Drip-Drip

By BadgerGater

E-mail: [email protected]

Category: Word a month, hurt/comfort, drama

Season: 5 or before

Spoilers: None, really

Rating: G

Warnings: Darkness. Wetness.

Summary: A trip to a cave turns into a fight for life for Colonel O'Neill

Author’s note: okay, so this word a month is a bit late, but it’s finally ready… if you dare

<><><><><>

A single drop of water, an insignificant, harmless thing in itself. But drop after drop, in the hundreds and the thousands and the millions and the billions, they added up, after a while.

They could kill me.

I was trapped down here, in this cave, alone. Didn’t even know where my team was. Didn't know if they knew where I was. Didn’t have a very good memory of anything much that had happened in the last hours, or days maybe.

I shivered, and tried to remember how I’d gotten into this mess.

-----------------

P3J-346, meet and greet mission with reconnaissance, five days max, your basic SG-1 off world mission. We departed on schedule at 0900 Monday morning. Normal wormhole ride, if you can call any ride normal where your molecules are scrambled, flung a few gazillion miles across the universe and reassembled chilled but intact on some far off planet.

Nice planet. Lotsa trees. Lotsa rocks.

Primitive but friendly natives.

Daniel was ecstatic because he had new friends to talk to.

Carter was enthused because she had found some new kind of crystal glowy rocks.

Teal’c was excited, because, well, because he’s Teal’c and inter-stellar travel just really floats his boat.

And me, well, hell, I was cynical, caustic, sarcastic, defensive and very easily bored, the real Jack O’Neill, what did you expect?

----------

Four, maybe five, days ago we’d gated to this planet, or maybe it was more than that by now, I don't know for sure anymore.

The Malara had seemed quite nice. No glowing eyes, no snakes in the head or the belly, no nasty alien tricks. They’d invited us to their village, shared a couple of meals with us, patiently answered a billion of Daniel’s questions and another billion of Carter’s. Daniel had spent a lot of time drooling over their local warehouse/museum/cityhall/church whatever building. No writing, but lots of cute little pictures. He said they told the Malaran's history. I thought they'd never be any competition to the average second grader's artistic talents, but hey, I'm no art critic, you know?

Carter kept busy collecting soil samples and rock samples and plant samples and who knew what other samples.

That’s when fate, karma, kismet and bad luck all came together for SG-1, or for me at least.

Carter went into the warehouse/museum/cityhall/church and saw the fancy statue/icon/totem pole/Holy Grail of the patient/friendly/benevolent/nice Malarans, and nearly passed out from excitement/enthusiasm/eagerness.

“Sir, it’s crystal of a type I’ve never seen before. This is exceptional,” she was stuttering in her rush to gush over the stuff. “Daniel, I need to find out where this crystal comes from, whether it’s like this in its raw state, or if they cut it to make it refract like this…”

Once our Malaran guide, Adala, got into the conversation, it got even worse. I tuned out the rest of the babbling in sheer self defense of my sanity. Okay, so I know it’s important for *them* to understand, but it’s *not* important for *me* to understand…understand? I don’t have room in my brain to clutter it up with all that needless scientific/cultural mumbo jumbo, so I just let it all go in one ear and out the other, and filter out the pertinent stuff.

When there is any.

Finally, the three of them seemed to have run out of superlatives. Figuring it might be safe at last, I strolled back over to their little huddle. “So, kids, what did we find out, eh?” I stared at Carter.

“The crystals are a gift from the gods,” Daniel started.

I rolled my eyes. “Oh, great. Why is it we can’t go anywhere without running into the ‘gods’?”

“Probably because virtually every human society anyone has ever studied has gods of some sort…” Daniel answered.

I threw him a look, the ‘you ought to know by now that I didn’t really want an answer to that rhetorical question’ look.

In return, he gave me his ‘I know that but I had to say it anyway’ look, and shrugged.

I turned to the Major. “Carter?”

She paused, looking at me. “Sir?”

“Give me the ‘Crystals for Dummies’ version, would ya’? Why do we care about these pretty shiny rocks? We’re not in the jewelry business.”

“Sir, you know the Goa’uld use crystals in their ships, for power for the engines, the shields, everything. If this planet could be a source of those crystals, we could…”

I waved a finger. “Ack! I get it. Our very own crystal powered weapons and spaceships...”

