I Am My Beloved’s
By: Ten9
CATEGORY: Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship
WARNINGS: Violence
Part 1: Love, Rules and Universal Laws
Lt. Col. Samantha Carter ran, limping, for the open doorway for all she was worth. Chunks of marble blew off the wall as she ran along it, grunting in pain as one of the energy blasts finally caught her in the back of her right shoulder. The impact made her stumble forward and she gritted her teeth as she reached out with her left hand, now her good hand, and grabbed the doorjamb, swinging herself back into the large hall. She stumbled again as her momentum flung her into a marble statue of a man dressed for battle. She and Daniel had been here less than an hour ago, and after he had declared the bulk of the 250 or so items on display similar to some ancient Chinese dynasty or other, they had made a hasty retreat when they heard distant gunfire and bolted from the place to look for Teal'c and Mitchell.
Lt. Col. Mitchell, in his inimitable style, had bungled first contact with the people of this world, and Sam and Daniel had literally run straight into him and Teal'c as they ran down a dirt road, barely dodging the energy blasts from their pursuers who were only a hundred yards away and gaining ground fast.
"We tried zatting 'em," Mitchell breathlessly explained when the four took cover behind some rocks, "but they have a kind of Goa'uld-like shielding that protects them from the blast." They had been pinned down for over twenty minutes, Sam and the others hugging the rocks to avoid the energy blasts every time she tried calling out that they were only explorers on their world.
She finally turned to Teal'c; "We need to get out of here before they get reinforcements in behind us."
They agreed to make a break for it and again separated into pairs, but Sam got separated from Daniel, taking refuge in the great hall that appeared to serve as a museum of sorts, with a large collection of statues and artifacts, the latter seeming to come from a wide variety of at least technologically familiar cultures. She gasped in pain with every step, her breathing had become rapid and shallow and she panted as she wended her way among the statuary. Grateful her trigger finger still worked, she gripped her P90 with a bloody hand that was throbbing and swollen; she had fallen on it when she got hit with the first blast from her attackers' energy weapon and the last two fingers were broken. The searing pain that had ripped through her thigh had been so intense that her brain seemed unable to acknowledge it completely and it was only because of that she was able to turn and lay down some fire, scattering her pursuers long enough to scramble to her feet and run for the building once again.
She ducked behind a marble statue of a woman affecting a dance pose, her hands held delicately to one side. The weapons these people used made a sound like the combination of a shotgun and a zat when fired, but when the blast made impact it bored a small, laser-like hole straight through Kevlar and flesh alike. Oddly, the blasts didn't cauterize as they passed through Sam's thigh and into her shoulder and the wounds bled freely.
Crap, she thought as she heard the footfalls of her attackers entering the building. She didn't have time to either tie off the bleeding in her leg or quiet her breathing enough to conceal her position, so she tightened the grip on her weapon and pushed herself away from the wall, again laying down fire as she struggled to duck behind another statue.
All she could do at this point was hug the perimeter and try to make it to the far side of the room closest to the stargate they had come through, although the gate was still a quarter mile away and Sam had no idea how she was going to leave the building once she got to the other side of it. As she crossed to the next statue one of her pursuers appeared from behind a pedestal with a large bronze urn and fired, catching Sam on her left side and she cried out as she spun, falling to the floor. She fired her P90 wildly, and using her good hand she pulled herself along the floor, behind a stone pedestal that offered little in the way of cover for someone lying prone. Groaning, she gritted her teeth against the pain and pulled at her blood-soaked pant leg in an attempt to curl up behind the marble, only dully aware of how cold she was. Her hands shook and her teeth chattered as she pulled her weapon up to fire again.
I'm not gonna' make it out of here, she thought distantly as she struggled to stand one last time. She fell back against the wall and readied her weapon, her vision blackening dangerously at the edges. She was about to call out once more to the men pursuing her when part of a large, crystal light structure suspended from the ceiling suddenly exploded and crystal shards rained down in a shower that blanketed the room. Sam had hit the large array when she wildly fired her weapon and she could hear the men scream in pain and terror. The bits of crystal shrapnel were sharp and Sam was bleeding from dozens of small cuts that covered every exposed inch of her that wasn't protected by either Kevlar or webbed nylon. Every breath was now accompanied by a painful groan, and she gripped the edge of the statue's pedestal and cautiously pulled herself forward, her bloody hand gripping her P90. Peering across the room, and trying to blink the blood from her eyes that ran from the cuts on her scalp and forehead, she could only catch a fleeting glimpse of the men as they ran.
Not stopping for fear of falling down for the last time, she desperately pulled herself around to the front of the statue, towards the doorway leading to the gate in the center of her rapidly darkening vision. So she didn't notice when the dull glow given off from what was left of the shattered light array suddenly grew to a blinding brilliance, although her hearing, oddly, was still quite acute when a loud snap made her flinch. The sound had come from what remained of the crystal structure, and in spite of her injuries Sam had half turned toward the sound when the entire ceiling exploded. Instinctively she tried to throw up her hands to protect herself, her brain only distantly registering the shards of crystal and stone peppering her as she stumbled and fell back. She was only dimly aware of her body as it pin-wheeled to the left, and as the back of her hand sharply impacted with the cool, smooth surface of the artifact on display behind her, she disappeared.
* * * * * *
Daniel looked in horror at the woman lying in a bloody heap at his feet. He stood open-mouthed as he looked from the woman on the floor of his lab back to the mirror. The glass had darkened the instant the woman had passed through the quantum mirror and for a long moment after Daniel stood in stunned amazement before scrambling to the phone on the far side of the room, tripping over his feet in his rush to call for help,
"This is Daniel Jackson!" he shouted, "I have a medical emergency in my lab!" He repeated the information then after hearing the acknowledgement he added, "Hurry!" before slamming the phone back on its' wall mount and rushing back to the woman's side. He was careful not to turn her onto her back for fear of injuring her further; instead he knelt on the floor at her side, intending only to make sure she was still breathing. As he gingerly placed his hand on her forehead to push the hair away from the blood streaked face he breathed, "Oh my god... Oh my god, it can't be, it can't be, it can't be!!!!!"
He knelt there, frozen, his hand still on Samantha Carter's forehead, the other firmly clamped over his mouth until the medics arrived.
* * * *
Consciousness always returned slowly, Sam was always first dimly aware of the harsh, fluorescent light before anything else and this time was no different. She tried to open her eyes and lift her head to no avail and she floated for a time, feeling the odd, yet familiar feeling of detachment that always accompanied her return to the world via the infirmary.
