A/N: We're almost done! Here's a great big juicy chapter for you, a nice conclusion, and the epilog to follow after…
In the sudden stillness, when one peered closely, three tiny figures could be seen moving as rapidly as they could across the floor towards the Hummer and Hammond's heart sank. "Oh God," whispered Janet Fraiser. There was at least one member of SG-1 inside.
Chapter21: InfirmaryHer head hurt. A lot. She must have gone on quiet a bender, which wasn't even fair since she couldn't even remember going to a party. And where was that beeping coming from? She groaned as she tried to open her eyes, which felt like they'd been glued shut. Shifting, her body protested the movement, and her head awoke with new pounding, the beeping increasing with the tempo in her head and suddenly Carter realized where she was. Infirmary. Cracking one eye open revealed all too familiar gray walls, stiff sheets, lots of wires and the requisite IV in the back of her hand. Sam winced, and cracked her other eye open, grateful that the infirmary lights were dim. It must be late. She closed her eyes again, thinking about drifting off back to sleep when something made her eyes snap wide open, and caused her to bolt upright in bed.
Instantly, Sam regretted her mistake. Grabbing her head in both hands, she curled up on her side drawing in tiny pants to battle the sudden nausea of her abrupt and foolhardy move. The pounding in her head and beeping of the monitors almost drowned out the approaching click clack of heels, but even in her misery Sam sensed her friend's approach and so wasn't startled at the touch of a cool hand on her forehead.
"Careful Sam, you have a pretty bad concussion, you shouldn't be moving around suddenly. Headache? Nausea?" Sam mumbled something in reply which Janet must have taken for a yes, because the cool hand was removed, and Sam felt her moving away and then doing something to the IV tubing. A moment later the hand returned softly brushing away the hair that had fallen on her forehead and then rubbing her back in soothing circles. Sam concentrated on trying to relax and remain still, and gradually the headache receded to a dull ache and the nausea faded.
Finally, Sam relaxed her posture, looking up at her friend and doctor.
Janet smothered a grin at the woman lying in the bed. She was quite a sight with a black eye, several small scrapes, the bruises across her nose and cheek, and the rather impressive goose egg on the side of her head. And that was just the visible bruising; Janet had been treated to quite a varied color palette when she'd done the Major's physical. It seemed that remote control toy cars left something to be desired in the safety harness department. "Welcome back Sam," she said softly, and raised an eyebrow.
"Uh, thanks. Janet. I'm," she paused and wet her lips, "Not small anymore." Sam's brows were furrowed.
Janet didn't even bother to hide her grin this time. "No, you're not," she confirmed and laughed at Sam's expression, then finally took pity on the woman; she had just suffered from a head injury after all. "The base is secure again Sam, but you were injured. Daniel told us how to reverse the transformation so we could return all of you to normal size and treat you. The rest of SG-1 is ok, but I'm afraid the Colonel is going to need a new toy Hummer." Seeing Sam's face, and knowing the short version of events left a lot to be desired, Janet smiled sympathetically. "Look, I need to check you out, and after that you are going to rest, no buts. And then the rest of SG-1 will probably stage a coupe if I don't let them in here to see you, you can get the rest of the details then, okay?"
Sam seemed to struggle internally with the idea for a moment, but the drugs were making her eyelids heavy and her brain slow to process so the protest died on her lips, and with a sigh she gave in. "Okay." She immediately regretted it as Janet whipped out her penlight. Sam flinched away as the light was shined into her eyes.
ZoomZoomZoomZoomZoomZoomZoomZoomZoomZoomZoomZoomZoomZoomZoomSam woke several hours later to whispered voices.
"Shhh! You'll wake her Jack!"
"I know what I'm doing Daniel, I am Special Ops trained after all. Besides, Carter can sleep through anything."
"I believe Major Carter is awake O'Neill."
