samandjack.net

Story Notes: Equal Parts: squacco@onetel.com

Season: Six

Spoilers: None

Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me, they're the property of MGM/Showtime/Gekko etc. This story was written purely for pleasure, not for financial gain.


They came out of nowhere.

The first Sam Carter knew of the attack was a tremendously sharp thump to her upper chest that knocked her off her feet and left her sprawling on the ground.

She tried to sit up, only to be hit by an intense wave of pain. She tried to call out but the rattle of gunfire and the blast of staff weapon fire drowned her voice. It was her last memory as she succumbed to the blackness that engulfed her.

Pain. Hot, searing pain.

Her eyelids felt unnaturally heavy and it took a very determined effort to prise them apart. The light was dim, her eyesight fuzzy, she couldn't seem to bring her surroundings into sharp focus. Her mouth was parched as if her lips were gummed together. Trying to speak she only managed a whimper. It was enough.

The familiar and dear face of Jonas Quinn swam into view.

"Jack, Jack - she's awake" he called over his shoulder, then to her "hush Sam, lie still don't try to move."

"Carter?" It was Colonel Jack O'Neill. Sam tried to focus on his face but it kept fading into the grey light. She tried to speak.

"S..s"

"Here Carter" O'Neill held a cup of water to her lips, supporting her whilst she swallowed a little.

"Sir?" she finally managed, her voice weak and husky with pain.

"We were attacked Carter" Jack explained "you took a hit with a thrown knife". His eyes drifted down to her chest, hers following.

She gasped as she saw the intricate hilt of a dagger still protruding from the area of her left breast.

"Oh God" she whimpered, a wave of dizziness washed over her, her stomach heaving. Swallowing she managed to fight down the nausea but gratefully gave in to the blackness that replaced it.

She came round moments later to find O'Neill gently sponging her face with a wet cloth.

"Hey Carter" he said, tenderly brushing his fingers over her cheek "back with us?"

Sam did her best to smile, trying to mask the fear that she couldn't admit to.

"Sir, what happened?" She managed a whisper, it was all she could do, the pain in her chest so intense it was agony to breathe.

"A surprise attack, they hit us before we even knew what was happening." Jack brushed his hand wearily across his face "I'm so sorry Sam."

"Not your fault" she reached out and lightly placed a hand on his arm in reassurance. "What now?"

"Well for the moment we're holed up about 3 klicks from the gate. Everything seems quiet. I think our weapons scared 'em off pretty good but I wanted to wait until you regained consciousness before we moved you. We're gonna have to carry you real careful, Carter, I don't want to take the risk of making your injury even worse than it is."

"How bad?" her eyes pleaded with him. He exchanged a speaking look with Quinn, who gave an almost imperceptible shake of the head.

"It doesn't look good Sam" Jack knew that he had to be honest with her, "I was hoping to get you back without having to remove the knife but the terrain here is so rough I'm not sure that you'll make it."

"So...do it."

"Sam, I... it's gonna hurt like hell."

"Ya think?" she whispered, forcing a smile "Do it."

Jack nodded. "Jonas, go check that everything's okay with Teal'c, then come back here, I'll need your help."

"Of course Jack" Jonas smiled down at Sam, "I'll be right back."

Sam lay quietly, she was finding it harder and harder to breathe now and her vision kept going grey and dim, fading around the edges. She was terrified. 'Well' she thought 'I guess this is it.' she bit her lip, determined to hold in check the tears that now threatened to fall.

"Sir" she whispered, her voice now so spent that Jack had to lean close to hear her "It was an honour to ser..." she gasped as a wave of pain hit her, fighting to hold onto her consciousness for as long as she possibly could.

"Sam I'm not gonna let you die, not like this, just hang on in there, okay?"

She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to draw from somewhere deep within her the strength to say what she felt she must. Opening her eyes she smiled up at O'Neill. There were tears sliding silently down his cheeks. Using the last of her resources she lifted her arm and gently brushed them away. Jack grasped her hand, burying his lips in her palm.

"Don't leave me Sam" he choked "it's too soon. We haven't had our time yet. I need you in my life. I love you."

She drew a shuddering breath, whimpering at the pain. "I'm sorry Jack...I love you too" She grimaced as another jolt of agony hit her as she slipped away again into the welcoming darkness.

