A/N: Biiiig chapter...
Chapter 35: A Little Accident
Jack had just made up his mind to head downhill when excited shouts caused him to turn back around. He turned and made out two figures on bikes racing his way, and his heart sank as he realized it was Danny and Teal'c, Sam nowhere in sight. The boys didn't sound happy. He picked up his pace, but the boys were faster, making it to him before he'd even made it to the edge of his property.
"Colonel Jack! Colonel Jack! Come quick! You have to come quick!" They cried as soon as they were in range. Teal'c looked uncharacteristically worried, and Daniel looked near tears.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down, what's wrong?" He had to calm them down, and find out what was wrong. Both boys were breathing heavily, obviously having raced back from wherever they'd been.
"Sam's hurt," Daniel gasped, "We were on our bikes," the boy leaned over his handlebars too winded to continue. Teal'c took up the thread of the story. "Samantha was unable to stop and hit a vehicle. You must come at once Colonel O'Neill, the police officers require your assistance."
Jack blinked, his mind momentarily overloaded with the information. First and foremost that Sam was hurt. Secondly, what the hell was she doing on her bike when he'd expressly told her she wasn't allowed on it, and thirdly, the police? He'd only been in the backyard for a few minutes for cryin' out loud! But he asked none of those questions, because the questions could wait. Instead, he asked, "Where?"
Daniel pointed, still trying to catch his breath. "That way, near the park, there's police everywhere, you can't miss it."
Jack narrowed his eyes, wondering what the hell they'd done. Whatever, it could wait. Running back into the house, he called over his shoulder, "You boys put your bikes away and meet me back there, make sure you close up the garage." He didn't wait for them to reply, and grabbed his cell, wallet, and keys off the table, hastily locking the door and taking off down the street at a run.
As soon as he crested the hill, he saw what the boys were talking about. At least three police cars, lights flashing, were parked around an intersection. Various other cars were parked nearby, with curious adults and children standing around looking on. In the far distance, he could make out an ambulance on its way, its lights flashing. In the middle of the chaos, terrified wails could be heard, and Jack made a beeline towards them, pushing his way past the police officers keeping the well-intentioned onlookers back. "Hey!" one of them protested. "You can't come over here."
"It's ok, I know her," he said, gently pushing aside the officer that was doing his best to hold Sam's neck and head stabilized, despite the youngster's frantic movements, and took over. "Hey Sam, it's ok, I'm here now, it's ok, hold still, can you do that?" He kept talking to her until she calmed down, almost immediately as soon as he started and the other officers looked at him gratefully. He looked up. "What happened? I'm Colonel Jack O'Neill, her guardian."
One of the officers stepped forward. "I'm sorry sir, I just didn't see her coming, I tried to stop, but…"
Jack felt anger bubbling up inside of him, of all the… "You hit her? Aren't you guys supposed to be watching out for things like that?"
"Sir," a second officer interrupted, "Actually, she hit us." He looked apologetic, and his eyes strayed towards Sam's feet, before darting towards the mangled remains of a bike. It was then that Jack realized that Sam was wearing her roller skates, and a horrible thought occurred to him.
"Sam, you weren't wearing your roller skates, and riding your bike at the same time were you? After I told you that you weren't supposed to be riding your bike?" He looked down at the little girl, whose face was streaked with tears.
She sniffled. "I wasn't riding my bike," she said.
"Sam," he said.
She started to cry again. "I'm sorry Colonel J-jack, I wasn't really riding it, I-I was skating with my bike, really." She squirmed under his stern gaze.
"Hold still Sam." He sighed. "We'll talk about this later." Jack cast another look around the intersection, realizing that the reason for all the police was because she'd hit a police car. He shook his head, of all the things.
"It's my fault." He looked up to see Danny and Teal'c standing there, looking sheepish.
"It is also my fault." Teal'c also looked repentant.
"My arm hurts." Sam whimpered. Jack looked down and noticed that her arm was bent oddly.
"We think she broke her arm," explained the officer that had apologized earlier for not being able to stop in time to avoid the accident. He looked curiously at the three children, all of them trying to take blame for the misdoings. Jack just shrugged in reply, and kept trying to focus on Sam.
