A/N

so I know I said the last chapter was the final chapter in this, but I reread it once I'd posted it and even though that's how I'd always intended the story to end, suddenly that's not how I wanted it to end anymore and this chapter was born.

So sorry for any confusion, but here is the actual really real final chapter

hope you enjoy:-)

xxxxxxxxxxx

"Sir!" Captain James called as he barged through the base commanders door.

Brigadier General Elliot looked up from his paperwork, an annoyed expression on his face at the unheralded interruption from his aide.

The Captain pulled up short when he realised what he'd done. Coming to attention he spoke again. "Sorry Sir," he said. "But I thought you'd want to see this as soon as possible."

Elliot waved a hand at the young officer. "Well hand it over son." He studied the paper, his brow creased. He looked back to the Captain. "When did this come in?"

"Seconds before I came in here Sir."

The General looked back to the paper again. "How accurate do we think it is?"

The Captain looked the General in the eye. "This intelligence has never been wrong yet Sir."

Elliot nodded. "Get Cromwell in here now."

Captain James smiled. "Yes Sir!" James hurried out to his desk to try to find Colonel Frank Cromwell, glad that his old boss General Johnson had been replaced by Elliot not even a week ago. Johnson should never have had this command. He'd been an office jockey who hadn't seen much field time. Elliot on the other hand...well...

James smiled again as the other end of the line was picked up.

"Cromwell," came the barked response.

Elliot was an old war horse who would never leave a man behind...

xxxxxxxxx

Elliot watched Cromwell as he studied the report and the satellite photos.

"Captain James tells me this intel has never been wrong," Elliot stated.

Cromwell nodded. "Not yet Sir."

"And the photos?"

Cromwell nodded again. "It's O'Neill," he confirmed, feeling sick. I left him. Jack was alive and I left him...

"You said in your report that Major O'Neill was dead Colonel," Elliot reminded him.

Frank took a deep breath. "I thought he was Sir." He looked his new CO in the eye. "I never thought he could have survived that fall when he started to get up. But then he got shot in the head..."

Elliot regarded the Colonel for a moment. "I believe you did the right thing Frank," he replied. It made him ill to think O'Neill had been stranded in that place for the last ten days but he couldn't fault Cromwell for his actions knowing under the same circumstances he would have put the lives of the rest of his team at the highest priority if he was sure O'Neill was dead. He was just glad he'd been stationed here when he had knowing the record of his predecessor.

Cromwell appreciated what his CO was trying to do, but he couldn't agree with his words. He left Jack there in the hands of monsters...

Elliot nodded more to himself than Cromwell. "You know I can't sanction a rescue on a black-ops mission," he stated. "So this is between you and me Frank. You get the one man you trust more than God himself and be ready and out on the air strip in full kit at zero hundred hours."

Cromwell stared at his CO. "Yes Sir!"

"Go make your preparations Colonel," he said by way of dismissal.

Frank turned to go and as his hand grasped the doorknob General Elliot called out to him.

"Just don't get caught Frank!"

xxxxxxxxxx

Cromwell and Kawalsky made their way across the Tarmac to the waiting chopper. Charlie started when he noticed Sam standing near the door.

"Sir's!" She said to the approaching men.

"Get us in the air Lieutenant," said Cromwell as he moved past her into the body of the aircraft.

"Yes Sir," she replied. She placed a hand on Charlie's arm as he passed. "What's going on?"

Charlie debated whether to tell her or not. "He's alive Sam," he replied, barely able to keep his voice form breaking. "The Colonel and I are going to bring him home."

Sam's jaw dropped. "He's..." She was having trouble processing his words. "But you said..."

Charlie started to doubt the wisdom of letting her in on the mission, but then he realised he could use her feelings for Jack to their advantage. He grabbed hold of her hands.

"Look at me Lieutenant," he ordered.

Sam looked into his eyes.

"I need you on this one...Jack needs you on this one," he told her. "Help us bring him home."

That was all she needed, her determination to get Jack O'Neill back like liquid steel in her veins.

"Yes Sir!"

"Now let's get going."

xxxxxxxxxx

Jack had been in the small cell for several days now. They'd roughed him up a bit...okay a lot really. But nothing he hadn't been through before. Hell he went through worse during training for his black-ops assignment. He wondered what they were waiting for. Though he had answered all their questions...drawing on all his experience as a major smart ass he had come up with some really colourful answers. He smiled grimly to himself wondering when the actual torture would begin. But then he considered, maybe that was part of the torture...making him wait for the inevitable. After all, he wasn't expecting rescue, but that certainly didn't mean he wasn't going to try to escape. He knew there was no rescue from a botched black-ops mission. Well not that the mission itself had been botched, his sure aim had seen to that. But getting captured wasn't usually part of the plan. The second thing that allowed Jack to know for sure that he wasn't going to be rescued was the way he had looked when they brought him here. He'd spent the first week in a makeshift infirmary while the gash in the side of his head where the bullet grazed him had started to heal.

