Title: Vaccine

Author: BrynnH

A/N: For those of you following my Sentinel AU, I apologize for posting something that is NOT in that universe. I joined a Dan/Jan ficathon for StarGate SG1 which had a specific due date, so that took temporary priority. I HAVE also been writing more of "Discovered" so that should be posted soon, as well.

This was written for a Dan/Jan ficathon for Izzie/Izzildor

Her prompt was:" some action/adventure with Janet off world/off-base, ship (as opposed to just friendship), season 4 or beyond, some degree of intimacy. Do NOT include in the story: whining, Daniel/Janet 'suddenly' noticing the appeal of the other/falling in love overnight."

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothingrecognizable, as you could easily discern if you saw the beat up van I drive.

Vaccine

SG1 had made first contact with the people of P3X-793 just the week before. The inhabitants were simple folk, nomadic, living in tent-like shelters, with a few permanent huts dotted here and there. There were huge deposits of naquada virtually all over the planet. We could detect no other civilizations anywhere near the gate, so although the nomadic tribe we met made no claims to the land, we took their agreement to let us mine the area as a treaty of sorts. They had asked us for nothing, as they said the land was not theirs to sell, but the powers that be on Earth felt that if we didn't give them something to bind them to us, they could easily revoke our mining rights at any time. Although they were friendly enough, something about them told me that more than anything we could give them, they would much prefer that we just leave them alone. I conveyed my misgivings to General Hammond, and while he took me serious, his superiors did not, as usual. Why listen to anything I have to say? I'm just the linguist and the archeologist who has logged more hours on other planets than all of the bureaucrats put together and I certainly speak the language better…though I'm still learning it myself.

So, they finally decided that the cheapest, easiest thing that we could give these people…something that would bind them to us, securing our future mining rights…would be vaccinations for their children. We had seen several youngsters sick from what appeared to be measles.

Janet wanted to take some blood samples first, of course, to be sure it was what it appeared to be and that our vaccinations would actually help. It took a good deal of convincing on my part to get the natives to agree to having needles poked into their sick children. To these people, that was a very invasive procedure and their understanding of the concept of vaccinations was virtually non-existent.

Finally, we were given permission to draw our samples because the chief's own daughter had become sick. I tried to tell him that what we offered was a preventative to be given to the children who were well. He didn't understand that at all and insisted that we should cure his daughter. This situation had 'disaster' written all over it. Again, I conveyed my misgivings to the higher ups; again they ignored me. They saw this as the only way to get their precious naquada.

Janet insisted that she be the one to go to the planet and retrieve the blood samples. She would take equipment with her so that she could analyze the sample on site and begin inoculations immediately if she felt our vaccine would actually help.

I pleaded with her to just teach me how to do what was necessary, or to send someone else. Over the last several years, since Sha're's death, I had become increasingly close to Janet. She had always been a great friend and there had been an immediate attraction there…at least on my part…but I wouldn't consider acting on it while my wife was still out there. After Sha're was killed, there was a long period of time when I couldn't feel anything beyond friendship for anyone. Lately, though, I had started to allow myself the thoughts of letting someone into my life again. If anyone would ever find a place in my heart, it would be Janet. In fact, if I was honest with myself, she already had. I had never expressed any of this to her, but lately, I had become more protective of her, and with the way I was feeling about the situation on P3X-793, I didn't want Janet anywhere near it.

Unfortunately, one of the many things I admire about Janet is that she would never willingly put one of her staff in harm's way just to avoid personal danger. So, I knew there was no way to talk her out of going to this planet once General Hammond okayed her participation. I just really had a bad feeling about this!

By the time SG1 got back to the planet, several more children were sick and we found out that on this planet, this could be a deadly disease. Five children had already died during this outbreak. The chief's daughter seemed to be getting dangerously close to being the sixth. He insisted we heal his daughter first. I absolutely could not make him understand that we were not offering a cure.

They had designated one of the huts as a temporary lab and Janet worked furiously to try to isolate the cause of this disease. When she finally did, it was the worst possible news. Though the symptoms did look like measles, the virus causing it was nothing like it. So, now, not only did we not have a cure, but we didn't even have a vaccine.

We tried to explain that we needed to get back to Earth to work on this with our best equipment. Janet was not going to let this go, and none of us were going to abandon these children, but the chief didn't know that. He refused to let us go through the stargate until his daughter was cured.

