This one happens some time during season nine or just after it but before ten, at some point when things were relatively calm. This is what happens in my head when my nest is on eco mode and it gets really cold outside. I swear I started it well before COVID-19 but being quarantined did bring me back to it (I had put it away because of other ideas I liked better).
The Freezing Sleep
Chapter 1 -
"Samantha, it is a pleasure to see you once again." The tall lanky brunette woman opened her arms for a hug.
Sam leaned into her embrace. "Millana, it is good to see you as well."
She let go of Sam and looked over Sam's shoulder. "Daniel, Teal'c, welcome back." Her head tilted when she saw Cameron. He gave her a wide smile. Millana looked back at Sam. "Was Jack not able to join you?"
Sam shook her head. "No, he has a new job, which prevents him from traveling as much as he used to. This is Colonel Cameron Mitchell." Sam moved her hand towards Cam.
"It's a pleasure to meet you ma'am."
"And you as well." Millana gave Cameron a warm smile that made his abs flutter slightly. There was no denying her beauty, something Sam had left out of her briefing.
Sam saw Millana's lips twitch as she looked away from Cameron. "It is almost time for our evening meal. I hope you will join us."
"Sam!" Sam barely had time to move her gun to her right as the small girl leapt at her. Sam managed to catch her in her left arm as her small arms wrapped around her neck. "I've missed you."
"I've missed you too Myra." Sam quickly scanned around her. "Where's your big brother?"
The girl shrugged. "He's home pretending to still be sick so mama will keep babying him."
"Myra." Millana gave the girl a stern look. "You know your brother has been quite ill."
The girl pouted as she laid her head on Sam's shoulder. "I was sick too, but nobody fussed as much as they're fussing over him."
Millana's scowl softened. "Because you were lucky enough to not get as sick as your brother." The girl scoffed. "Now how about you run back to my home and tell Sanna that we will be having four guests for dinner."
"Just four?" The girl poked her lower lip out at Millana.
Millana shook her head. "Tell her four and a half."
Myra jumped down from Sam's arms. "I am not a half!" She ran off before anyone could fuss at her impetuousness, having no idea all the adults were smiling at her.
Sam readjusted her gear. "Is Danom alright?"
"He is through the worst of it. There is no longer any risk to his life."
"That's good. So, he was much sicker than Myra?"
"Much." Sam walked along beside Millana towards town. "That isn't unusual with older children. The shivers is a normal childhood ailment and in the very young it does little more than make them feel miserable for a few days, but in older children and adults it can occasionally be deadly. Thankfully Danom did not reach the frozen sleep."
"Frozen sleep?" Daniel stepped closer to Millana.
"Yes, when the body becomes so cold it no longer shivers death is nigh." She smiled at him. "But let us not discuss such dark matters when reunion is upon us."
"I wish we were here just to catch up."
MIllana glanced at Daniel. "Save your dark tiding until after dinner, once the young are asleep."
As Millana wished, dinner was a happy affair, with many from the town council stopping in to visit and share news. After Myra had been taken home Millana invited three town elders to join them around the fire. "The time has come for you to tell us why you have returned."
All eyes turned to Daniel. "Men who portray themselves as holy have been coming to many worlds through the stargate. We wanted to warn you that although they are powerful, they do not represent real Gods. They can however bring a plague to your people if you do not worship them as they demand."
"I see." Millana exchanged glances with the other town leaders. "And if they appear what do you suggest we do?"
Daniel pulled a small tablet out of his backpack. "You can dial the gate and use this to contact us."
"And you can stop them from harming us?"
Daniel glanced at Cameron. "We will try."
"That does not inspire great confidence, Daniel."
They discussed the Ori for another hour before everyone retreated to their beds. Sam wasn't surprised to feel Myra climb into her tent and curl up beside her during the night. SG-1 had saved Myra's brother from three Jaffa the first time they visited this planet. Myra had barely been able to walk on that visit, but SG-1 had returned several times over the years and Myra had bonded with Sam. When Sam got up for her watch, she left Myra wrapped up in her sleeping bag.
"Some guard you are, Daniel."
He smirked at her. "She was trying so hard to be quiet."