I... I'm... I'm thirsty, she thought dumbly, again attempting to open her eyes and raise her head.
"Not yet, Sam..." A hand rested lightly on her bandaged arm and she groaned softly, "Oh jeez, I'm sorry, but just lie still, okay?" Daniel spoke softly but she still recognized the voice, "Uh, nurse? Could you please get the doctor for me?"
Sam made another attempt to open her eyes and succeeded this time, though she still squinted against the fluorescents. Unable to turn her head she attempted a smile and croaked,
"Hey." The utterance was barely recognizable.
"Hey right back atcha'" Daniel softly enthused, "Just be still for a bit, okay? As you've probably guessed, you're in the infirmary." With both hands on the bedrail, he leaned down into what he hoped was her eye line, "It's so good to see you, Sam."
Her eyes closed and the small smile faded along with her consciousness for a few moments until she felt cool fingers trace a line down her face. The caress was so gentle and familiar,
Her eyes fluttered open briefly, "Janet?' She whispered softly before slipping back in to the void.
Daniel placed both hands on the brunette's small square shoulders and gave them a warm squeeze, "No matter what universe she comes from, Samantha Carter will always know your touch." He stepped from behind her and sat back down in the chair.
Reaching to gently clasp the smaller hand in his, he gazed with utter sadness at the two gold bands he had helped design on the ring finger of her right hand. Then, tilting his head to peer intently at her he asked, "How are you holding up with all this?"
Janet Fraiser stood at Sam's bedside, the back of her fingers still resting lightly against the battered cheek. She drew a long, slow breath in a vain attempt to keep her emotions from spilling over but one lone, traitorous tear slipped from her eye and down her face as she turned toward him,
"I don't know." Her voice trembled and she moved her hand from Sam's cheek to grasp the bedrail, "It's too much, Daniel... I just don't know."
* * * *
The next time Sam opened her eyes Daniel was still sitting by her bed, his head bent studiously over a large book.
"Hey," Sam said, oblivious that she had said that on awakening three times now. Daniel smiled and chuckled,
"Hey right back atcha', Sam."
"Have some water?" Sam croaked again, her voice a hoarse whisper.
"Yeah, sure," he quickly rose to set his book aside and poured her a glass from a pitcher on the bedside table. "You've been having ice chips but Janet says a little water is okay now."
He had pressed the button to raise the bed for Sam to drink and she froze as she reached for the glass with her good, albeit now heavily bandaged hand.
"Janet? Janet Fraiser?" She repeated hoarsely; her face either a mask of pain or fear, Daniel couldn't decide which.
"Uh, yeah. Sam, I don't know where you were offworld, and I'm still not sure how I stumbled onto your location, but you passed through a quantum mirror and ended up in a different version of the universe... Do you have a Janet Fraiser in your version of the universe?" He asked the question gently, feeling as though he were carefully picking his way through an emotional minefield.
Sam barely nodded her head, pushing the glass away, untouched, "She died, three years ago. She..." But the quaver in her voice betrayed her so she stopped, closing her eyes and drawing a slow, deep breath. Unable to prevent her chin from quivering she whispered, "I miss her..."
Daniel nodded past a growing lump in his throat and gently reached under the short sleeve on her hospital gown to softly grasp her arm, needing to touch a part of her that wasn't bandaged, "You and... you and your Janet were married in your world too?"
* * * *
"What a nightmare," Mitchell exhaled noisily, tapping his pen agitatedly on the pad, "So how are they doing now?"
General Hammond and the remaining members of SG1 sat at one end of the long table in the briefing room, Daniel sat next to Teal'c, and he shrugged,
"Who knows? Janet's putting on a brave face, but it's only been three weeks since our Sam died... I think she's confused as hell, and the new Sam is just as confused if not more so. I don't even know if she really understood that she doesn't have to worry about entropic cascade when I explained to her...you know, why. But the mirror she came through on her side was either destroyed or at least damaged, as ours remains dark and unresponsive when I try to dial back to that location. I'm not sure what reality she came from, let alone if the SGC where she came from has another mirror and will try to get her back...." He sighed, "It's only been a couple of days, and she's in really rough shape, but she did tell me they were on a planet designated P3X-384 and, to make a long story short; the inhabitants there didn't extend the welcome mat which was followed by lots of shooting. This Sam got separated from the others, and ended up in this...museum, or warehouse or whatever, to take shelter from the angry villagers and after more shooting, some sort of artificial light source exploded and that is where her memory ends."
He held up a finger for emphasis, "And this is what I saw; I had just finished checking in with Alternate Daniel 24 and was dialing around to see if I could find some place new when I hit on this Sam's location." Unconsciously slipping into storytelling mode, Daniel gestured with his hands, "the mirror suddenly flashed with an arc of bright light and I could see into what appeared to be a large room. But the image the mirror produced was kind of blurry and I think I heard people shouting, distantly." All eyes were riveted on Daniel as he spoke, "The image started to clear... I couldn't see anyone but I could hear," his voice faltered at the memory, "breathing. She was in so much pain; I could hear it... Anyway, then the mirror went dark and when I looked back down at the remote the mirror suddenly flashed back on again, a blinding flash and there was Sam, on my floor."
"Does she want to go back to her reality?" General Hammond asked.
Daniel shrugged, "I don't know, sir. She didn't really give an answer when I asked her, although she seemed definite about willing to stay here, in this reality."
They remained quiet for a moment before General Hammond placed both hands palm down on the table with a decisive thump, "Well, I am not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. If this Colonel Carter is truly unable to return to her own reality I, for one, will be damn grateful to have her here. Losing our Colonel Carter was a tremendous loss, not just to Dr. Fraiser but the SGC as well as this entire damn planet." The general had spoken with some fervor and Vala, seated on Daniel's the other side added,
"Here, Here."
"Indeed." Teal'c stoically chimed his approval.
"So," said Mitchell, "this Carter will simply rejoin SG1 when she recovers?"
"I doubt it will be simple, no." Daniel shook his head, "This Sam will have to endure quantum integration, and if what Kawalsky went through is any benchmark then she should start getting our Sam's memories starting tomorrow if not today..."
