Hi all! My beta tells me that, due to an extremely busy schedule, she won't be able to get to my story for a while. Instead of torturing you by making you wait for her, I'm going to post the last chapter and then update her changes later.
Thank you so much for all of the reviews. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!
*~*~*~*
As soon as the Colonel and Teal'c, each with an unconscious team member slung over his shoulders, stepped onto the metal ramp at the SGC, a hoard of medical personnel descended upon them and relieved them of their burdens. Jack also gave Janet the stack of papers he had confiscated from Ochsner's lab. Sam and Daniel were quickly and efficiently placed on gurneys and rushed to the infirmary.
"Colonel?" General Hammond questioned as he approached after the flurry of activity had ended.
Jack was unsure of what, exactly, the General wanted to hear, so he decided to stick with what he knew as fact. "Ochsner is dead, sir, and his men who didn't die with him have been captured by the Kolean government. A team will need to be sent through the gate to retrieve our gear. We were promised it would be waiting on the other side within the hour. The Naquadah has been destroyed as well, so we don't have to worry about it falling into the wrong hands."
"That's all very good to hear, Jack," the General's voice had softened, "but you know as well as I do what the primary concern is at the moment."
"They're alive, sir," O'Neill responded after a slight hesitation. "Injured but alive. It's strange though..." he trailed off.
"What's strange?" the General prompted.
"Well, sir, Daniel was hit with a blast from one of their energy weapons, but Carter was injured by it as well."
Hammond was confused. "It had already been determined that Major Carter would feel any injury..."
"No, sir," O'Neill sharply cut him off, not caring that he was addressing a superior officer. "She didn't just feel the injury, she WAS injured."
The General was at a loss for words. There was a long silence before he could think of something, anything, to say. "You and Teal'c head to the infirmary and get yourselves checked out. The debriefing can wait until we've received some word on Major Carter and Dr. Jackson. Dismissed."
*~*~*~*
Several hours passed before an exhausted Dr. Fraiser exited the operating suite and was confronted by the worried faces of Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c.
"They're going to be fine," Janet reassured the anxious team members. "I want to thank you for bring Ochsner's research on the devices back with you. It gave us an idea of what to expect and saved us from panicking and possibly making a wrong decision during the surgery."
"To what are you referring, Dr. Fraiser?" Teal'c asked with guarded curiosity.
"The research papers indicated that the removal process must be done in the exact same manner at the exact same time," the doctor informed them. "In addition, we found that only three fibers were directly connected to the discs, all others led into them. As soon as we severed the first one, the devices activated and sent a strong signal along the remaining fibers. The result was dramatically increased blood pressure, erratic heart rate, and seizures."
Seeing the blood drain from O'Neill's face, Fraiser quickly attempted to put his fears to rest. "Thanks to the research papers you were able to bring back for me, we were expecting this and simply severed the remaining two fibers as quickly as possible. Had we not been expecting those things to happen, we might have panicked and reattached the first fiber. The result would have been bad."
"Bad?" O'Neill questioned, seemingly in a daze.
"Bad," the doctor reiterated. "It would have killed them."
O'Neill's legs turned to jell-o and he was forced to sit down before he fell down. He covered his face with trembling hands, rested his elbows on his knees, and repeatedly thanked any god that might be listening.
If Ochsner's research had not been out in the open like that... If he hadn't remembered Janet's request for him to return with any information possible... If he hadn't taken the extra few seconds to pick those papers up...
Jack ended that line of thinking when he realized that Janet was still speaking and had said something about his friends' other injuries. "The injury from the energy weapon," he interrupted. "Daniel was the one who was shot, but Carter was injured as well. What's with that?"
"As near as I can tell, it was a manifestation of the injuries perceived by Sam's mind."
"Are you telling me that you think it's all in her head?" Jack demanded in shocked outrage.
"No, sir," Fraiser responded, surprised that he could think she would even suggest such a thing. "It's closer to the idea of mind over matter. The human brain is an amazing tool, capable of unimaginable things. Combined with and enhanced by the alien technology, her brain sent signals to her body that it should be injured and her body responded. It worked the same way with Daniel."
O'Neill's eyes snapped back to the doctor from where they had inadvertently wandered to the operating suite door. "What do you mean?" he questioned.
"Not all of the injuries were originally Daniel's," Janet calmly explained. "The latest of Ochsner's notes indicated that he had just learned of this new development by striking Sam and accidentally cutting her cheek with his ring. He then noticed an identical injury appear on Daniel. I believe he was experimenting with this - on both of them - when you interrupted."
