Sam's eyes flew open and darted around the room, looking for the source of the soft voice with the beam of light from her flashlight. She gasped with shock when her light found the familiar figure of a young girl wearing a white dress and regarding her with dark, solemn eyes.
Chapter 4 - Grace
Sam blinked her eyes in disbelief as the girl came closer and stood just out of her reach. "Great, I must have hit my head harder than I thought. I'm already hallucinating!"
The little girl cocked her head to one side. "What does lucinating mean?"
Sam frowned over at the figure as she took a seat on the ground near Sam, carefully rearranging her dress to cover her knees, then looking at Sam expectantly. "You know what it means. You're in my mind, a figment of my imagination, so you know everything I know…don't you?"
The girl just smiled sweetly and waited with an expectant look on her face. Her long, curly hair reached just past her shoulders and was a light brown in color. A white satin ribbon held it away from her face and highlighted her dark brown eyes, which seemed to hide a wealth of knowledge, along with a carefree innocence, within their depths. The smile looked familiar to Sam, but she couldn't place her finger on just why.
"Who are you?" Sam asked the same question she had back on the Prometheus several months ago.
"You know who I am. I'm Grace," came the soft answer, accompanied by an angelic smile.
"Yes, I know that you're Grace. But who are you? Why are you here with me…again?" Sam asked desperately.
"I am here because you need me. You have to stay awake and help yourself until the others come for you."
Sam raised her eyebrows. "What others? Do you mean the rest of SG-1?"
Grace smiled once again. "They will never leave you behind. You are too important to them. But it might take them a little while to find you. So you should try to help yourself."
"Yeah, well, easier said than done," Sam replied caustically. "In case you haven't noticed, I've hurt my head again, and seemed to have cracked a rib."
"I know." Grace cocked her head to the side. "You seem to get hurt a lot, don't you? Maybe it's time for you to find another line of work."
Sam snorted at that, then clutched her left side in pain…she had been thinking much the same thing herself lately. But she wouldn't give this up, not for a while at least. Grace interrupted her thoughts once again. "You should drink some water, then come into the room. There are some cloths that you can use to bind your ribs."
Frowning in thought, Sam raised the canteen to her lips and took a drink before looking across the room. How had Grace known about binding her ribs with cloth, when Sam hadn't even thought of it yet? The idea must have lingered in the back of her mind, Sam thought to herself as she recapped the canteen and slowly rose to her feet, gripping her side in pain. She jumped in shock as she felt the small hands helping her to stand.
"How can you…you feel real! How is that possible?"
Grace smiled benignly at her. "Come on, I'll help you." Grace led Sam slowly to the center of the room, Sam limping along due to the renewed pain in her previously injured leg. Grace helped her sit on a pile of hay that was leaning against the wall closest to the door. The little girl then walked over to the pile of cloth, pulled a few tattered strips out, and walked back to Sam, who sat watching in stunned disbelief, not understanding how a figment of her imagination could be bringing things to her. "You must bind your ribs yourself. I can not help too much. That is for the others to do."
"I'm afraid I don't understand what's going on here," Sam mumbled in confusion as she took the strips of cloth from Grace but sat with them idly in her lap.
"You don't need to understand right now. You just need to stay strong," Grace replied, backing away from Sam and walking around the room, humming under her breath as she examined the walls and casting surreptitious glances to check if Sam was binding her ribs. "It's dark in here, isn't it? But I'm not afraid. My mother told me I shouldn't be afraid of the dark. It holds secrets and mysteries to solve, nothing more," she smiled bravely across the room at Sam.
Sam frowned in thought, remembering similar words that her mother had told her long ago. Shaking off the random thought, Sam took off her jacket, carefully easing her arms out of the sleeves. Figuring it would be much too painful to try and take her shirt off, never mind get it back on; she gingerly lifted it and tucked it into her bra for the time being. She moaned as she took in the already darkly bruised areas on her left side. "Well, this isn't good," she muttered to herself. "Janet's going to be none too pleased when I get back."
She shook out one of the strips of cloth, making a face at the musty smell that emanated from it. "I wonder how long these have been here?" She cast a quick glance at the skeleton in the corner. "And I hope to God this wasn't one of yours!" When the strip seemed clean enough for her purposes, Sam slowly began to wrap it as tightly as she could, just under her bra and down below her ribs. The effort this endeavor took wore her out, and she leaned back against the wall, breathing deeply while beads of sweat rolled down her face.
Grace came back over to Sam and squatted in front of her. "That looks good. You should take something for the pain now." Sam pulled her shirt down and gave Grace a look of consternation.
"Yeah, well, I don't really have anything with me…otherwise I would have done that already," Sam replied shortly, her eyes closing again with pain.
"Check inside your vest," Grace suggested with a tilt of her head.
