Guilty Shot
Guilty Shot
by Reichiru
Summary: Sam is shot by a man robbing her home.
Category: Angst, Challenge, Drama, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Romance
Season: any Season
Pairing: Jack/Sam
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: language, violence
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. I have written this story for entertainment purposes only and no money whatsoever has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author(s).
Archived on: 10/10/03
A/N: This story is in response to Sam's Shot Challenge from 2000.
Bam
Sam awoke with a start. She looked at the clock beside her bed. 2:00 a.m. She thought that maybe she had imagined the noise, but just as she was about to roll back over and go to sleep...
Bam
That was definitely not her imagination. She threw the covers off of herself and grabbed the cordless phone off of her nightstand. Slowly she crept toward her bedroom door. She watched as two men tried to carry her television out through her kitchen. If she had been a complete idiot, she probably would have screamed. But, Sam Carter was a lot smarter than that and dialed 911 on her phone.
"911, what is your emergency?"
"There are two men robbing my house," Sam wanted to start crying, but she didn't want the two men to hear her. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be. She was trying to make her way back over to the bed with the phone, when she stepped on something, she couldn't see what it was she had left out, and it broke.
"What the fuck was that man?"
"Shit!" Sam whispered to herself. She didn't know what to do.
"The bitch must be home."
Sam began to panic. How did they know she was a, well, she? Had they been watching her house? Even worse, she didn't have her gun with her. It was just her luck to leave it on the base along with her laptop, which she had been missing greatly earlier on in the night.
"Ma'am, what is your address?" the woman on the phone was asking her. Sam was too frantic to even remember how to answer. Address? What the hell was an address? There are two strange men in my house and some woman is asking me about an address!?
The bedroom door slammed open and Sam screamed in shock. One of the men stood in the doorway. He was holding a gun.
"Well, well. What's such a pretty lady doing home alone?" She had never heard such a compliment delivered so disgustingly and provocatively. The man was pretty rugged; unshaven and had his long, greasy hair in a ponytail.
Sam started to tremble. "Please, leave me alone. You can take my things, just leave me alone."
"No can do, Sweetcakes." He licked his lips and moved forward a bit. "Seems like we picked the right house for more than one thing..."
What the fuck? Why couldn't he just finish robbing her house and get the hell out? Was he really going to do what she thought he wanted to do? Sam backed away from him and hit the wall. She tried her best to stop shaking and look brave. "You're disgusting." He licked his lips again. "We'll see about that..." He grabbed for her and caught her by the shirt. She tried her hardest to get away from him, but his grip on her was too firm. "Yes, we'll definitely see about that..." He traced his hand lazily down her back, and traced back up underneath her tank top.
"Shit!" Sam kicked him hard in the groin. He doubled over in pain, giving her enough time to make an escape toward the door of her bedroom.
"You bitch!" he screamed cupping himself. That's when he noticed the phone on the bed. He could hear the operator still trying to call out to Sam. "You fucking BITCH!" He whipped around and aimed his gun at her. "Sorry, Sweetcakes."
He pulled the trigger.
The rest of the nightmare came in flashes for Sam. She heard the bullet hurdle at her and tried to get out of the way. It hit her in the back. She remembered screaming so loud that she was sure she woke up everyone on the block. As she fell to the floor, the man jumped over her and ran off. Most likely to get the hell out of there before the cops showed up.
She remembered the police and the medics finding her in a bloody mess in her hallway. God how it hurt. Her eyes were glued open in fear. After that, everything went blank.
"Hammond. WHAT?!?!"
General Hammond was said to have been heard through the entire base that night. And if his office wasn't several floors beneath the surface, most of Colorado probably would have heard him as well.
"General, what did you call us for?" Jack asked rubbing his eyes. He, Daniel, and Teal'c had all crashed at the base for the night. They had just gotten back from a mission that afternoon. Jack had some paperwork he needed to finish, Daniel had to deal with some artifacts they found on the mission, and Teal'c didn't really have anywhere else to go. Jack had made Sam go home since she had nothing else to do... well, she always had something to do, but this time it was nothing she HAD to do. He was positive she didn't even remember what her house looked like. He was even more pleased when he saw that she had forgotten her laptop in the rush to get home. That meant she would have to actually relax. Ha! Take that, Major Work-o'-Holic!