"We'll talk about this later," he told the boys the same thing he'd told Sam, just as the ambulance finally made it to the scene.
Sam seemed to be ok, despite the broken arm, but the medics were taking it safe, placing a c-collar on her neck, and strapping her to a backboard, especially after she complained of a headache. Jack told them she'd had one that morning, but they all decided it was better to be safe than sorry, and Jack agreed, especially when they handed over her helmet and he saw the large crack in it. The police officers said she'd never lost consciousness though, so the helmet had definitely been worth its salt.
They started an IV in her arm, which Sam wasn't very happy about, but compared to the stuff she'd put up with the day before, she did really well. When it was in, a bag of fluid dripping in, she asked, "Do I get a sticker?"
The medic looked down at her, and shook his head apologetically. "I'm sorry, we don't have stickers out here." Sam's face fell, but the medic wasn't done yet. He motioned to his partner, who was holding something behind his back. "We have something better."
Sam's face lit up as the medic produced a small, soft, brown teddy bear, and nestled it up next to her shoulder, since she now had a broken arm and an IV in the other and couldn't really hold it. Even though the collar and backboard wouldn't let her move, she still grinned, tears and pain momentarily forgotten. "Wow! For me?"
"Yep, for you," the medic laughed as he finished taping down the IV to an arm board.
"What do you say Sam?" Jack reminded her.
"Thank you!"
They laughed as they loaded her into the ambulance, Jack climbing into the back with them. The police had promised to follow with Daniel and Teal'c. It had taken a bit of convincing on his part to get them to take Sam to Cheyenne Mountain instead of the nearest pediatric trauma center like they were inclined to do, but he managed it. The last thing he wanted was another group of doctors trying to treat her, what with the Jolinar thing, and especially with the possibility of unknown alien chemicals floating around in her bloodstream, when Janet hadn't even checked her out again yet.
Now he was on his cell phone alerting the base to allow the ambulance and police car through, and to have the team of medics waiting for them to take over from the ambulance team. Hammond transferred him down to the infirmary and Janet asked to speak with the medics. Jack willingly passed the phone over to one of them, while he and the other man kept Sam amused by guessing the numbers on the monitor screen that watched her vital signs. Jack listened idly while the second medic talked to Janet on the phone.
"Seven year old female, bike versus car. Awake and alert at the scene, no LOC, complaining of a headache, but neuro checks are normal with a GCS of 15. Last BP was 97 over 42, pulse 108, respiration 26, sats 98 percent on room air and no distress. Left forearm appears to have a closed fracture, good circ checks. We've immobilized her and initiated routine c-spine precautions, but she's got good sensation and movement to all extremities. We started a 22 gauge in her right arm and a 500cc normal saline bolus. ETA 5 minutes." Jack understood only about one word in about ten of what the man said. His confusion must have shown, because the man's partner looked up and grinned.
"He said she's doing fine, we'll be there soon," he explained, and Jack sighed in relief. Sam certainly looked fine, unless she tried to move her arm, which was splinted, then her face would scrunch all up for a few moments.
They arrived at the base and were escorted by the MP's right up to the main entrance. The two medics lifted Sam gently out the back, and Jack jumped down, walking alongside, but had to step back and make room as Dr. Fraiser and her team swarmed over them. Medical jargon flew back and forth and Sam was neatly transferred to a new gurney, and they started to move her down the hall while the medics and police left, wishing them all good luck. Jack collected Danny and Teal'c, who had arrived shortly after, and started to follow, feeling a bit lost and forgotten.
Ahead of them, Janet detached herself from the group surrounding Sam and fell back to their level. She smiled at all three of them reassuringly. "Sam looks ok, we're going to do a few scans to make sure everything really is ok, and an x-ray of her arm which is probably broken, but that should be easy enough to fix. I think she'll be fine though." She turned her full attention to Jack. "Now Colonel, when I said to bring her in this afternoon, I was expecting something a bit less dramatic."
Jack winced. "Sorry Doc."
