Connected to oneshot #5, "A Mother's Instinct" Kind of a continuation in sorts since I referred to a part of AMI in this oneshot. I'm not so sure about the medical technology here but it was worth a shot.
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Looking at her watch, she sighed. The team was due any minute back through the Stargate and next stop would be the infirmary. She rubbed at her temples and made her way into her office, closing the door but not all the way behind her as she sat down at her desk. Flicking the lamp light on as well she began digging into some files that were sitting to the edge of the wooden desk. The infirmary was mainly silent; her team being off tending to other minor medical emergencies around the base. They wouldn't call her unless there was some other big emergency. So for now she would emerge herself in paperwork until SG-1 came down.
Finishing what she had been writing in the file, she closed it just about the time she heard a pair of footsteps outside her door. Janet gazed at her watch and realized that it had only been fifteen minutes since she had started working. Her eyebrow rose then fell at a light tapping on the door. Samantha Carter peered in seconds later with a hesitant glance.
"Oh, hey Sam." Dropping her pen, Janet closed the file she had been working on and stacked it on top of the pile. "I wasn't expecting any of the SG-1 team for at least another fifteen minutes." Looking at her watch for effect she observed Sam's distracted glance.
"Yeah, I actually didn't go with them this time." Sam stepped inside the office and closed the door behind her. If she wasn't thinking already that something was up, Janet did now. She knew that look, the one that was clearly written all over Sam's expression. The one where Sam looked more than a little worried and of course, more than a bit distracted. "I just got here. Thought I might take it easy since so many people have been under the weather lately."
Janet shook her head, trying to comprehend what was now running through her mind. "You haven't been feeling under the weather lately as well have you?"
Sam shot her more of a sheepish look most likely for not pointing this out sooner to the good doctor. "Actually I have. I didn't think anything of it until I remembered that the return of colder weather brought on more sickness."
Janet deciphered the key point of what Sam was saying before standing. "That and you've been cooped up inside for the past week which includes not enough sleep to help your body's defense system to fight off sickness. "What you could use is a good couple of nights sleep. See if that doesn't help you and if at any point it doesn't you know my line is always open."
Sam pushed out a weary smile in her direction. "Thanks Janet." She gave one nod and watched as Sam hesitated with her hand wrapped around the doorknob. Janet could tell that Sam looked like she was having second thoughts. Like there was something more but that she was fighting to push through it all; but when Sam looked back at her she took in a deep breath and forced another excusable smile in return to Janet's concerned glance.
This was not like Sam at all. Not the friend that she knew or the person that she saw so often, animated and alive with her work. "Sam. Why don't you come back and sit down here for a minute." Janet instructed her, pulling up an empty seat so the chair was facing her desk chair. Sam suddenly looked more exhausted the second time that she had forced the don't-worry-about-me smile, her sigh was drawn and quiet; the corner of her lip raised as she turned back around. Of course she knew that Janet wasn't one to let people get off so easily.
Taking in a deep breath Sam walked across the room and sat down in the chair offered to her. Her heart raced suddenly, her head spun a little. Something of a warning that made her breathing quicken and it took a moment for her to get herself in control. But all this couldn't have happened without the notice of Janet Fraiser.
"Sam?" Janet's voice rose in concern. As much as Sam could manage she gave Janet a flickering glance. Her head began to spin more and more and she knew that even though her breathing was now in control, the rest of her wasn't. She felt clammy and sick; from the corner of her eye she remotely saw Janet grab for something on top of the file cabinet and hold it in front of her. Sam couldn't quite comprehend what it was and momentarily tried to figure out what it was before being interrupted with a bout of vomiting.
After the blood rushing through her head subsided mostly, she also noticed the fogginess clearing. Lifting her head she was faintly aware that Janet now had a comforting hold on her arm. Sam peered up at her over the ledge of whatever she was holding--most likely a basin of some sort. She managed to offer a chuckle and silently thanking the fact that Janet was always prepared, even for the inevitable.
