Take a Chance on Me - Chapter 27
Jack O'Neill walked into a much-altered infirmary. Several of the curtains that usually surround the beds had be thrown up over their rods and pinned together forming a tent. Four beds had been pushed together and Rayne, Jonas, and John sprawled over them intently poring over large sheets of paper.
Jack looked around in awe. Had he done something like this in Janet's infirmary, he'd be scheduled for monthly enemas for sure.
Jack heard Rayne laugh.
He hadn't expected to hear that sound. It wasn't the tentative giggle that he had gotten used to over the past few days. It was a genuine, sweet laugh. He stood back watching the interaction.
For the first time since the Goa'uld had left her body, Rayne seemed to relax. He noticed that she still hovered a little closer to Jonas than he would have expected, but she seemed to thrive in her brother's presence. He sauntered over to them. "Hey, kids, what's going on?" He asked casually.
John leapt to his feet. "Sir!"
Rayne rolled over towards Jonas, clamping her hand around his.
"As you were, John." He waved him back down and took up a perch on the end of the bed. Rayne relaxed when John sunk back down onto the bed. She gave Jack a shy smile. "So, whatcha doin'?" Jack asked, picking up a piece of paper, deliberately holding it upside down and eyeing it critically.
Rayne and John looked at each other. Jonas jumped in before they could decide who would speak. After spending most of the day with the two of them, he had some suspicions that he wasn't ready to voice yet. "We were just going over some translations, colonel. Rayne and Lt. O'Neill were able to provide glosses for the story tablets that had been sitting in storage for three years in backlog."
Jack opened his mouth to reprimand Jonas about sharing classified information with a known Goa'uld, but closed it at the look Jonas gave him. "Damn, he was getting good at that." He thought. "I wonder if Daniel left an instruction manual in his lab." If the tablets had been sitting in backlog for three years, then they weren't considered to be of strategic importance anyway.
Rayne yawned and stretched cat-like across the bed. She moved so that her head rested on Jonas' outstretched leg, just above his knee. Jack raised his eyebrows in surprise, and judging from Jonas expression, the action caught him off-guard as well. Ignoring them both, Rayne stared sleepily at the paper she held in her hand. There wasn't a trace of the edginess or fear that had been hounding her.
John sat gazing at his sister, a benevolent smile on his face. Jack noticed it and knit his eyebrows in concentration. He wondered just how much influence this species of Goa'uld could have over people. He felt himself suddenly torn between voicing this concern, based on his mistrust of all snakes everywhere, and letting things slide, based not only on a desire to see his niece happy, but also the fact that he couldn't prove anything.
The choice was removed from his hands at that moment as alarms began to blare and a medical team was called to the gate room.
Dr. Warner and his team rushed past Jack, pushing a gurney. "Be out of the way when we get back!" The doctor called over his shoulder.
Leaping into action, Jack waved over both Rayne and John's sentries. "Take the lieutenant back to isolation." He barked. "Jonas, please escort Rayne to one of the VIP suites. I doubt that she needs to be in the infirmary anymore anyway."
Jonas nodded and pulled Rayne out of the room as the guards escorted John to his private observation room. Rayne started to protest, calling after her brother.
Jonas whispered into her ear, "You can see him later. Don't worry, they just need to keep the infirmary clear in case there's an emergency." She nodded in understanding and followed him reluctantly, watching over her shoulder as John marched tolerantly out of the room.
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Walking briskly into the control room overlooking the Stargate, Jack's face twisted into a mask of concern as he watched Lt. Trevis' body arch and shudder in what was obviously a seizure. Jack stood looking down through the glass, oblivious to the commotion around him, his focus on the room below.
"How long was he down before you got him back?" Dr. Warner shouted at the medic of SG-7 as they attempted to keep the seizing man from harming himself.
"Twenty minutes of CPR and a shot of adrenaline. We got a pulse back just before we entered the gate. It was a pretty rough run before that. Two minor seizures en route to the gate and he was unconscious the whole time.
