doesn't miss the way I'm holding my right arm to my chest.
"And your arm?" He asks looking me straight in the eyes. He looks at me with such
compassion, that again I am on the brink of tears. I *hate* being wounded!
"Broken Sir." I say with a small sigh.
"Anything else I should know about?" He asks as he awkwardly places a hand on my
shoulder. He really can't see me that well, and I'm just happy his hand landed on
my shoulder and not where it looked like it was headed.
I debate not telling him, but know it will be probably get me into more trouble later
on. "I think I might have a broken rib as well." I say unable to meet his gaze. I
feel rather than see him nod.
"Medical supplies?" He asks as he moves his hand off my shoulder and runs it
across my collarbone to my neck. He gently lifts my face up so that we're eye to
eye. Sorry Sir, no medical supplies. I just shake my head unable to say anything.
The Colonel nods once and makes some sort of decision. "Well then, let's see what
we can do about making you more comfortable." He looks around the room and
focuses on Daniel.
"Daniel!" He yells.
Nothing.
Feeling around the ground, the Colonel picks up a small stone and chucks it in
Daniel's general direction; it was blind luck that it hit him at all.
~~~~~~~~~
DANIEL'S POV
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Ow!" What'd I do wrong now? "Jack, I bet that was you." I say accusingly taking
in the fact that I'm lying flat on my back on a rather cold floor. I don't even have to
look in his direction to know that only Jack O'Neill would throw rocks at me in order
to wake me up. Guess I'm not dead. He's usually much nicer when I'm dead.
"Time to wake up Daniel. Carter needs help."
Instantly I bolt straight up and groan aloud as my muscles ache with the exertion. I
look around the room and can't make out a damn thing.
"Sam? She's ok, isn't she?"
"I'm right here Daniel." Sam says a little to my right. "I'm fine. Your eyes should
return to normal soon."
"Nice to know I *didn't* lose yet another pair of glasses." I attempt to stand up and
after one failed attempt, manage to stand on exceedingly shaky legs. I look in
Sam's general direction for an explanation.
"Your legs and arms should start working correctly in a few minutes Daniel." Sam
says giving me the information I wanted. "The effects are zat-like, only longer
lasting."
"Seems Carter got the abbreviated version while you and I were knocked on our
asses." Jack explains.
"Lovely." I am able to see two very vague shapes to my right and crawl awkwardly
in their direction. The big lump slumped on the ground must be Jack. The figure
sitting ramrod straight holding an arm tightly against her chest must be Sam. I
shuffle even closer and am able to see the rather colorful and swollen bruises across
her face.
"What happened Sam?" I ask in concern. Why'd Sam get hurt and not us? My mind
instantly flashes forward to the worst possible scenarios. Before I can even sort out
my panicked thoughts, Sam holds up a hand and places it lightly on my shoulder.
"I'm fine Daniel." She says hurriedly. Jack just snorts.
"I will be fine." She says pointedly looking at Jack. "You and the Colonel were
knocked out by the electrical current and although I was initially affected as well, I
quickly recovered and tried to talk our captors into letting us go." She gingerly
touches her swollen face with her left hand. "They didn't like the idea."
"Daniel, do you have any medical supplies on you?" Jack asks hopefully. He knows I
tend to stash things in my cargo pants rather than the flack jacket.
And we're in luck. "Yeah Jack I think I do. Hold on a sec." I awkwardly reach into a
trouser pocket and pull out a little packet of Tylenol. "It's not much Sam, but.."
"This is great Daniel." Sam says sincerely taking the small packet from my slightly
shaking hand. Muscle spasms. Awkwardly she holds it in one hand and rips it open
with her teeth, swallowing the two tablets dry. Sam will never say so, but she must
be in a lot of pain. I wish we had something more for her
"We need to find something to bind Carter's ribs and maybe something to make a
splint for her arm." Jack says explaining Sam's injuries to me. My heart clenches as
I imagine the pain Sam must be in. I wish we could have been there for her.
I look around the room, but it becomes blatantly apparent that I can't see more than
5 or 6 meters in front of me. "Sam, can you tell us if there's anything in here we can
use?" I ask.
"And while you're at it Carter, give me a little recon on what we're looking at here."
Jack adds, clearly frustrated that he can't see either.
"We're in a stone structure about 40 feet square Sir. There is one small window- too
small for anyone to crawl through, and a large wooden door. I think this building
was used as a storage area Sir. There are bundles of hay in one corner and bags of
what must be seed in another."
"Anything long and pointy we can use as a weapon?"
"No Sir." Sam says clearly dejected. She must have already looked earlier.
"What about sticks Sam? Anything we can use as a splint?" I ask.
"Not that I can see."