“Right, Sir. Right now, even if we find Goa’uld technology, we can’t reproduce it without a power source." She waved a hand at the glowing statue thingamabob. "This could be our power source.”

“So it’s important then, I take it?”

“Very, Sir.” She smiled her delighted scientist smile. "Adala says this crystal material comes from deep within a massive cave over there,” she pointed at the nearby mountain. “And he's agreed to send a guide to show us the way. Alem is one of the miners who has been taught the path into the cave, and how to find the room of light, where the crystals grow.”

“And how long will it take to find this room?” I asked.

“Adala has never been there himself,” Daniel answered, “but the men who go leave in the early morning, travel all day, and return late the same night.”

“Okay, so we can make the trip, get some samples and same data readings, and be back before our scheduled return?” Daniel, Carter and Adala all nodded. “Right, then. Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we’re off to see the wizard.”

-------------

Alem met us at dawn and, after exchanging a quick couple words with Daniel, led us out of the village. It was a solid two hour hike to the base of the mountain where a dark, gaping hole led down into the ground. The path was well worn, as if thousands of feet had trod this trail over the years. Still, I had a sudden bad feeling about the place, you know that shivery ‘someone is walking on your grave’ feeling.

Looking back, I should have listened to myself, shouldn't have let Carter's excitement about the place override that gut feeling I got about the dangers in that cave. Of course, as it turned out, it wasn’t so much the caves as the Malara we should have been uneasy about, or at least, Alem, our guide.

Remind me never to go into another cave. Ever. Spelunking is just not for me, okay?

----------------

Alem led us into the mountain, carrying one of the big crystals which glowed in the dark. To conserve our flashlight batteries, I’d ordered all of us except Teal’c to turn out our lights.

Within a few hundred yards of the cavern’s entrance, we began seeing small, sparkling crystals embedded randomly in the walls. None of these, however, seemed to be glowing like the big crystals.

"Batteries dead on these?" I asked Carter, waving at the little rocks.

The Major grinned. "No, Sir. There needs to be a complete multi-crystal matrix before they're able to generate any power. They'd have to be much bigger and more complete before..."

"Ah," I commented, and walked on.

The natural pathway curved this way and that. The floor was uneven, the walls rough. In some places the ceiling was 10 to 15 feet above us, in other places I had to duck. Mostly the cave was wide enough for several people to walk abreast, but twice we’d hit spots where we had to walk single file, and once a spot so narrow we’d had to turn sideways and not even breathe to get through.

Our guide seemed confident, all smiling and friendly, nodding at me over and over again as he exchanged words with Daniel. But there was something I didn’t like about Alem’s eyes. Maybe it was just the odd greenish hue of that crystal light that made him look sort of sneaky, I told myself. None of the others seemed worried, not even Teal’c, so I concentrated on moving steadily forward.

The sooner we were in, sooner we’d be out and heading for home.

The trail twisted and turned. It seemed like we were doubling back on ourselves, but, heck, I didn’t know the way and who knew how these natural passages ran?

-------------

Daniel, as translator, was following directly behind Alem. Then it was Carter, and I was walking about two strides behind her, with Teal’c on our six.

Suddenly, the Major stopped. “Wow!” Carter paused, her hands reaching up to touch the largest crystal fragment we’d seen yet, and the first that seemed to be glowing with its own inner light. Daniel turned around to look at both of us, and that’s when it happened.

Alem’s light just sort of winked out of existence.

One moment he was there, and the next, he was gone.

Even I didn’t notice it right away, as Teal’c’s light illuminated the passageway where we stood. I thought maybe the native had just turned, his light hidden. “Alem?” I asked. “Hello-o?”

Daniel turned back toward our guide. “Alem?” Jackson took another step, a look of panic crossing his face as he spun back toward me. “He’s gone.”

“Son of a bitch,” I cursed, brushing past Carter and Daniel. “Alem! Hey!”

“Jack, don’t scare him…” Daniel started softly. “Maybe he’s just gone on ahead.”

“Oh really? Where?” I switched on my light and pointed it on the trail ahead of us. “He left, and in a hurry, the moment we were distracted.“

“Jack, don’t be so negative…”

“The son of a bitch didn’t lose us by accident, Daniel, he split. Vamoosed. Flew the coop. Abandoned us.”

“Yelling isn’t going to help, Jack.”

I raised an eyebrow. “So what is?”

