The Trap

Chapter Seven – Jack and Sam

By Arrietty

The area around the gate was pandemonium when they arrived at the other side. Jonas had gone through first to let them know that it was okay. The guards on his home world were still a little trigger happy. Even so everyone, including Jonas and Vernon were held at gun point and told not to move.

Sam watched helplessly as Jack exited the gate and immediately crumpled to the floor. In horror she saw his face pale and slowly turn greyer and greyer as he struggled to breathe. His shallow breathing rasped cruelly. Totally ignoring the guns trained on them, she and Vernon moved forwards to help. Jonas stepped in front of the soldiers to stop them from shooting.

"Wait!" he shouted the order. "This man needs help. Call a medical team, now!"

The soldiers hesitated, unsure if they should follow the order. But thankfully their CO walked into the room, echoing Jonas' request.

"Sir, with your permission, I wish to get this man to his home planet." Vernon had lifted Jack's upper body to help him breathe. "From what you have told me, Jonas, they have better facilities there."

Jonas looked at the commander, seeing if he would agree. With relief he saw the quick nod of permission. Jonas quickly retrieved the code so the iris would open and lost no time in dialling up Earth's address.

The rest of the journey went in a blur for Sam. She was tired, hot, dirty and emotionally exhausted. The trip had been a little bit beyond her, losing Jack, getting him back and now maybe losing him again, had been the last straw on her emotions. Vaguely, she remembered watching as Janet and her team rushed Jack off to the infirmary.

One of the nurses took hold of her elbow and steered her towards the showers, where the warm water washed away all the dirt, but not the tiredness. She felt numb all the way through her body and mind. Debriefing was something that she dreaded because she couldn't even speak, let alone give a report. The last thing she remembered was sitting on the wooden bench in the locker room, with a wet towel wrapped around her. The next thing, she was waking up to the sound of beeping just by her bed.

Sam could hear whispered voices around her. They sounded somewhat familiar, but it was hard to focus on any one voice. Eventually, she managed to pinpoint Janet's soft tone.

"I'm sorry; we tried as hard as we could, but-"

Panicking, Sam called out "Janet!"

"Sam." Sam listened to Janet's clicking heels as she walked over to her bed. "You're awake." Sam felt her eyelids forced back and the usual penlight shone into her eyes.

"Jack? What's happened to J . . . the colonel?" She quickly changed.

Janet spoke reassuringly. "He's fine, look he is right here beside you." Sam turned her head to where Janet was looking. She could see Jack sleeping peacefully. He was hooked up to oxygen and a heart monitor to watch his condition, but he seemed all right.

"But I heard you say that you tried. What did you mean?"

Janet smiled gently at Sam. "Oh I was trying to retrieve the properties of the drug that was used from Colonel O'Neill's blood, but it must have broken down."

Nodding quietly to Janet, she then asked another question. "What happened to me?"

"Sam you were just exhausted, your body shut down as it needed a rest. You have been asleep for ten hours since you came home." Sam lay there looking and feeling stunned at the information.

"Where are the others, my dad?" she asked.

"They will be along soon; I have only just managed to get them out of here fifteen minutes ago."

As soon as Janet had left the room, Sam disabled the drip in her arm and climbed out of bed and padded across to Jack. None of the nursing staff were around. Leaning over the bed she looked into the face of her commanding officer. He looked peaceful and free of pain as he slept. There weren't any chairs nearby, so she sat carefully on the side of the bed. Her mind going over all that had happened to them in the past few days.

The mad rush down the mountain side had taken its toll on Jack's body. He could feel the strength begin to ebb from his body. One minute he was full of energy and felt no pain and the next, he felt like a rag doll every step was like walking on red hot nails. He couldn't even support himself, having to lean on someone to stay upright. Although his body was failing, thankfully his mind was still clear. Looking back, an explosion erupted from the mountain. Rocks and debris began to fall towards them. Adrenalin pumped itself through Jack, giving him the energy he needed. With a hard shove, he pushed Sam through the gate. Waiting until the others had gone through before following.

As he had reached to the other side, the last sight he saw was Sam's distressed face as he slumped to the floor.

Dark dreams invaded his sleep as he drifted in and out of unconsciousness. Sam's name often uttered from his lips.

Every time he went down the hallway, the doors changed colours. However hard he tried to avoid the wrong doors; he would still open doors that caused him immense grief. Finally, he reached the end of the hallway, there was one last door and it was blue. He had opened a blue door before, but had always caused him pain. Knowing that he had no choice, he slowly opened the door. Sam was sitting at a table, intently handwriting letters, tears were falling onto the page and she was talking to herself as she wrote. Jack could hear what she was saying, but the words made no sense to him. He walked quietly towards her and stood by her elbow. With a start she looked up at him, her eyes were tear filled and drops glistened on her cheeks as she gazed into his face.

"Jack," she whispered. Slowly standing up, she reached forward and kissed him, holding him tight. He felt her arms surrounding him, making him feel safe. He wrapped his arms around her and felt her trembling as she cried into his shoulder.

