Title: LifeLine

Author: Carol S. Comer

Email: carolscomer@aol.com

Status: complete

Category: SJR

Archive: I'm reposting it so that it can be archived at SJD

Spoilers: "Meridian" and "Fair Game" for content, "Abyss" and "The Changeling" for context. Oh, and "Shades of Grey" for the beer comment.

Season/Sequel info: 6th Season subsequent to the events of Meridian/Abyss/Changeling.

Rating: PG

Content Warnings: One bad word. That's it! (and it isn't even a very bad word).

Summary: When Sam suffers a life threatening injury, Daniel works to keep her alive

Disclaimer: The characters and situations depicted here are owned by Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. Don't own `em - never will. No copyright infringement was intended. This story was created and the characters used for entertainment purposes only and no money changed hands.

Author's Notes: We buried my sister in Spring of 2002 after suffering a cerebral embolism. In my Stargate world she would have had Daniel to keep her company in her coma and Jacob to bring her back. I love you Cathy and I miss you so much that it hurts.

LIFELINE

She stared hard into the light and saw a figure standing with a familiar slouch. She squinted into the brightness.

"Daniel?" She called, reaching out to the form.

"Sam." A voice washed over her. "Sam, wake up." She felt a light slap against her checks. "Come on Major," it demanded, "open your eyes."

"Daniel?" She repeated weakly.

"It's Jack," the voice answered. "Come on Sam. Stay with us." The words came rushed and panicked. "Stay with us!" He repeated forcefully. She felt fingertips insistently tapping her checks and tried to focus on the face above her.

"Colonel?" She whispered.

"I'm here Sam," he reassured her. "Stay with me."

Sam's vision swam and the darkness crept back in. She saw the light glowing in the distance and reached out for the figure she saw standing there.

"Daniel."

"Somebody call the doctor!" She heard the frantic plea as her eyes fluttered shut again and her body convulsed.

* * * *

"You have to breathe, Sam." She heard. "I can't help you if you don't breathe."

Sam turned to the sound.

"Come on Sam," the voice reminded her, "breathe."

Sam looked around and saw Daniel standing behind her with his hands clasped nervously in front of him. She walked over to him and looked closely.

"How do I do that?" She asked looking for something familiar in the empty space surrounding them.

"Concentrate," he urged. Sam looked at him in confusion.

"Breathe?" She asked him. He nodded encouragingly. Sam tried to coax her lungs to respond but her body wasn't her own any longer.

"I can't," she said. Sam tried to pull deep but no air came. She frowned in frustration.

"Concentrate." He placed his hands gently on her shoulders and stared deep into her eyes.

"Concentrate, Sam." He repeated.

She nodded slowly and, focusing hard, Sam took a deep breath. The fresh air flooded her lungs.

* * * *

"Respirator's in," a voice reported. "Oxygen is flowing."

"We have a heartbeat," another added.

"Cerebral protection protocols are in place."

"Lidocaine is in."

"We need a CT scan," Dr. Frasier called. Sam was assaulted by voices and felt her body battered by needles and hands.

"Where's my Dilantin?"

She opened her eyes for a moment and briefly met Janet's. Sam could see the fear there before her eyes rolled back and she could see no more.

"Call Command," the doctor cried. "We need a neurosurgeon here now!"

* * * *

Sam found herself sitting at a bar with a glass of wine in her hand. She swirled the amber liquid and stared at the patterns of light in the crystal.

"So what happened?" a voice next to her inquired. She looked over at Daniel huddled up to the counter cradling a beer.

"Oh." Sam shrugged and frowned in confusion. "I really don't know," she said with surprise. "I can't remember."

Daniel nodded knowingly.

"Huh," Sam added looking around. "I, uh, don't even know how I got here," she added hesitantly.

"Interesting," Daniel responded pursing his lips like a doctor reviewing an x-ray. "Well, um, what's the last thing you remember?" He prodded.

Sam sat staring into her glass thinking. She swirled the contents of the stem and took a small sip as if she needed more time.

"We were off-world." She stated slowly. "SG-1" she clarified. Daniel nodded his understanding and gestured for her to continue. "Some small planet in the Vargas system." Sam sat lost in thought.

"And." Daniel prompted. Sam shook her head in frustration.