Jack let out the breath he had been holding. "They're going to be alright."
Janet was unsure if it was a question or a statement, but answered as if it were the former. "They're going to be fine. In time, all of their injuries will heal."
"When may we see them?" Teal'c asked.
"They'll be in recovery for a couple of hours. Once they're out you'll be able see them."
The Colonel and Teal'c thanked the doctor. Jack decided to take the opportunity to grab a shower, a fresh change of clothing, and a bite to eat. Hopefully, by the time he returned, he would be allowed to see his friends. Once granted admittance, he would not be leaving their sides until he heard from their own mouths that they would recover.
*~*~*~*
Sam awoke slowly, feeling groggy and disoriented. She had no desire to open her eyes this time only to find herself staring at the spinning red stone ceiling, so she kept them squeezed tightly shut. She attempted to roll onto her side, but groaned in despair when her aching muscles refused to comply with her demands.
"Sam, can you hear me? Everything is fine."
It took a few moments for the inconsistencies to register with Sam's muddled mind. She was lying on a soft bed and the voice that addressed her didn't belong to Daniel. In fact, the voice was decidedly feminine.
Despite better judgment and an even greater desire to return to sleep, Sam slowly pried her eyes open and was greeted by warm brown eyes that were set into the round face of Dr. Janet Fraiser.
"Glad to have you back with us, Sam," the Doctor said with a smile.
Sam drowsily returned a slight grin. As heavy eyelids slowly lowered and sleep began to overtake her, she suddenly realized that something was missing. She could no longer feel Daniel's strong, reassuring presence. "Daniel!" Sam's eyes shot open and she began to struggle to rise.
Janet was able to easily restrain the major and push her back into the bed. "Sam, I need you to relax. Just lie back and try to get some sleep, okay? Everything is going to be fine."
"He's dead, isn't he?" Sam questioned while trying to hold back a sob. She looked pleadingly at the doctor through tear-blurred eyes. "I can't feel him anymore. He's gone." She closed her eyes and allowed silent tears to fall.
"Sam." The Colonel's voice sounded from her other side and a calloused hand gently wiped her tears away. "Daniel is right here. He's fine."
Sam reluctantly reopened her eyes and looked disbelievingly towards her CO who simply took a step to the side to offer her an unobstructed view of the next bed. Upon that bed rested a bruised, battered, yet undeniably alive Daniel Jackson.
"Dr. Warner and I were able to operate to remove the discs and then repair your injuries..."
Dr. Fraiser continued on to explain exactly what had happened since their return, but Sam heard none of it. She heaved a great sigh of relief and closed her eyes. The meager amount of adrenalin that kept her awake until that moment fled from her system and Sam surrendered to a deep, healing sleep.
*~*~*~*
After two weeks, Sam and Daniel were released to half days of light desk duty. Active field duty would be at least another month away.
On their first day back to work, Sam entered Daniel's office and found him at his desk, pouring over the information they had gathered on the Kolean temple. She stopped just inside the door and simply watched him work, idly wondering how long it would be before he noticed her presence.
"Hey, Sam."
Not long, apparently.
Sam cleared the pile of books from a chair and sat down beside him. "Hey, Daniel. How's the translation coming?"
Daniel sighed and leaned back in his chair, wincing slightly as his still-healing wounds protested the sudden movement. He removed his glasses and rubbed a weary hand across his stinging eyes before returning the frames to their proper place. "Not very well," he finally answered. "The Koleans aren't having any better luck with it than I am. It's a dead language and I'm afraid it's going to remain that way."
"Oh, sorry to hear that."
The two friends sat in awkward silence. Despite the communications break-through on the planet, neither had spoken of their ordeal since waking in the infirmary.
Sam was the first to finally speak. "I miss you, you know."
"Aw, come on, Sam. We just spent a week in side-by-side beds in the infirmary and we've seen each other every day since we've been released," Daniel weekly protested, though he was unable to meet Sam's eyes.
"That's not what I meant and you know it, Daniel." Sam reached across to gently take his hand in her own.
"I know." Daniel returned a slight pressure to the hand holding his before finally looking up and locking eyes with his friend. "I just find it strange to miss the connection so much, considering that we had it for only a couple of days and its sole intention was to cause harm."
"I got a lot more than that from the link," Sam softly stated. "It transmitted the calming effect that you always have over me, a sense of security, and as long as I could feel you here," Sam used her index finger to lightly tap her temple, "I knew there was hope."
"It helped me to feel that I was never alone," Daniel continued for her. "I could feel your strength and determination that we would get through everything okay." He sighed again. "Janet told me that we might feel a sense of loss and even slight depression. I guess she was right."