We sit in silence for a few moments before Jack speaks. "Well, at least we can do
something about your ribs."
~~~~~~~
JACK'S POV
~~~~~~~
I am so glad I'm one of those paranoid Colonels. Even though we have (well usually
anyway) our packs and flack jackets, I almost always carry a little something extra
in my cargo pants' pocket; an army knife. An Air Force knife? We definitely need
some better PR.
I pull the knife out of my pants and smile. Not only do we have a way to make
Carter more comfortable, but we now have a weapon as well. A very small weapon
perhaps- but I've used worse.
"Jack! You have a knife in your pocket!" Daniel says clearly shocked that the good
Colonel would disobey his own directive. Several months ago SG-1 had been in a bit
of a firefight and had to hightail it back to the gate double-time. Now, I've watched
Daniel run- hell, I trained the kid to run. I know he has what it takes to do 400
meters in less than 60 seconds. So imagine my surprise when push came to shove
and it was Daniel that nearly got us captured- Daniel and several pounds of needless
crap. Video equipment, translation books, cameras...I had told everyone to drop
their packs and run and although Daniel did so, he was weighed down by nearly 12
extra pounds of CRAP. After that I ordered him (and anyone else within a 3 mile
radius of the gateroom) never to keep anything besides a ration bar and a pack of
gum in his pockets.
"Daniel," I say tiredly as I pull my t-shirt out of my pants and carefully slice a small
tear about 1/3 of the way up. "It isn't that I don't like you using your pants'
pockets, it's that you tended to put *everything* in those pockets and that just
slows you down." I proceed to rip a good chunk of my t-shirt off and cut it into
several long strips.
I close the knife and throw it at Daniel. "We'll need something for her arm as well."
"Look on the bright side Carter," I say trying to get her mind off her obvious
discomfort. "With me and Danny near blind here, you don't have to worry about us
seeing anything we're not supposed too." Of course, there is still the problem of
seeing enough to bind her ribs, but I think I'll be ok.
With one of her arms out of commission, I have to do most of the work, and it feels
a little odd to be partially undressing my 2IC. But Carter's a trooper. I help her
stand back up as it'll be a hell of a lot easier to do this if she's standing rather than
sitting on the ground. I help her out of her jacket and she scarcely makes a peep as
we slip her right arm out of the sleeve. I would have preferred to not move her arm
at all, but the jacket is just too bulky to push it up and out of the way.
"Sam, did I ever tell you about my first year as a Graduate student at NYU?" Daniel
says trying to distract her. He starts jammering on about a crush he had on his T.A.
and how his comical attempts at asking her out. I can see Carter is really trying to
concentrate on him rather than me, but she is extremely aware of everything I'm
doing. She's looking straight ahead and holding herself so rigidly, I'm afraid she
might snap.
"I know this isn't going to feel good Carter, but try and relax a little, ok?" I say as I
pull her t-shirt out of her pants and carefully pull it up to expose a rather ghastly
looking contusion on her right side. The contrast between her pales skin, our green
fatigues and the purple shading of her bruising makes it very easy to see. Very,
very gently I palpitate around the edges of the bruise trying to locate exactly where
she was injured.
"Yes, that is IT Sir." Sam cries out struggling not to pull away from me. I can now
notice (and truth be told, honestly see a bit) the way her body is shaking with small
tremors.
"Carter, how many times were you hit by those energy beam thingys?" I ask as I
tap her left hand to indicate where she should hold the fabric of her shirt.
"I don't know Sir." She whispers as she sucks in a breath as I make my first rotation
with the bandages.
"More than once?" I press as I make a second pass.
"Yeah." She says scarcely allowing herself to breathe. Carter, you aren't helping
yourself here, if you don't relax a bit!
"More than twice?" I ask again. I feel her nod as I make my third rotation. I've
started pulling it tighter now and she clearly doesn't like it.
"It was 4 or 5 times." She says in a rush. "Colonel, I think that's good enough!"
Her t-shirt is clenched tightly in her left hand and I can see small beads of sweat on
her forehead. She's right- this'll have to do. Having Carter pass out on me wouldn't
exactly get me my field medic badge.
"All done Carter." I say tying off the final bandage and releasing the poor t-shirt
from her death grip. "You did good Sam." I say giving her a final tap on her good
arm. Binding ribs is never much fun, but it helps immensely if there's some nice
vicadin or morphine to help you through it; unfortunately we don't have either.
"Thank God." She whispers before allowing Daniel to help her back to the ground.
We don't have anything solid to stabilize Carter's arm with, so Daniel uses his bits of
t-shirt to wrap her arm as tightly as possible against her chest. The less she is able
to move it the better. Clearly exhausted, Carter allows Daniel to wrap her jacket
back around her and then accepts his offer to be a human pillow.