"Oh God." Jack tore frantically at her shirt. He'd have to try and get that damned blade out of her chest. Who knew what damage he might do but it was her only chance and he had to try.

"Jonas" he called, agitation evident in his voice, "Quickly, bring the med kit - let's do this."

Jonas joined Jack at Sam's side, searching in the med kit for the things they'd need. He selected sterile dressing pads, bandages and phials of antibiotics and morphine.

"Jack, what if the blade was poisoned?"

"No!... I refuse to even consider that scenario" Jack growled "Now, when I pull out the knife I'm going to have to put pressure on the wound to keep the bleeding down, okay?"

Jonas nodded.

"So I need you to be ready with a pad, in fact make that two, and a hypo of morphine as well."

Quinn nodded again, filling a syringe with the pain-killing drug.

"Okay" Jack murmured to himself "let's see what we're dealing with here."

The knife was buried deep in Sam's chest. It had penetrated all her layers of clothing, which would have to be cut away to expose the wound.


"Jonas, pass me that sterile scalpel would ya?"

Jack took the ultra sharp blade and used it to carefully slice through Sam's shirt and t-shirt, peeling back the layers without disturbing the dagger.

Once down to her bra Jack paused, his eyes widening in shock as he finally saw the full extent of the injury. The blade was embedded for the full length of its blade in her left breast. As far as he could judge, it was angled up and to the left, pointing toward her shoulder blade. He hoped that this was a good sign, that it may have missed vital organs. he lifted the scalpel blade and cut through the thin fabric still covering Sam's body.

"Sorry Sam" he whispered, carefully slitting the material from around the blade where it entered her body and easing it away until her breast was exposed.

"Oh my" breathed Jonas "Can you do this Jack?"

O'Neill nodded fiercely, not allowing his resolve to slip. "Just be ready with that dressing pad."

Jack drew his sleeve over his brow, wiping away the beads of nervous perspiration that gathered there. He took a long look at Sam's face, now pale beyond reason. But she still breathed and her eyes flickered beneath almost translucent lids.

Jack gave Jonas a final reassuring nod and placed his left hand on Sam's breast, his fingers splayed either side of the knife blade. Her skin felt silky soft beneath his fingers. There had been very little bleeding from the wound so far; something that would alter dramatically once the blade was removed. He flexed the fingers of his right hand, took a deep breath to steady himself and, as gently as possible, grasped the hilt firmly.

Jack Squeezes his eyes shut for a moment. 'Come on O'Neill' he told himself 'you can do this.' He tightened his grip on the knife hilt and, maintaining the angle of the blade as best as he could, pulled firmly and evenly.

Sam's body convulsed as she gave a low but heart-rending moan. The blade made a gut-wrenching sucking sound as it emerged from her violated flesh. Jack tossed the blade aside.

"Jonas, pad now!"

Jonas held out the thick sterile pad to Jack, who immediately pressed it down onto the wound to stem the now copious flow of blood.

Meanwhile Jonas injected both morphine and antibiotics into Sam's arm. That done, he prepared another pad for O'Neill and readied dressings to bind the wound.

Jack was breathing hard, beads of sweat collecting on his forehead and beginning to trickle down into his eyes.

"Jonas, another pad."

He replaced the first blood soaked dressing with a fresh pad. Thankfully it seemed that the blood flow was easing a little.

"Okay Jonas, you'll have to help me to support her while we get her out of the rest of these top clothes, then we can strap up the wound." Jack noticed that the young man was beginning to look a little green "Jonas, you okay?"

"Yes Jack, sorry"

"That's fine Jonas, stay with me - the worst is over now."

Between them they managed to remove the rest of Sam's shirt and t-shirt, using the scalpel blade to cut away the clothing where necessary. Jack gently laid Sam back on the ground still keeping pressure on the wound.

"Good, now put your hand in place of mine and hold this firmly while I tape it in place."

Very soon the dressing was fixed and Jack lifted Sam carefully into a sitting position, supporting her whilst Jonas bound her chest tightly in swathes of bandages. He took his own jacket and buttoned it around her. They'd done the best that they could, he only hoped it was enough.

Jack was pleased to see that Sam's colour had improved a little. She was still unconscious and her breathing was shallow, but she was alive.