"I can't." She responded tapping her fingers against the glass. Her brows furrowed with the effort of trying to remember. "I can't remember," she said. Sam pursed her lips in thought. "Its just." She cocked her head. "Wait." Suddenly she straightened and blurted in surprise, "It was Yu."

"It was me?" Daniel asked confused. "Huh?"

"No, Yu," Sam said and shook her head. "Lord Yu," she corrected. "Well, at least his guard." Sam added.

"Oh," Daniel said simply.

"You know." Sam thought a moment. "It was just another one of those routine sampling missions to an uninhabited planet," she said. "Turns out, the soil was rich in naquadah, though." A touch of excitement in crept into her voice.

Daniel nodded his encouragement. "What happened?"

Sam turned serious. "We didn't expect them," she said. "We didn't expect anybody."

"Go on."

Sam paused a moment playing with her glass. "Actually, I don't think they were expecting us either," she added thoughtfully with an ironic tilt of her head. "Yu, I mean." She rolled her eyes. "Lord Yu," she said in response to Daniel's puzzled look. "They were probably just looking for the same thing we were."

"Ah," Daniel said with his characteristic grin. "Wrong place, wrong time. This planet's not big enough for the two of us, and all that." He spoke with his characteristic short fast staccato.

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "I something like that."

"So what happened next?" Daniel asked.

"There were too many of them," she said with a frown. "We were overwhelmed." Sam took another drink. Her hand shook slightly as she raised the wine to her lips. "There was no chance of escape."

Daniel nodded but didn't interrupt. He simply stared into his glass and waited for her to continue.

"Aren't you going to drink that?" She asked.

"Drink, um, what?" Daniel responded confused by the abrupt change of subject.

"Your beer," Sam said pointing at the mug clutched in his hands. "It's getting warm."

"Oh." He frowned as if he hadn't noticed what was in his glass. "No," he said. "I, uh, I don't really like beer." Daniel pushed away the glass and leaned his elbows on the bar.

Sam just cocked her head and looked at him as if he were nuts. She picked up her own glass in response.

"So, then what?" He asked raising his eyebrow in question. "After you were, you know, after you were taken by the Goa'uld?"

"I didn't say we were taken by the Goa'uld." Sam glanced at him. Her glass was poised at her lips but she didn't take a drink. Daniel simply shrugged as if it were inconsequential.

"Go on," he instructed. Sam paused and looked at him strangely. Daniel motioned her on impatiently.

"They took us to Lord Yu," she said taking a healthy sip of wine.

Daniel waited quietly for her to continue.

"He made some unreasonable demands, called us insolent, of course," Sam chuckled slightly as she set her glass back on the bar. "And used his hand device on each of us." Sam rubbed her temples unconsciously as the image of Lord Yu towering over her with the hand device flashed across her mind. She could still hear his bombastic threats. `You were warned,' he had raged, `the Tauri would have no protection if we found you out here.' In her mind Sam could see Yu's eyes flash. `The Asgard cannot save you now.'

Sam closed her eyes as the sharp pain of the injury echoed and sat a moment awash in the memories.

"What then?" Daniel asked, interrupting her thought.

"Then he just let us go," she said shaking her head. Sam looked over at Daniel expecting disbelief. "It made no sense," she concluded with a shrug. The memory of being unceremoniously dumped at the Stargate played across Sam's consciousness. `Now go.' The Jaffa had instructed them. `You will not challenge Lord Yu again.' And they simply walked away.

Daniel just smiled knowingly. "Unless." he prompted.

"Unless." Sam repeated thoughtfully. "Unless, it was all for show," she stopped and snorted in surprise. "It had to be."

Daniel shrugged without comment.

"Even the hand device." Sam paused in thought. She unconsciously rubbed her temples again at the mention of the technology.

"Sam?" Daniel gestured with concern.

"Yu couldn't just let us go," Sam continued, waving him off. "I guess he would have had to appear to make good on his threat." She shrugged. "I don't know, maybe he still expects us to feed him information about other System Lords. We have in the past." Sam grimaced at the thought of being useful to a System Lord. "Maybe we help maintain the balance of power, so to speak." A bitter laugh escaped.

Daniel placed an encouraging hand on her shoulder. "Then?"

