When Nurse Alvarez came on duty, the night staff was ready to leave. It had been a busy night in the downtown hospital – but then they all were. There was never enough staff and always too many patients. Some of them came because they had nowhere else to go. They weren't too sick, but they didn't have insurance and so couldn't go to a regular doctor. Others were sick – some were dying – and some did die – often alone – victims of poverty and neglect.
Tina Alvarez was one of the ones who hadn't become hardened by the long hours, low pay, and seemingly endless parade of sick and forgotten people. She still had compassion – still had a heart – still cared about the people who came to this hospital. She didn't see the dirt, or the drugs or the alcohol or the mental illness – she saw the person who had at one time been the child or brother or sister or mother or father of someone. She saw a human being who was hurt and lost and alone.
This morning, as she came on duty, she looked around at those people still waiting to be seen. She saw the elderly man, sitting propped up in a corner – alone and lonely. She saw the young teenager, covered in piercings and tattoos, trying to look tough, but instead looking scared – and also alone. She saw the young mother, no more than a child herself, holding on to a sick infant – not knowing where to turn. All of these people looked lost and frightened – and all of them were alone.
She sighed and made her rounds, speaking sofly to each person, touching them gently on the arm or hand – showing that someone did care – that it did matter to at least one person whether they lived or died.
As she walked across the waiting room she passed in front of a small, unused corridor. There was little down there but an electrical closet – only ever accessed by the service staff. She was about to walk past when she heard a small groan. Stopping, she listened, trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. She heard it again, and realized it was coming from the hallway. Turning the corner, she saw a lone gurney – but with no one on it. It was only when she heard the groan, again, that she saw the body on the floor, jammed up against the wall.
"What the -!" She rushed over and knelt down beside the person – pushing the gurney out of the way.
The man was filthy – obviously someone from the streets. By the look of him, he was both malnourished and seriously ill. She felt for his pulse, which was faint and thready. His breathing was rough, and she was pretty sure he had pneumonia.
She quickly stood up and ran to the end of the short hallway. "I need some help over here", she shouted. "We have a man down – I need an orderly and we need to get him into emerg."
A few minutes later they had the man in a trauma room and the staff were stripping off his clothes. They all wore protective clothing – including gloves and masks. Who knew what diseases he had. Tuberculosis wasn't uncommon on the streets.
"God, how's he even alive?", one of the young Interns asked. "He looks half starved!"
"He probably is", Woodward, the Chief Resident responded. "These guys just drink themselves to death. There's nothing you can do to help them." He watched as the nurses and the intern took the man's vital signs and drew blood.
"Should I arrange for an X-Ray Doctor?" Nurse Alvarez asked.
The doctor shrugged. "I guess so, although it seems a waste. We could be helping people who look after themselves, rather than people who choose to drink themselves to death."
"Uh, sir, we don't have a tox screen yet. We don't know if he's drunk." The nurse tried to speak respectfully – although as far as she was concerned, guys like Woodward shouldn't be doctors.
The doctor laughed. "Yeah, right. I think the chances of him not being drunk are pretty much nil. God, you can smell it on him – at least through the body odor. You think these guys would have some pride – maybe take a shower sometime."
"It's kind of hard to take a shower when you're living on the streets!"
The doctor scowled – not liking being corrected by a lowly nurse. "Take him for his X-Ray and then we can figure out what treatment to give him. I don't want to administer anything until we know his blood alcohol level." He turned away, pulling off his gloves. As far as he was concerned, he'd done more than anyone could be expected to do for a low life like this.
"What about oxygen, Doctor?" the little pushy nurse suggested.
He was infuriated. Who the hell did she think she was? He was the doctor. He also didn't appreciate the fact that she had reminded him of something he should have ordered. He didn't like to be shown up in front of the rest of the staff – especially his interns.
"Of course Nurse", he said sarcastically. "Why don't you go ahead and give him oxygen. I'm sure that will change his life!"
"Yes Doctor. I don't know about changing his life – but it might save it!"
No one had ever accused Tina Alvarez of being a coward. When it came to her patients, she was fierce. She'd probably hear about this from her supervisor but frankly, she didn't care. The Doctor was an ass!
