Trust Goes Both Ways

Summary: Jack and Sam bite off more than they can chew
Category: Action/Adventure, Angst, Hurt/Comfort
Season: Season 5
Pairing: Jack/Sam
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: character death
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: 04/13/03

TRUST GOES BOTH WAYS
By Arrietty

Title: Trust Goes Both Ways
Author: Arrietty
E-mail: arrietty39@hotmail.com
Rating: PG 13
Archived: Jackfic, SJD Yes, Heliopolis. Summary: Jack and Sam pick off more than they can chew. Category: Action/Adventure, SJ, UST, Character Death (please don't be put off by that), Angst. Spoilers: Little itty bit for Season 5 'Proving Ground'. Status: Completed

Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom. MGM/UA, double Secret Prod. and Gekko Prod. This story has been written 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. Not to be archived without permission of the author. Copyright: (c) 2002 Arrietty

Author's Note: This is my first fic, set in season 5 after Proving Ground but before Meridian. A big thank you goes to Spyro for her bits of advice and encouragement and an extra special thank you for Beta reading it for me. FEEDBACK: Yes, Yes and Yes please. ?

Trust Goes Both Ways by Arrietty

Part One

As SG-1 stepped out of the Stargate onto the sandy steps of PX 169, the heat hit them like a physical blow. Sweat broke out onto their skin instantly. As far as humanly possible all they could see were rolling hills of sand. With his right hand Colonel Jack O'Neill lifted his cap off his head and ran his other hand over his grey hair and let out a big sigh, then placed his hat back on his head. "This is going to be a hot one kids! Carter where are the ruins?"

"South West Sir." Came the firm reply.

"OK, Teal'c, Daniel you're off to collect 'rocks' Carter you're with me. Didn't you say that there could be naquada deposits hereabouts somewhere?"

"Yes Sir, North East."

"OK. Daniel, Teal'c, radio contact every two hours, meet you back here in 8 hours. Any questions?"

"No. I do not have any questions O'Neill." Teal'c replied calmly.

"No Jack see you later," chirped Daniel who was already trotting off towards the ruins that SG-6 had spotted on an earlier visit. As Daniel used his binoculars he could just make out the unusual shaped structures, they were just a shade darker than the surrounding sand dunes.

Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter had been travelling for 4 hours. So far they hadn't come across any sign of Naquada deposits - not even a hint.

"Are you sure we are going in the right direction, Carter?"

"Look Sir, it isn't as though there are landmarks to follow, only the compass direction that they gave us, and we should have come across some sort of Naquada deposit by now."

"Maybe they walked a lot faster Carter," O'Neill replied sarcastically as Major Carter was standing still, facing the opposite direction to O'Neill, trying to get a bearing on the compass.

Ignoring the comments of the hot, tired and irritable Colonel, Carter replied. "Sir! Something is wrong with this compass."

"What's wrong with it?" O'Neill replied with a slight hint of concern in his voice.

Carter frowned while she looked at her compass, pointing straight out in front of her she queried "OK, North is meant to be this way" looking up towards where she was pointing, "but the compass is showing north in the opposite direction to what it was five minutes ago."

Immediately O'Neill moved to her side. He took the compass from her, studied it and looked up at the sky. "Ugh, that's not going to work." He said with a grimace. "Two suns! Hang on a minute, have you moved Carter?"

"No, Sir."

"Well apparently North is now that way." O'Neill pointed away from Carter in the opposite direction from where she had been pointing earlier.

"I think we are in trouble Major." O'Neill grabbed his radio and called in Daniel, and Teal'c, but there was no reply on the radio, it seemed to not be working.

Three hours later, there was still no answer from the radio.

All Carter and O'Neill could see was sand, even with the binoculars. To make matters worse, the first sun was beginning to set, though this made things a bit cooler, they knew that it was going to get very cold and dark in the near future. There was no wood to build a warm fire and no shelter to keep the cold of the desert air from them.

