DISCLAIMER: The story, and characters and anything and everything else concerning SG: SG1 belong to MGM, Gekko, Secret Productions etc, they are so not mine and no money is being made from this and no copyright infringement is intended.
SPOILER: Desperate Measures
Desperate Measures
By Celievamp
It was over. Adrian Conrad was a Goa'uld current whereabouts unknown but they could deal with him later. O'Neill had lost consciousness again. And help was on the way.
Sam sat on the damp concrete floor next to O'Neill and rested her aching head against the wall. Now that she was coming off the adrenaline high she was feeling particularly crappy. But crappy beat dead any day of the week which is what she would have been without O'Neill and Maybourne's dramatic entrance. They were going to kill her before dissecting her. She managed a mordant smile. At least they were humane enough to kill her first. She shivered and cradled the pistol closer to herself. She had no real idea how long it was since she had been kidnapped or what they had done to her other than keep her doped up. She shivered violently and her stomach roiled. Without warning she cramped, jacknifing and just managed to miss throwing up over her commanding officer.
Voices, footsteps coming closer echoing dankly in the underground space. Her fingers fumbled, reaching for the pistol again then trying to get to her feet pushing herself against the wall ignoring the pain of rough concrete abrading her skin as she forced herself to stand. They would not take her back to that room. She would take as many of them as she could. She could see flashlights now, turned her head to avoid being dazzled as one beam swept across her face.
Sam pushed herself away from the wall and pointed the pistol at them. 'Stay back', she called 'or I'll shoot'. She was shaking so much that she truly doubted she could have hit Cheyenne mountain at the moment but they didn't necessarily know that.
'Sam?' That sounded like Daniel's voice but it couldn't be could it? Her foot touched something and glancing down she saw O'Neill's body. Had she done that? Had her enemies? But she had been alone, hadn't she? All alone. She remembered calling for help, for medical backup.
'Sam?' a woman's voice this time. Janet's voice. She almost gave up then especially when that sweet face appeared out of the darkness. 'Sam, put the gun down, please. We need to get you and Colonel O'Neill out of here.'
'No. Tricking me, making me see and hear things.' She clicked the safety off the pistol and pointed it at the woman again. The others stayed back in the shadows. The woman who looked like Janet was just staring at her.
'Please, Sam, please believe that it's me. I know that you are hurt and that you're very confused. But we need to get you and Colonel O'Neill out of here now.'
Could it be real? Could she take the chance? A movement in the shadows startled her and blue light and pain surrounded her at the same moment as she fired.
Janet's knees buckled. Sam's shoot had missed her by inches, the slug burying itself in the concrete near her right cheek. She felt the sting of shards of concrete that had grazed her cheek and temple and knew she was probably bleeding but that wasn't important now. Teal'c caught her before she hit she the ground and she clung to him for a moment. Her ears were singing. Daniel was bending over Sam's body. 'She's alive,' he confirmed, 'but she's like ice.' As he moved to touch O'Neill to check his status the man groaned. 'Why am I still here?'
'We're going to move you now,' Colonel.' Janet realised that she was still clinging to Teal'c. She moved away from him and after reassuring herself that Sam still had a pulse, she quickly checked O'Neill over. 'Daniel, could you help the Colonel up to ground level. Sir, the bullet went straight through your shoulder, and I think you've got a couple of bruised ribs, but you'll be fine.'
'Carter, what about Carter,' he got out through gritted teeth as Teal'c helped him stand.
'Still assessing her, Sir. She's hypothermic, and delusional. Teal'c had to zat her before we could get near her.'
'I'm not surprised. If Maybourne and I had been a minute later she would have been dead. Feeling with his good hand in his pocket he handed her the half empty ampoule. 'One of Conrad's pet scientists was about to inject her with that.'
Janet's blood ran cold as she glanced at the label. It would have been fatal in seconds. 'My god. Okay, we need to get you both somewhere warm and dry straight away. Daniel - are you going to be able to manage?' Daniel nodded and the two men moved slowly down the tunnel. Janet reached in her pack for a lightweight thermal blanket and laid it out. Teal'c lifted Sam's limp body onto the blanket and secured it around her.
