Title: Allergies
Author: Sarae
Rating: T
Summary: Sam has an interesting allergic reaction.
Spoilers: Set in season seven. Tiny spoilers only for Brief Candle, Fire and Water, A Hundred Days, Divide and Conquer, Tangent, Descent, Frozen, Abyss, Paradise Lost, Metamorphosis, and Revisions.
Status: Complete.
Author Note: Special thanks to Rosemary who pushed and read and pushed and read…
Disclaimer: Stargate Sg-1 and its characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, SciFi Channel, 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.

Allergies
© 2003 Sarae

Chapter 1

The alarm was blaring in the 'gate room and the chevrons were being locked in sequence. Sam was finding it hard to suppress a chuckle as she watched Daniel fidget. She could tell he was anxious to get this mission underway. His enthusiasm was in stark contrast to Jack's lack of enthusiasm. For some reason, she found this amusing. She stole a quickly look at Teal'c. He was looking stoically at the Stargate as the last Chevron locked and the wormhole whooshed out toward them. It had gotten so that not one of them even flinched when a wormhole was engaged.

"SG-1, you have a go," said General Hammond, his voice coming over the speakers.

Jack turned back and saluted as Teal'c led the way up the ramp. Daniel was right on his heel. Jack motioned for Sam to precede him up the ramp and seconds later, they were all stepping out of the 'gate and onto a rock plateau on P74-113.

Sam stopped and took a look around. The planet didn't appear dissimilar from many of the others they'd visited over the years. But for some reason, this planet was far more appealing to Sam than any other she could recall.

There were trees – a fact she was sure the Colonel would comment on momentarily - blue skies with whispy white clouds overhead, mountains in the distance, and a babbling brook running off to their right. The temperature was moderate and a nice breeze wafted by stopping the sun from heating them up too much.

They were in for quite a walk, so Sam was relieved the temperature was so comfortable, it wasn't raining and the terrain looked relatively flat. MALP telemetry and UAV transmissions had revealed no indigenous intelligent life forms. Neither had revealed large predatory life either. The reason they had come was the UAV had returned images of a structure, a ruined structure, which had markings similar to those on the tablet they had retrieved from Abydos. Daniel felt they would find information that could help them locate the Lost City.

Archaeological expeditions on planets that looked too good to be true always caused Jack to grumble. And he'd been grumbling about this mission since before they'd stepped through the 'gate that morning. It was his desire to end this mission as quickly as possible that caused him to set such a brisk pace as they left the MALP, the UAV and the 'gate behind.

Despite the pace, Sam couldn't keep a smile from her face. This place was beautiful and she was enjoying the trek. She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt this good.

The structure they were hoping to reach was about 20 kilometers from the Stargate. Jack figured, from the relative position of the sun, that they'd have about five hours of daylight and he wanted to make it to the structure before they set camp. So, he kept up the pace.

About five kilometers into their journey, Sam's good feeling disappeared. It started with a sneeze, and then another and another…and another.

"You all right, Carter?" Jack said, without slowing or turning.

"Yes, Sir," she said and then smiled as Daniel held out a Kleenex to her. She accepted the Kleenex and blew her nose. That stopped the sneezing momentarily, but her nose continued to run and she found herself sniffling…a lot. Then her eyes started itching…a lot. Not having experienced an all out allergic reaction before, Sam was perplexed and naïve. She started by rubbing one of her eyes, but that led to more rubbing and then her eyes started watering, swelling and turning red.

Daniel, who'd spent a lifetime combating such symptoms, advised her to stop rubbing her eyes. He took his kerchief and poured a bit of water from his canteen onto it. He handed it to Sam and told her to hold it on her eyes for a second or two and then to wipe gently from the corner near the nose to the outer corner. Then he told her to leave them alone…no matter how much they itched.

Sam nodded and smiled her appreciation to him as she followed his directions. All the while, they kept walking. Sam found herself squeezing her hands into fists and feeling her nails bite into her palms as she fought the urge to rub her incessantly itching eyes. After a time, her ears and throat began to itch as well.

