Chapter 2: A Solution and The Truth
Janet sat in her office down in the infirmary, running the earlier events repeatedly in her mind. It was so hard for her to believe that one of her friends was facing such a tense situation. Suddenly, her office phone began ringing, startling her out of her thoughts.
"Fraiser."
"Hey, Janet. It's Daniel. Are you busy right now?"
"Not really. I was just going through some things here. Why? Is something wrong?" Janet asked, concerned.
"There's nothing wrong. Actually, something may be going right. Can you come to my office? I really need to talk to you. It's extremely important so if you could hurry I would really appreciate it." Daniel said, sounding a little more pushy and snappish than he's actually intended.
"Yeah. I'll be right there, Daniel."
Less than five minutes later, Daniel was still scanning the same website when he heard a knock on his office door. Knowing who was there, he got up and hurried across the room, opening the door for Janet Fraiser.
"Come on in, Janet. Thanks for coming up so quickly."
"Daniel. What in the world is so important that it couldn't wait? You sounded a little upset when you called for me. What's going on?"
"I found a website on the internet that could possibly give us an almost immediate way to help Jack. He was here earlier and told me what you found out this morning. When he left, I entered a search and found this site about live transplantation. I don't know if you've thought of that but from what I've been reading this could be our best shot at saving Jack's life. See." Daniel began as Janet moved over to the desk and peered over his shoulder at the screen. "It says here that the success rate for these type of procedures is at nearly 100."
"I hadn't thought about that Daniel but a live transplantation. I mean, are you sure. We'd have to get volunteers to be tested for compatibility and all."
"Well, you have your first volunteer standing right here in front of you. Look, I already know that Jack and I have the same blood type so that's a start right there. Janet, this is what we need to do. Jack is counting on us and I couldn't live with myself if I let him down by passing up the best opportunity for his full recovery. Could you?"
"No. Of course not. Okay. I'll run the tests on you right now and if it turns out favorably, we may not need to get anyone else involved who don't absolutely have to know. So, Daniel, would you please follow me back down to the infirmary and we'll get started." Janet agreed as Daniel followed her out of the office, closing the door behind them. As they walked into the infirmary and Janet began performing the necessary tests, she fervently hoped that Daniel was right and that this would be an available option to help Jack.
Meanwhile, Jack was standing outside General Hammond's office trying to get up the nerve to knock. He didn't know how he was going to reveal this information to the man who was not only his commanding officer but also his friend. Finally, Jack took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
"Come in." Hammond called, looking up from his paperwork.
"General, I'm sorry to interrupt. Can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Of course. You weren't interrupting anything that can't wait. What's on your mind, Jack?"
"Well, I'm afraid that I have to dump some bad news on you on top of everything else you have to deal with. Janet gave me my routine physical today and when she reviewed my blood work, she discovered that I have a liver problem. She's working on a way to fix the problem, but I have to face the truth that if she can't then I'll be gone in six months. Also, I think it would be in SG-1's best interest if I removed myself from active duty." Jack explained.
"Oh my God. I'm sorry, Jack. If there's anything I can do, anyone you need to help you and Dr. Fraiser find a way to stop this let me know and I'll have them here from anywhere on the globe within the next 24 hours."
"I really appreciate that, sir, but unfortunately the best chance I have depends on the cessation of another human life. Janet says that I really need to have a liver transplant."
"Jack, I don't know what to say. Let me make some calls to a few of my contacts and see what I can find out. There has to be a way to come up with a solution. I will not lose one of my best officers to a situation that I may be able to help correct."
"Okay. I'll get out of your hair now. I need to go talk to Carter anyway. She doesn't know about this yet and I need to find a way to break the news to her. Let me know if you get a lock on anything, General." Jack said.
"You got it. Don't give up, Jack. We will find a way out of this, just like always. I'll give everything I have to make it happen. On that, you have my word." Hammond said softly, watching his friend, his second in command, head slowly and solemnly out of his office.
Twenty minutes later, Daniel was back in his office going through some of his books, trying to keep his mind distracted while he waited for news on his and Janet's plan for a possible solution to the crisis at hand. He was so concerned with this, in fact, that he nearly jumped out of his skin when the phone on his desk rang at last.
"Yes."
"Daniel, it's Janet. I have good news. We have a feasible solution. When I ran your tests through and compared them to the ones that I took from Colonel O'Neill this morning and there were more than enough matching factors. I just need to make sure that you are both okay with this before I'll go ahead." Janet said, cautious relief in her soft voice.
"I know I'm okay with it. I'll send an SF to find Jack and have him come to my office so I can discuss it with him. Does this stand a chance of working, Janet?" Daniel asked.
"Yes, it does. The only thing is that I can't perform the procedure but I can assist and the other thing is that we won't be able to do it at the SGC. We'll have to use the Air Force Academy Hospital across town."
"Fine with me. Let me try to hunt Jack down and sell this idea to him. Give me about twenty minutes and I'll get back to you. Don't go too far." Daniel said as he hung up and tried to flag down the SF walking by his office. "Airman! Could you come in here a minute?"
"Yes, Dr. Jackson."
"I need you to do something for me. Can you find Colonel O'Neill and ask him to come to my office as soon as possible?"
"Yes, sir." The airman replied as he pivoted on his heel and left the office.
In the meantime, Jack walked quietly into Sam's office and stood in the doorway for a moment, just watching her work on her latest project and admiring just how beautiful she was, especially now. After getting up the nerve, he decided to make his presence known.
"Sam. Whatcha doing?"
"Oh, hi, Jack. I'm just looking at this thing SG-6 brought back trying to figure out just what exactly it is. So far, I haven't had much luck though." Sam said.