Sam shook her head. "Get some sleep. I'll have the coffee ready when you get up."
Cameron and Teal'c spent the next day making repairs to the irrigation system the SGC had helped the town establish. Daniel took a few of the older boys with him to some ruins that were an hour's walk from town. Sam took Myra with her as she ran tests on the water coming down from the mountain and analyzed the soil on a field that wasn't growing well. The water was clean, and all the soil needed was phosphorus, a vein of which Sam located near the ruins while she and Myra were visiting Daniel. That night Myra didn't have to sneak into Sam's tent, she joined SG-1 around the fire for a smore before being invited inside.
Myra stood with her little arms crossed and sniffed as Sam bent down the next morning and gave her a hug good-bye. "I don't know why you can't stay one more day."
"I have my orders and I have to follow them, just as you should do when your mother tells you what to do."
"That's no fun." Myra pouted.
Sam gave her one more quick hug before standing and shaking Millana's hand. "If the Ori appear cooperate with them and contact us when you are able."
Millana nodded. "We will do as you ask. Safe travels."
"Thank you."
It only took SG-1 an hour to get back to the gate. Two hours after arriving they had made it through medical and been debriefed. Sam went to her lab to catch up on her emails, knowing a couple projects were waiting on her response. Sam's phone rang while she was starting her mission report.
"Colonel Carter."
"Have you had dinner yet?" Sam grinned as she checked the clock on her computer.
She had to admit she had let the time get away from her and was a bit chagrined that he'd known it would happen. "No, I haven't but I will get something very soon."
"And then get some sleep?"
"I'm sure I will eventually go to bed, but I have a mission report to finish first."
"Right, because those can't ever wait a day or two."
"Jack, unlike you I actually do my mission reports."
"Oh, I know. I even read one or two, or at least part of one or two." Sam snickered. "How was the munchkin?"
"Still adorable and precocious. She convinced Daniel to let her into my tent. It was hard to sleep with her wiggling beside me."
"And you loved every minute of it."
"Yeah, I did. I hope the Ori ignore them."
"So do I, but we both know they're spreading faster than rabbits in Australia."
"I know but I can still hope."
Sam got dinner and then finished her report. She decided to stay on base, since it was already late and she was worn out. Her sleep was filled with images of Myra with a pale white face, as if she had become a prior. She woke too early, still feeling exhausted. She put on her green BDUs and headed straight to the commissary for coffee. She got a bagel and yogurt as well, even though she wasn't really hungry. She was sipping her coffee when Teal'c placed his tray across from her and sat down.
"Are you well this morning?"
"I've been better." She sipped her coffee as he lifted his prune juice. "I just didn't sleep well, which is weird considering how tired I was." Sam sneezed.
Teal'c's eyebrow rose. "Perhaps you are getting ill."
Sam shook her head. "Don't you dare curse me." She took a couple bites of the bagel and finished the yogurt before heading to her lab. She pushed through her exhaustion to read and edit two reports from the Prometheus. Daniel found her with her head propped on her hand staring at her computer around lunch time. She sneezed and reached for a tissue as he entered.
"Sam?"
"Hmmmm?" He saw a slight shiver run through her.
Daniel stepped forward. "You're sick."
She sneezed again. "It's just a cold." She blew her nose and sighed.
He took one more step towards her and reached out, putting his hand on her forehead. "It doesn't feel like you're running a fever."
"Like I said, it's just a cold."
"Right, well, how does that saying go? Feed a cold and starve a fever."
"You know that's rubbish, right?"
"It's still lunch time."
Sam glanced at the clock on her computer. She hadn't gotten much work done and she was exhausted. "I think I'll go take a nap instead."
Daniel nodded. "I'll come check on you later."
Sam put her hand on his arm as she stood. "Thanks."
Daniel let her sleep for three hours before knocking on her door. He had to knock three times before he heard her say enter. She was lying in her bed under two blankets, shivering.
"I take it you aren't feeling any better." She shook her head. "Maybe it's time to go to the infirmary."
"Yeah, maybe."
Daniel helped her sit up, eliciting a shiver that racketed her whole body. He touched the back of his hand to her forehead again. "You still don't feel hot."
"Lucky me."
