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Chapter Text

Stargate Command
Colorado Springs, CO

Brigadier General Jack O'Neill was whistling as he made his way over to his office. He almost felt like skipping but generals in the United States Air Force didn't skip, so he just bounced lightly on the balls of his feet with every step, a small grin playing on his lips.

Taking command of the base hadn't been his first – or second, or third – choice but he had accepted the promotion because he didn't trust anyone else in the position and was aware that his body was reaching its limits when it came to field work; at least he could watch his team's back as base commander and make choices in the best interest of the Program and people working here, rather than what the NID, IOA, politicians in DC or Trust operatives wanted. After all, they'd all seen what happened when General Bauer took over for Hammond a few years ago and Jack didn't want a repeat of that situation, even if it meant flying a desk.

However, today he would be going off-world again!

The last time he'd gone through the 'gate was when Maybourne had found an Ancient spaceship on his planet and Jack's ATA gene had been needed to operate it. The mission hadn't gone totally as planned but everything had turned out well in the end, and the SGC took ownership of the little spaceship with its time travel device. That had been the first time he'd gone off-world in months and he'd been surprised how much he'd missed it! Not just going through the 'gate but the excitement of it all; even the Jaffa shooting at him! His superiors hadn't been too pleased to learn he'd put himself in harm's way, though. His elation had been short-lived when the Joint Chiefs of Staff had basically grounded him for the foreseeable future, claiming he was too valuable to risk getting killed.

A request by the Voari for Jack to be present during the festival in celebration of their alliance with Earth and the signing of the actual treaty was something he couldn't refuse, though. Neither could his superiors. Jack still wasn't sure what Ferretti had told the Voari about him for them to request his presence – he'd never met the aliens, after all – but he was grateful to his old friend for arranging it. Lou had undoubtedly known he'd jump at the chance to go off-world and leave his paperwork behind for a legitimate reason!

Still grinning, Jack entered the briefing room and came to a halt at seeing his old team there. "Did we have a meeting?"

Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter straightened in her seat but visibly suppressed the urge to jump to attention – much to his relief. "Um, no, Sir. But we heard you were planning to go off-world-"

"Ah yes," he smirked and leaned against the briefing room table. "SG-1 is on downtime, right? I'll need you to keep an eye on things here for me, Carter."

"Of course, Sir," she said with a small frown on her face.

Doctor Daniel Jackson cleared his throat and threw him a puzzled look. "Shouldn't we go with you? I mean, we're the flagship team and–"

Jack pointed an accusing finger at the archeologist/linguist/anthropologist as he replied. "You just want to meet the Voari and see this festival of theirs!"

"Well, it is an interesting celebration," Daniel said abashedly, "and probably has roots in-"

"Ack! I don't care where its origins come from or how many changes there are between how some old dead culture on Earth celebrated said festival and how the Voari do it," he said. "I just want to enjoy myself while I recuperate from the numerous papercuts on my hands."

Carted ducked her head to hide a smile while the Jaffa Teal'c raised an inquiring eyebrow before he spoke. "You do not wish us to accompany you, O'Neill?"

Shrugging, he made a dismissive wave with his hand. "Nah. You guys have had a pretty hectic schedule lately and the Voari are pretty peaceful. I'll just accompany SG-9 and take Ferretti with me, since his team established contact with the natives a few months ago."

"But Jack, the Voari have a very interesting culture and I would love a chance to observe one of their festivals! You might need my skills too," he added with a smile, "because we all know you're not much of a diplomat and you have the habit of ruffling feathers."

"Oh no, I made sure to check with Lou; the Voari are completely human, so there are no feathers for me to ruffle," he replied with a smirk.

Carter grinned when Daniel rolled his eyes but seemed to take pity on him. "Sir, what I think Daniel's trying to say-"

"I know, Carter," Jack said, interrupting her. "But SG-9 has Doctor Danmark and they are the diplomatic team, if you recall. I can't play favorites with you guys because that's not fair to the other teams, Daniel. Besides, the higher-ups would probably be wondering why we even have a diplomatic team if I don't use them when their skills are needed."

Daniel grumbled a bit before he nodded in acceptance, albeit reluctantly. "Fine, I'll just have a talk with Doctor Danmark then before you go to discuss some of my questions."

"Great!" Jack clapped his hands and turned around to go into his office before he swiveled back towards his old team. "With Dixon on paternity leave, Edwards on medical leave, Ferretti joining me, Pearson at the Gamma Site and both Raimi and Reynolds off-world with their teams you'll be in command of the base as the highest-ranking officer, Carter. I have a debriefing with SG-21 in ten minutes, followed by a conference call with Hammond and the JCS and then I have about twenty minutes before my briefing with SG-9 and Ferretti, so come see after my conference call to discuss your temporary command, okay? That way you can sit in on the briefing about the treaty signing with the Voari and know what I'll be up to while you're stuck here."

"Yes Sir," she replied, grinning. "Do you know how long you'll be gone?"

He smirked and rubbed his hands together in glee. "I think it's a three-day festival and I'm pretty sure I have to be there for the whole thing, so unfortunately for you that means three days of paperwork!"

---

Stargate Command
Colorado Springs, CO

It had been a long day and Sam was pleased to have finally finished her last meeting. Dismissing Colonel Reynolds after the debriefing had been a bit strange considering he was technically of a higher rank but he hadn't seemed to mind. The man was probably just glad to have gotten his team home safely after a recon in Goa'uld territory and undoubtedly looking forward to some relaxation. She, on the other hand, had to remain on base for a little longer. Technically, her shift had ended already but she wanted to wait until General O'Neill's scheduled check-in in an hour before she would even consider going home. Besides, she could just as easily have dinner in the commissary with her team instead of cooking for herself or ordering takeout since Pete would be in Denver for the rest of the week.

She sighed to herself as she collected her things from the briefing room table and turned off the beamer before returning to 'her' office. The sight of the neatly stacked folders on the General's desk elicited a smile from her and she briefly wondered if the base commander's paperwork had ever been this organized. Sure, General Hammond had always done a good job and he'd hardly ever complained about the paperwork but even he used to make long hours as he muddled through all the reports and requisitions in between briefings, debriefings and meetings. Since General O'Neill's promotion to base commander the desk was usually cluttered with overflowing in-trays and scarcely filled out-trays, and she'd caught him searching for his laptop buried underneath all the folders more than once. Now, both trays were empty as she'd steadily gone through the paperwork throughout the day and Walter had happily retrieved everything from her out-tray an hour or so ago. She had even managed to get caught up with her own mission reports.

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts about paperwork and when she looked up she grinned. "Hey."

"Hey Sam," Daniel said, smiling at her. "You busy?"

"No, I just finished debriefing SG-3 and was admiring my empty trays."

He chuckled softly as she went around the desk and placed her things on it. "I don't think the paperwork has ever been wrapped up this early. Even General Hammond usually didn't finish until in the evening."

She smiled at him and sat down in the comfy leather chair. "What can I do for you?"

"Uh, I was wondering if I could go with Teal'c when he's meeting with the Rebel Jaffa and Master Bra'tac."

"If you wait another hour then you can ask the General himself."

Daniel grimaced briefly before he plopped down in a chair and leaned forward. "Well, I don't really need Jack's permission since you're in charge of the base – and the mission roster – now."

Sam nodded slowly in understanding as she recalled their discussion from the day before General O'Neill had left. "He didn't want you to go."

"Something like that," he admitted sheepishly. "But Teal'c and Jack both agreed that SG-1 should be included in the Rebel Jaffa's mission, even if just to, uh, observe. So, it would probably be beneficial for me to join Teal'c and learn as much as I can about their plans of attack and which Goa'uld they want to target."

Taking a moment to consider his arguments and SG-1's schedule, she shifted in the leather chair and looked at his eager eyes. "Well, it's not like SG-1 will be busy or anything," she said slowly. "And you've already submitted your report on the artifact SG-12 brought back…"

"Exactly!"

She chuckled softly at his enthusiasm and pulled up the mission roster on the General's laptop. "It's just an overnight mission according to Teal'c's intel, which means you should be back around this time tomorrow."

"Way before Jack returns," Daniel added, bobbing his head.

"Fine," Sam relented, "as long as Teal'c doesn't mind you tagging along and you promise not to get yourself killed."

He grinned widely and jumped up from his seat. "Thanks, Sam! I'll go find Teal'c to tell him the good news."

"You're welcome. Just make sure to be geared up and in the 'gate room in twenty-five minutes." She returned his smile and watched him go, already rolling her eyes at his enthusiasm. Spending an overnight mission with the Rebel Jaffa wasn't her idea of fun but that might just be because of their chauvinistic attitude. Besides, if Daniel managed to get some extra intel from them by doing so and had a good time, then she was perfectly fine with him going. Unfortunately, him and Teal'c leaving meant she wouldn't have any dinner companions, she thought to herself as she got up to make her way to the commissary.

---

Voarios
Milky Way Galaxy

The second day of the festival turned out to be even more outrageous than the first and Jack was loving every minute of it. Back when he was on SG-1, he'd always been wary of alien festivals and celebrations and more often than not felt like he had to suffer through them rather than enjoy the festivities, but the Voari were surprisingly good hosts and very welcoming without being over the top or downright suspicious. It probably helped that the groundwork for this alliance had already been done by others – Ferretti's team had established contact months ago after which SG-9 had been brought aboard for negotiations – and now there were just a few days of celebrations left for Jack to enjoy.

It certainly beat his daily routine which nowadays included doing paperwork and sitting in on the various kinds of meetings – if Balinsky was going to show him one more rock…! Jack sighed and shook his head, trying to shake off the frustrations of flying a desk and commanding a top-secret military base. This was his time to relax and enjoy himself, away from the confines of his office. A quick glance around showed lots of people sitting in a semi-circle around a huge buffet table with a large rectangular coal fire at the open end and beyond the fire people were dancing.

Well, mostly women.

Scantily clad women with enticing curves and admirable hip flexibility.

Oh yes, much better than listening to a bunch of geologists talking about some wonderful rock formation they'd found, he thought to himself. From the corner of his eyes Jack could tell Ferretti and Major Conner who were sitting on either side of him were enjoying the, um, entertainment as well. Captain Grogan, Conner's 2IC, appeared to be trying his hardest to look professional and kept his eyes fixed to his lap where a plate with food was resting and occasionally glanced around as if to take in the festivities. Airman Mansfield was grinning widely though and jovially talking to one of the natives at his side, while every now and then throwing an appreciative look towards the dancing women.

Doctor Annette Danmark was a different story but Jack couldn't really blame her for feeling a bit uncomfortable – he'd attended enough celebrations similar to this one with Carter and her feelings often ranged from awkward to embarrassed when the dancing was particularly provocative. It was after all pretty obvious the women were dancing with the goal to arouse the various men watching them as evident by last night's events. For the moment the women were still wearing most of their clothing, which wasn't much to begin with but yesterday they had started removing articles as the evening progressed until there was nothing but one flimsy, see-through veil left and by that time a lot of them had approached some of the seated men and led them away…

Jack still wasn't entirely sure they had been couples prior to the dancing but he had a pretty good idea of what had followed. Some of the paired up folks returned later on for the rest of the celebrations, including firewalking but others had retired for the night. He himself had even been approached by two lovely women – not simultaneously – but he had gently let them down, not at all comfortable with the blatant invitations or the approving glances and encouraging gestures from the chieftains of the various tribes gathered in the city.

Mansfield had taken a different woman up on her offer though after silently asking permission to leave from his CO. Conner had briefly hesitated and glanced Jack's way since he was the superior officer and base commander but he'd just shrugged, leaving the decision up to the team's commander. After all, the native woman had seemed enamored with Mansfield and the Airman hadn't been intoxicated or appeared otherwise drugged. Jack was more than happy to sit on the sidelines for this mission – as was Ferretti – which meant Conner was in command of his team and Jack would only interfere if he thought it necessary. Plus, this way it wouldn't fall on him to have "the talk" with Mansfield, although Jack was pretty sure everyone at the SGC was aware of the strict condom rule for sexual encounters with aliens after his own experience with the whole nanites-aging venereal disease had become a cautionary tale for all new recruits…

Sighing, he leaned back on the pillows cushioning his six and stretched out his legs in front of him. With effort he managed to drag his eyes away from the young attractive dancers and took in the rest of the natives. It were mostly men sitting in their circle as it was a patriarchal society and from what he recalled of yesterday's introductions the few women present were wives of the chieftains – and Doctor Danmark, of course. The older yet attractive women were serving food and drinks, while the teenage girls too young – or unattractive perhaps – for the dancing were entertaining the younger children and the less attractive older women and elderly appeared to be either preparing food or playing the musical instruments.

Jack wondered what his former teammates would think of this place. He was sure Daniel would have loved it and suspected the younger man had been aware of what the festivities entailed and that was why he'd suggested SG-1 accompany Jack to Voarios. After all, Daniel was known to enjoy women doing some kind of dance ritual and while he would swear it was for the cultural significance, Jack was well aware that he simply liked exotic-looking native women, even more so if they came close to stripping off their clothes. Daniel tended to act a bit like a geek but he had a quiet confidence which had grown steadily since joining SG-1 and that, combined with him being a good-looking guy with a hint of naivety, somehow made him very appealing to alien women. Out of all of them Daniel really was the guy who most often ended up involved with a native woman here or there…

Teal'c was in a relationship with Ishta as far as Jack knew, even though the Jaffa had also gotten involved with that girl on Earth a couple of months ago, right around the time Carter had gotten engaged to that cop of hers. Jack grimaced at the last thought and firmly pulled his focus back to the festivities. Teal'c would have enjoyed the dancing too, he decided. The big guy might not give away much with his facial expressions but after eight years of working side by side he was pretty easy to read. Now, Carter would have been very uncomfortable with the show, especially once the skimpy clothes were coming off. She would probably mutter something about emancipation or chauvinistic bastards making their women – and only the attractive ones – dance for their sexual gratification before she'd down a drink or two and settle in a corner wishing the night away, or maybe offer to stand watch to get out of the 'festivities'.

A soft chuckle escaped Jack's lips as he imagined Carter silently fuming while enduring the celebrations. He guessed he only had to look at Doctor Danmark to get the picture, although he had to admit the doctor of political sciences seemed to be taking it all in her stride. Signaling one of the women serving drinks, Jack took three cups of the locals' liquor and handed one to Lou on his right and the other to Danmark on his left – Major Conner had relocated to discuss something with one of the chieftains – and held up his own in toast. "To a fun evening for all and a good alliance with the Voari."

"Hear hear," Danmark said dryly but gamely downed the shot.

Ferretti clinked cups before he emptied his, coughing and spluttering slightly afterwards. "Christ Jack! That's a hell of a lot more potent than the previous round," he rasped.

Jack smirked after finishing his own drink. "Come on, Lou! What happened to the guy who couldn't get enough of that Abyonian moonshine, eh?"

"He got old," Ferretti groaned good-naturedly. "Where are those fruity drinks? I like those much better. Doc, you want one too?"

"Sure, Colonel," Doctor Danmark said. "What about you, General?"

Before he could even respond Ferretti was already reaching across to hand the woman a fruity cocktail drink. "Nah, he likes the hard stuff. He isn't one for fruity drinks… at least, not since P3X-595 when they drank that stuff that made Carter take off-"

"Ack! We won't be going into that right now," Jack hurriedly interrupted him, reminded of that early mission with SG-2 that still made Carter blush prettily whenever it came up.

Danmark, however, leaned forward. "P3X-595? I don't believe I've heard that one before…"

Her tone made it clear that her curiosity was piqued and that she was hoping someone would explain what was so funny about it, but Jack knew it was one of the off-limits missions on SG-1's list, much like the whole Hathor ordeal that had resulted in Jack briefly being a Jaffa and Daniel fathering Hathor's offspring. Of course, the good Doctor probably didn't know that as she had only been with the Program a little under a year. He sighed and, catching Lou's glance, turned to Danmark to explain it. "It was one of the first missions we went on. After Kawalsky, the newly appointed leader of SG-2, died Lou here was given the position of team commander and since it was early days and Hammond was still in the process of making up the rest of the seven teams, SG-2 was a man short.

"Since SG-1 had only just been formed and consisted of a Jaffa, a civilian scientist like yourself, a military scientist and a black ops colonel, Hammond thought it might be a good idea to send the two teams on a mission or two together. After all, we'd done well on our trip to Chulak too as one team. Anyway, the natives on P3X-595 had been friendly–"

"Maybe a little bit too friendly," Ferretti cut in.

"And we unsuspected earthlings happily joined in the celebrations," Jack continued wryly. "Let's just say the fruity drink had an adverse reaction on the then-Captain Carter and after that we learned to be more careful with what we drank while off-world. Some things just don't have the same effect on humans from Earth as they do on humans from other planets."

Ferretti grinned and took another swig of his fruity drink. "Too bad it took you another couple of missions before you realized that little lesson also applied to food, eh Jack?"

Doctor Danmark chuckled along with Lou who was waggling his eyebrows and poking Jack in the side with his elbow. "Ah yes, I've heard that cautionary tale!"

"For crying out loud," Jack muttered, rubbing a hand over his face to hide his embarrassment.

"Boy, did we do some stupid things those first few missions!"

Reminded of their less successful missions over the years Jack chuckled softly. "Oh come on, Lou: you still do some stupid things on missions!"

"He's right," Ferretti admitted to the Doctor, chuckling along. "This actually kind of reminds me of the good old days."

Danmark raised her brows in question and gestured at their surroundings. "Half-naked women dancing for the entertainment of men who do business with aliens over drinks and food?"

"Well, when you put it like that… the half-naked women are definitely an improvement!"

Jack rolled his eyes as Lou laughed the hardest at his own joke and leaned over to Doctor Danmark. "Conner joined in the first year too, I'm sure he has some stories to tell as well."

She glanced over at her team's commander and nodded. "I'm sure he does, but he doesn't talk much about those early missions. Can't really blame him from what I've heard about his CO at the time."

He winced, reminded of Captain Jonas Hanson who had truly started to believe he was a god and forced people to build him a temple. Also known as Carter's ex-fiancé… Jack loved Carter, he really did, but the woman had awful taste in men as evidenced by her more recent engagement and he wasn't entirely sure if he should be pleased with the fact that she – at least at some point – reciprocated his feelings. Did that mean he was part of her lunatic fringe too? There was no doubt in Jack's mind that Shanahan was a bit… off, considering the background check he'd run on Carter early on in their relationship and the fact that he'd stalked her and interrupted a stakeout, which nearly resulted in Osiris killing all of SG-1! It had only been years of experience with a dash of luck that had allowed them to capture the Goa'uld in time. Well, almost. Osiris had managed to shoot Shanahan but he figured that was the guy's own fault.

"Yeah, Hanson was one crazy bastard," Ferretti said pensively, before changing the subject. "Hey Doc, you ever tried firewalking? I'm sure we can convince them to give us a chance to try walking over those hot embers!"

"Oh, I don't know…"

Jack smirked as he jumped up, suddenly feeling a little bold and adventurous and held out his hand to Danmark. "Yeah, come on, Doc. You scientists should know all about the physics behind it."

She took his hand and stood, smiling wryly. "I think you may be confusing me with Colonel Carter, General. My PhD is in political sciences, not physics."

"Ack! Please, don't ruin it for me: I've learned to tolerate scientists over the years but politicians…? That's pushing it, Doc!"

Before she could protest Ferretti clasped Jack on the shoulder. "I'll bet you a hundred bucks I can hold out longer on those embers."

"Oh, you're on, Lou!"

Chapter Text

Stargate Command
Colorado Springs, CO

Sam was standing in front of the window in the briefing room overlooking the 'gate room. They were late. He was late. She had to stop herself from glancing at her watch for the umpteenth time in the last ten minutes and let out a deep sigh. One hour, she reminded herself. One hour before they could dial up Voarios and check-in with him. Them. It wasn't just him.

Still, she had to admit the sense of foreboding she was currently experiencing was finely attuned to him, not SG-9 or Colonel Ferretti. Her gaze rested on the inactive 'gate, mentally willing it to come alive – she even held her breath for a moment, waiting for the chevrons to light up and the kawoosh to form.

Nothing happened, though.

Maybe, she told herself, the ominous feeling was merely an extension of Daniel and Teal'c being late earlier today and debriefing her on the Rebel Jaffa's daring plan – that could go wrong in so many ways – to attack multiple System Lords at once. But Sam was having a hard time convincing herself of that and clenched her fists in frustration. General Hammond had called briefly after General O'Neill's scheduled return time, simply to check in on him and get an update about the festival and treaty signing. Upon hearing they hadn't returned yet the director of Homeworld Security reminded her of the standard operating procedure for failed check-ins and returns, which meant the SGC would give them an hour before dialing up the planet to get a situation report.

Half the time hadn't even passed yet but the bad feeling in the pit of her stomach continued to grow with every passing minute. There were no appointments left for today – nothing for her as base commander – and she had already finished all of her paperwork too, which left her with nothing to do but wait until General O'Neill or one of the others contacted them or the hour was up. Sam wasn't sure whether she was hoping for the former or the latter because either way it meant something was wrong. Unless they were to show up in the gate room between now and then, of course. But somehow, she didn't think that would be the case.

A familiar footfall sounded from the corridor behind her and when there was a brief pause, she knew Daniel was wondering whether he should join her or not. The decision was clearly made within seconds because she heard him enter the briefing room and from the way he walked, she knew Teal'c was with him even if the Jaffa was being as silent as always. Steeling herself, she glanced over her shoulder at her teammates and smiled gently at them. "Hey. Did you two finish your post-mission exams?"

"Yeah," Daniel said softly as he stepped up to her side. His eyes darted from the window to the spiral staircase leading to the control on their right. "I take it they haven't checked in while we were in the infirmary?"

"No, nothing so far."

Teal'c came to stand on her other side. "Do you believe they are in danger, Colonel Carter?"

"They're probably just late," she said after a moment's hesitation and a quick glance in Daniel's direction. "I mean, from what they reported the past two days this festival seems to be a pretty big deal and the General and Colonel Ferretti were certainly enjoying themselves when they checked in last night."

Daniel seemed both surprised and curious, and Sam recalled he'd been very intrigued by the Voari culture. "Enjoying themselves?"

"Ferretti was buzzed and drinking a fruity cocktail drink he said reminded him of P3X-595."

"Was he still, um, dressed?"

"Funny, Daniel," she said, rolling her eyes. "The General was apparently drinking something similar to Abydonian moonshine and they mentioned something about firewalking…"

Teal'c raised an eyebrow and grinned slightly. "Every warrior should be capable of walking over fire. When I was Rya'c's age Master Bra'tac made me stand on embers for my bashaak training in preparation for one of the challenges of the Rules of Engagement."

Intrigued by this new part of Jaffa training Daniel appeared to have momentarily forgotten about the General's predicament. "Sort of a mind of matter thing? To prove the young warriors are capable of walking over fire for their, um, God?"

"Actually," Sam said when Teal'c nodded, "it's just physics. Embers aren't good heat conductors and ash buildup on the coals and wet feet add an insulating layer as well. The embers can be over a thousand degrees Fahrenheit but thermodynamics dictates that the hotter body will cool off while the cooler body – the feet in this case – will heat up until they're either separated or meet at a temperature in between. Specific heat capacity plays an important role in this process and water – like in our body – has a very high capacity whereas embers have a very low one, meaning the foot's temperature tends to change less than the coal's.

"Unlike embers water also has a high thermal conductivity and on top of that the rich blood flow in the feet will carry the heat away and spread it. Time is also an important factor, both in how long the foot stays in contact with the ember as well as how much the embers have cooled down since they will stop burning once their temperature sinks below the flash point."

Daniel blinked once upon hearing her explanation and got a pensive expression on his face. "I guess that's why firewalkers tend to keep moving on the embers then?"

"Indeed," Teal'c said, "if one stays too long in one place their feet will be harmed. It is a most unpleasant burning sensation."

Sam shuddered, trying to imagine the pain until she realized it was probably a lot less painful than getting hit by a Super Soldier or a staff weapon blast, both of which drew her attention back to the General's situation. The sense of foreboding had only grown stronger and even though the clock showed her he was only half an hour late, she took a deep breath and turned towards the control room. Screw protocol – she would apologize later if it turned out the guys were just getting home late from the party. "I've had enough of waiting," she said. "Let's dial up Voarios."

Her teammates nodded in unison and followed her down to the control room where Walter immediately started dialing on her orders. She figured the man had to be worried as well as he didn't utter a word of protest even though he probably knew the 'gate's SOP better than she did. Sam's heart started racing as the technician announced the engaging of each chevron and it was in her throat by the time the last one locked and the kawoosh came forward.

Walter quietly handed her a headset. "Ma'am."

"SG-9-niner this is Stargate Command, please report." There was an almost unnatural silence in the control room as everyone waited for Major Conner to reply. "This is Colonel Samantha Carter of Stargate Command, please respond SG-9."

"Attempting connection to the MALP on Voarios, Ma'am," Walter said, his fingers running over the keyboard. "Connection established. Pulling up a visual."

Sam held her breath as the image broadcast back to them showed damage from a firefight, most likely from energy weapons. "This is Stargate Command, please respond SG-9-niner," she reiterated. "Major Conner, do you copy?"

"Can you sweep the area with the MALP to give us a better picture of the surroundings?"

Walter shook his head in a negative. "Sorry Doctor Jackson, but it appears the MALP itself is either damaged or somehow pinned in place because it's not responding to our commands."

"SG-9 this is Stargate Command," she spoke into her headset. Even if the team's commander wasn't available one of his subordinates would have responded. Or, even more likely, Ferretti or the General would have taken over command of the mission. "Please report, SG-9. This is Stargate Command…" Her voice trailed off and she let out a deep sigh, glancing at the other people in the room with her. "Major Conner, Colonel Ferretti, General O'Neill… Does anyone copy?"

"It appears your sense of foreboding was correct, Colonel Carter," Teal'c said.

She grimaced, for once not pleased to be proven right. "Walter, get Colonel Raimi and SG-3 to the briefing room ASAP."

"Yes Ma'am."

"Sam-"

Already half way up the stairs she jerked her head in the direction of the briefing room. "Daniel, Teal'c; you're with me. Looks like we've got a search and rescue mission on our hands."

The next half hour sped by as Sam briefed SG-3 and her own team about the situation and the search and rescue mission they were going to mount for General O'Neill, Colonel Ferretti and the four members of SG-9. Siler set up the UAV and after dialing up the planet again it gave them a bird's eye view of the domed city. The recon reassured them that the immediate vicinity of the 'gate was clear for them to come through, but the UAV had been shot down farther into the city. Still, they remained optimistic about their chances to get safely to Voarios, find their people and retrieve the damaged MALP and fallen UAV.

After sending everyone to gear up she took Reynolds aside to ask him whether he was okay with her being in charge considering he was, technically, a rank higher as a full bird. However, the commander of SG-3 had no issues with it considering the General had chosen her as his replacement and Reynolds trusted her lead after having worked together with SG-1 for eight years. Sam had been pleased, both by his easy agreement as well as the trust he placed in her and had turned to Colonel Raimi, telling him he was in charge of the base in her absence. Then, she had joined the others, geared up and headed back to the 'gate room. On her signal, Walter dialed up Voarios and Raimi sent them off with a "Godspeed".

Sam was cautious of hostile forces in spite of what the UAV had shown when she exited the wormhole on the other side. Her guard was up and she immediately took up a defensive position as she waited for the rest of her team and SG-3 to come through. Everyone followed suit and covered her while she ran over to the MALP to check it out. In the background she heard Reynolds radio to the SGC to inform them there were no immediate threats and they replied something before the wormhole disappeared, but her attention was on the probe. It was damaged by staff weapon fire and although the camera was still working, the booster for radio signals was destroyed which explained why no one had responded to her calls. At least, she hoped that was the only reason…

"The MALP is semi operational," she told the others. "We should be able to send it back through the 'gate but I suggest we keep it here for the moment and maybe turn it around so that the camera is aimed at the 'gate. That way the SGC can use it to check for hostiles if they dial in before we get back, Sir."

Reynolds gestured for Bosworth and Penhall to help her move the probe. "What about the UAV? Do we have any indication of where it was shot down?"

"Uh, my guess would be wherever the Jaffa are," Daniel said.

"That's very helpful, Doctor Jackson," Reynolds replied sarcastically.

Teal'c merely raised a brow. "I believe it is approximately two kilometers northwest of here."

Sam took a deep breath and stretched her frame after they'd finished moving the MALP and took a look around the immediate area. From the briefing she'd attended she knew all the cities on this continent of Voarios were domed to protect the natives against the cold climate and the various domes were all connected to each other by an equally protected transport system. Outside of the domes it rivaled Antarctica but inside the temperature was mild and they could just walk around in their BDUs, which was probably down to the dome's greenhouse effect or something. She wasn't entirely certain of the dome's technical specifications or what it was made of, but from the looks of it it was some kind of forcefield-like contraption constructed on a framework. It gave the whole thing a surreal effect but it was undoubtedly necessary to keep the dome intact and most likely in this shape.

"So, what have we got here, Carter? Staff weapon damage?"

Reynolds' question interrupted her musings and she looked at their surroundings once more. "That seems to be the case by looking at the scorch marks and some of the damage done to the MALP. However, I'm not sure if that's all there is…"

"I concur, Colonel Carter," Teal'c said. "It would appear some of these buildings were damaged by weapons fire from death gliders."

"The dome seems to have some holes in it too," Daniel remarked, pointing to the structure around them. "Do you think those were made by death gliders too?"

Sam pointed at a round hole in the dome's ceiling. "That's too round to be made by a death glider but," she pulled out her binoculars for a closer look, "I'd say it's about the size of a ring transporter."

"It must be the point of entry," Teal'c said. "If the Jaffa were aware of this planet's domed structures they could have used the ring transporter of an alkesh to get inside."

"Why not use the 'gate?"

Daniel shrugged at Reynolds' question and glanced back at the alien device behind them. "Maybe they did both. Dialing in would prevent anyone from being able to dial out and get Jaffa here right away–"

"And using the alkesh they could get even more boots on the ground while simultaneously breaking the dome open to allow death gliders to enter," Sam finished.

"If there's death gliders and an alkesh, should we worry about a mothership in orbit?"

"I do not believe that to be the case, Colonel Reynolds," Teal'c said.

Sam stepped forward with her P90 resting comfortably in her hands. "The UAV didn't pick up any energy or heat signatures in the atmosphere indicating a mothership," she said. After exchanging glances with Reynolds she turned to the rest of the two teams. "This is where we split up: SG-3 will go northwest to retrieve the UAV while SG-1 searches the city for our people. There don't appear to be any aircraft in the air and I wouldn't be surprised if they've moved on to another domed city if the Jaffa's intent is to take over the entire planet, but we should still be on alert. Someone shot down the UAV, after all, and so far we haven't heard anything from the General, Colonel Ferretti or SG-9 even though we should be able to establish and maintain radio contact considering the dome's diameter."

"Could something be interfering with their signal?"

"It's possible," she replied to Penhall's question. "Just keep your eyes and ears open. Standard check-ins every fifteen minutes. If we lose contact then we'll rendezvous here in an hour. Move out!"

SG-3 took off with a jaunty salute their way and Sam instructed Teal'c to take point and took up the rear herself. Teal'c was an excellent tracker and if anyone could find traces of the General and the others it would be him. She just hoped they wouldn't be too late and go back home with them in body bags. The thought made her shiver as they silently moved through the city. The streets were littered with dead bodies but otherwise deserted. Every now and then Teal'c or Daniel would roll over a body fitting the description of one of their own while she kept an eye on their surroundings. Her heart was in her throat every time they halted to check and it was only when her teammates gave a shake of their heads that she could breathe again.

After they'd moved through the center of the city there were fewer bodies but most of the houses and general buildings looked deserted. Some were crumbled or otherwise damaged, probably from the weapons of a death glider. They also came across a handful of blackened out craters with dead bodies and body parts, but the victims all appeared to be native Voari. The sites were probably the result of alkesh bombings and it worried her to know they could come back anytime and probably drop a bomb or two before her team found adequate cover. Her mood lifted a bit and Sam started feeling more hopeful when they found dead Jaffa, a clear sign of a resistance. Most of the bodies had bullet wounds which meant the General and the others had managed to resist and strike back.

The question was how successful they had been. So far her team hadn't encountered any live Jaffa but SG-3 had reported avoiding a patrol in one of their regular check-ins, which indicated the Jaffa were the victors of this carnage and that didn't bode well for her missing friends. Still, as long as there were no familiar bodies or charred remains with dog tags she could hold out hope. However, she couldn't fathom why no one had responded to the SGC's calls if they were unharmed. It wasn't as if radio traffic between SG-1 and SG-3 was hampered and they were at least three klicks apart. There hadn't been any issues with communications in the past two days the General had been on this planet, but Sam guessed it was possible they were in an underground shelter that was shielded somehow… it just didn't make any sense for them not to have at least left a message or sign to explain their whereabouts, unless they had been captured or were dead. Considering the fact that the dead Jaffa were sporting unfamiliar tattoos there was a good chance they hadn't come here looking for General O'Neill and probably didn't even know who he or the rest were. Maybe the Goa'uld to whom the Jaffa belonged simply wanted this planet and its advanced technology destroyed or for himself?

It was only after they had been searching for hours and reached the dome itself that another possibility came to mind: what if the General had led his people outside after realizing they were overpowered? There was a gaping hole in the dome and while the framework kept the rest of it intact, the hole itself was large enough to let people through. Daniel checked-in with SG-3 who were making their way back to the 'gate with the UAV while Sam and Teal'c investigated the damage to the dome. There was ice on the edges of the opening and snow had blown through it but Teal'c stepped outside with one arm up to shield his face from the howling icy winds regardless and after a brief recon he returned, shivering and covered in snow.

"There are faint tracks leading away from the dome, Colonel Carter," he reported. "They are compatible to the footwear of SGC personnel."

Daniel grinned and immediately contacted Reynolds again to give a sit rep, while Sam allowed herself a small moment to process it. On one hand it was great news that the General and the others had made it out but on the other hand there was no telling how long ago they'd left and what kind of supplies and protection, if any, they had. Teal'c was shivering already from a few minutes exposed to the elements, even if he tried to hide it! How long ago had their friends abandoned the city and could they survive exposure to the elements for more than a few hours?

"Reynolds," Sam spoke into the radio, "it looks like they went outside the dome into the cold. When your team reaches the 'gate go back to the SGC immediately and start collecting foul weather gear, extra blankets, any additional medical supplies, overnight supplies… and anything else we might need. Oh and tell Siler we need as many snowmobiles and other helpful equipment he can come up with. We'll head back to the 'gate now and hopefully you'll be back with everything we need before we reach it. Carter out."