"Don't worry Colonel, we'll take good care of her. Oh, and the good news is, with that IV in, she won't need another needle to get that lab test now after all." With that, Janet hurried to catch up with the team as they got on the elevator, squeezing on just before the doors shut, and Jack pressed the button for another car, herding the two boys into it as soon as it arrived.
It took about half an hour before Janet brought them back into the infirmary. "She's fine, aside from the broken arm. The scans of Sam's head and neck both came back clear and I've ordered the collar taken off. I've put a rush in on the blood work, because until I know that the drugs from yesterday are out of her system, I really don't want to give her anything to set her arm and put a cast on, and it will hurt too much to do it without pain medicine."
"How bad is the break?" Jack asked, relief over the fact that she had no serious injuries, and worry that she still did have one. Even a broken arm could mean surgery.
"It's not bad either." Janet picked up an x-ray and put it in the light box. "Just a simple incomplete greenstick fracture, should probably heal in a few weeks all on it's own. Very common in this age group, since the bones are very soft, they tend to bend and splinter more like a young new branch would rather than snap like an old stick, hence the name." Jack studied the picture and nodded. It made sense.
Janet glanced down at his arms. "Is that her helmet?" Jack nodded and the doctor shook her head. "She's lucky she had it on, looking at that crack, and judging by this break she must have gone over the handlebars head and arms first. If she hadn't been wearing this, we might be having a very different conversation right now."
Jack felt his heart constrict, as he remembered the heart stopping terror he'd felt earlier as he'd ran to the scene of the accident, not knowing what he'd find when he got there. He reminded himself that Sam was ok. "Can we see her?" he asked, knowing the boys would want to come too.
Janet nodded knowingly. "She's right over there. Try not to get her too excited, since I can't give her anything for the pain yet she's feeling a little uncomfortable when she moves around. Just try to keep her still and her mind occupied for a little while, and hopefully the tests will be back in about a half an hour since we know what we're looking for this time."
"Thanks Doc," Janet smiled, and Jack turned to Danny and Teal'c, "C'mon you guys, you heard the lady, Sam needs us."
They found Sam propped up in bed with pillows, her arm cradled gingerly. It was splinted and in a sling, and propped on more pillows, but she didn't look happy with the arrangement. Her new teddy bear was next to her, and he noted with amusement that someone had given the bear an IV, bandage cast, and makeshift sling all in places where Sam had things.
"Colonel Jack!" she cried as soon as she saw him, struggling to sit up, and wincing as the movement jarred her arm. Hastily, he moved to press her back down, holding her still.
"Shhh, hold still. We're all right here, but you can't move around much until Doctor Janet can fix your arm, ok?" He brushed the hair back on her head, and she settled.
"It hurts," she sniffled slightly, and squirmed.
"I know sweetie, you just have to be patient a little bit longer. We have to make sure the medicine to make you feel better won't make you feel sick like it did yesterday ok?" She nodded, and lay back at his words, but fidgeted a little bit, still uncomfortable. Jack tried to think of something to do to take her mind off things, but in his haste to get to her, he hadn't bothered to grab anything to keep the kids busy. Though with the IV in one arm and the sling on the other he highly doubted she'd be up for coloring or any other activities.
"Sam, I'm sorry," Daniel said suddenly. The boy had climbed up onto the foot of Sam's bed, and was staring at the blanket.
"I am also sorry, I did not believe the course of action to be wise and should have insisted we not continue." Teal'c was also staring down.
"No, its my fault, it was my idea to come anyway." And now Sam was looking down, her discomfort momentarily forgotten as she picked at the blanket with her good hand.
Well… it wasn't the distraction he'd have planned, but if it worked. "Just what were you guys doing anyway?"
The three exchanged glances, and returned to staring down. Finally Daniel spoke up hesitantly. "We met these kids, they said we could come with them to a creek by the playground, I, well, I just never get invited anywhere, and I really wanted to go."
Teal'c continued where Daniel left off. "In order to get to the creek, it was necessary that we use our bicycles to get there."
"But Sam wasn't supposed to be riding her bike, were you?" Jack turned his gaze to the little girl in the bed, and spoke with a stern tone. She sank down in the bed and refused to meet his eyes.
