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Part 1 - ARC OF LIGHT

Chapter 5 - Don't Let The Door Hit You

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"Daniel!" Ignoring the dust and stone debris coating her clothes, Sam grabbed her weapon, scrambled to her feet and ran anxiously toward the opening. The heavy gate had ground to a teetering, lopsided halt less than two feet from the entrance, the broken clasp still swinging loose from its latch.

Only moments ago, Daniel had been standing right there.

Carter swung around the gate, not taking the time to see what had stopped it. "Daniel!"

Once inside, Carter was confronted by a once-pastoral vine strewn courtyard partially paved with smooth red-brown rocks and flanked by crudely thatched dwellings. At it's center, stood an odd gray-flecked goat-like statue. Forcing herself to ignore it, Sam hurried to the nearest hut as she spotted the crumpled figure in drab green, half-covered with orange dirt.

"Daniel!!"

"Sam?" Blood dripped from his nose, his glasses climbing his forehead crookedly, but she couldn't see any apparent damage.

Carter quickly keyed her radio. "Colonel, Daniel's down! Can you read me?"

Click. Click. Static. Sam swore in frustration and rushed over to her fallen teammate. "Daniel…?"

He spit out orange dirt, gingerly rubbing his hip. "Ohhhh, I think the gate hit me in the …OW! Oh, yeah, it did."

"Left hip?" Nodding, Sam righted his glasses, then bent low over his left side. No torn clothing, but there was a smear of red below the hipbone visible beneath the dirt layer. Impatiently, the archeologist tried to shift to see. "No, stay still, Daniel."

He swallowed. "Blood?"

Sam brushed the red patch gently, feeling his leg tense. She brought her finger to her nose. "No, it's only rust."

Daniel released a long breath, offering her a shaky smile of gratitude. "Near miss," He whispered, gripping her arm as she helped him to stand. "What the… what was that, anyway, Sam?"

"I don't know." She watched in concern as he pressed the back of his hand to his nose. What little blood there was had dried, caking part of his upper lip. "The MALP didn't indicate any unstable land masses that might account---" She broke off, shaking her head sadly. "Daniel, you could have been crushed by that gate!"

He nodded in solemn agreement, rubbing his sore hip. "Oww! Gives new meaning to not letting the… door… hit you… on the way out," he joked, grimacing.

Knowing he was in pain, Sam smiled back sympathetically. "Daniel, are you sure you're all right?"

"Uh, yeah. Better than my gun, at least."

"What?" Sam followed his rueful gaze. The pistol was wedged firmly under the gate latch pole effectively stopping it.

"I don't think I'll complain about wearing one anymore," he said emphatically, leaning into her side.

Sam gasped, turning her attention back to Daniel. "Can you walk?"

Daniel took a couple of bracing breaths before nodding weakly. "I think so. Where we going?"

Carter gazed around the empty village, then pointed to the hut's entrance. "In there. At least until I decide what to do."

"Breaking and entry, Sam…" Daniel started to protest, hissing as he took a tentative step forward and put too much weight on his left leg. "Oww!"

"That's requires a door." Carter helped him inside the hut, easing him down against the nearest wall. The square entry had been cut wide enough to allow only a few shadows inside courtesy of a primitive straw-bundled awning. "Daniel, I --."

His index finger shot up in front of her face, silencing her. "No, no, no, no. Sam, I'm not waiting here for you to find Jack and Teal'c. Forget it."

"Daniel, please…"

"No. Give me a minute and I'll be all right."

"No, you won't," Carter sighed.

"I will," he argued stubbornly. "I have to be. Sam, you can understand that, can't you?" Wide blue eyes behind the frames pleaded with her and Carter knew she'd lost.

"All right," she capitulated. "But first I have to see…uh, I need to know if… Oh, will you just let me look?" the flustered major ended lamely, hoping she hadn't blushed.

"Look?" Daniel regarded her with a half-amused, half-embarrassed grin. "Uh, okay, but no cold hands. At least you have a better bedside manner than Janet."

Sam didn't want to pursue that last remark. "I'm sorry about this, Daniel."

He shrugged, bending to loosen his belt. "Soooo as far as we know, we're alone," he consoled himself, then frowned. "Sam, did that feel like a natural quake to you?"

"I'm not sure," she hedged, kneeling closer to his thigh. "It happened too fast."

"Yes, it did." Daniel had his fatigue pants open, awkwardly trying to shift his weight so that he could ease them down off his left side. 'I've experienced a few in the Orient… and they don't usually quiet down without a few more tremors… aftershocks… You think it might have been an - undergr-oowww - underground explosion?"

"And what we felt was the concussion," Sam mused. Inwardly she thought. Green boxers, Daniel? When did you start wearing military underwear?

Daniel bit his lip, hesitated for a beat, then hooked a finger at the waistband of his boxers and yanked them away from his hip. "We know that it wouldn't be the first --oww -- civilization we've run across that --oww -- existed in underground caverns."

"Like the Tok'ra?"

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TBC