Chapter 15
Harm saw the look on Sam's face when he showed her the object. "Where did you get that?"
"It was lying on the floor under your bed, what is it?" Harm was looking closely at the object as he kept turning it over in his hands.
"That's actually classified." Sam said lifting her arm slightly tying to reach out for the 'object'.
"Oh come on Sam aren't we passed that? You know I have clearance."
"You have clearance for some things but not everything. I'd have to get permission to tell you about it." She was looking at Harm still painfully holding her hand out for the item.
Harm could see she wanted the object and didn't have the heart to keep it out of her reach, knowing how painful it was for her to hold out her hand like that. He gave in and handed her the object. "Just remember, when you get the word, I want to hear it from you." He stood up straighter and headed back to Mac's bed.
As Sam watched him go behind the curtain she thought to herself that now maybe there was some hope for Mac and felt grateful that she may actually be able to help her out. Now all she had to do was figure out how to get over to Mac's bed without anyone seeing her. 'There's no way Janet will let me try to use this in my current condition; and the colonel would probably go along with Janet. What I need is an accomplice, I'm sure Harm would help, but he needs to get clearance first; and how can I raise his hopes in case it doesn't work.' So for now she decided to hide the item in her bed until she came up with a plan.
"Hey Mac, are you ready to wake up?" Harm said, but silently hoping she'd stay sleeping a little while longer, the longer she slept meant the longer he could keep the news from her. He looked down at their joined hands and then closed his eyes.
Janet heard some loud voices in the hall from her office, 'Oh great, I hope they don't disturb my patients.' Janet thought as she got up from her desk and headed out to the hallway
Two security officers were escorting another man down the hallway. "Look, you kept complaining you wanted to see a doctor, so we're taking you to see a doctor! Now stop trying to fight us."
"Airmen what's going on?" Janet asked the young lieutenant.
"Sorry Ma'am, but this civilian kept insisting on seeing a doctor." Lt. Simms answered.
Janet could see the two airmen holding onto a handcuffed man who's face looked almost as bad as Sam's. "Who is he and what happened to him?"
"He's one of the civilian prisoners being questioned in the abduction of Major Carter and Colonel Mackenzie Ma'am."
Janet could feel her jaw start to clench as she thought that he might be one of the people responsible for beating Sam. "He is, is he?" Janet looked at the man's face for any sign of guilt or remorse but found none. "Well make sure you keep out of that area." Janet said pointing to the room that held Sam and Mackenzie. Then she pointed in another direction and motioned for them to go into a different room.
Harm's eyes popped open when he heard what sounded like arguing outside the room, he took a deep breath and headed towards the commotion.
"He's one of the civilian prisoners being questioned in the abduction of Major Carter and Colonel Mackenzie Ma'am."
Harm stopped in his tracks when he heard this, then he noticed the man in handcuffs; he had two black eyes, just like the man Mac described. Harm didn't know what came over him next, all he knew was that all he could see was red.
The two guards were shocked when a large man came bounding at them and ran right into their prisoner, pinning him right up against the wall. He held him upright by the lapels of his jacket and spoke in a quiet steely voice. "So you like to kidnap and beat up women?" The next thing Harm felt was his fist making contact with the scum's gut.
"Sir you have to stop!" Lt. Simms yelled as he tried to stop the man from hitting his prisoner.
Janet was shocked by what she was seeing, she understood what Harm was feeling and wanted to the same thing, but the doctor in her wanted it to stop. Then she wasn't sure if she was relieved or worried when she saw the rest of SG1 come running down the hall.
The first thing O'Neill noticed when he came down the hall was Rabb pinning a guy against the wall punching him in the gut, the two SF's were trying to pull him off the guy but weren't succeeding to well. The next thing Jack knew he was also trying to pull Rabb off of Stan.
