AN: I'm going to stop making predictions as to how long this will be. It just seems to keep growing... Thanks for the review everybody! Keep 'em coming!

Chapter Thirteen

For the next few seconds, time seemed to stand still. Jack was terrified, more so than he'd been any time that he could remember. After what seemed an eternity, another wave of arrows flew into the gate room, followed by Teal'c. He carried Sam; her body hanging limply in his arms.

Jack's paralysis disappeared as he made up for lost time, flying down the stairs so quickly even he was shocked that he didn't break his neck. He arrived the same time as the medical team, so he forced himself to hang back while Teal'c laid her gently on the gurney. He chased them down the hall, trying to make sense of what they were saying. One thing was abundantly clear - there were arrows sticking out of places there shouldn't have been arrows sticking out of. One was protruding from her shoulder, reminding Jack of the time the very same thing had happened to him. There was another through her thigh and then there was the one jutting into her side, right smack dab in the one damn spot her protective vest didn't protect her. For primitives, they had unbelievable aim.

The one in her side was the main source of concern, especially due to the blood pouring out. It seemed to Jack that there was just too much blood. His heart pounded harder when he heard the word surgery. Then he heard something about internal bleeding and he nearly passed out. But as they turned the corner, he was able to see past one of the nurses. There was a flash of blue he couldn't miss - her eyes were open.

Their eyes locked and Jack surged forward, insinuating himself among the people who were responsible for helping her. He couldn't look away. He wanted to reassure her that she'd be ok, but he saw the pain in her eyes and he couldn't say anything. Something brushed his hand and he turned to see if he was in the way. Sam was reaching for him; her hand searching the air for his. He took a firm hold of it, squeezing it so hard he was sure he was hurting her. He didn't care who saw; he wasn't going to deny her what little comfort she sought. It was all he could do - telling her that he loved her was out of the question.

Her eyes started to drift closed, but she fought to keep them open. Dr. Brightman leaned forward to assure her that it was ok. She instructed Sam to close her eyes and let them work. Sam fought anyway, just a moment longer, before her eyes fluttered closed and stayed that way. Jack glared at the doctor, for the first time noticing the IV that had been inserted in Sam's arm.

Dr. Brightman smiled gently, obviously noticing their joined hands and saying nothing. "We need to get her into surgery right away. I'm surprised she was conscious as long as she was."

Jack reminded himself that as long as Sam was sleeping then Sam wasn't hurting. That made him feel a little better. "She's going to be ok, right?"

Dr. Brightman looked away. "I won't know how much damage was done internally until we get in there." She tried to smile. "She's strong, sir."

He'd never missed Janet so badly as he did at that moment, watching Sam being wheeled away from him. It wasn't that he didn't trust Dr. Brightman, it was just that he'd trusted Janet so much more. Jack dropped into a chair in the hallway. He knew he should think of other concerns - he was in charge of the whole base. But he couldn't. His attention had developed tunnel vision and could only focus on Sam. He realized that was probably why a CO wasn't supposed to sleep with someone in his command.

He had no idea how much time had elapsed before he realized his friends had joined him. Teal'c was sitting to his left, silently offering his support. He hadn't even changed out of the clothes he'd been wearing, the ones that had more than enough of Sam's blood on them to remind Jack how badly Sam was injured. Daniel was cowering across the hall, staring at Jack with a pained, guilty expression.

Jack's eyes locked with Daniel's. Rage built up so suddenly Jack was barely able to control it. He wanted to scream at Daniel; he wanted to hit him. It was all Daniel's fault. If he'd just waited, Sam never would have gotten hurt. Jack's hands clenched into fists as he stared, trying to convince himself he wouldn't feel any better if he broke the younger man's jaw.

Daniel knew Jack was furious. "I'm sorry, Jack. I never thought something like this would happen. I never thought Sam would get hurt."

Jack leaned forward, but remained sitting down in the hopes that he wouldn't actually hit Daniel if he couldn't reach Daniel. "What did you think would happen? Did you think at all?"

Daniel broke eye contact and stared at the dirty concrete floor. "I thought if they got mad at anyone it would be at me."

Jack jumped up, unable to contain it anymore. He grabbed Daniel's collar and shoved him into the wall. "And you thought she would leave you behind? Do you think she would ever leave either of you behind?"

Fear showed in Daniel's eyes. He knew he didn't stand a chance in a fight against Jack. "I'm sorry. I can't tell you how sorry I am. I never wanted her to get hurt. I'd trade places with her if I could."

"But you can't."

"No, I can't. I wish I could."