She carefully fit the oxygen mask over the man's face. She knew it would take a while for the blood work to come back so, in the meantime, she got some soap, warm water, and a wash cloth and began the difficult task of trying to clean him up.
He'd been wearing adult diapers when he'd been found, which had been unusual. Homeless people usually couldn't afford something like that. It had been completely saturated, so had obviously been on him for a long time. He was also terribly chapped and raw. She would have suspected that he'd come from a mental hospital, except for the filthy state he was in. As bad as some of the mental hospitals were, they tried to keep their patients at least somewhat clean. It didn't look like this man had bathed in months.
There was a slight movement as she gently washed his leg. She looked up to see a tiny crack of brown from his partially open eyes. He seemed to be staring at her, although he had no expression on his face.
She lifted her hands from his leg and walked up to his head. "Hi", she said softly. "You're awake. I'm Nurse Alvarez and we're looking after you. Can you tell me your name?"
The man continued to stare, although he tracked her with his eyes. His expression didn't change, but for some reason she was sure he was listening to her. Whether or not he understood it was impossible to say.
She moved again and she felt, rather than saw, him flinch. He had a brief look of terror on his face, but then it returned to its blank stare. What was going on in this man's mind, she wondered?
She reached out, this time very slowly, and took his hand. She held it loosely – allowing him to pull away if he wanted. "It's okay. You're safe now and no one will hurt you. We're going to look after you. You're in a hospital."
Nothing. She sighed, figuring he must be a mental patient – maybe someone who had run away from a hospital and had gotten lost on the streets. She reached down with her other hand and gently pushed his grey hair out of his eyes. He needed a hair cut along with everything else.
"Just rest. You're safe and I'm here." He watched her steadily for another few minutes and then his eyes began to slowly close. At the last second, just as she was sure he was slipping into sleep, she felt his hand gently squeeze hers.
She smiled.
"Nothing?" she asked, not even saying hello as she walked into Daniel's office.
"Hi Sam. No – not a thing."
"You said the investigator was good."
"He was – he is – but he has nothing to go on. He's checked out everything he can and says there's just no sign of Jack anywhere."
"How the hell could he disappear like that? Someone had to see something."
"Why?" Daniel asked. "He was up at his cabin. It's isolated. Anyone could have gone up there and kidnapped him and none of us would know about it for days."
"But he goes up all the time. Why now? Why would someone have kidnapped him? We haven't gotten any kind of ransom note or threat. It's like he just disappeared."
"Maybe we should be looking off world Major Carter", Teal'c spoke for the first time. "You may be correct that he 'disappeared'. "
"You mean the Asgard could have taken him?"
"That is possible, although I am sure they would have told us. No, I was thinking more of some of out other enemies."
"If it was the Goa'uld surely we would have seen a ship. And if not them, who else? Who hates the Colonel that much that they'd do this?"
The three friends sat silently. They'd been over all of this many, many times – but still were no closer to an answer. O'Neill had been gone for 6 weeks, and in that time they had heard nothing and had not one clue.
The Air Force had declared him MIA. At first they'd wanted to declare him AWOL – but Hammond had convinced them that this was not something Jack would do. No – he had been taken – that they were sure of.
At that moment Daniel's phone rang. He answered and spoke briefly before hanging up. "Hammond wants to see us", he said. No one said anything, but they all worried that it was bad news.
They made their way up to the General's office and were immediately invited in.
"Sg1, I'm sorry to have to call you in like this, but I've just gotten off the phone from the Pentagon."
"They've found Jack?" Daniel asked, dreading the reply.
"No. They've haven't discovered anything. I've just gotten word that we are to cease the investigation."
"WHAT?" all three replied angrily.
"We can't stop looking for him", Daniel practically shouted.
"They've informed me that the investigation will continue, but that our resources are 'better put elsewhere'." It was only then that the team realized that Hammond was seething. It was almost more than he could manage to control his anger and disgust.
"Better put elsewhere?" Sam asked. "What the hell Sir, with all due respect, what the hell are they thinking?"
"They're thinking of their budget Major", he answered directly. "The fact is, they don't think the Colonel is still alive and they think we're just wasting our time."
"They think he's dead?" Sam asked, this time sounding stricken.
"They haven't been able to discover anything. They figure that if he was still alive we would have heard something by now."
