Chapter 1: The Ringing

The rain fell on the windowpane with a soft tapping noise. Outside it was black and the light of the street lamp fell through rain streaked windows to cast a yellow running pattern on the wall.

Sam lay on the living room floor, watching the pattern of light that seemed to run like water down the white plaster, mimicking the tears running down her face. She hadn�t moved from where she�d fallen almost an hour ago, after the door had slammed shut behind Pete.

She didn�t think he�d react that badly. But people do stupid things when they�re hurt, and maybe she deserved it. Gingerly she touched her cheek, it was swollen and still sore. Sam could almost hear Janet telling her to put ice on it, but she ignored the stray thought. The house was silent, except for the faint buzzing of the appliances in the kitchen.

Sam was crying again. She remembered that Janet wasn�t there, and her father was gone, and Pete was gone because of that and�

Her cellphone rang. Sam�s eyes traveled over to where her purse sat on the floor next to the couch. She reached�twisted�and grabbed the strap, pulling it to her and finding her cellphone.

�Hello?�

�Geeze, Carter, you ok? I didn�t wake you up did I?�

�No, sir, I�m just�doing nothing.�

�Huh. Wish I could be doing nothing.�

�Did you need something?�

�Yeah�did you ever give me that report from our last mission? I know it�s a bad time but�Hammond and some people in Washington wanted to see it.�

�I think I did�if not it�s on my lab table.�

�Thanks Carter.� There was a long pause, and Sam almost thought he�d hung up. �Are you sure you�re ok?�

�I�m fine, Sir.� That was the least convincing reply she�d ever given. But she couldn�t let Jack see her now�what would he think?

�Right. See you tomorrow, Carter.�

Sam sent the phone sliding across the carpeting. Her head hurt, her mouth hurt, her whole being hurt. She tried to sit up. Her head hurt some more and the side of her face felt sticky.

Shit. A dark stain spread across the carpet where her head had been resting a minute ago. Sam tried to get to her feet. She staggered. The yellow patterns on the wall seemed to lung forward and grab her, pulling her back to her knees, back to the floor which was tilting wildly now. But Sam stuck fast, probably due to the sticky substance on the side of her face. Her hand closed around her cellphone and she dialed the only number she could think of.

�Sir, I�m not alright.�

�You want me to come over?�

�They key�s under the mat.�

�What?�

A confused silence while Sam tried to string her thoughts together. �I can�t stand up.�

�Oh, jeeze, Carter, I�m on my way over. What happened?�

�I dunno�� An annoying beep sounded in Sam�s ear. The battery was dying. A second later it cut out and she was alone again. The cellphone slid from her hand.

Outside the rain fell harder. Sam reached out to touch the dark stain that was a few feet from her. It was dry now, the carpet spiky and rough. Some feet from that, across the room, a dark rectangular object lay on the floor.

The book.

Sam would never read it again. It was possible the pages were now glued together with guilt and it couldn�t be read again�

Far away she heard the sound of a car in the driveway. She was hungry. She hoped whoever it was would have food. Footsteps on the porch. They weren�t Pete�s, thank god, his were lighter and less purposeful then that. A pause�the door opened.

�Carter?�

The book had hurt. Whoever had said that words can�t hurt you obviously hadn�t ever been hit in the face with a hardcover copy of the Millsbury Reference of Astrophysical Equations and Theories.

A light clicked on, pushing the yellow patterns on the wall into oblivion. Sam couldn�t raise her eyes to see whoever it was, but she did hope they�d brought something to eat. Her stomach rumbled.

�Oh my god! Carter, what the hell happened?!� Jack was beside her, taking her bruised and bleeding face in his hands. �Carter! Can you hear me?!� Sam could see him, she could hear him, but her head hurt too much to respond, so she just blinked up at him. Her vision blurred. His cellphone was in his hand and he was calling an ambulance.

�Why�re you turnin� off the light?� Sam slurred as Jack closed his cellphone.

He leaned closer. �What?�

�The light,� she gestured vaguely at the light on the ceiling. �Its�turning off.� Darkness closed around her. She heard herself calling Jack�s name, and then nothing more.