"Well, could you take a break from that for a minute. I really need to talk to you about something." Jack told her seriously, confiscating the device from Sam and taking her hand.
"Jack, what's the matter. You're starting to scare me a little. This is a little strange, especially for you."
"Sam, I had my routine checkup with Janet this morning and there's a pretty big problem. I wanted to be the one to tell you this before you heard from her or anyone else."
"What kind of problem?" Sam asked, her voice barely above a whisper because of the knot forming in her throat.
"God, this is harder than I thought. Okay, according to Janet, my liver function has majorly declined and I need to have a transplant soon if that's even possible. I hope it is because if not then I won't be around six months from now."
"You can't be serious. This can't be happening, Jack. Not to you."
"I know. I'm having a hard time believing it myself. The only thing we can do is hope that Janet can come up with something or Hammond can get a lock on something from one of his infinite contacts. Don't worry. One thing I can promise you is that Jack O'Neill will not go down without one hell of a fight." Jack whispered reassuringly, taking Sam into his arms as she started to cry.
"Colonel O'Neill?" The airman said as he poked his head in the office door.
"Now isn't a very good time, Airman."
"I'm sorry, sir, but Dr. Jackson wants you to meet him in his office as soon as possible. He says it is extremely urgent."
"I'll get down there right away. Thank you, Airman. You're dismissed." Jack said professionally.
"I guess I need to go and see what Daniel needs. You gonna be okay?"
"Yeah. I'll be fine. You go help Daniel. I'll catch up with you later." Sam said bravely.
"Okay. See you later."
Back in his office, Daniel was anxious to tell Jack about his solution to the tragic problem that they were facing. He was about to give up on the SF he had sent and was about to go and track down Jack himself when his target appeared, leaning in the doorway of the office.
"Jack."
"Daniel. What's so important that you had to get me down here right now? I was breaking the news to Sam."
"Sorry, but I have some very good news. We have a solution to this predicament." Daniel apologized.
"Well, what is this solution that you came up with?" Jack asked curiously.
"Me."
"What? Daniel, what the hell are you talking about? How could you possibly be the solution to my health problems?"
"Okay, just hear me out. After you left earlier to go talk to Hammond, I got online and searched the internet for liver donation hoping to get a lock on something and I was successful."
"All right. But that still doesn't explain what that has to do with you."
"Well, one of the first sites that I hit on was a site about live donations. Now, what that means is that they'll take a portion of my liver out and give it to you and within a matter of months we'll both have a whole, fully functional and healthy organ."
"Daniel, I appreciate what you're trying to do but I can't let you go through with something like this and take such an astronomical risk for me."
"Jack, listen to me. I did full research on this and Janet already ran the tests and said I'm a perfect candidate. According to the information that I read, the success rate from this type of procedure is near 100. I know that there are risks, there always are with surgical procedures of any kind, but I'm more than willing to see this thing through. That is, if you agree."
"I'm still not sure I like the idea of you putting yourself at risk on my account, but this sounds like as good of a shot as we're going to get. So you're saying that we'll both make a full recovery from this."
"Yes."
"Okay, then. Let's do it." Jack agreed finally.
"Good. I'll let Janet know what we've decided."
Daniel reached for the phone and dialed the infirmary where he knew Janet was waiting for his call. Sure enough, after about two rings, she answered the phone.
"Janet, it's Daniel again. I've discussed the situation with Jack and we've decided that my idea is our best option and we're going to go through with it."
"Great. I'll inform General Hammond and see about getting us everything that we need. Plan to be at the Air Force Academy Hospital at about 0900 tomorrow morning. We'll get going from there."
"Right. That's the plan then. Let me know if there are any other developments." Daniel said as he hung up.
"What did Fraiser say?" Jack asked.
"Janet said we're good to go. She's going to go and talk to Hammond about bringing in the necessary people that she needs and she said that we should report to the Academy Hospital in the morning at 0900 and get the ball rolling."
"Well, this is a good thing. I just hope that everything goes as you planned it. This is an insane risk and I hope we don't regret it."
"We won't. Now if you'll excuse me I need to head home. I have a very protective fiancé to break the news to."
"All right. I need to go and tell Sam the good news that we have a solution. I'll talk to you later on this evening. Give Sarah a hug for me."
"I will. Talk to you later." Daniel said, clapping Jack on the back before heading out for the elevator to the surface.
Janet Fraiser walked down the hall toward General Hammond's office, lots of things going through her mind. After some intense thought, she came up with the perfect surgeon for this job and she hoped that Hammond would bring him in. Deciding that the best way to deal with this was to tackle it head on, she knocked on the door.
"Come in."
"General, I need to talk to you about something very important, sir." Janet said.
"Dr. Fraiser. What can I do for you?" Hammond asked.
"Sir, Daniel and I have come up with a solution to save Colonel O'Neill. But we're going to need your help to do it."
"I'll do what I can. What have you and Dr. Jackson come up with?"
"Well, earlier this afternoon, Daniel called down to the infirmary and insisted that I come to his office. When I went up there he showed me a web site that he had found regarding live organ donation. So, what we want to do is for Daniel to donate a part of his liver to Colonel O'Neill. There are no extreme risks to either one of them and they'll both make a full recovery."
"Just tell me who you need to make this successful and I'll have them here in less than 24 hours."
"I was hoping you'd say that, sir. Because I've come up with the perfect person. A British surgeon by the name of James Anderson. I've talked to him and he's agreed to perform the operation with your permission with me there to assist, of course."
"Consider it done, Doctor. I'll have him here by 0500 at the latest. You have a go for the procedure."
"Thank you, sir." Janet said, saluting smartly as she turned and walked out the door, feeling like a huge weight had just been taken off of her shoulders only to be replaced by a considerably smaller one.
