Hand of Kindness
By: afg
Note: Written for GateShip's 'Campfire Challenge'. Rowan Darkstar's first paragraph prompt is between the dashes. So, if nothing else it's a good start.
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"Ow...it's hurting my wrist."
"Is it?"
"Yes."
Her breath is a little uneven, more than he expects. "I'm sorry," he says, softly. She lifts her gaze, holds eye contact for a moment, and he feels the connection in the pit of his stomach.
Reading her is proving harder than anticipated.
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He finishes helping her on with the hand device.
"Okay, you're all set." He looks at her again but she's looking over her shoulder at Teal'c.
"T, you ready?"
"Yes, O'Neill."
Teal'c shakes his shackles; they look impressive. If he'd not known, Jack would never have guessed they were breakaway cuffs.
"Right then, Major. You go in, you get Daniel and you get out. No hanging around."
"Yes, sir."
Jack isn't happy about this plan, but it is the best way to get Daniel out of the heavily guarded Goa'uld outpost.
"I'll be watching from here, I'll give you thirty minutes. Teal'c knows his way around this place, it shouldn't take longer than that. If you're any longer SG-3 will start making some noise.
"Yes, sir."
"You look great by the way." She does. He tries not to stare at her bare midriff and toned thighs in the soft, black leather pants, but it's hard.
"It's what all the lady bounty hunters are wearing this year."
She gives him a thin smile.
"You'd better turn your voice modulator on now."
He watches as she fiddles with the choker at her throat."
"How's that?"
He almost winces to hear the reverberating Goa'uld tone.
"S'good, very convincing."
He watches as she squares her shoulders and takes a deep breath. He knows she hates wearing the hand device. He hates her wearing the goddamn thing but it's the best option.
"Good luck."
She nods then takes a hold of the thick chain trailing from Teal'c's manacles, they head off down the hill towards the fortress.
Jack takes up position alongside Colonel Reynolds and his men, and watches Carter and Teal'c through his binoculars.
"You sure about this, Jack?" Reynolds asks in a low voice.
"No, but if anyone can pull this off, she can."
Through his field glasses Jack watches Carter approach the gate. He almost smiles to see her sway her hips in a very non-Carteresque manner. It's a damn good job she doesn't strut around the SGC that way. He watches as she tugs sharply on the chain in her hand and Teal'c falls to his knees. It seems an age while the guard thinks about it, but his mind seems to be quickly made up when Carter lifts her hand with the ribbon device and draws a metal clad finger down the Jaffa's cheek. "Smooth move, Sam." He mutters to himself. She tugs on the chain again and Teal'c rises laboriously to his feet, they walk through the gate and disappear inside the building. Jack checks his watch.
oOo
A huge pulse of energy discharges from the jewel in her palm, she's not capable of any level of subtlety with the device; it's all or nothing; She feels her nipples tighten and the hot pulsing of blood between her legs. She makes sure that Teal'c and Daniel are close behind. Her hand rises again to blast more of the approaching Jaffa. She throws one so hard she hears the snap of his spine; a dark rush of arousal washes over her. She looks back again at Teal'c; Daniel's arm is over his shoulder and the big man is supporting him. Daniel's face is one big bruise and one eye is swollen shut, he looks dazed.
"Teal'c, get ready, I'm going to blast through the gates."
She feels powerful, unstoppable, so much so, she barely feels the staff blast ricochet off her leg. She stumbles a little then lifts her hand and sends the offending Jaffa through a wall, his skull splits like an over-ripe watermelon; Sam almost laughs.
oOo
"Fuck me."
Jack hears Reynolds mutter as the fortress gates are blasted off their hinges, smashing into the two sentries. "Ouch."
He sees Carter followed by Teal'c supporting the wobbly Daniel.
"Cover them!" Jack points toward the three figures. SG-3 wastes no time complying.
Jack watches Carter pulverize several pursuing Jaffa. He sees her teeth flash in the bright sunshine; she's grinning.
He's no time to wonder about that as they quickly approach their position. Teal'c now has Daniel in a fireman's lift for extra speed.
Jack looks them over, he sees the scorched leather and a spreading stain on Carter's thigh; she's been hit. He doesn't say anything, he's not quite sure who he would be talking to, and there's no time. He's pretty sure the adrenalin will carry her to the Gate.
"Teal'c, you okay with Daniel?"
"I am, O'Neill."
"Let's move."
oOo
Sam feels sick. Seeing the khaki battle dress of SG-3 is like a blast of icy water. As she runs she feels the weight of the device wrapped around her hand and wrist like Eden's serpent. It whispers to her, soft and sibilant in its seduction. "Use me…feel me."
"No!"
"Carter, you with me?"
She feels him close by her side, his hand grasps her upper arm, pushing her along. His fingers warm her clammy flesh. He feels solid and real and now and she's more grateful than she can say.
"Yes."
oOo
"Close the Iris!" Jack bellows as he comes through the gate. He'd shoved Carter through then waited as Reynolds got his men through before making the jump himself.
