Author: Flatkatsi

Email: flatkatsi@optusnet.com.au

Status: Complete

Category: Hurt/Comfort, Angst

Pairing: None

Spoilers: None

Rating: PG13

Season: Six

Sequel to No Man's Land

Content Warnings: Some language. Whumping.

File Size: 87kb

Summary: Jack must face the consequences of his injuries.

Disclaimer: Stargate Sg-1 and its characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author. This story may not be posted elsewhere without the consent of the author. Author's Note: With many thanks to Kelly and Jackie for their help.

Colonel Jack O'Neill was not enjoying himself at all! He was in the Academy Hospital after the team's little trip to Hell World Theme Park. Nothing to do. Nothing to see here.

Nothing to see. Don't dwell on that, Jack. Both of his eyes were bandaged but he knew that he had been able to see out of the left one, albeit only slightly. It was the right eye that worried him. No, make that scared silly. He had told Jonas, in a moment of weakness, how worried he had been, but that moment had come and gone and would never return if he could help it.

Jonas had visited every day.after he had been released from the infirmary. Jack had been in the hospital for two weeks now and for most of those 14 days, Jonas had sat next to his bed for hours, reading, talking and just generally being annoyingly there. Although if Jack was honest with himself, he really didn't mind the visits. Jonas's visits were better than the long uncomfortable silences that he got from Carter. She had admitted that she had hated visiting hospitals since she was a kid, but jeezÉ you would think that they would find something to talk about after all these years working together. She didn't seem to have this trouble in the infirmary. Usually you couldn't shut her up when she had a captive audience for her new scientific theories or wonderful discoveries. She was very much like Daniel had been. So enthusiastic about their pet subjects that they could talk about them under water.

Teal'c had accompanied Jonas on several of his earlier visits but he had reluctantly gone with SG3 to a world reported to be populated by rebel Jaffa. They weren't expected to return for some time.

Jonas had returned to Cheyenne Mountain shortly after lunch and wouldn't be back until tomorrow. That left Jack with absolutely nothing to do and no one to talk to. At least in the infirmary there were other personnel who would stop by and chat.

So here was Jack O'Neill. Nothing to doÉ..

Colonel O'Neill slipped silently from his bed. It wasn't as if he was really hurt. It was just his eyes. OK, the right eye hurt every time that he moved, but he couldn't just sit there unmoving, now could he? Now Ð if he remembered correctly from his short trips across his room to his toilet, the main door should be É.?

"And just what do you think that you are doing, Sir?"

Shit! The Nurse from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest! She came a close second to Janet in the Napoleonic Method of Medicine.

"I was just stretching my legs, Nurse Hons. I was getting a bit stiff just lying there, doing nothing." Was his voice whiny? No Ð surely not!

"Back into bed, please Sir. You know that the doctors said that you should move around as little as possible. Even a small bump could do irreparable damage." Nurse Hons managed to maintain a stern tone of voice, despite her amusement. She knew that the Colonel couldn't see her smile. She had been warned by Doctor Frasier to expect this sort of behaviour. She was just surprised that it had taken the Colonel this long to try something.

She took Jack's arm and led him back to the bed. With a groan of frustration he obediently lay back down.

"Is there any pain, Sir?" asked Nurse Hons with concern. She had noticed that the Colonel had seemed to be in some discomfort.

Jack hesitated for a moment. He knew that the pain that he was experiencing in his eye wasn't just the normal healing pain. It was much too severe for that, but he was reluctant to take any more pain medication. Over the past two weeks he felt like he had existed in a drugged haze with only brief moments of lucidity.

"No, it's OK Lieutenant." He turned his face away from her."I'll just lie here and try to act like a good little vegetable".

"Would you like me to turn on the television for you, sir?' She asked, arranging the blankets that had gone askew as he got out of bed.

"What? And watch the hockey game!" Jack snapped whipping his head around in her direction. He regretted his action as soon as the dagger sliced through his head. "I don't think so!"

Jack regretted his words as soon as he had said them. It wasn't the nurse's fault. "I'm sorry, Nurse Hons. I'm just feeling a bit bored" he apologised. "I shouldn't have taken it out on you" He rested his head on the pillow, willing the stabbing feelings behind his eye to go away. I think that I'll get some sleep."

"That's quite alright, Sir. I understand. Buzz if you need anything and I'll check in again in a while", Nurse Hons replied as she gently closed the door to the Colonel's room.

_________

Jack awoke to the sound of footsteps near his bed. His first instinct was to ask who was there, but it was obvious that his visitor was trying to avoid being heard. It couldn't be a nurse or a doctor. But they wouldn't tip toe around. Neither would one of his team. He couldn't have been asleep for that long. Jonas wasn't due until tomorrow and Carter had told him that she had to complete an important experiment on something or other and couldn't visit for a couple of days. No. Whoever was in his room probably shouldn't be there. He lay as still as possible and listened carefully

. By the sounds of the agitated breathing, his visitor was having troubles of their own.