"I'm afraid I have some bad news," Hammond said quietly.
"What? Did Carter sneak back in to her lab to get her laptop after I told her to go home?" Jack asked, jokingly.
"I wish she had, Colonel." SG-1 then noticed how pale the general seemed.
Jack suddenly became panicked. "What happened to her?!"
"I'm afraid Major Carter was shot in her home by two men robbing her."
All three of their jaws dropped. Jack, in particular, looked as though he had been shot himself.
"Is Major Carter going to be all right, General Hammond?" Teal'c asked.
"I don't know, Son."
"General, permission to..." Jack began.
"Granted. Get the hell outta here."
Jack was gone before Daniel and Teal'c could even stand up.
She felt strange. Was she dead? She didn't know. It didn't hurt anymore. Truthfully she couldn't feel anything. She was completely numb. She was surrounded by nothingness. Everything was white. She was dead. She had to be. A tear fell from the tip of her nose. She had so many regrets. Every time she found herself in a life-threatening situation she would assure herself that she had no regrets. But she did... and he was one of them.
"Jack!!!"
Jack practically knocked over the doctor when he made it up to the floor Sam was on.
"Doctor! Sam Carter! Where is she?!"
"Whoa, whoa! She's still in surgery. You can't go in yet. Just have a seat over there and I'll let you know when we're done."
Jack fell into one of the chairs and buried his head in his hands. It was his fault Sam was like this. His fault. He was the one that told her to leave early and get some rest.
"Jack, you could have waited for us." Daniel slumped down next to him. Jack couldn't even answer. He was afraid he'd start crying if he opened his mouth. And crying was the last thing he wanted to do in a public place.
"O'Neill. It is not healthy to bottle up one's emotions." That was the beauty of Teal'c. He'd tell others to let it all out, yet rarely did Jack ever see Teal'c get emotional.
"I know, T," was all he could say.
"You blame yourself."
Man, that jaffa was good. If Jack didn't know better he'd say Teal'c was a mind reader.
"Yeah, I do."
"Well don't. It's not your fault, Jack. No one knew this would happen." Daniel patted him on the back.
Not his fault. How many times had he heard that one? He had gotten that comment quite a bit when Charlie died. Gee, Jack. It's not your fault you left your loaded gun lying around so your son could shoot his brains out. It could have happened to anyone. Yeah, sure. Fuck that. Whose fault was it then? Charlie's? Hell no. He could never blame it on him. As much as he was told it wasn't his fault, Jack could never believe them.
And it was the same with Sam. If she died, he would never forgive himself. It would always be his fault in his own eyes, no matter how hard anyone tried to tell him otherwise.
"I'm gonna go get some coffee. Wanna join me anyone?" Daniel's words interrupted Jack's depressing thoughts.
"I shall," Teal'c said standing. "What about you, O'Neill?"
"I'll stay here in case the doctor comes back out."
"If you insist."
In a daze, Jack sat there alone. All he could thing about was earlier that day.
They had just come back from an exhausting mission. They had gotten into a firefight with some of Anubis' jaffa and it had taken all their strength to get back to the Stargate. How long had they been stuck there? Three... no, four days. Fighting to get to the Stargate because of that fucking goa'uld. When they finally got to the gate, Sam wanted to run directly to her lab to play with all her crazy tech toys, but he stopped her.
"Carter, go home. You've been playing in your lab too much."
"But, Sir. I have..."
"Carter. Do you even remember what your house looks like? Go home."
"But..."
"Do I have to make it an order?"
"sigh No, Sir."
The one time he would make Sam go home, of course something bad would happen. It was his luck. And sadly, hers as well. He hoped to God that she would come out of this all right. He hoped even harder that she would be able to forgive him. If she could manage that, then maybe he could find the strength to forgive himself.