“Give me a minute.” Daniel slipped past me on the narrow trail and began speaking in the singsong native dialect.

He didn’t get an answer.

Not that I expected any.

Great. We’d been ditched.

“So we’re lost, Sir?” Carter sounded a little scared.

“Nah,” I tried to make my voice sound more confident than I felt. “It can’t be that hard to find our way back. I’ve got a pretty good sense of direction and so does Teal’c, right, big guy?”

“I believe I know the path to return safely outside,” the Jaffa stated softly.

“Then let’s go,” I waved a hand at Teal’c.

“Jack, maybe we should wait…”

I glared at Dr. Jackson. “Wait for our friend to come back? Daniel, do you believe in Santa Claus?”

He shot me that confused archaeologist look. “Ah, no.”

“Neither do I.” I turned back to our man from Chulak. “Let’s go.”

-----------

Not only was I wrong, Teal’c was wrong, too.

I was okay for a while, confidently starting us back the way we'd entered the dark tunnels. We took four or five turns before I hit a spot I honestly didn't remember. A knot started to form in my stomach.

"Which way, Jack?" Daniel asked.

I shook my head. “Teal’c?”

“I am not confident as to which direction we should choose.”

"Carter?"

"I'm not sure, either, Sir."

“Daniel?”

“This place doesn’t look familiar.”

No, it didn't.

"That way does appear to lead upward," said Teal'c.

"Up it is then. Left," I decided.

We walked onward for hours. We'd turned out all but one flashlight to conserve the batteries for our lights. I’d put Teal’c on point now, and I’d taken up our six, Daniel and Carter in the middle. Though we were climbing, the floor in this area was slippery and damp. In the inky darkness I reached out a hand and touched the walls… they were cool and wet, too. Twice we came to junctions in the path, and both times I let our Chulakian teammate choose our path. We were working our way steadily upward at a very slight angle, but upward it still was, I realized hopefully.

That’s when I saw it. I could have sworn there was a flash of light behind us. The sneaky little alien creep who’d abandoned us must have been shadowing us. I stopped and turned, peering behind us, seeing another flash like light reflected down a side tunnel. I took two steps back, toward the side tunnel Teal’c had just rejected, seeing something in the inky blackness.

I only took one more step, that was all. One step, and a dark hole just seemed to open up in front of me. My foot slipped on the damp, crumbling edge and over I went.

------------

I was falling, falling into the hole. For a brief second I thought it was bottomless. And then, with a bone jarring crunch, you guessed it, I found the bottom.

Lucky me.

------------------

I don't know how much later it was that I finally awakened, groaning.

Where the hell was I?

Who turned out the lights?

What was it, another one of the Goa'uld shock grenades, one of the ones that left you blinded? Groaning, I blinked, rubbed my eyes, waved my hand in front of my face, seeing nothing, nothing at all.

I was lying on my side. Okay, so eyes don’t work, or it’s dark. Real dark. Hands work. Arms work, legs move. Ankle’s a little iffy, but... Pushing with my hands, shifting my weight to sit up, I gasped as pain streaked along my rib cage. Okay, ribs mostly work. So, partially functional at least. Head aches a lot. I reached a hand up into my hair, or at least where it seemed my hair should be, and found hair, and something wet that didn’t feel like mud but rather felt sticky. Blood. Not a lot, but some, caked in my hair. So I’d been unconscious for a while, long enough for it to dry.

I closed my eyes, and reopened them, but still nothing but pitch darkness. Waved a hand in front of my eyes, and couldn’t see it. Turned my head side to side, and suddenly felt nauseous. Hard to believe you can be dizzy in the dark, but you know what? You can. Oh yeah. My head was spinning and since I was the only one down here, it had to be me who was moaning.

Shut up Jack.

Once I felt like my head was no longer on the verge of disintegrating, I cautiously moved it a bit, side to side. Still couldn’t see. Slowly, I reached out with my hands and felt the ground around me, damp and sort of spongey. No, definitely not a ship, Goa'uld or otherwise, unless the snakes had taken to putting gardens on their ships. There was dirt and rocks under me. More dirt and rocks all around me, I found by crawling around the small lightless pit I was in. Parts of the floor seemed damp, and the walls were sort of slimy.

Dejectedly, I sat down again, back against the damp wall, and tried to recall what had happened, where I was and how I got here.

The details of my situation came back to my addled brain bit by bit.