"Son of a – Carter! Hey! How ya doin!" The Colonel stood at the foot of her bed, a boyish grin on his face, his hands suspiciously hidden behind his back. Behind him stood Daniel and Teal'c, both with their hands also hidden behind their backs, Daniel's face suspiciously bore an incriminating look of innocence and Teal'c wore an uncharacteristic display of amusement over his two teammates.
Sam blinked away the fog of sleep and drugs. "Sir. Guys. Uh, hi." She frowned.
Teal'c inclined his head. "It is good to see you well Major Carter."
"Thanks Teal'c." Sam smiled.
"Yeah Sam, glad you're ok." Daniel added his own sentiments.
"Carter, I distinctly recall telling you not to do that again." Sam looked at her scowling CO, who still had his hands behind his back.
Flushing slightly, Sam picked at the blanket. "Sorry sir."
Jack shrugged as if it really hadn't mattered. "Ah well, its okay Carter. Anyway, that's not why we're here, right guys?" The grin was back again. Sam looked up confused. Daniel was also smiling shyly, and even Teal'c had a rare smile on his face.
"Indeed Major Carter, it is not. You are in need of sustenance." Sam blinked at Teal'c's words. Before she could ask what he meant, Teal'c stepped forward, bringing forth his hidden hands to reveal a glass of a blue semi-solid jiggling mass. "I have brought Jell-O."
"And I've got cake." Jack presented a plate containing a single slice of chocolate cake, with vanilla frosting.
Daniel held up a small paper bag and grinned. "Double chocolate macadamia nut cookies."
"My heroes." Sam grinned at her teammates, and Daniel moved around to help her sit up while Jack grabbed pillows to prop her up with and Teal'c brought over a tray of more deserts for the rest of them to share in. Soon, SG-1 was talking and joking over sweet desserts, and catching up Sam on the events that had happened while she was unconscious.
"So there were only three aliens on the base, and a few dozen or so of those devices left around the base?" Sam was incredulous that it had taken such a small force to incapacitate the entire base.
"Yeah, that was it." Jack scowled into his own slice of pie. They would be reviewing security procedures to see what had gone wrong and what could be done to prevent a similar occurrence in the future. The third alien had been found attempting to gain access to the gate computer, and dial out. Luckily, Harriman had had enough warning in the control room that something was up to lock out the computers against any unauthorized use, so the aliens had not been able to leave.
"Apparently," Daniel took up the thread of the conversation, "The three on the base were a rogue group, here without official sanction of their government. They hoped to gain enough of our weapons to launch a few terrorist attacks against their rivals, using the different technology to gain an advantage in their dispute. While their own weapons are superior to ours, they are at a standstill in military advancements on their home world with no clear upper hand. Both sides possess the same weapons, counter weapons, and strategies. They'd hoped that by stealing enough of ours they could cause some damage at key sites." Daniel looked disgusted at the thought.
"That's sad." Sam frowned at the thought of how close they'd come to having those weapons taken and used in terrorist activities on another world, and was glad that the SGC did not trade weapons technology to other worlds routinely.
"The actions of this rebel group have caused leaders of both sides to reconsider negotiations for peace." Teal'c contemplated a bit of fruit as if it were the matter at hand.
"It's a start at least," Sam said.
"General Hammond turned the third alien over to their authorities when he was assured that he would receive a fair trial and punished according to their laws. Now that we've established who the true governments of the planet are, the Pentagon is considering their request to resend a team, possibly to help negotiate peace talks." Daniel leaned across the bed to swipe one of her cookies, as Sam raised her eyebrows at the news of something positive having come out of the near disaster.
"Yeah, whatever, they still trashed my Hummer." Jack grumbled, slouching into his chair, leaning it back on two legs and propping his feet up on Carter's bed as he scraped the remains of some whipped cream off his plate.
Sam frowned at the Colonel's dejected face. "Sorry to hear that sir. Janet had mentioned something about it. Do you think maybe I could take I look?"
