Chapter 45

While the rest of the world gathered to care for the fall-out victims, first aid responders converging on south-east Asia, the Chinese representatives transferred to Geneva. Jack spent most of the night discussing the treaty with Tien and his council. They were suspicious of the United States governing from behind, and it was all Jack and Daniel could do to convince them that nothing was further from the truth. 

Inanna and Lord Atis were brought in on the negotiations. The sight of the walking, talking dragon caused several of the negotiators to faint.

Tien was then informed that his family was transferred to Kamchatka. Talks were put on hold as Jack called up and had himself and Tien beamed to the Russian peninsula. The hospital was a madhouse with sick people piled up in hallways and corners, and medical personnel rushing to take care of the worst of them. After the Chernobyl accident many years earlier, Russian hospitals knew how to take care of radiation poisoning. 

Jack spotted a HomeSec pilot in uniform helping to direct traffic and keep what order they could.

“Airman! Where is President Tien’s family?”

“Sir!” The pilot saluted and led them to another floor. 

People overflowed everywhere; hallways, nursing lounges, not even the VIP suites were private rooms. In a small room at the top of the hospital, what looked to be an administrative office that had been taken over for the emergency, an older woman stood as Tien and Jack entered. Tien went to her and listened as she spoke low, her dignity barely hanging on.

“My youngest grandson,” Tien told Jack. “He ran out onto the balcony to watch.” They went further into the room where a small boy of about four lay covered in bandages on the bed. Other people stood as Jack entered. Probably the boy’s parents. The child saw Tien and tried not to cry. Tien touched the child’s head and murmured to him. The boy gave a nod. Jack stayed in the background and reached. The child was in shock, clinging to the last of his pride so that he wouldn’t shame his grandfather.

“Pull the curtain and tell your family to stay on the other side,” Jack whispered to Tien. The president scowled at him. “Will you cut the crap and please do it?” Narrow eyes narrowed to a slit. Finally, Tien growled at his family. Clearly disapproving, they stepped back and pulled the curtain around the bed. Jack stepped up to the bed.

“Hi, buddy,” he said gently to the boy. He gave a wave. “Hi. I know you don’t feel good, but let’s see if we can make you feel a little better, okay?”

He put one hand on the boy’s chest and the other hand on the black hair, gently stroking as he soothed the boy with hummed sounds. An IV extended to the boy’s left arm, giving him the medication he needed for the radiation. Jack wasn’t sure if it would work on radiation wounds, especially since the radiation was still coursing through his body.. The boy would probably live on his own, he didn’t look nearly as bad as Daniel did a few years before, but Jack needed to try and do something with all the tissue that was damaged, give the body a boost to help fight the poison. After several minutes, Tien drew a shocked breath. Red blotches on the boy’s face and hands had begun to disappear. The boy started to relax and fall asleep.

“Miracle?” Tien whispered.

“No,” Jack said, stroking the soft black hair. “The World Health Organization sent you information on evolutionary changes. It’s all true. This is just something that’s happening with me, so I help when I can. I can’t help everyone; I’m one person, so I’m asking that you keep it to yourself. I apologize for my behavior before. I’m making the first gesture toward trust, Hsin. I don’t give a crap about proper procedure or who has the biggest toys; all of this proves that we need to get beyond that kind of thinking because we need each other. It’s your turn.”

Tien allowed himself a small shudder before touching his grandson’s face and hands.

Jack and Daniel beamed back to the Pentagon, leaving the professional HomeSec mediators, and Inanna and Atis, to deal with the details. Jack confessed and Daniel wasn’t sure exposing himself to Tien like that had been a good thing to do but it was done. 

They were exhausted as Jack went to find Sam in Vidrine’s office and Daniel went to find food. Vidrine’s personnel were red-eyed and pale, carrying on with their work. The general had been officially removed from life-support late the previous evening. Jack murmured condolences to everyone and went into the office. Sam looked up in irritation at the interruption and then fell back into the chair when she saw her husband.

“Oh, my God, Jack, how do you do this every day?” she asked, trying not to mess her mascara as she rubbed at her eyes. “It’s all I can do to keep projects going. I’m supposed to be signing things, but I have no idea what I’m signing or even if I should be signing.”

“Has Davis been in to help?” he asked.

“A couple of times,” she said. “I’m trying not to call him with every little thing; he’s your assistant, not mine. I asked him to get with Major Ellsinore to take care of the details of the memorial for General Vidrine.”

