Title: Seven Days-
The Mis-Adventures of Jack and Sam
Author: dietcokechic
Email: dietcokechic at hotmail dot com
Category: J/S, Adventure, Angst, Hurt/Comfort
Spoilers: None to start out, but major 4th season references along with Solitudes.
Season: 4th Season
Content: Strong language
Summary: Jack and Sam go on a simple mission to a nice quiet planet. Naturally it all goes to hell.
Disclaimer: Only the story is mine, everything else belongs to the nice folks at Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions (did I leave anyone out?)

Notes:Very first fanfic. Be kind but please give feedback! And if anyone would like to volunteer to beta-read, that would be swell. Yes, this story is a bit shippy, but it's also a damn enjoyable tale. Promise! For those of you living in a Celsius world, here's a quick conversion chart:

85 F 29.4 C, 88 F 31 C, 90 F 32.5 C, 94 F 34.5 C

Notes II: It is over two years later (2004), and I have gained some wonderful beta-readers. Susan dearest, thank you loads for making this story all the better.

Day 1, P3X-677
0900 Hrs.

It was supposed to be a very simple mission. In fact, there really wasn't a reason to send SG-1 at all, except that half the base was quarantined with a pesky chicken-pox like bug and General Hammond needed those super concentrated naquada samples ASAP. Daniel couldn't come, as he was needed to decipher some promising Goa'uld/Egyptian symbols on P3X-030 before the coming rainy season. And after what happened to him the last time he went off on his own, Jack wasn't going to let him go without an escort; hence Teal'c was out of town as well. Which left Jack and Sam to scamper on over to P3X-677, grab some samples and head on home.

The gate whooshed closed and Jack and Sam found themselves surrounded by trees.

"Big surprise there," Jack muttered under his breath. The mission was to take no more than 24 hours and the MALP had shown no signs of human civilization. Walk in the park.

"Lead on, MacDuff," Col. O'Neill said, as he stepped down off the gate steps and adjusted his sunglasses. The planet was like hundreds of others he had been on, full of foliage and moisture. Although currently sunny, Jack was certain it would rain later. It always did on nice pleasant planets like this.

Sam smiled as she surveyed the landscape. According to her readings, there were major deposits in both the north and south. She chose the south as that looked like the direction the sun was heading and that would give them an extra hour or two of daylight.

"This way, sir," Sam said, pointing towards the south. They began walking in amicable silence. After a mile or so, Sam reached into her vest pocket and retrieved a small tube of Blistex.

"Got a date later, Carter?" Jack joked, as he watched his second in command slather her lips in lip balm. Belatedly, he realized that wasn't a very politically correct thing to say. And the amount of time his eyes were spending on her lips wasn't exactly a good thing either.

"No, sir." Sam resisted giving her commanding officer an inappropriate comment about how unlikely it was that she would find someone outside of the SGC. It wasn't as if she had an abundant amount of free time what with saving the planet on a quasi-regular basis. "I'm afraid I burned my lips this morning on some coffee," Sam explained as she placed the cap back on the tube.

Jack resisted the urge to step over and check out the damage. Looking at his 2IC's lips was definitely dangerous. Because the lips were near her face which were in turn attached to her body... nope. He was so not going to go there.

"Ouch." When in doubt, Jack always found it was best to stick to simple, one-word sentences. Luckily, nothing was said that had much of a lasting effect on the pair, and they continued on in comfortable silence for another several hours before stopping by a small stream for lunch. It was a lovely day for a hike and Jack and Sam were enjoying both the weather and companionship. It wasn't often they visited a world as hospitable as this one.

"Y'know Carter," Jack said as he opened his MRE of macaroni and cheese. "It's too bad we couldn't have waited until Daniel returned from rock rendering."

"What do you mean, sir?" Carter asked, taking a sip of water from her canteen.

"I can count on one hand the number of times SG-1 visited a nice peaceful boring planet. This one has no wild beasts, shiny rocks or nasty natives. Danny always seems to get beaten up the most out of all of us, and it would have been nice if he could have had this planet as a fond memory."

"But sir, SG-1 doesn't usually go to the uninhabited planets."

"I know, I know - but still, this is quite pleasant, don't ya think?"

"Absolutely, sir!" Sam replied, dazzling Jack with a big smile. It wasn't often that she was allowed some relaxed downtime with her Colonel. She was glad they could enjoy this time together. Although there was still much that hadn't been said after the whole Zartec incident, Sam felt she and the Colonel had reached an understanding that nothing further could really happen at this time. That wasn't to say that she wasn't still in lo... that she didn't have strong feelings for the Colonel, but rather that they both knew not to push. Of course, some days were easier than others. But on a day like today, it simply felt wonderful to just walk side by side.

They finished lunch and continued southwards. They had gone 18 miles and were nearly at their final destination, when Sam suddenly stopped short. Jack had only a brief moment to see the look of sheer horror on his Major's face before the ground beneath her feet stopped being solid, and she vanished into a cloud of loose dirt and rock.

"Carter!" Jack screamed, as he watched her disappear. He took one step forward and cursed as the ground gave way beneath him and he too fell into darkness.

Jack landed with a thud on surprisingly soft ground. Although soft is a relative term, Jack thought wryly to himself. He felt like he had fallen a good 20-25 feet and knew he would have some seriously impressive bruises later. He looked around. It was dark. Cold, inner-cave dark, and had he mentioned dark? The only visible light came from the small openings he and Sam must have made as they fell through the earth. Carter!

"Carter!" Jack yelled into the dimness. Cursing silently, he willed his eyes to adjust to the gloom and quickly pulled off his backpack.

"Carter!" He yelled again, frantically searching his bag for a flashlight.

