Sorry if this chapter seems rushed or anything like that. I didn't have a whole lot of time to write it, so I kind of hurried through it. But next time I'm going to take my time and hopefully write a really good chapter that everyone will enjoy!
Thank you, Morgann, for editing this, you're so awesome!
Ch 9:
Jack ran his fingers though his hair; it was a habit he was alone and trying to think. He had to let Jacob know- soon. Mark deserved to know… but what would they say? 'Hey, Mark, your sister's in a coma, sorry you can't visit her'? He stood up, pacing up and down the room – he stopped for a moment and hurried out of the room.
He jogged down the hall until he reached General Hammond's office; he stopped and thought for a moment before he knocked.
"Enter," came the voice from inside. Jack turned the door handle and walked in. "Colonel," the General said, standing up. "Good to see you, we just contacted Jacob…" he saw the look on Jack's face. "what can I do for you?"
"Sir, in the debriefing I told you about Felipe, and how he got us out. Sir, I promised him that I would bring a couple of teams and get him out of there. If not for him, we wouldn't be here… sir."
"Colonel," Hammond began slowly, "I know you feel obligated to him, but I can't send a couple of teams to that planet. You said so yourself, they have heavily armed. And we know nearly nothing about this disease Major Carter contracted. I'm sorry."
Jack hesitated then asked, "Then… sir, let me go. I'd like to keep my promise to him. Who knows what he had to do, or trade to get us out of there."
"You know I can't authorize that."
"Sir, please."
General Hammond was quiet for a minute. "We can send a UAV to see-"
"Sir, what good is that going to do?" Jack cried.
General Hammond gave a deep sigh. "I'm sorry, Jack."
Jack looked down. "Yes, sir."
"Dismissed."
Jack walked out of the room.
----
Beep, beep, beep… the noise was driving him crazy. That was the only sound he had heard in the past hour. Daniel sighed and adjusted his grip on his friend's hand. "Come on Sam, you just have to wake up." Daniel pleaded. Sam was like the sister he never had; in fact, SG-1 was like his family he never really had. He sighed.
"Daniel Jackson."
Daniel glanced back. "Hey Teal'c…" he said, wiping away a stray tear. "You guys contact Felipe's planet?"
"No," Teal'c replied. "We were unsuccessful. The planet's Stargate will no longer lock." He sat down on the chair next to Daniel.
"Have you seen Jack anywhere, Teal'c?" Daniel asked feeling a little worried about his friend. "I haven't seen him in a while."
"Nor have I." Teal'c replied.
"Do you think he went home? I wouldn't think so, but, this hasn't exactly been the best day for him."
"I do not think so. I believe he just wishes to be alone." Teal'c folded his hands.
"That may be, but… I don't think he-"
"Hey, will you two quit talking about me as if I'm not here?" a voice asked from behind him. Their heads quickly whipped around, finding Jack sitting on a table in the dark corner of the room. "It's very touching how you feel about me though, oh, and Daniel? I'm making sure Sam holds you to that promise, you know, the one about you doing anything she wanted…"
"Jack… how long have you been sitting there?" Daniel asked, pushing up his glasses.
"Oh…" Jack hopped off the desk and walked into the light, he looked down at his watch. "Uh, a couple of hours or so, before you got here and began promising stuff to Carter if- I mean when she wakes up."
Daniel smiled, glad that at least Jack's odd since of humor was back. "Well, just don't tell her that I promised to try a bowl of blue jello, okay?" Daniel could swear he saw the smallest smile spread across Jack's face.
"Well, I guess I don't want to put you through that torturous stuff." Jack shoved his hands into his pockets; he looked down at Sam and swallowed. "She looks pretty like that, doesn't she?"
"Yeah, she does." "Indeed." Came the two replies.
Jack nodded. "Yeah…"
They all turned to Sam, and sat there in silence… well, except for the beeping noise...
----
"Off-world activation!" Walter's voice shouted through the intercom. Jack had no doubt on who it was… Jacob. Sam's dad would no doubt have it in for him, he would be furious at him, how dare he let his daughter go into a coma! He could hear it now. Jack stood on the edge of the Stargate, arms dangling loosely at his side.
"Jacob…" Jack greeted as the elderly man walked through the gate. "Long time… I only wish this was under better circumstances."
Jacob stared at Jack. "What's wrong? They just sent a message telling me to come as quickly as possible. What's up? Did Daniel get some alien language downloaded into his head?"
Jack stood there, shocked. They hadn't told him? He looked up at General Hammond who waited in the control room. "No one told you a thing?" he asked as he turned back to Jacob.
