"Ok Sam open up" Janet instructed as she approached Sam intent on beginning the examination. Sam frowned as she sat on the infirmary bed watching the clock.

"I'm fine Janet, I'm just tired" she insisted "I've been overdoing it; I haven't been sleeping properly so I'm fatigued. I just need some sleep"

"That's fine but I still need to do the post mission examination" Janet explained as she flicked her pen light on. Sam rolled her eyes and opened her mouth. Whilst Janet examined her throat, heart rate, temperature and blood pressure; Sam stared into a distant thought. This was so ridiculous. She wasn't tired, true she hadn't been getting enough sleep but there was no reason she couldn't perform. She needed to study the technology on that planet and she shouldn't let this conflict get in the way of her work. She's been on many, many missions with the colonel before and he'd never done this before. He wasn't going to do it again, was he?

"You have some bruising around your mouth and wrists Sam" Janet spoke, breaking Sam from her train of thought.

"Huh?" she asked looking at her wrists. Janet was right; there were deep bruises on both wrists. There was one large one wrapped around her left wrist on the underside and then four nearly symmetrical bruises on the top of the right arm. If Sam put her wrists together, it would be clear that they were the impressions of a strong grip.

"You wouldn't be able to tell me how you got them would you?" Janet asked crossing her arms and frowning at Sam. She closed her eyes in a sigh and then looked back up at Janet.

"I can't remember, I probably got them whilst sleeping" Sam offered.

"Is there anything else you may have forgotten?" Janet asked as she wrote on Sam's chart

"What do you mean?" Sam asked a little more concerned than she should have been.

"Uh" Janet paused, taking in the worried expression that had passed over Sam's face. "well the goa'uld have memory altering technology Sam, I have to rule out any possibility that you may have been compromised by the goa'uld, it's routine post mission protocol" she explained and paused watching Sam with a creased brow "is there something you aren't telling me?" she asked tentatively. Sam shook her head and sighed.

"I really am fine Janet, I'm just tired" Sam assured her

"Ok, well do you have any other injuries? Any other pain?"

"Nope" Sam stated getting off the gurney but Janet stopped her

"Sam, I'm not finished examining you. You could have gotten those bruises from a fall and have a life threatening head injury that's blocking out the memory for all I know" Janet told her in a stern voice but Sam just rolled her eyes.

"Janet I'm fine, trust me. I'm just tired and I need to organize the data I got from the planet for my replacement whilst I'm absent." Sam explained "Can I go?"

Janet watched her reluctantly but sighed in agreement.

"You can go on the condition that you report any and all pains, headaches, breathing difficulties, unusual discolorations, loss of appetite, dizziness, nausea…"

"I'll keep you posted"

--

Daniel hadn't been very focused on what he was doing. He'd tried to keep his mind on understanding the dialect used on the wall. It was odd how everything technological on this planet was a completely different language to the writing on the architecture. Everything technological was far too advanced in comparison to the living environment. It was almost as if too different colonies with different stages of evolution lived in the same place in harmony. There was no evidence of war or unjust treatment. Everything he'd been able to translate was neutral.

"I don't get it!" Daniel snapped finally, Jack had been watching Daniel become more and more puzzled and laughed when Daniel finally threw his note book at the wall.

"Shut up Jack, you're not helping. If anything you're distracting me" Daniel snapped at him as he stormed out of the tunnel he was in. Jack just watched him pass him.

"What's wrong with Sam?" Daniel suddenly asked, stopping in his tracks twelve feet ahead of Jack.

"What?" Jack asked the grin on his face dropping with his eyes as he looked at his feet very determinedly.

"She was fine yesterday, but then she came back in the middle of her shift last night needing you to take over. Sam never asks for help at work unless it is not possible for her to complete the task without assistance. She's proud and she sure as hell doesn't tell her commanding officer she's too tired to keep watch." Daniel snapped

"Calm down Daniel, you're yelling" Jack told him

"Why would Sam ask for leave over fatigue?" Daniel asked sternly, ignoring Jack's statement.

"Daniel, she's sick" Jack spoke as he stood up "she didn't feel well enough to complete the mission so I set her home" Jack explained, as if daring Daniel to counter the statement. And counter it he did.

"Give me a break Jack!" Daniel exclaimed "something happened last night, something that disturbed her enough to take your weapon away from you"

Jack stood in the middle of the tunnel in a momentary lapse of judgment; he didn't really know what to say. Obviously he couldn't tell him what he'd done. Daniel would never understand it and he'd never forgive him, he himself couldn't even understand why or what he'd done. He couldn't forgive himself. He just wished it had been a dream. Had it? Had he really done that?

"What did you do?" Daniel asked finally stepping closer.

"I pulled my gun on her" Jack panicked

"What?" Daniels facial expression was nothing short of disbelief

"She'd been talking about the technology and I hadn't been listening and then she'd just suddenly started talking about Charlie, I don't know why but I snapped. Kind of like what you're doing now." Jack explained and Daniel's mouth opened to speak but then closed in thought.

