fic- "His Woman" (Stargate SGA/SG-1, Sam/Ronon, NC-17, Complete) Part 3 of 4
Title: His Woman
Author: CJ aka WritinginCT
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis/SG-1
Pairing: Sam Carter/Ronon Dex
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Non-consensual invasive medical exam, brief mentions of the off screen sexual abuse of a child
Categories: Het, Drama, Alien Abduction, Stranded, Romance
Disclaimer: I don't own the recognizable characters I'm just inspired by them.
Status: Complete 11/3/2010 24,758 words.
Note: Set somewhere prior to the "Midway" episode in SGA season 4. This fic involves members of both SG-1 and SGA, and though it is predominantly a Sam/Ronon pairing, the unresolved emotional feelings between Sam and Jack are hit upon.
Summary: They were stranded together against their will, but as they carved a life out of the wilderness, she became his woman because she wanted to...
Part 1 here Part 2 here
---------------
When Daniel had arrived on Atlantis eight months ago, he had come through Midway with a dozen large rugged totes of books and two duffel bags of clothes and personal items. He had made it clear to the SGC and the IOA that he was going to Atlantis indefinitely. Mitchell and Vala both tried to talk him out of it and when that didn't work, they tried to come along, which was not approved by the powers that be. Teal'c on the other hand had merely bowed his head with a familiar grin and told Daniel to contact him if he required assistance.
Daniel had taken one look at the symbols in the diary and whispered, "Where have I seen that before?"
He worked night and day, sifting through the books he brought with him and the Ancient database and going with Sheppard's team offworld and scouring through any library he could find to no avail.
---
Daniel had drawn the blockish symbols in dry erase marker on the glass door leading to the balcony of his office. The bright sunlight would hit them during the day and fill the room with a stained glass effect.
As was his habit every afternoon, Jack would stop by and hang out and pester Daniel. Most of the time Daniel would trade a few barbs with Jack and evict him from his office. Today though, when Jack visited, Daniel was completely absorbed in what he was reading and ignored Jack entirely.
Jack wandered over to the door and headed out onto the balcony. He closed his eyes and let the sun warm him. He couldn't help but wonder for the millionth time if Sam were warm enough wherever she was, she wasn't a big fan of being cold since their little Antarctic adventure. He opened his eyes and turned to go back inside when he noticed the colorful patterns on the wall behind Daniel made by sun shining through the symbols on the door. They were reversed and weren't as square and the angle of the sun had elongated them a little. He knew in an instant where he had see them before.
He knocked loudly on the glass, startling Daniel. He gestured wildly and Daniel quickly joined him on the balcony.
"What is it, Jack?"
Jack put his hands on Daniel's shoulders and physically turned him around to face the office. "What does that look like to you?"
The recognition dawned on Daniel's face in an instant and he replied hoarsely, "It's Furling."
---------------
Sam giggled as she saw what Ronon had been up too all day. She rested her hand over the baby inside her that was wiggling along to her humor.
"You're too much, " she teased Ronon as she walked closer to his creation.
"You said you wanted something comfortable to sit on out here." Ronon quipped back, his expression full of good humor.
Sam looked over the large "chair" that he had crafted out of a mound of wood and stone and dirt and padded with soft moss, then covered all of it with one of their many deer skins. She had been complaining that her nine-month pregnant self couldn't get up and down to sit on the ground in the sun like she used to, so Ronon took it upon himself to rectify it in his own way. The "chair" wasn't particularly pretty but it was wide and solid and comfortable.
"Yes, I did," she said with another giggle. She stepped over to it and Ronon held her hand as she carefully sat down. She settled herself down into it with a sigh, it really was comfortable, and the late spring sun was warm on her face.
Throughout her pregnancy he had done thoughtful things like this. Sam didn't act like an invalid, and Ronon to his credit didn't treat her like one, but they were careful and she didn't take any unnecessary risks.
They had also planned a little in the event that something either happened to Sam's milk supply or even Sam herself. Early in the spring Ronon had made a trip up high into the mountains and caught one of the pregnant mountain goats and brought it back to the cabin. It had dropped two kids that Sam adored and seemed to be quite content in its pen being brought abundant food and water.
