~oOo~

Teal'c gave the Kull warrior one last nudge with the toe of his boot. It was always wise to make sure an enemy as formidable as this one was well on his way to the next life. He turned to where O'Neill sat with Major Carter, his arm casually thrown over her shoulder. He watched as O'Neill's fingers twitched as though they wanted to hold her much closer.

"O'Neill, is Major Carter harmed?" he asked as he rounded the little pile of stones and saw his friend slumped against her commanding officer. There seemed to be a lot of blood.

Jack seemed to jerk a little at his words. "Yeah, let's take a look at you Carter." He shifted her in his arms a little to get his first good look since they'd found her. She wasn't looking her best. It was apparent that the adrenalin rush that had kept her going for so long had finally run out and her body was shutting down. " Carter, open your eyes." He got no response. "Major, come on wake up." At the note of command her eyes fluttered open. "Ah, there you are. How're you feeling Carter?"

"Tired."

"Yeah, I can see that. Try to stay awake okay?"

"Hmmm."

O'Neill frowned a little at her distracted tone of voice; she sounded completely wasted.

Teal'c hunkered down in front of her and started to examine her leg. He took out his canteen and pulled a pack of gauze swabs from one of his vest pockets. Pouring the water over the wound he tried to clean off some of the blood and debris so he could see the damage more clearly. Carter gave a sharp gasp as he gently felt around the wound

"I am sorry Major Carter."

"S'okay."

He looked at O'Neill. "There is shrapnel in the wound, it is deep."

O'Neill nodded. As he and Teal'c examined her more closely they realised she was severely banged about. "Teal'c, we need to get her back to the infirmary."

Teal'c nodded "I think it would be best if a medical team could stretcher her back to the gate. I do not believe it would be beneficial to try and carry her back."

Just then General Hammond came through on the radio.

"Colonel O'Neill, have you located Major Carter?"

"Yes sir, we need a medical team to get her back to the gate."

There was a brief pause and then Doctor Fraiser's voice came on. "Colonel can you tell me the Major's condition?"

"Doc, she's got a deep wound on her thigh. Teal'c reckons it's got shrapnel in it. She's got a couple of nasty head wounds. I'm pretty sure she's got a concussion. There's something wrong with her arm as well."

"Okay Colonel there's a team on its way to you. In the meantime make sure she keeps awake and try to get some fluids into her."

"Roger that."

He turned to Teal'c. "T, can you take care of Carter? I think it'll be quicker if I can guide the medical team to your position."

"Do you not wish to tend to Major Carter yourself?" Teal'c was surprised at O'Neill's words.

"You're the better medic Teal'c." O'Neill paused closing his eyes for a second. "T...I just need to move, you know?"

Teal'c nodded in understanding.

Jack eased Sam into a semi reclining position against the stones. "Carter, you have to help out by staying awake, do you understand?"

Her eyes rolled and she looked pretty out of it, but she managed a slurred "Yessir."

"I'll have the medics with you in no time, with lots of good drugs, okay?" He smiled down at her.

"Drugs...nice."

He gave a short bark of a laugh. "Okay Teal'c, you take care of her. I'll be back ASAP."

"Major Carter will be safe with me, O'Neill."

Jack gave him a pat on the shoulder as he got to his feet. "I know she will." He gave Sam a last look and headed back into the woods.

Teal'c picked up the canteen of water and held it to Sam's lips. "You must drink Major Carter." He palmed the back of her head to help her drink.

Sam took a few sips and leaned back against the stones, exhausted. "I...I think I worried him." Her eyes flicked in the direction Jack had gone.

"Indeed." Teal'c took out more gauze and started work on the nasty cut above her eyebrow. As he worked he saw that she was drifting off. "Major Carter, do not sleep."He watched as she made a gargantuan effort to keep her eyes open and focused on his face. "How is Detective Shanahan?" He was desperately trying to think of things to keep her with him.

"Pete?"

"Yes, Pete Shanahan. Are things well between you?"

"Yeah...don' know how I'm going to 'xplain this to him." She'd begun to shiver, which jarred her leg and made her wince. "Mmm...cold."

Teal'c realised that he had nothing with which to keep her warm. In the need for faster travel, he and O'Neill had neglected to carry anything except the bare essentials.

"Perhaps you could inform him that you cut yourself shaving." He hunted about in his pockets for some matches.

Sam gave a vague little smile. "You've been...hanging around wi...with the Colonel too long."

"Perhaps." He looked around the scrubby ground for something to use as kindling. "I will attempt to make a fire." He cupped her cheek in his big palm feeling her lean into his hand, seeking the warmth. "Will you be all right while I look for firewood? I will be very close by."

Sam nodded and he squeezed her shoulder in encouragement. "Do not sleep."

"Yeah...I got that."

Teal'c gave her a gentle smile and got to his feet.

Sam watched his as he walked off a short distance. She was finding it difficult to make him out; his outline shimmered and warped like a reflection in a funhouse mirror. He seemed oddly drained of color. In fact, everything around her seemed sepia tinged, like the old photographs of her great grandparents that her mother had shown her when she'd been small. She remembered thinking that everybody looked as though they'd been dipped in tea. She wondered if her body was having trouble adjusting to the fact she wasn't dead.