"Are you going to introduce yourself or do I have to guess?" Jack couldn't have resisted speaking if he had tried. It was just too good an opportunity. The result was everything that he could have hoped for. There was a startled yelp.

"Oh God! You scared me. I thought that you were asleep!" The voice was that of a young man. "I better go"

Jack was puzzled. "You can't go without any explanation. Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my room?"

There was a pause as the man hesitated. Then Jack heard footsteps approach him. The sensation of having someone that he didn't know looking down at him was unnerving.

"So, what's your name?" he prompted when the silence continued.

"Bill Pentecost" came the reluctant answer.

"I'm Jack O'Neill, Bill. Now tell me what you are doing sneaking around the hospital. Are you a patient?"

Another hesitation. "Yes. I broke my arm badly a few days ago"

"You had better sit down then. So where are you stationed, Bill?" Jack winced at the scrapping sound the chair made as Bill took the offered seat.

"At least I have something to occupy my mind", thought Jack, shifting to face Bill.. "It's better than contemplating my invisible naval."

Bill Pentecost was reluctant to talk at first, but at last Jack managed to drag the sorry story out of him. The young airman had been targeted by a couple of bullying sergeants at his base. Eventually they had caused an accident that resulted in his arm being broken in two places.

"That doesn't explain what you are doing in my room, Bill," said Jack. He had felt more and more angry as the young man's story had unfolded. The sort of actions that Bill had described were those of thugs, not the sort of men that the airforce should have in its ranks.

Bill was reluctant to explain any further. "I just needed some peace and quiet and I thought that you were asleep! "

Jack could sense that there was more to the story than Bill was saying but he could also sense that the young airman was nervous and ready to run.

"Could you get me a glass of water?" The simple request calmed the boy's nerves considerably. He reached across and poured out the water. It wasn't until he tried to hand the glass to Jack that Bill realised that he needed to do more than hold it in the air and expect the man with the bandaged eyes to find it. Touching it carefully against the waiting hand he asked a question of his own. "What happened to your eyes?"

Colonel O'Neill took a slow sip of water before answering. "Just a training accident, kid. Nothing too serious"

"Where are you stationed?" Bill asked, adjusting the strap on the sling that supported his plaster incased arm.

"This could be tricky", thought Jack. He could see where these questions were heading! "At the Cheyenne Mountain complex", he replied, hoping that the questions would end there.

"Norad!" The wistfulness in Bill's voice was unmistakable.

"Deep space radar telepathy", Jack cringed as the obvious response came.

"Deep space radar telepathy?" Bill asked, giving Jack a questioning look.

"Telemetry. Telepathy. It's all the same." Jack brushed off his mistake, earning a chuckle from Bill.

"How do you blind yourself in a training accident with radar?" Bill was confused. The man in the bed beside him was obviously badly hurt. Jack didn't realise that Bill had been hiding in his room for days now, ever since Sergeant Fuller, his main tormentor, had been admitted to the hospital for a minor complaint. Every time that Bill had hidden in this room Jack had been asleep. He knew it must have been an artificial drug induced sleep. Not the sort of injury that you get from sitting at a desk working out results from radar signals. Maybe they each had something to hide.

Jack gave a short laugh "You would be surprised how dangerous those radar can be, Bill!" Even he couldn't take it too seriously. It was just too ridiculous. "About time that we came up with a better story", he thought.

It was then that the agony hit. He hadn't been ready for it this time. It caught him off guard and the waves of pain throbbing through his head made him retch with an intensity that frightened him. It was like his right eye was trying to tear itself from its socket. He doubled over in the bed and clutched at Bill's arm.

"Buzz!" He managed to get the one word out before vomiting violently.

Bill was stunned in the change in Jack. He had been talking as if nothing was wrong with him and now it looked like he was about to die! He grabbed at the nurses call button and desperately pressed on it before leaping to his feet and running from the room.

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

Nurse Hons had been taking a well-deserved afternoon tea break when the buzzer had sounded from Colonel O'Neill's room. It was not like the Colonel to buzz for anything. She hurried down the corridor from the nurse's station and into the room. The sight that greeted her sent her straight to the intercom. "Get Doctor O'Hara to Colonel O'Neill's room immediately!" she barked into it, before turning to tend to her patient.

___________

General Hammond was reading the latest reports from the SG teams. He missed Colonel O'Neill's unique style of report writing Ð short, sharp, to the point and usually late.

"Better late than never," the Colonel had always said.