They would have expected Sam to begin remembering the life of the deceased Samantha Carter within three days, giving Daniel only short conversations during that time with this Sam until Janet told them her best guess at staving off the memories for a short period was to keep her under sedation, giving her body some time to heal from the battering and blood loss she had suffered. When Kawalsky had appeared through the mirror five years before he had chosen to stay, his own reality destroyed by the Goa'uld. But while his experience of quantum integration, the assimilating of their deceased Kawalsky's memories, was intense he was also in perfect health at the time, and Janet feared for this Sam's recovery; trying to integrate the past of her Sam while in such a weakened state. Janet would keep her under sedation for three days, taking another two days to slowly wake her.
Daniel continued, "Janet says the physical anomalies; the scars and whatnot found on this Sam Carter are nearly identical to our Sam, and from what this Sam's told me about her SGC's history, her reality sounds pretty much the same as ours..." His voice abruptly faded, deliberately stopping himself from revealing that this other Sam had told him she had not been married to Janet and that in her reality same-sex marriages were, in fact, illegal and that such relationships ended military careers. He would leave that to Sam and Janet to sort out.
"Uh, anyway, when she recovers we can talk some more and I can see what experiences they've had that we haven't...compare notes. Maybe she can come up with some recommendations for good, productive gate addresses and help us weed out the bad, dangerous ones from our database."
"Yeah," Mitchell murmured, "like that last one."
"Yes," Daniel agreed, his voice equally low, "like that one."
* * * *
"Sam?" The voice was warm, yet tentative and Sam opened her blue eyes to take in warm, brown ones,
"Hey," she smiled, her speech still slightly slurred, "I've missed you."
Janet smiled back, relaxing a little, "Are you going to say that every time I wake you up?"
"Yeah, if that's okay. I understand I've been a little repetitive lately." Sam realized Janet's warm hand was gently clasped around her wrist, and warm fingers rested lightly on her pulse. She struggled to turn her hand to clasp Janet's in her own and winced at the stiffness there.
Janet understood the intent and quickly shifted her hand around to clasp Sam's. She opened her mouth to speak and abruptly clamped her lips together; she had nearly blurted out, "Sweetheart..." She closed her eyes for a moment and breathed in quietly through her nose, Godammit! She swore silently, was it always going to be this hard? Nearly every time she opened her mouth to speak to this Sam she had to stop herself from beginning every damn sentence with "hon", or "sweetheart". When she brought Sam to the ICU from surgery Janet had walked a circle around the bed, slowly tucking her in until she reached the other side where automatically, as she had always done to her Sam in the past, she leaned down to kiss this Sam on the temple, whispering, "Rest now, love, then come back to me." Janet had nearly burst into tears at the slip, grateful this Sam had still been groggy and the nurse and orderlies had already left the room.
"Sam," she began again, "I need to start the sedation now; this is day two and it's time to put you under so we can delay the onset of quantum integration, okay?"
"Okay." Sam replied, still smiling.
"Do you have any questions?"
"About a million, yeah."
Janet smiled back, this Sam Carter was still Sam Carter, she thought. Aloud, she said, "When you wake up we'll have plenty of time to talk."
"Promise?" Sam asked, gripping Janet's hand, suddenly anxious.
"I promise." Janet looked down at her battered face and smiled, blinking at the sudden moisture in her eyes.
"Will you stay until I fall asleep?" She asked in a voice that sounded small and vulnerable.
"Of course," Janet replied with that all so familiar tone of firm reassurance, "and I'll be here when you wake up too." Adding in a softer tone, "I'll never be far from you, Sam, okay?"
"Okay." Sam relaxed her grip on Janet's hand; that was all she needed to know...for now.
Reluctantly, Janet let go of her hand and turned to the bank of IV fluids that would regulate Sam's level of sedation and hydration. She carefully set the flow meter on the IV monitor then, without conscious effort, simultaneously pressed the button to lower the bed and reached with her other hand to pull the chair next to it. Sam marveled silently at how smoothly she moved, unaware of just how many times Janet had performed this act at the other Sam's bedside in this reality.
Sam's eyelids drooped and Janet watched as she struggled to keep them open. Oh, screw this, she thought and quickly dropped the bed rail. She sat on the edge of the bed and reached across Sam to lean on her left hand, freeing her right to stroke fingers through soft, blond hair,
"It's okay, Sam." She murmured, "Close your eyes." Obediently, Sam's eyes closed, and Janet leaned close, closing her own, "I'm right here." She whispered and placed a soft kiss on her temple. She left her lips to rest there, letting the warmth that permeated them invoke a dreamlike sensation. For this one moment, she begged silently, let this reality be a world where my Sam never left. Where I never had to hold my dying Sam on the gateroom floor. Where my sobs never turned to screams of agony that never seemed to stop.
One last indulgence, she thought as she breathed in this Sam's scent, "Rest now, love, then come back to me."
* * * * * *
"I'm telling you General, this is the only conclusion we can draw, reasonable or otherwise. We must retrieve the mirror at all costs, and we need to do it now."
General Landry held up a hand to stop him, "I am aware of the situation, Dr. Jackson. But you know how fragile our relationship with the Zhang people is right now. I admit your conclusions are probably correct but we must still proceed with great deference."
Daniel gripped the hair on both sides of his head and pulled, drawing a deep breath to calm himself, although that was admittedly getting harder and harder to do with each passing day.
"Doctor Jackson," Col. Mitchell addressed the man pacing near the window that overlooked the gateroom, "even if she went through the mirror she couldn't have survived unless she got immediate medical treatment, and would that have likely happened if the mirror in the other reality dumped her in that same hall?" He looked first to Dr. Lee then the general, "Isn't that how it works?"
Dr. Lee shrugged, "Well, not really, no. From what I can gather, and this is just a guess on my part, the mirror was likely off and it was the power surge from the crystal light structure that turned it on. From what we can determine there were at least 3 other artifacts in that hall that were activated as well. But where she ended up is anybody's guess."
It had taken Daniel and the general nearly a week of negotiation with the leaders of the Zhang world via the gate and a MALP before convincing them their intrusion was an act of exploration only and not a covert mission preceding an attack. But the alliance was an uneasy one as members of the Zhang guard helped SGC members clear the building of debris, the latter only being allowed back onto their world to look for Sam and nothing else. When their search revealed a horrifying blood trail that ended abruptly at the quantum mirror Daniel was speechless. Mitchell was right, unless Sam had gotten immediate medical treatment she likely would have bled to death on the mirror's other side, and he had stared despondently at the bloody floor in front of the mirror as Dr. Lam collected samples for DNA testing.
