Author's notes: Final chapter, folks! I know I promised you this on Sunday already but the site had a technical glitch as you all must have notices, too. Time to get Jack back home safely and wrap this one up. We loved writing this, hopefully you loved reading it!
Teal'c estimated he had been gone less than an hour. The first time when he had approached the cabin, he had moved cautiously, since he had not known if the enemy was still present. Now, he had been running all the way to O'Neill's vehicle and back.
Still he was concerned for O'Neill's condition as he stepped back into the cabin. Using his flashlight, Teal'c immediately went to the room where he had left his injured friend.
The only thing he found there was the blanket and the canteen.
Frowning in surprise, Teal'c swung with his hand, the beam of the flashlight crossing the floor of the room. O'Neill was gone.
The Jaffa turned on his heels and quickly inspected the hallway. Finding no trace of his friend he tried the next room, only to find that empty as well.
He had more luck trying the next door. It was blocked, and by the feel of it, by something heavy and yet soft. Teal'c placed his ear against the door and listened carefully. He could not make out anything, however.
Not wanting to force his way in, he ran outside, around the cabin. Luckily, there was a small window. Teal'c shone the light into the room, peering inside. His suspicions were confirmed as the beam of his flashlight rested on the unmoving form of his friend, crumpled against the door. The Jaffa could only guess how on Chulak O'Neill had managed that.
Estimating the distance between the door and the window, Teal'c considered it safe enough to break the glass. With all the trees around the cabin he soon found a stick he could use and thumped it through the window. The glass shattered. With the branch, Teal'c pushed all remaining sharp pieces out of the way. Next, he took off his shirt, tore it in two and wrapped one part around his hand before carefully clearing the window frame. Only then he allowed himself to climb inside.
For the third time that night, Teal'c dropped to his knees beside his friend, and searched with his fingers for a pulse in O'Neill's neck. Relieved when he found one, Teal'c gently repositioned the unconscious body until his CO was lying flat on his back. Next, he carefully pushed his hands under O'Neill's shoulders and slowly dragged the still form away from the door, just enough for it to be able to open again.
Afraid of the suspected concussion, Teal'c gathered the canteen and wetted the remaining part of his shirt. With that, he started dabbing O'Neill's face in an attempt to arouse him. "O'Neill," the Jaffa urged. "Wake up."
A soft moan was the response.
The Jaffa patted his friend's cheek with two fingers. "O'Neill," he insisted. "You need to wake up now."
Slowly, O'Neill's eyes fluttered, and confusedly glanced around before falling shut again. "Teal'c," the Colonel mumbled.
"I am here, O'Neill," Teal'c responded.
"Need... to find... Teal'c..." Jack cracked almost not audible.
Teal'c frowned. "I am well, O'Neill. Do not concern yourself because of me." Using his shirt, he wiped his CO's face again, and then settled for dropping bits of water into the half-open mouth. He tried to get more response from his friend but gave up after a while when his efforts proved to be unsuccessful. After gently rolling his CO in the recovery position, Teal'c made himself comfortable.
It was only a matter of time now before help would arrive.
The helicopter circled over the lake and, using the search lights, the pilot soon had discovered the cabin. He also spotted the parked truck. The only thing remaining was finding a landing spot and that was harder. The area around the lake was filled with trees and there was no open area near the cabin which the pilot could use.
"I'll have to land near the truck, Ma'am," the pilot yelled at Carter.
Sam gave him thumbs up in understanding, knowing there was no other way. She looked at her watch. It was already over an hour ago that she had received Teal'c's telephone call. She could only hope the Colonel's injuries weren't too bad. Throwing a quick glance at Janet and Daniel, she noticed that they both were lost in their worries as well. "We're here," she announced.
The chopper slowly descended, then touched the ground. Jackson threw the door open even before the pilot could turn the engine off. He jumped out of the helicopter, shortly followed by Carter, Fraiser and her nurse. The pilot got out and lifted the stretcher out of the chopper.
Sam grabbed her cell phone and dialed. "Teal'c," she spoke as soon as her friend answered her call. "We've arrived. The chopper couldn't land closer to the cabin, we're near the spot where you left the truck.... What? That's clever, thanks. We'll be there shortly..."
Daniel looked impatiently at her. "What?" he asked.
"Teal'c left the keys of the truck under the front tire," she said.
They ran towards O'Neill's truck, Janet carrying her medical emergency kit while Daniel carried the stretcher. Sam already dropped on her knees and triumphantly jumped back up. "Got them!"
Getting in only took a little while and then with Carter driving they were heading for the cabin.
Barely ten minutes later Daniel suddenly cried out, pointing with his finger to a dark building coming up on their left side. "There!!"
Sam pulled up the truck and the four people got out of the vehicle, grabbing their stuff along the way. Teal'c stood in the door opening, and nodded a faint greeting before leading them to the room where their CO was still sprawled out on the floor.
Fraiser rushed to her patient's side, kneeling next to him while opening up her med kit. "Do you know exactly what happened to him?" she immediately asked Teal'c.