Ronon had also crafted a cradle out of saplings and padded it with soft deerskin and rabbit fur and Sam had been making baby clothes and accessories all winter. Their child would want for nothing.
---
Sam had been fidgety all day, restless, with little odd twinges she believed might be the precursor to contractions. She just hadn't slept well the past few nights. She finally fell asleep as she lie next to Ronon with his warm hand gently rubbing her sore back. She didn't sleep long however as her bladder woke her up with the incessant need to pee. She ungracefully climbed out of bed and had just taken a step over to the stretched hide commode bucket Ronon had made for her so she didn't have to go outside to the privy for all her middle of the night pee breaks, when her her water broke.
Her gasp of surprise woke Ronon in an instant. He had suspected she was close as her behavior had been a little off the past couple of days. He slipped out of bed with a sleepy grin.
---
The birth itself went very smoothly all things considered, and their son made his appearance just before dawn. Sam was tired and sore, but the look of awe and wonder on Ronon's face as he gently cleaned his son more than made up for it.
Egin Jacob Dex, named for both of his grandfathers in the Satedan firstborn-son way, gave several hearty cries that echoed in the cabin. Both his parents grinned at his feisty little nature.
Ronon took his role as midwife very seriously and very efficiently had both the baby and Sam cleaned up and in fresh coverings on the bed in short order. He then slipped into bed beside Sam and let her settle herself comfortably against him, the baby resting on Ronon's stomach where he was lulled to sleep by the heartbeats of both his parents.
---------------
The three-year anniversary of Sam and Ronon's abduction passed with little fanfare. It had taken a sudden back burner to the discovery that Wraith were inexplicably dying by the score.
Hive ships literally disintegrated in space and Wraith themselves would drop in a pile of unrecognizable bones and slime. No one on Atlantis had an answer.
As the months passed and a continuous stream of reports filtered in of more dead Wraith, the Atlantis scientists finally narrowed down the cause. What was killing the Wraith and their hives was a form of flesh-eating bacteria that had either mutated on its own to only attack Wraith flesh, or the more likely scenario was that some scientist somewhere in the galaxy had finally created the magic bullet they needed to get rid of the Wraith once and for all.
Without knowing exact Wraith population numbers they couldn't be certain, but they estimated that by the end of six months that there would be less then one percent of Wraith left alive as the bacteria ran its course.
The celebrating was loud and obnoxious far and wide across Pegasus.
---------------
"Get up," a gruff voice ordered.
He sat up and tried to blink himself awake. The man doing the ordering was enormous with an expression that promised bodily harm if he didn't comply.
"Who are you?" the giant demanded.
"My name is Syrut. Please don't hurt me."
Ronon looked at the small, skinny young man with a raised eyebrow. Besides being a particularly small person, and only in his teens, he was relatively clean and Ronon suspected that he was a new addition to the planet. Ronon did wonder about the bruises he could see on the his face and neck though.
"I'm not going to hurt you."
The teenager scrambled to his feet. He was wary and asked, "Are you with those others?"
"No."
Syrut let out a huge breath of relief. "We got dumped out near that village. The men took the girl I was with, I tried to fight them but there were too many."
Ronon nodded.
Syrut looked down towards the ground. "She screamed all night. There was nothing I could do. Then the next day she found a piece of flint and cut her wrists. I couldn't stay there so I ran away. I don't know what to do now"
Ronon's voice was gentle, "C'mon. Get your stuff."
---
To say that Sam was surprised to see Ronon bring Syrut into their home was an understatement. Ronon was perpetually vigilant about people from the village making their way to their home. He would sometimes hike out for a full day and check for any signs of encroachment. He had become even more vigilant since the birth of their son.
Syrut was an extremely pleasant and respectful young man, that was in fact barely sixteen. He was still traumatized over his abduction and the subsequent rape and death of his female companion, but Sam caught glimpses of the cheerful and caring boy he was before the abduction, and she hoped with time he would be able to put it all past him.