Major Carter released her pack from her back and crouched down to retrieve some food for their evening meal. Maybe it was going to be cold, but at least it was food. While she was doing this, Colonel O'Neill noticed what looked like a hunk of wood at the bottom of the dune, the sand looked like someone (a huge someone) had punched down their fist into the sand making a very large deep pit. It didn't take long for O'Neill to reach his goal, he slid down the steep side of the pit and bent down to take a closer look at what he thought was a piece of wood. It was a sandy brown colour not unlike the sand that they had been walking on, just a shade darker. As he bent down to reach for the piece of wood, not only did the wood move, but the ground that O'Neill had been standing on moved violently. He found himself flipped up on his side and something clamp onto his boot and leg, the pain was excruciating, the piece of wood was not what he thought, but a large claw measuring about 12 feet long. Only a small piece of the claw had been sticking out of the sand and it wasn't alone, it was one of a pair and following the pair of claws was a large scaly head. By that stage O'Neill had let out a large roar of pain.

"Arh! Carter! Watch out!" Yelled O'Neill.

Carter immediately looked up, and couldn't see her CO anywhere, but she did see the monstrous back of a crab-like creature. As she crawled closer to the edge of the hollow, what she saw filled her with horror. The creature had her Colonel by his foot and was slowly dragging him towards its mouth. There was no doubt in her mind what the intentions of the creature were. O'Neill had managed to retrieve his P90 and was now trying to shoot the monster, but with no effect, the bullets were just bouncing off it's scales. The creature by now had managed to extract itself from the sand, except for its tail, which was slowly sliding out of the sand below Carter.

All this, Carter took in a moment and without thinking she grabbed a hand grenade off her belt, pulled the pin and threw herself over the side of the hollow. As she scrambled down the side, she threw the grenade into the open maw of the monster, then fell on top of O'Neill to protect him from the debris of the explosion. Neither of them saw that the sand had finally released the tail from the side of the pit and that it came down with an almighty thump on Carter's back knocking the wind out of her, seconds before the crump of the explosion sounded inside the nameless monster. It seemed to take an eternity for it to die, but as it did, bits of the creature were scattered around the hollow, over Carter and O'Neill.

Carter slowly got up, looked around at the dead creature, and cautiously poked it with her foot to make sure it was dead, then she turned around to O'Neill.

"Are you all right, Sir?"

"Yeh Yeh, just fine, a bit stuck that is all."

Carter bent down and tried to remove the offending claw. It was wedged firmly into the leather of his boot, but however hard she tugged she was unable to shift it. But as far as she could see, to her relief, his foot was still attached to his leg.

"Sir, I think your boot saved your foot."

"Carter."

"Yes, Sir?"

"Are you hurt?"

"No. I'm fine, Sir. Why do you ask?"

As Carter was saying this to O'Neill, she had straightened up and started to move towards O'Neill's backpack that had been dragged off his back earlier. Just as she bent down to retrieve the pack, suddenly her hips and legs gave way. Carter let out a whoof as she collapsed onto the ground just a couple of feet from O'Neill's head.

"Carter! What's wrong?"

"I don't know Sir, I can't move my legs." Carter slowly dragged herself around, and then moved closer to O'Neill.

O'Neill carefully sat up. Except for his foot and a few scrapes on his back from being dragged through the sand, he was uninjured. He quickly checked Carter's injury to her back, and noticed that it was strange, because on her lower back was some blood, not much, just enough to discolour her shirt. He carefully lifted her shirt and what he saw worried him immensely. The blood had come from a puncture wound about the size of the palm of his hand, but what was disturbing was a fluorescent yellow marbling effect on Carter's skin, that spread out from the wound. He quickly pulled her trouser legs up out of her boots, and there was the discolouration again.

"Sam, look at this." O'Neill didn't realise that he had used her first name, but the concern in his voice was apparent.

Sam dragged herself up by pulling on O'Neill's back, not noticing the wince that crossed her CO's face as she inadvertently put pressure on his scraped back. "Yuck. What is it? It's a horrible colour, not my colour at all!"

O'Neill looked at Sam in surprise. He wasn't expecting any kind of levity in this situation from Sam. "Does it hurt at all?"

"No, it doesn't, Sir, I just can't move my legs at all."