"I do not, Doctor Fraiser," the Jaffa responded. "But it appears his captors have mistreated him badly. I believe his head has sustained serious injury, as has his ribcage."
Daniel and Sam made themselves useful by taking out two portable spotlights and positioned them to give the doctor enough light to do her job. They watched from a distance as Janet started her routine vitals check, meanwhile listening to Teal'c's short update.
Janet finished her first check-up then rose to meet the waiting eyes. "Okay. As far as I can tell, Colonel O'Neill has received a very serious beating. He has cuts and bruises all over his body, and while they are going to be sore, they aren't the main problem. I probably need to put some stitches in his eyebrow again, he's not going to like that. Then at least two ribs are gone, I'll need some X-rays to see if there's internal damage, but I found no signs into that direction yet. What's concerning me the most is his head trauma. On top of the recent surgery he's received some nasty blows to it. I'll need to clean up the surgical incision, it's cracked open during the treatment they gave him. His pupils aren't responding properly and without running some tests back at the SGC I can't tell what damage really is done. His skull appears to be intact, luckily, but again, I can't determine how serious the head injury is at this point."
"O'Neill was having trouble remembering what had happened," Teal'c informed the female doctor.
Fraiser nodded. "That's to be expected. Did he recognize you?"
"The first time he aroused he did," Teal'c confirmed. "The second time O'Neill was too confused. Perhaps his moving around has something to do with it."
"His moving around?" questioned Daniel.
"I was just about to ask where all that glass came from," Sam wondered.
"When I located O'Neill the first time, he was in the other room. I left him there to go back to the truck to get the cell phone. When I returned, O'Neill was not where I had left him."
Fraiser sighed. "How typical."
"O'Neill was lying in this room, and his body blocked the door. I had to break the window to reach him," the Jaffa explained.
"Now how did he manage that?" wondered Daniel, scanning the room.
"He must have somehow tripped and fallen against the door," Sam guessed, following the linguist's gaze.
"When I tried to arouse him, O'Neill stated he had to find me. It is my guess that he awoke and went looking for me until he collapsed," Teal'c filled in.
"Possible," agreed Daniel. "So what do we do now?"
Fraiser looked up. "I'm going to immobilize his neck as a precaution for transport. I will also intubate him and give him something to keep him still. I don't want any surprises during the flight. Then we need to see whether we can get him in the back of the truck without jostling him around. I don't want those ribs causing more damage than they might have done already."
"So we're going to lift him on the stretcher and then put him in the back of the truck?" Sam asked.
"Yes," nodded Janet before turning back to her patient to prepare him for being moved.
When Fraiser and her nurse were ready, Teal'c and Daniel carefully lifted the still form up to put him on the stretcher. After the nurse had fastened the safety straps the two men carried the stretcher outside before carefully shoving it in the back of the truck.
"Janet, I'll drive you back to the heli. Then you can take the Colonel back to base. We'll be driving home," Sam suggested.
The doctor and nurse had already climbed in the truck next to their patient. The two remaining members of SG-1 joined them in the box, waiting for Carter to start the engine. The Major switched the headlights on, slowly turned the vehicle around and started driving back to where the chopper was waiting.
Jack slowly became aware of his surroundings. He heard soft voices and other sounds and knew he was in the infirmary before even opening his eyes.
The soft familiar clicking of heels made him decide to go back to sleep immediately.
"Colonel?"
Damn. It didn't work.
"Colonel? Come on, open your eyes for me."
The otherwise gentle voice of Doctor Fraiser was now hammering through his mind, making him wonder when she had lost the ability to whisper. Knowing he couldn't fool her with his sleeping-act, O'Neill fought to prey his eyes open and after managing that he quickly closed them again. "Don't you ever run out of batteries for that thing?" he grunted as his brain protested against the light that she had been shining into his eyes.
"Morning, Sir," Fraiser said with an amused smile on her lips. "I'm done. Does it hurt?"
"Uh-huh," he protested slightly without revealing any details.
"With that head injury, that does not surprise me," Fraiser answered. "I'm going to give you something for the pain in a minute. Do you know who I am?"
"Elizabeth Corday?"
She giggled. "So you still remember E.R." Her voice more seriously, she continued. "Come on, Sir. With a serious head injury I gotta ask some questions. So humor me."
"Me Jack, you Janet. Hammond from Texas rules the world and Carter, Daniel and Teal'c are playing on my team. Can I go home now?"
"No," Fraiser said firmly, although her eyes were still smiling. "Not yet."
"What happened?" O'Neill asked, pushing his memory to remember. Some images came back and the Colonel suddenly jerked his body up. "Where's Teal'c?" he gasped.
Janet rushed forward. His action had taken her by surprise and she was already too late to stop him from moving. Placing one hand on his shoulder she slowly pushed, indicating for him to lie down. "No sudden moves, Colonel," she warned. "You've got some broken ribs and they need time to heal. Teal'c is fine, he's meditating and will come to see you later."