"It'll just be for a few moments Sir." Carter slurs, already ½ asleep.
"We'll be fine Carter, just rest." I tell her. Less than a minute later she's fast
asleep. Daniel and I share a silent look as we contemplate where we go from here.
I'm certain we're both thinking the same thing-
Come on Teal'c!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tbc.
(You know I'll write faster if you review, right?)
Author's Notes: Once again, I am proving to no one at all that I am able to write a
nice short little story. ROXIE THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT. I'm afraid this Barista
derivative has turned into a full-blown SG-1 adventure. Kira will indeed play a role
(eventually) but first we need a little angst, a little hurt and comfort and of course a
lot of SG-1 banter. Enjoy!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~
DANIEL'S POV
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
First I let Jack talk me into playing college boy, and now I have to find out exactly
when and where Kira's birthday is. And of course, the logical person to ask would be
one of her friends. And the only one we know well (and I mean know in the loosest
sence of the word) is Stefan.
You *so* owe me on Jack.
"Hel-lo Dr. Jackson!" Stefan says a little too lecherously for my liking as his eyes
slowly travel up and down my body. I can't believe how discombobulated a 21-year-
old boy can make me feel!
"Hey Stefan." I say trying not to appear ill at ease.
"Kira's not here ya know." He says sounding a little confused. After over a year of
coming here regularly, I pretty much know Kira's schedule- and Stefan knows it.
"Yeah about Kira… Stefan, I have a question for you."
"Por Moi?" Stefan says placing a hand against his chest and batting his eyelashes.
Great. He does Miss Piggy impressions as well? Contrary to what Jack believes, I
did occasionally have a normal childhood. Even watched The Muppet Show.
I let out a small sigh and shake my head. "Yes, for you."
"Well, why don't I make you a drink and you can tell me all about it?" Stefan says
sounding almost normal as he grabs a stainless steel pitcher of milk.
"Just a tall drip please." I say.
"Ah come on Daniel," Stefan says sounding eerily like Jack. "Let me use my god-
given talents and whip you up something yummy."
Yummy?
"Uh, ok." I guess it was too much to hope for a quick question and answer session.
Stefan doesn't try and talk over the whirl of the espresso machine and for that I'm
eternally grateful. Not only was that last mission rather muddy (in addition to being
long and cold), but the continuous wind and rain meant we had to constantly yell at
one another to make ourselves heard. The silence of the SGC after returning home
was nearly deafening!
"I said here you go Dr. Jackson." Stefan says again loudly. Oops.
"Sorry." I say a little sheepishly. Sometimes it's frustrating not being able to tell
people why you are behaving a little oddly. Or when you are right in certain
theories…
"So what brings you to my neck of the woods?" Stefan says giving me a curious look
as I pay for my drink.
"I remember Kira telling me months ago that her birthday is in December." I say in
what I hope is a casual sounding way. Again, Stefan looks at me oddly.
"Yeah, it's next weekend in fact."
"Really?" I reply taking a sip of the concoction he has made for me. I can't help but
let out a little sigh. Not only is this the first decent coffee in 4 days, but it's damn
good as well.
"See?" Stefan says smugly. "Told you you'd like it."
"This is a great drink Stefan." I say honestly. "You guys going to throw Kira a big
surprise party?" I ask steering the conversation back to her birthday.
"Nope. Kree.." He stops and looks at me sharply. I don't even twitch. Ha! See
Jack, I can handle myself just fine. Stefan shrugs and continues. "Kree has it all
planned. Dinner at Phantom Canyon for her close friends and then everyone she has
possibly met in the last two years is supposed to head on over to O'Malleys."
"O'Malleys? I ask clearly surprised. Why aren't they staying at the brewpub?
Phantom's has a banquet hall and everything! O'Malleys isn't exactly a happening
place; more of a local drinking hole for those who like a good steak. I couldn't
imagine why Kira would want to go back there. There are plenty of other good bars
that cater exclusively to the young 20-somethings of this town.
"Yeah, we found O'Malleys to be an odd choice as well. Later at work I asked her
about it and Kree just turned red and said she was there once before and had a
pretty nice time. Considering that she's just turning 21 NOW, I figure she was just
embarrassed to have been out drinking underage." I nod thoughtfully. At least it's
nice to know that my drunken ramblings didn't ruin the experience for her; Jack
kidded me for weeks after that.
"O'Malleys this Saturday night huh?" I say taking another very satisfying drink.
"Maybe I'll stop by and wish her a happy birthday." In my mind I'm doing a little
calculating. Today is Wednesday and this afternoon we have a mission briefing.
Considering that out last mission ended up going three days over, I'm sure General
Hammond will give us something light. Which means we'll leave on Thursday and
return no later than Friday. This actually might work.