Syrut worked hard by Ronon's side and Sam found herself smiling often at the two as Ronon patiently taught the young man the skills he needed to survive on the planet.
Egin wholehearted loved Syrut, and he was so good with the baby that Sam never hesitated to leave the two boys together while she took care of her own chores.
---
Sam and Ronon were walking by the moonlit lake shore, enjoying a quiet few minutes together while Syrut minded the baby.
The muffled sound of a raspberry on skin followed by a laughing baby filtered down to them. Sam smiled and said, "He's good kid."
Ronon grinned sheepishly, they had never really talked about him bringing home a stray. "Yeah."
Sam slid her arm around Ronon's waist, snuggling closer as his arm went around her shoulder. "You did the right thing, bringing him here."
---
Syrut worked himself into an exhausted sleep every night. He was desperate to earn his keep and helped to chop wood and put up supplies for the upcoming winter.
When that winter arrived, Sam found herself another willing student as they sat side by side and she taught him all variety of subjects. He wasn't overly bright, and Sam thought that by Earth standards that he most likely would have been classified as borderline mentally retarded, but he worked hard to learn and understand to the best of his abilities. His had been a simple people, his parents ran a small flour mill in their town, and though he knew his basic letters and numbers, he had never had the opportunity to attend a formal school.
One blustery night, Sam got up for some water and out of habit, checked on Egin and found herself also checking on Syrut and pulling his blanket up a little higher. She turned to see Ronon awake in their bed, his eyes full of amusement. She climbed back into bed and settled herself in the crook of Ronon's arm. She whispered, "You realize we have two kids right?"
A low chuckle rumbled out of Ronon's chest and he whispered back, "You're just figuring that out?"
---------------
The death of the Wraith opened up the Pegasus galaxy for exploration.
Daniel had become a permanent fixture on Atlantis and joined offworld teams often as they discovered new planets and cultures. He helped cement trade agreements and cultural exchanges and for what felt like the first time in his life, he was doing the thing he most enjoyed, but there was always the shadow of Sam and Ronon hovering about the edges. He had been able to determine that though the symbols in the woman's diary were Furling, they turned out to be some sort of bastardized derivative that got them no closer to finding their missing comrades.
The IOA was completely shocked at just how effective Jack O'Neill actually was at leading the expedition. Beneficial treaties were readily established, scientific advances were progressing right along, and the overall moral of the expedition was high. And though there was some minor pandering and maneuvering behind the scenes at the IOA, there was no serious intention of recalling Jack. His straight-forward nature was just simply well received in Pegasus.
Daniel had observed with an anthropological eye the relationship that formed between Jack and John. There was certainly a healthy mutual respect between the two men, but it went deeper than that. They each recognized themselves in the other. They were cut from the same cloth and every passing day that they didn't know what had happened to Sam and Ronon, it festered in both of them.
Daniel wouldn't have been surprised to wake up one day to find out that Jack and John had simply slipped away in a jumper like thieves in the night to go find Sam and Ronon. He hoped they knew he would go with them in a heart beat, and so would McKay, Teyla, Vala, Mitchell, Teal'c, and even Lorne.
---------------
A nasty snow system had moved into their area and the wind plastered the wet snow to the cabin and everything else in their valley.
The occupants of the cabin didn't care, they were busy decorating their Christmas tree and enjoying themselves. Syrut's people had a winter holiday that was a two-week long celebration held at the middle of winter to welcome winter's waning. He had eagerly soaked up all of Sam's story's about Christmas, and though, like Ronon, didn't take to the religious side of the holiday, he had been enthusiastically looking forward to their celebration as it reminded him a bit of home.
Ronon had apparently been sneakily creative again, and had many little gifts for all three of the others. There was a sturdy, but beautifully crafted belt and knife sheath for Syrut, along with a set of sheppard's pipes, something Syrut had shared with them that he knew how to play. There were blocks in all shapes and sizes for Egin, carefully shaved down smooth so the baby wouldn't get splinters.
