Chapter 5

Sam awoke the next morning feeling warm and comfortable in her infirmary bed. She stretched slightly then sat up and looked around, surprised to find Colonel O'Neill sleeping in a chair at the foot of her bed, his feet resting on its corner. As she remembered what had transpired late last night, she was even more surprised to find herself in her bed. The last thing she remembered was working in her lab. Uh Oh. That meant that someone had noticed her missing, probably woke up the Colonel, and he had come to find her and discovered her sleeping in her lab. Sam flopped back onto her bed. Great, now I'll get a lecture from the man who could make escaping from a hospital a second career choice!

Jack felt the movement on the bed and opened his eyes. His neck was stiff from sleeping in the chair for the last 5 hours. He plunked his feet back on the floor, twisted his neck back and forth, and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Then he looked over to see Sam watching him with a wary expression on her face. Probably figured out she was going to get a lecture, he thought.

"Have a fun night Carter?" he asked innocently.

"Nothing special Sir," she responded, not meeting his gaze.

"Uh Huh. Did you get much done in your lab last night?"

Sam looked down and picked at the blanket that covered her legs. "Actually I did get a few things done Sir." She decided that honesty was the best policy here.

"So tell me, did you have any trouble sneaking out of here? Maybe you could give me a few pointers, you know, for the next time I'm held against my will."

Sam finally met his gaze and saw the amusement glinting in his eyes. She smiled back, relieved that he wasn't angry with her. Now Janet would be another story!

"Being small kind of has its advantages for certain things Sir," Sam replied to his question. She gave him an impish grin, which quickly disappeared when the curtain was pulled back reveal the face of a very disappointed doctor.

"Sam, my night nurse tells me you disappeared for a while last night. Do you care to tell me what that was all about?" she asked as she moved toward the bed.

Before Sam could reply, Jack stood up and took over. "Don't give her a hard time Doc. Carter was just bored and wanted to start working on a solution to our little problem here." At the word little, Sam frowned at him but kept quiet. "You yourself said that she would want to be getting back to her lab soon. See, you were right!"

Janet rolled her eyes and continued talking to Sam. "All right Sam. But don't do that again! You had Nurse O'Donnell frantic with worry. Plus she had to deal with a cranky Colonel at 0300 hours. I can assure you, she didn't relish that experience!"

Jack frowned at that comment. He didn't relish dealing with Nurse Oh Where Is My Patient either! He wisely kept that thought to himself.

"I'm sorry Janet. It won't happen again," said a contrite Sam. "Can I get out of here today though? I feel perfectly fine!" she asked hopefully.

"Yes, Sam. I'll take your vitals once more, make sure you eat a good breakfast, and then you can resume your duties. Light duties mind you!" she admonished with a severe look at Sam.

"Yes Ma'am!" Sam replied, a look of excitement on her face at the thought of getting out of the infirmary for good.

"By the way, I brought you some clothes of Cassie's from when she first came here. She was older than you are now but she was small, so I figured they would probably be OK. We might have to take you shopping for a few things later, provided we don't get this figured out soon," Janet added.

"Thanks Janet. Can I change right now?"

"After you eat." Turning to Jack she said, "Colonel, I'll call you when Sam is ready to be discharged. You can escort her to her lab. I want you to make sure she doesn't overdo it and she stops for lunch and doesn't work beyond dinner, OK?"

"Sure thing Doc! I'll see you later Carter. Have a good breakfast!" he winked at her and left the doctor and her small patient to finish up in the infirmary.

Sam pulled on the tie holding up the sweatpants from Cassie's old collection. They were a little big but they were much better than scrubs. The long-sleeved red shirt fit just fine. The shoes were a problem. Apparently, Cassie had big feet when she was young! They would have to do for now! It felt strange to be walking down the corridors in civilian clothing. Sam was well aware of the stares that followed her and Colonel O'Neill as they made their way down the hall to her lab.

"Sir, just how many people on base know what happened to me?" Sam inquired.

"Just about everyone Carter. You know how things spread around this place. Don't give it another thought. Pretty soon, there will something new to talk about," Jack tried to reassure her.

"Yeah...right." Sam wasn't convinced. Two airmen stopped and stared at her as she passed, whispering comments that she couldn't hear. She stopped and spun around, stretching herself to all of her 42 inches. "Airmen! Is there something you wanted to tell me?" she asked in her loudest voice.

The two Airmen froze, looked at each other, then back toward Jack and Sam. Jack was going to let Major Carter handle this on her own. He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, enjoying the look of confusion and apprehension on the two young men's faces.

"Uh, No Ma'am. Just that, Uh...we're glad to see you out and about again Ma'am," the younger of the two tried to cover for them both.

Sam glared at them for a moment before stating in a stern voice, "If that's all, move on. And don't let me catch you whispering in the halls like a couple of teenage girls at a party!"

"No Ma'am!" they both chorused, then turned on their heels and quickly went down the hall.

Jack snickered softly and stood back up. "I guess you told them Carter. I've never seen two grown men quaking in their boots from the reprimand of an eight year old!"

Sam turned her glare on Jack. "I am NOT eight years old.... Sir," she added belatedly. Then Sam turned and stalked down the remainder of the corridor, stopping at the door to her lab. She knew things would be difficult once she got back to work, but she hadn't quite expected this. People staring, OK, she could handle that. But the incessant jokes and comments she could get tired of, very quickly!

