Chapter 1

"Bored!"

Sam grinned to herself and tried to ignore her commanding officer. He was sitting a few yards away on the bank of a river, throwing stones into the water.

"I'm bored, Carter!"

Sam sighed, "I know, sir."

Aware that SG-1 had a tendency to ignore their downtime and stay on base, General Hammond had ordered them to accompany a scientific team to P3X-211 for a week-long investigation into the population's mysterious disappearance. He hoped that a break on a deserted planet might give them some time to relax. Unfortunately, Daniel had discovered a store of writings to study, Sam was researching evidence of naquadah mining they had found in the area and Teal'c was taking his security brief very seriously. And Jack was bored.

Jack stood, tossing a final pebble into the river and striding over to his 2IC, "Talk to me, Carter; what have you found?"

"Nothing concrete yet, sir. The geological team have turned up some traces of naquadah on the planet, but we'll need to do a full survey in order to be sure."

"Oh good – more scientists." Jack's voice dripped sarcasm.

Sam smiled again, turning back to the readouts she had been studying, "Well, General Hammond won't allow another team until we know why all the settlements on this planet were abandoned. You'll be safe for the moment, sir."

Jack checked his watch, "Lunch? I'm buying."

Sam folded up the readouts and slotted them back into the folders on her temporary desk and they walked the few hundred yards to the commissary tent in companionable silence.

The planet had a pleasant climate and was lush with plant life like so many of the planets they had visited before. Unfortunately, the lack of a native population and the presence of so many scientists was driving Jack slightly crazy. During the two day trek from the 'Gate, he had seemed almost happy, enjoying the activity, but as soon as they had settled into their camp and the daily routine, Jack had become more and more difficult. They had only been there for three days and he had already picked an argument with Daniel and had taken to addressing the 'geeks' only when absolutely necessary. In fact, he'd drawn away from everyone's company except Sam's. It was a bad sign and Sam intended to talk to him about it, but she wasn't sure how to approach the subject without stepping over a line. Since the zatarc incident, they had both been very aware of the line that had to exist between them; personal feelings tended to be off limits, unless it affected the team's working relationship. Sam had decided that this was one of those times, but hadn't worked up the nerve to confront Jack about it.

Most of the scientists were having lunch. As they entered the tent, Jack's demeanour changed and he glared around moodily. It was definitely time to talk to him, Sam decided. They collected their lunch from the boxes of supplies and made their way to a small table in the far corner.

Sam waited until Jack had settled in his chair and started to eat before she cleared her throat and made an attempt to broach the subject of his recent mood. "Sir?"

"Mmm?"

"Jack! There you are!" Daniel was weaving his way towards them. "Come with me, both of you."

Sam and Jack exchanged a look. Both knew better to ignore Daniel when he sounded that excited, so they grabbed what they could of their meal and headed after him.

They caught up with him halfway to the building he was using as an office. It seemed to have been some sort of records storage room before the settlement was abandoned. So far, Daniel hadn't been able to work out why everything had been left behind, but he had spent the time since their arrival trying to find out. Sam hadn't seen him since breakfast on the previous day.

"Colonel O'Neill!"

All three turned to see the head of the biological studies team hurrying in their direction.

"Ah, jeez…"

"Jack." Daniel threw him a warning glance.

"Don't start with me again, Daniel."

Clutching some papers in his hand, Dr Blunt slid to a halt in front of Jack. He looked uncomfortable in his BDUs. "I've found something very unusual, Colonel. You need to see this."

"Sorry, doc; Daniel got me first." Jack turned on his heel and strode away, leaving Daniel and Dr Blunt trailing in his wake. Both men talked over each other, trying to get Jack's attention as they followed him. Sam rolled her eyes and fought down the desire to crack some male heads together. She followed slowly.

By the time she entered Daniel's 'office', Jack had already taken a seat and silenced Dr Blunt, who was standing meekly to one side. His feet were on the table and he was leaning the chair back, gazing at a point just past Daniel's left ear. The familiar expression on his face was one of indulgent amusement, the torrent of information flowing over him. Sam caught herself smiling fondly at the image and arranged her face into a more professional expression.

"…It's incredible, really. In the midst of what was obviously a planet-wide crisis, someone had the self-control and the application to record the events." Daniel's eyes sparkled with enthusiasm as he picked up a book and moved across to show Jack. "It's written in a derivation of old English, so it wasn't too difficult to translate. Putting it into some sort of order was the problem. The author seems to have written things down as and when they occurred to him."

Jack waved the book away casually and unwrapped an energy bar he'd taken from his pocket. "So what was so urgent that I had to miss my lunch?"

"There seems to have been a planet-wide contagion…"

Jack's chair crashed upright and he stood quickly, "What? What kind of contagion?"

"That's what I was trying to tell you, Colonel," Dr Blunt interrupted, "My team have found an airborne virus; we've taken blood samples and we're trying to isolate it now. Unfortunately, we have no idea what effect it will have."

"I do!" Daniel flicked through his notes, "It's right here. 'The disease does not appear to do any physical damage, but its effects are most disturbing. All normal inhibitions are gone. Walen killed her husband this morning – she said she was tired of his bad moods. Crisa was found with a woman other than his wife last night. There have been two fights already today and the healer is nowhere to be found. My daughter left her baby alone yesterday to go for a walk – she was bored. We must fight this.'"