The two of them sat together, Sam clutching her CO to stop herself from falling back down onto the sand. O'Neill started to rummage in his pack.

"Well the good news, Carter is that the compass is now working properly," said O'Neill as he lifted out his compass and waved it under her nose. The bad news, of course, was that neither of them could move. They were both stuck at the bottom of the pit as good as if they had been anchored there.

Part Two

The first sun had already set and the second one was fast on its way. The sun's rays were not reaching them, and it had begun to get cold. O'Neill had twisted around and was leaning up against the side of the creature and Sam was propped up against O'Neill. Her movements were sluggish and she was beginning to have trouble breathing. O'Neill had pulled out the emergency blanket and wrapped it around Sam and himself. His radio was impossibly out of reach and Sam's radio was lying smashed beyond repair beside him.

A gasp came from Sam. "I can't breathe! Jack! Help me, I can't bre..."

Jack immediately laid Sam down and checked her pulse. There was a faint heartbeat. He then tried CPR. Nothing was happening. Though not breathing Sam was still conscious and she looked up at him with frightened eyes. The marbled yellow colour was beginning to creep up her neck towards her face. Jack couldn't understand why Sam hadn't passed out by now with the lack of oxygen. Each time he looked at her the 'poison' lacking any other word to describe it had crept up further onto her face. Jack re-checked her pulse; it was getting slower and fainter. Jack looked into her eyes; her eyes were staring blankly up at him.

In disbelief Jack called out "No, don't give up now Sam."

He then checked her pulse again. Nothing. He started to try and get her heart beating again, but there was no response. Nothing. He kept this up for a while. Jack didn't even realise that tears were rolling down his face; he wasn't going to give up. It was getting darker; he looked one last time into Sam's face and all he saw were the once startling grey/blue eyes, dulled now by death. He carefully closed her eyes; he then fell back against the creature that had caused his distress. He then pulled Sam closer across his chest, automatically tucking the blanket around them both. He couldn't control his emotions, he let his heart spill out, he told Sam all that he felt about her, even though he knew it was too late. The anguish and rage he felt was released by the words that he could never have told her if she was alive. Eventually he drifted into a troubled sleep, occasionally interrupted by a muffled sob.

"Teal'c, do you think they are all right?" Asked Daniel. He and Teal'c were sitting by the DHD underneath the Stargate. Both the suns had set several hours ago. Daniel and Teal'c had been trying to reach Jack and Sam all day. They had noticed that their compasses hadn't been working most of the day, but just before sunset the compasses had started working again. They had decided to wait until morning to start a search for their missing teammates. Daniel and Teal'c had travelled back to the Stargate early, as they had lost contact with Jack and Sam soon after they had gone their separate ways. The ruins had turned out to be just large deposits of sand, baked hard by the sun. Daniel was confused; he couldn't work out what they were. Men definitely hadn't made them. The only thing that Daniel could remotely think they could be was spoor from a very large animal, but as they hadn't seen anything that large on this planet yet, he couldn't think what else they could be. He had taken some samples for analysis, so as soon as they got back to the SGC, maybe then he would have a better idea.

As they travelled they had seen a few medium sized creatures that were deer like in body, but their legs were sturdy and had feet like camels. Neither Teal'c nor Daniel could work out what they lived off; there must be an oasis further from here. As their compasses weren't functioning and Jack and Sam were missing, they were loath to search for any further signs of life.

Teal'c's reply didn't put Daniel's fears at ease. "No, I do not, DanielJackson. As O'Neill would say, I have a bad feeling."

After a few moments of silence, Daniel said, "I think we should go back to the SGC and get help. Who knows, the compasses may go haywire as soon as the suns come up again tomorrow and we could get lost too."

"I do not agree DanielJackson. I wish to wait until morning, and then we will decide. We will search tomorrow at first light, and we will not get lost as we will not move too far from the Stargate, we will stay in sight of it at all times," Teal'c answered in his distinctive measured tones.

Daniel didn't answer, just nodded quietly to himself in the dark and settled down for the morning to come.

