Thanks once again for all your wonderful reviews. Things are improving, I swear! Hope you enjoy this chapter too.

I've actually caught up with myself now, so chapters might be a little slower in coming. Sorry!

NOTHING IS EVER THAT SIMPLE

By LetitiaRichards

Previously:

Jack was moved to agree.

"Okay Doc," he said, his voice wavering with emotion. "Take me home!"

Chapter 10 – Not Out of the Woods Yet

Janet nodded and radioed for the others to move in.

She could hear the rumpus from down the corridor getting nearer as the ambulance technicians wheeled the specially equipped gurney towards Jack's room. Sam and Daniel hurried in and both were smiling and crying at the same time. Teal'c hovered behind them and helped fend off the hospital's security guards along side the USAF security detail assigned to protect them.

Sam was so happy to see Jack again, and ignoring the others in the room, planted a kiss on Jack's brow. She was scared by the sight of him, he looked so haggard and ill; his body only half the size of the man she knew. It pained her to see him like this, but the important thing was that they had found him and she could put it right.

Jack looked shocked but gave her a small smile of relief.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"So am I. I love you Jack!" she whispered in his ear, making his smile widen and more tears to form behind his eyes. He must be getting soft in his old age, he thought. "I've missed you so much," she added.

"It's great to see you again Jack. I'm sorry. If only I had stayed that day, we might have discovered this earlier."

Jack was too choked up to answer his friend, but nodded. There would be plenty of time for talking later. He'd missed this. He'd never felt so alone as he had these past weeks.

Janet adjusted the equipment and hooked Jack up to the portable equipment for the journey to the SGC. They all lifted him as gently as possible onto the gurney, surprised at how much weight he'd lost. He weighed next to nothing. Once he was settled and covered over, Janet fiddled with all the gear needed to maintain his vitals once more. She couldn't just switch off the machines without knowing the extent of any damage he may still be suffering from. She would have to wean the drugs out of his system first, before she could see the real problems, if there were any. As an afterthought Janet snatched up the notes on the bottom of Jack's bed. She might as well make use of their records. It might help.

Jessie Appleby demanded to know what was going on and why they were removing the patient.

Janet ignored her ranting until she reached the entrance, then she turned on her. She may have been short but she could take anyone down a peg or two with her own firebrand method of giving orders and expecting them to be obeyed. Only this time she was beyond livid with these people for what they had done to the Colonel.

"You and your directors will be hearing from the Pentagon over this. Don't be surprised if you lose your licence to practice Doctor," she spat venomously.

Janet climbed up into the ambulance and watched as the doors shut behind her, the others piled into the back of the sedan and the hummvee. The three vehicles setting off to the place where the Chinook was waiting for them.

In the background Jessie Appleby was yelling at her staff and running into the entrance hall waving her hands in the air. She wouldn't get far, the Police had already been called to investigate and were on their way with a medical team and warrants for her arrest, as well as Miss Stratton's, and they were armed with a search warrant. Perhaps Jack hadn't been the only unfortunate victim of their little scam.

Even the relatively short trip to the helicopter had tired Jack, and Janet had been watching over him like a hawk all the way. She could tell he was weak. His muscles would have atrophied all the time he had been lying there unable to move. She doubted whether they had set up a programme of exercises to keep his limbs supple, it certainly hadn't looked like it. He would need a lot of physical therapy to get them moving again and to build up the strength in them once more. Looking at him now, he was little more than skin and bone, his cheeks had sunken and his skin hung loose. It was going to be a long haul, but hopefully Sam might be able to shorten that considerably. If Sam could repair the damage, then with a lot of encouragement, Jack could accomplish the rest.

OoOoOoOoO

By the time the Chinook touched down on the helipad at Cheyenne mountain, Jack was showing signs of distress. Janet hadn't given him anything to help him because she was as yet unsure of what they had been giving him, which wasn't helping him. She had been reluctant to give him any more medication until she knew what exactly they had been pumping into him all this time; the notes she had been reading weren't at all specific.

On hitting the infirmary she started barking out her orders for X-rays, MRI's, scans, blood tests, etc., in fact, everything she could think of. She want a complete picture of Jack's body before she removed any superfluous equipment, or gave him anything for the pain that she knew he would soon be feeling when she weaned him from the paralysing agent. The gurney carrying Jack, with Janet and Ellie hurrying alongside, disappeared into the infirmary and the door firmly shut on everyone else.

General Hammond arrived too late to see his 2IC, but judging by the look on the anxious faces of his team, it was probably about as bad as he imagined it to be.

"Did you have any problems Major?" he asked Sam.

"No sir. They weren't expecting us. When we left we passed the police officers on their way. I don't think anyone had time to escape sir. One of the director's was missing, but I doubt she'll get away. At this point in time there's no knowing who or how many exactly were involved General."

"Good work SG-1. How is he?"

Daniel looked down at the floor and Sam could barely keep the tears from flowing.

"O'Neill has lost an inordinate amount of weight General Hammond. Dr. Fraiser has expressed her concerns about this," Teal'c said, excusing his team-mates from answering the question which neither of them could find the words to describe Jack's pathetic condition.

"I see. Apart from that?" he persisted. He was desperate to know how Jack was. He'd been stuck on base for hours just waiting for news.

"Quite frankly General, he's a mess," Daniel sighed, swiping his glasses from his face, squeezing his eyes shut tight and pinching the bridge of his nose hard.

For a moment, Hammond had visions of losing Jack after all; that they were indeed too late after all they had done to find him. Surely it couldn't be that bad?

