Janet Frasier wasn't the only one having problems with her patient at that moment. Dr. Monica Ray had known Jaffer since he was very young, and the black lab knew her fairly well, and knew that she'd never hurt him. But the morphine shot he'd been given was wearing off, and he was feeling a lot of pain, and he was at the vet's office for the first time in his life without Jack.

Jaffer struggled against Ray's touch, whining and fighting her with every motion. He never threatened to bite – he had never been a biter and never would be, simply by nature – but he was hurting himself in his struggles, and Ray finally had to put the dog out in order to get a look at what she was dealing with.

Sam had panicked when she saw the veterinarian give the dog the shot, fearing she'd decided to put him down. Which seemed confirmed when Jaffer suddenly went limp, his eyes still partially open, his tongue hanging out where Ray had put it to keep him from choking on it while he was under sedation.

"What-"

"Relax," Monica told Sam, understanding immediately. "It's just a sedative so I can work on him."

Agile hands stroked the dog's sides, caressing him, but actually checking for bumps and swelling that would tell her of any broken bones, since she couldn't use Jaffer's reactions to judge by. She knew his leg was broken, but that was probably the least of his injuries.

"I'm going to do x-rays and an ultrasound to look for internal injuries. Where's Jack?" She needed his permission to perform such actions.

"He's still at the accident scene," Daniel said, speaking up before Sam could. "Do whatever you need to, Jack would approve of it."

Of course he would. Jack brought Jaffer in if the puppy so much as sneezed funny, and everyone in the room – including the vet-tech – knew it. Ray nodded, and gestured for her assistants to take the lab and get him ready for his tests.

"You'll have to wait out in the waiting room," She told them.

"But I have to be able to tell-"

Daniel put his arm around Sam and nodded as he guided her out of the room. "We'll just be in the way, Sam."

"I can't leave him alone, Daniel-"

She was interrupted by her cell phone, and she fumbled through her purse and grabbed it.

"Yes?"

"Sam, it's Janet." Fraiser sounded tense, and Sam bit her lip, expecting the worst immediately.

"How is he?"

"We're in route to Cheyenne Mountain right now." They had to take Jack there, since they were going to have to sedate him and it was either sedate him in the classified base, or put a guard on him to make sure no one tried to talk to him when he wasn't in any shape to know what he was saying. It was easier all around for them to take him to the base – which wasn't that far away – and was already secured. Besides, there was no doubt that Janet needed to be in charge of O'Neill's case, and at a regular hospital there would be doctors whose pride or arrogance would make them hesitate to turn their emergency room over to her, and Janet didn't have time for that kind of crap.

"How is he?" Sam repeated.

"He's lost a lot of blood, Sam." Janet told her, honestly. "A piece of metal from his truck was stuck through his leg, and they didn't know it until the cut it off."

"Will he be all right?"

Fraiser hesitated, and Sam heard it. Janet never lied to her – or anyone – and she wasn't going to make a promise she couldn't keep.

"I'm going to do all I can. How's Jaffer?"

"They're doing tests, now, but he was struggling and making it hard for them, so they sedated him."

Fraiser could sympathize.

"We're almost to the base. I'll call again when I know more."

"Janet..." Sam hesitated, now, and wasn't sure what to say, or how to say it. She felt tears stinging her eyes once more, and brushed them away impatiently. "I..."

"I'll tell him, Sam. As soon as I get him to wake up for me." The phone went dead, and Carter looked over at Daniel, her blue eyes watery and terrified. He gathered her in his arms, knowing that was what she needed more than anything, and Carter broke down and cried.

The other people waiting in the waiting room all looked on in shared sympathy as they watched Daniel take Sam over to the chairs and hold her while she sobbed. They'd all seen the bloody looking dog that she'd brought in and had assumed the worst had happened.

~*~

The ambulance was waved directly through the Main Gate, and right into the mountain itself. The paramedic driving it came to a halt when a Marine Corporal stepped in front of it and put his arms up, directing her to park it over to the side, where one of Fraiser's own medical teams were standing by with a gurney and equipment they'd need to stabilize Jack on the way down to the infirmary. Along with a few pints of blood to replace what he was losing.

Inside the ambulance, Janet was still struggling to stop the bleeding from Jack's leg. How the jagged piece of metal had missed the main artery was a mystery, but it was also a blessing. Jack O'Neill never would have made it out of his truck alive if that had happened. As it was, she was still pressing hard on the bandages that were against the wound – both on the front and on the back of Jack's leg – and still it was bleeding slowly.

"We're there," The paramedic told her from the front. Janet looked up and out the front windshield, resting her knee on Jack's upper thigh to hold the bandage in place, and saw that Teal'c and Hammond were both standing next to the medics who were waiting for their patient.

"Let's get him out of here, then." She had to get some staples in this wound, and get the bleeding under control. Fraiser looked down at the Colonel's very pale face. "Help me out here, Jack," she murmured, leaning over and speaking into the ear she'd grabbed earlier. "You've got to fight, because I'm not going to be the one to tell Sam that some drunk took away all that matters to her."

He didn't answer, but Fraiser had to hope that he was listening.