He helped her stand up and walk to the infirmary. The elevator ride and walk wore her out so she was thankful when she could sit on the gurney. The nurse jumped into action when she saw how pale Sam was. The nurse took Sam's pulse and then put an electronic thermometer in her ear. She looked at the results and furrowed her brow. The nurse cleared the results and put it back in Sam's ear. When it beeped again the nurse gave the read out the same confused look as before, excusing herself and going to Dr. Lam's office.
Dr. Lam followed the nurse back out to Sam's bed. "I'm sorry you aren't feeling well today. It looks like the electronic thermometer is giving us an erroneous reading. You don't mind if we go old school with an oral thermometer, do you?"
"Of course not."
The nurse placed the thermometer under Sam's tongue and went to get her a warm blanket since she was still shivering. Daniel hoovered at the end of the bed while Dr. Lam reviewed Sam's pulse and blood pressure. When the thermometer beeped Dr. Lam removed it. She looked at it longer than necessary, in Daniel's opinion.
"Interesting."
"What?" Sam and Daniel both asked at the same time.
"Your temperature is much lower than normal." Lam made a note in Sam's chart. "I can't say I see that very often. You haven't just returned from an Arctic environment or spent time in a freezer, have you?"
Sam shook her head. "No."
"In that case I need to run a few more tests. Please lay back and I'll try to make this as quick and painless as possible." For the next hour Sam was poked and prodded while numerous tubes of blood were extracted from her. Daniel paced the hallway, unsure if he should disturb Jack yet.
Daniel was still pacing when General Landry came around the corner. "Dr. Jackson."
"General."
"Dr. Lam asked me to come down to the infirmary. Does this have something to do with you?"
"Ummmmm….no, sir. It's Sam."
"I see, well, you might as well join me."
Both men entered the infirmary. Daniel was disappointed to not see Sam laying in the bed where he had left her.
"General. Dr. Jackson. Thanks for coming. I'm afraid a new infectious disease may have been brought through the stargate."
"Please explain."
"Colonel Carter is experiencing a very low body temperature. Her normal physiological response to a low body temperature, shivering, is not providing enough heat. We have given her heated blankets, but her core temperature is still dropping. I'm going to be adding a warm saline IV next."
"And you're sure this has an otherworldly explanation?"
"These symptoms and her reactions to my treatments are contrary to anything I can find with an Earth origin."
The General looked to Daniel. "Have you seen anything like this before?"
Daniel mutely shook his head.
Dr. Lam answered instead. "Actually, Colonel Carter said a child on her last mission was ill. She said she didn't come in contact with the sick child, but she did have contact with the child's family members."
"Oh yeah!" Daniel gave a little bounce. "Myra's brother had been sick. Sam offered to check on him, but his grandmother said he was doing fine now."
Dr. Lam crossed her arms. "These are the types of details that need to be in your mission reports."
Daniel looked sheepish. "Sorry, I was more focused on the ruins."
"I need the rest of SG-1 to report to the infirmary immediately to be quarantined until I know what we're dealing with."
"I'll go get them now." Daniel started to turn.
"Oh, no you won't." He turned back towards her. "You clearly don't understand what I mean by quarantine. The last thing I need is for you to keep walking around the mountain."
"Do you recommend initiating Wildfire at this time?" The General kept his eyes locked on his daughter.
"Yes, sir. Until I know what we're dealing with, everyone in the mountain needs to stay in the mountain and anyone who has left in the last twenty-four hours needs to quarantine at home and avoid contact with others."
"I will get the message out now and have Colonel Mitchell and Teal'c sent to you immediately."
"Thank-you, sir. Dr. Jackson, please follow me." Dr, Lam led Daniel to an isolation room.
Daniel looked around the room in confusion. "Where's Sam?"
"She's next door."
"We won't be quarantined with her?"
Dr. Lam shook her head. "No. I don't know whether or not you've been exposed and if you haven't, I don't want you to get exposed in my infirmary."
"Oh, well can I see her?"
Dr. Lam relaxed her shoulders. "Once I get the rest of SG-1 quarantined and have finished my tests I'll work on that."
"Thanks."
"Have a seat over there. A nurse will be in to get the tests started once she is gowned up."
"Right."