Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own these characters. Just having a bit of fun borrowing them for a while for adventures and such.
A/N: So, this is my contribution to the SG1 fandom's Sam/Jack Secret Santa fic for my awesome giftee, amilyn. Hope you enjoy the fic and Happy Holidays from your resident fic elf!
Fix You
SG1's arrival on P2X-545 had been innocuous enough. They had arrived there on a recon mission to determine if there were viable deposits of naquadah there that could be mined to help power the X-302. The four of them had split up into teams of two to cover more ground. Sam & Jack took the eastern end of the planet while Teal'c & Daniel searched the western part of the planet. Everything seemed normal until Jack stopped Sam when he heard faint footsteps nearby. Jack took a second and tapped the alert button on the side of his radio three times, a signal understood between the four of them as get out now or that the mission has been compromised.
A split second later, three flashes from a staff weapon flew towards Jack & Sam as she quickly threw Jack to the ground in an attempt to protect him from the fiery blasts hurling towards them. It wasn't until he tried to lift himself up a few seconds later to take cover from the incoming blasts that he noticed Carter was lying limp on top of him. Jack quickly grabbed the shoulders of Sam's tactical vest and dragged her until they were behind a huge boulder. He expertly took out all three Jaffa, but knew that more were bound to be headed their way soon after hearing the commotion.
Jack quickly made the decision to pick Sam up in his arms and search for a good place to hide out until they could better ascertain the situation at hand. It wasn't until he could feel Sam's blood soaking through the arm of his uniform shirt that he realized she'd taken one staff blast to each thigh and who knows what else. Getting a glance at the extent of Sam's injuries, he knew he had to find a place to hide and fast if Carter had any chance of making it.
It wasn't until Jack passed through some trees a few minutes later that he came across what looked like some sort of cave. He quickly ducked in there and seeing no clear signs that anyone had occupied it in quite some time, he set Sam down and began to assess the extent of her injuries as he tore open his pack and Sam's in search of the medical supplies they always packed for situations such as this. It was also then that he noticed that Sam had also taken a staff blast to the left shoulder.
Once Jack located the medical scissors, he quickly began to cut out a fairly large square of fabric in the upper thigh of Sam's green cargo pants in order to have room to check and attend to Sam's wound. Next, he hastily grabbed the hydrogen peroxide and poured a bit in the wound to disinfect it.
Just as he was thinking how grateful he was that Sam was passed out for this part, she came to and swung her fist towards the inflictor of the searing pain without realizing who it was. As her right hook connected with his face, he fell backwards slightly as he noticed Sam trying to move.
Jack quickly scurried towards Sam and put one hand against her uninjured shoulder & another against her hip and got in her face as he explained, "Sam, it's me. It's Jack. You're hurt. I need you to try and stay still while I do my best to patch you up, okay?"
Sam slowly began to relax back against the ground of the cave when she realized it was her commanding officer trying to help her & not a Jaffa or system lord trying to torture her.
"Sorry. Where are we?" Sam asked him.
"Still on P2X-545. I found this cave shortly after you passed out. Figured it was as good a place as any to hideout from all those Jaffa while I patch you up and come up with another plan," explained Jack.
"You don't have a backup plan, Sir?" Sam asked jokingly.
"Funny, Carter. I wasn't exactly planning on this planet being overrun by Jaffa," replied Jack as he wrapped the first wound as best he could with medical tape & gauze pads before giving her other thigh wound much the same treatment.
Not exactly doctor level work, but it would have to do until they could make it back to the gate and have Janet properly assess & treat it.
"Daniel & Teal'c?" Sam raspily asked him.
"Pretty sure I was able to give them enough of a warning that they were able to make it back through the gate in time. Hopefully Hammond's able to send a few SG teams and Fraiser back with them. Until then, it's probably best to stay out of sight," said Jack.
Jack gently ripped the sleeve off of Sam's right shoulder to get a look at her shoulder wound. The release of pressure quickly made the wound begin bleeding quite a bit more than it had been before.
"Carter! Sam stay with me!" Jack barked at Sam as he instantly ripped his black t-shirt off and quickly sliced down the front of it with his knife in an effort to make a makeshift tourniquet for Sam's shoulder.
"Tired…can't stay-" mumbled Sam before she passed out from the quick loss of blood.
"Sam! Shit!" yelled Jack as he quickly tied off her shoulder wound with his t-shirt.
Jack then put two of his fingers to the side of Sam's neck to check her pulse. It was slower than normal, but that could just be from the amount of blood she'd lost in such a short time.
Jack decided to take off his belt and tie Sam's shoulder wound off a bit tighter with it, carefully trying to stop the bleeding without cutting off the circulation to her arm.
Now, all that was left to do was wait and waiting had always been the hardest part for Jack O'Neill. Not only did the waiting give him way too much time to think, but it also brought back some painful memories.
A half hour later, Sam still hadn't regained consciousness and the normally calm & collected Colonel had slowly started to slip into panic mode.
Sam slowly started to rouse and could hear the sound of Jack's pacing footsteps nearby. A few seconds later, she was startled to hear the sound of metal hit the wall of the cave Jack had found for them to hide out from the Jaffa.
Sam managed to peek her eyes open slightly to determine what the source of the noise was and noticed a dented metal canteen sitting near Jack's crouching form on the ground nearby.
It took a moment for Sam to notice that Jack was breathing heavily and muttering something, seemingly to himself. She heard more than a few expletives uttered before she realized he wasn't only talking to himself when Sam heard his voice crack and noticed him rocking back and forth on his knees as he looked down at the ground and said, "I couldn't save Charlie. I couldn't save my marriage to Sara because I couldn't protect Charlie. Sam...you and this job are the only things I've got left. I can't lose you too."
Sam slowly reached over to slip her hand on top of Jack's as she choked out a throaty, "Sir..."
"Hey there, Carter. Thought you were a goner there for a while," said Jack as he gave Sam a watery smile and moved a little closer to her.
"It's gonna take more than a few staff blasts to get rid of me, Sir," Sam told him.
"Glad to hear it," replied Jack.
After what she'd just heard him saying when he thought she was still unconscious, she didn't think now was the time to address it, so she hastily changed the subject and asked, "So, how long do you think it'll be before Hammond mounts a rescue mission?"
"It'll probably be a day or two before he sends the cavalry through the gate. Not only does that add an element of surprise, but it also gives them time to gather supplies and come up with a solid plan. We've got enough rations for at least a week, maybe more, and enough water to last us at least three or four days. So, the best thing we can do probably is stay put and keep an eye out for trouble until they're able to get to us. Your wounds were pretty serious, but the one bright side of a staff blast wound versus a bullet is that it starts to cauterize fairly quickly. Still hurts like a bitch, but at least you won't run the risk of losing even more blood than you did when I went to patch up your shoulder wound," said Jack.
"Thanks for that, by the way," Sam told him.
"Think nothing of it, Carter. I know you'd do the same for me. Plus, you'd probably do a much better job at it than I was able to," replied Jack.
Sam looked down at the ground and smiled for a moment before she looked up at Jack and told him, "Don't sell yourself short, Sir. After all, you did manage to save me from bleeding to death."
"Yeah. I guess I did," replied Jack as he looked down at the ground bashfully at Sam's compliment.
He may have saved Sam this time, but Jack knew he was the one who should really be thanking her. Sam had saved him countless times and in numerous ways over the years, and if he was being honest, not all of them were in an entirely professional capacity.