A/N: I meant to have this chapter out over the weekend, but sad news in the family. My grandfather, who has been in failing health with diabetes, several strokes, congestive heart failure and COPD went into the hospital last week with pneumonia. He seemed to be doing better, but then it was discovered his kidneys were failing and the decision was reached that it would be best to just let him go peacefully. Friday he was taken home on hospice, so that he could at least be at home, surrounded by his own family. I spent the night there on Satruday to help out my aunts who have been caring for him for the past year. Stopping over this morning, he was resting comfortably and fairly easily, if a bit in and out of it, he's very confused, and calls out a lot for his wife who's been dead for years, but under the recommendations of the hospice nurse yesterday, the Morphine and Ativan have really helped with the agitation and restlessness. My aunts have things under control tonight, and we're trying to keep things quiet for him, since he seems to sleep a lot. So I thought I'd post up the chapter I had written. The story is actually written, just needs some editing and its ready to go you'll be happy to note, though it almost seems people have lost interest, well not everyone. I'll still post the rest, don't worry. But if I disappear for a few days, you'll know where I went this time. Oh, and while I was at grandpop's all night with my brother's laptop, I worked on another story. Something I think you'll enjoy. Its funny, with frogs, and kisses, and a naked Jack… and maybe some S/J. And that's all I'm telling you for now.

Just as the Colonel was rethinking the wisdom of engaging in this little tug of war contest, the jug suddenly budged. It had been near the edge of the cart and Teal'c had tied the string on the curved handle near the top of the bottle. Finally giving into the inevitable pull of gravity the bottle tipped. Unfortunately, it was heading on a direct trajectory for the Hummer and Sam!

Chapter 19: Combustible

Jack's throat went dry and his tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth as he watched the enormous bottle hurtling directly toward his 2IC as if in slow motion. Horror kept him rooted to the spot even as the rational part of his mind told him there was nothing he could do to help Carter. He wanted to close his eyes but his eyes would not obey him, and so they were able to bear witness to the unbelievable death defying twists and turns that somehow Carter was able to put the Hummer into. Jack had no idea how she did it. One minute the jug was heading for her, and the next thing he knew, the Hummer was spinning and teetering on two wheels, and the bottom end of the jug was hitting the ground inches from her, chemical splattering from the open end that was mercifully pointed away from the vehicle. The jug had bounced again, and this time it did strike the passenger side of the Hummer causing it to skid sideways before the vehicle finally came to a shuddering stop.

Snapping into action Jack raced around to the driver side door of the now quite still Hummer, Daniel and Teal'c at his heels. All of them avoided the rapidly spreading chemical puddle that bubbled out from the gently rolling bottle, which was also cracked on the bottom where it had hit the floor. Absently, he noticed that the passenger door was dented from the impact of the chemical bottle and Jack repressed a shudder, remembering the much greater force of the original impact the jug had made with the ground and would have been directly over the driver's compartment had Carter not dodged out of the way.

Scaling the tire, Jack opened the front door to find Carter slumped over the steering wheel unmoving. "Carter?" he said softly. Quickly, he reached for a pulse at her neck, relieved when she moaned and stirred.

"Shhh. Lie still. Let me see how bad you've been hurt." He tried to settle his hands on her shoulders but either she didn't hear him or she was ignoring him, because she pushed against his hands and sat back into the seat looking at him with a dazed expression on her face. He noted with concern a small amount of blood above her left eye.

"Hey, I told you to hold still, Major. You okay?" When she just looked back at him blinking and frowning, Jack frowned in return. "Sam? What's wrong?"

Finally her eyes seemed to focus on him and she blinked again. "C-colonel? Did we do it?"

Jack permitted a sigh of relief. "Yeah. Yeah Carter, we did it. Don't scare me like that again, okay?"

"S-sorry sir." She frowned down at her hands, still clenched around the steering wheel as if willing them to relax. As if sensing her thoughts, Jack briefly laid his hand over one of hers and squeezed.

"Jack? Sam?" Daniel's worried voice filtered up to them from the ground.

"She's okay. We'll be down in a sec." Jack waved down to the two men below, both of whom wore worried faces.

"You sure you're ok?" Jack turned back to the pale-faced woman and studied her intently.

Sam wet her lips and nodded, sucking in a shaky breath and giving him a hesitant smile, removing one of her hands from the steering wheel to run it through her hair.

The Colonel studied her a moment longer, then nodded, satisfied with her response. It had been a close one, but that was nothing new with SG-1. Still… "Take a minute and join us when you're ready Carter. We'll clean that cut up when you come down, and I want to check you for a concussion, so don't hide that flashlight." The last he said with a grin as he slipped out of the Hummer to give her some privacy to regain her composure.

