Chapter 9 - Awakening

Daniel Jackson found Jack in his office trying to bury his concern under a mass of work, the colonel did not seem to be too successful with his tries. As Daniel knocked on the half-opened door and went inside, Jack shot him a devastating glance.

"What?" he exquired.

"You've heard what happened, haven't you?" Daniel questioned back trying to overlook his friend's explosive mood.

"I've seen it coming", Jack groaned.

"I know." Daniel cleared his throat looking away for a moment.

"So if you know that, why are you here, then?" Jack eyed him closely his anger about the situation still simmering.

"Well, I just wanted to check in on you, see how you're doing."

"I could kill somebody, but that's all", O'Neill tried to calm down.

"Okay, that's not nice to hear..." Daniel scratched his ear.

Jack bowed his head aside slightly. "Something else?" he asked.

"Indeed", Jackson held on shifting from one feet to another, "Teal'C and I had an idea."

"Oh really, what?" Jack questioned cynically.

Daniel started to explain: "Well, since Janet has found out more about how the implant works and that it's likely the cause for Sam's current shock because it blocked her memory..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know she's told me that as well. What's your point?" Jack retorted impatiently.

"Janet has now found some proof for the assumption that the implant malfunctioned owing to the immense flood of memories the encounter with Pete has caused. The thing seems to be a little fried now ..."

"Your point Daniel?" O'Neill questioned again.

"Yeah, I'm close to it now", Daniel went on, "Teal'C and I thought that we could maybe eliminate the implant and the barrier it causes by helping Sam to remember more things of those Baal repressed. There's a chance realistic that the implant will be destroyed by another flood of memories..."

"And that Carter's brain gets fried", Jack remarked, "have ya thought of that for a second?"

Daniel sighed. "We did. But if we leave Sam how she's now, she'll stay in such unstable condition for who knows how long, that's a fact."

"So, how you're planning to realize your ingenious idea?" Jack was still unsure about it all.

"We're all going to see Sam and well, we assume that she can still comprehend our presence and hear what we say though she's in that state she's in."

"Great one guys, let's play bet and win. I bet ten bucks that we won't change a single thing..." the colonel remarked bitterly.

"Come on, Jack, don't be like that. It's our only shot, you know that."

Jack's eyebrows shot up and he let out a worn-down but less pessimistic groan in agreement.

After Janet had managed to stabilize Sam's condition, she took care of Pete. She took him to her office easing him to sit down. He seemed to be really dejected looking down to the floor.

"Sam isn't going to be all right, ain't she?" he inquired quietly.

"We don't know much by now. I won't see it that way", Fraiser tried to soothe him.

"What has that Goa'uld done to her?" Pete wanted to know.

"Well", Janet tried to choose her words as carefully as possible, "it seems that he has altered Sam's memories for his purpose and tried to take away her hopes..."

"By deleting me", he finished for her sadly.

"So it seems, but I wouldn't say deleted exactly, just suppressed." Janet still tried to calm Sam's boyfriend, but was not really doing good at it, his sorrow was much too big. She gave it a last try: "If you want to you can stay for some time until we've figured out more."

He nodded thankfully. "If I'm not causing you any more trouble."

"You don't", Janet assured him.

Some minutes after Pete had left the office she got some more visitors: Daniel, Teal'C and Colonel O'Neill who still hadn't slept enough.

"We want to try what we've discussed some time ago", Daniel told her.

"Okay, but we have to be careful. As soon as there's trouble, you'll have to abort your try", she replied hoping that it wouldn't come that far.

Sam was experiencing another dream. She was sitting on the grass outside a small cabin near a lake she seemed to know well. But she did not remember much about it. From somewhere she heard hushed, whispering sounds, she assumed them to be caused by the wind striking the trees.

Suddenly Sam felt a hand on her shoulder. She spun around to see Jack standing behind her.

"Hey Sam", he said dropping down by her side.

"Hi", she smiled back.

"You know you're worrying me, don't ya?"

"I do?" she questioned.

"You think, you've disappointed me and you're scaring the hell outta all of us with your lost memories and the passing out all the time."

Sam eyed him closely.

"Don't you remember the truth?" Jack went on.

Suddenly a memory flashed into her mind. Sam saw herself in infirmary standing on the side of Jack's bed, the day he had been able to escape from Baal's outpost...with the help of his friends including herself. She was holding his hand as he brushed along the back of hers with his thumb in his semi-conscious state of mind. It felt like a warm gesture of eternal gratefulness.

As the vision fade away Jack was no longer sitting alone with her, Teal'C had joined him.

"Major Carter", he greeted her.

"Teal'C", she smiled at her jaffa friend.

"I want you to know that everything Baal made you believe was a lie, without your help there wouldn't have been the initiative to rescue O'Neill. Your thoughts were what made me ponder about a way to attack the outpost."

Once again Sam saw how they had all sat together studying the Tok'ra mission reports. Everybody took part in the vivid discussion, even she herself. It seemed that she had been the one linking important thoughts to a theory. She remembered it, she had not been idle, she had tried to help Jack with all her strength whatever happened, she had not left him alone.

Daniel was now sitting on the lawn with them as well. He gave Sam a concerned smile questioning: "Where's your memory gone? Don't you remember your friends and good times we all had together?"

Now that Sam remembered some more she tried to think of something else that had gone about their togetherness.

"We all need you", Daniel went on, "but it's not only us, it's your boyfriend as well. Did you really forget about him? Do you remember how you two sat together with Sarah and me that one night in the cafeteria?"

Sam thought of it and had another vision. She was on that evening in the cafeteria with Daniel and his girlfriend who had finally been freed from the symbiote taking her as its host. She was smiling while Daniel told some story about a dig they had both participated in. Next to Sam sat the one that she had been introduced as her boyfriend Pete.

Suddenly she memories about him were bubbling up. They grew stronger and stronger until all of them broke through the barrier at once flooding her mind: Her brother Mark as he introduced them to each other, their first date, the first kiss, the anniversary dance, the picnic on the beach, everything was there again...

All of a sudden Sam's body got into motion, she was twitching and her breath became faster. She threw her head to the one side and it was as if a short flash of overload energy could be seen crawling along her temple.

A moment later Sam opened her eyes. She was blinking wildly then she started crying heavily once again.

"Hey, Sam, s'okay", Jack whispered.

She looked up at him fighting back tears. Jack smiled at her and wiped away the tears that had stopped on her cheeks with his thumb.

"Do you remember now?" he asked.

"I do", she responded weakly almost inaudibly with her lips forming a small grin.

Jack was so happy he could not hold himself from leaning forward and kissing his friend's forehead. "This is great", he exclaimed quietly. He helped Sam to sit up. Now she turned her head to see Daniel and Teal'C sitting to her other side. She embraced first Daniel then Teal'C realizing that they had brought her back altogether.

AN: Hold on people, there are 1 or 2 concluding chapters to come...