As the first sun rose over the horizon, Teal'c and Daniel helped each other buckle their packs onto their backs. As Teal'c bent to lift his staff weapon off the ground he directed Daniel to go the way Sam and Jack had travelled the previous day. Teal'c went off at a right angle to Daniel.

"DanielJackson, do not forget to stay in sight of the Stargate or I may not find you," Teal'c firmly told Daniel.

"No I won't, Teal'c. Let's see if the radios are working."

When Daniel tried his radio, he found it was working. "Jack, Sam come in."

Teal'c heard the message on his radio, but there were no answering voices from Jack or Sam. This did not ease the niggling feeling in Teal'c's belly, which had nothing to do with his symbiote. All it managed to do was heighten the feeling that something bad had happened to his two friends.

"We will contact each other every 10 minutes by radio." Teal'c called across to Daniel.

They both started to walk off in their respective directions, every so often turning back to check that they could see the Stargate clearly. Soon Teal'c and Daniel had lost sight of each other. Fortunately the Stargate was up very high, even when they had to go down the dunes they could still see the apex of the Stargate shining in the sunlight.

Teal'c had been walking for about 20 minutes, when his sharp eyes noticed something reflecting in the sunlight. He was still able to see the Stargate, but not as clearly as he would have liked. He pulled out his binoculars and trained them onto the shiny object; it was very small and was glinting in the sunlight. Teal'c turned around and looking through his binoculars checked out the Stargate, with relief he noticed that he could still see the Stargate large as life, and he could carry on a lot further towards his goal. Teal'c quickly radioed Daniel to tell him of his find. By then Daniel had travelled as far as he could go without losing sight of the Stargate, so he started to walk back towards the Stargate looking to either side of him in the hope of catching any sign of his lost teammates.

As Teal'c moved closer to the shiny object, he noticed that it was on top of a black boulder shape, no not boulder shape - backpack shape. He quickly scanned the area, but couldn't see any sign of Jack or Sam. He warily moved up to the pack with his staff weapon poised, watching for any movement. The shiny reflective object was none other than an unopened MRE, sitting on top of an open pack. Teal'c lifted his eyes off Sam's pack and looked directly ahead and then down.

"DanielJackson, I have found them," Teal'c spoke into his radio before racing down the slope to Jack and Sam.

Teal'c cautiously skirted around the creature, he was pretty sure it was dead, but did not want to take any chances. Jack was still asleep, he was leaning up against the side of the monster and there was no sign of Sam, except for a tuft of blond hair sticking out from under the blanket that was wrapped around both of them. It was cold in the hollow; the two suns were not yet high enough in the sky to reach them. Teal'c carefully felt for Jack's pulse, it was strong and steady; he then pulled the blanket off Sam and was startled by what he saw. Sam by now had a fluorescent yellow, fully marbled effect on her face. Teal'c checked her pulse but found nothing. He pulled the blanket down further and listened for a heartbeat, but again found nothing. He should have known. One look at Jack's tear streaked face would have told him. Immediately Teal'c felt his eyes begin to water, as he stood there silently for a moment. Taking control of his emotions he bent down to speak to O'Neill.

"O'Neill! O'Neill. It is I, Teal'c. What happened here?"

Hearing Teal'c's voice, Jack without a thought wiped his arm across his face effectively removing any trace of his night of despair. He looked up at Teal'c and said with a dry raspy voice, "She's dead, Sam's dead, she saved my life, she gave her life for me." Teal'c looked at Jack, though his face showed no expression, Jack could see what Teal'c was feeling by just looking into his eyes.

Without saying anything, Teal'c handed his water bottle to Jack, and then went over to investigate his trapped foot. It had only taken two blasts of the staff weapon to break up the claw and he was then able to free Jack's boot and leg from the monsters grip. Jack gently laid Sam down on the blanket and pulled himself up, studied his leg, and then carefully tried to see if he could put any weight on his damaged ankle. Just a few bruises and a few scratches as far as he could see and his ankle seemed to be able to take his weight without too much pain.