His aide knocked and entered the office. "There is phone call from you, Sir. From Doctor O'Hara at the Academy Hospital"

"Put it through, Sergeant" Perhaps it was good news about Jack. It was about time that he got his second in command back.

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

Major Carter, Jonas Quinn and General Hammond sat despondently outside the ICU. The news that the General had got from the hospital hadn't been what they were expecting. Now they were waiting for the Colonel's eye specialist Dr. O'Hara to finish his tests.

The tall figure of the surgeon appeared at the door of the ICU.

"General Hammond", he began, coming to sit beside them, "I am afraid that there is very little that I can tell you at the moment. It seems that all the shrapnel might not have been removed from Colonel O'Neill's eye in the first operation. The x-rays are inconclusive and it seems that we will have to do an exploratory operation. I should warn you that any further surgery on his eye might mean that the damage will be too great. There is a high risk that he will lose all sight in the right eye" Dr O'Hara could tell that this was news that none of his listeners wanted to hear. Over the last weeks he had witnessed the close bond that existed between these people and the Colonel. They all obviously cared deeply for him.

"But it seemed that Colonel O'Neill was getting better, Doctor. What went wrong?" the General asked.

"It appears a piece of shrapnel was moving inside his eye". Dr O'Hara paused. "It must have been hurting for quite a while. Is there any reason that the Colonel would conceal the pain?"

A slight smile crossed the General's face. "Colonel O'Neill has a reputation for stoicism in the face of pain, Doctor. I'm not surprised that no one realised. When can we see him?"

"He is awake. You can go in for a quick visit now, then we will prepare him for surgery."

----------

As Sam approached Jack's bed, she felt a pang of guilt. She knew that she hadn't visited the Colonel as often as she could have, but she really hated hospitals. All the excuses that she had made came back to haunt her with a vengeance. Perhaps if she had visited more she would have picked up the signs that Jack had hidden from everyone else. She knew him better than anyone here. She almost hoped that he wouldn't be awake. It would be hard to face him under the circumstances.

Jonas was shocked to see how pale the Colonel was. He seemed to have aged ten years in the few short hours since his last visit..

"Colonel?" He bent down towards the man on the bed. "How are you?"

"Peachy, Jonas. Just peachy" muttered Jack, softly. At least the normal O'Neill sarcasm was still present. "Looking forward to another few weeks in this wonderful health resort. I'll try to work on my tan"

"You can't do that, son." The General smiled gently. "I need you back at work ASAP. The place isn't the same without you"

"I'll hold you to that, Sir." Jack didn't try to hide the worry in his voice.

Sam reached out and took his hand. "We'll be waiting when you come out of surgery, Sir. Don't worry, we'll be here."

Jack grinned. "Feeling guilty, Carter? Maybe I did this just to get you to visit!" He paused, and continued "Don't feel bad, Carter. I understand and it's OK"

"We need to get him into surgery now, General" Doctor O'Hara had been standing behind the trio. He had tried to give them as long as he could with the Colonel, but now it was time.

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

"Colonel?"
"Nasty little voice"' thought Jack. "Go away"
"Colonel?" The voice grew more persistent.
"Oh crap! Doc?"
Janet laughed. "It's nice to see you awake, Sir. We were a bit worried about you for a while"

Jack felt sure that he had had this same conversation just recently. The memories came flooding back. Shit! There was that damn machine that went beep! Beeping! Jack lay back and thought furiously. There was only one thing that he wanted to know.

He managed to croak out his question. "My eye, Doc?" It was all that he could manage. The machine that went beep beeped more rapidly.

The voice of Dr O'Hara came from the other side of the bed. "Perhaps I should answer that, Colonel. We managed to locate and remove a piece of shrapnel that was pressing on your optic nerve. That was what was causing the pain. There were also a few smaller pieces in the eye itself. They must have been concealed when we did the first operation, but hopefully they should all be gone now. So far the prognosis is good. Your right eye should recover fully." He paused and continued with emphasis, "Given time and rest, you should be able to return to full duties"

Jack relaxed. He didn't like the sound of "time and rest", but if it meant getting his sight back, he could live with it.

"We will remove the bandage over your left eye in a day or so, Colonel. It is almost completely healed." Janet could see that the Colonel was still unsure of what they were saying. "But we will have to leave your other eye covered for a while yet. I'm afraid that you'll have to stay in the hospital for a bit longer."

"Why, Doc? Can't I come back to the base?" Jack had had enough of this place. He just wanted out! He wanted to be some place familiar even if he couldn't see it.

"No, I'm sorry, Colonel" Doctor O'Hara replied for Janet. "I need to be able to keep a eye on you" He laughed. "Sorry, the pun wasn't intentional"

Jack managed to smile just a little. He could feel himself drifting off to sleep. The machine that went beep followed him into his dreams.

