In her office, Jennifer Keller completed her secondary reports on Colonel Carter's condition. Though she had some ideas with regard to treatment, she had to admit it would be an uphill battle. She wasn't certain she would be successful, but she had to try to restore the woman they'd known as the leader of Atlantis.

Soon she'd make her way to the conference room where she'd brief General O'Neill on his wife's status and plans for treatment. She wished she had better news.

Chapter 25: Treatment

A serious, less than confident Jennifer Keller arrived at the conference room shortly after Teal'c and Daniel had taken their leave. She was accompanied by Anita Lattimore.

Jennifer had asked the psychologist to join her for two reasons. First of all, it was clear any recovery process for the Colonel would include a significant period of emotional rehabilitation. Secondly, she hoped Dr. Lattimore would be able to offer her some insight into the General's reactions. Jennifer was no psychologist; still she knew this was far from easy for the man. Accustomed as he was to being in total control of every situation, he was doubtless struggling with a mix of problematic emotions. Surely something was going on; he hadn't been to see her patient in over twenty-four hours. It didn't take a therapist to know Colonel Carter would need her husband's support if she had any chance of being whole again.

"General," Jennifer greeted him as she entered the room.

"Doctor Keller," Jack acknowledged. After his recent re-introduction to reality courtesy of Daniel and Teal'c, he wasn't certain how much more he could take. His defenses were down.

"This is Anita Lattimore, our resident counselor," Jennifer introduced. "I've asked her to consult on Colonel Carter's case."

Jack nodded. Sam would need all the help she could get. God knows he hadn't been much help so far. But after the guys and their little talking to, he'd decided that would change.

"How's she doing, Doc?"

Jennifer took a deep breath. She wasn't looking forward to this exposition.

"As you know, General, this is a very difficult situation. Colonel Carter's physiology has been changed in such a way that she is unable to adequately metabolize the normal dietary nutrients. I've provided supplemental feedings for her, but the result has not been what I'd hoped. She is continuing to lose weight slowly. Her body is weakening."

"You're saying she needs to feed," Jack stated bluntly. "How long?"

"Honestly, I'm not certain how long a Wraith can go without feeding," Keller answered. "We've seen them survive nearly three weeks in captivity. With the Colonel's blended physiology, I'm not certain how those statistics will apply."

"I see," he said. "So what do we do?"

Keller wished she had more certitude to offer the man. As it was, she was grasping at straws, trying to decipher Carson Beckett's research and trusting in her own abilities.

"At this point, Sir, I'll be doing my best to offer intravenous nutrients to sustain her as long as possible. In the meantime, I'm working on a way to reverse the changes the Wraith made to her DNA."

"Is that possible?"

"I have the work of Dr. Beckett to reference," she said. As Jennifer spoke, she wished the man himself were available to her. She knew she needed help and Beckett's research was invaluable to her current work. "He'd done a great deal of research on the Iratus genetic codes. As you know he'd developed a retrovirus which wiped Wraith characteristics and left only the human genetic traits behind. I'm hoping some variant of the retrovirus might be helpful here."

"Okay," Jack said, wondering about, but not wanting to know, the likelihood of success. "How long?"

"How long what, Sir?" Jennifer asked.

"How long till she's herself?"

Jennifer looked at Anita, then back at General O'Neill. It was a question neither of them could answer.

Anita decided it was time she shared her perspective on the situation, taking some of the pressure off Dr. Keller.

"If I may, General," Anita began, "your wife's recovery will depend as much on her mental and emotional readjustment as her physical progression. We need to help her regain her memories and deal with the emotional repercussions of what has happened."

Jack winced and nodded.

"If I'm hearing right, we need to fight this on two fronts," he observed. Jack knew the medical duo had smoothly shifted the focus of the discussion, but he had no desire to focus on the uncertainty of Dr. Keller's research.

