Note: FINALLY! I've been trying to get this chapter up since Thanksgiving! Oy! FFnet has been giving me guff. Sorry for the long wait folks! Thanks for the reviews, they really make me glad to know people can get entertainment by my writing. :) As for some of the questions asked in the reviews; you'll just have to wait and see. ;) Hope you enjoy this update!

FOUR

"Sam?"

The quiet, gentle voice brought Sam to full consciousness as she rubbed hand over her eyes before opening them slowly. She squinted to focus in the dim lighting, peering studiously at the face hovering over her. "Daniel," she whispered, licking her dry lips. Flexing her hands, Sam's eyes widened when she realized she was no longer in contact with the Colonel. Blinking several more times, she sat up carefully with Daniel's help, looking around with confusion at the bed she was laying in. "Daniel, how-?"

He smiled briefly. "You were passed out in the chair by Jack's bed when Teal'c and I came in earlier. Teal'c put you back in bed." Daniel watched Sam's indignant frown, then added, "Janet asked him to."

With a slight nod, Sam turned to look over at Jack, only to find the curtain had been pulled around the bed, blocking her view of him. Her brows furrowed worriedly. "How's the Colonel doing?" she questioned softly.

Daniel crossed his arms and looked directly into Sam's searching blue eyes. He glanced in the direction of Jack's bed. "He's - uh - he's doing alright." Flexing his jaw for a moment, Daniel dropped his gaze and smiled tightly.

"Daniel?" Sam called out questioningly, suspicion in her voice. There was something he wasn't telling her.

Frowning, the archaeologist sighed, once again locking eyes with his concerned friend. "He's hurting. Alot. More than he'll admit." Daniel confessed somberly, walking around Sam's bed and slowly drawing back the curtain that hid Jack from her view at the moment.

"But Janet gave him more pain meds, she-"

"I know," Daniel interrupted, seeing Sam's distress. He sat himself between the two beds to look after each of his friends. Sighing loudly, he ran a hand over his face. "Janet's doing all she can to keep Jack comfortable, but he's gonna be laid up for awhile."

"Daniel," Sam's voice was quiet and hesitant. She released a slow breath, closing her eyes momentarily and chewing her bottom lip. When he looked over at her, she took a deep breath and spoke softly. "I love him," The admission brought shimmering tears to her eyes.

Smiling gently, Daniel got up to sit on the edge of Sam's bed. He hugged her while she leaned her head on his shoulder and sniffled. "I know," he whispered in return.

Sam stared across at Jack while a nurse went over to check his monitors and mop his sweaty brow. She straightened, watching the nurse inject something into his IV line. "What did you give him?" she called out to the retreating nurse, a slight waver to her voice. Sam felt a sudden protectiveness where the Colonel was concerned. She didn't want anymore harm coming to him.

The nurse just smiled back gently. "Just some general antibiotics to prevent any infection from surgery, Major Carter. Dr. Fraiser instructed me to do so," she responded reassuringly before leaving.

Daniel placed a hand on Sam's shoulder. "It's okay, they wouldn't do anything to hurt Jack," he said soothingly, feeling her tense. "They're all helping Janet to get him better."

"I know," Sam said hurriedly, finding herself suddenly blinking back tears and covering her face with one hand. "It's just - God, Daniel, I know I shouldn't feel this way about him but I do," She whispered once the nurse had gone, sighing with frustration.

"Hey, hey, shh, it's alright," Daniel consoled, rubbing her shoulder. "Sam, you can't help the way you feel, military regulations or no," He gave a friendly smile as she glanced over at him. He didn't speak again until a companionable silence settled between them for several minutes. "He feels the same way about you, you know," Daniel said quietly.

Sam shot him a quizzical look, a bit of disbelief mixed in her eyes. She knew Jack cared for her at one point. During the Zatarc incident things were made clear between the both of them. For some reason Sam thought Jack had possibly gotten over that, even if she hadn't. Maybe she was wrong.

Daniel sent her a knowing smile, laughing quietly. "Yeah, I understand that with Jack it's sometimes hard to tell. But I know him well enough, and I can tell you that he's in love with you Sam. It's been pretty obvious for quite some time now. Ask Teal'c." He smiled a little.

Sighing with exasperation, Sam smiled feebly and ran a hand over her face.

"Janet's still keeping you locked up in here?" Daniel asked lightly, changing the subject easily enough. When she nodded in response, he stood and patted her shoulder. "How 'bout some lunch?"

