Ch 12

"Is she okay?"

"Should I go call an ambulance?"

"I never saw anybody's leg bend that way before!"

Sam groaned at the three children's voices and opened her eyes groggily. Not only was there a searing pain in her ankle, the back of her head was throbbing as well.

"She's awake!" Jeffrey's face, along with his two brothers, appeared over her head. They were all peering at her curiously.

"I'm the one who kicked the ball," one of the older boys said. "I'm really, really sorry."

"It's not your fault," she said, her brain clearing enough to remember exactly whose fault it was. "Where's Colonel O'Neill?" she demanded, trying to sit up. She got dizzy and started to fall again, but three pairs of little hands pulled her up to a sitting position and they all hovered over her.

"He went inside to call somebody on the phone. He told us to watch you," Jeffrey said. They were clearly following orders. All three of them were hovering over her like she was about to die.

"I'm okay, guys, really," she said.

"Colonel O'Neill, she's awake!" Jeffrey yelled suddenly.

Sam winced at the sharp pain in her head and glared at her CO as he suddenly appeared over her as well. "Thanks, guys," he said, nudging them out of the way and crouching down in front of her. "I called Janet, she's going to be waiting for you. How's your head?"

He tried to touch the back of her head but she swatted his hand away. "I'm fine, sir," she said pointedly. He looked at her like she'd just punched him in the gut but didn't say anything.

"Um, boys, I've got to take her to the doctor now, why don't you guys go home," he said quietly.

"Okay."

"I hope you get better, Sam."

"I'm still really sorry."

She smiled at all of them and they all left. Then she turned back to her CO. Her head was killing her but she didn't care. "Since you obviously don't need those crutches anymore, would you mind if I borrowed them?" she asked icily, trying to get to her feet.

He grabbed her elbows firmly and hauled her onto her good foot, despite the fact that she was trying to jerk her arms away from him. "Stop it, you're going to make it worse," he said firmly, half-dragging her to her car.

"I want the crutches," she said firmly, glaring at him as he got her into the passenger seat and leaned over her to do her seat belt.

"Tough. They're inside, and Janet wants you there as fast as possible."

"If you screw up my car trying to drive with that damn thing on your leg, I'll..." He slammed her door shut and she could hear him cursing as he went around to the driver's side.

She continued to glare at him from the passenger seat the entire way to the base. She was prepared to snap at him for any explanation he might offer, but to her surprise he didn't try to say anything the entire way. He just stared straight ahead, the muscle in his jaw twitching.

"You're going to kill yourself if you don't let me help you," he said hotly as she tried to get out of the car by herself, lost her balance, and had to briefly put down her hurt leg.

"You're going to fall anyway, walking around with that cast on your leg," she argued, jerking her arm back away from him and hanging onto the door for support. "Just get Janet down here."

"No, SG-18 just came back from their two month mineral survey. I've got to get you up there. Come on."

"Don't touch me!"

"All right, fine!" he said hotly, leaning back against the car. "We'll just wait here then until the pain in your leg and head supercedes your damn stubborness!"

He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at his watch. She glared at him, but realized there was actually very little she could do with an obviously broken ankle and probably a concussion.

"Are you happy now?" she asked angrily after two minutes of the stand-off.

"How can you ask me that? You know I feel terrible about this. I know you're mad, but I also know that you KNOW I would gladly trade places with you right now if I could."

She continued to glare at him, but he was no longer returning the angry look. He was studying the parking lot ground as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world.

Ten minutes later, her anger had started to be pushed to the back of her mind as the pain in her body and the uncomfortable dampness of her clothes from falling in the wet grass all took over. "Okay," she said quietly.