Title:  Subtle Distractions

Rating:  PG-13

Disclaimer:  ::sigh::  Not mine, but I keep on wishing.

Spoilers:  None really, but assume the setting is Season 7, pre 'Heroes'

Thanks:  A HUGE thank you to Ellen who acted as beta for this fic and highly amused me with her comments.

Notes:  This is my first ever Stargate fic, though I hope it doesn't show :-)  I actually planned to write another fic, but decided to go with a kind of cliché one to get myself started.

Feedback:  Always appreciated, it all helps to learn and improve

**

"Carter, you alright?" asked Jack as SG-1 headed back towards the Stargate.

"Yes, Sir."

"Good, 'cos I'm not wading into there to help you out."

"Gee, thanks, Sir," she deadpanned in reply.

Samantha Carter was currently sitting on her butt in a puddle – a large, muddy puddle.  She'd been trekking back to the gate with the rest of her team when she slipped on a particularly wet piece of mud, a piece that had been carefully avoided by Colonel O'Neill, but that Sam had not seen.  She had twisted as she slipped and ended up falling sideways into the puddle that they'd all been trying to side-step.  At the last second, she had managed to turn herself so that she landed butt-first, rather than head first.

The puddle was deeper than it looked and, after a few moments of contemplation and embarrassment, Sam had shifted so that she was sitting in the shallower water.  The guys thought she was putting off stepping out of the puddle because they were going to laugh at her as soon as she stood up; however, the actual reason was that she couldn't stand up, at least not easily.  She'd felt her ankle go when she slipped and she was now pretty certain that it was totally wrecked.

"Carter, we don't have all day; are you coming?"

"Uh, yes, Sir, of course," she replied, using all the strength she had to pull herself to her feet without crying out in pain.  Dipping her head so that they couldn't see her wince, she stood up and walked out of the puddle, falling into step alongside her team while checking her weapons to make sure they weren't waterlogged.

After a half-hour of walking, Colonel O'Neill commented on how quickly it was getting dark and decided to make camp for the night.

"We should be close enough to be in radio contact to let Hammond know," he advised them all.

"Sir, we should be able to make it to the 'gate before it gets too dark," commented Sam.

"Considering you fell in the daylight, Carter, I'm not taking any chances in the dark," he joked, grinning as he saw her resultant scowl.

In actual fact, Sam was glad that they were going to set up camp, as she really didn't think she could walk much further.  She had never been so thankful for the boots she had to wear, knowing they were the only thing stopping her ankle from swelling.

*

The tents were erected in record time and Daniel set about heating up their food while Jack and Teal'c secured the area for the night.

"Carter," called Jack, "make sure you change before we eat, you stink."

"Thanks, Sir," she replied sarcastically.

"The food smells bad enough without you adding to it," continued Jack.

"I get the message, Sir, I'm going to change now."

"Good," he nodded, sitting down and checking his weapons.

"Carter," yelled Jack around ten minutes later, "the food is ready."  No reply was forthcoming from Sam's tent, so he tried again.  "Carter!"  When she still didn't emerge, he decided to go and check on her in person.  "Carter, you decent?" he asked from just outside her tent.

"Yes, Sir," she quietly replied.

Jack opened the tent flap and poked his head inside.

"I know the food is bad, but you gotta eat," he told her.  "Hey, you haven't changed," he said accusingly when he noticed she was still wearing her mud-covered BDUs.

"I know."

"Carter, if I have to order you to get changed, I will.  I really don't want to spend the evening sitting next to someone who smells like they've fallen in…well…"

"A muddy, smelly puddle?" supplied Sam.

"Yeah.  So, get changed."

"I can't."

"What?  Oh, don't tell me you didn't bring a change of BDUs?"

"No, I did, it's just…"

"Just what?" he prompted.

"I can't get my pants off, Sir."

"What?  Why not?" he asked, looking her up and down to try and figure out what she was talking about.

"To get my pants off, I need to take my boots off."

"And?"

"And I can't take my boots off."

"Why not?  Carter, what the hell is going on?"

"I can't reach to take my boots off, Sir," she admitted.  "It hurts too much."

"Hurts?  What hurts?" he queried, instantly alarmed.

"My ankle."  He looked at her questioningly and she continued, "I think I hurt it when I slipped and fell."

"You think you hurt it?"

"Okay, I know I hurt it and if I take my boots off, it's going to swell."

"Did you just twist it?"

"I'm not sure, but it hurts more than a simple sprain."

"Alright, let's take a look," he said, dropping to his knees and crawling into the tent completely.

"Sir?"

"I'm going to take your boot off, Carter.  Which ankle is it?"

"My right."

"Okay, I'm gonna take your left boot off first because you're gonna have to get changed, no matter what, and you need your right ankle supported while I take your left boot off."  Sam nodded, knowing what he said made sense.  Once he had removed her left boot, he turned his attention to the right one.  "This is probably gonna hurt a bit."

"I know," she said, biting her lip in anticipation of the pain.  "Owwww!" she said a few moments later as Jack removed the boot, supporting her foot with his right hand while he discarded the boot with his left.

"Sorry, I tried to be gentle, but it's not easy with these things."

"I know, Sir, it's okay."

He surveyed her ankle and watched as it swelled up before his eyes.

"So, what's the verdict, Sir?" she asked as she leaned on her elbows and strained to look.

"You probably don't want to look, Carter," he told her.

"That bad?"

"Let's just say you won't be wearing your boot again for a while.  I'm gonna have to strap this up."  He looked at her and she nodded her approval.  "Daniel," he called loudly.

"Yeah?"

"Bring me my pack, would you?"

Daniel appeared a moment later and stuck his head in the tent.

