Chapter 2

Author's Note:

I was really overwhelmed with all the nice reviews everyone left. As promised, I am updating quicker which scares me a bit as it isn't even finished yet. This chapter is darker and if it offends you, I'm sorry.

One dismal afternoon, Jack sauntered into the infirmary, acting like it was any other day. SG1 were on downtime because Hammond honestly didn't know what else to do with them.

"Hey Carter. How you feeling?"

As always, there was no answer but Jack O'Neill was not one to let silence bother him and tried to think of a subject that would grab her interest.

"Doc says you're improving but your hair's getting longer. Want it cut?"

He held up a small mirror so she could see it properly.

"Don't."

Her voice shocked him and he didn't even make a move to stop her from throwing the mirror on the floor. It smashed into thousands of tiny shards and she smiled coldly

"Oops. Seven years bad luck."

Jack gathered his thoughts quickly. "You have still got your tongue then. Why didn't you use it?"

"What was I supposed to say?"

He was startled at this attitude from his second in command. He hadn't expected everything to go back to normal straight away, but this icy stranger scared him.

"How are you feeling?"

She looked at him as if it was the stupidest thing anyone had ever said. "I've been better."

There was an awkward silence for a few minutes until, "Did I kill him?"

"What?"

"My father. Did I kill him? He hasn't been around and I just wondered."

She didn't sound upset or worried, just curious.

"No, he's recovering. He was pretty beaten up. Only woke from a coma this morning."

"That's one less death on my hands."

"You do realize that wasn't you, right?"

She stared at him with an unreadable expression, "I'd like you to leave now."

"What? No, I just got here."

"Leave."

She said it quietly but with a surprising amount of force. Jack actually thought he was talking to Hera again.

"Ok, I'll go, but I'm coming back again."

He immediately went to Daniel's lab. The archeologist took one look at the Colonel's face and knew something was wrong.

"Is it Sam?"

Jack pulled a face. "In a way. She actually talked today."

"Really? What did she say?"

"Not a lot. She asked about Jacob."

"Was she relieved to know he was alive?" Teal'c added from the doorway.

"Not really. She didn't seem particularly bothered."
"Come on Jack. She's been through a lot. She just needs time to recover."

"I know that. It's just…are we sure the Goa'uld died?"

"Doctor Frasier checked several times."

"Why?" Daniel asked suspiciously

"I don't know. Go and talk to her yourself. Maybe I'm being paranoid."

After Jack had left, Sam crept out of her bed and cautiously picked up the numerous shards of glass that dotted the floor.

"Sam!"

The doctor's voice startled the blonde and she stood up, carefully cradling what was left of the broken mirror.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Janet held out an empty medical tray and the glass slivers fell into it.

"I was just trying to tidy up."

"Look at your hands now."

Sam was surprised to find several cuts on her hands. They weren't really serious but they were bleeding quite a lot.

"I didn't even feel it."

"Get back into bed. I will get you a basin of water and you can clean them up."

Ten minutes later, Daniel arrived to talk to Sam.

"How is she?" he asked Janet.

"She's talking, which is good."

"Can I see her?"

"She was washing. Sam, can we come in and talk to you?" she asked to the curtains around the bed.

"Sure."

When Daniel went through the curtain, he had a hard job comprehending what he was seeing. Sam was sitting in bed with her hands suspended above a bowl of murky liquid. She was staring at the blood dripping from the cuts on her hands and was making no attempt to stop it.

"Oh my God, Sam. What are you doing?" The frantic doctor pulled the bowl away from her and pressed bandages around her hands.

Janet ushered Daniel away from the bed area and drew the curtains again.

Five minutes later the doctor emerged, pale faced.

"What was that, Janet?"

"She cut her hands on a broken mirror. It wasn't deliberate but she just didn't realize what she was doing. I tried to talk to her but she got agitated and I had to give her a sedative."

"Is she going to be okay?"

"I honestly can't say. We've never had to deal with this before. Come back in an hour. She'll be awake then and we can talk to her."

When SG1 returned to Sam's bedside, she was fully conscious and looking very sheepish.

"Hey Carter," Jack began cautiously. "What's up?"

"When I woke up, I could have sworn it was all a really bad dream. All of it. Hera, the Tok'ra, me getting shot…Then I saw the blood on my hands and it finally hit me."

Daniel shifted awkwardly. "Do you think it would help if you spoke to someone?"

"You think I need a shrink?"

"You've been through a lot, Sam. I just thought it might help."

"I'm not going to talk to one."

"Okay, it was just an idea."

After a few hours of stilted conversation and long awkward pauses, the men of SG1 left, promising to come back the next morning.

Author's Note:

I really hope this chapter didn't offend anyone but I was just trying to show how Sam is feeling at the minute. The whole Hera experience is just starting to sink in and she's finding it hard to adapt.

Next chapter gives some more explanations and, as always, reviews are welcomed.