"Sure," Sam smiled tightly, then Daniel excused himself to smuggle some food out of the commissary and bring it down for her.

-

"You know, we still haven't had an official debriefing since we returned from the mission. I mean, the General looked over my report and everything, but that's about it," Daniel said quietly with a half shrug. After eating lunch, he and Sam had sparked up a conversation about their original mission before it shifted to their capture and return to the SGC.

Sam made a face. "Has the General said anything about a time for the debriefing?" Her voice had become somber as she recalled the events that brought herself and Jack to the infirmary, the brutal beating her CO received making the biggest impact in her recent memories.

"No," Daniel shook his head. "I'm just assuming it'll be once you're discharged from the infirmary, and it'll be a debriefing Jack won't be in attendance for."

Sighing softly, Sam nodded her agreement.

Daniel sat quietly for a little while, watching Sam stare continuously in Jack's direction. He got the distinct feeling that Dr. Fraiser was keeping Sam in the infirmary to have more time with the Colonel. It was doubtful Janet had Sam held up because she was worried about her concussion. You sneaky little... Daniel thought to himself with a brief smirk, shaking his head faintly. He looked up, smiling gently at Sam before waving half-heartedly and making an exit. "I'll see you later Sam,"

She turned her attention to him briefly, a tight smile spread across her lips. "Bye Daniel," Sam waved lazily before laying back on her bed and closing her eyes with a heavy sigh.

Sam lost track of time after Daniel left, unsure whether hours or minutes had gone by. She'd laid in bed, staring up at the ceiling without focus or conscious thought for some time. Blinking, Sam breathed in deeply before heaving a loud sigh.

"You sound bored outta your mind,"

The hoarse comment drew the blank-staring Major's attention and she slowly rolled to her side to find a pair of dark brown eyes staring at her. "Jack," Sam released the name with a smile, not even thinking about what she was doing.

He smirked faintly with a bemused expression. "It's Jack now, is it?"

"Sorry," Sam quickly apologized sheepishly. "Colonel," her correction was sharp and formal.

"Nah, it's alright. I'm not exactly in uniform," Jack commented with a smirk, gesturing toward himself. "I give you permission to call me Jack...if you want," he said confidently, softly. "Sam," he added as an after-thought.

She smiled warmly, heart fluttering in her chest. Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, Sam chanted several times in her head, trying not to let the affection for her superior officer show.

Suddenly noticing the pleased, appreciative glint in his eye, she found herself blushing faintly under the Colonel's studious gaze. Quickly, Sam covered it up with a smile and slowly sat up so as not to cause her head to ache once more. "Feeling any better sir?" she absently slipped back into the formal, much too used to calling Jack anything other than his first name.

"Meh," Jack rose a hand, waving in a 'so-so' kind of gesture. He easily accepted his 2IC's tactful change in subject. The pain in his gut had receded mostly, but his ribs ached enough to be an annoyance more than anything. He winced while experimentally placing a hand over his side, recalling the gator-man's thick, reptillian tail making brutal contact with his ribs. "Kinda sore actually," Jack muttered, surprising himself with the admittance.

Shocked that he'd actually answered honestly about how he was feeling, and knowing very well that he hardly ever did that, even with Dr. Fraiser, Sam nodded daftly before tilting her head. "Uh, anything I can get you sir?"

"Nah," Jack waved a hand dismissively, not bothering to correct her still being formal with him. He just smiled to himself, realizing how true that cliche about old habits was.

Sam unconsciously touched the fading bump on the side of her head where she'd been hit, briefly closing her eyes as the memory was recalled in her mind. Everything after she'd been knocked out was a complete blank until she returned to consciousness safe and sound in the SGC medical ward.

Tearing his gaze from Sam for the moment, Jack looked up in time to see Dr. Fraiser casually strolling into the infirmary to check up on her only patients. "Hey Doc," He waved lazily with a half-hearted smile, trying to hide how lousy he still felt.

Janet sent him a nod before making a beeline toward Sam's bed with a plastic cup and some pills. "Here you go Sam, take these for your headache."

"Thanks," Sam adjusted the pillows behind her so it was easier to sit up. She took the pills gratefully. "You know Janet, I'm really feeling alright. I mean, I think I'd be okay to go home," It was definetly not going to be easy convincing the doctor. By experience, Dr. Fraiser wasn't one to let her patients out of her infirmary until she deemed them ready.