Cave.

Dark.

Lost.

Falling.

Crashing.

Hurt.

Crap.

I couldn't tell how far it was back up to the trail, but it seemed like I’d fallen for a long while, hence, a long ways. It was certainly a hell of a lot further than I could climb, even if I had two good arms and two good legs and could see anything but pure pitch blackness.

Think, Jack. Ignore the pain. So you're brain's a little fuzzy, that’s not much of a handicap, most people think it's that way all the time.

Think, damn it.

Unconscious. Knocked unconscious when I fell into...here. How long had I been unconscious? Since I hit. How long ago was that? Don't know.

"Hey!.... Arrggghhh," oh, shit, hurts, that hurts. Head ringing like a bell, a cracked bell, come to think of it. But I need to shout, need to try, need to let them know I’m alive down here.

Lying on the cold damp Earth, no, wait, not Earth, some planet’s dirt, soil, cave floor, whatever, lying there, I tried again. "Hey! Carter! Teal'c! Daniel! Hello! Anybody out there?"

My shouts echoed dully. How far would it carry? How far away were they?

Shit, Jack, use your head. If they were nearby, you'd see their lights.

Lights.

Good thinking, Jack, turn on your light.

Tried.

Didn't work.

Feeling the flashlight with my fingers, I encountered cracked, jagged plastic edges. Busted.

Damn.

My questing fingers found something else familiar in my vest pocket. Radio. I tabbed the send switch but got nothing, no little static squawk. Crap. It must be broken, too. Or they were out of range. Or maybe it didn’t work down here. Carter had said something about the crystal thingies interfering…

So where were they? They weren't down here with me, and they weren't up there at the top of the pit so..... Had they left without me? No one gets left behind, no, wait, that's my rule. Maybe not their rule. No, I trained them. They knew the rule. They wouldn't leave without me, would they? No, they’ve gone for help. That’s what they’ve done. Gone for help. They’ll be back. Unless…

What if they didn’t go for help? Couldn’t?

Where were they?

Maybe the Malara had rescued them or captured them. Maybe I'd been unconscious for days and they'd given me up for dead. No, I’d know if it had been days. I wasn’t thirsty, hungry, cold or weak enough for days to have passed. Hours maybe, yeah, hours seemed likely.

Maybe there was something else living down here that had dragged them away. No, that didn't make sense, it would have taken me, too, wouldn't it?

I ground one grimy palm into my eyes, vainly hoping that would help me see, or clear my rattled brain, but nothing helped.

So, Jack, if they’re not here to help you, got off your butt and help yourself. Groaning, I pushed myself up onto my knees, and tried to get to my feet, fighting back the dizziness that threatened to swamp me. After a moment, I tried again, but as soon as I put weight on my right leg, agonizing pain shot through my ankle and I crumpled back to the ground. Oh, damn. I knew I wouldn't be walking on that ankle for a while. It was swollen tight within my boot, maybe broken, maybe only sprained, hurt like hell, either way. The pain was mostly bearable, if I didn't try to put any weight on it.

My head hurt, too, a lot, and my thinking wasn't very clear. I was finding it hard to hold a thought. I did have a pretty good-sized bump on the back of my head, but there didn’t seem to be any fresh blood. Just confusion, disorientation, dizziness.

Things got hazy again right about then. I think I passed out once more, several times more probably because I have these jumbled recollections of waking up, but that's just a guess. Maybe I just slept.

My watch was smashed, so I couldn't tell what time or day it was, or how long I'd been here.

So yeah, I knew I was in trouble, even before I heard the first drip.

Alone in the dark and quiet, it was amazingly loud.

And quickly annoying.

Actually, the sound was enough to drive a man crazy.

Drip.

Splash.

Drip.

Splash.

Drip. Drip

Splash. Splash.

Not an echo, but a chorus, now, the one drip joined by others.

Drip-drip-drip-drip-drip.

Somewhere, the water was coming in, and I had the sudden bad feeling it wasn't going out.

Something wet touched my hand, and I drew it back. Water, puddling on the floor now.

Damn.

Time to get the hell out of here, Jack.

Now, damn it.

I forced myself upright, or as upright as I could get. Working my way slowly around the perimeter of my little cell, I ignored the pull in my ribs and reached as high as I could, feeling for handholds.