---

Voarios
Milky Way Galaxy

Jack was mentally berating himself for drinking so much last night and letting his guard down as he walked through the snow. It was freezing and about an hour ago it had started snowing again, although at this temperature it felt more like hail hitting his face and limbs, or maybe even icy pebbles. Shielding his face against the harsh winds with his free arm, he glanced over his shoulder at the rest of his group. It looked like the others were even more miserable than he was as they trudged along. He was taking point and Ferretti brought up the rear while three members of SG-9 were in between them, all looking miserable and cold. Jack couldn't really blame them considering they'd just lost a teammate in the firefight with the Jaffa; Mansfield had literally been caught with his pants down with a native woman in one of the tents erected in the city center for the festival. There had been a still-smoking hole in the Airman's chest when Jack found him and they'd been forced to leave his body behind when more Jaffa entered the city.

The attack itself had been unexpected and Jack still wasn't quite sure how the Jaffa had gotten the drop on them. One moment everyone had been going about doing their thing – sleeping, eating, talking – and the next the stargate had activated and dozens of Jaffa had come through. Shortly thereafter an alkesh had flown over the domed city and used its ring transporters to add more boots on the ground, quickly followed by a bunch of death gliders flying around and attacking the dome. For a race with technological marvels like domed cities the Voari had little defense capabilities and due to the festival they'd all been unarmed, except for some security personnel who had quickly been taken out by the unknown Jaffa.

Jack and Ferretti had been talking to two of the chieftains over breakfast at the time of the attack and they'd immediately grabbed their weapons and returned fire. The gunfire had alerted SG-9 – except for Mansfield – and they'd come out of their tents and joined in the defense of the city, while most Voari had been running around like headless chickens looking for a hiding spot. A lot of the chieftains from nearby cities had jumped into the nearest transport to get back to their own domed cities but Jack had no idea whether they were safe or had been killed underway. After all, there had been quite a few bombings by the alkesh and death gliders and the Jaffa had started searching the large, official-looking buildings as well as the erected tents in the city center.

Together with Ferretti and three-fourths of SG-9 Jack had only been able to hold them off for a while, trying to give the natives as much of a chance of fleeing as they could. Maybe fifty Voari had joined them with their own weaponry but in the end they had been no match for the Jaffa and the remaining chieftain had told them to save themselves right before an alkesh flew over and dropped a bomb – a lot of the fighting Voari hadn't survived it and Jack and Ferretti had only managed to get out of the way and behind some cover due to their military training.

Ferretti had tried to rally the remaining Voari in the city to find shelter together but the few who had agreed to follow them had all been killed once they reached the city's underground shelter where Jaffa had been waiting for them. Jack had barely gotten his people out of there alive and with a heavy heart he'd made the decision to flee the city in the hopes of the SGC sending reinforcements when they didn't return home in time. Unfortunately, by that time all the transports had been destroyed, dead bodies littered the streets and Jaffa patrols were roaming around trying to capture or kill any survivors. The only way out had been through a hole in the dome protecting the city from the harsher elements outside.

Now, with his clothes soaked and unable to feel his booted feet, Jack was starting to wonder if it had been a good idea to leave the relatively mild climate inside the dome. At the time it seemed like a good idea, especially because the Jaffa weren't at all dressed for the wintery weather and he knew from Teal'c that most Jaffa detested snow and ice as there were few Jaffa planets with winter seasons. Teal'c still wasn't too fond of the colder temperatures on Earth but unlike many of his fellow Jaffa he'd been trained in extreme weather conditions by Master Bra'tac and therefore could cope when necessary. The fact that they had warm clothes and equipment to make it easier to move on such landscape at the SGC probably helped too.

Jack grimaced, wishing he and his people had the luxury of foul weather gear or, even better, snowmobiles! Food and a sterno would be nice too, but he'd been too stubborn to take a fully equipped backpack with him to this planet because they were supposed to stay inside the dome and not run into any trouble. Now, all they had were their weapons – p90s and Berrettas for the military folks and a zat and Berretta for Doctor Danmark – and the clothes on their backs. Well, they had all grabbed what passed for a winter coat on this planet before they went outside the dome, so they were a bit warmer and better protected than if they'd just been wearing their BDUs. Jack had just put it on over his BDUs and vest but SG-9 had all been wearing the native garb, which meant they didn't have the supplies Jack and Ferretti carried in their various pockets or on belts, like canteens. Unfortunately, they didn't have any sleeping bags so he hoped they would find a cave or some other kind of shelter soon and use the 'coats' as blankets.

A quick glance at his watch told him they were already late for their return home, so the SGC should be dialing in anytime soon. Of course, there was no guarantee their radios would work over the distance or that the Jaffa weren't keeping the 'gate occupied and thereby preventing the SGC from checking in with them. Rubbing his hands together, Jack paused and waited for the rest of his group to catch up with him. It wouldn't do to keep too quick a pace for two reasons: it would exhaust all of them and it would only take them farther away from the city and thus the search and rescue team that would come looking for them. As he waited he looked up at the sky, searching for any air traffic. The death gliders could follow them if they'd noticed they'd snuck out of the dome, but there was always the possibility of the Jaffa not realizing this or simply not caring about a few crazy people going out into what might as well be Antarctica without any protective gear.

All Jack could hope for was that the Jaffa had no idea who they were and wouldn't be able to see them easily from the sky as they moved among the snow and rocks because of the white and grey pelts everyone wore.

Chapter Text

Voarios
Milky Way Galaxy

It was getting dark and they still hadn't found the General, Ferretti and SG-9. With the sun setting it was becoming increasingly more difficult to spot the tracks they had left behind but Sam had the utmost confidence in Teal'c's skills. About an hour and a lot of miles ago she thought they had lost them or, worse, moved past wherever the General and the others were hiding without even noticing but Teal'c had insisted that was improbable and in the end it turned out he was right; there had simply been a mild snowstorm which had covered about a mile of the tracks and they had managed to pick up the trail again.

But she was worried that they wouldn't locate them before nightfall. It didn't help that they'd been unable to call them over the radio as every attempt was met with static. That was also why her own group kept close together and within visual range because they couldn't afford to lose sight of each other, especially not if they got caught in another blizzard. The SGC only had four snowmobiles available and thus before taking off she and Reynolds had decided one should ride farther out to scout the upcoming path for tracks and possible dangerous terrain, while the other three would follow them in one line, with the middle two having sleds attached.

Since Teal'c was their best tracker he had taken the scouting snowmobile and shared it with Daniel while Lieutenant Mooney and Penhall rode the last one, with Penhall watching their six. Sam was second in line with Doctor Brightman – just in case anyone was in need of medical attention – and they carried most of the supplies they might need in their sled. Reynolds and Sergeant Bosworth drove the third snowmobile, their sled also laden with supplies.

The sleds could hopefully fit three people each, which meant there was room for fourteen people in total; the exact number of SGC personnel on this planet. Sam figured that with the supplies they could afford to set up a camp somewhere for overnight if necessary since she didn't think it was safe to travel back over unfamiliar terrain in the middle of the night, especially not with there being no illumination in the area and using headlights would draw the attention of enemy aircraft if they decided to do a flyby. All their snowmobiles were white, the people dressed in light foul weather gear and the supplies in the sleds were covered by white tarp, hopefully masking them among the snow should anyone look down from the sky. It wouldn't do to get caught because of the light of headlights and risk their people's lives while traveling under the guise of darkness when there was a good chance they could find shelter and head out in the morning.

So far they hadn't encountered any enemy aircraft but Teal'c had assured them that a few Jaffa would most likely do a flyby in their death gliders, in particular if they thought natives had escaped the city through holes in their domes. Even though they didn't know the Goa'uld these Jaffa served, Sam took Teal'c at his word as time and again his knowledge of Jaffa and Goa'uld tactics had proven useful regardless of which Goa'uld was in charge; they all seemed to use similar protocols, training and strategy. Since leaving the domed city on their snowmobiles they had encountered at least two areas where there had been an attack from above, but Teal'c had said there was no evidence of the attacks being aimed at their missing people. One was nearly fifty meters from the trail they'd been following and while the other had been nearer it was on fresh snow, with no signs of victims. Still, it was entirely possible there had been other attacks which were now covered by a new layer of snow from the occasional blizzards.

Sam squinted ahead to try and determine whether Teal'c had stopped his snowmobile or if he had simply slowed down. She wanted to check her watch to see how many hours of daylight they had left before she realized that it didn't matter what time her watch said it was considering they were on an alien planet and they had no idea how long the days and nights here actually were; the date from the MALP and information from the locals only applied to the capital city whose dome could use artificial lighting to influence the length of daytime.

Nearing the scout-mobile she realized they had stopped and she informed Reynolds and Bosworth riding behind her via hand signals. She slowed down her own vehicle until she pulled up right next to Daniel, who looked like he was frozen in the passenger seat. Initially, Sam tried to suppress a smile at the sight of him before she recalled that her balaclava, fleece neck warmer and goggles hid her facial expressions from him. He gave a muffled response before he just shrugged and shook his head, as if giving up on communicating with her. She rolled her eyes and got off the snowmobile, grateful for the opportunity to stretch her cold limbs.

"Colonel Carter, I believe we are nearing our friends," Teal'c shouted after walking up to her. He gestured to their right where the trail they'd been following was, except it didn't look like much of a trail anymore. In the beginning there had been clear footprints but the snow was deeper here and she had to swallow down her concern upon imagining the General, Ferretti and SG-9 trudging through the knee-deep snow in nothing more than their regular boots and BDUs. It was a miracle they had come this far at all! "They are weary and would most likely have sought shelter nearby."

She nodded in understanding and turned around to signal the others that they were close. Perhaps it was her imagination but she could have sworn they all sagged a bit in relief and Bosworth even fist-pumped. Sam spared a glance at the sky, estimating that within an hour or two twilight would set in and hopefully there would be at least a handful of hours before dusk turned into night. Looking around her group of people she caught Reynolds' gaze – or at least she thought she did; it was difficult to tell with practically their entire faces covered – and figured he knew what she was thinking of when he pointed at the sky before gesturing at their snowmobiles.

It was time to go.

A few hand signals later and they were all driving in one line with Teal'c taking point and setting the pace. They were going slow but she knew it was necessary because they couldn't afford to speed by in case the General and the others had found a shelter hidden from sight, especially now that it had started snowing again. They had to be around here somewhere considering the distance they'd covered since the dome. If anything, she was surprised they had made it this far, on foot, through the snow without any special gear. If she hadn't thought of the snowmobiles then there was a good chance her team never would have caught up with them. At least, not before nightfall and she wasn't sure if even General O'Neill could survive a night out here in the elements with nothing but the BDUs on his back!

If only that stubborn idiot had taken the packs and an extra team for backup to this damn planet! But no, he was 'The Man' and didn't think it was necessary for him to take such precautions when he was just going through the 'gate to visit a friendly planet, sign a treaty and celebrate some three-day festival! She could still hear him say that he had plenty of off-world experience and that he would be fine if something were to go wrong. He hadn't added that she was concerned over nothing but she'd interpreted the look he sent her as such and had backed off. After all, who was she to contradict the base commander when Colonel Ferretti and Major Conner had backed up his claims of safety among the Voari?

Sam gritted her teeth at the memory but she was too worried about his fate to get angry. Instead, she focused on the landscape around her while keeping at a safe distance from Teal'c's snowmobile. Ahead of her she could see him making a sharp turn between two large rocks, or maybe they were snow-covered mountains – it was difficult to tell – and signaled to Reynolds behind her to warn him. When she got closer to the turn she cast a glance over her shoulder to make sure Reynolds and Mooney were still following and narrowed her eyes in concentration when she had to steer her snowmobile after Teal'c without getting her sled damaged against the rock. There wasn't much space to make the turn and she felt a bit claustrophobic when realizing how high the two rocky walls on either side of her were, but she managed to get through unscathed. Brightman was clutching at Sam's side, though and she figured the Doctor was nervous about it as well.

When they got through the unexpected passageway they entered a clearing of sort and Sam came to a sudden stop. The rock on their right continued and in spite of this clearing being free of the whirling snow she couldn't tell where it ended; it just looked like a continuous wall for as far as she could see. However, that wasn't the shocking part; right there in the clearing were two people wearing some kind of white pelts. One was sitting on the ground and appeared to be cradling their arm while the other stood, looking out into the distance…

By the time she had processed the sight before her the two people had turned into their direction, obviously alarmed by the sound of their snowmobiles, and were leveling weapons at them. Upon closer look they were P90s and while extremely relieved at the realization that they had to be SGC personnel, Sam was also worried about the other four missing people. She couldn't make out any faces nor could she tell from posture alone who the two in front of them were but she felt a sense of dread because she didn't think General O'Neill was among them.

"Stay here," she said to Brightman, squeezing the woman's hand before slipping off the snowmobile with her own P90 at the ready.

Just as she was trying to decide how to introduce themselves without getting shot, Teal'c simply removed his hood, balaclava, neck warmer, and goggles to expose his face. "It is I, Teal'c. Identify yourselves."

The person standing immediately lowered their weapon at the Jaffa's shouting and nudged the shoulder of the one at their feet to indicate they should too. "Teal'c? Oh man, am I glad to see you! It's me, Ferretti!"

"Colonel Ferretti, I am pleased to have located you," Teal'c yelled, making it clear to Sam and the others to whom the muffled reply belonged. "Who is your companion?"

"Doctor Danmark!"

Teal'c nodded and took a quick glance around. "Are you injured?"

"Yes! Doc got injured by a death glider hit a couple of klicks ago," Ferretti shouted, his breathing labored. "I think I twisted my ankle or something just before you arrived."

Sam lowered her weapon and helped Doctor Brightman off the snowmobile, unsurprised by Reynolds and Penhall suddenly appearing at her side. "Let's check them out," she yelled, hoping they'd understand her.

Reynolds immediately signaled his other two men to set up a perimeter just in case they would encounter hostiles and Penhall grabbed Doctor Brightman's pack with medical equipment from the sled. Brightman shook her head, however, and indicated they should leave the pack and instead move them to the sled. Giving Reynolds the go ahead Sam watched him and Brightman walk up to Teal'c and the patients, while she herself and Penhall started removing the tarp from the sled to set it up as a windshield.

"What of O'Neill and the rest of SG-9?"

Ferretti suddenly waved his arms around, clearly agitated or upset. "Jack went into the water!"

Sam's breath hitched and her hands went still at the statement. Whipping her head around she started scanning the surroundings and only then noticed that there was just a few feet of snow behind Ferretti, followed by water surrounded by dark ice. Had the General stepped onto a weak spot in the ice and fallen through? Abandoning her task she dashed over to Ferretti and the edge of the ice, pulling down her neck warmer and rolling up her balaclava as she went. "What?! Why? What happened?"

"I don't know! Jack was checking up on the Doc and suddenly Conner, who was taking point, let out a little yelp and then we heard a loud crack. I think he slipped on the ice and his fall broke it, because all of a sudden he hit the water! We tried to grab him but he just disappeared! Jack didn't even think twice, just told me to keep the Doc safe and handed me his P90 and sidearm before he jumped in after Conner!"

A cold fist closed itself around Sam's heart as she helplessly stared at the dark hole in the ice. There was no sign of either General O'Neill or Major Conner, just the soft sploshing of water. "When?"

Ferretti groaned when Brightman tried to get him to move to the sled. "I don't know… just before you guys got here, Carter! I was still keeping an eye on the hole in the hopes of seeing them resurface when we heard the snowmobiles. Mansfield had already been killed in the city and we lost Grogan in the same attack that wounded Doc Danmark; Jack wasn't about to let anyone else die!"

"Colonel, I'm afraid it's more than just an ankle twist; you might have a fracture," Brightman yelled up from her brief exam of his leg. "I need some help moving him!"

"What do you wish for us to do, Colonel Carter?" Teal'c inquired while SG-3 helped the Doctor to move her patients.

She finally tore her gaze from the hole and started scanning the rest of the ice. Most of it was covered in snow but there were no other visible holes. "I don't know. There seems to be a weak current in the water which means the General and Conner could have been swept away and might be trapped somewhere under the ice, incapable of breaking through it because they're too weak, the ice is too thick or they might have lost consciousness already," she said, gulping. "We have no idea where to start looking."

"We may spread out to clear the snow surrounding the hole to be able to look through the ice in the hopes of locating them."

"Except that would require us to walk onto the ice and put us at risk of falling through ourselves, Teal'c."

He raised his eyebrow before glancing at the hole again. "I am willing to take that risk."

Sam grabbed his arm to stop him, just in case he would take action right away. "No, you can't. I can't allow you to risk your life, especially since you can't even swim!"

"She's right," Reynolds said as he came up to them. "General O'Neill wouldn't want any of us to risk our lives for him and Conner under these circumstances."

"And you don't have your symbiote to protect you anymore either," she added when Teal'c opened his mouth to protest. Glancing over her shoulder she realized Ferretti was still behind them while Brightman was at the sled with Doctor Danmark, so Sam turned to Reynolds. "How bad is it?"

"Lou's ankle is broken and he might have a spiral fracture in his tibia. The Doc's shoulder is severely burned from a near-hit by the wing cannon of a death glider and Brightman said it needs treatment right away before Danmark's wound gets infected or the woman passes out from dehydration and pain," he replied.

She winced at the descriptions and was once again amazed these people had come so far with such little protection. "Okay, we need to clear this area by going back the way we came. We've already crossed who knows how many miles of ice today but this is the first weak spot we've encountered, so it stands to reason that there are more in this area," Sam explained, as she lowered herself to her haunches to get a better look at the ice. "I think there might be condensation forming over the hole," she mused aloud.

"What does that mean?"

She ignored Reynolds' question and tilted her face upwards to sniff the air but with the icy wind blowing in the other direction it was of no use. "Teal'c, can you smell sulfur?"

"Faintly," the Jaffa said after a moment. "I also see the condensation, Colonel Carter."

Realizing what this meant, she clasped a hand over her cold face and tried not to panic. "That indicates there's a hot spring in the lake bed."

"This helps us… how?" Reynolds asked, sounding confused.

"It means that there's most likely an upwelling current from the hot spring into the water, which basically rots the ice or doesn't allow it to form where it rises," Sam explained.

Teal'c nodded in understanding, a grave expression on his face. "How large is the compromised area of ice?"

"I don't know! There's no way of telling," she said, throwing up her hands in exasperation as she got up. A pensive silence fell over the group and suddenly she had a new idea after casting another look at the two injured people behind them. "Do either of them need the backboards we packed?"

Reynolds shrugged and followed her line of sight. "Lou maybe, if Brightman thinks it's necessary to strap him down for transport. Why?"

"We can use them to move over the ice, spread our weight around," she added upon Teal'c's visible confusion. "Then, even if we break through the ice at least we have a life preserver and can hopefully be pulled out easily by someone else."

In unspoken agreement the three of them all moved back to where Doctor Brightman was now examining Colonel Ferretti, upon which Sam briefly explained the situation, their planned course of action and requested the Doctor's permission for use of the backboards.

"Of course," Brightman replied, nodding her head. "You will need to hurry, though; the longer they're in there the more likely they'll die."

Teal'c raised a skeptical brow at her. "We arrived here several minutes ago and by then they were already in the water, yet you believe they are still alive?"

The short Doctor got up and instructed Penhall and Mooney to carry Ferretti back to the sleds before turning back to them. "The human body is quite amazing, Mister Teal'c. When submerged in cold water the body will respond to preserve heat in the core, thereby protecting the vital organs, within the first five to fifteen minutes. However, as a result the extremities won't receive enough blood flow for the muscle and nerve fibers to work properly which means you will lose all meaningful movement in your hands and feet, followed by your arms and legs and without a floatation device you will drown. In total it takes thirty minutes or more for mild hypothermia to set in, which further protects the vital organs."

"But won't O'Neill and Major Conner have already drowned by this time since they are deprived of oxygen?"

"The gasp reflex as well as hyperventilation will occur within the first five minutes of submersion into cold water," Doctor Brightman admitted, "and continued panic might cause prolonged hyperventilation, both of which will result in water in the lungs. However they are both special ops trained, therefore they can deal with such circumstances and if Colonel Carter is correct about the hot spring they'll be even better off, considering the water surrounding the hole will be warmer than the rest of the lake, making their cold shock response less severe.

"Eventually, cardiac arrest will occur but we medical doctors always say 'they're not dead until they're warm and dead', because the Q10rule states that the rate of biochemical reactions decreases by a factor of two for every ten degrees Celsius reduction in temperature. That means a reduced body temperature or hypothermia extends the time period during which clinical death can be survived. As a result, humans can be resuscitated for more than an hour after clinical death at temperatures below minus twenty degrees Celsius."

During Doctor Brightman's explanation Sam had sent Reynolds over to Daniel, who was keeping an eye on the injured Doctor Danmark, to explain everything to him while she herself collected three of the six backboards they'd brought along and tied ropes from their packs to each. At the time of packing they thought they were looking for six people and had taken one board for each, even if they wouldn't be able to transport six strapped-down people at once with just two sleds. But the Doctor had figured they could at least stabilize everyone and then return them to the SGC two at the time. Since no one knew how far the General, Ferretti and SG-9 were from the city they thought several trips back and forth was doable – Sam certainly hadn't expected them to be this far out!

Ferretti might need to be strapped down depending on how bad his fractures were and General O'Neill and Major Conner would definitely need a backboard if they had to be revived! Besides, Sam didn't think it was a good idea for more than three people to search the ice because Brightman needed to keep an eye on her patients, at least one or two people would have to be in charge of the ropes connected to the life preserves and the rest would need to keep an eye on their surroundings for hostiles.

"Okay," Sam yelled, beckoning everyone over to the sleds, "I have three backboards to use on the ice and I need volunteers to look for General O'Neill and Major Conner. Teal'c," she said when everyone except Brightman and her two patients raised their hands, "you're too heavy and your strength would probably be better served by retrieving the backboards via the ropes I attached to them."

He inclined his head in reluctant agreement. "As you wish, Colonel Carter."

"Sam, you're probably the lightest of us," Daniel said.

"I agree, but I'll need two others. Colonel, it wouldn't be wise for both of us to risk our necks; if something happens to me you'll need to take over command of the mission."

Reynolds grimaced but relented, clearly understanding the necessity. "Penhall and Bosworth are skinny but strong and they've both had training to deal with such situations in case anything goes wrong."

"I'm a really good swimmer too, Ma'am," Bosworth piped up.

Sam touched Daniel's arm and sent him an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Daniel. But you don't have any training nor their experience."

He squeezed her hand and stepped back. "It's okay," he said, his voice muffled through his balaclava, "I'll give Teal'c a hand with the ropes and keep an eye out for danger."

"We'll keep an eye on the perimeter as well as the Doc and her patients," Colonel Reynolds said, waving between himself and Lieutenant Mooney.

Chapter Text

Voarios
Milky Way Galaxy

Once all the tasks were divided everyone took up their positions and Daniel rode his and Teal'c's snowmobile closer to attach the ropes to it, since there was a lack of objects, trees or rock formations for them to tie them to and even Teal'c couldn't be expected to pull in three ropes simultaneously – especially not if those on the backboards were wet or dragging along an unconscious body. Using the snowmobile seemed to make sense; at least that way the ropes were secure and could be pulled in manually or by using the vehicle if more force was needed.

Sam had pulled down her balaclava and righted her neck warmer and goggles and told the others to do the same. The biting cold had already made her lose sensation in her face and with the wind picking up again it could only get worse, in particular if it started snowing again as well or someone fell into the water. She, Penhall and Bosworth had also dumped their radios and weapons in one of the sleds, just in case.

Just as everything was set and the three of them readied their boards on the ice a loud crack was heard and the ice underneath Daniel's snowmobile broke! It was only thanks to Teal'c's swift actions that the vehicle merely tipped backwards into the water and since no one had a hold on their makeshift life preservers they were simply pulled towards the water without any victims getting caught up in it. Together with Daniel the Jaffa pulled the snowmobile back onto the ice and they moved it farther back to where the others were waiting – but at a distance to prevent too much weight in one place – and the ice seemed thicker and more stable.

Even though Doctor Brightman informed her that it had been almost ten minutes since they located Ferretti and Doctor Danmark and therefore even longer since the General and Conner were submerged, Sam still took the time to test the strength of the ice near the two holes and Reynolds did the same over at the other snowmobiles and sleds. A minute or so later they were all satisfied and put away their tools to start the search.

Bosworth and Penhall used their boards to scoot over the ice near the original hole while Sam ended up heading towards the second hole, clearing away snow as she moved cautiously over the ice. Her heart was hammering in her throat and her hands were cramping from all the riding and the cold temperatures but she stubbornly kept going, even when her arms were starting to feel heavy from repeatedly pulling herself over the ice and shoving snow out of the way to allow her to look through the ice. The water underneath was dark and with the sun settling lower in the sky it was becoming more difficult to see anything at all. Every now and then she would look over her shoulder at her companions but neither had found anything and Daniel just kept signaling her to keep going.

It felt like she had been at it for twenty minutes when she finally thought she saw something. Squinting, she tried to get a better look and rubbed over the ice again in the hopes of clearing it up, but it was of no use. Using her gloved hand to wipe at her goggles only made her vision worse so she brushed them clean against her shoulder and took another look. It wasn't much better since her parka was covered in snow as well but it had to do since there were no other options. Biting her lip in concentration she reached back and unhooked the flashlight she'd attached to her belt and turned it on, casting its light over the ice.

There!

Her eyes hadn't been deceiving her! There, right underneath her was something that reflected off the beam of her flashlight. She rubbed furiously over the ice, removing every trace of snow and expanded her search area. Aside from the light-colored – gray, maybe silver – thing that caught her eye everything appeared just as dark as before. Using her free hand she guided her board more to the right, all the while making a mental note of the exact location of the item she'd seen. She continued shining her flashlight over the ice she uncovered but when nothing turned up she moved back to the original spot and decided to remove the goggles in spite of the harsh temperatures.

A patch!

It was an Earth patch from someone's – either the General or Conner – left shoulder! She tried to picture the sleeve and moved her light over to the left where she imagined the arm went to and Sam gasped audibly when she saw something white… a hand! Oh god, it was a hand! The thought of someone being trapped underneath her nearly made her panic until she reminded herself that she was lying on presumably thin or possibly rotting ice! Another onceover with her flashlight made her realize that the person was upside down for her viewpoint, which meant that his head had to be under her board. Quickly yet cautiously she pushed herself back with both hands, holding the flashlight between her teeth but she was unprepared for actually seeing a face pressed up against the ice. A very familiar face… the flashlight dropped onto the ice when her jaw went slack upon recognition.

"Guys!" She shouted, attempting to look at them over her shoulder from her position flat on the ice. "I found the General! I need some help over here!"

Apparently her raised voice was enough to overcome the muffled effects from her balaclava and neck warmer because the guys immediately scrambled over to her, no hand signals needed. Fortunately, they all seemed to be aware of the fragile state of the ice she was currently lying on, considering she was located between the two holes, and Daniel and Teal'c kept back and made sure to keep a hold on the ropes, while Bosworth and Penhall scooted over to her on their own boards.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at his familiar face, relaxed in oblivion. Sam could only hope he really was just unconscious and not dead, in spite of what Doctor Brightman had said earlier. Of course, cold temperatures tended to preserve a body but only up until a certain point and they had no idea how cold the water was or how long exactly he'd been in it! By the time the two members of SG-3 had joined her she had finally managed to tear her gaze away from the General's face and was racking her brain for a rescue plan.

"Oh god," Bosworth muttered, his gaze locked on the man trapped beneath the ice.

Penhall visibly swallowed a response and instead looked around. "Any sign of Conner, Ma'am?"

She shook her head and moved the beam of her flashlight back to the Earth patch on General O'Neill's sleeve. "No, I would have even overlooked the General if his patch hadn't caught the light. The water is almost ink black and his BDUs are soaked, making it difficult to distinguish between them."

"Conner could be face-down," Bosworth muttered. "Ma'am?"

Sam started issuing instructions for them to search for Conner while she moved closer to the second hole's edge to see if there was any way they could get the General – and possibly Conner – out of it without endangering their own lives. However, once she had gotten as close to the edge as she was comfortable with she heard the creaking of the ice and moved back. By her estimation it was at least ten feet to where the General was floating, so she returned to him and unhooked a titanium ice pick from her belt, stabbing at the ice as she went. To her surprise, the ice was pretty thick when she got closer to the General and after checking in with Bosworth and Penhall the three of them started stabbing the ice.

It only took a few minutes tops but by the time Sam's gloved hand splashed into actual water her arm felt like it was made of lead and it was an effort to pull her hand back. Sergeant Bosworth helped her to widen the hole and before she could stop herself, she had – perhaps foolishly – reached under the ice to reach for General O'Neill. Somehow, she managed to get a hold of his shoulder and although her fingers were numbing at the cold temperature, she slipped them under his vest and started pulling. At the same time, Penhall started yanking at her feet to help her away from the man-made hole.

Eventually, Sam used her other hand to get more purchase on the general and she felt a surge of adrenaline, anger and concern go through her body when that hand brushed his lifeless cheek. She couldn't feel much of anything because of her gloves but considering how cold the water was even through her protective clothing, she couldn't imagine how cold his skin – his entire body – had to be! Using both hands she pulled him closer to the hole, her own face nearly hitting the water and if it hadn't been for Penhall, she was pretty sure she would have fallen in headfirst. However, both members of SG-3 helped her and by some miracle they got the General's torso out of the water! Suddenly Bosworth was handing her an extra board that someone must have passed on to him and together they tried to pull the base commander's heavy body onto it.

"Wait!" Bosworth gasped, clearly exhausted. "I think something is pulling him down!"

Sam immediately tightened her grip on the General, tempted to wrap her arms around him and never let go again but she knew the vest gave her frozen hands better purchase. "What?"

With a grunt the Sergeant reached his hands into the water for the first time, his face contorting in what she assumed was shock or pain at the cold, icy water penetrating his gloves and sleeves. Still, he soldiered on and started patting down General O'Neill's torso until he found something. Bosworth uttered something incomprehensible and reached down further, nearly toppling into the water. "Oh my god! I think he hooked himself to Conner!"

Unable to check for herself without releasing the General she steadied herself before beckoning Penhall over to the hole with a jerk of her head. "Bosworth thinks Conner is attached to the General's belt, that's why we can't pull him out."

Penhall didn't need to know more and quickly signaled Reynolds before he too submerged his arms up to his elbows into the water to investigate. "There's definitely something, Ma'am."

"Try to get him up without unhooking them," she ordered, her breathing labored from all the exertion of keeping General O'Neill's torso out of the water.

The two men continued searching blindly, muttering about something every few seconds until they were convinced that it was indeed Major Conner their hands were touching. Then, all of a sudden, Teal'c and Reynolds appeared behind them. She had no idea where they had come from so quickly and for a moment she worried that their extra weight would prove too much for the ice considering they had already weakened it by digging a hole into it, but both men were flat on their stomachs with their limbs spread and there was no audible protest from the ice at their presence.

Sam, on the other hand, couldn't suppress a sigh of relief when Teal'c came up next to her, taking a chance by sitting on his knees and wrapping his arms around the General's waist, thereby relieving her of some of the dead weight. "Thanks," she murmured, suddenly feeling exhaustion setting in.

"It is my pleasure, Colonel Carter," the Jaffa replied with an uncharacteristic grin. "Colonel Reynolds and I presumed the three of you would be unable to lever both O'Neill and Major Conner from the water after all your previous exertion and their unconscious bodies."

"Don't forget the water," Penhall complained, "all those wet clothes are adding quite a bit of weight."

Reynolds joined him and tried to get a grip on Conner's body as well. "Oh, stop your whining and man up, Marine! On three we'll pull Conner up and Carter and Teal'c will get O'Neill out of the water as well. One, two… three!"

---

Jack slowly became aware of muffled voices around him and an ache throughout his entire body. He tried to recall what had happened but his brain was sluggish and god, but he was cold! There was something on his face and he felt like he couldn't move. Panic started to set in and he trashed about only to be pushed back down, gently but firmly. Opening his mouth to speak he was frustrated when no sound came out and discovered that his throat was incredibly sore. What had happened?

When he finally managed to open his eyes his vision was blurry, but after blinking a few times it cleared and he found himself staring up at… something white. A tent, maybe? It couldn't be snow unless they were in an igloo or something. For some reason that idea seemed very funny and he started to chuckle, only for it to die on his lips as a sharp pain in his chest flared up.

More voices were heard but Jack couldn't pinpoint the direction of the sounds nor could he turn his head to take a look. Was he immobilized? Why? Whose hands were on him and why didn't anyone talk to him? His mind was racing and suddenly he recalled seeing Conner fall through the ice and, simply reacting on instinct, had gone in after him. Cold water, numbness and struggling to move his arms and legs were the last things he remembered. Had someone saved him?

"Sir!" It was a woman's voice, vaguely familiar and rather insistent. Someone, presumably the same woman, shook him gently by the shoulder and then he felt a cold hand against his cheek after whatever had been covering his face was removed. "General O'Neill?"

Blinking, Jack tried to find whoever was talking to him. "Yeah?"

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Sir."

From the corner of his eye he saw her move and for a moment he was stunned by the hairy appearance until he realized she was wearing a hood. "Thanks," he muttered.

She removed the dark fabrics covering most of her face without taking off her hood and leaned over him. "It's Doctor Brightman, Sir. How are you feeling?"

"Cold," Jack said, unable to keep a whine from his voice. He could hear people approaching and hated that he couldn't see anything beyond the ceiling of wherever he was. "Where am I?"

"We're still on Voarios, Sir," she replied as she fussed over him. "We retrieved you from under the ice a little while ago and moved you here. We're only a few meters from the lake but used some plastic tarps to create a shelter for me to treat my patients."

"Conner?"

She smiled gently and briefly looked away to something beyond his field of vision. "We got him out too but he hasn't regained consciousness yet. It's difficult to examine the extent of his injuries without exposing him to too much cold but I fear his condition is worse than yours. Colonel Ferretti told us Conner slipped, hit the ice and fell through after which you dove in after him?"

Jack nodded weakly in agreement, trying to recall the exact chain of events. "Yeah, saw him go down and th-," he coughed violently, his ribs aching as he did so. Clearing his throat, he tried again. "Went after him. Told Ferretti to watch the Doc."

"Colonel Ferretti and Doctor Danmark are fine, considering," Brightman said. "Your ribs are bruised, though. Possibly cracked."

He had already deduced as much and tried to breathe through the pain as best he could. "Conner maybe hit head on ice."

The Doctor frowned for a moment, as if trying to decipher his message and then she nodded. "I was afraid that he might have a concussion. Was he conscious at all when you grabbed him in the water?"

"Don't remember."

"Do you remember anything at all from when you dove into the water?"

Now it was Jack's turn to frown. "Cold."

She nodded in understanding and moved her hands to his head, doing something he couldn't see but made him feel infinitely warmer. "All right, Sir. You've probably already guessed but you're severely hypothermic from your little swim so we've strapped you to a backboard to keep you from moving too much and inserted an IV with warmed saline to combat your immersion diuresis. We also had to remove your wet clothes and replaced them with warmer, dry ones, added some heat packs and covered you with lots of blankets to warm you up. I know you're not the easiest of patients, General, but I need you to rest in order for your body's temperature to get back to normal levels. If you were to get up now you could kill yourself because a sudden change in blood pressure to your vital organs could trigger another cardiac arrest."

"Okay." When the Doc looked at him in surprise he tried to grin. "Tired."

