Title: Stardust
Author: Cindy Ryan
Pairings: Sam/Cam
Category: angst, romance, work in progress
Spoilers: Everything's fair game
Summary: SG tag to the SGA ep "The Seed". Sam has a reaction to the anti-virus
Author's notes: *waves* This is my first attempt at a semi-long SG story. I've been kicking this idea around since the SGA episode "The Seed" aired. Hope you enjoy and please let me know of any errors or people not in character. I'm still catching up on the last couple seasons of SG.

If it was one thing Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell hated, it was being separated.
The sense of his team around him gave him more than security….. it gave him comfort.
They were his family.
Knowing where each of them was centered Cameron.

Cameron shook his head as he walked with Teal'c toward the Gate on PX-2477. Not that he didn't know exactly where each of his friends were, but still for some reason this separation bothered him and he couldn't put a finger on it as to why.

It wasn't like they hadn't done separate missions in the past.

Cameron did a mental head count reviewing his notes from the previous few days.

He and Teal'c had gone on a routine trade mission, hoping to secure allies. Not that there was an immediate threat at the moment. The Ori had been taken care of. The Goa'uld system lords were diminished in number.
The replicators were run off.

However spending as much time with SGC as Cameron had he knew that even in the quiet times, increasing your allies couldn't hurt.

Daniel and Vala had left on a mission two days previous. Some Ancient technology thing-a-ma-bob had been discovered and Landry wanted Daniel to check it out see if it was worth anything.

Sam was back home but it'd been anything but a happy return. Cameron had been so mad at what the IOA had done to her that he'd almost quit. Sam had talked him out of it, just barely.
He still couldn't believe they thought sticking Woosley of all people in Atlantis was better for Pegasus than Sam was.

Though the selfish part of Cameron….his heart was so glad Sam was home. Their personal relationship had taken a different course before she left and he was grateful to have her close by again. He loved her and wanted to spend as much quality time together as they could.
They'd wasted so much time protecting their friendship that Cameron didn't want to waste any more.

The event horizon bloomed jerking Cameron from his thoughts. He hadn't even heard Teal'C start to dial the dhd.

"Let's go home."Cameron stated wearily. It'd been a busy few days.

All he wanted was a hot shower, a decent meal, and Sam.

*******

Daniel Jackson fought the urge to pace the area by the ramp of the gate room. He was still wearing his khaki uniform having not bothered to change when he and Vala had returned a half hour earlier.

Daniel had known something was wrong as soon as Landry had ordered them back. It hadn't taken a genius to figure that out….but as soon as Daniel had known it was Sam….he knew he had to be the one to tell Mitchell.

"Are you sure you don't want me to tell him?"Landry asked quietly from his position behind and to the left.

Daniel shook his head as he watched the chevron's light. "No…..I'll do it. I owe Sam that much."

"Alright."Landry acknowledged softly as he laced his hands behind his back.

*******

As soon as Cameron stepped out of the gate his feeling of uneasiness intensified. It wasn't quite fear and it wasn't quite dread. The feeling iced up his spine as soon as Cameron saw Daniel waiting at the bottom of the ramp.

General Landry was hovering behind the archeologist.

Jackson had never been hard for Cameron to read. The man had a bad poker face. Especially when it came to people Daniel cared about.

"What is it, Jackson?"Cameron asked as they reached the bottom of the metal ramp. "Vala steal something again?"

Daniel shook his head and in that instant Cameron knew something was really wrong.

"It's Sam…..she's in the infirmary."

Cameron raced past Jackson and Landry barely stopping to acknowledge his superior officer. Teal'c was close at his heels.

Cameron's fear filled mind didn't want to process the why's and how's.
He just knew Sam needed him.

"Colonel."

Landry's quiet voice stopped Cameron dead in his tracks and turned him from the door.

"Yes, Sir?"Cameron asked with barely contained impatience.

"You can't see her right now."

"Why the hell not?"Cameron demanded each word clipped with anger and worry.

"She's in quarantine."Daniel replied his quiet voice laced with anxiety and fear.

"What?"Cameron looked from Landry to Daniel and back again. "Why?"

"Before she left Atlantis she led a rescue mission to get Colonel Sheppard's team from Michael's collapsed compound."

Mitchell nodded remembering the intel reports. "They thought they had a chance at getting Teyla back."

"Some kind of virus Michael was working on was released during the collapse. Everybody who was on that planet was quarantined on Atlantis…..Doctor Keller got the worst of the affects from the virus."

"Sam was isolated here as a precaution."Daniel continued.

"She has this virus?"Cameron asked anxiously struggling not to let his feelings overwhelm him.

"Yes, but she hadn't shown any of the symptoms yet."Landry replied. "Dr. Lam got the anti-virus that the Atlantis team had come up with and injected Colonel Carter with it. Unfortunately Sam had a severe reaction to the anti-virus…..her blood pressure dropped sharply…she's in a coma."

Cameron turned and took off for the infirmary at a run.

******

Doctor Carolyn Lam met Mitchell in the infirmary doorway effectively blocking his path.

"Doc."Mitchell greeted noting her lack of protective gear which meant Sam was somewhere else.

Carolyn met her friend's gaze not moving. She'd heard the claxons and knew Cameron had been scheduled back. As a doctor she'd had to tell family members difficult news.
However SG-1 was a different complicated kind of family.
When one fell…..

Carolyn reached out and gently touched Mitchell's right forearm. "Let's go to my office."

Cameron felt his throat tighten as his gaze locked with hers searching it for the answers he desperately needed.
Searching for the reassurance that his life wasn't about to tumble out of control.

Mitchell felt more than he heard Teal'c, Daniel and Vala gather behind him offering their strength and compassion.

"I need to see her, Doc."Cameron said softly.

Lam nodded. "You will, I promise, but I need to explain a few things first."

"She's dying isn't she?"Vala asked gaining a glare from Daniel.

/Always to the point./ Cameron thought bleakly though part of him was grateful she had.
It'd been on the tip of his tongue but he'd been too afraid to ask.

"Come." Carolyn urged as she ushered them all toward her office.

Mitchell didn't miss the fact that she hadn't answered Vala's question.
Cameron felt a chill weave through him as he followed the young woman.
Sam was so integrated into his life that Cameron couldn't imagine her not being there.
His heart refused to believe it and it clung to that image of happiness that was Sam's place in his life.