A/N – Hey – Thanks again for all the great reviews, I really appreciate it. On with the story...


Chapter 4 - Boom

As soon as Carter took the cover off of the bomb, two things happened. First, the timer went into hyperspeed, and second, unknown to them, the gate shutdown.

O'Neill and Carter looked at each other briefly. "Carter?"

Quickly scanning the crystals inside the device, hoping for some immediate inspiration, Carter started to feel the adrenaline laced fear creeping up her spine. Memories left from Jolinar allowed her to understand the goa'uld countdown now only gave her a few precious minutes to stop the device.

O'Neill was a little more insistent this time, "Carter!"

When she made no response other than to murmur something to herself as she looked at the bomb's innards, O'Neill demanded, "Get to the gate, now - that's an order!"

Knowing there was no time to voice a protest, let alone try to diffuse the alien device, Carter took one last look at all of the other devices she wouldn't get to play with. She wondered briefly if she could grab and carry any back with her. At a glare from her CO, she grabbed her pack and ran for the gate with the General.

They exited the building at a full run and started across the field of flowers. Colors whipped by as the only sound Carter could hear was her heart pounding in her ears, her only thoughts were of getting to safety with the General and a realization that failing to secure the device might cost her more than some new knowledge of alien technology.

When they saw the gate was no longer active, O'Neill yelled a few choice obscenities and told Carter to get to the DHD and dial home.

"Sir, we may not have enough time and we can't risk the shock wave getting though to Earth."

His shoulders slumped as he realized they were doomed. "OK, just... run!"

They ran toward the drop-off on the other side of the gate. Just as they started to slow by the edge of the drop, the bomb went off. There was a deafening explosion and an immediate feeling of intense heat. They were blown over the edge just as they had started to jump. Landing with an ungraceful thud 15 feet below, O'Neill grunted at his protesting knees. He then dove on top of Carter to try to offer whatever protection he could.

The ground beneath them shook as debris rained down on them. For a brief moment, O'Neill was afraid they would be buried alive, but then lost consciousness after a large rock struck him in the head.


"Sir?" It wasn't much more than a whisper. Carter had a small pocket of air around her head, but the dead weight of O'Neill's unconscious body and whatever debris was on top of them made it hard for her to breath and talk. "Are you OK? Sir?"

Lying face down made it nearly impossible to work at the obstacles on top of her. She started to wriggle around, trying to turn around to work at getting out from under him. As she struggled, fear started to take control. What if he had given his life to save hers? She wouldn't be able to live with that. The fear that she could taste at the back of her throat every time she'd seen him injured in the past started to take control. As the air around her started getting heavier, the soldier in her took control again, knowing it was up to her to save them both.

She was able to turn around and after a few moments of struggling, she managed to free an arm. There was a lot of loose debris and dirt covering them. If she didn't get out quickly, they would suffocate. Being buried alive billions of miles from home on another planet was not the way she wanted things to end. There were too many things she still wanted to do in her life. Too many things left unsaid.

With her free arm she managed to create an air hole. Greedily drinking in the sweet, fresh air, she relaxed for a few seconds, but only a few. She then worked at surveying the form on top of her. The light from the new hole allowed her to see that his face was right next to hers. What she wouldn't give to see those beautiful brown eyes gazing into hers right now. She felt a shallow breath on her cheek. He was only unconscious. Yeah, only - as if being unconscious under so much dirt and rock was a good thing. "Sir? Can you hear me?" No response. The heat of his body against hers was reassuring. She lightly brushed her fingertips along his cheek, it was warm, his skin smoother than she had imagined it would be. And in a small voice, barely a whisper. "Jack? Please wake up."

Using her free hand she started slowly pushing the dirt and rocks off of them. As she cleared an area of his body, she would feel for broken bones or other obvious injuries as best she could in her awkward position. He had a large bump on the back of his head with a lot of drying blood around it, but other than that and some scratches and abrasions, his upper body and arms seemed to have escaped major injury.

It was slow going, but after some time she managed with great difficultyto crawl out from under him and dig the rest of him out. As she checked his legs for injuries, she heard a cough and a low moan. "Please tell me I don't have a broken leg you'll have to set."

Relief instantly washed over her at hearing his voice. She couldn't help but smile. "Sir. How are you feeling?" She used her flashlight to check his pupil response. "Any nausea, dizziness, blurred vision, numbness?"

"I have one hell of a headache and feel like a house landed on me, but other than that I'm just peachy."

"Well, I don't think you have a concussion, and I didn't find any broken bones. I do want to clean up some of those cuts you've got."

"What about you, Carter? Are you injured at all?"

"I'm fine, sir. You protected me from most of the debris. You didn't have to do that, but, thank you."

"What about that on your arm?"

Looking down at her arm, she saw a pretty nasty gash that she hadn't been aware of in her struggle to free them.

Carter found her pack among the rubble and pulled out her first aid kit. She spent some time cleaning up and bandaging their wounds, while O'Neill for the most part just stayed where he was without moving.

"Are you OK to climb up to the gate and go home, sir?"

Looking down at his feet for a moment, he lay his head back on the ground, "Damn."

Immediately Carter was concerned that she had missed an injury. "What's wrong, sir?"

"I knew it felt like a house landed on me, my ruby slippers are gone. We'll have to get home the normal way."

When he got no response to his lame attempt at humor, he continued, "Yeah, I think I can manage, Colonel." The drop over the edge made his temperamental knees ache badly and he didn't want to have to stand up, but he wasn't about to admit that to Carter. All he needed was to get back home and have a nice, long, relaxing soak in a hot bath. Tomorrow, he'd be as good as new.

The climb out of their spot wasn't too bad. It took less than half an hour to find the easiest way and get back up to the area where the stargate had been. They were not prepared for the sight that met them. Due to their relative ease of escape from harm, they had assumed that the explosion hadn't been that bad. They were wrong.

The pretty flowering field with the large building in it that they had left behind just a couple of hours before was replaced with a huge crater filled and surrounded by the aftermath of destruction. There was rubble from the building everywhere, along with bits and pieces of shiny objects that had once been parts of the equipment the building housed. There were small fires here and there with black smoke billowing into the air.

As officers in the US Air Force, they'd both seen destruction like this before. Hell, they'd even caused destruction like this. What they hadn't expected was that the gate would be gone.

It was nowhere to be seen. A memory of the view of the meteor crater on Edora, came unbidden into O'Neill's mind. His shoulders slumped as he tried to shake those thoughts from his mind. He'd been stuck there for three months and the only reason he finally did make it home was because Carter had worked non-stop that whole time on a way to bring him back. Now she was just as stuck as he was.