samandjack.net

Story Notes: Hi all, I'm sorry for the duplicate postings as I am on the SGC-list, the SamandJack-list and the MacGyver-list. I'm sure there are others so email challenged and it is to you whom I apologize, but do what I do. Hit the delet key for all but one of them! It's that simple... isn't it? Anyway enjoy, and be warned that there are Season 2 SG-1 spoilers here. (A Matter Of Time)

Sherrill

"I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me." Phil. 4:13



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Stargate SG-1 and the characters of the series belong to... those that they belong to and I'm only allowed to play with them if I don't break them. I will pack them back up and put them back in their boxes when I'm done. You the readers have that responsibility, too. Please play nice.

Author's foreword: There are spoilers in this story for "A Matter Of Time", season 2. This story came to me when Jack was grousing at Cromwell for leaving him behind on a mission they were on in Iraq, apparently years earlier. There are also a few "scenes" that are not to be read while eating breakfast (and you know who you are).

Archiving, or otherwise using Iraqi Memories without the express consent of the author is a no-no. Please ask first. Thank you.

Comments welcomed at: bosco4@gte.net

This bit of fiction is dedicated to all of the real-life soldiers who fight the fight and are able to get back home again. Thanks for being there.


The white, hot flash of the explosion illuminated the control deck of the gate room, lighting up, if only briefly, the terrified faces of Colonel Jack O'Neill's friends as they worked feverishly to pull him to safety.

"Teal'c, pull him up!" Captain Sam Carter screamed. Though her words seemed to come from far away and in slow motion, Teal'c nodded his head and applied all of his strength to the rope by which Colonel O'Neill was precariously hanging. Hanging, however, wasn't exactly the truth, Sam thought as she hurried over to add her slight weight to the effort of pulling Jack away from the devastating effects of the exploding bomb below him.

Dragging the colonel over the ledge of the glass-less observation window, Teal'c grabbed Jack beneath the arms and tossed him unceremoniously to the floor. Throwing his body on top of the colonel's, Teal'c covered him as best he could as debris from the explosion shot through the air and into the control room. Teal'c heard Captain Carter and Lieutenant Siler as they dove for cover and chanced a quick glance up to assure himself that they were unharmed.

Smoke, glass and pieces of the stargate filled the control room, raining down on the hapless occupants there. Sam felt a brief, painful nip in her upper left arm, but didn't think anything of it as she slowly got to her knees and, coughing, crawled over to Jack and Teal'c. She felt a piece of shrapnel beneath her right knee and winced in pain, but kept crawling.

"Teal'c?" She called to the Jaffa. "Move off of him." Sam reached out to Teal'c and gently grabbed his arm. Her hand came away wet with his blood. "Teal'c?" Cautiously shaking him, she attempted to move the heavy Jaffa off of the colonel before Jack suffocated from his weight.

"Siler!" Sam screamed to the lieutenant who was just getting groggily to his feet. "Get over here and help me move him." Despite the fact that his vision was blurred and he felt like the room was spinning like a top, Siler staggered over to Sam's side and helped her move Teal'c. Gently turning Teal'c over, Sam left him in Siler's care and scrambled over them in order to reach Jack.

"Sir?" Cautiously Sam felt for a pulse and heaved a quick sigh of relief when she detected one, though it was not very steady. "Siler, we've got to get them out of here," she ordered as the room filled with thick, acrid smoke from a fire in the gateroom. Grabbing a handful of the harness Jack wore, Sam tugged with all the strength left in her body.

When she reached the stairs leading up to the command center, she hooked an arm through the shoulder strap of the harness and pulled Jack up the first step.

"Captain Carter, wait!" Lieutenant Siler called out to her as he dragged Teal'c along behind her. "Let me help you." Lowering Teal'c to the floor he hurried over to Sam and slipping an arm around the colonel's shoulders he gestured for Sam to lift his feet. Between them they managed to evacuate Jack to the relative safety of the corridor above, they left him there to retrieve Teal'c.

As soon as they returned to the control room they found Teal'c standing unsteadily to his feet holding onto a chair in order to maintain his balance. "Ma'am," Siler said, stopping Sam on the stairs. "With your permission, go on back to the colonel and I'll see to Teal'c."