"Exactly," Keller agreed. She was understandably relieved the general wasn't pushing her to define timetables for her research. Truth be told, she had no idea how long it would take or if she could do it.

"I don't see how Sam can regain much of her memory sitting in that holding cell," Jack said, continuing to focus on what he hoped he could change.

"I have to agree with you," Lattimore replied. "An isolation cell is hardly a place to conduct therapy, let alone encourage a patient to recall memories that have been stripped away from her. It's time to get her out of there."

"What about security?" Jack asked.

"Actually, Dr. McKay has an idea or two in that regard," Jennifer said. "He's hoping to make a presentation of his ideas this evening. With any luck, we can have Sam out of the cell and back in her old quarters by the morning."

"That sounds good," Jack replied, enthusiasm sorely lacking. He knew it was only the beginning.

"If I may ask," Anita said, appearing reluctant to ask the question, "I couldn't help but notice your friends have left Atlantis. How much longer will you be able to stay, General?"

Jack looked at Anita sharply. He couldn't miss the subtext of her question. She was really asking whether her patient could count on his support during the days, weeks, even months ahead. He couldn't blame her for asking, especially after his recent reactions.

"I've taken an indefinite leave," Jack replied. "Family emergency, you know. I'm here as long as Sam needs me."

Anita smiled gently. "That's good. She'll need your support more than anything. You're the only one she seems to remember in any meaningful fashion."

Jack nodded, breathed deeply and replied somberly. "I hope I can help. That's all really, I want her to come back to us."

"That's what we all want, Sir."

OoOoOo

Meanwhile, outside the high security area where Sam was being detained …

"You sure you want to do this McKay?"

Rodney was nervous enough. He didn't need Ronon or anyone else second guessing him on what he was about to do. It would either work, or it wouldn't, but he had to give it a fair shot. Sam deserved that much from him. Not to mention, his newest invention was a stroke of genius if he did say so himself.

Shortly after Sam's return and the realization she was now a serious security risk, the leading scientific mind of Atlantis had set to work on a quick fix. He knew it was only a stop gap measure, but genetic engineering wasn't really his specialty. He'd have to leave that to Keller and her people.

Working with Zelenka and Kavanaugh, he'd come up with an answer, something he believed would greatly decrease the security risk and hopefully allow his former commander and friend to escape her current confinement. The idea was simple enough, straightforward, didn't take a rocket scientist. It was the implementation of that idea which was challenging.

A glove, no more than a glove, was all it would take to make his friend's life a bit easier in the short term. Sure, it wouldn't cure anything, but correctly engineered, it would prevent her from feeding and make it possible for her to leave that damned cell. The more he'd talked with Keller, the more certain he was that his little invention was a good idea.

What took time was fashioning it from the correct materials to make it impermeable, then finding a way to insure the wearer could not remove it. In the past seventy-two hours he'd accomplished both objectives. It worked in the lab. The McKay glove seemed as impermeable as the iris of the Earth Stargate. And Zelenka, who fortunately had small hands, had been unable to remove it, despite his best efforts. Rodney had finally unlocked the device from his computer.

The glove had been specially molded for Sam's hand, so it would be a perfect fit, or so he hoped. The only way to find out would be to do what he was about to do, slip it on her hand.

It felt more than a little strange to approach Sam Carter flanked by two armed guards and Ronon. Since when did he need protection from a friend, let alone a friend he'd been infatuated with for years? But it was Atlantis after all, he'd come to expect the unexpected.

And a good thing that was. Seems even today's plan was not to go off as scripted.

"McKay, hold up," a new voice called. "Show me what to do."

Rodney spun on his heels not quite sure who was calling him. General O'Neill, well that stood to reason. Ready to be her hero again, he thought.

"Uh … I'm happy to do it, Sir," McKay babbled.

"I know you are, Rodney, and I appreciate it," Jack said quietly, restraining his impulse to berate the man. "I think it's more likely she'll accept it from me."

TBC

A/N: Please review. Thanks for reading.