Part 3
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SG-6 and Dr. Frasier entered the lobby and were greeted by Wilsa. Before she could voice her stock greeting Arnold spoke, enunciating carefully, "We have come to get our friends. You will take us to them, now."
"They are deep within their dreams and cannot be awakened safely until it has run its course," she repeated her reply from before and the Lt. Colonel grabbed her upper arm, much to her distress. "You must not do this. I cannot help you."
"You will help us or I will destroy this facility." Arnold clenched his teeth to keep from saying more.
"You cannot. You would not," she sputtered.
"Then don't make me. Take us to our friends. Now!"
"As you will, but the result will not be to your liking." Wilsa stood taller and attempted to pull away.
"No, I'm not letting go of you until we're out of here."
"This way, then." She sniffed haughtily and pointed toward a door across from the entrance. He pulled her roughly along behind him. Lt. Meyers pushed the wide frosted glass door that pivoted on a single point and held it for the rest of the rescue party.
They passed several rooms that looked like upscale hotel rooms. Meyers snarled, "What are these rooms? Are they where you fool your victims into thinking this is just a resort?"
Horrified, Wilsa replied, "No! They are relaxation rooms where our guests calm themselves before realization of their deepest desires. The beds are equipped with sensors that read the occupant's thoughts and formulate the fantasy for the guest or party of guests."
"Where are they now?" asked the Lieutenant.
"After their dream world has been composed, they are moved to the dreaming chambers where the fantasy is implanted." Wilsa walked on the tips of her toes as the much taller Arnold pulled her down the corridor by her arm.
She directed them to the sealed chamber holding SG-1. When it didn't respond to any commands or actions they tried, Lt. Meyers took his P-90 and smashed the opening mechanism. He pried the door open and entered to face a very surprised Technician Fros.
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Some Days it Doesn't Pay to Get Out of Bed -
Jack woke up feeling disoriented and nauseated. His head felt like someone was playing hockey with it. He heard someone yelling desperately, "No, you must not turn that off. You will bring them out too soon. We cannot be responsible for their mental and emotional well being if it is not done correctly."
"Colonel, just lie still. You've been under sedation for several days," Dr. Frasier explained.
"Where's Sam? Where's my wife?" Colonel O'Neill asked, still mentally in the dream world.
The confused expression on Dr. Frasier's face sent alarms bells off in his head. After a few second's pause, she finally answered, "Sir, Sam is right over there. I've given her and Dr. Jackson something to counteract the sedative. They should be waking up any time now. Teal'c is another matter."
"What's wrong with Teal'c, Doc?" O'Neill attempted to sit up despite the doctor's attempts to keep him lying down.
"Well, the best I can tell, he's been sedated chemically and using some rather unusual hardware." She gestured to the wall of equipment at the head of the bed Teal'c lay on. "I've just turned off the equipment and he should be awake shortly as his symbiote counteracts the chemical sedatives naturally."
The yelling continued as Technician Fros and Supervisor Thuw protested the removal of their guests. "We were helping them realize their desires. You must let them finish the fantasy."
"Can you get them to shut up, Doc? My head is killin' me," protested O'Neill. Standing unsteadily, he walked to Sam's bed and took her hand in his. She was just beginning to wake, thrashing about frantically. Cradling her head, Jack felt the shorn hair on the back. He turned her head to see a wide patch of cropped hair. The sight brought another wave of dizziness and he remembered cutting her hair for some strange reason. Something had been trying to kill her.
"Jack," Sam called anxiously and opened her eyes. Seeing her "husband" she sat up and threw her arms about him, relieved he wasn't really gone. "When you disappeared from the diner, sweetheart, I was frantic. Then Daniel disappeared too." Dr. Frasier and the members of SG-6 watched as Major Carter sat up and kissed Colonel O'Neill as if fearing he'd been lost. To their amazement, he kissed her back just as desperately. Separating their lips reluctantly, the pair hugged. A concerned Sam turned in Jack's arms to ask Dr. Frasier, "Who's taking care of our kids, Janet? Lt. Rush again?"