She watched him slowly lowering back in the pillows, his face twisted from the pain the sudden movement had caused him. "What do you remember?"
He took some slow breaths before answering her. "We were trying to get some names from that NID Captain. He got shot, me and Teal'c got separated..." he summarized. "He found me, then I lost him again... Did I shoot the General?" His eyes wide, he glanced demandingly at her, one hand touching the bandage that was covering the wound behind his ear.
"No, you didn't. The Tollan scientist removed the device from your head, remember?" Janet quickly reassured him. The Tollan surgeon had actually done more than that and had successfully repaired some more damage the Colonel's head had sustained during his last adventure, but she decided now was not the time to inform him about that.
Relieved, he nodded. "Oh, yeah, Travis, right?"
"Yes." Satisfied that he remembered enough from the ordeal, Janet prepared to inject a new dose of pain medication into the IV line. "That's enough for now, Sir. I need you to rest. We'll talk some more later."
O'Neill, already exhausted from the conversation, only managed to nod slightly. Satisfied to know his team was safe and knowing he would get more details about what had happened later he gave in to the darkness that was waiting to claim him.
"Hey, Jack."
O'Neill looked up as Daniel entered his room and made a greeting gesture with his hand.
"How are you feeling?" the archaeologist asked, pulling a chair forward to sit next to the bed.
"Oh, sore, tired, silly with this thing on," Jack pulled on the hospital gown he was wearing. "Bored out of my skull.... the usual."
Daniel rolled his eyes. "Well... at least you're doing better. Is Janet going to release you soon?"
"Nah..." the Colonel whined. "Not before she's poked me full of holes, given me a killer dose of X-ray radiation and ran every other test her sick mind can think of."
Jackson chuckled. "Poor you."
"You damn right," O'Neill agreed.
"So," started Daniel. "Why do you think those guys took you and beat you up in the first place? Was it the NID that did this?"
"I have no idea, Daniel," Jack answered more seriously now. "They were just trying to scare me off. Apparently there are some people extremely interested in the SGC and we are in their way."
"Did you talk to General Hammond about this?"
Jack stared at the wall. He remembered every word this masked man had said to him, remembered how he'd threatened the General's granddaughter. He also had every detail his trained mind had picked up pressed in his memory and he was certain that information would prove him right some day in the near future. "Not yet. But I will have to do that as soon as he's back."
"I can't believe how they can do this and get away with it..." Jackson shook his head in disbelief.
"Oh, that's the easy part, Daniel. That's the easy part," O'Neill answered him absentmindedly. All the time he'd been lying in the infirmary he'd been trying to come up with a plan to nail these guys and to protect the General's family. Although these men hadn't been able to scare him off, O'Neill surely took the warning seriously and knew he had to act before he was being pushed into defensive actions.
At that moment, the phone next to the bed rang, pulling him out of his thoughts. Leaning sideways, O'Neill grabbed the receiver, lifted it to his ear and answered it. "Yes?"
"Jack?" a familiar voice sounded from the other end of the connection. "It's Hannibal."
O'Neill frowned in surprise. "Lectar or Smith?"
"Ja-aaack... I'm a bit older than that..." the voice answered annoyingly. "Heyes, of course."
"Whatever..." O'Neill shrugged his shoulders, still wondering what this was all about. "What do you want? Aren't you... incarcerated?"
"I have my ways, Jack," was the short answer. "I have my sources, too. And my sources are telling me you ran into a little trouble."
"Maybe..." Jack wasn't about to fill him in that easily.
"The one you ran into is an old acquaintance of mine, Jack. Next time he's causing trouble, you know where to find me. Maybe I can help you out."
"What makes you think I want your help?" O'Neill demanded.
"Maybe because you still like me... Maybe because the life of a young girl is more important than principles..." the voice responded. "Maybe... because you need me, since there's no-one else."
Before Jack could answer, the voice on the other end broke off the connection. The Colonel, his face showing stunned surprise, leaned over to put the receiver down.
"Who was that?" Daniel asked, noticing his friend's surprise.
O'Neill waved him off. "Oh, just an old acquaintance..."
Jackson stared at the man in the bed, knowing that it was a bit more than that. Without lowering his gaze, he pushed on. "What was it about?"
O'Neill gathered his thoughts before turning his head to look at his friend. "I don't know yet, Daniel..." he said sincerely, then closed the conversation cryptically. "Let's just say that... how do they say it? It ain't over, until it's really over..."
THE END
And we all know how that is going to end, with Jack pushing Simmons out of an emergency exit on the Prometheus .... ha!
If you like stories involving the rogue group causing trouble, I wrote a NCIS / SG1 crossover, where Robert Makepeace's younger brother is killed by those bastards and Jack heads over to DC to assist the NCIS team.... You can find the story here: .net/s/4143232/1/The_Arthur_Makepeace_Code
The title is: The Arthur Makepeace code so you of course can also find it under my profile / story listings in case the html editor won't let me add a link. Well, thank you all for reading, hope you enjoyed the ride and until next time!