Four

MacGyver had been released from the hospital after a few days, and then Janet got Jack transferred to the Academy Hospital to finish his recuperation closer to home and under Fraiser's care. He and Sam offered to let Mac and Nikki stay at their place for a while rather than renting a hotel room or something, especially since they weren't going to be around anyway. Sam had taken some holiday leave so she could stay with Jack at the hospital as much as possible, and when Daniel and Teal'c returned from their mission, they'd come by to visit often as well.

Christmas was fast approaching, and although Janet had assured her that Jack was recovering very well, she wasn't sure yet if he'd be able to come home for the holiday. Sam kept trying to keep his spirits up, worried that he'd start to slip into depression and wanting to make sure he stayed as far from that state of mind as possible.

Hearing someone approaching the hospital room, Sam sat up in the chair by Jack's bed and smiled when Mac came striding in. She stood up and went to give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek, careful of his broken arm resting in its sling. "Hey, Mac, how are you feeling?" Sam had been spending so much time with Jack at the hospital that she had only seen his brother a few times since he'd been discharged, usually when she left to get things from home.

"I'm…alright." He gave a one-shouldered shrug and glanced at his slumbering brother, lowering his voice instantly. "Still get tired kinda easy, headaches and all that. But it's nice to be out of the hospital."

Sam smiled warmly with a nod, then moved closer to the head of Jack's bed, gesturing for Mac to have a seat.

Seeing what she intended to do, Mac waved his good hand at Sam. "Oh, you don't have to wake him up," he said softly.

"It's okay," Sam insisted dismissively. "The nurses will be bringing his lunch in about half an hour anyway."

"Are you sure?" Mac asked with an uncomfortable grimace. Apparently he knew how grumpy Jack could get if he was woken before he was ready just as well as she did.

"Yes, Mac. Sit," Sam commanded pointing to the chair again. She turned back to Jack and perched on the edge of the mattress, reaching up to gently thread her fingers through his unruly hair. "Jack? Jack, it's time to wake up."

"Mm?" Jack's head shifted listlessly from side to side as he started to come around. Once he'd been taken off the blood bag and some color had returned his cheeks, Jack had a little more energy than he had a few days earlier and looked healthier. He was still weak from the severity of his injury though, like Mac was, and the hefty dosages of painkillers had him waking groggy and often a little disoriented.

Sam cupped the side of his stubbly face tenderly. "Look who's come to visit."

"You?" he murmured, quirking a crooked little smile without opening his eyes yet.

"No." She laughed softly. "I've hardly left." Sam glanced over at Mac who was watching them with mild amusement. "Your brother came by."

"Mac?" Dragging his eyelids open, Jack blinked a few times and looked at his brother sitting in the chair near the foot of the bed.

"Hey, buddy," MacGyver greeted cheerfully, pushing to his feet. "How you feeling?"

"Tired of answering that question," Jack grumped, clearing his throat.

Sam smiled brightly at the two of them and patted Jack's shoulder. "I'm going to see if I can find Janet to bug for a while; I think she's here today. You boys behave now." She winked at Jack and brushed Mac's good arm in an affectionate gesture as she sauntered out of the room, giving the brothers some time alone.

.

Jack tried to hide his grimace as he sat himself up a little straighter, using the bed controls to aid him. He watched his twin push the chair by the foot of the bed closer before wearily sinking into it. "Are you okay?"

Mac looked up and smiled tightly. "I'm…healing." He adjusted the sling cradling his broken left arm. "You know how it goes with skull fractures."

Grimacing at the reminder of his long ago parachute mishap, Jack nodded. He fiddled with the edge of his blanket distractedly. His leg was killing him, but he didn't want to say anything. It was weird; he could still feel it—the lower half of his leg—like it was still there. He just hoped that feeling wouldn't last.

"Jack."

"Hm?" Jack glanced up sharply, seeing the disconcerted look on his brother's face.

"You've been strangling the bed sheets for the last few minutes," Mac pointed out, waving at one of his hands at his side.

