Disclaimer - MGM/Gekko own them, I don't…you know the score.
Okay: first scene set during 'The Fifth Race', after Carter and SG-1 return from the planet with two suns (when Jack saved them). Second scene set any time you like after the episode ends.
Feedback - as always - would be lovely :)
*
"Just an advanced warning," Janet told her. "This is going to be cold. And, it'll probably sting, too."
Gritting her teeth, Sam nodded.
Taking that as permission to proceed, Janet carefully began to rub the cold substance over her face.
Sam shrieked at first nonetheless, causing everyone in the room to jump. Apologising to Janet and feeling a little stupid, she then tried to distract herself from the soreness of her face and what felt like ice cubes being applied to that same face by focusing on the man standing a few feet away.
Since she'd returned from the planet a short while ago and discovered that it was the Colonel who had saved them, he hadn't left her side. He'd walked with her from the gate room, through the corridors, in the elevator and into the infirmary, surrounded by the rest of the 'temporary' SG-1.
Sam was certain that it would only be temporary. It had to be.
She'd been worse off than the rest of them. Teal'c - of course - had barely broken a sweat (she didn't know if she should be thanking or damning that larval goa'uld he carried), and the others were going to have tans for quite some time. Her skin had always burned too easily, and she'd certainly paid the price for that today.
Hissing a little as Janet continued to rub, she again looked at the Colonel. He hadn't said anything since she'd returned. He hadn't said a great deal at all since the alien technology had invaded his mind, and it wasn't that he couldn't speak: he had to be frustrated. She knew she would have been, to be able to speak and not have anyone understand what you were saying.
Well, apart from Daniel. But she knew very well that he'd hate having to rely on Daniel for the rest of his life, if it did last that long...
No. That wasn't going to happen. He wasn't going to be isolated like this forever.
He was smiling which was definitely a good sign - she didn't recall him smiling at all since this started, and even if that smile was caused by the fact that she probably looked a little...different...that usual at the moment, she wasn't about to complain.
"There we go," Janet announced, drawing Sam's attention back to the doctor as she finished up with a few last rubs. "You were lucky. Any longer and you would have suffered far more severe burns."
"The perils of having fair skin," Sam quipped, seeing as the Colonel couldn't.
Apparently appreciating the effort, O'Neill smirked.
Picking up a clipboard Janet flicked through the wad of papers attached to it. "Make sure you drink plenty of liquids - nothing alcoholic - and *please* Sam...take it easy. That one is definitely an order."
"Yes sir," Sam mocked, smiling.
Janet rolled her eyes fondly. "Now this one isn't an order, but I would prefer it if you'd rest here for a little while. You were under extraordinary temperatures out there, and I just want to make sure..."
Unable to put up with the expert pleading in Janet's eyes, Sam conceded. "All right, but only for an hour. I have to get back to trying to solve whatever's wrong with Colonel O'Neill."
"Okay," Janet relented. "Just lie down and rest for me, will you?"
Without further objection Sam lifted the lower half of her body up onto the bed she was sitting on, and carefully stretched out. Sighing, she linked her hands together across her stomach as Janet walked over to another patient. Well aware that the O'Neill was still standing next to the bed, Sam drew her gaze towards him. "You know sir, you really don't have to stay here."
He was frowning. "Rateed gresa yersaf?"
Okay, what the hell did that mean? By the way he was frowning and the way he spoke it, it sounded like a question, but how was she supposed to know what he was asking? "Sir?"
"Rateed gresa yersaf?" He repeated and this time he gestured towards her as he spoke the last word.
Having an inkling as to what he may have been asking, Sam responded with, "I'm fine sir, really." When he nodded she knew he'd been asking he she was feeling. "A little battle-scarred but the burns will heal and...okay, I *may* be feeling a little light-headed but that's not necessarily from the heat. It could have easily been..." She stopped, hoping like hell that he hadn't guessed where that sentence was going.
It could have easily been *something else*.
The very implication was worrying.
"...low blood sugar levels," She eventually finished, deliberately meeting his gaze, deliberately not looking away. Deliberately not looking embarrassed.
If he had any clue what she was trying not to say, he gave no indication. He did surprise the hell out of her, however, when he reached out and pulled her hands apart, wrapping his left hand around hers.
"Ego indio yersaf."
Great. More of the strange language she couldn't speak. Okay, okay...
'Ego'. Ego...she'd heard that earlier, hadn't she? Before she'd gone on the mission. In Daniel's lab...ego meant 'I', didn't it?
'Indio'...she may have heard that earlier, but she couldn't remember. Hell, she wasn't the language expert in this facility!
'Yersaf'...that had been in the question he'd asked just a minute ago. When he asked her how she was feeling. How was she supposed to know which word that represented?
She shrugged, which wasn't very easy from the position she was lying in. "I'm sorry sir. I don't know what you're saying."
Shaking his head he smiled, as if it didn't matter. "Etium."
O...kay...
"Etium," He repeated, closing his eyes.
He was telling her to rest.
She really should have objected. She really should have been sitting up, finding out the solution that would bring him back to normal, but the dehydration she'd already been treated for - combined with the concern and long hours recently spent working - suddenly seemed to catch up with her in the space of one second.
With eyelids that were suddenly absurdly heavily, she closed her eyes and almost melted into the bed she was lying on. "I wish," She managed to murmur, "That I could understand you." She wasn't even sure if she was talking about the alien language.
"Etium," He replied again, and when she drifted off to sleep she could still feel the sensation of her hand safely held in his.
***
"Hey Daniel," She greeted cheerfully as she strode into his office.