"Excuse me, Sir?"
Jack looked up in shock. For a second, hearing someone calling him "Sir" made him think it was Sam. She called him "sir" so much that he started thinking that maybe she had forgotten his name and was just covering up for her memory lapse. He looked at his watch and realized he'd been day dreaming for a couple hours.
It was the doctor.
"How is she?"
"She'll be fine. She just came out of surgery. However, it's the mental after effects I'm worried about. She's been screaming ever since she woke up. Do you know someone named, Jack?"
If the situation had been anything else, he probably would have grinned. So she hadn't forgotten his name.
"I'm Jack. Jack O'Neill."
"Well, you might want to go in there. She hasn't stopped screaming your name. Are you her fianc or something?"
Jack blushed. "Or something."
He made his way into the room Sam was being held in. Three nurses were attempting to restrain her. She was thrashing about violently on the bed, screaming and crying.
"Jack!! Jack!! Please!! Jack!!"
He would have begun crying himself, but his male virility did not allow him to fall apart. Instead, he rushed over to her side and grabbed her hand.
"Sam! It's okay! I'm here for you!"
At once, her convulsions ceased and she was still for a moment. Even after being shot, she was still beautiful. Jack smiled, tears creeping into his eyes as he smoothed back her hair.
She turned as far as the restricting tubes around her would allow and looked into his eyes. "God, Jack. I was so scared."
He found it strange, and even more frightening to him, that she, his second in command whom had been in her fair share of wars and conflicts, would be afraid of two men. Yet, he could understand her fear. She was unprepared for the invasion of her privacy, and unarmed.
"I know, Sam. But it's over now. You don't have to be afraid anymore."
She began to cry again and buried her face in his chest. As if by instinct, Jack immediately wrapped his arms around her as tight as he could without hurting her.
"Shhh... I'm here."
Daniel and Teal'c had come back from their coffee break, which had turned into a coffee, donut, sandwich, and hospital gift shop break, and were quietly watching Jack and Sam from the door. They didn't have the heart to break them apart with their own selfish need to see Sam. That which was before them was too beautiful. Sam would never in a million years admit to needing Jack so badly, and Jack would never show such compassion to her in public. Quietly they snuck away to give them some privacy.
"Why do Major Carter and O'Neill hide their feelings for one another?" Teal'c finally asked out in the waiting room.
"You know about the regulations, Teal'c," Daniel said putting down the magazine he was reading.
"The regulations do not say you cannot be friends and must distance yourselves in every way."
Daniel sighed. Teal'c was right. Sam and Jack had put up such strong defenses against each other that he was surprised they were even friendly with each other. "It's just... They're afraid that if they get too close, they'll accidentally slip up and do something that could get them in trouble."
"Like what?"
Daniel blushed. He couldn't believe he was talking about Jack and Sam like this. "Uh, kiss, hug, get a bit... friendly..."
"You mean intercourse," Teal'c said, beginning to understand.
"Right."
"And how would General Hammond or any other higher member of the Air Force find out if they became intimate?"
"Uh..." Once again Teal'c was absolutely correct. It's not like General Hammond was going to go home with them and make sure they didn't have sex, or any kind of relationship for that matter. "You know Teal'c, you're very smart."
"Thank you, Daniel Jackson."
Sam's sobs died down and most of her tears had dried up before she jerked away from Jack in embarrassment.
"Oh, God. Colonel, I am so sorry. I was way out of line. I should have never..."
"Oh, shut up, Sam."
Sam looked at him in awe.
"You don't have to be embarrassed that you needed someone's shoulder to cry on. You've been through a hell of a lot and you shouldn't have to be sorry that you wanted a little comfort."
Tears brimmed in her eyes and for a moment Jack thought she was mad at him for telling her to shut up.
"Thank you," she finally managed.
"For what?"
"For..." She took his one of his hands in hers and laid her head back down on the pillow. "For being the best guy friend I've ever had. For caring so much about me and always being there for me. For... for loving me." The last phrase caught in her throat as she said it. She wondered if it was the drugs that were making her so bold. Or maybe it was the fact that she could have died without letting him know how thankful she was that he loved her and that she...
