Chapter 4

Sam listened to the quiet noises in the infirmary. It was after midnight and the few patients who were here were fast asleep. The only noises came from the humming of various machines and the occasional footsteps of the night duty nurses. Janet had gone home a few hours ago, leaving the infirmary in the capable hands of the head nurse.

Sam sighed. She should be asleep like the other patients, but she really wasn't very tired. She had slept on and off all afternoon and early evening. The guys had been by to see her, independent of each other, and each had arrived bearing gifts of food. Daniel had come first with chocolate pudding in hand. Next had come Teal'c, bearing a dish of Heavenly Hash ice cream. Finally, the Colonel showed up, a rather large dish of blue jello carried proudly in front of him. He had frowned at her lack of enthusiasm for the treat, so she had been forced to tell him about the other sweets she had eaten previously. His eyes had lit up with laughter at that and she had responded in kind. It was good to have the awkward moments from earlier in the day behind them. As far as Sam could tell, her friends weren't going to treat her any differently, even though she certainly looked different.

Daniel and Teal'c had told her of what little progress they had made in deciphering the Triplexus. A few of the words translated to 'woman', 'child', 'change', 'evil', and 'protect'. They pretty much had figured out the first two words but the rest didn't make much sense. They would continue to work on things and hope to put things into context. The Colonel had informed her that General Hammond had given the OK for her to return to light duty tomorrow, following Doctor Frazier's approval. They could all see that Sam was eager to help with the work of translating the Triplexus. After all, she had more reason than anyone to want to figure things out.

Sam sighed again. I can't sleep and there's nothing for me to do here. I wonder....

She looked around the room. The head nurse had recently gone into Janet's office to fill out some paper work. Sam could quite easily sneak out and go to her lab, just to check some things on her computer and quickly grab a book or two. I won't be gone more than 30 minutes, she assured herself. Carefully pulling the covers back, she eased herself onto the floor and waited a moment. Geez, that was a longer drop down that I remember! She whispered to herself. When all remained quiet, Sam tiptoed over to the edge of the curtain that surrounded her bed and peered out. No one moved about in the large room.

Looking down at herself, Sam was grateful for the clothing that Janet had found for her before she left for the evening. She was still having trouble adjusting to this new body of hers. Besides being small, she was awfully...flat! The pants she wore were a pair of extra small sized surgical scrubs that she could tie as tightly as she needed around her waist. She had to roll the pants legs up a few times but they worked just fine. The top was also an extra small, yet still hung almost to her knees. Oh well, at least she was completely covered up! The socks were a bit large and kept slipping down but they would have to do. Sam grabbed her key card from the pocket of her other pants and got ready to make her move.

After stepping out from her area of the infirmary, she pulled the curtain completely around her bed, hoping no one would check in on her for a while. Then she made her way to the far side of the infirmary, closest to Janet's office. She needed to be able to see where the nurse was. Standing on her tip toes, Sam peeked into the window of the office and saw the nurse bent over, still filling out the medical forms. Sam smiled to herself, then hunched down and walked slightly bent over to the other side of the office windows.

She heard steps coming from the hallway and looked around frantically. There was a cart nearby with medical equipment sitting on top. Sam climbed onto the bottom portion of the cart and curled into a tight ball. Being small had its advantages, she thought! The footsteps continued on down the hall, thankfully not turning into the infirmary.

When the coast was clear, Sam crawled out from under the cart and made her way to the door of the infirmary. Once she reached it, Sam glanced back to make sure no one was watching. She'd have to make sure she didn't run into anymore SGC personnel while she walked along the corridors. That shouldn't be too hard at this time of night, and on a Saturday evening to boot.

Sam made her way quickly down the halls to her lab. Once she had to duck into a storage room to avoid a patrolling SF but other than that, she had not encountered a soul. When she got to her door, she slid the key card through, heard the click of the lock, and went inside. She closed the door behind her and reached for the light. Maybe I should use the light on my desk, she thought to herself. Less chance of someone seeing it shine beneath the door. Sam made her way to her desk in the dark. She knew where everything was by heart so wasn't afraid of running into anything. Sam reached her desk and flipped on the small lamp that resided on its corner. I've never had to reach up to turn that light on, she thought to herself as she made her way around the edge of the desk to her chair.

