AN: Ok, guys, shorter wait, longer part. Hope you like it!

Chapter Nine

It's dark. It's very dark. Probably because my eyes are closed. I'm going to take a mental inventory before I reveal that I'm awake. It's a military thing. I remember we were waiting for someone to invade or attack, so I might need to keep my consciousness to myself for a while. I methodically check my body, moving as much as I dare so as not to draw attention to myself. Everything seems pretty good, except for the blinding headache, which makes me think I might want to keep my eyes closed for a very long time and a rather disturbing heaviness in my chest which makes me think I'm having a heart attack. I know I'm not exactly the target risk group for such a thing, but the more I think about it, the more I realize I can barely suck in a full breath.

Fear that I'm about to die overrides the fear that I'm being observed by alien hostiles. My eyes open, wildly searching for someone to help. There are a bunch of people buzzing around, but none of them appear to be aliens and none of them appear to be paying any attention to me. I'm not as worried about my impending death anymore. The weight on my chest is much more easily explained by the little boy sound asleep on top of me than by a heart attack. As I sit up, I start to notice the extent of the chaos around me.

First of all, I'm on the floor of the control room. I can't imagine it seemed like a good idea to leave me here to take a nap, so something else that's a much bigger problem must be going on. Hammond is here, shouting his demand to know where the medical team is into the phone. He seems pleased to see me conscious. Probably because that's one less medical team he needs. Daniel and Walter are also sprawled on the floor and both of them are unconscious. I realize Jack's forehead bears an angry red splotch which is starting to blister. Which makes me suddenly aware that parts of my face are burning hot as well - I'm willing to bet from the same sort of burns.

"Major, get that iris closed!" Hammond's order does little to snap me out of my fog. I know Janet will have something to say about my ability to work if I reveal that everything seems to be kind of fuzzy and rather slow.

I'd rather she not find that out, so I pull myself to my feet, barely throwing myself into a chair before I collapse. I don't particularly recall the control room having been located on a Tilt-A-Whirl, but that's certainly what it feels like. I'm trying to be careful of Jack, who I'm now starting to realize is as unconscious as Daniel and Walter. I'm a little more confused and unfocused than I was before as I return to my fight with the computer. Regardless of how I feel, whatever just came through the gate is not going to win. I refuse to let it. Not after hurting my friends.

Mainly by accident, although I'll admit my illogical reasoning skills brought on by the crushing headache might have some effect, I retake control of the iris, getting it to slide closed with a satisfying thud. The rest of the computer can wait until I get something for my head. But just in case, I tell someone who may or may not be invisible to put the base on emergency power to ensure that no one can activate anything for the time being.

I turn around, the slight movement making my head hurt worse. The medical teams have arrived and are pouring over Walter and Daniel. I don't think they even notice the baby in my arms. Janet comes into the room, looking a bit frazzled at the situation. Usually people come through the gate injured; they don't get injured in the control room. Not that it hasn't happened before, admittedly it usually happens to me because I'm always the one trying to deal with the irrational computer when it's not working.

I know Janet's trying to figure out whether Walter or Daniel needs her help more. Finally, I catch her eye. Her mouth drops open at the sight of Jack. I guess she managed to avoid the rumors and the screaming. Lucky her.

"Can you walk, Sam?"

I nod, the sudden movement causing me to close my eyes against the waves of dizziness. "Yeah, I think so." It's not like Janet could carry me and I'm not about to get on a stretcher conscious, so I'll have to.

"Come with me." She reaches for Jack, probably to make sure he doesn't get hurt if I fall.

My arms clutch him. "I've got him." He's hurt and I don't want him to wake up with someone else. And I'm injured and dazed and this may well be the only time I can use Jack as a security blanket. Janet looks at me quizzically, as though she'd argue if I was in a better state of health. But all she does is pull me out of the way as Walter and Daniel get wheeled past us.

The guilt starts piling on by the time we get to the infirmary. It's my fault my friends were harmed. It's my fault Jack was harmed. This sweet little baby trusted me more than anyone else and I let him get hurt. I hug him tighter, growing more concerned by the minute that he's still out. Daniel is still unconscious too, but Daniel's remarkably hard to kill and Walter has started coming around, although I'm fairly certain his vivid descriptions of the dancing zebras in hula skirts might land him in the infirmary for a while.

Janet helps me onto a bed, digging her pen light out immediately. "Ok, Sam, if your head hurts, this isn't going to help."

I turn away. "Can you check on him first?" I maneuver Jack around to face her.

"You're not getting out of this. You lost consciousness."

"But I regained it and he didn't." Normally I wouldn't whine, but it seems perfectly acceptable to me at the moment.

Janet looks skeptical, but bends down to examine the burns on Jack's face anyway. She pries his eyes open one at a time to shine her light in them. "Is this your nephew?" She tickles his feet and my heart soars when he jerks them away from her.

"My nephew is eleven, Jan."

"I thought he was older than this." Janet smiles at Jack. As her fingers move to tickle his belly, Jack wakes up and twists around, trying to refasten himself to my neck. "He certainly does like you. So who is this precious little man?" She's totally taken in by him, I can tell by the stupid grin she's now sporting - the one that matches mine.