"Carter, we're going back to camp to start the evacuation. Dr Blunt, keep working for as long as you can – we need as much information as we can get on this virus. Daniel, bring all your notes." Jack pushed past Sam and started back towards the camp at a run, radioing Teal'c as he went. Sam had to sprint hard to catch up and stop him.

"Sir, we can't just go back to the SGC; you know the quarantine procedures."

Jack stepped closer to her and dropped his voice, "I know that, Carter. But it's a two day trek back to the 'Gate and we don't know how bad this is going to get. We have to communicate with SGC and I don't wanna leave anyone here to kill each other."

"Sir, we don't know enough about this contagion. We don't even know if it will have the same effect on us."

There was a crash from one of the tents and two men burst through the canvas, struggling with each other. They fell heavily to the ground, still locked together. Jack turned to Sam, eyebrows raised. She gave him a sheepish smile and raced off to help Teal'c, who was trying to drag the scuffling pair apart. Jack watched her for a moment, fighting down the feelings that smile had caused, then went to lend a hand.

I took a few minutes to calm the situation, by which time, everyone had gathered around the tent. Teal'c left the two fighters under Sam's watchful eye and moved away from the small crowd. Jack followed him.

"T?"

"It seems that Dr Boyce and Dr Francis do not have a comfortable relationship. They have had disagreements in the past, but neither has felt it necessary to resort to violence. I am unsure as to the cause of this dispute, but I believe Dr Francis may have made an insinuation as to Dr Boyce's questionable parentage."

Jack nodded and looked around for Daniel and Dr Blunt. They were standing apart from the others, eagerly discussing their respective notes. He called them over.

Daniel immediately started talking, "Jack, we have to get out of here. We're obviously going to be affected by this virus and it's only going to get worst. We just can't function without inhibitions, without the necessary social filters to stop us from…well…"

"Doing whatever the hell we please?" Jack nodded, "I get it, Daniel. We're out of here. As soon as we get to the 'Gate, we'll dial home, request full quarantine procedures and…"

"I recommend that we tell everyone what's going on. If we know why we are getting these impulses, we may be able to control them better." Dr Blunt interrupted.

Pushing down the flare of irritation at being interrupted, Jack signalled Carter to join them. "OK, doc. You and Daniel get everyone together and explain. T, Carter – a word?" He led them into the empty commissary tent.

"Teal'c, you affected by this virus?"

"No. My symbiote is protecting me. I feel no impulses that are out of the ordinary."

"Good." Jack turned to Sam, "Hand over your weapons, Major."

Taken by surprise, Sam stepped away from him, rebellion flashing in her eyes for a moment. Then, shaking her head to clear it, she gave up her sidearm and knife, her head down. Jack handed them to Teal'c along with his own.

"You're gonna have to be ready to take command, T."

The Jaffa nodded solemnly in agreement. Daniel entered the tent and, taking in the scene, removed his sidearm and silently handed it to Teal'c.

"Everyone's been briefed. They'll be ready to go in ten minutes."

Sam made to follow Teal'c and Daniel as they left to collect their packs, but Jack stopped her with a hand on her arm.

"Carter? You OK?"

She nodded slowly, acutely aware of the heat of his hand through her BDU shirt. "I don't like the idea of being out of control. Just then…I was…I'm sorry, sir."

"Hey, like I'm the guy to complain about subordination." Jack grinned.

Sam looked down at his hand, still gently holding her arm, "It might be best if we try not to…you know…touch."

"Sorry." He stepped away from her quickly, "Yeah, you're probably right."

There was a long moment of silence as they stood, both avoiding the other's gaze. Sam could feel her cheeks burning.

"I'm gonna go and…" She trailed off awkwardly, glanced up at Jack for a moment, then turned and practically ran out of the tent.

"Crap," Jack muttered, following her.

Teal'c and Daniel were waiting for the scientists to organise their belongings when Jack and Sam joined them, hoisting their packs onto their shoulders.

"DanielJackson, have I not seen an episode of Star Trek when this very thing occurs?"

Jack watched as an argument broke out over bed rolls. "Great, life imitating art."

"Yeah, you're right, Teal'c. The crew were acting like they were drunk and Kirk lost control. And the nurse made a pass at…" Daniel's voice trailed away at a warning look from Sam.

"I believe the episode was called 'The Naked Now'."

Jack jumped as if he'd been burnt, "Well, there's going to be naked nothing on this mission, OK?"

Sam started giggling. The men turned to look at her in amazement. Horrified, but unable to stop, she walked away, her shoulders shaking and a hand clamped over her mouth. God, that man was funny sometimes. Recovering a little, she returned to the group. Recognising her embarrassment, Daniel and Teal'c moved to help the scientists sort out their differences.

"I'm sorry, sir." Sam's voice was still full of amusement, the giggle threatening to break through at any moment.

Jack looked down at her blue eyes, sparkling with tears of laughter, her cheeks still flushed pink. Screw it. He took a step towards her. Their bodies were touching now. Sam sobered up a little, her face inclined towards him and her eyes watching his lips as he leaned in. Jack managed to stop himself in time and straightened up, wrenching his gaze away from her.

"God, this is hard."

"Yeah, I can feel that!" Sam screamed with laughter again, doubling up, tears pouring down her cheeks. Jack stepped away and looked to the heavens.

"Oh, this is really bad."