“That’s fine,” Jack said. “Sam, listen to me.” He sat on the edge of her desk. “Colonel Taylor is currently packing up his office. He’s being given his stars so that he can take this office. The Joint Chiefs considered you; I talked them out of it. I wanted you to hear it from me.”

He watched her considering the information as she leaned back in the chair and tugged self-consciously at her uniform.

“Can I ask why?” she carefully asked.

“Because you don’t have experience with large commands,” he said. “You have team and departmental commands under you. Taylor has commanded a base for eight years. You are going to be groomed for this spot, though, so you will be taking over as the CO of Area 51 as of Monday. You can use the arches to come home for the night.”

At least she wasn’t yelling at him or giving him accusing looks. Some orders even out-ranked him. Instead, she was quiet as she looked at her uniform, desk, hands.

“Thank you,” she finally said. “For being honest with me. I agree that I’m not ready for this chair, and I feel better knowing it isn’t mine. Yet.”

Jack gave her a smile and leaned down to kiss her.

“You’ll make General some day,” he promised. “Happy birthday?”

She stood and put her arms around his neck for a hug.

“Come on, let’s go home,” he said, patting her back. “It’s Saturday and we really are not needed here; the people who are dealing with this mess in Asia don’t need us getting in the way. Daniel is getting something from the commissary; we can find him on the way out. We need cake and ice cream and presents and get in some time with our kids.”

She agreed and kissed him. He tightened his arms, feeling the familiar warmth start to tingle as they tasted each other. Until a throat was cleared behind them.

“Major?” Sam questioned, not releasing Jack’s neck as she leaned her chin on his shoulder to look over.

“Uh, sorry, ma’am. Sir.” Ellsinore wasn’t sure about the protocol breech when it came to married couples. “Did, uh, is there anything I can do? What I mean is…..”

Sam’s eyes sparkled with humor, and Jack stood and turned. The poor major was trying not to shift nervously.

“At ease, Major,” Jack said. “Did General Maynard talk with you?”

“Yes, sir,” Ellsinore said, glad to have a specific topic. “The memorial for General Vidrine will be on Tuesday, sir. Christ Hope Church. Colonel Taylor will have his promotion by then, and he will speak at the memorial. Will you and Colonel Carter be attending?”

“Of course,” they both said. “Major, was there an autopsy?” Jack asked.

“It’s in the process, sir,” Ellsinore said, considering him. “Do you suspect something, sir?”

“No, not really,” Jack said thoughtfully. “I’d like to have a copy of the results.”

“Yes, sir.”

Sam gathered her things and left the major to take care of Vidrine’s office.

“Ma’am?” She turned to Ellsinore. “Would it be presumptuous to offer a well-done, even though it was only one day with bad, extenuating circumstances?”

“Thank you, Major,” Sam said, and accepted his honors.

They found Daniel and helped him with the hamburger which he watched disappear. Not in a rush, they took a car to Andrews. Most of the base personnel were on duty seeing to the needs of VIP’s who were landing and taking off to help deal with the crisis in Asia. As they hopped off the Jeep that took them out to a far field where the al'kesh was being closely guarded, there was a small pop in the air. Jack paused and then fell to the ground.

“JACK! Medics!” Sam shouted as she hunched over Jack’s still form, holding her hands tightly over the bleeding hole in his chest. Daniel ran to the al'kesh and jumped inside. He returned a moment later, a zat in hand as he crouched over Sam, zat ready to take out whoever shoots in their direction. 

Personnel scrambled, guns drawn as the sniper was searched for, and the medical personnel were shielded on their way out to the al'kesh. SF quickly estimated the direction of the bullet and began running out to the field on the far side of the runway. Daniel hit his comm.

“Europa, this is Dr. Jackson! General O’Neill is down! Sniper at Andrews Air Base! Get us up and have medical standing by, the general’s been hit in the chest!”

The entire party was immediately beamed up and put down in the infirmary, a small circle of blacktop and gravel on the floor, which was beamed up with them. Maintenance people will find a corresponding circle on the ground and scratch their heads as they studied it in the morning.

“Call Heaven’s Bow!” Sam shouted as medical teams came running. “Get Jonathan O’Neill over here NOW!” The EMT’s from the base stepped back to allow the ship’s doctors and nurses to take over and prep Jack for surgery. 