"Uh, Sam, you don't have any children…" speaking softly, Janet faltered, as though speaking to people not quite in touch with reality.
Jack's arms tensed around Sam. "Janet, of course we do. You and Cassie were taking care of them this morning while we went to breakfast." Jack was beginning to sense something wrong. 'Why are we in this lab? We were just in the diner.' He looked to his wife and saw her look of horror as she sat back on the dream bed.
"Noooooooooooo…" the keening wail came from Sam. She wrapped her arms around her torso and began to rock on the bed. Dr. Frasier rushing to attend to Sam didn't see Jack back away, stepping slowly, mechanically until he met the wall and slid to the floor.
His consciousness of the world around him faded. XXX
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Waking Up is Hard to Do -
The four members of SG-1 lay quietly in the large isolation room. Dr. Frasier stood outside the room talking with General Hammond about their state. "Their levels of serotonin are still dangerously low, sir, and they're barely aware of their surroundings. The abrupt nature of their awakening has had more serious aftereffects than I anticipated. Their immersion into the fantasy world was much deeper than their physiological responses indicated at the time. Technician Fros told me he'd increased their sedatives drastically and adjusted the programming constantly to keep them in the fantasy world. If only I'd listened to Fros and not awakened them so abruptly."
"Dr. Frasier, I'm quite confident you did the best anyone in that situation could have."
"Teal'c is, as usual, in better shape. He's been in and out of consciousness. Dr. Jackson is in better shape than Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter, but not by much."
"Can you do anything for them, Doctor? Will they come out of it?" asked the General, greatly concerned for his subordinates and friends.
Dr. Frasier paused to frame her response carefully. "I don't know, sir. They remain in a state of extreme depression. I gather their lives in the fantasy world were pretty wonderful. Teal'c and his family were living happily on Chulak and Dr. Jackson's wife was still alive. Sha're was rescued from Apophis instead of Ska'ara." She paused again, then continued, "Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter were married to each other with young children. Understandably, none of them want to return to this world."
The General sighed heavily, deeply saddened at the report. "Do what you can for them, Doctor, and please keep me informed." She assured him he would be the first to know of any change. He turned and walked toward the elevators.
"Dr. Frasier." Lt. Connors opened the door and called urgently. "Teal'c is responding to stimuli again."
"Thank you, Lieutenant." The doctor walked to his side. More softly, she asked "How are you, Teal'c?"
"I am better, Dr. Frasier. I was not as deeply wrapped up in the dream world as were my teammates." Although he was never an emotionally demonstrative person, Janet believed he was more subdued than usual. "How long have we been here? How are my teammates?"
"Ten days and they are not well, Teal'c. They remain despondent and unresponsive."
"May I speak with them privately? They may respond better to me," Teal'c requested.
"Please do. I'll be right outside it you need me." She was hopeful he could make a difference where medical science had failed. She disconnected the sensors linking him to the monitoring equipment and removed the IV needle from his arm. Then Janet quickly moved to the door and closed it behind her.
"DanielJackson, wake up. You must help me with MajorCarter and O'Neill. They need our help," the Jaffa appealed to his friend. For a few minutes nothing happened as Teal'c continued to speak to Daniel quietly, urging his friend to wake. Finally, his patience was rewarded when Daniel blinked and focused for a few seconds.
Daniel tried to speak but found his throat too dry. Teal'c held a straw in a cup of water to his lips while he drank. "Where are we, Teal'c?"
"We are in the SGC, DanielJackson. We were rescued from the 'resort' on The World of Dreams and have been here for some days while Dr. Frasier has attempted to heal our minds."
"Sha're isn't really alive, is she?" Daniel suspected he already knew the truth.
"No, DanielJackson. I killed her on Abydos months ago to save your life," Teal'c replied sadly.
Daniel turned his face to the wall. "Let me have a little time, Teal'c."
"We do not have any time, DanielJackson. Major Carter and O'Neill need us now if they are to recover from this assault. Their grief has not allowed them to mend the damage done to their minds. You have already come to terms with your grief in the real world. You can do so again. They have need of us now."