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

"Jack" He didn't recognise the voice that was calling his name.

"Jack!" It was very insistent. He roused himself enough to lift his hand to his eyes. Still bandaged!

"Jack. You're awake! Christ, you gave me a fright the other day. I thought that you were dying!"

"Bill?" Now the voice fell into place. Bill had been with him when he had collapsed.

"You still here, kid? "

"Yes, the arm isn't healing as well as it should. They may have to reset it. What happened to you? You had me really worried" Bill had watched as Jack had been rushed to the ICU and then he had snuck back to his bed in the ward downstairs, scared silly. He had honestly thought that Jack was going to die. When he had come upstairs today he had glanced into the ICU and been totally surprised to see the familiar figure in a side room.

"Just some problem with the eye, Bill. It's OK now", Jack could feel the drugs slowing him down, causing his thoughts to drift. "Keep"

"Keep what, Jack?" Bill knew that Jack wasn't really ready to talk, but he had been so pleased to see him that he had just forgotten how sick the man really was." Maybe I should leave and let you rest?"

"KeepÉ keep.. visiting" It was all that Jack could do to remember what he had being saying a few seconds ago. It was that damn machine that went beep with its hypnotic beeping sending him to sleep again.

"So here you are!" A strident voice filled the room. Jack felt a presence looming over him and the heavy touch of a hand on his leg. "Hiding in here with the corpses, Airman Pentecost. Just what I would have expected from a coward like you." Barely holding on to consciousness Jack could feel the tension in the room. "Sergeant Fuller!" Bill sounded frightened but defiant. He should have stood up to this bully months ago. "I wasn't hiding. I don't have any reason to hide!"

Sergeant Fuller gave a low laugh. "No reason to hide! You little bastard, I thought that you'd learnt your lesson back at base. I obviously have to remind you."

Jack strained to stay awake and to understand what was happening, but he couldn't. The drugs finally won.

_____________

Beep! Beep!

Crap. Crap. Double crap. That machine was going to get a bullet in its guts if it kept waking him up!

Jack had a headache and a half! If he didn't know better he would think that they were keeping him sedated just to stop him from killing that damn machine. His head felt like it was stuffed with pillows but he could still hear that infernal beeping!

Slowly he managed to piece together the events of the last few days. Pain. Team visit. Operation. Janet. Left eye OK. Asleep. Bill. Bill! Jack thought hard for a second. The kid had been there. Something had happened. What? Jack knew that it was important that he remember, but he was having trouble remembering his own name, let alone anything else.

Footsteps approached him from the doorway.

"How are you, Sir?" asked Janet. "Doctor O'Hara said that he would be here in about an hour to take off the bandage on your left eye. I wanted to make sure that you were awake and feeling up to it."

"It would help if you people stopped stuffing me full of drugs, Doc', replied the Colonel irritably. "How can I get better if I can't stay awake?"

Janet knew that the Colonel didn't like to take medication at the best of times, but this was necessary and he would just have to be told.

"Sir", she hesitated. This wasn't easy and she wasn't sure how the Colonel was going to react. "You have been on strong painkillers since you arrived back at the SCG. We need to reduce their dosage slowly. Your body is still healing and it shouldn't have any extra strain placed on it. We don't plan to reduce the dose until we are sure that your right eye is well on the mend"

Jack lay stunned. Was Janet telling him what he thought?

"So, let me get this straight, Doctor Frasier." The Colonel's tone was icy cold. "You have gotten me addicted to drugs and you aren't planning to do anything about it any time soon?"

"It isn't like that, Colonel! It was necessary. You were in pain even with the drugs. Imagine what it would have been like without them" God, this man was able to make her feel guilty! She had been dreading this moment.

"Without them I would know what was happening from one minute to the next!" The Colonel was almost shouting now. The machine that went beep beeped more and more quickly. "You know that I hate drugs, Doctor. You know that I would never choose to be dependant on them. It is against everything that I stand for. Yet you still let this happen."

Janet stood shaking against Jack's bed. This was going even worse than she expected and her expectations hadn't been high. She tried to reason with him once more, if only to calm him down.

"Sir, please try to relax. You won't have any lasting effects from the drugs. It WAS necessary."

Colonel O'Neill took a deep breath. "Tell Doctor O'Hara that I will be ready for his visit. Now, if you don't want anything else, I would like you to leave."

"Yes, Sir" Tears formed briefly in Janet's eyes as she looked at the figure of the Colonel lying in the hospital bed. She thought of him as a friend. Someone that she could laugh with and share a joke. Eat a pizza with on a Saturday night. Someone that she liked very much. Had she lost that friendship forever? She blinked back the tears, straightened her back and quietly left the room.

