Kay was awakened the next
morning by familiar snoring. Without even opening her eyes, she knew who
was making those annoying gurgling and rasping noises. She ought to
because she'd lived with that particular snore for almost twenty years
and knew every exhale, snort, and restless shift of the male figure
slumped in the chair by her bed.
With a gargantuan effort, she pried her eyelids apart. "Josh?"
Her answer was another
snort from the gray-haired man who was laying with his face cradled by
one arm with drool running between slack lips onto the pillow. From grim
experience, she knew better than to startle the combat veteran. Instead
she softly called his name again. "Josh?"
Pausing a bit, she took
the time to study his weathered features and memorized every care-line,
whisker, and twitch of his face. There was still no response, but that
was no surprise. Her man had been known to sleep through thunderstorms,
loud noisy ones that had her thinking seriously of heading to the storm
cellar.
Mischievously, she leaned
forward. "Hey, stud." She blew on his face. "Wanna get lucky?"
His thin lips curved into
a smile as he moaned. Eyes still closed, his hands slid over the pillow
to cup her face. Kay grinned and nibbled on his index finger, eliciting
another groan of pleasure from her partner. His rough hands continued to
rub her face, and then moved further south to her neck and chest,
rubbing her breasts through her hospital scrub top checking her out
using the Braille method. Kay moaned with pleasure.
As she watched his sleepy hazel eyes opened. "What?"
"Morning, stud." She smirked.
He licked his lips, and
then his eyes widened when he saw where he had his hands. "I was having
the strangest dream."
Kay giggled.
"No dream?"
"Nope."
"Again?"
Another giggle and an
affirmative nod, "Um hmm." She smiled happily.
He withdrew his hands. "Oh, sorry."
Kay captured his hands. "I'm not. It felt pretty good."
The sound of a chuckle
and someone clearing their throat drew Kay's attention.
"I see that you're both
awake," announced Dr. Brightman with a wry grin on her face.
Blushing, the counselor
resisted her husband's attempts to withdraw his hands from her grasp.
"What was your first clue?" She exchanged a grin with her husband. "When
can I get out of here?"
"We'll probably be able
to release you this morning after we've checked you out. Then you and
your husband will be meeting with General O'Neill. He has a few things
he needs to discuss with you concerning your new-found abilities."
Kay sobered and then
turned to her husband with a look of gratitude as he squeezed her hand
reassuringly. Taking a deep breath, she turned back to the Doctor.
"Might as well get it over with. What do you need to do?"
Her gaze strayed to her
husband's face and she mentally evaluated his thoughts. From experience
and the way his eyes glittered under his shaggy eyebrows, she figured
that he was in his alpha-male protective mode.
His lips thinned to a
severe and unforgiving line as he stared at Dr. Brightman. Then a
crimson tongue flickered across his lips, like a snake testing the air
currents for the scent of danger. "General O'Neill wants to see us?"
"Yes, I was told that
you're supposed to meet with Generals Hammond and O'Neill as soon as I
finish up with Kay. In fact, they were most insistent that both of you
attend the meeting." As she spoke, she continued toward Kay's bedside
removed the stethoscope draped around her neck and hooked the gray
rubber-tipped ends around the back of her throat.
By this time, the Doctor
was standing next to Kay and reached out to take her wrist. Kay warily
pulled both hands out of Josh's protective grasp and submitted to the
touch of the physician.
Stoically putting up with
the routine of taking vitals, Kay waited patiently until the Doctor had
finished. Then the counselor arched a thick eyebrow in question as the
Doctor picked up a chart to make notations. "So, does this mean I can
go? Am I normal . . . relatively speaking?"
"Yes, Kay. According to
my readings, you are okay to go. As for being normal . . . What would
you say? Isn't that usually your department?" Brightman chuckled as she
looked up from her chart.
Kay bit her lip and shook
her head. "I've always said that normal is a setting on a washing
machine. Jeez, I feel normal, is that good enough?"
"You feel normal too," Josh quipped, a twinkle in his eye.
"You mean you noticed?"
His wife rolled her eyes. "I thought you were asleep."
"I'd know normal even in
my sleep," he insisted. His face turned from his wife's to the Doctor.
"So, we can go now?"
Her eyes were hopeful as
she pushed the sheets away and sat lotus fashion, her palms cupping her
knees. Nervously, her thin fingers stroked the cotton of the blue
hospital scrubs on her legs.
"Yes, they are expecting
you in General O'Neill's room. I haven't released him from the Infirmary
yet," the CMO explained.
"Good, I have a lot of questions myself,"
answered Josh as he stood. He held out his hands in a clear invitation
of assistance to his wife and assisted her out of the bed.
***
General O'Neill shifted
uncomfortably in his bed, the trailing IV line pulling against his wrist
as he tried to scratch his ear. "Danged power-mongering Doctors," he
muttered. He shifted his legs uncomfortably as he tried not to think
about the tube installed in his plumbing. "Always sticking their fingers
where they don't belong."