"I'm sure Kira would like that Daniel." Stefan says warmly. Uh oh. I had better
watch it- I'm starting to actually like the guy.
"I might be out of town though." I say quickly. "So if you could not say anything to
Kira, that would probably be for the best."
"Sure." Stefan says amicably. Wow. This was a lot easier than I thought.
"Thanks Stefan!" I say as I grab a lid for my drink and head out the door. "And
whatever this concoction is that you made- it's damn good!"
"It's all in the wrist Dr. Jackson." Stefan says grinning widely. Impulsively I head
back and drop $5 into the tip jar. "Damn good."
I am almost out the door when I hear Stefan chuckle. "Now I know why Kira likes
you so much!"
~~~~~~~~
JACK'S POV
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hurry up Daniel, or we're going to be late!" I grouse at our wayward archaeologist
as he gathers up more papers.
"I'm coming, I'm coming." Daniel says as he tucks the papers under one arm and
grabs a cup of coffee with the other. Speaking of coffee..
"You talk to that fruity kid yet?" I ask conversationally.
"God Jack! Can you be any more un-pc?" Daniel says irritably as he storms out of
his office and down the hall.
"Sorry." I say somewhat so. Mostly I make fun of Stefan because it bugs Daniel.
I'd never actually tell Daniel this however.
"Yeah, I talked with him. Her birthday is this Saturday. There's going to be a big
group dinner for her close friends at 6:30 and then everyone is to meet at O'Malleys
at 9."
"O'Malleys?" I ask a little confused stopping for a moment to look at Daniel.
"O'Malleys isn't exactly known as a hang out bar for kids."
"Yeah, I know." Daniel says giving me a small smile. "Seems Kira insisted on
O'Malleys. Stefan didn't get all the details from Kira, but apparently she just blushed
and said she had good memories of the place.
"You did play the touchy-feely patron Daniel." I say causing Daniel to turn beet
red.
"Gee, thanks for reminding me Jack." Daniel says sarcastically. When did Daniel
become so sarcastic?
"Yeah, I know. I apologized profusely the next day."
"I'm sure Kira didn't mind Daniel." I say giving him my best Teal'c impression as I
try to raise only one eyebrow. Judging from the look Daniel is giving me, my
attempt at humor hasn't met with a roaring success.
"Can we change the subject please?" Daniel asks plaintively as we walk into the
briefing room.
"You're in luck Daniel," I say eyeing Carter, Teal'c and the General. "Looks like the
gangs all here.
"Sorry we're late General." I say in explanation as I make a small motion towards
Daniel. Luckily the General is well aware of Daniel's work habits and gives him and
the rest of SG-1 a hell of a lot of leeway. More than we probably deserve.
"You're here now Colonel." The General says as he motions for me to sit down.
"Let's begin."
Mission assignments are passed out and as usual, SG-1 takes a few moments to eye
them over before the General fills us in on the details. I notice Carter's eyes
suddenly go wide and then Daniel frowns as he reads something on the preliminary
report. Confused, I glance down at the mission I have already been briefed on. It's
nothing we haven't done before guys; meet and greet, three-days… oh. Oh.
"Err, General?" I say somewhat awkwardly. Damn- I agreed to this mission last
week! How am I going to get us out of it?
"Yes Colonel?" General Hammond asks clearly confused. He sees that both Carter
and Daniel are uncomfortable. Hell, Danny is already fidgeting in his seat!
"Sir, I know I already agreed that SG-1 should complete this mission, and I still think
we should.." I pause and meet Daniel's worried gaze. "But if it's all right with you
Sir, could we save this mission for next week, and take the P2X-646 mission
tomorrow?"
"The 24 hour recon?" The General asks more than a little confused.
"Yes Sir." Maybe I'll get lucky and he won't need further explanation.
"May I ask why Colonel?"
Damn.
Before I can say anything more, Daniel speaks up. "It's my fault Sir." He says
hastily. "I sort of made plans for this Saturday and really need to keep them Sir."
I can see the General mulling this over. Daniel seldom, hell- Daniel has *never*
asked the General for anything personal. Not that I am aware of anyhow. By saying
he needs Saturday off, he's asking for a favor. And I know for a fact that the
General will oblige.
"Very well. SG-1 you have a go for P2X-646 tomorrow morning. You leave at 0800
and Colonel O'Neill will brief you on the particulars at 1500 this afternoon."
"Thank you Sir." Daniel says sincerely. Carter and I both stand up as the General
nods and then leaves the room. He obviously doesn't quite understand what
happened, but he trusts me enough to fill him in if needed.
"Thanks Jack." Daniel says pushing himself away from the table and standing up.
"Hey, if you hadn't spoken up, I would have Daniel." I say simply.