Jack lay fuming. How dare they do this to him? How dare they? Even now he could sense the vague feeling at the edge of his mind, like he wasn't really there. He couldn't think straight. He reached over to the side of the bed. Fumbling, he felt around until he had a handful of tube. With a supreme effort, he yanked it from his arm, sending the IV crashing to the ground.

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

"Colonel O'Neill. I'm going to remove the bandage from your left eye now. Try to stay as still as possible and don't open it until I tell you" Doctor O'Hara instructed.

Nurse Hons stood to one side, watching the Colonel carefully. She didn't know what had caused his outburst earlier, but she had managed to convince the Colonel that she had to put his IV back in. Since then, he had not said a word to her or the other nurses. He didn't even seem pleased at the prospect of being able to see, if only from the one eye.

"Alright, Colonel. You can open your eye carefully." Doctor O'Hara watched his patient. He was very quiet, but that was probably just caused by his concern for his sight.

Jack tentatively opened his eye. It felt stiff and sore but he could see a watery image in front of him.

"We have darkened the room, Colonel. Can you see anything?" asked O'Hara.

"Yes, Doctor. It's a bit dim, but I can see you." Jack tried to raise some enthusiasm, but found it a hard task. It seemed to him that for every step forward that he made, there was a giant leap in the other direction. What was the point in having his sight back if all he could do was lie drugged and still.

Doctor O'Hara examined Jack's eye carefully. "It seems that your left eye has completely recovered. I'll leave it uncovered and only ask that you don't strain it too much by trying to read or by watching television." He turned to Nurse Hons. "Keep the room darkened, Nurse and try to make sure that the Colonel doesn't move around too much". Turning back to Jack, he continued. "I'll come by and examine it again later. Get some sleep now, Colonel"

"Yeah, Doctor. I can do that. I can sleep." Doctor O'Hara missed the sarcasm in the Colonel's words as he left the room.

_________

"I'm sorry, Major. The Colonel has told me that he doesn't want any visitors and I have to respect his wishes". Nurse Hons reluctantly told the trio waiting at her desk.

"But I don't understand, Nurse. Are you sure that he knows it's us?" Sam Carter was bewildered. This wasn't like the Colonel at all. There must be something that the nurse wasn't telling them.

She glanced at Jonas and Teal'c and saw the same emotion reflected in their eyes. Janet had seemed very upset when she had returned to the SGC earlier in the day. When she had asked her what was wrong, she had refused to talk about it at all. Sam had been certain that she could get to the bottom of it when they visited the Colonel. Now she wasn't so sure.

"He told me that he didn't want any visitors at all, Major. He was quite adamant. I am sorry, believe me."

There was nothing else that they could do except go back to the base. With a heavy heart the team left.

____________

General Hammond entered Jack's room as quietly as possible. He was pleased to see that the Colonel's left eye was uncovered and that the infernally noisy machines were now absent. Things must be improving at last. When the rest of SG1 had returned to the mountain from the hospital, Major Carter had told him of the Colonel's request for no visitors. It wasn't like him and the General was going to find out just what was going on. No one could prevent him from seeing his Second in Command.

"Jack" O'Neill appeared to be asleep. It seemed to the General that Jack was asleep every time that he saw him.

"General?" The slurred reply came. "That you?"

"Yes, Son. How are you feeling?"

"As well as can be expected, under the circumstance, Sir. Thank you" Jack's words were a little clearer now.

"How is your left eye, Colonel?' The General was surprised at Jack's tone. He seemed angry.

"Fine, General, thank you. I can see out of it OK". Hammond waited for more, but that seemed to be the extent of the conversation.

"What is it, Jack? What's wrong? Why wouldn't you let your team visit?" The General asked sitting down in the empty chair. He waited for an answer. Jack lay quietly.

"Son?"

"So I take it that Janet hasn't told you everything, General" Jack replied at last.

"She told me that your left eye was recovering well. And that the right one would be OK with time. Was there something else?" Hammond questioned Jack gently. He could see that the Colonel was upset.

Jack laughed. "Oh yes, General, there is something else that the good Doctor didn't tell you. She didn't tell you that I'm a drug addict"

General Hammond couldn't help gasping. This wasn't what he had been expecting. Trouble with the Colonel's eyes, yes. But not this!

"What are you talking about, Colonel? How can that be?"

"Courtesy of the doctors, Sir. They seem to think that I need an extra problem on top of everything else!"

"Colonel, explain yourself!" The General snapped. He had had enough of this self-pity.

Jack stiffened up. General Hammond was right. He was acting irrationally and he knew it. He took a deep breath

"Doctor Frasier gave me pain medication when I arrived at the SGC. It has been continued the whole time that I have been here, Sir. The Doctor told me that they had no intention of stopping or reducing it in the near future. So I lie here drugged out of my mind. I manage to stay awake for minutes at a time and I can't remember what happened an hour ago. As to visitors, Sir, I don't want my kids visiting me. They shouldn't see me like this." He turned his head and looked away from the General. Even now he could feel himself drifting.

