Moonflowers
A brush with a mind-altering blossom changes Col. O'Neilll's personality. Can they find a cure? Do they even want to? Humor/romance. Sam/Jack. Rated "T" for a few coarse words.
Disclaimer: These are not my characters. I'm just borrowing. There is no profit involved, unfortunately.
"It's SG-1's IDC, Sir," announced Walter above the familiar wail of the warning siren.
"How can that be?" asked General Hammond. "They just got there how many minutes ago?"
"Let's see...six minutes ago, Sir. They left nine minutes ago, and allowing for three minutes enroute..."
"Got it, Walter. Open the iris!" ordered the General. "I wonder what went wrong?" he mused aloud.
Colonel Jack O'Neill and Major Samantha Carter emerged from the shimmering pool of liquid and walked down the ramp.
"People? What happened?" inquired a concerned General Hammond.
"Sir, it was completely, totally dark on PC1309," answered Major Carter. "We couldn't see a thing." She sighed heavily, thinking of the wasted trip. "We just weren't prepared for it."
"But the MALP showed bright sunshine an hour ago!" countered the General. "And rather lush vegetation, too," he added.
"I know, Sir. But apparently when night falls, it falls awfully fast on that planet. And there are no moons. We weren't equipped with night goggles, and so...as soon as the Colonel found the dialing device, we came back." She paused. "Sorry for the failed mission, Sir."
"That's okay, Major. These things happen. Debriefing is in one hour." He turned away. "It shouldn't take long."
"Yes, Sir."
"So sweet, so beautiful," the General thought he heard Jack say in a barely recognizable, dreamy voice. Got to get these ears of mine checked out. Maybe it's time for hearing aids.
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"...and that's all there is to it, Sir," Sam finished.
"Colonel? Please add your comments."
"All I remember is having trouble dialing out," replied the Colonel, speaking softly. "There was this plant...a vine...entwined around the dialing device. I tried to push it away...even in the dark, I could see its creamy whiteness, I could smell the rich, sweet scent...it was beautiful, I tell you, just beautiful..." Jack shook his head slowly and closed his eyes, his brow furrowing in concentration.
The General looked over at the Major, who looked as perplexed as he felt. She shrugged her shoulders.
He turned his attention back to the Colonel. "Colonel O'Neill...Jack...snap out of it!"
"Sir...if you had only been there...all I can say is, you would feel the same way I do."
"I doubt that, Colonel." He turned to Sam. "Major Carter, Colonel O'Neill has obviously been compromised. How, I don't exactly know, but I strongly suspect it has something to do with that damned plant. Please escort him to the infirmary."
The General watched as the two exited the gate room. "No, please, you go first," Jack was saying to Sam. He caught up her hand in his and looked her fully in the face. "I know I've been...surly...at times, but I've changed, and I want you to know that..." the General heard Jack say, as the door closed slowly.
The General shook his head. Just another day at Stargate Command!
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Jack and Sam were strolling down the hall toward the infirmary, arm-in-arm.
"There's something I've been wanting to tell you..." he began.
"What?" she asked warily. She had already heard more than she wanted to know about Jack the child, Jack the teenager, and Jack the man.
"It's something I'm not proud of. You know the times I've stopped you when you've been right in the midst of an explanation, or the way I sometimes knock scientists?"
Sam nodded.
"Well, I want you to know that it's because I'm jealous of your intelligence. I always have been. I can't understand what you're saying, so I just...stop you!" Jack said, adding, "And it's just not right."
"That's okay."
"No, it's not. And it's another thing that's going to change, starting right now." They bumped into each other. "Oh, sorry," apologized Jack. "I guess I forgot to tell you...I wanted to stop in and see Daniel." They entered Daniel's office.
"Daniel? Daniel, we just stopped by to say hi," said Sam, somewhat nervously.
Daniel looked up from his books. "Hi to you guys, too. So when are you going..." Daniel stopped, mid-sentence, crushed first by Jack's hug and then surprised by the several manly slaps delivered to his back.
"Daniel! Hey, how's it goin'?" Jack drew away from him. "You know, I've been fixing a lot of things these last few minutes, trying to make amends..." here Jack paused and looked down, embarrassed...
Daniel took the opportunity to straighten out his glasses, which were somewhat bent.
"...and I was thinking that I needed to say some things to you. First, I admire and respect you."
"You do?"
"Yes. Second, I've been pretty...well...rotten to you in the past, and I want to say I'm sorry."
Daniel looked stunned.
"I've just got to work on being more sensitive to the feelings of others." He slapped Daniel on the shoulder. "Well, I've got to follow orders. 'The 'Doctor' calls.' With that, he headed toward the door. "You coming, Sam?"
"In a sec," she replied, whispering as she passed Daniel, "Go see Janet. It's important!"