They did at least let us contact Earth and have them send us some equipment. Somehow we must have gone from possible saviors to maximum security prisoners, because no one was allowed to go anywhere without at least one guard. The stargate could only be opened when several guards were present, and even then we could only have anything that came through after the guards looked over everything meticulously. Janet wasn't allowed out of her make shift lab, but the rest of us were allowed to take things to her and to come and go from the lab more or less freely…at least so far. Who knew how long that would last? Our situation was deteriorating even faster than the poor, ill children we were trying to help.

Jack, bless his paranoid little military heart, managed to get a coded message through to General Hammond and the lab equipment started to arrive with extraneous parts that just happened to reassemble into weapons for those who knew what they were doing. Our native guards didn't know what the equipment was supposed to look like to begin with, so, as long as none of the extra parts looked too much like our confiscated weapons, the guards didn't pay much attention.

While Jack, Sam, and Teal'c surreptitiously reassembled and hid weapons to use in what Jack feared would be the inevitable armed conflict, Janet continued working tirelessly to find something…anything…that could help those children. I kept talking to the chief, gaining a better command of the language all the time, but was still having absolutely no luck. Meanwhile, three more children died. Thankfully, the leader's daughter was still hanging in there. The chief was so beside himself with frustration and worry that he was becoming increasingly angry with us. The guards took their cue from him and were becoming more and more aggressive.

The situation finally came to a head when the chief's daughter finally lost her battle with the disease. The guards burst into Janet's lab with what, for them, was virtually an arsenal. One guard grabbed Janet and held a dagger to her throat. Everyone started to shout at once in various languages, and the other three members of my team magically produced several weapons each.

"Daniel, tell them to back off!" Jack shouted, while tossing me a P90. "I'd rather not have to kill any of these people, but we're getting out of here…now!"

"Jack, I need more time working on this virus." Janet was never one to back down from a problem gracefully, even with a knife at her throat. She turned to me with a trusting look. "Daniel, tell them I just need more time."

"Time's up, doc." Jack was still aiming his weapon at the guards, "work on it on Earth."

Meanwhile, the guards and the chief were all yelling at our group in general. Jack didn't even ask for a translation. It was obvious that the chief was blaming us for his daughter's death, and guards were taking their cue from him and were generally threatening bodily harm if we didn't put the weapons down. I was trying desperately to talk our way out of this, but it was becoming obvious that it was a lost cause.

"Daniel, forget diplomacy." Jack shouted as he tossed me his P90 and grabbed the pistol he had previously tucked into his belt at the small of his back. He lunged toward the chief, grabbed him, and pointed the gun to his head. The man who had the knife to Janet's throat stiffened and threatened to kill her if Jack didn't let his leader go. Jack shouted the same thing back to him. I desperately tried to translate for everyone.

"Daniel, tell him we're leaving now. Tell him I'd rather not kill him or his chief, but I want my doctor and I want our freedom, or I will start shooting, and I'm a good enough shot that I can drop him before he has a chance to more than nick Janet."

I told him, but he seemed dubious so Jack put a bullet in the ground at the guard's feet. He believed me then and lowered his knife. I was still pointing my P90 toward the group of guards and had slung Jack's weapon over my shoulder, so I had a free hand, and I grabbed Janet's arm and pulled her to me, as soon as the guard lowered the knife at all. Janet was badly shaken, but was ready to do whatever Jack said.

"Get her out of here, Daniel." I didn't have to be told twice. Janet and I slinked past the guards and started to run toward the stargate. I could hear Sam and Teal'c running after us, and with a glance over my shoulder, I could see Jack backing out of the hut with the chief still in his clutches. When he had gotten free of the building, he shoved the chief into the guards, and ran after us. The guards were following, but their weapons had a limited range, so we thought we were home free. We remembered that there would be guards at the stargate, but thought our greater weapons would intimidate them into backing down. Boy, were we wrong.

By the time we reached the gate, it was like every last man in the village and then some had magically materialized sporting bows and arrows, spears, daggers, and clubs. Our weapons were vastly superior, but there were so many of these men that it would be a bloodbath to just cut through them.

By the time Jack caught up with us, the guards hot on his heels, it looked like we were running out of options. I could see Jack struggle with this. These weren't evil people or even particularly violent on most days. They were good people in a confusing and emotional situation, and Jack didn't want to kill them if there was any way around it.

He emptied his clip into the ground at the feet of the nearest natives, and, while most jumped back a few inches, they stood their ground. Their chief was watching and no one wanted to shame themselves by running.

