Soldiers of Misfortune – part 7
Fortunately it was dark when they finally arrived back at the camp, Teal'c and Daniel carrying Jack between them. A lot of the men were a little drunk and all of them bone weary. They were herded into the sleeping area to drop wherever they stood. Teal'c found some space at the back of the room, away from the door and lowered Jack to the floor.
Sam pulled open his jacket and lifted his clothing to check the wound. A little blood had seeped through, but it seemed to be okay otherwise. Sam could only hope there was no internal bleeding; she wasn't sure exactly what to check for and didn't want to risk hurting him further. Infection was the biggest enemy at the moment, aside from the blood loss.
Daniel leaned over to see. "Got some left," he said, shaking the bottle to get the message over. "Do it now while he's out," he urged.
"Gee thanks, Daniel, so he'll yell at me?"
"He's out of it," responded Daniel with a shrug.
Sam indicated the bottle. "He'd feel that."
"Well … but he won't yell at you as much as he would me," said Daniel, thrusting it towards her.
"Ya think?" She squinted at the archaeologist as she borrowed one of her Colonel's favorite sayings.
She gently peeled the dressing, and taking a breath, poured some of the alcohol over the wound. Jack flinched and hissed under his breath as the alcohol burned, bringing him back to consciousness with a vicious jolt. Sam quickly handed the bottle back to Daniel and scrambled for a clean dressing.
"Christ! What the hell you do that for?" Jack moaned as he writhed.
Sam managed to put the clean dressing in place. "Sir, I'm sorry, but we've no medication. There's nothing we can do except try and keep it clean."
"Waste of good liquor," moaned Jack.
"I think you've had enough for now," said Daniel as he hid the bottle beneath his discarded jacket.
Teal'c had opened one eye as he listened to the exchange. Satisfied all was well he went back to his kel-no-reem.
"In more ways that one," complained Jack pulling at his wet t-shirt.He tried to squint around. "Are we back in the same place?"
Sam nodded. "I think so, but if they put these places together wherever, we could be anywhere."
"Did you find anything at the village Daniel?" asked Jack.
"Not a lot. Only local stuff, births, deaths, deeds etc. What'll we do if there's no Stargate?"
"We could always steal a ship, there must be one small enough somewhere, or hope we last out long enough to be taken to another planet." Jack sighed, scrubbing his hand over his face and through his hair.
He looked bone weary, his skin still pale, and his mouth compressed into a tight line with pain. It seemed the alcohol was wearing off quickly. He shifted his weight to his good side, trying to get more comfortable. He pulled his jacket together and made a pillow for his head with his arm as he curled up.
"Let's get some rest. I can't think straight now," he said with a yawn. "Yes, I know Daniel, before you say it … goodnight."
Daniel shook his head, but a tight smile escaped before he settled himself down.
Sam hesitated and Teal'c saw her indecision. "I am here Major Carter, sleep well," he said quietly.
Gratefully she curled up, close to the Colonel in case he should need her. The events of the day had left her physically as well as emotionally spent.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
It was early, a couple of hours before dawn, when she woke to find an arm draped over her. Whomever the arm belonged to was spooned in behind her rather comfortingly. Still under a sleepy haze she yawned and stretched and the arm tightened slightly around her waist
'Arm …? What … where was she?' She turned over quickly onto to her back, turning her head she came face to face with the Colonel. She flushed with embarrassment as she lay pondering. 'Should she risk moving and waking him or just try and sleep longer? It was nice to lie there, feeling … Mmm - his body comfortingly close, giving her security and warmth … warmth … A lot of warmth', she realized and put a hand up to his face. He was sweating and the gentle touch at his brow confirmed it.
His eyes flickered open at her touch, his arm still draped across her. She could see he was confused, but she was unable to speak as his eyes locked with hers, only inches away. Sam's body went into overdrive, her stomach fluttering and her heart stammering madly. All proper thoughts had flown, leaving only the greedy need to savor his close presence, the improper thoughts she'd harbored silently for such a long while coming to the fore.
Someone, somewhere, grunted and coughed … it brought Sam back to reality and Jack's arm moved from across her waist, slowly though, seemingly with reluctance.
"Sir, how are you feeling?" she asked very quietly, cursing that the moment had passed. She knelt up besides him, her hand lingering on his face.
"A bit warm," he admitted hoarsely. "Is Teal'c awake?"
"I am indeed O'Neill," responded the Jaffa. "Do you require assistance?"
"Need a bathroom T," whispered Jack.
The Jaffa helped him up, but the pain was clearly bad. Jack doubled over for a few minutes just trying to get his breath.
Sam moved in closer, trying not to interfere.
Jack managed to straighten with Teal'c's help. "You watch Daniel. Won't be long," he whispered.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Teal'c and Jack made their way into the ablutions block. There was running water as well as other necessities and after relieving himself, with Teal'c still holding him up, he began to try and strip off his upper garments.
Teal'c aided him gently. "Is this wise O'Neill?"
