Thanks you all so much for the reviews, as usual, I am overwhelmed by your response. Sorry I took so long to post; this was a tough chapter to write and I rewrote it several times, though I'm still not happy with the result.
I'd like to apologise to ChristinaS in advance for my lack of knowledge. If you're reading this chapter, then please look kindly on my explanation, because I had a long personal debate over the words I'd written about what action would be taken. Having made the mistake beforehand, I felt I had to stick with the original theme. Sorry!
Title: Unity.
Author: LetitiaRichards.
Previously:
"Then we have done the right thing in bringing O'Neill home. Perhaps they will both recuperate from the distressing times of late."
Daniel wholeheartedly agreed and so they sat together enjoying a movie while their friends slept on.
Chapter 34
When Jack roused, the room was growing dark. He glanced up at the bright red display on the digital clock sitting on his dresser and sighed. He'd been asleep for hours. Not only was he hungry but he was desperate for a pee.
Trying to roll onto his back, he suddenly became aware of an arm holding him in place, and a warm body was pressed up against his back. His good hand flew to where another hand was slightly tucked into the waistband of his sweat pants. He sure hoped it was Sam on the other end of that hand.
He screwed his head round awkwardly and couldn't help but smile. Sam's tousled blonde head was nestled against his shoulder. At his movement she stirred, falling onto her back and pulling her hand free from it's precarious position, but he grabbed it as he gingerly turned with her.
Her eyes flew open and after she'd focused, she saw smiling brown eyes looking across at her.
"Oh!" she gasped. "Hi!" She yawned and stretched languidly, working the kinks out from sleeping in one position too long. "You slept well for a change Jack," she commented, noticing it was getting darker inside and out.
"It seems I'm not the only one," he answered wryly. "It was nice. Thank you!"
Sam grinned at him, rolled over again and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek then rose from the bed.
"I guess you're probably hungry?" she asked, slipping her sneakers back on.
Jack grinned but then his full bladder reminded him of his greater need.
"Ah, yeah, starving, but I need to pee first."
"Oh. Yeah, right. I'll...em...go get Teal'c!"
Jack watched her go, reaching out and flipping on the light by his bed. He felt a whole lot better for the long sleep. He remembered the nightmare too, and then Sam climbing onto the bed behind him, but he sure didn't expect her to stay there for so long; maybe just until he'd dropped off that was all. Not that he minded at all. It had been really sweet to find her wrapped around him when he'd woken, it gave him a warm feeling. It was comforting.
His thoughts were soon interrupted by Teal'c, who entered the room to help him to the bathroom, and damn! He'd totally missed the game he was going to watch, but then the thought of curling up with Sam was so much nicer.
OoOoOoOoO
Days were spent in much the same manner. They played chess, read, watched TV, chatted about anything except Iraq, Jack slept a lot – even better when Sam climbed into bed with him.
After a week of being at home they were all recalled to the mountain.
Jack was taken straight to the infirmary where he had an appointment with Dr. MacKenzie and Janet, but the rest were summoned to the briefing room for a meeting.
"How is Colonel O'Neill, in your opinion Major?" General Hammond asked, showing genuine concern.
"Actually he's doing quite well sir, better than we expected actually. He still has the odd nightmare but not so often now," she said blushing slightly. The reason that Jack wasn't having nightmares at night was because she was sleeping with him in his bed. Every night she'd gone to sleep in the spare room, he'd woken up yelling in Arabic in a panic, and she'd been dragged from her bed to help calm him down again. She gave up in the end and just slept cuddled up in the same bed. It had worked – he'd slept peacefully at night from then on. The only times he'd woken fighting to control his inner turmoil was when she wasn't there.
"Has he told you anything about what happened to him?"
"No sir. At least not to me," Sam sighed. She knew the General was waiting for Jack to open up and give him something to put into his report.
"Dr. Jackson? Teal'c? Has he spoken to you about it?"
"He has not," Teal'c answered in his usual succinct manner.
"Ah...nothing much...at least nothing that I didn't already witness when we were there," Daniel apologised, feeling frustrated and annoyed that they wanted to push Jack for answers. Didn't they know Jack could be stubborn when he wanted? He was just as likely to never divulge exactly what they had done to him, but the physical evidence of his treatment was hard to ignore.