The moment Jonathan beamed in and saw the action, he put himself on a bed and stripped off the leather so that his arms and veins could be gotten to with an IV. There was a standing order to use the two men as transplants for each other, no questions asked. So no one asked.

“What the hell happened?!” Jonathan demanded as nurses began digging for a vein. They glanced at him and then each other, not used to hearing such command from a teenager. Daniel told him while Sam looked at the blood covering her hands. She went to a sink and began to wash. Someone put clean scrubs next to her.

Jonathan searched for his comm and informed his ship of the happenings. A clipped response came through and Jonathan tossed the comm down, leaning back on the bed at the insistence of the nurse.

As the operation commenced, Daniel called home. Paul assured him that the air base was being scoured, every rock turned over, every blade of grass searched. The SF from their neighborhood closed in to guard the house and the kids. Michael would tell the kids that Jack was hurt and in surgery and they were not to worry. Michael must have been holding the baby because Daniel heard a rush of babbling and a raspberry spit.

Daniel stood behind Sam as they watched from the gallery. She took his hands and wrapped herself in his arms.

“I don’t like this birthday present,” she whispered.

Twelve hours later, Dr. Warner looked over at them and held up a thumb. Being familiar with Jack’s sliced open anatomy, he had been beamed up after the first time Jack arrested. Jack had arrested twice during surgery and then they had a hard time getting his right lung re-inflated.

“This is strange,” Warner said when they got to the infirmary. The doctor tugged on the stethoscope around his neck as he considered Jack recovering on a bed. “It’s almost as though his own body was fighting us. Even his vital signs are better than they should be for twenty minutes out of heavy surgery. I’m not complaining, certainly, it’s possible that these developments he’s been going through have something to do with the variations.”

“Could they have caused the arrests?” Sam asked, gently taking one of Jack’s hands and sitting at his side.

“Possibly,” Warner admitted. “If we were interfering with a normal function. Normal now, that is. Colonel, he really needs to get in for a full physical once he’s on his feet. Obviously there have been changes and we need to record them so that we can treat him properly in the future.”

“Let’s get him back to his old obnoxious self before we deal with that, Doctor,” Daniel said. Warner agreed and moved to read the monitors once more, frowning as he made notes.

“Daniel,” Sam whispered. “See if you can find him. You know…”

He nodded and leaned in close to Jack’s still form, taking a limp hand. “I’m not good at initiating,” he warned her.

“That’s alright, just try,” she said, needing to know.

To anyone watching from a distance, they would have assumed the two were in prayer over Jack, heads bowed, eyes closed, hands clasped. Daniel concentrated; a false start. Relax, he told himself. Out, not in. He sent his awareness out toward Jack, toward that familiar sense of Jack’s essence. He found blackness.

“Jack,” Daniel called. He called again, several times until he felt a presence near him. “Come on, Jack, you’re alright.”

“Wha… happen…..”

“Someone shot you,” Daniel told him, relieved to hear Jack’s inner voice. “You’re on Europa. Dr. Warner and everyone worked on you for hours. You had us scared. Are you in pain?”

“A little,” Jack said. Daniel felt him closer. He could feel the heightening pain as Jack struggled to regain consciousness.

“Just sleep, Jack, don’t try to wake up. Let your body heal. I’ll get more pain meds for you,” Daniel said. “We’re here, Jack; Sam is right next to you. The kids are fine; your Mom and Michael are with them, we’ve been keeping them updated. Don’t you worry about anything except getting well.”

“Love…. you….”

“We know you do,” Daniel said. “We love you, too. Just heal. Sleep, relax, don’t worry about anything. There is nothing you need to be doing except getting better.”

Daniel opened his eyes. “He’s fine,” he told Sam. “He’s in a little pain. He should be conscious soon.”

“Let him wake up before he gets more pain meds,” she said, relief on her face as she put Jack’s hand to her forehead.

“What happened?”

They looked at Warner who was frowning at the equipment.

“What do you mean?” Sam asked.

“It looked almost like….” He tapped one of the monitors. “There was an extra brain wave pattern for a few seconds.” He pointed to a recorded section of the EKG.

“Just a glitch,” Daniel suggested.

“These machines don’t get glitches, Dr. Jackson.”

Sam and Daniel shrugged their ignorance.

The door opened and Jonathan walked in with Shara.

“You should be resting, Mr. O’Neill,” Warner said in disapproval. “You’re three pints low.”

“I’m fine,” Jonathan said. He lifted his hand, showing an orange. “See? I’m good. How is he?”

