When All Else Fails

Chapter Twenty Four

Disclaimer: Unfortunately for me, the show is not my property.

XXXX

Sam shuddered in the darkness, putting down her radio, and glancing over at the Stargate once more. It seemed to her that there were significantly less Jaffa surrounding the ancient device- and she wasn't sure whether that could be counted as a good thing or a bad thing. One the good side, when the general and the others finally arrived there would be less hostiles to take out, but she couldn't help but wonder why there were less of them. Had they been called away on a more pressing issue, or had their position been made?

Throwing a suspicious look over her right shoulder, then twisted to look over her left shoulder painfully, not even bothering to suppress the wince that the motion caused. It wasn't like anybody could see it, since it was pitch black and Daniel wasn't paying attention to her, rather watching the 'Gate. When she felt sure that they were safe, for the moment, she turned back around and assisted Daniel in his reconnaissance.

It didn't take long for the unnerving silence to get to him, "What do you think's going on?" he asked, not even bothering to mention what he was speaking of. She already knew- he was talking about Jack.

"I can only hope that the sarcophagus is healing Craig," she whispered back, hoping that thus would end their conversation. It wasn't the brightest thing to be talking whilst hiding from a bunch of Jaffa, or any enemy for that matter.

She heard him nod in the darkness, and could sense that he was getting ready to reply to her statement. "Let's not talk right now," she whispered, "I for one, would rather not be found."

"'K," he replied quietly. After that, nothing more was said.

She turned back to look at the 'Gate and knew instantly that something was wrong. There was another chunk of Jaffa missing, not to mention the fact that two or three of them were looking in their direction, saying something to each other. What was being said she could not now, not only did she not speak their language, but they were way too far away for even her heightened sense of hearing.

"Shit," she whispered.

Daniel was on his feet immediately, apparently he had noticed that they were no longer hidden, too. "Come on, Sam," he ordered, helping her up. "We need to get out of here... now."

XXXX

Fehr scowled to himself. When his friend began to threaten him with no more cake he had assumed the man was joking, he didn't think that he would actually leave. But, apparently he had been completely wrong, because after his little joke Captain Bridges took his plate full of sugary substances and exited the infirmary, under the watchful eyes of Doctor Brightman, who had just entered the infirmary.

"Stupid airmen," he mumbled to himself, suddenly extremely proud of the fact he was a marine. The doctor made her way to his bedside, an amused expression on her face.

"Something wrong, Lieutenant?" she questioned with a slight smile, apparently she had observed their discussion.

Matthew Fehr shook his head, "No, Ma'am... When can I get out of this bed?"

Brightman gave him a stern look, "I may have let you out tomorrow, had you not jumped out of bed like a lunatic earlier. You probably slowed the healing of your leg down a bit, so we'll see how you're doing in two days."

"But I can walk on it," and he had proved as much when he had jumped out of bed like a 'lunatic'.

She nodded, "I never indicated that you couldn't, just that you shouldn't. Not unless you want even more damage done to it."

Another scowl formed on the marines face, "Ma'am, I'm positive that I'm capable of walking on it tom–"

"And, I don't doubt that you are," the doctor replied, cutting him off. "But, being the CMO of this facility, it's up to me when you're able to be up and about. So, may I advise you quit arguing with me and follow my orders?"

Fehr immediately straightened in his bed, giving her a nod, "Yes, Ma'am."

"Good," she agreed. "Now, get some rest."

He began to argue, but thought better of it and closed his mouth, simply nodding. Brightman checked some things on her clipboard and left his bedside, making her way to her next patient.

With a sigh the lieutenant laid down in his bed, closed his eyes, and slowly drifted off to sleep.

XXXX

Sam and Daniel ran through the trees as quickly as they could, attempting to get as deep into the woods as possible. When neither could run any further they sought out the tallest tree around, and after Daniel gave her a bit of a boost she began to climb up it, causing herself extreme pain in the process. When she had gotten far enough to where he could begin to climb he did exactly that, in withing five minutes they were each sitting on a high branch, praying that they were out of sight.

It didn't even take ten minutes for the Jaffa to pass underneath them, muttering something to each other. Sam looked over at Daniel, who shrugged- he couldn't hear them any better than she could.

From what she could tell they weren't going to be leaving the area anytime soon, which was definitely not a good thing since her arm was beginning to bleed again, she had torn the wound further while climbing. She and Daniel shared a look, and an entire conversation passed between the two in a matter of seconds before she nodded. Anybody would have been able to decipher the look on his face, they had to do something, and soon.

Fumbling quietly for the Beretta that General O'Neill had given to her before she and Daniel took off. Silently wishing she had her night-vison goggles she aimed the weapon at a tree in the distance, making sure the barrel was alined with a high-up branch, and fired. Since they were so high in the tree the noise from shooting wasn't as profound as the sound of a branch smacking into the ground at an extremely fast rate. That had been why she had chosen a higher branch, of course, get it's rate of acceleration up. If she had chosen a branch closer to the ground the noise would have not been as loud.

Her tactic worked perfectly. One Jaffa yelled for the others to 'Kree!' and took off towards the direction of the tree. It was time for part two of her plan. She pulled out the grenade in her jacket with a slight smile, thinking of Jack and his paranoia when it came to both her and Daniel. Although, she doubted that she could tease him about it anymore, since his overprotectiveness was indeed saving her life, if he hadn't been so worried about them he would have never given her the Beretta, or the grenade. He would have provided her with a staff, or a P90 and left it at that. She pulled the pin out of the weapon and threw it as far as she could, praying that it would land in the right spot.

