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Glad you're enjoying this. So as a reward, here's the next chapter already!
NOTHING IS EVER THAT SIMPLE
By LetitiaRichards
Previously:
Maybe Jack had gone to the cabin? But then, he wouldn't perhaps like her going up there without an invite, plus she wasn't too sure where it was, never having been there before, and with no address it would be useless to try. It was frustrating having to sit by and wait, but she was determined to get to him before he left for the mountain on Monday at the latest, or better still she would come back to the house on Sunday evening.
Chapter 3 – Shocking news.
The phone rang and rang interrupting Sam's dreams. Suddenly realising that it was the phone that had woken her, she snatched it up, rubbing at her eyes in an effort to wake up.
"Carter," she answered through a yawn.
"Major Carter..."
She immediately recognised the voice on the other end of the line.
"General, sir?" she was worried now. It was unusual that the General called her, let alone in the middle of the night. It was 04:19 hrs, Sam noticed the time on her bedside clock. The big red glowing figures unmistakable in the dark.
"I'm sorry to have to wake you Major, but do you think you could come in? Something has cropped up. I'd rather not mention it over the phone."
"Ah...yes sir, of course. I'll be there as soon as I can sir."
"Thank you."
The phone cut off and Sam sat up in bed staring at it in curiosity. The General had sounded really worried; something was obviously wrong at the SGC. The tone of his voice had made him sound tired and 'old'.
She pulled herself together and dashed into the bathroom to take a quick shower and change before rushing off to Cheyenne Mountain.
OoOoOoOoO
The elevator doors opened and Sam stepped out, only to almost bump into Daniel. He dropped a sheaf of papers and bent down to pick them up. Sam helped, handing them back as they started to move on.
"Hey, Daniel. Do you know what's going on?" Sam asked, thinking perhaps that because Daniel had been here, he might know what the problem was.
"Hey Sam," Daniel greeted her with a smile now. "How's things? And no I have no idea what's going on. I just got a message that General Hammond wanted to see SG-1 in the briefing room."
Sam ignored the part where he had asked her how things were. She wanted to say terrible, but she kept those dark and gloomy thoughts to herself.
"Then I guess we should head there to find out!" Sam sighed. She still felt a little tired, but pushed it aside. Being military, one had to forgo one's own personal feelings when your CO needed a job done.
They both walked down the corridor to meet up with Teal'c as he was about to step into the room.
"Hey Teal'c!" Sam called with a smile.
"Major Carter. Daniel Jackson," Teal'c replied with a slight incline of his head in greeting his team-mates.
It was too late to ask the big Jaffa if he knew what this meeting was about because they were already entering the room, surprised to see the General already sitting at the table waiting for them. His hands were fisted together, pressed against his brow. He looked up at their entry and Sam saw that he suddenly looked old, and tired as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Something bad must have happened because most things didn't have this effect on the General; he always faced adversity head on.
"Major, Dr. Jackson, Teal'c. Take a seat."
They passed a worried look between them as they each took their seats. They had expected Jack to be there too, but Sam guessed he was probably on his way back from wherever he had been heading.
Daniel obviously wasn't aware that Jack had gone away therefore he asked that pertinent question.
"Is Jack not coming General?"
General Hammond sighed and shook his head.
"No son, that's why we're here. I've just been notified that Colonel O'Neill was involved in an RTA in Iowa..." His voice trailed off when there were gasps of horror coming from his team, well, two of them at least. Teal'c just arched his eyebrow higher than usual with a deep frown.
"Oh god!" moaned Sam, the full horror had struck her like a lightning bolt.
"How...um...?" Daniel's voice broke and he cleared his throat, trying not to squeak. "Is he...um...okay?" Daniel demanded to know. He couldn't believe that he might lose Jack from something so mundane as a road traffic accident. A thought suddenly occurred to him. "What was he doing in Iowa?" At the back of his mind he did wonder if perhaps Jack had really been sent on a dangerous undercover mission and had been wounded or something in the aftermath and the General was covering it up, but then he knew he wasn't being fair to the General. After the last fiasco, he had promised that they would be told of any covert missions involving Jack so as to avoid any future misunderstandings.
General Hammond let them calm down a little. He could see that Major Carter looked tearful and was trying hard not to let her emotions show. Dr. Jackson had no problem with allowing his concern to show through. Teal'c, the General noted, was also shocked but was managing to maintain his dignity as befitting the stoical Jaffa.
"Colonel... Jack," he amended, "called me last night and told me he was heading off to his cabin for a few days. He said he needed to get away to do some thinking."
Daniel acknowledged this but still needed to know how Jack was. He had the distinct impression the news wasn't good. He'd lost so many friends along the way; was...had he lost Jack too?
General Hammond sipped some water from the glass in front of him then cleared his throat.
Sam was practically screaming inside for him to get on with telling them how bad he was; but on the other hand, there was no way she wanted to hear him say that Jack was dead either. Was this her fault? Had he gone off in a tearing hurry and wasn't thinking straight? That thought almost had her running from the room; she felt sick.
