Fresh Starts Part 4
Fresh Starts Part 4
by Kirsty
Summary: here's part four. set during and after the broca divide.
Category: Missing Scene/Epilogue, Romance, Series
Episode Related: 001 Stargate - The Movie, 101 Children of the Gods, 102 The Enemy Within, 103 Emancipation, 104 The Broca Divide
Season: Season 1
Pairing: Jack/Janet
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: minor language, none
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: 04/25/03
Author's Note: Ok, for this part of the story I had to split it up into sections. Sorry if it's confusing at all but I think it's pretty clear. The whole thing is set during and after The Broca Divide. Section 1. is set between the briefing scene and them leaving for P3X 797. Section 2. is set halfway through the ep, during the scene where General Hammond is put in the same room as Jack (the scene which, by the way, contains my personal, ultimate "shippy scene" between Jack/Janet). Section 3. is set after the team return from P3X 797 and everybody has been cured. Hope it's easy to follow! Enjoy.
Fresh Starts. Part 4.
1.
"Ok, I understand why we have to have medical checks after a mission, but why do we have to have one before we go?" As Jack and Daniel reached the end of the corridor, Jack slid his key card through the reader next to the elevator.
"Just to check that you're in good enough shape to go Daniel." The doors opened and they stepped inside. Jack pressed the button for the infirmary level.
"Yeah, but we had one, like, three days ago, when we got back from Simarka. What could possibly be wrong with me that they didn't notice three days ago?" the doors opened on their level and they stepped out, "I mean, if there was something wrong, I'd notice. I'd know if I'd hurt myself, or if I was sick..."
As Daniel continued his tirade about the futility of pre-mission medical exams, Jack wondered if he had some kind of phobia about Doctors. It was true that he didn't like being poked and prodded with cold metal implements himself, and wasn't really too keen on visiting the doctor, but he'd gotten used to it. He gotten used to visiting one particular doctor anyway. He smiled to himself, but also felt a huge wave of guilt rush over him. He hadn't seen Janet since he'd been recalled to active duty, and apart from a rushed phone call the night Major Samuels had brought him in, to tell her he wouldn't make it to Washington that weekend, he hadn't spoken to her either. He'd hardly been off the base for the last few weeks, and when he had, Janet's work schedule seemed to clash with his and he'd gotten the finally installed answering machine every time he'd called. His paranoid mind had hinted that she'd been ignoring him, that she was pissed that he hadn't gone to see her and that he hadn't told her why. The thing was, he couldn't tell her why. She was no longer part of this facility and he wasn't allowed to tell her what was going on, however much he'd wanted to. If only General Hammond hadn't transferred her, she'd still be here, and she'd know all about the Stargate, and the Gou'ld, and Charlie...Jack stopped that train of thought as fast as he'd got onto it.
Charlie Kawalski hadn't been the closest friend he'd ever had, but they'd got along really well and he was a damned good 2IC. He would've been great in command too, but of course he'd never got the chance to prove that. Carter had a tough job ahead of her to live up to Charlie's standards. And judging by her little speech at the briefing, she knew, and was going to give it her very best shot. Jack liked Sam Carter. Despite her climbing on her soapbox at that first briefing, she'd never been like that with him since then, and had a feeling that the whole thing had been for Kawalski and Ferretti's benefit. She was obviously very smart and had apparently designed the computer programme that allowed them to actually use the gate. Add to that the fact that he'd never even heard of Theoretical Astrophysics, let alone knew anything about it, and the General was definitely right. Way smarter than him. Well, way smarter at Astrophysics anyway, whatever that was. And of course, get her and Daniel in the same room and anyone else instantly felt like a complete dunce. They'd given him a headache in the Cartouche room on Abydos. Jack's thoughts were stopped as they reached the infirmary and sat on adjacent beds.
"So, who d'ya think we'll get this time? Reckon we'll be important enough for Doc Warner to check us over? Or just a nurse?" Jack asked Daniel.
"I don't know Jack. I heard they've got a few new medical staff in now that they've got the program up and running." Daniel shifted on the bed. Jack thought he did look rather nervous.
"You Ok Daniel?"
"Yeah. Just a little concerned about this mission actually. I still think it's insane going to a planet that's so dark the MALP couldn't get anything on camera. We have no idea what's out there."