"But you know that you can always talk to me about it, right?" Sam questioned with an edge of urgency in her voice. She wanted, no needed him to understand that she would be there for him. "You can come to me, Teal'c, or Jack to talk about anything."
"I know, and the same goes for all of you," Daniel answered. He understood exactly what she meant and it heartened him to realize the offer was made in earnest.
The two friends shared a moment of warm companionship.
"And, Daniel."
"Hmmm?" he asked, treating her to one of his rare, sincere, glowing smiles.
"This open line of communication is also meant to include you telling us of any injury, no matter how minor. For example, should you, oh, I don't know, um, sprain your ankle, you should tell someone," Sam teased.
"Oh, now don't you start on that one," Daniel protested with a laugh. "You, of all people, should know that it was an extremely minor sprain. Janet probably wouldn't have even wrapped it. She would have given me some anti-inflammatory pills and told me to take it easy - both of which I was already doing. Thanks to some blonde Air Force Major, who shall remain nameless," he pinned her with a lighthearted glare, "I was treated to an hour-long lecture from Janet in full doctor mode." Daniel gave a mock shiver. "The horror!"
Sam's playful retort was preempted by approaching footsteps.
"Hey, kids," Colonel O'Neill called as he entered the office.
"Hey," both Daniel and Sam responded.
"It's 1200 hours and both of you are officially off duty until tomorrow morning," O'Neill declared in his best radio announcer's voice. "Why don't the two of you join Teal'c and me for lunch and then I'll drive you each home?"
"Sounds great," they chorused.
The Colonel gave them a funny look. "Okay, you guys are going to have to cut that out."
"Cut what out?" they questioned simultaneously.
"That, right there!" O'Neill waved his hands and shouted as frustration and annoyance began to overtake him.
"What are you talking about?" Sam and Daniel asked in unison, innocent expressions glued to their faces.
"Oh, for crying out loud! Teal'c and I will be in the commissary. Come on down when the two of you are finished devising new ways to make my hair go totally gray...what little of it I don't wind up pulling out from aggravation, that is." With that, Jack turned on his heel and marched out of the room, still shaking his head and murmuring something under his breath about aging Colonels and mutinous subordinates.
Sam and Daniel turned to face each other. "Was it something we said?" they questioned before dissolving into a fit of giggles.
FIN
Thank you so much for all of the reviews. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!
*~*~*~*
As soon as the Colonel and Teal'c, each with an unconscious team member slung over his shoulders, stepped onto the metal ramp at the SGC, a hoard of medical personnel descended upon them and relieved them of their burdens. Jack also gave Janet the stack of papers he had confiscated from Ochsner's lab. Sam and Daniel were quickly and efficiently placed on gurneys and rushed to the infirmary.
"Colonel?" General Hammond questioned as he approached after the flurry of activity had ended.
Jack was unsure of what, exactly, the General wanted to hear, so he decided to stick with what he knew as fact. "Ochsner is dead, sir, and his men who didn't die with him have been captured by the Kolean government. A team will need to be sent through the gate to retrieve our gear. We were promised it would be waiting on the other side within the hour. The Naquadah has been destroyed as well, so we don't have to worry about it falling into the wrong hands."
"That's all very good to hear, Jack," the General's voice had softened, "but you know as well as I do what the primary concern is at the moment."
"They're alive, sir," O'Neill responded after a slight hesitation. "Injured but alive. It's strange though..." he trailed off.
"What's strange?" the General prompted.
"Well, sir, Daniel was hit with a blast from one of their energy weapons, but Carter was injured by it as well."
Hammond was confused. "It had already been determined that Major Carter would feel any injury..."
"No, sir," O'Neill sharply cut him off, not caring that he was addressing a superior officer. "She didn't just feel the injury, she WAS injured."
The General was at a loss for words. There was a long silence before he could think of something, anything, to say. "You and Teal'c head to the infirmary and get yourselves checked out. The debriefing can wait until we've received some word on Major Carter and Dr. Jackson. Dismissed."
*~*~*~*
Several hours passed before an exhausted Dr. Fraiser exited the operating suite and was confronted by the worried faces of Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c.
"They're going to be fine," Janet reassured the anxious team members. "I want to thank you for bring Ochsner's research on the devices back with you. It gave us an idea of what to expect and saved us from panicking and possibly making a wrong decision during the surgery."
"To what are you referring, Dr. Fraiser?" Teal'c asked with guarded curiosity.
