Alone
On a Wide Wide Sea – Part Three
"What's taking them so long?"
They had changed places, moving very, very slowly and cautiously, and now Daniel sat at the useless tiller, his head twisting as he scanned the horizon.
Sam felt the colonel's chest rise and fall under her hand.
"They will have sent a UAV. It'll be flying a search pattern but there's a lot of ocean to find us in."
"What if it doesn't?"
She couldn't afford to be pessimistic, so she gave her companion the answer she would want if she had asked the question.
"It will."
They lapsed into silence, the soft sound of the water hitting the sides almost comforting in its regularity. Sam closed her eyes, shutting out the brooding clouds off in the distance, shutting out the tatters of cloth flapping against the shredded ropes hanging uselessly down, shutting out the colonel's pale face, and shutting out Daniel's despair.
They had been so relieved to escape the sudden deluge with their lives, knowing Teal'c was safe, and expecting to sail back to land and wait for rescue. The storm had seemed to come from nowhere, on them before they could furl the sail.
She flexed her hands, feeling the pull of damaged skin where the ropes she had fought with under the colonel's shouted orders had burnt paths across her palms. She knew Daniel had matching injuries, but neither had mentioned them. To do so was pointless. They were minor in comparison to the colonel's.
The crack of snapping wood had been loud even over the howling winds and she had turned just as the colonel careered into Daniel, his mouth open in stunned surprise. Then everything had collapsed in confusion around her as the sail tore loose and the ropes pulled from her hands.
She could do nothing but hold on tight and pray.
Twice they had survived near catastrophe by the skin of their teeth. She opened her eyes again and found them pulled relentlessly to the horizon where the black clouds gathered.
The third time was the charm.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
"There!" Daniel pointed upwards, shouting in his excitement, hurried words tumbling from his lips. "Look, Sam, there!" He waved his arms high above his head.
He felt the boat rock as Sam sat up.
"I knew it. I knew they'd find us." She raised one arm, signalling frantically whilst keeping the other firmly hooked into Jack's shirt.
The swell was rocking the craft more and more as the wind rose, and water slopped over the sides to pool at their feet. Daniel gave the small silver aircraft a regretful look as it dwindled from sight and returned to his task of baling. It was ineffectual, and he knew it. The amount of water he could shift using his hat was negligible, but he had to try. Even if it just gained them a few minutes, it could mean the difference between rescue arriving in time or not.
He tossed water over the side with renewed vigour, certain they had been seen. He settled into a rhythm – bend, fill, turn, toss, bend, fill, turn, toss as the time passed slowly.
A low moan pulled him out of his thoughts, and he straightened, groaning at the tug on abused muscles. Jack seemed to be waking again. He watched as Sam wiped a strand of sweat streaked hair from his friend's forehead. Jack had lasted less than an hour sitting up before slipping sideways back down to the deck, and now he lay once again with his head on Sam's legs. There wasn't much else they could do for him now except try and make him as comfortable as possible until help came. Even rebandaging the wound where the broken boom had pierced his abdomen was no longer an option – they had run out of fresh dressings hours ago. He hadn't shown any sign of waking before now either, only muttering in his sleep a few times before settling again.
"Run!"
Jack screamed the word, and before either Daniel or Sam could react, he was halfway to his feet. Sam grabbed out, but she could do nothing to prevent the much taller and heavier man from stumbling upright. She followed him up as Daniel join them, his feet spread widely apart to compensate for the violent rocking.
"Sir! Colonel!" Sam reached out, only to have her hand thrown off with a quick shrug. Jack spun and Daniel saw the normally deep brown eyes were dull and glazed. He took a step forward on legs trembling after so much sitting, and then the deck fell out from under him.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
The cold was stunning. It tore him bodily from his stupor and straight into a reality he couldn't recognise.
He opened his mouth, ready to scream out the all engulfing pain that flared across him, only to have it fill with salty water.