She gave him a smile of understanding and squeezed his arm slightly before running back up the stairs to Jack's side. "Sir, I'm here," she said as she knelt by his side. Now that he was in the corridor with the emergency lighting, she could see the damage he'd sustained. Blood trailed down his neck from an apparent injury inside his ear. With trembling hands, Sam quickly checked him for further, visible injuries.

"Captain Carter!" Three, fully armed soldiers ran up to her, holding their weapons at the ready.

Sam looked at them like they were crazy. "What's with all the ordinance?" She demanded as she removed a handkerchief from her pocket and laid it over a bleeding wound on Jack's shoulder and applied pressure. Waving aside their explanations she gestured to the colonel and Teal'c as Lieutenant Siler finally managed to get the Jaffa to the corridor. "Help me get these men up top and to medical attention ASAP!" She commanded. "Let's go!" They jumped to do her bidding, gently lifting the colonel and carrying him up the corridor and to the only working elevator in the complex. Teal'c and Siler limped along behind them.

Once in the elevator one of the soldiers turned to Sam. "Sir, er... Ma'am," he said apologetically.

"Yes?" Sam inquired, leaning forward to read his name on his dog tags. "Corporal Sawyer?"

"Did you... um... Are we safe now?" Sawyer asked, giving her a hopeful look.

"Yes, Sawyer. The bomb worked as we had hoped." She knelt beside Jack and reapplied the pressure bandage to his wound. "The wormhole disengaged and we are no longer in danger of being pulled into the black hole along with P3W451." She looked up in time to see the man breathe a big sigh of relief. She gave him a brief smile, then turned her attention back to the colonel.

The elevator doors opened and they were met by a contingent of personnel, Dr. Janet Frasier included.

"Out of my way, people," Dr. Frasier demanded as the slight woman shoved men aside without regard to their rank. General George Hammond moved quickly aside to avoid her sharp elbows and barked out a quick command for the others to stand aside. Running to Teal'c, whom was the first one she noticed as injured, she reached for his injured arm. Her hand was caught gently in Teal'c grasp as he held her back.

"I will be fine," Teal'c told her, gritting his teeth against the pain. "Colonel O'Neill needs your attention much more than do I."

With a decisive nod of her head, Dr. Frasier turned to kneel beside Sam and quickly assessed Jack's visual injuries. "How long has he been unconscious?" She asked Sam as she unbuckled the harness over Jack's chest, though she didn't remove it. Placing her stethoscope over Jack's heart, Dr. Frasier listened intently to his heartbeat. "All right," she said when the first stretcher arrived. "Let's get him to the temporary infirmary. STAT!" She turned to face Teal'c as they loaded Jack on the stretcher. "Teal'c, you're with us." Leading the way, Dr. Frasier trotted to a tent that looked little different from the others surrounding it, except for the large red cross painted on it.

"Captain Carter!" General Hammond's voice over the crowd of personnel stopped Sam as she started to follow Janet into the tent. Turning around she looked for, and found, the general as he hurried over to her side. "Captain, excuse me, but I need to see you in my quarters for debriefing." Sam gave a curt nod of her head and, reluctantly, followed the general away from the infirmary.



~*~



Jack felt his eardrums burst from the percussion of the bomb. Pain exploded in his head as he felt the heat from the bomb envelop his legs, then creep up his body until he could stand it no more. Blessed unconsciousness claimed Jack as he was dragged over the edge of the window sill of the control room.



~*~



Somewhere in the Iraqi desert...



Their mission was simple, jet in, do as much damage as possible, then get back to the base camp without anyone being the wiser. Captain Cromwell and Captain Jack O'Neill were standing beside a supply hut when the explosion rocked their world.

Jack was thrown across the clearing surrounding the small shed, landing with a dull thud against the wheel of a damaged tank. His breath left his lungs with a painful wheeze and he blacked out momentarily. When he came to his senses, Jack found that he was unable to move. Looking across the clearing to the rest of his team, he opened his mouth to call out to them and inform them that he was injured and couldn't move. Nothing issued from his throat and he began to panic as he watched the lieutenant gathering the team up and lead them away from the burning supply hut. He thought he heard one of the soldiers inquire about him and saw Lieutenant Cromwell shoot a quick, worried glance toward the captain and shake his head.