"I had better go."
Her thoughts were interrupted by him slowly inching toward the door. He looked uncomfortable suddenly. Did he think she didn't reciprocate his feelings? Is that how she had made it sound?
"Sir?"
"I'll tell Teal'c and Daniel they can come in now." He turned to leave the room.
"Jack, I love you."
His head snapped back at her in shock. "Excuse me?"
She just smiled at him sadly with a single tear falling down her cheek.
Jack lost it. He completely lost every ounce of composure he had left within him. Those three words... Those three beautiful words he had wanted to hear from her more than anything in the world... had caught him completely off guard.
"Jack?!" She became alarmed. She had never seen him cry before. Maybe come close, or shed a few tears, but never actually flat out sobbing.
He practically flew back to her side and enveloped her in a huge and tight, not to mention slightly painful, hug. "I love you too, Sam! I love you so much!"
It was her turn to cry now.
Jack heard her sobbing begin, but he couldn't let go. What she had said meant so much to him. He had never felt anywhere near the way he felt for Sam. Not for anyone... even Sarah. Sure he loved Sarah more than he could even express, but Sam was different. He couldn't explain it... she just was. And having to confess their feelings under circumstances that included Sam being tied up to a bunch of tubes and almost dying made him realize, more than ever, how much she meant to him.
Slowly he pulled away from her, tears still flowing from both of their eyes, and smiled at her. "What should we relieve next? The sexual tension?"
Sam hiccuped a laugh between her sobs. "Well, I'd be all for it if it weren't against the rules."
Jack's smile became a bit sadder as he remembered that she was still his 2IC. "How about we make a deal?"
"Sir?"
"Rule number one. You only call me 'Sir' when you have to. I feel really old when you call me that off base."
She saluted him with a grin. "Yes, Sir! I mean Jack."
"Rule number two. We don't need to act like complete strangers just because we desperately want to have sex and are afraid we might act on it if we are too nice to each other."
Sam almost choked in laughter. How did he say that with a straight face?
"Rule number three," he continued, ignoring her. "Kissing, hugging, and hand holding are not breaking regs."
"Says who?"
"Says me."
"Really?" she asked cynically.
"Really, really."
"Fair enough."
"Sweet!" Jack couldn't believe he was negotiating their relationship with her. It felt really good though.
"Um, can I make one more rule?" she asked shyly.
"Go ahead."
She looked down at her lap. "Well, the doctor said I could go home at the end of the week, and..." She paused a moment, obviously embarrassed with what she was trying to say.
"Yeah?" He encouraged her to continue.
"Rule number four. You let me stay over your house the night I'm released because I'm too scared to go home."
He just looked at her for a moment; pity and protectiveness washing over his features. He wished he could find the bastards that did this to her so he could beat the shit out of them.
"Of course," he said putting a smile back on his face and squeezing her hand. "You can stay with me as long as you need to."
"Thank you," she said giving him a hug.
"And if General Hammond, the president, or anyone else won't allow it, then I'll turn in my resignation the next day and... hell. I'd let you move in with me permanently."
She blushed. "As strange as that sounded, Jack," she made sure to emphasize his name so that he noticed how hard she was trying to use it. "That was very sweet of you."
"That's me, Jack the charmer."
"Well I hope it's me you're trying to charm and not snakes. Because as I hear it, Hathor is dead and Anise likes Daniel." She tried her best not to grin.
"But I hear Freya likes me. Maybe she can convince Anise..." he watched Sam's face fall. "I'm kidding, Sam! Snakes are not my type!"
"What is your type then?"
"Geeks."
"Then why don't you go out into the waiting room and ask Daniel out? Maybe he'd like to get to know you better." She was pretending like she was annoyed with him.
"Fine, fine, fine. My type is definitely a woman in uniform. It's my weakness and my downfall," he said with a playful sigh.
"Well then this paper hospital gown must really be turning your fancy."
He kissed her passionately.
"From the moment I walked in, Major."
Fin
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