He took a breath and drowned.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Sam trod water, twisting herself around as waves splashed over her face. She blinked her eyes, trying to clear them, searching frantically.
"Daniel!"
There – was that something? The glimpse of the shape in the water was enough to send her diving, her hands reaching as her kicking feet pushed her down strongly. Fleetingly, one finger brushed against something and she redoubled her efforts, grabbing what felt like cloth, and halting its downward plunge. Redoubling her efforts, she headed back up, surfacing just as she thought her lungs would burst.
"Sam. Thank god!" Daniel's hands held her as she gulped in deep mouthfuls of oxygen. The dead weight of the body in her arms began to shift and she loosened her grip slightly as she realised her teammate was helping. The colonel hung limply between them, his shoulders just barely out of the water.
The next thing she knew, Daniel was pushing the other man's weight back at her and she took it instinctively, keeping him up. Stretching the colonel's neck back, Daniel lowered his mouth to O'Neill's and blew, and the cobwebs cleared from Sam's brain with a rush.
Colonel O'Neill wasn't breathing.
All she could do was hold on while Daniel worked, his face getting flushed with the exertion of keeping himself upright in the water and breathing for their CO.
She had gotten to the colonel as quickly as she could. He couldn't have been under more than a minute.
Oh god!
Daniel pulled back and for a second Sam thought he had given up. Then she heard it – a weak cough heralding a deeper one. O'Neill's body shuddered as a thin line of water ran down his chin.
A wave broke over her and she tightened her grip, feeling the strained movements of the colonel's chest against hers. A moment later his weight was taken again.
"Over there. The boat." Daniel was already moving through the water, pulling Colonel O'Neill's limp form behind him. She released her grip and lowered her head, kicking out strongly for the upturned hull just visible above the swell, reaching it a minute or two before Daniel.
She held on with one hand, helping her friend with the other, pulling the injured man up. Daniel did the best he could, but only managed to get half of the colonel out of the water, the older man's head and upper torso on top of the sloping hull, his legs still dangling in the water.
Then there was nothing more they could do but hold on as tightly as possible, to the slippery boat and to each other, as the storm front hit. The rain beat down on them from above and the waves did their best to pull them under, as they were tossed about like flotsam.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
The deep throb of motors cut through the howling wind as the two zodiacs forged a path towards the distant shape. Teal'c held a hand above his eyes, attempting to keep the rain from falling into them while he strained to see.
The storm had eased somewhat since they had come through the gate, but the sea was still choppy and he could see the upturned hull bobbing erratically in the waves.
"I see them!" Major Pierce shouted above the noise of the engines. "Looks like all three."
"I agree." Teal'c felt a rush of elation run through him as he picked out the individual forms of his teammates. Major Carter and Daniel Jackson were in the water, on either side of O'Neill. As they closed the distance between them he could see that the colonel was unconscious, the others holding him secure on the vessel's hull.
The rescue team was almost up to them before they lifted their heads. Teal'c saw the moment they realised they were saved, their haggard faces breaking into weak smiles.
He slipped over the side into the water, not waiting for the zodiac to stop. A few strong stokes and he was with them. He reached to pull O'Neill to him and was halted by the major's hand on his arm.
"Careful. He's badly injured."
He only paused for a second – just long enough to reply.
"It is alright. I will keep him safe."
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Jack stretched lazily, feeling the tightness of the still healing wound. He pulled his hat down over his eyes and let the bobbing motion of the craft relax him.
He held his rod loosely, not expecting any fish to pull it from his grasp. Carter had said she had seen fish in the ocean on their last mission, but he didn't remember seeing any. He didn't remember much of anything really until he woke in the SGC infirmary. Now, weeks later, he was on leave. He still wasn't cleared for duty, but the Doc had assured him there was no reason to worry. By next week he'd be back to work.
He sighed contentedly.
It was peaceful here in the middle of the lake.
He'd tried to explain that to his team when he extended an invitation to them to join him at his cabin.
For some reason they had declined.
Oh well. They had no idea what they were missing.
The End