To no one's surprise, the blood had been Sam's, but a blood sample wasn't the only thing collected and brought through the gate that day. Daniel had stolen the remote unit that controlled the mirror, and he was determined to bring the mirror back as well and continue the search.
He set his jaw, "I don't care anymore; we need that mirror and we need it now. That collection of artifacts is really just a museum, a collection of art and other objects stolen via their stargate from other worlds. Whenever they decided a weapon, or a tool or whatever was deemed useless to them it wound up in the hall, on display as nothing more than a curiosity... They'd likely never even notice if we just took the mirror."
Vala was seated next to Teal'c at the long table, and as they both turned to him she murmured approvingly,
"Mmm, petty theft... Now that's my Daniel."
"I seriously doubt the Zhangs would consider any theft petty...." Teal'c intoned, raising an eyebrow at her.
Daniel returned to his seat, "General, please, why would we maintain an alliance with these people anyway? They are not a technologically advanced society, all the technology they have they stole from someone else, they don't even know how to repair their weapons when they break, they just steal more... Please," Daniel pleaded, "let's just grab it and lock out their gate address from the computer." Daniel stared hard at the general and blinking furiously, drew a deep breath. He wasn't able to keep the lump from forming in his throat when his mind conjured an image of Sam's dead body lying on the other side of the mirror, and he loudly cleared his throat.
Landry looked to Mitchell who shrugged, "Why not? He's right, what do we lose if we piss these people off?"
Landry scowled at him, "Colonel," he growled and shook his head impatiently, "off the record, I agree with you, but this is not..." He threw up his hands, cursing silently, "fine, go."
Daniel and the rest of SG1 bolted from the room.
* * * * * *
Janet stood at Sam's bedside, dimly aware that her feet were killing her. She had spent most of the three days she had kept this other Sam under sedation standing here, trying desperately to wrap her brain around how to proceed.
Because physics had some sort of drive to find balance and cohesion in all universes, had her Sam still been alive this Sam would have succumbed to entropic cascade and would be dead now instead of lying here in her infirmary. Instead, because her wife of eight years had died a month ago, this other Sam Carter would begin to remember her Sam's life as she had lived it in this reality. She would become her Sam.
Was that really possible? Janet reached to the control to lower her patient's bed closer to the floor so she could see her as she sat in the chair and quietly, she moved the chair against the bed so she could lean against it while she sat. She softly took the other Sam Carter's fingers in her hand, stilling her thoughts for a moment as she studied the cuts, scrapes and bruises that marred them. Gently grasping the two fingers that had been broken, she checked them for circulation, gently bending and massaging the stiffened and swollen digits. A nurse had taped the broken fingers to splints while Sam was still in surgery, and a few days later Janet found herself dripping tears onto them as she carefully cut through the tape to remove the splints, sniffing loudly as she gently massaged the fingers, batting away the tears one-handed as, embarrassed, she had quickly checked to see if either the sedated woman or anyone else had seen her lapse of control.
Aside from that, I've done really well so far, she thought. Cassie was away at college so Janet had stayed in their quarters on the base. Although she really only went there when forced either by exhaustion or threatened with betrayal by her emotions. To the shock of both Teal'c and Daniel, both were surprised when they didn't have to intervene themselves and on her own she had sought counseling to help her sort through it all. As if that's possible, she snorted inwardly. General Hammond had been kind and generous, arranging for a psychiatrist with a top security clearance to come to the base on a daily basis to talk with Janet. But even though she was grateful for the man's help, she had spent most of her time sitting here at this woman's bedside and her confidence that everything would somehow be okay had completely eroded. There really was no one who could have helped her through this. No, that's not true; she chastised herself, if it hadn't been for daily phone conversations with Cassie...and the unflagging support of Daniel, and Teal'c, and most recently Vala... There never was a tighter family of people who weren't actually related to each other, as her Sam once said.
Her Sam, and soon, this other Sam would remember saying that at Janet's last birthday party. Would this Sam even want to become her Sam?
Because of the secrecy that surrounded the stargate program all offworld
casualties were officially recorded as having taken place somewhere on earth,
either by accident or something else. When their Kawalsky
was lost to them offworld, his wife was told he had
"presumably" died in a secret combat operation in
Janet's eyes suddenly filled with tears and she placed trembling fingers over her lips as if to stop the flood of emotion there and softly cleared her throat. She sniffed firmly, but a small sob broke from her anyway and she quickly rose, striding from the infirmary, retreating to her quarters, the only place she would allow herself to cry.
* * * *
Daniel and Teal'c were on their way to the infirmary to check on Sam when they saw Janet's diminutive form rapidly retreating down the hallway.
"Uh," Daniel touched Teal'c lightly on the arm to stop him, "why don't you go ahead and I'll go be with Janet for a bit?"
Teal'c nodded formally and continued to the infirmary and Daniel quietly trotted after Janet, catching up with her just as she opened the door.
"Janet..."
She quickly turned to him and held up a hand to stop him, "Daniel, please, not right now." Her nose and eyes were red as she backed into her quarters, furiously swiping at the tears that streaked her face.
"I know," he said gently as he pressed forward, determined, "Janet, please let me in."
He stepped inside and closed the door behind him. As soon as he drew Janet in a close hug she broke completely and clung to him, weeping.
* * * * * *
"Ah, yes, thank you again." Daniel gave a small, formal bow to the commander of the Zhang guard.
"It is unfortunate that you did not find your companion." The man gave an equally formal bow, "but now, at least, the new alliance forged between our people will provide us both with new technologies, and new weapons to protect us both from our enemies. It is my hope..."
As he spoke Daniel looked past him to the Air Force personnel making their way to the gate. They carried the equipment brought to this world to help them remove the debris in order to look for Sam. But now the larger cases, carried on a motorized platform transporting their pneumatic lifts and tools, also contained the quantum mirror and as many samples of the shattered crystal array they could collect, all of it concealed by a large tarp. Daniel plastered a huge smile on his face he hoped looked sincere as the last of the personnel approached the gate.
"I look forward to our next encounter." Daniel lied, "and thank you again for your assistance in this grave matter. It is also my hope..."
As the first of the personnel passed, the commander turned and held up his hand, "A moment!" He called, stopping the short procession. He turned to Daniel, "My apologies," he said, "but I must check your equipment before you leave, our artifacts are precious to us."
Daniel could feel panic surge in his veins and he reeled back a fraction, "Wh-wh-what?" He exploded, hoping his outburst sounded more like outrage rather than abject terror, "How dare you imply..."