"Don't worry Daniel. You just remember we've got those marines babysittin' us!" Jack was about to continue into his usual rant about the marines and Makepeace in particular when he was interrupted by a very familiar voice,
"Ok Dr. Jackson, this shouldn't take too long," as Janet turned to pull the curtain around Daniel's bed, she shot Jack a look that determined she was definitely still pissed at him. Jack just sat on the bed gaping at her. He was very shocked to see her here. How long had she been back? "I'll be with you in a minute, Colonel." Her tone confirmed it. Yep, still pissed. She whipped the curtain around the bed and left Jack to wait for his turn. He hoped she didn't have any needles with her.
About five minutes later, he heard Janet tell Daniel he was fine and she pulled the curtain back. Daniel stood up and Jack told him to get ready to go,
"Daniel, go gear up, Carter and Teal'c should be down there already, we leave in twenty minutes."
"Ok Jack, see ya later." With that Daniel left and the infirmary was entirely empty except for him and Janet, who was stood glaring at him next to the bed Daniel had just vacated. He gave her a weak smile,
"Hi." He said quietly. She seemed to explode at that.
"Hi? That's it? Hi? You haven't been in touch for how long? And all you can say is "hi"?"
"Janet, let me explain..." she cut him off.
"No, you let me explain, there's no excuse for you not calling. There are phones on base and you haven't been off world 24/7 since you got recalled. There must've been time for a quick call." She stopped talking and roughly grabbed his arm, strapping the blood pressure band around it.
"Janet, I'm sorry Ok? Can we talk when I get back from this mission? Not on base though. Dinner or something?" She looked up at him and seemed to think about it for a moment.
"Alright. We'll talk." And with a smile she added, "and you're paying. Lift your shit please." She snapped back into doctor mode and finished his medical check. When he had been cleared, he went down to get ready for the mission to the dark planet. With the Marines. Great, just great.
2.
His head felt fuzzy. The drugs Janet was using to sedate him were making it hard to stay awake. He knew that was the point of them, but he didn't like feeling drugged, out of control of his own body. It brought back too many memories of restless nights after Iraq, when he'd been pumped full of morphine and sedatives that had trapped him somewhere between full consciousness and sleep, as his mind replayed the tortures he'd barely lived through. He was huddled against the wall of the cell they'd put him in. Somehow it felt safer down here. There was one good thing about the drugs, they seemed to be stopping whatever it was that was happening to him, for a short while anyway. Suddenly he heard his door open. He looked up but made no attempt to stand, knowing he'd collapse if he tried.
As Janet accompanied General Hammond and the other men into the room, she caught sight of Jack curled up in the corner, looking right at her. She felt her chest tighten and fought to keep control of her emotions in front of the others. She hated seeing any of her patients suffering, but to see Jack in pain was killing her. She tried to act as professionally as she possibly could,
"Sorry Colonel O'Neill, but your private room just became semi-private. We're running out of places to put the victims. We've used the brigs, we've used the temp quarters, some of the storage rooms..." With a sigh, she turned and began to leave the room, wondering why she was talking to him when he probably couldn't hear or understand her.
"Doc," she heard from behind her, in a strained voice. No, it can't be Jack. He's had so much sedative he wouldn't be able to talk.
"Did you say something?" she asked, hoping her ears hadn't deceived her. She saw his jaw working, trying to get the words out and could hardly believe what she was seeing. Finally, he managed to speak.
"Give...more."
"What? Give more what?" he held his arm out towards her, indicating what he wanted.
"More."
"An injection? You mean you want more sedative?" she couldn't believe it, she couldn't give him any more, she shook her head, "You've already had more than the maximum safe dosage, twice as much as anyone else because you've been more violent." He still persisted,
"Give"
"No. It's not safe." Please don't do this Jack. Please don't beg me to. His voice got louder when he spoke this time.
"Give! Give."
"Why are you so insistent?" reluctantly, she took the needle from the man standing next to her and knelt down beside Jack. She didn't want to give him the sedative, but he was getting worked up and she couldn't risk him getting violent like he had before, especially with General Hammond now sharing his room. As she gave Jack the sedative, his head rolled back and his eyes closed.