The gate closes down and the iris squints shut with a harsh grating sound.
The noise of boots on the Gate ramp almost drowns out the sound of her voice but not quite.
"Ohgodohgodgetitoffgetitoffgodnow,now,now."
He's transfixed by her frantic attempts to remove the ribbon device. He vaguely hears Hammond calling for medics, but he can't take his eyes from his Major's horrified face. He sees blood appear on her wrist; he's by her side before he realises he's moved.
"Okay, it's okay, Carter. Let me help."
He takes a hold of her arm; her whole body is trembling.
"Get it off me, now! Please…please."
Alright, Major, hold still."
He manages to slip the thing off her hand. She bats it away from her and it drops onto the ramp. She stumbles backwards, falling over her feet to land on her ass. She scoots clumsily away her chest heaving.
"It's over Carter, you're okay…." Jack stops his approach as she suddenly heaves herself to the edge of the ramp and vomits on the Gateroom floor.
oOo
Sam flops onto her back. The taste of bile in her mouth is revolting. She glances at the ribbon device a few feet away, she can still hear it, still feel its pulse in her blood but it's fading. Now exhaustion is taking over. Her leg throbs and she can't seem to stop shaking. She feels a warm hand on her face.
"Carter?"
She can't meet his gaze; she doesn't deserve his concern.
"Really tired, sir."
"I'll bet. Frasier's just seeing to Daniel; we'll get you down to the infirmary. Can you walk?"
She makes it to her feet with his help. She holds onto him as the Gateroom tilts and warps around her. She sees general Hammond striding toward them and lets go of Jack's arm.
"Are you alright, Major?"
The General sounds concerned and she thinks about the question for a moment.
"I'm fine."
Her sudden shift from upright to supine is a surprise. She blinks up at the two men looking down at her, they're saying something, but she can't hear them through the reverberating echoes in her head. She shuts her eyes and lets go of it all…just for a while.
oOo
He stands on her doorstep, the evening is chilly and his breath chuffs out in billowy, white clouds. Janet had let Sam out of the infirmary after three days, for most of which Sam slept. The non-symbiote enhanced human was not made to use Goa'uld devices for any length of time; they took too much out of the user. Sam's leg had been cleaned and dressed. She'd been lucky it had been a ricochet and not a direct hit; mostly she'd been suffering from shock and exhaustion.
He knocks on the door. After a moment it opens and there she is, looking tired beyond belief.
"Hey, Carter."
"Sir,"
She steps back and lets him in. He slips past her and walks through to the living room. It's very quiet, the TV is off and there's no music playing. He notices a book on her sofa. Suddenly curious he picks it up, it's poetry, he's surprised; he really didn't think Carter was the poetry type. His eyes scan over the page and he reads.
"In the dark mirror where no light can reach I see her still face radiant with a smile her passion frozen in the dark mirror"
He hears her limping tread as she walks into the room.
"You know, Carter, I never could understand poetry."
"It makes a change from wormhole physics, sir."
He frowns at the lack of energy in her voice.
"So, how're you doing?"
"The leg's a bit sore, but I should be good as new in a couple of weeks. How's Daniel?"
"He's still enjoying Doc Frasier's tender mercies. He'll be let out tomorrow. He won't be looking too pretty for a while but he'll be fine."
"Good, that's good."
She looks uncomfortable and desperately sad
"Carter, I'm sor…"
"Don't!…Don't apologise, and don't tell me you'll never ask me to do that again because we both know that it would be a lie."
He nods. She's right. If the circumstances demanded it he would ask her to use that goddamned thing again, because that's their job. There's a war on and he hasn't got the luxury of not using her anyway he can.
"I just wish it wasn't so hard on you."
He feels her gaze hit him like a cold blast of air. He almost takes a step back.
"You don't get it. It's not hard; it's not hard at all. It's easy, and it feels so fucking good."
He watches her eyes slip shut as she remembers; her mouth opens in a long sigh.
"I enjoyed it. I felt good killing those men. How many did I massacre by the way, fifty? A hundred?"
"You've killed Jaffa before."
"Yes, but I never got wet while I did it."
He sees the look of total mortification on her face as she says the words. His loathing for those snakehead bastards almost chokes him.
"Carter…Sam…I…"
She touches his arm. "It's okay. You don't have to try and say something profound."
He takes her hand and runs his thumb over the pale flesh of her palm; flesh that had killed and maimed.
"Sam, you are the most honourable person I know, the fact that you're feeling like crap right now is proof of that. If anyone should feel shame it's me for asking you to wear that device. Daniel is alive because of you. We didn't lose a man on that mission because of you."
Her gaze fixes on the floor and she nods. He knows she's not convinced. It's too soon, too fresh in her mind.
"Do you need some leave? Get away for a while?"
She shakes her head.
"You're a good person, Carter."
Her eyes are liquid as she looks up at him.
"I hope so, sir... I really hope so."
The end.
Endnote:
The poem Jack reads is 'In The Dark Mirror' by Suchoon Mo.