There was silence in the room. It was Daniel who finally spoke. "Do you believe that Sir?" he asked.
"I don't know what to believe Dr. Jackson. What I do know is that Jack O'Neill is probably one of the toughest, most determined, stubborn individuals I've ever met. If he had any choice – if there was anything he could do – then he's still alive."
"I do not believe O'Neill is dead", Teal'c said calmly. "I believe we would know if he were gone."
General Hammond looked at him, a question in his eyes.
"O'Neill is our brother, our friend. We would feel if he was not with us. I believe he is in trouble, that he needs us. I do not believe he is dead."
The other two slowly nodded. Yes, it was true, thought Daniel. He just had a gut feeling that Jack was alive. The problem was how the hell to find him.
"We have to keep looking Sir", Sam said.
Hammond looked at the woman in front of him and was reminded of her father. Jacob would get just such a look on his face – and woe betide anyone who got in his way!
"I'm under official orders to stop this investigation. I cannot allow any of my officers or employees to take time from their work to keep looking for Colonel O'Neill."
There was a pause and then Carter spoke. "Uh, what about on our own time Sir?" she asked.
"What you do on your personal time is no one's business but yours", he answered. "I cannot officially authorize the use of any resources from the SGC in your search."
He looked at each of the three of his people slowly and directly. They each nodded, understanding, without words, what he was saying.
"Sir?" Carter asked. "I would like to take some personal time. I believe I have quite a few weeks owed to me and things are quiet right now."
"And me too Sir", Daniel said. "I'd like to take some vacation time."
"What about you Teal'c?", the General looked at him.
"I too General Hammond, would like to take some time for myself."
"Okay people, you have two weeks. Just don't let me hear of you doing anything here about finding the Colonel. If you come on base, you'd better show that you're doing some of your own work."
"Yes Sir."
They each headed to their rooms to collect their things. As Daniel was leaving, Walter accidently bumped into him.
"Sorry Sergeant", he said.
"It's okay Sir."
When Walter didn't move out of his way, Daniel frowed, wondering what was going on.
"Sir – Dr Jackson – if there's anything you need – if you need access to anything – or anything – there are those of us here who would be happy to help."
"Uh thank you Sergeant. I'll keep that in mind." He watched as Walter walked away and couldn't help but smile. He wondered if Jack knew how much loyalty he inspired in the men and women of this base.
Later that evening the three friends sat eating pizza at Sam's place, trying to figure out what to do next.
"Dr. Lee came up to me today and offered to help", Sam told them as they sat drinking their coffee. "He said all the science staff wanted us to know they would do whatever they can to help find the Colonel."
"I too was approached", Teal'c added. "Master Sergeant Siler informed me that all the technical staff were 'itching to do something to help find Colonel O'Neill." I do not know why they were itching, but I told him we appreciate the offer."
"The whole damn place wants to do something but the idiots in Washington just want us to sit on our butts and ignore the fact that one of the best damn officers they have has been kidnapped."
"To be fair Daniel, there are no more leads. They're as stymied as we are." Sam was trying to be reasonable, but in actual fact she was as angry as he was.
"There's got to be something we haven't thought of", Daniel said. "What are we missing? Why would someone have taken Jack? It must be for something he knew or something he could do."
"Daniel, we've gone over this a million times!" Sam wanted to scream. This wasn't getting them anywhere. "We've got to ask ourselves different questions.
"Maybe it is not what we ask, but rather who", Teal'c interjected.
"Yeah, you're probably right Teal'c, but who else can we ask?"
"I believe we should speak with Harry Maybourne."
"Damn!" Daniel said after a couple of minutes of stunned silence. "Why the hell didn't we think of that before?"
"Maybe because he's a traitor and we have no idea where he is."
He wasn't in pain, and he was clean, but he didn't know where he was. He was still frightened – sure that they'd come and take him to that room again. There were new people who came to see him – people in white. Some of them were kind, and others were not – although they did not hurt him.
He was confused. They stuck something in his arm, and he seemed to recognize it, but he didn't know what it was for. They kept trying to put tubes under his nose and he kept taking them off. Finally, the nice one came and gently asked him to keep them there. He liked her – he listened to her and left them, even though they bothered him.
