General Landry opened his office door only to find his daughter standing outside, panicked and unsure.

"Dad…"

She never called him 'dad' unless his little girl needed him. Moving aside to let her in, he closed the door behind her to allow them privacy.

It had been a week now since he had declared a lockdown, even though the personnel under his command didn't show it, he didn't walk around with his eyes closed, he knew there were a lot of anxious people feeling trapped. He wanted nothing more than to reunite them with their families and allow them to go home but at present it was not going to be anytime soon.

She looked like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders, and she did. He knew she was working day and night to solve the medical mystery surrounding Col. Mitchell and it was wearing her down

As commander of the base he was putting an immense amount of pressure on, not only her but also, all medical and science staff to find a solution. It didn't help when additional support from the outside was prevented from aiding them but it was a necessary step in order to contain a possible threat.

As her father, he knew she hadn't come to him looking for sympathy but support and reassurance.

"Carolyn?"

Defeated, she crossed what little distance was between them and stepped in his arms. Carolyn let go of all that was weighing her down in her father's embrace.

It had been a long time since she had needed him like she did today. Their relationship had suffered while she was growing up, due to the demands of his job and other reasons, but recently they were making progress in way of mending it.

"There's so many people relying on me, dad, I don't want to let them down."

"You're not letting anyone down, Lyn, I'm extremely proud of you," Carolyn smiled at her father's use of her childhood nickname, he hadn't called her by that name in a long time and it felt good to hear it, "no one is expecting miracles. You are doing you best and that's all we ask of you and your team."

Feeling much better she pulled away and smiled gratefully at her dad, "Thank you."

Understanding that their father/daughter moment was over, it was back to business.

Vala had managed to drag Sam away from Cameron's bedside and into her quarters to give her a break. She had spent every minute of the last week with him, she ate very little and only slept when exhaustion refused to allow her to keep her eyes open. They were all worried about her; she spoke very little instead internalising all that was going on inside her. Vala wanted to try and get her to open up; it wasn't healthy what she was doing to herself.

Sitting down next to her on the floor she put her arm around her, "Sam don't do this to yourself. Talk to me please, tell me what can I do?"

Sam for the first time looked at her, really looked at her, "Give him back to me Vala, I want him back…"

Vala only now realised how petrified Sam really was at the prospect of Cameron dying, "Sam, I'm not going to pretend I understand what you're going through but what I can tell you is that I have never met a man more stubborn and resilient than your Cameron and he's fighting everyday, you know that, he hasn't given up so don't you either."

"I haven't," Sam smiled genuinely.

Vala gave her shoulder a squeeze, " Don't keep everything bottled inside you Sam, you'll feel better talking about it."

"I'm so scared, you have no idea. I keep thinking any minute now he's going to wake up and when that minute passes I wait for the next minute and then the next one and then for the one after that. I know he's fighting, we're all fighting with him but the thought of living without him…" She looked at Vala, her blue eyes only scratching they surface of her inner pain, " I can't live without him, I love him so much I feel like I can't breath. A little part of me dies everyday…"

"Now you listen to me Samantha Carter, Cameron's not going to die. He's going to pull through and the two of you are going to grow old together surrounded by your children and your grandchildren. You have to be strong for both your sakes," Vala took a deep breath, what she was going to say next would be hard for Sam to hear but it had to be said, "Sam, I want you to listen to me carefully…"

A code blue alert interrupted them.

Nurse Rollins adjusted Col. Mitchell's medication through his IV and thought about the huge crush she had on him since the first time they had met. It was lust at first sight; she had been walking out of the infirmary, with a mountain of medical files in her arms, and at the same time he was walking in. Neither saw the other until it was too late and in trying to avoid bumping into him she had lost her balance and the medical files flew out of her arms and landed everywhere.

She had never been so embarrassed in her life, it had been her first day and she felt like a total klutz. But he'd been so nice about it, he helped her pick up the files and insisted in helping her sort through them, since he was partly to blame. They had spent the next hour sifting through the mixed up papers, and talking in general. The entire time, all she kept thinking was that he had the most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen and wondered how perfect it would be to wake up to them everyday. Sadness filled her heart thinking about it.

The rapid beeping of the heart monitor brought her attention back to the present. He was exhibiting signs of respiratory distress, she tried to adjust his oxygen levels but it was too late Col. Mitchell had gone into cardiac arrest.

Initiating a code blue, she tried her best to try and stabilize him until help arrived.

"Charge to 200… clear!"

"Again! Clear!"

"Charge to 360… clear!"

"Again! Clear!"

"Begin compressions!"

"Come on Mitchell! Fight!!"

They waited anxiously for news. They had all heard the alert but were prevented from going into the infirmary by a guard. He was under strict orders, from Dr Lam, not to allow anyone other than medical staff into the infirmary.

The silence in the briefing room was deafening, tension crackled and silent prayers were said.

The moment Carolyn walked into the briefing room, five pairs of hope filled eyes turned to her. Laying a hand on her fathers shoulder she gave it a squeeze and the message filtered through to him.

Tearfully she ended their wait, "We tried everything…there was nothing more we could do…I'm so sorry, Col. Mitchell died a few moments ago…"

No one spoke. No one moved. No one breathed.

Please, please review. i've been trying to find ways to keep changes in scene seperate, but it all keeps deleting! Any suggestions? Chapter 10 coming up.