"Words Cannot Describe"
Companion to "Things Aren't Always as They Seem"

Set after "Solitudes" in Season 1

Jack sat awake in the infirmary while all around him slept. He'd been a dreadful insomniac for years, and now his insomnia was magnified by his contemplations about his confinement in Antarctica.

His mind was still reeling with the idea of a second Earth-based Stargate, but it wasn't the method in which he got to Antarctica that he was contemplating, it was the woman that had been with him.

He looked over at Samantha. She would most likely be discharged tomorrow, but he would be confined to his bed for a few more days while his broken leg and internal injuries continued to heal properly.

He sighed. Life just wasn't fair, was it?

However, he was grateful that Samantha was lying there in the cot near his, sleeping. He was able to study her features more clearly that way.

Ever since he had met her at the beginning of his long-term tenure with the SGC, he had not been able to remove her from his thoughts. But, it was their stay in Antarctica that had really placed her foremost in his thoughts. And he couldn't get her out of his head!

The idea of facing death had caused a bittersweet tenderness to envelope their interaction while fighting for survival. He struggled to remember what had happened before Daniel, Teal'c, General Hammond and other SGC airmen found them. Had he said something while in a state of delirium that would cause Sam to think differently- positively or negatively- about him?

He watched her for a little while longer. Suddenly, he felt inspired to write something. He debated whether or not he should, but in the end he reached for one of the napkins nearby and searched for a pen or pencil. There was one on the side of the desk, just ten feet away from him. It was taunting him, begging him to defy orders once more and leave his bed.

He caved in, as he usually did, and sat up. He swung one leg off the bed, and gently laid his broken leg near it. Thankfully, it was in a cast now, not just that blasted splint that Carter had placed on it.

He smiled to himself. Funny, when she was in his thoughts as the woman he cared for, she was Samantha. However, if she was the soldier that he fought alongside, she was Carter. There was no 'Sam' to him.

He hobbled over to the desk. Just then, Dr. Janet Fraiser walked in. "Colonel O'Neill!" She reprimanded, harshly.

"Sorry, Doc, I just wanted to grab this pen. It was bugging me."

She looked at him without any sympathy. "That's a likely excuse! Colonel O'Neill, a writer!"

He looked in his hand. He had the blasted pen now. "Sorry, Doc. I just was feeling a little stiff."

"Colonel, it is two-thirty in the morning!"

He shrugged. "I couldn't sleep."

Janet raised one eyebrow. "Why didn't you call me?"

"Well, I was enjoying a moment of quiet."

"Just go to bed, Colonel. I swear, you're as bad as a kid who doesn't want to go to bed. Fortunately, I have just the thing for your 'insomnia.'"

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small bottle of sleeping pills.

"Aw, Doc, come on. I won't do it again!"

"Colonel, this is the fourth time tonight alone that you've gotten out of your bed! Do you really think that I believe you're not going to do it again?"

Jack's eyebrows shot up. "How'd you know?"

She pointed to the security camera. "I stay up all night and watch those tapes, just so that you get the rest you need. Now, please go back and lie down."

He hobbled back onto the bed. Before he accepted the pills though, he looked at his napkin. "Doc, can I take those in ten minutes?"

She looked at him. "No, you may take them now."

"How long before they work?"

"Half an hour, tops."

He set his hand before her, his palm open toward her. "Okay."

She handed him a drink of water and the pills. She continued standing there while he took them. "All right. I'll be back in a half-hour. If you're not asleep when I get back, I'll know you didn't take them."

He shook his head, grumpily. "I took them, Doc, okay?"

"We'll see."

She walked back into her office, and Jack reached for the pen and napkin. Within ten minutes, he had penned only four lines, but his eyes grew heavy, his mind cloudy, and he stared at the words.

The deep, blue pools of her eyes
Are the oceans that drown me.
The sun in the Eastern skies
Is dull compared to her beauty.

Finally, when he could keep his eyes open no longer, he fell into a dreamless sleep.

Janet did indeed walk in later. She looked at Jack who still clutched the pen in his hand. Than, she glanced at the paper. A gasp arouse from her throat as she realized that Jack had written these lovely words in the short time before he fell asleep.

She left him undisturbed, and looked over at Sam. A smile played on her patient's lips. It was a similar smile that lingered on Jack's. Janet's eyes softened with the thought that perhaps their imprisonment in Antarctica had been a blessing in disguise.