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ALIVE AGAIN

By Annie B.

 

Characters: Jonas, Sam, Jack, Janet
Pairing: Sam/Jonas, a bit of Sam/Jack
Rating: NC-17
Category: Romance, angst, some violence
Warning: graphic sex
Episodes: Redemption Part I and II, Meridian
Summary: Jonas has just joined the team and wants to thank Sam for putting in a good word for him. It seems that he's in for more than he's bargained for…

Note: First of all, if you believe that the relationship between Sam and Jonas should be nothing more than friendship, DO NOT READ THIS. And before you ask, the planets called P3X-931, P3X-574 and P4X-239 are purely fictitious. They don't exist in the Stargate universe, as far as I know. Neither do the Tharkans. Also, I took some liberties with Jonas' physical assets (and to all of you, fellow gutter dwellers, this is NOT what you think!).

Disclaimer: None of the Stargate SG-1 characters belong to me, I know that. I'm just borrowing them for a little while. I promise I'll give them back to MGM Studios, Gekko Productions and anyone else who owns them as soon as I'm finished playing with them… *BG* I have no intention of making any money out of this.

Constructive criticism is welcome but please note that I will ignore flames of any kind. The only exception is if they concern Jonas himself, in which case you will definitely get a nasty piece of my mind because I am very protective of him… =o)

****************

The team was still trying to adjust to the addition of their newest member. It would take some getting used to, especially on Jack's part. The Colonel had been quite reluctant to let Jonas join them. He didn't have anything against the guy personally but even though he would never admit it, he felt that Daniel could never be replaced and should never be replaced. That was his way of dealing with the loss of his longtime friend. Jonas had big shoes to fill and he would certainly have to prove himself now that he had joined the ranks of SG-1. And everyone would soon find out that what he lacked in experience, he certainly made up for in enthusiasm.

Upon returning from a recon mission on P3X-931, Jonas realized that he hadn't even taken the time to thank Major Carter properly for what she had done for him. After all, if it wasn't for her, he would most likely still be stuck on the base with little more to do than reading and doing some sort of research. Although she didn't seem to believe in him at first, Sam had obviously changed her mind after witnessing his valuable contribution during the incident with the X-302. Plus, she had done some very good convincing to change Jack's mind about having Jonas on the team - even if, for Jack, the mere idea of working side by side with a Russian probably had a lot to do with it as well.

Jonas had always been a little intimidated by Sam; this was probably due to the fact that he secretly admired her. Not only was she a highly regarded scientist in her field but she had also proven herself countless times as a formidable player in the fight against the Goa'uld. And then there was her smile… To him, it was as beautiful as the sun setting over the towering mountains of Kelowna. And her eyes… they were like…

"Jonas?"

Jonas was abruptly yanked out of his daydreaming by the familiar voice.

Sam had just set foot in the office but Jonas was so deep in his thoughts of her that he didn't even notice the Major, who was standing near the doorway. He promptly took his feet off the desk and tossed aside the book he was supposedly reading while he clumsily rose from his chair. He politely greeted her.

"Hello, Major… Please come in…"

"Hi… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. The door was open so I thought I'd let myself in" Sam said. She pursed her lips as she walked a bit further into the room. "By the way, Jonas, we've been over this before… Since you're not military, I'd like you to stop calling me Major. It's Sam, okay?"

Jonas smiled sheepishly and ran his fingers through his slightly tousled hair, as if trying to hide his embarrassment.

"Yes, Major… I mean, Sam!... Uhh… Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Yes, actually, there is." Sam replied. "We've already started working on the specifications for the new X-303 and I could use your input on how to avoid the kind of trouble we ran into with its predecessor regarding the instability of the Naqadria. Also, as a precautionary measure we want to make sure that the integrity of the hull won't be comprised due to the pull coming from the gravitational field once we've entered hyperspace. The polarity shift could…"

"…bring about a rift inside the plasma meta-folds of the reactor module, thereby causing the hull fractures… not to mention that it could also trigger off a cascade failure within the EPS relays." Jonas finished.

Sam was speechless for a moment. It was very rare for her to find anyone who could actually understand what she was talking about when it came to Physics and propulsion systems, let alone finish off her explanations.

"Wow… I had no idea you possessed such an advanced knowledge of Quantum Mechanics and Particle Physics…" she finally uttered.

"I told you I'm a quick study" Jonas said in the most honest of fashions. "The base library has a few abstracts about studies that were recently made on propulsion technology so I thought I'd take the time to familiarize myself with the subject, just in case…" In reality, he was tickled pink. Sam was coming to him for help. He bit his lower lip in an effort to repress a smile that could be easily construed as smugness. "But I thought Dr. McKay was going to help you out with all that…" he simply added.

Sam smiled faintly.

"Not exactly. At least, not for now. He left the base yesterday because he had another assignment to take care of." She paused for a moment. "He'll be back in a few days but in the meantime I could use your help. I believe your perspective on the matter is quite interesting and could allow us to make some real improvements with this new design."

"Well, I'll be glad to provide you with any insight you might need… Sam…"

"Thanks." Sam took a few steps forward and she was now standing only inches away from him.

"You know, Jonas, I didn't get the chance to tell you this but…" Her words trailed off as she suddenly found herself gazing into those soulful green eyes of his. A soft ray of light reflecting directly into them amplified the depth of their rich color. Sam was totally caught off guard for a brief moment. Jonas gave her an inquisitive look.

"Yes?" he prompted.

"I… just wanted to tell you that I'm glad you joined SG-1 because I honestly believe you can bring something very positive to our team."