I found nothing more than a small ledge. Calling it that was generous, but it was a small shelf of dirt, a couple of feet up off the floor. With the water pooling around my boots now, I knew I had to find a way up. Using my arms, I pulled myself off the floor, over the crumbling edge, and onto the little shelf and collapsed, gasping with the pain of movement. Man, that hurt, I thought, lying back, trying to catch my breath before I could go on.

After a couple of minutes, I forced myself to my feet, standing with all my weight on my left leg.

Reaching upward again, with my right hand, there, a small indentation in the rock. I curled damp cold fingers around the edge, and pulled myself up, scrambling with my left foot for any sort of purchase on the slime slicked rock. My left hand searched frantically for another hold, and found a crack so tiny I could barely wedge my fingers in it. Gasping against the ache in my ribs, I pulled myself up another couple of inches, my right hand scrabbling for another hold, found one, and lost it.

I slipped. My hands burned across the cool rock as I slid, slowly, inexorably, unable to stop myself until I landed gracelessly on the little ledge, trying to take all my weight on my good leg and failing. “God!” I cursed, teeth clenched.

Drip-drip drip-drip drip-drip-- the only sound in my little earthen prison.

Shit, Jack, don't think of it as a prison. Don't go there. No, don't. Not a prison. Just a place. A small enclosed dark place. Bad memories live in dark places, they'll escape if you let them, so don't let them. Keep them boxed in and locked up. Occupy your mind with something else, anything else, avoid those demons that lurk in the dark in the back of your brain. Don't let them out.

I shivered, partly at the memory, partly at the damp cold settling into my bones.

-------------

Somehow, the hours passed, how many I wasn't sure, my sense of time seemed to be working about as well as my sense of direction. I think I dozed off or zoned out or passed out a couple more times, but in the dark I had no way to judge accurately. Still, I had the feeling quite a bit of time had gone by, in part because I suddenly realized I had developed a raging thirst.

So now, I thought grimly, it was a question of which would kill me first, the injuries, the cold, or starvation. At least I wouldn't die of thirst, I thought, reaching down to scoop up a handful of water. Eagerly, I brought the welcome moisture to my mouth.

"Acckkk!"

The water was foul, bitter and tasting of minerals or something unknown. My stomach rebelled at the bitterness of it, muscle spasms expelling the liquid I'd swallowed. Boy, that was fun, with aching ribs, retching, well, to be blunt, heaving until my stomach was empty. I couldn't even rinse the bitter taste from my mouth.

Stomach empty at last, I shifted around until my back was resting against the damp dirt wall, drawing my legs up toward my chest and wrapping my arms around them, and battled back the despair.

------------------

Several times I thought I heard something, something beside the drip-drip-drip, that is. I hollered then, calling the names of my team once more. No one responsed. No help came.

Shivering, I huddled on the ledge, my head pounding and my leg aching and each breath bringing a twinge of protest from my ribs.

Another fine mess you've gotten yourself into this time, Jack, old man.

I dozed, the drip-drip-drip lulling me to sleep. I dreamed of a warm place, of my house and my own bed, warm blankets and supper, a hot cup of soup seemed like the best meal I'd ever eaten. And then I’d wake, shivering, the cold reality of the mess I was in intruding on the pleasant interlude.

---------------------

"Jack?" the voice echoed in my head. "Jack, can you hear me?"

I woke, shaking my head, that was a dream, a nice dream, someone's voice, Daniel's, calling to me.

"Colonel? Sir?"

Wow. Really vivid dream. That sounded just like Carter.

Shadows, there were shadows.

How could there be shadows, here in the pitch dark?

Shifting my weight on the ledge, I tried to be careful not to slip off into the cold water that lapped at my haven. As I moved, a little bit of the ledge fell away, sliding into the water below. Blinking again and again I realized that above me, far above me, there really was a flicker of light.

"Hey, kids," I rasped hoarsely. I tried to yell but couldn't holler loud enough to be heard above the drip-drip-drip that echoed in my head.

Their voices echoed down the shaft. "Maybe he's unconscious," said Daniel.

"It's been 36 hours, Daniel. We have to face the fact, he might be dead."

Noise, I had to make noise. I fumbled at the strap of the holster of my sidearm, pulled the weapon out of the case, and tapped it against the rock. The noise boomed loudly, or so it seemed, making my head hurt more.

"Jack, Jack, is that you? Tap twice if it's you."