Sam opened her eyes and frowned. She'd already gone through her pockets…hadn't she? Sam was having trouble focusing, her mind frantically trying to grasp what was happening and make some sense of it. Not having any success, Sam just did as the girl suggested. Reaching to one of the pockets on the inside of her vest, Sam felt the telltale small packet of pain meds and pulled them out, looking at them with surprise. Had they been there all along? She glanced over at Grace, who was giving her a smile of encouragement. "Take them," she said insistently.
Opening one of the precious packets, Sam shook out the two pain pills, knowing they wouldn't do a whole lot but would hopefully take the edge off of the pain. She popped them into her mouth and took another small gulp of water. She'd have to ration her water as well as the last 2 packs of pills, which she put safely back into the inner pocket of her vest. There was no telling how long she'd be stuck in here.
"You should rest now, but don't sleep yet," instructed the child as she settled on her knees.
Sam cast a wary eye at her small caretaker, wondering how long this apparition was going to hang around. "Why don't you… go play somewhere for a while? I'm just going to close my eyes for a few minutes."
Grace frowned in concern. "You can't sleep yet; not for a while. Please, don't sleep!" she begged, her brown eyes widening with fear.
"Hey, don't get all upset," Sam said softly, reaching out and fingering the eyelet on the hem of the little girl's dress. "I won't sleep. Just rest my eyes, OK? Why don't you… tell me a story?"
Grace sniffled lightly, trying to hold back the tears that had threatened to fall, before she replied. "All right. But don't fall asleep!" she said in a reproachful tone of voice. When Sam nodded her head, agreeing to the little girl's terms, Grace began. "I heard this story lots of times, I bet you have too. It's one of my favorites." She settled down more comfortably in front of Sam then began her story. "Once upon a time, there was a girl named Dorothy, who lived with her dog Toto, in a place called Kansas."
Sam smiled as Grace began the familiar story and settled herself against the wall.
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"Damn it, Daniel! Haven't you found anything yet that will tell us how to get to a lower level in this God-forsaken temple!" Jack fairly shouted across the main room of the temple, the anger and frustration evident in his tone. They had spent the last 5 hours trying desperately to find some way to locate Sam; all to no avail. The three men had searched outside the temple and along its foundation, down the second corridor, and back to the first one where Sam had initially disappeared. They had found nothing that would help them and Jack was getting close to the point where he was going to say the hell with it and plant C-4 on the floor of the first corridor. So far, Daniel had talked him out of that idea, but he might not hold out for much longer.
"I've found something that mentions a room below, which the Ancients used as a secret meeting place of some sort. There's mention of 'a place where secrets shall be revealed to those worthy of entrance'. But it doesn't say how exactly to access this room," Daniel explained. He looked back at Jack, who was pacing the room in high agitation. "The symbols that Sam pressed are on this pedestal. The symbol of knowledge will access the secret chamber, but only those with the knowledge of the Ancients shall gain true access.," He quoted from where he was reading. "And this one states; Two paths will mark the journey, but only one shall bring you to what you seek. I'm not sure what that means, but at least we know that this place is Ancient, and not Goa'uld."
"Fat lot of good that's doing us at the moment…or Carter," Jack mumbled gruffly.
"I'm sorry Jack, I'm doing the best I can."
"I know you are Daniel," Jack brushed aside the apology. "I just feel so…useless standing around and not doing anything to find her! I'm starting to think the C-4 is the way to go right now."
"That will only succeed in bringing the temple down around us, O'Neill. It will not help Major Carter," Teal'c advised from his place near Daniel. He too was worried about their team mate, but wanted to keep his leader from making any rash decisions in his frustration.
All three men looked to the entrance of the temple when a strong wind blew in, causing the torches they had lit to flicker. From outside, they could hear the definite sounds of night, along with an approaching storm. Daylight was short on P7J-413, and it appeared as if night was on their heels.
"Jack," Daniel stated hesitantly, knowing what he was about to say would not be very well received. "It's getting too dark to see very well in here. I don't want to use up our batteries when we may need them longer than we thought." Daniel ignored the glare he received from Jack and hurried on. "There's no doubt in my mind that we'll find her, Jack. But I think we are going to have to wait until morning, when we get more natural light in here."
Teal'c nodded his head in agreement. "Daniel Jackson speaks the truth, O'Neill. We must gather our supplies and set up camp within these walls. We will rest, and begin our search again at first light."
"And what about Carter?" he snapped. "Do ya think she's got a bed, some food and water and is sitting around drinking coffee while she's waiting for us to find her?"
Daniel and Teal'c looked at each other, the pain and worry they felt for Sam clearly etched in the tired lines on their faces.
Jack sighed in frustration. He knew they had a point, and that they felt as badly about this situation as he did. Jack just didn't feel right bedding down for the night while Sam was missing. But his training kicked in and reminded him that he had to look out for the rest of the team as well, and they were obviously as exhausted as he was at the moment. "OK." Jack gave in. "Teal'c, you and I will go and gather what we think we'll need for the night. Danny, you keep working until we get back. We need to find a way down there first thing in the morning."
