Title: Consequences of Being Touched
Sequel to: none
Category: romance, hurt/comfort

Season: 8
Spoilers: The Broca Divide (1x05), Divide and Conquer (4x05), Beneath the Surface (4x10), Frozen (6x04), Abyss (6x06), Grace (7x13), Heroes (7x17, 7x18), Chimera (7x15), New Order (8x01, 8x02), Affinity (8x07).

Pairing: S/P, S/J
Summary: General O'Neill orders the mountain sealed off when a seemingly harmless cold turns out to be an alien virus that is slowly changing those who were affected by the Touched-virus seven years ago. As the disease is spreading, memories and bonds thought long forgotten unfold, revealing what really happened all those years ago. How will all this affect the current relationships and how can it be cured?

Rating: M
Warnings: language, sexual situation, non-consent/reluctance, graphic sexual content

Disclaimer: see profile
Acknowledgments: A Karswyll helped me brainstorm on the plot, work out a cultural background and figure out a way to correct the errors in The Broca Divide with me, so that it actually makes sense. Many thanks.

A/N: I don't have a beta, so any mistakes are my own. I always appreciate feedback and/or constructive criticism or just a comment to let me know why you (don't) like it.

Awards: Won Best Mature in the Sam & Jack Multimedia Awards 2014!

As he finished toweling down, Jack opened his locker and pulled out a clean pair of BDUs. The ones with the single star on its collar. It had been a couple of weeks since his promotion to brigadier general and thus base commander, but he still wasn't used to it. At least he'd gotten to promote a few folks personally, especially Carter. She deserved it. He reluctantly got dressed, straightened his BDU jacket and, with a sigh, left the locker room. Back to work. He'd gone boxing with Teal'c instead of going to the commissary and have lunch.

He nodded to the few airmen he ran into on his way to his personal quarters, picking up the wrapped sandwiches he'd dumped there before going to the gym and slowly walked towards the stairs. At least that Tok'ra snake, Kanan had fixed his knees before letting him get tortured to death – several times – by Ba'al. Yeah, not such a pleasant memory, he grimaced, once again wondering why the hell he had allowed them to snake him in the first place. Yes, he'd been dying, but he wasn't afraid of death – if he had been, he sure as hell had chosen the wrong profession. Nope, he told himself, rolling his eyes. It were those goddamned baby blues of Carter. He was a sucker for those eyes… for anything Carter-related, actually. He opened the door leading to the stairs after bypassing the elevator and, sandwiches in one hand and a yoyo in the other descended the two levels to his office.

Ever since that… incident earlier this year with Carter in the elevator, he'd chosen to take the stairs at every opportunity. Lest he overheard her humming again, especially now that she was engaged to that cop. Despite being frozen for a while, he could still remember that awkward conversation months ago in the car where she'd claimed her new fling was nothing serious – yet she'd been humming. He'd felt forced to say it was 'great' while he just wanted to confirm that, yes, it was very pathetic for her to be set up by her brother with a friend of his. Not because of her, she was Carter after all; a national treasure with her huge honkin' brain and killer smile – not to mention the rest of her assets…

Well, maybe it was because she is Carter; she is as close to perfection one could come without being boring or pretentious. She didn't need to be set up with anyone, she could probably have any guy she wanted. He knew there were plenty of men here on base – himself included – that would cut off a limb if it meant they could be with her and just as many if not more would give their life for her. Admittedly, a lot of guys who had been somewhat seriously involved with her had actually died, but that was besides the point – it wasn't her fault. And it's not like he wouldn't risk his life for her; she already had his heart after all. Hell, he'd already given his life for her plenty of times. What had that cop done for Carter? Besides stalking her and running a background check. No, Mark setting up Carter with some pal of his just showed he didn't know the real Carter. The cop didn't either, but everyone here at base did. He did, and loved everything about her.

But it looked like their time would never come after all, now that she was engaged to Shanahan. That smarmy little weasel. Obviously, he was taking advantage of Carter's wish for a normal life. Then again, she had been humming. Jack hadn't known she could do that about anything other than… quarks. He snorted as he opened the door to level twenty-seven and entered the corridors. He'd tried some levity during that ride as well, but it had still been awkward as hell. Still, he loved her, wanted her to be happy and if he couldn't be the one to make her happy… she'd been humming, after all. Something about that cop must make her happy. And he so didn't want to think about what it was exactly.