They all fell into a tense silence, each wrapped up in their own thoughts. It seemed like hours before the infirmary doors opened and Janet stepped out. Daniel looked at his watch when he saw Janet's exhausted features, realising that it had been hours.

Sg-1 had stayed put, but General Hammond had been recalled to his office, but now he had returned to hear the news. He only just arrived when Janet put in an appearance. The others leapt to their feet, except Teal'c that is, who rose sedately, even gracefully.

"Doctor?" Hammond needed only to say her name for her to give him what he wanted to hear.

Janet took a moment to gather her tired thoughts. She pulled the rubber gloves from her hands with a snap, hoping she could strangle Dr. Andrews and his colleagues whomever they were. Jack didn't deserve this.

"To be blunt sir, his legs are a mess. The X-rays show that both legs were indeed shattered in the accident, but the bast..." she stopped, pulling together the last vestiges of professionalism she could muster. "...they didn't set them properly sir, if at all. They left his legs as they were... there's no way he could walk with them in that condition." she paused while Sam stifled a sudden sob; her hand flying upwards to cover her mouth. "The drugs used on him were a paralysing agent I've never come across before sir. They blocked any messages from the brain, completely disrupting the neural pathways, making it impossible for him to feel anything, yet it didn't affect his heart. Sir, I would say this was something from off-world. I've never seen anything quite this intense sir, and I don't think anyone on earth would know about it either. It has to be something to do with either the NID or maybe an alien influence."

Hammond thought it most likely to be something the NID had dreamed up. Or, and god help them if it was, it had something to do with Maybourne and the missing Goa'uld in the form of Adrian Conrad. He could be the only one with such knowledge. He didn't like the idea that a Goa'uld was out there at best, but now had he started to pick off his best team. Having gotten Jack out of the way like this, would he have started on the others? It didn't bear thinking about. What did Maybourne hope to gain from it? His brow deepened when a sudden thought came to him. If the Goa'uld and Maybourne were behind this, then Jack's accident had to have been planned.

Hammond nodded his agreement with her thoughts. He could totally believe that now.

"So, what can you do for him?"

"Well, for a start, I'm weaning him off the drug gradually, but I don't know how he is going to react yet sir. And then there's the prospect that he's going to be in a lot of pain when the feeling does return to his legs. I won't be able to give him anything for the pain without knowing what, if any, adverse reactions he might suffer if my drugs were incompatible with the alien one. Then it's a case of Sam being able to use the hand device if we haven't heard from Thor or the Tok'ra in the meantime. I'm not even sure that the device can put right the amount of damage done sir. It could be permanent.

"I see. I'm sure you will do your best Doctor. May I see him for a few moments?"

"Yes sir. I've had to keep the ventilator in I'm afraid, but only until the drug has been cleared from his system and his lungs have recovered. At the moment it is the only thing keeping him alive; he can't breathe on his own yet sir."

Hammond nodded and prepared himself to enter the infirmary and see for himself the condition of his friend and subordinate.

Even though he'd psyched himself up for the inevitable, it still came as a shock to see Jack lying there, pale and gaunt and so very still. It unnerved him. For a moment, he had visions of his poor wife during her last days, reliant on the ventilator until the time came to switch it off. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he ventured any nearer.

"Jack?"

Jack fought his way through his exhaustion to open his eyes and look up at the person who had spoken.

"Sir," he sighed with a weary smile.

"How're you doing son?"

Jack's ventilator sucked noisily as he tried to talk over it.

"Been better sir," he said, grinning. It was good to be home, among friends, and best of all to know that he wasn't totally paralysed. He could barely wait for the drugs to wear off, though Janet had warned him it might prove to be painful too.

Hammond couldn't help but admire the man. He'd been through more than any man ever should, and yet, sick as he was, he was ready to smile.

"And you're going to get better too son. That's a promise!"

Jack sighed with regret. The news that his legs were damaged hadn't been welcome, but Janet had also promised that Sam would use the healing device on him so it may not be a problem any more.

"Do we know who was behind all this sir?" Jack asked, pulling Hammond from his straying thoughts.

"From the evidence so far, I'd say we have a pretty good idea it would have to be Maybourne and that missing Goa'uld Jack. Dr. Fraiser has said that the drugs used to suppress the feeling to your limbs was of alien origin."

"Rat Bastard!" Jack spat. He was sooo gonna kill Maybourne when he got hold of him. Obviously shooting him in the basement of that hospital hadn't worked so they'd tried to get rid of him another way. What he was going to do to that sneaky little rat Maybourne was nobody's business. Killing him would be too good and far too quick.

Hammond laid a hand on Jack's shoulder to catch his attention before he'd remembered that Jack couldn't feel it. He withdrew his hand in embarrassment before Jack noticed his mistake.

"Jack?"

Jack opened his eyes again, and despite the lack of the usual sparkle there, he could see that Jack would settle for nothing less than to do unmentionable things to the disgraced former officer.

"Sir?"

"Give it time Jack. We'll get them. That's a promise!"

"Yes sir!" Jack said. His eyes drifted closed and Hammond left him to rest.

On leaving the infirmary he spotted Ellie who was approaching Jack, making sure he was comfortable. He saw how good she was with him and how Jack accepted her help. Without her none of this would have been possible. Jack would still be lost out there somewhere. How long they would have kept him alive was anyone's guess? They owed this young woman a great deal.

He had an idea and called Janet to his office for a conference.

TBC