AN written at 12:16 am so may contain some mistakes. Anyone for emergency field surgery?

Chapter 18 - Anesthetic

Daniel swallowed past the lump in his throat, watching Sam's white fingers; feeling her vice like grip loosen between his hands as the anesthetic took effect.

Unable to watch her face as she slipped into unconsciousness he lifted his eyes to where Teal'c stood vigil. Daniel couldn't see the jaffa's face but he could see the muscle in his jaw clench. Teal'c turned briefly to face him and Daniel saw the painful fear and understanding in his eyes.

True to form, Sam had refused any kind of goodbyes or ceremony as she hugged them each in turn and they wished her luck. Jack had even managed a joke about Napoleon before inserting the needle into her arm but nobody had missed the way his arms shook as he held her.

Now though, he was all business. As soon as Sam was out, he passed her arm to Daniel to monitor her pulse and rearranged the jacket lying beneath her. She had removed her jacket and shirt and Jack couldn't help thinking how pale and vulnerable she looked against the rough ground. Testing the scalpel, freshly unpacked from the medical kit, he placed his hand on her waist, his thumb pulling the skin slightly tighter, wanting to make the incision as small as possible.

He stared for a moment at the line marked in black pen across her stomach, starting beside her right hip. He took a deep breath. Never in his life would he have believed himself capable of taking a knife to this woman. Stop it. It's not her. It's just a training dummy. I don't have the experience to do this! A memory popped into his head. "Emergency surgery is not about experience. It's about doing what you can to save a life." She would never be just a training dummy. It was Carter. Glancing at her peaceful face, he focused on the tip of the scalpel and began the cut.

After separating the muscle, it was obvious that the wall of Sam's abdominal cavity was showing some signs of poisoning, though as far as Jack could tell, it was in one piece. A small miracle.

The appendix had inflamed to the size of a fairly large chilli pepper – two or three times what it should be. A small perforation near the base was leaking toxic fluid to the surrounding tissue. No doubt Sam would be feeling the sting from that for some time. Slowly pushing his gloved fingers into the incision, Jack tied a suture tightly around the top of the organ. He made the cut as

cleanly as possible, his heart beating in his throat, terrified that he would nick another, more vital part of her system with the blade. Holding the top of the appendix with tweezers he carefully removed the scalpel, dropping it into a small container of disinfectant.

Removing the appendix, he placed it in plastic bag catching Tealc's eye as he turned to him with a wrinkled nose.

"Yup, definitely toxic." He winked at Daniel who was breathing through his jacket collar. "The smell never really comes across in hospital dramas."

Teal'c, Daniel and Roan watched silently then, as Jack made an effort to completely flush out the abdominal cavity with Saline solution. He dropped swab after swab on to the plastic sheet. Having gotten through this, a residual infection was the last thing he wanted to have to deal with on a trip through the mountains. Antibiotics would be thin enough on the ground as it was.

First stitching the wall of the peritoneum;then inserting a small tube to drain fluids, Jack was finally feeling as though the worst was over as he began placed the needle against Sam's skin.

"Jack, her pulse is speeding up." Daniel's voice sounded a little shrill with fear.

"Ok. I'm almost done." Jack's mind returned to the mantra that had haunted him before he had started. An endless list of potential complications. Pulmonary problems; bleeding; infection; deep vein thrombosis; rupture of surgical incisions-- Shut up! Concentrate.

He swore as his fingers slipped inside the sweaty gloves, making him fumble with the needle. He stripped them off, throwing them aside and began stitching. Daniel watched silently, counting Sam's pulse under his breath.

"I'm almost done." He said again, this time to himself. He was uncomfortably aware of how clammy the major's skin now felt. "Ok. I'm done." HI words were horse as he cut the thread. Dipping a cloth into surgical spirit, he wiped the bloody fingerprints from around the stitches, careful not to displace the drainage tube.

"Her pulse is slowing again." Daniel heard Teal'c release a breath at his words.

"Ok. We're gonna need a stretcher for the next few days, think you guys can arrange that?" Roan nodded eagerly but Daniel looked skeptical.

"How long has she been under? I thought it wasn't a very strong anesthetic..."

The colonel sighed, glancing at his watch.

"Too long. Especially with her...alien juice." Daniel nodded. The naquadah in Sam's blood had had a weakening affect on sedatives before. "She'll pull through Daniel, she just needs time." Jack insisted, his eyes not leaving the dressing he was taping over Sam's battle scar.

"Jack--"

"Daniel!" Daniel stared back into Jack's face. O'Neill made a dismissive gesture with one hand. "Just...go pick up sticks."

Once Daniel had left Jack finished taping the bandage and piled the instruments and materials back into his pack. He could sort it out later. He took off his jacket, draping it over her torso. During the operation, goosebumps had appeared on her arms. He checked her pulse. Fairly regular, a little thready.

He sat back against the tree stump that formed that back wall of the ditch and eased Carter's head onto his lap. Releasing a shuddering breath, he felt the adrenaline from the surgery ebb from him and suddenly felt exhausted. He stroked her hair, feeling her shallow breath tickle his wrist.

"C'mon Sam."

AN Whew, tense. Too much medical jargon? R and R please

prometheus246