1
She grimaced in pain as he pulled her roughly to her feet by her left arm.
"Come on Carter!" he shouted, his voice was harsh with effort and strain, and even though his mouth was now no more than 4 inches from her ear he had to shout to be heard over the sound of staff weapons firing.
The second she tried to put weight onto her right leg she knew the damage was more than the sprain she had been hoping for as she had hit the ground after being pushed out of the way of the staff blast, plus the fact that she had distinctly heard the bone in her arm snap as she tried to break her fall… she was looking at some serious time in the infirmary!
Teal'c was shooting both left and right, trying to cover both flanks as the Colonel half carried half dragged her to the 'gate. He swung them around, walking backwards, and fired his P90 with his left hand, still deadly accurate even using his 'weaker' side. Daniel ran back the few steps needed to quickly take the burden off him so he could swing around and shoot properly.
A sudden extra burst of adrenalin meant she could stand the transfer from one to the other of her teammates, especially as Daniel now had the broken arm slung across his shoulder as he moved towards the steps. She looked up, the 'gate was open and less than 15 yards in front of her. Daniel wasn't holding on in the best way to support her, but even so, she started towards the wormhole, the sound of the Colonels P90 rattling accompanying the explosive detonations of the staff weapons. Suddenly they could hear Teal'c shouting.
"We must leave NOW!" she felt the Colonel pull her from Daniels grasp and Teal'c grabbed her other side, and they pushed and rushed towards the shimmering event horizon, a burning sensation on her back was the last thing she felt as the ice cold dematerialization happened… and she was almost falling out of the 'gate onto the ramp on sub level 28.
"Close the Iris" all four of them shouted simultaneously and the annoying, but welcome metal grating sound echoed through the bare room, several dull thuds were heard before the 'gate disengaged itself due to inactivity.
"Medical team to the 'gate room" MSgt Harrimans voice blared over the PA, Teal'c let go of Daniels collar, having dragged the young man through with the rest of them, and carefully moved her broken arm from across his shoulder only letting go fully when he realised she was not going to fall over. The Colonel, however didn't let go of her, for which she was infinitely grateful, he was the only thing now holding her upright, she shuffled slightly towards the side of the ramp, where a raised bar ran down the side, she was about to lower herself to sit on it when she felt the world spin and cried out in pain.
She was lifted fully into a pair of strong arms, his arms, she hadn't meant to cry out, she always tried to grin and bear any pain, like the rest of her team, but the sudden lack of adrenalin and the movement were too much, she felt nauseous and just hoped to god she could keep her stomach still, at least until she wasn't threatening to throw up on her CO. She breathed in deeply to combat the feeling, and smelt the natural musk of the man, he smelt of gun oil, and fired weapons and under it all, sweaty maleness. She felt a rush of feelings, the pain subsiding slightly as her body was swamped with the hormonal release his scent provoked.
Janet arrived with a couple of orderlies, and she was carefully placed on the trolley. She lost the scent of him and the nausea and pain returned. Janet was leaning over her, asking her…something… she couldn't answer without losing the contents of her guts so she shook her head and closed her eyes in the hope that it would calm the rising bile… it didn't and even before the Colonel had told Janet what he thought was wrong with her she vomited over the edge of the bed.
Luckily for her the increase in pain caused by her movement as she tried to clear the edge of the trolley meant that she passed out, and didn't have to see the look on her bosses face as both he and her best friend failed to avoid the torrent.
OoΩoO
Ever so slowly she swam into consciousness, and as she surfaced she noticed things weren't quite right, anomalies that shouted at her that things weren't 'normal', first off, there was no beeping, that was…unusual, because usually there was SOMEONE on a monitor in the infirmary, even if it wasn't her. It was altogether too quiet.
Then there was the fact that the room smell wasn't quite right either, she breathed in deeply, delaying opening her eyes until she had to, to see how much she could figure out without that sense. She smelt antiseptic, and Jack… Colonel O'Neill! Damn she had to remember to call him by his proper title even in her thoughts, slipping inside could lead to a slip out loud, and she dare not risk that, their unspoken mutual agreement meant that she had to avoid slips like that, she didn't know how he did it, he never slipped. She mentally berated herself, she seemed not to be thinking straight.
