A/N: Dragon and Sam went to the vet last night and got thier shots and wormer and a blood test, fun fun fun! They each weigh 3.5 lbs now, so they've gained almost a whole lb in the three weeks I've had them. Its too bad I don't own Stargate, since I could really use a little extra income to supplement the vet bills!

Finally, they seemed at least partially satisfied. Nodding, but still reluctant, they left. Janet let out the breath she'd been holding, and went to gather up her papers, preparing to spend a little time of her own with Sam. Not just as the Doctor, but as a friend too.

Chapter 64

Three days after Colonel O'Neill found Sam on his doorstep, looking like something the cat dragged in so to speak, she was doing much better. The pneumonia was all but gone now, and she didn't need the oxygen anymore. The IV had been removed because she was now taking fluids by mouth, with a little assistance, and had even started to take some special formula mixed up by Captain Brunsfeld. They'd reverted to hand feeding her again, with the syringes, until she got stronger.

Sam had improved greatly after the first day, until even the rest of SG-1 had felt comfortable leaving her side for more than a few minutes. At first, Sam had slept most of the time, but now she was staying awake for longer and longer periods. So she now had time to be alone with her thoughts.

Daniel had told her about the success with the translation, and it was all Sam could do to stay in bed, and not find a way to get to the Gate Room and figure out how to dial up the gate herself. She desperately wanted to be human again. She was tired of being helpless and at the mercy of people that didn't realize, couldn't realize, what she was. She hated being so helpless, unable to even talk.

In the past two months, she'd been kidnapped, tortured, nearly drowned, forced to survive in the wilderness and cities, had to rely on the kindness of strangers on numerous occasions, threatened with major surgery she would have never consented to, lost a friend, been hit by a car, and trudged countless of miles in mostly rain, with very little food, and inconsistent sleep. To top it all off, she had a broken leg, battered and bruised ribs, and a nice case of pneumonia. All of which forced her to just lay around doing absolutely nothing but think about things she really didn't want to think about.

But she had understood Janet's rationale all too well. She just wasn't strong enough yet. The shock of gate travel, followed by the stress and shock of reversing the transformation might just be too much for her weakened system to cope with. Not to mention they just weren't too sure exactly what she might experience during the reversal.

The initial transformation had knocked her unconscious for over an hour, and Sam still remembered the painful wake up she'd experienced. The energy from the machine had also knocked everyone else in the room flat, and temporarily blinded them all with its force and strength.

Additionally, it was unsure as to whether any changes that had occurred to her body while in that of a cat would also be transferred back to her human form. When she woke up, would she still be underweight, recovering from pneumonia, and have a broken arm? Assuming that her right front leg corresponded with her right arm that is. The writings in the temple hadn't been clear. It was also possible that if she'd changed too much, that the reversal process wouldn't work at all. Or she could go back to the way she'd been before the whole mess had started. They just didn't know. So it had been decided that it would be safest to wait and make sure Sam was as strong as possible before attempting to reverse the transformation.

Sam understood all the rationale behind not going right back to P3X-929, but she didn't have to like it. Sam sighed, and shifted, settling her leg in a hopefully more comfortable position. Because of the location of the break, and the fact that Sam could be counted on not to put weight on it or try to remove it on her own, they'd opted to leave the lightweight splint on, rather than replacing it with a large and bulky cast. Sam was grateful for the choice.

Sam shifted again, trying to find a comfortable position. She wished there was something she could do, she felt so useless lying around in the infirmary. You'd think they could spring for a couple of televisions or something. (A/N: is it just me, or are there no TV's in the infirmary?) Her laptop lay up near her head, but it was too difficult to use now for just entertainment. It had been a challenge using paws to touch the keys, but now she was limited to one. She wasn't strong enough yet to support her weight with just her back legs and still keep her balance, so had to use it when lying down, and it was hard to read the screen when lying down. So she only used it for when she really needed to communicate something and someone could help her. There wasn't much she could do besides sleep, and she hadn't really wanted to. Sleep meant disturbing dreams. Dreams that included cages, cars, and monsters with big yellow fangs.

She looked forward to the visits from her teammates, but she understood that they couldn't spend all the time with her, keeping her company. They all had other things that needed to be done. Still, they were a welcome distraction when they came. The Colonel had even surprised her by bringing her all of her favorite science journals from the past few months. Apparently, he'd been keeping watch out for them and had set them aside for her so that she could get caught up when she returned. Sam had been touched. She really hadn't thought he'd noticed enough to pay attention to which ones she read. Unfortunately, reading books and magazines were just as difficult as operating a computer.