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Sam stayed with Jack in the infirmary for a while, long enough to find out what tests he would be undergoing. Then she slipped down the hall for a late supper and a quick rest in her quarters. She felt physically and emotionally exhausted.
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She awoke with a start at a little past 22:00. She hadn't meant to sleep that long, and it irritated her to think that she had. She returned quickly to the infirmary, where she found Jack sitting up, sipping water with a squeeze of lemon, and watching "Love Story." He paused it.
"Hey, Sam, good to see you," he smiled and patted a spot on the bed. "Have a seat, get a load off your feet." Sam returned the smile and sat down, thinking that this Jack at least had the same sense of humor as the regular Jack.
"Want to watch a good movie? It goes back a ways. Actually, I don't remember it being this good." Sam noticed a few used tissues in the vicinity. "You probably haven't seen it?"
"No," she replied.
"I can change it, if you'd like. I've got quite a few to choose from," said Jack, indicating a large pile of DVDs that staff had provided.
She shook her head "no." She could get used to this kind of treatment, very easily.
"Let me fill you in. You see, there's this couple and they're in love..." Jack began, but Sam wasn't really listening. She was studying his face, the face she knew so well, and she was daydreaming. She "awoke" to hear him finish his monologue. "...and if I remember correctly, she dies in the end. Uh-oh. I've just given away the ending. You still want to watch?"
"Uh...sure," she replied.
"Might as well make yourself comfortable, Sam. Here...next to me." He quickly tossed the tissues in the wastebasket, vacated part of the bed, and fluffed up the pillow they would share. She hesitated.
"Sir..."
"Not 'Sir,'" he corrected. "Jack." He was gently pulling her arm. "Space is at a premium, but if I ...move my arm...like this...then you...can go like...that...and I think this will...work." Sam ended up resting in Jack's arms, one arm across his chest. She felt tingly all over. "Can you see okay?"
"Yes," she lied. He started the movie again. She could hear the dialogue, Jack's occasional sniffs, the tick of the wind-up clock on the night stand. Even his heart, beating...or was it her own?
"You know, I think that line was really stupid," Jack concluded when the movie was over. Sam had no idea what Jack was talking about, but she wasn't about to admit it.
"Hmmm?" she replied, trying to smooth an imaginary wrinkle in his T-shirt.
"Love is never having to say you're sorry. I mean, on one level I can understand what they're saying...because two people who are in love know instinctively when the other one is sorry, but still..."
They both sat upright.
He continued, "...when it needs to be said, it should be said. So I think the phrase is baloney." Jack was looking into her eyes and drawing closer. Then he caught her lips with his and swept her into his arms.
"I'm sorry, Sam," he said, holding her tight after the kiss ended.
"For what?" she asked, but she knew already.
"For being such a selfish, stupid guy, who doesn't know what he's got when it's right in front of him."
"Oh," she answered, and they both laughed, still hugging.
He pulled away from her to look her in the face. "I love you, Sam."
"I love you, too, Jack." She heard a strange noise, which startled her at first, and then felt the top part of the hospital bed move downward. "Did you just push a button?" she demanded, in mock anger. He chuckled.
"Ahem!" announced Dr. Frasier loudly, standing over the bed with her hands on her hips. "I was just about to take his temperature, but I don't think the reading would be accurate about now," she declared, raising her eyebrows. "Sam, we've got to talk."
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When Sam and Janet arrived at the nurses' station, Daniel was pacing back and forth. He started to share his findings immediately. "Apparently Jack came into contact with Ipomoea alba, also known as a Moonflower, a vine with large, fragrant blossoms that open at night, indigenous to parts of South America, and, obviously, to the planet you visited. Its active substance is aluminiun, a mind-altering chemical closely related to..."
"Daniel, please, I'm so tired," pleaded Sam. "What's the bottom line?"
Janet answered for him. "The bottom line is, although tests show that his brain has been affected, the effects are only temporary, and so a full recovery is not only possible, but probable."
"I think there's been some improvement already," admitted Sam.
"Yes, but there needs to be more. And there can be."
"A cure?" asked Sam, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer.
"Believe it or not...good old Benadryl," answered Daniel, "an antihistamine with which I happen to be acquainted. Good news, huh?"
"Yes...no...of course!" She started crying.
"Did I say something wrong?" Daniel asked Janet.
"No, no, Daniel," replied Janet, taking Sam gently in her arms. "It's a woman thing. Thank you for your help." He left with a shrug.
"Let me guess," Janet addressed Sam. "You're afraid that all the personal progress with Jack...and there was obviously progress...will disappear when he goes back to being his old self?"
Sam nodded, taking the tissue Janet offered her.
"But wouldn't it be better if told you he loved you, and committed to you, all by himself, without the aid of drugs, so to speak?"