Who the hell else would it be? I tapped twice.

"Sir, are you hurt? Tap once for yes, twice for no."

I tapped once.

"Was that a yes?"

Again, I tapped once.

"Damn it, even if we can get the rope all the way down there, he can't climb up if he's hurt," Carter’s voice drifted down to me once more.

God, why didn't they ask me if I needed something, like water? Damn.

I tapped the gun against the rock, over and over again. Tap tap tap tap tap, drowning out the drip, drip drip drip drip.

"What's he trying to tell us?" I heard the echo of their words rumble through my small world. Then louder, "Jack, what are you trying to tell us?"

"Water," I croaked, then tried again, put all my strength into the word. "Water."

"Yes, we know there's water coming into the cave. Hold on. We're working to get you out."

In frustration, I pounded my fist against the cave wall. Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink. Where was that old line from? I wondered idly. I didn't have a clue, some old story of being shipwrecked, I imagined, trapped on a boat, surrounded by the sea, with no water but salt water...

Drip drip drip.

I sighed, wrapping my arms around myself more tightly, and shivered. I was drifting, losing control, my mind wandering. That was a sign of something, something bad, I knew, I just couldn't remember. Hypo-something. Hypo-potamus? Hypo-critical? Hypodermic? Hypochondria? Hypothermia!

The light shown down at me, pain spiking in my head. Damn. I snapped my eyes shut against the overwhelming brightness as I heard Carter say, “This pit is deeper than we thought. I’m not sure…” then she must have turned away because I couldn’t make out the rest, just a rumble of voices, talking. Finally, Carter's voice drifted down to me once more. "Sir, we don't have enough rope to get all the way down to you. We're sending one of the natives back for more rope. It will take a couple of hours. Hold on."

"Hold on, Jack," Daniel reiterated.

Sure, no big deal, no problemo, no hurry, no worry, just another hour or two, down here in the cold and the dark with the rising water, and none to drink.

"Sir, tap once if you understand."

I tapped once. I understood. Oh, yeah, I understood.

Drip. Drip. Drip. Minutes passed slowly.

----------------------------------------------

Someone was calling my name from what seemed like miles away.

"Jack, answer me, damn it." That sounded like Daniel. Why was he upset with me? What did I do? Did I do something to make him mad. "Jack! Sam, he's not answering."

"Daniel, one of us has to go down there."

"The rope is too short."

"I can jump the last bit, it should only be six or eight feet. Nothing to it."

"Sam, don't---"

Light shown down around me, and I covered my eyes, blinded by the brightness after so long down here in the dark. I felt little bits of dirt strike my face, heard the little plop plop noise as bits of dirt and pebbles hit the water, almost drowning out the sound of the drip drip drip. The bright light was swaying above me, coming closer and closer.

"Colonel?"

I was shading my eyes. "Major...."

“How deep is the water?”

“Couple of feet.”

“Anything in it?”

“Nope. No sharks. No rocks. Just dirt.”

“Good then. Hold on, Sir, I'll be right there." The sound of her voice changed, she must have been looking up and yelling back at them. “I’m going to jump down, into the water…”

Then with a splash, I heard Carter yelp when she hit the cold water, and then she was there beside me. "Colonel..."

I tried to stop my teeth from chattering. "Hey, Carter. Nice of you to drop in. Hope you brought your swim suit." I smiled, or tried to, but I had the feeling it probably looked more like a grimace. “Nothing like a little swim to start your day…”

"Sir," she had a blanket to wrap around me. It felt good, a touch of warmth, but not enough, not down here in this hole with the water and the damp earth and the pain throbbing through my body. Pain pulsing steadily, like the steady sound of water going drip drip drip.

I heard Carter toggle her radio. "Daniel, we need to tell those people to hurry. He's freezing cold, and hurt. I think he's suffering from hypothermia. There's water everywhere down here, and he's just on this little ledge, and it's crumbling. I don't think..."

The ledge gave way, suddenly, slipping loose from the side of the pit, plunging my already cold body into the freezing water at Carter's knees. She caught me, pulled me up, but I was already soaked, shivering, shaking, trying to stand on my one good leg as the cold liquid lapped at my thighs. I gagged, spitting out the water.

Carter, behind me now, had both hands wrapped around my chest, my back spooned up to her front. "This is nice, Carter," I mumbled.