Jacob shook his head. "No, now, what's wrong, I was on a very important mission when-"
"Sam's in a coma." Jack said with a voice that only people who knew him would understand. Jack knew that it might not have been the best way to tell Sam's dad, but he didn't know an easier way.
Jacob continued his speech; the words Jack spoke hadn't clicked yet… "I hear- ... what did you say?"
Jack swallowed; he so did not want to repeat those words. "Carter is in a coma."
"In a…" Jacob froze. "A coma? No- what- how- what the hell happened!" he demanded as he hurried out of the room, with Jack right behind.
But Jack didn't tell him how, he didn't even follow him into the infirmary, he broke off and headed to his office. He found it relatively clean. General Hammond must have ordered someone to clean it up. He couldn't bear to face Jacob right now, he'd let him blow up at someone else first… but he didn't blame Jacob if he hated Jack from now on. He was the leader after all, he should have tried harder… right?
He sat in his office alone, for a long time, he wasn't sure how long exactly, he was about to get up when the door opened and Jacob entered the room. Jack quickly stood up, not sure what to say. But he didn't have to say anything – Jacob's eyes were filled with tears, he walked over to Jack and hugged him.
"Oh my God, Jack," he muttered, not allowing himself to talk regular. "Sam…" he let Jack go. "I can't believe this is happening to her, not after her mother… oh God, how are you taking this?"
What did he mean? How should he be taking this? Jack hesitated before deciding what to say. "How do you think I'm taking it? I'm her CO for cryin' out loud! I feel as I would if it was Daniel! She's a very valuable member of my team."
"Jack, it's okay, I know all about how you feel about my daughter, and I'm glad it's you and not some kind of creep. Not to mention, I can trust you to not break her heart, and-"
"Jacob! What in the world are you talking about?" he never made a good liar.
"Jack, don't try and fool me, George's been filling me in ever since the Zay'tarc incident."
Jack felt like storming over to General Hammond and demanding to know exactly what he'd been telling Jacob… but he could only guess. "Jacob, it's not what you think."
"Oh, I think it is, Jack," Jacob crossed his arms and glowered. "I think you're in love with my daughter but you're not about to sacrifice yours or her career."
"It's not like I wouldn't give up my job!" Jack snapped. He realized he just admitted to what Jacob had been saying. "Jacob-"
"Jack, I have no problem with it. But I am going to warn you, if you ever hurt my daughter. I will kill you, and don't you think for one second that I can't, just because of my age."
"Well, I can't give my job up if she doesn't wake up…" he muttered softly. "She's just gotta wake up."
Jacob bowed his head and his eyes glowed. "Jacob is having a very difficult time with this, as I am sure you know. He has his doubts whether or not she will wake up."
Jack nodded. "Yeah, I know…" he began to feel uncomfortable around Jacob; his stare was really starting to bug him. There was an awkward silence before Selmak spoke once again.
"We will leave. It is nice to see you again, Colonel O'Neill." He turned and left the room without another room.
Jack sighed and plopped into his chair, what was he going to do?
----
Jack pushed his chair closer to Sam before he sat down. He picked up her hand and slowly began to rub it. He looked up at her face and began to feel guilty all over again. It had been exactly one day since Sam was sent flying through the Stargate. "Carter," Jack said softly, knowing Janet was in the room, not too far away. "Carter… please refresh my memory, I do'ot remember telling you that you're allowed to slip into a coma…"
From two beds over, Janet smiled at her friends. She wished she could give them what they wanted, but she couldn't, the only thing she could do was keep Sam alive. Janet turned on her heels and walked away, causing Jack to look back to make sure she was really gone. He turned back to Sam.
"Hey, but then again, I never said you couldn't. And you're really good at doing twisting my orders, or finding a way around them, aren't you? Well, as soon as you wake up, I'm going to have to order you not to slip in a coma, how does that sound? I've already ordered you not to die…" he looked down at her hand he was rubbing softly. He wiped away a tear that had fallen on it. "See what you've done now Carter? You got me all tearing up. That's not nice, ya know."
He sighed once more. "Carter… we all need you, you're scaring the crap out of me, which not be such a bad thing, but you're doing it in a way I don't like. Not at all." He let go of her hand and leaned back, raising his arms over his head to give them a stretch. He picked up her hand once more and squeezed it. "Car- Sam, Sam if you can hear me somewhere in there… wake up."
Jack began to get a little comfortable in his chair, he grabbed a pillow off the bed next to Sam, tucked it behind his back, and slowly, he drifted off to sleep…
----
"Jack," Daniel's voice called softly, as if he wasn't quite sure that Jack was awake. "Jack, I need to talk to you."