Jonas gave her a big smile. "Thank you Sam, I really appreciate that. Actually, I wanted to thank you for helping to convince Colonel O'Neill of having me on SG-1. I owe you a debt of gratitude for this."

It was Sam's turn to smile widely. Jonas' heart skipped a beat. "Don't mention it" she replied, as she kissed him on the cheek.

It was a very innocent kiss that should have been of no consequence whatsoever. But Sam's lips somehow lingered on the soft skin. Jonas smelled of bluegrass, apple and amber. She suddenly felt like burying her face in his neck just to breathe him in. She slightly tilted her head to one side and once her lips grazed his, there was no turning back. Jonas was evidently taken aback by the whole thing. Sam kissed him once and waited for his response, but he just looked at her wide-eyed. She kissed him again and this time he kissed back. Soon enough, tongues and lips were mingling into a sensuous dance. His hands found their way around her waist and she in turn put her arms around his broad shoulders. She then let one hand idly go up to his neck where her fingers gently raked the nape, which only caused Jonas to deepen the kiss even more. To him, it seemed to last forever. He hadn't even dared dreaming about something like this ever happening. After all, she was "Major Carter" and he was just Jonas Quinn, the new kid on the block.

Sam was the first one to break the kiss. She stepped back, a shadow of disbelief passing through her beautiful eyes. She looked at Jonas, like a deer caught in headlights.

"Jonas… I… I'm sorry. I don't know what got into me…" And with those words, she just turned around and left.

"Sam!" Jonas called out. But it was too late. She was already out of the room and speeding down the hallway.

Sam went back to her lab and sat down on her desk chair for a while, just staring at the floor. She was shell-shocked. In her head, she replayed what had happened a few minutes before. It was completely unlike her to do anything so rash. Where did that come from? She could easily recognize the fact that Jonas was very handsome, adorable and extremely intelligent but the thought had never even crossed her mind that she could be attracted to him that way. Let's face it… Jack was the one that had been under her skin for the past five years and it certainly couldn't change overnight. Or could it?...

********************

Things became rather awkward over the next few days. Sam couldn't avoid Jonas for obvious reasons so it didn't make it any easier. They had to work closely on the X-303 project and they also had to pair up while on a mission off world. But every time Jonas had tried to approach the forbidden subject, Sam would cleverly turn the conversation to something else. And Jonas, being the gentleman that he is, never once pushed the issue. The problem was that she knew she would run out of ideas and excuses very soon.

So one morning, she just gathered what little courage she had and decided to face him. It was rather ironic that she was gutsy enough to battle a dozen Jaffa all at once but when it came to expressing her innermost feelings, she just felt weak and almost helpless at times.

She and Jonas were exchanging opinions on the latest progress made on the X-303 as they were walking down a corridor on their way back from her lab, when Sam looked around her suspiciously a couple of times before she grabbed Jonas' hand. "Follow me", she said. She made an abrupt turn to the left with Jonas in tow, opened a door leading to a small storage facility and took Jonas inside with her before he even knew what hit him. He was clearly baffled. The door closed loudly behind them, leaving them alone in the half-light.

"Would you care to explain why you dragged me in here?" Jonas asked.

Sam rubbed her forehead and let her arm drop to the side in what looked like a sign of resignation.

"Listen, I think it's obvious that I've been avoiding any kind of discussion with you about what happened in your office last week."

"No… really?" Jonas replied with a trace of sarcasm in his voice.

Sam sighed. "Don't make this harder on me than it already is, Jonas. I mean, I admit I've been acting irresponsibly towards you since then and I want to apologize. I know I owe you an explanation."

"That, you do. But of all places on the base, why here?" Jonas asked in disbelief.

Once her vision adjusted to the lack of light, Sam quickly peeked around the room where they were now standing. All she could see were piles of military training gear tightly stacked against the walls and going straight up to the ceiling. She shrugged.

"Well…" she answered, "I suppose a quiet dinner in a nice restaurant might have been a better idea… but I figured now that I've finally found the guts to face the music, I may as well seize the moment and just do it…"

Jonas raised an eyebrow and nodded: "Good point."

Sam took a deep breath before she went on. "To be honest with you, Jonas, I think this kiss shouldn't have happened. I mean, don't get me wrong, you're a very nice guy and…"

Jonas cut her off with a hand gesture. "Sorry to interrupt you here but I've heard that Humans have a saying about nice guys… something to the effect that they always finish last. Is that true?" he asked.

Sam just stood there for a few seconds, not knowing what to say. She hadn't seen that one coming at all. "No, Jonas, it's not… at least not always…" she finally replied in a low voice. "As a matter of fact, men like you can sometimes be hard to find, here on Earth. Women who are lucky enough to meet them usually hang on to them for dear life…" she finished, a smile curling up around the corners of her mouth.

"Oh… I see…" Jonas said but he still had a confused look on his face. "And yet you're here to tell me that this kiss was actually meaningless to you and that we shouldn't pursue this any further", he added with a frown as he was struggling to grasp the meaning of this whole charade. Humans, he thought, definitely had an odd way of dealing with their feelings sometimes.

"No, that's not what I said" Sam corrected, shaking her head. "I said this kiss shouldn't have happened but I didn't say it was meaningless." She paused briefly, as if to weigh in the importance and the possible consequences of each and every word she was about to use. This was much harder than she had ever expected. Another deep breath. Come on, Sam. You can do this.