Lost in thought, she sighed again, shifting, searching the area she could see easily for something to distract her.

"Hey Carter, whatcha doin?" Jack O'Neill's voice behind her startled her, her head whipping around.

"Whoa, sorry Carter, didn't mean to startle you." Jack shifted uncomfortably, and Sam warbled a soft note of forgiveness. His coming was a much-needed distraction.

"You aren't bored so soon are you Carter? You've only been awake for two days." It seemed he could read her too well, even as a cat.

Sam just sighed and shifted again, that comfortable spot eluding her. She couldn't lay on the side with the break, because of her bruised ribs, but lying on the left side meant her right one was unsupported.

"Here, let me help." Before Sam could protest, Jack had folded a small towel. Gently he positioned the towel under the splinted leg, supporting it. "There."

Sam shifted a little bit, and looked at her CO in gratitude. The towel helped a lot. Now if only he could help figure out a way for her to read her magazines or use her laptop. Actually... when she thought about it...

Sam shifted again, moving her good paw up, and touching one of the journals, looking back at the Colonel with a questioning "Mrow?"

"Hmm? What's that Carter?" Colonel O'Neill watched his second for a moment, as his mind clicked onto what she might be asking. Grinning suddenly, he figured it out.

"Guess it's a little hard to read when you can't hold your own books open, eh Carter?" Sam meowed in response, her look hopeful. She was so bored. Jack grinned. "Well I haven't got anything pressing, just coming to see how you were doing and all. You want me to read to you for a little while?" Jack had to fight back a chuckle at her exuberant nod. He totally understood how bored she must be, knowing the trapped in the infirmary feeling all too well. At least he had his yo-yo and Gameboy. Carter didn't even have that.

He reached across her and snagged one of the journals, lightly brushing against her. It was hard not to pick her up and hold her in his lap; she was so irresistibly soft looking. Especially now that she was purring he thought, hiding a smile behind the journal. He suspected the purr was reflexive, and that she had no control over it, but it was so damn cute. He had to keep reminding himself that it wasn't quite appropriate to pet your second in command.

Jack cleared his throat, quickly opening the journal to the index. Better silencej his brain with lots of mind numbing techno babble. "Ah, here's and article on quarks. We could use a little quarkiness, you think Carter?"

If Sam could have rolled her eyes she would have. Jack opened the journal and started to read the article. Eventually, Sam started to feel sleepy again, the Colonel's voice lulling her. She was just about to doze off, despite her interest in the article, when she heard rapidly approaching footsteps. Opening her eyes sleepily, Sam was surprised when Daniel skidded in.

"Oh good, Sam, you're awake. Hope I'm not interrupting anything." He turned to Jack. "Jack, we have a problem."

"What is it Daniel." Jack was mildly annoyed; he'd nearly gotten Carter to sleep when Daniel's entrance had woken her up. Janet had said she hadn't been sleeping very well recently, and he'd hoped to see if he could get her to relax a little. But now she was alert and watching Daniel with interest.

"It's the device, the one that changed Sam. We don't have a lot of time to get her back." Daniel blurted out his message.

Sam tried to fight down her growing alarm. What did Daniel mean?

Jack was thinking along the same lines, and voiced her question. "What do you mean Daniel? That machine has sat there for over thousands of years, it will still be there when Carter's well enough to go back."

Daniel shook his head. "No, that's not it. We've discovered that the machine gets its power from a geothermal source, one that isn't, well, 'on' all the time so to speak. Apparently it's only tapped into the power source during certain times of the year, coinciding with specific religious events..."

"Daniel." Jack warned, patience wearing thin.

He seemed oblivious to the warning however. "Which seem to revolve around the phases of the moon and tides, so the power is really only "on" for about three months out of a year, and the rest of the time the machine lies dormant..,"

Jack scowled. Daniel could go on for ages if you let him. Scientists. Why couldn't they just get to the point? "For cryin' out loud Daniel, just say it. How. Long."

Daniel blinked at Jack's tone. "A week." He shifted uncomfortably after his statement. A heavy silence followed, while Jack frowned. Sam's eyes had grown wide and her tail was twitching.

"And if we don't get Carter back in time?" Jack asked the question he could see forming in Carter's mind, under her growing panic. She'd been told that it would be at least a week before the doctors would even consider letting her go through the gate.

"Then she has to wait another nine months until the machine can tap into the power source again." Daniel's pronouncement was met with silence.