"O'Neill, how is Major Carter?" Teal'c joined them.

"Still with us, thank God" sighed Jack "but it's gonna be touch and go until we can get her back to the SGC."

"All is quiet now, O'Neill, and has been for some time. I do not believe that the natives will attack again. However, the terrain is extremely difficult - we will need to leave soon if we wish to reach the Stargate before nightfall."

"Yep, we're as ready as we'll ever be." Jack agreed "Jonas, can you carry Carter's pack as well as your own?"

"Sure Jack."

"I will carry Major Carter," announced Teal'c.

Jack nodded. As much as he'd have preferred to carry Sam himself he had to admit that Teal'c was much stronger than he and would carry her more safely.

"Okay, let's move out. Jonas you take point, I'll watch our six - I've a sneaking suspicion that if there's going to be an attack it'll come from the rear."

The others nodded. Teal'c gently lifted Sam's unconscious form into his arms, holding her firmly so as not to exacerbate her injury on the difficult trek back to the gate.

They set off. The going was very slow as the ground was uneven and composed of very sharp blackish rock, which was very difficult to get a good foothold on. Sam had suggested earlier that it was probably a lava flow. The now rapidly failing light did nothing to ease their passage.

As desperate as he was to get Sam safely back to the infirmary, Jack knew that the journey was one that they couldn't hurry. A serious stumble or fall by Teal'c could mean the end for Carter. Even so, when they stopped for a brief rest after about half an hour, he was dismayed to see that Teal'c's shirt was already soaked with her blood.

"Teal'c buddy, we're gonna have to pick up the pace a little, she's losing too much blood." Jack's voice was overlain with worry.

"I agree, O'Neill. Do not worry my friend; we'll soon have Major Carter safely installed in the infirmary. Now, I am sufficiently rested - let us go."

They carried on, moving as quickly as they could now, but it was still another 40 minutes before Jack heard a shout from up ahead.

"The gate!" cried Jonas "we've made it Jack."

"At last" O'Neill murmured to himself "Okay Jonas, dial us home, quick as you can."

Jonas sped to the gate and began punching in the address for Earth. Teal'c stopped, panting heavily, even for him the burden of carrying his stricken teammate had been a very difficult one, and he was totally spent.

"Here Teal'c" Jack could see that his friend was almost exhausted "give her to me, I'll take her the rest of the way now."

"Very well O'Neill."

Jack removed his pack and handed his weapon to Teal'c. He picked up the Major's still inert form, cradling her in his arms. She was soaked in her own blood now and her face was bleached white, her breath so shallow it could hardly be detected.

Jack nodded to Teal'c, who picked up his discarded pack. They set off with their precious cargo just as the wormhole blossomed into life.

Jonas and Teal'c waited briefly for Jack, who smiled grimly before stepping through the shimmering blue horizon.

Moments later he was stepping onto the ramp at the SGC.

"Get a med team here immediately," he shouted, "Carter's badly hurt."

He carried her down the ramp just as Jonas and Teal'c emerged from the wormhole and General Hammond entered the gate room.

"Colonel O'Neill, what's happened?"

O'Neill looked down at the still unconscious woman in his arms.

" A surprise attack Sir, we never saw it coming. Sam's taken a bad knife wound, she's lost a lot of blood."

At that moment a med team, headed by Doctor Janet Frasier, rushed into the gate room.

"Okay Colonel, what's the score here?" Janet asked as Jack gently laid Sam onto the waiting gurney.

"She took a deep knife wound to the upper left chest. The blade was about six or seven inches long and about an inch wide - it went in all the way."

"Oh my God" murmured Hammond

"I had to pull the knife out Doc. She wouldn't have survived the journey back otherwise."

"Okay, Colonel, thank you" She rushed off, shouting orders to her team as they hurried off to the infirmary.

Jack finally allowed himself to relax, leaning exhausted against the wall. His t-shirt, like Teal'c's shirt, was soaked in blood and plastered to his chest.

"Is anyone else hurt Colonel?" asked Hammond.

"No Sir, we're all fine" Jack gestured to Teal'c and himself "this is all Carters"

"Right, well you go and clean yourselves up, we'll de-brief in 45 minutes."

"Yes Sir."

