He was watching the monitor. Not his – which was boring – but Janet's. She was still asleep, and showed every sign of staying that way for quite a while, but her heart rate was normal and her respiratory sounds sounded about right. Jack had seen a lot of monitors in his time, after all, and knew what was normal – more or less. As he watched the monitor he was going over in his mind the mission, and what had happened.
Jack never second-guessed himself. Not when it came to a call he made in the field, at any rate. There were very few times that he thought back to something that had happened, and decided that he should have done things differently, and this was really no exception. The more he thought about it, the more impressed he was with the way the people around him had handled themselves – including Janet and her team of medics. It might not be a bad idea, though, he thought; to maybe get them a little more in-field training. Just to be safe. It didn't have to be off-world or anything just some Military training ground like the ones used at boot camp – or even the ones used at the Air Force academy. That would-
His thoughts were interrupted when Jaffer jumped up onto his bed, wuffling him and wagging his tail as if he hadn't seen him in years. Jack's free hand came up and stroked the soft fur as he looked over to see if Sam had come. Sure enough, she, Daniel and Teal'c were all making their way over, stopping occasionally to greet one of the other wounded people. Jack trotted over and hopped up onto the bed as well, giving Jack a quick hello lick before moving over to flop down at his feet – which was good, since there wasn't a ton of room on the bed for all three of them to lay side by side by side.
Sam hesitated at Janet's bed just long enough to look at her friend's monitor. Like Jack, she'd seen enough of them in her time to know what to look for – pretty much. She seemed satisfied with what she saw, and moved over to stand by Jack's bed, giving Daniel and Teal'c a chance to check on Janet as well.
"Hey."
He smiled. He couldn't help himself. She made him feel so god, just looking at him like that.
"Hi."
"How are you feeling?"
"Fine."
"Shoulder hurt?"
"Nah."
"Uh huh."
He shrugged, using the uninjured shoulder.
"Maybe a little."
"General Hammond asked me to go get Cassie, so I'm going to be gone for a while. I thought I'd see if she wanted to stay at the house with us while Janet's in here. You don't mind, do you?"
"Of course not."
Besides, it'd give Sam company that evening, since Jack was stuck in the infirmary as well.
"I didn't think you would. General Hammond asked me to tell her she was welcomed at his house, but I think she'd have a better time at ours."
"Probably." But it was nice of the General to offer. Jack wasn't surprised, though. Hammond was a warm-hearted, caring guy.
"Need anything?"
"Nah."
It was too early to start complaining about the food – they hadn't been given anything to eat, yet. Besides, it wasn't as much fun to think about being annoying when it wasn't going to be Fraiser he was annoying.
"Hey, Jack."
"Hey, Daniel."
"Need anything?"
"Nah."
"Did they say when Janet's going to wake up?"
"A few hours, or a couple hours. They didn't really sound all that sure."
"But she is going to be okay?"
"They said she was."
"That's good."
"Yup."
"We should get going," Sam said, smiling. Those two weren't the best conversationalist, that was for sure. She bent over and brushed a kiss against Jack's cheek, then did the same for Jaffer, who caught her with his tongue as she was moving away. Wiping a long trail of slobber off her cheek, Sam smiled and pushed the lab's head away so he couldn't repeat the attack.
"I'm not kissing you good-bye, Jack." Daniel said.
"Nor am I." Teal'c agreed, gesturing for Jack to join him. The yellow lab hopped off the bed.
"I'd rather Jaffer licked my face after drinking out of the toilet." Jack told them.
"We can arrange that..."
He made a gesture that caused Sam to smile, and the four of them left the infirmary, leaving Jack and Jaffer to go back to watching the monitor.
OOOOOOOOO
They saw Emmett coming long before he reached them. Jaffer would never let anyone sneak up on him and Jack – well, Sam, but she didn't count since she was his second favorite person in the whole world – and by the time Bregman reached Janet's bed, both Jaffer and Jack were watching him instead of the monitor.
"She's going to be fine," Jack told him, softly, watching the worry in the interviewer's eyes as he looked at all the tubes, wires and monitoring equipment.
Bregman nodded, and looked over at Jack, noting that Jaffer was cuddled up warmly against the Colonel's side. It was interesting to see the bond those two had, since Jack O'Neill seemed so aloof until you actually got to know him. Then you realized that he had a very solid support base around him in the form of SG-1 and Jaffer.
"That's what General Hammond said. You're sure?"
"Yeah. The doctors told me so. They'd know best, right?"
"Yes."
"Don't worry. She's tough."
"I'm not worried."
Uh huh.
Bregman looked around, but didn't see any chairs or anything that he might drag over to sit in. Of course, he had things he should be doing, so he really should be out doing them, but he didn't want to leave just then.
"They won't let you stay," Jack told him, taking the decision out of his hands. "Not right now, anyways."
"They might."
"Not a chance. When she wakes up, they might. But right now they'll just tell you she needs to rest, and not be hovered over."
"You're sure?"
"Trust me, I know."
"I have some interviews to set up... I suppose I could go do them..." He looked over at Janet once more, resisting the urge to reach out and touch her cheek. He wasn't sure how O'Neill would react to that, after all. And he was half afraid that the contact might hurt Janet, somehow.
"Ask one of the medics to send someone to find you when she wakes up," Jack suggested. "If I'm awake, I'll do it for you." He intended to be awake, but you never knew when someone might slip him something to make him sleep, and he didn't make promises he wasn't sure he could keep.
"Thank you, Colonel."
Jack shrugged.
"So..." Bregman said, losing his worried expression and looking at Jack intently. "When can I interview you?"
O'Neill frowned, thinking fast.
"I'm really too hurt right now to do it..." he said, suddenly drooping a little in his bed and resting his head deeper into the pillows. "Maybe when they let me out of here..."
Emmett wasn't fooled for a minute. He was way too good at his job to be tricked, and O'Neill was a terrible liar, he could tell already. He smiled, though. It was a good try.
"I'll discuss it with you later. Maybe you and Major O'Neill would be willing to be interviewed together, or something..."
"Ask her," Jack said. That wouldn't be too bad. Sam could do all the talking – and probably confuse Bregman as easily as she confused Jack. Which would be entertaining, at least.
"I will." He would, too. "Who would I talk to about sending someone after me when Janet wakes up?"
Jack pointed out a senior corpsman, and Emmett left, flagging the man down before he could lose sight of him. Jack waited until he was sure Bregman wasn't coming back, and then he straightened up in his bed a little more. And went back to watching the monitor. It wasn't like there was anything else to do, after all.