"Huh," he murmured to the cell around him. That's why they haven't started in on the heavy stuff yet. They were worried they'd lose me too soon because of the head injury...

Jack cocked his head, something disturbing his thoughts. Not a noise exactly, more of a vibration. A vibration he was sure he recognised. He smiled and continued to work on sharpening the jagged splinter of wood he'd broken away from his cot, wrapping the base of it with the torn sleeve of his shirt.

Thirty minutes later the first explosions erupted and as his guard came through the door he was ready.

xxxxxxxxx

Kawalsky cautiously raced through the compound as his CO covered him from the tower they had captured after the first diversionary explosion went off. The layout was seared into his brain as he turned the final corner leading to his destination. They were certain they knew where Jack was being held and as he entered the small building he only narrowly avoided being shanked by his best friend. "Hey watch it with that thing would ya!?"

It took Jack a moment before his adrenaline let him recognise who was standing in front of him. "Well there couldn't be two of you that ugly," he responded. "Good to see you buddy!"

Charlie grinned. "You want me to leave you here?"

As they moved out into the night, explosions continuing to cause confusion in the compound Jack clapped his hand on his friends back.

"Well it has been a relaxing few days," he joked. "Great medical here...but I think I'm ready to go home."

Cromwell saw his two officers pass beneath the tower he was in. Climbing down he joined them and they beat a hasty retreat to the waiting chopper.

xxxxxxxxx

Sam heard the explosions, could faintly see the light show lighting up the night. It seemed like an age after all the noise had stopped though before she saw the figures break from the sparse tree line. She smiled as her headcount tallied up this time. She felt the hot prickle of tears in her eyes as Jacks form came into focus and she was sure it was him. She brushed them away though as the three men boarded the chopper. She'd let herself have the luxury of tears when they were all safely back on the base.

xxxxxxxxx

The chopper ride back was not a long one. Twenty, maybe twenty-five minutes, but Cromwell knew he couldn't last that long. He watched his two Majors, Kawalsky's arm over O'Neill's shoulders as they rode. O'Neill had tried to shrug him off but Kawalsky wouldn't let him. Cromwell knew it was because Kawalsky needed to be reassured that his friend was really there. Was really okay.

He stood and moved across to Jacks other side and he felt the man stiffen next to him. He leaned in so O'Neill could hear him.

"There's no excuse Jack," he yelled. "There's nothing I can say..."

Jack looked at him. "Then don't!" He yelled back.

Cromwell was stricken. He knew he deserved Jacks hatred. Hell he hated himself. He nodded and started to rise when he felt the other man's hand on his shoulder pulling him back down.

"You did the right thing Frank," he said directly into Cromwell's ear. "I shouldn't have survived that fall let alone the second shot. I was dead and you needed to save the ones you could." Jack hated Cromwell for leaving him at first. But then he'd seen what he'd looked like, realised the injuries they would have thought he had and knew his CO had no other choice. It was part of being a commander, the choices you had to make. It didn't take long for him to forgive his friend, though the fact that they hadn't gotten a chance to do any serious damage to him yet probably helped him with that decision. He wasn't sure if he would still have felt the same way if this rescue had come months after his capture instead of days. Jack shuddered at the thought. Right now though he was on a chopper ride home with his two best friends and he was thankful for the decision Frank had made otherwise the rest of his team could have ended up dead or captured as well.

Frank nodded, though he wasn't ready for O'Neill's forgiveness yet. He expected the man to hate him, had really wanted the man to hate him. At least for a while. He should be doing some sort of penance for losing his 2IC and at the moment he felt as though he was getting off scott free.

xxxxxxxxx

Brigadier General Elliot was waiting on the Tarmac when the chopper set down. He watched the three men emerge and come towards him.

"Welcome home Major O'Neill," he said smiling.

Jack came to attention in front of an officer he didn't know. "Thank you Sir." He would have saluted but his damn right shoulder still hurt from the fall.

"At ease airman," the General ordered seeing O'Neill trying to stand to attention. "Report to the infirmary and get patched up."

"Yes Sir," Jack replied.

"And well done gentlemen," the General said to Cromwell and Kawalsky.

They both smiled and saluted the General. "Thank you Sir."

xxxxxxxxx

Sam stayed in the chopper until Jack had moved away with Cromwell and Kawalsky not wanting Jack to delay in getting the medical attention he would surely need. He looked okay to her eyes, but she was scared of the possibilities of what could have happened to him.

xxxxxxxxx

A few days later Charlie found Sam sitting alone in the mess hall.