The three men managed to get them apart but still had to keep Harm back. Daniel and Teal'c took over for the two SF's. When the barrage was over Stan slumped to the floor clutching at his gut. "Now I really need a doctor over hear." Stan yelled out.
Janet look down at Stan and shook her head, "Take him to an exam room." She ordered the two guards.
Before anyone could say anything the two guards pulled Stan up and escorted him through the doors.
"No! Not that room!" Janet yelled too late.
Sam had been lightly dozing off when she heard a skirmish outside her door, the next thing she saw was the door opening. She kept blinking to try and clear her blurry eyes, then she saw him standing there Stan! She started pushing against the mattress with her legs while trying to sit up and get as far away as possible, she pulled the wires from her chest and the IV from her arm, then managed to force herself off the bed. She landed on her feet for a few moments before her right leg gave out on her causing her to land on her back but still trying to get away sliding back on the floor.
"Oh Shit!" Jack exclaimed as he saw Carter's reaction , he and Daniel ran towards Sam. Within moments Jack was on the floor at Sam's side grabbing her arms and looking into her eyes. For the first time since he's know her he saw true terror in her eyes. "Carter look at me; you're okay you're safe here." He could still feel her trembling, this time he gently put his hands on her face and forced her to look at his eyes. "It's me Carter, you're safe, trust me." Jack finally felt Sam relax and nod her head.
Daniel was kneeling on the floor behind Sam resting a hand on her upper back, "Yea Sam its okay now." He said in a soothing voice,
"W-what's he doing here?" Sam managed to get out while trying to catch her breath. She was now leaning heavily against O'Neill looking at Stan and for the first time noticing the guards beside him.
"Ah, the piece of crap was complaining he needed to see a doctor but they made a mistake and brought him in here." O'Neill said this glaring at the two guards who suddenly became pale themselves.
Janet had followed the group into the room and saw O'Neill and Daniel comforting Sam, then she looked at the guards and their prisoner. "Get him out of here! Take him to the room at the end of the hall." Then she went over to Sam, O'Neill and Daniel who were all on the floor. She knelt down in front of Sam to take in her appearance. "Do you think you can get up?"
Sam's head felt as heavy as lead as she slowly lifted it. "With a little help." She said managing to grin.
"Okay you two help Sam back into bed and be gentle." Janet told Jack and Daniel.
"Would I be anything but Doc." Jack said sarcastically. "Okay Daniel you get her other side." Jack nodded to Daniel and they slowly eased her up to a standing position.
"Ahh take it easy will ya!" Sam cried out as she moved. "Sorry Sir."
"No need to apologize Carter, I'd say worse if I was in your position."
Sam sat on the edge of the bed, Jack put his arm around her back for her to lean back, while Daniel lifted her legs onto the bed. Daniel was a little uncomfortable noticing how short the hospital gown was on Sam. Then he furrowed his eyebrows when he noticed something else. "Ah Janet, there's blood on Sam's gown."
"Yea Daniel I'd expect that seeing that Sam pulled her IV out." Janet said making her way back over to Sam.
"No Janet its not from her arm." Daniel said pointing to Sam's abdomen. Jack also took note of the blood seeping through the gown with a look of shock coming over his face.
Janet was at Sam's other side of the bed, she pulled the blankets to cover Sam as she looked at the area. "She must have popped some stitches." Janet said as she started to pull the gown up from under the covers to reveal the blood soaked dressing
Daniel's face paled as he saw the blood and the rest of the damage, it looked worse now than it had the first time he saw her. He felt his blood start to boil, if Stan had still been there they would have had to pull him off of him as well.
Janet called to one of the nurses to get a suture kit, as she removed the bandage over the incision. The nurse came rushing over and pushing Daniel and Jack out of the way. "You'll have to wait out side." Janet told the men as she applied a clean gauze pad to the wound to stem the bleeding.
Jack and Daniel watched the curtain being drawn as soon as they stepped away. Jack raised his hand to rub his eyes. "Oh my God Jack, I can't believe what I just saw. I want to kill that bastard."