With armed combatants in front of us and behind us, Jack ordered us into the brush at the side of the clearing. Janet and I were closest to the guards at the stargate, so when I grabbed Janet's hand and we started to run, we were the most obvious targets. Spears, arrows, and thrown daggers rained down around us, but we kept running toward cover.

Then I heard a stifled cry and felt Janet's hand pull out of mine as she went down. "Janet!" I screamed as I immediately dropped to her side. A dagger had lodged itself in her upper thigh. She was obviously in pain, and I didn't think she could stand, let alone "escape and evade". So, I called for help. "Teal'c!"

He appeared immediately and scooped Janet into his arms and we all started running toward the brush. If only we had zats. We could stun all these people with no lasting harm done to them, and this would all be over. Zats, unfortunately couldn't be reassembled as easily as military issue, and would have certainly been spotted as incongruous if Hammond had tried to send them already assembled. So, here we were, running from a group of primitive people, reduced to hiding in the bush, if we could even get far enough away from them to be able to hide.

Toward that end, Jack and Sam were laying down cover fire while the rest of us got away. We ran as fast as we could, all the while on the look-out for any place to hide. At last, we found a small cave covered by brush…not big enough for all of us, but enough shelter for Janet and one other. I've developed pretty good weapons skills over the years, and could, even have, killed when necessary, but I was quite content to sit this one out and just take care of Janet.

Teal'c tucked us into the cave and pulled some brush over the opening. I only hoped that, being largely nomadic, these people didn't know this area well enough to know there was a cave behind these particular bushes. Hopefully, they had never needed to look that closely before and wouldn't look that closely now, if anyone got past Jack. Just in case, though, I settled my weapon close at hand before tending to Janet's wound.

Fortunately, when the natives had taken our weapons to begin with, they hadn't been interested in anything in our vest pockets, so I still had a field first aid kit with bandages and two pre-measured syringes of morphine. After tending to the leg wound as best I could (leaving the dagger in to help stop the bleeding), I took a syringe and asked for Janet's arm. I didn't bother asking her if she wanted the morphine because I didn't plan to take no for an answer anyway. I knew she wasn't allergic to it or anything, and couldn't stand to see her in so much pain.

"No, Daniel." She answered anyway. "I need to be awake and alert when the team comes back. We may have to run for it, and I can't do that if I'm asleep."

"Then I'll carry you."

"Daniel, I'm too heavy for you to carry at a dead run."

"Then Teal'c will do it. He managed pretty well just now. I'm sure he can again. It's not like you can run with that in your leg, anyway. You are taking this morphine, Janet. There is no reason to be in pain."

"Daniel, I get really loopy with morphine. I behave like I'm extremely drunk. I'd rather you didn't see me like…."

"And that's worth being in this much pain?" She was unbelievable. I'd seen Janet drunk before. While she loses just about all inhibitions, she has never done anything that would be that embarrassing for her later. Besides, it was just me here. Jack always gave her a hard time about her behavior while drunk, but I never had. "Janet, please, just take the damned morphine and we'll worry about any embarrassing behavior later, okay? I hate to see you suffer when it's not necessary."

Finally she capitulated and I spent the next two hours watching her sleep. I kept hearing intermittent gun-fire, both P90s and pistols, but, of course couldn't tell if they were fired for effect, or just as warning.

At last, Janet woke up from her nap, and she hadn't been kidding about how morphine affected her. Pretty much the first thing she did when she woke up was to start giggling. About what, I have no idea, but she was surely finding it hilarious.

"You're really cute when you're worried." She managed between giggles.

Oh, boy, she was going to be a handful. She motioned me closer and I went to sit directly beside her. Then, she motioned me even closer, like she wanted to whisper something. When my face came within her arm reach, she reached up and pushed a lock of my hair off my forehead. "Your hair is getting long again."

Not knowing what to do with that, I answered, "I haven't really had time to get it cut, lately."

"I like it. I've always liked it better when you wear it long."

I always try to please Janet if I can, so I asked, "How long do you like it." Oh no, in her present mood, she's bound to take that the wrong way.

"Are we still talking about hair, here?" She had a look of almost pure decadence on her face.

cough "Um….yeah, Janet…still talking about hair."

I must have turned red because she started grinning maniacally and said, "Boy, if you're cute when you're worried, you're downright hot when you blush."