Janet Fraiser, CMO, resident miracle woman for surviving a full-on staff blast, and sacred goddess of the archaeologist Daniel Jackson, turned to regard the colonel with a worried look. �Well, what did you see when you found her?�

Jack closed his eyes, rubbing his fingers over his temples. No one should have to go through this much mental stress at eleven o�clock at night. But his second had a mild concussion and would start babbling incoherently the second the sedatives wore off.

�There was blood.�

�Where?�

�On the floor. A big pool of it like she�d just been lying there.�

�What else?�

�Her purse�and a book.� Jack traced an outline in the air. �Hardcover. Someone had dropped it.�

Janet�s perfect eyebrows raised to where her bangs touched her forehead. �Someone had hit her in the face with a heavy object, I�m willing to bet it was that book.�

�Jesus.�

�Any idea of who it was?�

Jack answered with the only thought going through his head. �Who would want to hurt Carter?�

Hammond marched in, looking like an angry bullfrog in uniform. �What happened? I heard Major Carter was injured.�

�Mild concussion and bleeding from a cut in her mouth,� Janet recited. �Someone hit her in the side of the head with a heavy object and she bit the inside of her cheek.�

�Dear God.� Hammond peered around the small doctor to where Sam lay on the infirmary bed with an IV in her arm. �Any idea of when she�ll wake up?�

�I think it�s more of a question of when she�ll be able to talk, Sir,� Jack�s hands were on his hips. No one did that to a member of his team and got away with it. �She was awake but babbling incoherently � and I mean more than usual - a few minutes ago.�

Janet began ushering the two men out of the room with a promise that she�d let them know when Sam was awake.

�I�m sorry,� she repeated herself for the fourth time that evening.

�Sorry doesn�t fix it and it sure as hell doesn�t explain anything to me!�

�There�s nothing to explain, I�m sorry!�

He turned his attention to the book that lay open on the table. A big hardcover book whose pages were filled with complicated looking equations and theorems. The sort of stuff that would have Jack O�Neill either fast asleep or running screaming from the room.

�Jack O�Neill.�

�What about him?� Sam clasped her hands, unclasped them, let them fall to her sides. Up straight, shoulders back, just like a good soldier.

�Frat regs my ass. I know how much you pay attention to those.� The fact that he�d sworn no less then five times in the past half hour really should have tipped Sam off.

�You think that�s what this is about? Because its not.�

�Then what is it about?� The book was closed in his hands now, as he turned to face the one woman he loved more than anything, and the one woman he wanted to hurt as bad as he could. � �Cus it�s not just your father. You wouldn�t be doing it this way if it was just your father. This is too planned out.� You don�t plan breakups the way you plan a funeral, but someone always is dead by the end of both.

�This is about me�I�m the one having problems.� Sam sighed heavily, her breath drying her lips on the way out. She licked them. �I�m sorry.�

�That�s never enough!� The book flew, his hands around it until it smashed against her perfect face, then he let go. It landed on the floor with a dull thud. For a moment as he stared into those blue eyes he thought he�d killed her and her body just hadn�t fallen over yet. She didn�t open her mouth, but her eyes flicked down, her posture slumping slightly.

Fleeing the scene of the crime, he slammed the door behind him.

Sam coughed and something wet dribbled down her chin. The world seemed to catch up with her and she fell to the ground. Her lips parted and pain slipped out between them onto the carpet as the world and the room darkened, a night quickened by a thunderstorm. Her ears were ringing, loud and painful.

Why did he do it? Two minds wondered, one sprawled on the floor, the other hurrying away in his car. Dear God�.why did he do it?

When fluorescent lights get old they start to flicker. The light above Sam�s head flickered approximately every five seconds. She knew that it had something to do with the starter filament failing to kick enough energy into something�but she wished someone would change it; it was giving her a headache. Or maybe her headache was what made the light flicker.

Indistinct shapes and thoughts seemed to swirl across Sam�s line of vision; people without faces, faces without people�The heavy weight of the book pressed down on her head and she wanted to tell someone to move it but her lips didn�t seem to be working. They felt thick and heavy. At least her face wasn�t sticky anymore.