"Yea Daniel I know the feeling, and so does he." Jack said motioning to Rabb who was now calm and standing next to Teal'c.
"Huh, of all the people, I would have expected that it would be you we would have to pull off Stan."
"The day's not over yet Daniel, and I think there may be a line-up for that one." Jack said clinching his fist, then headed over to Teal'c and Rabb.
"Is everything alright with Major Carter?" Teal'c asked.
"I really don't know to be honest Teal'c."
"I cant' believe she jumped out of bed like that; what was she thinking?" Daniel asked.
"It's most likely she wasn't Daniel; she was reacting."
"Hey I'm really sorry if my reaction lead to Sam hurting herself." Harm said looking down at the floor.
"It's not your fault Harm, you did what we all wanted to do, still want to do." Daniel said trying to ease the man's guilt.
"I really should be getting back to Mac, it's a wonder all this noise didn't wake her."
"You do that Rabb, she's going to need you when she wakes up." Jack told him.
The sound from the curtain being pulled back, got everyone's attention as they watched the nurse leave. Jack was back at Sam's bedside in a couple of strides followed by Daniel and Teal'c. "So how's she doing Doc?"
"Well like I said, with all that movement Sam managed to pop a few stitches."
"Which Janet so kindly fixed." Sam said, the pain evident on her face.
"You should be feeling better in no time Sam, I gave you some morphine in your IV."
"Thanks Janet, I sure can use it."
"Don't stay too long, Sam needs her rest, even more now after all this excitement." Janet said looking at all three members of SG1
"Yea, sure Doc what ever you say." Jack said in ever so sweet voice he used just for Janet.
"So Sam…how are you doing?" Daniel asked nervously
"I'll be okay Daniel, don't worry about me. How are things going with rounding up the people who abducted us?"
"Well as you already noticed we got Stan and Teal'c persuaded him to turn in his accomplices."
"They are being detained in our security cells on level sixteen, Major Carter." Teal'c informed her and nodded.
"Wow that's great." Sam said weakly trying to smile.
"Ah there's one little snag Carter."
"Snag Sir?"
"Yea, it seems Kennedy got away before everyone was detained." Jack said in a low voice.
"Well I'm sure we'll get him eventually." Sam said, the three men noticing her eyes start to droop.
"Well we should let you get some sleep Carter, we'll come by to see you later."
"Yea, sleep well Sam." Daniel said squeezing her hand.
"Rest well Major Carter." Teal'c said bowing his head as he turned to leave.
Sam watched all three members of her team leave, then she reached under her mattress to make sure the healing device was still there, relieved when she felt it. 'Good, now I just have to figure out a way to get over to Mac.'
Mac's eyes started to flutter, she felt groggy and thought maybe just a few more minutes of sleep wouldn't hurt. Then she felt a pressure squeezing her hand. "Hey Mac, you going to sleep all day." Technically it was night, but this day just seemed to go on forever Harm thought.
"Ha…Harm?" Came a weary reply.
"Yea Mac its me. You ready to wake up?"
"No, just a few more minutes, we don't have to go into work today." Mac just realized what she said, wondering why Harm was waking her up. "Harm?"
"Yes Mac."
"What are you doing in my bedroom?"
Harm had to snicker a little at Mac's confusion. "You know Mac, as much as I would love to wake you up in your bedroom, that's not where we are. Do you remember?"
"Hmm. What?" Mac said softly, then the cobwebs began to clear, and the events of the day came rushing back to her. "Oh my God! Harm what did the doctor say?" Mac's voice was weak but panicked
Harm looked down at Mac, seeing her eyes were wide open and staring at him intently. 'Well that's as awake as she's ever going to be.' Harm thought then took a deep breath and grasped her hand between his. "Look Mac, the doctors did everything they could do, but…your spinal cord was severed…I'm so sorry Mac."
