It wasn't pain that finally pulled Janet Fraiser from her drug-induced sleep. She was so medicated that she didn't even feel an ache. It wasn't discomfort, either. She was warm, and comfortable. It was the smell of strawberries.
The odor permeated the air around her, and she knew in her subconscious mind that that was out of place. She liked strawberries, but she wasn't cooking anything with strawberries just then, and she couldn't figure out where the smell was coming from. It was the conundrum of it all that finally woke her up.
She opened her eyes and found herself looking up at the ceiling of the infirmary. This wasn't common, and that only added to the puzzlement as far as she was concerned. She lay still for a long moment, staring at the ceiling and trying to remember what had happened to bring her to this point.
She remembered... the rescue mission. Remembered running through the brush, with her medics close by and a shadow running with her. A shadow that attacked her – no, it didn't attack her. It pushed her out of danger when the Jaffa came up out of the brush and pointed the staff weapon at her. Janet shuddered at the sudden memory of that, and the fear she'd felt looking down the barrel, so to speak. There had been no mercy in the dark eyes of the Jaffa, and she'd been caught cold. And had been saved by Jaffer.
As if thinking of him had summoned him from nowhere, her vision of the ceiling was suddenly blocked by a big black head, complete with brown eyes looking cheerfully down at her, and a long, pink tongue that suddenly raked across her cheek. Janet brought her hand up in self-defense, blocking the next lick, and was suddenly aware that the warmth she was feeling on her right side was primarily caused by the heavy body that was resting so snugly against her.
Jaffer wuffled her cheek, easily pushing her hand out of the way, but he didn't lick her again. Janet suddenly found her face pressed against his shoulder, and she realized that it was the dog that smelled of strawberries. She wrinkled her nose, and took another sniff, just to make sure. Yup. Strawberries. Ah, well, it was better than peaches. She put her hand on the shoulder, and looked around for the first time, now that that mystery was solved.
She was in the infirmary, all right. Dressed in a paper gown and bundled warmly in blankets, she was in one of the beds in the main room. So she'd been hurt, but not badly enough to warrant ICU or anything serious.
"Thanks to you, huh?" She murmured to Jaffer, who was looking over to her left, although he was still warmly pressed against her.
Janet looked over to see what had his attention, and saw that Jack O'Neill was asleep in the bed next to hers. He was shirtless, but his shoulder was heavily bandaged and his left arm was in a sling. Janet looked at the machine that was monitoring his heartbeat, respiratory system and his blood pressure. Everything looked fine, so he probably wasn't hurt too badly – although she wished she could see his chart, just to make sure.
She looked down at herself again, looking for the telltale bandages, and ran her hand down the gown until she felt the bandage on her side. Probing the injury gently – since she didn't feel even an ache from the wound – she decided that it must have been a glancing blow from the staff weapon. She remembered feeling the pain from it. She wondered how serious it was, and caught sight of her own chart hanging from a hook at the lower bottom of her bed.
She tried to sit up, and for the first time felt a stab of pain that elicited a gasp from her. Yeah, that hurt.
Jaffer snuffled her cheek again, as if telling her to hold still, and Janet patted his shoulder, reassuringly. She had no intention of doing that again.
"How long have you been sleeping with me?" She asked, looking over at Jack again, wondering if O'Neill had sent the lab over to keep her company. It wouldn't have surprised her. O'Neill frequently did that kind of thing, even though he'd never have admitted it if he had.
Jaffer's tail thumped the bed, but he didn't answer her.
"Don't think this means you can get on the beds any time you want to," she told him softly, tapping his nose.
Jaffer's lips curled back into a snarl, but Janet knew him well enough to know it wasn't a serious one, and the noise that came from him was playful. It might have intimidated someone who didn't know him, but those happy eyes were tell-tale signs that Jaffer was more than happy to be picked on by her in the absence of Jack.
"Doctor Fraiser..."
She turned her gaze from the black lab and saw one of her young corpsmen standing close at hand, looking relieved, although slightly puzzled at the fact that Jaffer was in bed with her instead of O'Neill, which was customary.
"How long have I been out?"
"You've been out of surgery for a few hours."
"Surgery?"
"You have a staff weapon injury to your lower side, but the kidney is fine – which was the only real concern. You'll be fine, the doctors say."
"Has anyone called Cassie?"
"Major O'Neill went to her school and picked her up. She's been in to see you, but you were asleep. She's off somewhere with Doctor Jackson, and Major O'Neill, but I'll have her paged so she can come see for herself that you're okay."
Janet nodded, then looked over at Jack.
"And Colonel O'Neill?"
"He took a hit to the shoulder and there's a few minor shrapnel wounds. Nothing serious. He should be able to be released in the morning."
"We'll see." Janet tempered. She'd decide when people were released from her infirmary.
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Let me see O'Neill's chart, and my chart, and you go page Cassie, please." Janet ordered, once more trying to sit up a little. The medic stepped forward and bundled a couple of pillows behind her back to support her so she wouldn't be using any stomach muscles to hold herself upright. Jaffer shifted slightly, but still made no sign of moving over to O'Neill's bed. He seemed more than willing to stay where he was, and his head rested on Janet's stomach, his nose close to – but not touching – the bandage covering her side.
The corpsman handed her two sets of charts, and left her to look at them while he went to page Cassandra – and Emmett Bregman – to the infirmary. Fraiser could decide if she wanted to see the interviewer guy, but the medic had given his word to call him when she woke up, and he'd do it.
