I'd like to thank everyone who sent in a review. Sorry if there's not much action going on at the moment, I'm just mopping up a few loose ends before the ending. I hope you'll all stick with me.
Title: Unity.
Author: LetitiaRichards.
Previously:
"He was the key to your brainwashing Jack. He started this whole thing off."
Chapter 31
Jack looked perplexed at his CO's words.
"What? How come?"
Before Hammond would continue, Janet Fraiser entered the room and came to stand beside his bed. She had a loaded hypodermic needle on a tray in her hands, which she placed on the over-bed table. Jack looked up at her, then cast suspicious eyes towards the General.
"What's goin' on sir?"
"Just a precaution Colonel," Hammond assured him.
It was at this point he spotted Teal'c hovering just outside the door.
"I get the feeling, I'm not gonna like this am I?"
"It's alright Colonel we just need to run a simple test that's all," Janet informed him, giving the General an infinitesimal nod to begin.
"When you counselled Diaz, he was suffering from flashbacks, am I right?"
"Yes sir, but we devised a safe word that someone could use to bring him out of it harmlessly."
"Do you recall what word it was that you used?"
"Sure 'Butterfly," Jack answered straight away.
"Why that word? And did he suggest it or did you?"
"Em...actually he suggested it because I asked him to choose a word that was easy to remember and something far removed from war or terrorism. He chose Butterfly."
"That's not quite correct is it son!" Hammond chided mildly.
Jack frowned wondering why he was being accused of lying when the penny dropped.
"Oh...no sir. It was actually the Spanish for it, 'Mariposa'," Jack said with an apologetic shrug.
Janet gasped softly, tense, on edge, as if she was waiting for something to happen. Jack looked at her with a worried frown then turned his attention when the General blew out a loud 'phew'.
Both of them looked just about ready to pounce on him and Jack couldn't understand why. He shrank back into the pillow switching his gaze from one to the other for several minutes before sighing loudly with frustration.
"Okay. What the hell is goin' on? Sir? Doc? Someone wanna explain it to me, please!"
Hammond smiled, releasing the tension in his body at the same time as Janet. The General then reached out to pat Jack on the shoulder.
"It's okay son. You did well."
"What?" Jack was thoroughly confused.
"Diaz turned that word into the key which set you off into a trance like state where you tried to kill yourself, and possibly anyone who tried to stop you."
"He...he did? I don't remember a thing?" he muttered unsure of his own tumbling thoughts.
"That's okay Jack because It doesn't seem to have that effect any more. We had to take precautions against you trying anything again when we tested you; hence Doctor Fraiser and her needle, and Teal'c standing ready with a zat gun."
"That bad huh?"
"Not the best of moods we've ever seen you in Colonel," Hammond snorted wryly. "I take it Doctor that this means Colonel O'Neill is over the worst?"
"I would say so sir, but just to make sure. 'Mariposa' Colonel."
Janet held her breath but Jack didn't react to it any more than he did a few moments ago. She smiled.
"In that case Colonel, I will be releasing you to your team's care. You will go home, and take your medications and I'll send someone by everyday to see to your wounds and to give me an update on your progress. That means absolutely NO beer; NO junk food and absolutely no unnecessary walking on those feet yet. You will use a wheelchair until I think you are ready to try longer spells on those feet and that thigh wound is almost healed. Is that understood Colonel?"
"Yes Ma'am," Jack grinned cheekily, giving her a sharp salute. He didn't like the idea of all those restrictions but he would put up with them just to be at home again.
Janet glared at him, but his grin was infectious. He hadn't looked so pleased about anything in a long while and it was good to see him happy or at least, happier again. She grinned back.
"Just don't think you can get round your team either Colonel," Janet added as an afterthought. "I've given them strict instructions on how to look after you. They will not be swayed from their duty or you will find yourself back in here where I will send all the new nursing recruits to you to practice taking blood with extra large needles."
Jack gulped, his eyes widening at the thought of becoming a pin cushion.
"Absolutely Doc. Anything you say Ma'am."
"Tomorrow Colonel. And don't forget you will be having a few sessions with Dr. MacKenzie too. Now lie back and rest while General Hammond fills you in on the details."
"Yasureyabetcha!"
Janet's heels tapped out a regular rhythm across the floor as she retreated to her room, leaving the General alone with Jack. He waited for the door to close before he continued.
"I just want to fill you in Jack on what's been happening. They arrested Enrico Diaz a few hours ago. He was about to leave the base to fly to Texas, when they approached him, he took fright when he spotted the MPs and tried to make a run for it. He's in custody right now and they're shipping him to Peterson as we speak. Perhaps now we'll have a clearer idea of how he fits in with all of this and the terrorists."
"It's a pretty sure bet that he was brainwashed just like I was General," Jack sighed, not wanting to think that it was anything other than that.
"That maybe so Jack, but we need to find out more about his involvement."
Jack thought back to the days when he'd spoken with the young man; to his sessions and what was said. He was almost certain the guy was just as much a victim as he was.
"We've had the report you wrote sent over from the base in Iraq, as well as all the other documents on Diaz and anything else that might be relevant to this mess. You don't have to worry about it Jack. Leave it all with me and I'll keep you posted on the progress. You concentrate on getting over all the problems you have."
"You know they wanted all the details about the SGC?" Jack asked, wondering if he'd told him that previously, but with everything that had happened he wasn't sure anymore.
"Dr. Jackson has explained his side of everything but when you can Jack, I'd like a full report."
"Yes sir."
OoOoOoOoO
The day had dragged on but later that afternoon, Jack's team members arrived with some outdoor clothing and a wheelchair.
"What's goin' on? I thought..."
"Just a short excursion sir. We thought you might like some fresh air. Janet said we could take you topside for an hour or so, just so long as it didn't tire you out. The first sign of fatigue and Teal'c here, was ordered to bring you back straight away," Sam said, smiling at the look of delight on his face at the prospect of getting out of the mountain for a while.
"Great! What are we waiting for?" he asked when nobody made a move to pull the curtain so that he could dress in privacy.
"Oh! Yeah. Sorry Jack," Daniel gasped, suddenly realising they were all standing there unnecessarily in the way. "Do you need a hand?"
"Nah! I can manage."
They stepped away from the bed while Sam pulled the curtain, then listened with impatience and frustration as Jack grunted and cursed behind the cotton barrier. It was as much as any of them could do to stop themselves from breeching Jack's privacy and dressing him without him hurting himself. By the time Jack had finished and called out that he was ready, he was sweating and a fair way to being exhausted before he'd been anywhere.
"Are you okay Jack?" Sam asked biting her lip as she watched him closely; wondering if they would be able to cope with him like this when he was at home.
"I'm fine, it's just..." he broke off, knowing they were expecting the truth from him. "It's the first time I've gotten outta bed and I hadn't realised how…" he couldn't find the right word to say; well he could, he just didn't want to admit its meaning.
"Weak Jack?" Daniel said understanding him without him having to say anything. "How weak you feel?"
"Yeah," he reluctantly agreed.
"No problem. Just let us deal with everything. Okay?"
Jack sighed. Although he was looking forward to going home, he knew his friends were gonna be the death of him with all that 'mother henning' they were bound to smother him with.
Teal'c helped him into the wheelchair and with a few winces and hisses, he made himself comfortable. Jack then waved a finger forward in a motion for them to follow.
"Okay kids. Wagon's roll!" he cried in a poor imitation of Ward Bond in his role as wagon master from the TV series 'Wagon Train.'
TBC