Mac couldn't comprehend what she was hearing, no this can't be, the surgery was supposed to make everything ok, it was supposed to make her whole; so she could go back to being the marine she was. There's no way I can't not be a marine; the corps saved my life, no it gave me a life; how can I just give it up?
"Mac, ah did you hear what I said?" Harm said gently still holding her hand.
Mac blinked her eyes bringing herself out of her contemplation, she looked into Harm's eyes seeing his sorrow. "Yea Harm I heard you… Are you sure there's nothing they can do?" Her voice almost pleading.
"Yea Mac I'm sure, but if you want to talk to a doctor, I'm sure I can get Dr. Fraiser over here."
"No that's okay Harm, I trust you. Harm, I'd like to be alone for a while if you don't mind."
Harm could see the anguish in Mac's eyes, he wasn't sure if he should leave her alone but decided to abide by her wishes. "If your sure Mac?"
"Yea I am, I just need some time alone."
"Okay." He said getting up from the chair and placing a kiss on her forehead before leaving. When he came out from behind the curtain he noticed Sam was asleep, 'well I guess she will be alone for a while.'
"Would you stop squirming." Janet snapped as she probed the man's nose and face but not as gently as she could.
"Well your hurting me doctor." Stan complained.
"Well you have a broken nose, but you already knew that, other than putting a bandage on it there's not much else I can do for it." She said snapping her gloves as she took them off.
"Well it was broken by that blonde bitch first, then that big black guy broke it again." Stan said touching his face with his right hand since his left was handcuffed to the bedrail. If he was paying attention he would have noticed the anger growing in Janet's eyes. "Ow!"
"Oh sorry, I just had to recheck to make sure I didn't miss anything?" Janet said 'Like causing you a little extra pain, you son of a…'
"Excuse me doctor."
"Ah what can I do for you Commander?" Janet asked looking worriedly at the man standing at the door. 'Hopefully he'll stay out of the room.'
"Ah Mac woke up…I told her the news, but she said she wanted to be alone. I asked her if she wanted to talk to a doctor but she said no. I'm just think that maybe she should talk to you…I'm not sure if she's accepting the facts.
Janet walked away from her 'patient' and looked at the guards. "He's all yours." She said as she walked towards Harm grabbed his arm and lead him into the hall. "Commander, its going to take time, its hard news to take."
"Yea I guess your right…its just hard not to be able to help her."
"I know Commander, but you have to give her time to grieve her loss." Janet said as she and Harm walked towards the room holding Sam and Mac.
Sam was starting to feel better, a lot better thanks to Janet's magic drugs; only Janet didn't get the dose quite right for the morphine to keep her asleep. At least the pain had eased some. Maybe now she could try and make her way over to Mac. At least this time the wires were no longer attached., she took the oxygen off and slowly started to sit up. It was difficult but not as painful as before. She eased her self off the bed and put most of her weight on her left leg while holding onto her IV pole. 'There that's not so bad, I knew I could stand.' Then Sam reached for the curtain and pulled it open. Mac had her head turned the other way but by the shaking of her shoulders Sam could tell she was crying. She reached out and put her hand on Mac's shoulder.
Mac could hear Sam rustling in the next bed but was too dejected to even turn her head. Then she heard the curtain being pulled back, then felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned her head to see Sam looking down at her. She wiped her eyes and then cleared her throat. "What are you doing Sam? You shouldn't be out of bed." She could tell by looking at her that Sam shouldn't be up, and was wondering how she was managing to stay standing.
"Don't worry about me Mac; its you I'm concerned about." Sam said quietly
"Well there's nothing to worry about, I'm doing fine, just a little problem with walking that's all." She didn't mean to sound as harsh as she did but she couldn't help it.
"Mac, do you remember when we were being held…Kennedy asked me if I could use the healing device?"
"Yea Sam, it's a hard thing to forget. What ate you getting at?"