"And then Teal'c dialed home. We came through the Stargate and." suddenly Sam was struck with a sharp headache that threatened to split her in two. She clawed at her forehead gasping for breath. "Daniel?" she cried. Sam crushed her head in her palms. A wave of nausea rolled over her and her vision blurred. "What's going on?" Sam sobbed.

"Sam!" Daniel grasped both of her shoulders intently. "Hold on Sam," he called trying to reach her through the pain.

Sam buried her head in his lap shrieking in agony.

"Listen to me."

"What's happening?" she cried. Sam closed her eyes tightly and knocked her forehead against his leg.

"Sam," Daniel called. "I need you to listen to me now," he said sternly as he stroked her hair in an attempt to calm her.

"Make it stop," she cried over and over again. "Please, make it stop."

"You have to breathe, Sam." He raised his voice to be heard over her pleas. "Remember to breathe."

"Oh god, it hurts." She clutched at her head and tears streamed down her checks.

"Hold on Sam," he said gripping her shoulders. "Just a little bit longer. Grab my hand and squeeze. Hold on to me. Let me be your lifeline"

* * * *

"The surgery went well," Janet's voice slowly infiltrated her consciousness, "but you can never tell in situations like these," the doctor said.

The percussion of hospital instruments pounded in Sam's head. She was aware of Jack and Janet's physical presence next to her, but she was unable to open her eyes or speak. Sam tried to focus on the words spoken above through the intense pounding in her head.

"Sam had a very serious cerebral event and, honestly Colonel, she's not responding as well as we had hoped." A hand repositioned the oxygen mask crowding Sam's face.

"Doc?"

"The anesthesia should have worn off hours ago." Janet's voice was tinged with worry. "Frankly, Sam should have been awake by now. The fact that she's still not conscious." Janet's voice trailed off. "Well, it just isn't a good sign," she finally concluded with a slight tremble in her voice.

"Is there anything else we can be doing for her?" Jack's worried voice followed.

"Just wait," the doctor responded. "And hope we can find Jacob soon," Janet added. "There's not much more I can do."

Jack cursed at his helpless.

Sam heard a soft tapping on a keyboard to her side and Janet's voice lightened somewhat in response, "But her oxygen saturation is good," Janet reported. "She's still breathing without a respirator and her heartbeat is steady and strong. At least for now, there are no signs of cerebral distress."

"Worst case scenario," Jack asked softly. "If Jacob doesn't get here, what might happen?"

"She simply won't wake up."

Jack sat down heavily and sighed in frustration. She heard him roughly rub his face and then felt his forehead drop against her hip. Sam turned her hand ever so slightly in response and her fingertips brushed the side of Jack's face.

"Sam?" Jack jerked upright in response to her touch and grasped her palm in his strong grip.

"Sam!" Jack called again shaking her lightly. "Can you hear me?" His voice rose in excitement. Sam longed to reach out for him but her body seemed paralyzed except for small movements in her right hand.

"Sam?" Janet leaned in close to her face and moved Sam's oxygen mask to listen for signs of consciousness.

She wanted to respond. Sam concentrated on forming words when a sudden pain swallowed her and she cried out sharply. Sam's body convulsed again.

"She's seizing!" Janet cried. "It could be a cerebral hemorrhage." She heard the roar of voices and movement - a chair falling, people running - and an onslaught of hands assaulted her.

"We need Dilantin," echoed softly in the distance.

And the sounds faded to silence.

* * * *

"Sam, you had an aneurysm," Daniel told her gently. They were sitting facing each other on a couch in a darkened room.

"Oh god," Sam gasped and stared at Daniel as if waiting for the punch- line. When he didn't respond Sam asked, "Am I dead?"

Daniel shook his head `no.' "You're in a coma," he said matter-of- factly.

Sam frowned in confusion. "Aren't you dead?" she asked him curiously as if that fact alone proved she was already in the after-life.

"Nope," he said. "No, I ascended. Remember? The Naquadria, the radiation poisoning, Oma Desala, beings of light, all of that." Sam all but ignored his rambling.

"Am I going to?" She asked worriedly.

"What?"

"Die," Sam whispered.

"Oh." Daniel thought a moment. "I don't know," he said with a small shrug.

"Daniel!" she said impatiently.

"What?"

"Will I survive?" she asked. "Will I wake up?" Her voice rose with panic. "And if I do, will I still be me?" Sam fairly jumped off the couch. "Tell me, Daniel!" Sam begged. "I need to know."

