Title: You

Author: Aelan Greenleaf

Spoilers: None

Time Frame: Season Five

Category: Romance; mild S/J

Summary: I find hope when I'm let down; not in me, it's in you.

Rating: G

It happened so fast: the soft rumbling coming from above, the shout of warning, then a blinding pain that enveloped me. I found myself on the ground, gasping for breath with the paralysing pain that ran up my right leg. I screamed with anguish, but only for a moment, to release the tension that was burning throughout me. Something sticky slid across my vision, and I pulled wet fingers away to find blood.

"Sam!" someone cried before I fell into darkness.

There's always something in the way

There's always something that's getting through

But it's not me

It's you.

I opened my eyes to find dark ones staring into my own. From far away I heard someone call my name again.

"Are you alright?" he says to me, softly, quietly.

I try to nod my confirmation but the pain that it causes me betrays my response. "Don't move." he says again. He disappears for a moment out of my line of vision, but returns almost instantly. "Carter, your leg is broken. Teal'c and Daniel are going back to the gate to get you some help, but its about twelve miles away. Can you hold on for a while?"

I grit my teeth and, this time, nod successfully. I close my eyes to mask my pain, but open them in surprise when I find my head being lifted up.

"What are you doing, sir?" I manage to croak out.

He takes off his pack and places it underneath my head. Then, I watch as he takes off his jacket and places it over me. The cave is getting cold around me, and I am thankful for it.

I say it aloud. "Thanks, sir."

He smiles at me. "No problem, Sam."

Sometimes ignorance rings true

But hope is not in what I know

It's not in me

It's in you.

I slip in and out of consciousness for a while, but every time I find him vigilant over me, watching out for me. His handsome face looks dark and mysterious in the dim light of the cavern, but I can see concerned etched in every facet of his visage.

I reach my hand out and take his in mine after finding myself awake. He jumps a bit from the contact, then looks down to me on the ground.

"Carter?" he asks slowly.

I take a deep breath, prepared to tell him everything, everything that I feel for him, but I feel the blackness overtake me again and he is gone.

I find peace when I'm confused

I find hope when I'm let down

Not in me

In you

It's in you.

When I wake up again, I am in the infirmary at the SGC. I can see Janet nearby, working quietly in the dim light over her instruments. I look down to my leg, and find it completely encased from the ankle to my knee.

"Janet." I whisper with my unused voice, and I see her turn.

"Sam! How do you feel?"

"Pretty good, I guess." I answer, "How's the rest of the team?"

"They're fine. Teal'c and Daniel came back through the gate for help for you, and Jack waited with you in the cave. He was here, actually, when you were sleeping."

"He was?" I say, and I realize too late that I have said it with much eagerness.

Janet sends me a suspicious look, but says nothing. "Yeah, he was. For about five hours, I think, but General Hammond ordered him to get some rest. Come to think of it, Sam, I think you should probably get a few more hours too."

"Alright Janet." I say with a smile. "Thanks."

She smiles back. "Night, Sam."

I hope to lose myself for good

I hope to find it in the end

Not in me

In you.

FIN