"Hey," he said as he sat down next to her.

She looked at him and felt no need to be formal with him right now.

"Hey," she answered back.

"So, I hear you haven't been to see Jack yet?"

Sam dropped her head feeling her cheeks burn with shame.

Charlie noticed the fat tears drop to the table top and he sighed.

"Hey," he said putting his arm around her shoulders pulling her into his side.

Sam swiped at her face hating that she was being so emotional. "I suck!"

"You don't suck!"

"I should be stronger than this Charlie," she breathed through her tears. "But I'm scared."

"It's okay to be scared Sam," he assured her giving her arm a squeeze. "After we saved him and the adrenaline wore off, I was terrified."

Sam looked up at him. "You were?" She asked. "But you saved him."

"And I also left him," he pointed out. "But I wasn't scared for how he'd feel about me, I was scared for him. Scared of what he might have had to go through."

Sam nodded her understanding feeling exactly the same way.

"He'll have to tell you what he feels like he can tell you himself," Charlie said. "But he's good Sam, he really is."

Sam's brow furrowed not really sure if she believed him.

"There is one thing wrong though," he added.

"What?" She asked instantly.

"If you don't go see him soon he's gonna break outta that place to come find you," he told her. "And I'm pretty sure he'll bust some stitches getting out."

Sam smiled a little.

Then Charlie grimaced. "Not to mention he'd be subjecting everyone in sight to a view of his bare ass hanging out of the hospital gown as he escaped out the window."

Sam laughed then able to imagine Jack doing just that. "They have him in a gown?"

He nodded. "And you can't even imagine the complaining that's coming out of his mouth about that!"

Charlie grabbed a couple of napkins from the holder and handed them to her. "So?"

Sam wiped her eyes and nodded. "Lead the way Major."

xxxxxxxxx

Jack looked up at the movement at the door. "Oh not you again!" He called as Kawalsky entered the room. "How many times do you need to see my ugly mug before you're going to believe I'm okay?" He demanded.

Charlie walked over to his friends bed and smiled. He placed a hand on Jacks shoulder. "I am never going to take your ugly mug for granted ever again."

Jack narrowed his eyes at his friend. "Are you coming onto me?"

Charlie rolled his eyes. "I did actually bring someone else to see you, but since you're in such a mood..."

Jack looked back towards the door to see the blond head come through. His heart leapt at the sight of her. He looked briefly towards his friend and smiled before he pushed him away. "Thanks, now get out!"

Charlie touched Sam on the arm and smiled at her as he left.

Sam walked slowly towards the bed.

"Hi," Jack said softly.

"Hi," she replied. "I'm sorry I haven't...that I didn't come to see you earlier."

Jack smiled. "That's okay," he assured her. "You're here now."

She stopped a few feet from the bed, her hands stuffed in the pockets of her BDU's.

He could see she was struggling so he tried to close the gap for her. "C'mere," he said beckoning to her.

Slowly she moved to the bed letting him pull her down to sit on it when she came within arms reach.

He clasped her hand tightly and squeezed as he looked at her. Then he saw her chin start to wobble and he pulled her to him. "Hey it's okay," he whispered in her ear. "I'm okay."

"I thought you were dead," she whispered back.

He loosened his grip on her so she could sit up. He smiled. "Yeah well resurrection is just the first of my many miracles," he joked. "Next week I'm turning water to wine."

Sam tried to hold back the sob but couldn't.

Okay, that didn't work. He pulled her down to him again holding her tightly in his arms as she cried. He gently stroked her hair letting her cry herself out on this chest.

He kissed her temple. "Thank you," he murmured into her ear.

She raised her head a little looking him in the eye. "For drenching your gown or being such a pillar of strength?"

Jack smiled at her, glad she was starting to calm a bit. "Well first I could have done without you reminding me I'm wearing a gown!"

Sam gave a hiccupping sort of snort at his remark.

"But I actually meant thank you for coming to rescue me," he replied. "Charlie and Frank told me that you piloted the chopper."

Sam looked into his eyes and realised that he really was okay. She was sure there would be memories he would rather not have of the experience...but still...

"Your knight in shining armour huh?"

Jack grinned. "I never thought of myself as a damsel in distress..."

Sam grinned back. "Well you are the one wearing the gown..."

Jack pulled her back down to him. "Oh you are so in for it when I get outta here Lieutenant..."

Sam nestled into the crook of his neck. "I'm counting on it Major..."

xxxxxxxx

A/N

So there it is. They managed to rescue Jack before he had any serious damage done to him, he forgave Frank and he got the girl and they managed to have a happy ending for a change.

Again sorry for any confusion it may have caused and I hoped you liked the eventual ending :-)

And the sequel I spoke about at the end of the last chapter is still in the works

thanks again for following and reading and reviewing