DISCLAIMER: STARGATE AIN'T MINE!!!!!!
Now for the good stuff....
Daniel couldn't move from the floor. Not because Sam was laying on him, but because he knew, just by the look on Jack and General O'Neill's faces what was to come...
He started to speak but Sam stirred in his arms.
"Get her to the infirmary!" O'Neill yelled as he walked to the door. "Go Daniel! Tell Doctor Smith what happened."
He couldn't say anything; only go to his feet and scooped Sam up in his arms before hurrying out into the hallway.
The infirmary was only two doors down the hall...he could make it...
O'Neill turned and looked himself right in the eyes. Neither one of them said a word. O'Neill recognized the look in Jack's eyes—that of complete fear, and not for his own life...
Daniel had left Sam in the infirmary and returned with the team that had been working on the antidote with Sam. It had been two hours already, the scientists had no solutions and Sam was still unconscious...
The two Jack's sat on the floor in the lab. O'Neill on one side of the room and Jack on the other.
"What if-"Jack began only to have O'Neill hold up his hand to silence him.
"No, don't say anything."
"Why not?"
"Because I don't want to be put in a situation where I actually have to talk to you." He said coldly.
"God...am I really this much of an asshole?" Jack asked.
"Excuse me? If anyone here is an asshole—it's not me." He said trying to stifle the urge to ram his fist into his alternate self.
"Where is that coming from?"
"Look, all we have to do is wait this out—Carter will wake up and find out how to get us outta here...we just have to wait."
"And if she doesn't wake up." Jack asked.
"She's going to wake up." O'Neill said getting a tone in his voice he seldom let seep through his sarcastic manner...it was fear.
They sat in silence; Jack knew he was on dangerous ground here. Something was a miss but he wasn't about to try and figure it out. All he wanted to do was find out how to get out of the room and back to his Sam...back to his world...this one was just too weird...
Daniel returned to the infirmary and had been sitting by Sam's side for the last eight hours. He wasn't about to let her wake up alone, he didn't know how he was going to tell her what had happened, but he knew he had to be the one to tell her.
Just as he was drifting off to sleep he felt a warm hand on his head ruffling his hair.
"Hey Danny, what happened?" she asked in the weakest voice he'd ever heard her use.
"Hey, you're awake." He said sitting up right.
"Where General O'Neill? Jack? What happened?"
"You passed out in the lab, when we came to get you there was an explosion..."
"And? Where's General O'Neill?" She said knowing the answer couldn't be good.
"Jack and...Jack are locked in the lab." He said trying to force the words out before his courage failed him.
"What?" She said becoming fully lucid. "They're in the lab? Oh my god...they have on suits right?" She said sitting up in the bed.
"Sam you have to take I easy-"
"Daniel don't tell me to take it easy! Now answer me! They put on the environmental suits didn't they?"
"There wasn't enough time."
"WHAT?!" She screamed getting hysterical,
"There wasn't enough time! We ran in there to get you out...we all would have been stuck in there but at the last second Jack pushed you and me out and the other Jack locked the door. I tried Sam I swear...there just wasn't enough time." He said holding her shoulders to keep her down.
"Let me go, I have to talk to them... I have to get them out of there!" she said fighting against Daniel's grip.
"Sam!" He said holding her down. "You took a good blow to the head, you need to rest or you're going to get worse."
"Fine, get me a wheel chair..." She said calming down.
Daniel nodded and turned to get a wheel chair. He knew better than to fight with her too much.
O'Neill sat against the wall staring at the ceiling when he heard a slight 'knock' on the door beside him. He leaned forward and turned to see Carter staring back at him.
He moved in front of the door and winced as he realized she was in a wheel chair.
"Daniel insisted..." she said motioning to the chair.
"Are you alright?" He asked.
"Yeah...are you?"
"A yeah...it's like a sleepover...sorry no girls aloud." He said with a smirk.