"That's understandable, Sir. I will let you get some rest while I check on my other patients. Colonel Carter is checking one of the snowmobiles that hit the water and if everything works fine, we should be able to leave soon and get you back to the infirmary at the SGC."

Despite the infirmary not being one of his favorite places he was almost looking forward to getting there, simply because it meant they would make him warm and give him the good stuff to forget about the pain. He was just about to close his eyes when his sluggish brain caught up with the rest the Doctor had told him. "Carter?" Even to his own ears his voice sounded hopeful but he hadn't dared hope she would come for him after he'd brushed off her arguments for a backup team for this mission. As a matter of fact, he'd been pretty rude to her if he recalled correctly. Not that she would have told him to his face but the look in her eyes and the stubborn set of her jaw spoke volumes. But he had ignored them, told her he'd be fine and even used Ferretti and Conner to back him up and had left her in charge of the base while he took SG-9 and Ferretti with him to this damn planet. She, of course, had taken it like a good little soldier and kept the base running smoothly while he was partying off-world with Ferretti and the team, but he was still surprised she had apparently come to his rescue instead of sending another team.

"Yes Sir," Doctor Brightman replied, "she led SG-1 and SG-3 on the search and rescue mission for you, Colonel Ferretti and SG-9. She was the one who found you under the ice."

Gulping, he tried to imagine what that must have been like for Carter. Jack was smart enough to know why his ribs were hurt and that he hadn't merely lost consciousness in the cold water, which made him wonder what had gone through Carter's head when she finally found him. He must have looked deadly pale and, well, dead when she laid eyes on him. Had she hauled him out of the water too by risking her own life on the thin ice? And what about the rest of the team? "Daniel and Teal'c?"

"I'll see if I can get your team for you."

He didn't bother to correct her, feeling too tired to explain that SG-1 wasn't really his team anymore since his promotion to brigadier general and getting command of the entire base. Instead, he allowed himself a small smile at the prospect of seeing his former teammates again and knowing they were all safe, in spite of his reckless behavior. "'kay," he murmured, even though Brightman was already gone.

"Hey Jack," Daniel said.

"How are you feeling, O'Neill?"

Jack startled awake, only now realizing he'd dozed off after the Doctor had left. He blinked a few times until he saw his friends standing at his left side. "Like Jabba the Hutt sat on my chest, T."

"Gee, thanks, Sir," Carter said, her voice floating towards him even though he couldn't see her.

"I guess him joking is a good sign," Daniel told Teal'c in a low tone.

Jack frowned, ignoring the archeologist, and tried to look around for the third member of SG-1 but he was still strapped to the stretcher and a blanket or something was folded around his head to keep him warm – and immobilized. "Carter?"

Daniel reached out and patted his shoulder, smiling. "Sam has just entered the, uh, tent and is coming over now. She was the one who performed CPR on you after she, Teal'c and SG-3 got you and Major Conner out of the water – she saved your life, Jack!"

"Using any excuse to plant one on me, eh Carter?" He joked when he finally caught sight of her, looking concerned and even a bit anxious, and knew his approach worked when she smiled in response. "If it's not alien influence it's a near-death!"

"You were, in fact, dead, O'Neill. Colonel Carter revived you after we had retrieved you from the frozen lake and strapped you to a backboard, while Doctor Brightman did the same for Major Conner."

Carter came to stand to Jack's right and stretched out a gloved hand as if she wanted to touch him before she let it drop back to her side and smiled. "Just doing my job, Sir. Conner seemed worse off and I do have medical field training, after all."

He smirked at her, unable to keep his gaze off her shining blue eyes. It was ridiculous that one smile from her warmed him again and made him forget about the pain in his chest, but it was true. The fact that she was engaged to another man didn't seem to make a difference to his lovesick brain, at least not when it came to one of those luminous smiles of hers. It was only when someone – presumably Daniel – cleared his throat that Jack realized he'd been staring at Carter. He racked his brain to come up with something to say but he was still suffering from hypothermia and just felt so relieved to see her that nothing really came to mind. "You took advantage of me," he muttered, narrowing his eyes at her. "Brightman told me. If you wanted to get me naked all you had to do was ask, Carter."

"Oooookay," Daniel said loudly in the stunned silence, "Jack is clearly still recovering from his ordeal and we should probably let him rest, guys. I'm just gonna check in with Colonel Reynolds and Doctor Brightman…"

"Perhaps the lack of oxygen during his time in the water has affected O'Neill's brain," Teal'c said with a raised brow as he and Daniel walked away.

Carter was still standing there, blushing furiously when the guys left. "Uh, I didn't… I mean, it wasn't just me, Sir."

Jack raised his eyebrows in surprise and even managed a crooked grin. "A group effort? Why, Carter, I had no idea-"

"Sir!" She scrubbed a hand over her face and sighed. "Maybe Daniel and Teal'c are right. Perhaps I should ask Doctor Brightman if she didn't remove your oxygen mask too soon."

"Funny, Carter," he said. Recognizing the need for a change of subject, he yawned briefly and asked her to give him a sit rep. Once she had finished telling him about the injuries of Conner, Ferretti and Danmark, and how she had been unable to fix the damaged snowmobile he interrupted her. "Okay, so we've only got three snowmobiles and two sleds?"

Carter nodded and sat down next to him on the floor, which gave him an even better opportunity to look at her face rather than just stare at her boots or those long legs. "Yes, the SGC only had four vehicles ready for use and Siler said each sled could probably fit three people. There's twelve of us now but Doctor Brightman already said that Conner has to remain strapped to his backboard for transport, which means he'll take up one sled on his own. We might be able to throw a pack in with him but that's it. With Ferretti's broken leg and ankle he'll need to have at least said leg stretched, which might leave room for one other person in the second sled. But you would probably need to be transported horizontally and covered by blankets and such too, Sir. It would be too risky to transport you on the back of a snowmobile or even sitting in a sled until your body temperature is back to normal and your other vitals are in order."

"Yeah, the Doc already warned me about getting up," Jack murmured, fighting sleep. "Put Danmark with Ferretti in sled."

"That means we use the sleds for three patients and have six seats on the snowmobiles left," she said.

He shrugged, or at least attempted to, and looked around as best he could. "You got this tent up. Assume you've got supplies?"

Carter frowned and briefly looked away before catching his gaze again. "Yeah, we brought plenty of supplies in case we couldn't make it back before nightfall. The Jaffa were still on the planet when we arrived so there's a good chance they'll be flying from one domed city to another when they regroup tonight and may even set up flybys, depending on what their purpose here is… anyway, they could easily spot us from the sky if we're driving around with headlights on, so we were hoping to leave before it's dark."

"And?"

"There may be only a few hours of twilight left and since you guys managed to walk quite a distance from the city, we don't know if one group can even get back to the capital in time, let alone go back and forth to pick up the rest who had to stay here."

"I'll stay," Jack said, blinking heavily. "Others more serious."

Her hand landed on his shoulder and he could its warmth penetrating his cold skin even through all the blankets atop of him. She smiled when he opened his eyes again. "We figured you'd say that so the guys and I will stay with you, Sir. SG-1, I mean. Colonel Reynolds and his team can take the others back." Her fingers twitched on his shoulders when he tried to protest. "Doctor Brightman needs to be able to keep an eye on Conner considering his condition and my medical field training makes me the next best thing to keep an eye on you throughout the night."

"Bu-"

"Daniel and Teal'c both agreed that it would be best if all three of us stay with you just in case of attack, Sir. Besides, neither of them want to go back to the SGC if it means the rest of us stay behind for the night."

Jack knew when he was beat and it wasn't as if he really had a say in this, anyway; he was injured and Carter was in charge of the search and rescue mission, which meant he could protest all he wanted but it would have no effect. His brain was still sluggish and he was so tired that it was probably best that no one relied on him to make any calls, he thought. She had gotten him this far and he knew she would take him back home, or die trying. He really hoped it wouldn't be the latter, though. His eyes slipped close again and he could have sworn Carter caressed him before she got up, but he was too tired to check and didn't want reality to burst his happy little bubble anyway.

Before he fell asleep again he could hear Carter talking to the Doctor, saying something about him and how she'd let him rest because he'd started slurring his words again and zoning out…

Chapter Text

Voarios
Milky Way Galaxy

A new blizzard had started again shortly after everyone got their things together and took off. SG-3 had taken the snowmobiles and remaining members of SG-9, Doctor Brightman and Colonel Ferretti with them to the domed city and hopefully back to the SGC before nightfall. With their radios still not working properly, Sam could only hope they would arrive safely without running into any Jaffa. It wouldn't be until tomorrow when a team would come back to the planet to fetch SG-1 and General O'Neill that she would know Reynolds had gotten their people home safely. She wasn't really worried about the safety of her team or the General since SG-3 had found them a cave to spend the night in and according to their instructions, they ought to arrive there within a few minutes.

Squinting ahead she could see Teal'c's bulk move in long strides through the snow, using his staff weapon for support when necessary. He was only a few feet from Daniel who was carrying the foot end of the stretcher on which the General was lying while Sam herself was holding the other end, so that she could check her CO's vital relatively easy if need be. So far, the General appeared to be asleep or perhaps even unconscious as he hadn't stirred since Doctor Brightman had last looked him over before they parted ways. Sam hoped he was merely sleeping and not getting worse now that they had left the improvised tent which had shielded him from the cold wind. Together with the Doctor she had wrapped him up in as many blankets as possible, and added a balaclava, neck warmer, beanie, parka and goggles and gloves to the dry clothes the two of them had put him in earlier, so she was reluctant to stop, take off her gloves and worm her hand into the protective layers of cloth to search for his pulse when they were close to the cave where they could make camp.

Every now and then she would feel Daniel's eyes on her and when looking up he'd glance from her to the General and back, as if asking if everything was okay. With so many things protecting their faces from the cold it was difficult to communicate but she would usually settle for a quick nod, hoping to reassure him even if she wasn't entirely sure about the man's condition herself. All she knew was that right now her team had to keep going and if Daniel suspected something was wrong he would want to stop – if he didn't stumble over his own two feet and took her and the General with him – to check and that could complicate her CO's condition further under these harsh conditions. They needed shelter and fast, because even she was starting to get cold now.

Sam grimaced, briefly glancing down at her arms as she continued to trod through the snow in pace with Daniel. When she had found the General under the ice she and the guys from SG-9 had been forced to submerge their hands in the icy cold water to retrieve him and Conner, and that in turn had soaked their protective clothing. Afterwards, her gloves had been discarded near the fire and replaced with the dry ones they'd taken with them for Grogan or Mansfield, but her parka's sleeves hadn't dried completely and considering the state of Bosworth and Penhall's parkas she'd told them to take the two spares. After all, they had to go all those klicks back to the city and she would soon be in a cave… She just hadn't expected the snow and cold winds to affect her so soon.

Imagining being back home and drawing a nice warm bath was enough to keep the cold at bay for a while and she continued following her teammates with the occasional glance down at the General. Due to the weather they were wearing their foul weather gear and Sam had to admit she really hated the bulky stuff. Not only did they make moving harder but the hood and goggles were limiting her field of vision which was already obscured by the harsh snow, and aside from the howling winds she could hardly hear anything with all the fabric covering her ears. Once again they had to rely on hand signals… well, Teal'c's hand signals, because Sam and Daniel both had their hands full. Fortunately, there hadn't been much need for signaling except for a few times where they had to wait for Teal'c to check the ground or ice and when he had to caution them for slippery rocks as soon as they started going up the rocky wall surrounding their previous 'camp'.

Even though they had left the treacherous ice with its apparent underground hot springs behind them, there was still a steep incline on a snow-covered path to be treaded. Small patches of ice were becoming more frequent the farther they walked but Teal'c seemed to have a knack for spotting them in spite of the darkening sky. The only ones that were problematic were those covered by snow but so far they'd only slipped a few times and never enough to lose their balance or, in Sam and Daniel's case, their hold on the stretcher.

She sighed and brushed her face against her shoulder, trying to get rid of the snow obscuring her goggles before it would cause her to misstep. The General still appeared to be asleep and she hoped he would remain like this at least until they got to the cave because she was suddenly worried he might trash about if he woke up now and that might make it difficult to keep a hold on the backboard they were carrying. For her it might be easier since she was facing forward and would probably be able to tell he was awake with a glance, while Daniel was pretty much holding the stretcher behind him as he too faced forward and any unexpected movements… well, it didn't bear thinking about, really.

In a way it was strange that snow and ice were the foremost on her mind considering she was on a planet that was invaded by Jaffa and had to care for her hypothermic base commander, but she wasn't really worried about a Jaffa attack at the moment. At least, not one from the ground; during their drive here they hadn't encountered any Jaffa past the city walls and Teal'c hadn't noticed any tracks either. An aerial attack was far more likely in a climate like this and although it snowed heavily, Sam did have a pretty good view of the sky from up here on the mountain. There wasn't any air traffic for miles but she was well aware of the speed of a death glider or alkesh and knew they could be here within seconds – if they were looking.

With her mind preoccupied and her eyes on Teal'c and Daniel, she totally missed the increased snow dropping down behind her, the whumpfing and cracking… until suddenly a huge load of snow came down from the mountain! All she heard was a loud warning shout from Teal'c as the Jaffa jumped out of the way but before Sam could do anything at all, she saw Daniel slip and go down! Instinctively, she simultaneously yanked on the backboard and jumped aside, after which she covered the General's body with her own as best she could…

---

When Jack awoke he was disorientated for a moment, unable to place where he was. It was darker than the last time he'd been awake and the ceiling didn't seem so white anymore. Had night fallen and were they still in the makeshift tent? He thought Reynolds was gonna take everyone home except for him and SG-1, who would stay on the planet… but Carter was supposed to find a good shelter for them to spend the night.

Oh.

He felt like slapping himself on the forehead when he realized the reason his surroundings appeared different had to be because Carter had found them a new shelter. Hadn't the Doc mentioned something about a cave before she left? From what he could see of the dark ceiling and walls it certainly looked like a cave, but it wasn't as cold as he had expected. He could feel warmth coming from his right, yet he was still cold. Perhaps even colder than before. Well, he supposed that was to be expected if his old team had already moved him to their new shelter and he'd weathered the, uh, weather outside, between the tent and this cave.

His head was still immobilized by blankets or something and while they were warm, it also annoyed him that he couldn't look around. Surely the guys wouldn't mind removing them now that the Doc wasn't around keeping an eye on him? Hopefully he could also talk them into unstrapping him from this goddamn stretcher because he was getting really tired about being tied down. Jack attempted to struggle against his restraints but it was of no use and he quickly gave up, already feeling exhaustion creeping in again. He tried taking a deep breath but his ribs were killing him, so instead he just stayed quiet and tried to discern something from his surroundings. There was a distinct sound of someone rummaging about coming from the same direction as the warmth and he figured he might as well let them know he was awake. "Guys?" His voice was weak, so he cleared his throat and tried again. "Um, guys? Carter?"

"Sir! You're awake!"

A sense of relief flooded Jack's systems as he realized Carter was with him and up until hearing her voice he hadn't realized how concerned he was that something may have happened to prevent her, or the guys, from sitting at his 'bedside', like he was used to when he was injured in the field. "Carter?"

"I'm coming," she replied, a bit breathless. There were some more sounds before he heard her footsteps coming his way. "How are you feeling, Sir?"

He bit back a "fine" and sighed, wincing as his ribs protested. "Achy, tired, cold… my ribs hurt like hell. Not that I'm not grateful for you saving my life or anything," he hastened to add.

A beaming Carter smile was his reward when she appeared at his side. "Your slurring has definitely lessened," she mused aloud.

Jack peered up at her while she removed some of his covers to get to his neck. "Yikes, you have cold hands!" He grinned when she simply rolled her eyes at his little joke but grew serious when he took a closer look at her appearance. "Carter, don't take this the wrong way, but you don't look too good… is everything okay?"

Her mouth opened but quickly snapped shut again and she got a concerned look on her face. "The guys and I got caught in what appeared to be a mini avalanche when we came up here," she explained, sounding tired. "I managed to yank you out of the way for the most part and covered your body with my own after Teal'c's warning but Daniel went down. I don't know what happened exactly but by the time I dug us out Daniel and Teal'c were standing on the other side of the trail… with the part in between being mostly gone. There was no way I could make it over in my condition and certainly not with you as well, and while Teal'c had managed to get Daniel to safety by using his staff weapon to pull him up they weren't up to the task either."

"Are they okay?" He asked, his heart in his throat at her words, all the while reminding himself that if anything happened to them it was all his fault. He should have taken better precautions for this mission and then he got hammered after partying too long with Lou and SG-9, which resulted in a hangover bad enough for him to miss the signs of a Goa'uld invasion!

"Daniel's leg hurt but they assured me it wasn't anything life threatening. However, without a way to cross you and I were stuck on this side, while they were on the other. On our way up we'd seen a few small caves but nothing suitable for all of us, unlike the cave Reynolds and his guys found farther ahead but considering the circumstances going back to one of those caves seemed like the best solution. Teal'c and Daniel would go ahead to the other one so we'll know where they are when the rescue team comes tomorrow, and I told them where we were going."

After taking a moment to process everything she had just said, he understood why she didn't look her best. "You dragged me all the way to this cave on your own?"

Carter smirked, a small sparkle reappearing in her eyes. "Actually, it wasn't that hard; your backboard makes for an excellent sled."

"Well, I guess I should be grateful you didn't use me as your means of transportation," he said, with a gentle smile.

"Maybe I would have if your ribs weren't injured, Sir. Didn't want to make things worse."

He rolled his eyes at her teasing, pleased to see her brighten up a bit. "Worse for you or for me?"

"Both, I guess. I mean, you were already complaining about your ribs to Teal'c and I know how persistent and whiny you can be when you're trapped in the infirmary," she replied, adding a belated "Sir".

He harrumphed mockingly, ignoring his protesting ribs. "Generals don't whine, Carter."

"Of course not, Sir."

After a while he realized he was staring at her again and broke the eye contact, his gaze landing on her shoulders instead. Frowning, he gave her a quick onceover where she was kneeling at his side and came to the conclusion that she'd removed her parka. "Why did you take your anorak off?"

Carter moved her hand over her hair, smoothing it down almost self-consciously. "Oh, it got wet from all the snow."

"You mean we were actually buried by that avalanche?"

"Not completely," she was quick to say, "otherwise I probably wouldn't have been able to get us out and we would have suffocated instead. No, it barely covered my back, probably thanks to my pack."

He tried to follow her gaze when she looked away and gestured to somewhere behind her but he couldn't see a damn thing. Not that he was really complaining about not being able to see anything other than Carter but even he, in his current condition, realized that the staring might make her uncomfortable. "Still intact?"

She shrugged and started rearranging his blankets to cover him up again. "I don't think anything is broken but the pack got soaked. It may say it's waterproof but I pretty much turned it upside down right after securing you here, to prevent anything inside getting wet."

"Good thinking, Colonel." He paused for a moment, thinking of Daniel and Teal'c. "Did the guys have a pack?"

"Um, yes, both of them," she said. "Daniel may have lost his in the avalanche because I didn't see it on him when we were talking afterwards… but they should have enough supplies for the two of them even if they have only one pack."

Jack nodded in understanding, pleased that at least someone – like Carter – had thought to pack enough supplies on this mission. He had certainly failed on that front, taking Ferretti and Conner's words for it that the planet was safe and they didn't need their supplies for a three-day festival. Not that he blamed them; as base commander that was his call and it would seem he'd simply gotten lax after months of flying a desk. Over a year ago he would have insisted on taking backpacks with plenty of supplies on a mission, regardless of how harmless the planet or their mission objective seemed to be. Then again, he had been in charge of SG-1 at that time and they even found trouble on the cakewalk missions, so maybe he'd been less pessimistic because of the diplomacy angle and the people who'd accompany him? Not to mention the lack of Goa'uld activity now that the Replicators were invading the Milky Way galaxy under RepliCarter's – as he'd been calling her in his head – leadership and going after all the good Goa'uld ships. Nevertheless, his lack of mistrust and preparation for the mission and insufficient action when the enemy attacked contributed to the deaths of Airman Mansfield and Captain Grogan…

"Sir, are you okay?"

"Just thinking, Carter."

She looked as if she didn't entirely believe him but didn't press and got up. "Do you think you're up to drink something? Doctor Brightman said to keep you hydrated and I lost your IV pole in the avalanche, so we'll have to do this the old-fashioned way."

Deciding that he was indeed thirsty and still so very cold, he bobbed his head. "Sure, tea?"

"Only if you won't complain about the sugar."

Jack grimaced as she walked away to where he assumed the fire or sterno was. "You know I don't drink my tea or coffee with sugar, Carter."

"You know as well as I do that you need the sugar, Sir," she countered. "I also have coffee, noodles or hot cocoa."

He chose hot cocoa on the condition that she had a cup too and when it was finished she finally unstrapped him and helped him to sit up. To his horror, he was still incredibly weak and barely managed to hold the spoon in his numb fingers, let alone lift it to his lips. By the time he'd spilled more of the hot liquid than he'd swallowed Carter took the cup from him and offered him a spoonful of hot cocoa, much to his embarrassment. "Carter-"

She just raised her brows and put the spoon to his lips. "Generals don't whine, remember, Sir? Besides, if you spill anymore it's statistically impossible not to spill it on yourself and in your condition a burn is the last thing you need."

"Fine," he muttered, reluctantly allowing her to 'feed' him the drink. He had to admit, though, that he did feel better as the hot liquid warmed him up from the inside out and the sugar started doing its thing. Jack wasn't sure whether he should take comfort from the fact that it was Carter feeding him instead of Daniel or Teal'c, but in the end he forgot about this inability and how uncomfortable it made him. Instead, he focused on how good it tasted, how nice it was to have something warm in his stomach and how much warmth was coming from Carter. "Hey…"

She chuckled softly at his protest as she took his cup away and sent him an apologetic look. "That was all of it, Sir. We don't want to warm you up too quickly or it will have an adverse effect on your body, remember? We can have some noodles later on; right now you should probably rest."

He grimaced as he tried to lie down on the uncomfortable backboard. "What about you?"

"I don't think we have to worry about the Jaffa finding us here, nor any wild animals," she said, her eyes darting over to the mouth of the cave, "so I think we'll just have to take a chance and both get some sleep. If Daniel and Teal'c were here we could have set up watches but I'll probably fall asleep if I stay up any longer and you're in no condition either, Sir."

"Okay," Jack said, as his eyes glanced around their temporary shelter. "That your sleeping bag? You don't happen to have another one with you, do you?"

Carter smiled but quickly averted her face and padded the zipped-up bag. "Actually, this one is for you, Sir. I put some of the heating pads in it to warm it up for you after I laid it out. It should be more comfortable than what you're lying on now."

"Thank you, Carter." He smirked, pleased with her thoughtfulness – or maybe that was just Carter being prepared as usual – but his sudden relaxation prevented him from suppressing the shivers wracking his body.

"Sir, are you all right?" She dashed over to him and immediately touched his forehead, cheek and neck with her hand to test his temperature. "I guess it's a good sign that you're starting to shiver aga-" Her voice broke off as she felt his collar and suddenly pulled the covers further down to check the rest of his clothes. "Can you tell if anything else is wet?"

He shook his head, a little distracted by her hands suddenly roaming his body, even if he was fully clothed. "Uh," he cleared his throat, "no, I don't think so. Just my collar and hood. Maybe some of the blankets too."

A horrified expression came over her face and she quickly pushed the blankets back over him to check the outer layers with her hands. "I'm so sorry, Sir. I thought I'd removed the wet ones in time but it seems some of the wetness soaked through anyway, or maybe I couldn't feel it with my cold hands."

"It's okay, Carter. Relax, I'm fine. I'm shivering again; that's a good sign, remember?"

"I know," she said, her lips curling into a slow smile. "Let me just get these…"

Jack watched as she started removing the blankets one by one, seemingly sorting them into two piles – probably dry and wet – until she grabbed the last one. "Uh, shouldn't I have at least one blanket?"

She shook her head and threw said blanket onto a pile. "I need to remove the heating pads."

That was all the warning he got before her hand reached for his groin and he nearly jumped in surprise. "Carter!"

"Sorry, Sir."

"Normally a woman has to buy me dinner first, you know," he joked, eliciting a small smile from her as she retrieved the items. "Then again, I probably shouldn't be surprised considering you undressed me without my consent as well."

Her head snapped up and while her cheeks were flushed, she seemed a bit apprehensive. "Sir, it wasn't like-"

Quick to reassure her he hadn't been serious, he made a dismissive gesture. "I know, Carter. Relax. If you and the Doc hadn't gotten me out of those wet clothes I probably wouldn't be here right now."

"I didn't look or anything…" She seemed as surprised as he was with the words coming out of her mouth and flushed even deeper. "Uh…"

"Really? That's not something a guy likes to hear, you know," Jack said, grinning.

Carter smiled as well, finally relaxing again. She moved around a bit, her hands apparently searching for something at his sides and after a moment or two she held up two more heating pads. "Must have fallen from your arm pits when you sat up."

He watched her as she took them over to the little sterno and placed them in a pot of water – melted snow, probably – to reheat them. "Uh, I'm gonna need some help getting to that sleeping bag."

"I know, don't move, Sir!"

After finishing up she came over and told him to stay on the backboard and, grabbing a hold of the space blanket it was lying on, pulled it over to the sleeping bag. He waited until she opened the flap and removed the heating pads inside before allowing her to help him scoot over to the bag. Jack tried to take his boots off but due to his poor coordination and numb fingers it wasn't going anywhere, until Carter stepped to untie them and pull them off his feet. "Those aren't my socks."

She looked up in surprise and gave him an odd look. "Doctor Brightman insisted on removing your boots and your socks were damp, so she replaced them with these. We'd taken them along with the rest of the gear because we figured none of you were ready for arctic temperatures when you got dressed this morning."

"Ah," he said, as he allowed her to help him out of his anorak. When she returned to the fire he crawled into the warm sleeping bag and let out a soft sigh of contentment. It was only when he heard Carter move around again that he opened his eyes, unaware that he'd actually closed them and watched her watch him. "Carter?"

"You should take the rest of your clothes off, Sir."

"Excuse me?"

She smiled sheepishly and vaguely gestured towards the sleeping bag. "While your clothes insulate against the cold, they also slow down absorption from external heat sources."

He blinked at her sleepily, his mind too tired to respond or even protest. This was Carter; she always knew what to do! Trusting her, he slowly started undoing his remaining clothes, fumbling with buttons and zippers.

"If you need any help…"

Jack's head snapped up quickly and he was reassured when she looked just as uncomfortable with the suggestion as he was, although he suspected it was for entirely different reasons – not that his body was actually in any condition to get aroused at the moment… "Uh, I think I'll manage," he uttered.

She was quick to leave him to his devices and went back to the fire, taking his boots and the other heating pads with her. After a few minutes she returned, warmed up heating pads wrapped in some kind of fabric and handed them to him. "I used the extra shirts we took with us," she said, "so you won't get burned if you happen to touch the pads."

"I thought I was supposed to place these in, uh, strategic places," Jack said, cringing as he did.

"Yes, but not when you're naked, Sir. Place them at the bottom of the sleeping bag or something. Just somewhere to keep the bag warm and give off heat."

He nodded in understanding and did as told, after which he watched her with heavy-lidded eyes as she put his discarded clothes away. Fighting sleep, he glanced around, hoping something would catch his attention until she called it a night or told him to get some rest; he didn't want to be rude and fall asleep on her after she'd been so nice. "Carter?" Jack frowned, doing another sweep of the cave with his eyes before they returned to where she was sitting, taking off her boots. "Where is your sleeping bag?"

She caught his gaze looking uncomfortable as hell, while still managing a brave smile which was somewhat incongruous with the blush on her cheeks. "Sir, we lost the IV pole and while I tried several things, I couldn't find a way to hang an IV bag elsewhere which pretty much makes them useless. Even if I found a way to hang it somewhere, I'm not sure how much I should heat it without making things worse for you. We also can't force feed you hot liquids and the blankets and heating pads are having little effect on you."

Again, he nodded; his tired brain was still capable of understanding what she was saying but somehow managed to miss why she was saying it and what it had to do with her lack of a sleeping bag. "… yeah, and?"

"And," she said, appearing even more uncomfortable as she stepped up to his side, "we need to warm you up to get you better."

"I know," Jack said slowly, looking up at her from his position on the floor. He quickly averted his eyes when she took off her sweater, revealing a standard issue long sleeve shirt. "But-"

Carter nodded sharply, her jaw set in that determined way she had whenever she went into battle. "And you also know that sharing body heat is the best way to keep someone from dying of hypothermia. Sir," she tagged on the honorific as she pulled off her shirt as well. "So, scoot over."

Chapter Text

Voarios
Milky Way Galaxy

Jack was awake for the umpteenth time that night, still having a hard time believing he actually held a naked Carter in his arms. After she had announced her intentions he'd been almost frozen with an irrational fear but fortunately she had turned out to feel just as awkward about the whole situation and pretended she hadn't noticed his initial response as she slid into the sleeping bag. At the time he'd been relieved, seeing as she was still in her underwear, even if he was a bit afraid of her reaction to finding out he had taken her order to undress quite literally, but then she'd wiggled around for a bit and tossed something aside, onto the heap of her clothes. It had been impossible to see if it was just one piece of underwear or both and he hadn't really wanted to know either, so they'd just lain there side by side for a moment until she told him to roll over and spooned behind him – thereby taking the decision of how to handle it out of his hands.

However, since that awkward moment there had apparently been a lot of cuddling, tossing and turning, because now he was lying flat on his back and Carter was snuggled into him. Her head rested in the crook of his neck and her firm – and very bare – breasts were pressing against his chest, while their legs were tangled together. Jack was almost afraid to breathe in fear of dislodging her from his body, in spite of the ache in his ribs her additional weight caused. The situation was somewhat reminiscent of all those years ago in Antarctica except for the whole naked part, and this time he wasn't going to ask her to move to make his breathing easier. What had he been thinking back then anyway, asking her that? He must have been too far gone to realize how perfectly Carter fitted into his arms at the time or he never would have said it, Jack decided.

He did feel a bit guilty about enjoying the way her hair tickled his chin, how smooth her skin was under his hands and what a delicious combination her soft skin over toned muscles was. But what else could he do while lying here with her in his arms? This was probably a one-time thing considering their working relationship and the fact that she was engaged to that cop… Jack winced at the memory and his hand automatically searched out hers where it was resting on his hip, but there was no ring on her finger. Nothing on her dog tags either he'd noticed when she had taken them off while undressing. Although the lack of a ring while on a mission probably didn't mean anything, it did make him feel slightly better. At least he wasn't enjoying having this naked blonde lieutenant colonel in his arms while she was wearing another man's engagement ring…

Sighing, Jack tried to think of something else but it was proving difficult when Carter was naked. Curled up against him. That was precisely the reason he'd woken up so many times this night, unable to fall asleep again. It was the stuff his dreams were made of and trying to think of something else only made him more aware of the very naked Samantha Carter in his arms. She was warm and cuddly too, which made it both better and worse. The only thing he didn't like was that he couldn't see much of her face this way but he figured the previous eight or so years during which he'd only seen her face kinda made up for that. One night with naked Carter – even with nothing going on – compensated for it, he thought.

Jack smiled and let his fingers brush down her spine again. About an hour or two ago he had decided that was the perfect way to test for numbness in his fingers, although he didn't feel comfortable going beyond the small of her back and simply stuck to there or the curve of her hip. His arm tightened around her waist reflexively when she stretched, pressing herself even closer against him and his breath hitched when she moved her leg up. It was totally distracting and therefore he barely noticed the way she nuzzled his neck or how her lips briefly brushed against his skin – barely. "C-Carter?"

"Hmm?"

Oh, if she kept that up she was so going to notice that wasn't his sidearm… "You okay?" He managed to get the words out without his voice croaking too much but he couldn't help it when she wiggled against him and her hand was… where was her hand going?

"What are you doing?" She asked sleepily and he was tempted to tug on the locks of hair he was currently stroking just to get a good look at her sleepy expression.

"Uh," Jack cleared his throat and stopped playing with the golden strands peeking out from underneath her beanie, "testing my fine motor skills to see if the clumsiness is gone?"

Carter snorted, burrowing her face against his neck, which actually felt kinda nice. "Okay, Sir," she said, clearly not believing him but letting it be. "How's your temperature?"

He raised his eyebrows in a silent question but when her other hand checked his forehead and neck he figured she was being serious. In a vain attempt to forget about where exactly her thigh was, he tried to focus on the touch of her hand but it didn't help much. "Um, definitely getting warmer."

"What about-"

"Carter!" He yelped, batting her roaming hand away from where it was inching down his abdomen.

She supported her head on her elbow and looked down at him, a faintly amused expression on her face. "I was going to ask about the heating pad, Sir."

Jack's inner voice was just about to rail against her when he realized he had used one of the heating pads as an excuse earlier in the night when she'd woken up and wiggled her six against him as she tried to get comfortable; he'd just about jumped up and when she asked what was wrong – and he could tell she was being sincere, albeit half-asleep – he'd said something about being cold and looking for the heating pad, to which she had reminded him the most efficient place would be his groin. "It's around here somewhere. Must have fallen off after all that tossing and turning."

"Must have," she said, a small smile playing on her lips.

"Can't sleep?" It was a bit of an inane question but it was the best he could come up with after catching a glimpse of one of her full breasts in all its beauty as she moved around.

Carter didn't seem to notice and lay back again, wiggling close to him once more. "My back is getting cold. Do you think we could change positions?"

Clenching his fists in an effort to keep his self-restraint at her, presumably unintentional, arousing behavior and word choice, he nodded and waited for her to roll on her other side. "Sure." Jack quickly pulled the blankets they'd covered the sleeping bag with up in an effort to prevent seeing more tantalizing glimpses of naked Carter as she made herself comfortable. Feeling her pressed up against him, both of them naked was enough fuel for his fantasies for a long time to come – he didn't think he would survive seeing all of her too, not when he had to forget about it again after tonight. He spooned behind her, feeling oddly reluctant and eager at the same time and made sure to keep his lower body at a respectable distance from her six.

"G'night," she murmured, pulling his arm around her waist and keeping it in place with her hand.

Jack nuzzled her neck under the pretext of warming up the tip of his nose and closed his eyes. "G'night, Carter."

---

 

Sam had woken up a little while ago but instead of getting up to put on some clothes she was still lying in Jack O'Neill's arms. The fact that he was sound asleep proved to her that while he may be feeling better – certainly warmer – he wasn't back to his old self again, or he would have woken up simply from feeling her gaze on him. It was nice. It gave her a good opportunity to study his handsome face, relaxed in sleep and yet so very different from the face that she had discovered under the ice half a day ago. It wasn't just his pallor as he was still pale for his standards and the bit of stubble on his jaw didn't make much of a difference either. Perhaps it was the content smile on his face; she wasn't used to seeing it on him, not even when he'd been asleep during his time in the field with them. The longer she looked at it the more mischievous it appeared to her and she had to double-check to see if he was still asleep, but he really was.

It had to be her imagination.

