Work Text:
Recovering…
by Bethany
Teal’c walked the streets of Tauri. Jonas was beside him, as they strolled.
“So, happy with the cars you test drove today?” Jonas referred to the reason for this little outing. Teal’c wanted a car.
“But where would I go if I bought such an automobile?” Teal’c wondered aloud.
“Are they OK with this back at the SGC? I mean, y’know, you out and about window shopping for cars…?” Quinn enquired.
“I am allowed to leave the compound.” Teal’c said, as inconspicuously as possible.
“But you and me, y’know, I kinda feel like we snuck out…” Quinn admitted.
“The General and O’Neill know where we are… It is simply that we are not often given the opportunity to practise our freedom.” Teal’c stated.
“Don’t you ever get claustrophobic?” Quinn asked, as they strolled.
“Occasionally, but I know I have my duties, and I also know
I have more freedom here than I ever did back,” Someone passed them by, an old lady with one of those leathery shopping carts on two wheels. “home…” He said, when she had passed. “And that my confinement here is for my own well being.”
“But if you, y’know, if Junior wasn’t part of your life, you could pass for an average man.” Quinn mused.
“It is that part of me that is considered alien, yes.” Teal’c agreed. Then, the mobile phone he was carrying went off, and he flipped it open, and answered it. He did indeed look like Mr. Average as he pounded the pavements. “Yes, O’Neill. Thank you. You may inform the General that Jonas Quinn and I will be back as soon as possible. Goodbye.” He ended the phone call, and turned to Jonas. “We are needed back on-Base.”
“How’d ya car huntin’ go?” O’Neill asked, when he greeted Teal’c and Quinn back to the SGC.
“You will have to come along next time, O’Neill.” Teal’c stated.
“Wish I could’ve this time, but the General wanted me to finish that report… He’s a real tough guy...!” O’Neill smiled, as he saw Hammond walk up behind Teal’c and Jonas.
“We’ve had a call from an old friend, people…” The General addressed SG1, as the other members walked up behind Jack O’Neill. George Hammond faced the patient audience. “It’s Martin Lloyd.”
“Marty… What’s the matter with him?” O’Neill was quite concerned.
Frasier walked up, and stood by Hammond. “He has requested my help.”
“What for?” Jack asked, as only he could.
“He says he is suffering from depression again, and does not trust any other doctors but those here with his friends at the SGC.” Frasier informed them.
“Why’s he depressed?” Sam asked, not unkindly.
“Apparently, those he works with on Wormhole Xtreme!,” Hammond paused, as he saw Jonas’ look of bewilderment.
Jack explained, “It’s a TV show… I was their Military Adviser once. Marty’s an alien from some planet that he escaped, and we kinda found him…”
“Ah…” Quinn was still bemused.
“…Will not let him be Director on the upcoming Season finale…” Major General George Hammond finished his interrupted sentence smoothly.
“Are we sure he just doesn’t want to plagiarise some cool ideas..?” Jack said, ever the pessimist and born Military mind.
“We can fire wall what he sees…” Daniel was the voice of compassion and reason. “And hears, of course…”
“Well, I admit, this is a little unorthodox, but I am inclined to try and help Mr. Lloyd, as, I think, are we all…?” Hammond looked around for consensus, not that he really needed it.
“Agreed, sir.” Jack scratched his head, thinking, hoping that this would all work out fine.
“Marty!” Jack walked toward his odd friend. “Good to see you..!”
“I wasn’t followed, I swear..!” Marty was as anxious, as always.
“I know, Marty, don’t worry about that. Teal’c and Sam picked you up in that car, eh?”
“Ooh, yeah… I know that, but you can never be too careful with the Press!” Martin worried still.
“I know that, too…” Jack patted him on the shoulder reassuringly. Martin Lloyd was edgy, which was normal for him, but it worried Jack to see him feeling so deflated. His worries were usually energy packed.
“You need not worry, Martin. No one followed us…” Teal’c stated.
“Thanks, Murray…” Marty said, cheering slightly.
“You can rest assured on that… Murray Minton here’s a great driver!” Jack slapped Teal’c on the back.
“Minton??? Whoever thought that up has no imagination!” Marty stated defiantly.
“It was O’Neill’s choice for my USAF appointed Driver’s Licence ID…” Teal’c almost smiled as he looked at O’Neill.
SG1, Dr. Frasier, and General Hammond all sat around the Briefing Room table.
“So, what’s the verdict, Doc?” Jack asked.