"I do not understand O'Neill." Teal'c says sounding completely Teal'c like. "Why are
we not going to P2X-928 tomorrow?"
"Long story Teal'c." I say motioning him to follow me. "How about I fill you in over
lunch?"
~~~~~~~~~
TEAL'C'S POV
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
O'Neill has explained to me why he changed our three-day mission into a 24 hour
one, but I am still perplexed by his actions. Could not the Taur'i authorities be
informed of KiraMeyer's situation? I know O'Neill is a man of great honor, but why
does he feel the need to protect this child when there are surely others who can do
so? Although I have lived among the Taur'i for nearly two years now, their actions
continue to puzzle me.
O'Neill and the rest of SG-1 are behind me as I take the lead on our way back to the
Chapp'ai. We traveled over 10 miles yesterday and did not encounter any civilization
to speak of; DanielJackson was most disappointed. CaptainCarter did ascertain that
there is indeed naquada in the soil on this world and it has been our finding that
where there is naquada, there are usually humans. Unfortunately, where there are
humans, there are more than often than not Goa'uld. My thoughts are abruptly
interrupted by the squawk of the radio.
"Teal'c do you copy?"
"I am here O'Neill."
"I think I heard something back here." He whispers urgently. I can picture him
stopping the team and motioning for everyone to take cover.
"We're definitely being followed Sir." CaptainCarter adds.
"T- double back and meet up with us. But be careful!" He orders switching his radio
off. I inhale deeply as I absorb his words. O'Neill is a great leader, but sometimes I
wish he would remember that I am nearly twice his age and not unfamiliar with my
duties as a warrior.
I quickly retrace my steps and am nearly to their position when I hear it- the
unmistakable sound of weapons fire. The sound is reminiscent of zat'nik'atels but I
do not believe it is. What is most troubling is that I do not hear the retort of Taur'i
weapons firing in return. I hide myself and listen.
There are voices. They are not speaking English or one of the dozen or so languages
I would recognize as Taur'i. I exhale slowly- it is also not Goa'uld. I am certain
DanielJackson would be able to make sense of it, but I however cannot. I need to
gain a better position so I can see what has befallen my teammates.
I had just begun to move when I hear a small sound. The alien voices stop talking
and I hear movement among the trees. The sound returns and I recognize it as a
soft moan; whatever has transpired against SG-1, at least one is regaining
consciousness.
Without warning CaptainCarter makes her move and from the sounds I hear, is
fighting without the aid of her P-90. I quickly move to go to her aid and am
dismayed to see dozens of tall pale humans surrounding her. Dr. Jackson and O'Neill
are unconscious on the group beside her and CaptainCarter is trying in vain to get
her weapon to fire.
"Bastards aren't playing fair are you?" She says attempting to shoot them with a
zat'nik'atel and finding the weapon inoperable. She throws it behind her and takes a
step backwards closer to her fallen comrades. She picks up O'Neill's P-90 and
attempts to shoot, but is again unsuccessful. Whatever weapon was used to render
Jackson and O'Neill unconscious, it must also be preventing SG-1's weapons from
functioning properly.
I lie silently in the underbrush watching the scene unfold. As much as I want to go
to CaptainCarter's aid, I know I should not. If I were to do so, there is a very good
chance my staff weapon would be rendered inoperable as well and I too would be
captured. No, I need to remain hidden and see what they plan to do with my fallen
comrades.
I watch with pride as CaptainCarter incapacitates several warriors using the non-
functioning P-90 as a staff and her arms and legs as weapons. Both O'Neill and I
have worked with her on her unarmed combat and she is nearly as skilled as a Jaffa
in her fighting.
Unfortunately it is not enough. They fire their energy weapons several times at her,
and although I can see she is weakened, she stoically fights on. One being hits her
savagely across her face and she drops to the ground stunned. Before she can get
back up another kicks her in the side and then steps heavily on her prone arm.
Samantha Carter screams in pain and I wince as I hear the bones break. Mercifully
she passes out.
My grip on my staff weapon is tight as I watch as all three are dragged away; silently
I follow.
~~~~~~~
SAM'S POV
~~~~~~~~~~~
Come on guys- wake up already!
We have been in this room/cell for nearly an hour now and neither the Colonel nor
Daniel has given me any inclination that they want to wake up. Luckily, I am pretty
certain they will soon. After all, I did didn't I?
Fat lot of good it did me…
I'm sitting next to Daniel against a cold stone wall and wishing like crazy they'd left
us our packs; heck, I'd settle for just one flack jacket full of all sorts of comforting
little drugs.
I'd kill for an aspirin. Well maybe not kill, but definitely maim. And since I'm
wishing here- could you make it Tylenol with codeine? Or perhaps some morphine?
