The Problem with Eavesdropping
PART 3

~~~~~~~~~
TEAL'C POV
~~~~~~~~~

SG-1's captors may be proficient warriors in battle, but they have much to learn about securing their
prisoners. I will use this to my advantage.

I have followed the pale inhabitants of this world to a simple village of stone structures approximately
15 miles from the Chap'pai and 5 miles from where my teammates were captured. From my hidden
vantage point, I can see women and children moving freely about the village.

The men walk into the town shouting in a language I still do not recognize, dragging my teammates
behind them on simple travois's. Instantly the women gather up their children and disappear into their
dwellings. These people have a definite fear of strangers and I am certain this is one of the reasons
SG-1 was attacked. I know for certain that my friends did not fire upon these people first; that is not
the way of the Tau'ri.

My teammates are still very much unconscious as they are dragged into a stone structure. The door
is closed and three sentries are posted outside. I slowly nod; pleased at the foolishness of their
actions. It should not be difficult for me to free my friends under the cover of darkness. Now all I
must do is wait and hope CaptainCarter had not been gravely injured.

~~~~~~~~~
DANIEL'S POV
~~~~~~~~~

"Any change?" Jack asks as he continues to pace back and forth. We both know that the only way
out of this place is through the front door, but Jack isn't one for sitting still. Or being locked up come
to think of it.

Not that I'm crazy about the idea either…

"She's just sleeping Jack." I say softly as I watch Sam's chest slowly rise and fall. Thank god her
lungs weren't punctured. She's been asleep (or unconscious) for the nearly an hour now and Jack is
starting to get a little worried. He's not alone.

"We give her another 15 and then wake her up." Jack says abruptly as he stops his pacing and
crouches down next to me to check up on Sam himself.

"Wake her up to what Jack?" I ask eyeing the rapidly darkening room. The sun is setting on this
planet, which means it's going to get cold pretty soon. Wonder if our hosts will give us blankets?

Sam moans piteously in her sleep and I know I'm not the only one who feels his heart clench at the
sound. I think this is really the first time Sam has been seriously injured on a mission. I frown
slightly- it's supposed to be me laying here and not Sam. I'm supposed to be the one who gets hurt;
Jack is the one to lead us to safety and Sam is there to watch our backs and patch me up.

"Daniel." Jack warns shaking his head. "Just stop."

"Stop what?" I say tiredly knowing full well what he's referring to but needing to hear it nonetheless.

"You're either blaming yourself," Jack begins, "which is frankly ludicrous. Or wishing it were you lying
there injured and not Carter."

I let out a 'hmmph' and glower back at him. "Oh and you *aren't* thinking those same things?" Jack
looks a little abashed and I mentally score one point for the geeky archaeologist.

"Noo-oo." Jack says finally as he pauses to consider how to answer. "Well, yes- maybe a little." He
concedes letting out a heavy sigh as he glances down at Sam. "But I'm Carter's CO- *everything*
that happens to her – to all of you actually- is my fault."

I open up my mouth to vehemently disagree. I mean come on Jack. I trip on a mission and sprain my
ankle- how the HELL is that your fault?

Jack holds up a hand to silence me. " I know not everything is completely my fault Daniel." Jack
says wearily standing up. "But all of you are my responsibility. When someone gets hurt, I feel guilty,
ok?"

Yeah, I know you do Jack.

Jack is almost always the first person I see, after Janet of course, when I wake up in the infirmary
after doing something incredibly stupid someplace. I know when it comes to caring for those under
his command; Jack takes his job very seriously. Still, he really shouldn't accept culpability for
everything. I'm just about to speak again when suddenly we hear sounds coming from outside our
prison 'hut'. Not just any sound, but zat fire.

"Daniel, get Carter up now, we've got to move!" Jack whispers urgently as we both come to the same
conclusion; Teal'c has arrived. Well, actually it could be someone else from the SGC, or perhaps a
Jaffa but..

"Daniel!" Right. Get Sam up.

"Sam?" I whisper carefully giving her a small shake and lifting her head off my leg. I try to ignore the
rush of pins and needles coursing through my foot; this can't possibly hurt anything like what Sam
must be going through.