“I am reluctant to put Martin back on medication…” Janet Frasier said, with concern.
“We all know what that stuff does to him…” Sam Carter added.
“I take it Martin Lloyd has had issues like this in your dealings with him before?” Jonas asked reasonably.
“Oooh, yeah, you betcha…!” Jack answered him.
“But I do believe he needs some assistance, and some kind of medication may have to be the answer. For some people, it actually is a necessity. Depression, for some, is experienced as a true illness… I’m afraid Martin is among that group in society.” Frasier said with deep compassion.
“So, will he be staying here for a while?” Daniel Jackson asked interestedly.
“For a short time, until I have found him the correct treatment, yes…” Janet said, for the record.
“What about in the long term, doctor?” Hammond asked.
“I will refer him to one of the doctors at the Airbase Hospital…” She replied.
“What about the guy who hypnotised me that time? … I mean, hypnosis might not be quite the right road for Martin, but he was a good doctor…” Sam referred to her memory of the doctor who had helped her when SG1 and the SGC considered Daniel dead on a volcanic planet.
“Hey, Marty… Ya feelin any better?” O’Neill asked, as he strode into the Infirmary where Marty lay in a bed.
“Norman here’s a good neighbour…” Marty looked over at Davis, the Stargate technician who was in the Infirmary because he needed to take it easy after his heartburn had flared up yet again, in a particularly painful attack.
Jack grinned at Davis. “I thought your name was Walter…”
“It was, at one point, sir… Norman is my father’s name. He and I patched up our differences recently, so I took on my true name again…” The technician explained.
“If you’re gonna keep changing ya name like this, I’ll just have to start callin’ ya Chevron Guy…” O’Neill was light-hearted.
“I don’t plan on changing my name again, sir, don’t worry…” Assured Norman Davis, whose voice, if not his name, was so familiar to O’Neill… Chevron Seven Locked, sir! was all he ever usually heard the man say.
“How’s Marty?” Daniel asked, as soon as O’Neill joined him and Sam in the Rec-Room.
“He’s doin’ OK, I think… Frasier’s just arranging a short-term transfer for a few nights at the Air Force Hospital…” Jack tiredly plopped himself down on the old battered sofa that he himself had donated to the room, as he had been so weary of sitting on Military Hard As Nails Chairs, as he called them. He didn’t need to prove himself by enduring their discomfort. He stretched out his aching legs.
“Are we all allowed to go say goodbye?” Sam looked up from her House Plants Magazine, which she had just swapped with her often-thumbed Harley Davidson Monthly. She made a mental note to let Jonas Quinn know, as he had expressed a wish to wish Martin Lloyd well.
“I think so… Marty’s due to leave at 18:45. Teal’c said he’d take him to the hospital, because Marty requested it, but the General has insisted on a Military car, to make Marty look like an ordinary patient, attending an ordinary Air Force Hospital Base… So, Teal’c says he’ll accompany Marty on the drive… Y’know, moral support and all that…” Jack explained.
“Are you ok with that?” Daniel asked, knowing that Jack had kind of assumed responsibility for Marty from day one.
“Yeah. Marty just wanted someone to drive him who he trusts, and cos you,” He looked at Sam, “and Teal’c picked him up in the car, he just kinda thought of Teal’c. He seems to have developed an odd respect for his good friend, Murray.”
“Odd?” Sam asked.
“Didn’t I ever tell ya Marty tried to bite Mu… – I mean, Teal’c, when he first met him???” Jack smiled, and settled back to tell the tale.
“See ya, my friend…” Jack gently gripped the shoulders of his strange little pal, Marty.
“You are going to some place that will really do their best to help you…” Daniel said, kindly.
“And we will be thinking of you…” Sam Carter said.
“I know.” Marty said simply, bravely. “I’ll probably find the inspiration to right loadsa great scripts while I’m in there, huh?!!!”
“We’re going to help you find those feet of yours again, Martin. My colleagues at the Hospital will put you on the right track…” Frasier said reassuringly. “C’mon, I’ll walk you to the car…”
“Get well, Marty…” Jonas Quinn genuinely wished this man whom he had only recently come to know. I wonder if you’ll be in a room near Professor Kyran? He thought.
“Are we ready to go, Martin?” Teal’c asked, as he walked up and joined the gathering.
“Farewell, friends… Stay tuned to Wormhole Xtreme!, won’t you?” Marty called, as he walked out to meet the road to recovery.
THE END…