Sam's senses started to return to her; she seemed to hurt all over, but her head was just pounding. She knew she should try to open her eyes, but it seemed to be a difficult task at the moment. She tried to bite back the pain, but couldn't help releasing a moan. 'This is going to be more difficult than she thought.' As she slowly remembered, the events that happened her eyes opened suddenly with alarm.
"I'm glad to see you're awake Major Carter." Sam saw a dark haired man looking over her; a feeling of panic overcame her, she had to get away from this man NOW. She took in the surroundings and noticed she was lying on a couch, and the stranger who was in some sort of uniform was sitting across from her and had a gun in the waistband of his pants. She tried a distraction and let out another louder moan.
"Are you alright major?" Rabb said leaning a little closer to her.
When he leaned closer, Sam took the opportunity and launched a punch that contacted his jaw. When he recoiled backwards, she went for his gun.
Rabb was stunned when she hit him in the face, and more shocked when she reached for his gun. He automatically tried to stop her actions by grabbing her hands, now they both had a hold of the gun; Sam's hands were on the gun and Rabb's hands were on hers. He couldn't believe how strong this woman was, he could see the sheer determination in her eyes. "Let go of the gun Major, I'm here to help you." The gun was facing the couch but their hands were between them. Then to his shock, he felt her teeth sink into his hand. "Ah, what the hell! " Rabb yelled out in pain. Still keeping his grip on the gun, Rabb used all of his body's weight and muscles to pull back, hoping to release her grip on the gun. Unfortunately, for him, they both ended up flying off the couch and landing on the floor. Rabb on the floor with Sam on top of him, neither one of them was releasing their grip. "Major Carter, let go before one of us gets hurt!"
"Well I'm not going to tell you anything, so I have nothing to lose!" Sam said gasping.
O'Neill couldn't believe what he was seeing when he walked into the room. Carter, who had been unconscious on the couch, was now lying on top of Rabb, both on the floor. Then he noticed the gun between them. "Oh Shit," he said as he ran towards them, he landed on the floor next to Sam putting his arms around her he reached down grasping her wrists, "Carter It's me, Colonel O'Neill, let go of the gun." He said as calmly as he could manage. He felt the muscles in her arms relax as she loosened her grip and looked over her shoulder at him. He then saw Rabb gain control of the gun and moved it so it was on the floor above his head.
"As much as I love having a beautiful woman on top of me, don't you think you'd be more comfortable on the couch?" Rabb asked Sam, who was still lying on top of him out of breath.
"Probably but I don't think I can move right now." Sam said feeling all the pain set back in as the adrenaline rush subsided.
"Here let me help you." Jack said, as he moved the table over making more room. He knelt down beside the duo, took a hold of Carter's shoulders, and moved her so she rolled off of Rabb and landed on her back on the floor next to him. "There's how's that?" He asked, but received no answer; then noticed that she had passed out again.
After O'Neill had moved Carter off of him, Rabb retrieved his gun and moved to kneel beside her. He also noticed that she had passed out.
"What the hell happened here Rabb? You only had to watch over her, not get into a wresting match!" Jack said letting all of his anger show.
"Sorry Colonel, but the Major woke up and tried to get my gun; she must have thought I was one of the people trying to abduct her." Rabb said rubbing his jaw where Carter had punched him. "Should we get her back on the couch?"
"I think we should check for injuries, its not often Carter gives into pain; and she did say she had difficulty moving." Jack said looking at Rabb, who gave him the signal to go ahead. Jack was having a feeling of déjà vu, as he went to undo the buttons of Sam's fatigue jacket. 'That's the easy part' he thought knowing she had a t-shirt on underneath. The jacket now laid open and Jack reached for the bottom of her t-shirt and started pulling it up from her trousers. He pulled it up to just under her bra.
"Gees that doesn't look good." Rabb breathed out taking in the sight. Carter's right side was all bruised, he could see the bruises start just a few inches from her navel, continued up to where the t-shirt had been pulled up and seemed to continue around her back.
Jack placed one hand on Sam's stomach and probed the area; he didn't feel any signs of internal bleeding and felt a huge wave of relief. However, he did notice that Sam was thinner than normal, 'a little too thin' he thought to himself; but he'd have to find out about that later. "Let's turn her over." O'Neill sighed out in disgust at what he was seeing. He and Rabb gently rolled Sam onto her left side, Jack moved the long material of the jacket out of the way, and lifted her t-shirt up. The bruising that had started on her abdomen continued to cover most of her ribs and lower back. What was most disturbing to him was that one of the more defined bruises was shaped like part of a boot. Jack shook his head disgust, and swallowed back the bile that was rising in his throat.
Rabb was also disgusted with what he was seeing and feeling guilty for taking so long to get to the major. He reached out and gently touched the area over her bruised ribs. He saw the look O'Neill was giving him. "I'm just checking for broken ribs." He wondered why O'Neill hadn't done so himself. He started by feeling her spine, before moving to trace each rib from back to front. He finally looked up at O'Neill, "I don't feel any definite breaks, but I'm not sure about this area here." He said pointing out the area to O'Neill.