Hammond watched as Jack dragged himself out of the door, his shoulders uncharacteristically slumped. The General realised that O'Neill took these injuries to members of his team really hard, most especially so in the case of Major Carter. In fact he wasn't sure how much longer Jack could continue constantly holding his feelings for his 2IC in check, no matter how against the regulations they were. Sighing and shaking his head he made his way back to his office.

Jack was sitting slumped on the bench in the locker room, his head in his hands. His thoughts unconsciously echoing those of his CO. 'God' he thought 'how much more of this can we take?'

"Come O'Neill" Teal'c spoke quietly at his side "you will feel better after a shower, and you know that Major Carter is now in the best of hands. There is nothing more that you can do for the present."

Jack nodded "Yeah buddy, guess you're right" he groaned in frustration "but it's getting harder and harder each damn time one of us is injured and the other just has to sit back and watch helplessly." He slammed his fist into a nearby locker door "Dammit, I hate feeling like this!"

"It cannot be helped, my friend. It is all part of loving another, equal parts joy and pain." Teal'c peeled off his blood soaked clothes and, grabbing a towel, headed for the showers.

"Yeah Teal'c, I know you're right, but we haven't had much of the 'joy' part yet, that's for sure." Jack murmured to himself, quickly stripping off his clothes and following his friend.

*******************************

Jack dropped by the infirmary on the way to the de-briefing, only to be told by one of the nurses that Major Carter was still being attended to and that Doctor Frasier wasn't available.

"Okay, but please will you send word as soon as she is?"

"Yes Sir."

The de-briefing was mercifully short. There wasn't much to report as they'd only just arrived on the planet and had made no contact with the natives to provoke the attack.

"Thank you for your input, gentlemen" Hammond said, collecting his reports together "I think we'll place P8J 554 off-limits, at least for the time being."

Jack sighed with relief; he really wanted to get down to the infirmary. They'd been back from the planet for almost two hours now and there was still no word from Frasier.

"Very well. Colonel I can see you're itching to find out how Major Carter is. I'll not keep you any longer, dismissed."

"Thank you Sir." The words drifted back to Hammond as Jack disappeared out of the door.

He made his way to the infirmary as quickly as he could without actually breaking out into a run.

As he entered the room he saw Janet emerge from a curtained off bed. She looked up and approached him, giving him a small smile.

"She's going to be okay Colonel."

Jack nodded, hardly trusting himself to speak. He got the distinct feeling that Sam had had a very near miss this time - how much longer was there luck going to hold out?

"Can I see her?" he finally whispered.

Janet nodded "For a minute, that's all. She's lost a lot of blood and is still very weak. Fortunately the wound, though very deep didn't do any major organ damage, but it was perilously close." She patted Jack's arm affectionately "You did a good job Colonel, quite possibly saved her life - if the blade had veered just a fraction more..."

Jack let out his pent up breath in an explosive sigh.

Janet continued. "She's conscious, just about, but very groggy. She's also pretty weak and still in some pain but I think, all being well, she'll be up and about in a few days and back on light duty in about 10 days."

"Thanks Janet, well done."

"My pleasure Sir - now don't stay too long."

"No - I promise."

Jack drew the curtain aside and pulled up a chair to Sam's bedside. She still looked deathly pale and was hooked up to an IV. Her shoulders were bare but she was swathed in bandages from her armpits down. Her eyes were closed but she was breathing steadily.

"Sam" Jack whispered, taking her hand in his.

Her eyes flickered open, settling on his worried face. She blinked slowly as if to clear her sight.

"Sir" her voice was husky, just above a whisper, but a smile hovered around her mouth.

"Doc says that you're going to be fine"

"Yes Sir, thanks to you"

He smiled at her and gently brushed his fingertips down her cheek. She turned her head slightly toward him so that they lightly touched her lips.

"I meant what I said Sam."

"I know...so did I."

They smiled tenderly at each other. There was no need for further words between them, their eyes conveyed to each other all that they needed to say. Jack nodded, squeezed her fingers and turned to leave.

As Sam's eyes closed and she drifted off to sleep she thought she heard him murmur something. It sounded like:

"One day, we'll have our joy."

END



End Notes: Feedback might get you a sequel - what do you think Equal Parts - Joy?

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