"At this point in time I have no further details on what happened or how. As to what his current condition is, well, I only know that he was seriously injured." He paused to swallow the lump he found restricting his throat.
He sucked in a huge breath then continued in a subdued voice.
"The doctor's...were operating, but they don't hold out much hope of him surviving his injuries." He momentarily closed his eyes in a sick kind of relief. There...he said it, but it still didn't seem possible or real; it was more like a nightmare - frightening, but not quite tangible, just out of reach to grasp the horrifying truth.
Jack was like a son to him. If he lost Jack the pain inside would be like he was losing his wife all over again. Jack was an incredibly unholy terror at times; insubordinate and stubborn to boot, but he was also endearing and brutally honest, and totally loyal towards him, the SGC and his team-mates; especially his team - they were his family; he lived for them and treated them as his 'kids'. His mind kept playing images of Jack over and over in his head and it was difficult to think of life in the SGC without the man around. He'd often visualised SG-1 returning without one or the other from some battle fought off-world, but he never thought he would lose hi best officer like this.
Without another word from Jack's team, who were deep in shock, he spoke up, telling them of the arrangements he'd taken the liberty of making for them.
"I know you'd all like to be with him at this time, so I've arranged for you all to be flown out to Sioux City where the Colonel is in the local hospital. Dr. Fraiser will be going with you to assess his condition. I've booked you all into the nearest hotel. There's transport ready on the tarmac at Peterson for when you're ready. Keep me appraised of his condition. God speed people."
With that, the General stood and walked slowly back to his office, his head hung low, his shoulders stooped with sadness. It had hit SG-1 hard, but the General shared their pain too, and every one of his years reminded him that perhaps retirement wasn't so very far away after all. He'd been grooming Jack to take his place one day, and didn't look forward to training someone else. Jack was this place; he was the SGC, whether he knew it or even liked the idea of being 'the man' or not, he was the best person for the job.
OoOoOoOoO
"Oh great!" Daniel sighed unhappily when he spotted the waiting transport at the AF base. They'd just arrived and watched the staff car drive off to return to the SGC. Now they faced the next leg of their journey and Daniel was far from happy when he saw what was waiting for them on the tarmac.
Sam glanced sideways at him in puzzlement.
"Daniel? What's wrong?"
"Did I ever tell you I hate helicopters," he explained woefully. "I get sick in them."
"Don't worry Daniel, I'll take care of you," Janet responded with a smirk. She delved into her bag and brought out two pills. "Here take these and you'll be fine."
"You sure?" he asked doubtfully.
"Are you doubting my word as your physician Dr. Jackson? Janet huffed, but winked at Sam without Daniel seeing.
"What? Ah...no, of course not!" he denied it sounded like it did. "I...I didn't mean it like that..." he stuttered, hoping he hadn't offended her. She sounded like she'd taken umbrage by the way she'd said his title rather than his name. She'd threatened Jack enough times with those big needles; and that was the last thing he needed the next time he visited the infirmary.
With a stern look from a pretending to be mollified Janet, he swallowed the tablets down with a noisy gulp and prepared to climb on board.
Sam snorted and nudged her best friend for leading Daniel on, on purpose. Janet threw her an innocent look just before Sam climbed up after Teal'c, and followed her.
After fastening their safety helmets and seat belts, the helicopter lifted off, accompanied by Daniel's soft groan when it tilted forward slightly and banked right.
Janet rolled her eyes at Sam but by then, all Sam could think about wasn't Daniel's discomfort, but in what state they would find Jack when they got there; hoping of course that he'd survived long enough in the first place.
General Hammond had said he had been seriously injured, and if it wasn't for the fact that it was in too public a hospital, she would have used the healing device. They would have to transfer Jack back to the SGC first before she could even attempt to use alien technology.
She couldn't help but think about their last encounter. She had run away from his kiss believing she had overstepped the line, but he had believed it was all his fault. Would she get the chance to correct the misunderstanding that had arisen that night? Was it just a matter of hours ago? It seemed like a life time had passed by already. She certainly felt older, but not necessarily wiser. If that were the case, she would have been able to talk to him instead of running off like she had. All she wanted to do was turn the clock back and not make the same mistake.
All too soon they were landing and Sam realised that she had spent the whole time so wrapped up in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed. Good job this wasn't a mission as such; the Colonel would have... The thought struck her then that perhaps he never would again be there to pull her up short if her mind wandered; he might not be there to pull her ass out of the fire, yet again. She choked back the tears and told herself that she should be ashamed of burying the man before knowing how badly injured he was. She mentally shook herself and threw herself into command which was what she was now; their acting CO in the Colonel's absence.
They were met at the landing pad and taken straight into the hospital while their bags were taken to the hotel. Neither one of them could delay seeing their friend and Co. They all needed to know how he was.
TBC
