Take a Chance on Me - Chapter 22

Janet sighed deeply and looked tiredly around at the equally exhausted members of SG-1 and General Hammond. "Report, Doctor." General Hammond said quietly.

"I was able to repair the damage to Ms. O'Neill's throat. The Goa'uld didn't leave behind any toxins, as I would have thought. I assume that it's either because this species of Goa'uld doesn't have that capability, or more likely because Rayne was hooked up to monitors and we would have known right away if something was wrong." Janet replied. "I still don't know if there will be any type of neurological damage. We'll have to wait until she wakes up. I don't know yet where the Goa'uld went. I've already ordered Dr. Warner to begin screening the staff."

"You can tell him to belay that order for now, Doctor. Apparently the Goa'uld jumped into Lt. Trevis. He jumped through the gate without explanation. I sent a team to retrieve him."

"If he jumped through the gate he would most likely have dialed out to another planet." Jonas interjected glumly. "He's probably nowhere near the planet that he gated to."

Sam grinned at him. "Oh he's there. The gate was opened to Cimmeria."

Jonas gawped at her. "Why would he send himself to the one place that he knew he wouldn't be safe?"

"He thought he was going to P3S-920 to retrieve his gear. The MALP was being sent to Cimmeria just before their mission."

"So the snake sent itself to Thor's hammer." Jack quipped. "How anti- climactic."

General Hammond looked at Jack with some amusement, glad to see him back to his old self. Jack was still obviously worried, of course, but at least he knew that Rayne would be okay. "I suggest you get some rest people. We'll debrief with the retrieval team at 0930. Dismissed."

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Janet was not surprised to find both Jonas and Jack in the infirmary the next morning. Jonas was passed out on the bed next to Rayne and Jack was slumped in a chair, his head resting on her bed next to her hand. She'd been completely unstrapped, the restraints pointless now. Janet slipped into her office to make a pot of coffee, knowing that Jack would be awake soon and would probably need it.

Janet was right; Rayne began to stir. Jack's head shot up at the movement and he looked at her bleary-eyed.

Rayne opened her eyes heavily, her voice raspy from the surgery and muffled with sleep. "Daddy?" She struggled to keep her eyes open. "Dad, you cut your hair. Mother won't like it." Her eyelids lost their struggle and she drifted off again, leaving Jack surprised and very puzzled in his groggy state.

Janet came in the room to find him staring at his niece in a bewildered state. "What happened colonel?" Janet asked concerned. "Did she wake up?"

He looked up at her realizing that she had spoken, but not understanding what she had said. "She woke up, called me 'Dad' and told me that her mother wouldn't like my haircut."

Janet chortled. "She's probably just dreaming. The Goa'uld have tendency to bring out some odd memories Did you and your brother look much alike?"

"Identical twins. I guess he did always keep his hair kind of long."

Janet tried very hard to picture Jack with long hair but couldn't do it - the closest she got was an image of Jack with Sam's hair. She shook herself out of her daydream and said sternly, "Well, she woke up. You know that she's fine, so I'm ordering you to bed. You can sleep in one of the infirmary beds if you promise to actually sleep. Otherwise I'll send you to your quarters."

Jacked nodded his head tiredly and walked over to an empty bed. "Wake me up if anything changes." It was the best he could come up with in his state, although he did mumble something about a power monger. He was asleep on the bed within minutes and Janet pulled the curtain around him and walked to her office.

Jonas popped one eye open to look towards Rayne's bed. Then looking around to see if Janet or the colonel were around he crept slowly out of his bed to go over to the chair formerly occupied by Jack.

Sitting down he took Rayne's hand in his, kissed it, and sighed.

"You scared me for a while there, Rayne." He whispered. But he admitted to himself, he was more afraid now. Rayne told him that she loved "what- if" questions. Well this was a big one. What if Rayne didn't love, or for that matter, even like him? What if the Goa'uld was just using him? He kissed the tips of her fingers and stood to kiss her forehead lightly. As he pulled away, he found himself looking into bewildered green eyes.

"Rayne!" Jonas exclaimed before realizing how loud he was. He continued in a whisper, not wanting to awaken Jack yet. "You're awake."

Rayne's brow furrowed in concentration and her eyes squeezed shut.

"Maybe not *awake* awake." Jonas said almost to himself.

"Who?" Rayne rasped, keeping her eyes shut then shook her head in confusion. "Where?" Her body shuddered a moment but the furrow in her brow faded and she rolled over, taking Jonas' hand with her. Her breath soon became deep and even.

He stood awkwardly over the bed, facing Rayne's back, his hand clasped too tightly between Rayne's to wrestle it away from her without disturbing the girl. Jonas shrugged to himself and crawled up beside her on the bed, allowing his arm to rest over her waist. He hoped the familiar gesture would be appreciated when she woke up. He wanted her to know that *he* at least was going to make an effort to make their already odd relationship work. The narrow bed was quite cramped for two people; Jonas snuggled as close to her as possible without pulling out the IV drip. Soon they were both once again asleep.

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Rayne's eyes popped open and she froze. "Not again, not again, not again." She whispered to herself in hopes that the mantra would make the panic rising up in her vanish. Looking around her, she was terrified by the realization that she didn't know where she was. It certainly wasn't her mother's home. She hugged herself tightly and pulled her knees up to her chest. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly to hold back the tears. They liked when she cried and she didn't want them to like her.