"Here you go, what's up?"  Looking at Sam, he added, "Ah, I see.  What happened?"

"Carter decided it would be a good idea to not tell us she wrecked her ankle when she fell, meaning she walked on it when she shouldn't have and probably made it much worse."

Sam rolled her eyes, but knew he was right.  She gave Daniel a weak smile as he helped Jack pull out the first-aid kit from his pack, so that Jack could still support her ankle.

"Need any help?" offered Daniel.

"Nah, I got it, you'd better check on the food."

"It'll be okay, it's not like it can taste much worse."

"I was thinking more of Teal'c eating it all."

"He's in his tent, won't be back out for a while."

"Ah.  Still, I got this, you go eat."

"You sure?" queried Daniel, looking to Sam for confirmation.  They both nodded at him and he left.

"I figured you probably don't want Daniel hearing all the expletives that will come out of your mouth when I start strapping this," Jack teased as Sam looked at him curiously.  "I don't want you feeling responsible for corrupting him."

Sam laughed, but then winced as her body's laughter movements caused her ankle to hurt more.

"And I won't be corrupting you, Sir?"

"I think we both know I'm already way more corrupted than you can imagine, Carter," he grinned.

Sam smiled at his comment and then lay back on her pillow and closed her eyes while he strapped her ankle.  He was as gentle as possible, but she still couldn't help the occasional hiss of pain from escaping her lips.

"Done," he said a few minutes later, carefully lowering her foot to the ground again and replacing the unused bandage in the first-aid kit.

"Thanks, Sir."

"Now, time to get you changed."

"Sir?"

"Like I said earlier, Carter, you smell, so you need to change your pants, they're covered in mud."  Sam tried to sit up again, but found she still couldn't manage.  Jack moved slightly and pushed her back down.  "You're gonna need some help, Carter," he said softly, almost apologetically.

"Sir, I…" she trailed off, feeling her face start to flush.

"You can have your choice of helpers; me, Daniel or Teal'c."

"I can probably manage, Sir."

"Carter, you can't even sit up; how are you gonna get changed by yourself?"

Her shoulders sagged as she acknowledged his words and she pondered the three choices of helper.  Daniel would get embarrassed, she knew; she would be embarrassed if it was the Colonel, so Teal'c was the logical choice.  She looked at the Colonel, but his face was unreadable.  The fact that he had put a mask on spoke volumes to her, however, and she made her decision.

"If you don't mind, Sir," she started and he nodded, starting to move away from her, "I'd appreciate it if you could help me."

Jack was surprised by her choice, but tried to hide that fact.  Nodding silently, he moved so that he was kneeling beside her waist.

"Okay, uh…"

"Sir, it's not as if I have anything you haven't seen before, I'm just a woman," said Sam, trying to ease the tension in the highly confined space.

"Right, right," he agreed, shaking himself into action.  "Okay, first things first, where are your clean pants?"

"They're still in my pack.  I was too busy trying to figure out how to get my boots off earlier," she admitted.

Her pack was behind him, just beside the entrance to the tent, so he turned around to retrieve her clean pants.  Sam took advantage of his back being turned and managed to unzip her pants and slide them to her mid-thighs, allowing her to pull her t-shirt down so that it was covering her from mid-thigh upwards.  Turning around, Jack noticed this and gave her a small smile of appreciation at her attempt to minimize their embarrassment.

"Alright, Carter, I'm just gonna lift your legs so I can get these off, okay?" he said as he started to tug her pants down her legs.  He tossed the mud-covered pants aside and gently lowered her bandaged foot to the ground while he slid her left leg into the new pants.  Sam gritted her teeth as he started to ease the other pant leg over her ankle, but he was as gentle and quick as possible and he soon turned his back again so that she could pull her pants the rest of the way up and fasten them.

"Thanks, Sir," she said, indicating that she was dressed again.

He turned around and smiled at her.

"Do you need to change anything else?"

"No, I should be okay, my top half didn't get too badly splashed."

"Good," he nodded.  "Right, time for food.  Daniel," he yelled, "heat up the Air Force delights for us please."

"Sure," called Daniel.

"Sir, I'm not really hungry."

"Funny, I don't remember asking you if you were; this isn't an option, Carter."

"Yes, Sir," she sighed.

"Think you can manage to join us outside?"

"Yeah, just about."

Jack backed out of the tent to give her room to maneuver and, after much cursing under her breath, she managed to follow him out and hobble to the fireside.

*

"Alright, I'll take first watch, then you, Teal'c and, Daniel you're last," announced Jack as they finished eating and he noticed Carter forcing her eyes open.

"What about me, Sir?"

"What about you?"

"When am I on watch?"

"You're not."

"Sir?"

"Carter, you're injured; what are you gonna do if someone appears, hobble after them?"  He tempered his words with a smirk, but it was clear he was serious.

"But, Sir –"

"Get some rest, Carter, that's an order."

"Yes, Sir," she agreed reluctantly.  Daniel gave her a comforting smile, which she returned as she sadly hobbled back to her tent.

Daniel, Teal'c and Jack talked for a few minutes before Jack headed for Carter's tent to retrieve his yo-yo from his pack.  As he entered, he noticed that she was constantly moving around, trying to get comfortable.

"You need to keep your ankle elevated," he told her.  She looked at him blankly; she was tired and unable to think straight.  He removed his sleeping bag from his pack, deciding he'd share with Carter to make sure she didn't go into shock during the night, and then took out his inflatable pillow and placed it under her ankle.  "Use this," he said as he lowered her ankle onto the pillow.

"But, Sir –"

"Carter, go to sleep," he said seriously as he exited the tent to start his watch.

**

TBC…

**