“He should be awake soon,” Daniel said. “He’s in a little pain, but that can be dealt with when he’s awake.”

“How do you know he’s in pain?” Warner asked.

“Wouldn’t you be?” Daniel responded.

Warner looked suspicious, starting to guess that something was up.

“Hey, Doc, look at this,” Jonathan said, holding out an arm. “I’m bruising already. I think those nurses need a little extra time in the practice room.” Warner, his attention distracted, reluctantly looked at Jonathan’s arm which was turning purple.

“Bruising is not good,” Shara informed the doctor, not at all happy.

“I’m sorry,” Warner said, having had bigger and more menacing aliens growl at him. “They were in a rush. Maybe everyone should wait outside the room,” he suggested. “Give General O’Neill some quiet time.”

“He’s fine,” Daniel said. Shara put a hand on Jack’s chest, mindful of the bandages.

“He’s fine,” he said in echo, withdrawing his hand.

Warner scowled and then paused, looking at the machines again.

“There it is again,” he said, pointing at the brainwave activity. “Would you put your hand on him again?” Shara put a hand back on Jack’s chest. Warner shook his head, watching the readout. “Nothing. Must be coincidence.”

“Let’s go outside, anyway,” Jonathan said. “We need to talk.”

They went to a private conference room and made a guard sit and stay outside the door.

“Couple of things,” Jonathan said as they sat at the table. “First, Happy Birthday, Sam.” He pulled a small case out of the bag at his waist and pushed it across to her.

Sam smiled and took it. “Thank you, Jonathan.” She opened it and found a bracelet. The redness of the metal and the small stones sparkled.

“That is gold from Sua,” he told her. “It looked red. I thought it was cool. And I know you liked that red glass.”

“It’s beautiful, thank you,” she assured him. Daniel helped her put it around her wrist.

“Now. Second. What was that all about?” Jonathan jerked a thumb in the general direction of outside.

“They figured out how to jump planes,” Shara said with a smile as he leaned back and put his leather-booted feet on the table. “Not too bad, considering they’ve been together just under a year. A little slow, but not too bad.”

“Feet down,” Sam told him. The boots were removed.

“Oh.” Jonathan thought for a moment and then shook his head to clear it.

“Jumping planes?” Sam asked. “What do you mean?”

“That mind thing we’ve been playing with,” Daniel guessed. “We’re not actually going to another plane for that.”

“No?” Shara asked. “As you will. Go on, dadu.”

“Anyway,” Jonathan began again. “Someone dumped a man’s body on Maynard’s front lawn. The rifle that was with it matched the bullet Warner had sent down for ballistics. It wasn’t us.”

“Is there an ID?” Sam asked.

“Don’t know,” Jonathan said. “It’s been pretty hush-hush. The press is making a big to-do about Jack being shot, though. The fact that a bullet was used seems to tell them that it wasn’t an alien. Like aliens can’t learn to use guns.”

The door opened and Colonel Belarus stuck his head in.

“Come in, Colonel,” Daniel invited. The ship’s commander shouldn’t be left standing out in the hall.

“Am I interrupting?” Belarus asked. “I apologize for not attending to you earlier. The evacuations have been more involved than I realized.”

“How’s that going?” Sam asked. Belarus looked tired as he sat at the table.

“It is slowing down,” he said. “We’ve done what we could. China’s east coast is a mess. Fish and sea birds are turning belly up, plant life is dying. As for the Korean Peninsula…. It will be uninhabitable for a while. Russia has offered them a community in Khrebet Sikhote Alin. It’s close to North Korea. A little colder. Much of it is unoccupied, so they can make a new home.”

“Paying taxes to Russia, of course,” Daniel said.

“Of course,” Belarus agreed with a nod. “Russia will not give up the land to another country. If the Koreans wish to live there, they may, but it is Russian land. They may go elsewhere, if they wish.” He sipped from his ever-present cup of tea. “The death count is at just over twenty million and still counting. Along the central corridor of the Korean Peninsula is a mass grave.” There was silence for a moment as they tried not to allow the mental image to dwell on their minds.

“So, good news,” Belarus said, sitting forward and brightening. “The general woke up momentarily. He was given pain meds and he is now sleeping. Dr. Warner is satisfied with the progress. He is a little jumpy as to why and how the general is healing a little quicker than normal.” The colonel’s expression was bland as he sipped his tea. “Apparently the wound has begun showing signs of self-repair.”

