A/N: Wow. Over 100 reviews. I'm truly stunned, and very humbled and gratified. Thank you everyone. Words fail me and for a writer...that's a scary thing. But...wonderful.

And...I apologize for the delay. I've been trying to post this and Chapter 8 since 3:30pm PST today (6/13/09). ffdotnet hasn't been cooperating. Update 9:10am (PST). Finally! To make up for the delay, I'm posting all remaining chapters. Don't want to risk another outage before I leave town and end up leaving you all hanging. Thanks again, everyone.

Chapter 7

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The sharp motion of the ground moving beneath him pulled Jack from a restless slumber. He couldn't seem to stabilize himself and he reached out, frantically grabbing for something... anything...to brace himself. His fever-fogged brain remembered something and he tried to roll to his side, intending to pull Sam toward him to protect her. He was unable to move and suddenly panicked. He was strapped down! His arms were free but his body...his legs! The jolting and jerking was growing worse and with the increased motion Jack's level of panic rose. Sam! Where's Sam! Must be an earthquake! He clawed at the plastic that had fallen across his face, suddenly terrified that he was going to suffocate before he could find Sam.

"Colonel! Stop, Colonel! It's okay." Janet Fraiser reached over and clamped surprisingly strong hands over O'Neill's wrists, pulling his hands away from his face. All the while she talked to Jack, trying to calm him. Finally she gave up. "Daniel, stop a second, I have to get the Colonel calmed down!" Fraiser braced herself as the cart came to a bumpy halt. She grimaced as she moved over into O'Neill's line of sight. He'd chose the worst possible time to awaken, they were halfway down an incline and she found she almost had to lean heavily on her arms to avoid falling on top of him.

Jack blinked as the familiar, if blurry, features of the SGC's CMO came into view. "Doc?" His voice muffled by the mask strapped to his face, O'Neill tried to lift it away. Fraiser frowned and again pushed his hands away, taking a second to reposition his mask.

"No, Colonel, you need to leave it on." Jack stared at her blearily, then nodded. His eyes slipped closed again and Fraiser could see the frown on his face as he tried to concentrate. "We're on a gator cart, headed back to the gate. You and–"

O'Neill's eyes popped open and his hand whipped out to his side searchingly. "C'rt'r! Wh're's S'm? S'm? S'M!"

Janet shook her head and looked toward Teal'c, who dipped his head in response. The Jaffa lifted himself off of the front seat of the four-wheel-drive vehicle the SGC had recently phased into service for just this reason. Unfolding himself from where he'd been sitting and cradling an unconscious Major Carter, he brought the unconscious woman into Jack's field of vision and waited for O'Neill to focus on his cargo.

Jack released a long breath as he spotted her, then shakily reached up and grasped Sam's hand in his own, wrapping both of his around hers. 'S okay. She's safe. She's here. Okay... With a sigh his eyes slipped closed again and his expression relaxed, his relief at being able to touch her, to see her beside him clearly evident.

Janet watched as her patient dropped back into sleep, but try as she might she was unable to pull Sam's hand free of his. Each time she attempted to do so, he woke and became more agitated. Finally she shrugged and said, "Looks like we're going to rearrange some things, Teal'c." The large man nodded and carefully settled himself and his precious cargo in the cart's bed beside O'Neill. Designed to carry one sick team member, a medic and gear, with two sick officers Janet had been forced to improvise. Because of the medical equipment she and her team had brought, they'd been unable to accommodate two stretchers. Teal'c had immediately offered to hold the lighter of the two officers, and O'Neill had gotten the stretcher in the back. Now, however, they took a moment and shuffled things around so Teal'c could safely sit with Sam in his arms and still have her maintain her contact with the Colonel. Satisfied for now, Janet joined Daniel up front, turning and kneeling on the seat to continue monitoring her patients as they made their way back to the gate. "Okay, Daniel. Let's go. Let's try to go a bit slower, now, okay?"

"Will do." Janet glanced over and saw that Daniel's jaw tense as he concentrated on finding the smoothest path possible down the hill. She turned again to Jack, speaking so that both officers could hear her, even though they were both unconscious. "Okay, Sam, Colonel. We're going again. It's really bumpy through here but I'd like it if you could both relax." She looked to where Jack was still holding Sam's hand and was surprised to see that Sam had turned hers and wound her fingers through O'Neill's. Janet shook her head. Whatever it was that had laid both Air Force officers so low, it certainly had one side effect. She'd been peripherally aware of Sam's growing feelings for her CO for a while and from the looks of it, Colonel O'Neill returned Sam's feelings. In spades. Personally she was delighted; professionally, however, this put her in something of an awkward position.