Jack released him. "Get the hell away from me." He slumped back down in his chair, not saying anything when Daniel did the same. Jack's fury was spent and the fear was creeping back in. He felt bad for attacking Daniel, but it would be a long time before he found the words to apologize. He knew Daniel felt bad enough. He knew Daniel was already blaming himself. His words hadn't helped any and Sam wouldn't appreciate him going after Daniel. He looked up and found Daniel staring at him. He tried to say something, but only succeeded in opening and closing his mouth.

Daniel nodded. "I know, Jack. You're worried about her." He winced, as if mentally berating himself for the situation, or perhaps for mentioning Jack's technically inappropriate feeling for Sam. "I am too. We all are."

The sound of high heels interrupted the conversation. All three men looked up expectantly. It was one of the nurses, a young girl probably fresh out of nursing school who had no idea what she was getting herself into when she was assigned to the SGC. She cautiously approached Jack, keeping a safe distance from him. "Sir?"

Jack was on his feet in a second, moving so quickly in front of her that she jumped backwards. "How is she?"

The girl drew in a nervous breath. "Colonel Carter is out of surgery. The damage wasn't as severe as Dr. Brightman had originally feared. The colonel is going to be out of commission for a while until she recovers, but she should be good as new."

Jack almost hugged her. He settled on grinning stupidly at her. "When can we see her?"

"She hasn't woken up yet from the anesthesia. The doctor asked me to give you an update as soon as possible. Colonel Carter will probably sleep for several hours. I'll make sure you get a call as soon as she's awake."

"There's no chance we could just see her for a second?" He knew he was skating on giving himself away, so he quickly found an excuse. "Carter's going to be very angry with Daniel here when she wakes up, so he kind of wanted to see her while she's still unconscious, you know, so she can't strangle him."

The nurse smiled a decidedly confused smile. "Um, I can check." She had started to walk away before she thought better of her answer and remembered that she was talking to a general. "Actually, I'm sure that won't be a problem. I'll come get you as soon as she's situated."

"Subtle, Jack. Real subtle." Daniel's cocky, omnipotent grin was back. He figured he was out of the woods since Sam was going to be ok.

Jack glared at him. "She doesn't know the difference."

Daniel's grin grew even wider at Jack's complete lack of denial. "But the rest of us do."

Jack sat back down in his seat. Teal'c's barely suppressed smile didn't escape his notice. In fact, Daniel and Teal'c seemed to be quite amused by something that wasn't immediately obvious to Jack. He didn't like the idea. "What?"

Daniel looked down, leaving Teal'c to respond. "You did not deny that you wanted to see Colonel Carter for reasons other than those that you told the nurse."

"Of course I want to see her. You guys do too or you wouldn't be sitting here." He resisted the urge to add 'so there' on the end of his words, but just barely.

Teal'c smiled, an expression that unnerved Jack on his best day. "I would have waited until morning when Colonel Carter might be awake."

Jack snarled, more at himself than at Teal'c. "Me too."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "But you did not." Daniel snickered.

"So?" Jack squeezed his eyes closed and vowed to come up with better comebacks than the ones he'd relied on since childhood.

"You were also very distracted this morning during Daniel Jackson's briefing." Teal'c's eyes were staring straight ahead and the smile had disappeared, but Jack was certain he was smirking in some secret Jaffa way.

Daniel piped in, unable to stay out of it. "As far as I could tell you were distracted by Sam through the entire briefing this morning."

They were ganging up on him. It was so not fair when Sam wasn't there to take his side. "That briefing was so boring I could have been distracted by anything. It just so happened that Sam was right in front of me."

Teal'c grinned again while Daniel snorted. "Sam? Since when is she Sam?"

Jack wanted to slap himself in the forehead. He was such a moron sometimes. He decided to do damage control and deflect the conversation. "Teal'c was sleeping."

"I was only doing so until you woke me."

Jack had hoped that Daniel would jump on Teal'c's admission and leave his staring at Sam alone. Unfortunately, Daniel wasn't done.

"And then there was the matter of the hickey."

Jack was so dumbfounded he didn't say a word. He stared at Daniel with his mouth hanging open for several minutes, irritated by the gleam in Daniel's eyes. Finally, he forced out a word. "What?"

"Daniel Jackson, I am not familiar with that term. What is a hickey?"

Daniel laughed. "That big purple mark on Sam's neck. That's a hickey."

Jack closed his eyes and made a mental note that Sam had very fair skin and apparently bruised easily. But then he smiled, thinking about what he'd be doing when he would need that information.

Teal'c was too perplexed by the idea of a hickey to notice Jack's horror. "I do not understand. I believed they were called bruises. And how would a bruise relate to the subject at hand?"

"There's a difference between a bruise and a hickey."

Jack snorted and decided it was time for a walk. As much fun as listening to Daniel's explanation would be, he knew it would be far more embarrassing for him than it needed to be. The last thing he heard clearly was Daniel saying that Jack had given it to her and Teal'c's confusion as to why Jack would injure Sam.