Chapter 6: Surprise Reunions

When Teal'c and Jonas arrived at the hospital, the Jaffa lead the way to the surgical waiting room that he had left not thirty minutes before. As soon as they walked in the room, Sam looked up and let out a loud gasp of shock.

"Jonas! What are you doing here?"

"Jack and Daniel are going through a life altering situation and you're asking me what I'm doing here."

"Sorry. Stupid question. Anyway, I'm really glad you're here, Jonas. It's really good to see you." Sam said as she embraced her friend in a tight hug. Then a thought occurred to her and she pulled back and looked at Jonas pensively. "Wait, how did you even know that Jack and Daniel were in the hospital?"

"Teal'c sent a message to me through the Stargate last night. It didn't say much except that I needed to come to Earth this morning because there was a tense situation and he asked for my help. Then when I came through, Teal'c was waiting for me in the gate room and told me what was going on." Jonas explained.

"I took this action because it occurred to me that all involved could use the additional support, considering the fact that Jonas Quinn is a trusted friend." Teal'c announced.

"Well, I'm very glad you did, Teal'c."

"Hey, who's this?" Jonas asked, walking over to Sarah. "I don't believe we've met. I'm Jonas Quinn."

"Sarah Gardner. I'm Daniel's fiancé. It's nice to meet you." Sarah said politely, shaking Jonas' hand.

"Same here. I just wish it were under better circumstances, though. So, Daniel's fiancé, huh. I didn't even know he was engaged. Boy, have I been out of the loop."

"I appreciate your support right now. But if you don't mind my asking, how do you know Daniel? Your name sounds familiar but I just can't be sure."

"Well, there's actually quite a story to that. He and I first met on my home planet of Kelowna. They came through to meet with my government about a possible trade agreement between our two worlds. Daniel and I were fast friends because we were interested in the many languages of the universe and had a lot in common to talk about. Unfortunately, at first we didn't really know each other that long because of an accident that happened with an experiment that we were doing on a Naquadah based weapon. The radioactive core went critical and Daniel broke through a glass window, ripped out the core and was exposed to an extreme dose of radiation that killed him, or so we thought. As it turned out, a year later Daniel came back and I ended up saving his life in return for him saving mine. After that, he rejoined SG-1 and I went back to Kelowna." Jonas recounted the tale, shuddering at the buried memories the current situation brought back to him as he did so.

"Wow. That's quite a story. I think I remember Daniel telling me that once before now that you told me."

"General Hammond, it's really good to see you again, sir." Jonas smiled casually.

"I'm glad you came through, Jonas. I didn't have any idea what Teal'c was planning until I saw you walk in the door five minutes ago." Hammond said, patting the younger man on the shoulder.

"This is unbelievable. They've only been in surgery for 45 minutes, but it seems like forever." Sam grumbled in frustration.

"I concur." Teal'c agreed.

"Well, when you're faced with a hard situation, a person's time perception tends to get thrown a little out of whack. I know it's gonna sound really taboo for me to be saying this but the best thing we can all do right now is try to stay calm." Jonas said quietly, trying to reassure the two frightened women as he rested a hand on Sam's shoulder.

"Jonas is right, Major. It's not going to help anyone if you get upset. Dr. Fraiser said that she would update us periodically and I'm sure that as soon as she can, she'll do just that."


Twenty minutes later, Janet appeared in the doorway of the surgical waiting room to give them an update on how the surgery was progressing. When the worried group noticed her, Sam and Sarah stood up and walked to meet her.

"How are things going, Janet? Is everything okay?" Sam asked nervously.

"Everything is going perfectly at this point. They're both holding up all right. There's not a reason to worry. I'll give you another update in a little while." Janet reassured, pausing when she noticed Jonas standing to one side beside Teal'c. "Jonas. This is a surprise. How did you know what was going on here today?"

