Three weeks and still nothing more than the occasional report from Daniel. Jack's starting to get anxious, and the whole base is starting to notice. Teal'c has actually managed to crack a frown, and when I jokingly remark on it to Janet, she gives me a stern look.
"That's nothing to joke about Jonas," her expression is tight.
"You know it's not your fault that you can't cure everything that we come into contact with, Dr. Fraiser."
She gives me a critical look, and then narrows her eyes. "Like you haven't been doing the same thing?" I take half a step back. "Jonas since the day you joined SG-1, what's your goal been? To make up for what happened to Daniel." Her voice is carefully controlled, but I can hear the waiver in it. "Well guess what, you can't!"
I blink, and start to respond, but just as I do, the siren that notifies the base of off-world activation goes off, and we break off our conversation to head to the control room, hopeful that this time it's Daniel and Sam.
But when we reach there, Jack dampens our hopeful spirits.
"Stand down, people. It's just SG-9 returning from P3X-774. We can only hope that for whatever reason the Nox decided to call a meeting, it was worth the time spent."
Outside the glass, the returning team steps down the walkway and heads towards the elevator. The iris closes, and the wormhole on the other side disengages.
"This is ridiculous, someone should just go and check on Captain Carter." I feel Janet and Jack's eyes on me as I speak. "She and Dr. Jackson both said that the negative charge of the planet wouldn't affect a normal person if they weren't exposed for too long."
"No one is authorized to return to the planet until I'm given some sort of confirmation on Captain Carter's well being." The new voice belongs to General Hammond. "And as of right now, Doctor Jackson is six hours late in making his scheduled report."
"Why report when there's nothing to say?" Jack has turned his back on the group. I almost don't catch his sentence, and it brings a frown to my face to hear him say it.
I start to respond when another new voice interrupts the mood of the room.
"On the contrary. I was just getting Sam to the gate. She's ready to come home."
"What?" Jack snaps around. Eyes wide and muscles tense.
"Like I said, Jack," Daniel turns to regard him with an even gaze, "she's on her way home."
As usual, it feels like there's something that I'm just not catching on to.
Standing expectantly as we wait for the identification code to come through the iris, I can feel Jonas' eyes on me. Teal'c's presence on my other side is all that's keeping me from fidgeting. I started to contact Jacob to let him know of the change in her condition, but I want confirmation first.
If that damned planet hurt her… I will find a way to put a hole through Daniel's ascended head that he can't get up from.
The noise of the wormhole establishing brings me back to the present, and I glance across the open space at Janet, finding her unable to control her own anxiety. She looks worse than normal, as though she hasn't slept in a few days.
With all the teams currently on the base, I would think that she would be able to relax a bit. But apparently I'm wrong. The iris slides open and after a pause, the ripples settle on the event horizon.
And in that instant, the glowing light seems to brighten for an instant, before she steps through, making new ripples on the surface of the event horizon. She isn't dressed as she was when we left her, and as she enters, she seems to sigh, as though a weight is lifted from her shoulders, her head turned up to gaze at the gate.
"Sam?" Janet asks, calling her attention back to the group of people waiting on her.
"Yes, Janet?" she replies, turning her blue eyes towards us all, taking in the sight of us waiting with a faint smile. And then she meets my eyes, and her smile fades just enough that I notice it.
"I'd like to look over you in the infirmary, if you don't mind."
"Of course," Sam replies, stepping down the ramp and off the end, glancing at Hammond, who waves her on.
She follows Janet out of the gate room, and for a long moment, the rest of us just stand there, until finally the general calls us back to the tasks at hand. "Enough standing around people, you're being paid to do something."
"Yes, sir," I reply turning to head back to my own office. I've frankly had enough of the infirmary and the medical staff for a good long time. I'll go when I have to.
If Sam…Captain Carter, wants to see me, she knows where I'll be.