She wasn't on the rescue ship. Jonas had said something about her needing to send back a satellite.  Teal'c had given him a funny look at that, but he was in too much pain to think about it for much longer.  Back through the Stargate, he saw the medical team led by Janet swarm around him in record time.  He looked up to see if she was standing in the control room.  Not a sign of her anywhere.

 

He was rushed to the infirmary, where his leg was stitched up and he was poked and prodded with needles of all shapes and sizes.  He remembered to give Janet samples of the plant he collected.  He was about to tell her that he had collected some soil samples for Carter, but his thoughts were interrupted as General Hammond entered the room.

 

"Good to have you back, Colonel."

 

"Glad to be here, Sir."

 

"It was certainly quiet without you here."

 

"I'll take that as a OOWW!"  He gave Janet a menacing look as she withdrew the needle. 

 

"Sorry, Colonel.  That should be the last shot for awhile."

 

He let out an exaggerated sigh and laid back on the bed, grateful to be bathed and away from Maybourne for the first time in almost a month.  Janet collected some charts and left the two men to a private conversation.

 

"How are you feeling, Jack?"

 

"The leg's a little sore, but the Doc tells me I'll recover after some PT."

 

"Good, good."  He inhaled a deep breath and spoke again, "Son, I'm not sure how you are going to feel about this, but Major Carter considers it her fault that this incident happened at all."

 

Squirming around on the bed trying to adjust his pillows, he only half-heard what the General was saying, "Carter?  Why?" 

 

"She told me that she allowed Colonel Maybourne to take her weapon."

 

"Come on, Sir.  We all know Harry was playing everyone to get where he wanted to go. Carter's no more at fault than I am for believing him, or you are for letting us all go through the gate on this wild goose chase.  I'm home now- safe and sound.  Can't we just let it go?"  Satisfied that he had found the most comfortable position possible, he laid back again, studying the General's still-tense face.  "What else happened while I was gone?"

 

"I had reports, from a few different people, that Major Carter's behavior while you were away was less than... professional."

 

"Carter?  Ubprofessional?  You have got to be kidding me.  Who are these crackpots?"  This had to be some kind of a joke.  Carter was nothing if not the consummate professional.

 

"I don't want to-"

 

"With all due respect, General, if someone is making false accusations against a member of my team, I want to know who it is."

 

"I don't think they're false, Jack."

 

The seriousness of tone in Hammond's voice silenced the comeback Jack had planned.

 

"In fact, I've confronted Major Carter with the things I've heard, and she has confirmed that her behavior was... well... unprofessional about covers it."

 

What in the hell was going on?  Was that why she hadn't been to see him? 

 

"We both know her record is nearly perfect, and I don't want to damage that in any way, so she and I agreed that the best thing for her to do is transfer.  Off of SG-1."

 

That did it.  He had come back to an alternate reality.  This was not happening.

 

"I'm sure this is a shock to you, Colonel.  Both as the CO of SG-1 and as Major Carter's friend, but I think it's for the best.  And after you've had some time to think about it, I'm sure you'll agree."

 

"General, I can't imagine ever agreeing that losing one of the best officers I have ever worked with is for the best.  Whatever the reason."

 

"I'm sorry you feel that way, Colonel, because the decision is final."  He turned to walk out of the room, but looked back with genuine regret in his eyes, "I'm sorry, son."

 

Alone in his room, he could hardly believe what he had come back to.  Right about now the last month with Maybourne wasn't looking all that bad.

 

 

She had been avoiding him for nearly 24 hours. She knew it.  She knew he knew it. And having just seen General Hammond come out of the infirmary, now he knew why.  Well, she doubted he knew the details, but he certainly got the idea.  And now it was time to face the music.  Part of her desperately wished she could put it off indefinitely, but he deserved better than that.  And she deserved a good night's sleep -the first one in a month.  Better than three, she laughed to herself.  She saw him lying back on the bed, propped up by pillows, eyes closed, but not asleep.  She could certainly tell whether he was sleeping or not after almost six years.

 

He heard the door open and opened his eyes to see the object of his jumbled thoughts enter the room.  He decided to let her make the first move.

 

"Colonel."

 

"Major."

 

"How are you feeling?"  She took a few steps closer to the bed, hands firmly clasped behind her back.

 

"Spend a month with Maybourne eating hallucinogenic plants and then we'll talk."

 

She couldn't help but smirk even though she still felt guilty.  The tone of his voice let her know he didn't consider her to be at fault.  She never thought he would hold her responsible.  She wouldn't have if the reverse had happened.  It almost made it worse.

 

"Sir, I-"

 

"Hammond already told me."  He held her eyes with a penetrating gaze.

 

"With all due respect, Sir, I don't think he told you everything."

 

"I can fill in the blanks, Carter."

 

She sat down as the foot of the bed, mostly for fear that her legs wouldn't hold her through the conversation, "It was my fault.  All of it."  It was little more than a whisper, but the confession in the words tore open her soul.

 

"How do you figure?"

 

"He took my zat.  I couldn't figure out how to make the arch-"

 

"Since when is saving my ass your full-time job?"  He was serious, and almost angry as he continued, "It was me that decided to trust Maybourne and bring him through the gate.  *I* jumped him, and ended up getting stranded-"

 

"But you didn't take a month to figure out that you were just next door on a moon!"

 

"You're right, Carter.  It wouldn't have taken me a month to figure that out."

 

Finally.  He was coming around to her way of seeing-

 

"I would probably never have figured that out."  His voice quiet, but no less serious, "Thank you."

 

She offered a half-smile in acceptance of his gratitude, but there was so much more to say.  She didn't even know where to begin.  Maybe at the beginning, "I didn't handle it very well this time - you being gone, I mean."

 

"I actually think I got the better end of the deal this time."

 

She looked at him, eyes full of questions.

 

"Harry isn't much to look at, but he knows how to fry fish."

 

"You fished?"

 

"I tried.  Maybourne was a little more successful."

 

"Oh."  She didn't quite get it, but he would probably tell her some other time.

 

"Carter, I don't know what happened while I was gone, and frankly, I'm not sure I want to know, but the end result-"

 

"Is that I'm getting my own command."

 

Now it was his turn to give the questioning look.

 

"The timing was right, and it was really the only way out of the mess I made."

 

"Do you want to define 'mess'?"

 

"Giving orders without the proper authority, completely breaking down into an emotional wreck, suggesting we spend well over a million dollars to dismantle and then rebuild a satellite, and generally just being an unpleasant person to be around for about 30 days."

 

"Really bad PMS?" 

 

"Not exactly, Sir, although I might have been able to get away with that excuse if this hadn't been part of a pattern."

 

"It's not like I get stranded on alien planets a lot, you know."  He thought for a minute, "Well, not all of the time."  He thought again, "Well, occasionally, maybe."

 

"Let's just say that from working to exhaustion while you were on Edora, to suggesting we hold a Tok'ra hostage so that we could find out where Kanan had taken you, to being held at gun point for not following General Hammond's orders when he wouldn't let us go back and get you and Lt. Tyler, to not following Colonel Makepeace's orders when you were-"

 

"Okay, okay.  I get the point.  There's a pattern."  God, how had he not known about all of that?  Why hadn't she told him?  Why hadn't Hammond?  He was beginning to suspect that Hammond had known a lot more than he had let on for quite awhile as far as certain feelings were concerned.

 

"I'm sorry."

 

"For the last time, Carter, this was not your fault.  Maybourne-"

 

"Not for this.  For all of it.  For not being stronger.  For breaking up the team."

 

Jesus Christ.  How in the hell was he supposed to make her feel better?