"I wasn't riding it, not really," she said softly, repeating her statement from earlier.
"Sam," he said warningly. The one thing he didn't tolerate from them was lying, and he made sure they knew it.
"I was roller-skating," she explained, "On my bike." She bit her lip and concentrated on picking lint off the blanket with the same attention she gave complex math equations as her grown up self.
He blinked. "Roller-skating. On your bike." He repeated and she paused in her lint picking. "Let me guess, that would be why you couldn't stop when you needed to?" She nodded, and then winced when the movement jarred her arm, but didn't complain, sensing she'd get no sympathy this time.
He looked at the three downcast faces, and shook his head slightly. Who would have thought they'd be so clever in coming up with ways to circumvent the rules? He should have known better. Tell Sam Carter she couldn't do something, and she'd figure a way around the problem. And then add one Daniel Jackson and a younger version of Teal'c… three fourths of SG-1, who had never let a little thing like orders get in their way. But still, this situation was different. He looked at them curiously again. "Guys, why didn't you just tell me that you wanted to go somewhere? I probably would have let you. Heck, I might even have come along. And you all knew you weren't supposed to leave the street without telling me where you were going either." He kept his voice stern, doing his best to keep any anger he felt at how they'd disobeyed his one simple rule out of it.
Their eyes remained down and they shifted uncomfortably. Daniel spoke first, his reply soft. "I didn't want the other kids to leave without me."
"We believed we would be back momentarily and that you would not miss our absence," came from Teal'c.
"I thought you'd probably say no, and I didn't want to get Danny and Teal'c in trouble for leaving," said Sam, her voice barely above a whisper.
Jack sighed, looking at his three energetic, imaginative, and overly bright young charges. They were too much like their grown up selves, and trouble seemed to find them no matter what. Well, there was still no doubt about it, they'd disobeyed him, and he'd have to punish them. Looking at Sam's arm, a suitable punishment came to mind. "I'm disappointed in you. You had only one rule to remember, and that was to stay on our street with your bikes. But you couldn't do that. And that means that I can't trust you guys to be responsible when you're riding. So, while Sam has a cast on her arm, none of you are to be riding any bikes at all, for any reason. And no scooters, skates, or skateboards for at least a week. Sam, unfortunately, you can't ride anything until your cast comes off, and if I catch you on anything with wheels before it does, you'll wish I hadn't, do I make myself clear?" All three of them squirmed under the dire threats in his tone, surprised at the punishment, but they all nodded with a feeling like they'd gotten off easy somehow. They'd never seen him angry in this way, directed at them like this. The other night had been different, and they were all left feeling very ashamed of what they had done.
"I'm sorry Colonel Jack," Sam sniffled, tears threatening to fall. "I won't do it again."
"Me either. I'm sorry too Colonel Jack," chimed in Daniel.
"I am sorry as well Colonel O'Neill, and will strive harder to follow your instructions in the future," said Teal'c.
"C'mere you three." Jack opened his arms, carefully folding Sam into one so as not to jar her arm, and Daniel into the other. Teal'c climbed into the bed after a moment of hesitation, and Jack pulled him close too. "No matter what you guys do, remember I still love you, just remember that even though you may not like my rules, they are there for a reason, usually so that you don't get hurt or have something happen to you. Understand?" They looked at him, and looked at Sam's arm, and nodded in understanding. "Good, because I don't want a repeat of this ever again, because the next time you might lose a bit more than bike riding privileges." They nodded, eyes wide, wondering what was worse than losing the thrill of riding their bikes, and vowed to never find out.
Just then, Janet arrived, pulling the curtain back. She looked at them curiously, but shrugged off the unusual bed arrangement. "The tests have come back clean, so we can get started with setting Sam's arm now."
Jack shooed the boys off the bed, but Sam clung to him worriedly, so he stayed when Janet nodded her ok. First, she put some medicine in Sam's IV. "Sam, this medicine is going to make your arm feel better, and will make you sleepy while we fix it, ok?" Sam nodded, eyelids already blinking heavily as she fought to stay awake. Jack shared a smile with the doctor.
