So I'm back with another chapter and to be honest I quite like this one!!
Even bigger thanks to Naliza than normal (if that's possible), not only did she beta this for me but she wrote a much more dramatic ending than my original one!!
Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter!!! This one's for you guys!!! :D
*~*~*
Sam entered the infirmary, she saw O'Neill playing with something sharp. With a sigh, she realised that one day he was going to come to grief, courtesy of his fascination with playing with anything that was not nailed down.
She could not see Daniel anywhere in the infirmary; therefore she assumed that Janet was subjecting him to more tests. Jack heard her enter and turned in her direction.
"You got everything finished Major?"
"Yes Sir, where's Daniel?"
"Fraiser wants an MRI," Jack explained.
Sam nodded and commenced searching for Janet. She found her in her office, looking lost in a sea of paper.
"Hey Janet," Sam said as she reached the Doctor's office.
"Sam, how are you feeling?"
"I'm fine. It's just that I've had a couple of auditory flashbacks. I can't remember it happening on the planet though."
"What do you hear?" Janet asked with obvious concern as Sam dropped into the chair across from her friend.
"One of our captors shouting 'Later'," she shrugged.
"And that never happened?"
"I don't think so."
"Any memory loss?"
"No. How's Daniel?" Sam asked, concerned about her friend.
"We don't know anything yet. We'll have to wait and see what the MRI shows. But let's worry about you for now."
"Janet, it's nothing. I'm fine," Sam protested.
"Course it is," Janet offered but Sam could tell she was distracted.
*~*
Janet brought the MRI pictures up on the monitor with a sigh, there was nothing significant. There were the odd errant pixels on both scans but that did not mean anything, there was an accepted margin of error with these scans. Their experiences with Urgo had made her cautious but as the dots were in different positions on the scans, she did not read more into it.
She was unable to find anything to explain the symptoms Sam and Daniel were describing, toxicology; EEG and MRI had all showed nothing. She had carried out every test short of exploratory brain surgery. There was nothing more she could do, except keep a close eye on all of SG-1.
Jack, Daniel and Sam looked slightly surprised when Janet admitted she could not find anything wrong but they did not look especially pleased when she informed them that they were confined to the base for the foreseeable future.
"You just said there's nothing wrong with us," Daniel pleaded.
"There's nothing wrong with me," Jack objected.
"Daniel. I said that I couldn't find anything and considering both Sam and Daniel have shown unexplained symptoms it is probably a good idea to keep a close eye on all of SG-1."
Jack sighed, knowing the petite doctor had him beaten and waved a hand to indicate his reluctant acquiescence.
"Thank you Sir," Janet offered, acknowledging just how easily the Colonel had given in. The lack of response from any of the assembled team spoke volumes to her, normally they would probably be fighting a restriction to stay on the base.
"Can we go?" Daniel asked.
"Sure, just come back if you notice anything out of the ordinary."
"Thanks Janet," Sam replied with a nod.
"Always a pleasure Doc," O'Neill said as he followed Daniel and Sam out of the infirmary.
"Pleasure's all mine," Janet muttered, her voice laced with sarcasm.
*~*
Jack O'Neill was bored and not just avoiding doing paper work bored but empty in-tray, organised closet, polished boots bored. He did not even have the rest of the team to entertain him.
Sam was doing something technical and complicated that she had started to explain in great detail to get rid of him. Daniel had been lost beneath a mountain of books and papers which he had refused to let Jack touch. It was not his fault that he had almost doodled on a priceless ancient script and because of that tiny indiscretion he had been thrown out. Teal'c was kelno'reeming so that destroyed any plan of hanging out with the Jaffa.
This had lead him to complete all his paper work, something that did not happen often, about as often as Jack tidied his closet. He had found more odd socks than he would have thought possible, some of which had probably been in there so long that they could almost be classed as life forms in their own right.
He looked over at the clock, with a smile he realised that it was dinnertime, past it actually. Knowing Carter and Daniel as he did, neither of them would have eaten as they were both too wrapped up in their current projects to notice the time.
He figured that he could persuade both of them to accompany him to the commissary and that would kill at least half an hour.
He found Carter in much the same was as he had before, playing with the device which was taking up much of the desk. Her green uniform shirt was streaked with grease.
As Sam looked up she wiped her hands on her shirt again, streaking more grease on the already heavily stained material.
"Sir, you decided to help me out?" she asked humorously.
"I can't. I've just had this shirt dry cleaned," he joked back, critically eyeing her appearance.
She looked down at her shirt and smiled, she had barely realised what she had been doing and so the state of her clothes was a surprise.
"Right, is there anything else, Sir?"
"Yes, I've come to escort you and Dr. Jackson to dinner," he offered suavely.
"I can't right now Sir, I'm really busy with this."
"Well, if I'm right about this…thing has been in storage for two months since SG-9 brought it back so I'm sure half an hour won't make any difference."
"I suppose you're right Sir," Sam agreed. She was not actually making progress in figuring out just what she was dealing with and she had even less of an idea on how to make it work.
"Wow, that was easy. Doohickey not playing fair?"
"Something like that Sir," Sam admitted with a small smile.
He looked at her suddenly intensely. She was his 2IC, his friend and at that moment he knew that she was to blame for their capture on 739. It was her fault that Daniel was showing unexplainable symptoms and that they were all stuck on base. He blamed her for the recent deaths of two of SG-7, though he knew deep down that she had played no part in that mission.
The anger boiled violently inside him. The emotion felt like it was taking control of all his senses. He turned away from Carter, not able to look at her face for one second longer.
"Sir, are you alright?" came her concerned voice from behind him.
Her voice was the final straw, enough to finally push him over the edge. He swung around; the back of his open hand impacted hard with Carter's face before she even saw it coming. The frightening force of the blow caused her to stumble back a few feet.
Shocked, a hand clutching her burning cheek, she tried to retreat away from him. She was not sure what hurt more, her face or the fact that it was her commanding officer that had caused her that pain.
"Sir…what -" She never got to finish the sentence. With lighting speed, hatred edged all over his face, he crossed the small distance between them. Realising the danger she was in Sam lifted her free arm in a feeble attempt to protect herself.
"How dare you talk to me after everything you've done!" he snarled and connected his fist against the side of her jaw. This time the blow knocked her off her feet. Her head hit the desk with a sickening sound and she slowly collapsed to the floor.
Hunching down Jack looked at her unconscious form on the floor for a couple of minutes, a strange satisfied feeling consumed him upon seeing a blood pool form below her head.
Shrugging slightly he stood and left the lab. Whistling he closed the door behind him without looking back once.
*~*~*
I know another cliff hanger, oops!!!! I had promised myself that for one story at least I was going to leave Sam alone for the most part, I have a tendency to put her put her through the wringer a bit but then I had this thought and I couldn't let it go and it just got more and more dramatic as I was writing, so blame my ever temperamental muse!!!!
So let me know what you think of this chapter, as I said before I quite like it but I'm interested to hear what you think!!