And it did. The next thing both of them knew a brilliant ball of flames erupted from the area where the Jaffa were searching for the source of the strange sound, and the air around them lit up for a second, providing them with the chance to see how much damage had been done.

One Jaffa standing. Sam raised her gun once more, aimed at the Jaffa's head, and fired. The shot hit it's target and the Jaffa went down in a crumpled heap, next to his burning friends. None of which were moving.

Then, they waited. It was possible that the fireball had caught the attention of other Jaffa, but they had gone so deep in the woods that it was unlikely. Sam, however, was not going to take any chances. The last thing she needed was to be captured by an over-zealous Jaffa... again. When ten minutes had passed and nobody had come into their view she pulled out her radio.

"General O'Neill," she whispered into the device. "What's your situation?"

XXXX

"General O'Neill," his radio spoke. "What's your situation?"

"Still waiting, Carter." he replied, glancing around the room. Teal'c still had Sanchez slung over his shoulder, and the Goa'uld had yet to waken up, which he had been asked then he would have said that such was very odd, since zat's don't tend to have such a lasting effect.

"Has there been any process?" she questioned.

"We haven't checked yet, Carter."

"It's been almost an hour," she informed him, as if he hadn't already known. Which, he really hadn't... but that wasn't the point.

"What's your situation?" he asked, turning the subject around.

"Daniel and I are currently hiding out in a tree far from the 'Gate, sir." she replied with a bit of hesitance. "Our position was made, but I have taken care of that. We are getting ready to climb back down, sir."

He didn't question her as to how she rectified being found, neither of them had the time to be doing such things. He did, however, take the time to warn her to be careful. "Watch out for Danny," he said, nonchalant. Which, really hadn't been what he wanted to say. He wanted to tell Daniel to watch out for her, because she was the one with the injured arm. But, he knew Sam, and he knew that implying that she needed help for any reason was not a smart thing to do. And while he wasn't the smartest man on the world, he knew enough to understand that he didn't want Carter angry at him when they returned home- for more reason than the obvious.

"Sir, yes sir." she replied. "Carter, out."

Then the radio died once more.

Jack looked around the room, it was only him, Teal'c, and Jennings- not to mention the passed out Goa'uld over Teal'c's shoulder, and the presumably dead man in the sarcophagus.

He nodded towards the Colonel, "Open it up."

Jennings nodded, pressed the button to open the doors to the sarcophagus, and stood back. When the golden doors were fully opened Jack stepped forward and peered down into the device at the body lying in it.

His eyes fluttered.

"Holy shit," Jack muttered to himself, jumping slightly. He hadn't expected Craig to be alive, it had just been wishful thinking on his part. "He's alive."

Jennings grabbed the man by his shirt and pulled him out of the sarcophagus, allowing the doctor to lean on him for support. He had, in fact, just been dead for two hours. That would take a lot out of a person.

"Doctor Craig?" Jack questioned. "Do you know what's going on?"

He shook his head- not a clue. The last thing he knew he was being shot at by Thoth. And, it had hurt. However, now he felt no pain. So whatever had happened to him, he wasn't complaining.

Jack sighed and gave the doctor a nod, "We're going to get you out of here, ok? But, you have to help us."

Craig nodded, he didn't know how he could help, but if his boss said so he had no other choice. "Yes..." he managed through his sore throat, "sir."

"Good," Jack nodded. He looked over at the Marine, "If he starts to slack off will you be ok carrying him?"

Jennings looked over at Teal'c, then at the doctor. The man wasn't really that big, had to be less than 200 pounds. And Jennings being over 6 foot tall and extremely muscular was well over that mark. It would be no trouble for him to carry the man. "I'll be fine, sir."

"Alright," Jack said, glancing around. "Let's head out."

XXXX

"Hey, Jarhead," a voice whispered, forcing him out of his peaceful sleep. Lieutenant Matthew Eugene Fehr's eyes opened sleepily and he found himself looking up at his friend, Captain Bridges.

"I was sleeping, Jeff," he scolded, closing his eyes once more.

"I brought more cake," Bridges informed him.

Fehr's eyes snapped open, sure enough the airman was holding a plate that was occupied by a large piece of pineapple upside down cake. "No chocolate?" he asked. Sure, pineapple was good... but chocolate was the best.

Jeffery Bridges shook his head, "Nope. And it was either this or sponge cake."

Fehr made a face, and reached out for one of the forks that was on the plate. "Why are you being so nice to me, Bridges?"

Bridges smiled lightly, the look on his face turning serious. "We went out there to save you, Matt, and you ended up saving us. I think that deserves a lifetime supply of cake... don't you?"

Well, no. He didn't. He was just doing his job, anyway. However, Fehr wasn't going to argue with his friend. If Bridges thought he deserved all the cake in the world, then who was he to argue?

"Whatever you say..." and with that he took the first bite of the cake.

"Besides," his friend added with a shrug. "The nurse who lets me sneak the cake in is cute."

XXXX

A/N: Alright... so there it is. Craig is alive. I really didn't want to kill him off in the first place, but that's how the story went... and then I felt bad. Oh well. Hopefully it turned out good.
Oh, and if you guys are getting bored with the whole Lieutenant Fehr thing, just let me know. I rather like his character, but then again that's probably because he's a complete figment of my imagination. And, I think that Stargate doesn't give enough credit to the Marines that are on the show. I happen to like Marines (which, is for the most part solely because I'm the daughter of a Marine, myself) Anyway... if you're tired of him I can stop writing him in so much. But, I like him, so I don't know...