"Must have been in a lot of pain," she said quietly before standing up to leave. Again she heard the sound and this time really couldn't believe it. How was he still awake?
"Colonel O'Neill?" she saw the subtle change as he attempted to speak. This was not the person she'd been speaking to a few seconds ago. She couldn't help but smile, "so you are still in there somewhere." It was still a considerable effort for him to speak properly through the sedative.
"Dream? Dream?" she really wished she could tell him it was.
"I'm afraid not Colonel. It's very real. This is interesting. Enough sedative must knock back the primitive mind. Colonel, listen to me. I'm not going to be able to keep you at this level for very long; it's too dangerous. It could cause permanent brain damage." Janet watched Jack fight against the sedative to stay conscious and to speak.
"What," he paused, trying desperately to get his words out, "What is it?"
"It's a parasitic virus. All we can tell is that it seems to mess with body chemicals, all of them. Testosterone levels skyrocket, thus the aggressive behaviour. It's histamine lytic which means it breaks down histamine, we..." Jack tried to speak again and she stopped talking, guessing she was giving him more information than he could take in, given his current state of mind.
"Experiment on me." What? She couldn't do that! How could she agree to that? He obviously wasn't as coherent as she'd thought he was.
"Experiment on you? I'm sorry, I can't do that." Jack reached out with his hand and gently placed his fingers on her jaw. Suddenly, she was back in his car on that Friday night after their first date, just before their first kiss. Her eyes widened as she realised that he knew what she would remember from his touch. Her doubts about whether he knew what he was asking her to do were gone. She knew him well enough to know that he was asking her for everyone else, not for himself.
"Experiment on me." He asked again. Janet raised her hand and gently squeezed his fingers, a silent promise that she would beat this, with his help.
3.
As soon as they got back from P3X 797, had showered and been debriefed on the situation in the Land of Light, Jack went to find Janet. He knew she'd be exhausted after what they'd all just been through, but they had to talk. They had to work out what they were going to do about their relationship. They both knew the regulations as well as each other. A relationship technically should be out of the question, but he'd never really been one for rules and regulations. He'd leave it up to her. If she wanted to keep seeing him, he'd be very happy, but if she didn't, he wasn't going to pressure her. He valued her friendship more than anything else they might have between them.
As he entered the infirmary, Daniel was just leaving. They hadn't had a chance to speak properly since Jack had attacked him in the control room, and Jack really needed to apologise. What the hell had he been thinking? Getting all possessive over Carter like that. He was about to start his apology as Daniel walked past him, but Daniel cut him off,
"Jack, don't. I know you want to talk about it, but can we do it later?"
"Sure. See you later." He knew he'd be home before Daniel. He was getting out of here as soon as he'd seen Janet. Daniel was still staying at his place, he hadn't found an apartment yet. Truth be told, they'd been so busy that Daniel had hardly had time to look for somewhere else to live. Jack didn't mind though. It wasn't like they were home very often, and when they were Daniel seemed to know just when Jack needed space to himself, and when he needed company. He saw Janet over the other side of the infirmary with one of the nurses. She saw him and excused herself, motioning for him to join her in his office. He followed her in and shut the door behind him, but didn't sit down.
"Hell of a first week, huh?" he joked, trying to lighten the mood a little.
"Jack," she said, as she scrubbed her hands across her face, "I've hardly slept in days, and I'm really not in the mood for this right now. Can it wait?"
"Uh...sure...I'm just heading home, and I'm not coming in tomorrow, so give me a call or something?" she raised her eyebrows at him and he winced at his choice of words, remembering their earlier conversation about phone calls.
"Right. Well, uh, see ya." He said and turned sharply, leaving her office.
Janet sat with her head still in her hands, thinking that she shouldn't have been so sharp with him. She was so tired, the last few days had been tough on everyone, and she'd been thinking about Jack since he'd left to go back to that planet. She kept thinking about how she'd felt when she'd seen him huddled up in the corner of that room, and when she'd seen him in so much obvious pain. She felt the tears slide down her cheeks as she realised what she had to do. She had to end it, she had to stop seeing Jack. Air Force regulations aside, as a doctor, she couldn't risk favouritism amongst her patients. He'd already shown her that today. He'd asked her to give him more sedative, and she'd given in. Partly to protect the others in the room, but mostly just because he'd begged her. Then he'd asked her to experiment on him, and she'd done it. She'd given him an untested drug which could've killed him. Thankfully, it had all worked out and the virus had been stopped, but what if it hadn't? Jack would be dead. And what if something like this happened again? How far would she let her personal feelings control her the next time?