"I thought I had lost you, Jack. I don't ever want to feel that way again." Moving her away from him, he looked into her eyes and gently kissed her. He spoke her name gently.

"Sam."

Opening his eyes, he looked directly into two blue, tear filled ones that were mere inches away from his face. He spoke without thinking.

"Carter?"

Sam leapt back from the bed, her face blushed to a furious shade of red from embarrassment and she turned away and fled into the bathroom. By the time, she had slammed the door shut; Jack had come to his senses, but too late, he called to her.

"Sam." Trying to rise from the bed, he fell back heavily onto the pillows as his strength eluded him. Closing his eyes to his stupidity, he sighed.

"Colonel. Are you all right?" Janet Fraiser had come into the room to find out why all the monitors were alarming.

Jack opened his eyes and looked at Janet; she was surprised at the stricken look that he gave her.

"Yes, I am, but I think you had better check on Carter." Nodding with his head to where Sam had run to.

Janet frowned at Jack and refastened the pulse oximeter to his finger before turning on her heel and walking towards the bathroom, where Jack had indicated the whereabouts of Sam.

Sam's mind had been fairly busy for a few hours with getting changed and checking on Daniel to see if he was okay. She had managed to push what had happened in the infirmary to the back of her mind, until General Hammond had requested her presence in his office.

'Why oh why did I do that?' She asked herself while she nervously walked down the corridor towards the elevator. Stopping briefly, she thought back over what had gone through her head. 'What was I thinking? That was the problem, I was not thinking, I let my heart do the thinking instead.' She sighed audibly and then started to move along to the elevator. Once she got to the door, she pushed the button and waited and found herself vividly remembering what had happened earlier in the infirmary.

After Sam had sat down on Jack's bed, she had started to talk quietly, telling him how she had felt when she thought he had died. He had looked so at peace lying there asleep. All of a sudden her emotions bubbled to the surface, the dam had broken and all the repressed feelings burst out. Sobbing, she held him as he lay there asleep. Three days of anguish spilled over as she poured out her feelings. When the storm had died down, she had looked at him again, without even thinking clearly, she bent down and kissed him gently. His arms drew around her, holding her tightly back, pulling her closer to him. With heart racing, she pulled away from him and stared into his shocked face.

Closing her eyes to the memory of the colonel's face, she leaned back against the wall of the elevator. She felt enclosed, trapped, this was it, she was in for a court martial. As she stepped out of the elevator the words 'Carter' coming from Jack, rang in her ears. With dread she walked down the corridor to General Hammond's office and with a beating heart, she knocked on his door.

"Come." The request sounded ominous to her.

Walking into the general's office she quickly came to attention and saluted.

General Hammond sat in his chair looking most surprised at her formal behaviour. "Major?" he questioned.

"Reporting as ordered, sir."

"At ease, Major Carter." General Hammond was now becoming quite intrigued by this behaviour. Usually Major Carter though very respectful, was a little less 'by-the-book'.

"Sit down, Major." He spoke softly, hoping that she would bend a little.

Sam looked directly at General Hammond and realised that he was smiling at her. 'He hasn't said anything'. Sam thought. She smiled nervously back.

General Hammond started to speak. "Major Carter, we will have a small debriefing tomorrow. Doctor Jackson, Teal'c and Jonas Quinn have informed me of their parts in this mission. Jacob had to go back to the Tok'ra for a short visit, but he will be returning soon, of that, you will be pleased to hear, no doubt."

"Yes, sir." Sam smiled and nodded as she spoke.

"We won't be able to have a full debriefing until Colonel O'Neill is completely recovered. I have been told that may take several weeks. So until then, SG-1 are on stand down. Take some leave, Major, from what Doctor Fraiser has told me, you have been through a lot this mission and you need some time out."

"Thank you, sir."

"Debriefing at 1000 hours tomorrow. Dismissed."

Standing up, she saluted and then left the room.

She was relieved that she hadn't been reported, but was still puzzled by the fact. The colonel had obviously been displeased by her actions. Sighing to herself she wondered if she had completely ruined their friendship.

Meanwhile, Jack had collared Daniel and was trying to get some information out of him about Sam. After a while, he gave up as Daniel didn't seem to know anything and had started to ask Jack some questions back, which were making him, feel exceedingly uncomfortable.

Giving up on that front, he changed the subject. "So, Daniel, how did you know that if Sam had put that doohickey on her hand it would have killed her?"

"It was a trap, Jack. The Ancients had planted that device as a trap for the Goa'uld. All the information on how to use the weapon was written in Goa'uld, but the warning was written in the Ancient language. Of which I can now read of course." He smiled almost smugly as he said the last sentence.

"So . . ?" Jack waved a hand in the air, for Daniel to continue.

"What?"

"Well, what did it say? For crying out loud."

"Oh that, sorry. Um . . . 'There is great power to he who wields this device, but beware the evil that it gives. Darkness will envelope the wielder and it will be his destruction.' That is a loose translation, but gives the general idea. Then it went onto say that, 'The trap has now been set.' That was when I realised that the whole thing was a trap to ensnare the Goa'uld. The first bit of text would not stop a Goa'uld, only goad him on."

