His eyes followed her everywhere.
They tracked her every movement, witnessed every agitated gesture she made.
Every other part of him was dead.
Everything but his eyes.
He wished he could feel again, wished he'd been able to feel her hand against his cheek.
He couldn't.
The icy cavern encasing his body was too solid for even her warmth to break through. It was too cold, too thick.
Suffocating.
It seemed strange that she'd been the one to help warm him up last time he'd felt so cold. That she'd helped break through the ice that had covered him after his son's death.
There was nothing he could do but stare, and wonder.
Imagine what words were being exchanged; imagine what it was that created the sheen of tears in her eyes.
Nothing to do but hope his team would help him thaw again.
Hope they could save him and bring him back.
=*=
"We can't leave him here," Sam Carter argued heatedly, running her hands through her already ruffled hair as she fought to keep her agitation and distress at bay.
Teal'c said nothing, but stood a few feet away, his gaze fixed to their former leader.
"The only way we can help him is to find the lost city," Daniel Jackson tried to reason with her but his words fell on deaf ears. He understood her reluctance, he shared it, but for the life of him, he couldn't think of another alternative.
Leaving Jack behind was the only option open to them.
"The *real* lost city," Daniel stressed upon hearing her snort derisively, biting back a deep sigh of his own. The glare she gave him reminded him of someone else, almost painfully so. Obviously the influence Jack had had on her wasn't all good. "It's the only way, Sam. If we go now, we can look through the notes he made and see if we can find it."
"And what if we can't, Daniel? We can't just leave him." She stopped pacing and let her hands drop to her side. Her eyes stared past him, almost straight through him, and focused on the figure trapped behind the ice. Her gaze was calculating, measuring the thickness, the density, the close proximity between the inner wall and the Colonel's body.
Anticipating her thoughts, Daniel moved and positioned himself so he was blocking her view. "There's no other way," he repeated softly, his gaze locking with hers. "I want to get him out of there as much as you do but we can't do anything until we know what we're dealing with."
"We could try to cut through it," Sam pondered, acting as though she hadn't heard him speak.
Maybe she hadn't, he mused sadly.
"We might kill him," Daniel responded instantly, keeping his voice quiet but firm. "We have no way of knowing what it's like for him in there. We don't know how it's keeping him alive, if it's keeping him alive."
"He's alive," she murmured, her eyes finally shifting from the Colonel to the man standing in front of her. She desperately wanted to believe her own words but there was a little voice, a nagging voice that told her she was being falsely optimistic. "He has to be alive."
Daniel said nothing. There was nothing he could say. He knew she was waiting for him to argue with her but he didn't want to.
He really didn't want to.
"O'Neill is strong and otherwise healthy," Teal'c spoke up suddenly, his voice echoing around the icy cavern. "I do not believe it is the intention of the Ancients who built this place to come here to die. I believe the material surrounding him is sustaining him, keeping him alive until his services are needed once again to protect this planet."
"We need to get him out of there before that time," Sam replied, the corners of her mouth turning up in a slight ghost of a smile that flickered and faded almost instantly. She glanced at the Colonel again and remembered his words when she'd told him General Hammond had asked her to take command of SG-1.
'I trust you.'
He meant it then and even though it seemed like that conversation had taken place a lifetime ago, she knew he would mean it now.
Squaring her shoulders, she tore her gaze from his motionless form and stared at her friends. They were waiting for her to make a decision, she knew, waiting for her to give them their orders and take command.
Waiting to see if she could do it.
"We'll head back to the cargo vessel and make contact with the SGC. We'll see what our orders are and if possible, return and try and go through those notes and find another address. Maybe we can try the Asgard again, they might be able to help," she decided, keeping her gaze fixed on either Teal'c or Daniel.
She couldn't bring herself to look at him, immortalised inside the glassy prison.
Teal'c and Daniel collected their belongings and silently made their way to the rings, picking their way through the bodies of the dead super soldiers they had killed during those last intense moments before Colonel O'Neill had managed to take control of the Ancient's power.
They both lingered a moment too long, casting long glances at their former leader.
Each promising they would someday be back.
Soon.
Sam took her time collecting her things, deliberately walked closer to the block of ice that was her colonel and stopped.
Stared.
His body hadn't moved; his expression hadn't changed.
His eyes captured hers.
"I know you're still in there," she whispered the words though still felt as though they bounced off the walls around her. "Hold on, Jack. I'll be back for you soon."
She lifted her hand and let it rest on the smooth surface, barely feeling the ice beneath her skin.
She watched his eyes and was watched in return.
"We don't leave our people behind," she promised softly, reluctantly breaking contact when Daniel discreetly cleared his throat behind her. "I won't leave you behind, I promise. I love you, Sir."
With feet that felt almost as heavy as her heart, Sam made her way to the rings and turned to face the Colonel once again as Teal'c gave the order to Bra'tac.
A high-pitched screechy sound accompanied the flash of light that engulfed them and swept them away.
He couldn't hear it but he saw it.
He saw her.
He saw the tear that fell from her eye, the one she wiped away before turning her back on him and walking to the others.
He saw the promise in her gaze and knew they would be back.
And he hoped he'd still be there when they returned.
=*=
Fini.
My Immortal by Jo R
Story Notes: Spoilers: The Lost City pt 2
Season: Seven/Eight (season gap-filler)
Thanks to Ruthie for reading it through first.
Season: Seven/Eight (season gap-filler)
Thanks to Ruthie for reading it through first.
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters, settings, etc, are the property of their respective owners. Any original characters and plots are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended. ... [ read more ]