Jack watched as Dr. Warner injected the man with something that caused the seizure to dissipate. The medical team rushed the gurney from the room. Jack turned to follow and came face to face with the leader of SG-7, Lt. Col. Maddox. "Sir." She reported in looking apprehensive.
Jack scrubbed his hands over his face tiredly before speaking. "What is it, Maddie?"
She smiled wryly at him. "Sir. I wanted to tell you before you found out. Things didn't go very well out there."
Jack frowned as he leaned against the doorframe. "I think that's obvious."
"Yes sir." She continued, undeterred by his dour response. "I don't think you quite understand, sir. I know that the medical staff here has pulled off miracles before, but I don't think it will happen this time. Trevis wasn't acting like a Goa'uld, but he wouldn't go through the door on his own." Her countenance turned haunted as she spoke. "We had to manhandle him into the doorway. When the beam hit. . ." She shuddered. "It was horrifying." Her gaze locked with his. "I can't imagine the Asgard doing something so inhumane, even to a Goa'uld."
Jack nodded solemnly, effectively dismissing her. Lt. Col. Debra Maddox was not one to be overly sensitive to the things she saw. She had been on one of the first SG teams through the gate and had previously served as a helicopter pilot in some of the world's hottest spots. If she said it had been bad, it was probably an understatement.
He continued to the infirmary, pausing at the door to restructure his face into a mask of military professionalism. He stepped inside in time to see Trevis wheeled to the operating theater in a flurry of confusion.
The sudden silence left in the wake of their departure was deafening.
Jack found himself with nothing left to do but wait. He wanted to see the outcome of the surgery, but without knowing the lieutenant's condition, it could be minutes or hours before there would be news. Not having anything more pressing to do - contrary to popular belief, he *always* stayed on top of his paperwork - he leaped onto one of the infirmary beds and lay back to wait for Dr. Warner to come out. Before he knew what was happening, he had fallen into an exhausted sleep.
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Rayne was on edge. Jonas watched as she paced the room. This was different than the way she was before; this was more the attitude of a trapped animal than a frightened woman. He called out to her in an attempt to calm her pacing, "Rayne, what would you like to do? Do you want me to leave?"
She stopped abruptly and looked at him in surprise. "No! I mean, not unless you have to be somewhere else."
"Then come and sit with me. There are cards here. Or I can get a movie from the base library."
Rayne restlessly thrummed her fingers against her thigh in a way Jonas had seen the colonel do on many occasions. He sat patiently at the small table in the corner on one of the two chairs in the room, watching as Rayne resumed her pacing. "We could work on more translations if you like."
This time she looked up briefly but did not stop pacing. Jonas rose to his feet and stood in her path. She stopped, barely a couple of inches from him and looked up into his kind but worried face.
Her close scrutiny made him waver slightly. His voice took on a slightly higher pitch as he asked, "Would you like me to call the infirmary to see what's going on?"
She continued to stare, but didn't say anything.
His breathing began to increase minutely "We, uh, could, uh, call your brother. He's allowed to make phone calls as long as they're screened."
At the mention of her brother, her eyes narrowed almost imperceptively. However, being in such close proximity, Jonas noticed. "We could go to the commissary." He continued. "We could get ice. . ."
Before he realized what was going on, Rayne had leaned up on her toes and given him a brief kiss. She dropped back to flat feet and continued to stare at him as if nothing had happened.
Jonas pulled back slightly and studied her. "Rayne, what did your brother tell you to do?"
She answered in a monotone, her gaze never wavering. "Be happy."
"I never heard him say that."
"He only said it to me."
"How?"
That made her pause and she cocked her head to the side to think. In a more natural tone she answered, "I don't know." She turned and took a few light steps around Jonas and nonchalantly perched on the end of the bed. "So, ice cream?" She asked.
"Rayne. . ." He began.
"I think strawberry today." She leaped up and playfully began pulling him to the door by a belt loop.
Jonas relented, but pushed his suspicions to the back of his mind. "The commissary doesn't have strawberry; they only have chocolate, vanilla, and twist."