Lifting a hand, she gently righted the beanie he was wearing, smiling at the softness of his silver hair under her fingers as she did so. Sam was unable to resist temptation now that she was lying so close to him, their legs intimately entwined, and briefly touched his scarred eyebrow before she slowly let her fingers brush down his cheek until she felt his stubble under her tips. It was strange that simply looking at him could make her heart clench in her chest and a longing beyond lust exploded inside of her. How was such a thing possible?

It was overwhelming and she wanted to roll over, hide from his handsome face and the feelings he elicited inside of her. Yet at the same time she was reluctant to turn away from him having recently discovered how right it felt to be in his arms. Compromising, Sam snuggled into his side again and laid her head on his shoulder, careful not to put too much weight on his injured ribs. A smile touched her lips at the memory of waking up earlier this night to find them in a similar position with him awake, his breathing obviously labored but he hadn't said a word or indicated she should move to make getting air into his lungs easier and less painful. It made her wonder if he was cherishing every minute of this night as well.

Taking a deep breath she tried to steel herself to let him go and start the day, while pretending nothing had changed between them. However, it only served to remind her of how much she loved his scent and before she knew it her lips were pressed against his neck, her tongue darting out to taste his skin. Desire flared hotly within her with such a strength it took her breath away and she guiltily pulled back. She was engaged, for crying out loud! It didn't matter that she'd never felt as physically attracted to Pete – or any other man – as she did to Jack O'Neill or that this mission had reminded her of how deep her feelings for her CO actually ran… and that she could never marry someone else when she felt this strongly about another – she was still engaged.

The fact that this was the first time she'd even thought of her fiancé since leaving the SGC probably was a sign that she was on a wrong course, even if it was understandable that her mind had been preoccupied with missing and possibly dead personnel and friends. However, she was honest enough to admit she'd become reluctant to spend any time with him at all lately and at first she'd thought it was cold feet, but this mission had been an epiphany in more ways than one. As soon as she got back she had to break it off with Pete because this wasn't fair on him, or even herself.

Not to mention Jack, she thought, chancing another glance at his face. He was still fast asleep but a quick check told her his pulse was much better now and she was confident that he would be able to withstand the trip back to the 'gate. As she shifted against him to get more comfortable she was reminded of another indicator she'd felt poking her numerous times the past few hours and hid a smile. Poor guy, it had to be embarrassing for him, but Sam couldn't deny she was flattered even though she was well aware that it was merely a physical response he had no control over.

A sharp intake of breath followed by the tensing of his frame alerted her to Jack waking up. Slowly, she moved her leg along his, pretending she had simply been looking for warmth from him in her sleep to save him an awkward explanation and tried to play possum as best she could.

"I guess you wouldn't believe me if I told you that was my sidearm, eh?"

In spite of her intentions of pretending to be asleep she couldn't help a smile, followed by a soft giggle. "Perhaps if there'd been a stitch of clothing on you or at least a holster…"

"Oh damn," he said gruffly, covering his face with a hand. "I was hoping you were still asleep."

Sam pulled his hand away and waited until he was looking at her before replying. "It's purely a physical response, Sir. Don't worry, I won't take it personally."

He looked as if he wanted to protest for a minute but then he just nodded and dropped his head back against the makeshift pillow. "Good to know, Carter."

"You know," she said as she snuggled back into him, "it could have been worse."

"Oh?"

She had to suppress a smile at his tone of voice which clearly indicated he had a pretty good idea of how he could have made this whole situation a lot worse. "Yeah, just imagine if you'd been stuck with Daniel or Teal'c, Sir."

He groaned and threw his arm back over his face. "Christ Carter… those are not mental images I need!"

Catching a glance at her watch Sam sobered and realized they had to get up if they wanted to prevent anyone finding them like this. "You sure about that, Sir?" She asked, sitting up and reaching for the clean clothes she'd laid out last night, all the while ignoring the low temperature in their cave. Ignoring his incomprehensible grumblings she got dressed as fast as possible, feeling his gaze on her back the entire time. A quick glance over her shoulder confirmed he hadn't taken his eyes off her and that was when she realized something had changed between them this night – and it wasn't just her epiphany about her love life. No, not when Jack O'Neill looked at her like that, his dark eyes burning with pained longing. Twenty-four hours ago he would have looked away at the first sign that she was getting changed but it was almost as if he was trying to commit her image to memory and the idea tugged on her heartstrings.

After wiggling into her pants and socks she got up and threw him his clothes and a pair of clean boxers without looking back at him. "I'm gonna heat up some breakfast. Do you think you can stomach something?"

"I don't know, Carter," he muttered under his breath. After a bit of rustling during which he presumably got dressed he spoke up in a louder tone. "Do you have more of that hot cocoa?"

"I'll make some. Don't get out of bed just yet, Sir," she warned him. "You can drink it there after which I want you to rest some more until Doctor Brightman and the others come here."

"Okay."

Sam didn't think he was ready to eat an actual meal like he used to do in the field during breakfast so she got all the MREs from her pack and laid them out, picking and choosing things high in sugar content and whatever she figured she could convince him to eat. Using the flameless ration heater she heated up a pack of chicken with noodles and prepared the hot cocoa, all the while keeping her back to him.

After spending the night intimately entwined they could both use some space and time to regroup and fall back into their roles of base commander and leader of SG-1. That was how she felt, anyway, and why she'd been quick to dash out of the sleeping bag despite the freezing cold. She couldn't say for sure the General felt the same way but she figured he at least needed some time to get his body under control and that would probably go better if she wasn't curled up against him.

Sighing, she tried to focus on the present and forget about his hands touching her, or how the taste of his skin lingered on her lips and tongue. In spite of being fully dressed she was still missing the warmth of his body against hers and briefly wondered if her parka was already dry and ready to wear, but she knew it wouldn't be the same. A glance at her watch told her it was early afternoon back at the SGC and she knew Colonel Raimi would be prepping another search and rescue team to retrieve the General, herself, Daniel and Teal'c as well as the broken down snowmobile. That was assuming Reynolds had managed to get their people to the domed city and back through the 'gate safely yesterday, and debriefed Raimi and General Hammond at Homeworld Security about the events on this planet.

From what little Sam could see through the opening of their cave she knew it was still nighttime and figured the nights here were longer than on Earth but hopefully Ferretti or one of the members of SG-9 had informed their superiors of the differences in rotation of the two planets to ensure the rescue team would come in early morning on Voarios. It wouldn't do for them to arrive to earlier in case there were still Jaffa roaming the domed cities, which was more than likely considering the trouble they'd gone through with their attack, because then they would need to use artificial lights to see through the darkness and those could draw unwanted attention. If they arrived late in the morning or, even worse, in the afternoon they might lose too much daylight for everyone to make it back to the SGC before this planet's nightfall, especially if they encountered hostile forces and had to fight their way to the stargate.

Shaking herself, she checked the food and drinks she had prepared before going over to the entrance of the cave. After securing the General here yesterday she had used one of the remaining tarps to cover the hole for the most part, to keep out the snow and harsh winds but not deprive them of oxygen. Slipping on her gloves she uncovered more of the opening and was pleased to see not too much snow had built up at the mouth of the cave. At least that meant Daniel and Teal'c wouldn't have too much trouble finding their hideout once the sun had risen. Hopefully there hadn't been any complications with Daniel's leg injury overnight and he and Teal'c wouldn't have too much trouble crossing the path the mini avalanche had destroyed… if only their radios were working, then she could find out how her teammates were doing!

Maybe General O'Neill – in spite of their shared intimacy she couldn't allow herself to refer to him by his first name, not even in her head – would feel better after eating something and she could go outside to check the damage done by the avalanche and see if there was anything she could do to make it easier for their friends to cross. Decision made, Sam put the tarp back into place after taking a last glance at the darkened sky and walked back to where she'd laid out breakfast. Shivering, she checked on the sterno which was still burning and giving off a small amount of heat, but it was enough to warm her for a few moments until she finished preparing 'breakfast'. She poured herself a cup of melted snow because she didn't want to waste any of the hot cocoa packs, knowing the General needed their sugar contents more than she did at the moment and she had no idea how long it would take for the rescue team to come for them, or for her teammates to join them in the cave and share their additional rations.

"C-Carter, s-shouldn't you put on some m-more l-layers?"

Sam glanced at him, both worried and relieved that he was shivering and quickly picked up the meal and drink she had prepared for him. "Here you go, Sir," she said, holding out the hot cocoa for him in a gloved hand and placing the meal – still in its bag – on his lap. "You need the warmth and energy."

Rolling his eyes, he snuck one hand out of the sleeping bag and took the cup from her. The heat immediately warmed him and stilled the shivering in his arm, but he couldn't stop the shiver running down his back. "What about you?"

"I need to grab some other stuff and put some more snow on the sterno first." She avoided his searching gaze and waited until he took a sip from the drink before she fussed over the sleeping bag and blankets, attempting to cover him up further now that he was in a seated position. They couldn't afford for him to undo all of their hard work to warm him up simply by exposing his bare back to the cold air. When she was satisfied with her effort she went back to scoop up some more snow and placed it on the sterno, throwing a last glance at where there had been a fire last night. They didn't have any wood – dry or otherwise – and it probably was a bad idea to start a fire in a small enclosed space like this anyway, but circumstances had been extreme at the time and she had been willing to risk it. Now, there wasn't anything left except for the sterno's candles and some waterproof matches, so she steeled herself, grabbed her own cup and the snacks she'd chosen from the MRE packs and made her way back to the sleeping bag.

The General saw her coming and shifted in his place to make room for her, but kept his head down, peering into his cup. It wasn't until she was sitting next to him and threw the snacks on the blankets that he turned to her, raising his brow. "C-craving chocolate?"

"It's for you, Sir," she said, settling into the sleeping bag after setting her cup aside. "The power bar is probably best but the Skittles come next in sugar content."

He waited until she'd taken a few sips of melted snow before he replied. "And the M&Ms?"

"Figured it might be easier to eat with the chocolate melting and not requiring a lot of chewing. They're high in sugar content too," she added. "But you should probably eat some noodles first." Sam had to hold back a grin when he pouted, looking adorable with his silver hair sticking up in all directions and looking like a boy told to finish his meal before starting on dessert.

"Fine," he grumbled, reaching for the spork to dig into the meal while keeping one hand in the sleeping bag.

She watched as he took a few bites and set aside his empty cup, all the while trying to make herself more comfortable in the sleeping bag. It looked like they weren't going to discuss anything that had happened between them in the previous hours and she wasn't sure whether she was relieved or upset about it. It was probably for the best considering he was still suffering the after effects of hypothermia and might not be in his right mind yet, and she didn't want to be accused of taking advantage of his weakened state later on if they did broach the subject of… them, and their feelings for each other. She knew what a private person he was when it came to his feelings and although she really wanted to know if he still felt the same way for her, she wasn't about to interrogate him when he was still rebuilding his emotional walls and suffering from severe hypothermia. No, it had to be his choice to share his feelings with her because if he wasn't ready to talk about them, then how could they even contemplate a way to move onto a romantic relationship? If he even wanted one… Besides, it would be a better conversation to have after she had broken things off with Pete; that way the General would also know she was serious about wanting to pursue things with him.

A bump to her shoulder startled her from her thoughts. Glancing to her left she noticed General O'Neill holding out his hand with the half-eaten pack of chicken noodles and, sighing, took it from him. She had known he wouldn't be able to eat much and the snacks and hot cocoa would probably give him more fuel than the MRE, but at least he had something warm in his stomach now. He quirked a boyish grin at her before reaching for the candy and she couldn't suppress a smile at the sight. Her heart skipped a beat when she continued to stare at him, so much livelier than when she'd seen him under the ice or even when she'd snuggled up to him in the sleeping bag last night. It was so good to see a bit more color on his handsome face, that sparkle in his eyes or the eagerness he displayed at getting to eat the sweets.

"What?" He asked, after swallowing a handful of candies.

Sam shook her head and looked away from his brown eyes. "Just thinking, Sir," she said. "I estimate it's an hour or two until daylight, after which Daniel and Teal'c could arrive here any minute. I really don't think it's a good idea for you to move around until Doctor Brightman has had a chance to examine you, so you should probably just rest some more until then."

He nodded and scooted down into the sleeping bag to lie down again, placing the bags of candies next to his makeshift pillow. "Okay. Still tired," he added at her surprised look.

For a moment she contemplated whether to tell him to put his shirts and BDU jacket on or let him remain topless, but in the end she figured there wasn't anything for her to do around the cave until sunrise which meant she would be best off getting some more rest too. They had already shared the sleeping bag for most of the night while wearing no clothing at all, so what harm could an hour more do when he was wearing pants and she was fully dressed?

She took another glance at him and wasn't surprised to see him popping M&Ms into his mouth with only his head and hand sticking out of the sleeping bag. Relenting, she scooped up the last few bites of chicken noodles he'd given her before setting them aside and taking her boots off to slide in next to him. "I'm setting my alarm for in an hour to take a look outside," Sam informed him as she rearranged the blankets around her. "I might go out to see how much damage the avalanche did since I can't radio Daniel or Teal'c, but that depends on how well you're doing by then, Sir. I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving you here alone if you're still shivering and fighting hypothermia."

"Not my fault it's so damned cold," he muttered, shifting in the sleeping bag. "I'll be fine and you can go lay out the red carpet for Daniel and Teal'c once the sun is up."

"Sir," Sam protested, trying to catch a glimpse of him from over her shoulder, "it's no-"

Suddenly, he grabbed her by the waist and yanked her body against him. "Carter, could you please shut up and just sleep for a while?"

Chapter Text

Voarios
Milky Way Galaxy

It had taken another three hours for the sun to rise and shortly thereafter Jack had told Carter to go outside to check the weather and the path up the mountain. She had insisted on making him eat and drink some more so he had finished the packs of M&Ms and Skittles, and drank some tea with way too much sugar to appease her. It hadn't been until he promised to try to eat another MRE when she got back that she agreed to go out while he rested some more. It turned out the path wasn't totally destroyed and Carter had been confident that Daniel and Teal'c would be able to cross it with some effort, using their climbing gear if necessary. The rest of the path back down to where they'd rescued him and Conner from the ice hadn't been affected, which meant the rescue team should have no trouble reaching them.

By the time Carter had returned and gave him a sitrep, Jack had gotten another hour of shuteye and was getting tired of lying around. Spending the night with her in his arms – naked or dressed – had been wonderful but just lying in a sleeping bag on his own had become boring, especially after getting all the rest he needed. However, Carter wasn't ready to let him get up and told him to stay put until the Doc had checked him over, so he dutifully ate and drank some more while sitting up, swaddled in blankets to protect him from the cold.

Afterwards, things had turned tense when Carter decided to check his ribs for damage from the CPR she had performed on him. She had been sitting so close and her hands, a combination of soft feminine skin and gun callouses, were roaming his torso. Then she'd leaned in, her breath hot against his neck and wrapped a bandage around his ribs for support. Her proximity had all his nerve endings on alert and he'd almost groaned at the loss when she moved away to grab the rest of his clothing. His arms were sore and bruised from his fight against the freezing water and ice underneath which he'd been trapped, so she had taken it upon herself to help him into his shirts and jacket. Under normal circumstances he might have been grateful but her fingertips sliding along his arms as she worked them into the sleeves and her nails scraping his skin when she pulled the fabric down his body had him on edge.

All in all, it wasn't anything compared to the intimacy of naked bodies pressed up against each other and long, bare legs entwined but after spending a whole night together in such a fashion he was simply too aware of her and it had nearly become too much. Fortunately, Daniel and Teal'c had made their arrival only minutes later after Carter had dashed away to tend to the sterno, clearly needing some space for herself too. Their friends turned out to be fine, although Doctor Brightman had concluded that Daniel was suffering from a mild sprain in his knee once she and SG-3 had arrived.

Now, they were on their way to the domed capital of Voarios and Jack couldn't wait to be back at the SGC, in spite of the mountain of paperwork that was probably waiting for him. Brightman had cleared him for travel but insisted on him stretching out in one of the two sleds. He was wrapped up warmly in his foul weather gear and a crap load of blankets had been added, covering his legs and draped over his back. Still, he had refused to lie down and was watching the view while enjoying the feel of his trusty P90 cradled in his hands. Carter had been reluctant to give him a weapon, probably afraid he'd overdo it after his near brush with death but in the end she had realized it was necessary in case of an ambush – and the fact that he'd glared at her and used his 'general' tone might have something to do with it as well.

Daniel was sitting in the other sled to stretch out his injured leg and Doc Brightman was sitting next to him, both of their laps covered by heavy blankets too but instead of P90s they had zats like most civilian scientists and doctors. Teal'c had requested to be scout and was driving ahead of their little group, Reynolds was next on his snowmobile with the sled in which Daniel and Brightman were sitting, then Carter followed with Jack himself in his sled and Bosworth was on a fourth snowmobile – which had been in repairs the day before – towing the damaged snowmobile that had hit the water and was being steered as best as possible by Mooney.

On one hand, Jack wished Reynolds had taken another team with him to ensure every driver had a passenger that could lay down cover fire if necessary but on the other hand he was well aware of the risks and costs of such an endeavor too. Maybe one person could have joined him in the sled and the other three of this imaginary team would have functioned as passengers for Reynolds, Carter and Teal'c, or maybe even Bosworth to keep an eye on the broken snowmobile – he didn't think Mooney needed a passenger right now. But that would have meant all seats were occupied and before returning to this damned planet his rescuers had no idea how well or bad he was doing with his hypothermia, or if anyone on SG-1 had gotten injured overnight. Not to mention that many teams were currently doing their own missions, were on downtime, leave or had injured members who needed medical leave and thus were in no position to save his sorry ass from circumstances he could have prevented if he'd only heeded Carter's advice about a backup team or at least wouldn't have drunk so much that he didn't see an attack coming.

Besides, if all went well they would stop soon enough to retrieve Captain Grogan's body which Jack and Ferretti had buried under a heap of snow during their escape from the city. The poor guy had died during one of the aerial attacks that had injured Doctor Danmark as well, and they hadn't been strong enough to drag his body with them so Jack had decided burying him – and marking the grave – was the next best option. He knew Ferretti or someone from SG-9 had explained it on base because Jack had seen the body bags Brightman had stuffed in her sled. Hopefully, the domed city was free of Jaffa as well so they could retrieve Airman Mansfield's body from the tent in which he'd died as well. That was probably going to be more difficult than getting Grogan, although that had its challenges as well considering the snowy landscape…

Sighing, Jack wished they were back at the SGC already, where he would even patiently stay in the infirmary while the Doc poked and prodded him – maybe Carter would make him another cup of hot chocolate if he looked pitiful enough? The cold wasn't even bothering him so much at the moment now that he was all bundled up in his foul weather gear and covered by far too many blankets… No, it wasn't the cold or even his inactivity as they traveled across the alien terrain; it was this incredible sense of dread in his stomach. Reynolds' team had done a quick recon of the city when they arrived on Voarios but they hadn't searched the entire dome, just the immediate area around the path they would have to take from the 'gate to the hole in the dome and Jack feared his bad luck hadn't run out yet… what if the Jaffa were waiting for them in the city?

Over tea earlier this morning Daniel had speculated that these Jaffa might belong to one of the previously unknown Goa'uld who felt like stepping up and seizing the power now that most of the System Lords had been killed by the SGC and Rebel Jaffa. It might even have been an underlord of Anubis, according to the archeologist, because of the advanced technology on Voarios. Jack had only been listening with half an ear when one of the natives had been telling him and SG-9 about their planet's history and mythology a few days ago but he had noticed that their technology – like the domed cities and protected transport systems – was very advanced for a people that… wasn't.

Daniel had suggested it was Ancient technology and Carter said it was possible but without a closer examination of the tech it was difficult to tell because she'd barely seen any of it since arriving, too busy searching and rescuing. Jack had to admit, though, that there was a good chance these people were either descendants – interbred, like on Earth – of the Ancients or brought here by them in the past after which they'd set up the domed cities to protect their new little human pets from the planet's extreme temperatures. It would certainly explain why a Goa'uld, especially an underlord of Anubis, would be interested in conquering this planet.

Still, Jack didn't really care to whom these Jaffa belonged and what they wanted here; he just wanted them gone, preferably dead unless they wanted to join Teal'c's rebel pals. Otherwise, he had no use for them, especially after they had killed Grogan, Mansfield and who knew how many natives. Even if the city was clear for him and his people to return through the 'gate he wanted to come back and make sure those Jaffa bastards were dealt with since he'd started to like the Voari and their festivals. Besides, they were allies now and if the brass wanted to trade with the natives they would probably champ at the bit to send a few SG teams to save their asses in return for the Voari's undying gratitude…

Peering into the distance Jack flexed his gloved fingers around the P90, trying to keep his thoughts from straying too much. After all, his inattention was what had caused this whole disaster to begin with! He moved a bit to the left, leaning against the side of his sled to look past Carter's body on the snowmobile in front of him and trying to catch a glimpse of the others. It appeared they were slowing down and he thought he could see Teal'c just a few meters ahead of Reynolds, which was much closer than before. If Jack had been able to remain more professional he would have shared the snowmobile with Carter and then he could have asked her – via hand signals or something – what was going on but since he had needed some time and space to himself to rein in his feelings for her, he was stuck in the sled and unable to communicate with anyone. Great!

He was still cursing himself when he realized Carter was signaling something with her free hand and a quick glance behind him at Bosworth showed he had interpreted it correctly; they were slowing down to come to a stop. Even though it was morning and, with all the snow around, very bright Jack couldn't say he recognized the area from his trip on foot. It had stopped snowing about an hour ago which meant there was good visibility, especially now that he had goggles but the area seemed pretty much the same as the last few klicks they'd traveled. He doubted they were simply stopping for a snack, something to drink or a pee break and continued looking around. It was only when Carter stopped the snowmobile and he saw Teal'c and Reynolds discussing and gesturing that he realized this wasn't too far from where he, Ferretti and SG-9 had been attacked by a death glider! Earlier this morning Jack had told Teal'c and the others about where they'd buried Grogan, knowing the Jaffa was probably the one who would scout ahead of the group and Reynolds had confirmed it when he arrived.

Now, Reynolds, Teal'c and Carter came up to his sled and informed him of their current location. He relayed as much as he remembered about the burial site and how they'd marked it, but would have preferred taking a look around on his own. Doc Brightman and Carter both ordered him to stay put though and he reluctantly complied, knowing he'd be in a world of hurt at either woman's hand if he went ahead with his intentions regardless – and that was assuming he was capable of staying upright and trudging through the snow without help. Reynolds gave the order to spread out and start searching for the mark as soon as Bosworth and Mooney had caught up to them, while Carter stayed behind to guard him, Daniel and the Doc.

Sitting there and not contributing anything at all to the search made it feel like hours had passed by the time SG-3 and Teal'c, pulling along a black body bag on a stretcher, returned but in reality it was no more than half an hour. There was a brief discussion about how to transport Grogan's body until Jack cut in and stood up as best he could. Carter was quickly at his side, supporting him and chastising him for his actions at the same time. At least, Jack figured she was chastising him since he couldn't understand her muffled words or see her facial expression when she was all wrapped up in foul weather gear. He quickly pulled his own facial coverings away to explain he would ride with someone so Grogan – and later Mansfield – could be placed in the sled he was currently occupying. Daniel's knee still hurt so Brightman relented and gave him 'permission' to change seats but Jack was pretty sure Carter wasn't too happy with this, even if he could only see the set of her shoulders. Before he could say another word, though, she'd pulled on his sleeve and gestured for him to get out of the sled and take a seat on her snowmobile.

A few minutes later everything had been arranged and everyone went back to their vehicles before Teal'c took off again, ready to scout ahead. The rest of the group followed at a more sedate pace and Jack was grateful for Carter's relatively slow speed – he knew she'd gotten a few tickets on her motorcycle, although she wasn't a reckless driver – as he adjusted to riding a snowmobile. At first, he was hesitant as to how to sit since he didn't want to make her uncomfortable but as they gained speed and went over rougher terrain, his arms slid around her waist. His P90 was cradled between their bodies as he leaned into her, enjoying the feeling of being pressed up against her back even with all their layers of clothes between them. He smirked to himself, pleased that he was riding with Carter and hadn't been relegated to Teal'c or someone on SG-3.

The last couple of klicks to the city seemed to take forever and Jack silently marveled over the fact that he, Ferretti and SG-9 had managed to put such a great distance between the enemy Jaffa and themselves in these extreme temperatures and without any protection against the harsh elements outside of the domed city. No wonder they had all been exhausted! His hypothermia, injured ribs and bruised arms had been causing him the most pain today but he could still feel the aches in his legs and feet from all the walking too, especially now that he'd been sitting in one position for quite a while. He grimaced and shifted a bit in his seat but there wasn't a lot of room on the snowmobile to get comfortable. His limbs were cramping up and his six had fallen asleep at least a klick ago, all of which made him feel even worse.

The fact that he was practically pressing himself up against Carter wasn't even helping since her proximity and the long, boring ride back all brought memories of their night spent together to the surface. It was difficult to forget how she'd felt in his arms when there was nothing to do for him but sit behind her with his arms wrapped around her waist. They hadn't really spoken about it this morning nor had she given any indication of postponing the talk to broach the subject at a later time – like back on Earth – so Jack had simply followed her lead, which basically meant they were pretending nothing had happened. Not that anything really had happened but sharing a sleeping bag while both naked wasn't exactly off-world protocol either…

He shook off his current train of thought when the dome became visible in the distance. During his retreat from the city he hadn't really had the time to admire the structure but the closer they got the more impressive it looked, even with the damage from the Jaffa attack. There didn't appear to be anyone guarding the dome either on the ground or in the air, but still Jack was on alert. He could feel Carter tense under his arms as well, although she didn't show any other outward signs. She slowed down the snowmobile and steered it towards the left, where Teal'c had already parked his and was waiting for the rest of them. Reynolds reached their friend first and Jack was pleased to see both Doctor Brightman and Daniel be on guard with their zats in hand while sitting in their sled.

Jack let go off Carter when she neared the others and grabbed hold of his P90 again. The sky was still clear, although it had started to snow lightly again. No signs of death gliders or alkesh, which was good and there didn't appear to be a patrol near the opening in the dome either. Still, Jack was wary and kept his guard up. Those snowmobiles made an awful lot of noise in the otherwise quiet surroundings and had probably already announced their presence if there were any Jaffa nearby inside the city!

For some reason, Carter and Reynolds seemed to have changed roles today, with Reynolds being in command of the mission instead of Carter. Jack watched as the two team leaders communicated before coming to a decision; Reynolds would take his team into the city for a – hopefully stealthy – recon while SG-1 remained here with Brightman, Grogan's body and Jack himself. He wasn't consulted but he figured that was to be expected as they still considered him to be injured rather than an active member and both of them were, after all, much better informed of the circumstances of the city because of their respective S&R missions after he'd already left. He nodded at the two colonels to give his support to whichever decision they'd come to when they looked at him and watched as they both instructed their teams. Once everyone was armed and stretched their few cramped and numbed limbs, they got to it.

A lot of snow had accumulated around the dome and some of it had even blown inside through the hole, but a few feet higher Jack could look straight into the dome. There were no signs from the attack there either and if he hadn't known any better he would have thought it was just like any other day. Except he had been there when the Jaffa had appeared and destroyed parts of the dome and city itself, killing hundreds of natives if not more and rounding up the survivors! Still, from the outside looking in it appeared to be just a nice day with mild temperatures – warm even, compared to outside the dome.

He was itching to get inside and warm up a bit, maybe even lose the goggles and anorak which were both limiting his field of vision. But no one was going anywhere until SG-3 had given the signal – Jack may still be suffering from the after effects of his severe hypothermia but he was still aware of the importance of recon. If there were any hostile forces inside the domed city getting back to the SGC was going to be a lot more difficult this time around than it had been for Reynolds yesterday, especially if some of those Jaffa were between them and the 'gate! The snowmobiles would give them the advantage of speed but at the same time their noise – a distinct machine sound – would cause the disadvantage of unwanted attention. Being able to beat the enemy to the 'gate was great but they would have to stop there to use the DHD, all the while being sitting ducks. Not to mention that one well-aimed blast from a staff weapon could hit the tank, resulting in an exploding snowmobile!

Carter tugged on Jack's sleeve and beckoned for him to go over to the sled where Daniel and the Doc were still sitting. Pins and needles were plaguing his legs as he followed but at least he finally got to do something other than sit on his six or, worse, remain horizontal in a sleeping bag covered in blankets. Still, trudging through the snow was more difficult than he'd expected, although it shouldn't come as a surprise considering the exertion of escaping the city and getting severe hypothermia… both had taken a toll on his body and he was still recuperating. Other than lying down or sitting, he'd only briefly walked from the cave down to where the snowmobiles had been waiting this morning and at that time Teal'c had supported him.

"Sir," Carter said when he finally joined them, her goggles and balaclava already gone. "Colonel Reynolds will radio us once his team has secured the 'gate and depending on activity within the city, we'll either drive there on the snowmobiles or sneak in on foot to take out the remaining Jaffa before going back to retrieve the vehicles."

"What if the radios don't work? I mean, they were useless last time."

Teal'c held out an arm to help Daniel out of the sled and once the archeologist was standing on his own two feet, albeit favoring his injured leg, he replied. "Only when greater distances were involved, Daniel Jackson. Within the dome we were able to communicate."

Jack had to admit it was a sound plan, much better than driving towards the 'gate only to stop at the DHD, thereby giving the enemy a chance to catch up. However, he wasn't sure he was fit to drive a snowmobile, especially not on grassy and hilly terrain rather than snow, let alone do a thorough recon of the city. He was still feeling a bit weak and he didn't want to endanger another group of people, in particular one that had come here specifically to save his sorry six! "You want the five of us to drive these things back?"

"It's not necessary for someone to steer the damaged one," she replied, gesturing towards the vehicle in question, "so you can be my passenger while Teal'c tows that one, Sir."

Pleased she understood without him having to explain, he nodded in agreement and was about to say something when they heard an explosion, followed quickly by gunfire! "What the hell!"

"SG-3-niner, come in!" Everyone was holding their breath as Carter held her radio, waiting for the team leader to reply. "SG-3, this is SG-1-niner, report!"

The radios crackled to life and more sounds of the firefight came through before Reynolds spoke. "We're under attack, Colonel! There's over two dozen Jaffa on our ass!"

"What about the 'gate?" Daniel asked concerned and looking a bit pale as he shifted his stance to rub his injured knee.

"Did you secure the 'gate, SG-3-niner?"

Seconds ticked by before someone – Mooney – replied. "Negative, Ma'am! Bosworth and Penhall are making a run for it but they're at least two hundred meters away."

"Damn it," Jack muttered darkly, his mind already going over the possibilities. He didn't want anyone else to get hurt but four people against two dozen Jaffa…? That was not going to end well, especially not if they didn't get access to the 'gate. "Carter?"

She looked up and, after communicating silently, focused on the radio again, her free hand curled around her P90. "What's your position, SG-3?"

This time it was Reynolds who replied. "Just past the tents in the city center and I've got two people taking cover behind the first building on the main road. We'd appreciate a hand, Colonel."

"Sir, are you up for this?"

"Doesn't look like we've got a choice, Carter," Jack said, shrugging. "Doc?"

Brightman appeared a bit overwhelmed but snapped out of it at hearing his tone. "Um, yes, Sir. I wouldn't suggest going full steam ahead but your vitals were good this morning and," she checked her watch, "it's been over twenty-four hours Mountain time already, so I don't see why not if you think you can handle it. Just don't overdo it, General."

"And, um, what about you?" Daniel asked, looking at the petite woman.

She swallowed but looked at their little group with determination. "I've had off-world training and it sounds like they can use all the help they can get."

"Your medical expertise may be useful as well, Doctor Brightman," Teal'c said solemnly as he readied his staff weapon. "Colonel Carter, the Jaffa are capable of hearing our vehicles approach far in advance."

Carter nodded and quickly went over to her sled to secure it, making sure a tarp would protect Grogan's body from the elements and keep it out of sight of any nosy Jaffa. "Yeah, we will have to go in on foot. That way we might be able to surprise them if we come in from behind. Everybody ready?" When they all nodded she turned back to her radio. "This is SG-1-niner, we're on their six. ETA seven minutes. Carter out."

Chapter Text

Voarios
Milky Way Galaxy

"Christ!" Jack was bringing up the rear with Brightman between him and Carter, Daniel between her and Teal'c who was taking point and setting a quick pace, which was definitely necessary now that they were supposed to be there within seven minutes! God, he was getting old, he thought to himself as they took off on a run, making their way into the much warmer dome and keeping their eyes open for enemy forces. His legs were protesting already and he could sweat pebbling on his forehead, either from the temperature change or the exertion.

Within a few minutes they were getting closer to the firefight and made their way around the natives' equivalent of town hall to circle around the Jaffa, but Jack was getting winded and his ribs were aching. He welcomed the unnatural shade of the building and tried to catch his breath as he leaned against the cool wall, his heart hammering in his chest. The P90 was becoming heavy in his abused arms and his legs were cramping up, but he wasn't ready to give up yet; they had to help SG-3 get rid of the Jaffa, retrieve the snowmobiles, recover Mansfield's body and make their way home safely!

"Sir."

Carter had magically appeared at his side, her eyes narrowed in concern for him but he waved it away and tried to stand up straight. She was having none of it, however, and laid a hand on his forehead before moving it to his cheek. Jack knew it was probably to feel for his temperature but he simply enjoyed the feeling and leaned in to her cold touch. The corners of her mouth quirked up before she bit her lip and looked away. He followed her gaze and saw Brightman talking to Daniel a few feet away while Teal'c stood at the end of the building, peering around the corner. "How's Daniel?"

"His knee is bothering him," Carter replied, her hand moving down to his neck while her other circled his wrist to take his pulse. "I'm more concerned about you, Sir."

"I'm fine," he said. "Just need a moment to catch my breath."

She didn't appear to be convinced but nodded eventually and released her hold on him. Steadying her P90 she looked from Teal'c and back to him, clearly thinking something through. "In two minutes we'll reach the Jaffa and hopefully Penhall and Bosworth are at the 'gate by then. You can stay with them and if need be, take cover behind the DHD while the rest of us get the snowmobiles and gear."

He didn't look forward to being left behind like an old man but knew it was best considering the circumstances. "And Mansfield's body."

"If we can take care of all of the Jaffa; yes Sir."

Her reply didn't entirely reassure him but he was realistic enough to know that there was a possibility they wouldn't be able to hold off the enemy long enough to recover the body. Before he could say anything, though, Carter had taken off and was checking on Daniel and Brightman. Jack knew the pain of a knee injury and sympathized with his friend, silently hoping all the running around wouldn't aggravate the injury further or Daniel might be looking forward to knee surgery as well and then it would always remain a weakness. He could see Daniel pushing off the wall and taking up his previous position, albeit with a slight uneven gait, while Carter was on the radio with SG-3 again. No one had returned his radio to him after he'd jumped into the lake to save Conner so he couldn't follow the conversation but soon enough she gave the signal for them to leave.