Daniel gave her several more tissues and she blew her nose several times as they continued to make progress toward the ruins. Teal'c had moved closer to Jack and Sam and Daniel had slowed some, though they were keeping up. Occasionally, Jack heard Daniel giving Sam advice or asking her questions.

She began making strange and unpleasant sounds as she attempted to "scratch" the internal itches by vibrating certain membranes in her throat. This had been a suggestion of Daniel's as well. Her attempts were rewarded with limited success, but definite irritation from her commanding officer. Daniel had just about driven him crazy on that first mission to Abydos and he'd be damned if Daniel was gonna start teaching Sam those annoying little habits he used to have.

"Carter! Are you going to live? Do we need to abort or what?" he asked as he stopped the progress, turned and gave her an exasperated look.

"I'm sorry, Sir," she said, feeling completely embarrassed and completely miserable. "I don't know what's wrong. I've never had allergies before…" she said, though her voice sounded like she had a nasty cold. Her nose was stuffed and her throat was scratchy.

One look at her and Jack immediately regretted his irritation. It was obvious she was suffering from a severe bout of "hay fever". He looked around and saw a shady spot under a tree. He looked at his watch and realized they'd been walking for nearly three hours. He decided it was time to take a short break.

"Hey…" he said nodding toward the tree. "Let's take five and get a bite, huh?"

"Thank you, Sir," Sam said and then sneezed.

"Gesundheit!" Jack said, cringing at the force with which she sneezed.

They all walked to the tree and each took a seat near the trunk, utilizing the shade provided by its sprawling branches. Each pulled out a snack bar from their packs and began eating. Sam was having difficulty getting hers down. Her appetite was all but gone and due to the irritation and stuffiness in her nasal passages, the bar seemed tasteless.

"Geez, Carter," Jack said, scrutinizing her carefully. "Don't take this the wrong way…but you look like hell."

She managed to chuckle, but nearly choked on a piece of bar she'd been working on. "Thank you, Sir. I've felt better."

"So…what do you think? You gonna be okay? You wanna continue or do we need to head back?" he asked, his voice betraying a bit more concern than he wanted it to.

"Oh, no…" she protested and then sneezed again. "I'm fine, sir. Really, it's more of an annoyance than a danger. I'm not running a fever…it's just really…irritating."

Jack couldn't help but feel a surge of protectiveness and pity toward her as he heard her stuffy-nosed reply. She really looked miserable and sounded miserable, but at the same time, she looked really adorable.

"Oh, hey…" Daniel said, as a thought occurred to him. "I almost forgot. I have some generic antihistamines with me. I mean, I've been taking shots so I haven't used these for a while. I still pack them in case we get stranded long enough for my shots to wear off, but…you wanna try one, Sam?"

"Yes, please," Sam said.

Daniel pulled his pack off and dug through it. He couldn't find the pills anywhere. Jack asked about their med kit and Teal'c was just about ready to open it up when Daniel found the right pocket in his vest.

"What is that stuff?" Jack asked before he let Daniel give it to Sam.

"Uh, I believe it's the generic form of Benedryl," Daniel said, squinting at the bottle label. "That should help calm the symptoms down and then I have this…Claritin. That should help keep them from recurring. You can take one of these tonight."

"Benedryl, Claritin, yeah, I've heard of those," Jack said, nodding as Daniel gave Sam the bottle. She quickly opened the bottle, extracted a pill, popped it in her mouth and swallowed from her canteen. In the time it took her to do that, she sniffed, four times and wiped at excess moisture from her eyes twice. Jack decided to give the medicine an hour. If she wasn't better, they were going to stop, set up camp and get some rest. They'd head back first thing in the morning. He wasn't going to watch her suffer any longer than he had to. They could figure out some medicine that would make her allergies better, or she could sit this mission out.

Sam's symptoms began to dissipate as they progressed. About thirty minutes after taking the pill, her sniffles had stopped and she no longer felt the urge to scratch her eyes right out of her head. Even the itching in her ears and throat had subsided.

"Wow…Daniel, thanks," she said smiling and feeling much better. "Man, I don't know how people with allergies handle that all the time."

"Oh, you get used to it," Daniel said.

"Really?" Sam said, surprised.

"No," Daniel replied and then chuckled. "No, I don't think you ever really get used to it."