I grin as I turn Jack back around to face Janet. I lean down so Jack knows I'm talking to him. "This is my friend Janet." Jack blows her a kiss and I have to laugh even though it hurts my head. Of course he's not shy around her - his ability to avoid medical treatment at any cost is obviously an instinct. "Janet, this is-"

"Colonel O'Neill!" Her eyes widen as she looks at him. "Oh my God! How did this happen?" I open my mouth to respond, but before I can form words, Janet cuts me off. "Did it have something to do with a certain interlude in the ladies room earlier today?"

My face burns with a blush, but at least now it's probably hidden behind real burns. "Janet!" I look around to see if anyone overheard, but no one appears to be listening.

She looks alarmed, suddenly jumping away form the charmer in my lap. "It's not contagious, is it?"

"No. It's a long story that I might tell you sometime when there's lots of alcohol involved, but suffice it to say that it's not contagious."

Jack's apparently done being charming. He starts squirming until I let him face me once again. But rather than snuggling up to me, his face crumbles and he starts whimpering. I'm glad he's not crying because my head hurts so much. But it seems very unlike the temperament I've witnessed so far.

"Jan? What's wrong with him?" I'm not a mother. I have limited experience with kids. I didn't babysit when I was a teenager and most of the time I've spent with kids has been in the presence of their parents. Still, I feel panic setting in at the thought that Jack is hurt and can't articulate what he's feeling short of crying. Tears well in my eyes.

Pen light at the ready, Janet bends over Jack to examine him again. "His pupils look fine." Jack shrieks the minute she nails him with the light and hides his face in my neck again. "Was he with you when he was hurt?"

Just bury me in guilt, why don't you? "Yeah, he was just like this, actually."

"I think he's got the same concussion that you have, but he's honest enough to cry in pain over it." She calls a nurse over and tells her something quietly. "I'm going to give him something for the pain, but I'm assuming you'll refuse anything until you're done working."

"Everything you give me makes me sleepy and I can't sleep until the computers are working again." I look down at Jack, taking in his tiny, sniffling body. "What are you going to give him? Is it safe? Can you give babies pain medicine?"

Janet just laughs. "I am a doctor, Sam." She ruffles Jack's hair. "Don't worry, I won't hurt him."

Ok, I feel like an idiot. But it's not like little Jack came with instructions. Not that big Jack came with instructions either. His arms are loosening their hold on my neck and I can tell he's drifting off to sleep again. "Should he be sleeping like this?"

"Just wake him every hour or so and keep an eye out for anything weird."

"Weird, Janet? He's been physically attached to me since this happened. How would I know what's weird?"

Janet grins and I realize I shouldn't have said that. "I seem to recall him being physically attached to you before this happened."

I glare at my friend, able to abide her teasing since my concussion has re-induced the happy squishy puddle state of my brain. And the references to the kissing aren't hurting either. "Someday we're going to have a little chat about what can and can't be told to Daniel in confidence." I stand up slowly, knowing that moving too quickly will land me on the floor.

"Sam, you don't think you're getting out of the exam, do you?"

Damn. I was hoping the thoughts of me and Jack kissing had given her a happy squishy puddle brain as well. Reluctantly I sit back on the bed. "I really do need to get back to the computers, Jan."

"In a minute."

Janet gives me a rather cursory exam, which I'm very thankful for. She wakes Jack long enough to give him the medicine the nurse brought back. She even checks on Walter and Daniel's conditions, which are fine, except for a good round of burns and concussions for all involved, which are treated easily enough. I let her apply cream to Jack's burns, but refuse it for myself. As much as it hurts, I'd rather suffer than walk around the base with big slimy white patches on my face. She extorts a promise from me to return as soon as the computers are fixed so the staff can keep an eye on me during the night. Then she sends me on my way, although not without sending a nurse with me to make sure I get back to the control room all right.

As I duck through the control room door, I see a technician in my chair, reporting to General Hammond. The computers aren't working, but the base is on emergency power. Invisible man takes orders well, I guess. The tech turns to face the general, cringing when he sees me and Jack and immediately vacating my chair. He bites his lip nervously. "Sir, there appears to be an abnormality in the power usage."

I'd really like to bang my head into the wall, but I know that would hurt far too much. "Let me guess - the MALP room." The tech nods.

General Hammond looks at me, a cross between a wince and wink in his eyes. "Major, you're not going anywhere near it."

I glance down at Jack who is sucking his thumb once again. I smile at the tech. "Have Siler blow it to hell." If only Jack were old enough to appreciate me siding with him for once.

Hammond nods in agreement. "Do it before Dr. Jackson decides to talk to it."

"I'll get back to work on the system, sir." I drop into my chair, rationalizing that if I hurry up and get it fixed then I can sleep sooner.

"Are you and Jack all right?" Hammond's fatherly concern comes through once again and I'm glad for it. I'm not used to him being mean.

"Yes, sir, we'll be fine."

"Good." That's the general I know. Hammond leans over and smiles. Jack's eyes are drooping once again, but he's awake. Amazingly he doesn't recoil in fear. "I wonder if we can keep him this little. He's a lot less trouble than you were."

Luckily, he can't see my blush.