"My dear Commander," Vala purred from behind him, "please pay no heed to our scientist. But he is the most respected and dedicated among our people and of the highest moral integrity." She stepped around him as she spoke and approached the Zhang commander, placing a hand on his arm that she squeezed warmly, "Although I should caution you," turning her back to Daniel she lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, "to insult Doctor Jackson is to insult our whole world." Not waiting for a response she motioned for the group to continue to the gate then stepped back in close again, "And I would hate for anything to come between our worlds ever again, since I missed having the opportunity to get to know you better this time, Commander." She purred seductively, "So may I formally request to meet with you on our next scheduled contact with your world?"
Daniel honestly didn't know whether to marvel at Vala's feminine wiles or roll his eyes at the man's naiveté, and turned briefly to watch as the last of their people stepped into the gate.
"Mmm," the man gave her a feral smile, "I insist you accompany your people during our next meeting. In fact I..."
"Well, that's wonderful!" Daniel loudly interrupted them, clapping Vala on the shoulder and pulling her towards the gate, "Please, Vala, don't enthuse, you'll see him again soon enough."
"Until next time, Commander." Vala smiled predatorily at him and taking Daniels' hand, stepped through the gate, pulling him along behind her.
"Yes," Daniel smiled broadly, "Until next ti..."
Emerging through their gate on the other side Daniel called out; "Shut it down and close the iris!"
Still holding his hand, Vala stepped in close and whispered in his ear, "Very smooth, Doctor Jackson."
* * * * * *
General Hammond and SG1 sat together in the briefing room, the group listening intently as Daniel gave them the latest update on Sam's condition. A long moment passed in silence between them before Teal'c quietly inquired, "When will Colonel Carter return home with Doctor Fraiser?"
All eyes looked to Daniel and he shrugged, "Janet's gonna' talk to her in a couple of days about this weekend..."
"Great!" Mitchell suddenly boomed, startling the group, "We'll do beer, pizza..."
"I...don't know," Daniel interrupted, holding up a hand to stop him, "I think that might be rushing things a bit. This Sam has a lot to take in right now, and she still has to do it with significantly less blood in her body compared to the rest of us."
"Man," Mitchell sighed, "that part must have been hard for Fraiser."
"Indeed," Daniel said, in perfect imitation of Teal'c, "She's not sure, but from her analysis and comparison of Sam's three energy wounds she thinks the weapon Sam was shot with fires an energy blast delivered in a small pulse, much like a lead bullet, that passes straight through mere flesh but quickly loses energy if it hits anything more solid. The hit Sam took in her shoulder lost significant energy when it passed through her Kevlar, then the back of her shoulder blade, and finally stopped just shy of blowing out through the other side, where it apparently dissipated." Unconsciously, Daniel visibly winced, adding, "You should see the bruising she has on the front side of that injury, it looks like she was punched from the inside. The same thing happened on her side, the pulse slowed down after piercing her Kevlar and shattered the hell out of two ribs before stopping..."
Mitchell added, "according to the doc it was a small area, but it tore it up pretty good."
"We still don't understand how it works, but maybe that's the purpose of having an energy weapon that somehow doesn't cauterize flesh." Daniel continued, "Maybe the intended outcome of such a weapon is to just keep hitting your victim until she bleeds to death."
"Like we need that to see that again." Mitchell had muttered under his breath, but everyone still heard him and the group fell silent once again.
* * * *
"Sam."
Sam heard the voice distantly and her conscious mind groped for it, only to reel away into the darkness again.
"Sam?"
This time she tried to respond verbally but all she could make was an inarticulate noise, and her eyes opened briefly only to roll, unfocussed before the lids dropped down again. She moaned softly and a warm hand caressed her cheek.
"It's alright, Sam. I'm here."
Janet. Janet's here, she thought sluggishly and struggled to open her eyes.
"Easy, now" Janet's voice crooned softly, "you're doing just fine. Just try to stay awake a little longer each time, okay? I'm not going anywhere."
Sam made another inarticulate sound that ended in a groan, feeling Janet's hand as it continued to stroke her face, smoothing the blond bangs from her forehead, just like Janet had done from the very first time Sam found herself waking up in the infirmary. Just like...
Sam was being
carefully lowered to the gateroom floor; the movement
was gentle but she was in blinding agony. She struggled to breathe but could
only make choking noises as her face turned an awful purplish color. Distantly,
she could hear shouting and the exquisite pain abruptly faded along with her
awareness. Briefly, the world returned to her as she was picked up by her
shoulders and held in a gentle embrace. She could feel soft fingers stroking
the hair from her forehead. Forcing her eyes open she looked up into the
glistening eyes of her beloved wife, "Uhn..."
Oh please, she pleaded silently; I need to say this. Blood still poured from
the wound in her chest and she only managed to draw the smallest of breaths to
murmur through blood-caked lips, "I love y..." was all she managed to
say when her world disappeared.
The moment Sam began to convulse Janet called for a crash cart, reaching to lower the head of the bed until Sam was lying flat. A nurse helped her to turn Sam on her side so she wouldn't aspirate on her saliva. She nervously checked her watch, timing the quantum integration event like she would a seizure. Only this isn't a seizure, she thought, her mind racing in near panic. Kawalsky's quantum events never lasted for more than a couple of minutes. Could Sam tolerate such an overload on her system in such a weakened state? Could her body safely tolerate a dose of Valium to stop the event if it lasted beyond the two-minute interval? The questions slammed into Janet's brain with a screaming intensity and she reached to stroke Sam's hair with a shaking hand,
"Easy Sam," She willed her voice to what she hoped was a soothing calm, "Easy now... Ease down."
She continued to stroke her hair and murmur mostly nonsense words of comfort as she watched the erratic reading on Sam's heart monitor with her own heart beating just as erratically in her chest. She felt on the verge of collapse when finally, Sam's stiffened, convulsing body suddenly stopped, collapsing on the bed. Janet stared in horror at the flatline on the heart monitor and opened her mouth to shout for the paddles to be charged, but the blip on the monitor suddenly returned, showing Sam's heart beating once again in a normal sinus rhythm. She released a shaky breath and turned to grip the bedrail with both hands, willing herself not to black out and breathe normally. She felt a small hand at her back, one of the nurses reaching to lend some support. Janet nodded an acknowledgment, giving the woman a weak smile in thanks and turned back to her patient. Her eyebrows raised in surprise when she realized Sam's eyes were open and looking straight into her own.
