He was asleep. His eyes were closed, anyways. The shower and blankets were doing their job; he'd stopped shivering. Sam walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it, careful to avoid disturbing him, and looked down at her CO. His face was flushed, now, and there were more worry lines than there had been only weeks before. Even apparently asleep, he seemed to be tense, as though plagued with haunted dreams, and Sam shook her head silently as she reached out to touch his cheek to check for a fever.

Jack wasn't asleep. He hadn't slept in days it seemed. He just couldn't bring himself to take the energy to open his eyes. Even when he felt her sit on the bed and he knew she was close. He found he didn't care. He felt her hand touch his cheek gently, but didn't open his eyes. He couldn't. Not even for her.

"What are you doing, Carter?" He asked. Not that he cared. He just wanted to be left alone.

"You're burning up, Sir."

"Good. Go home."

"Sir..."

"Carter. Go home." He rolled over onto his side, away from her, his eyes closed so he wouldn't see if he'd hurt her. He just wanted to be alone.

"Janet's coming over to take a look at you."

He felt what might have been a spark of anger flare through him, but it fizzled out immediately and left him as empty as before.

"Good. She can leave when you do."

"I'm not leaving, Sir. Not until you get a hold of yourself."

"I'm fine, Carter. Go away."

He'd never been less fine in his life – well, yes, once before he'd felt equally as empty as he did now, but the memory of that old sorrow was immediately and ruthlessly quelled. Jack didn't want to feel sorrow. He didn't want to feel anything. He just wanted to be left alone.

"I'll be back, Sir," Sam said, standing up and walking out of the room. She left the door open, however, on the vague hope that he might call her back. All she heard was silence, though. She walked into the bathroom and started picking up the drenched clothing that had been left on the floor, wringing it out and hanging it to dry in the shower, then went into the living room and started cleaning it, more to keep occupied while she waited for Janet than any real desire to clean. Although it definitely needed cleaning.

The knock on the door les than a half hour later was a welcomed relief to the prevailing silence in the house, and Sam practically ran to answer it.

"Hey, Sam, how is he?" Frasier asked as she walked into the living room, a small black duffle bag hanging off her shoulder.

"I've never seen him like this, Janet," Carter answered, not even trying to hide her concern. "He won't talk to me, except to tell me he's fine and to go away. He won't look at me. He didn't even say a word when I undressed him and put him to bed."

"When you undressed..."

"He was soaked. And so cold. God, I didn't think he'd ever warm up. I put him into the shower until the hot water gave out, then put him in dry clothes and put him to bed."

"Have you checked on him since?"

"Right after I called you. He stopped shivering, and he feels warm, but it might just be that he's over heated. I don't know. I've never dealt with anything like this."

"Let me go see him," Janet said, giving Carter her best 'it'll be okay' smile as she carried her bag down the hall and into his room.

Sam didn't follow. She sagged down on the couch, watching the hall and fervently hoping that the doctor could do what she hadn't been able to.

"Colonel?"

Frasier sat her bag down on the floor next to the bed, and then took the spot Sam had vacated a little earlier. There was no response from the man lying in the bed. He didn't even tense when he heard her voice, although Frasier had a feeling he wasn't asleep. She moved to the other side of the bed so she could look at his face. It was flushed and weary, and Janet felt her heart tighten for a moment. Even with his eyes closed, the doctor knew the pain when she saw it. Who better to recognize it? What had they all been thinking to leave him alone for so long when he'd needed them the most? They had all been so wrapped up in their own mourning that none of them had thought about Jack. Of course, to give them a little due, he was so withdrawn when he hurt that none of them would have recognized the hurt immediately anyways. And he'd told everyone he was fine. They'd been too hurt themselves to do anything more than believe him.

She reached out and gently touched his cheek, running her hand soothingly along his jaw, then down his neck and under his shirt to feel for shivering. There wasn't any. Just a lot of heat. Too much to be healthy, she knew.

"Colonel? It's Dr. Frasier. Sam called me to come check on you. Lay still for a minute, all right?"

Like he was going to do anything else. Jack kept his eyes closed, completely ignoring her while she did her tests on him. He felt a thermometer touch his ear for a moment until it beeped, felt her bare his arm to take his blood pressure, and even managed to ignore her while she opened his eyes and checked his pupils with a pen light. The cold stethoscope against his chest was a little harder to ignore, but he managed.

"Take a deep breath, Colonel." She ordered.

"No."

Would it be easier to drive her away with words or do what she said so she'd go away? Jack wasn't sure, and deciding required more thought than he was willing to put into it, so he just did what came naturally at that point.

"Sam's worried about you."

"She has better things to worry about. Tell her to go home. Better yet, leave and take her with you."

"You're sick, Colonel. I'm amazed you didn't manage to catch pneumonia, but your lungs sound clear."

"Lucky me."

The words didn't have any affect on the doctor. She was used to patients that treated her like this. The tone in his voice concerned her greatly, though. There was a dead quality that she'd never heard him use before. An emptiness that was far beyond anything she'd heard before. He just didn't care.

She stood up and covered him with the blankets once more, sliding her gentle hands along either side of his jaw and then checking his forehead.

"I'm going to go have a talk with Sam. I'll be back in a minute."