"The research papers indicated that the removal process must be done in the exact same manner at the exact same time," the doctor informed them. "In addition, we found that only three fibers were directly connected to the discs, all others led into them. As soon as we severed the first one, the devices activated and sent a strong signal along the remaining fibers. The result was dramatically increased blood pressure, erratic heart rate, and seizures."
Seeing the blood drain from O'Neill's face, Fraiser quickly attempted to put his fears to rest. "Thanks to the research papers you were able to bring back for me, we were expecting this and simply severed the remaining two fibers as quickly as possible. Had we not been expecting those things to happen, we might have panicked and reattached the first fiber. The result would have been bad."
"Bad?" O'Neill questioned, seemingly in a daze.
"Bad," the doctor reiterated. "It would have killed them."
O'Neill's legs turned to jell-o and he was forced to sit down before he fell down. He covered his face with trembling hands, rested his elbows on his knees, and repeatedly thanked any god that might be listening.
If Ochsner's research had not been out in the open like that... If he hadn't remembered Janet's request for him to return with any information possible... If he hadn't taken the extra few seconds to pick those papers up...
Jack ended that line of thinking when he realized that Janet was still speaking and had said something about his friends' other injuries. "The injury from the energy weapon," he interrupted. "Daniel was the one who was shot, but Carter was injured as well. What's with that?"
"As near as I can tell, it was a manifestation of the injuries perceived by Sam's mind."
"Are you telling me that you think it's all in her head?" Jack demanded in shocked outrage.
"No, sir," Fraiser responded, surprised that he could think she would even suggest such a thing. "It's closer to the idea of mind over matter. The human brain is an amazing tool, capable of unimaginable things. Combined with and enhanced by the alien technology, her brain sent signals to her body that it should be injured and her body responded. It worked the same way with Daniel."
O'Neill's eyes snapped back to the doctor from where they had inadvertently wandered to the operating suite door. "What do you mean?" he questioned.
"Not all of the injuries were originally Daniel's," Janet calmly explained. "The latest of Ochsner's notes indicated that he had just learned of this new development by striking Sam and accidentally cutting her cheek with his ring. He then noticed an identical injury appear on Daniel. I believe he was experimenting with this - on both of them - when you interrupted."
Jack let out the breath he had been holding. "They're going to be alright."
Janet was unsure if it was a question or a statement, but answered as if it were the former. "They're going to be fine. In time, all of their injuries will heal."
"When may we see them?" Teal'c asked.
"They'll be in recovery for a couple of hours. Once they're out you'll be able see them."
The Colonel and Teal'c thanked the doctor. Jack decided to take the opportunity to grab a shower, a fresh change of clothing, and a bite to eat. Hopefully, by the time he returned, he would be allowed to see his friends. Once granted admittance, he would not be leaving their sides until he heard from their own mouths that they would recover.
*~*~*~*
Sam awoke slowly, feeling groggy and disoriented. She had no desire to open her eyes this time only to find herself staring at the spinning red stone ceiling, so she kept them squeezed tightly shut. She attempted to roll onto her side, but groaned in despair when her aching muscles refused to comply with her demands.
"Sam, can you hear me? Everything is fine."
It took a few moments for the inconsistencies to register with Sam's muddled mind. She was lying on a soft bed and the voice that addressed her didn't belong to Daniel. In fact, the voice was decidedly feminine.
Despite better judgment and an even greater desire to return to sleep, Sam slowly pried her eyes open and was greeted by warm brown eyes that were set into the round face of Dr. Janet Fraiser.
"Glad to have you back with us, Sam," the Doctor said with a smile.
Sam drowsily returned a slight grin. As heavy eyelids slowly lowered and sleep began to overtake her, she suddenly realized that something was missing. She could no longer feel Daniel's strong, reassuring presence. "Daniel!" Sam's eyes shot open and she began to struggle to rise.
Janet was able to easily restrain the major and push her back into the bed. "Sam, I need you to relax. Just lie back and try to get some sleep, okay? Everything is going to be fine."
"He's dead, isn't he?" Sam questioned while trying to hold back a sob. She looked pleadingly at the doctor through tear-blurred eyes. "I can't feel him anymore. He's gone." She closed her eyes and allowed silent tears to fall.
"Sam." The Colonel's voice sounded from her other side and a calloused hand gently wiped her tears away. "Daniel is right here. He's fine."
Sam reluctantly reopened her eyes and looked disbelievingly towards her CO who simply took a step to the side to offer her an unobstructed view of the next bed. Upon that bed rested a bruised, battered, yet undeniably alive Daniel Jackson.