The other four blinked innocently at him. Belarus chuckled and stood.

“Oh, Colonel Carter,” he turned and lifted a finger in thought. “Word is going around that you are the new commander of Area 51. Congratulations. General Taylor says to take your time up here but he would like you in your office tomorrow, long enough to address the troops, and then you can return here, if you need to.”

Sam’s eyes widened. “Oh, my God, I completely forgot!” Daniel leaned over and kissed her cheek, smiling at her.

“Really?” Jonathan asked, his smile wide. “Area 51? Sam, that’s great. Congratulations. You’re buying the drinks, right?”

Sam and Daniel stopped in to see Jack and kiss his face before beaming home. When no one was looking, Sam lifted the bandage on Jack’s chest. The sides of the wound had new skin growth.

“He should be home in a couple days,” Daniel said quietly. Sam agreed and looked at the huddle of doctors who were trying to understand the latest SG-1 weirdness. It was unspoken common knowledge that Jack was doing unusual things in the realm of healing, but to heal his own gunshot wound to the chest which almost cost him a lung?

The children were happy to see them, as was the puppy who didn’t know why he was excited but the children were so he was, too. Maggie had a few friends over, keeping vigil with her while they played cards.

“He’s doing well, Mom,” Sam told her. Maggie wiped her face and hugged Sam and then Daniel. “Would you like to go up and see him?” Maggie wanted to. Sam called the ship and had Maggie beamed up. The other old ladies around the table were suitably impressed and they packed up their cards and chips. Sam hauled the baby out of her swing and cooed at her.

“Michael, thank you for staying with the kids,” Daniel said, touching Michael’s shoulder. “How are things, here?” He picked Stacy up, groaning under her weight as she settled her legs around his waist.

“A little shaky,” Michael said. “Everyone is fine, though. A handful of refugees were brought here to the Academy Hospital, so the town is going all out to help. Katie wanted to help. We talked about it, we thought she was a little young, but we allowed her to volunteer at the hospital. Dr. Lam is keeping an eye on her.”

“It’s alright,” Sam said as Daniel nodded. “She’ll be taking her M-SATs next year, so this may be a good time for her to see the worst of it before she gets into medical school with stars in her eyes.”

“It’ll also look good on her records,” Daniel commented. “Won’t it, pumpkin?” He tweaked the baby’s cheek, making her smile.

“What’s emsats?” Davy asked, having heard the word but not an explanation.

“It is a test people take to see if they can get into medical school,” Daniel told him. “Everyone else just takes regular SATs. The M means medical. People wanting to get into law school and become a lawyer, take L-SATs. The higher your score, the better college you can get into.”

“Did you have a high score?” Davy asked.

“Yes, I did,” he nodded.

“Daddy?”

“Yes, sweetheart.”

“You need a shower.”

The adults laughed and Daniel put her down.

“Yes, I do,” he agreed. “I’ve been a little too busy to take one. I’ll take one right now, okay?”

That was fine with Stacy.

“Can we go and see Ada later?” she asked.

“He’ll be home soon,” Sam told her. “He’s resting. He had a very long surgery, so how about waiting until he’s home?”

Before Daniel went to their room, he stopped and touched Matthew’s shoulder.

“He’s alright. Really,” he assured the boy. Matthew had been quiet with worry.

It took them a minute to figure out why Tommy was playing hoops in the back yard. Sam and Daniel winced when they remembered they were babysitting for a couple of weeks.

“Tommy, how’s your mom?” Sam asked. “Have you talked with her?”

“She’s fine,” Tommy said. “She’s getting stuff in order, she said, before we move to that other planet.” Tommy was uneasy as he stared at the ball. “Are these alien people nice? That guy, Ninurta, seems like he’d be… well… like he’d get angry real easy.”

Sam looked at Daniel and then sat on a plastic lawn chair. “He does look big and bad, doesn’t he? But I think he’s nice,” Sam said. “I know that General O’Neill likes him, and so does Daniel.” Daniel nodded and murmured an agreement. “He’s a warrior, and he does fight when he needs to, but I’ve never seen him get angry with kids and he’s kind to women, that much I can promise you.” Tommy would accept her word, for the moment. He had been told before that people were nice, and they turned out to be not so nice. Matthew’s family had been nice to him, though, and the warrior did help with his mom’s bad boyfriend, so maybe this would be okay.