DISCLAIMER: I really need to get a life. These characters aren't mine and I'm definitely making absolutely no money off of this. Of course, I wouldn't mind a job making money with characters this easy to write for. Hint, Hint Mr. Deluise.

SUMMARY: Sam's blind. Shey can see. No one really knows how to handle this.

SPOILERS: Up through Season 8 "Affinity". Anything else that may happen this season may or may not be referenced here.

JACK, Sam, Shey and Daniel sat in the commissary, eating lunch. Sam was still trying to get used to being blind. Shey was trying to help her. She had already told her many times to count the number of steps she took between places and then to remember that number when thinking about going between those two points. It would take practice and she would probably never remember everything she needed to. Shey had gotten used to getting around in her village because she never left the village except for her little glade and she had been blind for 15 years.

"Sam, you'll be fine. We'll all help you. Once you get used to this, --" Daniel never finished the sentence.

"She won't have to get used to it. Her sight will return. And then we'll all be back to normal."

Jack was being optimistic about the whole thing. He wanted Sam's sight back. The first few hours after she had woke up blind had left it's mark in her eyes. The blue didn't sparkle the way it had before. She almost looked beaten. Lost. As if she expected everyone to just abandon her since she was crippled. She hated to use that word. 'But that's what you are now. Crippled. You are the one that gets all the looks of pity. You're the one they all try to coddle.'

Another part of her argued back to look at this as a learning experience. She had often wondered as a child what it would be like to be blind and now she could answer all the questions she had wanted to ask blind people so often. Of course, her father would have been quite angry had she actually asked someone all the questions she wanted to. But now she could ask those same questions of herself and not worry about anyone's disappointment in her.

"Jack, you don't have to defend me. Not from Daniel anyway. I think I'm just going to look at this as an experiment of sorts. Now I have the chance to answer all those questions I always had for blind people and I get to understand them much better." She turned her head in another direction. "Dad? Is that you?"

"How could you tell, Sammie?" Jacob was rather pleased at what he had just heard her say.

"The rhythm of your steps. That's how I always knew to pretend I was sleeping as a child when you came to my room. When you were gone again, I'd sit back up and keep reading. Mom was always a little harder to judge because she had such a soft step. I could never tell just how close she was to the door."

"That's it, Samantha. Your memories are one place to look to find clues as to how to get around." Shey was enthusiastic. Someone who looked at blindness the wrong way would be impossible to work with. Impossible to teach. Samantha was going to be okay. She would make it through this. Although Shey had a feeling that the day that Sam regained her sight, Shey herself would be left blind yet again.

"So how are you doing at figuring out how to get around?" Jacob asked as he joined the team at the table.

"Shey has me able to get from my bed to any point in my quarters. It's just when I get outside the door that I start getting lost. It's a little overwhelming." She seemed a little tired. "I just wish that this were easier."

"Sam, it'll get easier. I promise." Jack took her hand. Just then, his pager went off. He looked at it. "Shit! I forgot. General Hammond is coming in today. I have to go up to the surface to meet him. I'll be right back, Sam."

"I'll stay with her," Talorn said. "I'm used to leading Shey around. I can help Samantha until you return."

"Talorn, thank you. I'll try to get back quickly."

Sam just sat there hearing them talk. She felt as if she were a burden. She got up and worked her way out of the commissary before anyone realized she was gone.

"WHERE'S Colonel Carter?" General Hammond asked as he walked in to the commissary.

"We have been looking for her for about ten minutes." Talorn was not happy. He had failed General O'Neill again in letting Samantha wander off.

"I saw the look on her face when Talorn offered to help her get around until you returned. She looked sad. She almost looked ...."

"... as if she felt like a burden. She was upset. I didn't think she'd go very far." Daniel was flustered. He had never seen Sam like that.

"We need to find her." He turned to George. "George, there's something I didn't tell you about what happened to Sam. She's blind. She hit her head and when she came to, she was blind."

"Let's go find her. I'll help. Get the SFs searching the upper levels and let NORAD know to watch for her."

"Consider it done, George." Jack picked up the phone and made the call.

SAM didn't know where she was. She hadn't paid much attention when Jack had led her to the commissary for lunch. She knew that they had gone up in the elevator. She knew that her quarters were five levels below the commissary but she couldn't be sure if she pushed the right button when she got in the elevator.

She opened a door. Why did I leave the commissary? I was safe there. I knew everyone around me. She found herself feeling around the room. My lab. I made it to my lab. I'm safe here. She closed the door and felt her way over to a corner.

Curling up on the floor, Sam quickly found herself crying. "Jack. Come find me."

JACK wasn't sure where to look for Sam. He had started with her quarters and was walking down the hall toward her office when he bumped into Daniel and Jacob. "Did everyone suddenly have the same thought?"

"You mean the one that says that Sam could find her way to her lab if she was deaf, dumb, blind and missing both legs?" Daniel sounded off.

"That would be the one." They slowly opened the door of the lab. "Sam?"

Jack heard it first. The soft crying that came from the corner of the room farthest from the door. He turned toward the sound and moved softly, slowly, not wanting to frighten Sam. The sight that greeted his eyes made him want to kill Pete all over again.

Sam was sitting up against the wall with her knees up against her chest, her arms wrapped around them. She was staring sightlessly into the room as if she saw something that terrified her.

"Sam, what's wrong? Talk to me."

"He was here. He was here." She wasn't making any sense. Who had been here?

"Who? Who was here?"

"Pete. He was here and he told me that no matter what I did, he'd still get me." The tears weren't falling anymore but the fear was still in her voice. There was no way around that. The fear they heard made Jacob and Daniel want to see Pete's beaten bloody body in front of them right that minute.

Jack sat down next to Sam and pulled her onto his lap. "Sam, do you trust me?"

"Of course I do."

"Then trust this. He can't get you here. You're safe on base. He has been banned. Not one person will let him in. I promise you that."

"I trust you, Jack." Sam buried her head in Jack's shoulder and just clung to him for a little bit. Jack just sat there cradling her close to him as she fell asleep.

JACK settled Sam into her bed, pulling the covers up to her chin. She snuggled under the blankets and put her hand under her head before settling into a sound sleep once again.

He pushed the hair back from her face and kissed her cheek. "Sleep well," he whispered before leaving the room.

SAM woke up. Just woke up. She felt her way to the sink in order to wash her face. She hoped the tears she had cried earlier didn't show in her eyes anymore.

Jack found me. He brought me back to my quarters. I'm always safe when he's here. I just hope he didn't get mad at the others because I slipped away from them.

Jack wouldn't have gotten too mad. His first thought would have been to find her. To make sure that she was safe and not hurt. Maybe he left someone nearby in order to help her if she wanted to go somewhere.

She opened the door. If she had been able to see, she would have laughed to see Jack asleep sitting on the floor with his legs stretched out in front of her door while his head was resting on the chair to the immediate right of said door. She started walking through the door.

Only to trip over Jack's legs and fall right on top of him, waking him up. He caught her up and sat her beside him. "Are you okay?"

"Just tripped. Not sure over what. But just tripped."

"You tripped over my feet." She swore she could almost hear the blush run over Jack's face as he admitted that it was his feet that caused her to trip and fall.

He dragged himself to his feet and then pulled her up. Stepping back to look her over, he asked her, "Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine, Jack." She wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned into his embrace. "I'm fine now."

Jack just relaxed as he held this wonderous human being. He knew that he was so much older than she was but she didn't care. She wanted him. She felt safe with him. Even knowing some of the things he had done in his past, she felt safe with him.