Jack O'Neill immediately bent down and lifted Sam up into his arms, carefully making sure her head was supported on his shoulder. Teal'c stood in front of Jack, dug his staff weapon into the sand and then offered to carry Sam. Jack just shook his head at Teal'c and limped off across the base of the hollow. Through all of this time not one word was spoken between them.

There was a shout from above.

"Jack? Sam?"

Daniel had arrived, but what met his eyes was not a sight he wanted to see. Jack was struggling up the side of the hollow, in his arms was the body of Sam, he was obviously not succeeding in getting up the side of the hollow as he began to fall and slide back down to the bottom of the hollow. Jack with determined look on his face started to get up, but before he could lift Sam up again, Teal'c bent down to Jack and said just one word. "O'Neill!" He picked up Sam in fireman's lift and started to climb up the side of the slope. Jack slumped his shoulders for a short while in defeat, he then followed leaning heavily on Teal'c's staff weapon. It hadn't taken Daniel long to work out what had happened to Sam. He bent down and retrieved Sam's pack, took one look at Jack's face, which was devoid of all emotion then turned away, and with tears unashamedly rolling down his face started walking back towards the Stargate.

What should have taken SG-1, 30 to 45 minutes to walk to the Stargate, took them nearly 2 hours. Once after Jack had struggled his way up to the top of the hollow, he then insisted on carrying Sam. It was slow, the second time he tripped wasn't so bad as he didn't drop Sam's body on the ground, he just fell to his knees, silently Daniel bent down helped Jack up and they carried on. The first time Jack had tripped over, Sam's body had been flung to the ground and had landed heavily. The skin on the back of Sam's hands were scraped, Jack contemplated for a while whether he should relinquish her to Teal'c but decided that no, he would just be more careful. This would be the last time he would ever be able to hold her.

Back at the SGC, General Hammond was beginning to get concerned. SG-1 were well over due. It was a second visit to the planet and there had been no signs of life, he couldn't see what could have gone wrong. But knowing SG-1, anything could have happened. General Hammond stood in the control room contemplating whether to send a search party out or not when the technician by his side announced, "unscheduled incoming wormhole Sir." 'Oh here we go.' Thought the General. As the last chevron locked into its position and the event horizon settled into place, the General asked, "Whose code is it sergeant?"

"SG-1, Sir," came the firm reply.

General Hammond let out a silent sigh of relief, he was wondering which team member of SG-1 would need Dr. Fraiser this time, and immediately contacted the Infirmary.

All four members of the SG-1 came through the Stargate together, Colonel O'Neill in the centre of the group carrying Major Carter and Teal'c on one side of the Colonel and Daniel Jackson on the other. They just stood there, not moving, Sam's strange marbling effect of bright yellow had begun to turn into a dull yellow, making her skin look sallow and dirty. The only brightness about the team were the three pairs of eyes that stared into the General's face. The General knew at that moment that Dr. Fraiser would not be able to do anything. "How on earth am I going to be able to tell Jacob?" Hammond muttered under his breath.

Jack staggered down the ramp and placed Sam gently onto the gurney, he looked straight into Janet eyes, which were already filling with tears and said. "It's poison." In a flat voice. Then everything went black as he collapsed thankfully into unconsciousness.

The following day, Dr. Fraiser and General Hammond were talking in the cool store of the Infirmary, it was where all the medicines and blood were stored; basically where everything that had to be kept below a certain temperature was kept. The object of their discussion was not medicines but Major Carter, whose body was lying on a gurney; Janet had pulled back the sheet from her face.

"The discolouration has nearly gone General."

The General let out a big sigh. "It's almost as though Major Carter is just asleep isn't it Doctor?"

"Yes." Came the quiet, but sad, reply. "I wish it was so."

"Jacob Carter should be here soon. We contacted the Tok'ra yesterday and they said considering the circumstances they would pull him back from his mission." With another sigh, the General left the room wondering how he was going to break the news to his old friend that his daughter was no longer alive.

Janet carefully pulled the sheet back over Sam's face and quietly left the room. If she had taken the time to look, Janet would have noticed that she hadn't quite covered her face and that one side of her face was exposed, and if she had looked even closer she would have seen one lone tear had trickled down from the corner of Sam's eye and soaked into her still dirty blond hair.