"Dr. Warner and I were able to operate to remove the discs and then repair your injuries..."
Dr. Fraiser continued on to explain exactly what had happened since their return, but Sam heard none of it. She heaved a great sigh of relief and closed her eyes. The meager amount of adrenalin that kept her awake until that moment fled from her system and Sam surrendered to a deep, healing sleep.
*~*~*~*
After two weeks, Sam and Daniel were released to half days of light desk duty. Active field duty would be at least another month away.
On their first day back to work, Sam entered Daniel's office and found him at his desk, pouring over the information they had gathered on the Kolean temple. She stopped just inside the door and simply watched him work, idly wondering how long it would be before he noticed her presence.
"Hey, Sam."
Not long, apparently.
Sam cleared the pile of books from a chair and sat down beside him. "Hey, Daniel. How's the translation coming?"
Daniel sighed and leaned back in his chair, wincing slightly as his still-healing wounds protested the sudden movement. He removed his glasses and rubbed a weary hand across his stinging eyes before returning the frames to their proper place. "Not very well," he finally answered. "The Koleans aren't having any better luck with it than I am. It's a dead language and I'm afraid it's going to remain that way."
"Oh, sorry to hear that."
The two friends sat in awkward silence. Despite the communications break-through on the planet, neither had spoken of their ordeal since waking in the infirmary.
Sam was the first to finally speak. "I miss you, you know."
"Aw, come on, Sam. We just spent a week in side-by-side beds in the infirmary and we've seen each other every day since we've been released," Daniel weekly protested, though he was unable to meet Sam's eyes.
"That's not what I meant and you know it, Daniel." Sam reached across to gently take his hand in her own.
"I know." Daniel returned a slight pressure to the hand holding his before finally looking up and locking eyes with his friend. "I just find it strange to miss the connection so much, considering that we had it for only a couple of days and its sole intention was to cause harm."
"I got a lot more than that from the link," Sam softly stated. "It transmitted the calming effect that you always have over me, a sense of security, and as long as I could feel you here," Sam used her index finger to lightly tap her temple, "I knew there was hope."
"It helped me to feel that I was never alone," Daniel continued for her. "I could feel your strength and determination that we would get through everything okay." He sighed again. "Janet told me that we might feel a sense of loss and even slight depression. I guess she was right."
"But you know that you can always talk to me about it, right?" Sam questioned with an edge of urgency in her voice. She wanted, no needed him to understand that she would be there for him. "You can come to me, Teal'c, or Jack to talk about anything."
"I know, and the same goes for all of you," Daniel answered. He understood exactly what she meant and it heartened him to realize the offer was made in earnest.
The two friends shared a moment of warm companionship.
"And, Daniel."
"Hmmm?" he asked, treating her to one of his rare, sincere, glowing smiles.
"This open line of communication is also meant to include you telling us of any injury, no matter how minor. For example, should you, oh, I don't know, um, sprain your ankle, you should tell someone," Sam teased.
"Oh, now don't you start on that one," Daniel protested with a laugh. "You, of all people, should know that it was an extremely minor sprain. Janet probably wouldn't have even wrapped it. She would have given me some anti-inflammatory pills and told me to take it easy - both of which I was already doing. Thanks to some blonde Air Force Major, who shall remain nameless," he pinned her with a lighthearted glare, "I was treated to an hour-long lecture from Janet in full doctor mode." Daniel gave a mock shiver. "The horror!"
Sam's playful retort was preempted by approaching footsteps.
"Hey, kids," Colonel O'Neill called as he entered the office.
"Hey," both Daniel and Sam responded.
"It's 1200 hours and both of you are officially off duty until tomorrow morning," O'Neill declared in his best radio announcer's voice. "Why don't the two of you join Teal'c and me for lunch and then I'll drive you each home?"
"Sounds great," they chorused.
The Colonel gave them a funny look. "Okay, you guys are going to have to cut that out."
"Cut what out?" they questioned simultaneously.
"That, right there!" O'Neill waved his hands and shouted as frustration and annoyance began to overtake him.
"What are you talking about?" Sam and Daniel asked in unison, innocent expressions glued to their faces.
"Oh, for crying out loud! Teal'c and I will be in the commissary. Come on down when the two of you are finished devising new ways to make my hair go totally gray...what little of it I don't wind up pulling out from aggravation, that is." With that, Jack turned on his heel and marched out of the room, still shaking his head and murmuring something under his breath about aging Colonels and mutinous subordinates.
Sam and Daniel turned to face each other. "Was it something we said?" they questioned before dissolving into a fit of giggles.
FIN