Both men nodded their agreement and set to their tasks, Daniel continuing to work by the waning light in the temple and Teal'c joining Jack to head to their campsite not far away. They would gather their belongings and return quickly, before the storm hit.
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Sam opened her eyes to find herself apparently alone once more in the chamber. The light from the slats high up in the walls had dimmed, telling her that night had come. She recalled the presence of the little girl; as if in a dream. The soft voice urging her to eat one of her energy bars and walking with her around the perimeter of the room as Sam tried to find a way out. When it appeared that Sam could no longer hold off the draw of slumber, Grace had backed away and let her slip into a restless sleep.
Sam groaned with pain as she tried to move away from the wall. The last few hours of sitting idle against the wall had stiffened her up. Pushing herself slowly to her feet, she held onto the wall while she got her bearings. While the room wasn't overly large and she had walked its perimeter earlier, she had been pretty much out of it and didn't recall any of the room's distinct features. Though in all actuality, there weren't too many; just the alcove where Sam had landed, the door embedded in the wall, the cuts high up on the wall, and a square depression in the wall across the room from the door.
Feeling a bit stronger than she had earlier, Sam walked over to the door that was settled into the wall on her right. It was made of a heavy metal, iron by the looks of it, and contained an indentation that Sam assumed once held a door knob, but now was empty. There was a small hole, about one and a half inches in diameter, where the knob may have been found. Peering into it, Sam saw nothing but blackness on the other side. She squatted down and shined her flashlight in while she looked, but could only make out another stone wall on the other side.
"You can't get out that way." Sam spun around in surprise, seeing Grace standing not 3 feet from her.
"I thought you left?" she asked the child in question.
Grace smiled. "Only for a while. You were sleeping. Do you feel better now?"
"Yeah, a little," Sam replied, walking away from the door and examining once again the walls of the room. "So, you don't happen to know how I can get out of here, do you?"
"You can not get out, someone else must come in."
"Great. Well, they are obviously not having much luck finding me, otherwise they'd be here already, wouldn't they?" Sam really wasn't sure why this child kept appearing to her. As far as Sam was concerned, she was an apparition; albeit once that seemed more real than Sam would like to think about. As such, her tone was becoming more and more impatient as she wondered to herself why she kept conversing with this small figment of her imagination.
Smiling again, Grace stated, "They will come. They will not leave you here, especially the one you call Sir." Sam stole a quick glance at the girl at that comment but Grace had turned away. Hearing the distant rumble of thunder, she turned back to Sam. "It's storming outside. Do you like storms?"
"As long as I'm not caught out in them," Sam replied absently as she looked up to the slats. If only they weren't so high and were wider…
As if reading her thoughts, Grace said, "You can not climb up there; it is too high and the opening is too narrow."
Sam narrowed her gaze on the little girl. "I know that," she replied shortly. "Look Grace, or whoever you are, why are you here, and what do you mean, they wouldn't leave me here, especially the Colonel?"
"I have told you, I am here to help you. Come, you must rest," Grace held out her small hand, willing Sam to take it as she side stepped that last question rather adroitly.
Sam closed her eyes as another wave of dizziness washed over her. I must be losing it, she thought to herself, as she reached forward and took the little girl's hand in hers. Letting herself be led over to the straw, she sank down on it gratefully, surprised at how tired she felt once again.
She stretched out on the straw, resting her head on her arms and looked thoughtfully at the little girl. "How do you know about Colonel O'Neill?" she asked softly.
Grace smiled down at Sam. "You spoke of him in your sleep." Sam's eyes widened at that, thankful that this little girl wasn't real. How could she ever explain her feelings about the Colonel…whatever they might be…to this child? "You also mentioned someone named Pete, but only once." Sam frowned at the slight grimace that wrinkled the girl's nose, and then closed her eyes, trying to block out the penetrating look the child turned on her. She couldn't block out, however, the words that followed. "You are not sure about your feelings for these two," Grace muttered quietly. "I have always heard that a person should follow their heart, not their head," she stated firmly.
Sam's eyes flew open at that comment as she closely regarded Grace. Finally, she muttered, "It's a lot easier said than done," then her mind began to close down on her as she felt the pull of sleep. "Besides, I've already had this discussion…well, with myself," she said tiredly. "I've been keeping myself from experiencing happiness by focusing on something that I can't attain. Maybe now I'm trying to find that happiness."
"You have it wrong, you know. You may have heard what the Colonel said on the Prometheus, but you didn't really listen," the girl replied softly.
Sam frowned, wondering what Grace meant by that statement. But she couldn't think about it right now…she was just too tired. Eyes closed, Sam let herself relax fully as she felt a small hand running through her hair soothingly. She heard the sweet little voice softly singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, as she slowly drifted off to sleep.
Sam didn't hear the little girl whisper, "You sleep, Mommy. Everything's going to be all right," nor did she witness the child disappear from the room.
Thanks for the reviews and your interest! Lots more to come! Some of this may seem murky for a while, but hang in there! All will eventually be revealed...one way or another:)