The archaeologist - as usual with his head stuck in some old book - looked up and smiled. "Hi Sam. How you doing?"
"Great." She was definitely feeling better than she had earlier. "You?"
"Good," He nodded. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything that Jack told us about who he met...it's..."
"Amazing, I know," Sam concluded as she moved further into his office and eventually paused next to his desk. "It's just...this is..."
"Big."
"Yeah!" She said, nodding enthusiastically, glad that someone understood. She'd told herself during the years spent trying to understand the Stargate and when she eventually went through it for the first time that it had to have been made by someone so unbelievably different. Powerful. Intelligent. Even so...sometimes, it was a little too easy to forget. They became used to encountering alien life forms. They became used to the fantastic journey through the Stargate itself. Today, for the first time in quite a while, she was reminded just how big everything else was and how relatively insignificant they were.
After a few more moments of happy silence, Daniel spoke again. "Did you...want something?"
Ah. Yeah. That's right. "I do, actually. There's a few words of the language the Colonel was speaking that I need translated, and seeing as he doesn't actually remember what any of it means, I figured you might be able to help."
Daniel shrugged, happy to help. "Sure. What are the words?"
"It's a...a phrase, I think. I think I know what the first word means, but I suppose in the context of the other words it could have a different meaning..." She waited for him to nod before continuing. "'Ego indio yersaf'. My pronunciation is probably a little off."
"Hmm," He scratched at his forehead. "Well 'ego' means 'I'."
"That one I knew."
"And I know what 'indio' means too."
"You do?"
"Yeah..." He looked distracted. "Pass me that book, will you? You could well be right. In context with the other words 'ego' could mean something different. So could 'indio'."
Pleased to see this was going somewhere, she grabbed the one he'd pointed at and brought it over to him.
Thanking her he opened it up and began flicking through the pages, looking for...well, something that would help, anyway. At least she hoped so.
Finally he stopped flicking and looked in detail at the page he had paused at. Murmuring something to himself that she didn't recognise, his frown grew deeper as he turned his head towards her. "It doesn't."
"It doesn't what?"
"It doesn't mean anything different. It says exactly what I thought it said. I mean, presuming I'm right and although we had a bit of difficulty with the translations at first..."
"Daniel!"
"Yes?"
Her patience was wearing more than a little thin. "What does it say?"
He opened his mouth, seemed to think about something, then the frown on his face transformed rapidly into something else. Although it was clearly obvious he was trying not to smile, it was also clearly obvious that he was failing spectacularly. "Did, um... did... Jack say this to you?"
Oh, she did *not* like where his tone of voice was headed. "Yes. Now please, tell me."
"I need you."
She stared at him. "You need me?"
"No, no," He chuckled. "That's what 'ego indio yersaf' means. 'I need you'."
Her face was going red, she knew it was.
It didn't help that Daniel had a smirk on his face the size of the Taj Mahal.
Well...she shouldn't be embarrassed, really. It certainly wasn't the greatest compliment she'd ever received. No need to be embarrassed at all. No siree. "Well...maybe it's work related. You know, he meant it as 'I need you to help me', or 'I need you to solve what's happening'."
Daniel nodded as if he understood. For all of two seconds. "But that's not what he said, Sam. He said *I* need *you*. The translation is very specific. There's no room for doubt."
Ah, crap. "There isn't?"
"No," There was that smirk again. He'd definitely been spending too much time around another man who liked to smirk a lot.
So, here she was. Captain Samantha Carter, 2IC to Colonel Jack O'Neill, in Doctor Daniel Jackson's office, which itself was inside a facility that was headed by Major General George Hammond, trying not to think why she was suddenly thinking of everyone and everything in the most complicated manner possible.
Daniel was still smiling. "I think it's cute."
"Daniel..."
"No, seriously. I mean think about it." His voice took on a dramatic edge. "Colonel Jack O'Neill, military man. A history filled with secrets and top secret missions. His life a mystery. Known for giving comfort to those who need it but refusing to take it himself. This man who - more often than not - refuses to even talk about emotions, has just admitted that he needs *you*."
The embarrassed smile on her lips had smoothly changed to something a little more self-satisfied. "Well...I guess it is kind of...cute." The smile fled. "No, that's it. I can't do this! I cannot describe my superior officer's behaviour as 'cute'!"
"Why not, Sam? He's your friend - of course he needs you. So do I, so does Teal'c..."
"You do?"
"Of course I do."
"That's so sweet."
He smiled. "Thanks. But how is that any different to Jack being 'cute'?"
"He's my superior officer!"
"Yes, but he's still your *friend*. You shouldn't forget that."
"I haven't forgotten that, it's just..." She sighed, heavily. "Don't you think that it says something that he only chose to say it when I couldn't possibly understand him?"
"Not necessarily..." He pondered.
"I hate that tone in your voice."
Daniel chuckled. "Sam...there's nothing wrong with admitting that it's cute, that you appreciate his friendship. That you care about him."
"Daniel..."
"Sam?"
"Be quiet."
"Not gonna happen. You can't order me around - I'm not military, remember?"
"Daniel,"
"Sam,"
"Daniel."
"Sam."
"Dan-"
"Sam!"
Practically growling, Sam grabbed the book he was holding, flicked to the appropriate page to find what she was looking for, hoping that it was there, hoping that...there it was! "Daniel," She said, meeting his gaze. "Lareck!"
His mouth dropped open. "Sam..." He whispered in awe. "Do you have any idea how disgusting that is?"
"Lareck!" She repeated before swivelling away and storming out of the room, deciding that - despite his reaction - Daniel must have heard worse swear words in his time.
~FINIS