Title: Phoenix From The Flames Author: magicsunbeam Email: magicsunbeam@ntlworld.com Category: angst/H & C Pairing: none Spoilers: None Rating: G Content Warnings: none. Status: Completed Summary: A tag to Flatkatsi's When the Ash Settles. Doc's POV. Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. We have written this story for entertainment purposes only and no money whatsoever has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the authors. Not to be archived without permission of the authors.
Phoenix From The Flames by Magicsunbeam
SG1 had been a couple of miles away from the gate when their day started to go horribly wrong. Daniel and Sam had been collecting samples, whilst the colonel and Teal'c had chosen to scout about. They had then decided to split up, keeping in contact via their radio's and had agreed to meet up within the hour. The area around the gate is on PTX 454 is - was - heavily wooded. The climate was hot and dry, MALP tests showed that there had been no substantial rainfall in some time. Basically, the place was a tinderbox. So when a bolt of lightening struck a clump of trees high up in the hills overlooking the gate all hell broke loose, if you'll pardon the pun. The wind rose, whipping the flames into a molten frenzy and driving the fire down the hill toward the gate at frightening speed. O'Neill had been aware of the situation, and wasted no time in radioing his team with orders to get back to the gate. Teal'c said that judging by his radio conversation, the colonel must have wandered further away from the gate than he thought. They were aware, as O'Neill must have been, that he his reaching the gate in time would depend on how fast he could run. Sam said that by the time she, Daniel and Teal'c reached the stargate the fire was all consuming. Determined that he was not going to be left behind, the team waited for him, ever hopeful. Despite orders from their CO to get back to the SGC, they waited. They waited until the heat from the flames could no longer be ignored, then they stepped through the stargate. When they walked back into the SGC, Sam was crying. ----- They thought it was hopeless. They thought they were being sent out to recover his body, if indeed there was a body left to recover. Never in our wildest dream did we dare to imagine SG1 walking their CO back through the gate. I heard the klaxon sound, and made my way to the gateroom slower than normal. I didn't expect. The sight of him shocked and stunned me, and for a moment all I could do was stare. I could hear the wheezing noises his chest was making from where I stood. He was singed around the edges, and wavering on his feet. It wasn't until the adrenaline left him and he began to fold, that I came to my senses. By the time we got him on an examining table in the infirmary, Colonel O'Neill had managed to rally himself once more. Through puffed and reddened eyes, he watched my every move. I knew he wanted to know what was happening, so I talked him through it. As the time ticked by, his breathing became more aggitated. I knew, as did he, that it was going to get so bad that eventually I'd have to intubate him. His lungs and chest were going to have to receive all the help they could get if they were to ever work properly again. The colonel hates being intubated. Nobody likes it, I know that, but sometimes there is no choice. I held off as long as I thought humanly possible. It was when, after a particularly nasty bout of coughing, his eyes rolled up in his head and he passed out through lack of oxygen, that I knew enough was enough. He woke up struggling sometime later. It didn't take long for him to realise what had happened and give in. Too exhausted to fight, he'd slipped back into the soft arms of unconsciousness, and I thanked God for small mercies. ----- Sam told me later that he just appeared out of the ashes; walking toward them like some God forsaken phoenix. Soaked to the skin, covered in ash, breathing in short, ragged bursts as if he'd just finished a fifty mile marathon... and smiling. *Smiling!* Relief can produce the damnedest reactions. Of course I realise that shock will have played a part too. I mean, a person can't survive a literal hell like that and not be affected by it. I can't imagine how Colonel O'Neill must have felt in that last minute, when he *knew* he wasn't going to outrun the fire. Desperation and fear driving him to keep looking for an option, when it must have seemed so hopeless. It scares me just to think about it. ----- Colonel O'Neill woke a short time ago, and looked around the room. Seemingly satisfied when his eyes fell on what he sought, - his team - he allowed himself to slip away once more. For now, all is quiet but for the hiss of the ventilator, the reassuring beep of the heart monitor. I don't know how he did it. Survived that is. No doubt we'll find out in due course, but for now he's alive. A little crisped, a whole *lot* of smoked. But he's *alive!*
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