"Somewhere in Colorado Springs they have strawberry. Oh! There's a great place at Oak and University that's fantastic."
"Rayne, we can't leave the base until Dr. Frasier. . ." He stopped abruptly. "Rayne, I thought you didn't remember anything about the last eight and a half years."
She turned to face him and pulled his head down to whisper in his ear. "I do now." She nipped his earlobe between her teeth, turned and began pulling him to the elevator.
Jonas' eyes grew wide and his hand slammed against the security call button in the hallway. He grabbed Rayne around the waist and pulled them both down into a sitting position. He wrapped his legs around her waist, pinning her legs to the ground and held her arms down to the sides of her body in a tight hug.
Rayne's reaction was unexpected. She leaned back in Jonas' grasp and craned her neck to look at him. "So no ice cream then?" She snuggled into his chest.
Jonas was flabbergasted, with no idea what to say.
She gave him a peck on the jaw, it was all the further she could reach, and continued sincerely. "I'm not a Goa'uld, Jonas. I just remember what happened, how I felt, and I know that I liked it. We can wait for security if you'd like, but I'm not going to run away. I'll even go with you to the infirmary to be checked out."
Jonas tightened his grasp slightly just as several SF's came running into the hall. He stood up. "Please escort, Ms. O'Neill to the infirmary. But don't use any unnecessary force." He stood up and helped her to her feet.
"The doctor needs to check for reptilian activity in my head." She informed them irreverently. She looked at Jonas with defiant amusement dancing in her eyes. "For this I want bananas. And whipped cream. And cherries - with stems. I want to show you a trick I can do." She waggled her eyebrows at him as she brushed herself off and walked over to the SF's. As they rounded the corner he heard her shout, "And sprinkles!"
Jonas hung his head back in exasperation. He was going to have to go talk to Col. O'Neill.
Picking up the nearby phone he dialed the control room's extension. He was probably in the vicinity, if not down at the gate, then in the briefing room. When one of the Tech's informed him that he had headed for the infirmary, Jonas took off at a run.
Jack O'Neill walked into a much-altered infirmary. Several of the curtains that usually surround the beds had be thrown up over their rods and pinned together forming a tent. Four beds had been pushed together and Rayne, Jonas, and John sprawled over them intently poring over large sheets of paper.
Jack looked around in awe. Had he done something like this in Janet's infirmary, he'd be scheduled for monthly enemas for sure.
Jack heard Rayne laugh.
He hadn't expected to hear that sound. It wasn't the tentative giggle that he had gotten used to over the past few days. It was a genuine, sweet laugh. He stood back watching the interaction.
For the first time since the Goa'uld had left her body, Rayne seemed to relax. He noticed that she still hovered a little closer to Jonas than he would have expected, but she seemed to thrive in her brother's presence. He sauntered over to them. "Hey, kids, what's going on?" He asked casually.
John leapt to his feet. "Sir!"
Rayne rolled over towards Jonas, clamping her hand around his.
"As you were, John." He waved him back down and took up a perch on the end of the bed. Rayne relaxed when John sunk back down onto the bed. She gave Jack a shy smile. "So, whatcha doin'?" Jack asked, picking up a piece of paper, deliberately holding it upside down and eyeing it critically.
Rayne and John looked at each other. Jonas jumped in before they could decide who would speak. After spending most of the day with the two of them, he had some suspicions that he wasn't ready to voice yet. "We were just going over some translations, colonel. Rayne and Lt. O'Neill were able to provide glosses for the story tablets that had been sitting in storage for three years in backlog."
Jack opened his mouth to reprimand Jonas about sharing classified information with a known Goa'uld, but closed it at the look Jonas gave him. "Damn, he was getting good at that." He thought. "I wonder if Daniel left an instruction manual in his lab." If the tablets had been sitting in backlog for three years, then they weren't considered to be of strategic importance anyway.