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Sam couldn't adjust to her barren life – no husband, no children, no real home. She paced restlessly in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows in her bedroom, lonely but not willing to go out or call someone. SG-1 was on downtime until they were judged fit for duty.
'Maybe a bath will help me relax. I can't stay in my pajamas all day. There must be something I can do after that,' she thought, desperate to distract herself from her endless thoughts of Jack, Mikey and Megan. While the bath was filling, Sam put out fresh towels and took off her PJs. Just as she was about to step into the tub, the doorbell rang. She turned off the water and slipped on a silk robe from the hook on the back of the door. Silently, Sam padded barefoot to the front door and looked through the peephole. Recognizing the person who stood waiting, she pulled the robe belt more securely around her and opened the door.
"Sir, what are you doing here?" she gaped at him. Lack of sleep had made her usually brilliant mind dull.
"I came to talk with you, Sam. I can't stand the way things are here. I miss our kids. I miss you. If we had the option, I'd go back to the dream world," Jack said standing outside her door. "Can I come in?"
"Oh. Yes. Come in. I'm sorry. I haven't slept much since we left the SGC." She stood back from the door, motioning for him to come in. Jack followed her into the living room and perched on the edge of the sofa. She sat on the other end, curling her legs under herself and pulling the colorful robe down over them. "What did you want to talk about, sir?"
"I wanted to know if you experienced the same fantasy I did. And if it's affecting you as much as mine did me." Jack's voice was harsh with emotion.
She knew if he was openly admitting to being disturbed the effect had to be pretty devastating. Jack O'Neill was not someone who could speak freely about his feelings. "From what Janet told me, a special dream world was constructed, composed, for the four of us to live in." Sam didn't want to describe her experience again. Dr. MacKenzie had interrogated the team constantly for the past two weeks.
Jack apparently had no such qualms and began, "You weren't in the military any more due to an injury in the first Gulf War. You were a civilian employee of the SGC and commanded SG-7, the science team. Hammond took you off SG-1 after we started dating. You and I were married for five years." He stopped, glancing up as she drew in a shaky breath. She nodded for him to continue. "We had three year old twins, Megan and Michael. God, I miss them!"
Sam closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around herself. Corralling her raw emotions, she opened her eyes. "Yeah," stopped to clear her throat, "Yes, sir, that pretty much describes it." Sam knew her face had to echo her pain and vulnerability because Jack stood and walked to her end of the sofa to sit next to her. His arms engulfed her and she finally gave in to the need to cry. Sam thought of the times during their marriage where he had held her like this - when her father was dying, when they thought Daniel died and when Ska'ara died.
"What are we gonna do, Sam? I don't want to be without you. Not after knowing how wonderful it would be, how well we fit together," Jack muttered into her hair. The scent of her was making his very tired head swim.
"It was wonderful, wasn't it, Jack, sir?" Sam nestled into his arms, immensely comforted by his presence and touch. It was making her sleep-deprived body and mind relax for the first time in weeks.
"Yeah," Jack whispered and let a comfortable silence take over. After a while, her breathing evened out and he knew she was sleeping. He carefully picked her up and carried her into the bedroom. It was the work of moments to lay her down and pull the covers up.
Jack was turning to go back to the living room when Sam grabbed his hand. "Stay. Hold me. Just hold me," she asked. With some misgivings, he moved around the bed, removed his shoes and lay down on top of the covers. Sam rolled into his arms and was asleep again in minutes. For the first time in weeks, Jack was happy and his own exhaustion caught up with him, sending him down into a restful, healing sleep.
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I Want It All -
General Hammond was surprised to see Colonel O'Neill back in his office when he was supposed to be on down time. "Colonel, didn't I order you not to come back for at least a week?"
"Yes, sir, but I needed to talk with you about something sort of... personal," O'Neill grimaced at the very thought. 'What was I thinking this morning, leaving Sam asleep like that to come ask Hammond for advice on my love life?'
