Okay, chapter 12. Once again excellently betaed by Naliza.
Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, it means a lot to me!!
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"Janet?" Jack asked, looking down at her in shock. He had not expected her to regain consciousness so quickly.
Janet blinked twice, her eyes meeting O'Neill's. She could not speak because of the tube in her throat that only an hour ago was keeping her alive.
"That a yes then?"
She blinked twice again; as she did the doctor came back over, alerted to her consciousness by O'Neill's conversation.
"Dr Fraiser, blink twice if you can hear me."
Janet shot him a look before blinking twice, slowly. Jack had never known a blink to convey such exasperation. The doctor seemed to take this as an acknowledgement that Janet was recovering from the disease.
She pointed to the tube connected to the ventilator before pointing emphatically away from herself, careful not to pull the IV line from her hand.
"You want that tube out?" The doctor asked in a condescending manner. Janet nodded slightly, Jack noticed that she looked fed up and he could understand why. Jack respected the doctor immensely for finding a seemingly effective cure but his bedside manner left much to be desired, unless talking to a five year old.
The doctor was feeling out of place treating patients, although he held a medical degree he was primarily a researcher. Before this disease had taken hold of the base he had been working on a number of drugs that had been brought back from off-world missions. Now he was acting as the CMO of the base and treating patients.
Janet nodded slightly once more. As a doctor she knew that the ventilator was no longer necessary, besides she found it uncomfortable, not to mention a disturbing thought having a tube down her throat supplying her with oxygen.
Janet coughed deeply as the tube was removed, she continued coughing for quite a long time. The doctor looked concerned until Janet sent him away with a short shake of her head. The painful coughs were as a result of a combination of the tube and the damage caused by disease. Once she had stopped coughing she sunk back into the pillows behind her and tried to recover her breath.
"How's Cassie, is she…has she?" She asked frantically as soon as she was able to talk.
"She's fine, she's a real fighter you know? Daniel's with her." Jack saw her relax slightly as she heard the news.
"They found a cure then Colonel?" She asked, still slightly out of breath.
"Yep, can't really fill you in since I don't really understand all of it. Some mutated thing and this drug, epi…thet…"
"Epinephrine?" Janet offered.
"That's the one."
"Who's had the cure so far?"
"Just you and Sergeant Davis. You were kinda at test subject," Jack admitted, unsure about how she would react to the news. Janet nodded, she understood and was even happy to have been used as a test subject.
"But it works?"
"Yes, quite effectively. You were critically ill doctor," Dr Green said.
"You really should have stopped working earlier," Jack said in a playfully admonishing tone.
Janet remained quiet and turned her head away. Doctor Green told Janet to get some sleep before he disappeared in order to go and organise widening the test of the vaccine.
"Colonel?" Janet said quietly, turning back to look Jack in the eye.
"Yeah."
"Can you make sure Cassandra gets the vaccine, I shouldn't ask but…" she said with tears beginning to form in the corners of her eyes.
"Of course, I was going to anyway and you should ask. You get some sleep and I'll go and make sure Cassie's okay."
"Thank you Sir."
Jack supportively squeezed her shoulder before leaving the infirmary. Janet turned away as the tears began to fall. Not out of relief, or concern for her daughter, but grief - grief at the death of her best friend. The memories of helplessly watching Sam die was hard for her, though she realised that many hours had passed since the death of the Major, to her it was like it happened only minutes before. Neither O'Neill nor Dr Green had realised that Janet still thought that Sam was dead.
Jack caught up with Dr Green in the corridor on his way back to the lab; he had a number of files in his arms.
"Cassie, Cassandra Fraiser, she needs the cure."
"Colonel, there are people who are more critically ill than Miss Fraiser."
"Yes, but…Cassandra has naquadah in her blood. It might make a difference, you should run some tests or something."
"I suppose," the doctor said dubiously.
"Look doc, Cassie means a lot to SG-1, General Hammond and not to mention Dr Fraiser. I can make it an order," Jack said seriously and with a level of authority not previously heard by the doctor.