Hammond sat silently. He needed to deal with this, but he also needed to be sure of his response. It was clear that the whole thing had affected the Colonel deeply.

"It's not like you are injecting yourself in back alleys, Jack" The Colonel turned and looked back at him. "You know that the Doctor has only your well being at heart. I am sure that before you leave the hospital you will be back to normal in every way. If it is necessary for you to be medicated in this way, then I am afraid that you will just have to put up with it, whether you like it or not. You'll get past this, Son. Try to think about it a bit more clearly"

The last sentence resulted in a bitter laugh from Jack."More clearly, General. Yes you are right. I will try and think a little more clearly!"

The General sighed. "Colonel O'Neill, I can't order you to see your team, but I can order you to speak to Doctor MacKenzie. Do I need to do that?"

"No Sir, you don't! He's the last person that I want to see." Jack swallowed. "I hear what you are saying. It was just a shock." He paused and then continued, "Let me think about it for a couple of days, George."

Hammond took Jack's hand lightly in his own. "It WILL be alright, Jack. Now get some rest. I'll see you on Tuesday." He turned as he reached the door. "I'll tell Major Carter and the others that you are a little tired and that you will be up to seeing them in a few days. No one else need know about this, Son. No one needs ever know except your doctors and myself."

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

Colonel Jack O'Neil was not enjoying himself at all! When he was awake he was bored and angry. He had snarled at the nurses so often that they avoided coming near him now except when they had to. He lay in a miserable bundle on his bed, looking at the window out of his one good eye. All that he could see was a small patch of sky and a branch from a tree. The hated IV was still attached to his arm, feeding him dreams. He didn't need dreams. He needed action. He needed to get out of here. Be doing something.

He let his mind review the last week. There was something that he knew he should remember. Something important. Another lost memory! How many of them had there been since he had arrived at this damn hospital? Shit! He hadn't seen Bill since their talk on the day that he collapsed. Maybe he had been discharged? There was something tugging at his mind there. Something about Bill. A harsh voice filled his head "hiding in here with the corpses". Where had that come from? This was so frustrating! Perhaps he could do something about it.

Colonel O'Neill quietly swung his legs over the side of the bed. He was damned if he was just going to lie here! He slowly stood up, steadying himself with a hand on the bed head. Apart from a slight dizzy feeling that was only to be expected, he felt OK. As he inched himself forward, he felt a tug on his arm. That bloody IV! He had promised Nurse Hons not to take it out, but this was different. He couldn't walk about with it attached to him. She wouldn't even know if he wasn't gone too long.

He gently pulled it from his arm, leaving the needle in. There! Now he could just plug himself back in to the happy juice when he got back. Oh Joy!

Jack felt almost like his old self, as he crept furtively along the hospital corridor. If he could just make it to the elevator, he would be home free. There! He pressed the down button and leaned against the wall, waiting. Every moment he expected a nurse to come around the corner of the corridor and catch him. This was fun!

He jumped violently as the elevator tinged at him. Not good enough, Jack. Drifting again. He had to stay alert. He slid inside the car before the doors were fully open. Empty. That was lucky. Now he could shut his good eye just for a second.

Ting! Sweet, he was here.

Jack moved as confidently as he could through the corridor on the second floor of the hospital. So far, no one had seemed to think that he was out of place. Just another patient, bored and going for a short walk. Jack had visited men from the base here several times and was reasonably familiar with the layout The general ward was along here somewhere. If Bill wasn't there, he should be able to ask about him without drawing too much attention to himself.

The men in the ward ignored Jack as he entered. They were much too busy playing cards and watching television to notice the entry of a patient. Jack stopped and looked carefully around before continuing. There was a small quiet group of older men playing poker around a bed near where he stood. He moved to them. A short, man with grizzled hair looked up appraisingly.

"Afternoon. You new here?"

"Sort of " replied Jack. "I'm looking for a friend of mine, Bill Pentecost. Do you know if he is still in the hospital?"

"Kid with a broken arm?" Jack caught the glance that the man gave his friends at his question.

"Yeah. That would be him. I haven't seen him for a while." Jack stopped, deciding to let the men answer him without any more prompting.

The older man seemed to come to a decision. "Sure. He's over there in the bed at the far end of the ward. Nice kid. Pity that he fell and hurt himself again last week. He would be out of here otherwise."

"Thanks" Jack began to slowly move down the ward towards Bill's bed. This was starting to get hard! His feet seemed to grow heavier with every step.