Yeah, a syringe of morphine would be really, really nice about now.
A sound shakes me out of my self-pitying mood and I hear the Colonel groan as he
attempts to sit up. He doesn't get very far before he falls back to the cold ground
with a gentle thud.
"Uggh."
"How do you feel Sir?" I ask pretty much already aware of his answer. Although I
had managed to shake off the effects of their weapons rather quickly, I know his
nerve synapses are hypersensitive at the moment and he won't be able to move too
well until it wears off. Won't be able to see that well either.
"Didn't know I could possibly feel every single muscle in my body Carter." He says
groaning as he attempts to sit up again. "So what hit us and how long have we been
here?"
"About an hour Sir." I say trying to keep it short. "I think they hit us with a
modified electrical current. It wasn't exactly a zat, but the immediate effect was the
same." The Colonel has suddenly stopped listening to me as he raises a hand in
front on his face and waves it a few times in front of his eyes. He frowns slightly as
he does it once again.
"So what's wrong with my eyes?" He asks trying to sound nonchalant.
"The weapon effected our cortical synapses as well Sir. Don't worry it's temporary."
Even from across the room, I can see him processing that statement. He looks in
my general direction and squints.
"How do *you* know Carter?"
Time to face the music. "I know Sir, because the effect has already worn off with
me."
"Their ray guns only effect men?!" I want to laugh but don't knowing it would hurt
like hell.
"No, Sir. I think it has something to do with the naquada in my bloodstream. I
initially went down just like you and Daniel did, but the effect was only for a minute
or two."
"Then what happened Carter?"
I sigh quietly. Sometimes being in the military sucks. I really wish I could lie to my
commanding officer. "Then Sir, I fought. Our weapons were also rendered
ineffective so I resorted to one on one fighting."
"There was only one?"
"More like one on twenty Sir." I say sounding tired. I *am* tired.
"Ouch." He says grimacing before looking concerned. "'You ok?" He asks trying
very hard to focus on me from across the room.
"Fine Sir." I say putting all my energy into sounding positive.
"Uh huh." The Colonel says clearly not believing me. "Daniel around here some
place?" He asks looking ineffectually around our prison.
"He's about 20 feet to your left Sir, he should be fine once he wakes up." The
Colonel looks to the left, doesn't really see anything and then fixes his gaze back
towards me.
"Well then, since you're perfectly fine, you won't mind if I come over there and have
a look, right?" He doesn't even wait for my response before attempting to stand up.
He doesn't get very far before his legs give out and he slumps unceremoniously back
to the ground.
"Carter! This is really annoying here!" The Colonel says sounding quite irritated.
I resist getting up and walking over to him as I know it will hurt like hell to do so.
"Again, it's temporary Sir. You should be back to normal soon."
"Are you able to walk?" He asks seriously; it doesn't go unnoticed that I wasn't at
his side the moment he woke up.
"Yes Sir." Would prefer not to though.
"Well in that case Carter, I need for you to come on over so I can see for myself that
you're ok."
"Really Sir, I'm fine." I say lying through my teeth.
"Then you won't mind humoring an old man, will you?"
"You're not that old." I say grumbling as I gingerly ease myself up using the stone
wall for leverage. I crunch my eyes tightly against the pain the movement causes,
but can't help the nearly inaudible moan that escapes through my lips. Naturally the
Colonel hears it.
"I heard that Carter." Damn. He doesn't sound happy. Well you know what Sir?
I'm not exactly thrilled either.
I carefully walk the 20 feet or so towards him and ease myself back into a sitting
position panting audibly. That hurt! The Colonel shifts his body forward another few
feet until he's less than an arm's length away from me and proceeds to squint in an
attempt to get a better look at me.
"Whoa! That's some shiner you have there Sam." He says reaching out and gingerly
touching the corner of my left eye. I can't help but let out a small grunt in pain.
Briefly I close my eyes as I attempt to get my feelings under control. I hate the fact
that at the moment I just want to burst into tears. Shock; I'm sure its just shock.
And pain. Let's not forget that all this really doesn't feel too good.
"Broken cheekbone?" He asks as he ever so gently wipes away a stray tear from my
right eye.
"Probably just badly bruised." I say quietly; I hate being the injured one. Not that I
would ever wish it on any of my teammates, but I'm so much better at taking care of
them than I am of myself. I watch as the Colonel continues to look me over. Of
course he doesn't miss the way I'm holding my right arm to my chest.
"And your arm?" He asks looking me straight in the eyes. He looks at me with such
compassion, that again I am on the brink of tears. I *hate* being wounded!
"Broken Sir." I say with a small sigh.
"Anything else I should know about?" He asks as he awkwardly places a hand on my
shoulder. He really can't see me that well, and I'm just happy his hand landed on
my shoulder and not where it looked like it was headed.