Taking a deep breath, Jack wiped away the last beads of sweat on his forehead and ignored the aches throughout his body as he followed the rest of his group. On one hand he'd expected it to be stranger to follow Carter's command after having her as his 2IC for seven years in the field, but on the other hand he figured they'd always worked well together and she had been more than prepared to get her own command. Simply put, he trusted her to save his six – and those of SG-3, too.

The gunfire was getting louder and after they'd turned the last corner, they all came up behind the Jaffa. Jack caught Carter's signaling from the corner of his eye and took up the indicated position, watching as the others did the same. She fiddled with the radio, presumably to let SG-3 know their whereabouts and he took the moment to take a deep breath and get his heart rate back under control. It was kinda scary how weak he felt but he wasn't going to let anyone down today and, on Carter's signal, started firing at the enemy.

The back row of the Jaffa went down fast but the others jumped away for cover as they twisted around and fired back. Taking them by surprise was a good tactic and probably the best option they'd had, but it also meant they had to be careful not to shoot at their own people across the city center or get hit by them, as well as dodging plasma bolts from staff weapons! Jack ducked when one whizzed past his head and fired back, felling two Jaffa before he had to turn around and press himself back against the wall for cover. He could still see Carter and Brightman from his position, the former firing away at Jaffa on Jack's side of the road while the latter was more cautiously peeking around the corner, zatting a few times in quick succession and turning back. He could hear Daniel's zat too but it was impossible to distinguish between Teal'c's staff weapon and those of the enemy, although he was pretty sure T was the most accurate shot.

The firefight went on for a few more minutes and just as he was replacing his magazine there was only a brief burst of gunfire from the opposite direction before a silence fell over the center. Jack looked up and exchanged glances with Carter who gestured everyone was down. He took a quick peek around the corner to see for himself while she radioed SG-3 and was surprised to see that she was right; there was about a dozen dead Jaffa lying on the ground and also a couple of natives who by the looks of things had been killed earlier, probably during the initial attack. Swallowing against the bile rising up in his throat at the sight of the dead Voari, he got to his feet and waited for Carter's signal.

"All clear!" Reynolds shouted from the other side of the road.

"How are you feeling, Sir?" Carter asked after quickly dashing over to him. She looked concerned but was still showing traces of an adrenaline rush, smelling like a mix of gunpowder and pure Carter when she leaned in to take his pulse.

Jack admired the sight of her for a moment as he let the P90 dangle from his neck, already having put the safety on before she'd made it across. "I'm fine. Tired, sore and achy, but fine," he said with a tired smile.

She returned the smile before looking back onto the street, checking up on her people. "Are you okay to walk?"

"I'm not a total invalid," he muttered.

"Good to hear, Sir," she said, rolling her eyes. "Let's go."

Jack followed her and they caught up with the others, where he threw a worried glance in Daniel's direction. The archeologist was limping as Brightman helped him along, which Jack doubted was very helpful considering how short the woman was but his friend undoubtedly appreciated the gesture. Reynolds explained that his guys were less than a hundred meters from the 'gate but Penhall had been hit on the arm by a staff blast, so they were making their way to the 'gate slowly. Jack didn't miss the glances Reynolds and Carter exchanged after they'd surveyed their little group and he knew what they were thinking; an injured general, a limping archeologist, an inexperienced civilian doctor and now another who needed medical attention – the team leaders, Teal'c, Mooney and Bosworth were the only ones fighting fit.

"We'll contact the SGC first and then we can decide what to do about the snowmobiles," Reynolds said to the group in general as they stepped over and around the dead Jaffa to catch up with Bosworth and Penhall. "Might be that we'll have to go home and send another team back to retrieve them and recover Grogan and Mansfield."

"We've gotta find out what happened to the surviving Voari, too," Daniel said.

Jack was holding his tongue, not wanting to think about the fate of their new allies while he was navigating streets littered with dead bodies. From the corner of his eyes he could tell Carter and Reynolds were thinking the same thing. Teal'c was taking point again but if he'd heard he was keeping quiet, just like Mooney who was bringing up the rear. Surprisingly, it was Brightman who spoke up.

"If there are any survivors."

Daniel did a double take and actually stopped walking, looking at each of them in turn. "You guys all think they're dead? All of them?"

The Doctor shrugged and glanced in Jack's direction. "Colonel Ferretti told me the Jaffa were already killing natives by the time they escaped the city."

"Yeah," Jack said, rubbing a hand over his face. "We followed a few Voari to a shelter but the Jaffa were waiting for us and killed them without question – we barely got away."

"Well, seeing as they're shooting first and asking questions later," Reynolds said, "maybe we can continue walking before the cavalry gets here."

The 'gate was already visible in the distance but there was no sign of the two members of SG-3 and Jack suspected the two were, like the rest of them, sneaking from building to building to stay out of sight as best as possible. The initial attack had been unexpected and the one from earlier had caught SG-3 off-guard as well, which meant these Jaffa were much better at stealth than most they had encountered before.

Jack didn't care much for their reasoning or whatever the hell they wanted on this planet; all he wanted was to get his people home safely. Therefore, he kept his eyes and ears open, scanning their surroundings as their little group stealthily made their way across the city. Every now and then he'd get distracted by Daniel's whining about his knee or catching sight of Carter's six when she moved in front of him, but overall he managed to stay focused in spite of his aching ribs, breathlessness, sore arms and cramping legs. His headache had mostly cleared up although he'd been warned by both the Doc and Carter that his brain might be a bit sluggish for a while longer.

So far so good, he thought when they caught up with the rest of SG-3. Brightman left Daniel's side to check out Penhall's injury and Jack once again found Carter's concerned gaze on him. Reynolds went over to his subordinates to reassure himself they were fine while Mooney and Teal'c kept their respective positions, both on the lookout for any possible danger. When the Doc mentioned having to bandage Penhall's arm right away to prevent infection, Reynolds told everyone to take five.

Carter appeared at Jack's side, offering him the power bar he hadn't eaten earlier this morning and a canteen. "Thanks," he muttered, gratefully ripping open the wrapping to take a bite and washing it away with a gulp of water. Feeling her eyes still on him, he raised a brow. "I'm fine."

"You don't look fine, Sir."

He quirked a grin at her and shrugged. "Okay, so I will be fine once we get to the SGC. The 'gate is what, a five-minute walk away?"

Following his line of sight, she nodded. "It's a pretty open area though once we've passed that last building. That's at least sixty meters without cover."

"There are some… shrubs," Jack said, wincing at his own reply. "Some trees to the side too. Maybe some nice large rocks as well."

"If there's no sign of any remaining Jaffa it might be best to retrieve those snowmobiles first and have someone else dial the SGC so we can go right through without having to stop."

He grimaced, even though he knew she was right; it was the best option, providing the immediate area of Jaffa was cleared. "And that someone is me, right?"

She ducked her head but he still caught a glimpse of a small smile. "Well, you're not really in any condition to go all the way to where we parked and drive back to the 'gate, Sir."

"I know, Carter." Jack finished off the power bar and took another swig of water before handing over the canteen. Just as he was going over the proposed scenario in his head Reynolds gave the signal for them to move out, and Jack fell back in his position, P90 at the ready. Could they, or at least he, make it to the DHD without getting caught by any roaming the streets? He wasn't in the best shape – quite possibly the worst he'd been in since joining the SGC, near-death and capture by Ba'al aside – and he was pretty sure his legs and ribs couldn't handle another full-speed run. A jog, maybe. A sprint was doubtful, although he might be able to find it within him if he had a bunch of Jaffa on his six. But reaching the DHD was important, especially if Carter and Reynolds took their fittest people with them to retrieve the snowmobiles.

Soon, they reached the last building on the main road and Jack winced when he fell against the wall. The sturdy support was welcome but he was winded and exhausted, his P90 getting heavier with every step. Daniel didn't seem to be faring much better with his pale face, glassy eyes and one hand on his injured knee. Penhall was sweating and breathing heavily, one hand resting on the bandage wrapped around his arm as if it could take the pain of burned flesh and muscle away. Doctor Brightman was holding herself up well, considering the circumstances and her lack of experience in off-world missions but she also seemed tired and out of breath.

Mooney was twitching his hands nervously from his position at the rear, but his eyes were on the field, scanning for threats. Reynolds' breathing was bit faster than normal and sweat was beading on his brow from all the layers of clothing he was wearing in this heat, but otherwise he seemed ready and fighting fit. Carter was bright-eyed and cradling her P90 protectively, a fine sheet of sweat on her face the only indication of her exertion. Teal'c was still taking point and didn't seem in the slightest affected by their situation, except for a grim set of his mouth which was undoubtedly the result of having had to kill so many fellow Jaffa.

"The last leg to the 'gate is gonna be difficult, guys," Reynolds spoke in a hushed tone. "There's barely any cover aside from that boulder about thirty meters from here. We'll go there in turns while the rest of us provides cover fire if need be. Contacting the SGC has priority over those damned snowmobiles right now. I just want everyone back home safe and sound; we can come back for those things later, with a fully prepared team or two."

"I will go first, Colonel Reynolds," Teal'c said.

He nodded and looked around at the group. "Jackson can you run with that knee?"

Daniel grimaced as he straightened up, pushing down his hood to run a hand through his hair. "If I have to."

"I can go with Doctor Jackson," Bosworth volunteered. "If his knee gives out I can drag him to the boulder with Teal'c watching our six."

"Indeed."

Jack stared longingly at the 'gate as Reynolds informed everyone he would go after Daniel and take Brightman with him, then Mooney and Jack himself were to follow and lastly Carter and Penhall. Personally, he thought it was going to get very crowded at that boulder but it wasn't like he had a better solution. Hopefully, nothing would go wrong and they could all just walk those last few meters to the 'gate without any trouble… yeah right, he thought to himself, rolling his eyes. When did anything ever go right?

It wasn't until Carter placed her hand on his fingers, which were tapping on his weapon that he realized he'd been fidgeting and stilled his movements. Now was not the time for distractions or fidgeting! He needed to focus! Jack shrugged off her hand with a small smile aimed her way so she wouldn't take it as an insult, and gripped his P90 in both hands all the while ignoring the ache in his arms. He watched as T dashed across the field at superhuman speed. Nothing happened and when he reached the safety of the boulder they all let out a collective sigh of relief. Bosworth turned to his CO and after a hushed conversation, he reached out for Daniel. The two of them sped off and while Daniel faltered about five meters in, they still made it to the relative safety of the boulder where Teal'c was waiting for them a few minutes later.

Jack was starting to feel better about the whole thing until Brightman and Reynolds crossed the open space… and a plasma bolt struck the ground a few feet behind them! A very feminine yelp of surprise sounded across the street but Reynolds determinedly dragged the Doc with him, shielding her body with his own much larger frame as best as he could. Two more bolts followed and while none hit the pair, Brightman did lose her footing, falling down to the grass. The SG-3 commander had barely pulled her up again or the spot of grass she'd been sitting on scorched away due to another hit.

Carter was returning cover fire, as was Teal'c but Jack suddenly didn't feel so good about it all when he heard Carter's breath hitch. "What? What is it, Carter?"

---

"There's twenty, maybe thirty Jaffa coming this way, Sir!" Sam yelled over her shoulder as she fired back.

"Oh crap, I was already wondering where the other dozen or so Jaffa had gone to," he muttered.

She saw General O'Neill grimace when he kneeled down and joined in the firefight, her arms shaking slightly at the power of her P90 while she hit two Jaffa. The aliens went down but it looked like three more took their place and she couldn't help but worry how many more Jaffa were coming their way from beyond the street corner. She cursed under her breath when she ran out of bullets and flattened herself against the wall to change the magazine. The General continued firing even though he looked like he'd fall over any minute now but Penhall distracted her from her concern with a loud "yes!", accompanied by a fist pump. Glancing in the man's direction she followed his line of sight and was relieved to see Colonel Reynolds and Doctor Brightman had reached safety.

Teal'c stood behind the boulder, aiding in the fight with his staff weapon while the Doctor sat hunched over on the ground, trying to catch her breath. Reynolds appeared to check on her but when she waved him off he joined Bosworth and Teal'c in returning fire. Sam was a bit concerned that she, General O'Neill, Penhall and Mooney still had to make their way across the clearing with so many Jaffa still standing but she knew there wasn't another option. She had vowed to herself to get the General home safely and her own team as well as SG-3 counted on her, too!

With the new ammo loaded she was about to participate in the firefight again when suddenly the General collapsed to the ground. "Sir!" She cried, immediately grabbing him by his shoulders to pull him further away from the weapons fire. "Penhall, take over," she ordered with a jerk of her head.

"Yes Ma'am," he replied, moving around her and taking up her previous position.

She kneeled down besides the General and checked for his pulse. "Sir?"

"Carter…"

"What happened, Sir?"

He shook his head and tried to sit up, pushing her hand away. "Tried to move back when a staff blast whizzed past… lost my balance," he admitted sheepishly.

She let out the breath she'd been holding and felt the tension flow out of her body. "Doctor Brightman told you not to make any sudden movements, Sir."

"Right, just let me inform those Jaffa so they can keep it in mind."

The reply was dripping with sarcasm but the effect was lost by his breathlessness and Sam felt her concern rise again. The Doctor had said his vitals were good enough for him to sit instead of getting strapped to a stretcher during their transport but he was still recovering and his blood pressure wasn't back to normal yet. Sam figured it was a good thing they were in the domed city where the temperature was much higher rather than outside in the freezing temperatures or his elevated heart rate and the adrenaline in his system could have adversely affected his vital organs with his body still exposed to the cold. But she didn't want to take any chances either because there was no way for, now, to check whether his core body temperature had returned to normal and the risks were gone…

God, this was all her fault! She should have insisted on staying in the cave for another day, until he had fully recovered from the hypothermia instead of dragging him through the cold again and ending up in a combat situation! All because she had been uncomfortable with the sudden onslaught of feelings his proximity had brought forward… She was risking his life and those of others because she couldn't keep her personal feelings separated from her job and Sam hated herself for it – she prided herself on her professionalism, despite her inappropriate feelings. Now, her decision-making had been influenced by those feelings and that mistake could end up costing their lives.

Her face must have betrayed her thoughts because the General suddenly reached out and squeezed her hand as he got to his feet. "I'm fine, Carter. Just don't have my reflexes back, I guess."

"Sir, we're going to have to cross the field soon-"

"I know," he cut her off, looking to where Reynolds and the others were waiting for them. "We can't risk those Jaffa circling around us or none of us will get out of here alive."

Struck by an idea Sam patted down her pockets, only to realize she was still wearing her anorak and her jacket was underneath it. "Lieutenant, do you have any grenades on you?"

Mooney was already nodding before she had finished her sentence. "Yes Ma'am, got four of those babies on me," he replied with a wide grin.

"Guess we're gonna blast us a way out of there then, eh?"

"Yes Sir," Sam said, beaming at her CO.

General O'Neill grinned back at her as he collected the grenades from the Lieutenant and she made her way over to Penhall, who had just taken cover again to change a magazine. He told her he had another three grenades and as she waited for him to get them from his vest which he was wearing underneath the foul weather gear, she signaled her intentions to Reynolds who smirked in response. Once everyone was in position she nodded to Teal'c who in turn fired a volley of staff blasts in quick succession and was joined by Sergeant Bosworth and Colonel Reynolds with their P90s, all drawing the attention of the enemy to themselves while Daniel and Doctor Brightman stayed in the cover of the boulder. As soon as the Jaffa fired back, Penhall peeked around the corner and gave her a thumbs-up with his free hand. She gestured for both the General and Lieutenant Mooney to get ready before silently counting to three, on which she and Penhall threw a grenade at the enemy forces simultaneously.

The moment they hit the ground and went off, the four of them were running towards the rest of their group. They tossed another two grenades while on the go and she could only hope that and the cover fire were enough to get them to the other side. When the General stumbled a few feet ahead of Sam her heart jumped into her throat but luckily Mooney was right there beside him, pulling him and dragging him along. Penhall threw his last grenade before she grabbed him by his arm, sparing a thought for the burn on his upper arm and urging him on when he lagged behind. When they were halfway to the boulder Colonel Reynolds tossed two grenades of his own to the Jaffa and Daniel joined in the firefight with his meager zat. The sight emboldened her and she picked up her pace, sprinting the last few meters to safety with Penhall on her six.

Sweat was trailing down her back by the time they reached safety and dove to the ground and she was winded when she rolled over her shoulder and sat up, ending up next to Teal'c's massive legs. Sam quickly surveyed her group, one hand still holding her P90 in a death grip and the last two grenades safely in her anorak's pockets; Mooney was fine, Penhall was gripping his injured arm and the General was nearly sprawled out onto the floor, his breathing labored and his face pinched in pain. Doctor Brightman was already checking on both injured men so Sam took the moment of reprieve to catch her breath, smiling tiredly at Teal'c when he saw down next to her.

"I am pleased to see you are well, Colonel Carter."

"You too, Teal'c," she said, patting his knee. "Thanks for covering my six."

He gave her a small grin and the relief was palpable in his eyes too as he looked at their little group. "You are most welcome."

Sam noticed his eyes lingering on their CO who was batting away the Doctor's hands and said, "General O'Neill will be fine once we get him home."

"Indeed."

The confidence with which he said it reassured her, as it had always done the past eight years. With a last smile aimed at him she turned to Colonel Reynolds, who had just finished giving Mooney and Bosworth orders to return fire. "Colonel?"

Reynolds dashed over to her, all the while ducking for cover and slid down on her other side, barely behind the boulder. "We've got a little problem, Colonel."

"Holy Hannah!" Following his line of sight she was stunned to see a small contingent of Jaffa surrounding the 'gate. There was about thirty meters between them but even if it had been less she wasn't sure how they could get past the actual Jaffa guarding the DHD and 'gate – their only way of getting home! They might have enough firepower – plus her two grenades and however many Reynolds and Bosworth had on them – to take them all out if they were lucky and didn't waste their ammo or got shot themselves, but by the time they would have crossed the distance the Jaffa on the other side of the boulder would have caught up with them already! "What… how–"

"Doesn't matter," he said, interrupting her. "We've got Jaffa on our six and in front of the 'gate with little actual cover in between us – and we're gonna run out of ammo soon."

General O'Neill leaned over, his face pale and he was sweating profoundly too. "Let's move, we're sitting ducks out here! No matter how bad or good those Jaffa are at handling a staff weapon, they'll probably manage to hit us at this distance with just a lucky shot!"

"Some of those large trees will provide sufficient shelter for one or two people," Teal'c added, pointing at various trees.

"We'll split up, same order as before," Colonel Reynolds barked.

She watched as the first few ran off, Daniel paired up with Bosworth again but this time Doctor Brightman went out on her own and managed to reach what looked like a ditch with some shrubbery in front of it to camouflage her. The General waited until Reynolds had found a tree of his own about ten meters away before he too sprinted off, with visible difficulty. Sam had no time to worry over him as she was keeping an eye on the Jaffa approaching them from the other direction, occasionally firing at them to keep them engaged and at a distance. Penhall was next, grimacing in pain over his injured arm no doubt and then it was just her and Mooney holding off the other Jaffa. "Go, Lieutenant!"

"Yes Ma'am," he said as he stopped firing, dropping to the ground to crawl around her.

From the corner of her eye she saw him move and the gunfire coming from her left reassured her that the others were laying down cover fire for him from the Jaffa at the 'gate. Once he was gone from her field of vision she grabbed a grenade from her pocket, pulled the pin and threw the explosive over the boulder in the direction of the enemy. It gave her a moment to search the field for a good cover and once her eyes landed on it, she didn't waste time and ran over, her P90 ready in her hands. Adrenaline was fueling her as her blood pumped through her body, and she easily passed by Daniel's hideout and even Doctor Brightman's Sam realized as she sprinted across the grass. She let the sound of gunfire guide her on her way, using it to pinpoint the positions of those she hadn't been able to follow all the way with her eyes.

There!

A big, sturdy log was lying about fifteen meters from the 'gate and it was the perfect cover for her! She sped up to reach it, trying to ignore her body's protest as she pushed her boundaries. In spite of the loud firefight her breathing sounded abnormally loud to her own ears and it was almost as if everything was happening in slow motion, she thought as she scanned her surroundings. Using her own weapon Sam fired at any Jaffa who even looked her way before he could aim his staff weapon in her direction. She caught a glimpse of the General's silver hair from behind a trunk when he stepped out to provide cover fire for her and she could now see Colonel Reynolds was even closer to the 'gate than her.

She could taste gunpowder on her lips as she neared the log and smiled, ducking even further before she was there to minimize the target for the Jaffa. However, something impacted on her torso before her knees hit the grass and it knocked her backwards, her head hitting the ground hard and her P90 smacking her in the face. "Oh God," she whimpered. Pain blossomed in her abdomen, her ears were ringing and she was starting to see spots in her vision.

"Carter!"

Still holding her weapon, Sam turned her head to the left from where she thought she'd heard her name. Her eyes widened when she realized it was General O'Neill and she tried to protest, wanting to tell him not to break cover for her but then he was already running towards her, heedless of the firefight around them. Miraculously, he managed not to get hit and was suddenly at her side, his face haunted as he reached out for her. "Sir…"

"Hush, Carter," he said, momentarily indecisive before he slipped his hands under her arms. "We need cover."

"Ow!" The way he dragged her away only made the pain worse and she could feel her meager breakfast coming up as the black spots intensified. "Get… to the 'gate… Sir."

He grimaced when he fell to her knees beside her and wiped at his forehead. "In a minute. We'll both go."

"No… you."

"We don't leave our people behind, Carter."

Her face must have betrayed her because he shifted so her head was resting on his lap and he helped her turn away to throw up. The heaving made it feel as if her abdomen was being torn apart and Sam had to fight to stay conscious as he used his sleeve to clean her lips. "Sir…"

"It's okay, don't talk."

She reached out with her free hand and he took it. "I still… have another grenade… in my pocket…"

He laughed but even to Sam it sounded choked. She wanted to say something but it was too much effort and the pain was unbearable… but then the spots and the pain were gone and everything was dark…

Chapter Text

Voarios
Milky Way Galaxy

"Carter?" Jack stared down at her pale face, her head resting in his lap. "Carter?!" Panic clawed at his insides when she didn't respond and he quickly tried to undo her anorak to feel for a pulse. His hands were shaking but after some fumbling he managed to slip his fingers between the layers of fabric bunched around her neck. It seemed to take forever for him to find her pulse as his fingers pressed against her clammy skin but finally he found it, rapid but weak. "Oh, thank God," he muttered in relief.

He took a moment to get his own racing heart under control before he turned towards her actual injury. She had been hit in the abdomen and from what he'd seen it was full impact, not a grazing shot with the way she had been thrown back or the damage to her body. Her anorak and the layers of clothing underneath were scorched around the edges of the large wound and while there was still some remaining fabric covering her skin, he could definitely smell the burnt flesh. There wasn't any visible blood because of the cauterizing nature of the blast but there was a good chance she was bleeding internally; he'd seen the damage those things could do and damn it, but it didn't look good.

"Why did you have to go and get yourself shot," Jack muttered angrily as he started to further unbutton her anorak. He had to get a better look at her wound and while the battlefield wasn't the best location for it, he knew she needed medical attention right away. Grimacing, he carefully pulled away the parka and did the same for the foul-weather jacket she wore underneath. Both were sticking to her burnt flesh and suddenly he was grateful that she was unconscious as he had to tug on the clothing items and in doing so, probably caused even more damage. Her long sleeve shirt was stuck too, although some of it had come off with the jacket and he had to force himself to lift the hem and bunch it up under her breasts to expose the injury and thereby ripping even more skin loose. Under normal circumstances fabric shouldn't be pulled from burn injuries but according to the scientists at the SGC it was a different case for plasma burns, so Jack knew what to do.

He had to look away briefly and take a quick intake of breath when he reached her thermal underwear, its white fabric half melted to her ravaged and already blistering skin and it was scorched around the edges of the horrific burn. Without surgical gloves he couldn't touch the injury because it could transfer harmful bacteria to Carter's damaged skin, so he grabbed his knife to cut away the thermal shirt around the wound and roll it up to expose the rest of her abdomen. The smell of burnt flesh was making Jack nauseous and while it was reassuring to see Carter's chest rise and fall, the fact that her breathing was labored and her pulse rapid yet thready told him she was going into shock.

God, if they didn't get her to the infirmary soon she might die out here! He had no idea what he could do to help her without a med kit and anxiously patted his pockets, hoping someone had had the presence of mind to transfer some of the basic medical supplies they carried in their vests to his anorak because he certainly hadn't thought of it! He had been far too preoccupied with thoughts of Carter and the night they'd spent together this morning to think about checking his pockets when he got dressed. Hell, he didn't even know what had happened to the BDUs and vest he'd been wearing when the search and rescue team found him under the ice. In one of his pockets he found some bandages and gauze, hoping those would be enough to cover her extensive injury until they could get her to the infirmary.

"God damn it!" Jack yelled, tempted to hit something when he realized he didn't even have water on him to clean the wound before bandaging it. Where the hell was the Doc anyway? He tore his gaze away from the gaping hole in Carter's abdomen and quickly checked her pulse again, his heart aching at the sight of her lifeless, pale face. From his hunched position behind the log he couldn't get a good look at the firefight still going on around them, not without giving his and Carter's position away to the enemy and he had no idea where Brightman had ended up taking cover. "Just hang in there a bit longer, Carter," he muttered as he removed his fingers from her neck. Grabbing the radio still attached to Carter's parka he unclipped it and used it to contact the others. "SG-1-niner is down, I repeat, SG-1-niner is down! We need a medic ASAP!"

Reynolds was the first to respond and Jack patiently waited for the man to give instructions to his people to basically escort Brightman to where Jack was watching over Carter. In the meantime, Jack placed the gauze on the burn wound as best he could and loosely covered it with the bandages, knowing Brightman would have to remove it anyway to check it out but at the same time he didn't want to contaminate it any further. After that he moved back up and reached for Carter's head, gently examining the back of it for any bumps and lumps from her fall. There was one big lump hidden in her hair and his fingers came back wet, glistening with traces of blood. He didn't have time to worry though, as Reynolds and Brightman were calling him on the radio again to ask for his location which he readily supplied.

Cradling Carter's head in his lap, Jack took up a defensive position again with his P90 resting in his hands and his eyes scanning the surroundings. Carter getting injured was just about the worst thing he could have imagined and he certainly wasn't going to give those Jaffa a chance to take out Brightman or the others! Until they managed to clear the path to the 'gate there wouldn't be any help for Carter aside from the Doc, so he couldn't have something happen to her too! He couldn't hear Carter's labored breathing over the sounds of gunfire and staff blasts but from the corner of his eyes he could see the erratic movement of the unscathed part of her pale abdomen, which reassured him she was still alive – for now.

After a minute or two he saw movement in the trees at nine o'clock and he tensed, his finger idly caressing the trigger guard and ready to shoot if it was a hostile. Much to his relief it was Sergeant Bosworth poking his head out rather than one of the enemy Jaffa. Jack could hear a staff weapon being fired nearby, to his right but it sounded like it was cover fire for Bosworth who was supposed to bring the Doc to Carter so he figured that was Teal'c. After all, T had only been a couple of meters away from him when Carter had gotten shot and while Jack had more or less blindly run towards her, he'd heard Teal'c and Penhall cover his six as he passed both of them. Reluctantly, Jack moved Carter's unconscious form to the ground, carefully lowering her head as not to aggravate her injury and signaled Bosworth to come forward while he lay down cover fire.

Jack's head was nearly blown off when he turned around to fire over the log covering him and Carter, but another staff blast – Teal'c, no doubt – took care of the only Jaffa with good aim, so Jack immediately let out a spray of bullets aimed the guy's friends and watched them go down with immense satisfaction. Those bastards would pay for what they did to Carter, Grogan, Mansfield and all those Voari they'd killed! Right now, he didn't give a crap about whether or not these were the same Jaffa responsible for killing his friends and severely injuring the woman he loved; in his mind they were at least indirectly responsible for following whichever Goa'uld they worshiped and attacking this planet, when they could have easily defected and joined Teal'c's rebel pals!

Jack ducked as another lucky shot whizzed past him and took the opportunity to reload his magazine while keeping an eye on Bosworth's approach. He heard gunfire on his right where Penhall was most likely taking cover when he spotted Daniel and the Doc trailing behind Bosworth. "I've got eyes on the Doc," he said into his radio, "a little diversion would be nice."

"Working on it, Sir," Reynolds replied in a low tone.

He nodded automatically and after another brief glance at Carter's limp form, he turned back around and joined in the fight. Hopefully that would give Reynolds enough time to pull off whatever he had planned to draw the attention away from the three people trying to cross a rather open area to reach Carter and him. It took only a minute or two before there was a big explosion on the other side of the field, closer to the 'gate and where Reynolds was taking cover behind a large tree. Jack grinned as most of the Jaffa turned towards where the grenade had landed and quickly ducked behind the log again, not wanting to draw them back again by firing when it wasn't necessary – and he couldn't afford to waste ammo either. He signaled for Bosworth to continue and was pleased to see the Sergeant guide Daniel and Brightman – both armed with their zats, but not firing – his way.

The Doc was all business when she kneeled next to Carter and quickly slipped on some gloves – he was relieved to see she was carrying her special pack, filled with goodies from the infirmary. Sergeant Bosworth immediately slipped to the other end of the log to keep an eye out on the Jaffa who were being distracted by Reynolds and the others and nodded to Jack to indicate he'd take over for a while. On one hand, Jack wanted to be there with Carter but on the other hand, he knew that keeping everyone safe was his job and if he failed at that then it didn't really matter whether or not he'd been at Carter's side because they'd all be dead. Still, he figured he could take a minute to reassure himself she was going to be fine while Bosworth was on guard.

"What can you tell me, General?"

He shifted to get closer to Doctor Brightman and Carter's unconscious body, watching as the Doc started taking her vitals. "Well, obviously she got hit in the abdomen by a staff blast. I saw her go down… she was thrown back by the impact. It took me maybe two minutes to reach her–"

"Was she conscious?"

"Yeah, for a little while. She was responsive and in pain but still managed to speak before she threw up and passed out." Jack continued to recount the results of his brief exam, swallowing hard when Brightman removed the bandages while Daniel shone his flashlight at the area – it was a gruesome sight now that they weren't working in their own shadows anymore and considering the visible extent of the damage to Carter's insides, Jack was almost surprised he couldn't see the ground through the hole in her abdomen.

The light shook when Daniel swayed, his face pale and eyes wide. "Oh my God, it's Janet all over again!"

"Shut up, Daniel!" Jack yelled, angrily reaching for the flashlight himself and pushing the archeologist out of the way. He didn't need any reminding of how bad Carter's situation was or what the consequences of her life-threatening injuries might be. "Make yourself useful and help Bosworth."

Brightman didn't say anything when Daniel hurriedly moved away but she did flash him a look of understanding before she leaned over Carter's torso again and started probing the area. "Did she specify what hurt the most, Sir?"

"Uh, no," he said, trying to ignore the smell of burnt flesh. "Everywhere?"

"Was she moving?"

Jack racked his brain, immediately understanding the Doctor's concern for paralysis considering how deep the injury was. "Yeah, yeah, she moved her arm and grabbed, uh, my hand. She didn't mention being unable to move or anything like that."

"I'm going to need to check the extent of her injuries," Brightman said after treating the burnt skin and covering the wound with bandages to soak up the blood that was now starting to flow freely again. "Help me turn her over, Sir. I need to make sure there isn't an exit wound, otherwise she could bleed out without us noticing."

He was silently wondering what had happened to the 'cauterizing nature' of the staff blast that Fraiser had always been telling them about while grabbing a hold of Carter's shoulder and hip. Bosworth joined them to steady Carter's head by holding her neck, all the while looing extremely ill at ease – and Jack suddenly remembered the Sergeant had been there with Wells and Fraiser too the day Fraiser died on 666. "Ready?"

"Yes Sir."

The Doc watched as they turned Carter over and then grabbed Jack's abandoned flashlight to examine her back. "No visible external damage, that's good. I'd say the Colonel was lucky but…" She shrugged and signaled for them to lower her again, her gaze immediately back to Carter's abdomen. "I'm going to need some bandages and an IV kit to help stabilize her."

Before Jack could do anything Bosworth had already reached into the pack and retrieved the requested items, handing them over before looking at him. "Sir, with your permission…"

"Go," he said, knowing the Sergeant would much rather be on guard and watching his team's six than have to witness what had already happened to his former teammate a year ago. "Doc?"

"I don't know, Sir," Brightman said without looking up. "There's only so much I can do for her here."

He sat back and ran a hand through his hair, his eyes on Carter's pale face. Even in her unconscious state her face was scrunched up as if in pain. Some of her golden locks were tinged red from her head wound so he reached for some supplies himself and made himself useful by cleaning the wound and wrapping it up as best he could without stitches, while Brightman focused on the hole in her abdomen. Once he was finished, he grabbed the radio and requested a sit rep from Reynolds.

"We're officially out of grenades, Sir," the full bird replied. "I'm not sure how much longer we can keep them occupied as our ammo is running low…"

Jack exchanged worried glances with Bosworth, who indicated that he too was running out of bullets just like Jack himself. "So, we're gonna need a distraction to distract them from the distraction?"

"And some extra ammo, Sir," Reynolds said without missing a beat. "Mooney is trying to get around them by coming up behind the 'gate and Teal'c will make a run for the DHD."

"Okay. Brightman's doing her magic but she doesn't know how long Carter can hang in there," he said. "We need to get her to the infirmary, ASAP."

Bursts of gunfire could be heard from the other side of the field before Reynolds spoke again, sounding breathless. "Understood, Sir."

Jack had moved over to Daniel and Bosworth, leaving the Doc to take care of Carter and he was about to reply into his radio when suddenly the 'gate activated with a familiar kawoosh! "All right, Teal'c! Excellent timing!"

However, Teal'c interrupted his whooping, "I am not responsible for the activation of the stargate, O'Neill."

"Teal'c is still a few meters away from the DHD, Sir," Penhall supplied, pausing briefly. "I don't see anyone else near it either, though."

The frown on Daniel's face immediately cleared and he grinned at Jack. "Someone else must have dialed in!"

"Ya think?" Jack said, suppressing the urge to roll his eyes.

It was Bosworth who asked the important question of his CO, though. "Friend or foe, Sir?"

Daniel's smile dimmed with the realization that a 'gate activation could also mean even more hostile Jaffa joining the fight. "Oh boy."

"Don't know yet," Reynolds said over the radio, "we've got a visual on the 'gate but nothing is happening. The Jaffa look surprised, though."

"That's a good sign," Bosworth muttered to himself, to which Daniel made a so-so gesture with his hand.

Jack ignored the two of them and exchanged anxious looks with Doctor Brightman before his attention was drawn back to Carter, lying helplessly on the somewhat blood-soaked ground with her scorched clothes in tatters and bulky white-ish bandaged wrapped around her waist. Two IV bags had somehow been rigged to one of the log's branches and inserted into Carter's hand, supplying her with fluids and probably painkillers and antibiotics but he knew that might not be enough to keep her alive. The look in the Doc's eyes as well as experience told him as much. He was torn between scooting over to where she lay unconscious, knowing she could be gone within the hour and staying put next to Daniel and Bosworth, ready to defend both women should it come to that.

