COMPANIONSHIP

Jack was crashing.

Sam was in panic, calling his name frantically, a tear streaking down
her cheeks. A medical team rushed in, but Sam refused to move,
screaming Jack's name.

Janet followed the medical team in and saw Sam's distress.

Seconds later Daniel and Teal'c arrived and Janet turned to
them, "GET HER OUT OF HERE!" she yelled before dropping Jack's
pillows flat so that the crash team could work.

Daniel and Teal'c tried, but still she would not leave. Two minutes
later Janet whipped around, "I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO GET HER AWAY!"

Daniel, knowing he would regret this later, quickly moved to lift Sam
off her feet. Teal'c took the other side but to their surprise Sam
didn't resist.

Looking at her face, Daniel saw she had completely broken down into
sobs.

"C'mon Sam," he said gently, "Let them work."

She nodded, mute, but inside she was being ripped apart.

Looking again at Jack, Sam finally gave in, "Take me out of here."
She said. Daniel nodded, placed a hand on her shoulder, and with Teal'c walked
her out of the medical room.

It took Janet Fraiser over an hour to stabilise Colonel Jack O'Neill.
Even now he was deep in a coma that Janet could not be sure he would
come out of.

She lingered for a few moments, watching him, and then went to find Sam.

She found her in the Major's quarters. She was asleep, but still the
weariness and worry was shown on her face. Dried tear tracks were on
her cheeks, and she was curled up, hugging herself tightly. It looked
as though she had been too tired to stay awake after all.

Janet replayed the harrowing scene in the Infirmary over and over.
She didn't like the fact she had yelled to get Sam out of the way.

"Janet?" Sam whispered, opening her bleary eyes.

"Sam," Janet replied, "I woke you, I'm sorry."

"I fell asleep? Oh no..." She tried to sit up, but found herself
becoming dizzy from the speed of it.

"Sam, you need to rest." Janet said gently, "You'll make yourself
sick."

"Jack..." Sam protested, but did not resist as Janet persuaded her to
lie down again. Janet pulled the covers over her friend. "Just
sleep," she told her softly.

The doctor couldn't bring herself to tell Sam that Jack was in a coma.

Wearily she walked back to her Infirmary and glanced in on Jack. A nurse
was sat in there, monitoring the Colonel. Janet had ordered 15 minute obs.

"Janet?" It was the voice of Daniel.

Janet turned at the sound of the archaeologist's gentle voice, "Hello
Daniel." she said.

"How are you?" Daniel asked. Janet was touched that the first
question he had asked had been about her own health.

"You want the truth?" Janet asked rhetorically, "I'm terrified."

Daniel looked at her sadly. "Thank you," he said.

"What for?" Right now Janet didn't think she was worthy of being
thanked at all. "He's in a coma, Daniel." She sighed. "I truly hope
Jacob gets here soon."

Sam awoke an hour or so after Janet had left her.

For a while she stared at the ceiling, the shocking scene of Jack
crashing replaying in her head. Over and over. The feelings. The
horror. The choking sensation, the tightening of her throat. The wave
of nausea. The utter pain as she watched, thinking he was dying,
right in front of her.

Blinking away the images that played across her vision like a bad
movie, Sam slowly swung her feet to the floor and stood up.

She shivered, as if to shake off the slight dizziness, before making her
way to Jack's medical room.

For all her thoughts and emotions, she was not prepared for the sight
that greeted her. Jack was hooked up to numerous machines, an oxygen mask
covering his face.

"He's..." Sam faltered.

"In a coma." Janet Fraiser appeared in the doorway.

Sam dropped her head. "He's going to die," she whispered. "He's going
to die, and it was all my fault..." That choking sensation again,
that churning in the pit of her stomach. "I should have told him,
told him how I feel..."

"Sam," Janet said, "You can still tell him." Sam turned fully and stared at Janet.

Janet smiled, "It's not like no-one knows." she said, "Talk to him
Sam." Sam nodded, numbly, and Janet left.

Janet left Sam in Jack's private room and slowly walked back to her
own office in the Infirmary.

Had she crossed the line back there?

It was the first time she had given a hint of what a lot of SGC
Personnel had suspected, even Hammond himself.

Maybe it would help Sam to know that she didn't have to hide anything
away.

Opening up and talking to Jack, even in his comatose state might be
therapeutic for both Jack and Sam.

Janet reached her office and closed the door. 'Sometimes', she
thought to herself, 'sometimes I wish I'd set up a nice little
doctor's office in the suburbs. Flu, coughs, sneezes, the occasional
case of poison ivy, something normal, anything that wouldn't involve
the daily torture of wondering whether your friends would come back
in one piece or even alive.'

If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.

Sighing, Janet rubbed her eyes and glanced at the clock.
4am. 15 hours since Jack had been brought back to the SGC, although
it seemed far longer.

Composing herself, Janet walked back out in the Infirmary. All was
quiet for once. The night staff were coping so Janet decided to slip out and grab some coffee for herself and Sam.

Despite virtually no sleep, Daniel and Teal'c reported for duty at
1300 hours prompt. Hammond went over their orders just to clarify,
and then Daniel and Teal'c left for O'Malley's Bar & Grill.