�Is she going to be ok?�

�I think with some rest and care she should be fine�She�s running a bit of a fever, and showing other minor symptoms, but the body reacts strangely when put under stress��

Her stomach churned and sometimes the ringing in her ears was too loud to bear. And sometimes at night when she was alone in the observation room Sam thought she heard whispering�More than once she thought she heard her name. But no one was there�

Someone held a cup of blue jell-o under her nose.

�Breakfast?� Sam raised one eyebrow, following the hand holding the cup up an arm and to the face of her CO.

�It�s one o�clock in the afternoon.�

Sam gave him an annoyed look. �I can�t see the sun in here.� Duh.

Jack shook the cup a little. Sam took it.

�How you feeling, Carter?�

The jell-o felt smooth and cool doing down Sam�s throat. The inside of her cheek still hurt, but the jell-o felt nice.

�Sore.�

Jack was quiet a moment. �Yeah�so uhm � �

�Pete.� Sam said quietly, spooning at the jell-o. Jack�s eyes were boring into the side of her skull and she was sure if she looked at him she�d be blinded by their intensity.

�What?� The word fell to the floor the same way the book had. Heavy.

Sam cautiously looked at Jack. His brown eyes were blazing angrily now, though it wasn�t directed at her. She swallowed and winced slightly. �Pete hit me with a book. That�s why I have a headache.�

Jack didn�t point out to her that she had a lot worse than just a headache. �You done with that?�

Sam pushed the empty cup into his hand and he stood up and left.

�Fucking bastard!� The door closed behind Jack and he let out an angry roar, throwing the glass cup against the concrete wall. Shards of light fell tinkling to the ground and an airman stared, transfixed at the sight. Jack turned and kicked the wall angrily.

Just wait until Jacob hears, he�ll�But Jacob was gone. He wasn�t there with Selmak to bring unholy Tok�ra wrath down on the man who�d hurt Sam. Sam didn�t have her father who cared about her so much.

�I need to talk to you, Jack.� It was one of those rare moments in the Tok�ra hideout when there wasn�t much activity going on. Jacob was watching Jack over the top of a large, flat crystalline table.

Jack looked up from polishing his P90. �Yeah?�

�You and Sam are pretty close, aren�t you?�

�Considering the fact that she�s saved my ass on several occasions�I�d say we are�� All of SG-1 was close. Teal�c watched over them all like a big brother, Daniel was there whether to be cute or annoying, and Sam�Jack was forever trying to tell himself she was like his sister, his comrade in arms, but somehow she couldn�t ever quite fit that image. It was too small for her.

The gesture of Jacob�s hand encompassed the room, the tunnels beyond, and the whole known universe. �There�s so much out there that could hurt my little girl. So many big bad things out there�

�Huh.�

�But it�s some of the things closer to home that I worry about more.�

Jack leaned back in his seat. Hand, hat brim, tilt, done. �What�s this about, Jacob?�

�Sam.�

�What about her?�

�Oh, come on, Jack,� Jacob chuckles. �I�m not going to be around much longer. You can tell me. I�ve seen the way you look at her, I saw the was she was around that Pete Shanahan character�She wasn�t really happy.�

�Jacob�� Jack tilted his hat brim a little lower.

�Just take care of her, Jack, that�s all I�m asking.� Jacob�s voice was quiet. �Some fathers might be suspicious�but I trust you with her, Jack. More than anyone else.�

The tunnels were below a rainforest. When Jack reached the surface dark clouds were forming overhead, and as he tilted his head up to look at the leafy green canopy, raindrops began falling on his face.

One�Jacob.

What had he been talking about? Sure Jack cared about Sam, but was it that obvious?

Two�Samantha.

He�d always hated scientists. But she wasn�t just a scientist; she was Sam Carter. A regular Amazon.

Three�Shanahan.

Jack hadn�t liked the guy the first time he�d heard of him. When Sam was humming in the elevator Jack felt extremely disappointed that he, himself, wasn�t the cause of her sudden joy.

Four�regulations.

Sam was his 2IC. He was sure many heads would be turned if it was heard that Jack O�Neill was having a romantic relationship with his second who was beautiful, intelligent, and more than ten years his junior.