Once upon a time he'd believed in fairy tales and happy endings. Then he grew up and now, about forty-five years later he knew there was no such thing – not for him. Especially not when it came to him and Carter. At least she would get her happy ending, even if it was without him. When things had finally returned to somewhat normal between them, she'd become a bit distant. Of course, being the masochist he apparently is, Jack went to see her and ask what was wrong. In hindsight, that was probably the biggest mistake he could have made. His heart had started pounding the moment she'd reached for the velvet box although he'd remained calm on the outside – at least, he hoped he had. Then she'd shown him that gaudy ring and started blabbing about marrying that cop and whatnot. To his surprise, he'd carried off the conversation quite easily, even tried to stop her from worrying about kids.

Despite the scowl on his face and the thoughts in his head, Jack still managed to politely nod at the SFs in the hallway before entering his office. Closing the door, he plopped down into his chair and, leaning his elbows on the desk and letting his head rest upon his hands, closed his eyes briefly. He remembered how she'd blinked during that conversation about kids before aiming that blue gaze of hers on him and asking him the question that had made him swallow, hard. Groaning, he pushed the heels of his hands against his eyes and scrubbed his face as he straightened in his chair. What if things had been different?

A knock on the door disturbed his musings and Jack glared at it. "Enter."

"Sir?" Walter peeked inside the office of the base commander. Once the general hadn't shown his face in the control room and wasn't pacing the briefing room, Walter had suspected the man was holed up in his office.

"What?"

He inwardly flinched, but outwardly, he didn't give an inch as the general barked at him. Or glared like he was the personification of a Goa'uld System Lord. "The debriefing with SG-6 is in ten, Sir."

Jack sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Yeah yeah," he made a dismissive wave with his hand. "Thanks Walter."

"Yes Sir," he nodded and immediately retreated to the safety of the control room.

Quickly unwrapping the sandwich, he took a few large bites and chewed as he put away his yoyo. He'd been doing debriefings all day and although he was glad his men – and women – were returning safely, he could do without a few more. At least it was better than paperwork. Swallowing, Jack looked around his desk in the hopes of finding a glass of water – or even cold coffee - to get rid of the dry bread, but there was none, not even under the piles of paperwork. He'd get something in the briefing room, he decided, or else he'd tell Walter or some unsuspecting airman to get him a cup. At least that was one of the few privileges his new rank gave him.

"So, what are you so interested in?" Daniel asked, placing his tray in front of him as he sat down at the table Sam was already occupying. "A new experiment?" He frowned when she didn't respond and gently nudged her boot with his. "Sam?"

"Huh?" She muttered, looking up at him. She hadn't even noticed him approach. Reaching for her cup of coffee, Sam realized the contents had already cooled and grimaced as she pushed it away. Apparently, she'd been here longer than she'd thought.

Even though he was inclined to roll his eyes at her absentminded attitude, he didn't knowing he was the same when engrossed in his own research. "I was wondering what was so important to get your full attention. New experiment? That piece of technology SG-2 brought back yesterday?"

"No," she shook her head with a small smile. "Just going over some of the wedding planner's suggestion," she explained, tapping the folder.

"Wedding planner?" Daniel questioned, raising his brows in surprise. For all intents and purposes, Sam was a bit of a hands-on woman and he found it hard to imagine her delegating such an important event. Not to mention the costs. Weddings were quite expensive these days – unless one got married on Abydos, of course – and a wedding planner would only add to that.

"I know," Sam rolled her eyes and sighed. "You think that since I'm a control freak I'll have trouble letting someone else do the planning."

"No I wasn't," he protested. Seeing her quirk a delicate eyebrow, he chuckled bashfully. "I think of you more as a hands-on woman, not a control freak."

Making sure to place all the – alphabetically color labeled – papers back into the manila folder, she smiled at him. "Well, I just don't have the time to plan something that seems so trivial compared to the war we're fighting," she shrugged. "Now, I just give the wedding planner a list of preferences and she sends me back a list with options. I can afford it with all the hazard money we get and I really don't know where I would find the time to start looking for locations and-"

"It's okay, Sam," Daniel interrupted her. "I get it. Good for you."

She frowned suddenly, glancing around the commissary. "Where is the General?"

"Jack said he wouldn't be here," he shrugged, digging into his lunch.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked cautiously, instantly recognizing the phrase. Now that she thought about it, she couldn't remember the last time he'd had lunch with them or simply drop by her lab. Of course, that didn't have to mean anything; he was the base commander these days and that was a pretty demanding job. Still… he was also a bit distant whenever they were in the same room, or going over some mission reports.

After swallowing, Daniel grabbed his cup of coffee. "I don't know, that's what he said when I asked him if was going to join us for lunch. I think he was going to the gym with Teal'c instead. Sam?"

