It was hypnotic, the way Sam smiled, her eyes closed, the Colonel holding her hand. Janet stood in the corner of the room wondering what she should do with the one result that didn't make any sense, and what she could say about the one that did. The events of the first two days had taken their toll on everyone, but the three after that... Sam's mood was changing on each dream and a whim, but there was no seeing beneath the enigmatic smile on her lips.

"Hey, Doc," the Colonel snapped her out of her reverie, "She's asleep again." Janet looked across, but the Colonel didn't seem too happy. "Ah, Doc, did you see that?"

Sam's eyelids fluttered briefly, there was an immediate change in tone as the monitors responded to an increase in blood pressure, to the sudden racing of her pulse. He saw Sam's right hand close, but not fully, as if she was holding something, someone. Jack flinched as her left hand went limp in his, a just as sudden fear etched clear on his face.

He looked up for reassurance only to see shocked expressions from Janet and the nurses. "What?" He looked back and wished he hadn't. Her mouth was open, she was smiling broadly, licking her lips, slowly, sensuously. And her eyes were open, focused, seeing.

Glowing.

"Oh no." Jack whispered, Sam's hand fell from his. "There's no snake in her, Doc? Tell me there's no snake?!"

"No, Colonel, there's no snake," Janet said quickly. "But you'll have to leave the room. Just for a few minutes, Colonel." One of the nurses helped the bewildered Colonel to his feet and sat herself in the vacated chair. Sam was still asleep and smiling as the nurse took her hand. Janet had already pulled back the top blanket, calling out for an ultra-sound as she stood ready to remove Sam's gown whether she came awake or not. "Please, Colonel!" Janet glared at him. "You'll help more and know sooner if you leave now!"

Janet waited for the door to close before she pulled Sam's gown open. A second nurse prepared the ultra-sound unit. "For the record," Janet began the examination like she would an autopsy, recording the date and time. "We know where the symbiote likes to attach itself. The patient is still sleeping. No damage to the chest or abdomen. Opening her mouth. No sign of tissue abrasion or excoriation. Okay, turning the patient onto her side." Between them, Janet and the nurses pulled the blankets and her gown completely out of the way. "No sign of entry at the back of the neck. Ultra-sound." Janet held her breath as she ran the scanner the length of Sam's spine, from bottom to top. "Clean." Janet breathed a sigh of relief. "Confirm, nurse?"

"Confirmed, Doctor Fraiser."

"Good. Bag the gown. I want a blood sample straight away. Ease her onto her back and cover her up. Well done!" Janet nodded, satisfied with the efficiency of her team. If only they weren't getting all too efficient and familiar with the procedure. "And if the Colonel kicks the door any harder he'll have it off its hinges," she said, just a little louder to ease her own fears.

Janet turned back to Sam, surprised to see her staring vacantly, still smiling, but now with her hand held out, waiting. As soon as she sat and took it Sam began tapping furiously. 'what. truth. what. truth —'

'last dream. remember anything.'

'no. now tell me.'

'emotions'

Sam paused, thinking. 'odd. happy.' She shook her head in confusion. 'very happy.'

'your eyes. they glowed. had to do scan. all clear.' "Nurse!" Janet called out. "Keep everyone out – especially Colonel O'Neill – and fetch me a clean gown." 'sorry sam. must have samples. then we get you clean.'

The smile quickly disappeared. 'i know, sam, but,' Janet began, stopping when Sam turned to look at her. The effect was unnerving — just for an instant her eyes were focused... and then it was if she was looking right through her... as if she didn't exist. For an instant Sam was back... and then all there was was the light touch of her fingers in hers.

The lights in the observation room flickered on. Janet watched General Hammond stalk in with an agitated Colonel a step behind. "Dammit, Colonel, I said for you to wait," Janet cursed at the interruption, her own agitation communicating itself to Sam.

"Doctor," Hammond took control, "we're all very concerned at the Major's condition."

"But when your concern interferes with my effective treatment, Sir..." Janet said. She squeezed Sam's hand and got a nurse to sit with her, to let her know what was going on around her.

"I understand that, Doctor," Hammond said, stiffly. "But with the last emergency, when can we expect to see an improvement?"

"Sir," Janet said, "we are starting to make progress, but there are too many inconsistencies. None of the observable symptoms or manifestations appear to be related. Certainly not medically. I can't even see how one single thing could have been responsible for two of Sam's conditions, let alone three or more.

"The latest toxicology results have identified a possible cause of the hemolysis. At some point – but don't ask me when – Sam was exposed to 2-hydroxy 1,4-naphtha-quinone, commonly called Natural Orange-6, or Lawsonia. Massive amounts of it."

"Agent Orange?"

"No, Colonel. Agent Orange was..." Janet stared at him, exasperated, wondering just how obtuse he could get. "Sir, this is a dye; usually a hair dye. It's a constituent of henna, imported from North Africa and Asia. Of course, Sam is a natural blonde... still, we took hair samples and that only confirmed that she hadn't used it. Not in the last few months, anyway. But now we're finding significant amounts in her blood."

"You mean she was poisoned?"

"No, Sir. At least, I wouldn't have thought it was intentional. In some cases henna occasionally induces a mild reaction, but that's rare. And given either the concentration or the quantities that would have been required, it is highly unlikely. All we have to go on is how Sam's recovering. I'd expect the levels to increase with time," Janet said. "Once we knew what we were looking for we re-tested the older samples.

"Sir, Sam is recovering on her own. In effect, and again, the critical point was immediately prior to the Colonel finding her. Her condition isn't improving, it's getting un-worse."

"Which is consistent with your earlier diagnosis and prognosis." Hammond didn't look any happier, but he nodded his appreciation. His eyes narrowed as Janet frowned. "You have more, Doctor?"

"General, because the original incident was so unusual and so traumatic, we kept everything, even the swabs we used to clean the blood away from the affected areas. As soon as it became obvious that Sam's ears and eyes were in perfect condition, I sent the swabs off for testing, too. They came back even more wrong than the first blood work-ups."

"How wrong, Doctor?"

"So wrong, General, I had them taken to a different lab. So wrong that I doubted my own sanity." Janet stopped; took a deep breath. "Sir, the blood from her eyes and ears wasn't completely human." Janet frowned. "The swabs contained two blood types, one human – Sam's – the other was feline."

"Cat's blood?"

"Yes and no, General. I had the original sample sent to the zoo in Colorado Springs."

"The zoo? You have got to be kidding!" O'Neill shouted.

"No, Colonel. It didn't match any of the big cats they have there. They had to send it on to Denver." Janet waited for the Colonel to calm down. "The sample doesn't come from any native cat, but from Felis Tigris."

"A tiger?!"

It didn't make any sense to her, either. "They narrowed it down, found a match. Specifically, it's the blood of a Bengal tiger."