A/N: Now you'll get two-a-day until Sunday when we wrap it all up. This is short, the second post will come this afternoon. I'll follow that pattern until the end. Thanks again to all who are steadily reviewing and to all the newcomers who have joined this story. Some of you are replying from anonymous accounts and therefore I can't respond directly. So I'll just say, thank you again for your amazing show of support. It means more than you'll ever know.

Chapter 4

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Jack tried to lift his arm to stop whoever it was from doing what it was they were doing. He couldn't seem to get his head clear and now...now he was...wet? His hand dropped to his side with a splash and slowly the discordant noise surrounding him sorted itself into distinct sounds. Water. He could identify water. And...and odd clicking noise. He picked out the familiar low tones of Teal'c's voice murmuring nearby. It took a great deal of effort but Jack finally turned his head to the side, biting back a moan at the pain in his neck. He pried his eyes open and instantly regretted his success. The pain was piercing! He slammed his lids shut and took a deep breath before trying again, this time lifting a hand to filter the golden light of early evening that bathed the stream in which he found himself.

Immediately to his right, Teal'c was carefully lowering Carter into the water. She was positioned much the same as Jack was, her legs and lower body completely submerged, her upper body resting on submerged rocks and her head propped on another larger rock. The clicking noise seemed to be coming from Jack himself, and he realized his teeth were chattering.

"T?" Jack was lucid enough to be startled by the croak that emerged from his throat. As low as it was, it was enough to gain Teal'c's attention.

"O'Neill, you and Major Carter are very ill. Please do not move, I cannot easily retrieve both of you should you slide downstream."

"Mhm kay." Jack leaned his head back, grateful for the cool water that washed over his neck, chest and back. "C'rt'r?"

"She is beside you, O'Neill. If you move your right hand you will be able to touch her."

Jack grunted his response, unable to bring himself to nod his head. He slowly slid his hand over and found Carter's arm floating nearby. His fingers traced down until they found hers and he wove his through them, pulling her hand up into his lap and anchoring both of them. He didn't know what was wrong with them but Teal'c was watching over them and he had Sam at his side. For now, that was enough.

SJ• SJ• SJ• SJ• SJ• SJ• SJ• SJ• SJ• SJ• SJ• SJ• SJ• SJ

The first thing Sam became aware of was the sensation of silken fingers sliding up and down her body. She felt warm and cool at the same time, and it was that dichotomy, combined with the pounding in her head that finally pulled her from her stupor. Lifting her head she squinted carefully around, vaguely remembering the last time she'd tried to open her eyes in the daylight.

She was reclining in a shallow pool of water, which explained the unfamiliar feeling against her skin. The water, cool but not terribly cold, felt wonderful on her heated skin. She tried to raise her hand to lift herself up but found that it was held firmly by the Colonel. Like her he was lying back in the water, supported by a jumble of rounded river rocks. Sam groggily looked around, trying to piece together what they were doing there and how this had come about. She raised her free hand to rub at the stiffness in her neck.

"Sir?"

"Mhm."

"W'ts goin' on?"

"T put us in the w'ter."

"Oh." Sam's head dropped back against the rock behind her head. Thankfully someone, Teal'c she supposed, had thought to lay some sort of padding across it, and the cushion served her well. Carefully turning her head toward her CO, she realized the two of them were actually in some sort of...pocket. A notch of some kind in the riverbank. It served as a sort of pool for the stream, open enough to have fresh water flowing in and out, but occluded enough to trap water in long enough to be warmed by the sun.

As she became more aware, she realized she was stripped down to her underwear and a t-shirt. A really long t-shirt whose sleeves hung well below her elbows. Frowning, she looked over at her CO and noticed that he, too, had been stripped, though he'd lost his shirt and was just in his boxers. The cartoonish face of Bart stared at her, popping out of the bright yellow fabric. Vaguely Sam recalled Daniel giving them to Jack last Christmas, all of them laughing and uninimously deciding that the message on the on the leg, 'Don't tell me what to do,' was so apropos for him. He was also sporting a strap of some kind around his waist. As she followed the line she realized it led to her and was looped around her waist too. The one thought that went through her brain at that point was that Janet would simply have a field day with this one if she were to see it.

The next thought that fought its way through the fuzziness of her brain was that she was half-naked lying in a shallow pool of warm water beside her equally half-naked Commanding Officer. Her incredibly appealing half-naked Commanding Officer.

Sam blew out a sigh, wishing with all her heart that she had the energy and wherewithal to care. Or even better, to do something...interesting...about it. Instead she inched closer, exchanging the hand he held for her other hand, which allowed her to lay both of them across his stomach. She pulled his shoulder slightly toward her and laid her head on his shoulder. If she had to lie half-naked in a pool of water on an alien planet in her underwear, she really couldn't think of anyone else she'd rather do so with, equally half-naked or otherwise.

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