But Jack just scowled. "I don't know Carter. This is one pile of junk I don't think even you could fix." He sighed dramatically, setting his empty pie plate down. "Oh well. I was thinking of maybe trading it in for something with wings. There's this sweet little helicopter job with dual rotors that you can fly inside…" he trailed off as he noticed everyone staring at him in mock horror. "What?"
Daniel leaned back, waving the half eaten cookie in his hands in front of him like a shield. "Um, nothing Jack, just, maybe you should let Sam take a look at that Hummer." Daniel wore a look of complete innocence, his blue eyes wide.
Teal'c inclined his head towards Daniel. "I am in agreement with Daniel Jackson, O'Neill."
Jack narrowed his eyes suspiciously at his teammates, and opened his mouth to reply, so Sam jumped in. "Really sir, I don't mind taking a look," she started to say, and was interrupted by an enormous yawn. She blinked apologetically, but the guys only grinned at her as they removed the pillows propping her despite her protests that she was fine and cleaned away the snacks and empty dishes and containers. They left bidding her a speedy recovery and Sam's eyes closed against her will as she surrendered to the inevitable pull of sleep. They continued to banter as they left, arguing over the pros and cons of which motorized vehicle Jack should bring on base as they left the infirmary.
Waking again several hours later, Sam found the infirmary quiet, and she was once again alone. Stretching, she discovered that the IV had been removed while she slept as well as the monitors. She also realized she hadn't been disturbed quite as often either. She never did understand how they expected you to rest, when they woke you up every few hours to shine a light in your eyes and check vital signs to see how you were feeling. Noticing that she also felt less stiff, Sam wondered if she'd be allowed to go home today.
Sitting up slowly, Sam was pleased to note that her head only ached a little bit and she didn't have any nausea. Stretching her arms up over her head, Sam looked around the room, and noticed a rounded object sitting on the bedside table. Curious, Sam swung her bare legs over the side of the bed, and reached out to pull the table closer to her.
Her eyebrows rose as her initial suspicions were confirmed. But what was it doing here? Then she noticed a catalog propped next to it. Picking the catalog up, she leafed through it, grinning as she realized it was for high-end electronic toys, particularly radio control vehicles. There were a few items in the catalog boldly circled, with comments scribbled in the margins, and Carter smirked over a few of them. She wasn't sure if he had made his selections based on his tastes or what he thought she might like, but on first glance she might have a few suggestions of her own... She'd have to look through again later and take notes on the specs. As she neared the last pages, a folded note fell into her lap. Curious, she flipped it open, reading the handwritten note, immediately recognizing the Colonel's scrawl.
She'd barely read the note when she'd snickered in disbelief, setting the note down on the table and picking up the other thing in both hands. Shaking her head slowly, Sam looked the bulky item over. She couldn't believe he'd actually gone and got her one, she thought he'd just been joking! Sam chuckled, setting it down, and hoped the Colonel didn't seriously expect her to use it. Although, the card had implied a bit of an invitation for a team outing, one that was rather tempting is she was perfectly honest. Well, she had to get out of the infirmary first!
A/N: Finished? Almost! One more chapter that ties it up in a bit of an epilog for us! Sorry if you were expecting a bit more detail in the reversal of the transformation. It just seemed a bit anticlimactic to get all play-by-play, and knock them all out and blah blah blah since we'd already done that with the initial shrinking. And we've known how to do it since chapter 15, it was just a matter of getting there lol. And so tiny SG-1 saves the base and even General Hammond got to be a hero and poor Sam got whumped some more and I just thought we needed some good old team bonding over chocolate and cake and Jell-O! Anyway, something fun and a little bit different in the final chapter/epilog next!
And thanks again for everyone who left kind words regarding the recent passing of my grandfather. We weren't able to get a Saturday burial like we'd hoped, since the church is having first holy communions that day and confessions in the afternoon, so instead he'll be laid to rest on Sunday, so I'm finding the need to occupy myself tonight so you all get another chapter!