Sam's gifts were, for lack of a better word, breathtaking. Both of her gifts were small bundles and she opened the first to find a dozen little birds, all painstakingly carved from wood and carefully painted with a feather in every color berry juice stain Ronon could concoct.
Sam held one up by its little leather tie and met Ronon's eyes, not believing that his big hands could craft something so small and beautiful. He grinned and shrugged and said, "Figured your tree could use some birds."
"They're beautiful, Ronon, thank you." Sam said with a grin as she moved over to the tree in the corner and placed the delicate little birds in and around their other decorations.
As she sat back down to open the other gift, Ronon was watching her intently, a look similar to the ones he gave her that first Christmas, like he wasn't sure what her reaction was going to be.
The little tied bundle in her hand was very small and relatively light. She opened it and gasped, her free hand flying to her mouth in shock. For lying there on the buttery soft piece of deerskin was a round gold pendant. The outer edge of the pendant was carved to look like a Stargate in miniature. And etched in the center was the gate address for Atlantis. Every detail was perfect, every glyph in order. There was a thin braided leather cord and Sam realized it was meant to be worn as a necklace.
Sam tore her eyes away from it and asked in disbelief, "How?"
Ronon replied sheepishly, "Found that lump of gold in the stream a while back, decided to save it for something special."
Sam's smile was blinding and she shook her head, "You are too much. I'll treasure it always," she looked back to the pendant and ran a finger gently over the glyphs, "Will you tie it for me?"
Ronon stood and took the ends of cord in his big fingers. Sam held her hair out of the way and Ronon securely tied the cord. He bent and dropped a kiss to Sam's bared neck and he whispered in her ear, "So we don't forget."
Sam reached up with her hand and found Ronon's cheek and whispered back, "We'll never forget."
---
It was well after midnight, Syrut and Egin were asleep in their deer-skinned curtained off area of the cabin. Sam and Ronon were in their own. They had rigged the curtains shortly after Syrut had arrived to give both themselves and Syrut some privacy.
Sam was lying in the crook of Ronon's arm, they had made love a while ago, but neither were ready to sleep and were just enjoying the quiet intimacy. Sam was amusing herself by smoothing down Ronon's beard. They both knew that he would scratch it and fluff it back out to go whichever direction was its wont, but he let Sam have her fun.
Her fingers moved up and she traced his lips with her fingertips. In a whisper she told him, "I think I'm pregnant."
He grinned and replied in a whisper, "I thought you might be, but I wasn't sure yet."
She chuckled and teased back, "I should know better than to try and get anything past you," before she rolled on top of him and stretched herself out along his length to start kissing him at her leisure.
Ronon loved the fact that Sam was a strong, assertive woman not afraid of taking what she wanted in bed. He also liked the fact that she wasn't some tiny, fragile thing that he had to worry about breaking. Sam could take anything he could dish out, and they could be as rough or as gentle as they wanted together.
Their ardor returned after just a few minutes of teasing kisses. Ronon could feel her heat and growing wetness, just as his own cock had filled and was now looking for entrance.
They shifted and Sam sat up and sank down slowly on his cock. It still surprised him that she actually enjoyed this particular position with him, Melena had said he was too much for her to take inside in this position, but Sam could take all of him and seeing her riding him so wantonly was incredibly arousing.
Sam moved slowly on top of him, drawing it out for both of them. There was a little light coming in over the curtain and Ronon's sharp eyes took in every curve of her in the dim light. She was beautiful like this, naked and strong and confident. He reached out a hand and his fingertips traced the pendant lying just above her breasts. He trailed them down to lightly brush a nipple as they moved down her stomach. When he slipped his thumb between them, she came almost instantly; he knew exactly what to do make her come. To make his woman come. That thought set him over the edge himself, and he sat up, still deep inside her, and pulled her close as he came long and hard.
---------------
The planet they were visiting was rocky and desolate and not particularly appealing, probably why it had a space and not planet-side Stargate. It was on the farthest edge of Pegasus and the furthest Stargate from Atlantis in the galaxy.