"I love you..." Sam said, her voice a soft whisper, "so much." She sighed deeply as her eyes closed, lapsing into a deep sleep.
* * * *
Sam slept for several hours after her first quantum flashback, and Janet used that time to get her wits back to as close an approximation of normal as possible. She was exhausted and had to let Dr. Warner take over as attending physician while she sat at Sam's bedside in wonderment. Could this really be happening? Could she really have her old life back? Could she have her wife back?
"Janet?"
Janet blinked, automatically reaching to take Sam's hand in her own,
"Hey, Sam," she drew a deep breath and gazed down into pale blue eyes, "How're you feeling now that you've had you're first quantum event?"
"Are they all going to be like that?" Sam's voice still sounded weak, but she spoke clearly.
"No." Janet reassured her, not entirely certain she was telling her the truth, "They'll get easier as you get stronger, how would you like to try a little lunch now? I think some broth and crackers should be okay."
"Okay." Sam croaked and Janet turned to stop a passing nurse, asking her to send the request to the mess hall. When she turned back she gave Sam's hand a gentle squeeze.
"Want to tell me what happened during your first flashback? What did you remember?"
Sam looked deeply at her for a long moment, "I did remember, didn't I? I mean, I wasn't just viewing, somehow... I was remembering..." Her brows knit together in a frown, so Janet offered,
"Yes, Sam, you remembered an event as Sam Carter here in this reality. You are Samantha Carter, and you are simply remembering your life as Samantha Carter in this life, now." She reached up to stroke the blond bangs back from Sam's face adding, "Does that help at all?"
"I remembered dying on the gateroom floor." Sam said in a small voice, and Janet's hand froze with her fingers still entwined in soft, blond hair. "I remembered trying so hard to tell you I loved you." Sam's voice faltered and she whispered, "So much."
Janet's eyes filled with tears, spilling over to slide down her face, "I know," she whispered back, "I heard you." She sniffed loudly and swiped at her tears with her free hand, "You were abducted offworld by a group of thugs called The Tian Gang. They held you for several days..." Janet closed her eyes and pressed her lips together. More tears spilled from her eyes and she said in a voice tight with pain, "They took you for sport, for perverse pleasure and they...they tortured you."
Sam gripped her hand as Janet looked away. She shook her head in denial, soft choking noises escaping her as she tried vainly not to sob.
"It's okay." Sam soothed, but Janet vehemently shook her head,
"No!" She whispered hoarsely, "It isn't, Sam." Her chest heaved and she struggled to continue, "Daniel managed to find out from the locals where a set of rings were near the gate and he and SG1 and 2 transported themselves to the Tian's ship... They quickly overpowered the gang and brought you home to me, but when their leader knew he was going to lose his latest plaything he shot you in the chest with your own sidearm... Teal'c carried you though the gate and placed you on the gateroom floor." Her voice shook and dropped to the barest of whispers, "We tried to resuscitate you, but you'd lost so much blood. Too much blood..." Janet wiped her nose with her sleeve and she looked down, letting herself fall into the blue of Sam's eyes if only for a moment.
"I knew you were dying, and there was nothing I could do to stop it, Sam." Her words ending in an agonized whimper, "So I held you in my arms...and you opened your eyes and you told me... You said..."
"I love you, Janet." Sam finished for her. "I still do."
Janet clapped her free hand over her mouth to stop the sob that broke from her but failed. Weeping openly, she reached down to gather Sam into her arms once again, this time in reunion, rocking her. With all the strength she could muster, Sam fiercely hugged the smaller woman with her good arm, her face buried in her neck.
"I love you, Sam." Janet sobbed, "I love you, so much."
* * * *
"Colonel Carter."
Sam stirred at the voice and slowly blinked her eyes at the harsh florescent lights. Did they ever shut them off? She wondered idly.
Again, came the softly spoken summons, "Colonel Carter."
She licked her lips with some effort and turned her head,
her eyes taking a moment to bring the
"Teal'c."
"Colonel Carter." He warmly enthused, "It pleases me greatly to see you again, for indeed, I have missed you."
Healing cuts from the shrapnel still covered her face and scalp, and Sam winced when she smiled back. "And I have missed you."
"How are you feeling today?"
"Better," she smiled at him, "although it'll be awhile before I'm back to doing yoga again." She said, smirking slightly at herself.
"Did you practice that discipline in your old world?"
"No!" She gave an amused snort, "But I remember taking classes in this life here..." She shook her head wonderingly, "Just never thought I was the type... And what's weirder is I'm looking forward to going back to it."
"Doctor Fraiser says you are to accompany her home on
Friday?" He seemed to ask the question a little tentatively, although the
warm smile never left the
Janet had approached General Hammond, asking for at least two weeks leave to stay at home while Sam recuperated, and he had readily agreed. He decided the rest of SG1 deserved a break as well, recognizing the advantage of having Teal'c and the rest of the team close by. Everyone at the base had been devastated by the loss of their Col. Carter and he instinctively knew SG1 needed time to recover and bond with this Sam Carter and each other, again.
"Yep. I've been working hard at being mobile this week," she looked around to scowl at the wheelchair and cane. She mostly hated that she could only use the cane for a few steps; only the stability belt and the two physical therapists supporting her provided any form of real bipedal mobility at all. "I can't believe I've been reduced to using a wheelchair like some old woman." She turned back to him, "Elderly before my time."
"I am certain you will not require its use for very long, Colonel Carter." He gave her a small nod, his voice rich with warmth and reassurance. "Did Doctor Fraiser tell you I will be accompanying you home?" He asked, quirking an expressive eyebrow at her.
Sam nodded. After Janet had awakened her from the chemically induced sleep, she had explained that just before she and Sam married they bought a larger house together, a single story affair with four bedrooms in the hopes of accommodating them with a master bedroom, a guest bedroom that would one day become Cassie's, and office space for both Sam and Janet. Janet had smiled shyly when she told her Sam actually spent most of her "office time" in the garage, working on her two motorcycles, and Janet spent little, if any, time in her own office, preferring to spend as much time with Sam in the garage as possible. "I'm sorry." Sam had laughed, but her apology was sincere and Janet had waved it off, explaining, "It's okay, you did buy me a nice chair to sit on so I wouldn't have to sit on that concrete step while I read my med journals."
Janet's house had been sold, but Teal'c now lived in Sam's small house, and since it was only a few minutes drive from their home Janet had asked Teal'c if she could prevail upon him to help move Sam from the car to the living room couch. Although Teal'c had also privately agreed to stay close by in case Sam was still unable to get around and Janet needed additional help to move her from room to room.