"I should get back to work," she mumbled, a bit upset that the General wouldn't join them – or was it just her? – but that he could find time to go work out with their Jaffa friend. He still had to eat, right? "I have to get back to that doohickey SG-2 brought back," she added, placing her stuff back on her tray. Tray in one hand and her folder in the other, she stood, silently wondering when exactly she'd started using Jack O'Neill's choice of words instead of her own.

Daniel nodded. "Okay, good luck," he still had some research of his own to do and he preferred to complete it before they had to go offworld again at the end of the week.

Sam turned towards the exit, dropped off her tray and made her way to the elevator to get back to her lab.

"… once the blizzard was over we left the cave we were hiding in and continued on our way. We headed into the direction of what was concluded to be a populated area from the data collected by the UAV and after a one-day trek, we reached the capital and made contact with the natives. They were very friendly and curious as they didn't get many visitors, Sir," Ty Barnes reported, leaning back in his chair. "After a quick assessment we," he glanced at First Lieutenant Fisher, his 2IC, "decided they weren't a threat and accepted their offer for formal introductions."

Jack fiddled with his ballpoint as Colonel Barnes was doing his part in the debriefing, his mind already drifting from sheer boredom. The team, SG-6 was specialized in recon and had been sent to P2X-913 for a four-day mission. The accumulated data had indicated a wintery landscape but as the UAV had continued its flight, it had showed some kind of civilization as the climate suddenly changed, showing balmy Mediterranean temperatures and lots of trees and sand. The scientists had been excited with this sudden change of climate and the architectural designs of the villages, not to mention that although their technological development seemed slightly inferior to Earth there was no sign of the Goa'uld.

He had given the go ahead for a recon mission, knowing that if they were able to establish friendly contact with the locals they could send some geeks back for more information. The first scheduled contact with the team – after twelve hours – had revealed them being caught unawares by a blizzard but they'd headed into the mountains to look for shelter. By the time Walter called back again, SG-6 was safely hidden away as the snow storm seemed to diminish and a couple of hours later they'd continued on their way to the city spotted by the UAV. "You stayed in the town?"

Ty Barnes sniffled, suppressing the urge to rub his nose and nodded. "Yes Sir. After initial contact we were brought to Strategos Kadano… from what we could tell he is similar to a general in the military, Sir."

"Ah," he replied succinctly. "Go on," Jack motioned with his hand, even though he'd rather go home and watch a new episode of The Simpsons.

"Strategos Kadano introduced us to their leader or president or… whatever," Ty shrugged, frowning.

Ronald Brooks glanced at his CO and, receiving a curt nod, took over. After all, he was the one of their team who was more interested in these situations and new cultures, even if he didn't know as much as most of the anthropologists working here at the SGC. "Anax Dekeseu was willing to hear us out and he and his wife, Akoto insisted we stay to learn more. We tried to explain about our mission only being recon and make first contact, but they were very determined… Proxenos Madi invited us in her home, she's the wife of Strategos Kadano, by the way, Sir."

Jack groaned, rubbing his forehead as he already felt a headache coming on as Lieutenant Brooks kept going on and on. Daniel was going to have a field day with this planet. "So you stayed in town for the night?"

"Yes Sir," Roger Fisher confirmed, effectively cutting off what his teammate was saying. "The next few days Prytanis Kuruku showed us around a bit and talked about their day-to-day business. After that, Karo… a historian or something," he shrugged coughing slightly, not having paid much attention to what she'd been talking about. Her outfit, however, had definitely caught his eye. The robe the women had been wearing were open to the navel, leaving most of their breasts exposed and damn, but it was hard not to look. "Anyway, she told us about how their god had created them generations ago and that some still believed he would return."

"Very much like it is here on Earth, Sir," Ty added. "Anyway, we didn't have a lot of time to go into detail, although they were willing to share, since we had to go back to the gate. Prytanis Kuruku explained that although the climate in Cnossus was balmy it would still be snowing over the border."

He grimaced, the names and titles making his head spin. "The city was named Cnossus?"

"And the uninhabited land around The Bright Plains, Sir."

"Bright huh?"

Sheldon Ryan chuckled, remembering being blinded by the sunlight lighting up the snowy landscape even more. "With all that snow it was definitely bright, Sir."

Nodding, Jack placed the data analyses and MALP pictures back into the folder. He noticed Airman Ryan sniffling and cleared his throat. "Make sure to inform the archeology department, I'm sure those geeks are dying to get their hands on those pictures you brought back. Did you have your post-mission checkup already?"

