A/N: Thanks for reading my story. I'm glad you guys like Rover, I added him on a whim, since I love dragons, and he just barged right in and demanded extra story space. Well, how could I refuse someone with his charm?
Chapter 22 – Calling General Hammond
Jack didn't let Sam sit back down, instead he quickly picked her up and started to carry her to the cave. He walked as quickly as he could, while trying not to shake her too much. He could see by the look on her face she was in a lot of pain, but would never admit it. When they got to the cave, Jack carefully put her down on her sleeping bag, leaving her in a sitting position. He reached over and grabbed his sleeping bag and covered up her legs with it. "OK, first things first." He rummaged through his pack for his first aid kit. He got some pain killers out and handed them to her with his canteen.
Once she had swallowed the pills and drank a little water, Jack helped Sam take off her outer shirt leaving her tee shirt in place. Just taking off the one shirt caused Sam a lot more pain and Jack really didn't want to ask her to raise her arm so he could get her tee shirt off, even if he wasn't already extremely uncomfortable with the thought of taking her shirt off. Not that he hadn't fantasized about that many times in the past - just different circumstances. He looked at the shirt, a four inch diameter hole was burned through it showing the burned and bloody wound underneath. "Um... I'm gonna have to... uh..." He pointed to her shoulder.
"It's OK Jack, do whatever needs to be done." She started to reach for the hem of her shirt to pull it off.
"Wait, I've got an idea, might save you some pain." He found a pair of scissors in the first aid kit and very carefully lifted the burned edge of her shirt near her shoulder. He then cut from the hole to the collar and then from the hole down the sleeve, giving him unhampered access to her injury while still leaving most of the shirt covering the rest of her. "It doesn't look too bad. Well, it's burned pretty badly, but it's not bleeding too much." He carefully cleaned the wound, applied antiseptic and burn cream and bandaged it up. Then he paid attention to her hand. Luckily the blast hadn't actually hit her hand, only the zat, but her hand was burned by the proximity of the energy bolt and had some blistering.
After Jack finished tending to her injuries, he reached into his pack for his spare shirt and helped her put her right arm in it. Then he draped the other side over her left shoulder and arm. That done, he sat down near her with his back against the wall. "Come here." He reached over and carefully lifted her into his lap so she was sitting with her right side towards him. He rearranged his sleeping bag around her and put his arms around her waist to hold her close.
She rested her head in the crook of his neck and relaxed. "Thank you. It feels a lot better now."
Jack looked over to the entrance to the cave, Rover was lying there alert and looking outside like a sentry. Jack had never seen the dragon enter the cave before this. "So I guess I'm gonna have to convince Rover to come back with us so I can assign him to SG-1 to cover your six, huh?"
She laughed a little at that. "You should have seen him, he was amazing." She told him everything that had happened.
"Did you recognize the jaffa?"
"No, I've never seen their tattoo design before. It's possible they were sent here by whoever left the bomb to make sure it had killed us. Or maybe see if there were any Ancient devices left. They were in a cargo ship, not an al'kesh, so I don't think they were expecting to find anyone to fight."
They sat in silence for a little while, each lost in thought. Jack hated this. He'd almost lost her. Again. He placed a soft kiss on the top of her head.
"You know, Jack. I've been thinking. I really don't think I'd mind never getting shot at by a jaffa again. Never again hearing the words 'surrender or die'." She said the last phrase in a mock deep jaffa voice.
He chuckled a little bit. "Are you sure? Isn't it thrilling? Wouldn't you miss the rush?"
"Hardly."
"So..." He paused. He'd love for her to never be in danger again, but also knew how much she loved playing with the advanced technology you could only find at the SGC and that the world needed her in the fight against the goa'uld. He didn't want to push his own concerns on her when she was vulnerable, so he wanted to make sure whatever choice she was thinking of making was completely her decision. "So what would you like to do to avoid that?"
She answered without hesitation. "Retire from the Air Force. Work in the labs. Be babysat like the other geeks whenever I go off-world again. If I do again." She was smiling into his chest, enjoying the feeling of being so close, being held by him.
"Are you sure that's what you want?"
"Yes."
"No doubts? No second guessing yourself?"
"No."
"OK..." He thought for a moment. "Sam? If a radio signal is sent from this planet, it would reach Earth eventually, right? I mean, I know it would take years and the signal would be too faint for anyone to pick up, but, in theory, some small fraction of that signal would reach Earth at some point, right?"
Sam lifted her head and looked into Jack's eyes with a look of confusion on her face. "I don't understand. I mean, yeah, a very strong radio signal could be sent to Earth and some infinitesimally small part of it might reach the planet, eventually after thousands of years, but that would be pointless. Whatever part of it there was would be lost in the background noise of space long before it got there. They wouldn't be able to detect it and we'd be long dead. Why?"
"Doesn't matter." He reached for his radio. "This is Brigadier General Jack O'Neill of the US Air Force, Earth, with a message for Major General George Hammond, US Air Force, Earth. General, this transmission is in lieu of the normal paperwork as my fax machine is currently not able to connect to yours. Go figure. I am calling to let you know I've accepted Colonel Samantha Carter's retirement request. It is my recommendation that the Air Force work out arrangements to continue to employ Colonel Carter in a civilian capacity. It is my belief she would be an excellent candidate to lead the physics and engineering department of the SGC. Having said that, I also wish to inform you of my own retirement wishes. Time to pack it in and stop having snake-heads try to kill me. Thank you General, it's been an honor serving with you."
He unleashed his O'Neill smirk on the surprised looking woman in his lap and tightened his hold on her slightly. "I'm in love with you too, Samantha. And I don't ever want to be worried about losing you again." With that, he leaned in and kissed her. The kiss was slow and gentle at first and grew more passionate the longer it lasted. Sam shifted slightly for a better angle and winced a little as she moved her arm. Jack felt that and pulled back. He smiled at her, kissed her forehead and leaned back against the wall. Sam resumed her earlier position, leaning against him with her head nestled in the crook of his neck. After a little while, they were both asleep, each with a small smile of contentment on their faces.