Jack nodded, and then asked another question. "What happened to the communication ball?"

Just then Jonas walked into the infirmary.

"Hello, Colonel O'Neill. Are you feeling any better?"

"Hi, Jonas, fine thanks."

Daniel turned and looked at Jonas. "Well actually Jonas can help you with that more because he and Jacob sorted that out."

Jack turned his questioning gaze from Daniel to Jonas.

"It was Baal, he had a spy in Hegron's fortress . . . well he did have a spy, before you killed him."

"How do you know it was Baal?" Jack asked cautiously.

"Well." Jonas shifted nervously under Jack's piercing gaze. "Jacob and I looked into it and Baal's face popped up."

A smirk appeared on Jack's face, as he realised what the consequences could be. "So Baal thinks we have the weapon and we destroyed Hegron with it. Sweet."

"Yup." Daniel agreed.

Jack was hobbling down the hallway as fast as his still sore feet would allow.

He had heard she was back and nothing was going to stop him from talking to her, nothing.

"Teal'c out of my way, please."

"O'Neill you cannot enter."

"Why not? Might I ask?" Jack was beginning to feel annoyed as well as hurt that Sam would not wish to see him so much, that she would use Teal'c to stop him.

Jack had tried phoning her the whole time he had been in the infirmary, but she had never returned his calls or contacted him in anyway. He knew she had gone home on leave, but it had been very hard for him to wait and not be able to salvage something.

"I have been instructed by Major Carter, that no one is to enter while she works on this project."

Jack let out a sigh of relief. 'She was working, that is why he couldn't go in, not because she didn't want to see him.'

"Hi, Jack."

Jack replied with, "Hi, Daniel." Leaving his mouth open as he watched Daniel waltz straight past Teal'c and enter Sam's lab.

Looking at Teal'c with surprise, he pointed a finger in Daniel's direction, receiving no response from Teal'c, started to follow Daniel into the lab. Once again, he found the way blocked by an immovable bulk. Teal'c.

Jack ran through all the possible scenarios of him trying to get passed Teal'c, but each one ended up with Jack in the infirmary. So he gave up on that idea and sat down on the floor in the corridor and waited. 'She can't stay in there indefinitely' he hoped. Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long Sam popped her head out to speak to Teal'c.

"It's okay now, Teal'c. Thanks for your help, we couldn't be distracted and all it needed was the colonel to . . . Oh . . . hi, sir. Didn't see you there." Sam shuffled her feet and once again her face began to colour.

"Obviously." Jack stated, as he carefully got to his feet. He still wasn't back to normal in the injury department, so he still had difficulty with his movements. By the time he was standing, she had gone. This time, he followed her into the lab. Daniel was busy fiddling with some papers on the desktop and Sam had her head buried into one of her doohickeys, tightening and loosening a screw that obviously didn't need seeing to. Even Jack could work that one out.

"Daniel, don't you have something to do? Elsewhere?" He added, just in case Daniel didn't get the message.

Jack looked nervously at Sam. She nodded to Daniel with a resigned sigh.

"Yup, just finished anyway, see ya later, Jack." The word 'Jack' floated back from outside in the corridor as the door swung shut. Daniel had got the hint.

"So . . . what are you up to?" he asked, while leaning on one of the counters.

"Oh this and that."

"Did you enjoy your leave?"

"No . . . not really," Sam stated and then looked at him directly in the eyes.

"Where'd you go?" Jack ignored the difficult comment from Sam.

"I went to see my brother Mark and his family."

"Ah, that explains it."

"Explains what?"

"Why you never returned my calls."

"Oh . . . I haven't been home yet. I came straight here." Sam looked down at what she was doing and then spoke softly. "I thought you were going to report me."

"And why would I do that?"

Sam looked up smartly as his voice was quite close to where she was standing. "I don't know." Her voice trembled slightly as she spoke.

"I'm sorry, Sam. You know how-" He was interrupted by Sam's finger placed on his lips. Smiling, he reached down and pulled her into his arms.

Epilogue

Jack idly watched a dragonfly buzz around some bulrushes near the lake's edge. It was a warm summer's day and he held his fishing rod in one hand while taking swigs of his cold beer held in his other. Letting out a contented sigh, he dropped the empty bottle into his fishing box beside his chair. The dragonfly, startled, buzzed off over the bulrushes and disappeared out of sight. There was a plop that disturbed the surface of the tranquil lake. The ripples of the lake increased in size as they flowed out from a float that bobbed in the water, which was attached to a fishing line. Jack smiled and let out another contented sigh and flicked his fishing line into the lake, so his float bobbed along side the other one.

"Hey." A voice protested beside him. "Get your own bit of lake."

Jack grinned and pulled out another bottle of beer from the cooler beside his chair. Looking across at his fishing partner, his grin got wider still as he tossed the beer over.

"Here, catch."

"Thanks, Jack."

"You're welcome, Sam."

Jack put his shades back on and gazed out over the lake, "Yes. This is the life" he murmured quietly to himself.

THE