Closing Wounds
Author: Rysler
Date: 11/05/04
Pairing: Sam/Janet
Rating: R
Category: Drama, PWP
Warnings: Explicit medical situations, extreme Sam whumping, sexual content
Summary: Sam's healing process after she is injured on a mission.
Notes: Groveling thanks to ![[info]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
siviusx, for proposing, plotting, and editting. I'm not sure what my part in all of this is.
Janet found Sam in her lab. The scientist was sitting straighter than usual at her workbench, an effort to keep the tension off of her back, Janet suspected, noting evidence of a bandage under the tattered remnants of Sam's field jacket. The bandage and the jacket were soaked with blood, and as Janet moved closer she could see Sam was sweating.
"How's it going, Sam?" She murmured.
"Hey." Sam exhaled, slouching a little. Her face tensed with pain.
"You guys didn't declare a medical emergency coming through the gate," Janet mused. "But Colonel O'Neill came by the infirmary."
"This was more important," Sam responded, still looking at the device in front of her. "I need to decode it and get it to Daniel for translation."
Janet nodded, pursing her lips. She sat down next to Sam.
Sam made another change in the device with her soldering pen, and then glanced sideways at Janet. "Are you going to sit there until I'm done?"
Janet smiled. "I was thinking about it."
Sam exhaled and focused on her work. Janet picked a technical report off of the table and began flipping through it, interrupted on page three by Sam's voice, barely more than a whisper. "They drugged me."
Janet set down the papers. "Let me get a blood sample and take it to the lab, and then you can come to the infirmary when you're done, okay?"
Sam winced under a fresh wave of pain, her body making the concession before her mind agreed. "Okay."
* * *
Janet tugged the suture through as gently as possible, her lips pursed, her eyes intent on her work.
Sam gasped.
Janet stilled her hands, looking over Sam's shoulder to see the shadow of her sweat-streaked face, mostly hidden by limp clumps of hair. "Did I hurt you?"
"No." Sam's voice was quiet, almost a moan. "...Sort of."
Janet resumed her work. Sam had been in another damn knife fight off-world. Considering Daniel Jackson was two infirmary beds away, attached to a ventilator, her actions had been necessary, but Janet was amazed that the four inch gash across Sam's upper back, open for two days before the team managed to get back to the 'Gate, wasn't infected.
Sam gasped again.
Janet noticed the pink tint of skin on Sam's neck, and the thin sheen of sweat on her back. Sam started, quivering with every tug of the string.
"I'm sorry," Janet murmured as she worked, her hands deft and practiced. She was trying not to react to Sam's flinches or cause more pain.
"It's okay." Sam tried to turn her head to look back at Janet, but Janet held her shoulders still. She exhaled.
"I need you to keep quiet." Janet leaned over, until she could speak into Sam's ear--close enough that she could smell the dirt in Sam's hair. "Three more minutes. I promise." She squeezed Sam's shoulder.
Sam cleared her throat, but didn't say anything.
The wound was too deep for tape, but too narrow for staples. If she were a cop, Janet could cast the wound to get the shape of the blade that had done this to her lover, use it to match to the weapon, and track her new enemy. But Sam had probably already killed him. The hows and whys were none of her business. She was only charged with making it go away.
"Sam," Janet murmured, reached up to tousle the hair at the back of Sam's head. "Sweetheart. I'm getting closer to your spine. There are a few nerves here. It's going to hurt."
Sam tensed on the bed.
"I need you to trust me," Janet implored. "I need you to stay still." The enemy had drugged Sam, and though the effects had mostly dissipated, anesthesia was impossible, but the wound had to be treated.
Sam closed her eyes. "Okay."
Janet tugged another loop closed. She inserted the needle into the next marked spot on Sam's skin, and Sam cried out.
"Shsssh, sweetheart." Janet spoke while she worked. She knew she was hitting the nerve with each movement of her hands, and tried to work swiftly, tried to spare Sam the anticipation of the pain. When she finally moved her hands away from Sam's wound, taking a break, Sam sagged with relief.
"You did good." Janet brushed hair away from Sam's pale forehead. "I'm proud of you."
Sam parted her lips to speak, but rasped instead.
"I'm here." Janet rested a hand on her back.
"Are you going to do it again?" Sam kept her eyes closed.
