CHAPTER EIGHT
When Sam came out of surgery, she was returned to the TICU. If things went as planned, she would stay in that ward until the last of her injuries were stabilized, and then she would be moved to a normal room. The first time she had visitors this time, both Daniel and Jack cautiously stepped to her bedside. Sam was awake, and both were nervous she might give them the same treatment she had dolled out to Jack last time. They figured there might be safety in numbers. As her head slowly rolled to her right to look at the men, Sam smiled. The words that came out of her mouth put their fears to rest, at least for a while. "Colonel! It's great to see you!" She was obviously talking to Jack, but things were not quite connected upstairs yet, as evidenced by her calling him by his old rank. Sam just kept on going. "When did you get here? I'm really glad you stayed." At these last words, Carter's head rolled back to her left and she promptly fell back asleep. Daniel looked over at Jack and for just a second, his eyes met the General's. He couldn't help but smile at what he saw. A smile mirroring his own. A smile that extended all the way to Jack's eyes, putting a little light in them. Daniel thought it was the most beautiful thing he had seen in a long time, especially where his friend was concerned.
The end of the week trip to Washington ended up being done at the end of a month, and Jack O'Neill was essentially living in Colorado again by then. It turned out that he could do a whole lot of work of his type by telecommuting and flying back and forth occasionally. So, despite paying the price in jet lag, Jack was there through all four of Carter's initial leg surgeries, and he spent more time on hospital shifts than anyone else through all of them. There were a few more bad moments, but far more good ones. Jack's visits to Sam took on a friendlier tone over the weeks, and things were almost back to how they once were for SG-1 in terms of the bonds they had with one another. No one ever left Carter alone. They took turns watching over her even as she slept. General O'Neill conceded to letting Mitchell and Vala do their part, although he still looked at them with distrusting eyes. Cassie came by as often as she could to visit, too, and she and Vala helped Sam with her hair and other stuff that the guys just couldn't seem to get a grasp on. Sam's brother came occasionally, when he could get away from San Diego. General Landry visited every once in a while, to keep up with appearances, and even General Hammond came by a few times. All in all, things were going as well as they could in most ways for Samantha Carter.
There was one thing, though, one very important thing, that was not going well. Not well at all.
It had been six weeks since her accident, and Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter still couldn't use her legs.