"Sure, Sir. Just hold on. Help is coming soon." Her breath was warm against my neck.

I heard my own teeth chattering. "B-better be real soon, Major."

I drifted. It was hard trying to stay upright, supporting almost all my weight on only my left leg. Shivering consumed most of my energy. Once in a while, I'd start to slip and my right leg would touch down, and the pain would wake me up. Oh, yeah. Useful thing, pain. Sometimes. Keeps you focused.

"Sir, you need to stay with me..."

"G-got nowhere to go, Carter."

"Right, Sir. So you need to talk to me."

"Talk about what?"

"I don't know, Sir. Where are you hurt, Colonel?"

"Ankle."

I could hear the alarm in her voice. "Is it broken?"

"Ah, no, not broken. No need to be thinking about s-splints, Carter."

"I wasn't, Sir."

"Good," I said through chattering teeth. "Good. No ssssplinting. Done with sssplinting."

"Right, Sir. Are you hurt anywhere else?"

"Ribs. Ssssore."

I felt her shift her arms, like she was afraid her grip around my chest was hurting me. Well, it was, but it was also keeping me upright. "Sorry, Sir, I didn't know..."

"Sss okay, Carter." I reached down and patted her hands, which were clenched around my ribcage. "This is really kinda nice, Major. C-cozy."

"Don't get any ideas, Colonel," she said, trying to keep her voice light.

"Right, Major. No ideas. Too c-cold for ideas. Gonna be a prune, sssoon, though," I shivered. Was that noise my teeth chattering? The water was up around my hips now, rising slowly but steadily and seeming to get colder by the minute. The water wasn't just dripping anymore, it was running, flowing, pouring in like someone had turned the faucet on. A million drips blending into a growing torrent.

"Daniel," Carter shouted. "Teal'c! I think you guys better hurry. The water's coming in faster!"

I could hear noises from up above us, then more shouts that sounded sort of muffled to my ears.

"Colonel?" Carter's voice didn't sound very loud, it sounded funny. Distant.

"Carter?" I mumbled, suddenly realizing I was slumped in her grip.

"Sir, you have to help me. Now, Colonel. I can't keep holding both of us..."

She slipped. I suppose it was my weight overbalancing her in the buoyant water and with the dirt under our feet turned to mud. I hit the water, mouth open, swallowing a big gulp of the cold, muddy, nasty, bitter-tasting stuff. I slid to my hands and knees, my ribs screaming a protest even as my ankle buckled preventing me from pushing up out of the water. Then hands were grabbing me, jerking me up out of the water, and I gasped, sucking in a mouthful of air even as I was gagging on the awful tasting water.

"Colonel!" she was shouting now.

I waved a hand weakly at her as we struggled upright, leaning against one another. I coughed, the harsh rasp sending shards of pain across my ribcage, sparking another cough. I fought to control my breathing, ordering my lungs to stop gulping and start inhaling evenly. In. Out. Bite back the cough. Stay upright. Hold on to Carter. Feel the shivering. Shivering is the body’s reaction to keep you warm. Warm up. Stand up. Suck it up. Buck up, O'Neill.

Just about then, something thunked me on the head, something fortunately not too heavy.

Rope.

Rescue.

Carter wrapped the rope around me, building a makeshift harness, tying the knots carefully. I could see her hands shaking as she worked.

"There, Sir." She looked sternly at me as she wrapped my half frozen fingers around the rope. "Can you hold on?"

"Yeah."

"Just let them pull you up. Just hold on. That's all you need to do."

"Carter? What...?"

"I'll take the next elevator, Sir. You go first."

"L-ladies first, Major."

She smiled. "Not today, Sir."

The rope went taut. I gripped it tightly, leaned my weight into it, tried to move my legs in rhythm with the pulls, but it didn't work. I didn't seem to be helping, so I just held on.

Jerk. Move upward. Bite back the groan. Jerk. Move upward. Bite your lip. Jerk. Move upward. Remember to breathe. Jerk. Move upward. Don't scream when the swinging ankle thumps the pit wall. Jerk. Move upward, and then the pull evened out.

At the lip of the pit, hands stretched toward me, pulling me over the edge.

"Hey, guys. Long time no ssssee," I smiled at Teal'c and Daniel and a half a dozen natives, glad that Alem's face wasn't among those looking down at me.

