P is for Patient
a/n - sorry, not beta'd, just tossed out there....
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Soft light did little to hide the lump of bandage across the head, or the swollen shut and deep purple eye, or the seeping gashed eyebrow that ran down into a seriously painful looking abrasion across the bruised cheek. Actually, the light shone strangely on the neon orange cast Vala had insisted on.
The quiet in the infirmary was intermittently marred by Jack's thumping his thumbs on the bedside table between the patient's bed and the one he sat on, like drumsticks– which each and every time got him a scowl from both Carter and Lam.
They waited. Any minute now, Lam had said. Just be sure the patient stays calm. Don't want any of the inside stitches to tear loose.
The patient stirred for the first time in thirty-six hours and the visitors were on their feet instantly, hovering like mother hens in a semicircle around the bed.
Vala took up the optimum position, across from Dr. Lam. Jack scooted in very close beside her and she glared and received a pointed finger towards the stars on his uniform. Teal'c chose the foot of the bed, Carter and Mitchell took the other side, next to Carolyn.
A weak groan escaped the patient. Then a rustle of sheets as he shifted, groaning once again. Carolyn laid a hand on his shoulder…after swatting Vala's hand away as she attempted to do the same. "Shhh, lie still. You're going to be fine." The doctor leaned in to whisper and the patient passed out again.
The collective sighs of frustration sounded like a hot air balloon deflating. Carolyn took the pen light and checked his pupils, then stepped back. Voice low, she reported, "he's good. The meds have him groggy, he should wake up…"
Daniel popped up to a sitting position like a jackknife, un-swollen eye blinking furiously.
Carolyn called out for assistance and med techs swarmed in.
Daniel groaned, "son of a bitch! What the hell happened?"
"Lie down!" Carolyn insisted.
Sam's eyes went large and round as Vala placed a hand to her mouth, murmuring, 'darling?'
Teal'c only raised a brow, while Jack let out chuckle.
"Hell, Jackson," Mitchell grinned, "nice to see you back amongst the living."
"Oiy, nail in the head." Daniel flopped back on the pillow. "For crying out loud! Couldya just all shut up!"
Sam, Vala, Cam and Teal'c all yanked their heads around to Jack.
Jack eyed the doctor with a bit of an awed expression. "Huh?"
Carolyn winced. "Maybe there was just the slightest bit of brain injury, but I didn't expect this. He should snap out of it and be himself again…in a day or so."
Jack could feel all eyes on him. "What!? It wasn't MY fault! He tripped, for cryin' out looo…" Jack threw up his hands in defeat. "I told him NOT to go in that old cave…it's been boarded up for years! And it's not even on my property! I specifically told him…"
The remainder of SG-1 once again took up seats in a vigil ignoring the general's ranting.
Q is for Questions
"Where?"
Jack pointed, glaring at his 2IC.
"Well, I don't see it!"
"Right there,"
"Right there, where, sir?"
"For crying out loud, Carter, it's right there!"
Jack snatched the telescope from her fingers and tossed it to Daniel. "You see it, right?"
Pulling his glasses off, Daniel peered into the scope. "Not seeing it." Casually, he handed it off to Teal'c.
The Jaffa studied the terrain carefully. "O'Neill. There is nothing there."
The four lay on the hillside watching the area around the Stargate. Jack reached across Daniel, and yanked the scope out of Teal'c's hand, receiving a warning glare from the Jaffa. "You're all blind as bats!"
Sam opened her vest pocket and pulled out her own binoculars. "I still don't see it. What is it?"
Frustrated, Jack turned over on his back. "That thing down there! It's plain as day!"
Face screwed up in annoyance, Daniel glared at Jack. "What thing?"
"The thing that's not like the other things!" Once again moving to his stomach, Jack aimed the scope, and pointed directly towards the spot.
Raising her field glasses, Sam looked again. "Maybe you have one of those floaters in your eye…"
Incredulous, Jack stared angrily at Carter, his mouth working but unable to comment.
Taking the scope from Jack, Daniel looked again. "Nope, nothing. Just that pile of trash that was there when we came through. We looked through it, Jack. There's nothing unusual about it."
"That, Daniel, was two days ago. I'm telling you there's something new down there. And we need to find out before we go running for the Gate and get ambushed."
"Ambushed, O'Neill? There is no one on this planet but ourselves."
"Then where did that thing come from?"
"What thing!!" Daniel dropped his head in irritation.
"Look, sir, I say we go down there, check it out, and dial home."
"What if it's a bomb, Carter?"
Standing, Sam dusted off her BDUs. "Then we blow up?"
R is for Reminiscing
Trying to get the General's attention, Sam nudged Jack without success.
Flipping burgers on his grill, Jack continued his story, laughing, beer in hand and his captive audience, Vala, looking oddly interested.
"Then she lays one on him! I mean a brain sucking kiss that left Daniel weak as a kitten…which wasn't necessarily hard to do. You should have seen him; he was bamboozled to say the least."