When she'd seen that thing rise up out of the dirt, she'd known that it was all over, and she was so tired that, for one brief second, she'd welcomed it. No more running, no more pain, finally she could rest. When she'd realised that the cavalry had arrived she'd almost felt resentful. It would all start again, the hiding, the terror, like some nightmare that had oozed its way into her waking hours.

Now she wasn't sure what she was feeling, other than cold, so damn cold. The trees around her swayed in the early evening breeze, they whispered to her of the peace of sleep. She felt herself sinking into an endless velvety void.

"Major Carter?" Teal'c returned carrying a large bundle of sticks. He knelt down by her. He gently shook her shoulder. Nothing. "Major Carter you must wake." He shook again a little more forcefully. She didn't move. "Major Carter, Kree!" He bellowed in his best First Prime voice.

Her head shot up and she gasped with pain at the sudden movement. "Dammit, Teal'c...don' shout so loud." Her eyes flitted about until she got a bead on him, albeit a fuzzy one.

"I am sorry Major Carter, but you would not wake."

"I'm so tired...lemme sleep, 'kay?" She was beginning to sound like a recalcitrant child.

"Colonel O'Neill ordered you to stay awake, you do not wish to fail in your duty." Teal'c brought the canteen to her lips once again. "Drink. It will make you feel better." Once again he helped her to take a few sips of water. "I will make a fire." He put down the canteen and began to assemble a little heap of kindling. "Talk to me Samantha."

The use of her first name brought her round a little. "Samantha?"

Teal'c looked at her and arched his eyebrow. "Do you not often ask me to call you by your first name?"

"Yeah...s'nice."

"Talk to me Samantha." he urged as he struck a match, shielding the flame with his cupped hands.

"What about?"

"Tell me of your plans for this weekend." He put the match to the kindling using his body to block the stiffening breeze.

Sam watched as the kindling caught and little plumes of smoke rose into the air.

"Samantha!"

"Sorry." She realized that she'd started to zone out again. "Dancing...Pete was going to take me dancing." She thought of the previous Sunday morning lying with Pete spooned up behind her. Planning what they'd do the next weekend. Pete, she realised, liked to plan ahead. She wondered how many dates she'd break before he realized the futility of such forward thinking.

"Do you like to dance, Samantha?" Teal'c piled some of the smaller sticks onto the flames.

"Yeah." She gave him a faint smile. "I've always thought...if...if you've got a good partner, it's a bit like flying."

Teal'c added more sticks to the fire. "Is it like flying with Pete Shanahan?"

The flames danced before her eyes, the light diffused around the edges. She remembered dancing with him that first time. Worrying if she'd be taller than him in her heels; realising when he'd held her so gently, as if she'd been made of spun glass; swaying with her to the music that it didn't matter. They'd moved well together.

"Almost, Teal'c...almost."

Teal'c looked up from the fire and held her gaze for a long moment. In his eyes Sam could see a world of understanding and, to her surprise, she felt hot tears run down her face.

Teal'c finished putting the wood on the fire. Having achieved a good blaze. He moved to Sam's side and pulled her gently against his big warm body, his arm around her shoulders. They sat in silence for a while and watched the fire as it sent little sparks up into the dimming sky.

"Do not sleep, Samantha."

Sam realised that the heat from the fire and Teal'c combined had made her drift off. "Yeah...yeah, I'm awake."

"I danced with Lieutenant Riley on the Eve of last Christmas."

Sam had to think hard for a moment "Mmm...I was in the infirmary for that bash...that soupy stuff...on P3X-739...terrible stomach ache."

"The Lieutenant said I was most graceful. We danced a 'waltz' I believe she called it."

A sudden burst of static from the radio and then Colonel O'Neill's voice, made Sam's head throb

"Teal'c we're two clicks from your position. ETA, ten minutes. Do you read?"

"We will be ready, O'Neill." Teal'c looked down at Sam. "You will soon be in the care of Doctor Fraiser."

"We should have a team night...we...we could go dancing...you could show me your moves."

"I would be honoured, Samantha." Teal'c inclined his head and gave her a smile.

Time passed in amicable silence until they heard the rustle of bushes and out of the wood came Colonel O'Neill leading a team of three.

The next few minutes were painful for Sam as she was moved on to a stretcher and poked and prodded by Janet Fraiser's chief nurse. At last she was wrapped in a warm cocoon of blankets. A drip was set up and she was firmly secured to the stretcher. Through the pleasantly blooming fog of pain relief she heard Teal'c talking to the Colonel.

"O'Neill, do you dance well?"

Sam felt the stretcher sway a little as it was lifted

"Dance? No, I've got two left feet."

"I did not realise you were so impaired."

"It's a figure of speech, T."

Sam felt a hand on her good leg, she opened her eyes and, as if looking through a layer of gauze, she saw Jack looking down at her.

"You okay there, Carter? The drugs must have kicked in, you're smiling."

"I'm...flying, sir."

~oOo~

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