"Hey man! Why don't you borrow my wheelchair?" The amused voice came from the nearest bed. "It looks like you need it more than me at the moment"

Jack threw a thankful look at the man with the leg in plaster. It wouldn't do to collapse here.

"Thanks! I'll give it back when I finish with it" he laughed as he lowered himself into the chair. That was better! For a minute there he had been about to give up on the whole visiting Bill idea. He pushed himself forward. Much easier.

At the sound of the soft approach of the wheelchair, Bill Pentecost raised his eyes from the mystery novel that he was reading.

"Jack!" To say that he was stunned was an understatement! "I didn't expect to see you here"

"You didn't come and visit me, kid, so I thought that I would come see you. How's it going? Hurt yourself again, I see. How did you do that?" Jack could hardly miss the large bandage around the young man's leg.

"It's nothing. I fell against a trolley in the corridor and bruised it up a little. How are you? Got one eye back in working order, I see"

Jack smiled. "Yeap, Kid. I'm half way there." He looked at Bill. He was a thin, pale looking boy barely out of his teens. Hardly old enough to leave home.

Bill looked Jack over in his turn. The older man looked tired. He still had one eye bandaged and Bill could see the dangling end of an IV needle in the back of his hand. "Should you be out of bed, Jack?" he asked in a low voice. He didn't want to get his friend into trouble.

Jack had the grace to look a little sheepish. "You know how it is, kid. I was bored. Nothing to do. Then I realised that I hadn't seen you for a while. So, here I am."

Bill was sure that Jack didn't remember anything of his last visit to him in the ICU. He was almost sorry that he didn't. Sergeant Fuller was still in the hospital and still managing to make his life a misery. He had taken to staying in bed too frightened to walk around in case he met up with him again. That time in Jack's room, the Sergeant had pushed him violently into the wall, resulting in the injury to his leg. Bill had given up on sticking up for himself. As soon as he was out of the hospital he was leaving the Air Force.

"Come on, Bill. You look like you need to get out of this bed as much as I did. What say we go grab something at the cafeteria?" Jack smiled at the boy. "I'll even let you push my chair!" Jack felt happy for the first time in weeks. Very happy. Maybe suspiciously happy. Were they feeding him some sort of anti depressant now? He couldn't be bothered worrying about it. Plenty of time to find out when he saw Nurse Hons again.

Bill was startled by the sudden change in Jack. He seemed all fired up, even a little twitchy.

"Ok, Jack. I'm up for it." He couldn't think of any way to refuse the offer. After all what could go wrong with Jack with him?

______________

Jack and Bill sat in a corner of the empty cafeteria. Bill had got a shake and Jack a coffee. Probably not the best choice, Jack had thought as Bill pushed him to the table. He didn't think that he needed any more stimulants. He felt like he had that time that the Tok'ra gave them the armbands. It was a change from drowsy, anyway!

The kid told Jack a bit more about himself and the terrible time that he had had since joining the Air Force. He had even confessed his decision to resign as soon as he got out of hospital. Jack sat back and let Bill talk. He didn't even try to persuade the kid to change his mind. Bill had obviously had enough and Jack couldn't blame him. He seemed to remember thinking the opposite about the problem the last time that Bill had confessed to him, but who cares? He certainly didn't!

"Who's your new friend, Billy Boy? Why don't you introduce me?"

Sergeant Fuller had seen Bill sitting with the man with the bandaged eye. It wasn't until he had gotten nearer that he had realised that the man was in a wheelchair. Just the right sort of companion for that useless shower of s**t. A half blind, grey haired cripple. This shouldn't present any problem.

That's a familiar voice, Jack thought. Something nudged at his memories. "Here with the corpses" That was it! The memory came flooding back. Sergeant Fuller. That explained the kid's new leg injury. He remembered hearing the thud just before he had lost consciousness.

He looked up with a feral grin.

"Sergeant Fuller?" Jack felt his grin grow wider. God, but he felt good!

Bill was surprised. He hadn't thought that Jack would know the Sergeant. And he didn't like the look in Jack's eye. He almost felt afraid of him. How much did he really know about the man?

"So this little whimp has been talking about me, has he? I'm sure that you don't have any objections to me sitting with you then. I didn't get your name." The big, sandy haired man glared down at them.

"Jack O'Neill, Sergeant. And yes, I do object to you sitting with us." Jack was very, very happy. Deep inside he knew that he should warn the Sergeant just what he was getting in to, but he really didn't want to. This was so much fun!

Sergeant Fuller leaned forward and placed both his big beefy hands on the table in front of Jack. He moved to within an inch of the Colonel's face and breathed bad breath towards him. "I don't think that you heard me." He began to slowly sit.

Jack stretched out a hand nonchalantly and gave Fuller a powerful push on the elbow. It collapsed under the Sergeant and he found himself face down on the table. He felt a steely grip on his ear.