'NO!' Jack screamed in his mind. 'You can't leave me here!' He watched, stunned as Cromwell and the others scrambled away into the darkness. He was soon to see why as his immediate vision was filled with the cold, hard barrel of a Soviet-issue Uzi. Closing his eyes against the inevitable explosion of bullets, Jack didn't see the young soldier as he turned to his superior officer for his next move.

Gesturing for the young soldier to dispense with the American dog that lay on the ground, the officer swiftly sent the remainder of the soldiers after Jack's team. He left the young man with Jack, sure that his orders would be obeyed.

Thousands of memories seemed to flash before Jack's mind's eye, visions of his wife, Sara and their unborn baby. Regret filled him knowing that he would never see his wife again, to hold her and tell her that he loved her with all of his soul. Deeper sorrow filled him when the thought of never holding his unborn son, for he knew with crystal clarity that the baby would be a boy. A single, unbidden tear trickled down his smoke covered cheek.

"Do not," the young soldier said in broken English as he knelt in the sand beside Jack, his Uzi held over his knee.

Jack opened his eyes in surprise and watched as the young man, more boy than man, reached out to place a gentle hand on Jack's shoulder. "I am not shot you," he promised as he looked over his shoulder at the back of his c.o. "I am not like this war, so am think you and I could make..." He stopped momentarily as if searching for the correct word. "Commitment to each other," he finished with a small smile.

Moving his head as far as he could manage without pain shooting through his body, Jack suddenly looked behind the soldier. His eyes widened in shock just before the boy was knocked senseless by the butt of his commanding officer's weapon. The boy crumpled atop Jack, lifeless. Having been given a brief reprieve, Jack found it even harder to accept his impending death. Lying beneath the boy who had wanted nothing more than to escape the war, Jack watched, wide-eyed, as his enemy stalked up to stand over him.

"Perhaps you are better hostage than dead man, eh?" The officer stated matter-of-factly as he toed the dead man off of Jack. He stood glaring down at Jack as if waiting for him to get to his feet. The officer confirmed that when he said, "Get up, lazy dog," and kicked Jack in the side.

Grunting in pain as he felt a rib cave in, Jack bit his lip to keep any other sound of weakness from escaping. If he was going to die, he would do so with fearlessness. His courage was strongly threatened when the officer placed the barrel of his semiautomatic against Jack's chest and leaned down to look him in the eye.

"You are going to die," the officer informed Jack as he tightened his finger on the trigger of the gun. He laughed, then lifted the barrel again. "But, not tonight, you dog. Tomorrow, maybe. Then, maybe not." He shouted to the other soldiers who were returning after having lost the rest of Jack's team.

They were not very happy at having lost their prey. As soon as they saw Jack on the ground they ran over to join their officer. Looking up into seven angry faces, Jack was sure that his trip to their commander would not be a gentle one and prepared himself for the worst.



~*~



Lying on a rock hard bunk, one arm definitely broken, the other shackled securely to a bolt embedded in the cement block wall, Jack opened eyes that were swollen shut from repeated beatings by his captors. As near as he could tell from the hash marks on the wall he'd been chained to, they had held him here for close to 120 days and he knew that he had to get away before they could beat him to death, or starve him. He hadn't had anything to eat for two days now, and only a small dipper of dirty water. He could feel his strength waning and had begun having illucinations, seeing Sara standing in the corner of his hovel, among others.

As the sun rose higher in the morning sky, the heat in the room intensified. The knowledge that the small room would be unbearably hot within a matter of hours made Jack break out in a sweat. He tried to calm himself, knowing that he could little afford to lose any amount of moisture from his already dehydrated body. Flies buzzed around the open wounds that were, Jack was convinced, conveniently placed on his body for the flies to get to. He'd tried swatting them away at the beginning, but they would only come back, angrier it seemed. Now he just closed his eyes and tried to ignore what they must be doing. He shuddered in disgust and the flies scattered, only to return quickly. Taking his mind off of the blood-hungry vermin, he lifted his shackled hand and, once again, worked at removing the iron device. Already his wrist was a mass of torn flesh, giving the torturous flies yet another area on which to feast.