"Time to go?" Sam asks grimacing noticeably as she attempts to stand up by herself.

"Time to go." I say back at her nodding briefly and helping her stand all the way up. Sam bites back
a moan as I gently pull on her good arm.

"You good Carter?" Jack asks eyeing her critically. At times like this he sounds deceptively like the
trained Air Force officer that he is. I forget that sometimes.

"I'll be fine Sir." Sam says with a nod as she cradles her broken arm to her chest. Right. Sam, you
could be bleeding internally with two bullet holes and you'd still tell Jack you're fine! Of course, I'd
probably do the same, so I guess I'm not one to talk.

"What's he waiting for?" I whisper. We all know it's Teal'c out there, but after hearing the initial zat
bursts, it has suddenly become deathly quiet.

~~~~~~~~~
JACK'S POV
~~~~~~~~~

"He'll be here." I say motioning for Carter and Daniel to get behind me. I feel pretty ridiculous
standing in the shadows armed with a 2-inch army knife, but you work with what you've got.

The door cautiously opens and I spy a familiar dark figure entering the room.

"It is just I O'Neill." Teal'c says as he steps into our ever so comfortable accommodations.

"Good to see you Teal'c." I say gratefully. Teal'c nods and looks behind me towards Daniel and
Carter.

"Do you require medical assistance CaptainCarter?" Teal'c asks sounding slightly 'off'. Instantly I
realize that Teal'c must have followed us after we were captured, and more than likely that means he
witnessed some, if not all, of Carter's beating. I make a note to talk with him about that. Both to
know more for Carter's sake, but also to let him know that he did the right thing. It sounded like there
were a hell of a lot of those guys and more than likely he would have been over-powered as well.

"I'm fine Teal'c." Carter says stepping away from the wall still clutching her right arm tightly to her
chest. "Just ready to leave and head on home."

I give Carter a small nod and see that she really is prepared to walk on out of here. Ya know, for a
scientist I wasn't so sure about in the beginning, Sam Carter has impressed the hell out of me. I
make a mental note to look into promotion possibilities for our very capable captain. Not only has she
saved the planet on more than one occasion, but she's a damn fine officer as well. I give Teal'c a
look that implies we'll patch up Carter as soon as we're the hell out of dodge. He nods in
understanding.

"What's our situation Teal'c?" I ask as I pocket the trusty little knife and accept T's spare zat.
Naturally our own packs and weapons have long since vanished. Shame. Although all of us carry
medical supplies, Carter usually has a little something extra in her pack; thankfully Teal'c still has his
pack.

"There were three guards O'Neill." Teal'c says in that very straightforward manner of his. One of
these days I'm going to be successful in getting the guy to let his hair down. Figuratively speaking
that is.

"They have all been rendered unconscious and I believe we should be able to depart unnoticed."

"Sweet!"

"How far as we from the gate Teal'c?" Daniel asks as he steals a glance at Carter. Good question
Danny.

Teal'c also looks at Carter. "Approximately 15 miles."

Damn. It'll soon be dark, neither Danny nor I have the best vision at the moment and Carter's injured.
"Lets get a couple miles from here and catch a few hours of sleep. We'll hoof it to the gate at the
crack of dawn tomorrow." With luck I'd have the kids home by lunchtime. Plenty of time to do a little
recon for Kira's birthday thing on Saturday.

"Lead the way Teal'c." I say motioning for everyone to follow. "I have our six."

~~~~~~~~
SAM'S POV
~~~~~~~~

Thankfully the Colonel signals for us to stop for the night. I could continue walking if I had too, but I
really could do with the rest. Daniel has been right at my side for the last hour or so that we've been
walking and had he been able to, I'm sure he would have been talking up a storm in order to keep my
mind off my discomfort.
I scoff at my choice of words. Just a little discomfort is all we're feeling, right?

I let out a small sound as I carefully lower myself to the ground next to a fallen log. Daniel's Tylenol
has long since worn off and I really could do with a drink of water. I hear the Colonel quietly asking
Teal'c about what supplies we have available and then…

"Sam?" Daniel?