With a stab at a laugh, Vala nodded.
"I don't think the guy knew what hit him from the moment Kasuf handed her over." Pouring beer over the rising flames, Jack turned his attention back to the grill.
Vala nodded again, snatched the veil from her head, tossed it over a chair and took off in a huff.
"What'd I say?"
Sam shook her head, and left the General to his meat burning.
Cam smiled as Vala approached, and then looked back at Rodney McKay, "It's all in the mission report. Seems he had a fling with her for a few months, but as usual, he didn't pay enough attention. So, I think that's why she was so intent on getting back at him…I mean Osiris, who had her memories. And I think the Goa'uld had a crush on him too. From what I heard they had a hot little affair goin' when they worked together, I mean Sarah and Jackson. And who could blame him?"
"Ha ha, right." Shoving the bouquet of roses into Cam's hand, Vala moved on.
Looking around she took a safe bet, yanked the train of satin dragging behind her, threw it over her arm, and joined the group with Major Davis.
"Vala," Paul Davis nodded with a pleasant smile. "I was just discussing with Bill and Siler here, about that time SG-1 unknowingly brought Lania back, when she'd lost her memory, and that whole planet got younger. What was her name, then?" Paul looked up at Dr. Lee, who shrugged. "Ah! Ke'ra! Wow! Really a good looking woman, who would have thought she'd once been old! Ke'ra and Daniel had a thing going on; it was the talk of the base. Anyway…" Paul continued as Vala wandered off towards the house.
Adjusting the satin brocade bustier that pinched under her arms, Vala approached the kitchen where she heard Carolyn's voice. "No! You're kidding, right? Like Neanderthals? He was…I mean with the daughter of the leader?"
Sam answered, and Vala stopped just outside the door. "Melosha, she'd been with 'The Touched'. When Daniel got taken, well…let's just say he sort of…protected her."
"Oh, I see."
Pivoting, Vala exited quietly, going back out onto the deck and nearly bumping into General Landry and Walter. She jerked off the white pumps, handing one to Landry and one to Walter. They greeted her pleasantly, accepting the shoes and then continued their conversation as she walked passed. "Sir, I understood that Dr. Jackson was sort of 'with' Kegan, when they were in that underground facility on that ice planet. I remember General O'Neill, well, Colonel O'Neill then, talking about it. They were an 'item' according to him and…"
Making her way through the guests she couldn't avoid the conversations. Even Teal'c was engaged in telling a Daniel tale. "Hathor used DanielJackson's DNA to produced more Goa'uld offspring…it is no secret how she acquired it."
Twisting the new gold band on her left hand, Vala brushed through the crowd. "She was like some kind of princess." Colonel Dixon shook his head, "we wondered if he'd ever recover from that one. She used the Sarcophagus to addict him, since he saved her life and she thought he sort of belonged to her, she was determined to keep him. Shyla, that was her name, but there wasn't anything shy about her. She sure had him hooked…."
Anger rising, Vala stomped off. Lifting the bottom of her white satin skirt and exposing yards of crinoline, she tired to squeeze past Colonel Reynolds and Bra'tac.
"I really don't know." Reynolds answered Bra'tac's question. "Nobody does. But she nursed him back to health, and they spent a lot of time alone in that house." Colonel Reynolds took a swig of his beer, "Leda was the wife Jared Kane, one of the Rand Protectorate commanders. Story goes that she was left alone a lot by her husband…if you get my drift…"
Finding nowhere to escape the long list of Daniel's conquest, Vala sat down on the steps at the end of the deck, braced her elbows on her knees and sighed heavily.
"Hey. Where have you been?" Daniel sat down beside her, smiling sweetly. He'd removed the tux jacket, and had the starched sleeves of his white shirt rolled up.
Vala smacked him on the shoulder as hard as she could. Standing she glared heatedly, "Don't you EVER talk to me again!"
"What'd I do? Vala!" Daniel jumped up and rushed after his new wife. "Vala!?"
S is for Spelling
"Don't touch it! Jack, put it down."
"Oh for crying out loud! Daniel, what the hell is it?"
"Will you please stop?"
"No, Daniel..."
"Down, Jack. D.O.W.N."
"Okay. Don't Operate Without Nerd?"
"Well…more like Disappointing Opprobrious Waggish Negligence."
"Nice with the opprobrious.
Daniel glared.
"Obviously you don't know what it is." Jack, smug smile in place, tried to open the artifact.
"Wait!! It could be dangerous…at least to you." Not getting any response the archeologist stared threateningly. The two locked gazes.
"Now!" Daniel insisted after a long silence.
"Dick." Jack tossed the object to Daniel.
"Ogre." Daniel barely caught it.
"Wimp."
"Nihilist."
"Dimwi…huh?" Jack did a double take.
"Obdurate."
"What!!?"
"Nevermind." Daniel thumped his head on the desk.
TBC