As they bundled me onto a waiting stretcher and covered me with rough native blankets, Teal'c pulled Carter up out of the pit. Someone gave her a blanket and she wrapped it around her shivering shoulders.

"You okay, Sir?" she asked.

"R-right as rain, Major," I sighed, snuggling deeper into the warmth.

----------------

They carried me a long ways through the dark passageways. Every little while they'd stop and Daniel or Carter would stare worriedly down at me, peel back the blankets and take my pulse, ask me a few inane questions, nod and we'd move on again.

I think I dozed off a few times, and then suddenly, it was getting lighter. Sort of. We were approaching the cave mouth and it was raining outside. That was where all the water had come from, from the rain, turning the drip drip drip to a steady flow that would have killed me by now.

-------------------

I drifted. I opened my eyes in surroundings that were as familiar as they were unwelcome.

Paintless ceiling. Antiseptic smells. Noisy machines.

The infirmary.

Again.

Sheesh.

Letting my eyes work their way from the familiar ceiling downward, I finally found an equally familiar figure sitting slumped in a chair, Daniel, asleep, his glasses askew, the book he’d been reading slid halfway off his lap.

The room was dim, the noises muted, the familiar face of Capt. Carroll, the night nurse, seated across the room, so it must be late. Shit. I’m spending waaaayy too much time here when I know the night schedule from the day schedule.

I sighed, then grimaced. Bad move. The ribs weren’t right, but yeah, that I remembered. Head was still a little fuzzy, remembered that, too. Ankle felt heavy, but not too heavy, which meant wrapped, not a cast, which was damn good news.

So, all in all, lots of battered, nothing broken.

Not fatal.

I sighed, and slipped back into sleep.

-------------

Drip- drip... drip- drip.

Oh god.

A dream.

It had all been a dream, the rescue.

Drip-drip drip-drip.

I was still down there, alone, with the drip… wait. Things *had* changed. Not a dirt floor, not cold, not wet.

Not dripping. Beeping, rhythmic beeping, a sound I know far too well.

The light was blinding when I opened my eyes and I shut them again quickly.

"Jack?"

"Sir?"

"O'Neill?"

Not a dream. I knew those three voices, and the next one, too.

"Colonel, I've turned down the lights. Open your eyes now, Sir."

Not that I'm wont to obey orders, but just once couldn't hurt. I squinted and eased my eyes open gradually. The light wasn't so bright now, not uncomfortable, just there, just enough so I could see my team is okay. "Water," I rasp.

Doc poured water into a glass, bent the straw to my reach, steadying the cup because my hand was shaking a lot.

Done, I sank back into the soft depths of the pillow, grateful for the soft, warm feel of it.

"What happened?"

Multiple voices answered, and I found it hard to follow. Some things I remembered dimly, the cave, falling. The rainstorm, flooding the cave, the water percolating through the rocks of the mountain above us, picking up the bitter taste of mineral. Carter jumping into the water, being hauled up out of the pit, and carried. Feeling cold and sick, then hot and sick, Doc telling me I had pneumonia and a fever and I’d be okay eventually. I nodded, fighting to stay awake, my eyes sliding closed, but I needed to know one thing more. "Why?"

Daniel looked at Sam, who looked at Teal'c, who looked at Doc. I hate it when no one looks at me. "Why?" I asked again.

"It seems the Malara weren't as peaceful as we first thought," Daniel said softly.

"Or as united," Carter admitted.

"Quite the contrary," Teal'c added.

"While the villagers were happy to trade with us, they've had a running dispute with the miners, apparently for quite a long time," Daniel explained. "The miners thought we were spies, sent to find the source of the crystals. So Alem led us around in circles, made sure we were lost, and then disappeared. He told the Malaran leaders we got lost because we didn't listen to him, because we wanted to go off on our own, exploring."

"So we were abandoned in the cave because the locals didn’t trust each other?"

"Guess you could sum it up that way, Sir," Carter agreed.

"We were just the innocent bystanders caught up in their dispute," Daniel added.

It had been a long time since anyone had accused me of being innocent of anything, I thought sleepily. They kept talking, discussing something, but I was too weary to follow their words. With a sigh, I sank deeper into the pillows, shifting to find a more comfortable position for all the aching parts of my anatomy, and finally, gave it up as futile.

It's okay.

I'm home.

No crystals. No caves. No natives.

Nothing dripping now but the meds in my IVs.

**the end**