P7X 285 was a bastard of a place. Not only was it full of trees and rain, it was also riddled with abandoned naquadah mines with shafts reaching to the surface just like the one O'Neill had fallen down earlier in the day. It had taken hours for the other three members of SG-1 to reach him safely and administer first aid. Although the only obvious injury was a broken collarbone and shock both Carter and Daniel were worried about possible spinal damage. O'Neill grudgingly reported numbness and tingling in his legs and arms and neck pain and even he could see the sense in Daniel and Teal'c going back for a proper medical team and equipment to extract him safely.
The Jaffa and the archaeologist left before dark and Carter and O'Neill did not expect them back before morning. Carter moved around quietly and efficiently making camp for the night. Every so often she would glance over at the prone form of her CO and do a surreptitious visual check of his condition. After a long negotiation they had agreed between them on hourly obs. Carter was too concerned to leave it to an hourly interval but not willing to piss him off any more than he already was with hovering over him like a mother hen. She grinned to herself as the mental image flashed through her mind of the chaos that would ensue if she fussed over her cranky boss.
"What are you grinning at Carter?" the growl was quiet but lucid. She wasn't sure but she thought that she heard him mutter, "I don't know that one.." She added it to the long list of things she chose to ignore.
"I was just thinking that it's going to be a very long night sir." She heard him grunt in agreement. It wasn't like him to be so quiet and she felt a squirm of fear that his injury may be more severe than he was letting on. She tried to tell herself that it was his self-preservation instinct kicking in – O'Neill was doing what was needed to survive and allowing her to establish a safe camp for them without interruption. As she set the perimeter alarms she felt his steady gaze on her back and the squirm started to grow into a mass of writhing worms in her gut. She needed to stop the fear from growing so that she could remain in control. The fact that the fear was so great because she couldn't face the thought of this particular man with a crippling spinal injury was yet another thing she chose to ignore.
Carter only knew of three ways to stomp on the fear. There was no prospect of imminent action that would sweep away the fear with a rush of adrenaline so she would have to try the second way instead. She started to mentally review her plans for a naquadah generator. The first prototype was almost finished and there were still some major bugs that needed to be ironed out. Her movements around the campsite were automatic as she worked on the scientific problem in her mind.
O'Neill could see when she started to think science. He didn't think anyone else could have told the difference, not even Daniel or Teal'c but then, no one else watched her as closely as he did. He knew why she did it; same reason he would replay Simpson's episodes or listen to his favourite operas in his head. It stopped all the other scary thoughts and allowed him to get through the long sleepless nights. And when that didn't work, he would go find Carter and they'd talk while he added to his grin catalogue.
He knew when her concentration faltered by the almost imperceptible shake of her head and the sneaky glances she threw his way. When it was time for her to take her medical obs he lay patiently while she checked his pulse, blood pressure and reflexes. Carter finished her task and paused for a moment to look at him. She sighed, and knew that tonight, despite the fact that they both needed to rest, it was going to have to be the third way.
"So, sir, I've been running through in my head some of the problems we've been having with the prototype of the naquadah generator. I need to work out where I'm going wrong."
Damn. He found it so much easier when she wanted to talk military tactics or history.
"Break it down into tiny little chunks for me Carter. Bring it back to basics and analyse every little bit and we'll see if we can get it worked out by morning."
She gave him a tight smile of thanks (the "Good, you're thinking what I'm thinking" smile was what he privately called it) and they settled down into an approximation of their offworld routine. Normally he wouldn't be lying flat on his back with a gerryrigged cervical collar. Usually he'd put them on back-to-back watches and the two of them would stay up for both watches and talk quietly until it was time for Daniel or Teal'c to take over. If that wasn't enough they'd continue after they crawled into their bedrolls and try and get the bewildered watch keeper up to speed on what ever the conversation was about. Teal'c generally did not have much to add beyond the odd profound statement but Daniel would enthusiastically join in. At least he did until the time on P5C 988 when SG-3 managed to "ambush" them on Daniels watch. After that he kept at least one eye on what was happening outside the camp perimeter.
When they were on base they would meet in the commissary or he would find himself in her lab and settle in with a casual "whatchyadoing?". There was the occasional night spent in the control room, waiting for the wormhole to connect and a team to return. There was the not so occasional nights spent in the infirmary, curtains pulled back so that they could see each other, voices quiet so they wouldn't draw any attention. There were the worst nights when one would be waiting hours for the other to come to consciousness and they would have to resort to thinking to keep the fear at bay. On those nights it was never the Simpsons, but Madame Butterfly that ran through O'Neill's mind.
Daniel and Teal'c arrived at sunrise with a medical team headed by Doctor Frasier. When they arrived they found O'Neill sleeping peacefully and Carter sketching out a solution to the worst of the problems she had encountered with the generator. About an hour before, the numbness and tingling had all but disappeared from O'Neill's legs and they had both stopped worrying about his condition. As she heard them approach she gently woke the sleeping Colonel.
"Time to go home sir."
But wait there's more..