The Roots That Clutch 5

The Aftermath

by Tittamiire

URL: http://www.area52hkh.net/ast/tittamiire/rootst05.php
Summary: Recovering after things go wrong.

"For God's sake get us out of here!" Colonel O'Neill yelled into the communicator as the light of the ring transporter faded from their vision. They all staggered as the Alkesh lurched into action a fraction of a second too quickly for the inertial dampeners. Colonel O'Neill staggered the most with the combination of his own weight and Daniel's. He stumbled to one knee and lowered Daniel to the floor.

"Shit!" The Colonel declared surprisingly calmly as he leant back and saw the large bloodstain left on his clothes from Daniel, whose face had gone slack. The bubbles of blood had stopped and started to clot instead, which wasn't good. He reached for his radio again, no doubt to yell for the Doc, but didn't get any further than inhaling before Janet appeared in the doorway. She was almost disappearing underneath the amount of equipment she had with her. Vala could see the colour drain from the other woman's face when she saw the state of Daniel. Vala pressed her hand tightly against her side, where the staff weapon had grazed her. It hurt, but as far as she could tell not life threateningly so.

"Not again Daniel," Janet muttered and Vala had to wonder at that statement as the Doc hurried across and dropped to her knees at Daniel's side. She began to work, checking his pulse, breathing and pulling supplies out of her kit. Colonel O'Neill rocked back on his heels to give her space to work, but didn't move any further. He brushed his bloodstained hands on his bloodstained vest just once, glanced at them and then held his hands in the air, not knowing what to do with them as his attention was focused on Janet working on Daniel. Sam sank to her knees the far side of Daniel from Janet and the two women began to silently work together with Janet handing simpler tasks or just things to hold to Sam, who completed what was required quickly and competently. Vala watched the tight drawn faces as Teal'c slowly crouched down to watch the scene in the ring room as well. Vala was the only one left standing, chance having placed her the furthest from Daniel. She stood and watched and tried not to breathe too deeply and hurt herself further. The engines of the Alkesh hummed underneath her feet forcing them out of the atmosphere.

"C'mon Daniel," Janet muttered quietly and Vala could hear the desperation in her voice. "Don't do this to me again." Silence fell again for a few more desperate minutes.

"Crap," Janet finally swore and tossed down the clamp she had been holding. Her hands were covered in Daniel's blood and she had a smear across her cheek where she had brushed a hand against her face.

"I can't do it," she whispered to the decking and then looked up painfully at Colonel O'Neill.

"There's nothing I can do for him with what I have here Sir."

Colonel O'Neill looked down at Daniel's peacefully unconscious face and then, for a reason that was unknown to Vala he looked directly at Sam. "Carter?"

Sam's attention had been focussed on Janet, her hands were pressed against Daniel's chest, holding a gauze pad in place as requested but at the mention of her name her gaze shot up to look at Colonel O'Neill.

"Sir?"

"Can you try?"

Sam looked down again and swallowed. "I've only made things worse before."

Colonel O'Neill dropped a hand onto her shoulder, forgetting the blood for a moment in his need to comfort her. He gave her a wry smile, "They can't get much worse than they are now."

Sam shook her head again. She looked like she wanted to bolt, but didn't shift her hands from the gauze.

"Sam?" Janet asked softly and reached into one of the bags to tug out a Goa'uld healing device. She offered it to Sam gently, who shook her head.

"He's already dying Sam."

Her face pleaded desperately, looking up again to both Janet and Colonel O'Neill, but her hand reached for the device anyway. It shook.

Vala waited a beat. She knew she was missing something here, but it didn't really matter what it was. She stepped forward, walking carefully over to Daniel's side. Everyone's attention refocused on her, looking surprised to see her as if they had forgotten she was there. She knelt down gingerly and held out her hand for the device.

"I can do it," she offered simply.

