They knew nothing about this woman. Who she was, where she was from or why she was there. She hadn’t spoken ever since she was brought in, and any and all identification had gone up in flames with the motel she had been staying in. All the staff at the hospital knew how lucky she had been to escape without any serious injuries, although they wondered if she had knocked her head at some point. Maybe she had amnesia. The examinations revealed that she was in excellent health; the only thing that prevented her from speaking was herself.
“Anything?” Doctor Bethany Pierce, the newest addition to the staff at the Memorial Hospital asked her colleague and friend Doctor Stephen Marshall.
“Still nothing,” Stephen reported, checking the notes made by the doctors before him. “I have no idea what we can do.”
“Can I try talking to her?” Bethany wanted to know, as only the two consultants, Edward Thomas and Franklin Collins had spoken to the patient, and while they were nice men once you got to know them, Bethany knew that they could be a bit intimidating.
Stephen shrugged his shoulders. “If you want,” he replied, stepping away from the door to allow her access. Bethany consulted her clipboard one last time before she entered. The patient was female, and appeared to be in her mid-thirties. As far as they could tell, she didn’t smoke, was not an excessive drinker, exercised a lot, and had never been pregnant. However, there had been an extra protein marker in her blood stream that hadn’t been able to be identified. A sample of her blood was being sent for further tests, although it the protein marker didn’t seem to be causing her any harm. The patient also had several scars across her body, indicating hardships at various points in her life.
The woman looked up as Bethany entered. Wide clear blue eyes stared at her from a pale face surrounded by cropped blonde hair. There was a slight bruising across her left cheekbone, which had been her only souvenir from the fire; she had obviously been knocked somehow escaping from the burning motel. “Hi,” Bethany greeted. “I’m Doctor Bethany Pierce. Can you understand me?”
There was no response; only the same vacant stare. Yet Bethany could see the intelligence masked behind it. This woman, whoever she was, was obviously very clever, although it provided the doctor with no insight as to why she wasn’t speaking.
“I’m Bethany. Can you tell me your name?” At the present time she was being referred to as the generic term for a woman – Jill. Still nothing, although Bethany noticed the blue eyes dart briefly to the clipboard she was holding.
“Do you want to write something?” she asked, removing the top sheet and handing over both the clipboard and her pencil. The woman took them cautiously, almost as if she was expecting to be punished, Bethany noted. Jill turned her back to Bethany, who could only hear the scratching of the pencil. When the clipboard was revealed again, she blinked in surprise. Only four words were on the paper, written in block capitals and firmly etched. ‘HELP ME JACK PLEASE.’ Bethany looked at Jill again, and noticed with both horror and delight that there were tears threatening to spill. Horror because she had no idea why she was crying, and delight, as it was the first response that they had got from her.
“Where is Jack?” she asked quietly. “I need to know so I can find him. Then he can come and help you. Tell me where Jack is?”
Jill’s only response was to turn her back, and bury her head in her arms. Bethany removed the top piece of paper from her clipboard, but left it and the pencil in there in the hope that more might be written once she had left the room.
“Well?” Stephen asked as soon as she left the room. Bethany held up the piece of paper as her answer. “Who’s Jack?”
Bethany shrugged. “No idea, but he’s got to be important to her. Her husband or something?”
“Jack and Jill,” Stephen laughed, but quietened when Bethany glared at him. “Sorry.”
“I think the reason she’s not talking is emotional trauma,” the younger doctor theorised. “When I was in there, I certainly saw intelligence in her eyes. It’s almost as if she was afraid to talk.”
“Military?” Stephen questioned. “She could be relieving capture and torture from a previous assignment, so us locking her in a room isn’t going to be doing much good.”
“I have no idea,” Bethany admitted. “I left her a pad and pencil though, so maybe something else would come out. Like maybe where to find this Jack person. I have a feeling that he’s paramount in all of this.”
“How is she today?” Bethany asked first thing the next morning. Jill had at least one person observing her at all times; at that moment it was Anna Mulchaey.
“She seems to be enjoying that pad you gave her yesterday,” Anna remarked, watching through the one way observation window. Bethany hated them – knowing that people could watch you while you couldn’t see them. However, she did acknowledge their usefulness, especially in cases like these.
