That evening, however, she gave him the first sign that she was feeling better. She proposed that she spend the next day working with the DHD again. That was a good sign. He knew that the world was getting back to normal when Sam Carter wanted to play with doohickeys. Even broken ones.

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Ch 37: THAT GREEN GLOW

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Sam spent the next day working on the DHD. Jack found things to do that kept him in and around the clearing. Keeping an eye on her. When lunchtime rolled around, she joined him without protest.

"How're you feeling?" he tried to sound casual, but she wasn't fooled.

Giving him a small reassuring grin, "Fine."

He rolled his eyes, "That a non-answer from you... you'd say 'Fine' if you had two broken legs-,"

"I would not!" she disagreed with an amused scowl.

"Would to," he shot back affectionately.

"Like you're one to talk Mr. Broken-Ribs-Punctured-Lung-But-Not-Going-To-Tell-Anyone-in-Antarctica," she reminded him.

And that made him pause for a moment, and then, "Well, I never said I was 'Fine'."

"Splitting hairs," she countered.

"So, how are you really feeling?" he returned to his original question with a knowing look.

"Fine," and then at his look of disbelief, "Really."

"Sam, you basically slept for two days – and that's not like you. You barely touched the laptops... or any type of doohickeys... And the other morning – it was like you were drugged...," and then, "Do you think that you came in contact with something on this planet that could have caused a reaction like that?"

Her brow furrowed as she thought back to the last day and night of his fever. "I don't remember coming into contact with anything...," and her voice trailed off as.

"What?" he asked.

She looked at him pensively. "I...," she started, but didn't know how to continue. It was so hard to believe that it wasn't a dream. Because it probably had been a dream. "I don't remember touching any new varieties of plants or animals..., nothing that we haven't already touched anyway. I don't remember any new bug bites...," and her gaze grew unfocussed as she thought of the image of her hand on his chest... and that green glow.

He watched her carefully. And waited for her to share what she was thinking or remembering. But then she shook her head as if in response to some internal dialogue and he knew that she wasn't going to tell him without some additional prodding. "Sam..."

And she looked up in surprise, apparently having lost track of 'The Here and Now' for a moment. He raised his eyebrows questioningly. Which earned him a small look of bewilderment. "You remembered something, didn't you?" And he tried to keep his tone casual.

She opened her mouth and the look on her face told him she was going to deny his statement, but then she changed her mind and a look of uncertainty settled over her face. She glanced down and then back up at him, "It was probably a dream," she declared.

He raised his eyebrows. "OK, a dream about what?"

She studied him thoughtfully for a moment and then her eyes moved to the trees surrounding the clearing. She looked back at him and then back into the distance. Her internal war obvious. Without looking at him again, "It was early in the morning... 0300 or 0400 or some such... and... you were feverish... and restless... nightmares...," she started.

He nodded, although she didn't look over at him, but kept her eyes fixed on the line of trees. "I... I was worried that you wouldn't be able to beat the fever... or flu... or whatever it was... I tried talking to you softly... trying to see if I could soothe some of the nightmares..., but the nightmares were so strong... you weren't sleeping well... I was so afraid that you weren't going to make it," and her voice broke as she kept her eyes on the forest.

"I have no intention of inciting an After-Death Ass-Kicking," he pointed out with a smile.

She refocused her gaze on him and the depth of emotion in her eyes rocked him. She held his eyes for a moment and then looked down for a few seconds before returning her gaze to the tree-line. "Talking softly didn't seem to do much... you quieted a little, but the nightmares didn't end, and you were still restless and mumbling... I didn't know how to help..."

"Sam-," he started to tell her that his nightmares were not her fault, but she interrupted quickly.

"I...I was thinking about how I might lose you... how this might be the end... and you were feverish and restless... and I put my hand on your chest... just to feel your heartbeat...," and she winced in embarrassment while keeping her gaze on the forest of trees. "And then... there was this... glow...," and her voice trailed off again.

"Glow?" he asked slowly.

She winced again and nodded, "Yes... it was light green."

"What, where...? Glowy like Daniel-Ascended glowy?" he asked.

She shook her head negatively, "No, not like one of the Ascended. It was...," and she looked at him uncertainly. "It was probably just a dream, Jack."

But he wasn't going to allow that. "Maybe. Maybe not," he returned challengingly and she sighed with reluctance.

"The glow was... between my hand and your chest," and she narrowed her eyes slightly in anticipation of his disbelief. But he kept his face impassive.

"Your hand glowed?" he asked and tried to keep his voice as neutral as possible.

"Or your chest," she replied with an apologetic shrug.

"Ri-ight," he returned slowly.

"Like I said, it was probably just a dream," she was quick to return to her earlier statement.