Rayne yawned and stretched cat-like across the bed. She moved so that her head rested on Jonas' outstretched leg, just above his knee. Jack raised his eyebrows in surprise, and judging from Jonas expression, the action caught him off-guard as well. Ignoring them both, Rayne stared sleepily at the paper she held in her hand. There wasn't a trace of the edginess or fear that had been hounding her.
John sat gazing at his sister, a benevolent smile on his face. Jack noticed it and knit his eyebrows in concentration. He wondered just how much influence this species of Goa'uld could have over people. He felt himself suddenly torn between voicing this concern, based on his mistrust of all snakes everywhere, and letting things slide, based not only on a desire to see his niece happy, but also the fact that he couldn't prove anything.
The choice was removed from his hands at that moment as alarms began to blare and a medical team was called to the gate room.
Dr. Warner and his team rushed past Jack, pushing a gurney. "Be out of the way when we get back!" The doctor called over his shoulder.
Leaping into action, Jack waved over both Rayne and John's sentries. "Take the lieutenant back to isolation." He barked. "Jonas, please escort Rayne to one of the VIP suites. I doubt that she needs to be in the infirmary anymore anyway."
Jonas nodded and pulled Rayne out of the room as the guards escorted John to his private observation room. Rayne started to protest, calling after her brother.
Jonas whispered into her ear, "You can see him later. Don't worry, they just need to keep the infirmary clear in case there's an emergency." She nodded in understanding and followed him reluctantly, watching over her shoulder as John marched tolerantly out of the room.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Walking briskly into the control room overlooking the Stargate, Jack's face twisted into a mask of concern as he watched Lt. Trevis' body arch and shudder in what was obviously a seizure. Jack stood looking down through the glass, oblivious to the commotion around him, his focus on the room below.
"How long was he down before you got him back?" Dr. Warner shouted at the medic of SG-7 as they attempted to keep the seizing man from harming himself.
"Twenty minutes of CPR and a shot of adrenaline. We got a pulse back just before we entered the gate. It was a pretty rough run before that. Two minor seizures en route to the gate and he was unconscious the whole time.
Jack watched as Dr. Warner injected the man with something that caused the seizure to dissipate. The medical team rushed the gurney from the room. Jack turned to follow and came face to face with the leader of SG-7, Lt. Col. Maddox. "Sir." She reported in looking apprehensive.
Jack scrubbed his hands over his face tiredly before speaking. "What is it, Maddie?"
She smiled wryly at him. "Sir. I wanted to tell you before you found out. Things didn't go very well out there."
Jack frowned as he leaned against the doorframe. "I think that's obvious."
"Yes sir." She continued, undeterred by his dour response. "I don't think you quite understand, sir. I know that the medical staff here has pulled off miracles before, but I don't think it will happen this time. Trevis wasn't acting like a Goa'uld, but he wouldn't go through the door on his own." Her countenance turned haunted as she spoke. "We had to manhandle him into the doorway. When the beam hit. . ." She shuddered. "It was horrifying." Her gaze locked with his. "I can't imagine the Asgard doing something so inhumane, even to a Goa'uld."
Jack nodded solemnly, effectively dismissing her. Lt. Col. Debra Maddox was not one to be overly sensitive to the things she saw. She had been on one of the first SG teams through the gate and had previously served as a helicopter pilot in some of the world's hottest spots. If she said it had been bad, it was probably an understatement.
He continued to the infirmary, pausing at the door to restructure his face into a mask of military professionalism. He stepped inside in time to see Trevis wheeled to the operating theater in a flurry of confusion.
The sudden silence left in the wake of their departure was deafening.
Jack found himself with nothing left to do but wait. He wanted to see the outcome of the surgery, but without knowing the lieutenant's condition, it could be minutes or hours before there would be news. Not having anything more pressing to do - contrary to popular belief, he *always* stayed on top of his paperwork - he leaped onto one of the infirmary beds and lay back to wait for Dr. Warner to come out. Before he knew what was happening, he had fallen into an exhausted sleep.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Rayne was on edge. Jonas watched as she paced the room. This was different than the way she was before; this was more the attitude of a trapped animal than a frightened woman. He called out to her in an attempt to calm her pacing, "Rayne, what would you like to do? Do you want me to leave?"