Later that evening, Janet pulled up outside Jack's house. He was home, she could see the light in the living room. She slowly stepped out of the car and walked up to his front door. She knocked gently and waited. Daniel answered the door.
"Oh, Dr. Jackson, I didn't realise you were here."
"Please, call me Daniel. I assume you were expecting Jack. He's just in the kitchen. Come on in." Janet stepped inside as Daniel called to Jack. She stepped down into the living room and realised just how long it had been since she'd been here. Daniel followed her down the steps,
"Would you like something to drink?" he asked.
"No thank you."
"Ok," then he turned back towards the kitchen, "Jack?" Jack walked out of the kitchen and down almost to where they were standing,
"Daniel, will you quit yelling..." he stopped as he realised who was stood in his living room with Daniel. He cleared his throat,
"Hey," he said softly, his eyes fixed on Janet's.
"Hi," she said back, almost shyly.
"I'll, uh, go do something in another room," Daniel said hurriedly, sensing the tension between them, and beating a hasty retreat to the security of the spare room he was currently occupying.
Jack turned rolled his eyes at Daniel's unsubtle departure, before dropping down to sit on the end of his couch. She didn't sit next to him, but perched on the edge of the coffee table so that she was facing him.
"Jack, I want to start by saying I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to snap at you like that. I guess I was still buzzing from the last few days." He leaned forward as she spoke and covered her shaking hands with his in her lap.
"It's Ok. I know this week's been rough. You did a great job by the way." She blushed at his praise.
"I had a little help."
"Oh yes. From Mr. Teal'c." he smiled as he remembered Daniel telling him of the way Janet had addressed Teal'c earlier. Janet smiled too, but it was faint and didn't reach her eyes,
"Janet?"
"Jack, I really don't know how to say this," she could feel her hands beginning to shake again and there was no doubt he could too, as he tightened his grip slightly to steady them, and waited patiently for her to continue, "I don't think us being involved with each other is going to work now. I'm really sorry." He let go of her hands and slid closer to her, wrapping his arms around her and gently kissing her forehead,
"It's Ok."
"No, it's not," she moved her head slightly and leaned against his chest, "I don't want to hurt you Jack, but I can't do this now that we're working together." As she spoke her voice cracked and she felt the tears begin again. God, she was exhausted.
"Shh. It's Ok. I understand." She pulled back slightly to look and him, and he lifted a hand to wipe the tears from her cheeks.
"Do you?" she asked.
"Yes," he said as he pulled her closer again, "and we're still friends, right?"
"Yes, of course," she murmured into his chest. He gently pulled her from the table and sat her next to him on the couch, keeping his arms around her and tucking her body close to his. Her tired body did exactly as he wanted it to. Janet eventually began to relax into his arms and he felt her breathing slow slightly. He looked down to see that she had fallen asleep, and sat for a while, content to just hold her in his arms. As the time passed, his body began to protest at the position he was keeping it in. Gently he moved off the couch, lowering Janet slowly so that she was stretched out fully. He left her like that and went to fetch a blanket from his room. He would've given her his bed, but he was far too tall to sleep on the couch, and Daniel had the spare room. He quietly made his way back to Janet and covered her with the blanket. As he stood to leave her and go to bed himself, he couldn't resist leaning over and giving her a light kiss on the cheek.
"G'night," he whispered, as he turned off the light and made his way to his bedroom. As he was walking down the hall Daniel stepped out of his room,
"Is Dr. Frasier still here?" he asked.
"Shh, She's asleep on the couch." Jack whispered.
"Oh! Sorry!" Daniel whispered back, "so are you and her, um, you know..."
"No Daniel, we're just friends," he answered, "just friends."
Hope you liked it! Series isn't finished there! What? Do you think I'm just gonna let them suffer like that? Watch this space!
If you enjoyed this story, please send feedback to Kirsty
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