Oh, she was so going to regret this conversation later. I was regretting it now, and the thought even slipped into my mind, that maybe allowing Janet to feel a little pain wouldn't have been such a bad thing.

"You know I've always found you extremely attractive." Oh lord, she wasn't finished yet. "If you hadn't been married when I first met you, I would have chased you until you caught me."

"Janet, why don't you lie back and rest again, okay?' I would have loved to hear Janet say that any other time, but not while under the influence.

"But, you're not married now, so maybe…"

"Janet, sleep!"

"Don't you think I'm attractive?" She wasn't giving up.

"Very, Janet. Go to sleep."

"So, when we get back home, can we go on a date?"

Oh, I wish she meant that. "Sure, why not?" I agreed. Unfortunately, she probably wouldn't even remember that, let alone mean it. "Now, go to sleep…please!"

Oh great, we were back to the uncontrollable giggling. Where was Jack when I needed him?

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Thankfully, Janet did fall back to sleep, just before Jack arrived to tell us that he had taken out enough of the guards for us to muscle our way past the rest. I must have had a look of horror on my face because he was quick to tell me that he had managed not to kill many of them. All three SG1 members were able to take out multiple guards each by shooting to wound, hitting on the head, or smothering just until they fell unconscious. They had even tied several up. Jack told me that only three were dead. Acceptable losses I guess, though I had never really adopted that mindset and, on some level, hoped I never did. But, SG1 had made a valiant attempt not to kill these people and that would have to be enough.

Teal'c was right behind Jack, so he picked up a still sleeping Janet and headed toward the gate. Sam had been keeping watch, so that no-one was able to sneak up on us.

When we reached the gate, we found only four guards left. Jack sprayed bullets at their feet and they weren't nearly as brave without their chief watching, so they allowed us to pass. Finally, we were going home.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Dr. Jensen had finished the surgery on Janet's leg about five hours ago and Janet was resting comfortably in a bed in the infirmary. Knowing how sensitive his patient was to morphine, Dr. Jensen had prescribed a different kind of pain killer, so Janet was still comfortable, but not nearly as drunk.

I thought our conversation would be awkward, but it wasn't, so I figured she probably didn't remember anything that happened in the cave. It was probably for the best…less embarrassment for her. I still remembered, though. I would never have taken advantage of her in that state, but maybe there was some truth to the emotions behind what she was saying, so, maybe I would start hinting at my feelings for her….just a little….sometime.

We talked about what happened with the natives. She was very pleased that we managed to get away without too much loss of life, and she said she had every intention of continuing the research, even though most of her notes, not to mention the equipment, were back on the planet. Janet's extremely smart, though, and probably had most of her notes committed to memory. I also wasn't really surprised to find that, at some point, she had pocketed a sample of infected blood, so she was completely able to re-start the research here. I wasn't sure about the wisdom of trying to go back there anytime soon, but I wouldn't try to talk her out of something she's set her mind to. I know better!

After a little while, our conversation ran down to companionable silence, which was broken when Janet said, "You owe me a date, you know."

I looked up to see that her eyes were sparkling with mischief. "You remember that?"

"I remember everything, Daniel." She was smirking now. "Meant every word of it too, though I probably wouldn't have said it in quite that way were it not for the morphine." I chuckled and apparently blushed because she continued, "I meant what I said about how you look when you blush, too."

cough "Okay…,ummm….one date, coming right up." 0h shit. "Janet, don't you dare intentionally take that the wrong way."

Her gleaming eyes were pure evil and I knew I was in over my head here.

"So," I began, "Dinner as a first date?"

"Sounds good to me." She replied.

"When?"

"How about now?"

"You can't leave the infirmary until at least tomorrow." I pointed out.

"So, go get some take out, bring it back here, and we'll have dinner." She said, like it was the most normal thing in the world.

"Janet, um…that's not exactly a normal first date."

"Daniel," she pointed out, "our life is just about the polar opposite of normal. Why should our dates be any different?"

"You've got a point." I conceded. I didn't really care where we had dinner; I was just looking forward to spending some time with Janet. I couldn't quite believe this was really happening, but I was glad it was. "What kind of food do you want?"

"Anything with no onions or garlic." She waggled her eyebrows.

Oh my. What have I gotten myself into? I was feeling a little overwhelmed at first, but then her good nature and affection spread like a virus, so I chuckled and started down the hall. It occurred to me that we didn't have a vaccine for this virus, either….thank god!