“I’m gonna go in there and talk to her again,” Bethany told the other woman, who nodded, and picked up her clipboard ready for any observations.
“It’s Bethany again,” the doctor told her as she entered the room. “How are you today?”
Jill looked up from her latest piece of paper. Bethany could see at least three other sheets, all with a variety of scribbles on.
“Can I have a look at these?” Bethany asked, moving towards the papers. Jill just shrugged with indifference, and Bethany turned to the false wall and grinned at the woman she couldn’t see, as this was the first response to a question they had got. Delighted with her success, she tried a second question. “Do you want to talk to me today?” It was obviously the wrong question, as the woman threw down the pencil, and threw herself on the bed in the far corner with her back facing Bethany. Taking the hint, Bethany gathered up the sheets of paper, and hurried back to where Anna was sitting.
“Nice one,” Anna grinned, pleased with the success, even if it was only a small step so far. Bethany just grimaced back.
“I think I pushed my luck a bit too far, but at least we’ve got something to go on,” she replied, looking at the first sheet. “Or not, as this is just a really, really elaborate doodle.”
“Hey, doesn’t that remind you of a circuit in physics, or something?” Anna pointed out in the middle of the pencil markings. Bethany screwed up her eyes and peered at it.
“I don’t know, I never paid attention in physics,” she confessed. “But are you trying to say that this isn’t just a doodle, it might be something relating back to physics, or the schematics for something incredibly complicated.” “Could be. You wrote it yourself on her chart that she appeared to be extremely intelligent,” Anna reminded her. “And underneath the scribbles at the bottom it seems as if she was writing some form of equations, then tried to get rid of them.”
“So, our mystery guest appears to be a scientist,” Bethany summarised. “A physicist based on this page.” She turned to the next one, and was rewarded by words. “Okay then.”
Anna peered over her shoulder. “Hathor, Abydos, Ra, Apophis, Osiris, Seth...” she read out. “Mean anything to you?”
Bethany shook her head. “Nothing to me. Hey, Morgan,” she called as the familiar figure walked past the door.
Morgan’s head appeared around the door. “Yeah?”
“If we said Hathor, Abydos and Ra to you would they mean anything?” Bethany asked.
Morgan grinned. “Hathor was the Egyptian goddess of fertility, inebriety and music. She was both the daughter and wife of Ra, the Egyptian sun god. I’m not too sure about Abydos, but it’s a place in Egypt. Something to do with Osiris I think. That okay?”
“Yeah, thanks Morgan,” Bethany replied, looking puzzled as her friend left. “So, maybe she’s an Egyptologist, or an archaeologist or something and the first picture really is just an elaborate doodle.”
“Either that, or she really knows her Ancient Egyptian mythology,” Anna commented. “Look – are those hieroglyphics?”
She nodded towards the edge of the page where there were a variety of different symbols, the largest one being an upside down ‘v’ shape with a circle connected to the top. “I have no idea,” Bethany replied, turning her head to look at Jill, who was, by all appearances, sleeping. “It really is a mystery, isn’t it?”
“Come on, one last page,” Anna reminded her, and they turned it to be greeted by more words. “Okay, is it just me or are these words making even less sense than the last page?”
“They’re not even words!” Bethany exclaimed. “Even if you take some of the apostrophes out, they still don’t make sense. Teal’c, za’tarc, Sha’re, Goa’uld, Tok’ra. The rest of the words seem to be nonsense too – Martouf, Jolinar, Selmac, Lantesh, Tollan, Nareem, Skaara.”
“Not all,” Anna noticed. “Freya and Thor are both from Norse mythology. But the rest, yeah. What are we supposed to do? Dismiss them as the ramblings of a mad woman?”
“But I don’t think she’s mad,” Bethany replied, looking thoughtful. “I wonder what she was writing on the last sheet of paper. She took it with her when she lay on the bed.”
“She was holding it rather tightly,” Anna observed. “I don’t think you’d be able to get it off her.”
“Do you think she wrote more, and hid them?” Bethany suddenly asked, her face lighting up.