The man – he didn't like him. He wore white too but he was mean and rough. He was afraid of him – he thought the man was going to take him to another room. The only thing that saved him was her. She stood by him and held his hand when the man in white was there.
"There you go", she said, putting a tray in front of him. "You've got to eat, you know. If you don't we'll have to tube feed you and you don't want that. Come on, let me help you eat." She picked up the fork and took a bit of the scrambled egg and held it to his mouth.
He turned his head – he didn't want to eat. He wasn't hungry.
"Come on, please, for me?"
He finally opened his mouth. He trusted her – she was nice. He slowly swallowed, even though he felt slightly sick.
She got him to eat a few bites before he closed his mouth and refused to take any more. She gently wiped his mouth and smiled.
"That's right. You did really well. Maybe next time you'll have a bit more."
She moved the tray away and looked at her patient. He had a bit more color in his face as the antibiotics began to work. He'd been suffering from malnutrition and dehydration and from pneumonia. He also had a pretty serious urinary tract infection and had numerous infected abrasions and burns and some deep bruising. What was strange was that there was no alcohol in his system – none at all.
Tina had found the results both confusing and disturbing. The wounds that they'd found on his body had been those of someone who had been abused. The fact that he'd smelled of booze – but had none in his system – pointed to something sinister. The problem was, no one cared.
Dr. Woodward completely ignored her when she brought the information forward. He'd shrugged and mumbled something and had moved on. As far as he was concerned, the man was a bum – a homeless man – and therefore wasn't worth his attention.
She'd gone to her superior who had sighed and told her to put her energy into her other patients.
"Tina, you can't help everyone. He was probably beaten while on the streets. You know as well as I do that that's not unusual. We can't save everybody."
"No Theresa, I know – but we should try to help the people in our care. There's something strange here and I think we should check into it."
"And how can we do that?" Theresa Cain, the chief nursing supervisor asked. "We don't even know his name, and from what I've been told he can't even speak."
"I think he can – I don't think he wants to."
"Why not?"
"I think he's been hurt – badly. He's frightened and doesn't trust anybody. He's starting to trust me a bit but for now I think we have to try and figure out who he is."
"Tina – you know we don't have the resources for this. We have more than we can handle already and trying to track down one man, who doesn't seem to even want help, is just not feasible."
"Please Theresa. All we have to do is see if someone is looking for him. There may be a missing person's file on him or something."
"Okay fine. Look, talk to security and ask them to run his picture and see if you can get his fingerprints. We can send them over to the police and they can check them to see if he's on file anywhere."
"Thanks!"
She'd gone back to the man's room and asked if she could take his picture with her phone. He'd given her his usual stare but hadn't refused, so she'd gone ahead. She suspected that the finger prints would be a lot harder.
She was right. Security came in while she wasn't there. She heard about it from some of the other nurses. They'd heard the screams and had rushed in. The security employee was trying to pull the man out of the corner, where he was cowering.
"What are you doing?" Nurse Stanko rushed over and pulled the security guard off of him. "Get out!"
"He wouldn't let me take his finger prints", the man retorted.
"Well then, you should have left. He doesn't have to give them to you."
"What if he's a criminal?" he asked.
"What difference does that make?" she asked. "You're not a police officer and you have no rights here. Now GET OUT!"
By the time Tina had returned she could see that the man was curled up in a fetal position on his bed. He was shaking and whimpering.
Damn! This was her fault. She wanted to go down to the Security office and ream them out. They were morons!
"It's okay", she approached the bed carefully, not wanting to frighten him anymore than he already was. "No one is going to hurt you. I'm so sorry that happened. I won't let them near you, okay?"
It took her almost 20 minutes before he'd even take the blanket off his face. Finally, after she'd been there almost 45 minutes, he looked up at her. He still didn't have any expression on his face and she was beginning to wonder if there really was anything left inside his mind. Still – he needed to be treated with compassion, if nothing else.
"There, that's better", she said softly. "You're okay now." She reached over and gently put her hand on the side of his face. She was surprised when he turned his face into her hand, as if craving the touch of another human being.
"I wish you could tell me your name", she whispered. She was shocked when he answered, his voice rough from lack of use.
"Charlie."