Jack grimaced and forcibly unclenched his fists. He awkwardly smoothed out the blankets.

Mac started to push out of his chair. "Do you want me to get a doctor or—"

"No," Jack said quickly, waving him back down. "I'm fine. I'm just—" he heaved a sigh. "It hurts."

"Your…your uh—the wound?" Mac bit down on his lower lip as he gestured toward the absent limb hidden beneath the blanket.

"My whole leg, Mac," he ground out, making a face. "It hurts like it's there. I can still friggin' feel it."

"That must be pretty, uh, weird."

Heaving a sigh, Jack nodded. He leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling for a moment, desperate to pull his thoughts elsewhere. "She took care of me, ya know," he blurted softly, almost a whisper.

"Huh?" Mac gave him an odd look, confused by the non-sequitur.

"Sam," he breathed. "After our last mission," Jack began to explain. "When the doc finally let me loose, she got some time off an' took care of me. Barely left my side. I was…pretty messed up. Not just physically." He frowned at his bed sheets. "My head just wasn't right after that one. Sam stuck by me though, got me through it."

Nodding with understanding, Mac smiled tightly and reached out to pat Jack on the hand. "Hey, I'm glad. I've always seen that Sam's really good for you."

"Yeah." A wistful smile spread across Jack's face. "She is."

"She'll get you through this too, ya know," Mac insisted confidently, saying the words he knew Jack needed to hear.

Jack briefly closed his eyes. Despite his unyielding faith in Sam, he still had that doubt in the back of his mind, that little voice claiming she'd leave him now that he was crippled. He tried to push it back, clinging to the hope that his brother—and his instincts—were right.

.

Finding Janet doing paperwork in her office, Sam chatted with her for a while, staying away from Jack's room long enough so that the twins had an adequate amount of time to talk if they needed to. Jack wasn't much of a talker when it came to feelings and the like, but she'd had a hunch he'd open up to his brother if there was something he needed to get off his chest.

Returning to the room after she was sure they'd already had lunch together, Sam found both Mac and Jack fast asleep. They looked kind of adorable, but poor MacGyver was slumped awkwardly in the hard, uncomfortable chair, and she knew he'd be in pain when he woke.

"Mac?" Sam whispered, gently jostling his good arm.

He jerked his head up and groaned, wincing and bringing his hand up to the bandage on his head as he sat up. Mac blinked blearily up at Sam before his attention shot over to his still-sleeping brother.

"Did Nikki drop you off and go back to the house?" she asked him gently as he hunched forward, cradling his aching head.

"Yeah," he murmured without looking up again.

Sam looked over at the empty second bed in the room and then reached for MacGyver's uninjured arm to help him up. "Come on. Why don't you lie down over here and I'll call her to come pick you up."

"No, I'm fine. I—" Mac stumbled dizzily and Sam quickly wrapped an arm around his waist to stop him from falling. He grimaced. "Maybe I'm not so fine."

"It's okay." Sam smiled gently and brought him over to the bed. When he climbed up weakly and laid back, she adjusted the pillows for him and put one on his stomach, gently resting his broken arm over it in the sling. "Stay put. I'll give Nikki a call and then go see if Janet can give you something."

Mac stretched his good arm up across his eyes. "Okay."

"I'll be right back."

"Thanks, Sam," MacGyver murmured as she went for the door.

.

Jack started getting restless not long after Nikki had come to pick up his brother. Sam took up residence on the bed where Mac had been resting while he was there, and was lying down reading a magazine when Jack's movements and vocal outbursts alerted her.

Climbing off the bed, Sam took the few steps over to Jack and gently, but firmly, pressed her hand down on his IV-tethered wrist so his flailing wouldn't pull the needle out. His legs were kicking beneath the blankets, and his face was contorted in pain. Sam wasn't sure if he was dreaming about the train crash or SG-1's traumatic last mission where he'd been captured. Either way, she didn't want him to continue reliving it.