Janet glanced quickly towards the Colonel for permission and handed the device to Vala when he nodded. Vala slotted her hand into it and moved further up Daniel's side to where he was injured. Sam finally moved her hands and scooted back on the metal deck to lean against the wall as Vala took her place. She held the device out over the worst of Daniel's injuries and closed her eyes. She had done this many times over the years and it was, in a way, just another skill. She focussed on her inner energy and control, carefully easing her inner strength into the device and allowing it to channel that power into healing. It was the same power and strength required to use the hand device, but whereas that machine was all about power the healing device was more about control. It was a scalpel compared to a sledgehammer. She could feel the healing effects the device was having on Daniel, unfortunately each ounce of energy she put into the healing device depleted her own supplies and the pain in her side worsened. With her eyes tight shut she could see the power dancing behind her eyelids, channelling her spirit and soul into repairing the damage done by the staff blast. It was no wonder the Goa'uld didn't use these devices very often; their very make up went against what the Goa'uld were.

Eventually she felt the pull of the device fade and she knew she was done. She relaxed and opened her eyes to look down at Daniel who was breathing normally now, she could tell by the steady rise and fall of his chest. Janet glanced briefly at Vala and leant in to check Daniel's pulse. As her finger tips made contact with his neck his eyes fluttered open, blinking and attempting to focus.

"Way to go Danny!" Jack exclaimed, slapping his hand down gently onto Daniel's newly healed chest.

There was a collective sigh of relief around the small room and Vala could feel the energy levels rise.

"Wha'?" Daniel asked, putting a hand to his chest and looking around in confusion. The movement seemed to break the tension and people began to smile and talk. Janet was cleaning up the bloody remains of her failed attempt to save Daniel's life and stripping her latex gloves off and Jack leant forward and was wiping his hands on a relatively clean patch of Daniel's jacket.

"You can have this back," he joked as his hands left macabre smears on Daniel's sleeve.

"Huh, what?" Daniel repeated as he lifted his head and was looking down at his chest. He patted it as if to reassure himself that it was whole again. Jack looped an arm under his and hauled him to his feet, steadying Daniel and steering him from the ring room. Janet cleared up the various medical supplies scattered on the floor and Teal'c cleared up their haul.

Sam slipped away. Vala wasn't sure if the others had noticed or not, they were pretty engrossed in Daniel and the loot from their raid. The quiet bravado was flooding back now that no one was dying and there was much patting each other on the back, both metaphorically and literally. Vala wasn't sure when she had slipped away; she just noticed her absence by the time they got to the main rooms. She gripped her side again, it hurt badly and it needed looking at by the good Doctor. Her knee hurt too, but they could both wait.

She found her in the engine room of all places. Sam was at least predictable. Even if Vala didn't understand the woman's need to disappear into mechanics and science, she at least recognised it. She spotted her kneeling in front of an open panel with a burnt out crystal resting in her hands and her attention zoned out somewhere else entirely. Her shoulders were slumped wearily and dirt, sweat and blood were smeared across her clothing and skin. All of the above had matted her choppy hair into clumps and Vala knew that she must look just as bad. She certainly smelled like she should look that bad. She didn't approach quietly, but instead let her boots clunk obviously on the floor and leant against the doorframe and watched Sam for a minute before she spoke.

"Hey, you're missing the party."

Sam blinked slowly and looked round as if surprised to see herself in the motor room.

"Um, party?"

"Yeah, the 'Daniels not dead and we got good stuff party,'" Vala pushed herself gingerly off from the doorframe and limped over to sit carefully down onto the cold deck next to Sam, who watched her careful movements.

"You should get checked out by Janet"

"It can wait a few more minutes."

Silence fell between the two women. Vala tugged one of the burnt out crystals from Sam's limp hand and examined it slowly.

"She was called Qetesh," she said to the crystal, turning it slowly in her hand. "I was her host for a long time."

"Jolinar," whispered Sam slowly, "but it was only a few days. She was a Tok'ra"

"Aren't they the good guys?"

"It was complicated."

"These things usually are," Vala placed the crystal onto the deck.

