I'll try not to keep you all in suspense for too long, but there is still a lot of angst to go through yet, so bear with me; you know I won't leave him like that!
Thanks once again for all your great reviews. Sorry but there's a few more tears to shed along the way before we get to the good bits.
NOTHING IS EVER THAT SIMPLE
By LetitiaRichards
Previously:
She felt a hand on her shoulder, and realised when that hand reached up to brush away the moisture on her cheeks, that she had been crying. Daniel offered her a tearful smile back and they melted into each others arms, bringing strength to one another and to prepare for whatever the future held for them all.
Chapter 5 – Sitting Vigil
They took turns in sitting with him. Hour after hour, turned into day after day. That first dreadful week was followed by the next.
With no sign of Jack waking yet, General Hammond had reluctantly recalled them back to their responsibilities. Janet had already returned to the SGC, unable to stay at his side for long; her duties inside the mountain had to take first priority. Now it was the same for the rest of SG-1.
Sam's expertise was needed urgently, so Daniel decided that he needed some time off and put in a determined request to use some of his accumulated leave that he had neglected to take in the past and put it into staying where Jack needed him the most. Hammond accepted and granted the request with a smile, knowing what the archaeologist wanted more than anything.
Hammond didn't care. Officially Dr. Jackson was on leave, and he knew without being told, that when the young man had used up all his leave, then Major Carter would most certainly put in a request for her vacation time, also spending the time at the hospital too, if things hadn't improved by then.
With Teal'c it was a little more awkward, but he would grant him leave too if and when the time came, working his way round official records to allow him to go to Sioux City or wherever, instead of going off-world to his family as he always did.
Jack would have his team round him at all times. With such dire consequences of his accident, Jack would not be left on his own; he would know that his friends were there for him, helping him through this crisis.
General Hammond had felt the deep pain of heartache when he had been given Janet's full report on Jack's condition as soon as she returned to the SGC. It felt like a physical blow and he had had to remain seated until he could feel the strength return to his suddenly weakened legs. He didn't know what to wish for. Was it wrong to hope that Jack died now without knowing how badly his body had been broken? It was a forlorn and useless wish that the man would recover fully. What he didn't want to see, was if Jack did survive this, that his spirit had died when he realised he could no longer live a useful life inside a crippled body. He knew Jack didn't want that. It was all down in his notes.
His one true hope lay in contacting the Asgard in the probability that Thor could reverse the damage or the Tok'ra if that failed. He felt it was almost certainly too much for Major Carter to deal with using the hand device and they couldn't risk using it in the hospital where Jack's sudden improvement would be more than a little difficult to explain. If they could only get Jack back here then all would be well. But that's wherein the tragedy lay. They couldn't move him yet, he was still too sick to attempt the transfer. The Doctors at the hospital were adamant that it was far too dangerous to make the attempt just yet, and Janet couldn't help but agree.
OoOoOoOoO
Daniel had sat by Jack's side hour after hour with no outward sign that the older man was still there. His hands and arms lay unnaturally still by his side. Daniel knew well from experience that Jack O'Neill was never still. A constant bundle of restless energy was how Daniel would describe Jack. Yet here he was as still as if he were dead already. The only movement detectable was the rise and fall of his chest when the ventilator pumped oxygen into his lungs.
He'd spent the last week sitting in the same hard chair. Watching. Waiting. Snatching a few minutes or occasional hours of sleep, yet never fully resting. Hoping for a miracle.
He yawned and rubbed his hands over his face, pushing his glasses up to rub at his tired eyes. He stood up and stretched his back, working all the kinks out from sitting so long in one spot and doing absolutely nothing, except reading the occasional pages of a book that Sam had sent him, though he couldn't concentrate on the words when he was so worried. He was just waiting impatiently for some sign to show that Jack was going to wake up, but so far there hadn't been even so much as a twitch from the man lying in the bed.
Daniel placed a hand on Jack's shoulder and leaned forward. Janet had said that Jack might be able to hear him if he talked to him and that talking to him might be the answer to finally waking him.
"Jack. You know, anytime you want to wake up would be good, but now would be a hell of a lot better. I know you're in there somewhere, so why don't you just show me those dark eyes of yours. C'mon, it's not that hard Jack. Please! Do it for Sam Jack. She needs you!"
Daniel picked up Jack's right hand and held it, while his other hand rested on Jack's shoulder willing him to so much as twitch. He gripped firmer, encouraging Jack to respond, despite being told that Jack wouldn't be able to feel or move his limbs. Not any more; not with his injuries.
"Come on Jack. I know you can do this!" he urged.
Daniel kept his eyes focussed on Jack's hand lying limp in his and sighed in disappointment. Well, maybe not today, he sighed.
He lay the scarred limp hand back onto the bed and turned round to gaze out of the window. The area outside was full of activity. People were hurrying about their business. Cars were jamming the street, horns honking. There were trucks, school busses, saloons, limos, police cars, the occasional fire truck and of course, being a hospital in a busy city, the inevitable flood of ambulances, with lights flashing and sirens wailing. You name Daniel saw it. Life went on around him, while his stood still, waiting for the inevitable; hoping for the impossible.
The door opened and Daniel turned to see the petite nurse enter, a cup of coffee in her hand and a ready smile on her lips.
"Good morning Dr. Jackson. How's our patient? Any change?" she asked, handing the coffee to Daniel and then taking a closer look at Jack.
"Hi Ellie, and no, there's no change. I've bullied him to wake up but the stubborn ass is as usual ignoring me."
Nurse Ellie Mansfield giggled as she made a note of Jack's vitals on his chart.