“Maybe, but she’s not going to want us to search the room looking for them,” Anna reminded her. “And it’s not exactly ethical to sedate her.”
“But if it’s for her own good...” Bethany pointed out. “I’ll check with Doctor Thomas or Doctor Collins and see what they say.”
“Got one,” Stephen announced as he flicked through the pad that Bethany had left. “Very clever putting a piece of paper you don’t want found in a pad of blank paper.”
“I’ve got the one she was clutching earlier, and there was another one underneath her mattress,” Bethany announced. “We better check them quick if we want to return them before she wakes.”
The first thing that struck Bethany when she looked at the first sheet is that it reminded her of the diary she occasionally wrote. She felt a pang of guilt at looking at something which was obviously so personal to this woman, but knew that they needed to find out who she was, and where she belonged.
“’I wish Jack was here’” she read out to her audience of Stephen, Anna and the two consultants. “’At least then I’d know he’s still alive. I have no idea where they’ve put him, or even if he was caught at all. Maybe he made it back to the Stargate...’” Bethany stumbled over the unusual word, wondering what it could have meant. “’With Teal’c and Daniel. Janet would kill me if anything happened to Daniel this close to the wedding. He’s been so good the past few missions.
I just wish they’d let me know what they want from me. There’s been no torture, no abuse so far; I’ve just been locked in a room. Maybe they’re planning on selling me. Great, just what I need – a repeat of the Shavadi.’ Okay this is strange,” Bethany announced to the room. “She seems to be reliving a previous military mission.”
“I bet all this is classified,” Stephen realised, and the others obviously agreed what with the nods. “Should we be reading this?”
“I’ll read them all,” Bethany volunteered. “Then I’ll contact the military, and take all responsibility for any classified information. My mother was in the army; I know what I’m getting myself into.”
“Are you sure Doctor Pierce?” Collins questioned. “We can contact the military and get one of their people to come in and finish the investigation.”
Bethany shook her head. “With all due respect sir, I’m the only one who’s got anything out of her so far,” she reminded them. “I don’t think replacing me would be in her best interest.”
“Very well Doctor Pierce,” Thomas agreed. “You have until 6pm tomorrow before we contact the military and let them handle her.”
“Yes sir,” Bethany replied respectfully, waiting until everyone else had left the room before she continued to read. ‘Still, at least they haven’t dressed me up yet. I’m sure Jack would be disappointed if he were here. I know it’s selfish of me, but I wish he were here. Like when I was trapped behind the force shield. I didn’t want him to stay, because I didn’t want to see him die, but at the same time I was glad he stayed, because I didn’t want to be alone. I wish I never said to leave it in the room. I know he’s my CO, but I could have resigned or something so we could be together. I don’t know if he still feels this way about me, but I love him so much, and I can’t tell him because of the regulations and it’s killing me.’ Bethany noticed that the paper looked as though Jill had been crying on it, which didn’t surprise her. She was close to tears herself, reading about the tragic love story between this woman and her commanding officer. ‘I just want to announce to the world that I’m in love with Jack O’Neill without fear of being court martialled.’ There was a name – obviously the Jack that the woman had referred to earlier, asking him to help her. Bethany quickly skimmed the other two sheets, noting that they too were all of the woman’s regrets, and a will, leaving things to Jack, her father, her brother, Daniel, Janet and Cassie. In the second sheet there had been brief mentions of Cheyenne Mountain Base and Colorado Springs, so she immediately called and asked for the number of a Jack O’Neill in Colorado Springs.
“I’m sorry ma’am, but there’s only a Jonathon O’Neill,” the man on the other end of the phone informed her. Bethany took that number down instead, then dialled it with her fingers crossed.
“Daniel?” The phone was picked up after the first ring; the man’s voice tinted with desperation as he questioned the caller.
Daniel had been one of the names mentioned in the papers, so things were looking hopeful to Bethany. “Ah, no. Am I speaking to Jack O’Neill please?”
“Yes,” the man was abrupt after realising that Bethany was not the caller he had been waiting for.
“I’m Doctor Pierce. I’m calling from Memorial Hospital, Riverside California,” Bethany began to introduce herself.