"I tried to heal him before and made it worse, a lot worse. He was dying then too."

"Sounds like a bad habit he has there. He should quit."

Sam smiled gently, "You really should get checked out."

Vala looked down at her side, "Yeah."

Sam stood up from the deck and put her arm round Vala to help her up, "How did you learn?"

"The healing device? Practice. It's a good idea to start small too. Heal a paper cut and then work up to life threatening staff blasts."

Vala winced and limped next to Sam. The wound wasn't affecting her legs so much as the adrenalin seeping out of her system and reminding her that she was exhausted, hungry, bruised, battered and burnt.

~~~

Vala slid the jacket off her shoulders gingerly and then tugged at her shirt. Janet had been watching her silently, but now she stepped forward and began to peel the damaged fabric from the wound. It had stuck good and proper and Vala gripped the edge of the medical bench and concentrated on not pulling away from Janet. She retrieved a bowl of warm water and began cleaning and teasing the dirt and scraps of fabric. It was going to take a while.

"You should have got this seen to right away," Janet scolded, but there wasn't much heart in it. She sounded tired.

"Not that I don't admire those strong fingers, ouch, but I've never been a fan of Doctors."

"Hmm," Janet worked silently again for a few moments. "I don't know what you said to Sam, but thank you."

"No thanks needed, I don't want the person in charge of our engines any more distracted than you do."

"This'll sting," Janet warned. Vala tensed and Janet applied something to the wound. The liquid was cold where it came into contact with her skin, but it caused the injured tissue to burn and sing. Vala's hands gripped harder and caught her bottom lip between her teeth.

"What're you using?"

"Antiseptic"

She patted the injury dry gently, discarding the used gauze into a bucket and then reached for a jar of something.

"You have access to effective antiseptics?"

"Nearly done," Janet reassured her.

"Oh don't mind me," Vala told her breezily with another slight wince.

More clean gauze was used to cover the wound and then a bandage, no doubt one that Janet had been re-rolling only days before, was wrapped around Vala's ribs. Vala winced as the bandage and Janet's hands pressed against the more extensive bruising around the injury.

"I think you might have cracked a couple of ribs"

"I'm sure I have"

"Rest, no sudden movements, keep the burn clean and dry and I'll need to change the dressing in the morning."

"Yes Ma'am," Vala mimicked the rest of the crew offhandedly and missed Janet's amused smile. ~~~

Colonel O'Neill was mending an item of clothing. The crew seemed to be perpetually in a state of either preparing or repairing interspersed with brief periods of activity to justify the work and the Colonel was no exception. He'd asked to see her though, he'd not sent for her as such, just played Chinese whispers and waited for her to find him.

He gestured to a crate, "Take a seat....not literally."

Vala perched on one of crates as suggested and folded her arms.

"We're heading home," He stated simply and Vala was mesmerised by the movements of his hands as he pulled the thread through the fabric with practiced ease.

"We can detour to a planet with a Stargate along the way and drop you off if you'd like. However, the Doctor has suggested that you come and stay with us for a while, until you're better, if you'd like that. She's concerned about your injury."

"Oh I'll be fighting fit in no time."

"Still," he gave her a half smile, "we owe you. You'd be more than welcome."

"Oh I expect payment, but I'll let you know," she said carefully, but brightly. She hadn't had much to do with the Colonel while she'd been hanging out with these people and a part of that had been sheer intimidation (not that she'd ever admit that). There was a danger to him that was absent in all the others, a breaking point that they didn't have. Teal'c maybe had it, but he had so much control that it was a distant concept. The Colonel's edge was close and very real. Vala pushed herself up from the crate and gave him a classic mega-watt smile and a wave on the way out. No one was keeping an eye on her now and in theory she could have run amok on the ship. She surprised herself by walking calmly towards the main living area of the Alkesh. She reassured herself that she wasn't growing a conscience; it was just that all the valuable stuff was too big or awkward to steal. It was also a good idea to leave the bridge unburned until you'd at least reached the far side. 

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