"Are you sure you don't want to spend your time off on your home world, Teal'c?" Sam asked. "You really don't need to be on constant stand-by as my personal transportation valet."
His eyes crinkled at the corners and his voice was rich with amusement, "I do not believe you will require my assistance for very long. However, the rest of SG1 and I do look forward to spending time with you once again. Although we have each made a solemn vow to Doctor Fraiser that we will not allow our presence to overtire you."
"I'll bet." Sam chuckled, imagining the stern, rigid posture Janet would have affected as she lectured the team.
Teal'c still looked at this Col. Carter with some amazement. It was not his intention to disrespect the dead, but he preferred not to dwell on his memory of the previous Col. Carter's death.
As soon as he found Col. Carter on the floor of the Tian ship, struggling to breathe, lying curled in a semi-fetal position and clutching the wound in her chest, it was clear to him she would soon die without immediate medical assistance. As gently as the urgency of the situation allowed, he scooped her up and bolted for the rings. The woman he carried in his arms had been severely beaten; her face and arms seemed to be covered in bruises. Dried blood matted blond hair in spots and one eye was swollen shut; the cut above and through her eyebrow had bled down into the swollen eye and the side of her face. Her lips were split and caked in blood, and one earlobe appeared to be sliced through at the base, leaving a tremendous swath of dried blood down her neck. But it was the wound in her chest making sickening, wet, sucking noises through her sodden tank top that made his heart race as he, Daniel, Vala and SG2 ran for the gate.
He had stood in mute horror as Janet feverishly worked over
her wife's body. He was convinced she would save her until Dr. Fraiser suddenly
stopped and looked up into the eyes of Dr. Warner and slowly shook her head,
her face a mask of devastation. Without a word she slipped an arm beneath Sam's
shoulders and lifted her, holding her close. The room had fallen eerily silent
as Col. Carter opened her eyes one last time and Teal'c clearly heard her tell
Dr. Fraiser she loved her before slipping into death. Respectfully, he had
dropped to one knee, in formal mourning as Daniel fell to his knees in front of
Sam, speechless, his hands helplessly outstretched towards the pair. Janet
clutched Sam tightly to her and began to rock her back and forth. She made
small, choking, whimpering noises and Vala, standing
behind her and silently weeping, dropped to her knees to softly caress Janet's
hair. The proud
No one knew what to do, the medical teams, the defense teams; everyone stood rooted, unable to move. Janet's hands and the side of her face were smeared in Sam's blood, Sam's blood soaked black tank top was pressed against Janet and Daniel had gasped aloud when she sat up to take a ragged breath, revealing the huge blood stain that had soaked into the front of her white lab coat and uniform shirt. It was then Janet had thrown her head back and started to scream, a sound so heartbreaking that Col. Mitchell, SG2 and the defense teams, in unconscious imitation of Teal'c, silently dropped to one knee and Daniel broke down completely. He had thrown his arms around both Sam and Janet and sobbed; unable to stop the cries Janet tore from her throat. She screamed until she collapsed and only then did Teal'c rise, to assist a shaking Daniel who took Sam from Janet's arms, and Vala had wrapped her arms around the limp and unresponsive Dr. Fraiser.
"Teal'c," Sam asked, "you okay?" He had suddenly gone quiet; gazing at her with such an intensity she wondered if he had entered a state of Kel'no'reem.
Teal'c blinked and smiled, shaking his head slightly as if he could forever remove the horrible vision his eyes beheld that day.
"Yes." He reassured her, "Although Colonel Mitchell is determined to have a beer and pizza party for you by the end of your first week at home."
"Yeah," she snorted softly, "like Janet will allow beer in the house any time soon."
His eyes crinkled at the corners again, "Indeed."
Sam smiled at him, "I still can't believe Daniel and Vala are together in this reality."
Teal'c quirked an eyebrow at her, the questioning version of his "indeed" unspoken but still present in the room.
"Oh yeah," Sam shook her head, "you'd find it pretty mind-blowing too if you knew how they were with each other in my old world."
"Have you come to recognize this world as your own?"
Sam frowned slightly and pursed her lips together for a moment, concentrating, "So much of my life in my old world was the same as this life here...with one huge exception, of course." She quickly added, flashing him a brilliant smile. "So the memories feel like my own...it's weird but I can make the distinction between memories of my old world and memories of this Sam's life here. But when I have them, the memories feel like this Sam's life is...or was...my life too, if that makes sense." She paused a moment before adding, "I'm so grateful to have been given this second chance, Teal'c." Her eyes suddenly glistening, "You'll never know..."
"You were unhappy in your previous reality?" He asked.
She could only nod as she blinked furiously, "Yes," she replied, her voice a strained whisper, "I'm so glad this is my home now. This is exactly how I wanted my life to be."
"Before she died, you and Doctor Fraiser were not together in that world?"
Mutely, she shook her head.
"Why not?" He asked.
"Rules," she answered, closing her eyes tiredly, "too many rules."
* * * * * *
"So find another way to hook up the crystal bits and start it that way."
"Hook them up, how, Dr. Jackson?" Dr. Lee pleaded. "I've tried charging the larger crystals electrically...directly, indirectly, and with varying degrees of voltage. I've tried electrically connecting them directly to the mirror..." He shrugged in exasperation, "I'm frankly running out of ideas and even though it doesn't look it, the only logical conclusion I can really draw here is that one or both of the power surges damaged the mirror and it's toast now, or we simply need one large crystal to activate it," He turned to wave his hand dejectedly, "and not these broken bits and pieces."
Dr. Lee had been studying the mirror for days and had never even come close to activating it. Four other physicists at the base had participated, but none of them had been successful either and Daniel was finally starting to lose hope.
"Okay, you know what kind of physical, electrical, whatever properties these crystals give off when they're electrically stimulated, overloaded, right?"
"Yeeeeah..." Dr. Lee drew out the word, not following Daniel's trail of thought.
"And the location Sam went to is locked here in this remote, right?" He asked, holding up the remote.
"As far as we know," Dr. Lee nodded, "yeah."
"The Zhang who ran from the building said the array blew the first time after Sam fired her weapon wildly, bullets hit the crystal array and after a few seconds it glowed brightly and part of it exploded, activating the mirror, and that's us guessing that last part."