He stared at her thoughtfully and she glanced away, uncomfortable under his scrutiny. "Nothing like that's ever happened before, right?" he asked and she looked surprised that he was taking her story seriously.

She opened her mouth to speak and then looked uncertain and winced again.

"What?" he prompted.

"It may have happened the previous night too," she admitted.

"What!" he exclaimed.

"It was the same dark, early morning hours... and you were feverish, and I was afraid that you weren't going to make it... and... and it was probably just two similar dreams," she concluded and tried to sound confident.

He mulled it over. They had seen some pretty weird and/or unbelievable things over the past decade. "Did it remind you of anything that we've run across in the past 8-10 years?" he asked.

She raised her eyebrows in a facial shrug, "Maybe a little of the glow of the healing device, but that may just be because I was wishing that we had one..., or maybe a little of the glow from the Nox's hands when they were healing Lya," she confessed and then hastened to add, "But we don't have a healing device and neither of us is a Nox."

"No... but you do have that Naquadah in your blood," he noted.

But she shrugged, "We've never run across a Goa'uld or Tokra who could heal without the healing device."

"No," he agreed and then added, "But Aiyana could heal with her touch...," as he remembered the frozen Ancient woman discovered in Antarctica.

"So maybe it was you," Sam postulated.

"How did you make that leap?" he asked curiously.

"You were able to heal Bra'tac -the same way Aiyana could-before we went back to Antarctica," she reminded him.

He thought for a moment before responding. "The Asgard removed the knowledge of the Ancients and restored me to normal – I can't do those things any more."

She shrugged, "Maybe not all the time, but you were feverish the other night... maybe you still have remnants of Ancient abilities that can resurface when the conditions are right," and she took a breath and continued, "or maybe it has something to do with something on this planet... something in the food or air or water..."

"So, now you're thinking they weren't just dreams?" he asked with a small smile.

She rolled her eyes, "Just considering the possibilities... which sound more plausible than I'd thought they might," she admitted.

"One thing doesn't quite jive, though," he mused.

"What?" she asked.

"I wasn't healing you – you were healing me," he pointed out and she shrugged to indicate that she couldn't explain it. "I certainly felt better the next morning," he commented thoughtfully. "You said it was two nights in a row, right?"

"Yes," she nodded.

"So why didn't it work the first night?" he pondered aloud.

She thought back through her memories, "I pulled away when it happened the first night... I thought I must have imagined it... but the second night... when it happened again... I focused on it... but then it didn't come back...," and the memories played inside her mind, "I think... I fell asleep with my hand on your chest," and she looked away in embarrassment.

And a warm fuzzy feeling spread across his chest... right where he imagined her hand would have been. She had fallen asleep with her hand on his chest, feeling for the reassurance of his heart beat.

And then something else occurred to him, "Sam, you were exhausted and wrung out for two days...," and the implications sunk in. "We can't let that happen again... what if it had gone on for just a little longer...? It could have killed you!"

She looked at him steadily and then glanced away again without speaking and he knew that she would have done it anyway. Even if she'd known it could kill her... or would kill her. Whatever 'it' was.

"It doesn't seem like a very altruistic characteristic for the Ancients," he observed.

She shrugged again, "It could be a natural survival trait, a part of their genetics, not a consciously controlled action," she reasoned.

"Still-," he started but she interjected.

"Perhaps it only works when the donor is willing," she said softly.

And he had no answer to that.

Silence passed between them for a few moments.

"Promise me you won't kill yourself doing something like that?" he asked seriously.

"I fell asleep," she pointed out with a small smile.

"Sam... if you were to sacrifice yourself to save me... I'd never be able to live with that... I'd never forgive myself – or you," he declared.

"I won't if you won't," she countered.

"Won't-?" he asked for clarification.

"I won't sacrifice myself- if you promise not to sacrifice yourself," she challenged.

Silence. And then, "Allright, it's a deal," he agreed and they both knew it was a deal neither of them would keep.

A few minutes of silence passed before Sam announced, "I should get back to...," and she gestured at the DHD.

He nodded and asked, "Do you think there's any chance of getting any of it to work?"

The look on her face told him all he needed to know, and she shook her head minutely for a small silent 'no' but then added, "I have a few more things to try though."

He nodded his understanding, "I'm going to do a little hunting around the edges of the clearing. See if I can bag us some dinner."

She returned his nod and then turned her attention to the damaged alien technology.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Around 1730 local time, Jack returned to the Gate clearing. Back at camp, three of the small alien rabbits were cleaned and ready for dinner.

He stopped and stood at the edge of the forest. She was lying on the ground next to the DHD. He didn't think she was asleep. She appeared to be staring at the sky. Quietly, he walked over towards her.