"There's three left." Janet watched Sam's back tremble with the strain of trying not to fight the instinct to flinch away from Janet's hands. When Janet touched her needle to the black dot on Sam's skin, Sam jerked away.
"Sam!"
The assisting nurse glanced at Janet, waiting for the signal to hold or strap the patient down. Janet shook her head.
"Sorry." Sam gripped the edges of the bed, pressing her cheek against a paper pillow. "I'm sorry."
Janet attempted to continue. Sam twitched, but was still enough for Janet to resume her work. "Good girl," she murmured. "Stay still for me sweetheart... That's good..." At the third tug, as she snipped the end of the twine, Sam moaned. Janet set her tools down and changed her gloves before gesturing to a nurse to dress the wound. She circled to the head of the bed, and knelt next to Sam's face. "Hey."
Sam's glazed eyes were filled with tears that she blinked away as she attempted to focus on Janet. Janet smiled and cupped her cheek. "You did it. It's all over."
Sam parted her lips, her breath gusting on Janet's fingers.
"Does it still hurt?" Janet asked, feeling Sam's jaw shift under her hand.
"Yeah." Sam closed her eyes.
"Okay. Lieutenant Huang is going to take you to your quarters and try to make you comfortable. I need to prep for Daniel's surgery."
Sam nodded. As Janet's footsteps receded, she squeezed her eyes tighter shut in an effort to block out the pain in her back and shoulder.
* * *
Five hours later, done with supervising the surgical unit, exhausted but showered, Janet stopped outside of Sam's quarters, an access key card in her hand. She glanced at the nurse on duty at a table opposite the door.
"Not a peep out of her, Doctor Fraiser." the nurse reported.
Janet nodded. "Thank you, Thomas."
He gathered up his things and headed toward the lift that would take him back to the infirmary.
Janet put her cheek to the steel door, and strained to hear. The room was soundproof, she knew that, but it was still disconcerting not to hear anything from inside. Sam could already be a corpse, neglected for five hours in a dark room. Janet shook her head, and opened the door.
Sam was roused by the sound of her door sliding open. She squinted in the dim light, her pupils adjusting to the small form that stepped into her room, and locked the door behind her. "Janet?"
"How are you feeling, Sam?" Janet moved toward the bed.
Sam sighed and sagged back into the bed. She was on her side, careful not to twist too much and pull her stitches. "Sore." She shifted. "I slept some. But I was so--Every time I moved the stitches hurt, and without you there..." She closed her eyes.
"I brought something for the pain." Janet caressed Sam's shoulder before pulling out a small medical kit.
Sam's eyes fluttered open. "I thought--"
"Toxicology screen came back." Janet moved around the side of the bed and knelt onto the mattress next to Sam.
Sam's eyes widened at the syringe Janet uncapped. "I'm so tired of needles."
"Just one more." Janet soothed her patient. "Then it won't hurt anymore."
Sam closed her eyes as she felt the cool touch of alcohol against her skin.
"Look at me, Sam," Janet commanded.
Sam did, tilting her head.
Janet inserted the needle into Sam's arm, deftly finding a vein. Then she recapped the syringe and dropped it into her lab coat pocket for disposal later. Sam whimpered. Tracing her hand over Sam's arm, up to her shoulder, she took a position behind the prone woman, sitting up, looking down at her.
Sam was naked from the waist up. Under the blankets, Janet knew she was wearing drawstring pants and underneath those, briefs. She played with the tendrils of hair at the base of Sam's neck.
"You know, you're not the easiest patient in the world." Janet said, smiling.
Sam shifted under Janet's hand. "I'm sorry. I--" She furrowed her brow. "A doctor could...hold me back. When I should be fighting through the pain."
"But, we're friends..." Janet pursed her lips.
"So I should be a better patient? Because we're friends?" Sam frowned, as if trying to decide whether the logic was sound or not. She was groggy from sleep, and lulled by Janet's touches
"No, I--" Janet brushed the back of her hand across Sam's cheek. "Can I help?"
Sam continued looking away from Janet, at the shadows on the far wall. "I trust you."
Janet sat straighter. She caressed the warm skin of Sam's bare shoulder.
"I trust you," Sam repeated.
Janet exhaled, and shifted off the bed. "Okay." She stood.
"Wait." Sam rolled onto her back, wincing with pain. She grinned. "I'm not used to being taken care of. It doesn't really go hand in hand with saving the world." She looked sideways at Janet. "I like helping you. This vice versa thing..."