“Oh God, Sam,” she heard him exclaim, and smiled.
“Mr O’Neill, two days ago a woman was brought in after a motel fire. She had no identification, and refused to talk. However, in the past day, she has been writing down several things. A couple of pages of nonsense, some Egyptian mythology and a page of regrets. Your name, I believe, was in the latter. She also mentioned Cheyenne Mountain Base and Colorado Springs, which is why I’m calling you. Do you believe you know this woman?” Bethany was acting purely as she had been trained, although she somehow knew that this was the Jack O’Neill the woman in there had been waiting for.
“I believe so,” his voice sounded like it was about to crack. “She’s got short blonde hair, cut in layers around her head. She’s got blue eyes, is five foot nine and is in her early to mid thirties. Her name’s Sam Carter – Major Samantha Carter of the United States Air Force.”
Bethany smiled. “How soon can you get here?” she asked. “Soon,” was his immediate response. “Can you give me a number to contact you on? I need to sort some things and some people out, and then we’ll fly out to you. I’m afraid we may also have to interview you Doctor Pierce concerning anything Major Carter wrote that you might have read.” He was all military now, a tone that Bethany remembered from her own childhood.
“Understood sir, my mother was military,” Bethany replied, as she gave him her office number. It looked as if their mystery woman – Sam – was going home.
“Mr O’Neill?” Bethany questioned as Anna directed a party of four people into her office, where she was finishing up some paperwork. The man foremost was tall and greying, with a look of anticipation mingled with worry on his face. Behind him was a huge black guy wearing a hat, a petite red haired woman who was holding hands with another man, who was looking uncomfortable at being there. He was continuously pushing up his glasses, and Bethany could see the flash of gold on his left hand. If they had been correct and Major Carter had been writing about a previous mission, the couple here must have been the one she had spoken of getting married soon – Daniel and Janet if she remembered correctly.
“Yes, that’s me,” the grey haired man spoke up. “And with me are Doctor Daniel Jackson, Doctor Janet Fraiser-Jackson and Teal’c ah, Murray,” Bethany realised that she had been right in naming the couple, and also tried not to stare at the man who spelt his name with an apostrophe. There was just something about him that made him appear different, although she couldn’t place it.
“I’m Doctor Bethany Pierce,” she introduced herself to confirm it for O’Neill and inform the other three. “I’ll just take you to Major Carter if you follow me.”
She led them down to the rooms in silence, moving faster than her normal pace as if she sensed the urgency in the group. First she led them to the observation room to confirm that they were there for the right person. She was sitting on the bed, looking slightly out of it, as they had been forced to inject her with a mild sedative after she became violent. Unfortunately the sedative had reacted with something – probably the unknown factor in her blood – and made it stronger than intended, so she was still doped up.
“That’s Sam alright,” Janet Fraiser-Jackson confirmed, as O’Neill was already heading towards the door to enter Sam’s room. Bethany and the other three members of the party were perfectly content to wait there, allowing the couple to have their own reunion.
As the door opened to her room, her cell, Sam looked up bleary eyed, expecting to see the young female doctor again. Instead it was a much more familiar, and a much more welcome figure.
“Jack!” She cried, and launched herself into his arms, which went instantly around her body and held her close. “I thought I’d lost you.”
“I thought I lost you too,” Jack replied, his arms still wrapped tightly around her with no immediate plans to let go. The front of his shirt was getting wet, and he realised that there was moisture running down his face. “I’m never letting you go again Sam. I promise.”
“Good, because I’m staying with you,” Sam announced, her voice muffled by his chest.
“Marry me,” Jack demanded, not thinking about the regulations or anything but the woman in his arms.
Sam just looked up and nodded at him. A grin spread across Jack’s face as he dipped her in a passionate kiss, well aware of their audience.
In the observation room, Daniel smiled down at his wife as he leant down to kiss her and caress her stomach at the same time. Even Teal’c was wearing a smile similar to that of a proud father. Bethany smiled as she tried to stop her tears from falling. The stranger in the night was a stranger no more, and had been reunited with the man she loved. Definitely a happy ending.