"The truth is, Jonas, you've been on my mind all week even when we were not together… Working so closely with you and getting to know you has… stirred up something inside me… It's hard to explain… It's like I was literally bowled over by those feelings I've been having for you because they came out of nowhere. I'm not even sure what they are and to me that's really unsettling. The only way I knew how to deal with this was by doing whatever I could to ignore them in the hope that they would simply… disappear…"

Jonas frowned again. "And?... Did they?"

Sam stepped up to him. "No… they didn't… "

Jonas was still trying to make sense of what Sam was throwing at him. "In that case, do you intend to do anything about it?" he asked candidly.

She brought a hand to his cheek, her fingertips delicately dancing over the skin. She got the answer she was looking for just as her eyes went up and bore straight into those amazingly beautiful green eyes of his. There was no need for words. For once in her life, it seemed she did not need proof. She could just let her heart guide her and she had somehow let her usually unshakable logic take a back seat. She knew that Jonas clearly didn't have one once of maliciousness in his body and that he was the kind of man that could make a woman happy in ways that Sam probably had never experienced.

She took a few steps towards him and slightly craned her neck, her lips now only an inch or so away from his ear. She breathed the words slowly, carefully.

"I believe I should at least explore them and see where they take me… where they take us…"

There. She had said it. She took Jonas' hand in hers and brought it to her cheek before kissing it. She couldn't believe what she was about to do and yet she knew it was what she wanted. Jonas still smelled wonderful and his skin was still incredibly soft and inviting. Her big blue eyes peered into him, leaving no doubt in his mind that she was being very serious about what she had just said. Jonas couldn't move. He felt paralyzed like a prey being cornered by its predator and yet he desperately wanted to kiss her, to let her heavenly taste fill his mouth again, if only once more.

Sam put a hand to his chest, softly rubbing it. She felt his hesitation and gently prompted him. "What more do you want me to say?" she asked huskily as she tilted her head up and got so close to him, she could feel his breath on her lips.

Jonas finally snapped out of his stupor. "Nothing… You… don't have to say anything…" And with that he kissed her very tenderly and longingly, pulling her close to him in a warm embrace. All those wonderful sensations that had stirred in him the first time came rushing back with a vengeance. His pulse and his mind started racing and his entire being began to tense up as he felt Sam's body pressing against his. A tingling sensation in his groin alerted him that a certain part of his anatomy was starting to wake up. Nevertheless, he was still totally aware of what was happening, of what was coming. To him, the idea of doing this in a storage facility was just very strange. Where he came from, people didn't do such things. Sex was an almost sacred event and there was always a time and a place for it. He stopped the kiss short.

"Sam..."

Sam was now busy nibbling on one of his earlobes and she went on to plant small kisses all the way down his neck.

"Hummm… Yes, Jonas… is… there… something wrong?" she mumbled between kisses.

He was enjoying this terribly but he managed to keep his cool. "Well, it's just that… Whoa!!"

Jonas was trying to finish his sentence when he felt Sam's hand caressing his balls through the fabric of his pants. And that was all it took to bring him over the edge. Forget about proprieties; forget about what Momma Quinn had taught him so diligently. Sam's hands then traveled up his muscular back and down again, before settling on his hips where she tugged at the waistband of his pants. She undid the belt buckle and the zipper. She chuckled as she looked down and realized he was going commando. Somehow she didn't expect that from him but it was a pleasant surprise nonetheless.

"What is it?" Jonas asked.

"Nothing…" Sam answered with a big grin on her face. "Stop asking questions and just kiss me, okay?" she said to him as she temptingly offered her lips. And while they were sharing another passionate kiss, she managed to pull down his pants, freeing his already rigid cock.

Many times Jonas had secretly wondered about the beauty of what was hiding underneath that drab military outfit and so he swiftly unbuttoned Sam's shirt and let it slide to the ground. He then removed her t-shirt and only the peach lace bra remained. He was in awe. Never had he seen anything more beautiful. He had been with a few other women before but nothing had prepared him for this. He lifted a hand and hesitantly slid it under her bra, gently caressing her breast with his fingertips. He could feel Sam's heartbeat quickening beneath his touch, her desire for him growing steadily. He carefully removed the bra and slid the pants over her slender hips before he kneeled down in front of her, taking in all of her radiant beauty. He buried his face in her mound and kissed it, inhaling her feminine scent. But as much as she was enjoying this, Sam wanted more so she grabbed his arms and pulled him up so that he was facing her again.

"I want you, Jonas…" she said with a tremor in her voice. The sheer boldness of the words surprised her but it seemed her longing for him was now too strong not to voice it.

She was only too eager to see that handsome body she had been so guiltily fantasizing about. She grasped the hems of Jonas' black t-shirt, pulled it up and tossed it aside, revealing a perfect set of abs and pecs. They soon found themselves naked in front of each other for the first time and yet it felt completely natural. Sam smiled, letting her fingers roam lazily over Jonas' smooth chest. She made a brief stop over a hard nipple, pinching it slightly between her thumb and finger. Jonas smiled at the sensation. Sam's hands continued their journey downward, all the way to his groin where her fingers gently grazed the dark patch of hair. The tickling sensation made Jonas' cock jolt forward. He was gorgeous, just like she had imagined he would be… She could already feel the nectar of her arousal dripping along the inside of her thighs.

Before she could realize what was happening, Jonas swiftly and effortlessly picked her up from the floor as if she weighed almost nothing and he sat her down on an empty steel shelf solidly fixed to the wall behind her. Sam gasped in surprise at this show of strength and braced herself by wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He noticed and looked at her worriedly:

"Did I hurt you?" he asked with concern.

Sam smiled. "No… I'm fine… I'm perfectly fine…."