Giving his arm a solid jerk, he ground his teeth together in order to swallow the scream of pain the movement caused. When he could breathe normally again, he looked down at his hand and groaned. He'd opened another wound on his wrist. Allowing his hand to fall to his side, Jack felt deep despair wash over him and fought back the depression that had been threatening him for the past two days.

When he'd first been brought to this place, and after he'd regained consciousness from having been beaten senseless, he had great hope that Cromwell would come back to rescue him. However, now, after all these days of a living hell, he knew that he would have to rely on his own abilities to escape. Depression was now creeping in on him and he knew it would only be a matter of time before he would cave in to it.

Turning his head toward the wall, Jack stared at the bolt where the chain to his shackles was attached. Something caught his eye and he tried to open them a little wider in order to see better. There, just to the left of the bolt was a tiny bit of light. All of the shaking and pulling on the shackles had not been in vain. Slowly he rose up from the bunk to take a closer look. He could see where the bolt, though not loose, could possibly be loosened enough to pull out of the wall. Jack heard voices approaching and immediately lay back down and closed his eyes as if in sleep.

"You. Dog," the soldier called as he stepped into the stifling hot cell. He waited at the doorway for a reaction from Jack and when the prisoner didn't move the soldier tossed a bucket of tepid water on him.

Jack remained where he was, though he wanted nothing more than to scoop up the water that was cascading to the floor, and soaking into the sand there, and drink without stopping. "You don't wake, you don't eat."

The sound of a tin plate hitting the ground caused Jack no end of consternation, but he still didn't move. The soldier shrugged and quickly left the stench and confines of the cell, locking the door securely behind him.

As soon as he was certain that the soldier had truly left, Jack opened his eyes slightly and watched the door for a long while. They had tried this before, bringing him a bit of food and water, then leaving it just out of his reach, or leaving it on his bunk when he'd pretended to be unconscious and then coming back in just when he'd reached for the food. They usually slapped the plate out of his hands and stood laughing at him when he'd picked up morsels from the sandy floor that he could reach and eat it hungrily. He'd learned not to think about the sand and grit that was included in his food. He was just thankful for anything he could get.

Now he painstakingly sat up and, using his shackled hand, lifted the bottom of his tattered shirt and popped it into his mouth, sucking as much moisture from the cloth as he could. He continued the process on as much of his shirt as he could reach, then leaned back weakly against the wall. Gathering as much strength as his emaciated and injured body could afford, he reached toward the tin plate that still held some vestige of food on it. It was just beyond his stretched out fingertips. Grunting from the pain of having to move his broken arm, Jack pulled on his tether as far as he could and managed to scoot the plate close enough to pick it up with his shackled hand.

What little bit of food that had been in the plate was gone in seconds. Feeling like the dog they kept referring him to, Jack licked the grease from whatever meat had been on the plate. He then took the tin plate and folded it in half and placed it beneath the sand under the bunk. He'd wait until nightfall to work on the bolt, until then he would bide his time and rest.



~*~



Weaker now than he had been that morning, Jack could barely lift the plate. He'd been chiseling at the bolt in the wall for two nights now. No one had been back to check on him since that morning two days ago and he was beginning to grow worried that they had pulled up stakes and had left him to roast to death. Chipping away at the sun-hardened brick, Jack had found, was not as easy as he'd hoped. For two nights of trying to quietly dig at the wall, he had only managed to make a hole the size of a dime. During the daytime he would plug the hole with a larger chunk of rock that he kept softened in his mouth. Placing the rock in his mouth helped him to salivate as well, thereby taking care of both of his needs. Now, however, he was finding it hard to keep the room from spinning out of control, and concentrate on the area where he was digging.