"It's good to see you, Dr. Fraiser. Teal'c actually sent a message to Kelowna through the Stargate last night and asked me to come to Earth and when I got here a little while ago he let me know what was happening."

"Oh. Well it's good that you're here to lend support. Now, if you'll all excuse me, I need to get back to assist with the operation."

"Thank God things are going well so far." Sarah whispered as soon as Janet was gone.

"I know that. At least now that we know that things are going okay, maybe this won't seem quite so scary." Sam breathed.

"Is anyone else hungry?" Jonas asked suddenly.

"Indeed. I believe that we should seek out something to eat. There is nothing that can be done by sitting in this room." Teal'c agreed.

"Okay. I guess I am hungry. Let's get something to eat."

"I think there is a cafeteria downstairs where we should be able to get some food. Why don't we head down there and then we can come back up and wait for another update on the surgery." Hammond suggested as he led the others out of the room.

A few minutes later, the five of them were sitting at a small table in the hospital cafeteria having something to eat. That is, except for Sarah, who was doing nothing more than picking at a sandwich. Sam noticed this and became slightly concerned.

"Sarah, what's the matter? Janet said that things are going perfectly so I don't understand why you still look so afraid."

"I don't know what it is, Sam. I can't explain it but I just have this bad feeling that I can't seem to shake, a feeling that something is about to go seriously wrong." Sarah whispered as Sam gave her a reassuring hug.


In the operating room, things were going along well about three hours into the procedure. They had managed to successfully remove Jack's liver and at that point they were proceeding with extracting the portion of Daniel's that they would transplant.

"Everything is looking good right now. I see this procedure being a success as long as the donor organ isn't rejected." Dr. Anderson said as he worked, speaking to no one in particular.

"Well, if things are going well at this point, I'm going to go back out into the waiting room and let our people know how things are going." Janet said as she headed out of the room, her colleague nodding assent to her retreating back.


Back in the waiting room, the worried group sat together wondering what was going on in the OR and when they were going to get another update. The long wait was beginning to make tension run high.

"What the hell is taking Janet so long to give us another update. I can't stand just sitting here knowing what Jack and Daniel are going through and knowing that there isn't a damn thing I can do about it. I've never felt so helpless before in my life and I hate it!" Sam shouted in frustration, pounding the arms of the chair she was sitting in so hard that it caused her fists to go numb from the impact.

"Sam, listen to me. You have got to try to calm down. Getting yourself worked up like this is not going to help anything. Actually it may make things worse. Look, Jack is going to need your support after this operation is over and if you get all hysterical then Janet is going to keep you from seeing him." Jonas said calmly, ever the voice of reason.

"Calm down. Jonas, how can you stand there and tell me to calm down. You don't have any idea what I'm going through. No idea what this feels like. This is the most helpless feeling I have ever had in my whole entire life and you're trying to tell me what to do."

"Major Carter, you are way out of line. Now stand down." Hammond stepped in to calm the situation.

"You're right, sir. Jonas, I'm sorry. I never should have jumped your case like that. You were only trying to help me."

"It's okay. This is a very tense time for you. I understand why you reacted like that."

"Still, no matter what the situation is, that's no excuse for the way I just acted. That type of reaction isn't normal for me but then this situation isn't exactly the norm either. Anyway, can you forgive me?" Sam asked, slightly embarrassed.

"Forgiven and forgotten." Jonas smiled as he reached out and wrapped Sam in a great hug.

"Dr. Fraiser is coming. We will soon receive another update." Teal'c announced as he walked in from the hallway. Moments later, Janet came into the waiting room and was greeting by five anxious faces.

"Things are still going well. We've taken out Jack's liver and when I left to update you, Dr. Anderson was starting to remove the donated section from Daniel. I'm optimistic that things are going to turn out the way we hoped from the beginning. I need to get back to the operating room now but I'll come back and let you know when it's all over." Janet said.

"Thank you, Dr. Fraiser." Hammond acknowledged as Janet turned and walked out the door.