Work Text:
He’d held his breath along with them during their literal leap of faith.
It had worked. Both Teal’c and Jack were aboard thanks to Sam’s quick-thinking, the rings, and a whole heap of luck on their side.
He hurried over to them both. To his relief he saw that at first glance, at least, Teal’c seemed physically fine considering he’d just spent the past twenty four hours in a freezing cockpit with very little oxygen. He was even able to stand and hold his own weight, making Selmak comment internally about Jaffa stubbornness. Jack O’Neill, however, the human personification of stubbornness, was far worse off. He was laying helplessly on the floor, not moving.
Prioritizing him, he hurried over to check him out. He better not be dead after they’d come all this way…
He thanked the heavens when the man started to open his eyes at his approach. His gaze stopped on him, and then he mumbled, “Hey… Jacob.” It was a good sign he was aware enough to recognize him. “Thanks for… stopping by,” he added weakly, and tried to lift his head up from the floor.
“What the hell,” he smiled comically, though internally he was concerned by how unfocused Jack’s eyes were. He looked like he was about to pass out. “I was in the neighbourhood. Need a lift home?”
“Yes, Sir… thank you,” he mustered, his head slumping back down towards the floor.
He gave him a supportive cordial pat on the shoulder, and almost flinched at how icy he felt.
“Sir!”
Sam came dashing in from the pel’tac having sent back the word of their rescue to the SGC right as the lights faded from Jack’s eyes. He sank down onto the floor, his eyes lolling upwards before snapping shut.
His heart gave a lurch at the sight of his girl launching herself to his side, her hands roaming all over his limp form in a frenzy.
‘Calm down, Jacob. She’s just examining him. Standard field medic training, right?’
“Slow, deep breaths, Sir,” she instructed both soothingly and urgently, clutching his now pale face. His eyes were still closed and gave no indication he’d heard her. “He’s ice cold! He needs a blanket!” she then yelled in a panic. “Dad?”
“A blanket? This isn’t exactly a bed and breakfast…”
“But he’s hypothermic!”
The distress in her voice was clearly evident.
There was a dash of movement as Daniel, who’d been tending to Teal’c, grabbed his pack and started strewing items from it.
Sam scooped Jack up off the floor of the cargo ship, pulling his torso onto her lap, clutching him close to her. Jack gave a deep sigh at the contact, though he was still out for the count. Selmak noticed how blue his lips were turning.
“Sir, you’re okay,” Sam soothed, stroking her CO’s face. “We got you. You’re safe. Stay with us, please.”
He could see the trembling of her hands as she held him. He felt terrified at the notion of them losing Jack. He liked the guy enough, but could only imagine how utterly devastated Sam would be in comparison.
“Daniel! Where’s that emergency blanket?” she chided when be still hadn’t handed one over.
“Just a sec!” he yelled back as even more supplies came cascading from his pack.
“Mmmm… so warm, Carter,” Jack mumbled weakly, and his eyes half-opened as he gave a feeble shuffle to sink into the hold she’d pulled him into.
His insides clenched at the sight of Jack moving on her like that, though he reluctantly found himself impressed with how professionally his daughter was handling the situation. Or maybe she was just fraught with such panic that she didn’t have the capacity to blush at his words or movements.
“He’s hypoxic,” she called, throwing an apologetic look in his direction. She must have caught him scowling.
“Damn, I’m sorry Sam,” cut in Daniel. “I guess I didn’t pack the emergency pack that has the foil emergency blanket… We were in such a hurry to gate offworld to find your Dad...”
“Check mine, then,” she clipped, clasping tight onto Jack’s form. She’d now dropped her free hand from his face and was pulling at his gloves to inspect his digits, probably checking for frostbite. “Sir, can you open your eyes?” she asked softly as she began rubbing his purple-hued fingers to generate warmth for him.
Jack’s eyes half-opened, but they were unfocused, as in a drunken stupor.
Daniel dropped his own pack unceremoniously with a clatter, causing its contents to skitter across the cargo ship, and he scurried to reach Sam’s pack.
Teal’c, who had by now removed his helmet and own gloves approached, kneeling down before the two.
“He’s so cold he’s not even shivering,” she said in a garbled voice, looking up at the Jaffa, alarm written all over her face.
Teal’c calmly tugged at Jack’s helmet and felt his forehead, pausing and frowning.
“He urgently requires body heat,” he said, and he watched as Sam gave a nod and immediately started pulling her BDU jacket off. Teal’c made a move to do the same with his flight suit, but she shook her head.
“No, not until you’ve been checked out back at home. You were in that same freezing ship, too.” Then she barked, “Daniel, for god’s sake, hurry up!”
Teal’c briskly helped her drape her removed jacket over Jack’s exposed shoulder and back, at which point Daniel had finally managed to pull an emergency blanket from Sam’s pack. He quickly discarded the outer package it was in, spread it out with a shake, and with Teal’c’s help, they both stretched it out over Sam and Jack, tucking it tight around them in a large envelope.
He was impressed with how well they worked together, and how well Sam was taking command of the situation and dispensing orders in their downed leader’s place despite her clear emotional state. Their work had been so swift and efficient that he hadn’t felt the need to step in and do anything, like a strange third wheel observer looking in on a close-knit group; as though they were Sam’s family, not him. What he didn’t like, though, was the way none of them had questioned or even looked awkward at the fact that Sam had become the designated provider of body heat for Jack, as though it was simply natural that it would fall to Sam to be cradling their leader close like that.
‘Jacob, I know what assumptions your brain is jumping to right now, but I do not believe Samantha and Colonel O’Neill are engaged in any kind of personal relationship.’
‘But look how *intimate* they look. It’s like they’ve done this before… And haven’t you noticed she’s now avoiding looking our way?’
From his point of view, the mere fact that she was now deliberately avoiding his gaze made the guilt even more evident, in his eyes at least.
’Your daughter is merely guilty of trying to save a man’s life. If you weren’t so biased, you’d see that, too, Jacob.’
Under the blanket, he saw the shape of their bodies grow smaller as Sam pulled Jack’s body even tighter to hers, cradling him closely.
’I really don’t like this one bit.’
“C’mon Sir, can’t have you die of hypothermia when we came all this way to rescue you,” she gently reprimanded as she held him.
“Mmm, you feel nice…” he murmured in reply with a groan, but she brushed off his comment again and said nothing.
‘Yeah, try and stop my brain continue making those assumptions, Selmak…”
Then he heard the sound of a zipper, and he could guess from the movement that she was undoing the front of his flight suit so she could transfer more of her body heat into him.
“Shoulda tried this when we snuggled in Antarctica,” Jack mumbled, and he caught the sight of a curl to his still blue-hued lips.
So they had done this before.
‘Okay, that does it, I’m outta here,’ he huffed internally. ‘Somebody’s gotta fly us home, anyway,’ and he turned on his heels towards the pel’tac, unable to bear the sight of his daughter and her CO like that a second longer.
The fact that Selmak didn’t protest or offer anything to say in itself spoke words.
If Jack survived this, he was gonna kill him.