Jack reached out and felt the area himself. As he pressed down a little more firmly he heard Carter moan. "Sorry Carter." he said, as he continued to assess the injury.
"Ah what the …" Sam said as she slowly once again came to, trying to swat away the offending hand.
"Take it easy Carter; I'm just checking you out."
"What?" Sam said tensely and heard another strange voice chuckle.
"Oh hell, you know what I mean, looks like you've got some bad bruising from your stomach to your back; but were not sure if this is broken." Jack said regaining his composure after his faux pas.
"Well stop trying to break it yourself…Sir," Sam said through gritted teeth. Once again, she heard a strange chuckle.
"Ah Carter, I noticed that you've lost weight, quite a bit of weight at that. Is there something going on I should know about?"
Sam was still groggy, but still managed to feel the anger rise in her. How dare he ask her that, he's been back for weeks, and he only notices her now? He didn't even bother to find out what she went through trying to rescue his sorry ass; so why should he bother trying now. "With all due respect SIR, it's none of your business." Sam was gritting her teeth and once again trying to swat O'Neill's hands away from her.
Rabb was a little puzzled by the exchange going on between the two officers. "Ah, do you two want to be alone?"
"What?"
"No!" Sam and Jack said at the same time.
Sam turned her head to look at the stranger. "Who the hell are you anyway?"
"Ah that would be, who the hell are you Sir." Jack informed Carter.
"I'm Commander Rabb, Harm to my friends." He said giving Sam one of his most endearing boyish smiles.
"He's from JAG." O'Neill added.
"In trouble again Sir?"
"What? No."
"Parking tickets?" Sam was having too much fun with this one, seeing O'Neill squirm.
"No, and that's enough Major." O'Neill said emphasizing the major.
"Actually Major Carter I'm here because of you."
Now Sam was truly puzzled. "With all due respect…Sir, I don't need a lawyer right now, on the other hand if you were a doctor that might come in handy." Sam took a deep breath and tried to haul herself up from the floor, only managing to lift herself onto one elbow. "So would you mind filling me in on what the hell is going on?"
"Why don't I fill you in after we get you situated in a more comfortable position." Jack said seeing that Carter was having difficulty getting up. He motioned to Rabb with his head, and they both helped Sam to stand. As soon as she was on her two feet, Sam cried out in pain, and would have fallen to the floor if it weren't for two sets of strong hands keeping her up. They quickly moved her over to the couch and sat her down.
"What's wrong?" Jack asked very concerned, looking down at a very pale Sam Carter.
"Don't know Sir." Sam said panting, "I couldn't put any weight on my knee, it felt like a sharp spike going through."
"Oh boy do I know that feeling." Jack said, "Do you know how it got injured?"
Now both Sam and Rabb were looking at him dumbfounded. "Not really Sir, I don't remember how my ribs got injured either. I was kinda out of it."
Now it was Rabb's turn to be disgusted, those bastards did this to her while she was unconscious and unable to protect herself. "Ah can you move it?"
Sam slowly started to move her leg, she would straighten and flex it; it did hurt but not as much as standing on it. "Yea I can move it, no problem."
O'Neill looked at her and shook his head; somehow, he didn't believe her completely. "Well then it's probably just a strain, we should wrap it and put some ice on it." He looked at her leg and realized the BDU pant leg probably wouldn't go up far enough, and if he knew Carter, she wouldn't take the suggestion of taking her pants off too well. "I'm just going to go check on something, be back in a minute."
"So Commander, would you mind filling me in on what the hell is going on?" Sam said taking in the man standing at the end of the couch. She had to admit he was good-looking, tall, dark hair, nice blue eyes; (she had noticed them when they were wrestling, oh yea and a nice hard body), and a killer smile. 'Get your mind back to the problem, Sam,' she thought to herself.
"Well first of all Major why don't you call me Harm, I feel like I've gotten to know you in these past few hours." 'Oh yea Harm, make her remember you've seen a lot more of her than most women you know.' He cleared his throat and shook his head at that remark.
Sam started to blush, knowing what he meant and unknowingly started to pull her t-shirt down making sure she was covered.
Just then, Jack returned to the room carrying something in his hands. "Carter, I'm going to have to wrap your knee, and I don't think the BDU's are going to work." He then held up what he was holding in his hand. "I found some shorts you can change into, I know there going to be too big, but they do have a drawstring, which should work. Rabb and I will go and wait in the kitchen."
Sam took the shorts, with a look of relief, and tried to reach for her boots as O'Neill got up. "Why don't I give you a hand with the boots before I go? O'Neill said, not giving Sam a chance to answer before he started to untie the laces and slipped the boots off. "There" He said as he went to leave the room, dragging Rabb with him.