Leaning his head against the wall, still hot from the afternoon sun, Jack turned the plate over and stuck the pointed end in the hole. Twisting the plate back and forth, he dully watched as the fine sand from the rock began to filter down to the bunk. He didn't bother with blowing it away because the sand seemed to be everywhere anyway. The last rays of sunlight pierced the darkness of his lonely room and Jack leaned his face down in order to feel the promise and hope of that one single ray.

As soon as the sun set, Jack tried to look out of the hole in hopes of seeing something that would help him determine how dire his condition was. What he saw did not give him any hope. For miles on end, it seemed, there was nothing but sand dunes and billowing fires from blown up oil derricks. Shaking his head at the idiocy of someone bombing an oil rig made Jack see red. What good it had done? What he did know was that it would take years for all those fires to be put out, if ever they could be. However, right now his biggest concern was whether he would be able to get out of his prison alive.

It was with renewed effort that he moved away from the hole and started digging again. Soon he was digging so feverishly that he was grunting and groaning from the effort, but it was paying off. With one last jerk of the chain Jack was free. Jumping to his feet too fast, he fell to his knees and stayed there until his breath steadied and the room stopped spinning. Getting to his feet again, at a much slower pace, he walked through the pitch-black room to the door. Feeling for the latch there, he tugged on it without much hope that it wouldn't be locked. It was with great surprise that the door opened beneath his hand.

Still leery of a trick, Jack cautiously opened the door and stood with his back against the wall. When he had been standing there for several minutes with no uproar, or hue and cry at his cell door being open, Jack warily peered around the edge of the door. Expecting a spray of bullets at any moment he quickly ducked his head back inside. Again, nothing. With a sharp intake of breath Jack stepped out of the cell he'd been imprisoned in for nearly two weeks and flattened himself against the wall on the outside.

A large, orange moon hung heavily in the sky and Jack used its bright glow to assure himself that no one was about. Slipping around to the back of the prison he found that he had apparently been abandoned to die a most gruesome death. With a shudder, whether from the sudden desert chill, or from the realization that if he'd waited one more day he would be dead, Jack limped over to the burned out shell of an American-made Jeep. There was nothing left for him to salvage. Quickly scouting the camp he only managed to find a tin can one third filled with muddy water and something else that he didn't dwell on as he drank the much needed liquid.

Feeling only slightly better, Jack continued to scout out the camp. He found a compass half-buried beneath the sand beside one of the abandoned buildings and a can of beans that someone had let roll beneath a bunk. Fashioning a knife from an iron slat from one of the bunks, Jack quickly opened the beans and ate them standing in the middle of the abandoned building.

Tossing the empty can back beneath the bed, he walked back outside and took a quick reading of where he was. As far as he could figure he was at least twenty miles from the nearest "friendly" camp. Of course, that information was true ten days ago. Today his countrymen may be further away, or closer. Either way, he had to take a chance on it and head out before his tormentors returned to finish him off.

With the compass tucked away safely in his breast pocket Jack struck out across the desert with the meager supplies that he'd managed to confiscate from the abandoned camp. Knowing that it would be suicide to attempt to cross the desert in the daylight hours, Jack planned on making the twenty miles to the friendly camp by morning.



~*~



"Sir?"

Teal'c looked up from his vigil at Jack's bedside to see that Jack's nurse had come to check his vitals and change his bandages. Teal'c stood stiffly to his feet and stretched his tight back muscles. "I will return momentarily," he informed the woman as she lifted Jack's hand to check the IV line. She gave him a slight smile and nodded her head as she placed her stethoscope over Jack's lungs and listened intently.

With one last glance at his friend Teal'c left the infirmary and headed for the commissary. He had only just realized that he hadn't eaten since they had brought Jack back from surgery. Entering the makeshift cafeteria he saw Sam sitting by herself across the room. Ignoring his gnawing hunger Teal'c changed directions and walked over to stand beside Sam.

It took Sam a moment to realize that someone was standing by her side and when she did look up she only acknowledged Teal'c with a dull smile.

"Something is bothering you?" Teal'c asked quietly as he sat on the bench beside Sam.

Dropping her head into her hands Sam sighed. "I can't help thinking that I could have done something to save Colonel Cromwell," she muttered from behind her hands. "I feel as if I sent him to his death."