Sam did really well with the procedure, and only cried a little bit when her arm was straightened, Jack easily comforting her. She watched in fascination as Janet applied a bright blue wrapping to her arm, which began to stiffen within minutes. "You're in luck Colonel," Janet explained with a wink, "I happened to have some of the waterproof stuff on hand, so you won't have to worry about getting it wet. She could even go swimming with it on." Jack shook his head ruefully, realizing with their track record and the number of trips they'd already made to the infirmary in just two weeks, it was probably a good thing he didn't need to worry about Sam getting water on her cast.
When the cast was finished, Janet showed Jack how to check Sam's fingers to make sure they were warm and pink, and free of swelling, and made Sam wiggle them and tell her if she had any tingling or numbness. Sam shook her head no and asked if it was time to go home yet. Janet laughed. "Not yet, but soon." She further admonished Sam not to put anything at all down in her cast no matter how itchy it got, and told Jack to check it several times that night and the next day to make sure any swelling in the arm didn't cause the cast to become too tight. Lastly she applied the sling, and turned to Jack. "Ok, I'd like to keep an eye on her for another few hours and make sure she's doing ok, and have her eat a little something too before I let you take her home, just to make sure she can take the pain medicines ok. I also want to make sure we get the doses right with her new size; we always had a little trouble before with her resistance. She should be pretty comfortable now though, now that it's set."
Jack agreed readily to the conditions, and Janet watched the kids while he went to the commissary to pick out some food for them, settling on chicken strips, French fries and milk as being foods easy to pick up with one hand, as well as being something they all liked to eat. He returned with the tray, popping one of the strips in his mouth and begged Janet watch the kids for another few minutes. "I just need to go see Hammond about something, I'll be right back." Janet agreed again, and Jack grabbed some fries and ducked out. He'd decided after this little incident that it was time the kids had something to do besides think of ways to get into trouble.
Knocking on the door, Jack entered as soon as the man inside said to come in. He pushed the door open to find the older man buried in stacks of folders. "Colonel! I was just going to come down to the infirmary to see how things were, I'm sorry I couldn't get down there sooner, but I had to finish SG-12's debriefing, is everything alright?" Hammond's voice was filled with concern.
Jack smiled. "Sam's fine, broken arm, Doc says it will heal on its own in a few weeks. She hit a car while trying to roller skate on her bike." He shook his head ruefully as Hammond's eyebrows shot up.
"Sir, I've been thinking, the kids have a lot of time on their hands, and people have been getting curious as to why they are around all day. Well, I was thinking maybe we should put them in school." Jack picked up a pen from Hammond's desk and started fiddling with it. Hammond looked at him thoughtfully.
"There's more to it than that isn't there Jack?" Hammond's use of his first name made him look up and Jack narrowed his eyes, then nodded, slipping the pen in and out of his fingers.
"We don't know how long they'll be like this, and I think it will be good for them, let them be around other kids. That's part of what happened today, Danny wanted to go off with some other kids. And, well, when I saw Sam laying there like that, all those people all standing around and I didn't know how bad she was hurt, well, maybe it will help if we could keep them busy enough that they don't have time to go running off and getting into trouble." Jack shrugged, and set the pen down.
The General looked thoughtful. "I agree, do you have an idea where you'd like them to go?"
Jack looked relieved that General Hammond had agreed so easily. "The school we sent Cassie too, and where I took Merrim for that day. We've worked with them before, and they seem like a good place. I can call them tomorrow, some of the teachers that worked with Cassie know me."
Hammond nodded in agreement, he'd thought of the same place. "I'll take care of getting together some sort of records for them for tomorrow. Sam and Daniel already have something to work with that we'll have to track down, but we'll have to create something for Teal'c like we did for Cassie. Fortunately, I already have a contact that can take care of things. Dr. Fraiser should be able to provide you with immunization records."
Jack blinked, he hadn't thought about records. "Thank you sir."
The other man just smiled, and continued with another train of thought. "And when the kids are in school, we can talk about you picking up some more hours here, to fit in with the children's schedule. In fact, there are some training programs that just might need your attention, as well as a good bit of paperwork that seems to be backlogged with your name on it."