Jack slowly and tiredly opened his eyes, to find Daniel's face about three inches away from him. He quickly jerked his head back. "Whoa! Danny-boy, a little space next time, huh?" he looked over at the now empty bed next to him and stood up quicker then anyone could have. "Where's Carter?" he demanded, turning to Daniel. "Where the hell is she?"
"That's what I was going to tell you, you were asleep through the whole thing, I guess you needed it..." Daniel said, he looked down and then back at his friend. "Sam… she's gotten worse, she's been moved to urgent care… Jack, she has a breathing tube now, she can't breathe on her own." He swallowed. "Right now… Jack, she's not there, without the life support, she'd be gone."
Jack couldn't believe how calmly Daniel was saying this. This was Carter they were talking about! If anyone could survive this, she could. "When?" He'd slept through the whole thing? Normally he would have woken up at any sudden noise, he was trained to…
"About twenty minutes ago, Jack, no ones allowed in her room right now." He said as Jack began to walk away. "They won't even let Jacob or General Hammond…"
Jack began to rub his forehead viciously. "No, no, no!" he muttered loudly.
"Jack," Daniel said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You-"
"Daniel!" He warned before turning around and marching out.
----
Jack stepped off the elevator and hurried down the halls. He reached the corridor Sam's room was on and slowed down. Jacob was sitting outside her room. Jack had never seen the Tok'ra looked so haggard. He peered into the small window, but he couldn't see Sam, she was on the other side of the room.
"Jack," Jacob said softly, his voice coming out scratchy, "She may not make it."
Jack turned to him, almost shocked that he would say anything like that. "Sure she will," he said, "she always does, doesn't she?"
"Jack, this is different…" he looked up at him. "Dr. Fraiser said the chance of her waking up is one in a million."
Jack froze. "Well then," he managed to get out, "she'll just have to be that one then, won't she?"
Jacob shook his head. "You can't just will things to happen, Jack. Sam might be strong, but even the strongest man on earth probably wouldn't come out of this."
Jack stood there, breathing heavily. "Yeah," he muttered quietly, he walked over to the empty chair next to Jacob and sat down.
"Jack," Jacob spoke after a couple minutes of silence. "Dr. Fraiser told me, that if she doesn't wake up in the next few days, she's definitely already gone." He was quiet again. "That machine's the only thing keeping her alive right now."
"Jacob, some people have woken up from this kind of coma."
Jacob shook his head. "Not enough."
Jack glanced over at him, it sounded as if Jacob had completely given up on his daughter. Jack wasn't about to do that. He knew Sam, he knew her better then he should, but still, he knew her. He also knew, she could pull through if she really wanted to. But what if she didn't want to? What if she decided to just leave them all? Jack swallowed nervously at the thought.
A minute later, Janet walked out of the room, sorrow etched on her face. She turned to Jack and Jacob and shook her head. "No difference," She said softly. "But you can see her now."
Jack looked at Jacob, who was already getting up. Jack continued to sit; he would let Jacob visit his daughter privately before he saw her. Jacob looked back at Jack and motioned him to follow. "Come on," he said, before walking into the room.
Jack hesitated before standing up; he glanced back at Janet who stared up at him sadly. Jack walked over to her and pulled her into a hug. "Hey, you did everything you could."
Janet nodded through her tears. "Yes, sir. But it doesn't see like enough."
Jack squeezed her before he let her go. "I'll see you later doctor." He said softly before he walked into the room.
Janet nodded and wiped away a couple of tears…
-
As Jack entered in the room, he slowed as soon as he saw the breathing tube attached to her mouth. That had confirmed it for Jack; reality was sinking deeper. He felt a bead of sweat drop from his forehead; he quickly wiped it away.
Jacob turned to Jack as he walked to Sam's side. "She still looks beautiful doesn't she?" he asked kindly.
Jack looked up at him, feeling awkward, not sure how to reply. "Um, yeah, she is." He cleared his throat. "Jacob…"
"Yes, Jack?"
Jack was suddenly unsure what he was going to say. "Uhh- what are you going to tell Mark and his family?"
Jacob sighed, as though he'd thought about it. "I don't think I am. Not now, if she doesn't make it out of it, well, then, I don't really have a choice, do I?"
"No. I guess you wouldn't." Jack shifted uncomfortably.
Jacob turned to Jack and placed a hand on his shoulder. "She loves you," He said quietly before he exited the room, leaving Jack alone with his comatose daughter.