"Captain Carter," Teal'c said, in his soft voice a hint of steel. "Was it not Colonel Cromwell and Colonel O'Neill who volunteered to stay behind and set off the explosive device?"

She lifted her head to look him in the eye. "Yes, they did."

"Then, you are not to blame."

Sam sighed hopelessly. "I don't expect you to understand," she argued. "The rest of my life I will wonder if I did the right thing."

Teal'c looked down at the small, trembling hand Sam had placed on his arm. Covering it with his own, much larger, darker hand, Teal'c looked back up at Sam and smiled sadly. "Is it not the same in your military, as it was for mine, that one does not take the blame for lives lost in the line of duty?"

"Well, sure, but..."

"Then you are not to blame, Captain Carter. I am certain that Colonel Cromwell would tell you that he did what he did knowing full well the possible consequences of his actions." Teal'c gave Sam's hand a gentle squeeze, then tilted his head toward the food line. "I came to partake of sustenance. Would you care to join me?"

Smiling for the first time in days, Sam stood to her feet, her hand encased in Teal'c's comfortable hand and walked with him to eat the first real meal she'd eaten since before the ordeal with the black hole.



~*~



Stumbling once more over a clump of desert vegetation, Jack fell to his knees again. It was growing harder and harder for him to regain his feet and he was quickly loosing his ability to remember where he was headed. When he'd first started out he'd kept his eye on one, bright star and no matter how steep the hill, or how rocky the terrain, he had managed to keep in line with that star. Now his vision was so blurred from lack of water and sleep that he couldn't even see the stars, much less know which one was his guiding star.

His broken arm was beginning to throb and swell. Knowing that it was only a matter of a short time until the sun would rise, Jack was desperate to reach his destination. His breath wheezing in his chest Jack willed himself to move one foot after the other. Once he tumbled down an embankment and fell face down into a rare desert oasis. Drinking deeply of the alkeline-tasting water, he immediately vomited it back up. With a clearer head he sat down in the small pond and let the liquid soak into his clothing, chilling him to the bone, but satisfying his need for moisture as well. He decided to remain at the small pond of water until it dried up, which he knew, most likely would be the next day.

After several long, precious minutes of lying in the water and then drinking slowly, Jack got to his feet and began to dig a slight indention in the side of the bank surrounding the water hole. As much sand as he removed, it seemed twice as much drifted down to fill the spot. Finally, after several long hours of digging he'd managed to secure himself a shelter of sorts out of the direct sunlight.

Going back to the pond for one last drink before slipping into his shelter, Jack submersed himself once more. Tucking his weary body into the shelter he drifted off to sleep within minutes.



~*~



Jack didn't know what awakened him, but he was conscious and alert in an instant. Opening his eyes he peered out of his cave to see a group of Bedouin tribesmen watering their camels. Remaining in his shelter, Jack pondered whether he should show himself, until one of the men looked up and almost directly at him and Jack froze. The man was one of the soldiers who had beaten him and taken him prisoner. Moving not one muscle Jack barely breathed until the tribe finished at the water hole and mounted their camels. Leaving the area in a cloud of dust they laughed uproariously at something one of the men said as they rode away.

The sun had gone down and Jack had lost valuable time in waiting for the Bedouin tribe to leave. Now, after he was sure they were gone, he climbed out of his cave and stumbled down the embankment to the small, muddy pool of water that the camels and men had left after drinking their fill and filling their canteens. Lowering himself to his stomach Jack drank the remainder of the water until there was nothing left but wet sand.

Striking out toward the north, Jack prayed that his wobbly legs would hold him as he plodded forward, one foot in front of the other.



~*~



"Teal'c." Dr. Frasier gently shook the sleeping Jaffa's shoulder as he, once again, sat beside Jack's bed. "Why don't you go lay down and rest?" She asked him softly.

"Is my presence here an encumbrance to you?" Teal'c inquired as he stood to his feet, towering over the petite brunette. She looked up at him and gave him a smile.

"No, Teal'c. You aren't in my way. I am just concerned for your health," she told him, placing a caring hand on his arm.