She stopped abruptly and looked at him in surprise. "No! I mean, not unless you have to be somewhere else."
"Then come and sit with me. There are cards here. Or I can get a movie from the base library."
Rayne restlessly thrummed her fingers against her thigh in a way Jonas had seen the colonel do on many occasions. He sat patiently at the small table in the corner on one of the two chairs in the room, watching as Rayne resumed her pacing. "We could work on more translations if you like."
This time she looked up briefly but did not stop pacing. Jonas rose to his feet and stood in her path. She stopped, barely a couple of inches from him and looked up into his kind but worried face.
Her close scrutiny made him waver slightly. His voice took on a slightly higher pitch as he asked, "Would you like me to call the infirmary to see what's going on?"
She continued to stare, but didn't say anything.
His breathing began to increase minutely "We, uh, could, uh, call your brother. He's allowed to make phone calls as long as they're screened."
At the mention of her brother, her eyes narrowed almost imperceptively. However, being in such close proximity, Jonas noticed. "We could go to the commissary." He continued. "We could get ice. . ."
Before he realized what was going on, Rayne had leaned up on her toes and given him a brief kiss. She dropped back to flat feet and continued to stare at him as if nothing had happened.
Jonas pulled back slightly and studied her. "Rayne, what did your brother tell you to do?"
She answered in a monotone, her gaze never wavering. "Be happy."
"I never heard him say that."
"He only said it to me."
"How?"
That made her pause and she cocked her head to the side to think. In a more natural tone she answered, "I don't know." She turned and took a few light steps around Jonas and nonchalantly perched on the end of the bed. "So, ice cream?" She asked.
"Rayne. . ." He began.
"I think strawberry today." She leaped up and playfully began pulling him to the door by a belt loop.
Jonas relented, but pushed his suspicions to the back of his mind. "The commissary doesn't have strawberry; they only have chocolate, vanilla, and twist."
"Somewhere in Colorado Springs they have strawberry. Oh! There's a great place at Oak and University that's fantastic."
"Rayne, we can't leave the base until Dr. Frasier. . ." He stopped abruptly. "Rayne, I thought you didn't remember anything about the last eight and a half years."
She turned to face him and pulled his head down to whisper in his ear. "I do now." She nipped his earlobe between her teeth, turned and began pulling him to the elevator.
Jonas' eyes grew wide and his hand slammed against the security call button in the hallway. He grabbed Rayne around the waist and pulled them both down into a sitting position. He wrapped his legs around her waist, pinning her legs to the ground and held her arms down to the sides of her body in a tight hug.
Rayne's reaction was unexpected. She leaned back in Jonas' grasp and craned her neck to look at him. "So no ice cream then?" She snuggled into his chest.
Jonas was flabbergasted, with no idea what to say.
She gave him a peck on the jaw, it was all the further she could reach, and continued sincerely. "I'm not a Goa'uld, Jonas. I just remember what happened, how I felt, and I know that I liked it. We can wait for security if you'd like, but I'm not going to run away. I'll even go with you to the infirmary to be checked out."
Jonas tightened his grasp slightly just as several SF's came running into the hall. He stood up. "Please escort, Ms. O'Neill to the infirmary. But don't use any unnecessary force." He stood up and helped her to her feet.
"The doctor needs to check for reptilian activity in my head." She informed them irreverently. She looked at Jonas with defiant amusement dancing in her eyes. "For this I want bananas. And whipped cream. And cherries - with stems. I want to show you a trick I can do." She waggled her eyebrows at him as she brushed herself off and walked over to the SF's. As they rounded the corner he heard her shout, "And sprinkles!"
Jonas hung his head back in exasperation. He was going to have to go talk to Col. O'Neill.
Picking up the nearby phone he dialed the control room's extension. He was probably in the vicinity, if not down at the gate, then in the briefing room. When one of the Tech's informed him that he had headed for the infirmary, Jonas took off at a run.