Part Three

Jack O'Neill reluctantly woke up, he couldn't remember why he didn't want to wake up, but he knew it was for a very good reason. He opened his eyes to stare at the ceiling. He recognised that ceiling, it was the ceiling of the infirmary. He looked down at his hand and saw the drip steadily doing its job of hydrating his system. 'What happened?' He thought and suddenly as though someone had just hit him in the gut, he remembered. Sam was dead and if she hadn't died, he would have. Would her Dad ever forgive him, or could he ever forgive himself?

He couldn't see anyone in the Infirmary at first and thought it was unusual, as the Infirmary was usually a very busy place. Then he noticed someone in the bed beside him, it looked like Sergeant Grogen. He was unconscious and had several layers of bandages wrapped around his chest and head. Blood was slowly dripping into his arm from a bag above the bed. Wryly Jack thought of the comment he had made to Sam a few months back about Grogen. 'He will make a fine target, good at getting shot.'

There was a lot of commotion going on in the back room of the Infirmary, loud talking, nurses were running past his bed with hot water bottles. Janet's strong voice calling out "clear" followed by a loud bang, then again "clear" then a loud cheer followed. While this was going on, Jack unnoticed by any of the medical staff, pulled out his shunt and disabled the drip, pulled on a pair of trousers that were folded up beside his bed on a chair. Also someone had left a black T-shirt and his boots all cleaned and polished. By the time he had reached where all the noise was coming from he was fully dressed and reasonably stable on his feet.

The immediate scene that met his eyes filled him with total disbelief. Sam was lying on a hospital bed; the discarded metal gurney had been pushed to the back of the room. Medical machines surrounded the head of Sam's bed; she was attached to a respirator. It also looked like she was fixed to a heart monitor. The room was very crowded, General Hammond, Jacob Carter, Teal'c, Daniel and numerous nurses were in the room as well as Janet Fraiser. Janet was bending over Sam calling her name.

"Sam can you hear me?"

The silence in the room was deafening and a collective sigh reverberated around the room as Sam's eyes fluttered open. Her eyes seemed to take a while to focus, but when they did focus it wasn't on Janet's face but on Jack's. Until that moment no one had noticed that he was even in the room.

Janet immediately started to ask Sam questions.

"Sam can you hear me? If so, blink your eyes twice." Blink blink.

"You can't talk as your lungs aren't strong enough to do their work yet and we have to keep you intubated. Do you understand"? Blink blink.

"I want to know how long you have been conscious, ok?" Blink blink.

"Has it been less than an hour?" Blink.

"Less than two hours?" Blink.

"Less than three hours?" Blink.

Ever since Sam had first opened her eyes she hadn't once taken her gaze off Jack. It was good that she was blinking, as she couldn't seem to stop the tears from filling up her eyes. Janet began to get an uneasy feeling. The next question came as a big surprise to everyone in the room and the answer an even bigger surprise. Janet took hold of Sam's face and called her name to draw attention to her. Sam dragged her gaze away from Jack and focused onto Janet's face.

"Sam, did you lose consciousness at all?" Blink. Janet repeated the question. "Do you mean that you have been conscious the whole time since you were poisoned by the creature?" Blink blink.

By this time, Jack had taken a couple of steps back because he had found his knees were beginning to lose their strength. He leaned back against the wall took a deep breath and quietly left the room.

Sam dragged her eyes away from Janet's face to look once again at Jack but he was no longer there. Sam began to panic, she couldn't move her head yet and Janet and the others were in the way, she couldn't see him. Janet had seen the distress in Sam's eyes, not realising why, she cleared the room, except for a couple of nurses she ordered everyone out. "You can come back later," she told them. Sam had no idea when Jack had left, but could guess it was when he had found out that she had been conscious the whole time.

It had taken Sam several hours to be able to move. It had started with her head, and then she found she could breathe on her own. Her throat was still dry and sore, however much she had drunk it hadn't seemed to alleviate the discomfort. Of course as soon as she could talk, she asked for Jack. Every time someone came to visit her, whether it was Teal'c, Daniel or General Hammond she asked where Jack was and could he come to see her. After a while, she drifted off to sleep, the last two days trying to stay awake had been too much for her, but still Jack had not come.