John made a face at the inhospitable view out the jumper window. Rodney was next him studying his data tablet and frowning. As they were just planning on a cursory sweep of the planet via jumper, it was just the two of them.
Rodney looked over to John and asked, "Can you take us higher? I'm getting some weird readings."
"Dangerous readings or interesting readings?"
Rodney just shot him a look that screamed volumes and John took the up almost into orbit.
Rodney worked fast and furious on the tablet and exclaimed, "That can't be right."
"What can't be right, Rodney?"
Rodney turned to John with a look of absolute disbelief on his face. "On the other side of the planet, near the equator, I'm picking up the same energy signature as the ship that took Sam and Ronon. And... and... I'm able to ping their subcutaneous transponders. We found them. After all this time. We found them."
John cloaked the ship and immediately headed for the other side of the planet.
What they found surprised them both. Instead of a ship, they found what appeared to be some sort of a base. There was no activity however, and zero life signs.
John got a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, transponders without life signs meant that Sam and Ronon were dead. As he landed the jumper, he forced himself to be at least thankful that he had found them and could bring them home to Atlantis so they could rest in peace.
They exited the jumper and immediately noticed odd piles of skeletal remains mixed with some sort of desiccated, decomposed flesh. Exactly how the corpses of Wraith looked when the flesh-eating bacteria were finished with them and they wondered if there were a connection.
They cautiously entered what appeared to be the main building, it was certainly the largest, heading for the location of the transponders.
The facility was very orderly and sterile without even a hint of personality. Nothing was locked, and it didn't even appear that there was any sort of locking mechanism on any of the glass doors. The majority of the doors were labeled with more of the blocky symbols they had all burned into their brains in their search for Sam and Ronon. John realized with a start that it made perfect sense now that the woman's diary drawings had been reversed; she had been looking at the symbols from the opposite side of a glass door.
They finally entered the room where the transponders were and both Rodney and John's mouths fell open. The room was actually a giant warehouse full of shelves. Thousands upon thousands of clear, neatly labeled boxes lined the shelves. From what they could see inside them, each box appeared to contain the personal effects of an individual.
Rodney scanned the room and located the boxes with the transponders. He and John shared a looked before each of them resolutely pulled a box off the shelf.
John opened his and recognized Ronon's clothing. His GDO was there as was his gun. Rodney cracked open the other box to find Sam's clothing, GDO, dog tags, and data tablet. In both boxes there was a small vial, each containing a transponder chip. The abductors had removed them from Sam and Ronon.
Rodney looked to John and asked in a small voice, "This is good right? I mean that we didn't find them here? Maybe they're still alive out there somewhere?"
"I don't know, Rodney. But until I see bodies, I won't believe they're dead."
"Yeah."
Also in each box was a flat milky crystal-like wafer. Rodney held one up and looked at it. "I'm betting this is some sort of data storage. We'll have to see what we can find to read it."
John nodded. "We need to do this right. Let's head back to Atlantis and let O'Neill know what we've found and we'll come back with a couple of teams to take this place apart."
They picked up the boxes with Sam and Ronon's belongings, there was no way they were getting left behind, and headed for the jumper.
---------------
Ronon crouched near his snare, his forehead furrowed in concern. His snare had been sprung, but instead of a fat rabbit, he found a carefully placed edible root. He looked up quickly and scanned the forest.
In the four years they had been on the planet, no one, other than Syrut, had approached their valley. He didn't quite know what to make of the situation, but for some reason maybe the root offering left, he wasn't alarmed. He was curious and cautious, but not worried.
He reset the snare and went and hid, suspecting that whoever it was, that they would be back for more rabbit.
---
She placed another root near the snare and reached to take the fat rabbit it had caught.
"Hi," a deep male voice said from behind her and she screamed and tried to run, only to trip on a tree root and fall.
"Easy," the man said gently, "I'm not going to hurt you."
She looked at the man in shock. He was clean and was wearing nice clothes and he was smiling at her. He didn't look or act like any of the men from the village.
Ronon crouched down and asked, "Did you hurt your foot?"
She shook her head.
"Are you hungry?"