He looked down at her small hand on his arm and quirked an eyebrow. "I will seek rest, if that is your wish," he agreed, then turned to leave. Stopping just inside the entryway, however, he turned back to face the doctor. "I wish to be informed when the colonel awakens." At her smile and nod of acceptance Teal'c continued out the doorway.

Just as Teal'c exited the tent Sam entered, walking directly over to the colonel's cot. "How is he today?" She asked when she came to a stop beside Janet.

"Well, if his visitors were an indication of how well he was doing, I'd say he is doing much better today."

"That bad, is it?" Sam asked as she took Teal'c's vacant seat. "I'll just sit here with him, Janet, if you have something else that you need to do."

"No, I'm fine, actually." Looking around at the empty cots in the tent, Janet pulled another chair over to sit beside Sam. "What I want to know is, how are you doing?"

Sam shot her a quick look, then turned her attention to her hands as if studying them intently. "I'm fine, Janet. Really."

"Sam, this is me you're talking to, not Teal'c, or Jack." Janet reached out to cover Sam's hands with one of hers and squeezed them lightly. "If you want to talk, I'm here." She waited for Sam to look up at her, then smiled. "Don't forget." Sam nodded her head slowly, then looked back down at her hands. Janet got to her feet with a sigh and moved the chair back to where she'd gotten it. Sometimes healing the bruised soul was harder than the bruised body, she thought to herself as she walked from the tent.

Sam stood and stepped over to Jack's bedside. Gently lifting his hand she held it in hers for several long minutes as she gazed down at his sleeping face. She wished she knew what was going on in his mind right now.



~*~



In his mind Jack was giving up. However, his body had other ideas. Like a machine his legs continued to carry him forward, over rocks and sand dunes alike. When he would stumble and fall, and his mind told him to just lay there in the sand and die, his body would take over and he would regain his feet and walk on. Jack wasn't even aware of the direction he was going. For all he knew he was headed right back to the camp from which he'd just escaped.

Ahead of Jack was a broad expanse of desert, rife with dunes and other pitfalls that, if he'd been in his right mind, he would be paying closer attention. As he faced yet another sand dune to climb he shrugged off the pack he'd carried with him all these miles and dropped it in the sand. Climbing the dune on his hands and knees, he never noticed when he reached the top, even after his hands reached for sand and only grabbed air. Like a lifeless rag doll he tumbled head over heels to the bottom of the dune twenty feet down and landed right in the middle of a camp of soldiers. Fighting unconsciousness, Jack took a weak swing at the first man who reached out to assist him to his feet.

Ducking the blow the soldier tackled the captain and threw him to the ground, sitting on him until help arrived.

"Sir! We've got an injured soldier here!" The private yelled to his commanding officer as he struggled to hold Jack down. He shook his head as the man began to curse him in Russian. "Better hurry, sir!" He called just as Jack threw the man over his head and staggered unsteadily to his feet, his stance ready for a fight.

"It's okay, soldier," the private said as he got to his feet and moved closer to Jack. Jack wore no identifying insignia, so the private could not see that he was actually addressing a superior officer. "You're among friends here." He kept Jack occupied while his c.o. ran up behind Jack and grabbed him from behind. Without a moment's hesitation Jack tossed the man to the ground, placing a boot against his throat.

The private pulled his weapon and leveled it at Jack. "Soldier, release the colonel, now!" He demanded of Jack. Taking another step closer the private repeated his demand.

As if in slow motion Jack crumpled to the ground.

Running to assist the colonel to his feet, the private stepped over to stand beside Jack. "Sir, he looks like he's been through it," he said with compassion. Gesturing to anot her private he and the man lifted Jack, carried him into the medical tent and placed him on a cot there. Immediately setting to work, the doctor assessed Jack's injuries and worked quickly to patch him up.

It was five days later that Jack awoke to find himself in a military hospital in Tel Aviv, with no recollection of how he came to be there. When the doctors told him of his apparent 25 mile trek to the army base camp from an Iraqi prison camp, he had simply nodded his head and fell back to sleep.



