Author's Note: This may not be for Sam fans, but I noticed in the first couple seasons that Sam tends to be a little arrogant about scientific matters when she feels someone is making a mistake. Most of the time it's innocent because she really doesn't want something bad to happen, and I have great respect for both her brillliant ideas and her character, but I was just wondering what might happen if it turned out she was wrong. This is what I came up with. -Bixata

With all due respect, Sir, I don't think you understand.

He had listened. She had said a bunch of fancy words that he didn't understand, the determination and passion in her eyes telling him that she was sure she knew what she was talking about. And even though his gut was telling him this was a mistake, he had faith in his team and was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, considering her exemplary track record.

On the other hand, Daniel had agreed with his initial instinct as well, and put forth just as good an argument as Carter. Teal'c had remained quiet, obviously not having an opinion one way or the other, and not wanting to provide faulty information with which his commanding officer would make the final decision. So that left Jack and Daniel quickly going over the pros and cons of the plans while Carter vehemently told him that they didn't know what they were talking about and this kind of thing was her specialty so just trust her.

And so he did.

And he had just spent the last three days in a coma, with Daniel in the neighboring bed awakening only hours before him. Both men were being treated for third degree burns on their arms, chests and faces. He had two cracked and two broken ribs, and had punctured a lung. Daniel had three cracked ribs and a badly bruised clavicle. Both men had bandages over their eyes and it would be a few more days before they could be removed to see if the explosion had left either of them permanently blind. They were both on respirators because they had inhaled so much hot smoke that they had burned their throats and lungs, his condition worsened by the lung puncture.

Carter didn't have a scratch on her. Teal'c had minor burns on his hands from hauling him and Daniel away from the fire, but his symbiote had already taken care of most of the damage.

As he felt the pain coming back he began to whimper in the back of his throat. Because of the burns on his hands he couldn't control his own self medication, because of the respirator he couldn't tell anyone he was in pain, and because of the bandages over his face they couldn't see it in his expression.

Fraiser had been fussing over him from the minute he regained consciousness, flitting between his and Daniel's bedsides, monitoring and doing whatever it is doctors do to reassure their patients that they aren't going to die and the pain will go away. In his case, she told him that Carter and Teal'c were fine and that Daniel was alive, but from the tone of her voice and his memory of what had happened, he knew that Daniel was probably suffering from similar injuries to his own. When he had struggled to tear the bandages off his face with his bandaged hands she had been forced to grab him by the arms, an excruciatingly painful experience, as she ordered him to calm down, repeating that Daniel would be fine and she was taking care of him.

And so he lay there in the recovery room of the infirmary with his best friend, the two men isolated from the rest of the base to decrease the risk of infection. He had no way to communicate and the only reassurance he had that Daniel was indeed there was the strained and raspy breathing through the respirator.

Less than an hour after he awoke from the coma he had been informed of both his own and Daniel's injuries and was quickly succumbing to the pull of sleep again. He didn't care what had happened on the planet, whether Carter's plan had worked or not. He would worry about that later. For now, all he needed to know was that his team was alive. Sure, he and Daniel may never be the same again, but they were both alive with full cognition, and that was all that mattered. He didn't blame Carter for what happened, it could have happened anyway whether they had agreed to her plan or not. He was in command, he had made the decision, it was his responsibility. He was the only one to blame.

But there was a part of him, a part he often tried to hide from his friends, that didn't care whether Carter blamed herself or not. It wasn't his problem, she could work it out on her own while he and Daniel recuperated from their serious injuries and, quite possibly, with their permanent disabilities.

With all due respect, Sir, I don't think you understand.

What was there to understand?

Sometimes he really hated scientists.