Janet scanned the faces of the two conscious members of SG1 and then returned her attention to the two who weren't. What an odd group of misfits they were, this team. Sam, the only woman. A woman with an IQ that had been placed, Janet knew for a fact, at above 200. Janet remembered finding that notation in Sam's file and asking her about it, then joking that even Einstein had an IQ of "only" about 160. She'd not soon forget the flash of pain that had crossed Sam's face with her teasing, and Sam commenting that it didn't seem to matter how smart she was, she'd still always be "the girl." She wondered if Sam realized that nobody who knew her, especially not the men on her team, thought of her in that way. Then there was Daniel, quiet, thoughtful Daniel, with his rigid morality and almost desperate need to see only the good—real or imagined—in people, and incredible propensity for finding trouble.

The cart bumped again over a particularly nasty rut and Janet automatically reached out to both of her patients. She laid one hand on Colonel O'Neill's shoulder to calm him and with the other she tried to steady Teal'c and the woman he was cradling so carefully in his arms. She often forgot that Teal'c was at least ninety-five years her senior; he was so eager and willing to learn about so many areas of Earth culture that it was easy to think of the quiet man as being much younger than he actually was. Lastly, there was O'Neill. The 'old guy,' as he often called himself. With a lifetime of experiences, some good, some bad, under his belt even before coming to the SGC. A man with a sharp wit and sharper intelligence beneath, both necessary components in making this group what it was. Despite their oddities—or because of them—they made a hell of team. Janet grimaced as they bounced over another rock, shaking her head at Daniel's look of apology. Truly a bunch of misfits. But, she thought fondly, they're my misfits. Moreso than any other SG team. In finding Cassandra they had given her a gift beyond measure, and that made them exclusively hers.

Checking her watch, Janet looked over her shoulder toward the front of the cart, hoping they were close enough that she could see the gate. Seeing nothing she sighed and returned her attention to her patients, frowning slightly as she noticed once again how tightly the Colonel's and Sam's hands were intertwined. Glancing up, she was startled to find Teal'c's steady gaze on hers, his face expressionless. She watched as he dropped his gaze down to the joined hands of his two teammates and then deliberately looked away. Janet nodded. Right, message received. That was their problem. Hers was getting them well enough to deal with it.

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

Once again the surface on which he was laying shook and swayed, but this time Jack was able to focus on the soft tones of Doctor Fraiser as she directed her medics to carefully lift his stretcher onto a gurney. Gurney. If he was on a gurney then they must be back at the SGC. Opening and closing his hand, Jack suddenly realized it was empty again and he tried to raise his head. This time, however, the stiffness in his neck forced him to cry out.

"Colonel?"

"M' neck."

Janet turned to Daniel as she led the medical team down to her infirmary. A second team was pushing Sam just ahead of them and she was already calling out orders to her staff as they hit the door.

"Teal'c says they both have really sore necks and have been out of it." He shoved into her hands a notebook he hadn't had time to give her while on the planet. "He kept track of their temperatures and other stuff while I came back here."

Fraiser nodded, grabbing the notebook from the agitated man. "Got it. You go. Shower. Help Teal'c. Don't come in here unless you're called." She didn't wait for his response. Turning quickly, she snapped out an order for everyone to mask up and to prepare the Iso room. As she stepped into the gown a nurse held for her, as soft, panicked voice carried across the room.

"Jack?"

Sam's voice, though weak, was loud enough for Janet to pick up. She stepped to her friend's side and laid a gloved hand on her arm. "Easy, Sam. You're going to be okay. I'm putting you both into isolation.

"J'n't?" Sam's brow furrowed in confusion. "D'you c'm for us?"

"Of course I did. Now you go back to sleep and we'll figure this whole thing out."

"'Kay." Sam's eyes slid closed again, then sprang open. "J'k? Okay?"

Janet shook her head and leaned close, deliberately keeping her voice low, hoping to keep Sam's focus on O'Neill out of the gossip mill. "Sam. Jack's okay. He's right next to you. I promise."

Relief wove it's way through the film clouding Sam's mind. She was okay, Jack was here. Janet said so, it must be true. She felt a faint pinch in her arm and tried to pull away, but Janet kept her arm still. Janet. Janet knew where Jack was. Janet could...Sam opened her eyes again, blearily seeking Janet's gaze. "J'n't? Bein' sick sucks. Can you tell Jack..." she trailed off as exhaustion overtook her again and her words grew faint.

"Sam? Fraiser had to lean close to catch Sam's words and was suddenly glad she had. She didn't think Sam would have been happy to learn later that the message she'd asked Janet to pass on to Colonel O'Neill was heard by everyone in the room. Some things were better told in person. If either of them remembered.

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Short note of acknowledgement: Janet's musings about the diverse nature of the team came from a fantasatic review by BlindingFirefly. Her thoughts are incorporated her with her permission. Thanks, BF, for making the story better.