Trembling, she nodded.
Ronon reached into the pouch he had belted to his waist and pulled out some dried deer meat and a chunk of the flat bread that Sam had made yesterday and handed them to the painfully skinny little girl. He tried to guess how old she was but it was difficult, she was very small and skinny but he figured she was probably about eleven or twelve. Much too young to be out in the wilderness on her own.
She tried to hide part of the food in her ragtag dress that barely covered her. Ronon sat all the way down on the ground and said, "You don't have to hide it for later, I've got more."
The girl looked down at her lap in shame and whispered, "Its not for me."
Ronon ticked his head to the side and prodded, "There's someone out here with you?"
The little girl looked up with her eyes brimming with tears. "My mother. She hurt her leg."
Ronon stood slowly and held out his hand to the girl. "What's your name?"
"Tissa."
"I'm Ronon. Let's go help your mother."
---------------
Sam was sitting in the shade of a tree near the lake shore nursing their one month old daughter. It was a beautiful summer day, and Syrut and Egin were playing in the water.
The birth of their second child had gone even easier than the first. In the Satedan way, Sam got to name their daughter and she had thought long and hard about it. Names were important on Sateda and were supposed to be significant to the child's parents. Sam knew of only one woman's name that was that significant to Ronon, and she picked one for herself that was not an obvious choice but significant still. Melena Sha're Dex had pleased Ronon upon him first hearing it, and when she had shared that if it hadn't been for both those women, neither she or Ronon would be who they are today it pleased him even more. Then Sam had gotten a full-blown belly laugh out of him when she told him that could call the baby "Mel" and that it was the start of a whole new family tradition of girls with boy's nicknames.
Mel was a much quieter baby than Egin and Sam wondered she was going to take after Ronon's quiet, observing nature.
Sam saw Syrut stop dead and stare at the edge of forest. She turned to see Ronon coming out of the woods heading for the cabin, carrying what appeared to be a woman, with a child tagging along behind them.
She quickly stood and turned to Syrut. "Watch Egin, Syrut."
Sam headed for the cabin and put the baby in her cradle. She stirred up the hot coals in the fireplace and put water on to heat, suspecting she would need some.
Ronon arrived a minute later and carefully laid the unconscious woman down on Syrut's bed. She was almost beyond emaciated and there was a large gash on her leg that was severely infected and the odor coming off of it was repulsively pungent.
Sam looked at Ronon and their eyes held an entire conversation. Sam swallowed hard and nodded. She asked, "Ronon can you build up the fire a little and get some more water?"
As he did, the child, that Sam now realized was a little girl, was watching Sam with big eyes. Softly Sam said to her, "Hi, I'm Sam."
"I'm Tissa."
"That'a a pretty name. Is this your mother?"
Tissa nodded. "Her name is Geena."
"Okay, I'm going to get you both cleaned up and I'm going see if I can help your mother's sore leg. And then we'll get you something to eat. Sound good?"
Tissa nodded again.
Slowly but surely Sam gave Geena a thorough sponge bath, removing the accumulated filth from the woman's body as best she could. Sam figured Geena was about seven or eight years older than she was, and as she washed her face, she reminded Sam a little of Laira from Edora.
Geena's calf injury was bad, but Sam was relieved not to see angry red lines that would have indicated blood poisoning. She carefully cleaned the wound and had to struggle not to gag as it split open and vile smelling pus poured out. She did her best to debris it and squeeze out as much as she could, but it was severely infected. She bandaged it with a poultice of herbs that Ronon had taught her and slipped one of her own simple sleeping shifts over Geena's head to to clothe her. There was really nothing else she could do but pray that they hadn't found her too late to help.
She covered her with a light skin and turned her attention to Tissa.
Sam got some clean warm water and pinched one of Syrut's tunics for Tissa to wear and approached the traumatized child that was sitting quietly on the bench at their table watching Sam's every move.
Sam crouched down in front of her and gently stroked Tissa's filthy hair. "How's about we get you cleaned up, sweetheart?"