"I'll run some tests," the doctor agreed, acknowledging O'Neill's authority.
"Thanks," Jack said sincerely. He turned and walked away to go and let Carter know that the cure worked.
Sam was sleeping when he arrived; Jacob was standing in the corner, looking at his daughter resting peacefully. Jack walked over to Jacob and quietly filled him in on the latest news regarding the cure. Jacob realised that Jack was not simply here to give him information on the vaccine therefore he excused himself.
Taking a seat next to Sam's bed, Jack could not help but think that he had spent more time than he cared for sitting in the hard plastic chairs of the infirmary. Not just since the start of the epidemic but also since the Stargate program had started. After a few minutes his 2IC stirred slightly, he observed her carefully until she was fully awake.
"Hey Sam, you feeling okay?"
"Yeah, better I guess."
"That's good. These mutated organisms the doc talked about, they've worked out how to make them multiply and with this thing, anyway it's a cure. The doctors are trying to give it to the most seriously ill. They want to make sure it works before trying to arrange a way to get it out of the mountain."
"What?" Sam said obviously confused. She had been pretty disorientated when the doctor had explained the situation to her. She knew that the disease had taken a hold of the SGC but she had not realised that it had spread out of the base.
"It got out of the base, Cassie got infected when the team were at Janet's house that time. She collapsed at school the next day was taken to the hospital in town."
"Is she alright?"
"She's fighting it, they're running further tests before they'll give her the cure. They want to make sure the naquadah doesn't react badly with the vaccine."
"Sir, how many people are infected?" Sam asked quietly, avoiding eye contact with Jack.
"117 at last count," Jack said looking closely at Sam and her reaction. He watched her as she exhaled deeply and closed her eyes.
"Sam?"
"People have died right?"
"Three," Jack admitted after pausing for a moment to think about how this would affect Sam.
"It's all my fault isn't it?" Sam asked candidly.
"It's not your fault, nothing about this is your fault okay?"
"117 people have died, 3 people have died because of a disease I brought back. Cassie got sick and even people not connected to the SGC. It's my fault Sir," she said tearfully.
"It's not your fault, you had no control over what happened, okay? You know you really had us worried back there? We thought we lost you." Jack continued, taking hold of her hand and changing the topic of conversation.
"Yeah, I heard," Sam replied, without thinking about what she was saying.
"You could hear what was going on? When we thought you were…dead."
"Um…yeah. I don't know how long I was dead but the first thing I remember was my dad's voice. After a while I was able to hear everything. I could only move my hand at first, I kept trying to get your attention," she reluctantly admitted. She knew that the Colonel was probably just as aware as she was about what he had said when he thought she was dead.
"We took our time, but we got there eventually," he joked.
"Yes Sir, thanks for that by the way."
"You're welcome. Look Carter, I um…ahh."
"Sir?" Sam had never seen him look so flustered, let alone lost for words.
"I said some things before. You know what I'm talking about, right?" He said nervously.
"Yes," she admitted, feeling just as nervous as O'Neill.
"I meant it…I meant what I said," he added quickly.
"I know. I feel the same way but it can't work out though, not unless something changes," Sam said turning to look Jack in the eye.
"I know and we can't change things now. It's too important."
"Yeah. I agree it's just not the right time."
"So we put this behind us?"
"Definitely," she replied, almost relieved that he wanted to continue with their friendship. She was not ready to leave SG-1 and she was pretty sure that O'Neill felt the same way.
"Carter, I'd really appreciate it if…"
I won't say anything Sir."
"Thanks," he said before they lapsed into silence.
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Another chapter done. We are nearing the end, I keep saying that but I do mean it!!!
Let me know what you think of this one!!! Enough ship for the Sam/Jack shippers out there? I know it's not out and out ship but what can I say, I'm a stickler for the regs but they have admitted how they feel, that's a step in the right direction!! :-) (Hope you're happy Lynn, all you needed was patience!! :-) )