She realised she could feel the morphine pulling at her, that explained THAT! The pain killer was trying to drag her back to sleep again, making her thoughts fuzzy. Suddenly she heard a rustle of paper, that was someone in the room, they were reading… a magazine, not a book, and she heard a dull, muffled sound that may have been booted feet walking the corridor, but the sound wasn't quite right either, if she was in the infirmary the sounds should have been sharper, as the door wasn't very soundproof.
"Sam?" well at least something was right, Daniel was nearby, he could have been the reader. She was ever so glad he was back, she had like Jonas well enough but he just wasn't Daniel. This had been their first proper mission offworld since he had returned, though he had helped with sorting out 'duplicate O'Neill' and the interviews of abductees, she just wished that SG1 had managed to get away with a 'normal routine' mission like the other teams for once!
"Let her sleep" the Colonel said, and she imagined Teal'c would also be there, she heard a door open and the quick, sharp, high-heeled tapping of her friend entered the room.
"Has she woken up yet?" she asked, Sam couldn't help herself, she automatically scrunched up her eyes, waiting for the dreaded penlight that the Colonel always swore at. "Ahh so you are back in the land of the living" she opened her eye minimally and noticed she was in an isolation room… what the hell?
"Doctor Warner will be on base soon, he will be dealing with you" Sam noticed that her friend didn't come close, didn't touch her, take her blood pressure or any of the other torture she usually subjected them to after they had passed out.
"What's wrong?" she asked, the horrible taste in her mouth proving that she had been under a general anaesthetic at some time recently "Why am I in here, and why Doc Warner?"
"SG 8 have come back from a planet with a…condition. It seems to be contagious but only by direct, or extremely near contact, skin to skin mostly we believe, we had to put you in here because everywhere else is full, that's why we have asked Doctor Warner to come see to you, and anyone else who needs a doctor, as I and all the nurses have been exposed."
"How serious is it Doc?" the Colonel asked "SG8 I mean, I know how serious Carters condition is"
"Well, so far we think we have it under control, steroid creams are stopping the worst of the flaking and the itching, but so far we haven't found a solution, I'm hoping that once we can get some labs processed we will be able to find out what it is and how to combat it fully." She didn't sound too worried, and there was no flaking of skin that Sam could see. "It shouldn't have affected us, we always wear gloves, but somehow the spores, or dust or whatever it is managed to get to just above the wrist and that's where most of the medical personnel have a problem."
She rolled her sleeves up, it looked like she had been handcuffed, a bright red band of irritated skin around each wrist, except the cuffs would have had to be about 4 inches wide…manacles maybe? Sam really knew she was on morphine because her mind was wandering into all sorts of interesting places… especially to the man seated by her bed… with manacles, and maybe leather… and a whip… Oh god! She shook her head, realising that Janet was speaking again.
"I'll leave you all to it, I have to get back, if she needs more pain medication or anything, come to the infirmary door and shout, don't come in whatever you do." The three men nodded, and the small woman exited the room.
"So… what's the damage?" she asked gesturing to herself with her left hand.
"Broken leg, in two places, simple fractures, luckily both below the knee" luckily? Well OK yes it meant she only needed a half cast, not a full leg one, and so she would be able to bend her leg… but LUCKY? "and your right forearm is broken, a compound fracture, and you had to go into surgery to have it pinned. Doc Warner did that before the outbreak, he'd just left when SG8 came in, in trouble"
The pain was throbbing in her arm, but it wasn't anything she couldn't cope with, she lay back down as Daniel started talking about the ruins on the planet they were supposed to be visiting next week, Teal'c hadn't said a word and the Colonel rose and left to do his mission reports… no matter what he said about paper work, it was a part of his job, and he excelled at every part of his job! She drifted off to sleep, allowing the pain killers free rein.
OoΩoO
Reluctant Hero von Tribal Matriarch
Story Bemerkung:
Story Notes:
Thanks to Snr for the beta/corrections and to Gator and Starnight for reading over it and telling me it wasn't quite as bad as he said it was.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.