She kissed him again, much more forcefully this time. She was ready for him. As ready as she had ever been for anyone. While Jonas was holding her, she lowered her hand to grasp his cock and guided him towards her wetness. She rubbed the tip of it up and down her folds a few times and did the same with the whole length of the shaft, giving herself immense pleasure and painfully teasing Jonas at the same time. Goose-bumps ran down his spine from the friction against her delicate flesh. Sam thoroughly enjoyed this because she was in control. Jonas' breath became ragged, tiny beads of sweat already visible on his forehead.

They playfully teased each other for some time, licking, sucking and nibbling on every inch of skin their hungry mouths could find. Suddenly, unable to restrain himself anymore, Jonas lifted and parted Sam's legs, exposing her glistening sex. He pried open the cleft of her drenched labia and slowly entered her, inch by inch. A low, deep groaning sound escaped from the back of his throat. Once he was completely inside, he remained motionless for a moment, just reveling in her warmth. Then in a slow but regular rhythm he moved inside her where he fitted perfectly, feeling her walls clenching around his cock. Sam couldn't believe how good it felt. It had been so long; too long, really. She grabbed his ass, pulling him into her even deeper. It was wonderfully tight and round in her hands. She reluctantly let go of it and as she firmly gripped the rim of the shelf with both hands, her hips moved upward and soon she was meeting his every thrust. Jonas grabbed her thighs and completely took control this time as he increased the pace considerably, the seething fire in his gut urging him to do so. It didn't take too long before he was ramming into her relentlessly and apparently without much effort. Sam had never felt anything like this. The feel of his balls slapping against her was driving her insane.

Suddenly, all coherent thoughts were relegated to the deepest recesses of their minds, giving complete freedom to their most primal instincts as they radically took over. Sam's pleading moans reverberated inside the small room. She had lost all concept of time and space, her entire being spiraling down an abyss of pure elation. She cried out as her climax rippled through her, riding wave after wave of demented pleasure. Jonas couldn't hold out any longer. He had been watching her thrashing in ecstasy under him and he was turned on to the point where he thought he would explode if he didn't release his load. He wrapped his arms around Sam's body with one hand clutching her butt, and a deep growl escaped from him as he came furiously into her.

Jonas kept holding Sam as their sweat-drenched bodies slowly started to relax, relinquishing all the tension built up from this enormous rush of adrenaline. As they were trying to catch their breath, the reality of it all finally struck them. They looked at each other and smiled for a few seconds until Sam started laughing and Jonas soon followed suit.

Once the giggling fit was over, Jonas kissed Sam very tenderly before easing her down from her perch. They put their clothes back on in silence and left the small room separately as to not arouse too much suspicion. They both paid a visit to their respective locker rooms, mutually agreeing that a cold shower was probably the best thing to clear up their heads right about now.

That same night, when the lights were out and all the corridors deserted, Jonas brought Sam to his quarters and this time, they made love…

*********

Sam slowly rose out of bed, her head swarming with vivid memories of the previous night. Everything was still so fresh in her mind that she could almost feel Jonas on her skin, feel him inside of her as if he had never left. She would have loved to spend the entire night nestled in his big, strong arms. But she knew it was way too risky so she came back to her own quarters in the middle of night when pretty much the entire base was asleep.

She couldn't remember when was the last time a man had made sweet love to her the way he had. "So this is what an orgasm feels like…" she thought to herself, smiling. She had given up getting there one day and he made it real for her. And God only knows how much she had been craving the closeness and tenderness he provided her. It's as though she felt completely liberated and uninhibited with him and she hadn't experienced that kind of feeling in years. The past couple of weeks had been emotionally draining for her and yet Jonas had miraculously made her smile and laugh again. There was just something totally irresistible about him: his charming naïveté and quirkiness, his constant thirst for knowledge, his remarkable intelligence and keen sense of observation, and most of all the way he marveled at the smallest things… things that most people took for granted because they were an integral part of their everyday life.

She woke up late that morning. She was known as Miss Punctuality and therefore waking up late was not a habit of hers. There would be no time to go to the gym and have a morning chat with Janet. She slowly sauntered into the washroom and took a long look at herself in the mirror. She looked haggard. Her eyes were still a little red and she could see the dark circles under them from her recent lack of sleep. She definitely wasn't at her best and yet she felt invigorated in a way she hadn't in a long time. "I guess a good lay will do that to you…" she thought to herself and laughed inwardly at her rather lewd observation.

She went for a quick shower, put on the blue fatigues and headed for the mess hall. SG-1 was scheduled for a briefing in less than an hour so there was just enough time to eat.

When she arrived there Jack was already sitting at a table, finishing the last remains of yet another tasteless breakfast. Sam would never understand why he kept ingesting those really colorful cereals of no nutritional value whatsoever. After filling her tray with some whole-wheat toasts with peanut butter, a bowl of fruit, and a glass of milk, she walked up to the Colonel. She was somehow relieved that Jonas was nowhere in sight because she wasn't ready to face another sticky situation.

"Good morning, Sir. May I?"

Jack looked up. "Mornin', Carter! Have a seat. Good timing 'cause I was kinda getting tired of talking to myself, if you know what I mean …" he said with a goofy smile.

Sam smiled politely and sat down. "No, Sir, I don't …"

Jack gave her a baffled look. He leaned over and spoke in a hushed tone, as if he were about to reveal a big secret. "Are you saying that you've never talked to yourself?... Ever?"

Sam smiled again and decided to play along. "No, Sir, I haven't…"

Jack really didn't know how to handle this one without making an even bigger fool out of himself. He leaned back into his chair.