"Sam!" I jerk awake and look onto the concerned faces of my friends. Oops, guess I took a little
unplanned nap. I notice my upper body is now covered with an emergency blanket. Guess I've been
out for a while.

"Sorry." I say hoarsely sitting up and trying not to groan aloud. Shit, I hurt.

"Here, take these." Daniel says handing me three pills and a canteen of water.

"It's probably not as strong as you need, but it's all we got at the moment Carter." The Colonel says
apologetically. He and Daniel are crouched down next to me and off to the left I see Teal'c standing
watch. The only light comes from a small moon sitting low on the horizon.

"This will be fine Sir." I say accepting the water gratefully and swallowing the pale blue pills. The
motion of moving the canteen to my lips hurt like hell and I can't help but grimace as I nudge the
canteen upwards again for a second drink.

"Let me help you Sam." Daniel says as he attempts to take the canteen from my still rather shaky
hands. Guess that energy weapon takes some time to wear off.

"I'm fine Daniel." I say embarrassed that I can't even take a drink of water without help.

"No Sam, you're not." Daniel says stubbornly. I take back what I thought earlier. Daniel should be
the one injured; I am not nearly the mother hen that he is.

I ignore his attempts at taking the canteen from me, force myself to take another long drink without
flinching and focus on the Colonel. "How far from the gate are we Sir?"

"At least 10 miles I'm afraid Captain." He replies regretfully. "It's 0200 now and we'll rest another two
hours before heading out. With luck we'll make it to the gate by 0600."

It's 0200? Boy, I am out of it. Guess I needed the sleep. It doesn't escape me that my head has
begun to hurt. Wonder if I have a concussion? That could account for the inordinate amount of sleep
and the fact that I really don't feel good. Of course, I've also recently played human punching bag to
a bunch of pissed off aliens, so I think I'm allowed to be tired. Still, I don't think I'll bother the Colonel
with my little headache at the moment.

"We'll be two hours early Sir." I say attempting to give him a small smile. My face instantly flares in
pain and I bite my lip in an attempt to not cry out. I can't believe I had forgotten about my cheekbone.
Shit, that hurts! If I look even half as bad as I feel, I'm definitely not going to be going out in public
anytime soon. I look the Colonel in the eye and give him a small careful nod. I'm ok Sir. Really.
Thankfully the Colonel recognizes my 'Carter-speak' for what it is and gives me a small nod in return.

"You know me Carter," He says trying to once again take my mind off my injuries. "I like to throw the
General some SG-1 curve balls every now and then."

"Yes Sir." I say again smiling on the inside.

"Danny here is going to sit next to you Carter." The Colonel explains taking the now mostly empty
canteen from my still trembling hands. "It's getting a little chilly out here and you know how Daniel
gets when he's cold."

Uh huh. Daniel needs to stay warm. Right. Funny how I never noticed how blatantly obvious the
Colonel was about things like this before. Again, it's probably because he's usually trying to sweet
talk Daniel into accepting help and not me.

I honestly don't think the Colonel needs to worry about me, but I accept Daniel's warmth gratefully. I
pull a corner of the blanket back and Daniel sits down next to me. He then tucks the blanket around
us both and leans back towards the log taking me with him. My broken right arm is now nestled
between both our bodies and one of Daniel's arms loops around my good shoulder to pull me closer.
I'm amazed at how much comfort I am taking from his presence. I guess after nearly 2 years I know
that Daniel would do anything and everything to protect me. He still might be a scholar first and a
soldier second, but he's a mighty spirited fighter when it comes to people he cares about. I'm
inordinately glad I'm one of those people.

"No drooling." Daniel says softly in my hair, causing me to laugh softly and then grunt in discomfort.

"And no laughing." Daniel chastises.

"No laughing." I agree against his shoulder. I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but sometime in
the last two years, I seem to have picked up another brother. I let out a pleased sigh as I allow
myself to drift off to sleep.

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

A/N- We're on the home stretch now. I just might be able to finish this in one more installment. Ok,
maybe two- but that's IT. As always, feedback adored.