Dr. Lee didn't respond and Daniel continued, "The overload in the crystal was huge in that the energy inside it supposedly surged a second time, blowing up both itself and the ceiling along with it..."
"Dr. Jackson," Dr. Lee tried to interrupt. He was exhausted and not in the mood to listen to the archeologist ramble,
"So if you put the mirror in a heavily shielded room like the ones we have deep inside this base...you could shoot it with a ton of energy, hopefully simulating the energy given off by the crystal array when it overloaded and maybe then the mirror would work?"
Dr. Lee leaned against the table, his chin propped on his fist, "Sure," he shrugged, "why not?"
* * * * * *
"Colonel Mitchell, have a seat." Gen. Hammond sat behind his desk, motioning to a chair. When he was seated the general continued, "As you'll recall your assignment to SG1 was temporary and it's time now for you to return SG2 once agai..."
Mitchell interrupted him, "So Colonel Carter is for sure coming back to command SG1?"
"I don't know, Colonel, but..."
"But, surely she won't be able to lead SG1 again for some time."
"No, sir."
"Good. SG2 has a mission briefing at 1400 hours. Dismissed."
* * * *
"You look pretty tired, are you feeling okay?" Janet asked.
Her arm in a sling, Sam sat in the passenger seat, turned to her left side to keep pressure off the opposite shoulder. Unable to take her eyes off the driver, Sam clutched her cane and smiled all during the ride home but still sat slumped tiredly in the car seat.
"Yeah, I feel great."
Janet snorted in disbelief and shook her head, "Yeah, okay." She clicked the turn signal on, briefly checking the mirror to make sure Teal'c was still behind them in his car, "You've been remembering stuff about home; do you know which one it is?"
Sam looked up in surprise and with some effort, turned to face forward in her seat. Her eyes instantly locked on a one-story redwood stained house, "That's it," she breathed, her voice full of awe, "that's our home."
"That's right, hon, it is." Janet smiled brightly at her, her eyes shining as she turned on the turn signal again, slowing to turn into the driveway. She pulled the van to a stop and shutting the engine, turned to Sam, taking her hand and squeezing it softly,
"Welcome home, Colonel Carter."
Tearing her eyes from her new/old home, Sam turned to look into brown eyes so deep she could have sworn she could fallen straight into them, cane, sling, and all. Looking anxious, she took a breath as if to speak but seemed unable to.
Janet let go of Sam's hand and softly stroked her cheek, "You're home now, Sam. It's okay."
She had promised herself she wouldn't rush her but Janet still found herself leaning in to capture Sam's face with both hands and placed a soft, if tentative, kiss on her lips. Sam's eyes closed and her response was immediate as she leaned into Janet, trying to deepen the contact. She leaned a little too far and suddenly tensed in pain, emitting a small cry against Janet's mouth.
Janet quickly moved a hand to her chest and gently pushed her back into her seat, "Easy there, cowgirl."
Sam grunted softly, trying to control the harsh breathing and quell the pain in her shoulder and side, "Cowgirl?" She grunted again, managing a lop-sided grin, "I remember where I was when I remembered how that one originated; Vala was visiting me in Physical Therapy at the time and I recall her having a good laugh at my expense." Janet noticed with some alarm the breathless quality in Sam's voice as she leaned heavily against the back of the car seat, adding, "I knew there was a reason why I loved those boots." She started to lean forward again, intending to steal another kiss when Janet placed a hand on the side of her face, this time gently stopping her,
"Sam," she pleaded, chuckling softly, "there'll be plenty of time for this later, okay?" She turned to look out the back window of the minivan at Teal'c, who had pulled in behind them and stood waiting patiently by his SUV.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Can we do it a lot?"
"Sam!" Janet laughed, and leaned back to open the door. "Wait here now." She said as she exited the vehicle, still laughing.
Having seen the exchange in the van, Teal'c stepped forward, a warm smile on his face, "It is good to hear your laughter once again, Doctor Fraiser."
Janet had opened the back of the van and turned to give him a hug, squeezing heartily, "It feels good to laugh again, Teal'c."
The large
"Hey, hey! Knock it off you two!" Sam shouted from her seat, "I believe that's my job Teal'c, you know?"
They broke apart, and Teal'c was smiling as he reached to lift the wheelchair from the back of the van, "Do not concern yourself Samantha Carter, I was not, as Colonel Mitchell expresses it, 'copping a feel'."
Laughter exploded from Janet as he set the wheelchair on the ground and walked around the van to the passenger side.
When he opened the door Sam asked, her eyebrows raised innocently, "You certainly have picked up a lot from Colonel Mitchell these past weeks, haven't you, Teal'c?"
"That is so," he answered, picking her up in his arms gently, and with remarkable ease, "but I do not agree with Daniel Jackson that he is an incorrigible and a menace to good manners."
"Mmm..." Sam answered somewhat distantly, her attention focused on Janet as she pushed the wheelchair up the walk ahead of them. She left the chair at the bottom of the three steps that led to the porch and climbing them, crossed to the door, unlocking it with her key. Opening it she quickly stepped inside and held it open for them,
"Welcome home, Samantha Carter." He intoned before crossing the threshold, carefully turning her to one side as he stepped through the doorway.
Sam was silent as he carried her into the house. I'm home, she repeated silently. I'm home. I'm finally home....
He placed her gently on the couch and left to retrieve the wheelchair from the walkway. When the two were alone Janet sat next to Sam on the couch, one leg tucked beneath her,
"Hey," Janet asked softly, taking Sam's hand in her own, "how you doin'?"
Sam looked at her in wonder, "I'm home." She said simply.
Janet's eyes brimmed and she leaned in to place a quick kiss on Sam's temple, "Yes, love, you are. I have you back...home." She pulled back and gently cupped the side of Sam's face with her hand, stroking soft lips with her thumb. Sam grasped the hand and placed a soft kiss against Janet's palm.
"Wait here," Janet ordered softly, "I'll be right back." She left to retrieve her purse that doubled as a briefbag and box of extra medical supplies she thought she'd need from the van but Teal'c had beat her to it, having piled the items on the wheelchair and she nearly ran into him as he wheeled it in the front door.
"Oh thank you, Teal'c, you are a mind-reader."
He gave a small bow, and she stepped back to let him pass. After he entered she stepped out to the porch to activate the door locks on the van with her remote.
When she stepped back inside Teal'c addressed them both formally, "Doctor Fraiser, Samantha Carter, I will be staying the next several days at my residence here, please do not hesitate to call me for assistance."