"You've got to be kidding me, right?" he asked.

"No, Sir, I'm not…" Sam answered, looking as serious as possible.

Jack took an air of defeat. "Oh… okay… Well… Good for you, then!" was all he could manage to say before clearing his throat.

Sam started eating her breakfast but after a while the disquieting feeling of being watched distracted her from her food. She glanced up at the Colonel.

"Is there a problem, Sir?"

"Not that I know of. Why?" Jack replied as innocently as he could muster.

Sam shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "You've been staring at me for the past couple of minutes without saying anything so I'm just wondering if there's anything special on your mind that you would like to talk to me about."

It was now Jack's turn to feel a little uneasy. "Well… I wouldn't call it 'special'…" He started fiddling with his spoon.

Sam had learned over the years that getting her superior officer to spill the beans on personal matters was like pulling teeth so she resorted to the best tactic she knew: challenging him.

"With all due respect, Sir, that look on your face gives it away. After five years of working with you, I think I have a pretty good idea on how to read you…"

Jack gave her a smug smile. "Oh, you do now, don't you?" he replied in a childish manner. He knew all too well that Sam was right but he wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of an easy victory.

She smiled back. "Very well, then. I won't insist. But if you need to talk to someone, I'm here, okay?" she said as she patted his hand in a mocked gesture of sympathy.

She stifled a laugh but the Colonel didn't seem to notice. Instead, Jack rolled his eyes and pulled back.

"Oh fer cryin' out loud, Carter! Just drop the lousy shrink routine, will ya?"

Sam simply nodded "Yes, Sir." She went back to her food in total silence. She knew it wouldn't take too long before she got some sort of reaction out of him. Surely enough, after a couple of minutes of this little game he finally cracked.

"Alright, you win! Are you happy now?" Jack exclaimed, hands flailing in exasperation.

Sam looked up at him. "Sir, I'm only doing this for your own good," she said while trying her best to remain poised. "You seem preoccupied and I believe it would be a good idea if you actually talked about whatever is troubling you."

The look on Jack's face went from defying to slightly brooding.

"I appreciate your concern, Major, but nothing's troubling me and you of all people should know that." he retorted. "It's just that lately I've noticed that you've been spending a lot of time with Jonas and I was wondering what's up with that…"

Sam smiled and shook her head, trying to conceal her embarrassment as best as she could. It had never occurred to her that Jack would get suspicious about her and Jonas, but it didn't surprise her much to see that he was bothered by it. He still barely tolerated the guy. The wound left by Daniel's death was still very much open and would take much longer to heal. And to Jack, Jonas was a constant reminder of the loss of his dear friend. He had told Jonas himself that he didn't blame him for the events surrounding Daniel's passing away but deep down inside, he did…

Sam had obviously underestimated Jack when she shouldn't have. It had been a bad judgment call on her part, to say the least. And although her first impulse was to react defensively, she went against it and simply replied:

"Sir, you know we've been working on the X-303. I've asked Jonas to be part of the project and he agreed. There's nothing more to it. Yes, we have been spending a lot of time together but it's been for entirely professional reasons."

She was lying through her teeth and she hated it but she felt she had no other option. She had no idea where this relationship with Jonas would lead but she certainly couldn't risk jeopardizing his place on the team by letting the Colonel know about it.

Jack's eyes darkened and narrowed while the corners of his mouth curled downward, a definite sign that suspicion was on his mind.

"So that's all… Entirely professional reasons, huh?" He pursed his lips. "Oky doky, then…"

"If I may ask, Sir, what difference would it make, hypothetically speaking, if Jonas and I were actually seeing each other for reasons other than work?" Sam asked bluntly. She regretted the words as soon as they came out of her mouth but she couldn't take them back so she just waited for the Colonel's response. There was a sparkle in her eyes and a forcefulness in her tone that Jack had rarely seen.

"No difference, really…" Jack lied. "The guy's not military so regulations don't apply here. Plus, you're a grown woman and you're free to do whatever you want…" he added not very convincingly.

Sam glared at him. "Yes Sir, I am." she retorted dryly. She was infuriated by what she perceived as a lack of trust towards her on the Colonel's part. After five years of working side by side and watching each other's six, how could this be possible? She got up with her empty tray and left her commanding officer behind.

Jack let out a low whistling sound. "Somebody got up on the wrong side of the bed…" he mumbled to himself as he watched his second in command storm away.

*************

2 weeks later

The familiar screeching sound of the siren resonated throughout the embarkation room.

The technician looked at the G.D.O. command code displayed on his computer screen: "It's SG-1's signal, Sir", he confirmed.

"Open the iris!" General Hammond ordered, fists clenched on each side of his large frame.

The General was visibly agitated, his usual calmness starting to wear off. And with reason: SG-1 was over 6 hours late from P3X-574. The SGC had lost all contact with them and therefore no one knew what to expect when they would come back, or even if they would come back at all.

The iris opened up and the event horizon noisily spewed forth into the vast room, flooding it with an enormous flash of extremely bright light before retracting back to its original position. The usual welcoming party of guards was present, standing by. The men had already taken their positions, weapons aimed directly at the gate, ready to fire on General Hammond's command. Jack and Jonas were the first ones to come through the Gate. They arrived running and stumbled their way in. Jack was holding Teal'c's staff weapon, which was very unusual. A few seconds later, the Jaffa emerged from the rippling pool of light, carrying Sam's limp body in his arms. A gaping wound was visible on the left side of her abdomen through a whole where her beige uniform was shredded and scorched. The second the iris closed, General Hammond snatched the phone behind him, shouting: "I need a medical team down in the embarkation room, on the double!"