A soft crackle from their radios followed by a familiar voice prevented him from having to choose. "SG-3-niner this is Stargate Command, please report," Colonel Raimi said.

"Stargate Command this is SG-3-niner," Reynolds replied, "we've got SG-1 and the General with us, but the Jaffa are holding the 'gate. I repeat: the Jaffa are holding the 'gate."

Unable to take the tense silence and knowing every second counted for Carter, Jack used his radio. "This is O'Neill; SG-1-niner is down and needs immediate medical assistance."

"Copy that General," Raimi said. "We'll have a med team standing by."

"The OR needs to be prepped and Doctor Warner should be scrubbed in by the time we get there, Colonel," Brightman cut in, one bloodied hand grasping her radio.

Jack's heart thudded loudly at the woman's tone, the urgency and panicked glance at Carter speaking volumes. His own gaze was riveted on his former 2IC and he vaguely heard Raimi and Reynolds in the distance, coordinating an attack over the radio to give them the upper hand against the Jaffa. Only when the two full birds mentioned using a laser-targeting device for a guided missile attack did he step in, interrupting their conversation brusquely. "There's no time for that and you'd probably blow us up too at this distance. Have two teams gear up and throw a couple of grenades into the wormhole on Reynolds' instructions before sending them through. Then, once we've cleaned up the place, we'll give the word for the medics to come through to retrieve Carter."

"Yes Sir!"

Leaving Reynolds to discuss the details with Raimi, Jack scooted over to Brightman and Carter. The Doctor's gloves and part of her anorak were covered in blood and there was a bunch of used bandages and other medical stuff lying around her from her attempts to stop the bleeding. Her pack was lying on its side, most of its content fallen out and slightly scattered around from her blindly rummaging through it as evidenced by the smears of blood on some of the items. However, it seemed the young woman's efforts had paid off because when he leaned in he could hear Carter's breathing – albeit labored – and her waist was wrapped up in more bandages, clean white ones as opposed to the blood-soaked ones he'd last seen on her. Her coloring appeared to have improved as well, probably due to the IV fluids. Or maybe he'd just gotten used to that ashen color and lifeless lips? "How is she, Doc?"

"I don't know, Sir," Brightman replied, shrugging helplessly. "I've done everything I can for her but what she really needs is a sterile OR and a surgeon like Doctor Warner."

"She'll hang in there," he said, trying to believe it himself. "You hear me, Carter? You've got to hang in there for a bit longer. The cavalry will be here any minute now."

The Doc looked away, as if trying to give him some privacy and started picking up the discarded medical items. "We nearly lost her, Sir. She's not out of the woods yet."

Tearing his gaze from Carter's pale face, he narrowed his eyes at the Doctor. "I know, but she'll make it. She will."

"I'm just trying to warn you that she's nowhere near stabilized. Even the trip back can send her into shock or cardiac arrest again."

"Jack!" Daniel hissed, scooting over to them, his eyes darting from Carter to Jack as if unsure he really wanted to see his friend's unconscious form. "Colonel Raimi says the teams are in the gate room."

He nodded, swallowing against the sudden anxiety he felt; they were going home damn it, and everything would be fine! "Okay. Daniel you stay here with the Doc and Carter. Ack! I don't want to hear it, the Doc may need to attend to Carter and if she does, someone's got to watch her back. That someone is you. Bosworth and I will try to keep the Jaffa away from you but you never know… get your zat and focus!"

The orders had barely left his mouth or he heard Reynolds giving the go ahead over the radio and they all got into position, waiting for the inevitable blast. Five seconds later the event horizon rippled and half a dozen of grenades were tossed through, landing exactly at the feet of various groups of Jaffa as per Reynolds' instructions. The Jaffa didn't even have time to realize what was going on because as soon as the explosives hit the ground they went off with a loud bang!

Jack winced at the noise and cries of surprise or pain but kept his P90 aimed at the enemy. All the Jaffa standing between them and the 'gate had sought out cover much like them, but every group had been hit by a grenade. Lots of sand and grass went up, obscuring their vision but Jack was pretty sure he also saw a limb or two flying through the air. He squinted, trying to keep track of any fleeing or attacking Jaffa as he fingered his trigger guard; they were extremely low on ammo and he couldn't afford to waste any. Bosworth had taken Carter's P90 after running out of ammo and had handed him a spare magazine, but the rest of SG-3 was probably onto their last.

Suddenly, the sound of gunfire erupted and although Jack couldn't see where it came from, he could tell there were more than a handful of P90s being fired which meant the teams had come through the 'gate! He exchanged quick grins with Bosworth who went on to explain it to Daniel and the Doc, while he tried to narrow down everyone's position. The top of the 'gate could still be seen but that was about it. Off to his eight o'clock were the trees where Teal'c and Penhall had been taking cover before he'd gone after Carter, but he wasn't entirely sure where they were now; Teal'c was supposed to go to the DHD before the SGC had dialed in and Jack really didn't want to accidentally shoot his friend after mistaking him for a different Jaffa, so he kept scanning the area with his eyes.

His radio crackled before Major Altman's voice came through. "SG-3-niner, Stargate Command: this is SG-5-niner; we've cleared the 'gate."

"We will be approaching you from your two o'clock, SG-5," Reynolds responded, "SG-3-niner out."

Jack grabbed his radio and barked into it. "Secure the area and get your six over here, ASAP."

There was a chorus of "Yes Sir" in response and while it seemed to take forever, it was a few minutes later that Teal'c appeared on the other side of the log and greeted them. "O'Neill, SG-21 is securing the perimeter. How is Colonel Carter faring?"

"Not so good, T," he said, beckoning him over. "SG-5 taking care of loose ends?"

"Indeed."

Nodding, he carefully rose from behind his cover and stretched his aching legs. The debris from the explosions had cleared for the most part, leaving only dead bodies or parts of them in the last few meters towards the 'gate. He saw Altman and his men checking for survivors while Penhall and Mooney stood near the DHD. "All clear, Reynolds?"

"Yes Sir."

Letting out a deep breath, Jack allowed himself to relax a bit. "Send the med team through, Raimi, and get that OR ready."

There was a crackle of static before the Colonel replied. "Yes Sir. Stargate Command out."

"Daniel, get over there. I want you to dial Earth as soon as they disengage." He watched as the archeologist took off without a word, knowing Daniel would only get in the way of the medics or be reminded of what happened on 666 with Fraiser if he hung around Carter at the moment. "Teal'c, I want you to join SG-21 and make sure none of those other Jaffa remain on our six."

"Very well."

Jack kneeled next to Carter's unconscious form, slipping his hand into her collar to check her pulse for himself. It was still weak but not as erratic as before, which was a good sign. Doctor Brightman shared a smile with him but was soon distracted when the other medics came through and got up to her feet to greet them with all the relevant information. "You hear that, Carter?" He whispered, letting his finger caress the soft skin of her neck before removing his hand, "the medics are here to prep you for transport. We'll be at the SGC in no time. You've just got to hang in there for a little bit longer, okay? When Warner has fixed you up you can kick my ass for being such an idiot and nearly getting you killed, but you've got to hang in there to be able to do so. So, don't even think of dying on me, Colonel."

"General," Doctor Brightman said, grabbing his shoulder, "we need some space to get her on the stretcher."

"Uh yeah," he cleared his throat and pushed off the ground, "sure. Go ahead. We've got to get her to the infirmary right away."

Chapter Text

Stargate Command
Colorado Springs, CO

As soon as the nurse went back to her station Jack started to remove all the blankets they'd piled atop of him. Doctor Carmichael had insisted on getting him additional treatment for his severe hypothermia but Jack was pretty sure he was back to normal, or at least close enough for him to get out of that damn bed. He'd been on his feet for over two hours, including a firefight with a bunch of Jaffa, and he hadn't dropped dead yet, so he really doubted his condition would get worse now that he was finally back at the SGC. The time in the dome had also warmed him up considerably, not just because of the warmer temperatures but also his exertion and the panicking over Carter's condition. Even Carmichael had had to admit his core temperature was good enough and his blood pressure seemed to have stabilized as well.

Jack didn't have the patience to lie around in bed while Doctor Warner was operating on Carter only a few feet down the corridor. Realistically, he knew it wouldn't make any difference as to where he was while she was in the OR, but he wanted to be there in the hallway the moment Warner came out, instead of having to rely on someone coming down to tell him any news in person. Besides, he didn't want to disturb any of the other patients, among them Conner, Ferretti and Doctor Danmark who were all still recuperating from the mission too. When he, SG-3, SG-1 and Doc Brightman had returned from Voarios and undergone their post-mission exams they had woken up many of their colleagues, most of whom were exhausted and in pain and needed their sleep.

He grimaced when he had finally escaped the layers of blankets and the cool air hit his bare legs; the nurses had taken his clothes away, probably hoping to keep him bed-bound when wearing nothing but a hospital gown and skivvies. However, Jack had spent far too much time in the infirmary these past eight years to not know where he could get a pair of scrubs and slipped out of bed, taking a moment to steady himself by grabbing his IV pole and making his way to the supply closet. He decided against taking off the gown as it would require removing his IV and inserting it again, which could leave a bit of a mess or at least give the nurses enough time to locate him, and simply put on some scrub pants and grabbed a warm blanket just in case.

For a moment he feared someone might rat him out but all the patients appeared to still be asleep and the only nurses between him and the exit were huddled together while going over someone's file. Doctor Carmichael was nowhere to be seen so he took his chance and snuck out. The floor was cold to his bare feet but he ignored it and tried to move as soundlessly as possible with the darn IV pole in tow. He didn't want to abandon it as he knew he needed the meds – his head was already throbbing and his newly wrapped ribs ached with every deep breath or sigh. He made it into the corridor without anyone apparently noticing and smirked to himself, straightening a little as he made his way to where he suspected Daniel and Teal'c were already waiting.

Jack only encountered a few SFs who did their best not to look surprised at the base commander walking around the base on bare feet, wearing a hospital gown and scrub pants with a blanket draped around him and pulling an IV pole along – he just gave them a cursory nod in greeting. The hallway leading to the OR was just around the corner and about the closest thing one could get to without entering the OR, but he was already beginning to feel the strain of his injuries. The adrenalin had clearly left his system and now that they had left the battlefield behind, exhaustion was creeping up on him and he knew it was due to getting Carter to safety and in the best possible hands. Just a few more steps…

By the time he laid eyes on Daniel and Teal'c, both seated and looking anxious, he was ready to collapse so he plopped himself down on one of the empty chairs. The movement jarred his ribs but he paid them no mind and instead turned to his friends. "Any word yet?"

"Nothing has transpired since Doctor Warner took Colonel Carter into surgery, O'Neill," Teal'c said.

"But that was over two hours ago," Jack complained, scowling at the door at the end of the corridor.

Daniel shrugged and cast a glance at his watch. "Almost three hours, actually." He sounded faintly surprised at how much time had passed and crossed his arms, hunching over slightly. "That's good, right? I mean, Janet was just… gone. At least we know Sam is still hanging in there."

"For now."

"Don't be so morbid, Jack!"

He couldn't help himself, though. His mind kept conjuring up the worst possible scenarios after seeing Brightman work on the gaping hole in Carter's abdomen before the medics loaded her unconscious form onto a gurney! God, she had been so pale and lifeless! When he closed his eyes he could still feel her thready pulse where his fingers had rested on her clammy skin and how the strength had left the hand that had been holding his in a death grip when she lost consciousness. Her strangled cry of pain was still ringing in his ears… Shaking himself, Jack let out a deep breath as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm just being realistic, Daniel. You barely looked at her but I saw the damage that staff blast did – all the way down to her insides, for crying out loud!"

"Colonel Carter is a strong warrior and she has much to live for," Teal'c said solemnly, his voice steady but his concern was audible to those who knew him well.

"So did Fraiser," Jack muttered as he stared at the floor. "Didn't help her much."

There was a moment of silence as they all took in his words. "Oh God, what about Cassandra," Daniel said softly, "if Sam doesn't…"

Jack grimaced, the thought already having crossed his mind on the battlefield as he tried to keep Carter alive. How was he supposed to look the alien girl in the eye and tell her what had happened to Carter, just a year after the Doc had been killed in similar circumstances? If Carter died, Cassie wouldn't have a mother figure left and it was all his fault! If he hadn't been so eager to go off-world again…

"Doctor Warner is a skilled surgeon and he will ensure Colonel Carter survives."

"That doesn't mean Cassandra won't be affected by this, though," Daniel said, looking at the Jaffa.

"She should have been wearing her damn vest," Jack muttered to himself. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration as he glanced up at his friends and spoke up. "Why the hell wasn't she wearing her vest? Now she might die because she didn't have her vest insert on! If she'd been wearing the damn thing then she wouldn't be in there right now!"

Teal'c reached out and grabbed his shoulder, pushing him back down in his seat to prevent him from getting up. "We do not know that for certain, O'Neill. Was it not you who pointed out its flaws after Doctor Fraiser's death?"

"He's right," Daniel said, "we have no way of knowing whether Sam would have been fine or not if she'd been wearing her vest insert. None of us were wearing our vests. You weren't wearing your vest, Jack!"

In the back of his mind Jack knew he was being irrational and the frown on his friend's face told him he felt the same way but still he went on. "Yeah well, if you remember I was hardly in good shape on that planet. Someone should have thought about those damn vests."

"Right, so it's Sam's fault she's dying in that OR right now? After all, she was in command of the mission. Or maybe you'd prefer to blame Colonel Reynolds for not ordering us to wear our vests before leaving the cave this morning?"

"Of course not," he said angrily, "I-"

Daniel ignored his reply and simply continued. "There was a good reason we didn't wear vests or the inserts; we could barely move in those bulky outfits!"

"It would not have been tactical to wear them," Teal'c added solemnly.

"Exactly," the archeologist said, waving his finger as if to emphasize the point made. "We would have to take off our parkas to be able to use the radio and everything else attached to the vest! Not to mention how much more difficult it would be to move around with the vest beneath the anorak – we probably wouldn't have been able to evade those Jaffa with such limited movement!"

Jack glared at him and gestured in the direction of the OR. "Well, Carter still didn't manage to evade their staff blasts, now did she?"

"Oh, so you would rather we all would have risked getting injured or killed by wearing the vests?" Daniel's voice had risen an octave and he was clearly agitated but forced to remain seated by his injured knee. "With a vest on Sam could have been injured even worse!"

"The vests combined with the foul-weather gear would have slowed us down tremendously, O'Neill. We would have been much easier targets for the enemy and there is no guarantee Colonel Carter would have remained unharmed wearing one."

The conviction with which Teal'c spoke penetrated Jack's irrational thoughts and after taking a deep breath, he went over their arguments again in his head and could almost hear Carter chime in, mention something about probabilities and basically tell him he knew she was right in that way she had while still managing to sound respectful of his rank. Realistically, he knew the vest inserts had been improved since their introduction and the death of Doc Fraiser, but those changes and the addition of a back panel also meant the vests were bulkier nowadays. They offered more protection and while the extra weight was negligent, they could hinder the wearer when they had to move fast, especially when also wearing a heavy pack – or in this case, bulky gear. Glancing at his friends, he gave a reluctant nod to let them know they were right and turned his thoughts back inwards.

If the damn vest or lack thereof wasn't responsible for Carter lying in that OR then there was only one reason: him.

Jack grimaced as he realized it all came down to him; if he hadn't let his guard down during the festivities then the Jaffa wouldn't have had the element of surprise – let alone gotten the upper hand in the ensuing fight. In retrospect it was clear he should have listened to Carter before going off-world and taken an extra team with him, just to be on the safe side but he had been too excited to go through the 'gate again. He'd figured more than one team for backup as CO of SG-1 had been enough and nothing had changed now that he was the base commander… except Grogan, Mansfield and now Carter ended up paying the price for his stubbornness and pride!

"Sam is going to be fine," Daniel said, interrupting his train of thought, "you'll see."

The statement would have been reassuring if it hadn't been said in such a hopeful tone or, Jack decided as he glanced in his friend's direction, with such a worried expression. Teal'c wasn't faring much better; he wasn't visibly injured or bandaged up, but upon closer examination the concern on the Jaffa's face was plain to see for those who knew him. "They've been in there for over three hours," Jack needlessly reminded his friends. He clenched his fists as the image of the gaping hole in Carter's abdomen came to his mind unbidden and all he could think of was the damage done to her and how pale she'd looked on that planet. How could Warner even start to fix that mess? It wasn't as if the man had a magic wand he could wave around to magically restore her back to health…

Jack scrubbed a hand over his face and tried to calm down, but the gesture only reminded him of Carter's injuries as he spotted traces of dried blood on his skin. Damn, he should have washed his hands. The nurses had taken his dirty clothes away but he'd been so focused on Carter that he hadn't even thought to clean himself up before slipping out of the infirmary. Unable to look away, he scowled at his hands as he turned them over and studied the blood in morbid fascination. Carter's blood. All of a sudden, he wanted it gone and started to furiously rub at the skin, ignoring the pain shooting up from where his IV entered the back of his hand.

"Jack," Daniel suddenly reached out and grabbed his hands. "Jack, stop it. You'll hurt yourself."

Looking up, he realized his friend had moved closer and was looking at him with concern in his eyes. Blue eyes, like Carter. "It's her blood," he whispered, glancing back at his hands.

"I know, but if you keep it up you'll either rip out your IV or damage your hand – maybe both."

"I don't care," he snapped, pulling away and resorting to using his nails to scrape off the dried blood.

A moment of tense silence descended upon the corridor with the only sound being the rubbing of skin and scraping of nails, until Teal'c spoke up.

"You are not responsible for what transpired on Voarios or Colonel Carter's current condition, O'Neill."

Jack's head snapped up at the statement and for a moment he just stared unbelievingly at the Jaffa. "Of course I am! It was my mission and I screwed it up. She was only there to save my sorry ass! If it weren't for me, she wouldn't have a hole the size of a baseball glove in her stomach right now!"

"Technically, we were all there to retrieve you, Ferretti and SG-9." Daniel shrugged when he glared at him and raised his hands defensively. "I'm just saying, it wasn't all about you…"

"Gee, thanks for reminding me, because I'd almost forgotten Grogan and Mansfield died and Ferretti, Conner and Doctor Danmark are still recuperating in the infirmary," he said sarcastically. "Christ Daniel, I almost got all of SG-9 killed!"

The archeologist was quiet then but Teal'c slowly and purposely unfolded his large frame from his chair and came to stand in front of him. "You saved the lives of three of our own from an unexpected attack by a previously unknown enemy, O'Neill. You did all you could to keep them safe and you succeeded in bringing them home relatively unharmed."

"'Relatively unharmed'," Jack muttered to himself, refusing to look up at his friend. "Ferretti's got a broken leg that will take weeks if not months to heal, Conner is barely stable and Danmark nearly lost her arm from that death glider attack!" Angry, he pushed to his feet and waved wildly in the direction of the OR, heedless of his blanket dropping to the floor or the pain in ribs. "And Carter might not make it! If I hadn't been there, she wouldn't have gotten shot!"

Teal'c clasped his shoulder in a reassuring manner and looked him in the eye. "Had you not been there, all of SG-9 and Colonel Ferretti might have perished."

"Not to mention the Voari would have all been killed," Daniel added.

He huffed but let the Jaffa push him back into his seat as he became aware of his aching ribs and glanced at his two friends once he was seated. "We don't even know if any Voari survived. They didn't want to leave the dome with us."

Daniel reached out and handed him his fallen blanket. "At least you tried. Who knows, some may have been able to escape the domed city before the transport system was destroyed. We'll know more once HWS gives permission to send a couple of teams back to the planet…"

"Regardless of the fate of the Voari, Colonel Carter would have mounted a rescue mission when you and SG-9 failed to return home," Teal'c said. "Had you not been there, she would still have insisted on retrieving the team and Colonel Ferretti."

Jack sighed, recognizing the certainty in both his friends even if he did not feel the same. They could tell him all day long that none of this was his fault but that didn't mean it was true; he was all too familiar with the darkness gnawing at his heart to not recognize it as guilt. Guilt over his irresponsibility and inability to bring all his people home unharmed. Guilt over nearly getting her killed. That should have been him in the OR, not her. She was supposed to get married in a couple of weeks and get the normal life she deserved after everything she'd done the past eight years, but instead she was fighting for her life on a cold table after getting hit by a stray staff blast!

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps and hope flared briefly, until he realized they were coming from the other direction. After a few seconds the person to whom the footsteps belonged turned the corner and Jack winced when he recognized Doctor Brightman. Had she come here to chase him back to the infirmary? Upon closer examination he realized she didn't have her doctor's coat on and was still wearing her rumpled BDUs on from their recent mission. As a matter of fact, there wasn't anything suggesting she was on duty at the moment which made him relax slightly – at least she couldn't use her position as acting CMO to order him back. "Doc."

"General O'Neill," she replied. Her eyes narrowed in disapproval as she took in his appearance, her gaze lingering on the IV pole before she glanced at Daniel's leg and shook her head. "Doctor Jackson, I believe you weren't supposed to walk around with that leg of yours."

Daniel blushed and, subconsciously, placed his hand on his knee and rubbed it absentmindedly. "Technically, I was told to get plenty of rest and keep my weight off the knee. They didn't tell me where."

"Doctor Brightman," Teal'c said, pre-empting her reply, "how are you faring?"

"I'm fine, thank you."

"Yeah, you don't look so hot, Doc," Jack said simultaneously, noticing the wariness radiating off her. "Take a load off."

She held her tongue and reluctantly sat down on the chair he indicated, obviously assuming it was more of an order than a suggestion. "Changing the subject won't make me forget that you and Doctor Jackson aren't supposed to be here, Sir."

He briefly patted her shoulder before leaning back in his chair. "Hey, you did a good job and got all of us back alive, now it's time to relax and get some rest. No offense, but you look awful."

"Thank you, Sir." She appeared pleased with the compliment and ignored the comment about her appearance, studying him from the corner of her eye. "You were the one who got us back safely, though. Sir."

Jack snorted in disbelief. "You, Carter and the boys," he referred to his former teammates as well as SG-3, "saved our sixes on that planet. If it hadn't been for you, Conner and I'd be popsicles by now and Ferretti and Danmark probably wouldn't be doing any better. Then you risked your neck again to retrieve SG-1 and me the next day, even though you barely have any field experience – and if you hadn't come, Carter wouldn't still be alive…"

Brightman pushed a stray lock of hair out of her face and glanced in the direction of the OR. "You kept Colonel Carter alive until I could tend to her, Sir. If it weren't for you, Doctor Jackson, Mister Teal'c and SG-3 fighting off the enemy none of us would be sitting here right now, regardless of how well I patched you guys up out there."

"O'Neill is correct; you handled yourself well in the face of battle, Doctor Brightman," Teal'c spoke up, nodding at her in respect.

"You're both right," Daniel said, before grimacing and making a vague hand gesture. "All three of you are right. Jack got us out safely, Sam wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Doctor Brightman and you also did very well for someone who'd never gotten into a firefight before, Doctor."

A small smile graced the woman's lips for a moment but it was soon replaced with her professional mask again. "Doctor Warner will do everything he can to save Colonel Carter," she said, before eyeing their respective injuries. "In the meantime, you should probably all get some rest – bed rest, either in the infirmary or your personal quarters."

"I have no need to rest and shall remain here."

"Mister Teal'c, you have been on a very demanding mission which must have exhausted you both physically and mentally considering these were your friends whose lives were in danger. Even if you don't feel like sleeping, your body needs to rest now that you no longer have your symbiote."

He raised one brow and regarded her for a few tense seconds, after which he inclined his head. "Very well, Doctor Brightman. I will perform kelno'reem in my seat while awaiting news of Colonel Carter's condition."

"You think maybe you should follow your own advice?" Jack asked, gesturing at the Doctor's rumpled clothes and drawn features. "If this mission was enough to wear out Teal'c, then you'll probably keel over in an hour or two from exhaustion, Doc."

She smiled gently and rose from her chair, as if hoping to lead by example – and it worked, as Daniel got up too with a bit of effort. "It'll take while until someone can give you an update on the Colonel's status, Sir. You might as well hit the sack."

He waved off her 'suggestion' and jerked his head in Teal'c's direction. "Nah, I'm with him. I'll just meditate or something, okay Doc?" He could tell from the eye roll his answer elicited that she didn't take him seriously but at least she didn't look like she'd try to order him either. "You go, Daniel. Those knee injuries are a bitch. Better follow the medical advice or it'll remain a weak spot and you'll end up needing surgery. Teal'c and I will call as soon as we know anything."

"Sir…"

"Go, get some rest, Doc." She appeared to be indecisive but he could see Daniel relenting – which meant the pain had to be worse than the archeologist had pretended – from the corner of his eye as he limped away and made a shoo gesture at the CMO. "Go on. We'll be needing your expertise soon enough around here, so you better catch some shuteye while you still can. That adrenaline rush has probably worn off by now and you should know what that means."

Brightman grimaced and glanced at the two of them, as if contemplating whether it was a good idea to leave them in the corridor. "At least keep an eye on your IV and get a new bag if necessary, Sir. And use that blanket to cover yourself properly because you'll need the warmth if you're going to stay here. Both of you should eat something too. Call an airman to bring down food if necessary."

Jack thought she was becoming more and more like Fraiser with every day and nodded in agreement, a small wistful smile playing around his lips at the thought of their late friend. It wouldn't be fair if they had to lose Carter the same way they'd lost Janet Fraiser and he balled his fists at the injustice of it all. "Doc?" He called out just as she was about to turn around.

"Sir?"

"Do you…" He paused, unsure whether he should voice his doubts and insecurities. Teal'c's hand coming to rest on his shoulder in silent support let him know it was all right, though. "Do you think… Carter will make it?"

Doctor Brightman looked taken aback by his question but her reply told him they'd chosen the right woman to take over from Frasier as CMO. "I'm not going to lie, Sir: there was a lot of damage from that staff blast and it will probably be touch and go, but Colonel Carter is very strong and she's made it this far… stranger things have happened around here. Just keep in mind that the surgery will likely take a few more hours."

"Thanks, Doc," Jack said as he mentally prepared himself to sit there all night and longer, if necessary.

---

 

In the early morning hours Daniel joined them again, bringing some food and coffee with him and they ate in silence. There had been one update a couple of hours earlier but basically all the nurse had told them was that Carter was still hanging in there for the moment. No one had come out since then, so Jack assumed that was a good sign. Walter had dropped by at the start of his shift to update him on all kinds of things, none of which had really registered with Jack. Colonel Raimi had been to see him earlier too, informing him that HWS had given permission for a couple of teams to return to the planet to retrieve the sleds, snowmobiles and the bodies of Grogan and Mansfield as well as doing a recon of the domed city. Jack had given him his okay and suggested a few teams, even though he was officially on medical leave and Raimi was still in charge.

Reynolds had also stopped by at some point to ask after Carter before going back to the infirmary to check on the remaining members of SG-9 and Penhall, whose arm had been injured during the attack. Some others had come for updates too but Jack had let Teal'c handle them, pretending to meditate or be asleep in his chair.

At least Daniel looked a little better this morning and his limp was less pronounced as well. The archeologist even said the injury he'd received in the mini avalanche separating him and T from Carter and Jack himself barely bothered him, but Jack figured that was the painkiller talking. The infirmary had both of them on the good stuff for their respective injuries, although Jack was pretty sure Daniel had taken them willingly – one of the medical staff had snuck in in the middle of the night and changed Jack's IV bag when he'd been resting his eyes.

They'd just finished up their breakfast when a boisterous SG-3 rounded the corner and took a seat. "General, Doctor Jackson, Teal'c," Reynolds greeted them, nodding at each of them as he said their names. "Any news on Carter?"

"We have received no new information since you last inquired, Colonel Reynolds," Teal'c said.

"That's too bad," he replied with a grimace.

Jack nodded in agreement, even though he suspected no news was good news in Carter's case. He eyed the other three men who all seemed to share their CO's opinion, his gaze lingering on Penhall's bandage. "How's the arm?"

"Just a flesh wound, Sir. Nothing to worry about."

Daniel shook his head in disapproval of the belittling of the injury but kept his thoughts to himself and instead gestured in the direction of the infirmary. "Do you happen to know how SG-9 and Ferretti are doing?"

Reynolds shifted in his chair and made himself comfortable. "Carmichael said Conner is improving, Ferretti was already cracking jokes and said he'll be back on rotation in a couple of months after PT and Doctor Danmark said she was doing well, although she might need to have surgery to transplant some skin to the burn wound on her shoulder." He winced at the latter before visibly forcing himself to relax and continue. "The teams are still on Voarios searching the dome for lingering enemies and surviving Voari. Their next check-in is in a couple of hours, I believe."

"Thanks," Jack said, appreciating the update. "M-"

"I believe someone is approaching," Teal'c said, interrupting him, his gaze locked on the doors leading to the OR.

Jack's heart rate went up at the news and his breath hitched, wondering whether it would be good or bad news. When the doors opened he forced himself to breathe normally and unclench his fists, his eyes searching for familiar features under the mask and scrub hat of the person approaching. It was only when the mask was pulled away that he recognized Doctor Warner and he was on his feet and approaching the surgeon without a second thought. "Doc?"

Warner stopped in front of him, hand scrubbing over his face but he didn't appear to be tense or fearing for his life for failing to save a national treasure and his reply confirmed it. "We've managed to stop the bleeding and repair most of the damage Colonel Carter sustained from the staff blast. We've closed her up and moved her to recovery, but it's really a toss-up as to what happens next, General."

"But she's alive?!"

"Yes, for now," the surgeon said. "She hasn't stabilized yet so we will be monitoring her very closely, but the next couple of hours are going to be crucial."

Jack sagged with relief, his hold on his IV pole the only thing keeping him on his feet and behind him he could hear excited chattering. "Thank God," he muttered.

Daniel came up next to him on his crutches and looked equally relieved. "Sam will pull through. I told you she was strong."

"She's certainly a fighter," Warner agreed.

"What about… lasting damage?" Jack asked, his voice lowered so SG-3 wouldn't overhear. Not everyone needed to know the details of Carter's condition but he had seen the damage with his own two eyes and considering it had taken Warner and his team almost ten hours to fix her…

The doctor shrugged noncommittally, being his usual cautious self. "It will depend on what will happen the next few hours but if Colonel Carter makes it to tomorrow, I'll be far more optimistic. The way it looks now is that if she hangs in there, she'll face a lengthy recovery and possibly more surgeries depending on how the burn wounds and some of her internal injuries heal."

"Can we see her?" Daniel asked, voicing Jack's next question.

"Under normal circumstances I would say no, but I guess there's no harm in watching her from the observation deck. At the moment we just can't risk you sitting at her bedside."

Jack had expected as much from their previous dealings with Warner and, well, SOP for such surgeries in the infirmary really, but he was pleasantly surprised the man had thought about the observation deck. To his embarrassment, he nearly collapsed to the floor when he turned around too quickly in his haste to see Carter but fortunately Teal'c was at his side, grasping his elbow and keeping him upright. "Thanks, T."

"You are welcome, O'Neill. It would do no one any good if you injured yourself now, least of all Colonel Carter."

He huffed but let his friend support him as Warner led them out of the corridor and towards the observation deck. It seemed to take forever until they got there, not in the least because of how weak and tired Jack was suddenly feeling but finally they arrived and he got his first glimpse of Carter. She was incredibly pale and nearly as white as the sheets surrounding her but according to the slow rise and fall of her chest – and the beeps on the monitor – she was alive, even if she looked frail and was surrounding by wires and machinery.

Chapter Text

Stargate Command
Colorado Springs, CO

Sam's mind was fuzzy when she regained consciousness but she knew instinctively that she hadn't just awoken from a nap. For one, she was pretty sure she wasn't even in her own bed and it normally didn't take her this much effort to remember what had happened. The lights were bright and they hurt her eyes when she tried to open them, making her squint and the back of her head started throbbing in a dull ache in response. She bit back a moan and tried to focus on her surroundings instead of the aches and pain in her body.

To the left of her she could hear the distant beeping of a heart monitor; after eight years at the SGC as familiar as an alarm clock on her bedside table. Her throat was sore when she swallowed and she briefly wondered when she brushed her teeth last in the milliseconds it took her to become fully aware of her surroundings and what had happened for her to end up here, in the infirmary. Memories rushed back to her already aching brain and she tried to distract herself from the pain by taking a look around.

The first thing she really noticed aside from the fact that she was apparently in a private room was her CO sitting on one of those awful plastic chairs and working on his laptop. Warmth and concern blossomed in her chest at seeing his disheveled and weary form keeping vigil at her bedside, but at least he was alive and uninjured! The last thing she remembered was falling down on that planet after taking a hit and seeing him appear at her side, holding her and trying to asses her injury all the while the Jaffa kept firing around them. Then everything had gone black and she must have lost consciousness…

Suddenly, General Jack O'Neill looked up and glanced in her direction. There was no sign of surprise on his face when their gazes locked and she figured he had somehow sensed her return to consciousness – they had always been in tune like that. The intensity in his dark eyes took her aback, though, her heart skipping a beat and she flushed as the monitor broadcast it to him but he only seemed to be aware of her; he was drinking her in as relief and something indefinable chased away the shadows in his eyes. The corner of his mouth quirked up and suddenly the weariness on his face was gone and Sam was left wondering if it had just been a trick of light, with the shadows cast on his face making him look older and tired.

"Sir," she croaked in greeting, attempting to return the small grin.

"'Sir'?" He parroted with raised brows and his little grin widened. "No 'Jack' or 'Colonel'?"

Sam frowned in confusion, wondering if perhaps he had some kind of head trauma or if she had somehow managed to land herself in an alternate reality. "'Colonel'? I thought I was the colonel, General."

He smirked and nodded, obviously pleased with her response. "Good, just checking. I take it this means you're with us for real?"

"Sir?"

"They put you on the good stuff but Doc Warner had to increase the dose because of the naquadah in your blood and, well," he smirked, "let's just say they made you a bit loopy. This isn't the first time you woke up," he added upon seeing her surprise.

Her memory came up blank at his explanation but her mind was going light-years a minute at the implication of not being lucid the previous times she'd apparently woken up. Had she said anything embarrassing in his presence? "Oh, well, I, um, hope I didn't say anything inappropriate, Sir."

He waved her embarrassment away when she started blushing and shifted in his chair to face her properly. "Nah, nothing to worry about. I'm just glad to have you back, Carter."

"My team?"

"The guys are fine. Well, Daniel's knee is bothering him but he'll be fine as long as he listens to the Doc. SG-3, Ferretti and Brightman made it too."

Her eyes were getting heavier by the second and she could feel a big yawn coming up, so she just smiled in relief and turned her head away. The loud yawn made her aware of a persistent ache in her abdomen and she winced, reminded of the fact that she'd nearly been killed by that stray staff blast.

The General waited until she was facing him again and the look in his eyes softened when he noticed the exhaustion on her face. "You should get some more sleep."