It was about two in the morning when Sam was startled awake. She was sure she felt lips brush her forehead, but when she opened her eyes in the semi-darkened room, she could see no one. The swing door to the infirmary was just slowly shutting with a quiet whoosh. She wondered who had been there. Her Dad? Jack? She couldn't sleep now. She started to think back to that terrifying day on the planet PX 169.

*Just after she had cried out to Jack to help her to breathe, she had begun to realise what was happening to her. She could still hear, feel and at the moment see, but could not move. Sam realised she could feel everything very strongly, when Jack had laid her down on the ground to give her CPR. He had laid her onto a very uncomfortable piece of the monster and it was digging into the back of her leg. But she couldn't do anything about it.

The last sight she had seen was Jack's tear streaked, grief stricken face as he looked into her eyes, just before he gently closed her eyes for her. She was thankful that he had closed her eyes, as the air had begun to dry them and they were beginning to sting. Through the night she heard things that she knew she should never have heard. The feelings of a broken man voiced to no one but her. Sam wanted to stop him from speaking, as she had known that he would not have wanted her to hear any of this, but she was unable to speak or move.

Sam had been totally helpless, completely reliant on Jack to keep her from any harm; she had been completely dependent on someone who thought she was dead. Even though this thought had been frightening to degree, she knew she could trust him with all certainty, that Jack would keep her safe. Sam was glad that she was under the blanket close to him, because it was cold, very cold. The blood was not moving around her system keeping her natural body heat going and the desert night had turned very cold. Even when Jack was asleep, he still kept his arms tight around her. His strong heart beat and his regular breathing had comforted her, even though it was broken every so often by a quiet sob. Sam too wanted to cry, but no tears had come to release the ache in her throat.

Sam had realised the poison must be a preservative, to keep her nice and juicy for when the monster was hungry. Sam didn't understand that without oxygen, how it was that she was still conscious?

As the morning had approached she had begun to get scared, what if Colonel O'Neill left her there? As fast as that thought had come into her head, it had left because she knew he would never leave her behind. But what if he managed to get her back to SGC and they did an autopsy on her, while she was still alive? Sam hadn't dared to go to sleep, she was afraid of what she might find when she woke up or worse still, not wake up. All through the journey back to the Stargate, Sam became more terrified with each stumbling step that had Jack taken. When he had tripped over and she had skidded along the sand she had wanted to cry out, but no sound had come.

The worse time for Sam was after they had got back to the SGC, it was when she was alone in the cool store of the infirmary. There was no sign of Jack, she had no idea if he was all right, and she felt very alone and very afraid. She had been laid on a cold metal gurney in a cold room, the chill had reached right into her bones, and she wondered if she would ever get warm. She had begun to wonder if maybe she would die of hypothermia. During the time that Janet and General Hammond were discussing her autopsy, she had never felt so terrified before, she couldn't help it; she had started to cry. Sam had felt a warm tear trickle slowly down the side of her face. Finally something that would show them that she was alive, so instead of trying to stem the flow of tears she had let them fall freely, hoping that someone would come again before tomorrow.

Half an hour later Sam had heard a commotion in the next room, it sounded like an SG team had come back through the gate, and someone had been whisked off to the operating room. A nurse bustled into the cool store and took something off the shelf, but she had left in a hurry. Several hours later a nurse came into the room, and rummaged around quietly, Sam heard her as she moved round her gurney and reach up for something beside her. "Oh dear," said the nurse, "someone hasn't put the sheet back properly." Sam felt and heard the nurse's breath on her face then a tentative finger had touched her face.

"Dr. Fraiser!" Yelled the nurse. Sam heard her hurrying out of the room.

"Dr Fraiser. I think you had better take a look at this."

Sam once again had felt breath on her face, suddenly her eyelids one at a time had been forced open and a piercing bright light was shone into them. .

"They are dilating. Her pupils are dilating." Announced Janet's triumphant voice.