One, Jacob. Two, Samantha.

Oh it was a dilemma, all right. A big fat dilemma.

Three, Shanahan. Four, regulations.

Heads would be turned. Now, Teal�c and Fraiser, they already knew. They�d heard Jack�s admission at that zatarc testing.

One, Jacob. Two, Samantha. Three, Shanahan. Four, regulations.

Thousands upon thousands of light years from home, there wasn�t really anything Jack could do about it. For the moment.

�Colonel O�Neill. I will not allow you to pass until you have gained control of your senses.�

Jack�s path was blocked by the huge form of the Jaffa; former first prime of Apophis. Behind which a brown haired, bespectacled archaeologist peered worriedly at his friend.

�Teal�c, let me get by, I need to talk to Hammond.� Jack growled.

�You are not in your right mind. You should calm yourself.�

Jack glared defiantly up at him, taking a few deep breaths. �Happy now?�

Teal�c turned to step aside, but he and Daniel both followed Jack up to Hammond�s office.

�Sir! I want you to find that no good son-of-a-bitch and lock him up!� Jack roared, completely oblivious to the fact that some highly decorated official was standing in Hammond�s office.

The general did his bullfrog imitation and seemed to puff up before snapping, �Colonel O�Neill control yourself!�

�I�m sorry, Sir.� Jack was eyeing the official from the pentagon, who was barely controlling a smirk.

The other man nodded once. �I�ll leave you to deal with this, General. I�d like to have those reports, though.�

�Yes, sir.� Hammond saluted and the man left. Then Hammond rounded on Jack. �What?�

�It was Pete Shanahan, sir,� Jack was feeling angry again. He wanted to break something. The model airplane on Hammond�s desk was awfully inviting.

�What?!� Hammond and Daniel, their voices nearly an octave apart, both exclaimed.

�Yeah,� a fake grin somehow plastered itself onto Jack�s face. �I kinda want to bash his pretty little face in right now.�

�Colonel O�Neill control yourself.� Hammond reprimanded for the second time. �We�ll look into this.� He ushered them out of the room.

Sam was barely conscious. She didn�t want to be conscious. The drugs that Janet kept giving her kept the pain in her head at bay, but there was another pain deep in her chest that was always there, throbbing.

�Yeah, well, you�re not supposed to do that here, either, but some people do. Fucking bastard.�

The pillow was so soft. The bed wasn�t the most comfortable but after lying on the carpet in her living room for an hour, anything felt nice.

�Why would he want to do that to Sam? I mean�I couldn�t imagine her doing something malicious towards someone she cared about. She�s not like that.�

The pain dissipated for a little while. Sam focused on the steady beep of the heart monitor. Did they have a machine that could monitor how your heart felt? She was sure that one would be flat lining for her by now.

Someone was gently running their fingers through her hair in a calm, soothing, repetitive motion.

Janet looked up at Daniel from her perch on the edge of Sam�s bed. The two stared at each other and seemed to have one of their silent conversations, glances conveying what words couldn�t. Janet was paged to the infirmary. She stood up and left.

Teal�c and Daniel eventually drifted out as well. If a Jaffa could drift, Teal�c most certainly could.

Fingers once again were being run through Sam�s hair. She rolled over and looked up at Jack.

�Hey, Carter.�

She found herself unable to speak, unable to move her mouth at all. Or move any part of her body. It was as if her limbs had suddenly lost the will to move.

Jack�s hand felt so warm against her cheek. Sam�s eyes fluttered shut. Jack hesitated a moment, then stood up and left the room to join Daniel and Teal�c where they were waiting behind the glass observation windows.

That night Jack dreamed a phantasmagoria of images. Something pure was lost. And there was nothing he could do about it.

Sam awoke in the middle of the night. She stared up at the blank windows above her. The whispering was back, a hundred voices hushed, some speaking out louder. She squinted at the reflections in the window, a face appeared, grinning down at her. She heard her own scream, far away, beyond the voices.

Seconds, minutes, or may be hours later Jack�s arms were around her, holding her close while Teal�c�s presence kept the phantoms at bay and Daniel and Janet watched worriedly from the other side of the bed.

Continue to Part 2

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