"Sam," Daniel stood quietly and took her hand, "I can't tell you that."

"Can't or won't?" she demanded shaking off his touch in frustration. Sam wanted to scream `What's happening to me!'

"Sam, um, ascension doesn't mean I know the future," Daniel said calmly.

"Daniel," she pleaded, "please, give me something here!"

"Sam, all I can do is tell you what has happened," he said. "I simply don't know any more than that."

Sam sighed. She let Daniel guide her back to the couch and sat down heavily. It was pointless to be angry with Daniel, but Sam couldn't make sense out of all of it. She felt so helpless.

"I mean, uh, I ascended." Daniel laughed gently. "I didn't become, you know, omnipotent." Sam shook her head in frustration.

"Then why are you here if you can't help?" she asked him quietly.

"I'm here for you," he told her. "To be your lifeline."

"Why?"

Daniel turned serious. "Because you need to stay here," he said.

"What's here?"

"Nowhere of substance," he answered vaguely. "Not so much a physical place as a conscious state. Maybe spiritual. You know, not exactly here, not exactly there, more of a Freudian way-station, um, kind of a day trip on the River Styx. That kind of thing."

Sam raised her hand to stop his rambling. "So, in between life and death?" she concluded bluntly. Daniel simply nodded in response. "Why are you here then?" she asked.

"Because you can't do it alone."

Sam stared at Daniel a moment and then a resigned smile escaped her worry. "For someone who lives on a higher plane of existence," she teased him, "you certainly seem to be overly concerned with this one."

"Yes," Daniel drawled slowly nodding. "Well, that's, um, that's becoming a bit of a problem, I think." Bitterness flashed across his face. Sam looked questioningly at him. "Look, don't worry about me." Daniel waved nonchalantly. "I'm not leaving you," he said taking her hand.

"Daniel," Sam glanced at her hand in his and asked him quietly, "What did happen to me?"

Daniel looked at her and smiled sadly. "I can only tell you what your, ah, what the doctors are saying." He answered softly with a slight stutter.

Sam nodded understanding.

"Well," he started slowly, "you and Jack and Teal'c and Jonas all returned from PF6 853 with little more than slight burns on your forehead from Yu's hand device." Daniel reported. "But you already knew that." He said.

Sam nodded in response.

"As far as anyone can tell," he explained, "you were right, Lord Yu couldn't have intended any harm. Otherwise the injuries all of you suffered would have been far more severe." Sam gestured in agreement.

Then Daniel paused as if he were reluctant to continue.

"Daniel?"

He nodded in response as if needing more time. Then Daniel took a deep breath and continued. "Well, then as you stepped through the Stargate, you stumbled and fell to your knees clutching your head screaming."

Sam frowned as the echo of a memory played. She unconsciously rubbed her temples in response.

"The best Janet can figure," he explained carefully, "was that even though the hand device was set at a low level, it, ah, weakened a blood vessel in your brain." Daniel winced. "That must have burst in the pressure of traveling through the Stargate."

Sam nodded grimly at the assessment. She heard a roaring in her ears.

"Jack caught you as you lost consciousness." Daniel said. "Um, by the time Dr. Frasier made it to the gateroom you were no longer breathing and your heart had stopped." Sam was wide-eyed with wonder.

"Oh my god." She whispered.

"So, well, they took you back to the infirmary, put you on a respirator and the neurosurgeon came and." Daniel began speaking at a clipped rate as if wanting to rush through the horror of her convulsions and surgery. But when Sam turned pale and swooned in shock, Daniel stopped his clinical recitation. "I'm sorry Sam," he said. "I know this is hard for you." Daniel looked at Sam for a moment. Her eyes clouded over. It was all too much to take in.

"Just." Sam put up her hand stopping him. "Just wait a minute." Sam stood and wandered away from the sofa.

"No, Sam, there isn't time," Daniel said following. "You have to listen to me. It's going to get worse." He took her arm and Sam blinked in surprise. "But you have to stay here." He said calmly. "I know I'm not supposed to interfere, but."

"Daniel?" Sam called interrupting Daniel. A bright light appeared in the distance.

"No, Sam. Listen to me," he said seriously. "You have to hold on."

Sam could not draw her attention away from the play of light, as it grew closer and brighter.

"Please, just a little while longer," Daniel repeated.

