selective

Lower Levels Four:
Selective Memory
By
Denise

Disclaimer Stargate Sg-1 and its characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author. This story may not be posted elsewhere without the consent of the author.

Sargent Davis walked down the halls of the SGC unconsciously scratching his right arm. He'd just got the cast off the day before and after six weeks of having it encased in fiberglass, it felt so good just to scratch.

He walked into the infirmary pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket. All he had to do was get Dr. Warner to sign off and he was back to unrestricted active duty.

"I told you Doctor Fraiser it's just bruises." He heard a voice say from behind a curtain.

"Captain. You were kidnapped, tied up, dragged halfway across the planet, sold to a warlord, bought back by your CO and got in a knife fight with a guy twice your size. Forgive me if I want to make sure nothing else happened." He heard another female voice say in a tone that left zero room for argument. Must be the new Doctor he'd heard was coming.

"Nothing. Else. Happened." He heard Captain Carter insist. Her words punctuated by the slight thunk of her booted feet hitting the floor as she hopped off the gurney.

"Look Doctor. I'm fine. Really. I've got a few bumps and bruises. Noting else. Scouts honor. He didn't…the guys got there before he could… I'm fine. All I want to do is take a nice hot shower and debrief so I can forget this humiliating mission ever happened." He heard her plead quietly.

"Ok." He heard the doctor sigh. "You're fine. That doesn't change the fact that I still need to draw blood and do the normal post mission tests. Let me go get the stuff. We'll do the basics and I'll give you a reprieve until tomorrow," she bargained in a voice that told Davis she was well used to dealing with reluctant patients.

"Ok," Sam agreed and he heard the slight creak of the bed as she hopped back up.

The curtain opened and a petite brunette in the requisite white coat walked out. "Can I help you?"

"I'm Sargent Davis ma'am. I just need a doc to sign off so I can get back on duty," he explained, holding up the paper.

He nodded and watched her walk off, leaving him standing. With a shrug he hopped up on the next bed to wait. He glanced across at the pensive captain who was sitting on the edge of the bed, swinging her legs, clearly wishing she were somewhere else.

She looked up, startled as though she hadn't realized anyone else was in the room. "Probably my last," she said morosely.

"Sargent. If a member of your team got kidnapped, through no fault of her own I might add, it was all Doctor Jackson's idea I wear that…that dress and play anthropologist, dragged for miles on horseback and sold for ransom what would you do?" she asked angrily.

"I'll tell you what you'd do. If it were one of your buddies you'd buy him back and laugh about it over a beer. It'd be one huge joke. But if it was a female then you'd start in with that whole 'this is why we don't allow females in combat', 'you're a liability', ' we'll bring back an all male team next time', crap."

"It wasn't my fault. It was all HIS idea. 'Play along with the natives Carter', 'let's not upset their way of life Captain', 'archaeologists do it all the time'. I didn't see one of THEM getting dressed up in some costume from…from a B movie….a BAD B movie. NO. They just stood by and yucked it up," she ranted. "And you want to know the worst part? No one's going to remember that I beat the guy. That I took on some Neanderthal in a fight and WON. NO. What they're going to remember is that I was a liability. That somehow it's all my fault. And that's all the excuse he's going to need."

"Excuse me ma'am?" Davis asked, totally confused. He felt like he'd changed channels in the middle of a daytime soap opera.

"I'm only on SG-1 because the general MADE the colonel have me. And now he has a perfect reason to get me off the team." She stopped abruptly and he could hear the emotion in her voice. He swore he saw tears start to fill her eyes.

"Look. Tell the doc I'll be back. I just…I'll be back," she said, fleeing the room. Stunned he watched her go. She disappeared around the threshold just as the doctor returned.

"She…had to take care of something. She did say she'd be back as soon as it was done." It was the truth…close enough anyway.

The doctor looked out the door, a frown on her face. "Well if I can't take care of her I…what did you need Sergeant?"

"My arm ma'am. It was broken six weeks ago. I need you to sign off so I can get back to work," he reminded.

The signed paper in his hand, Walter stood outside General Hammond's office door and tried not to listen to the voices seeping through the thin material. Billions of dollars on computers and it sounded like the door was made of plywood.

"I'm not making excuses sir. I'm just telling you that with the information that I had at the time it was a sound decision. Daniel was fine with it, Moughal promised she'd be fine and Carter was fine with it. She felt a little left out but fine. It doesn't change the fact that I screwed up. I allowed us to be split up and nearly got Carter killed. That was MY fault. Don't punish her because I made a bad call."

"Colonel there are reasons females are not allowed in combat. I would be well within my purview to have the captain assigned to a secondary contact team. Chances are that this world isn't the only one who will see the captain as a second class citizen."

"And there's every chance the next planet we go to will be run by Amazons and some short skirted Xena type will take a fancy to Daniel. Look sir. We're still figuring out where all the doors lead in this base much less how to behave on an alien planet. General, with all due respect, we're making this up as we go along. What happened on that planet was a mistake. One that we got ourselves out of. And we've learned that NO ONE gets left alone off world. No matter how safe it looks," O'Neill said reasonably.

"Her performance was fine. She kept her head and got out of a sticky situation relatively unscathed. I have no problem with her performance. Or her presence on SG-1. Though we may have a little talk about who she picks a fight with."

Walter stepped back as the door opened and Colonel O'Neill stalked out, still in his combat gear. He watched him walk down the hall then knocked on the general's door.

"Come." Walter walked in and stood at attention. "At ease, Davis. You're cleared for duty?" the general said, waving towards the chairs.

Hammond nodded. "Ever been in the situation of letting someone risk their life because it's what they want to do, what they've trained for?"

"I know Captain Carter. Her father is an old family friend. When Jake found out she was in my command he called me and I told him his daughter would be nice and safe here studying deep space radar telemetry. Little does he know I'm sending his little girl off to alien planets where she could get killed or kidnapped," he said, referring to the most recent mission.

"It's her job sir. And one, with all due respect, she'll resent the hell out of if you take it away from her."

A few hours later he sat at a table, eating his lunch. At least the cook here was a good one. Cheyenne Mountain was on the fringes of Colorado Springs and the nearest fast food restaurant was a few miles away. Just far enough to insure you'd spend three fourths of your lunch hour just driving back and forth.

"Yep. Tied her up and rode away. And get this. The going rate for captains now-a-days is one 9mm pistol."

"Did he at least get a full clip?" another man asked with a laugh. "Or do the bullets cost extra?"

Davis finished his lunch, listening as the banter got louder and more ridiculous. Unfortunately the captain had been right. No one remembered she'd taken out some guy twice her size. Unless…

Tossing his napkin on his tray he gained his feet and crossed to them. He paused by the table and waited until they noticed him. "I'd be careful if I were you," he warned.

"Hear what? What else happened?" One of them demanded, his tone suggesting his mind was thinking the worst.

Davis leaned in, resting his tray on the table and made a show of glancing around. "What she did to the guy that grabbed her?"

"He tried, well you know…She got a knife and before you know it she had him on his knees, crying, begging for mercy," he said.

"Yes way. Ask her. This dude…he was bigger than the Jaffa and she took him down." They looked at him skeptically just as Captain Carter and Teal'c walked into the commissary. "Just ask her," he said, thanking the fates for a bit of good timing. He saw them studying the pair, comparing their sizes.

He picked up his tray and walked away, listening to the speculation build behind him. "They'll only remember what you tell them to," he muttered, heading back to the control room to finish his shift