"No, but Sam would understand, she'd talk sense into you" Daniel muttered "unless…" he paused again

"Unless what?" Jack asked impatiently

"You didn't shoot her did you?"

"What! No!" Jack exclaimed "I'm not stupid"

"Well..." Daniel smiled

"Ha ha very funny" Jack rolled his eyes "I didn't shoot her, she pulled her weapon on me and tried talking me out of making a stupid mistake"

"Well it is stupid" Daniel commented and Jack exhaled heavily with frustration

"Look Daniel, she's overworked. What happened was I pulled my weapon on her, I shouldn't have but I did. She took my weapon from me and returned to camp." Jack explained trying to ignore the guilt from the lie and the remorse "she's been killing her self over her work so I sent her home." Jack said sternly "If anyone needs a break it's Carter"

"Ok" was all Daniel said in response and Jack nodded walking passed him and back to the camp.

--

Sam's house was empty, as always. The sound of the door clicking shut behind her echoed in her empty house. There was a stale quiet to her house that told of solitude. It was rare that she should come home to her house expecting…or rather hoping there'd be someone there to greet her. Anything was better than silence to heighten her thoughts.

She figured she'd start slowly. She had time on her hands and there was no need to rush.

She hung her coat on the rack and took her shoes off at the door before turning the heater on. She placed the work she'd brought home on her office desk as she passed while she moved to her bedroom. In her room she laid her bag down on the bed and pulled her sweater off, ignoring the chill of the cold room. She unpacked her things as she worked her way around the house, turning on power. She didn't have any mail as everything was usually forwarded to her work and she'd only been gone a day. There was just one message on her machine and it was from Daniel. Daniel had sent her a message the day before, probably just after Colonel O'Neill had picked her up for work. Daniel had rambled in the message, he'd been calling to remind her to bring some notes he'd asked her to look over for him, the second half of the message was him explaining that 'it didn't really matter since you're probably already on your way'.

And then after that there was silence.

Sam had nothing to do. She could watch television but she didn't really feel like watching anything, she didn't want to work either. She walked into the kitchen and pondered what she'd make for dinner but as per usual her fridge was lacking.

Sitting down on the kitchen stool she pondered calling Hammond and telling him she felt better but she knew he wouldn't take her seriously.

She could call Janet. But Janet didn't get off for a few more hours.

This was ridiculous. It wasn't coming back from a mission early, or lying to get time off, it wasn't even avoiding her work because it was basically just a mission report she didn't want to have to word carefully. This silence, this nothingness was ridiculous. She had nothing to do.

'Carter, you're overworked I want you to go home and get some rest'

The words had just popped into her head. Perhaps it had been a suggestion. Perhaps she'd thought of it as a suggestion, she did need rest.

'Sir I'm fine, if you're worried I'm going to let… let what you did get in the way of my work, I won't.'

She'd been so stubborn and hateful. He'd deserved it but it wasn't like her. It was O'Neill for crying out loud. Her thoughts circled in her head as she made her way back to her room, phone in hand. How'd this happen? He wasn't supposed to be like this, he was supposed to be the nice guy.

'look Carter I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me and I know it's not enough to say that I'm sorry, what I did was wrong. No one has the right to do that…'

'Sir, can I get back to work or not?'

He'd been apologizing and she'd blocked it, she'd been resentful when she should have been listening and she'd been 'listening' when she should have kept to herself.

'I'm taking you off this mission Major; you've become unwell and are no longer able to complete your work. Go home and get some rest Carter, that's an order'

'What about you sir? Shouldn't you need recovery time too?'

'I'm not the victim here Carter'

The victim! That's what he's reduced me to!

He's the one that needs time to think, time to think about what he's done. If anything I need to be as distracted as possible. Sam threw her clothing in the basket in her frustration and turned the bath on.

It hadn't meant to be like that, he'd been lustful and cheeky at first. He hadn't intended to take it that far, had he?

These thoughts continued to rise as she watched the bath fill. When it was about half filled she climbed in, easing into the warmth. It felt nice to feel weightless and relaxed as the water filled around her.

Taking this time off wasn't such a bad idea. She needed the break from work; a little leisure wouldn't kill her. She rested her head against the edge sliding into the water so that her body was completely submersed and only her head stayed out. Taking in the soothing effects of the water, she felt herself drifting into sleep.

'Psst Carter, wake up'

Her eyes flew open as she looked around. She could have sworn she'd heard that as if it'd been spoken to her.

'Sir, I was asleep'

'We need to talk… about last night'

'Sir, I'm sleeping'

She'd rolled over ignoring him. Closing her eyes, Carter sighed over the weight of these thoughts.

'We shouldn't have…'

'WE didn't do anything!'

'Carter…'

'I'm tired sir, leave me alone'

She was tired, her eyelids were heavy and she could feel the nodding of her head as she sunk deeper into the filling water, drifting into sleep.

-