"Probably not T, but the stink of that booze and the blood is driving me nuts."
Teal'c helped Jack to wash and then Jack obviously decided his t-shirt was the worse offender and began to dunk it.
Teal'c saw him struggling and wordlessly took the shirt from him. He sat Jack down on the floor and took over. The fact that the Colonel hadn't protested the entire time spoke volumes to the Jaffa. A silent compliant O'Neill was indeed a sick O'Neill. Teal'c was eventually satisfied the garment was as clean as it was going to get and helped O'Neill to dress in his jacket. He didn't fasten it as he didn't doubt that Major Carter would want to change the dressing. He got the shaking, sweating Colonel to his feet and helped him back to the others.
Jack was no sooner down than he was unconscious again.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Daniel had woken and sat besides Sam as she peeled off the dressing. The stitches were intact and the wound looked clean.
"It's not showing signs of infection," she said, wondering how long before it would.
"So it's not an infection from the wound?" asked Daniel.
Sam shook her head. "Not sure, it could be that it's just not showing yet and he's weak with the loss of blood as well."
"Then we must seek help," said Teal'c.
"From them? You heard what Jack said, what they do. He doesn't stand a chance here," cried Daniel
Sam finished replacing the dressing. "Then we take a chance with the people of this planet. Maybe we can get away, get help from their doctors," she said quietly.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
It was still early and most of the people still slept. Sam couldn't sleep anymore, as she was too worried. Teal'c spent the time meditating and Daniel lay curled up. He couldn't sleep either, judging from the sighs he emitted.
Giving up, Daniel sat up and moved closer to Sam, laying an arm around her shoulder, seeking comfort as well as giving it.
"Okay?" he asked softly.
Sam nodded, blinking quickly to try and dispel the tears that threatened. The Colonel was still in the position he'd passed out in, and her eyes burned as she watched him.
"Yeah." She sighed heavily. "I'm okay," she whispered, trying to swallow the huge lump in her throat. "I was wondering how the heck we are going to get him past the guards in this state?"
Daniel shrugged, "I've been thinking on that too," he admitted, his eyes also on his friend's prone body.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Jack stirred, bringing one leg up as though in readiness to turn over, but his body stilled as he gasped in pain. Sam moved towards him in a heartbeat.
"Take it easy Sir, don't move," she whispered.
Daniel joined her. "Yeah, Teal'c will get mad if you burst those stitches," he cajoled.
Jack laid still, one arm flung over his face, the other clenched in a fist, beating a tattoo on the floor as he battled with the pain. He recognized the early signs of infection … been there … done that. He knew he was in big trouble. He tried to focus his mind, the heat from his body churning relentlessly with his thoughts. He fought to control his breathing, his mind battling to find a solution, but he couldn't … he couldn't see beyond where he would end up dead … He couldn't get past the guards in this state … Should they find a way, then he knew with certainty he wouldn't live through another fight and could possibly cost the lives of his team and that was not acceptable. Finding nothing else to hold onto, he removed his arm from his face to speak, to find Sam staring straight into his eyes.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Sam was watching Jack's fist beating the floor. She waited along with Daniel, not speaking until he was more in control. She watched as he took a deeper breath and lowered his arm from his face. She couldn't resist looking straight into his eyes and what she saw filled her with a cold dread. She couldn't tell exactly what he was thinking, but at that moment she knew with a dreadful certainty he'd given up.
"Sir?" she asked hesitantly, her hand reaching out of its own accord to touch his face gently. His eyes shocked her; even the fever didn't light them. 'Lifeless' was the word that screamed at her. She'd never seen him give up, no matter how bad things had been. He'd never given up before, and never let them give up either … Sam searched for something to say, something to put the life back into his eyes, things she knew she should say, but couldn't. She couldn't help it and she began to babble, hating it, but couldn't stop, saying anything inane that came into her mind …. "Briefings, I sure am missing them, I hate that they won't let us in on what's happening here," she rambled on like a mad woman, ignoring the looks Daniel was casting her.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Jack realized that she'd picked up his train of thought. He had expected she would really, his 2IC was very good at reading him - most of the time and this was one time he didn't even try to mask his feelings.
Jack held a hand up to quieten her. She still babbled on. "Sam," he said, that one word that he knew would stop her mid flow – and it did.
Jack knew what he had to do. Although he would have liked to have gone out fighting it would put the others at risk … so he settled for the only other option he could think of …
xoxoxoxoxoxo
"When the guards come I want you all to leave first."
Daniel moved nearer at Jack's words. He'd been watching his friend closely too. "No way Jack, we're going out that door together … all of us."
His loud voice drew curious looks from the men nearby who were awake.
"Damn it Daniel," said Jack in a fierce whisper, "just listen."
"No," said Sam suddenly.
"Major, this is now an order. No arguments, just go." Jack lay panting slightly with the exertion, the pain escalating again. He gave a groan, one hand going to his side before he could prevent it.
xoxoxoxoxoxo