"Have you discovered any more from Diaz sir?" Sam asked, bringing Daniel out of his private thoughts to hear the General's answer.
Hammond sat back in his chair with a sigh. He'd been at Peterson AFB for some of the interrogation, most of which had been conducted by Major Davis from the Pentagon.
"He's admitted to setting Colonel O'Neill up in the infirmary and that he purposely started you all onto that word on the flight home..."
"But why?" Daniel insisted, throwing his hands into the air in frustration.
"As for that Dr. Jackson, we're still trying to discover the reason for that. So far, he said it was because he was threatened by an outside faction but he won't say exactly who they are."
"Threatened?" Sam gasped.
Hammond nodded, feeling just as frustrated as they were.
"Apparently he has connections with some Iraqi militants and someone higher up the chain of command discovered it and used that knowledge to blackmail him into getting back at Colonel O'Neill. All he is saying is that this person doesn't like the Colonel and wanted him out of the way...one way or another."
"That's rather an elaborate way just to get rid of Jack isn't it? Why go to all that much trouble? Why not just shoot him? Not that I would want that should happen, God forbid; but it doesn't make sense!" Daniel sputtered to a halt, his mind boggling at the ramifications.
"I agree. It was an elaborate plot. One in which there are many hidden depths which we've only just begun to determine," Hammond added.
"It would seem that this person in authority wished to determine O'Neill's vulnerability prior to having him commit suicide."
As usual Teal'c had hit the nail on the head in his usual fashion. The man was so quiet, that sometimes it was easy to overlook how deeply perceptive he was at times.
"So you think that they wanted to know if he'd divulge his secrets first before having him..." Sam couldn't finish but she knew they would understand why she couldn't.
"Indeed Major Carter. An ingenious plan. If O'Neill revealed his knowledge of the Stargate he would have been guilty of breaking his promise to keep the secret from the public. A pledge which he honours with his life. He would therefore face disciplinary action would he not?"
Hammond nodded in agreement, but Teal'c continued, not allowing anyone to speculate at this point.
"Thereby being given a prison term and/or a dishonourable discharge from your Air Force?"
Again Hammond nodded, not wanting to interrupt Teal'c's flow.
"Something which ultimately would greatly distress O'Neill to the point of thinking he had ruined his life and therefore would wish to die from his shame. Has he not vowed to die for his country before he would reveal anything?" Teal'c paused for a moment then continued. "This person or persons unknown would know this to be true, therefore why not allow O'Neill to believe himself guilty and have him commit suicide, to save the inconvenience of an assassin's bullet where questions will indeed be asked. This way the person ultimately responsible remains undetected and free from any repercussions, as well as being rid of O'Neill. It is as you call it from his point of view, a 'win/win' situation."
"So you think that Diaz was just being used to make Jack kill himself to save them the bother? All because Jack didn't reveal anything, he was brainwashed into believing he'd broken and therefore revealed certain secrets to the enemy; so he would commit suicide and we would think that it was because he was unable to live with himself for what he'd done? And all the while this guy, who was behind it all, gets off scot-free!"
"I do!" Teal'c rumbled, dipping his head in agreement, glad to know that Daniel Jackson had grasped the full meaning of his words.
"But how did they know about the Stargate in the first place?" Daniel asked, confused by that minor detail. They shouldn't have known about it.
""I do not believe the terrorists did know of the Stargate Daniel Jackson. They were there merely to ask the questions and to see if O'Neill would reveal it's secret under duress."
Sam gasped, looking between Daniel and Teal'c, before she and Daniel both came to the same conclusion. There was only one person high enough up the chain of command who would know about the SGC and would stoop low enough to take this risk; to use his power to get Jack sent to Iraq and then plan the mission and his ultimate capture and torture. No doubt those men in Iraq would have been killed before they could have talked to anyone else.
"Kinsey?" they both said at the same time.
"We all know that he can't stand Jack. He's been trying to get back at him for years. Who better to formulate a plan like this with all his shady connections," Daniel continued.
"We don't have any evidence to suggest that Senator Kinsey was involved, people," Hammond stated unhappily. He was more than ready to believe that Kinsey was in on this from the start, "but I will call in a favour or two from someone I know in Washington. Let's see where that will lead us! Dismissed."
General Hammond stood and hurried back to his office; he had a phone call to make. In fact, several.
TBC