I debate not telling him, but know it will be probably get me into more trouble later
on. "I think I might have a broken rib as well." I say unable to meet his gaze. I
feel rather than see him nod.
"Medical supplies?" He asks as he moves his hand off my shoulder and runs it
across my collarbone to my neck. He gently lifts my face up so that we're eye to
eye. Sorry Sir, no medical supplies. I just shake my head unable to say anything.
The Colonel nods once and makes some sort of decision. "Well then, let's see what
we can do about making you more comfortable." He looks around the room and
focuses on Daniel.
"Daniel!" He yells.
Nothing.
Feeling around the ground, the Colonel picks up a small stone and chucks it in
Daniel's general direction; it was blind luck that it hit him at all.
~~~~~~~~~
DANIEL'S POV
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Ow!" What'd I do wrong now? "Jack, I bet that was you." I say accusingly taking
in the fact that I'm lying flat on my back on a rather cold floor. I don't even have to
look in his direction to know that only Jack O'Neill would throw rocks at me in order
to wake me up. Guess I'm not dead. He's usually much nicer when I'm dead.
"Time to wake up Daniel. Carter needs help."
Instantly I bolt straight up and groan aloud as my muscles ache with the exertion. I
look around the room and can't make out a damn thing.
"Sam? She's ok, isn't she?"
"I'm right here Daniel." Sam says a little to my right. "I'm fine. Your eyes should
return to normal soon."
"Nice to know I *didn't* lose yet another pair of glasses." I attempt to stand up and
after one failed attempt, manage to stand on exceedingly shaky legs. I look in
Sam's general direction for an explanation.
"Your legs and arms should start working correctly in a few minutes Daniel." Sam
says giving me the information I wanted. "The effects are zat-like, only longer
lasting."
"Seems Carter got the abbreviated version while you and I were knocked on our
asses." Jack explains.
"Lovely." I am able to see two very vague shapes to my right and crawl awkwardly
in their direction. The big lump slumped on the ground must be Jack. The figure
sitting ramrod straight holding an arm tightly against her chest must be Sam. I
shuffle even closer and am able to see the rather colorful and swollen bruises across
her face.
"What happened Sam?" I ask in concern. Why'd Sam get hurt and not us? My mind
instantly flashes forward to the worst possible scenarios. Before I can even sort out
my panicked thoughts, Sam holds up a hand and places it lightly on my shoulder.
"I'm fine Daniel." She says hurriedly. Jack just snorts.
"I will be fine." She says pointedly looking at Jack. "You and the Colonel were
knocked out by the electrical current and although I was initially affected as well, I
quickly recovered and tried to talk our captors into letting us go." She gingerly
touches her swollen face with her left hand. "They didn't like the idea."
"Daniel, do you have any medical supplies on you?" Jack asks hopefully. He knows I
tend to stash things in my cargo pants rather than the flack jacket.
And we're in luck. "Yeah Jack I think I do. Hold on a sec." I awkwardly reach into a
trouser pocket and pull out a little packet of Tylenol. "It's not much Sam, but.."
"This is great Daniel." Sam says sincerely taking the small packet from my slightly
shaking hand. Muscle spasms. Awkwardly she holds it in one hand and rips it open
with her teeth, swallowing the two tablets dry. Sam will never say so, but she must
be in a lot of pain. I wish we had something more for her
"We need to find something to bind Carter's ribs and maybe something to make a
splint for her arm." Jack says explaining Sam's injuries to me. My heart clenches as
I imagine the pain Sam must be in. I wish we could have been there for her.
I look around the room, but it becomes blatantly apparent that I can't see more than
5 or 6 meters in front of me. "Sam, can you tell us if there's anything in here we can
use?" I ask.
"And while you're at it Carter, give me a little recon on what we're looking at here."
Jack adds, clearly frustrated that he can't see either.
"We're in a stone structure about 40 feet square Sir. There is one small window- too
small for anyone to crawl through, and a large wooden door. I think this building
was used as a storage area Sir. There are bundles of hay in one corner and bags of
what must be seed in another."
"Anything long and pointy we can use as a weapon?"
"No Sir." Sam says clearly dejected. She must have already looked earlier.
"What about sticks Sam? Anything we can use as a splint?" I ask.
"Not that I can see."
We sit in silence for a few moments before Jack speaks. "Well, at least we can do
something about your ribs."
~~~~~~~
JACK'S POV
~~~~~~~
I am so glad I'm one of those paranoid Colonels. Even though we have (well usually
anyway) our packs and flack jackets, I almost always carry a little something extra
in my cargo pants' pocket; an army knife. An Air Force knife? We definitely need
some better PR.
