The next time Anthony opened his eyes, he was almost frightened into a heart attack – even with his brand new heart. Teal'c had been leaning over his bed, wondering at the reasoning behind having a wire that ran from Anthony's finger to a monitor, and had been trying to ascertain what exactly it was monitoring when Anthony woke up – probably in response to having someone so close to him. He gasped and threw himself backward – luckily into the pillows behind him so he didn't hurt himself – and his pulse, blood pressure and everything else that could be monitored all sky rocketed in an instant.
The Jaffa realized his mistake immediately, and stood back a little, chagrined.
"I apologize for scaring you, Officer Ruff," he said, his deep voice sounding exactly the same as if he was ordering someone's execution – at least it did to Anthony.
The deputy was trying to ignore all the new spasms of pain that were shooting through his chest and abdomen at the sudden motion and shook his head, breathless.
"You didn't scare me." Which wasn't at all true, but he didn't want to admit just how badly he'd been startled by having a Jaffa hovering over him when he'd woken.
The Jaffa didn't look convinced, and Anthony reluctantly amended his statement.
"Much, anyways…"
Teal'c nodded.
"Nevertheless, I do apologize. I should have realized that my presence would be alarming to you."
Anthony didn't even bother to try and say it hadn't bothered him, because he knew Teal'c was observant enough to notice his reaction – he obviously had, after all. Instead, he changed the subject a little.
"What are you doing in here?"
"O'Neill has asked me to keep an eye on you for him. Doctor Fraiser will not allow him in here at the moment."
"But she'll allow you?" he asked, a little skeptically.
"She is not aware I am here."
"Ah."
He didn't know what to say to that, but Teal'c didn't wait for a reply.
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine."
It was an automatic answer – to show weakness in front of a Jaffa wasn't something Anthony would ever do. Even Teal'c. It was just a byproduct of having them beat on him so many times for absolutely no reason other than the fact that he couldn't fight back.
The Jaffa nodded.
"I will inform O'Neill and the others."
With that odd statement – why couldn't Janet tell them, after all? – Teal'c gave him a slight bow and vanished from the room.
The deputy frowned, but was really rather relieved that he was gone. A tenseness he hadn't even realized was there left him as soon as the Jaffa did and he took a deep breath that made everything ache all over again.
It was a good ache, though. It told him that he was alive.
OOOOOOOOOO
Two days later Janet had Anthony up on his feet for very short walks.
First simply around his own room, which was almost more than he could handle. Although he hated the fact that a simple shuffle around a relatively small room could wipe him out so badly that he was shaking by the time he was back in bed, there wasn't much he could do about it. It was another couple of days before he managed to graduate to longer walks. This time around the entire infirmary.
After that, he was moved out of the little room he'd been stuck in and placed in a comfortable bed in the main room of the infirmary, where he could have visitors that didn't need to sneak in and out to see him – although Janet was right there almost all the time, making sure that those who did visit weren't there long enough to tire him out.
By the time a week was out, Anthony was well on his way to recovery and able to take walks – with an escort – to the commissary, Carter's lab and Daniel and Jack's offices. He was also able to spend quite a bit of time getting a chance to make up for lost time with his son, who looked more and more like Cathy every time Anthony had a chance to see him. They were bittersweet moments that left him quietly sobbing when the child was asleep or had been taken away for the night, but not so painful that he wasn't anxious to see him again the very next chance possible.
Janet didn't allow him to see him all the time, however. She was constantly running tests on him, checking his progress with her monitoring equipment, and with some on loan from the Asgard. All of the tests were coming back positive, though, and Anthony knew that he was doing much better than any of them had expected. For that matter, he was doing far better than he expected.
Well enough that he eventually started wondering what he was going to do now. He was too healthy to stay cooped up in bed for much longer, and well aware that he was in on one of the biggest secrets known to man. Well, known to some of them, anyway. He couldn't believe they were going to let him just up and leave Cheyenne Mountain when he was better – and he wasn't all that sure how he was going to manage to get his job back with the Sheriff's department even if they did. Chances were everyone thought he was dead, after all.
He started wondering about it, and worrying about it – mostly in his sleep when he had nothing else to do but worry – and his mind would concoct all kinds of government conspiracies to keep him quiet – including someone having the Asgard send him back to the planet the Ghouls had found him on in the first place. He'd wake up sweating and panicked, his heart racing a mile a minute and all sorts of alarms going off on the monitors that were keeping track of him while he slept. When someone on the medical staff would come rushing in, Anthony wouldn't tell them the truth – he simply told them that he'd had a bad dream and assure them that he was fine. Fine, fine, fine.
But he lost a lot of sleep, and then his appetite, and finally his condition actually stopped improving and Fraiser became worried once more, certain that something was going on with him that he wasn't telling her – or anyone else.
She had every member of SG-1 – except for Teal'c, of course – try to talk to him and figure out what it was, but Anthony was as tight-lipped as any of the military personnel on the base when it came to speaking about what was bothering him and they all came away with nothing more than an assurance that he was fine.
OOOOOOOO
"I thought you told me he was getting better, doctor…" Hammond said, a little more than two weeks after Anthony had first woken up.
She shrugged, exasperated.
"He was, sir. But he isn't any longer."
"Rejection of the new organs?" Carter asked.
Fraiser shook her head.
"They're his organs. He can't reject them. Besides, if he was going to, it would have happened immediately."
"Maybe the antigen didn't work as well as you thought it was going to?" Daniel hazarded.
"I gave him another dose – just in case," Janet said. "It's doing its job."
"Then what is it?" O'Neill asked.
"Something is bothering him," Teal'c told him.
They all turned to look at the Jaffa.
"What?" Janet asked. "How do you know that?"
"He told you?" Jack asked.
"No. I have merely watched him," Teal'c replied. "Something is bothering him."
"His son?" Hammond asked.
Janet shook her head.
"He's fine when he's with Agustin…"
"He might be wondering when he's going to be able to get him full time…" Daniel said.
Jack looked over at Teal'c.
"For that matter, he might be wondering what we're planning to do with him now that he's getting well…"
"That wouldn't be making him sick, Colonel," Janet objected. "It would make him want to get better – faster."
"Unless he thought we were going to do something awful to him," Sam said.
"What? Why would he think something like that?"
She'd treated him well the entire time he'd been under her care, after all. He didn't have any reason to be afraid she'd turn on him.
"Has anyone said anything to him about what he wants to do once he's healthy?" Hammond asked, curiously.
They all shook their heads and the General stood up.
"Then maybe it's time I went and had a talk with him."
