Warning – bad language.
("Bad, naughty language!" Smacks language. "Be good! Try to be nice in future – we have guests." Flatkatsi runs off to hide and hopes Jackie doesn't find out what she's added to the post.)
Supporting Rumors - Part 50
Jack became aware of ... well, becoming aware.
He was tired, but he didn't want to go back to that place where horrors trod mightily and escaped the box he kept them trapped in. He recognized the wooly fog that skittered his subconscious as the effects of drugs and no way did he want to return to those memories ... however, as the memory of his helplessness returned he wasn't so sure which was worse – remaining in the past, or confronting the future. All but one part of it, that was. One thing made it worth waking up for.
He fought to open his eyes and managed to blearily find his wife's watching him intently. 'God', he thought, 'had she been sitting there waiting for just this moment?'
"Hey, about time." Sam leaned closer, her voice was a little out of sync with her lips, but before Jack could wonder at it, she placed a warm kiss upon his. The faint tingle and the smell of her made him close his eyes again, relishing the feelings she aroused in him, the comfort she brought.
"Jack?"
He opened his eyes quickly at the faint alarm he heard in her voice and gave her a tiny smile ... yes, that much he could manage. He was rewarded by the smile that lit her face in return and he felt the warmth encompassing him as she enveloped one of his hands in hers, gripping it tightly.
His thoughts began to stray, only to be rudely jolted into the present when the threads of the horrors he had dreamed came to him.
"Sara?" he croaked. He groaned when he realized just how that sounded – asking after another woman, and ex-wife to boot - when holding the wife's hand. He shook his head and then regretted it as the room spun. As he regained his equilibrium he held up his other hand weakly, trying to put it over the top of her still encompassing ones.
Sam shook her head smiling. "It's okay Jack, I understand – I won't kick your ass, at least not until you're better," she joked, trying to relieve the guilty expression he wore. "General Hammond has sent the local police to see how she is and let her know what's happening."
Sam stopped speaking and Jack knew by her face that she was deciding what to say next.
"What?" he croaked out again.
"We haven't heard back from them yet."
"Mike's."
Sam smiled. "Yes, she probably went to Mike's, we can check that out. At least she won't be alone."
Jack nodded. The memories from the voices he heard were returning fast. "She wouldn't have ..." He groaned and coughed a little, his hand leaving hers and gripping his chest tightly as the pain heightened.
"Shush, please try and relax Jack, I know, I know, honestly. We'll get someone to her, please try and rest."
Jack nodded and huffed out a tight breath. He felt his lids beginning to close again, but he didn't want to sleep. He resolutely fixed his burning eyes on the foot of the bed. He didn't want to face...
He choked on a breath and jerked forwards, launching his upper body from his pillows. "Christ!" he coughed out and sank back with an agonized groan, his eyes slamming shut.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Sam almost leaped from her skin as she saw Jack's expression and his upper body jerked with such tremendous force she thought he would topple, losing his balance. She reacted quickly, grabbing him and her heart jumped as he groaned in agony.
Without hesitation she buzzed for assistance with one hand, the other on her husband's shoulder.
"Jack?" she queried, trying hard to keep the panic from her voice and face.
"You see?" His voice was battling with his need to breathe and the words barely registered with Sam.
"Just try and relax honey, Doctor Hill is ..."
"No, I ..." he broke off with a tight cough and another groan. "It ... I ..."
Sam could tell something certainly had Jack in a state of either excitement – or dread - she just wasn't sure which, until one word escaped him.
"Moved ..." He lolled back against the pillows with a groan, a deep flush overtaking his face and his dark eyes finding hers, the excitement in them clear to her now.
Sam opened her mouth – then shut it again. What could she say to him? Gee Jack honey, that's good? No way! One twitch ... no, she corrected herself, three twitches in all, does not make for complete recovery.
"What moved?" She had to be sure.
"My foot ... it moved!" he exclaimed breathlessly.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, it moved ... my god-damned foot moved." His breathing whistled nosily and although he slumped a little, the excitement was still in his eyes.
"Oh."
"Oh?" questioned Jack. He was clearly dismayed by her response, or lack of rather. "It really moved, Sam."
Sam nodded, a faint smile on her lips.
"Don't you believe me?"
"Of course I do, it's just that ..."
She tailed off as he gazed at her with such a hurt filled expression that she felt at a loss as to how to explain it to him.
"I am not imag ..." he coughed. "imagining it."
"I didn't say you were, it's just that I know you so badly want things to happen and with the drugs and ..."
"It's not the drugs!" His voice raised a little, a thread of anger beginning to making itself heard.
Sam couldn't hold his gaze, and thankfully she was saved from responding further by the appearance of Doctor Hill, her gaze going straight to her patient then questioning Sam silently.
"Jack thought he saw ..." Sam's eyes drifted to her husband's face.
"Did!" corrected Jack. His puzzlement and hurt showed in his eyes and she looked away quickly.
Light dawned very rapidly in Hill land and she approached Jack calmly. He made to move from his pillows and her hand steadied him. "Now take it easy General, just take a few small breaths."
"My foot ... moved ..." He cut off a tight groan, his hand moving across his chest.
"I see. Please, General, you need to just calm down a little and let me explain ..."
Jack's mouth dropped into a tight line. "It moved."
"Jack, please honey, don't read too much into it. It doesn't mean ..."
"It fuckin' moved!" he spat and then coughed.
It took a few moments before he recovered his breath, but the glares he sent to both women made words impotent at that moment.
"My – foot – moved!" He enunciated each word clearly, looking at Sam as though it was she who had lost her mind.
"I believe you, Jack, honestly, but ..."
"But?" he coughed and drew a quick breath, trying to belay the reaction. "I am not imagining it – it moved!"
Doctor Hill moved closer, putting up a hand to try and calm the situation down. "Yes, General. That is quite possible, however ..."
xoxoxoxoxoxo
TBC