Tissa nodded and with a nervous hand reached out to run her fingers over Sam's long braid that was trailing over her shoulder.
Sam smiled even as her heart was breaking for Tissa and she said softly, "We can braid your hair like that after we wash it."
Tissa met Sam's eyes, still not quite believing that all of this was real.
Slowly and patiently as not to scare Tissa, Sam stripped off the filthy things she wore and thoroughly washed Tissa's body. Tissa was also emaciated and judging by her budding breasts and scant pubic hair, she was just starting puberty. She had to struggle to keep her temper as she did, because the more dirt came off, the more bruises became evident. The ones that infuriated Sam the most where the deep fingermarks on Tissa's thighs. Sam couldn't tell if Tissa had been raped, but there were definitely all the signs that she had been molested.
Sam had never wanted a P-90 so badly in her life.
Sam washed Tissa's hair twice with the reed foam and once Tissa was dressed in Syrut's tunic with a strip leather belting it like a dress, Sam patiently worked the major snarls out of Tissa's hair and braided it like she promised.
That done, Sam changed into fresh clothes herself, and dumped the entire pile of all their dirty clothes outside, doing a lot to immediately freshen the smell in the cabin.
Sam fixed Tissa a light meal and checked on Mel while the girl ate. That done, she then stuck her head outside, and saw that the pile of dirty clothes was gone and Ronon was standing over their outdoor fire pit watching them burn. When he saw Sam he quickly walked over to the cabin door.
"How is she?" he asked quietly.
"Not good. Her leg is badly infected. It opened and drained and I cleaned it but I just don't know. She didn't wake up at all."
"And the girl?"
"I got her cleaned up and she's eating a little now. I don't want to give her too much at a time, it'll just make her sick."
Ronon nodded but he could see by the look on Sam's face that there was something she wasn't telling him and he prodded, "What else?"
"She's full of bruises, she's been beaten and I'm pretty sure she's been abused."
"Abused how?" Ronon's brow furrowed.
There was a hardness in Sam's eyes Ronon had never seen before as she hissed out between clenched teeth, "Sexually."
Ronon felt his own blood boil but he swallowed down his rage and reached over to gently stroke Sam's cheek. "She's safe now. No one is going to touch her here."
---------------
Daniel Jackson was tired, to the bone weary, in both mind and spirit. He had spent the last ten months at the alien facility trying to crack their not-quite-Furling-language. He threw down his pencil in disgust and headed for the exit.
The planet's small moon was only a sliver in the night sky, but the star field was bright and clear. Daniel sat on a rock on the outskirts of the base and just stared up at the sky for a long time. Sam was out there somewhere and he wanted to find her now more than ever, but it felt like she was just out of his reach, just like the stars.
He didn't realize he was crying until he couldn't see the stars through his blurry eyes any longer.
---
Daniel woke as dawn was breaking. His back ached from sleeping sitting on the ground up braced against the rock but he didn't get up.
A pair of boots and baggy bdu pants came into view and as Daniel looked up to see McKay, a mug of coffee was extended in his direction.
Rodney had been making a bit more progress than Daniel, but not a lot. He was hoping to design some way of tracking the abductor's unique energy signature, but thus far it had eluded them. He was just as frustrated as Daniel.
Rodney settled himself down next to Daniel and fished a couple of Powerbars out of his pocket, handing one to Daniel without a word.
They drank their coffee and ate their Powerbars as the day unfolded around them.
---
It took another month but Daniel finally solved the riddle and figured out their language. Things snowballed after that, and the translation allowed Rodney and the other scientists to decipher the data that they had pulled from the alien systems.
The aliens were in fact abducting groups of people to seed human life on other planets. The abductees were extensively examined for general health and fertility before being taken and deposited on any one of a hundred planets in the alien's home galaxy.
Daniel was pacing around his workspace staring at the table pc in his hand when Rodney burst into the room.
"We found them."
Daniel looked up and blinked. "What?"
Rodney impulsively wrapped Daniel in a bear hug and exclaimed happily in Daniel's ear, "We found out where they put Sam and Ronon."
---------------
tbc...