"What's that?" Sam asked distractedly. She gestured toward the light. "It's beautiful." Sam stated in awe.

"What Sam?" he asked, fear tingeing his voice. "What do you see?"

"The light."

"Sam," Daniel called in warning.

"Don't you see it?" she asked and began to wander off.

"Sam, don't go there." Daniel followed his voice rising. "Look at me," he pleaded. "Concentrate, Sam. Help is on the way."

"Listen," Sam said dreamily. "It's my mother." A tear formed in the corner of her eyes. She began to softly hum a simple lullaby.

"Sam, please," Daniel begged. "I know I'm supposed to say something like `your life is in your hands.' Its your choice and all that," he said. "But you can't go. Jack needs you. They all do." Daniel pleaded. "We all do," he corrected as he pounded his hands against his legs in frustration. "Damnit, Sam! Listen to me. You have to hold on." He was running out of time. "I can't help you if you cross over."

Sam no longer heard Daniel's pleas. "I have to go," she said emotionlessly moving toward the light. "My mother is calling for me."

"Sam, no!" Daniel ran after her as Sam reached out for the shimmering abyss. Daniel turned her away from the pool of light and held her arms to her side. "Hold on to me." He said. "Feel my hands. This is real. Come on Sam," he cried desperately. "Look at me," he said. "Stay with me."

"Don't you hear her?" Sam asked looking right through Daniel. "It's my mom," she said.

"Don't do this, Sam," he cried shaking her lightly. "Stay here. Stay with us. Think of Jack. He needs you. We need you."

"But she's calling me," Sam said. She cocked her head and listened intently.

"No Sam," he said. "Please, Sam."

But Sam couldn't hear Daniel over the echo of voices calling her.

"Mom," she called reaching out for the brightness.

"Sam, no. Please." Daniel pinned Sam's arms to her side to keep Sam from touching the light.

Sam fought to pull away from him and in response Daniel held her tighter. Suddenly Sam stopped straining against him.

"No, wait," she said slowly and thought a moment. "It's not my mom." Sam blinked in confusion.

"It's. It's someone else calling me," Sam said. "I think its Martouf." She shook her head and strained to hear the new voice in her mind. "I . I can hear him." Sam frowned. "Martouf?"

"Sam?" Daniel shook her lightly. "Sam!"

"No it's. it's."

"Just a little longer, Sam."

"Jack!" Sam called.

Sam's head roll forward and she fell to her knees in Daniel's arms.

* * * *

"Stay with me, Sam," a familiar voice called. "Stay with me," Jack begged her. "Don't you leave me."

"Come on Sam, honey, you can do this." Jacob's voice cracked as he held the healing device over her heart. It was taking too long and he was starting to lose hope. The damage to Sam's brain stem had been substantial. Selmak wasn't optimistic that Sam could be healed without blending.

"Come on Sam." Jack cried. "Don't you leave us."

Jacob looked up at Jack and gave him a weak smile. Neither had mentioned the possibility of Sam needing a symbiote. Jacob hoped they wouldn't have to.

"Come on honey." Jacob said. "We need you baby."

Just as Jacob was losing hope for her recovery, he heard a promisingly blip. Then another and another. Then a steady stream of them.

"We have a heartbeat." Janet announced triumphantly. She watched the monitors intently as the straight green line shifted to erratic waves then became a steady, healthy, zigzag pattern.

"Thatta girl." Jacob sighed. His arms dropped in fatigue.

"Sinus rhythm restored." The technician sighed. "Normal respiration."

"Way to go Sam," Jack said. He turned away and tried to wipe a relieved tear from his right eye without anyone seeing. Jacob smiled and clapped him on the back in a fatherly way.

*****

Sam stared hard into the bright light and saw a familiar figure standing with his hands jammed tightly in his pockets and rocking on the balls of his feet. She squinted into the brightness.

"Colonel?" she mewed.

"Welcome back, Major." Jack smiled down at her. He reached over and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Dad," she smiled at her father.

"Hi, baby," Jacob said in return.

"I thought we had lost you for sure this time," Jack said. A slight tremor in the colonel's voice belied his casual calm.

Sam glimpsed Daniel standing quietly behind the commotion. His arms were crossed loosely and he wore a satisfied smile.

"I." Sam grasped for words. "I had a lifeline," she told him.