Although still offering a crease of concern, Janet tipped her head in amusement. Pulling a few Kleenex from the box on the desk, she handed them to Sam. "Glad to hear that you still have a sense of humor." Pressing her finger under Sam's chin so that she would look up, Janet examined the nodules in Sam's neck. "You feeling any other dizziness? nausea?" Stiffly, Sam shook her head in response.
"No, it's just been my stomach that has been bothering me. I managed to get a few crackers in earlier this morning." Staring at the side of the basin, she felt a tug as Janet took the basin and emptied it into the bathroom toilet before rinsing and flushing the contents of it.
"Well from the looks of it, you probably didn't ingest anything out of the ordinary so what you have most likely what the majority of people have had lately, which would be the stomach flu. Even so, I would like to examine you and make sure that it's nothing further than that." Sam understood the concern that was in Janet's voice. Even though is was most likely that her sickness wouldn't get any worse, Janet was always one to make sure that it wasn't anything else.
"Right, nothing else." Sam repeated, hoping desperately anyway that this sickness would all go away soon. Her thoughts of that was soon interrupted by a knock on the office door. Both Janet and Sam's eyes flew over in the direction of the office door that opened immediately after the knock.
Jack O'Neil peered his head around the door, stepping in. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything, but we're back." He offered looking over at Sam who he could see was a bit pale. "I thought you took the day off." He directed at Sam quietly with an odd glance.
"I was. Ah, but only for the first part of the morning. Janet said that I've probably caught whatever sickness has being going around this place."
Jack nodded, directing this next question to Janet. "Didn't you say Cassie caught this bug thing a few weeks back?"
Nodding, Janet looked over at Sam and back from the corner of her eye. "Yeah she told me that something was going around her school. Cassie even so much as told me that the principal didn't want the students to come to school for a few days if they had been around somebody sick. Of course I'm thinking Cassie had been sick before then and after a few days rest she was back to her normal self and went back to school."
"So are you thinking we have some kind of epidemic on our hands, doc?" Jack inquired, leaning against the frame of the door.
"No, but I think we could do better without spreading it around. Now I've treated a few other members of the SG teams that have had the same symptoms and they have all seemed to respond to the rest and lots of water treatment that is used when treating the flu and I have instructed Sam to do the same."
He glanced over at Sam who was resting her elbow on the desk and her chin resting in the palm of her hand; eyes closed. His expression flattened slightly as he glanced from her to Janet, which caused the doctor to follow his line of sight; her own expression slightly alarmed even when she realized that Sam wasn't moving, not even an inch. "Sam?" Her voice was quieter, slightly heightened from all the times in the hour she had called out her name.
Still Sam didn't move, Janet stood abruptly from her seat; shaking Sam's shoulder there was no movement. Realizing that the door was still open, Jack closed it as not to alarm Daniel or Teal'c who had been outside waiting for their post mission checkup and were now gazing curiously into Janet's office.
Jack turned back in time to see Janet pressing two fingers to Sam's neck to check for a pulse. "What's the story doc?" His eyes followed her movements as she shone her penlight checking for a level of consciousness.
He stepped closer towards the desk and Janet's response came out in a rushed result as she gazed up at him with an anguished look. "She still seems to be conscious, which tells me that she's probably blacked out. That could be due to her feeling dizzy and nauseous and what I commonly find when somebody doesn't feel well is that they are usually dehydrated." If to prove her point she had him support Sam as they leaned her back carefully against the chair and Janet checked her hydration level by quickly pressing on Sam's fingernail. The nail stayed white. Sam was dehydrated and Jack had a expression of curiosity. "Why don't you help me move her to one of the beds out in the infirmary. I'll start Sam on an IV and start running some tests. That should give us an idea on what we're dealing with. What you usually see in patients as their levels come up, so does their level of consciousness."