Suddenly pandemonium erupted all around Sam. She had found herself moved onto a soft bed, warm hot water bottles were piled up around her and blankets were placed over her. A shunt was then placed into her hand and she had felt the coolness of the glucose drip infiltrate her hand and arm. The next thing she had known, (how she had known she wasn't sure,) but her Dad, General Hammond, Teal'c and Daniel were in the room. The pain was excruciating when Janet shocked her heart back from laying dormant to beating again. She heard the loud cheer seconds after she had heard the beep of the monitor by her bed. The next thing that Janet did, Sam did not really like, but she intubated her, immediately she had felt her lungs inflate and deflate, even though it was mechanical she had felt her mind relax as the oxygen moved into her lungs. After that she began to open her eyes, the room was all full of blurry faces, but slowly one face began to make sense, one face that she could put all her trust into. It was Jack. He was all right. She knew then that she would be safe.*

Then she remembered that it was at that moment everything had begun to go wrong. Sam couldn't help it; she felt the tears begin to come again. She really needed to speak to him to explain that it didn't matter. That she wouldn't tell anyone. That he could trust her.

It took several days for Sam to get all the movement back into her body. She found that she tired very easily and had to sit down frequently to get her breath. The wound on her back and the scrapes on her hands were healing nicely. Sam's ribs still hurt her if she took a large breath or coughed. In the process of Jack trying to get her heart beating again he had bruised her ribs, thankfully none were broken. In all the time that she had been recuperating, Jack had not come to see her. At least, never when she was awake. She had her suspicions that he had been to see her a few times and as soon as she woke up he disappeared. She was officially allowed to leave the Infirmary now, so she was off to find him and he was not going to avoid her this time.

Jack was sitting in his office trying to do paper work. He had read the same page at least three times and he still didn't know what it was about. After numerous visits from his friends to see if he would visit Sam and even an insisting one from Teal'c, he had summed up enough courage to visit her, but each time as she had come awake he had chickened out and scarpered off quickly. But today, he knew she was going to be released from the Infirmary and would most probably go home, so if didn't see her today, it would only make it harder for him to see her.

"Are those reports ganging up on you again, Sir?" Said a soft voice from his doorway.

Jack looked up with a start, "Sam," he breathed.

She looked tired and had dark smudges under her eyes and though a little pale, her complexion was back to normal. There were no signs of the yellow lines tracing their way under her skin.

"Can I sit down, please?" Sam asked as she moved into Jack's office, shutting the door behind her carefully, she didn't wait for an answer but sat down with a tired sigh.

"I know why you have been avoiding me Jack."

Jack stared at his second in command. Sam wasn't sure what her CO was thinking, and he looked a little like a deer caught in the headlights on the open road, not sure what to do - stay where he was or bolt. She hoped he wouldn't bolt. She reached across and laid her hand onto his arm.

"Jack I 'd like to thank you for saving my life." He started to shake his head slowly.

"No Sam, you saved my life," he paused and in a quiet almost choked voice. "I thought you were dead."

"I know, that's why I want to thank you for saving my life. No one but you would have kept me warm that night. I would have died in the freezing air of the desert. Don't you see, that's what kept me alive. That's not even counting the fact that you didn't bury me and you carried me all the way back to the Stargate."

Jack tentatively spoke again. "I said some things in the desert no one was meant to hear."

"I know. Trust me, they will go nowhere but here." As Sam spoke she moved her hand from Jack's arm and placed it over her heart. Sam smiled across the desk at him, and he smiled quietly back. Jack was thankful to Sam, he didn't want to discuss this in depth, and now he felt as though a great load had lifted off him. He could relax.

They sat there for quite a while looking at each other, feeling the comfort and ease of their friendship, both knowing that with all things whether it was their lives or their innermost feelings, they could trust one another to keep each other safe. After a while Sam got up from her chair and said with a big grin on her face.

"Well, Sir! Looks like you need a little help with your paperwork."

O'Neill leant back in his chair and placed his hands behind his head and gave his second in command a grin.

"Well, Carter as soon as you get back from sick leave, it's all yours."

THE END

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