"Sir—please."
"What?"
"It's my fault you're in there." She said as tears began to well up in her eyes.
"No, actually it's his fault." He said pointing over his shoulder. "He's the dumb ass that shut the door."
"You wouldn't have?'
"Of course I would have."
Silence fell between them, then Jack stirred behind them and walked over.
"Jack." She said looking beyond O'Neill. For a moment it caught him off guard then he turned and saw Jack, he never thought he could actually be disgusted with himself.
"Sam, are you alright?" Jack asked as he stood behind O'Neill.
"I'm Fine...really."
"Look." O'Neill said getting to his feet. "You should get some rest Carter...and we need to get some sleep too."
"But Sir-"
"Don't but Sir me—that's an order. The other eggheads are working to get us outta here and keep the virus contained. Now if you are going to make them look stupid and come up with a brilliant plan you are going to need your sleep." He said going into his commander mode.
"Yes sir." She said giving in. "I just wanted to make sure that-"
"Carter, we're fine." He said looking back to Jack. "We're fine right?"
"Yeah, we're great." Jack said with the same hint of sarcasm.
"I'll never get use to that." She said looking from one to the other. "Goodnight Sir...Jack..."
With that she was gone. The two men looked at each other and retreated to their former positions on opposite sides of the room.
It had been a day and a half since the two Jack's had been locked in the lab. Things were getting testy between the two to say the least. But nevertheless, O'Neill had so far resisted the urge to pummel Jack into the ground...
"Alright...so...."
"I thought I told you not to talk to me." O'Neill said glaring at Jack.
"You know...I get the whole thing about being creeped out about having two of yourself around... really, what have I done to piss you off?" Jack said trying to get to the bottom of whatever was going on.
"You piss me off." O'Neill said plainly.
"Just by being here?"
"Yep, it's that simple."
"Really? Well, the feeling is mutual buddy." He said standing and pacing the room.
"Oh really? And what have I done?" O'Neill said getting to his feet to defend himself.
"Do I really need to say it?"
"Why not?"
"You are wasting your life! And you don't even realize it!"
"Oh, please!"
"NO—we're talking about this now---you can't walk away. Now tell me why the hell you are so scared about letting your guard down!" Jack yelled.
"You have no right to come here and act like you are the one in the right."
"Yeah, well at least I did the right thing for my life!" He yelled back.
At that moment, O'Neill couldn't control his anger any more. He crossed the room in seconds and shoved Jack against the wall, pinning him a few inches off the floor with his elbow in his throat he was inches away from Jack's face as he spoke.
"You left her! You son-of-a-bitch!"
"What?" Jack struggled to say.
"You bastard, I might do a lot of shit that hurts her...but it's for her own good! But you! You idiot...why did you leave her there?! Why didn't you give her the antidote and let her come through the mirror!? I WOULD TAKE MY OWN LIFE BEFORE I EVER LET ANYTHING HAPPEN TO THAT WOMAN!" he said tightening his grip on Jack's neck.
"SHE MADE ME DO IT!" he managed to cough out.
"WHAT?" O'Neill growled.
"She made me do it." He said as O'Neill lessened his grip.
O'Neill realized what he was doing and backed away, letting Jack drop to the ground gasping for air.
"She made me take it." He said between gasps. "She was supposed to take the antidote...we were the only two left that were able to be cured with the serum...I reached out to inject the needle in her arm and she grabbed my arm...jammed the needle in my leg."
O'Neill didn't know what to say. He leaned against the table as Jack got to his feet.
"Why the hell would I come here willingly? I know shit about this stuff! You think I wanted to come here? I don't even know what I'm doing! She should be here." He said leaning against the wall.
It hit him like a ton of bricks all at once. O'Neill knew he would give his life for Carter's without a second thought...and he had risked his life for hers countless times since they met over seven years ago...but know he realized something that had never crossed his mind...she would have done the same thing...consequences be damned.