In keeping with the almost covert op they were undergoing, Daniel
realised he was very hungry.

Sitting at the bar, Daniel ordered a steak sandwich with a large side
plate of curly fries.

Teal'c perused the menu and opted for an extra hot chilli dog.

Daniel looked at his plate, shook his head, and commenced eating.

"Is there something wrong, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c asked, taking a
bite of the hot dog, leaving ketchup on his chin.

Daniel was too tired to be able to contain his grin. "You've got
sauce all over your chin, Teal'c."

Teal'c looked puzzled for a moment then ran his finger across his
chin to collect the sauce, he then licked his finger with
satisfaction.

"HEY!" said a nasally voice, "I hope you're not gonna start any
fights."

"Lenny," Daniel acknowledged the wiry bartender.

"We do not intend to commence conflict of any nature," came the deep
voice of Teal'c. Lenny looked worried for a moment, and Daniel
decided he looked positively mousy.

"I was er...kidding around." Lenny said, "So where are the other
two?"

Daniel barely hesitated: "We do have lives, you know." What a
joke. "They're what we call 'busy'."

"Fair enough," Lenny said and made to walk away.

A loud clatter at the other end of the bar made them all turn.

Daniel felt for the weight of his sidearm. He hoped he wouldn't need
it.

The clatter from the other end of the bar had been a man standing so
suddenly his chair had fallen over. Two of them stood face to face. A
woman touched one's arm and he seemed to calm slightly. The other man
walked away.

Daniel's attention turned back to Lenny.

"Did you see Jack in here a couple of nights ago?"

"Who? Oh, the guy who was with you before...yeah, I know him...is he
with that Sam girl?" He looked hopeful that he wouldn't be, but
Daniel avoided the question.

"So you saw him?"

"Yeah...I guess..." Lenny seemed reluctant to answer their questions.
Daniel guessed the only thing stopping him from making his excuses
and disappearing behind the bar somewhere was Teal'c's sturdy look.

"Was he with anyone?"

"Uh...a guy?...maybe..."

Daniel frowned, but before he had chance to say anymore, a fistfight
broke out with the two men on the opposite side of the bar.

Teal'c rose immediately. Lenny looked scared he would join the fight,
but he did nothing of the sort. Daniel watched with confidence as
Teal'c marched over, gripped one man's shoulder. He squeaked slightly
at his grip before yelling abuse and turning in anger.

He stopped abruptly; Daniel smirked privately.

"Violence is not tolerated here," Teal'c growled.

"I...uh..."

"You will pay for your meal and leave."

"Yeah...uh, sure..."

The guy's opponent snorted and laughed, and Teal'c turned on him. He
was less intimidated - he had more muscle - but that didn't deter the
former First Prime of Apophis.

"I do not believe I offered a joke," he said.

"Man, you--" He was unable to continue when Teal'c grabbed his chin.

"You shall pay for your meal, offer a generous sum in form of a tip,
and leave."

Daniel watched silently. This was slightly strange behaviour for
Teal'c; it wasn't hard to see he was agitated. The men did as
instructed, Teal'c returned, and sat down.

"You shall have no further problems from those men," Teal'c told
Lenny simply.

Lenny looked both relieved and terrified as Teal'c sat down and
resumed his meal. Daniel gestured for him to sit. Lenny did so,
looking between Daniel and Teal'c, "What do you want?" He asked.

"A favour," Daniel replied, looking at Lenny steadily.

"What kind of favour?"

"We asked you about someone Colonel O'Neill was here with the other night."

Daniel said, "You know who we mean?"

Lenny looked rather nervous but nodded.

"He seemed pretty friendly with O'Neill," Lenny said, "They had a
couple o' beers. Then the Colonel was kinda out of it, so the
guy...Kendrick I think O'Neill called him, said that he'd make sure
O'Neill got back to base."

"Right," concurred Daniel, "we guessed that much already. The favour
isn't information. Not right now, anyway."

Daniel took a sip of his soda, and then continued, "You have security
tapes?"

Lenny nodded, "There was an RV parked in the lot, I saw it after I
closed up, I was emptying the trash."

"The tapes cover the lot?" Daniel asked. Lenny had given out more
information than Daniel expected.

"Yeah," Lenny replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the
world, "I'm not gonna get sued for lack of security if someone's car
gets stolen!"

"What made you mention the RV?" Daniel asked.

Lenny shrugged, "It was there the night this Kendrick dude showed up,
and last night when he picked up this girl in the bar..."

"What girl?" asked Daniel immediately.

"Just some woman. Pretty. Kendrick was flashing his cash around,
bought her some drinks, and invited her back to his place. Only thing is, he doesn't take the RV this time, he calls a cab."

"So the RV is still here," said Daniel.

"Last I checked, yeah." Lenny said.

Teal'c immediately rose and disappeared out into the parking lot.
Daniel turned back to Lenny. All this about a woman had given him an
idea; he wasn't sure the people back at the SGC would like it, much
less Sam, but it was the best they had to go on. "There's something I
need you to do..."