"The infirmary was crowded, Sir," Ty replied, glancing at his men. "The nurses checked us out for injuries, frost bite and hitchhiking Goa'uld, but said to come back later for the results of the blood tests and everything; something about the lab being backed up already."

He sighed, rolling his eyes as he recalled the CMO informing him of this already yesterday. Apparently, the backlog hadn't been cleared yet after the Hak'tyl had left last week and most of the off-world teams had made it back this week. "Great," he groaned. "I'll have Fraiser call me as soon as they're in."

"Yes Sir," the four men chorused.

"Have your reports on my desk by the end of the week," he muttered, still not used to uttering those words. Moreover, not used to actually reading all those reports. He didn't think he ever would. Luckily, he could gather the important information from these debriefings, skim the reports and just send them through to Hammond at Homeworld Security. "Dismissed," he waved his hand.

Daniel looked up from his notebook as the elevator opened on level eleven. The doors slid open, revealing a waiting Jack O'Neill. "Jack! I just heard about SG-6's mission!"

"You don't say," he replied sarcastically, eyeing the excited archeologist. Apparently, Barnes or one of his men really had gone straight to the geeks, because he hadn't expected Space Monkey to have heard already. "Heading topside?" Jack asked as he joined his friend in the car.

"Ah, no," he grinned. "Walter said you'd gone up to the commissary and I was-"

He rolled his eyes and punched the button for his office. "You want the follow up mission," he predicted.

"Think about it, Jack!" Daniel exclaimed, waving his arms around in the small space. "I saw some of the video they'd made; there is so much we can learn about their culture!"

"Yeah," he let out a deep sigh, wondering if Siler could make the elevator go faster. He preferred an escape route whenever Danny-boy wanted something and he definitely could have used a faster elevator a few months ago with Carter. It was a shame the commissary was all the way up to level three, otherwise he could take the stairs. The cafeteria kitchen on twenty-two just didn't have any good cake and he preferred the coffee from the commissary too.

At least the chance of running into Carter was very slim considering she supposedly already left the mountain. Probably to go home to her cop and make some more wedding plans. He should be happy that he could avoid her for now, because ever since he'd taken command of the base and she'd become the base's 2IC there weren't that many times he could. But despite everything – her getting a life to be more precise – he still enjoyed having her around. He couldn't think of anyone else as his second in command, although Reynolds was probably somewhat qualified as well. But he'd worked with Carter for years and she was as efficient as humanly possible.

"Jack?"

"Huh?"

Daniel sighed, exasperated. "You weren't listening, were you?"

Jack quirked an eyebrow as the car stopped and the doors slid open. "I'll think about it. After all, SG-1 is scheduled for a mission at the end of the week."

"But this is more important!"

"I'll talk to Carter," he offered, shrugging. Before the archeologist could say another word, Jack stalked off into the corridors heading for his office. He knew Daniel would know not to follow him and keep on nagging; his friend could be persistent but he also knew not to push him too far. Crap, Jack thought as he realized this meant another conversation with his lovely second. Scratching his neck, he grimaced and slowly padded over to the briefing room, stopping in front of the large window. One of the teams from the Alpha Site was loading supplies on a FRED, almost ready to send it through.

It would only be a couple of months, he realized as he stared at the activated wormhole. It had been a couple of weeks now since Carter had accepted the cop's proposal and he knew she was already planning and plotting for her big day. Knowing Carter, it wasn't going to be anything less than perfect and since he hadn't gotten an invitation yet – he was pretty sure she wanted him there – he figured it would be, what… six or seven months from now? Probably three months from when he'd get that nicely engraved, personalized invitation in his mailbox. Since that first time she strode into the briefing room, all confident and with a huge chip on her shoulder he knew there was something about her. Pushing her through the wormhole as she'd been rambling about the event horizon had been one of the most effective ways to stop her techno-babble. He'd enjoyed teasing and challenging her on the first few missions, finding out what she was really made of and he'd been surprised when he really got to know Carter.

He silently wondered if she'd ever stop amazing him. Well, she'd certainly caught him off guard with her engagement. The fling with the cop too, really. It was true that he'd always told her to get a life, but he hadn't meant for her to go get one without him and get married to some stalking, mistrustful cop who didn't know the meaning of 'classified'. Why couldn't she be like normal people and get a dog or a cat, for crying out loud? Jack sighed and dipped his head. He wasn't being fair on her and he knew it. She deserved a normal life, even if he doubted someone like her would ever be content with such a life. Even if he knew she was too special to have a normal life. Too special to him; he loved her too much to hold her back, even if that meant letting go. Squaring his shoulders and straightening, he threw a last glance at the open wormhole and walked over to his office, ready for more paperwork.