"Don't you think Dr. MacKenzie would be a better person to speak with than me, son?" replied the rather bewildered general.
The Colonel frowned with distaste at the mention of his least favorite psychiatrist. "No, this is more in your area than his."
"Have a seat, then. What's on your mind?"
"You know what happened to us, Major Carter and me, in the facility on The World of Dreams?" At the General's nod, he continued, "We're both having a hard time getting away from the dream world. It was so wonderful. I'm not sure how she feels about this, but I don't want to give up the relationship we found there."
"What can I do for you besides tell you the regulations don't allow for such a relationship unless one of you leaves SG-1?" Hammond appeared concerned at the direction the conversation was taking.
"Sir, Sam was a civilian consultant in that world and ran her own team of scientists for the SGC. Couldn't she do the same here?"
"As much as I'd love to see the two of you happy, let me be the devil's advocate for a minute here, Jack. You know Major Carter's due for promotion to Lieutenant Colonel and should easily make full Colonel in a couple more years. Why would she give up what promises to be a very bright future in the Air Force to marry and lead a team as a civilian? Would that be fair to her, or the right thing to do for the fight against the Goa'uld?" Hammond reluctantly said. "Would you both be happy in the long run if she gives up so much?"
Jack knew exactly what he meant, thinking, 'Why should Major Carter give up her career to marry me?' Bowing his head, Jack answered his commander, "Because she loves me and we had the perfect life when we were together."
"In the dream world, you mean," Hammond reminded him.
"Yeah. It was just a dream, wasn't it?" Jack mumbled, disappointed. He stood to leave. "Thanks for your time, sir. I'll see you in a week."
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Sam ran to get the telephone before the answering machine picked up. She slid across the polished wood floor in her stocking feet and grabbed the handset on the last ring, "Hello."
"Carter, is it okay if I drop by again?" The formality in Colonel O'Neill's voice startled her after last night.
"Of course, Ja- sir. Can I ask why?" She had been so positive about everything when she'd awakened after her best night's sleep in weeks. The note he'd left on her extra pillow said he'd see her later. 'So, why is he asking if he can come by if he knows I'm already expecting him? Is he trying to tell me something, to prepare me for bad news?'
"I think we need to talk, but it can wait until I get there. See you in an hour, Carter."
'He called me Carter.' She felt a cold shiver of worry. Sam shook her head and walked to the bedroom to change out of her sweats into jeans and a sweater that she knew Jack liked on her. 'Whatever he has to say, it won't hurt to look good,' she thought as she combed what was left of her hair after Jack's impromptu haircut.
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Jack O'Neill fidgeted in front of Carter's door while he waited for her to answer his ring. 'What's taking her so long? I know what I have to say, and I want to get it over with.'
Sam pulled open her front door and held it open wordlessly for him to come in. He followed her into the living room, and they sat uncomfortably with the coffee table between them.
Jack cleared his throat and began, "Carter, I came to talk about the experiences we shared on the Dream World. We have to face the fact that they were just a dream and the real world would never be as good. Why put ourselves through what could be a painful experience for the sake of a chasing a dream?"
He could see by her shiver that his words and their calm delivery had chilled her. Sam was so still, she appeared to have turned to stone until she tried to swallow the lump in her throat. "You don't think we could recreate that life in the real world. So you want us to go back to being just co-workers? After what we were to each other in the fantasy?" She spoke so quietly Jack had to strain to hear.
"I think its best," O'Neill stated almost as quietly. Saying those lies hurt him much more than he ever imagined it would. He couldn't even look her in the eyes. "I'd understand if you don't want to work with me anymore, but I hope you stay. Please don't let what they did to us break up the team."
Sam stood and walked to the windows facing a quiet arboreal scene outside. She stared blindly out the window, numb. "I need some time to think about it, sir, maybe until our downtime is over."
"Sure, take as much time as you need, Carter. This is too important to rush." Without another word, he left and went to get as drunk as it was possible to do without killing himself.
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Continued in Part 4
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Author's Note: I hope you like this lastest chapter and please, please, please review.