"You too," she said, adding a belated "Sir" at his raised eyebrow.

"I would, but I need to finish this report. Don't worry, I'm fine. The Doc cleared me already and hey, wouldn't the infirmary be the best place for me to be in case I have a relapse?"

Sam was relieved to hear he was fine and returned his grin as she briefly eyed the laptop he waved at, knowing he was only using it as an excuse to sit by her side. "From the mission?"

"And some other stuff from yesterday," he said, nodding.

"Yesterday? How long was I out?"

The General winced visibly and glanced down at his hands. "We got back three days ago and they took you into the OR ASAP." He gestured at her abdomen, looking uncomfortable and a flash of pain crossed his usually guarded face. "Warner worked on you for about ten hours and… hey, Carter? You okay?"

Swallowing hard, she tried to get rid of the sudden bile rising in her throat. Ten hours?! No wonder she had been out for so long! She blinked, her hand searching for the top of her sheet of its own volition but before it could slip underneath to explore the bulky bandages and extent of the damage on her torso, it was caught by a larger one. "Sir?"

"You need to rest," he said, emphasizing the word as his grip on her hand tightened. "I hit the call button when you woke up, so a doctor will come to check on you in a bit and tell you about the surgery and your recovery. Just leave it for now."

Instead of reassurance or calm his words caused a panic inside of her, but she still found herself nodding while staring at their hands. His tan was a sharp contrast to her paleness and she figured it was even worse now after the amount of blood she must have lost – either in the field or during those ten hours of surgery! The sudden movements had made her aware of the dim pain in her torso again and she forced herself to lie back and relax. The sight of their hands blurred as she stared at them, her mind conjuring up all kinds of awful scenarios to explain his behavior. "How bad is it?"

"Not too bad," the General said while he rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand, as if trying to sooth her. When she didn't respond his thumb stopped and he sighed loudly. "Let's just say you won't be wearing that sweet little tank top number any time soon."

In spite of her pain and mild panic, she snorted. His eyes were twinkling and he looked pleased with himself when she glanced up at him. "I wasn't planning on it anyway, Sir."

He nodded, grinning slightly as he turned their hands over and played with her fingers. "Too cold, eh? Maybe in the summer?"

"Maybe," she said, allowing a small smile. When he looked up at her she felt a different kind of ache and it took her by surprise. It had been a while since she'd seen that lopsided grin of his and it never failed to affect her, even now – heavily medicated and engaged to another man.

"Um," the General was the first to look away, his face appearing slightly flushed under its tan. "I should let the guys and the Doc know you're awake and lucid. The only reason Daniel isn't around is because he's laid up in bed himself and Teal'c is probably kelno'reem-ing near him; Doctor Brightman threatened to use a zat on T after he'd been standing guard at the foot of your bed for nearly two days – he refused to accompany any of the other teams until you were awake."

Sam nodded in understanding and was touched by Teal'c's behavior. Still, she was pleased it had been General O'Neill sitting at her bedside when she came to and had to suppress the urge to ask him to stay. The man was in charge of the base; clearly he had other things to do now that he knew she was going to be okay. Besides, she was really tired and should probably sleep some more, after she'd spoken to a doctor. Who knew what she might say to her CO in her current state when he was looking so worried about her? It was better if he didn't hang around until she was sure she wouldn't let anything inappropriate slip. "Sir, how's the rest of SG-9?"

His face turned serious again as he collected his things and got ready to leave. "Conner is still bed-bound while he recovers but Doctor Danmark was doing well, so she's been sent home. Ferretti left the base as well under Brightman's threats of bed rest and needles." He stood up, laptop and folder clasped in one hand and the other lifted the plastic chair to move it over to the wall. "Three other teams have gone to Voarios to reclaim the bodies of Mansfield and Grogan, and fight off the Jaffa. They succeeded and are now helping the Voari with their wounded and plans for fixing the structural damage of the domes before winter really sets in and kills 'em all."

"I'm sorry I didn't get there in time to save Mansfield and Grogan, or the Voa-"

"Ack!" He interrupted her, making a dismissive gesture with his hand after putting down the chair. "You did everything you could, Carter. Hell, you went above and beyond, and against all odds you got the rest of us home."

Even though he was right, she still felt the loss of their own and her earlier dreamy thoughts were replaced with sadness. "When is the service?"

"The end of the week." His mouth was a thin line and she could tell losing the two men affected him too as he ran a hand through his hair in a frustrated manner. "I should check with Walter if all the arrangements have been finalized."

"I would like to be there," Sam said.

"I know."

Satisfied, she let her head rest on her pillow and decided to take his advice to get some sleep. "Thank you, Sir."

He didn't ask her to clarify but simply nodded. "Always, Carter." His gaze rested on her form for a few more seconds before he looked away, his free hand fiddling with the laptop and folder he was holding. "I'll tell the guys you're back to being you, they probably want to see for themselves."

"Yes Sir," she said, smiling softly as he started to walk away.

When he reached the door he turned back around to face her, his dark eyes intense and his usual mask gone. "Carter, I just wanted to say…," he sighed and shook his head before trying again. "When I saw you get hit by that staff blast… I-I'm glad you're okay. Now, get some rest."

Sam blinked sleepily but before she could even formulate a response to his heartfelt admission he was gone, the door closing behind him and leaving her alone with the beeping heart monitor.

---

Stargate Command
Colorado Springs, CO

The following days had gone by fast but not fast enough for Sam, who had been spending most of her time in an infirmary bed. Her teammates took the time to visit and they tried to keep her entertained but being bedbound had never been something she enjoyed and the fact that she wasn't physically well enough to actually do something only frustrated her even further. By the end of the week she had been allowed to get out of bed for twenty minutes to half an hour for a maximum of six times a day and she had to admit – at least to herself – that she was truly exhausted and in pain by the time she got back to her bed.

She only barely managed to attend the memorial service for Grogan and Mansfield and if it hadn't been for Teal'c at her side, holding her up when her body began to protest at being upright for so long, she would have collapsed right then and there – the reason she had chosen to pay her respects from the briefing room looking out over the 'gate room instead of being down there among all the others. The surviving members of SG-9 had given heartfelt speeches, especially Doctor Danmark who had been visibly emotional throughout the ceremony and whose arm was still in a sling. Conner had looked worse for wear, having only been released from the infirmary the day before but he had no doubt felt responsible for the loss of the two men under his command.

The cast on Ferretti's leg hadn't given him much trouble after all the experience the full bird had with such injuries but it had still looked odd with his dress blues, especially when he made his way up the ramp to say a few words. The General had looked impressive in his own dress blues, something she hardly ever saw him in despite his rank and position, and had given a short but poignant speech. The other Air Force personnel had all been wearing their blues too and most of the civilians had been wearing suits, like Daniel and Teal'c. It had taken Sam forever to get dressed in her blues but with the help of a nurse and Doctor Brightman – who had plenty of experience with her own – she had eventually managed, although she had taken her heels off in the briefing room on the advice of the Doctor who had stayed there with her, Teal'c and Daniel.

When the memorial service was over Teal'c and Doctor Brightman had escorted her back to the infirmary, with Daniel lingering behind to wait for the General – or so he claimed; Sam figured it was his knee and that he didn't want to go through the throng of people leaving the 'gate room with his crutch since he wasn't quite as experienced with it as Ferretti. The fact that the bed had looked welcoming to her made her realize that she still had a long road ahead of her before she would be back to her old self. Teal'c had helped her onto the bed before going off to retrieve them lunch, while Brightman took her vitals and then called a nurse over to help her get out of her dress blues and into a pair of sweats. At least it wasn't a hospital gown or scrubs, she thought. But boy, she couldn't wait to get home, take a long hot bath and put on some nice clean clothes! Brightman had promised her she was allowed to go home if there were no complications that afternoon, so Sam sat back and patiently waited for her teammate to join her with their lunch and if she closed her eyes for a moment, then so be it.

Teal'c hadn't said anything when she startled awake at the sound of his voice but he had looked at her knowingly. She knew he knew what she was thinking and it seemed he didn't blame her for wanting to leave, although he was keeping a close eye on her and making sure she didn't overdo it. Sam suspected he was trying to be there for her the way she'd been there for him when he lost his symbiote – he had already volunteered to accompany her to physical therapy. Frankly, she was happy he was there to support her because she knew it would take a lot to get back to health; the staff blast had done an enormous amount of damage and while Doctor Warner had done everything he could, the site was still gruesome and the damage went beyond skin deep. A few days ago the surgeon had told her it was likely she would have to undergo another surgery or maybe two in the near future, especially if they wanted to prevent too much scar tissue from forming.

In another week the stitches would be removed but if it hadn't healed well, there was a chance she would have to undergo a skin graft. Sam wasn't thrilled at the prospect but she did hope getting rid of the stitches would make it easier for her to move – or just breathe. A few days ago, when she had finally been allowed to take a shower in the infirmary, she had gotten a first look at her abdomen and immediately understood why everything just hurt all the time; nearly the entire right side of her abdomen, from her hip to just side of her breast, was covered with the black sutures, almost looking like a grotesque zipper that could be opened to take a look inside. It wasn't even a straight line but sort of zigzagged, with the surrounding skin nearly stretched beyond its limits and puckering where the black thread was pulling it together. Her skin was also mottled with bruises in various colors but the first few had already started to fade; yesterday she had been able to spot tiny stretch marks around the stitches now that the discoloration was fading and she could only hope the thin sutures were enough to keep her wound closed.

Doctor Warner had sounded hopeful but he had been unable to make any promises, even warning her that if it got infected he would have to open her up again! Hopefully that wouldn't happen and she would be able to heal naturally from now on. Just with the aid of some strong painkillers and antibiotics. Other complications were still a possibility as well, especially from the damage done to her internal organs but so far she seemed to be recovering well – if a bit too slow, for her liking. Her ribs, two of which had been cracked and another broken, were still bothering her as well and combined with the huge scar, it made everything aside from lying flat on her back or standing upright hurt enormously. Moving to sit upright was especially painful and sometimes she worried that the movement and strain on her muscles and skin would rip the wound open again. The fact that she'd already pulled a few stitches the day before yesterday wasn't very reassuring either.

"Are you not hungry, Colonel Carter?"

Sam was pulled from her inner musings by Teal'c and glanced down at the lunch he'd brought. "Just feeling a bit… queasy, I guess."

His eyebrow rose and he seemed to understand. "If you do not eat, you will not regain your strength. Do you not wish to go home today?"

"I do," she said, although at the same time wondering if she was actually ready to be on her own when just attending a memorial service affected her this much. "It's just that I don't feel up to eating. Doctor Brightman told me that one of the side effects of the meds I'm taking is that they suppress the appetite." To be honest, she felt nauseous and just so tired that she'd rather be sleeping than eating. As a matter of fact, there was a real possibility she'd get sick and throw up the food if she ate now and had to get to her feet within an hour – it wouldn't be the first time this week.

"Doctor Brightman will not be pleased when she learns you are not eating properly."

Reluctantly, Sam admitted defeat and picked up a sandwich. It was stale and tasted like cardboard but still she chewed and swallowed under the Jaffa's watchful eye. Her stomach rumbled in response and she found that her nausea was actually diminishing with each bite she took. The taste nor her appetite got any better but she finished it anyway and automatically reached for the blue jello – at least something she would enjoy. "You don't have to stay with me, you know," she said as she realized he'd already cleared his plate.

"Would you rather be alone, Colonel Carter?"

"No, I just thought… well, you probably have better things to do than watch me eat."

He reciprocated her smile with a gentle one of his own. "I do not."

Now it was her turn to raise a brow. "Oh come on, Teal'c."

"You are my sister in arms. I shall support you until you no longer require my aid."

Touched, she reached out to squeeze his hand, ignoring the pain the movement brought. "I'll always need your help, Teal'c."

"You do not," he said. "You are strong and independent; you will regain your strength and are no longer in need of support. But you will always have my friendship, Colonel Carter."

Sam wasn't quite sure how to respond to that; if she hadn't been injured she probably would have hugged him! The nearing of clicking heels saved her from saying anything, though. "Doctor."

Doctor Brightman smiled at her greeting and eyed the half-eaten lunch warily. "I suppose I should be glad you're eating something. How are you feeling, Colonel?"

"Like crap," she said after a beat. For a moment she had considered lying but the woman had been present in the briefing room during the memorial service and had probably seen how Sam had nearly collapsed.

"Do you think going home would improve your condition?" The Doctor asked as she started taking her vitals.

She shrugged, careful of her wound. "Physically? I'm not sure, but I doubt it can get any worse since I'm too tired to actually do something you've forbidden me from doing," she said with a wan smile. "Mentally? Hell yes! At least I would have something to occupy myself with at home."

Brightman narrowed her eyes, as if wanting to question what she – known as a workaholic who rarely left the base, even when on leave – could possibly be doing at home that wasn't too strenuous, but she didn't say anything until she had finished the brief exam. "Well, I would like to check your wound again and if all is fine I don't see a reason to keep you here, provided you follow the rules."

"Great, thank you." Sam smiled at Teal'c when he nodded briefly at her before leaving, closing the curtains around her bed as he went. "It still hurts, but not so bad as yesterday."

The Doctor didn't say anything as she removed the bandages to examine the injury and before long she was wrapping it up again. "If you keep taking your meds, don't move around for longer than thirty minutes in one go, and get plenty of rest you should be fine. No alcoholic beverages and keep the coffee to a minimum as well. At least three meals a day and drink enough water. Oh and no lifting anything that weighs more than a plate of food!"

"Yes Ma'am!" She would have saluted if her injury had allowed it. "So, I can go home?"

"You'll need someone to drive you and probably buy you some groceries. I don't want you to leave the house or drive. Unless it's for PT, but I believe Noel is coming over to your house for the first week, right?"

Sam nodded, reminded of the deal she had made with her physiotherapist: if she was allowed home then they would do PT for one week at her house, and maybe the second week she would be strong enough to go to the base or the Academy Hospital for her sessions. Sheri Noel had also been the one to treat Teal'c when he'd been injured by a staff blast after he'd lost his symbiote and Sam knew the woman was good at her job, but she still wasn't looking forward to it. Then again, it might be something to keep her busy. "So, when can I leave?"

Footsteps were approaching and the Daniel's voice was coming in loud and clear from the corridor. "What's wrong? Why aren't you in Sam's room?"

"Doctor Brightman is examining her," Teal'c said.

The woman in question smiled at Sam as she finished wrapping the wound and jotted down some notes on her chart. "Sounds like your team is here to see you. I'll go grab the meds you're going to need and then we'll see about getting you out of here."

"Carter is getting sprung?" General O'Neill said, sounding a lot closer than Daniel and Teal'c.

"Yes Sir," Brightman replied as she opened the curtains to reveal him standing there.

He looked uncomfortable, his eyes dashing from woman to woman before he turned back to the door. "Hey guys, the Doc says Carter can go home."

"Oh, that's great, Sam!"

Teal'c followed more sedately behind an enthusiastic Daniel and took up position at the food of her bed. "Indeed."

"I'll have to find a way to get my car home…" She was trying to think ahead instead of having to face the General who had been avoiding her for the majority of the past week. He was acting differently and she wasn't sure why; when she woke up to find him at her bedside she had been so happy and he'd looked very relieved, but once her guys and some other personnel had dropped by he'd quietly left, muttering something about paperwork and had barely visited since. Maybe once a day, but always with Daniel or Teal'c, never alone and never staying longer than five minutes. She knew commanding the base was a demanding job but she found it hard to believe he couldn't find a few more minutes in his schedule to visit her, especially because he knew how bored she would be. Today she had seen more of him than all the previous days combined but most of that had been observing him from the briefing room during the memorial service, which wasn't exactly what she had in mind.

The General stuffed his hands in his pocket as he bounced on the balls of his feet, smiling awkwardly – almost grimacing. "So, Shanahan gonna pick you up?"

Oh God, Pete! Her fiancé. The man she'd hardly thought about for the past week. Hell, she hadn't even called him to tell him about the accident, let alone to ask him to drive her home. Right now, she just didn't have the energy to deal with him. That was probably a bad sign. "Um…"

"Jack could drive you," Daniel suggested, oblivious – or pretending to be – to the suffocating tension that had suddenly descended upon the room. "I'd do it myself but I have a meeting with the other archeologists in twenty minutes."

The General ducked his head, no doubt to hide his facial expression from her and rubbed a hand through his hair. "Well, actually, I, um… I can't. I have stuff to do. General stuff. Wish I could, Carter, but you know how things go… I've already played hooky earlier this week and the JCS won't be happy if I-"

"It's okay, Sir," she interrupted him. There was no need for him to make up excuses, she thought darkly.

"I have already offered to transport Colonel Carter to her home," Teal'c said, completely unexpected. "There is no need for you to rearrange your plans, O'Neill."

Sam was pretty sure the General hadn't even considered rearranging his schedule – if he even actually had work to do – but shot Teal'c a grateful smile anyway. "Right. I'd almost forgotten."

"You may take your leave now so we may prepare for our travels."

She could see the look of surprise on the faces of the other two men and had to admit that she thought Teal'c's tone was bit sharper than usual too. "It's okay. Thanks for dropping by," she managed to say before the door was closed behind them. "Guess I should start packing."

"Indeed."

Chapter Text

Carter Residence
Colorado Springs, CO

Going home was something Sam had been looking forward to the entire time she’d been in the infirmary but the reality wasn’t quite what she’d imagined. For one, she hadn’t realized how weak she was and how much effort simply getting dressed or preparing a meal took. Secondly, being home with no distractions gave her way too much time to think about what had happened on the planet and where she would go from here. On one hand there was her future – career-wise – to consider but the idea of not making a full recovery frightened her, so she tried to avoid it and just focus on the present. However, that left far too much time to contemplate the range of emotions she’d gone through from the moment she realized General O'Neill was missing to the night they’d spent together in that cave. Not to mention the way he’d retreated from her back on the base…

“Sam?”

Cassie’s voice over the phone brought her back to the present and Sam sighed, trying to remember what they’d been talking about. “Um… Teal'c drove me home and he helped me settle in,” she said, smiling at the memory. “He even cleared out my fridge.” She knew he had done it to give her some time to herself but at the time she’d been too tired to really do anything and had only barely managed to listen to her voicemails. Of course, the numerous messages from Pete had irked her and instead of calling back to let him know she was ‘fine’, she’d ignored them and promptly fallen asleep. “Daniel came over later with groceries.”

Cassandra chuckled, all too familiar with the ritual. “Your favorite takeout?”

“No, they actually cooked me dinner.”

“Wow, you must have looked really pathetic then.”

Sam rolled her eyes at the teen’s tone, but she knew the young alien used humor to mask her concern – much like a certain other person they both cared a lot about, albeit in different ways. “Funny.”

“But seriously, Sam.  How bad was it? Mom would have never let you leave the infirmary if the guys needed to cook you dinner.”

“Don’t worry about me, Cassie. I’m doing fine. The guys stayed over and while Daniel had to leave for a meeting with his department in the morning, Teal'c made me a huge breakfast and helped me out.” At first she’d been inclined to tell the Jaffa she didn’t need his help but a rather embarrassing and painful attempt to sit up in bed had quickly proven her wrong. Fortunately, he hadn’t commented on her pride or stubbornness and simply offered his silent support. The rest of the week had gone pretty much the same with one or both of her teammates staying at her place to help out whenever they could. Getting dressed on her own was still a challenge so she mostly wore comfortable sweatpants with button-up shirts and occasionally Teal'c would give her a hand with putting on or pulling off a sweater in the evenings. The first two days he’d also helped her get in and out of the tub, until she managed to lower and pull herself up by using the handlebars the guys had installed for her over a year ago, after her run-in with the Super Soldier – but she didn’t want to remind Cassie of that experience.

There was some rustling on the other end of the line before Cassie’s voice sounded again. “What about Pete?”

On her third day home she’d finally called Pete and arranged to meet him the day after. Teal'c had dropped her off at the house her fiancé had bought because she could barely sit up straight, let alone drive. Seeing Pete again for the first time since nearly three weeks – since she almost died – didn’t fill her with anything but dread and that was when Sam knew she had made the right decision. “He was worried when he first laid eyes on me – I’d forgotten to tell him over the phone,” she lied. The short distance from the car to the steps of the house had taken quite a bit out of her, so she’d tuned out his questions and awkwardly lowered herself to the steps to catch her breath. Her wound had been throbbing and perspiration ran down her back, but meeting him had probably been one of her best ideas! “I, um, broke off the engagement.”

“Oh.” There was a tense silence until Cassie broke it half a minute later. “I’m sorry. That must have been hard.”

“Yeah,” Sam said, recalling the moment. Telling him the engagement was a mistake and that her feelings for him simply weren’t as strong as he deserved had been difficult but he’d reacted as if he’d seen it coming and was rather calm and accepting about it. Certainly not as intense as she’d anticipated but that was probably a good thing. “It’s for the best, though. I just… well, let’s just say I realized he hadn’t been on my mind as much as he should have when I, uh, was in the infirmary.”

“What did the guys say?”

“Not much, but I wasn’t really in the mood anyway.” Neither of her teammates had broached the subject of her failed engagement when she got back home even though she was sure they both knew what had happened. It had been a relief and she’d retreated into her bedroom to rest and think. Her mind had kept going over the past year of her life, wondering if it had been a mistake to try and move on from her feelings for Jack O'Neill. At the time Sam hadn’t realized how much her dating someone else affected him, probably because he didn’t let her see it and appeared supportive. Their recent adventure and both of them nearly dying had brought all her feelings for him back to the forefront and she’d seen the same in him… but why then was the General avoiding her now? Had she imagined something important occurring in that ice cave?

“What about… Jack?”

Sam groaned, resting her head in her hand. She had inquired after him a few times but the first time Daniel had stammered a bit and did that thing with his eyebrows which meant he either wasn’t sure what to say or was stalling for time until Teal'c stepped in and told her the General had been in meetings and video conferences the past couple of days. “I haven’t seen him since leaving the base,” she said, misinterpreting the question on purpose. “Daniel told me he’s been cleared by the CMO though. He just has to take it easy and get enough rest after what happened.”

“I know.” Cassie used the same tone Janet used to, whenever someone was evading her questions. “I already talked to him; he said you cracked his rib but that he’s fine.”

“Not on purpose,” she said defensively. It was difficult to resist asking Cassandra about what else the General had said about her, but Sam didn’t want to stoop to such tactics. After not hearing anything from him for five days she was pretty sure he was avoiding her. Not that she’d expected him to camp out in her living room or anything – he rarely visited her at home – but just a quick visit, tagging along with Daniel and Teal'c wasn’t inappropriate or anything.

After all, she had nearly died and was only released from the infirmary to free a bed and due to promising she’d take it easy, not because she had been magically healed. Even if the General was too busy or reluctant to visit her, he could have at least made a phone call to ask her how she was doing. She assumed Daniel gave him updates about her but was it too much to ask for him to show some interest, even if it was just concern? All in all, she was disappointed that he couldn’t even be bothered to call her and if it hadn’t been for her injury she would have gone over to his house to demand answers. Well, maybe. She wasn’t quite sure she could screw up the courage to do so, but having nothing to do all day left her with enough time to get worked over it.

“He didn’t say you did it on purpose! If you hadn’t been there he might have…”

Sam's heart nearly broke as Cassie’s voice trailed off with a soft gasp which she recognized all too clearly as a sign that the young woman was holding back a sob. “Oh, don’t cry, hon. He made it, he’s fine.”

“I know… but he… and you…”

“Cassie,” she said softly, wishing she could hug her. “We’re both fine, I promise.”

After a few more sobs she could hear Cassie blowing her nose over the line and then she was back, clearing her throat before speaking again. “So, did you get any other visitors?”

“Um, Sheri Noel came over the other day.” Sam said, recognizing the need for a change of subject and knowing Cassie was friends with the physical therapist’s daughter through the woman’s friendship with Janet. The PT had determined she wasn’t quite ready for physical therapy yet after seeing her walk around the house stiffly, but Cassandra didn’t need to know that. “Doctor Denmark called to ask me how I was doing; she’s recovering well from the skin transplant surgery on her arm and Doctor Brightman is coming over at the end of the afternoon for an exam.”  

Cassandra immediately jumped on the mention of Sheri Noel and started talking about the woman’s daughter who was also going to UCLA, but was studying a different subject from Cassie. From there the mostly one-sided conversation moved to Cassie’s upcoming exams and suddenly she sounded just like every other freshman who thought failing an exam was the end of the world, despite her background. “Oh crap, I have to go – study date. Let me know what the Doc says, okay Sam?”

“I will,” she promised. “Take care, Cassie. Good luck with your exams.”

“Thanks! I love you Sam, bye!”

“Love you too. Bye honey.” She hung up the phone, wincing at the pain in her side as she laid it on the table. So far her sutures had held, but Sam was still worried something would go wrong and she would have to go back into surgery to fix it. There were no guarantees as Doctor Warner had told her post-surgery; there was still a possibility that complications would arise. Not to mention that she still had a long road ahead of her even if the stitches could be removed next week. The scar that was forming on her abdomen and side was ugly and the internal damage it implied was worse; chances were she wouldn’t pass her next AF medical or at least get pulled from the field and put in a lab for the rest of her career…

Sam shook off those depressing thoughts for the umpteenth time that week and, being home alone since the guys had left for the mountain, found her mind wandering towards the General again. It was frustrating and she felt like a hypocrite, worrying over what he might think or feel towards her when she’d just broken off her engagement to another man the day before, but it seemed as if she couldn’t help herself.

The ringing of the doorbell brought her back to the present and she quickly made her way over to the door, albeit with some pain in her side. Doctor Brightman smiled shyly and apologized profusely for being late without so much as a phone call but Sam admitted she hadn’t even noticed – clearly, her mind had been elsewhere. After the CMO had taken off her coat Sam led her into the kitchen and offered her something to drink, all too aware of the woman’s eyes on her.

“Just a glass of water will be fine, Colonel,” Brightman said. “I see you’re still not standing straight up; how bad is the pain?”

“It hurts mostly when I change positions or have to stretch or lift my arms. Once I’m standing and walking it’s more discomfort than anything else,” she explained, her hand automatically moving over the injury. “Well, discomfort and restricted movements.”

The Doctor accepted the offered water and gave her another critical onceover. “I take it that’s why you’re moving around so stiffly.” Without waiting for an answer she continued, “Your physical therapist told me you’re going to start on light exercises tomorrow.”

“Yes, she didn’t think I was up for anything too strenuous, so we’ll be taking it easy.”

“Even without examining you I think I can agree with that assessment.”

Sam grimaced, all too aware both women were correct but hating the fact that she could hardly move around when her job consisted of traipsing around the galaxy on a daily basis. “It’s just very frustrating and boring, to be honest.”

“I can imagine. Sitting around without doing any work doesn’t really sound like you, Colonel.”

“Tell me about it,” she grumbled.

Brightman smiled apologetically and set her glass on the counter. “How about we take off the bandages and see how it’s healing up?”

She nodded and knowing the routine from past experience, led the way to her bedroom where there was enough room for her to lie down during the exam. “Sorry for the mess, I haven’t really been able to clean up.” Sam stepped aside to make the bed and placed a towel atop of it, grimacing at the discomfort she felt throughout. She hoped the towel wasn’t necessary because she really did not like the idea of her sutures not holding and requiring more surgery, but she wasn’t going to take any chances since she wasn’t exactly fit enough to change the bedding – and she hated asking her friends, or worse Brightman, to do it for her. “Do I have to take my shirt off?”

After a scrutinizing look the woman shook her head. “Lifting it up will do for now.”

She tried not to show her relief, already fearing she’d have to pull it off over her head which had hurt like hell when she tried it the day before. Taking a seat on the bed had her gritting her teeth, her flesh pulling at the stitches but she breathed through it. It took her another minute to lie down, grimacing until she was flat on her back and able to relax again. “Okay,” she said upon seeing the questioning look from the Doctor, “I’m good.”

“Are you sure, Colonel?” Brightman waited until she nodded and lifted the shirt to expose her abdomen. “I’m going to cut off the bandages, see how it’s healing and then we can put a fresh bandage over it if everything is looking good.”

The exam took a little longer than Sam had expected but overall it was pretty painless, with the exception of when the Doctor examined the stitches a little too thoroughly for her tastes. Even rolling over on her uninjured side – aided by Brightman – didn’t hurt and she’d almost dozed off by the end, comfortable on her bed and with Brightman’s calm voice lulling her to sleep.

“Have you been getting enough sleep, Ma’am?”

She glanced up as the Doctor jotted down some notes on a chart and sighed. “Actually, I’ve been doing a lot of it lately.”

“It’s normal for the body to require rest after suffering a trauma like yours, but it’s also possible your medication is making it worse. Do you have any other complaints?”

“Well, I’m having trouble focusing sometimes, but mostly I just feel tired or sleepy.”

Brightman nodded and made some more notes. “I’ll change your prescription. I can give them to one of your teammates if they’re planning to come over later today?”

She smiled, thinking of how Daniel and Teal'c had been by her side whenever they could the past few days. “Try keeping them away.”

“That’s good to hear, Colonel. Your sutures seem to be holding remarkably well and since there’s been no bleeding, I would suggest keeping the bandages off throughout the day and putting clean ones on before going to bed. Just in case there’s some discharge or other discomfort without the padding cushioning the wound.”

“Does this mean I can take long baths again, too?”

The CMO smiled as she started putting her things away. “Yes, but no longer than half an hour. Do you want to take one now or should I clean the wound for you?”

Sam thought about it for a moment and decided she’d rather take a bath now. “I can clean and bandage it myself later tonight,” she said. “When is my next check-up?”

“I will give you a call next week to see if you’re up to a visit to the infirmary to remove the sutures.”

“Okay-”

Doctor Brightman held up one hand in protest and grabbed her bag with her other. “Oh, don’t get up on my account, Colonel. You look like you could use the rest. I can find my way out.”

Lying back down on the mattress, she sighed and relaxed as much as possible while the CMO turned towards the door. “Thank you, Doctor.”

“Good luck with your physical therapy tomorrow and give me a call if you need anything. Goodbye, Colonel Carter.”

“Bye.” Sam pulled her shirt down and tried to get comfortable on her bed, figuring a short nap would be nice about now. The front door closing followed by a car driving off a few minutes later was the last thing she heard before she dozed off.

---

Stargate Command
Colorado Springs, CO

It had been another long day on base for Jack and he was exhausted. The job as base commander wore him out more than his days back in the field and he didn’t even get hazard pay despite the two paper cuts he’d already sustained by lunch today. The lack of actual daylight combined with hours of paperwork and sitting in front of his laptop weren’t doing him any good either – a headache had started over an hour ago, but he refused to give in. Now, though, he had caught up with all the requisition forms, mission reports and the rest of the administrative stuff that came with running the first line of defense of a planet and there were no more meetings scheduled for the rest of the day either. Finally, he thought, leaning back in his comfy leather chair and rubbing his tired eyes.

The door to his office suddenly opened with a loud bang and without removing his hands he sighed – there was only one person it could be. “What can I do for you, Daniel?”

“Um, hello,” Daniel said in a tone he often used to cautiously greet strange aliens, even though he was the one barging into Jack’s office. “What are you doing?”

“Oh, you know,” he waved at the desk, “just General stuff. Why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be translating some dead language for SG-21 or something?”

He looked confused for a moment, eyebrows drawing together before he walked over to the chair in front of the desk, using a cane due to his injured knee. “No… I was actually working on deciphering a tablet that might be referring to Reese’s home planet.”

“The crazy robot chick who’s responsible for creating the Replicators?”

“Well, yes,” Daniel said reluctantly, clearly upset with the description as he lowered himself onto the chair. “It’s very interesting, actually. You see, their culture was very advanced; obviously, they had the knowledge and equipment to build Reese, but technology wasn’t the only aspect in which they were far more advanced than we are. As a matter of fact-”

Jack held up his hand and interrupted him irritably, not in the mood for another long-winded explanation that was of no interest to him – he’d heard far too many of those the past few days during briefings and debriefings with other SG teams. “Is there anything in there about how we might be able to destroy those Replicators?”

“Um, no,” he admitted. “I don’t think so. But the cultural aspects-”

“Ack! I don’t care! Just write another one of your reports about it and move onto something useful, okay? Maybe something that could help us defeat the Replicators or the Goa'uld, or both. Now, if you didn’t come here to tell me about a huge honkin’ space gun that was carelessly abandoned on some backwater planet and waiting for us to pick it up, then why, pray tell, did you come here, Daniel?”

The archeologist’s eyebrows shot up in surprise and he shot him an inquiring glance. “I guess Walter was right when he said you were in a bad mood this morning. I just didn’t expect it to last all day…”

He rolled his eyes and silently longed for the days Daniel was still the naïve scientist who was easily intimidated by him. “Daniel…”

“Fine, fine. Geez,” he muttered, before removing his glasses and rubbing his eyes. “Um, have you seen Sam since she was released from the infirmary?”

The stacks of reports on his desk suddenly caught Jack’s interest and he started moving them around, avoiding his friend’s gaze. “I’ve been kinda busy. Running the base and all. Hammond always made it look so easy,” he added as an afterthought. “Hell, I’m not even sure when I went home last.”

“So you haven’t seen her,” Daniel concluded. “Have you called her?”

“I barely have the time to eat lunch,” he said, trying to justify himself even though he was well aware he was avoiding Carter. “You, Teal'c and the Doc keep me apprised of Carter’s condition anyway. Besides, she’s probably resting all day after the damage that blast did; I wouldn’t want to wake her up just to hear what I already know when she needs her rest.”

“Oh come on, Jack.”

Jack glared at his friend, silently warning him not to go any further. His feelings for Carter were not something they would discuss, nor had they ever. That was simply off-limits, especially now that he was the base commander and she’d gotten herself a shiny new fiancé. Normally their friends didn’t press the issue, not after the two encounters with alternate realities anyway – well, there had been some ‘subtle’ hints from Teal'c a few times over the years – and it seemed Daniel understood. “I’ll check in with Carter later.”

“Doctor Brightman went by her house for a checkup today.”

“I know…”

Daniel leaned back in his chair, smirking and looking rather pleased with himself. “She said she had some new medication for Sam, something about the old ones possibly interfering with her naquadah.”

“Yes, I heard,” he said slowly, wondering where the archeologist was going with this.

“She said Sam needed them. Tonight,” he added, “before she goes to bed.”

Jack narrowed his eyes at him and gestured with his hand. “And…?”

“Well, Colonel Raimi asked if Teal'c and I could join him on their mission.”

“Daniel…”

He raised his brows and put on his innocent face, much to Jack’s chagrin. “Oh, did I forget to mention that’s why I dropped by?”

“To tell me you’ll be joining SG-22 when they leave in,” he checked his watch, “twenty minutes?”

Daniel nodded, smiling. “Yes, he said there was a chance of the planet having a ‘big honkin’ space gun’ but he needed me to translate something on-site and since Teal'c is bored and knows several Goa'uld dialects as well, we figured he could join us – and Sam would probably want him there to watch my six.”