~*~



Sam, Daniel, General Hammond, Teal'c and Dr. Frasier were standing around Jack's bed, which had been moved back into the infirmary at SGC. Rebuilding was underway in the gateroom and the officer's quarters, where the explosion had done considerable damage. Dr. Frasier had discontinued the sedative she'd been force to add to Jack's IV when he nearly decapitated one of her nurses as she'd been checking his vitals. Now his friends were standing around his bed eagerly waiting for him to awaken.

An overhead lamp shone in Jack's eyes and he blinked rapidly to dissipate the bright light. Dr. Frasier, upon seeing his reaction to the lighting, quickly switched the lamp off and swung it out of the way. Jack looked up into Dr. Frasier's smiling face, then his attention was redirected to Daniel, who stood just beside Janet.

"Hey, Jack. Did I miss anything?" He asked softly sarcastically. Daniel had been briefed about the situation at the SGC when he had been off-world.

Jack smiled slightly at Daniel's attempt at sarcasm. "I made it," Jack whispered.

"We all made it, thanks to you and Captain Carter," General Hammond told him solemnly.

"How?" Jack asked, looking to Sam to answer his question.

"Teal'c managed to pull you far enough away from the bomb before it went off," she said with a quick glance at Teal'c.

Jack turned his eyes toward Teal'c and with an intense look of gratitude, said, "Thanks."

Teal'c inclined his head slightly. "You're welcome," he said simply.

Captain Carter wasn't finished filling Jack in on the situation. "The majority of the blast energy went right where it was supposed to," she told him gravely. "The wormhole went to P2A870 and once it did that we shut it off."

Closing his eyes wearily for a moment, Jack looked back up at Sam. "Good thinking, Captain."

"Thank you, Sir," Sam said shooting him a warm look meant only for him.

General Hammond broke the uncomfortable silence by saying, "A new triennium strengthened iris is being installed right now. We should be back in business in no time."

Jack didn't particularly care, at the moment, what the new iris was made of. His mind was still on his ordeal in Iraq. Suddenly a thought occurred to him and he looked up at Daniel with a bit of urgency in his voice.

"What day is it?" He asked.

A bit confused by the colonel's question since he, himself hadn't witnessed the time dilation and slowdown of the black hole, Daniel cleared his throat slightly before answering. "Well, this might be a little difficult to accept, but since you reported to duty yesterday, two weeks have actually gone by." He exchanged a glance with Sam, who shrugged her shoulders slightly. It was the best explanation that any of them could come up with.

"Two weeks?" Jack repeated in disbelief. "I think I'll sleep in," he mumbled as he closed his eyes.

"You do that," General Hammond said softly.

"Okay, people. You heard the colonel," Dr. Frasier ordered in her best commanding whisper. "Let's all clear out of here and let the man sleep." Herding Jack's well-wishers away from his bed she pulled the curtains closed around his bed and smiled. Turning around she came face to face with Teal'c.

"Dr. Frasier, will you need further assistance with watching the colonel?" He asked politely.

Reaching up to place a hand on Teal'c shoulder, Dr. Frasier smiled at the Jaffa. "Teal'c, what I need is for you to go to your quarters and get some much needed rest. After, say 24 hours of this rest, you may return and I will give permission for you to sit with the colonel. Right now he doesn't need anyone to sit with him. Until then, I don't want to see you in here. Understood?"

"Understood," Teal'c said with a nod of his head. Pivoting on his heel he left the infirmary.

"Way to go, Janet," Sam said from beside the curtain around Jack's bed. "I'll stay with the colonel now."

"No, you won't, Sam," Janet said as she gently guided her friend from the infirmary. "I'm giving you the exact same orders that I gave to Teal'c. Rest for 24 hours." Janet raised a hand, palm out when Sam began to protest. "That's an order, Captain."

"I'm going," Sam muttered beneath her breath. "But, I'm coming back as soon as those 24 hours are over, understand?"

Janet grinned and gave her good friend a mock salute. "Understood, Captain. Now go!" Janet breathed a quick sigh of relief as soon as Sam left the infirmary. Walking into her office she retrieved the latest AMA journal she'd been reading and headed back to sit with Colonel O'Neill for a while.



The End

Sherrill
"I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me." Phil. 4:13




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