Jack groaned and Hammond laughed. "Thank you sir." Jack told him sincerely, the relief like a weight being lifted from his shoulders. He turned to go, then paused as he remembered something. "Oh, sir, I'm going to need a ride home, we got brought in by the ambulance and police…"
"Don't worry Colonel, I'll make sure you get home." He winked, and Jack thanked him again before heading back to the infirmary.
Several hours later, Jack sat in the back of the General's car, his arm around Sam as she dozed against him, his arm carefully cradling her casted arm. Daniel leaned on his other side and Teal'c rode in the front seat. "You know General, you really didn't have to do this, I'm sure I could have found an Airman to take us home…"
"Jack, relax, it's the least I could do, and it gives me an excuse to get away from that paperwork for awhile." Jack grinned.
It ended up being an early night for all of them, the kids practically falling into bed not long after the General dropped them off, at the early hour of eight pm. He couldn't believe how late in the evening it had gotten, it had been sunny and warm when they'd been whipped away by the ambulance. Jack tidied up downstairs, and looked down at his own clothes in disgust, realizing he was covered in dirt from the yard work he'd left half finished today. Deciding a quick shower was in order, he peeked in on the kids, noticing their rooms needed straightening too, so he'd have to make sure they did that tomorrow too. Danny and Teal'c were burrowed under their covers, and Sam looked slightly unhappy in her sleep, the cast and sling making her customary curled up ball position difficult. The teddy bear from earlier was tucked under her good arm. Its IV, like Sam's, had been removed, but it still had the mock cast and sling. He adjusted her sling, and propped some pillows around her to prevent her moving around too much, hoping it would help her be more comfortable, then headed for the shower.
He set his alarm for a few hours, so he could wake himself up to go give Sam some medicine, then fell into bed himself.
A/N: Hope you liked that big chapter! I could have broke it into two but I thought they'd go together as one better. Anyway, promised the continuing adventures of Sam and dragon... So my friend came down from New York and stopped overnight this weekend for a visit on her way to visit relatives further south. She's the one that gave me my darling little demons (and she doesn't want them back). She's never seen my house yet, and hasn't seen the beasties since I took them last September. So she really wanted to see both. So here I go thinking well it would be easiest, since it's such a short visit and only overnight, if I just bring my cats on over to my house (The upstairs is basically finished except for a lot of little trim things like baseboards and doors to the crawlspace currently covered with large pieces of plywood) And that way she could visit with me, the cats, and spend the night rather than running around trying to see everything. Add to that, all the stuff I've got packed in boxes or new stuff bought or extra furniture at my parent's place, there just is no where to put guests.
And so, brilliant idea I thought, just have everything all together, and heck, I'll spend the night too. That's why I've been so busy the last week or so, been cleaning up over at the house, and making the upstairs "cat-proof". Well, I figure it's got to be done at some point might as well get an early start.
And it was basically cat proof (except when my friends five year old saw a little door just his size and opened it up while we were distracted letting Sammy get into the crawlspace but I caught the little stinker before he could disappear under the floorboards what a nightmare that would have been) The problem was the cats. They became the most reluctant, most antisocial pair of beasties you've ever seen. Even Sammy was hissing. Then he decided to spend the rest of the time crying his little heart out. He was quiet most of the night, I had a spot downstairs because there wasn't room upstairs since the upper kitchen cabinets are still there, and my friend and her husband and son were upstairs where it was safer with the cats. But around 7 am, Sam started crying and yowling, waking up my friend who basically sleeps through anything, including her son having a full fledged tantrum while I was there last time. (Hubby and son slept on blissfully)
Then there was Dragon. Dragon spent the night wedged tightly into the smallest corners he could find, hissing at anyone that came near. They both came out earlier in the morning until hubby got up, but otherwise, Dragon (the bold and brave as he'd have you think) hid in the corners, and Sam would occasionally come out and whine a little and disappear again.
Of course, as soon as I got them home they acted like they'd never been anywhere. Makes me wonder what they'll do when we finally do move, because at some point they're going over there and we aren't coming back here.