"How's it going?" he asked.

She looked over at him and shook her head negatively. "Not well," she admitted.

He nodded silently and simply lay down beside her to share the view clouds and sky.

"I can't find any way to control the power source. The necessary crystals and connections are either broken or damaged too severely. I tried all of the combinations I could think of... and some I didn't think had a chance of working... and none of them did," she elaborated while watching the clouds scud drift lazily.

He tried to think of something to say... something to comfort her... He wanted to apologize again for stranding them here, but he knew that she didn't want to hear that.

The rustle of the breeze through the weeds and native grasses provided the only sounds as the two officers stared up at the alien sky.

"So, is it time to name our planet?" he asked tentatively.

Neither of them had broached this subject. They'd named the constellations and alien stars. They'd named the rivers and mountain peaks and the lakes... or rather the lake.

But neither of them had suggested naming the planet.

It was as if to do so was to also admit that they were here permanently.

As if to name this planet was to admit that they'd given up hope of returning to Earth.

"P5X-846 doesn't have much of a ring to it, does it?" she commented rhetorically.

"Got any ideas?" he asked gently.

She glanced over at him and then took a slow breath before responding, "Nothing from the Simpsons..."

"What? Bartworld or Homerworld don't do anything for you?" he pretended disbelief.

"Not unless you want to consider names of famous physicists," she returned with a small smile of amusement.

"We're not naming this planet after some boring dead-guy," he declared.

"Not all physicists are boring – or dead," she returned quickly.

"I only know of one who's not either of those," he sent back and she started to object and then the implications of what he'd said sunk in and her face colored slightly.

"How about...Planet D'oh?" he offered.

"No."

"No?"

"No."

Silence for a few moments as they each pondered the possibilities.

"How about Komtroya?" she offered with a sly smile, as she remembered how irritated he had been with Harlan's obsequiousness.

"No."

"No?"

"No."

More silence as they watched the clouds scud across the sky.

"Jack's Planet?"

"You already have a lake."

"Sam's Planet?"

"No."

"No?"

"No, thank you."

Silence descended again as the clouds above ignored the inane dialogue below.

"Well... there are so many trees... maybe the name should have something to do with trees... but Planet Tree doesn't sound very impressive," and he paused and then asked, "What's the scientific name for trees?"

"Spermatophyta," she replied.

He shot her a look of disbelief, "Where did that come from?"

"What?" she returned with a bewildered look.

"That Spermofighty answer... I ask you about trees and you come back with... sperm fighting?" he raised both eyebrows in askance.

She rolled her eyes again, "It's the Phylum Sperm-a-to-phy-ta," and she carefully enunciated each syllable, "of the Kingdom Plantae."

"I thought you were an astrophysicist?" he accused with mock weariness.

She gave him a mock glare, "With Daniel focused on the linguistic, archeological and cultural sciences, I had to branch out a bit and learn some of the basics of the other natural and physical sciences... a little geology, a little botany and zoology, a little meteorology," she explained. "It was the only way I could describe what we saw or found to the scientists back at the SGC after we'd get back from SG-1 missions."

"You could have asked Teal'c for help," he suggested, deliberately not offering himself as aide. She gave him a sideways look that told him that his omission did not go unnoticed.

"Why would they classify trees under sperm?" he couldn't prevent himself from asking and she didn't even try to hide her grin of amusement.

"Spermatophytes are plants that have seeds. Trees are just one type of spermatophyte," she explained.

"Sperm... are the seeds...," he followed.

"And phytes for plant," she finished.

"Who knew trees could be so... interesting?" and he waggled his eyebrows and she couldn't quite squash her amused grin. "So... there are a lot of trees here... and it would be scientific... you should like that...," he suggested.

"We are not naming it Planet Spermatophyta!" she retorted but couldn't keep her grin from getting wider.

"That would be a bit long," he agreed. "So we could shorten-,"

"No."

"No?"

"No."

"Planet Tree just doesn't have the zing that Planet Sp-,"

As a response, she sat up and moved over towards the DHD while deliberately muttering loudly enough for him to hear, "Maybe I can get this thing working. What's a few broken crystals anyway?"

- - - - -

TBC

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Author's Notes:

As always, a Special Thanks to SG-1 Yahoo Transcripts
wwwdotmoon-catchindotnet/transcripts.htm (just replace the dots with periods)
Episode 117, 'Solitudes', transcript by AQ
Episode 118, 'Tin Man', transcript by Lauren Freeman
Episode 604, 'Frozen', transcript by Sarae

And, credit also goes to the Episode Guide & Synopses at 's Stargate SG-1 website

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