'Crap, They didn't
even get rid of the danged backless hospital gown they stuck me in, so
even if I could sneak out of here, my ass would be hanging out for all
the world to see. Yep, Jack, life is just peachy, ain't it.'
"If Dr. Brightman hadn't
ordered you confined to bed, I would have," tutted Hammond reprovingly.
"In case you haven't figured it out by now, you are too valuable to
risk. Too much is at stake for you to have a relapse. Why, just twelve
hours ago you were totally out of it. So hush your mouth for once, Jack,
and listen to what the Doctor has to say."
Jack scowled and wiped
his face with his hand. "Crap, sir. I wish you wouldn't put it that
way." His eyes skittered away from the gaze of the man sitting next to
him. "It makes me sound, oh, I don't know . . ."
"Important?" Hammond
pursed his lips and crossed his arms across his chest.
"Irreplaceable?"
Jack risked a quick look
at him and then looked away from the steely gaze. Instead, he draped a
forearm across his eyes in a blatant attempt to block out the
inevitable.
"You can run, but you can't hide, Jack."
O'Neill peeked out from under his arm.
"You know the worth of
all the knowledge stuffed inside the hard head of yours. And for your
information, if I treated you any differently, the President would have
my head on a platter and I'd end up looking worse than an armadillo
lying tits up on the side of the road." Hammond sighed.
"Right now I can sure relate to that armadillo, sir," Jack mumbled.
"How do you think Kay feels?"
Jack scrubbed his face
and frowned. "Crap, you're right . . . as usual. Are we still meeting
with her and Josh this morning?"
"As soon as Brightman
releases her." He glanced at his watch. "Which shouldn't be long
now."
"It's something I'm not
looking forward to, but we gotta do it anyway." He sighed and looked at
his commander. "Do you ever get sick and tired of the shitty part of
command?"
"All the time, Jack."
Hammond smiled in sympathetic understanding. "Why else do you think I
lost all my hair?" He paused a beat. "It sure wasn't from rubbing it off
on the headboard."
Jack choked. "More like
putting up with the shenanigans of a not-so-innocent and cooperative
bird Colonel, but then we've already established that. Haven't we?"
Hammond nodded, his eyes twinkling.
A hesitant knock on the
door had both men turning toward the sound. Standing there were Kay,
Josh, and Dr. Brightman.
Kay cleared her throat nervously. "You wanted to see us?"
"Yes, come on in and have
a seat. Do we have enough for everybody?" Hammond beckoned with his
hand.
"If not, I'll have some
more sent in, sir," Brightman assured him.
Jack watched as Josh took
his wife's elbow and steered her toward one of the chairs and then sat
down next to her. He also didn't miss the challenge in the man's eyes
that was directed at him. Knowing him as he did, Jack couldn't say as he
blamed the man for wanting to protect his wife and family from whatever,
or whoever might threaten them. He'd felt the same way . . . once and
would give anything if he could feel it again.
Mentally giving himself a
shake, he concentrated on Kay. From his position in his bed, she looked
rested but nervous.
'Well jeez, go figure.'
"How are you feeling this morning, Kay?"
"Rested and brimful of
questions, sir." She bit her lower lip and twisted her hands in her
lap.
Hammond nodded. "That's
certainly understandable. The reason we're here is to answer some of
those questions."
"Good." Josh nodded and leaned forward.
Jack cleared his throat
and raised an eyebrow at Hammond, who nodded minutely. "We might as well
get started on this. First off, I want to let you both know that as of
yesterday afternoon, we've had a security detachment watching your
house."
He raised a warning hand
as Josh came half out of his chair. "Wait a minute, I'm not through yet.
Your family is all right. Our security's been sitting outside your
home," his lips thinned into a firm line a he continued, "purely as a
precautionary measure; once we have your permission, we plan to
transport them up to the base for testing."
"But why?" Kay protested.
"Yeah, just what the hell is going on here?" Josh chimed in.
Jack took a deep breath.
"Once we found out just how special Kay was, we knew we had to make
doubly sure that her family weren't put in any danger. You see, certain
other . . . factions out there might take it into their heads that
grabbing Kay and her kids might give them an advantage."
Josh nodded knowingly.
"What kind of other factions? Are you talking about spooks that have
gone bad?"
"The very same." Jack
nodded. "As of last report, they are doing fine, by the way."
"Can I help pick them up?" asked Kay.
"No, honey, I'd better do
that. Unless I miss my guess, they won't let you off base right now
anyway." Josh turned to O'Neill. "Am I right?"
Hammond and O'Neill nodded.
Kay crossed her arms
across her chest. "For how long?" she sputtered.
"At least until we know
just exactly what kind of abilities you have," Jack responded firmly.