Sam reached up and slid her card through the security lock, opened the door and entered her lab. She was tempted to lock the door before Colonel O'Neill could enter, but thought better of it. He would just open it with his own key anyway.

Jack followed her in, watching her movements closely. He could tell that she was more bothered by the stares and whispers than she would admit. His comment hadn't helped either, he supposed. "Look Carter, I'm sorry about what I said. We all understand that you are still you, but to us, you look like a kid and sometimes we forget about the grown-up inside. You'll have to try and cut everyone a little slack around here for a while."

Sam turned and looked at him. It was on the tip of her tongue to really tell him off. Why should she have to cut them some slack? But she wouldn't let her emotions get the best of her. Besides, he was right in a way. They all did see her as a little kid. And if she blew up at people all the time, they would think she was throwing a tantrum. Sam sighed and went to her desk. "I'll try Sir. I'd really like to get some work done now. Are Daniel and Teal'c going to come in and work in here?"

"Right here Sam," announced Daniel as he and Teal'c entered her lab. Daniel was balancing a coffee mug and several books while Teal'c carried some rolled up papers under his arm.

"Hi guys. Have you found out anything new?" Sam inquired.

"Not much yet, but Teal'c has a few ideas."

"I'll just leave you three to it for a while," Jack stated as he made his was to the door. "I'll be back at 1200 hours to escort everyone to lunch. Have fun, but not too much!" He looked meaningfully at Daniel. He had told the younger man about Janet's instructions not to let Carter overwork herself. Daniel nodded to Jack; he would keep an eye on her.

At 1145, Daniel looked toward Sam, who was pouring over some books on the table. The Triplexus lay in the middle of the table, surrounded by charts, books and various diagrams. Sam was kneeling on one of the stools in her lab, elbows leaning on the edge of the table, hair brushing against the pages of the book. Every now and then, she would flick her hair back behind her shoulder and mumble about getting it cut. He hoped she wouldn't, she had beautiful hair as a youngster. Still did in fact!

"Sam, I need to run to my office for another book I have that might give us some help. Teal'c had to help with a situation in the gate room; he said he'd meet us in the commissary for lunch. Are you OK if I go back to my office for a few minutes?"

Sam looked up at him. "Of course I'll be OK Daniel. I do work here on my own every other day of the week, don't I?"

Daniel flinched slightly at the tone in her voice. She was definitely tiring of the protective act of her team mates. "I know Sam. Things are a bit different now though. I just want to make sure you're all right."

Sam sighed and rubbed her hand across her face. She felt bad about snapping at Daniel. "I'm sorry Daniel. I shouldn't have snapped like that. Yes, things are different but I can do everything that I could before, especially in here. I'll be fine for a few minutes alone. Don't worry. Please." she pleaded with him.

Daniel gave her a smile as he got up. "I'm not worried. I guess I should have realized that you could work in here blindfolded and not get hurt. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Don't rush on my account. I won't be going anywhere!" Sam responded.

Daniel left the room and Sam went back to what she was studying. The device seemed to have some electromagnetic field around it, however slight, that responded to the electrons of the human body. Sam had a reference book somewhere in her lab that would lend more information to this aspect of the device. She stood up on the stool and looked toward her bookshelves near the back of the lab. She hadn't used those particular books for quite a while. They were most likely located on the top shelf. A good seven feet off the ground.

Sam jumped down from the stool and pushed it over to the book shelves. Man, that top shelf was a long way up! Oh well, she had always been a really good climber, no reason to think that she still couldn't do it! She took off the over large shoes and her socks. She would need a good grip on the wooden surface of the shelves.

Sam got up on the stool, then climbed onto the counter top that separated the lower cabinets from the bookshelves. She edged her way sideways along the counter to where the books on electromagnetism were kept. Sam looked up; still a long way up there, she thought. She grasped the first shelf with her hand, testing its strength. Seemed pretty sturdy to her! Sam put her other hand up and began to climb up the bookshelf, being careful not to knock any books to the ground as she proceeded to clamber ever higher.

Jack whistled softly as he rounded the corner to Carter's lab. He was getting pretty hungry and figured the rest of the team was too. He had run into Teal'c at the gate room so knew he only had to collect Daniel and Carter on the way to the commissary. Of course, they were the two hardest ones to drag away from their work!

Jack walked into Sam's lab and froze in shock and disbelief. There, in the back corner of the lab, was Major Samantha Carter, all 42 inches of her, balanced precariously seven feet off the ground on a bookshelf. Her fingers were stretching out to reach a book that was just beyond her grasp.

Jack wanted to yell at her then and there, but stopped himself as he realized he could startle her and send her plummeting to the ground. Instead, he made his way quickly and quietly over to the shelf, reached up and grabbed her around the waist. Hauling her off of the bookshelf and over to the table, he unceremoniously spun her around and dumped her on its surface.

As she looked at him with wide, startled eyes, Jack trapped her on the table with a hand on either side of her body and leaned toward her, his face only inches from her own. "What in the hell did you think you were doing?" he asked in a deathly quiet voice.

A/N: Sparks will fly in the next chapter, and not the romantic kind!