He hung up and sped down the stairs of the control room to meet SG-1.

"Is she still alive?" he asked Jack worriedly.

"Yes Sir, but barely. She obviously needs medical attention right away or she won't make it."

The medical team arrived shortly thereafter and two nurses hauled up Sam on a gurney before ushering her out of the embarkation room. Jonas was just standing at the end of the gate ramp, pale as a ghost. The events of the last few minutes had passed in front of his eyes like a bad dream. It was eerily similar to those strange experiences where you sometimes go through the motions and yet you feel more like a spectator than a participant, almost as if you were out of your own body. Except that this was all too real. She had been fired upon right under his eyes. He had seen her slim body being hurled to the ground like a rag doll under the power of the staff weapon, its fiery blast blazing a whole right into her. How had she survived such an assault? That, he certainly couldn't answer. All he knew is that he would be eternally grateful if the powers from above actually spared her life.

He desperately wanted to run out of there and rush to the infirmary to be at her side but he knew it wasn't his place to be there. At least not for the time being. People would wonder… People would talk... Janet would have him kicked out in a nanosecond… Damn this whole secrecy! He was dying to yell to the entire world - heck, the entire universe - how deeply he cared about this woman and yet, he couldn't. This was one of the most frustrating situations he'd ever had to face.

General Hammond gave Jack a questioning look: "Would you care to explain what happened, Colonel?"

Despite the life-threatening blow taken by his second in command, Jack had remained very much in control of the situation and didn't allow the turmoil and fear inside him to take over. Fear that the woman he loved would be taken away from him forever; fear that he would never have the chance to let her know how he truly felt. It was devouring his insides like a carnivorous beast ripping apart a fresh carcass. As usual, he had to keep face. And he did.

"We were taken prisoners by a rebel faction of the Tharkans, Sir." Jack sternly reported to his superior officer. "We managed to escape but we were ambushed by a group of Jaffa right before we reached the Gate."

"I want the three of you in the briefing room, now!" the General barked as he turned on his heels and exited the room.

************

"I need you to prepare some warm IV fluids and some NGS." Janet ordered to the nurse standing on the other side of the medical bed as she applied an oxygen mask over Sam's livid face. "We have to stabilize her and we need to do it fast!"

Janet looked at her best friend lying on the medical bed, her life precariously hanging by a thread. Sam had been injured before but never to that extent. Treating the wounded was never easy but it was simply devastating when it was your dear friend lying there on the verge of dying. Memories of Daniel's painful last hours rapidly flashed through Janet's mind and she fought them away. She had felt so powerless, as all she could do was trying to ease his pain by administrating him large doses of morphine. She had watched him slowly fade away and she knew there was nothing she could have done to save his life. But this time, it was different. She had another friend who needed her and she certainly wasn't going to let this one die without trying everything she could.

Under Janet's supervision, the medical staff quickly got to work, hooking up Sam to various medical devices and monitoring her vital signs. Their first priority was to stop the bleeding and to rapidly evaluate the damage done to some of the internal organs.

"Blood pressure is at 80 over 32 and dropping; pulse is at 26," one of the nurses reported after taking readings from the monitor on her left.

Janet tore open Sam's shirt to get better access to her abdomen. After examining the wound closely, she gave her assessment of the situation:

"A lot of blood vessels have been severed because the spleen was ruptured, which is why we can't seem to control the internal hemorrhaging. We need to remove it. Make sure she doesn't go into hypothermia and have her prepped for surgery. I'm going to need eight units of blood, six units of fresh plasma and six units of platelets. Come on, people, let's move!"

*********

He ran. He ran as fast as he could; heart pumping insanely fast, blood flowing through his veins at an incredible speed. He was functioning purely on adrenalin. His whole body had kicked into overdrive and was now solely relying on its instinct for survival. His muscles still hurt from the pain and the stiffness caused by the chains that had kept him tied up in that rotting holding cell. But he didn't care. He just kept running as the loud, whizzing sound and blinding beams of light kept zooming right past his head.

The Gate was so close. They were almost there. Teal'c was already dialing Earth's address. Just an other twenty meters and he would reach it. As he was running he managed to turn around a couple of times to shoot down a few Jaffa with a zat gun. He was going for one last sprint when he stopped dead in his tracks and almost tripped as he saw her being hit and fly across the air next to him. She fell to the ground like a bird. He saw the wound as her body rolled over under the force of the impact and he thought his heart was going to leap out of his chest. It just couldn't be happening. He yelled out in despair:

"Nooooooooo!!!!"

*********

Jonas woke up with a jump and sat straight up in bed, feeling like something had just knocked the wind right out of him. He was breathing heavily and was covered in sweat. He rubbed his eyes, letting them get accustomed to the darkness. When he finally found his bearings, he was relieved to see that he was indeed in his bedroom instead of running for his life on that damned planet. The haunting image of Sam's pretty face covered with filth and blood trickling from the corner of her mouth still lingered in his foggy mind.

He got out of bed and walked into the small washroom where he freshened up. He then went to the dresser standing in the right corner of the bedroom, grabbed a pair of khakis and a t-shirt, got dressed and left. The hallways were all empty, except for the occasional guard filling in the night shift. Jonas was heading for the infirmary and this time, no one was going to stop him from seeing Sam. He hadn't been allowed to do so ever since they had brought her there for surgery. He needed to know and see for himself that she was alive and that everything would be okay.

When he arrived, Sam was alone and that's exactly what he had hoped for. The room was eerily silent aside from the steady beat of the heart monitor, a reassuring proof that she was hanging on to life. He watched her from the doorstep, hesitant to get inside. It killed him to see her like that, looking so peaceful and yet so fragile and broken.