Sam remained unconscious whilst they were checked out at Seattle General. O'Neill's injuries were dressed and he was sedated for the flight back to Colorado. Hammond had a private Learjet waiting for them. Janet would not let anyone else near Sam. She was on oxygen and fluids and wrapped in warm blankets with a heat pad under her. Janet could tell by the abrasions on her wrists and ankles that she had been restrained for long periods. There were numerous injection sites on both her arms and a large bruise on her right hip which looked like they had extracted bone marrow as well as several pints of blood. There was another bruise and injection site over her spine in the lumbar region where they had drawn off cerebrospinal fluid. The bloodwork that the Seattle lab rushed through for her showed huge amounts of barbiturates and a hallucogenic in her system. Sam's disassociated behaviour in the tunnel made a lot more sense. Severe hypo-glycaemia was her official diagnosis exacerbated by dehydration and the rollcall of sedatives swimming in her blood stream. Her blood pressure remained very low but Janet decided that she was stable enough to be moved. She phoned Hammond and told him what she wanted. Having already heard of the circumstances she had been found in and the ordeal Sam had been put through, Hammond readily agreed to her suggestion.
Sam opened her eyes. She was lying on her side, someone spooned into her back, an arm across her hip and abdomen. Her right hand rested on the pillow near her face, her left hand was bandaged with a drip feed going into the back of it. It was secured through a foam loop to the bed rail. To her surprise she wasn't in the lab any more or the infirmary, but what looked very like her bedroom at home. Sam felt secure that this was no illusion. No drug or technology could replicate the smell and feel of the small form curved around her.
'Sammi?' It was Janet's voice. She felt hair tickle her cheek as the figure behind her moved, stretching over her. 'Sam, are you in pain, do you need anything?'
Sam realised belatedly that there were tears on her cheeks. 'M'okay,' she whispered. 'As long as you're here, I'm okay.'
Later that day…
Deliberately calming her breathing, Sam tried to relax. Janet had let her out of bed providing she didn't try anything too energetic. Being outside used to calm her. She used to love slipping out of the mountain and watching the sunrise after an all night session in her lab. She would sit in the quiet and watch the world awake, letting the moment soothe her soul.
She didn't know when she'd be able to do that again. The second she'd left the reassuring fan of light from the gap between the curtains she'd felt a sense of panic overwhelming her. Fight or flight had kicked in and she'd quickly retreated her back to the wall of the house. After all, if they could grab her out of a busy parking lot in broad daylight, what kind of a chance did she stand in the dark?
So this was her future was it? Afraid of the dark, afraid to be alone, afraid of strangers, terror stricken by a knock at the door or the sound of the phone ringing.
No. She would not let them do this to her. She would not let Adrian Conrad do this to her.
"Sam?" Janet appeared beside her, holding a jacket. "I thought you might be cold."
"Thanks. It is a little chilly." She slipped the jacket on, the familiar smell of the leather anchoring her. She turned, embraced Janet, drawing her into the confines of her arms. "Thank you." Her fingers brushed Janet's cheek, ran along the scrape that marked the bone. Janet had told her that she had walked into a wall in the tunnels, but Sam didn't quite believe her. There was an almost image in her mind of Janet's face pale in the darkness, of a gun in her hand. But every time she tried to focus on it, her mind skittered away.
"When you need to talk, I'm ready. Or if you prefer, you can use one of the counsellors."
"I know," Sam said. "I will need to, I know, but not just yet. I need to… deal with it in my own way, first." She shuddered, only partially from the cold night air.
"Come on, inside, before you catch a cold. Your immune system is not exactly in great shape at the moment," Janet scolded softly. "And I have an evening of pampering planned." Sam allowed herself to be pulled into a kiss and then took Janet's hands, brought them to her lips, kissing the palms and then the fingertips.
"An evening of pampering?" she smiled, the slow, sweet smile Janet had feared she would never see again. "Well, how can I say no to that?"
The End