"Well, I'm not supposed to talk about it, but I think you've earned the right to know." Sam could see the puzzled look on Mac's face. "Well the answer is yes, I can use the alien healing device. I'm afraid I'm not that good at it, but if you let me I can give it a try."
"W-what are you talking about Sam? The doctors said I'd never be able to walk again, that there's nothing they can do." Mac's voice showed her annoyance, it was bad enough to have to deal with this yet alone having to explain it to Sam, when she knew the truth.
"Mac, I know there's nothing they can do…but there is something I might be able to do, if you let me."
"Hey I'm willing to try anything if it means I'll walk." Mac just couldn't believe what Sam was saying, all that time together when she was being questioned she kept denying she could use 'alien devices', and now here she was saying she could. 'I wonder if the drugs are doing this to her? Well I guess it won't hurt to humour her.' "Yea sure Sam knock yourself out." Mac watched as Sam took a couple of wobbly steps to her bed and reached under the mattress for the item Mac had last seen in Kennedy's possession.
Sam took another couple of steps leaning heavily on the IV pole carrying the device in her hand. "Mac, I'm not as strong as I normally am when I've used this, so I'm going to need your help to make sure the device stays above the injured area; just guide my arms if I start to stray from the site."
"Sure Sam, anything I can do to help." Mac wasn't sure if it came out as sarcastic as she felt. Then she watched as Sam steadied herself against the bedrail slipping the device on her right hand and putting her other hand on top of her right then holding them above her waist. She felt like laughing at the show Sam was putting on as she closed her eyes and dipped her head.
Mac was startled when all of a sudden a glowing light was being emitted from the object, she saw Sam waver a little and grabbed onto her wrists to keep her in place. Then she started to feel something warm. 'Yes! I'm feeling something! I can't believe this, I think its actually working.' Mac couldn't hold back her excitement as her feeling was coming back. There was no way in hell, she wasn't going to keep her attention on Sam to make sure she kept the device in position. Mac could feel Sam start to sway, and tightened her grip on Sam's arms. Then the light turned off abruptly and Sam crumpled to the ground, Mac was unable to hold Sam up as her weight took her down. "We need some help in here!" Mac called out, and without thinking quickly got out of bed going over the bed rail and kneeling next to Sam.
Harm and Janet heard Mac yell and ran towards the room. They were shocked to see both beds empty. "I need help over here." Came a frantic voice from between the beds.
"Oh Geez, Mac must have fallen out of bed." Harm said as he headed to the area between the beds followed by Janet. They found Mac kneeling next to Sam who was unconscious on the floor.
"Harm, Doctor you have to help her." Mac said worriedly, as she stood up.
"Mac…you're…you're standing. How?" Harm was so shocked he was speechless and unable to move.
"What's going on in here?" Jack said rushing into the room taking in the scene. "Oh no Carter you didn't!" Jack said as he saw Sam laying there with the device still attached to her hand.
"I'm afraid she did Colonel." Janet said looking at Mac while taking Sam's pulse.
Jack pushed Rabb and Mac's bed out of the way then picked Sam up and laid her in her bed. "Ah Carter I can't believe you did this."
"Mac, your standing!" Harm said ecstatically, then grabbed and hugged her. "But how?"
Mac became overwhelmed with the situation and let her tears fall while in Harm's embrace. Then she wiped her eyes and sniffled, "Somehow Sam did it, she cured me." Then she tightened her grip around Harm and just enjoyed the feel of his arms around her for an extra moment. Then they broke apart Harm still keeping an around Mac's waist to offer her support. They both watched as O'Neill picked Sam up and placed her on the bed. "Is she going to be okay?"
A/N: Okay this time I didn't leave you with a huge a cliff hanger, just a little rock's edge. I know a lot of you wanted Jack to beat the crap out of Stan, but I think given Mac's injury Harm deserved to do it first. And I guess Janet lived up to her name 'Napoleonic Power Monger'.