"I sense an 'and'." Her eyes narrowed.
"You're damned Skippy you
do," Josh agreed with his wife forcefully.
Hammond sighed and broke
in. "I understand your concern, but until we know for sure just what
we're dealing with, we don't want to take any chances with anyone's
safety. You might say that your brain has just been classified top
secret, Kay."
She groaned and grabbed
the side of her head, interlacing her fingers through her thick hair.
"As far as I'm concerned, sirs, you can take this mess off my hands
anytime you want to. And as for what I have in my head, you can have
that too," she added bitterly.
"Shh, honey." Josh put a
protective arm around her shoulder. "I'll go with security to pick up
our kids. They'd be scared half to death if anybody else showed up." He
smirked. "Not to mention that our babysitter would probably fill them
full of holes it they tried to take off with them without our say
so."
"I figured as much." Jack smiled approval.
"What kind of tests will
you be doing on me and my kids?" Kay asked in a small tremulous
voice.
"Nothing intrusive, Kay.
We'll mainly be exposing you to various Ancient devices and monitoring
how you respond to them. Plus we'll be doing some MRI brain scans to see
if we can figure out how you do what you do." She shrugged. "As for your
kids, we'll start off with testing their DNA for that special gene."
"Oh." Her brow wrinkled
in obvious thought. "How long will all this take? I still have a job to
do, and patients I'm supposed to be seeing," she added pointedly.
"Ah, well that's not as
important as . . ." Jack waved his hand dismissively until he was
interrupted by his boss.
"I don't see why you can't do both. Dr. Brightman, is Kay well
enough to see patients between tests?"
"Yes, I was going to
release her from the Infirmary later today," confirmed the Doctor. "And
Colonel Carter is well enough to be seen this afternoon."
"You're sure about that?" Jack wrinkled his nose in disgust. "I
wouldn't want to put a strain on her, you know."
"Yes!" Kay grinned and
pumped her arm in a triumphant gesture. "I believe you and Colonel
Carter are in desperate need of having your heads shrinked." She put the
tip of her index finger to her lips and cocked her head. "Or would that
be shrunk? Or perhaps shrank?"
"Whatever," Jack and Kay said simultaneously.
Hammond rolled his eyes, while Josh just smirked.
Then the Texan general
sobered. "Seriously, Kay. I want to assure you that we don't intend to
hold you or your kids prisoner here. We'll let you all go back home as
quickly as it's safe to do so. But, first we need to get a handle on
what we're dealing with. And to tell you the truth, I'd feel like I'd
let you down if I let you go home right now and something did happen to
you. When it comes to things like this, I always go with safety
first."
Kay looked down at her
hands laced in her lap. "I understand, sir. That doesn't mean that I
like it, but I do understand." She looked up at her husband. "When will
you be going to pick up our kids? And could you pick up a few of my
things for me?"
"As soon as I can, and
yes, of course I can pick up a few things for you. Just give me a list
and I'll do my best to bring it all back for you," Josh replied with an
understanding smile.
"Thanks." She patted her
husband's arm, and her smile lit up her face and blue eyes; to Jack it
demonstrated better than mere words could just how relieved she felt.
"After they get here I can spend some time with them too," she said
as she swept her hair back from her eyes with her fingers.
"Of course you can," Jack assured her.
"Well, we might as well get this show on the road then." Kay sighed
pushed her glasses back into place on her nose.
"I agree." Hammond stood and gestured toward Josh. "We can be ready
to head for your home within the hour, Josh."
"Wait a minute, please?" Kay took a deep breath and looked steadily
at O'Neill and Hammond. "What do you want me to do first?"
"Doc? I believe that's
your ball of wax." Jack shrugged and waved his unfettered hand, urging
Dr. Brightman to take over. He watched as she explained about the tests,
letting himself relax down into the pillows of his bed. His eyes
narrowed thoughtfully when his gaze rested on Kay.
The counselor appeared to
be adjusting to her change of circumstances just fine. But then again,
maybe he shouldn't have been all that surprised, given what he already
knew about her and her line of work. He couldn't help but wonder what
life had in store for the unusual woman that was sitting next to his
bed, but whatever it was, he had the impression that by hook or by
crook, she would find a way to handle it.
And he also had the
feeling that he would be there with her, dealing with whatever the
universe threw at them, for somehow, for whatever reason, their lives
were linked now, thanks to a gene that, though accidental, they'd both
been born with. Come to think of it, Kay would probably argue that it
was all part of God's plan.
Be
that as it may, for whatever reason, they both had gotten stuck with the
gene, and the responsibilities that went along with it. And she hadn't
even had to have her head sucked, either, not that he would wish that
experience on anybody. But for whatever reason, they were in the same
boat and together would discover what that meant for them and their
world. All he knew for sure was that it was likely to be one heck of a
bumpy ride, yeah, fun, but bumpy.
The End
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