Giving her patient a considering look, Janet touched her chin thoughtfully with raised brows, then lifted the chart from the end of the bed and glanced at it briefly. "Hm, I'll have to think about that Sam,"

Sighing, but taking it as a good sign, Sam just nodded and rested her head back slowly against the piled-up pillows. "Alright."

"Now, Colonel," Janet began, twirling on her heel to face her next patient after setting down Sam's chart.

Jack rose his brows at her expectantly, an innocent look on his face. "Yeeeeeeees?" He drawled out the word and grinned hopefully.

"Not a chance you're going home by today," Janet said quickly, quashing his thoughts of leaving the infirmary behind. She picked up his chart and scanned it carefully before returning it to it's place at the end of the bed. As Jack frowned grumpily, the doctor moved in on him and checked the IV going into his arm before lifting his shirt. "You need a new sterile dressing," Janet murmured while going over a checklist of procedures in her mind.

Sighing, Jack let his head tilt back and laid there impassively while the doctor went to work. The generally lousy feeling he was experiencing had made concentration difficult, and he wasn't aware that Janet was talking to him directly until her probing fingers hit a particularly sore spot on his bruised side. "Ow!" Jack yelped with a grimace, clenching his teeth.

"I'm sorry Colonel," Janet apologized with a sympathetic expression. She sighed softly and eyed Jack steadily. "I asked if you were experiencing pain anywhere else,"

"Yes, there!" He confirmed with a glare, laying a careful, protective hand over his side where she'd poked him.

"I would expect so," The doctor informed him quietly. "These bruises indicate that you've been knocked around pretty good sir,"

"Ya think?!" Jack muttered with a slight frown.

"Wanna tell me what happened?" Janet's eyes were soft and gentle, trying to get him to explain what had been done to him. From what Sam had told her, the Colonel had gotten pretty rough treatment from the locals on the planet they visited. "Colonel?"

Sam turned casually to look over at Jack, studying his expression carefully. She wondered if he'd actually tell the doctor what had been done to him when he was taken away by the guard. She knew he'd been beaten, but whether he'd admit to it was another story. And she doubted he'd let them know how badly.

"I got slapped around by a big ugly reptile, you satisfied Doc?" Jack huffed irritably with a frown. He clenched his teeth to fight back the wave of pain that washed over him as his anger at the memory rose to the surface.

"Okay, okay, calm down," Janet laid a consoling hand on his shoulder, trying to prevent Jack from getting more worked up. It didn't take a genius to figure out how upset he was, remembering what he'd been through. She looked over at Sam before smiling tightly at her and closing the curtain around the Colonel's bed to finish changing his bandage.

Taking note of her patient's rise in temperature and increase in blood pressure, Janet took care to watch Jack carefully, thoroughly and discretely checking him over while she applied antiseptic and a fresh dressing to his surgical incision. Satisfied there was no infection, especially since she'd been keeping Jack on antibiotics to make sure of that, Dr. Fraiser was slightly concerned that he wasn't faring as well as she thought he should be.

"Doc," Jack suddenly croaked in a weak voice that surprised even him. He cleared his throat carefully before speaking again. "How long before I can go home?"

Janet smiled at him sympathetically as she tugged his shirt down over the new bandage and adjusted the monitors sticking to his chest. "Relax Colonel, you've only been here for two days," she told him, purposely not answering the question at hand. Knowing that he had a long recovery ahead of him certainly wouldn't help any.

Although she was closed off from seeing Jack, Sam heard everything that had been said. She frowned to herself, aware of how annoyed Jack would be that he was to be confined to the infirmary for longer than he'd anticipated.

"Hmph," Jack scoffed. "Two days is long enough," he muttered under his breath.

"Sir, your surgery was yesterday," Janet emphasized, getting slightly exasperated. "You can't expect me to release you so soon."

"So send me home, then you can check up on me if it'll make ya feel better," Jack suggested, hoping to win her over, even though deep down he knew the battle was futile. It just wasn't in character for him to give up without bugging the good doctor. And if he stopped pestering her, he knew she'd see that something was wrong. Jack knew damned well that he wasn't up to leaving the infirmary anytime soon.

Dr. Fraiser smiled to herself and turned away, shaking her head and pulling back the curtain. The man was incorrigible. "Get some rest Colonel, that's an order."