Janet set her clipboard down. "You need to feel useful." She settled next to Sam on the bed, coaxing her back onto her side, supporting her back so the stitches didn't stretch.
"I like doing things no one else can do," Sam confessed, settling into position.
"Well, what you've done has saved my life a dozen times. So trust me." Janet prodded her.
"I trust you." Sam's words rang more sincere than before. She exhaled, and then wet her lips. "How's Daniel?"
Janet lazily rubbed the bone at the top of Sam's spine. "We relieved the pressure on his brain. Initial scans don't show damage, but we'll know for sure once the swelling goes down. We intend to bring him out of it in ten hours." She paused. Her hand moved past the bandages, to rest on Sam's hip.
Sam shifted, toward Janet, conscious of the stiffness in her back. Each movement brought pain that reminded her, not of the mission, but of Janet's hands on her. Janet responded, moving closer, stroking the curve of Sam's thigh.
Janet's hand slid lower. She could feel heat between Sam's legs, hotter than her natural body temperature, hotter than the faint fever the stress of treatment had wrought on her. She cupped Sam, pressing lightly enough so the cloth remained unfolded. The fabric was damp, but stiff. "You've been thinking about me."
"For hours," Sam confessed.
"And hurting."
"For days."
Janet slid her hand into Sam's pants, touching the bare skin of her ass. Sam exhaled, shifting, pressing herself against Janet. Janet reached between Sam's thighs, finding her wet, knowing there were small abrasions on her skin from shrapnel that would sting if her fingers brushed the cuts. She explored Sam, teasing swollen folds, nudging the prominence of Sam's clitoris with the tip of a fingernail.
Sam winced. "Janet, I'm--"
"Raw?" Janet purred against her ear. "Sore?" She stroked Sam, feeling the woman tremble. "Loosen your pants, sweetheart. I need more room."
Sam slid her hand under the comforter, carefully untying the drawstring, sighing when Janet's wrist had more room to maneuver. Janet pushed two fingers into Sam. "Too much?" She asked when Sam gasped, lurching against Janet.
"It--" Sam grunted as Janet's fingers filled her. The boney joints rubbed and twisted her. "The mission--" She gasped. "Daniel..."
"Forget about the mission," Janet crooned against Sam's ear as she fucked her. "You're not alone, Sam. Let me take care of you."
Sam focused on the pain, on Janet's fingers pushing her, on the chafing between her legs, on the protests of her back as she stretched. The flush on her skin was from embarrassment as well as arousal. Janet was opening her up, exposing her when she was already vulnerable, and her instinct was to fight, but the warmth of Janet's body was pressed against her, and Janet's hand wasn't making submission a choice.
"Janet, this isn't a good--" Sam whispered hoarsely. Despite her awkward posture on the bed, she managed to pull away from Janet's hand. "I need--" Her words faltered as soon as she couldn't feel Janet anymore. "Janet, please."
Sam whimpered, and Janet found her heat. "Shssh, Sam, be still." She fondled her lover, slipping a finger back inside her, even as Sam strained against her touch. "It's okay." She kept speaking in low tones and Sam's protests subsided. She was open and wet against Janet's hand, but quivering.
"Good girl." Janet murmured, as she continued to stroke wet folds. Her breath was hot against the back of Sam's neck. Sam was almost afraid to come, afraid that without the heat and arousal the pain would become more acute, but when Janet whispered in her ear, "Come for me, sweetheart," Sam came, jerking hard against the hand between her legs, breathless and limp as Janet gently withdrew her fingers.
Janet pulled the comforter up to Sam's shoulders, and looked toward the door as she wiped her damp hand on her lab coat.
"You're leaving?" Sam asked softly as Janet's weight shifted off the bed. "After that?" She looked at Janet questioningly, before shifting her gaze to the wall. Tears burned at the corners of her eyes.
Janet reached over to ruffle Sam's hair. "Hey, Sam. I'm just going to get a sponge."
"Janet?" Sam's eyes fluttered closed. "It doesn't hurt anymore."
"Of course it doesn't." Janet smiled as she went through the door. "The medicine kicked in."
By the time the sponge bath was over and Sam's clothes were changed, Sam was softly snoring. She was relaxed in slumber, her face dissolved into an expression innocent of previous pain. Janet sat by the bed for another half hour, watching over her.