"Well, maybe later huh?" she sighed, looking down on her handsome patient, thinking that if he were only younger she could quite fancy him. It would be such a shame if the man didn't wake soon. His gorgeous friend here would be going home in a few days time, and she really wished that he would begin to recover before that happened.
"Yeah, maybe," Daniel echoed. "So what's on the agenda today?" he asked, absently turning his gaze back to the view outside the window.
Ellie didn't answer, and Daniel stopped drinking to look round at her again, wondering why.
"Ellie?"
He saw she was glued to Jack's face, a wide smile splitting her face and he forced his eyes to follow hers.
Deep brown sleepy eyes were watching her.
"Jack!" he cried in disbelief. His heart quickened with joy at seeing Jack awake. His half drunk coffee was forgotten and dumped the cup down quickly on the bedside table, taking Jack's still lifeless hand.
Jack blinked and with difficulty turned his attention to Daniel's voice. He recognised it as his friend, but couldn't for the life of him recall where he was or what had happened. He hadn't recognised the room or the pretty, young nurse.
He recognised the feeling of having a ventilator tube down his throat, so he didn't panic; for some reason he didn't understand as yet, he just didn't have the energy to fight it. His eyes tracked to the side when Daniel's shadow passed over his face. He saw deep relief in those moist blue eyes, and saw they harboured a deep sorrow too. How long had he been out of it? he wondered, and were things as bad as Daniel's expression was making out?
With the ventilator it was impossible to talk, so he couldn't ask what was wrong. He turned back to the nurse to see her smiling broadly and then she made an excuse to go off and find the doctor.
He frowned up at his friend, asking the question with his eyes.
Daniel was nothing if not perceptive and after a stab at guessing what Jack needed to know he filled him in on a few details.
"You had an accident Jack. Your truck was ran off the road and it overturned a few times. You were badly hurt. You're in the hospital in Sioux City."
Daniel stopped there, not wanting to tell his friend the worst news yet. He knew Jack wanted to hear the rest of it, but he couldn't bring himself to say it, not just yet.
"That was almost four weeks ago now," Daniel continued hesitantly.
"Da'yl!" Jack mumbled round the tube in his throat. He knew there was something Daniel was holding back. Knew it had to be bad, but he needed to know exactly how bad it was.
Daniel looked away in distress, but not before Jack had seen the few tears that had begun to roll down his cheeks. The shocking damnation of that moisture was enough for Jack to know the worst was yet to come. He tried moving his hand; tried to bring it up to look at it, but it wouldn't move. At first he thought it was because they had pumped him full of drugs, but now he wasn't so sure. He couldn't feel his arm. Or the other one, and come to think of it, he couldn't feel anything. He started to panic.
The alarms started squealing, and Daniel was trying his best to calm Jack down knowing he had been responsible for not being honest with his friend.
The door burst open and the doctor, followed by Ellie and a couple of other nurses all rushed in. The doctor injected something in Jack's IV and soon Jack's frantic reaction was easing off as the medication worked on sedating him. Jack was drifting off to sleep again, but seemed to be fighting it.
Daniel felt his heart break when he looked down on his friend. Jack had obviously worked it all out and come to the correct conclusion.
"What happened here?" demanded the doctor, looking with something like accusation in his eyes towards Daniel.
"I...em... I think he just discovered he couldn't move. He must have panicked," Daniel explained. He was worried about his friend and his decidedly frenzied reaction, but knew that it was worse for Jack, waking up to that.
There was at least one ray of hope now. If Jack was awake, he was obviously getting over the worst, so that meant they should be able to transfer him to the SGC soon and that meant Sam could work the healing device on him. They hadn't heard from Thor or the Tok'ra at all, so it was all down to Sam.
"I have allowed you to stay here on the understanding that you would sit quietly with him, but I was obviously wrong," the doctor snarled, anger hardening his voice. "I will not have you upsetting my patient. I am sorry Dr. Jackson but I must ask you to leave now."
Daniel wanted to object. He didn't want to leave Jack, but he had no authority here. His presence was a favour as he wasn't a relative, just a friend. Hammond had pulled a few strings and he'd been granted admittance just so long as the hospital allowed him there.
"Don't worry Jack. I'll be back and we'll get you back to the Academy hospital where we can look after you properly!" he said, leaning over to talk in Jack's ear, but his troubled eyes were fixed on the medic. He had to let Jack know that it would be okay.
With a last look at Jack's now lax features, he turned and walked from the room, never knowing whether Jack had heard and understood his last message.
The doctor glared at the retreating figure, then fiddled with the IV and checked and reset all the monitors, and then he made everyone leave the room so that his patient could sleep undisturbed.
OoOoOoOoO
"I'm sorry General, but they won't allow me back in to see Jack. They said he doesn't want to see anyone."
Daniel was on the phone to General Hammond. It had been a few days since he had been told to leave the hospital, though he'd stayed in the city. Since then Jack had apparently woken and the doctor had explained his condition to him, and now Jack was refusing to see anyone.
They all knew this was how Jack would react, but they hadn't bargained on not being able to get into the hospital to see him and talk to him; to try and reason with him; to make him understand that he would get better with Sam's help if no-one else's.
This called for the General to bring in the big guns, so he put a call through to the Pentagon.
The upshot was that Sam was reluctantly granted access along with Major Davis to see the Colonel and to arrange for his transfer to a military hospital, namely the Academy hospital in the Springs or the SGC. She had to see Jack so that she could let him know that there was still hope for him, and that she loved him, regardless of what happened at his house that night.
TBC