"You know I have to answer 'yes' to that."
"You do because it's the only right answer. And for me, as a doctor, the only right thing to do is to give my patient the medicine that will make him better."
"When?"
"Now."
"Okay. I'm okay."
"Now, smile."
"I'm smiling on the inside."
Janet took Sam by the shoulders. "I want to see you smiling on the outside. The man you love is going to get all better.
"I know."
"Okay...now that's the girl!"
"Janet?"
"Yes, Sam?"
"He said, 'baloney.'"
"Give me a moment, here," replied Janet, thinking. "He said 'baloney' and not 'crap?'"
"Yup. He said, and I quote, 'So I think the phrase is baloney.'"
Janet started to laugh. "Now, do you really want a man who says, 'baloney?'"
"I don't think so," agreed Sam, now smiling in spite of herself. "Or a man who likes 'Love Story,' either."
"Okay, now we're getting somewhere. Let's go make Jack better," said Janet, grabbing two Benadryls and taking her friend by the arm. Sam pulled away. "Now what?" she sighed.
"You go do what you have to do."
"Okay."
Sam peered around the corner as Janet woke the sleeping Jack and gave him the pills. "Goodbye, Jack," she whispered, wiping her eyes.
A few minutes later, when she was sure Jack was asleep again, Sam very quietly approached his bed. She settled into the chair and watched him sleeping, pulling the memories of their shared time around her for warmth. He was on his back, his hair somewhat mussed, his lips parted. "I love you, Jack," she whispered softly. Short minutes later, she nodded off.
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She woke to the sound of Jack snoring lightly. It was 6:30, and things were stirring in the infirmary.
Quietly, without disturbing him, she crept away first to use the rest room, and then to find Dr. Frasier. "Janet!" she greeted the Doctor, stifling a yawn.
"Well, good morning, sleepyhead. How's the patient?"
"Still out of it," replied Sam. She knew that Janet was thinking along the same lines she was – would Jack be "cured" when he woke up?
"Shit on a shingle! That's what they called it in the Gulf! And it still is! And broccoli? Who the hell ordered this?" It was Jack's very loud and irritated voice.
"He's baaack!" declared Dr. Frasier, nodding toward the other side of the infirmary.
Sam and Janet walked over.
"Carter! I wake up in a hard, uncomfortable hospital bed to find...this?!" Jack gestured toward the tray. "The whole thing stinks!"
Sam removed the tray and handed it back to the orderly.
"Get me a cheese Danish and a large coffee!" shouted the Colonel to the fast-retreating fellow. "With lots of cream and four sugars!"
Sam and Janet exchanged glances. "The breakfast you got was exactly what you ordered last night," the Doctor explained calmly. "Chipped, creamed beef on toast, with a side of broccoli and a glass of non-fat milk."
"Yeah, like that really happened! You must've gotten me mixed up with someone else." He glanced around and then grabbed several DVDs from the side table. He rifled through them quickly. "Love Story? While You Were Sleeping? Sleepless in Seattle? What idiot would watch those?"
"He's all yours!" declared Janet, gesturing toward her former patient and leaving quickly.
Sam took a deep breath. "You would...did...Sir."
"Chick flicks? That's funny, Carter," Jack replied.
She sat down next to him. "Sir," Sam began carefully, "something happened to you when we were gating back from PC1309..." she was watching his face for some kind of recognition. Seeing none, she continued, "Due to a substance called aluminiun, which is found in moonflower blossoms, Ipomoea alba..."
"Eh, eh!" Jack cut in impatiently, waving one hand. "Just cut to the chase, will you, Carter?"
"Yes, Sir. Your mind was altered and you acquired a new personality. Or, at the very least, you were...different."
He shrugged. "I only remember bits and pieces." The orderly returned with Jack's breakfast.
"Any improvement over the usual me?" he asked, stirring his coffee. He took a sip, then smiled in satisfaction.
She struggled with the urge to be less than honest. "Actually, Sir...yes."
"How so?" Jack asked.
Sam tried to look him squarely in the face, couldn't, then settled her gaze slightly to the left. "You were nicer...to everyone, not just me. And you shared your feelings...even opened up a bit and admitted some things...that you never have admitted before. And..." here she paused.
"And...?" Jack prompted.
"You told me you loved me, Sir...I mean, Jack," she finished.
"I remember that," he said quietly.
"You do?"
"I meant it when I said it before, Sam. Do I need to say it again?"
Before her lips could reply, he silenced them with a kiss.
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"How's he doing now, Doctor?" inquired General Hammond. He had stopped by for a quick update.
"Oh, I'd say he's better...much better," replied Dr. Frasier, peering around the corner at the closely embracing couple. "And so is Sam."