"Jack. Jack, wake up." Sam gently rubbed up and down his arm, trying to wake him. His breathing was rapid and shallow, and she could see his eyes moving frantically beneath the lids. "Colonel!" she raised her voice and he went still all of a sudden. His brown eyes snapped open, wild and frantic, but when Jack's gaze finally settled on her face, he seemed to calm down.

"Sam?" he murmured, controlling his breathing. He tilted his head, trying to look all around the room. "Where's—?"

"Mac's fine. He was a little run down so Nikki came and took him back to our house," Sam responded swiftly, understanding his immediate, yet unvoiced, worry.

Jack cleared his throat and fumbled for the bed controls to sit himself up. He shifted his legs and his face instantly creased in pain.

Despite Jack's stubbornness preventing him from actually crying out, Sam could tell he was in considerable pain when she noticed his fists clenched in the bed sheets. Finding his call button by the bed, Sam hit it to alert the nurse.

Much to her surprise, Janet swooped into the room instead of the nurse and then quickly went to the medicine cabinet to retrieve a syringe. She swiftly injected the painkiller into Jack's IV port and then gently rubbed his forearm. "Easy now, sir," Janet crooned softly.

Jack gradually relaxed as the drug took effect, his eyes moving around somewhat dazedly. "Thanks," he breathed out gratefully.

Sam looked up at Janet questioningly.

"I was just about to come in and check on him," the doctor explained with a comforting smile.

Nodding, Sam watched Janet move around Jack's bed, checking his monitors and vitals, then telling him she was going to lift the blanket to get a look at his leg. The doctor sent a look Sam's way, silently asking if she'd rather leave the room for this. It would be the first time she'd seen the stump below Jack's knee, but she wasn't worried about her own reaction, she was more worried about how Jack would feel.

"Jack?" Sam called for his attention and he groggily shifted his focus to her. "Do you want me to step out?"

He blinked at her slowly with a confused expression on his face like he didn't even know why she was asking him that. "No," he finally answered softly, his dark eyes almost oddly pleading. "Stay."

As Jack grabbed for her hand, she sat on the edge of the bed by his left side, stroking his knuckles with her thumb. Sam anxiously watched Janet unwrap the bandage, and found that she was surprised at how clean the wound actually looked. A flap of skin had been pulled up over the end of where Jack's leg had been severed, and there was one long 'seam' of neatly done stitches that kept everything together. She was impressed, but aware that she never should've doubted any of the Academy Hospital surgeons' skills. The end of Jack's leg still had bruising and redness from the trauma, as well as some blood that had seeped out, but otherwise it wasn't as gruesome as Sam had expected.

"This is healing nicely, Colonel," Janet commented softly as she carefully cleaned the wound around the stitching and prepared to re-bandage it.

Jack tightened his grip on Sam's hand as Janet worked, and Sam continued to soothingly rub his knuckles in sympathy. He kept staring at the end of his leg with furrowed brows, like it wasn't even a part of him, but a foreign object. He grunted and jerked slightly as Janet wound the gauze around his stump.

"You okay?" Sam pulled his hand into her lap. As he responded with a shaky nod, she reached up with her free hand and threaded her fingers into Jack's unruly spikes of hair.

Janet finished tending to his leg and pulled the blanket back over him. "How's your pain, Colonel? It's alright if you need a little more than what I gave you."

"M'fine," Jack muttered quickly, his voice already taking on the hazy, drugged softness again.

"Okay, I'll let you rest now." Janet lightly patted his arm on her side. "I'll ask the nurses not to bother you too much if they can help it."

"Thanks, Doc."

Sam sent Janet a quick wave and then crawled onto Jack's bed with him, careful not to really jostle him. She rested her head on his chest and put her arm protectively across his waist as he wrapped his own arm around her.

Jack breathed in and out deeply as he let the drugs relax him. "Thank you…for staying. You don't have to."

"I know," she murmured softly, nuzzling her cheek against his warm, gown-covered chest. "I want to."

.