-

Papers shuffled effortlessly in Daniel's hands as he made his way to General Hammond's office with the research he'd done for P8Y-974, the planet where they'd been abducted by the 'manimals' as he decided to call them. He was eager to share his ideas and knowledge with the General, hoping to find some explanation as to why he and the rest of SG-1 had been chosen for capture. What interested the archaeologist even more, was discovering anything about the former humans that no-doubt inhabited the planet. Despite what had happened during their mission, Daniel was surprisingly eager to visit once more, although if the General even authorized another mission, he knew they would have to take precautions, now more-so than ever.

Hoping that it wasn't too early to be bothering Hammond, since he normally had quite the schedule in the morning, Daniel knocked on the office door, papers tucked safely under one arm. Stifling a yawn, he blinked furiously to ward off the fatigue from being up all night doing research. He sure hoped the General had some coffee in there.

-

"O'Neill," the low-pitched, deep baritone voice woke Jack from his fitful slumber late that morning. Teal'c's expression was one of slight concern, much more than he'd normally be willing to show.

"Whu?" Jack murmured sleepily in a hoarse voice, fighting to focus on the large Jaffa hovering over him.

"You were struggling in your sleep O'Neill, I did not want you to damage yourself," Teal'c explained to the groggy Colonel.

Blinking, Jack turned his head to the left where Sam's bed was, his brows furrowing when he noticed she wasn't there. The bed was neatly made with new blankets perfectly pressed and undisturbed. "Where's Carter?" He took a slow breath, his first conscious thoughts focused on Sam.

Teal'c let a faint, smug grin show. The Jaffa was always secretly amused whenever Colonel O'Neill or Major Carter allowed their defenses to fold, showing how they truly cared for one another. Those moments seemed few and far between. "Dr. Fraiser had discharged Major Carter from the infirmary early this morning."

Jack seemed to smile a bit. "Ah, the Doc finally gave in huh?" He smirked half-heartedly, inwardly a little sad that he'd no longer be sharing the infirmary with his favorite astrophysicist.

"Indeed," Teal'c dipped his head with a slight nod of assent. With subtly furrowed brows, the Jaffa carefully studied the man he proudly considered a brother. The Colonel was pale, a sheen of sweat clear on his face, eyes glazed and tired. "Are you not well O'Neill?" He questioned his leader with concern.

Closing his eyes slowly, Jack let the facade slip, too tired to pretend he was fine any longer. He'd been acting as though nothing was wrong, despite his insomnia all night due to the uncomfortable pains in his body. "No T, I'm not," Jack admitted quietly, letting his head drop back as visible lines of pain spread across his face.

Alarmed by the admission, Teal'c gave a nod of acknowledgement and left to retrieve Dr. Fraiser without saying anything.

Jack already knew where his buddy was headed, but he didn't care. At the moment he could go for some of the Doc's magic pills, and while he thought about it briefly, a little TLC from Sam wouldn't hurt. He laid there, closing his eyes and hoping for some relief to come soon.

Keeping a calm composure, Janet entered the infirmary on swift feet, Teal'c on her heels. Closing in on the Colonel's bed, it was obvious to her that his condition was deteriorating. He had seemed a little off the previous night, but his health just seemed to be getting worse instead of better, as it should be. Janet was becoming concerned that there was something very wrong.

Feeling very lethargic, Jack let his head droop to one side, keeping his eyes closed while Janet placed one of the pulse/ox monitors on his finger.

"Colonel?" Janet called out to him in a questioning, uneasy tone. She touched his face gently with the back of her hand, trying to get him to respond.

"Not feelin'..so hot...Doc," Jack murmured weakly without opening his eyes.

It was obvious to Janet how ill he really was just by the simple admittance. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Teal'c hovering by the side of the Colonel's bed, and noticed the disquietude just by the Jaffa's posture. The warrior's eyes were firmly fixed onto his surrogate brother.

Laying a gentle hand on Jack's shoulder, Janet sent him a sympathetic smile when he made the effort to lift his heavy lids. "I'm going to run some tests, alright? We'll find out what's going on so you can get better,"

"Sure," Jack gave a feeble, half-hearted grin before sighing softly and closing his eyes once more. The next thing he was aware of was the blaring sound of the klaxons going off, announcing an incoming wormhole. Not paying any mind to it, since it was probably just one of the SG teams returning, Jack let himself drift off to sleep in hopes of satisfying his exhausted, aching body.

-