'Gotcha!' he muttered, turning it on. Vaguely, Jack noticed the thick lichen covering the cavern's floors and the steep rocky walls that surrounded him.

"C'mon Major, answer me! You do realize I am going to blame you for adding yet more gray hairs to my head, right?" Jack paused in his shouting to listen very carefully. He shined the flashlight back and forth along the cavern floor as he searched for his missing teammate. He knew she had to be nearby. He heard the sound of water dripping and a vague rustling above his head. Rustling? Jack looked upwards and saw something moving slightly near a gnarly collection of tree roots. His eyes still hadn't adjusted, but Jack was positive that something had to be Sam.

"Carter! Is that you up there?"

Hearing no reply, Jack shined the light directly on the swinging mass and yelled in his best military voice, "Major Carter, wake up!" He thought he heard a small moan and his heart contracted at the notion that his 2IC might be injured. Again. On a mission with him. Go figure.

In a gentler voice, Jack continued, "Sam? If you can hear me, could you speak up a little?"

"I'm here," came the weak reply from above. Jack could see the Major moving slightly as she tried to free herself. The movements were slow and shaky.

Damn, Jack thought. Carter is definitely hurt.

Sam hurt. A lot. Her right side felt like it was on fire, and she was fairly certain the warmth she felt trickling down her stomach was blood. Definitely not good. She was dizzy and tired, and really wanted to just close her eyes and rest. But she needed to get down from here, didn't she?

"Carter, what's holding you in place up there?"

"A tree root got tangled in my pack on the way down, sir." Sam paused to take a ragged breath. She licked her bone-dry lips and continued in a noticeably fainter voice. "I'm stuck..."

Jack did not like the way Sam sounded. "Carter, can you slip out of your pack somehow?" Asking Sam about her injuries would be moot at this point as there was nothing either one of them could do about it at the moment. First Jack needed to get her on the ground, and then he'd assess her injuries.

No answer came from above. Sam heard the Colonel but really didn't feel up to answering him. In fact, she felt certain he would understand if she were to take a little nap. Just a small one... Her head rolled listlessly to one side as she slipped into unconsciousness.

"Carter!" Jack yelled, getting more worried at her lack of response. "Major Carter, answer me!" Sam hung like a silent pendulum above him.

"Shit!" Jack swore, looking around for a way to reach her. The cavern they had fallen into was immense The walls he could see did look like they might be climbable, but they didn't go anywhere near her. Sam was hanging from the worst position possible: dead center. Her only companions were thick tree roots and loose earth.

"Carter! You need to wake up, Carter! Now, Major! Wake up!" He paused to see if she had regained consciousness. Nothing. Drastic times call for drastic measures. Feeling around the ground, Jack grabbed a handful of small rocks. Positioning his flashlight in his flak jacket so that it shone upwards, Jack squinted and lobbed a rock at Major Carter's swinging form. It missed. He tried again, and that one hit her on the calf.

"Carter! I have a hell of a lot of these things," Jack shouted waving a fistful of rocks at her. "It would be best for everyone if you just woke on up now!" Nothing. Exhaling, Jack threw another rock upwards, this time it hit the back of her leg. Still no response. He shook his head in frustration as he prepared to throw another one. He hoped to God he didn't injure her worse than she already was.

"Carter!" Jack shouted beseechingly, throwing a rock particularly hard at her inert torso. This time, the rock struck Sam directly in the stomach. Sam screamed in pain and began thrashing about.

"God, I'm sorry, Sam!" Jack yelled in obvious distress. "But you need to stay with me now, ok?"

" OK, sir," Sam whispered, very very quietly.

"Do you see any way to slip out of your pack?"

Sam tried to move her arms out of the straps, but her body weight and the laws of gravity prevented her from really getting anywhere. Besides, moving hurt like hell.

"No sir." Sam was just way too tired to continue and began to rapidly lose her fight to stay awake. Jack could actually see her body relax as she started to slip back into unconsciousness.

"Oh, no you don't, Major!" Jack yelled as he angrily threw another rock at her. "Stay with me now." Jack mentally crossed his fingers that this one didn't hurt her more than the bare minimum needed to keep her awake.

It was enough.

Sam jerked back awake and irritably looked down at Col. O'Neill. "I'm awake! Sam shouted crossly. "Stop throwing rocks at me, sir!" Apparently getting pissed was a good way to hold back the pain. Sam made a mental note to remember that.

"Glad to hear it, Carter," Jack said with a note of amusement in his voice. "Think you can reach your knife?"

He watched as she twisted slightly and reached down to her knife sheath. Bingo! She got it. The problem became obvious when she tried to reach up to cut her straps: her injury limited arm movement. Even from 20 feet, O'Neill could see the agony etched across her face.

"Keep holding on to the knife, major! If you can't reach the top of your pack, try the lower straps!"

With shaky hands, Sam reached downwards and, holding her pack strap firmly in place with one hand, began sawing at it with the other.

Jack was worried. Sam was moving too slow. He realized it was pure force of will that was keeping her conscious at the moment, and he didn't know what he was going to do if she dropped that knife.

"You're almost there, Carter! I know you can do this. Just keep at it, ok?"

Beads of sweat were dripping into Sam's face, causing her eyes to burn and tear up. The strap she was cutting was damp with what she could only assume was her blood. Sam didn't know how much longer she could do this. God her side hurt! The adrenalin surge was rapidly running out and Sam could feel the blackness threatening to overtake her. Only the Colonel's shouts and cajoling were keeping her in the land of the living. So to speak.

"Sir," Sam whispered to the ground in a faint voice. "I don't know how much longer..." The knife tumbled out of her hand as she lost the fight and slipped back into unconsciousness.

With an audible tear, the strap tore in two, and Jack watched as Sam's limp body tumbled swiftly to the ground.

tbd.
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