Sam winced at his parting words, she was coming to dread that damn flashlight, and her fingers quickly sought out the warm spot above her eye, coming away sticky and red. She sighed. Taking another deep breath, Sam winced. The seat restraints had no doubt left some rather impressive bruises across her chest and abdomen, but she'd be damned if she'd let the Colonel take a look at that! Her nerves calm enough that her hands wouldn't still be shaking from the adrenaline rush, Sam gingerly slid out of her seat and slipped down the side of the Hummer, at once grateful for the solid presence of Teal'c, offering his silent assistance on her descent.

Daniel gave her arm a brief squeeze as soon as she was safely on the ground and Sam smiled at him, before the Colonel all but pounced on her, ordering her to sit down on the ground. He then proceeded to clean the fortunately shallow cut above her eyebrow with their limited materials, which consisted of several Kleenex confiscated from Daniel and some of their water they'd managed to take along. They had nothing to bandage the cut with, but it was shallow enough that a minute or two of gentle pressure slowed the bleeding enough to let it clot on its own, so it would have to do. Sam managed to sit quietly during the procedure, only flinching once when he probed a particularly tender spot, and patiently sat through the flashlight and finger test, biting her tongue on the smart-ass comment she really wanted to make.

Jack narrowed his eyes at her, sensing the rebellious thoughts in the set of her jaw. "You know Major, insubordination really isn't your style." He grinned as her eyes widened in shock. It was so much fun to push her buttons sometimes.

To her credit, she recovered quickly. "I could always claim it was the head injury, sir."

"What head injury?" Sam only scowled at her CO as Jack waved the flashlight in front of her mockingly. Grinning, Jack stood up, offering his hand and pulling her to her feet. "C'mon Carter, we've got a base to retake."

They joined Teal'c and Daniel, who had checked over the Hummer for other signs of obvious damage and were now looking at the rather impressive puddle of spilled chemical, which was slowly spreading along the corridor and fortunately away from where the Hummer was parked and the direction they needed to go. Thanks to the cracked bottom of the jug, all of the contents had leaked out, and the jug looked to have been nearly full. Near the Hummer lay the cloth that Teal'c had tossed down from the cleaning cart. Sam looked at the rag thoughtfully. "We should roll it up as tightly as possible, and place one end in the chemical, and then light the other end. Hopefully, it will give us enough time to get far enough away."

"Okay, you heard the lady." Jack suited words to action and grabbed a corner of the rag. The other three each grabbed a corner and spread it on the ground, then they all moved down one side and started to roll it up like it was a carpet. As soon as they were done, they used a bit of duct tape to secure it and then put one end in the spill. Moving quickly, since they were worried they'd be discovered any minute having been there so long already, they quickly piled into the Hummer, except for Jack after he'd made sure Carter felt ok to drive. Jack had insisted on being the one to "light the fuse" so to speak and wouldn't hear of anyone else doing it, and so had borrowed Teal'c's book of matches and stayed on the ground while the others had piled into the transportation. Carter maneuvered the vehicle to be in easy reach of the Colonel however, and Daniel had moved into the front seat, leaving Teal'c in the back seat, leaning out so that he could assist the Colonel up into the back if need be so they could get away faster. These were the only changes Jack had consented to.

Crouching down beside the rag, Jack tried not to inhale too much of the chemical fumes. Casting a glance at the Hummer and his waiting teammates, Jack bent over the little match book, and hoped that the teeny little match would be enough to light up what was basically the size of a carpet and a small lake of chemicals. Of course, it took only a small spark to ignite a forest fire. But then again, it sometimes took an entire book of matches to start a campfire… Frowning, Jack dragged his attention back to the task at hand, striking a match against the closed cover, carefully shielding the lit match in his cupped hand, he guided it to the fibers of the rag and held his breath, watching the yellow and red flame cheerily burning down along the matchstick closer to his fingers. In a minute, he'd have to drop it. Moments later, the fibers caught. Gently, oh so gently, Jack blew on the small flames, fanning them, grinning as the flames spread. Before he knew it the entire end of the rag was aflame, and the flames were greedily spreading along the rag. That was his cue.

"O'Neill!' Jack looked up. Teal'c was leaning out of the Hummer, hand outstretched. Hastily tucking the matches into his BDU pocket, Jack sprinted to the truck, grabbing for the outstretched hand. Teal'c's muscles rippled as the great man pulled him effortlessly up and into the safety of the vehicle. No sooner was O'Neill inside and the door shut was Carter accelerating, leaving Jack little time to scramble into his restraints. He had only a single moment to catch a glance out the back window of the tall bright flames when the flames had consumed the rag; their only indication the chemicals had caught was a strange whooshing noise. Without warning, a tremendous force of pressure blew into them, sending the Hummer skidding out of control!