He slowly walked up to her. Once at her side, he lifted a hand to her forehead and gently brushed a strand of hair away from her eyes. He then let his fingers trail down her pale face and softly caressed her cheek.

"You know Sam", he said to her even though he knew she couldn't hear him, "even with those ugly tubes sticking out of your nose, you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen…"

He tried to smile even if he was devastated at the thought of possibly losing her. The only time he had to face mortality so brutally was when his younger brother Jared had been the victim of a freak accident about ten years earlier. He didn't want to lose someone close to him again in this manner.

He grabbed a chair, pulled it up and sat down so that he was facing the bed. He carefully took Sam's hand in his and kissed it.

"Don't worry, Sam… You will get through this. Everything's going to be okay…"

Having said that, he laid her hand down, crossed his arms as he leaned over, and rested himself on her thighs. All he wanted to do was to stay with her for a few minutes… just a few precious minutes where he could be close to her and then he would go back to his quarters. But he never made it back. Instead, he fell into a deep slumber filled with dreams where he held her in his arms as she was smiling and laughing, and where nothing could possibly harm her. Not even the Goa'uld.

********

Janet arrived in the infirmary very early that morning. She had spent the night at the base because Sam's condition was still serious. She wanted to make herself available on the spot if there were any complications stemming from the surgery.

She was a bit shocked by the scene that awaited her as she entered the room. Jonas was asleep on a chair and comfortably resting on Sam. Janet thought the whole thing was rather endearing. But she was also wondering why he was there and why he had apparently spent the night at Sam's side. She approached him and put a hand on his shoulder, shaking him up just enough so he would wake up.

"Jonas.... Jonas, please wake up."

Jonas slowly raised his head, eyes half-closed, a conspicuous imprint of the bed sheet spread across the left side of his face. For a moment he wasn't exactly sure where he was. And then he remembered. He stood up to face Janet.

"Uuh… Dr. Fraiser… Good morning…" he said as he was struggling to clear his mind and quickly come up with a plausible excuse for his presence there.

"Good morning, Jonas…" Janet replied. She couldn't help but to smile as she noticed how disheveled he looked.

"Listen, Doctor, I… I'm really sorry. I just wanted to visit her for a short while to see how she was holding up and…"

Janet stopped him before he could go any further. "I'm going to spare you the explanation here, Jonas, but you have to leave now because as soon as Sam wakes up I'd like to run a few tests to see how her recovery is progressing, okay? And don't worry; she'll survive this one."

"But…"

"You heard the good doctor, Jonas."

Jack was casually leaning against the doorframe, hands deep in his pockets, feet crossed. "That's an order", he added as he started walking towards them. He stopped to glance at Jonas and snickered, pointing towards Jonas' head: "That's quite the bed head you've got there, Jonas…"

Jonas ran a hand through his hair and gave Jack a puzzled look: "Bed head?"

Jack sighed. "Never mind… Just get outta here. And again, that's an order!"

Jonas knew better than to argue with the Colonel. "Yes, Sir", was all he could say before he left the room.

"What was he doing here?" Jack asked Janet once they were alone. There was definitely an edge to his tone of voice.

"I don't know any more than you do, Sir" Janet answered with a frown. "I just found him here when I arrived." When she saw the concern on Jack's face, she went on and tried to reassure him: "I wouldn't take this seriously though… I mean, they've become very good friends over the past few weeks so it's only natural that Jonas would worry about her."

Janet always had a feeling that Sam held a very special place in the Colonel's heart - something that Sam herself kept denying - which is why she was trying her best to ease his concerns. Besides, if there was anything intimate going on between Sam and Jonas, she was convinced she would know about it given that she and Sam were best friends.

Unfortunately, Jack's suspicions were already starting to take shape so Janet's words did very little to clear away his doubts.

"That's exactly what I was afraid of…." Jack said under his breath. But he really didn't want to talk about it any further so he changed the subject to Sam's condition before Janet could give any kind of reply. "So, how is she doing?" he asked her.

"Her condition is still serious but stable. There was a bit of damage to one of her kidneys and her spleen was ruptured so we had to remove it. She's lost quite a lot of blood but she should be fine. Let's just say she's very lucky to be alive…" Janet answered.

Jack grimaced. "If you ever have to remove anything from me, please tell me you're gonna let me know in advance. I mean, I'd really hate waking up with a few parts missing one day and not knowing about it..."

Janet smiled. "Well, I'll try but I can't promise you anything..." she said with a wink.

It was Jack's turn to smile. "Anyway…. I'm glad to see she's okay. How long until she can get back to work?" he asked.

"I want to keep her here under observation for a week. And it will be at least another week before she can be part of an off-world mission. Knowing her the way I do, I'm sure she'll try to argue with me over this so I'm going to need your full cooperation."

"You got it, doc…." Jack said before turning around and leaving the infirmary.

***********

One week later

Sam was patiently sitting on a medical bed while Janet was taking one last draw of blood for yet another test.

"So how are you feeling?" Janet asked.

"I'm feeling great, actually." Sam answered. "I realize that I'm a little out of shape, mind you, but I've started working out again this morning. It shouldn't take too long before I'm back to my old self again."

Janet gave her a motherly look. "Now I don't want you to overexert yourself, you hear me?"

Sam rolled her eyes. "Yes, mom…" she said.

Janet's facial expression went from playful to very serious in a matter of seconds. "You know Sam, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about and I think that now is as good a time as any …" she said as she retracted the needle from Sam's arm before applying a small bandage.