"You're a bully, Fuller. Just like the ones that everyone saw in the schoolyard. You're a disgrace to the uniform. If you get up and do anything other than leave us alone, you will find yourself in more trouble than you know how to handle." Jack spoke calmly. He was having trouble controlling his anger now. The big man on the table didn't realise how close to serious injury he was. Jack knew that his emotions were out of control. He knew that he should just back away, go up to his room and ask the doctor what was wrong with him. But he didn't want to.

"Colonel O'Neill!" General Hammond's voice echoed across the room ."Just what do you think that you are doing?"

Colonel O'Neill looked up into the almost purple face of his commanding officer. "I'm forgetting my problems, General. Just like you ordered me to." He let go of the large ear between his fingers.

"Colonel?" Bill looked like he was going to faint.

"You never asked, kid." Jack smiled gently at the boy. "And I didn't see any reason to tell you."

"Colonel! I'm going to get an orderly to take you to your room immediately. I will expect a full explanation from you when I get there."

Jack couldn't help but laugh. "Make sure that you get another wheelchair for the man with the broken leg in the general ward," he told the orderly as he approached. "I stole this one from him."

"Colonel!" Hammond gave a warning growl. "Get going"

"Yes, Sir!" Jack answered before turning to Bill. "Don't worry, kid. It'll be OK" He gave a cheerful farewell wave as he was wheeled from the room.

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

Doctor O'Hara carefully lifted the bandages from around Jack's eye.

"Now, let's see if you did any damage to yourself, Colonel." He glared disapprovingly at Jack. "I did tell you to rest."

Jack couldn't stop grinning. He may have got himself into serious trouble with the General and he had been pretty stupid, but he was too wired up to care. Even his eye didn't worry him.

Nurse Hons looked at the flushed face of the Colonel.

"Perhaps we should call Doctor Frasier, Doctor O'Hara. I don't think that Colonel O'Neill is acting normally."

"I don't want to see Frasier!" Jack's shout made the nurse and doctor jump. He wasn't smiling now. "I don't want her as my doctor"

Doctor O'Hara was puzzled. Colonel O'Neill was acting irrationally.

"Alright, Colonel. Calm down." He turned to Nurse Hons. "Bring me the Colonel's chart". He quickly scanned over the notes, before turning to the Colonel once more. He knew that Jack was on pain killing drugs. Perhaps it was a reaction to those. He made a mental note to check with Frasier as soon as he was done here.

"Let's worry about the eye first, Nurse. Then we will look into the other issues. Now, Colonel", he continued, "I want you to slowly open your eye and tell me what you see"

Jack carefully did as the doctor asked. He could see a very dim light and not much else. Gradually the light brightened and blurry images appeared. "I can't see much of anything, Doctor" Jack was a lot more worried now. Was this all that he was ever going to be able to see?

The tall doctor shone a light into the Colonel's eye and examined it carefully.

"Don't worry, Colonel. You will be happy to know that your little escapade hasn't done you any harm. In fact, I am pleased to tell you that your eye is healing well. I think that we will leave the bandages off. If you keep it covered and be patient, you will find that your sight will clear gradually. As I said to you a few days ago Ð with rest and time. You are very lucky, you know. An injury such as this could have meant permanent blindness. It is up to you to make sure that the healing is successful"

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

"I can't really say that I'm sorry to see you go, Sir' quipped Nurse Hons. "It hasn't exactly all been a pleasure."

Jack had the grace to look a little shamefaced.

"Thanks for your patience, Nurse. I know that I haven't been exactly an average patient"

Nurse Hons broke into a full grin. "You could never be average, Sir. I hope that we don't see you again for a while"

Jack was finally leaving the Academy Hospital after weeks of treatment. He still had to wear a patch over his right eye, but he had been promised that it would be completely healed within the next two months. The drugs were still in his system and he would have to continue to take controlled doses of them for some time yet, but the strange highs and lows that he had experienced had been ironed out and he felt more in control. The incident with Sergeant Fuller had been explained away as a result of the medication and, with the General's help, the Sergeant had been persuaded to resign from the Air Force without any trouble.

Jack was ready to resume light duties at the SGC. The General had been very understanding, given the circumstances and had reassured Jack that he had full confidence in him. It was just a case of seeing how he could cope. Now he was being driven home by Jonas, Carter and Teal'c. His team. There may be troubles ahead but he knew that they could be overcome.

Colonel Jack O'Neill accepted the hand of Teal'c to help him into the car.

"Thank you" He smiled at the big man.

"You are welcome, ColonelO'Neill. It will be good to have you back at the SGC".

Even Teal'c couldn't help smiling as he settled the Colonel carefully into his seat. The car moved off down the road carrying its passenger home at last.

The End?