I pull the knife out of my pants and smile. Not only do we have a way to make
Carter more comfortable, but we now have a weapon as well. A very small weapon
perhaps- but I've used worse.
"Jack! You have a knife in your pocket!" Daniel says clearly shocked that the good
Colonel would disobey his own directive. Several months ago SG-1 had been in a bit
of a firefight and had to hightail it back to the gate double-time. Now, I've watched
Daniel run- hell, I trained the kid to run. I know he has what it takes to do 400
meters in less than 60 seconds. So imagine my surprise when push came to shove
and it was Daniel that nearly got us captured- Daniel and several pounds of needless
crap. Video equipment, translation books, cameras...I had told everyone to drop
their packs and run and although Daniel did so, he was weighed down by nearly 12
extra pounds of CRAP. After that I ordered him (and anyone else within a 3 mile
radius of the gateroom) never to keep anything besides a ration bar and a pack of
gum in his pockets.
"Daniel," I say tiredly as I pull my t-shirt out of my pants and carefully slice a small
tear about 1/3 of the way up. "It isn't that I don't like you using your pants'
pockets, it's that you tended to put *everything* in those pockets and that just
slows you down." I proceed to rip a good chunk of my t-shirt off and cut it into
several long strips.
I close the knife and throw it at Daniel. "We'll need something for her arm as well."
"Look on the bright side Carter," I say trying to get her mind off her obvious
discomfort. "With me and Danny near blind here, you don't have to worry about us
seeing anything we're not supposed too." Of course, there is still the problem of
seeing enough to bind her ribs, but I think I'll be ok.
With one of her arms out of commission, I have to do most of the work, and it feels
a little odd to be partially undressing my 2IC. But Carter's a trooper. I help her
stand back up as it'll be a hell of a lot easier to do this if she's standing rather than
sitting on the ground. I help her out of her jacket and she scarcely makes a peep as
we slip her right arm out of the sleeve. I would have preferred to not move her arm
at all, but the jacket is just too bulky to push it up and out of the way.
"Sam, did I ever tell you about my first year as a Graduate student at NYU?" Daniel
says trying to distract her. He starts jammering on about a crush he had on his T.A.
and how his comical attempts at asking her out. I can see Carter is really trying to
concentrate on him rather than me, but she is extremely aware of everything I'm
doing. She's looking straight ahead and holding herself so rigidly, I'm afraid she
might snap.
"I know this isn't going to feel good Carter, but try and relax a little, ok?" I say as I
pull her t-shirt out of her pants and carefully pull it up to expose a rather ghastly
looking contusion on her right side. The contrast between her pales skin, our green
fatigues and the purple shading of her bruising makes it very easy to see. Very,
very gently I palpitate around the edges of the bruise trying to locate exactly where
she was injured.
"Yes, that is IT Sir." Sam cries out struggling not to pull away from me. I can now
notice (and truth be told, honestly see a bit) the way her body is shaking with small
tremors.
"Carter, how many times were you hit by those energy beam thingys?" I ask as I
tap her left hand to indicate where she should hold the fabric of her shirt.
"I don't know Sir." She whispers as she sucks in a breath as I make my first rotation
with the bandages.
"More than once?" I press as I make a second pass.
"Yeah." She says scarcely allowing herself to breathe. Carter, you aren't helping
yourself here, if you don't relax a bit!
"More than twice?" I ask again. I feel her nod as I make my third rotation. I've
started pulling it tighter now and she clearly doesn't like it.
"It was 4 or 5 times." She says in a rush. "Colonel, I think that's good enough!"
Her t-shirt is clenched tightly in her left hand and I can see small beads of sweat on
her forehead. She's right- this'll have to do. Having Carter pass out on me wouldn't
exactly get me my field medic badge.
"All done Carter." I say tying off the final bandage and releasing the poor t-shirt
from her death grip. "You did good Sam." I say giving her a final tap on her good
arm. Binding ribs is never much fun, but it helps immensely if there's some nice
vicadin or morphine to help you through it; unfortunately we don't have either.
"Thank God." She whispers before allowing Daniel to help her back to the ground.
We don't have anything solid to stabilize Carter's arm with, so Daniel uses his bits of
t-shirt to wrap her arm as tightly as possible against her chest. The less she is able
to move it the better. Clearly exhausted, Carter allows Daniel to wrap her jacket
back around her and then accepts his offer to be a human pillow.
"It'll just be for a few moments Sir." Carter slurs, already ½ asleep.
"We'll be fine Carter, just rest." I tell her. Less than a minute later she's fast
asleep. Daniel and I share a silent look as we contemplate where we go from here.
I'm certain we're both thinking the same thing-
Come on Teal'c!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tbc.
(You know I'll write faster if you review, right?)