Sam frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about Jonas, Sam." Janet answered.

"What about him?"

Janet smiled and cocked her head to one side. "Don't play dumb with me, Sam…"

Sam huffed. "Janet, I honestly don't know what you mean. What? Does he have some kind of disease that we should know about?"

"No, it's nothing like that. The two of you are an item, aren't you?" Janet asked very straightforwardly.

Sam's eyes grew wide but then averted her friend's. Many times she had wanted to tell Janet but kept postponing it. She knew she could trust Janet more than anyone else. But somehow, telling her would have meant acknowledging the fact that she and Jonas were involved. Someone else knowing about it would make it more "official". And Sam still wasn't sure if she was ready to let anyone know, not even her best friend. She should have known that Janet would figure it out by herself.

Same sighed deeply and her eyes went back to Janet again. "How did you know?"

Janet smiled. "He didn't tell you, did he?"

"Tell me what?" Sam inquired.

"On the first night you were here, Jonas came to visit you." Janet explained. "He arrived here in the middle of the night and apparently he just wanted to stay for a little while but he fell asleep on your lap. I found him the next morning when I came in." She smiled at the memory. "It was really sweet to see him at your side like that… Of course that alone doesn't mean you guys are involved but somehow my gut tells me that you are. Am I right?"

Sam grabbed her head with both hands and groaned. She suddenly felt riddled with guilt. Not to mention that she was upset that Jonas had kept this from her.

"Look, Janet" she finally said, "I've been meaning to tell you but I didn't know how or when…."

Janet walked away with Sam's blood sample and carefully deposited it in a small plastic container for later storage. With Janet's back turned to her, Sam couldn't see her initial reaction and it worried her. She needed her support at a time like this, more than she had in a long time. Janet eventually turned around and slowly walked back, looking extremely pensive. Finally, a smile crept up along her cute little mouth. It was the kind of smile only a best friend can give you when you screwed up big time but they still love you anyway.

Janet shook her head. "You've never been very good at handling this kind of situation," she told her friend.

"Well, you certainly got that right…" Sam agreed.

"What if I told you I'm not surprised about you and Jonas?" Janet candidly asked. "After all, you did spend a lot of time working closely with him. And I've noticed some kind of change in you ever since he's joined SG-1. You actually seem happy now and I haven't seen you like this for quite some time." She paused and pursed her lips. "But then again, I also thought that Jack was the one in your heart…."

Sam's features darkened. "So did I… But Jonas came into my life and he made me feel so… alive… You have no idea, Janet … After Daniel died, I couldn't even smile anymore, remember? When I wasn't burying myself in my work, I would just mope around at home feeling sorry for myself. Jonas has changed all that. At first, I thought: "This is crazy!" But then the feelings wouldn't go away…

But Janet didn't let go. "And what about Jack?"

Sam smiled faintly. "Well, Jack is Jack. He's "The Great Colonel O'Neill", Earth's best hope to vanquish the Goa'uld. Quite frankly he's the best leader I've ever had the chance to work under and I've been attracted to him almost right from the beginning. But lately I've realized that we're wrong for each other in so many ways…. And he's my superior officer. I don't need to tell you how bad that is."

Janet suddenly recalled her ill-fated affair many years earlier with then Lt Colonel Mark McAllister when she was still a First Lieutenant. Had anyone found out about it, they both would have been court-martialed and most likely expelled from the Air Force. That was one mistake she bitterly regretted to this day because it had almost cost her her career.

"Have you thought about what could happen if Jack found out about it?" Janet asked her friend. "I mean, you and I both know that he's not too crazy about Jonas as it is…"

Sam rolled her eyes. "Don't remind me… Not a day goes by without my thinking about it… And that's exactly why I want this to remain a secret for as long as possible."

Janet looked Sam straight in the eye. "I don't want to discourage you, sweetie, but it might be too late for that already…"

Sam's eyes widened and she literally felt the blood rushing to her face.

"Wh… what are you saying?" she asked, a veil of anxiety clouding over her face.

"Jack came by the infirmary on that famous morning I found Jonas with you. When he arrived, Jonas was still here, looking like he had just woken up. When Jack asked me what he was doing here I told him I didn't know. I didn't tell him I thought Jonas had spent part of the night at your side but he's not stupid, Sam… I'm sure he figured it out by himself."

Sam groaned and rubbed her eyes. "Yeah, he probably did…" she agreed. "But until I find an appropriate way to handle this, I don't want him to have any proof of it. Can I count on you to keep this a secret?"

"Of course…" Janet replied. She patted Sam on the cheek. "And I'm really happy for you, honey." she said with a bright smile. "But tell me, have you been using protection?"

Sam chuckled. "What makes you think we're there yet?" she asked.

Janet laughed. "Oh, come on, Sam! I'm the doctor here, remember? I've seen that great body of his in all of its naked glory a few times already. Believe me, if I were in your shoes I don't think I would have been able to wait for very long!"

Sam smiled as she remembered her hands roaming all over Jonas' beautiful body. She rolled down her sleeve and got off the bed.

"Yes, we have been using protection. And you're right… I couldn't wait…" she answered somewhat proudly. She started walking towards the exit of the infirmary and she turned around at the doorstep. "Don't mean to rub it in but he's very good…" she added with a big grin."And by the way, I'm afraid that from now on you're just gonna have to keep your hands off him, Doctor, because he's mine..." she said with a wink before she exited the room.

Janet burst out laughing. It was good to see her best friend smiling and making jokes again…

TO BE CONTINUED…

 

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