Jonas felt Rayne shift away from her and stirred. He felt her shiver and, pulling her closer to himself, whispered groggily into her hair, are you okay, Rayne? Are you cold? She went suddenly rigid and he realized that something wasn't right. He propped himself up on his free hand. "Rayne? What's wrong?" His tone was sincere, but he was afraid that things were beginning to deteriorate rapidly.

She dropped her head to her chest and hunched her shoulders up as high as they would go. She squeezed his hand so tightly he had to bite his lip.

"Rayne, I'm going to get Dr. Frasier." He slid out of the bed. "I'm going to need my hand back, now."

She looked at him for the first time, looked down at his hand for a moment, and threw his hand away from herself. She scrambled out of the bed and stood, swaying opposite Jonas. Taking in her panic stricken face, he slowly backed his way to the door of Janet's office.

Rayne stood gripping the rails of the bed in front of her, staring after him as he knocked on the door and called for Janet.

Janet came out of her office to see what was going on. "Rayne." She called gently; she'd seen PTSD before and she expected that that's what was happening here. "It's good to see you awake, but you really should still be in bed." She took as step closer to help her, but Rayne stepped back. Losing her hand-hold on the bed, Rayne stood shakily before stumbling and falling to her knees. She stared up accusingly at the IV bag and scrambled as quickly as she could to the corner.

The commotion outside the curtain had woken him, and Jack stepped out from behind the curtain bleary-eyed but taking in the situation with a cool glance. Rayne looked up at him, her features melting from fear to shock as she began to pull breath into her lungs in rapid puffs.

Casting a quick glance at Jonas and Janet, she pulled herself up the wall, staring at Jack. Leaning against the wall for support, she painfully crept towards him. "Rayne?" Jack stared at her mesmerized as her face filled with shock, grief, and relief.

Reaching her uncle, Rayne gripped the front of his shirt as her legs seemed to melt from beneath her and she slowly fell to the ground, pulling him to his knees with her. She gripped his face in hers as tears streamed down her face. His forehead wrinkled with worry and he pulled her towards him. "Rayne?" He whispered to her again.

"She told me you were dead. I thought you were dead. I shouldn't have believed her that you were dead." She whispered to him desperately.

"Rayne?" He asked her again gently. His hatred of all Goa'uld everywhere swelled. "Who told you that I was dead?"

She looked at him stricken. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have believed her. I knew that I shouldn't have believed her. She lies all the time. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I believed her, Daddy."

Jack gasped and he pushed her away to arms length, his heart pounding in his chest. "No, Rayne." He searched her face, hoping that she would recognize him. She cut him off before he could explain.

"Dad, I graduated a week ago." She smiled proudly through her tears. "Mother told me that she had a surprise so I went to the house with her." She looked down at the floor, searching it for answers. "She told me I had to leave, that I couldn't stay, but she had a gift for me. A gift that would help me."

"Rayne, stop." Jack shook her gently. "Listen to me. I'm not your father. I'm your uncle. I'm Jack."

Rayne stopped her soliloquy abruptly. "Jack? Uncle Jack?" Her face fell. "Oh. I'm sorry." She sat staring at his shirt for what seemed like ages. Suddenly she brightened. "You're Charlie's dad."

Jack bit his lip and nodded curtly.

Bowing her head, she added quietly. "I thought that you were my father. You look just like him. I'm sorry."

Jack pulled her into an embrace. Initially she returned the hug, wrapping her arms around his neck. But her posture changed suddenly and she stiffened, pushing him away. "Where am I?" She demanded. "How did I get here? I don't remember coming here. And who is that?" She pointed accusingly at Jonas. "What was he doing while I was unconscious?"

Jonas held out his hands placatingly and took a step forward, but Rayne scrambled to put Jack between him and herself.

Janet stepped forward cautiously. "Rayne, I'm Dr. Frasier. I work with your uncle. You were sick so we brought you to the infirmary on the base where your uncle works."

"I don't remember being sick." Rayne cast back angrily. "And that doesn't explain why *he* was in bed with me when I woke up."

Jack glared at Jonas. "Jonas." Jack growled. "Would you care to explain this one?"

Jonas gaped at Rayne, the color drained from his face. He opened his mouth to speak, but Janet cut him off. "I'm sorry, sir, but I think I have a guess about what's going on." She turned back to the girl. "Rayne, I need to ask you a few questions to make sure that you're alright. Can you tell me what year it is?"

Rayne continued to glare darkly at Jonas. "It's 1994."

Jack turned to look incredulously at Rayne as Janet continued. "What's the last thing that you remember?"

"I was at my Mother's house. She told me that she had a graduation gift for me."

Janet interrupted her. "Graduation from college?"

Rayne glared at her. "High School. I'm only seventeen you know." She narrowed her eyes at Jonas accusingly. "Anyway, she told me that I had to get out of the house, but that she had a gift for me." Rayne closed her eyes, trying to remember. "I remember, I remember that she was standing behind me." Rayne rubbed that back of her neck. "Then it felt like my neck was on fire, like something was slicing into it and something was. . . was crawling into the opening." Her eyes flew open. "That's the last thing that I remember."