Geez, when did this chair get so big? Did I always have it set this high? She thought as she climbed onto its seat. Sam sat against the back of the chair, her feet sticking straight out in front of her. She giggled slightly at the absurd sight, then pulled herself forward using the edge of the desk as leverage. She switched on her computer and began to work. Like usual, Sam lost all track of time as she checked on data and worked out equations on her computer.

Jack was awakened by the shrill ringing of the phone in his quarters. Glancing at the clock and seeing it read 0300, he swore softly and picked up the phone. "O'Neill," he gruffly stated into the mouthpiece.

"Sorry to wake you sir. This is Susan O'Donnell, the night head nurse on duty. I'm afraid I have a situation and I need your help."

At her mention of the word nurse, Jack sat up straight, worry furrowing his brow. "What happened? Is Major Carter all right?"

"Well sir, I'm not sure about that," came the timid response.

"Not sure!" he practically bellowed. "What do you mean you're not sure!? Don't you have some sort of medical degree? Where's Doctor Frazier?" Jack demanded. He was already out of bed and starting to pull on his pants.

A bit put off by his attitude, Nurse O'Donnell tried to get a word in edgewise over the ranting of the Colonel. "Doctor Frazier is home this evening Sir. What I was trying to tell you is that I don't know how Major Carter is because she is not here. Her bed is empty. The last time I checked on her was at 2330. She was resting comfortably at that time. I thought maybe you might know where she is?" the frazzled nurse asked hopefully.

Upon hearing that his 2IC was merely missing from the infirmary, Jack's ire lessened considerably. He could count on both hands, and maybe even his toes, the number of times he had tried to escape from the infirmary. He thought Sam was probably feeling the same way. And he had a pretty good idea of where his Major might be right about now.

"Don't worry O'Donnell. I'll take care of Major Carter. She'll be back in bed soon, believe me," Jack confirmed in a much quieter voice than he had used previously. He smirked to himself as he headed out of his quarters. Oh yes, she would be back in bed where she belonged. Whether she wanted to go or not!

Jack stopped at the door of Sam's lab and peered underneath. No sign of a light on from this vantage point. He put his ear to the door...didn't hear anything either. His confidence a little bit deflated, Jack took out his key card and ran it through the security system. He heard the click of the lock and opened the door, releasing the breath he didn't realize he was holding upon seeing the small table lamp turned on at the corner of Major Carter's desk.

He couldn't see Carter anywhere in the room though. Usually, her head would be visible above the terminal of her computer. Oh yeah, Jack thought to himself, her head won't reach that high anymore. Walking around the corner of her desk, Jack steeled himself to give her a stern lecture about wandering off in the middle of the night. He would have to ignore those baby blue eyes and cute freckles; otherwise he would never be able to hold the strict demeanor that he was going for.

Jack stopped at the sight in front of him, all thoughts of a stern lecture disappearing from his mind. Sam lay curled sideways in her chair, her feet dangling slightly off the side, one sock hanging precariously from her right foot as if any sudden movement would send it cascading to the ground. Her right hand was tucked under her chin, her left wrapped around her body as if trying to contain some warmth in her slumber. He smiled as he listened to her soft breathing and saw the way her long hair moved slightly with her breath. She looked absolutely adorable and there was no way on Earth he would wake her up.

Jack looked at her computer, contemplating shutting it down, but decided against it. He didn't want to lose any data that she had been working on. He turned her chair toward him, tugged up the oversized sock, and bent slightly to pick her up in his arms. He marveled at how light and small she felt; it reminded him of carrying Charlie to bed when he had fallen asleep on the couch with Jack or Sara.

Sam let out a small sigh upon being picked up, then turned her head to rest more solidly against his chest. She wriggled around a bit to get more comfortable in his arms, then fell still; this time her left hand curled under her chin. Jack gave a lopsided smile as he looked down at her in his arms. That feeling of protectiveness welled inside him once again as he made his way to the door. He knew that mentally she was the same Major Carter who drove him nuts with her technobabble. But physically, she was a little kid and he would do his best to keep her safe until they could get her back to normal.