Sighing, Jack scrubbed a hand over his face and silently berated himself for walking straight into that one. Since when was Daniel good at tactics and playing him? God, he must have been more tired than he’d previously realized or it never would have worked, he thought. “And you can’t bring the meds to Carter, right?”

“Exactly! It would take me at least half an hour to drive to her house and Doctor Brightman has the nightshift. I think Sam would prefer having you drop by over sending some anonymous airman to her house, especially so late in the evening.”

Having already gone over all the available options in his mind, he rolled his eyes and admitted defeat. “Fine, I’ll swing by her place on my way home. It’ll be nice to finally have a beer, catch up on The Simpsons and go to bed at a decent hour for a change.”

“I’m sure it will,” Daniel said, getting up from his seat with some effort and leaning on the cane. From his jacket pocket he pulled a very familiar paper bag and placed it on the desk. “These are Sam's meds. Doctor Brightman included instructions but she said to make sure Sam reads them and takes the pills before going to bed. Well, I should get geared up. Tell Sam hi from me.”

Before Jack could respond the archeologist had rushed out of the office in spite of his limp and disappeared down the stairs of the briefing room. “For crying out loud…” Now he would have to check up on Carter in person and Daniel knew it – and Teal'c was obviously in on it. “Traitors,” he muttered to himself as he stacked all the reports on his desk again and snagged the paper bag from the infirmary. It was heavier than he thought but he really shouldn’t be surprised considering Carter’s condition. The past couple of days he’d been trying to bury himself in paperwork in the hope of suppressing the guilt he felt over what had happened to her and now it reared its ugly head again. He swallowed hard, staring at the bag of meds as the image of her being hit and falling to the ground replayed in his mind’s eye. He remembered the smell of her burnt flesh and what was left of her clothes, barely covering the gaping hole in her side.

His hands shook and he had to steady himself at the desk for a moment as the memories assaulted him. He’d been terrified she wouldn’t make it, thinking their luck had finally run out – and all because he had wanted to go off-world again for an alien party. It had taken the Doc ten hours to fix her up once they got back through the gate and then it had still been touch and go for a while. The first time she woke up after surgery the relief he’d felt had been immense, even if she had been a bit loopy from all the drugs. Just the sight of those blue eyes and that small smile had been enough to chase away the darkness that had threatened to overwhelm him. The next few days had been much the same, with her waking up occasionally but not lucid while he was working on his laptop at her bedside. Once she had been fully conscious he’d made himself scarce, knowing he couldn’t afford to hang around – he had a base to run and couldn’t show favoritism or burden her with his company when he was the reason she had nearly been killed in the first place.

Now one of his best friends had basically forced his hand and Jack couldn’t not go over to Carter’s, because she needed the meds. Well, he had to face her one day… he just hoped that fiancé of hers wouldn’t be there, but he suspected the cop would be waiting on her hand and foot. He grimaced and tightened his hold on the infirmary bag, figuring he should drop by her place ASAP just in case they’d go to bed early.

If Jack was honest, he was actually kinda looking forward to seeing Carter again. He had missed her these past few days and the fact that he’d woken up every night with images of her going down in the field, finding a barely-there pulse and a big chunk of her side missing hadn’t really done him any good. So, instead, he’d buried himself in paperwork and meetings, actively avoiding thinking about that night they spent together in the cave, how he’d nearly lost her and the fact that she was spending her nights in another man’s arms since she’d been released from the infirmary.

He sighed, shaking his head at his conflicting thoughts and emotions. “Might as well get it over with,” he muttered to himself and moved towards the door. During the ride over to Carter’s he’d hopefully come up with something to say to her…

 

Chapter Text

Carter Residence
Colorado Springs, CO

It was already dark outside when Jack arrived at Carter's and even though he'd walked right up to her front door, he was hesitant to knock. He hadn't exactly lied to Daniel about her needing her rest; and, well, if she was awake then she might be totally pissed at finding him at her doorstep at this hour. His behavior over the past couple of days made it worse, he knew.

Grimacing, he looked at the paper bag in his hand and steeled himself; according to the Doc she needed these meds tonight. Besides, Daniel would never give him a moment's rest if he backed out now. Jack reluctantly knocked on the front door, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he waited for a response. He realized now that he was actually here, he wanted to see her too. Not seeing her for days was unusual and perhaps catching even a glimpse of her would help erase the memory of her pale face and lifeless form haunting his dreams…

His breath caught in his throat when Carter opened the door with a small apologetic smile, sleepy eyes, ruffled hair and color on her cheeks; so much healthier than he'd last seen her and very much alive. Words wouldn't come and instead he just looked at her, drinking in the sight of her.

"Oh," she said, the smile disappearing from her face. "It's you. Sir."

Her disappointment hit Jack harder than he'd expected and a greeting died on his lips. Trust Daniel not to tell her of the change of plans – or perhaps she'd been expecting Shanahan? The thought made him grit his teeth and he had to stop himself from shoving the bag of meds in her hands and turning back around to his truck.

"Sir?"

"Carter," he said reflexively, before taking a deep breath to compose himself and trying again. "Hi."

The look he got in return was skeptical at best. "Hello, Sir."

Shit, his behavior must have hurt her worse than he thought. "Is this a good time?"

"Not really," Carter said, crossing her arms and leaning – with her good side – against the doorpost, thereby blocking his view of her hallway as he tried looking over her shoulder.

Damn but she was good at making him feel unwelcome! Hell, he probably deserved it after the way he'd pretty much ignored her since leaving the infirmary, he reflected. "I, uh, brought you something." The moment the words left his lips he mentally slapped himself. Could he sound any more juvenile? When she glanced down at his hands and raised an eyebrow in an impressive imitation of Teal'c, he sighed and tried to explain. "Daniel asked me to drop this off."

"Oh."

Was that a flicker of… disappointment? Crap, now she thought he was only there because Daniel had asked? "But I wanted to check on you anyway. See how you're doing and all."

"Right."

"Can I come in?"

Carter sighed and glanced at the bag again, avoiding his question. "What is it?"

"Your new meds."

She reached out to take them from him but he pulled them to his chest. "Sir?"

With more confidence than he felt, Jack kept the bag from her and reiterated his question. "Can I come in?"

"You're not going to give me my painkillers unless I invite you into my house?"

He shifted on his feet in discomfort, realizing what it sounded like. "No," he said slowly, risking a look at her face. There was a fire in her eyes he knew all too well, but it had never been aimed at him. "It's just that I'm supposed to make sure you read the instructions and actually take the pills. Doctor's orders."

Carter looked even more peeved now, narrowing her eyes at him. "These aren't the first pills I've ever had to take and since when do I need a babysitter?"

"You don't, Carter. The Doc just wants to make sure you're okay. And this will give us a chance to talk," Jack said, cringing as he caught her surprised look – they never talked. "You know, catch up and… stuff."

"Catch up?"

"Yeah, you know," he waved his hand around as if that explained everything. "Isn't that what you and Daniel have been doing all week?"

She arched an eyebrow at him and looked at him the way she looked at one of her uncooperative doohickeys. "Daniel usually brings over food and shares base gossip with me."

"Food?" Jack ran a hand through his hair as he thought through his options. It was late and him being here wasn't appropriate but he doubted the Air Force made a distinction between talking to your subordinate in her living room or talking to her while making her dinner. "You haven't eaten yet? Well, I guess I could cook you something."

For a moment, she looked stunned. "Um, well, I don't actually have anything edible. But, um, thanks for the offer. Sir."

"Carter," he drawled her name, smirking a bit at the sudden opening, "you do know you're supposed to take these meds on a full stomach, right? And Doctor Brightman said you weren't allowed to skip meals because your recovery takes up a lot of energy."

"Are you offering to buy me groceries?"

Jack narrowed his eyes at her. "You sure there's nothing in the fridge or your cupboards? I could probably whip you something up."

"Not a thing, Sir. Daniel and Teal'c bought me groceries when I first got home, but they've eaten all of it already. The past couple of days it was just takeout."

He cast a glance at his watch, before looking back at the house. She was still blocking his view of the entryway and seemed determined to keep him outside - had she been expecting Shanahan and was therefore reluctant to let him in? Jack didn't want to contemplate the other kind of surprises Carter might have for her fiancé but his brain went there anyway; at least there was an upside to her injury, because he knew lying down was uncomfortable for her, never mind anything more strenuous. Shaking himself, Jack made a decision. "Fine, grab your stuff."

"Sir?"

"You need food, Carter."

She looked at him as if he'd lost his mind. "I don't think I'm dressed to go out, Sir, and I'm not entirely sure that's appropriate anyway."

He rolled his eyes after giving her a once-over; she was wearing sweats and fluffy socks. "You look fine for what I have in mind. Grab your coat, some shoes and your keys."

The reluctance was obvious in her stance but when her stomach chose that moment to voice its hunger, Carter admitted defeat and went back inside the house. She left the front door open but he patiently waited on the step until she came out to join him a minute or two later. "Fine, but this better be worth it. Sir."

"You betcha," Jack said, after an awkward silence in which he considered her choice of phrasing. "C'mon, let's go."

"Sure." She wrapped her opened coat around her body, but not before he noticed she'd exchanged the oversized top half of her sweat suit for a fitted blue cardigan. Keys were dangling in her hand and it looked like she'd quickly run a comb through her hair too.

He opened the passenger door of his truck for her and waited until she'd caught up with him. From the way she moved, he could tell her injury was causing her discomfort yet she didn't utter a word. "Need a hand?"

"I'm not an invalid, Sir," she snapped, glaring in his direction.

Jack bit back a retort and patiently waited until she'd climbed into the cab, before closing the door. The amount of effort it took her to get into the seat had been obvious, but he knew she wouldn't appreciate his comments. So, he rounded the truck and got in on the other side, ignoring her labored breathing as he settled in. "Good to go?"

Carter wiped her forehead with her free hand and buckled her seatbelt. "Yeah. Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

He started the car and they drove off in silence. There was this little diner about twenty minutes from her place that he went to sometimes, although he hadn't been there in quite a while. Back when he'd still been commander of SG-1 he often went there after a long mission to get some decent food and unwind, but lately he'd been too busy.

The road was quiet at this hour and he found himself stealing glances at his passenger from the corner of his eye. Aside from her labored breathing there wasn't a sound in the cab – he'd hoped she would feel a need to fill the silence without the radio – and the tension was high. The streetlights bathed them in their fluorescent lighting every now and then, and Jack could see the death grip she had on both the door and her seat in them.

"How are you holding up?"

"Just peachy, Sir." Sarcasm was dripping from her words and the fire was back in her eyes when he looked at her.

"Carter…"

"Don't you think it's a bit late to start showing concern for my wellbeing? You haven't bothered checking in on me once since I was released from the infirmary."

He knew this had been coming, but had no idea how to respond. "Car-"

"Getting updates from the CMO doesn't count, General. And now what? You're here because you drew Daniel's short straw and had to bring me my meds? Well, thanks for your help, but I can take it from here."

As they pulled up to a traffic light, Jack turned towards her and placed his hand on her arm. "That's not true-"

She pulled away in anger and grimaced, grabbing her injured side and gritting her teeth. "No, you don't get to pull that right now! If you really wanted to see me you would have visited at least once in the week since I've been home. Or, you know, called to ask how I was doing. And before you say it, asking the guys how I'm doing isn't the same thing!"

"I know," Jack said, his shoulders slumping. There was no way he could deny it, after all. If they wanted to move beyond this, they had to clear the air. Starting with him apologizing for avoiding her the past week. He'd never been much of a talker, even less so when it concerned relationships but he wasn't completely oblivious or too emotionally stunted to recognize when it was needed.

"What, that's it?"

"No." She was impatient and still fired up, which he understood, but he'd never been any good at this whole talking thing. Or apologizing. "You're right, I should have made time to see how you were doing. I'm sorry, Carter."

She looked surprised, perhaps even a little taken aback. Casting her gaze downwards, she placed one hand on her injured side, while the other rubbed over the fabric of her sweatpants.

He recognized her need to think, so he didn't push and simply waited.

"Okay."

Now it was Jack's turn to be surprised, but before he could do or say anything a car behind them honked; the light had turned green. He cleared his throat and turned his attention back to the road, driving off. "Okay."

They drove on in silence and a few minutes later, they took another turn and the diner came into view. The place looked pretty much deserted, with just two cars in the parking lot, but the lights were on and that meant they'd serve food.

Carter broke the silence unexpectedly. "I broke things off with Pete."

"You broke th-," he parroted, stunned by the unexpected reply. "Oh."

Her gaze was on him, as if she was trying to read him. "Yeah."

His mind was racing to come up with an appropriate response, while ignoring all the inappropriate questions he wanted to ask. Instead, he had to drive onto the lot and park his truck. "Oh."

"I would have told you sooner, but…"

Jack chanced a glance at her, but she was looking out of her window so he kept quiet and found a parking spot close to the diner's entrance. After turning off the ignition, he got out and opened the door for her, ready in case she needed some help.

Carter ignored him and managed to get out of the truck with great effort, breathing hard once her feet were on the ground. There was a slight sheen of perspiration on her face and she took a moment to lean against the truck.

"How're you feeling?" He asked, pointing in the general direction of her injury.

"Fine." When he raised his brow skeptically, she rolled her eyes. "Like hell."

He smirked at her honesty and was pleased to see the corners of her mouth quirk up too. It was rare for her to be this honest about an injury – unless they were in the field – and he liked that she didn't hide it from him. He didn't know if it meant anything or if she just figured it was hard to deny, but he liked to think it was the former. "You didn't pull your stitches, did you?"

"No," she glared at him, before casting her gaze down. "I just… need to rest for a minute."

Tempted as he was to wrap his arms around her, he tamped down the urge and instead placed his hand on her left shoulder, squeezing it gently in silent support. Maybe this little trip hadn't been such a good idea, but he'd figured they needed somewhere neutral to talk – and she needed food. Not to mention that she'd been holed up in her house the past week and before that the infirmary, and that usually made her climb the walls. Only this time she wasn't fit enough to do something about it, leaving it up to him.

"Okay, I'm good. I think," Carter added, swaying slightly when she stood upright.

Jack smiled inwardly at her befuddled expression when he moved his hand to her uninjured side to guide her towards the entrance. "Think we should head into the diner before you keel over?"

"Oh." She blinked and, after he gently exerted some pressure, started walking. "I can walk by myself."

"I know." Despite her tone, she hadn't shrugged off his hand so he kept it right where it was. He could feel the warmth of her skin through the layers of clothing and had to resist tightening his grip. His mind briefly went back to that night in the cave, when his hands had been on her bare skin… then she suddenly stopped in front of him and the diner, bringing him back to the present. "Ack, wait," he said, moving quickly to open the door for her.

"I can-"

"I know," he huffed. "Geez, Carter! I'm not trying to give you ideas, just trying to be nice. I'm afraid you'll pop a stitch if you keep bowing up at me like that."

She rolled her eyes, but took a visible effort to rein it in. "Right. I'm sorry."

They made their way over to the table at the back, even though only one other table was occupied and just one person was sitting at the counter sipping coffee. Jack easily slipped into the booth, placing the bag of meds next to him. Carter, on the other hand, was visibly in pain when she tried to sit down but didn't say a word. Her eyes were closed and she gritted her teeth while trying to breathe through the pain using one of Teal'c's Jaffa techniques. He knew drawing attention to her pain would only make her more uncomfortable, so he beckoned the waitress and ordered for them both when Carter waved her hand to let him know he could.

It didn't take long for their food – pancakes and cake for him, a BLT for Carter – to arrive and their coffee cups to be filled.

However, Carter had been distracted by her injury and discomfort, worsened when she struggled to get her coat off, and ended up staring suspiciously at a cup of coffee after taking a sip. "Decaf?"

"Yeah," Jack admitted with a slight grin, amused that she hadn't listened to his conversation with the waitress. "You need all the sleep you can get. Food's here too, so you'll be able to take your meds soon."

"Thanks."

He watched her as she uncharacteristically fiddled with her cardigan, trying to find a way to broach the subject of… well, everything really. Her health, breaking off the engagement, Voarios. Them. The silence between them wasn't uncomfortable for which he was grateful, because it allowed him to drink in the sight of her; no longer pale and lifeless, albeit visibly tired.

Carter smiled when she dug into her sandwich. "This is really good," she said between bites. "I didn't realize how hungry I was until now."

"Sounds familiar," Jack teased, reminded of all the times he interrupted her lab work for a meal. He grabbed her pills from the paper bag, opened the two bottles and placed them in front of her, before turning to his own pancakes.

"Thank you." She dry-swallowed a pill from each bottle, took a sip of coffee and went back to her half-eaten BLT.

After wolfing down his meal, he drank the last of his coffee and reached for the slice of cake that he'd ordered. "So…"

Carter simply raised her eyebrows in a silent question, watching him expectantly.

Jack leaned back in the boot, trying to find the right words. "So… you broke off the engagement."

"Yes."

"Why?" The question came out a bit too hopeful so he tried again, after clearing his throat. "I mean, maybe you shouldn't be making life-changing decisions right after nearly dying."

She lifted her chin minutely, in that stubborn way she had when he chanced a glance at her. "Maybe what happened on that planet put things into perspective for me."

"Did it?"

For a long while she just stared at him, his heart pounding in his chest in anticipation of her answer and the world seemed to come to a stop.

"More coffee?" The waitress asked, interrupting them.

The moment was gone and Jack was pretty sure there was a brief flash of relief on Carter's face, before she schooled it in a neutral expression. "No," he said, waving off the waitress. "Well?"

"Considering our line of work, I doubt I'd get anything done if I had to wait until the nearly dying part was over before I could make an important decision."

"Carter…"

She glanced down at her cup, avoiding his gaze, and put a hand on her injured side. "Yes," she said, resolutely. "Yes, what happened on Voarios made me realize some truths."

He could tell there was more, that she was holding something back and he suspected he knew part of the problem. The only thing he wasn't sure of was her reason for breaking off her engagement and he was almost afraid to hope he was part of the equation – his battered heart could only take so much. Still, no matter how much he disliked it, they really had to talk after what had happened on that planet. "Nearly dying does that to a person."

"Watching others die, too."

From the look she leveled him with, Jack knew she was referring to him. If she cared about him even half as much as he did for her, then finding him under the ice must have been terrifying – never mind performing CPR on him. He could still feel the panic after she went down and seeing that gaping hole in her side… "I know."

"I suppose you do…" Her voice trailed off as she looked away.

He watched her for a moment, his gaze moving from the top of her blonde head down the curve of her cheek, her lovely mouth, along her neck and all the way down her arm to land on her hand where it rested on the tabletop. Even sleep deprived, bruised and in pain she was beautiful and graceful to him. His heart constricted at the sight of her bare ring finger, knowing the engagement had been called off and the cop's ring had been returned. There were some minor abrasions on her hand too, which reminded Jack of her current condition. A little trip like this was probably exhausting to her, so he had to take her back to her place soon – but not before they'd talked.

Looking up, he found her watching him too. With a soft, genuine smile he pushed his slice of cake in the center of the table, wordlessly offering her some. "So, now what?"

Carter ducked her head and after a moment, grabbed the fork off his plate. "Now," she said, taking a bite of cake, "I need to focus on my recovery. Apparently, I have weeks if not months of physical therapy ahead of me before I can even think about being on active duty again."

"Yeah." Jack couldn't tear his gaze away from her mouth, watching as his fork slipped from her lips. What had he been thinking, offering her his cake? "Uh," he said, belatedly realizing she was waiting for something more from him. "Noel is the best PT. She'll fix you right up, make you good as new. It'll just take time, like it did with Teal'c when he lost Junior."

"We both know that might not be possible."

If he didn't know her so well, he would have missed the undertone. She was scared. Not just in pain and concerned about her recovery, but scared she wouldn't be able to fully recover. "Carter…"

"I'm lucky to still be alive, I know," she said, smiling weakly.

The memory of her getting hit by that staff blast and seeing the extent of her injury flashed before his mind's eye before he shook it off. She had survived. She was alive and sitting in front of him, clearly needing to get this off her chest. "We both are."

She licked the fork clean and handed it to him, giving the plate a small shove in his direction. "Yes. Maybe… maybe I'll be able to stay on as a civilian."

"No need to get ahead of ourselves just yet," he said. The uncertainty had been clear in her voice and Jack was pretty sure she hated that idea; she was military through and through, and he doubted she'd be content tinkering in her lab all day after traipsing around the galaxy. Perhaps if it had been by choice… but not when it was forced upon her.

"We need to be realistic."

Jack struggled to find the words she needed to hear and holding the fork that had been in her mouth only minutes ago wasn't helping. Think, think… "It's only been a few days," he said, "we don't really know anything yet."

Carter huffed and wrapped her arms around her torso as best she could. "I know how I feel and we also know what the doctors told me. This wasn't just a superficial wound-"

"I know!" He interrupted her in a raised voice, her words making him relive that awful moment on Voarios and his careful self-restraint just snapped. "Christ, Carter, when I saw you go down… I thought you were dead! The whole time you were in the OR I couldn't stop," he swallowed, "blaming myself for what had happened. You were dying because of me and all I wanted to do was… trade places with you."

She seemed slightly taken aback by his outburst and just stared at him for a moment. Then, one of her hands found his and covered it. "It wasn't your fault. I should have taken cover earlier."

"No, you shouldn't have been there at all."

"You and the team failed your scheduled check-in, there were signs of an attack… It was my call," she said, suddenly bristling. "If you don't think I'm capable of making command decisions, then maybe you shouldn't have left me in command of the base!"

Jack placed his hand over hers when she made to pull back and tried to explain. "You know that's not true, Carter. Hell, if I didn't think you were command material I'd have never kept you on as my 2IC," he said, thinking how much easier this thing between them could have been. "You deserve command of SG-1 and one day, you'll run the base. There's no doubt about that."

"Then… what? You think I made the wrong decision by setting up a search and rescue or do you believe I can't think straight when it comes to you? Because that's inc-"

"For Christ's sake, I screwed up on that planet! Hell, I fucked up the whole mission and got just about all the Voari and my own people killed. And why? Because I wanted to go offworld again and was enjoying the party a little bit too much! If I'd listened none of this would have happened," he admitted, holding up his hand to forestall her protests. "You saved my ass, all our asses, Carter – and you ended up paying the price."

She cast her eyes down, blushing. "I did what anyone would have done."

"I know."

"I would have done it for anyone," she said, catching his gaze.

Jack swallowed at the intensity in those blue eyes. "I know."

A silence descend on them during which Carter closed her eyes and shifted on her seat, discomfort written on her face. She pulled her hand back and placed it on her injured side, as if it somehow eased her pain. He turned his attention back to the cake he hadn't even tasted yet, knowing she needed a moment to herself.

When he heard her groan in pain as she reached for her coffee, he pushed the plate away – he'd lost his appetite – and grabbed his wallet, threw some bills on the table and stood. "Time to get you back home."

Straining herself, she got up with a grimace and reached for the pill bottles. "We're not done yet."

"We can talk more on the way over," he said, purposely misinterpreting and ignoring the leftover cake.

"Fine," she said after a moment's hesitation. Once she was standing on her own two feet, she headed for the door and let him put his hand on her uninjured side again to escort her to his truck.

Jack patiently waited for her to climb into the cab before closing her door and making his way around the truck to slip behind the wheel. It was getting late, yet he was reluctant to part from her already. They weren't done talking, either. At least, he wasn't. So, he started the engine and drove off in silence while trying to find the words to express how he felt about her without scaring her.

Carter was the one who unexpectedly broke the tense silence in the cab when they reached her neighborhood, picking up where they'd left off in the diner. "Risking our lives is part of the job description."

"Yeah, unfortunately."

She shot him a reproving look. "We knew what we signed up for."

Jack bit back inappropriate laughter. "More or less, I guess," he said, shaking his head. None of them could have expected what the SGC had in store for them back in the beginning. Or did she mean… what they signed up for by keeping their respective positions and locking their feelings in the room? Stunned, he felt his heart skip a beat and his palms started to sweat at the implication. Turning, he found her gaze on him, her eyes pleading with him like they'd done all those years ago. His mouth suddenly turned dry and he had trouble swallowing, her name was on his lips but no words came out.

"I-I… God, I don't know." She looked away, hand in her hair, but not before he caught sight of her blush.

Jack sighed and held his tongue until he pulled up in front of her house and killed the engine. "C'mon, let's get you inside." The house was dark and when she searched for the keys, he pulled out his own and used it for the first time to open her front door. Without waiting for an invitation, he followed her inside. She grimaced in pain when she sat down on a barstool in her kitchen so, taking a calculated risk, he placed his hands on her shoulders and instead steered her towards her bedroom.

"Um-"

"You're in pain and need to rest," he said by way of explanation. Entering her bedroom felt forbidden but he ignored his instincts and turned on the lights. "Sit."

It took her quite a bit of effort, but eventually she was sitting on the bed with her palms on the mattress behind her for support. Her face was almost as pale as the sheets and a slight sheen of sweat had broken out over her skin from the exertion. "So…"

Jack knew it was now or never and figuring he might as well go for broke, carefully sat down next to her on the bed. "A couple of things became very clear to me when I was in the infirmary, waiting for you to pull through, Sam."

The use of her given name caught her attention and surprise was written on her face. "Like what?"

"That I wouldn't know what to do if you didn't make it," he admitted, "and that I couldn't be your commanding officer anymore. When it comes to you, I can't think straight anymore, regardless of whether you're engaged to some asshole or not."

"Jack-"

He held up his hand, forestalling her protest. "Please. Carter, I can't… I don't think I can trust myself anymore if it comes to choosing between you and someone else – or hell, the whole fucking base. I can't lose you."

She took a deep breath at his admission before replying. "What are you saying?"

"I broke cover for you, for god's sake! I didn't even think about it, I just ran straight towards you the moment you went down," he said in a raised voice. One look at her told him she didn't understand how this was any different from the other times. He didn't know himself, so how could he explain it to her?

"That's why you've been keeping your distance."

It was a statement, not a question but he still nodded an affirmative. She'd always been the brains of the operation; it was no wonder she had him all figured out. The past couple of days he'd been trying to bury himself in paperwork in the hope of suppressing the guilt he felt over what had happened to her and now it reared its ugly head again. He swallowed hard, staring at the half-eaten cake as the image of her being hit and falling to the ground replayed in his mind's eye. He remembered the smell of her burnt flesh and what was left of her clothes, barely covering the gaping hole in her side.

He shook his head, trying to get rid of the memory. "I can't… Christ Carter, I could practically see the ground through that hole in your side! If Brightman hadn't been there, you would have been dead."

"But I'm still here," she said. After a moment of hesitation, she reached out and grabbed his hand, entwining their fingers. "I didn't think you were going to make it that night in the cave," she confessed all of a sudden, tightening her grip on him.

"You got me out of there. Saved my ass with your crazy plan." He looked down at their hands and caressed hers with his thumb, fascinated by the feelings the simple touch elicited.

Carter carefully bumped his shoulder with hers without releasing his hand. "And here we are again; back where we started.

Jack could think of a few things – like a certain cop who'd remain nameless – that had changed but he knew she was referring to their respective positions and the frat regs. "Maybe not…"

"Well, I suppose I'm on medical leave at the moment and we have no idea if I'll make a full recovery required fo-"

"No," he said, interrupting her before she'd convince herself she would get a medical discharge. "That's not what I meant. Remember that mission Daniel went on with Teal'c while you were in command of the base?"

"The Rebel Jaffa?"

"We're setting up a plan to prevent Anubis and Ba'al from taking over the galaxy." It was true that he'd buried himself in work to avoid her the past week, but he'd actually been in meetings about this and they'd even called in Jacob's help.

Carter frowned and tossed her bottles of meds next to her on the bed. "Well, unless they've found a sarcophagus somewhere, I won't be able to contribute."

Jack grimaced at the mention of the alien device, still associating it with the torture he'd undergone two years ago at Ba'al's hands. "No, nothing like that. But there's a chance we'll be able to take them and the Replicators out at the same time. Even your dad and Bra'tac are hopeful."

"Dad?"

"He's been involved in the planning and will drop by later this week," he explained.

She looked surprised – apparently Daniel hadn't mentioned that tidbit – but didn't question him any further about it. "That's great news, but what does it have to do with-"

"Us?" He grinned at the shy smile she gave in response to his answer. Now it was time to tell her the news, something he hadn't even shared with Daniel or Teal'c yet. "Hammond wants to retire for medical reasons and he wants me to take over HWS for him."

"Oh – wow."

Jack could tell from her reaction that wasn't what she'd expected and he tried to explain. "He's been holding it off for a while now, because he wanted to give me a shot at commanding the base first. But he doesn't want some schmuck to take over from me when all the baddies are still around."

"And if your plan works, he can step down and you can take over," Carter finished. "In Washington, DC."

A few weeks ago, with her wedding looming at the horizon, he'd welcomed the chance to leave Colorado but he knew it would complicate things now. "Yeah…"

She pulled her hand from his and fiddled with the bottle of painkillers while taking a moment to process all the new information. The silence between them wasn't tense but he was still glad when she broke it a minute or two later. "Well, for all we know I won't even fully recover. I've been stationed in DC once and I could go back-"

"Carter, wait," Jack said, interrupting her. "I don't want you to sacrifice your career. You're gonna kick ass when you start PT tomorrow and will be back to full health before you know it."

"Something has got to give, Jack," she said, shaking her head. "If I can't go back into the field it doesn't really matter where I'm stationed, because all I'd need is a lab with proper equipment."

"Not gonna happen."

She sighed in exasperation, as if she'd gone over all the possible simulations ten times already. Knowing Carter, she had and it didn't bode well if she thought it was impossible. "You don't know that for sure."

He narrowed his eyes and leaned slightly towards her. "Neither do you."

"If you take over for Hammond, you'll still be in my chain of command," she said, her shoulders slumping at the realization.

"We'll figure something out."

Carter bit her lip, obviously conflicted about the situation and got to her feet to pace around. She wasn't the kind of woman who'd ask for special treatment and probably felt like she didn't deserve any. "How can you be so sure?"

"A few years ago I meant every word when I confessed I'd rather die than lose you," he said, going over to her until they stood almost toe to toe. "Back then, I was willing to leave it in the room. I can't do that anymore, Carter." Jack could see the moment it hit her, her brain kicking into gear as she searched his gaze. His heart was hammering in his chest and he hated that he couldn't tell what she was thinking – in the field she was like an open book, but over the years she'd perfected her mask.

Slowly, he raised a hand and reached out. She didn't move, just kept looking at him so he continued until his callused finger touched her cheek. Her skin was softer than he'd expected and he felt a strange sense of wonder as he watched his hand trail along her cheek before brushing away an errand lock of hair. Carter's breath hitched when he touched her ear, her eyes falling closed. Jack was fascinated with both her reaction and her soft skin, as he moved back to her cheek and cupped it in his hand.

"Jack…"

Her breathless whisper sounded sexy as hell but he didn't feel the full Carter effect until she opened her eyes and looked straight at him. "I mean it," he said, after clearing his throat. "I know a lot has happened since then, but how I feel about you isn't one of them."

"I… I wasn't sure," she said, covering his hand with her own. "It's been so long."

He smirked, brushing his thumb over her lower lip. "I know." Both of them had pulled back after their confession and everything that had happened that year. There had been days he could have sworn he had imagined it. Neither of them wanted to expose their feelings due to their working relationship but apparently they had become so good at hiding it from others, they even fooled each other. Trying to move on had been a good idea, even if it had hurt, but clearly it wasn't working. This thing between them would never go away and while he'd known it that day in front of the force field, it seemed she had finally realized it too.

"I meant what I said earlier too. About the search and rescue mission," she said, frowning. "But I was going out of my mind thinking of all the things that could have happened to you. Then, I saw you there under the ice… God, Jack."

"Hey," he said, pulling her closer and wrapping an arm around her. "C'mere."

She hugged him as tight as she could with her injury, her lips moving against his neck as she spoke. "I thought we'd finally run out of luck and you were dead."

Jack pressed a kiss in her hair after inhaling her scent. "You're not gonna get rid of me that easily."

"Do you have a plan?" She asked, pulling back to look at him.

"Yeah, and you know if Plan A doesn't work, there's always B…"

"Or C."

He smirked at her. "I thought I was supposed to be the pessimist?"

She rolled her eyes and punched him lightly in the shoulder. "I think you're rubbing off on me."

"Nothing wrong with that," he said.

"Okay, so we have a plan… now what?"

Caressing her cheek, Jack leaned in slowly until his lips captured hers. The kiss was gentle but she responded immediately to him, eagerly returning it. He reluctantly broke it off, worried he'd get too caught up in her and exacerbate her injury. "Now, it's time for you to get some rest. It's past midnight already."

She kept her eyes closed and reached up to touch her lips, as if savoring the moment. Taking a deep breath, she glanced up at him and smiled shyly. "Stay?"

"If you'll have me," he said, smirking.

"I haven't been sleeping well, but I think the bed is big enough for the both of us or you could-"

He placed his finger on her lips to stop her from rambling. "Sam, it's okay. I've seen the damage, I know what to expect."

She nodded in understanding and took a step back. "I'll just get ready for bed," she said, indicating the bathroom.

"I'll be here when you get back." Jack waited until she'd left the room and started taking off his clothes – he'd sleep in his boxers. He'd just finished hanging them over the back of a chair when she got back, her sweats exchanged for pajama shorts and teamed with a tank top. There wasn't a sign of a bulky bandage under the skin tight top and he was trying really hard to see it instead of admiring those bare legs or her full breasts. "No bandage anymore?"

"Doctor Brightman said to leave it off during the day and only wear it a night to cushion the wound," Carter explained, holding up her hand with the bandages in it.

"Need a hand?"

She pulled at the hem of her top, looking uncomfortable. "You don't have to."

He reached for the bandages and tipped up her chin to look her in the eye. "I want to help. Doing it yourself has got to be painful."

"It's not pretty," she said, before slowly lifting the hem to bunch it under her breasts.

"I don't care how it looks." Jack kneeled down in front of her, one hand on her uninjured hip and the other slowly trailing along the broken skin held together by dark sutures. It would become a hell of a scar, zigzagging from her hip to the side of her breast. The internal damage had been even worse, he knew. "Certainly looks a lot better than before Doc Warner got you into his OR."

"Jack," she sighed, her hands running through his hair.

He leaned forward and pressed kisses along the marred skin. "Sam, I love you and I'd rather have you with a scar than bury you with a gaping hole in your side."

She tugged on his hair until he looked up at her. "That might be the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me, Jack O'Neill," she said sarcastically.

"Yeah well, what can I say? I'm better with actions than words," he replied, waggling his eyebrows.

"Is that a promise?"

Smirking, he grabbed one of her hands and kissed it. "Yeah sure, you betcha."

She giggled softly, shaking her head. "Well, I'll hold you to it."

"I can live with that," he said, before starting to work on the bandages.

"So," she said, while he wrapped them around her, "we're really going to do this?"

Jack finished up and got to his feet, cupping her cheek. "We are. Right now, we're going to get some sleep and tomorrow you'll start your PT. The rest we'll figure out later."

"Okay." She nodded and pressed a kiss to his palm. "Oh and Jack? I love you, too."

 

The End.