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Chapter 6 – Looking out for your friends

Doctor Fraiser slowly made her way to General Hammond's office to make her report. She had bad news for him and she was reluctant to be the one to deliver it but it was her job. She was the one who had pronounced Lt Thorpe dead and so she was the one to tell his commanding officer. It was General Hammond's job to inform the Lieutenant's family that their son was dead. He would not be able to tell the parents how or why their son died. Fraiser knew that the General had the worst of it.

It was supposed to have been a standard meet and greet. SG-6 were following up on an earlier contact with a civilization that appeared to have originated from Celtic Britain. The smiling welcome of a few weeks before had turned decidedly unfriendly and by the time SG's 1 and 3 had arrived on the rescue mission, Major Hackett was dead, Lieutenant Thorpe critically injured and Airmen Klim and Perkins captured and tortured. It had been a tense and bloody struggle to free the surviving team members. SG-1 had been forced to watch helplessly as Klim had died at the hands of his tormentors. Thorpe had now died and Fraiser was not convinced that Perkins would last the night. Even it she did, her life would never be the same. Despite their mantra of 'no-one is left behind', all the team must be questioning their decision to bring her home alive, body shattered and disfigured.

General Hammond took the news of Thorpe's death with his usual stoic acceptance and after a moment asked quietly " And how are you doing, doctor?" Janet gave him a steady look and a calm, "I'll be fine sir." She hesitated slightly before adding "Teal'c has gone to his quarters to Kel No Reem, Daniel and I had a long talk and then he went home to see if he could sleep but I am worried about Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter sir. I haven't seen them for hours, but the SF's have told me that neither of them have left the base. Most people would need counselling for years to get over what they saw today."

Hammond sighed and looked at his hands. "They have their own ways of coping Doctor. I don't think we need to worry about them" He looked up at her. "I need to make some phone calls, please excuse me". Janet hesitated only slightly before she nodded and moved out of his office. Right now the needs of the dead and their families took precedence over the living.

Janet headed to Sam's lab. She was pretty sure that the Major would be there – probably deep into a project that would allow her to not think about the events of the day. Janet didn't fool herself into thinking that O'Neill would allow her to help him face any demons, but Sam was a friend and she had to at least try and help. As she rounded the last corner she was surprised, not by the light steaming out of the doorway, but by the low hum of voices. Siler was safely tucked away in the infirmary with a broken little finger, 7 stitches in his butt and concussion. Daniel and Teal'c were both accounted for. Her eyebrows raised as she heard an unmistakable "For crying out loud Carter!"

Peeking around the doorframe she saw the two of them sitting on the floor of the lab in the shadow of the desk. Empty cake plates and dessert bowls were scattered around them. A glance at her watch confirmed to Janet that it was indeed 4.30 in the morning. A yo yo was slowing spinning to a stop near the waste bin and Sam had a slightly guilty expression on her face. O'Neill was looking exasperated. "Have you ever played with a yo yo before?"

"I know the theory" Janet could have sworn that Sam was almost grinning, but she couldn't see how that was possible.

"You do realise it's not supposed to be used as a weapon?" The look that accompanied that should have been a glare judging by his tone but it wasn't. It was so open and gentle that Janet wasn't surprised to hear Sam's wistful reply.

"May be if we'd had some today we could have done some good".

Silence for a heartbeat. "We did what we could. We didn't do the bad – all we could do was try and stop it." O'Neill kept his gaze on Carter until she finally looked up and locked her eyes onto his. He nodded slightly. "Lets go through it again. Just to be sure"

Janet backed away silently, the answers to a hundred questions answered and a thousand more questions clamouring in their place. For the moment though, she was content. They would be OK.

But wait, there's more..