Sam had to smile and wonder to herself why O'Neill seemed to be so caring all of a sudden, after all he didn't seem to care that he had been rescued from that planet, he seemed sad that he had to go home, and she felt he blamed her for it. She put her musings aside as she struggled to change into the shorts. O'Neill was right, they were too big, but she managed to tie the drawstring around her waist before giving the all clear.
O'Neill and Rabb returned to living room, this time carrying two ice packs. Jack sat down next to Carter and took in the appearance of her knee, trying not to stare at her long legs, 'oh yea this is going to be difficult', he thought to himself; just keep your mind on the problem at hand. He placed both of his hands on her injured knee and felt her jolt at the touch. He tried not to grin as he felt the knee for injury. "Well it doesn't feel like it's been dislocated, thank God."
"So Commander, are you going to finish the explanation you started." Sam said as she grimaced when O'Neill moved her knee to wrap it up.
"Sure Major, it seems you're a wanted woman."
Sam looked up at him puzzled and shocked. "What?"
"I learned today from Colonel Makepeace that the people he worked for have been planning to kidnap you for a while, it was only today that they managed to act on it; apparently you've been staying on base for an extended period of time and they were unable to get at you." Rabb said looking into her eyes as he talked to her.
"Makepeace? It can't be. He was my CO for a short time, I helped save his ass; how could he? Where's the loyalty?" Sam was truly shocked by this news; she couldn't understand it.
"Well Carter, I was shocked too when we had to arrest him. I also wondered about his loyalty, apparently it's the first to go when you turn on your country." Jack said laying his hand on her now covered knee.
Sam just shook her head in disbelief, "What else?" Sam said quietly looking up into Rabb's eyes.
Harm took a seat on the coffee table, sitting in front of Sam. "It seems Colonel Maybourne had plans to get his hands on you, apparently he wants information that only you can give him."
"But that doesn't make sense, he's a wanted man; he'd be more worried about getting away than trying to get me. There has to be something, someone else behind this." Sam was looking down at her hands, trying to take in that she was the object of an elaborate kidnapping scheme. "So those two goons at my house…weren't just robbers."
"I'm afraid not Carter. When Rabb informed us of the plan, he said he didn't know who at the SGC could be trusted. Hammond agreed to let only me accompany Rabb."
"And I'm sorry Major, it took us too long to get to you…"
"Well I'm just glad, you got there in time, or I could have woken up somewhere totally different…Oh and I'm sorry I attacked you Commander."
Harm had to chuckle at that. "Well the colonel here forgot to mention how dangerous you could be, and besides it's understandable given the situation."
"So no court-martial then?" Jack said smirking.
"No not this time." Harm answered smiling at Sam. "Here you might want this." He said handing Sam an ice pack.
"Thanks but I'm not sure where to use it." Sam said taking it and putting it on her knee.
"So where exactly are we Sir?" Sam asked O'Neill as she leaned against the back of the couch.
"Were at a friend of mine's, he's away for a few months, so we shouldn't be bothered." He said while manoeuvring another ice pack behind Sam's head. "You know you should elevate your knee, to get the swelling down. I'll get some pillows from the other room." Jack said as he got up to leave the room.
"Why don't I give you a hand to get more comfortable, after all it was my fault you ended up on the floor." He smiled at Sam again and then moved to put his arm behind her shoulder and helped to move her so her head was resting on a pillow against the armrest of the couch. He then lifted her legs, (which were now bare) onto the couch. 'Nice' he thought to himself.
Sam was feeling a little uncomfortable, but then again she was safe now, so she could put up with two rather good-looking men taking care of her.
"Here we go Carter." O'Neill said as he brought a couple of pillows and arranged them under her knee. He also brought a blanket and covered her with it. "So we should rest now and figure out a way out of this in the morning. Carter you should try to get some sleep, but we'll have to wake you every two hours, because of the concussion."
"Thank you Sir, I appreciate everything you and the Commander have done for me tonight." Sam was truly grateful to both of them, she hated to think what would have happened if they didn't get to her on time.
"Here Major, you might need these," Harm said handing her two aspirin and a glass of water. "By the way, since I'm not your CO, why don't you call me Harm."
"Okay Harm, as long as you call me Sam." She couldn't help but notice those dimples when he smiled.
"So Sam, why don't you try and get some sleep, hopefully we'll try and find some answers tomorrow." He saw the despair in her eyes, despair he was sure hadn't been there too long. He only hoped they would be able to help her, he wanted to have a chance to see a sparkle in those blue eyes.
TBC
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A/N: Boy isn't Sam a lucky woman having 2 hunks looking after her. I just couldn't help myself LOL.
Thanks for the reviews. I added a little something for Natters, and sorry megmeyer I just can't help being cruel with cliffhangers, it comes from watching years of soaps. Sorry janissima, you'll just have to wait to find out. LOL.